Now with A-Rad picks delivered just before Friday night kickoff. A-Rad likes to make a grand entrance.

Rusty's Picks

BC at Winnipeg

Brendan Taman and Doug Berry basically kicked Troy Westwood out to the curb this week by deciding not to dress him a week after a game-winning field goal. Let's hope that they acted responsibly in disposing of Westwood so that they have a shot at the Bombers' "Recycler of the Game" award.   

Pick: BC

Edmonton at Toronto

Just curious... has there ever been a successful quarterback with the name Stefan?   

Pick: Toronto

Hamilton at Montreal

Als linebacker Timothy Strickland is out for the year, but before going he decided to give some incomprehensible quotes to Herb Zurkowsky about head coach Jim Popp.

"It hasn't been a smooth transition [from Matthews]. (Looks like he didn't like Popp too much - ed). I've embraced Popp (Oh thank God... they hugged it out) but there are different things I haven't seen. (Such as...?) There are things going on that I don't agree with. (Such as...?) Things just don't seem the same. (Like what... is Popp fondling Etienne Boulay's chest? Nothing? Well, that was useful)"

Pick: Hamilton

Saskatchewan at Calgary

Over on the Rider Rumblings blog, Darrell Davis noted that the Riders "consistently call their head coach 'Kent Austin.' Or, just as often, they called him 'Coach Austin.’' It’s rare for one of the Roughriders to refer to their head coach as 'Kent' or 'Austin.' On a team whose players used to call head coach Danny Barrett 'D.B.', this group has never, ever called their first-year head coach 'K.A.' or anything else remotely resembling a nickname. It sounds like they respect him."

There's actually an easier answer here.  When a man has a parking lot named after him, you never, ever give him a nickname. When you go to Disneyworld do you refer to Mickey Mouse as MM?  No, sir. You call him Mr. Mouse and go on your way. 

Pick: Saskatchewan

A-Rad's picks

BC at Winnipeg

There are few things that make me wish I lived in Winnipeg. But I have to admit, there's something appealing about a city in which entire outraged columns can be written about a punter controversy.

Pick: BC

Edmonton at Toronto

In response to whether he's been smoking something if he thinks the Esks can win without Ricky Ray, Danny Maciocia offered the following: "If anybody thinks we're smoking, then so be it. Hopefully, we can line up and smoke our opponents in the next few weeks."

I've obviously watched too many Kevin Smith movies.

Maciocia!   

Pick: Toronto

Hamilton at Montreal

This is almost too much to handle. In the latest Marty York column, our man cites...wait for it...Jack Todd.

Two Boatmenblog legends in one space? All we need now is for Frank D'Angelo to record a duet with Shake Severs, and my head will blow clean off my body.

Pick: Montreal

Admittedly, it's not going to be easy to lure him away from his new career in broadcasting, especially the pre-game buffets. (Although this being the CFL, I'm pretty sure that involves a bag of Cheetos, some warm Steelback and maybe some free Wendy's if it came with the sponsorship deal.) But so long as you accommodate his, um, special requirements, he won't be able to resist. Start with promising a golf cart to take him from the sidelines to the huddle, to prevent him from over-exerting himself jogging in. Hire a couple of extra offensive linemen so he never, ever has to scramble. And reward him with a beer for every first down, which he's allowed to carry with his non-throwing-hand during games.

Granted, that last one may detract slightly from his effectiveness. But I'm pretty sure he'll still be better than Akili Smith. 

Pick: Saskatchewan

Bonus:

All of the Argos have been injured in practice, leaving Pinball to play the Eskimos by himself. To level the odds and to mark Thanksgiving weekend, the Esks bring with them a giant (and pissed-off) turkey to chase Pinball around the field. How does Pinball do?*

Boatmenblog pick: Pinball 1,163, Eskimos and giant, pissed-off turkey 4. (After a quarter of chasing Pinball around, his feathered foe is so exhausted that it collapses in a heap. Up by more than 400 points and knowing the game is well in hand, Pinball takes some time out over the next three quarters to cook the entire crowd a delicious turkey dinner. This accounts for the slow-down in his scoring and Edmonton's ability to cut into his lead with both a field goal and a rouge. But the fans' only complaint is that the Esks didn't bring some giant yams (pissed-off or otherwise) to go with the giant turkey.)

* = Everything we need to know about football analysis, we learned from early '90s SNL sketches.