Corey Grant
CFL.ca
Wow! What a weekend for the West Division. What a way to welcome October and the final month of the CFL regular season. This year has been full of surprises, but the one constant has been the parity in the West Division with Saskatchewan, Calgary, and BC tied for first place and Edmonton just two points behind. The race for first place in the West intensifies with only four weeks left in the regular season.
The month of October is a month filled with exciting events such as the start of hockey season, baseball playoffs, the Presidential race in the US, the premiere of the new fall TV season, Thanksgiving, Halloween and the Canadian Election, which is only a few days away.
I say forget about candy, turkey, debates, other sporting events or how close the race for President of the USA is, or whether Canada will have a majority or minority government, because those things have nothing on the only thing that should matter which is: What team will finish first, second, third or fourth in the CFL’s tightly contested West Division.
Now, this is a real race worth watching and nobody is asking you to vote or listen to grown folks arguing back and forth (okay maybe just the panel of critics) or make a decision that could determine your country’s economic position for the next few years. The only things I ask is that you tune in and watch this unedited, unscripted reality show that will take place over the entire month of October as the Hunt for October’s Champion in the West is established.
In sports there are no guarantees or “give me” games on the schedule and with only four games left in the regular season each team in the West Division controls its own destiny. Each team plays an opponent from the West and will have an opportunity to distance itself from the pack and the only way to make sure you’re on the positive end is to focus on YOUR job and win each of YOUR remaining games.
Losing a game could result in the classic “if, then scenarios” saying, “well, IF they win, THEN we’ll finish… or IF we win, THEN they’ll finish…” and no team wants to be doing that anytime soon. At the end of the season, you also don’t want to be looking back at the month of October and thinking to yourself “WHAT IF”.
Now is the time to take control and avoid looking back, because the hottest team going into the playoffs has the best chance of winning the Grey Cup and there is no better time to start heating things up then in the cold month of October (flurries this week in Regina).
October is here and each team in the West has to do whatever it takes to make sure they’re the team that comes out on top of the division. So, I say to the sports fans, hold onto your clicker and tune in to the final weeks of the CFL regular season because anything can happen, and most likely will, and you don’t want to miss any of the drama as it unfolds.
Prepare yourself for the conclusion of the WILD WILD WEST!!
Corey Grant is a 10 year CFL veteran who has played with the Ti-Cats, Alouettes and, for the last 7 seasons, the Roughriders. A Stoney Creek, Ont. native, Corey has won Grey Cups in 1999 and 2007. He was named the East Division Outstanding Rookie in 1999.
