CONTEST: 2011 Grey Cup game

[GA Russell]

It's that time of year again! It's time for the annual Grey Cup contest.

(Past winners have included Noj (twice), brownie, indestructible and Bright Moments.)

Here are the rules:

1) Pick the winning team.

2) Pick the number of total points scored by both teams (aka the tiebreaker).

Since approximately half of us will pick the winning team, picking the total points is necessary to win the contest. Your total points prediction must be a number which is a multiple of five (5).

The winning tiebreaker will be the one closest to the correct answer. If two are equally close, the winner will be the lower pick.

If two people pick the same thing, the first to make the pick will be the winner.

THE PRIZE: A $17.00 Mosaic Records Gift Certificate, good for both Mosaic and True Blue records. The $17.00 represents one CD of a Mosaic box set.

Deadline: kickoff, Sunday Nov. 27, 6:30 pm eastern.

*****

The Grey Cup game: The Grey Cup is awarded to the world champion of what I think is the greatest game in the world, Canadian rules football. That is to say, the champion of the Canadian Football League.

This year's game will see the Western champion British Columbia Lions host the Eastern champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The location of the game is chosen years in advance. This year's game will be played in Vancouver, the home of the Lions. You can expect that there will be many more Lions fans there than Bomber fans, but fans from throughout the country travel to the Grey Cup, so fans from the East will be rooting for the Bombers. The roof of BC Place will be closed, and the crowd noise should help the Lions.

BC lost its first five games, but have won 11 of its last 12 games. Winnipeg won its first 7 (I think), but have played sub .500 ball since then. Because BC has been so hot over the last 12 weeks, I have to pick them to win. But Winnipeg is a sentimental favorite because they had the worst record in the league last year, and it would be nice to see someone go from worst to first.

The game's kickoff will be at 6:30 pm eastern, so that time has been designated the deadline for this contest.

You can listen to the game here:

http://www.am770chqr.com/index.aspx

(To listen to the game, you will need Windows Media Player which you can download for free. So you might want to plan ahead if you don't already have it.)

You can study articles analyzing the upcoming game as well as articles about the season as it unfolded in the CFL thread, which I will be updating during the course of this week.

Good luck!

Here's my pick:

British Columbia - 50 points

[paul secor]

I'll go with BC and 55.

[GA Russell]

Another reason that the Bombers should be the sentimental favorite is that they are on the longest drought in the league. They haven't won the Grey Cup since (I think) 1991.

[Bright Moments]

I'll try BC and 45 please!

[JohnJ]

BC and 50 points.

[Van Basten II]

BC 40

[Noj]

BC and 60 points.

JohnJ, you might want to adjust your total points as it is the same as what GA Russell picked.

[danasgoodstuff]

Winnepeg 55

[B. Clugston]

B.C. 35. Go Lions!

[Indestructible!]

I absolutely HATE the Lions, but...

Lions and 65 points (there's no way the Bombers will score much, but this is the lowest total score left).

If the Lions choke this one away, will the city riot again???

[GregK]

Winnipeg, 60.

Funny that Winnipeg, a city on the prairies, is representing the EAST.

[papsrus]

Winnipeg and 50.

[Chuck Nessa]

Birmingham.

[GA Russell]

I now see that ESPN3.com will carry the game.

Chuck, it so happens that back in '95 I went to a couple of Birmingham Barracudas games, including one where they hosted the Edmonton Eskimos with Gizmo Williams. My recollection is that their attendance was great during the summer, but fell off to near-zero once the Crimson Tide started playing.

[JohnJ]

BC and 60 points.

JohnJ, you might want to adjust your total points as it is the same as what GA Russell picked.

So he did!

In that case, Winnipeg and 45.

[GA Russell]

Here's a tip for those who haven't entered yet. Winnipeg had the best defense in the league. They gave themselves the name of "Swaggerville".

The tiebreaker picks have been on the high side so far, and a lower guess might be a winner.

[Big Al]

Winnipeg 35

Hey, if the Wild Card St. Louis Cardinals can win this year's World Series....

[Hardbopjazz]

I will go with BC total score of 30

Edited November 22, 2011 by Hardbopjazz

[GA Russell]

Hardbopjazz, your tiebreaker needs to be a multiple of 5. For BC, that would currently be below 35 or above 65.

[felser]

Don't know if you are old enough to remember a great (Hall of Fame great) CFL quarterback named Condredge Holloway. He and I were on the same community league football team in Huntsville, Alabama in 1966. Won the City Championship in 1966, totally due to his vast superiority over every other player in the league. I was a benchwarmer, and that was my only year in organized football. I did play organized baseball (poorly) for several years.

[GA Russell]

felser, I saw Condredge Holloway play for the Ottawa Rough Riders (RIP)! He alternated with another Hall of Fame quarterback, Tom Clements of Notre Dame. Neither was second string; they both were given about equal time.

[kh1958]

Winnipeg and 25.

Edited November 23, 2011 by kh1958

[ejp626]

Is Winnepeg and 40 still left? If so, I'll take that. BC does have a habit of choking in the big games.

[mjzee]

Wow. I don't follow sports in general, so Canadian Rules Football adds an impressive extra layer of obscurity. I don't suppose I can vote for Wolverhampton Wanderers (who beat Lester 3-1)? OK, OK, I'm an underdog kinda guy, so I'll say Winnipeg and 20.

[king ubu]

What's this all about? Been invited by GA, but the only thing I do understand in here is the bit about the Mosaic gift certificate, so just hand me that one and you all deal with the rest, okay?