So I'm pretty sure that A-Rad has taken off for a well deserved trip to Europe, so unless he's planning on updating this post from over there, I think you're stuck with just me this week.  Also to our European based readers, if you see a man in a Clifford Ivory jersey desperately trying to find a TV on Thursday night, please try to at least humour him.

Rusty's Picks

Toronto at Montreal

I don't get this at all.  I've sent letters.  I've written e-mails.  I staged a silent protest for two weeks outside of their headquarters.  Why won't CBC just relent and finally air the movie The Ballad of Ricky Foggie?

 Pick: Toronto

Saskatchewan at BC

While these two seemingly play every week, at least there's something controversial or entertaining about each of the games.  In the last three years we've had the manure incident, Wally deciding to play for a rouge in an overtime game, and Fred Perry possibly ending Dave Dickenson's career.  What can we expect this week?  I'm going to go with something involving Riders' fan "The Flame" and the BC Place roof.  That thing hasn't taken enough abuse this year.

Pick: BC

Winnipeg at Hamilton

Here's what I don't get about Doug Brown venting about the cold showers in the Ivor Wynne Stadium visitors locker room... If you go directly to Bob Young, he might actually do something about it, whereas if you complain in a public forum... well let's just say that Hamilton fans are the most likely fans in the league to actually provide him with a warm shower.

Pick: Winnipeg

Calgary at Edmonton

Probably not the best game in Edmonton history last week.  But look on the bright side Eskimos' fans as long as this week's game is all about clichés and believing, then this one is a lock.  Keep in mind, these are all quotes from Eskimos personnel in one article by the Sun's Jonathan Huntington:

"Gotta Believe To Achieve" (at least it makes more sense than the title of D'Angelo's album)

"Get mind right. Flush the weekend. Get better as a group today."

"It is called believing in one another and having faith in the guy you are going to line up next to."

"If you lose, don't lose the lesson"

You know, I'm just going to stop, there's about 50 more of these things. Anything about putting in new schemes or trying new personnel?  OK, good luck then.

Pick: Edmonton (if they lose, I won't lose the lesson)

Bonus Pick:

All of the Argos have been injured in practice, leaving Pinball to play the Als by himself and Jim Popp has concocted a dastardly plan to weave his long luxurious hair into a wall that blocks the end zone. How does Pinball do?*

Boatmenblog pick: Pinball 744, Als 0. (While Pinball admitedly is mesmerized by the hair for a brief period of time, we regains his senses and speeds through the wall with enough force to set it ablaze. The resulting smell of singed hair hovers over Montreal for the following eight years.)

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