With the year quickly winding down, we thought we'd steal a page from every media outlet/blogger/writer/drunken New Year's Eve partier and take a look back at some of our favourite people of 2006. Some impressed. Some dazzled. Most just amused, and only occasionally intentionally. Enjoy.

Number 8: The Blue Lightning
No, we do not have pictures from the Regina incident

Prior to starting this site we didn't really pay much attention to the exploits of other cities' dance teams.  So if asked at the start of the year which squad would be featured most prominently on the blog this year, we would have guessed Toronto's own Blue Thunder, or perhaps the Als' cheerleaders. Lesson learned: Never underestimate Central Canada.

In an event that will live on forever in the folklore of the Regina hospitality industry, Winnipeg's Blue Lightning terrorized the patrons of an unsuspecting hotel by singing and occasionally running around topless into the wee hours of prime time. (Unsurprisingly, the title of that blog entry seems to be very popular with the search engines)

Back on their home turf at Grey Cup Week, the Lightning delighted the throngs of inebriated football fans by actually having some fun with their routine and incorporating both football plays (Vegas set the over/under on the number of tight end jokes made during that performance at 200.5) and an unmistakable taunt of Jermaine Copeland and friends with a  fake bobsledding routine. 

Jermaine, we highly encourage you to avoid retaliating until after Danny Mac has retired, because the Lightning's brand of terrorism might very well kill him.

We have to say, it's truly been a banner year for the young ladies who patrol the CFL's sidelines. There was the infamous Howard Stern appearance by the Ticats' Ashley H. and Deanna G. (Sorry, but cheerleaders just shouldn't have last names.) There's the curious double-agent status of Michelle and Lauren. And now, there's this - overly enthusiastic members of the "Blue Lightning" (who really must have a showdown with the Blue Thunder at some point) roaming hotel hallways, terrorizing Roughriders fans with singing, taunting and the occasional bit of toplessness.  

Now, to be honest, we have some doubts as to how wild and crazy these girls really were. For all the talk of "'hootin' and hollerin' into the wee hours," the complainants allege that the girls left their doors open as they got changed to hit the town later that night - which means either Regina is one crazy 24-hour party town, or it wasn't really all that late to begin with.

Nevertheless, we heartily applaud Winnipeg's finest for doing their best to give 'Riders fans a thrill. See, at last year's Riderville party at the Grey Cup, we found ourselves on a balcony watching in awe as a middle-aged Saskatchewanian did his best to curry favour with unsuspecting young women lining up for the nightclub down below. Sadly, his game needed a little work - "I've got my eye on you" isn't really the smoothest pickup line, especially when it comes from a guy sporting a green wig and facepaint and standing next to his very disapproving wife. But it's somehow heartening to know that, when the Bombers cheerleaders are on hand, there are women who actually want that guy's eye on them.

For the record, it's 67 days until Grey Cup festivities begin. In Winnipeg. Just saying. 

We have to be honest: We're having a little trouble mustering our usual level of excitement for this Saturday's Argos-Ticats tilt, since it promises to be the ugliest thing on a football field since Sinbad's role in Necessary Roughness. Or at least, we were having trouble getting excited. Then we noticed the sort of subplot on which great century-old rivalries thrive. And as an added bonus, it's got sex appeal - not exactly the sort of thing we associate with visits to Ivor Wynne.

It's got intrigue. It's got betrayal. It's got divided loyalties. And best of all, it's got cheerleaders.

As of last year, Michelle and Lauren were happily shaking it for the Blue Thunder (the Argos' dance team, not the terrible Steelback beer briefly named after it). Lauren, legend has it, was even dating former Argo Kris Aiken. But then the Ticats hired away Argos cheerleader coach Leslie Stewart, who's admittedly worked out much better than some of Hamilton's other new coaches...not least because she brought a couple of defectors with her along the QEW.

That's right - Michelle and Lauren are now full-fledged members of The Prowl. Now, we could be unkind and point out that since Hamilton appears to be where Argos cheerleaders go to die, or at least grow out of appropriate cheerleader age, The Prowl (who we swear to God we used to think were called The Scratch) should really be rechristened The Cougars. But we won't, because we haven't lost faith in these girls just yet.

Now, um, here's where things are going to get weird. Because we're going to tell you that Michelle, despite her purported excitement over "all the duties that come with being a Ticats Cheerleader" (whatever that means), is still driving a car with an Argos licence plate.

And you're going to ask yourself how we know this, and contemplate whether we're stalking cheerleaders outside Ivor Wynne. And we're going to tell you to never mind how we got this information (which, before you call the cops on us, really was from a source) and just think about the possibilities.

It's late in the fourth quarter of a tight (possibly scoreless) game, and The Prowl emerge to the strains of one of those '80s tunes Ticats fans can't get enough of (probably The Final Countdown). But just as things are getting too hot for Hamiltonians to handle, Michelle and Lauren rip off those weird catsuit-like things to reveal something skimpy and double-blue.

You think Hamilton hates Mike O'Shea? Just watch them try to deal with this. Of course, knowing our luck this season, it's more likely that the only defector tearing off a Ticats uniform to reveal something skimpy and double-blue will be Marc Pilon. But we can dream.