2011 Grey Cup - The Winner is

At Click on Other we feel obliged to call this Sunday’s Annual Classic.  Unlike those toffee-nosed so-called experts who look at matchups, individual performances, team chemistry and other variables we do it differently by taking an historical approach to prognosticating and find:.

The Home Field Advantage Doesn’t Really Exist. 

In the modern era of the CFL – the home team has won seven times; the visitors six.

Historical Advantage

Winnipeg has won this season ending contest ten times; nine times as the Blue Bombers; once (1935), in an historic first for the West, as the Pegs.  Les Colombie-Britanniques have triumphed a mere five times although it must be said that they didn’t join the league until 1954 shortly after the transcontinental railway was pushed through to the left coast. On the other hand Winnipeg teams (including the 1925 Tammany Tigers one point effort) dropped ten Grey Cups before B.C joined the league and have gone down to defeat six times since then.

But Winnipeg is Undefeated in B.C. Stadiums in the Classic

The Blue Bombers toppled the Ti-Cats at Empire Stadium in 1958 and the Eskimos in 1990 at B.C. Place.  (Note: They averaged 42.5 points in these wins.)  Significantly, the Lions have never beaten a real (i.e.,) CFL opponent at home.  We don’t count the defeat of ‘94 Baltimore Stallions (or were they the CFLers?)  at B.C.  Place.  Against real competition they fell to Hamilton (63) at Empire Stadium and Toronto (90) at B.C Place.  Every other current CFL franchise has won le Coupe Grey in the Rainy City.

Head to Head

Winnipeg 1 -  B.C.  zero.  That one happened in 1988 at Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park.

NHL Connection

When the Edmonton Oilers came into the league in 79 the Edmonton Eskimos won the Grey Cup.  In 1927 when the Toronto Make Believes commenced their NHL journey a Toronto team (Balmy Beach Beachers) won the Grey Cup over the Tigers of Hamilton.  The Oilers and the Eskimos both prevailed in 1987, the Canadiens and the Alouettes in 1977 – call it the Canadian Double.  The Argos 1950 Cup victory was followed a few months later with the Leafs capturing Stanley’s silverware.  In a similar way, Ottawa’s footballing Senators Grey/ Stanley double went down in 26-27 when their hockey namesakes won in 1927.

Lotusland’s last hockey win was in 1915!!

Winnipeg joined the NHL this year.   Need I say more?

History leans to Portage and Main.  It will be Winnipeg 22 and B.C.  21 - the same score as 1988.

Canadian Reid wins again

Sportswriters get excited when a professional sports team repeats a championship.

So I think the efforts of Newmarket’s Sheila Reid need to get more attention than two sentences in today’s Toronto Star.

Yesterday Ms. Reid, a senior at Villanova University in Philadelphia, captured her second straight NCAA cross country title at the Wabash Valley Sports Centre in Terre Haute Indiana.

Reid was apparently down by 2 strides with 100 metres to go but came from behind to best Oregon’s Jordan Hasay by .6 seconds in the 6,000 metre race.
Has any Canadian athlete had as phenomenal a record in NCAA competitions?

In addition to this NCAA cross country double, Reid was a double champ at the outdoor championships this past June winning the 1,500 and 5,000.  At the 2011 Indoors meet she led Villanova to victory in the Distance Medley Relay and finished second to Hasay in the 3,000.

Reid told the Associated Press:

"It is very satisfying to win my last collegiate cross country race.  I still have an outdoor season but coming in here as the defending champion I really wanted to finish cross country on a strong note and win the individual title again. It may sound trite but I love to win and after college the opportunities to race in cross country are limited."

The 22 year old attended Sacred Heart Catholic in Newmarket.

Way to go Sheila Reid!!

More on her accomplishments can be found at http://www.villanova.com/sports/w-track/mtt/reid_sheila00.html 

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It's Logical(?) - Tiger Cats to Win on Sunday

Based purely on history the Tiger Cats chances of defeating the Alouettes at the Big Owe this coming Sunday are slim at best.

The Alouettes, who joined the league in 1946, have a stellar record in recent years having captured the last two Grey Cups and eight of their last twelve playoff games.  It should be noted though that two of those losses were in semi-finals.

The Tiger Cats came into the league when the ORFU Tigers merged with the Hamilton Wildcats of the Interprovincial Rugby Union. Simultaneous with the merger the wearing of helmets was made mandatory in 1950.  

The  Hamilton squad have lost three straight semis and have recorded four straight road losses in these November battles with their last road victory in this match (which typically, but not always, pits the second and third best Eastern conference teams) coming over  the Ottawa Roughriders in 1985.  Remember 1985?  Brian “You had an Option Sir” Mulroney was barely into his second year as our Prime Minister and future CFL star Doug Flutie (not tall enough for the NFL)  was toiling in the US Football League for the New Jersey Generals.

Looking at  head to head in records in semi-finals the Montrealers  were home victors in '75 (35- 12), '78 (35 -20), and '96 (22 -11) – that last one coming when Als QB Anthony Calvillo was clad in Black and Gold.  As the Concordes they prevailed 17 -11 in a 1984 match in the Ambitious City.

Perhaps Hamilton fans came take some solace from a 1966 two game total point semi-final win played at McGill and Ivor Wynne - but that was 45 years ago.  

A Remembrance Day home victory in 2001 stands as the Tiger Cats’ last playoff success and provides some sort of shaky rationale for my call of a Hamilton win this Sunday. 

My logic: How can any team go more than ten years not winning a playoff game in a league where six of eight teams make the playoffs?

It will be 38 - 34.