O2L

While it's extremely hard to feel excited these days (I used to jump out of bed on game day and have trouble falling asleep the night before, not so much anymore), I can't help but think of the underperforming BC Lions that started 0-5 and turned their team around when everyone had written them off. I'm not positive, but wasn't that actually the 2011 team that won the cup? We started off 8-1 and went on a losing streak to fall backwards into the big game and they started off 0-5 then finished strong? Or am I confusing seasons? Regardless, that team played terribly for five games then turned it around. I'm not saying we'll do the same, but knowing that it's happened in recent history is about the only straw I have left to grasp.

Pretty scared to see what Simoni Lawrence does against our oline and slow release QB.

Montreal has a better roster over all, Sask has a better head coach. So it comes down to a coach getting his players to play beyond their abilities (Sask), or players to show well despite a poor head coach (Montreal). I expect Montreal to do better than Sask because you can't draw water from a stone. Sask got weaker during free agency, not stronger. I wouldn't be surprised to see Montreal finish second or third in the east, I'd be shocked if Sask is anywhere higher than the bottom in the west.

Andrew Harris please and thanks.

Oh I thought I had, but Shaw let me down. I even called them two more times talking to different reps hoping I'd convince one of them to bump me up earlier. Offered them cash to expedite the process!

I just moved and Shaw isn't coming until Sunday, so I need somewhere to go watch the game. What's everyone's plans?

Bowman

Tried PMing you but it said that you cannot receive new messages, not sure if you're inbox is full. Regardless, here's what I've got: Here are my picks: Winnipeg (if you don't want to include it, I understand, but we are down by 7 right now. I've picked Winnipeg every single game and always will as I don't pick against the Bombers). Edmonton Hamilton Saskatchewan Toronto

I was out of internet the last several days and didn't get my picks in, now it won't let me even for the games that aren't the Bomber game. Can I get you my picks for the non-Winnipeg game at least?

Wow, almost missed this week. Martell Mallett it is!

Andrew Harris

Walker

Got my brand new early 90s era Bolden jersey waiting for me when I get there tonight! Can't wait to see Randle do his best Bolden impression.

Shame on all of you picking Bowman! How's this for an out of left field... ROMBYYYYY BRYYYYANNNNT!!!

What can I say? I've been waiting all week for this, and technically it's game day now! Is anyone else oddly excited to watch an away game? I feel like the first two games at home were electric and gave the boys extra incentive to play hard. I'm curious to see how they perform in an opposing stadium. Low scoring game with a strong ALS defence. WPG 24 - MTL 13

A tight spiral, that is not.

Chad Owens

Was very much thinking of putting Calgary at #1, so don't accuse me of having blue coloured glasses, but I watched every game so far this season, and ignoring last year, Winnipeg has looked like the strongest team thus far. It's just hard to ignore the facts, I'm happy to say that two weeks in, we really do look that good (relative to everyone else). Winnipeg - Completely dominated TO from start to finish in week one, a team that most of us agree is in the top half of the league (and destroyed another top half team), and the favourite to win the east, with special teams being the only blemish. Week two the offence and defence got off to a slow start, but was able to calmly come from behind against an OTT team that looks to be pretty solid with an all-star QB. And despite the flash of brilliance on the Demond Washington kick return TD, we still won by eight points, meaning that without the six from his TD (missed two-point convert), we're still up by two when the final bell rings. Drew Willy has looked substantially better than all of the other young QBs in his two starts, throwing only two bad passes (the two picks) in two games, and I would argue the first INT wasn't a bad pass, just a very athletic play by the defender. Calgary - Beat a basement dweller in Montreal, and with the exception of a blown coverage fifty yard pitch and catch that turn to 100 yards after the run, neither team looked all that good in this game. BLM threw plenty of questionable passes, and if it wasn't for Troy Smith being totally inept and unable to get the ball within five yards of wide open receivers, this game isn't nearly the blow out that it was. Toronto - While they were dominated by Winnipeg, they still put up decent offensive numbers, and their special teams came to play. They followed that game up with a statement trouncing of the defending champs to a lofty home town crowd of 17k. Saskatchewan - Beat up the terrible ti-cats, but did it in convincing fashion in weather conditions that most people wouldn't let their dog out in. I think that Sask wins that game no matter who they were playing that day, simply based on their ability to not be impacted by the terrible weather. Follow that up with a stinker worse than any of the week one blowouts in Toronto, but at least it was against a decent team. Edmonton - Sure, they've won two games, but they barely won either of those games, and both were against the two basement dwellers of the league, and Hamilton still had the chance to win with their third QB and zeros on the clock. Ottawa - The RedBlacks looked substantially better than any of the teams below them on this list, even in a loss. I believe that they would have beaten any of Montreal, BC, or Hamilton in this game. Montreal - Only here because the next two teams are that much worse. Troy Smith is a lesser version of Michael Bishop, and I didn't know that was possible. This team won in spite of how bad their QB is. BC / Hamilton - Very tough to position these two as they both were blown out one game, and narrowly lost to the same Edmonton team. On the one hand, Kevin Glenn basically gave Edmonton their win, but then, Hamilton kind of did the same thing, even missing a chance to steal it back on the last play of the game. On the other hand, for as bad as Glenn is looking, QB carousels just don't work (as we very clearly proved here over the last two years), and Hamilton looks like they're well on their way to having one. Both of their O-lines look atrocious, so that's a wash. Add to that the challenge of Hamilton now being homeless, and I give the slightest of slight edges to BC – but really, this one is a draw.

Where are the seats?

Agreed that our oline has looked good. The sacks last game were coverage sacks or due to Grigsby not picking up the extra guy. Willy had plenty of time to get rid of the ball on several of those sacks.

Theoretically speaking, you would click on the drop down list next to your name in the top right of the screen & click manage Ignore Prefs. On the next page you would then type in the user name you no longer wish to be trolled by & select your options for ignoring accordingly. Save the changes and you are done. Many thanks. What a wonderful, wonderful function. BRB gotta go tell the wife when she's allowed to ovulate.

Quick question, just popped into my head reading through this thread: I seem to recall an "ignore" function being added to the board at some point (unless I'm mistaken). Can someone give me a quick crash course on how to use that functionality? i.e. let's just say, for example, of course, I wanted to ignore/never see...oh, I don't know...every post by the OP of this thread. What might I click on to make that happen? Just in theory...of course.

And I'm on the other side of things. I missed so many games being out of town on business on weekends last year and these Thursday games have saved me. Gone to a weekend-long wedding tomorrow, weekend-long bachelor party the day after the Edmonton game, and another weekend-long wedding Aug 1-3 (though July 31 is an away game, but I'd still have to miss it if it was during the weekend). These Thursday games have saved me from having to choose between football and all of my idiot friends that keep getting married. Or rather, they've saved my friends from not having to find another groomsman.

Very fun read, please keep sharing pieces like this. It's cool to have you here, ubbullrun. I think it's great that you're so passionate about your players that you follow their careers!

After being out of town for five games last year, I *almost* didn't renew my seasons. So glad I didn't make that mistake! GO BLUE!!