After nine weeks of doing these predictions, A-Rad is ahead of me by 1 game. He has an overall record of 20-12; mine is 19-13.  And now that we both have records significantly above .500, here comes the inevitable 0-3 week.

Rusty's Picks:

Winnipeg at Calgary

Hey, it's a rematch of the 2001 Grey Cup.  If you had been asked during that terribly boring game who amongst these four would be most likely to get snaps as a QB in the CFL just five years later, who would you have gone with?

a) Khari Jones  b) A reality TV star  c) Reggie Slack  d) Bob Cameron

Yeah, I probably would have gone with Bob Cameron too.

Pick: Calgary

Edmonton at Hamilton

As evidenced by the photo up top, we love our touchdown celebrations.  We've always thought of football as being a form of entertainment, and anything that can add to the overall experience is very much appreciated.  

That said, we may need to re-evaluate our position now that Danny Maciocia has called the Stampeders' 4x100 relay celebration at Commonwealth Stadium "a mockery of the game".  If the guy who ran onto the field at the Grey Cup to start celebrating before the final play isn't an authority on what qualifies as a mockery of the game, who does?

Pick: Edmonton

Montreal at BC

So apparently, "Crazy P" - who I imagine is the Lions in-game host - isn't particularly well-liked by all Lions fans.  That's fine, but tred lightly here, British Columbians. These guys on the field tend to age rapidly if you heckle them too much.  I mean, just look at what happened to Pigskin Pete - the man is only 36 years old!

Pick: BC

A-Rad's picks:

Winnipeg at Calgary 

According to Milt Stegall, his touchdown last week was a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr., whom he took "dancing lessons" from after meeting him "at a juke joint in the '50s." In fact, that Rat Pack spirit infects Bombers fans, as well. It's just that most of them prefer to show off the drinking moves they learned from Dean Martin when they ran into him at a hotel bar.

As for Bob Cameron, I feel obliged to point out that if memory serves, he was involved in one of my all-time favourite CFL plays - the one where the Bombers forgot to tell Bob, who was their holder, that they were running a fake field goal - resulting in him getting trampled by pretty much the entire team they were playing against.

Pick: Calgary 

Edmonton at Hamilton 

This really isn't fair. Now that the the Ticats are completely out of contention, and won't be playing the Argos again, I'm actually going to have to cheer for them every once in a while. For depriving me the opportunity to hate them, I now hate the Ticats even more.

Ah, well. I guess there's no harm in cheering for Jesse Lumsden, at least, so this all-Canadian kid can eventually make his dreams come true by earning a spot on the practice roster of some last-place NFL team.

Pick: Edmonton

Montreal at BC 

So now we know why Jim Popp signed Jesse Palmer: his "Hollywood star power." Any Argos fan will understand exactly how excited Montrealers must be. After all, the CFL hasn't had this kind of Tinseltown talent since Mike Vanderjagt starred as Tony Danza's foot in The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon.  

Pick: Montreal (just to be different) 

***

Update: We just received news that Pigskin Pete, all 36 years of him, has taken early retirement. Hopefully we had nothing to do with this, or we'll never forgive ourselves.