Rusty's Picks:

Montreal at Toronto:

OOOOooooHHhhhhh NnnnOOoooo!!! It's time for another Jack Todd column, and this one's a doozy. 

So to start, Jack makes the assertion that the U-20 FIFA final should have been held in Montreal and not Toronto and it appears that the thrust of his argument is that the Big O can hold more people the BMO Field. So really, he could have made the same argument put replaced "Big O" with Commonwealth Stadium, BC Place, Rogers Centre or any number of venues. Aside from that point, though, did it ever cross Mr. Todd's mind that maybe playing a game that will be seen worldwide in a 30-year-old decrepit stadium with the distinct possibility (before the tourney opened; I realize that Montreal drew well) that only a few thousand people would show up? 

He follows that by condemning the Toronto Police, since "the frustrated and emotional Chilean players merely wanted to mingle with their fans." Now, most columnists would at least mention the other side of the story. Jack Todd.... not so much. This line of argument would also seem to bolster his claim that Montreal should have gotten the game because athletes never have a problem with the Montreal Police. Right, Mark Estelle?

Anyway, on to the football portion of his column (sorry about the tangent). Todd describes Jim Popp as "a coach who thinks a big Hummer makes a man Vince Lombardi". A couple of things here. 1) couldn't he have used Marv Levy instead of Lombardi? and 2.) This is at least the third time that Todd has brought up Popp's car in the past month. Doing it that frequently means that he either thinks it's "edgy" (it's not) or funny (it's not). 

So how about a comment on how Popp could do better?  Should he be running the ball more, using more fly patterns, what? Jack?.....  Jack? 

Pick: Toronto

Hamilton at Winnipeg:

You may remember that earlier this year the Bombers' Doug Brown trashed the Ti-Cats organization for having subpar facilities for visiting teams. We had been looking forward to hearing about how the Bombers would be exacting revenge, but alas it was not meant to be. Surely they won't mess with visiting foreign dignataries. Cats, you have been saved once again by the presence of Sir James Delgardo.

Pick: Winnipeg

Edmonton at Saskatchewan:

Let's review.  We have an international incident involving athletes, the police and tasers and nobody interviews T.J. Acree about it?  Now you're just making him upset.

Pick: Saskatchewan

BC at Calgary

So it seems that Geroy Simon has been enlisted to help in the fight against cholesterol.  The star power of Wally Buono apparently wasn't cutting it anymore.  While it's a very worth message, I'm sure that BC fans would prefer it if he was instead trying to fight his way to the top of the receiving leaders.  Right now the leader board looks like this:

22. A. Fantuz  160 yards

23. Cholesterol 154 yards

24. G. Simon 145 yards

Pick: BC

A-Rad's Picks:

Montreal at Toronto:

After Rusty's Jack Todd rant, I should probably keep this short and sweet.

So let's just leave it at this. The Als have the son of Walter Payton. The Argos have the son of Larry Smith. I like our odds.  (For the record, I'd like them even better if instead of Brad Smith we had '80s Leaf Brad "Motor City Smitty" Smyth. But the fact that our guy once served as the Als' mascot does help.)  

Pick: Toronto

Hamilton at Winnipeg:

Ticats GM Marcel Desjardins' call for better referees is being interpreted as a complaint about calls against his team so far this season, but I'm thinking it's more of a pre-emptive strike. If the Ticats aren't watching them like hawks, officials might award Milt Stegall a touchdown on a five-yard mid-field screen pass just to put an end to our long national nightmare.

Pick: Winnipeg

Edmonton at Saskatchewan:

Apparently, Andy Fantuz is being demoted this week. This is terrible news if, assuming he was headed for superstardom, you invested in a load of Andy Fantuz bobbleheads.

In other news, there's this. Given the likelihood of Damon Allen coming in to relieve Mike McMahon this week, I kind of cringe when I see stories about CFL players beating up seniors.

Pick: Saskatchewan

BC at Calgary

Let me get this straight. Of all the things that could have motivated the Lions' Grey Cup run last year, it was a couple of Stamps receivers calling Geroy Simon's touchdown celebration "gay"?

That seems insane. But it's also got me a little worried that if this is the sort of thing that motivates football players, our last game diary's references to Anthony Calvillo's "fluttering balls" and what-not may prompt him to go nuts against the Argos.

Pick: Calgary

Bonus pick: 

All of the Argos have been injured in practice, leaving Pinball to play the Als by himself. This being Steelback night, the desperate Als ply Pinball with cool, crisp, libel-free Steelback before the game in hope he'll be too drunk on Frank D'Angelo's delicious brew to compete. How does Pinball do?*

Boatmenblog pick: Pinball 1,462, Als 7. (The Als have clearly forgotten that Pinball is too devout to touch even a beer as scrumptious as Steelback, and their ploy fails miserably. Unfortunately, Steelback Night also comes with halftime entertainment from Frank D'Angelo - or, as we like to call him, "the voice of God" - which leaves Pinball so mesmerized that the Als manage to score a touchdown at the start of the second half as he calls in vain for an encore.)

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