GA Russell Posted November 11 Report Posted November 11 (edited) It's that time of year again! It's time for the annual Grey Cup contest. Past winners have included Noj (twice), indestructible, Bright Moments, brownie, paul secor, Soulstation1, danasgoodstuff, B. Clugston (twice), ejp626 (twice), BFrank (three times), kh1958 and Big Al. ***** 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: 1) If you live in the US or Canada, your prize will be a surprise package of jazz CDs, jazz books or Canadian football books! 2) If you live anywhere else, your prize will be a $20 Amazon gift card! ***** The contest deadline: Sunday Nov. 17, 6:00 pm eastern ***** The Grey Cup Final: The Grey Cup is awarded to the world champion of what I think is the greatest game in the world, Canadian-style rugby football. That is to say, the champion of the Canadian Football League. The Grey Cup was first awarded in 1909. They have played for it every year since then, except three years because of World War One and 2020 because of the covid virus. Therefore, this year's game will be the 111th Grey Cup Final. Fans from throughout Canada will attend the game in Vancouver, British Columbia. The game is nearly sold out. BC Place is a domed stadium, so weather will not be a factor. This year's game will see the Eastern champion Toronto Argonauts face the Western champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Winnipeg has been the powerhouse of the league since 2019. They won the Grey Cup in 2019 and 2021. They lost their first four games this year, but have lost only one game since July 27. Their two losses since then (July 27 and October 11) were both to Toronto! They finished first in the West at 11-7. The Bombers' quarterback is Zach Collaros, who will set a record by being the only quarterback to start five consecutive Grey Cup Finals. (Collaros's college roommate was Taylor Swift's boyfriend Travis Kelce.) Bombers running back Brady Oliveira was voted the Most Outstanding Player in the West. They also have the excellent receiver Kenny Lawler. The Argos finished second in the East with a 10-8 record. They then defeated both Ottawa and Montreal in the playoffs. The Argos' quarterback Chad Kelly broke his leg Saturday in the Eastern Final! So the Argos will start their seldom-used backup Nick Arbuckle, who has bounced around the league since 2017. Arbuckle has played very little the past two years, but when he has, he has looked terrific. The Argos have two excellent receivers, DaVaris Daniels and Damonte Coxie. Their running back Ka'Deem Carey is one of the best, and their kick returner Janarion Grant was voted Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in the East. Vancouver is on the west coast, so I expect most of the fans present to root for Winnipeg (the Western representative). However, many fans are tired of seeing the Bombers win so much, so some westerners may cheer for the Argos. Today the Bombers are 10.5 point favorites. You can watch the news unfold on the CFL thread. ***** The game will be televised live worldwide (except in Canada and the US) for free on the league's website, cfl.ca, starting at 6:00 pm eastern Sunday. https://www.cfl.ca/plus [Edit to add: In Canada, the game will be on CTV, TSN and RDS. In the US, the game will be on the CBS Sports Network cable channel, which can be streamed on Hulu and YouTubeTV, and is shown by sports bars with the DirectTV sports package.] You can listen to the game here: http://www.tsn.ca/radio (To listen to the game, you will need to sign up with I Heart Radio first. So you might want to plan ahead to do that.) ***** Good luck everyone! ***** Here's my pick: I expect the Bombers to dominate every aspect of the game. But I like Arbuckle, and I would like to see him win a Grey Cup as a starter. So I'm going to be rooting for the Argos. TORONTO - 50 points Edited November 12 by GA Russell Quote
BFrank Posted November 11 Report Posted November 11 Alright ... it's GO TIME! -> Bombers - 65 points (you still have my address, right? 😁🏈) Quote
GA Russell Posted November 11 Author Report Posted November 11 Edit OP to include Canada and US television information. Quote
GA Russell Posted November 12 Author Report Posted November 12 (edited) Edit OP to correct date and player information. Edited November 12 by GA Russell Quote
GA Russell Posted November 12 Author Report Posted November 12 Today Winnipeg is a 9.5 point favorite. Quote
GregK Posted November 13 Report Posted November 13 looks like I'll have to go with Toronto, 60! Quote
GA Russell Posted November 14 Author Report Posted November 14 I have good news for those of us in the US. The CBS Sports Network is carried by a streaming service called FuboTV, and FuboTV offers a free trial. https://www.fubo.tv/welcome ***** If you take a look at the OP of the 2007 contest, you will see that the situation was similar to this year's The starting quarterback was injured in the Eastern Final, and a rarely used back-up was called upon to start the Grey Cup Final. What's interesting is that the 2007 quarterback making his first start as a pro was Ryan Dinwiddie, the current head coach of the Argos who are facing the same situation! Of course, the Argos' back-up is the veteran Nick Arbuckle. Dave Naylor has a few words about that. https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video/dropping-back-with-dave-arbuckle-dinwiddie-share-similar-paths-t~3028280 Quote
GA Russell Posted November 14 Author Report Posted November 14 Here's what's left: Winnipeg anything 30 and below anything 70 and above Toronto anything except 50 and 60 Quote
GA Russell Posted November 14 Author Report Posted November 14 5 hours ago, kh1958 said: Toronto 50 kh, Toronto - 50 is already taken. Please take another. For Toronto, 25 or below; 65 or above; or 35, 40 or 45. Quote
GA Russell Posted November 16 Author Report Posted November 16 Today the Bombers are 8.5 point favorites. Quote
GA Russell Posted November 18 Author Report Posted November 18 Final score... Toronto 41....Winnipeg 24 total points - 65 Our winner, with Toronto - 60, is GregK! Congratulations Greg! This is your first win! Please DM me your address, and I'll get your prize right out to you. Thanks for playing everybody! Quote
danasgoodstuff Posted November 18 Report Posted November 18 What a crazy game. That was Toronto's QB's first ever playoff game. Spent most of his life as a backup, all the way back to high school. So many interceptions, but not on him - on the Blue Bomber's experienced QB. Quote
ejp626 Posted November 18 Report Posted November 18 I was hoping Toronto would pull it off, so I decided the best thing to do would be to pull for the Bombers instead, as my sports bets never pay off... 😉 Anyway, way to go, Argos! Quote
GregK Posted November 19 Report Posted November 19 20 hours ago, GA Russell said: Final score... Toronto 41....Winnipeg 24 total points - 65 Our winner, with Toronto - 60, is GregK! Congratulations Greg! This is your first win! Please DM me your address, and I'll get your prize right out to you. Thanks for playing everybody! Cool! I really wanted to pick Winnipeg since most Toronto teams make my stomach turn, but nice to see they came through for me this one time! Yep, my first win, I think I've participated in this every year you've offered it, so this is nice. See you next year! Quote
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