Blue Bombers Blog

With three weeks to go we are neck and neck in a fight for 05. Being a slight increase so far by an average of 27. Currently three teams are ahead of last year, Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Toronto. The Riders have pulled ahead nicely after a slow start. Of the remaining teams only Montreal can surpass last year with the Olympic stadium crowd in the last home game and which has to exceed last years of 51,269. As for Calgary even if they sellout they will fall slightly below last year.

WEEK 17

current game(year ave. to date)— 05 game (year ave after same time)

7/8 HOME DATES, FROM HIGHEST TO LOWEST

1. Edmonton 36,406 8HD Ave.(38,078) —

2005: 53,216 (41,446) Difference: -3,368

2. BC 32,232 7HD Ave.(30,547) —

2005: 34,711 (32,128) Difference: -1,581

3. Calgary 31,539 8HD Ave.(30,425) —

2005: 29,490 (31,301) Difference: - 876

4. Toronto 26,891 7 HD Ave.(28,379) —

2005: 24,886 (28,223) Difference: + 156

5. Hamilton 24,163 8HD Ave.(27,010) —

2005: 26,912 (28,113) Difference: -1,103

6. Winnipeg 28,028 8HD Ave.(26,600) —

2005: 22,323 (24,425) Difference: +2,175

7. Sask 27,894 8HD Ave.(25,288) —

2005: 26,900 (25,036) Difference: + 252

8. Montreal 20,202 8HD Ave.(20,202) —

2005: 20,202 (20,202) Difference: Unchanged

LEAGUE AVE. 06/ 62 games 28,065

05/ 69 games 28,038 Difference: + 27

TOP 5 CROWDS:

Edmonton(Cal) 47,965

Edmonton(Cal) 40,491

Edmonton(Sas) 39,599

Edmonton(Win) 37,611

Edmonton(Ham) 36,406

WORST 5 CROWDS:

Note, excluding Montreal due to continuous sellout and small stadium.

Sask (BC) 21,082

Sask (Ham) 22,820

Sask (Cal) 23,107

Winn (Edm) 23,521

Sask (Cal) 23,942

The Toronto Argonauts earned a trip to the CFL playoffs on Thanksgiving Monday. But it wasn’t easy.

Three weeks left in the regular schedule- Saskatchewan still has third spot in the Western Division, four points ahead of Edmonton. BUT, there still remains the possibility of the Riders crapping out the next couple of weeks with the Eskies winning both of their games, resulting in a very interesting TSN Friday Night match on October twentieth. Do you think it will come down to the final game at Commonwealth? If so, do you think the Eskimos will do the impossible and snatch the final western play-off berth from their wheat head counterparts? OR, do the Eskimos win their final three games while Winnipeg bombs their remaining games leaving Edmonton with the crossover to the East…?

Sorry for the lack of postings, folks. A death in the family and a memorial service last week took a big bite out of the bye…

Tuesday should make for an interesting day over in Bomberland, what with the team returning from the bye and with Charles Roberts certain to be hounded by the media for an explanation on his apparent posting on OurBombers.com that he plans to retire after this season. We’ll be interested in his take and that from the club. We’ll also keep an eye out for the return to health of a number of Bombers and for an update from Milt Stegall, who is expected to miss this Sunday’s game in Hamilton but could return a week later vs. Calgary.

Thanksgiving Monday was good/bad for the Bombers. The wins by Toronto and Montreal pushed them both two full wins ahead of the locals and all but makes it impossible for them to finish first or play host to a postseason game. That said, their home record has been so awful this year - 3-5 - that might not be such a bad thing.

The good news is Toronto’s win buried the Eskimos, now 5-10, further behind the Bombers while Saskatchewan’s loss to the Als keeps them down in the possible crossover playoff scenario.

Finally, a farewell to John Bayly - a long-time Bomber fan who love to spin tales to me about sneaking into Osborne Stadium and also debate the latest goings-on with the club. He was a diehard and his opinions were valued and will be missed. We’re sure he’ll be keeping tabs on the team from above.

Cheers

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. What time am I speaking about?

It’s time to put up or shut up. Don’t talk about it, be about it. (I must admit I stole that from Alfred Payton.)

So what makes you think it will be fun?

Well just think about it… at this time in the two previous years most guys on the team were either talking about how they could get a cheap flight home or wondering if they had played well enough to be asked back for the following year.

But now we are in a position — not, mind you, the position we would like to be in — that actually means something.

Now I know some of you are expecting me to comment on our last game, but a theory I like to live by is “leave the past in the past”. So that is what I going to do.

It’s time to move on and concern ourselves with matters we can control, and that is the last 1/6 of the season.

So what do we need to do to make the playoffs?

I had to go into rocket scientist mode and borrow another piece of knowledge from the great Dave Ritchie and this is what I came up with… H2O-24+(x)/1=win.

It’s that simple, win and were in. And it starts with our next game in Steeltown. Beating a team with no chance of making the post-season can be a lot more difficult than taking on a team with a chance, because they will try anything and everything. They have nothing to lose.

So don’t give up on us… and talk to you soon.

God bless,
Milt Stegall

If the sudden departure of Don Matthews was a distraction this week, the Montreal Alouettes didn’t show it on Monday afternoon.

CBC News - … by defeating Winnipeg last week and can clinch their 11th consecutive playoff berth with a win over the Riders. Despite their late-season skid, the Alouettes remain tied with the Argonauts for first place in the East division, with the Blue Bombers …

Edmonton Sun - Understandably, the Winnipeg media has tried to find Roberts for days to confirm if he actually posted the short message, but haven’t been successful. With the Blue Bombers idle last week, he isn’t required to show his face to the …

Doug Berry has quashed any concern that Winnipeg Blue Bombers slotback Milt Stegall will miss the rest of the regular season with a knee injury.