The 101st Grey Cup kicks off today at 6pm EST in Regina at Mosaic Stadium, and there are a lot of excited people in Southern Ontario and Saskatchewan.
I won’t lie, there’s still a big part of me that wonders what the hell happened last Sunday at the Rogers Centre when the Argos were up 24-10 at halftime and looked like they were ready to head to the prairies to defend their CFL Championship. But, that ship has sailed and now we look at the Roughriders vs Tiger-Cats match-up for the chance to raise the Grey Cup as the CFL’s best in 2013.
Before we get to my pick for the win and some props, let’s take a look at the weather because it is going to matter. The Weather Network shows that Regina is currently sitting at about -2 degrees Celsius, feeling like -8 with the wind. The evening forecast, the one that really matters, is calling for -4, feeling like -12 with winds at 40 km/h and gusts up to 65km/h.
It’s going to be a frozen field with wind that has a chance to mess up some of the passing and kicking game for both teams. However, it does not look like we’re going to get a snow covered field of the 101st Grey Cup.
Now for the picking!
The Green Riders and Ti-Cats met twice this season in weeks 4 and 5. In both games the Roughriders came out on top. In week 4 they shut out Hamilton 37-0 at home and in week 5 they won again 32-20 in Hamilton’s 2013 home of Guelph, ON. Now, that was a long time ago as far as the season is concerned. But, I think it matters. The Riders will come in with confidence and home field advantage which includes the most passionate football fans in the country.
It all adds up to this: I pick the Saskatchewan Roughriders to win the Grey Cup.
Bodog has the Roughriders as 7 point favourites going into the game. That line is only up half a point since mid-week and looks like it will stay where it is going into the game today. While I’m taking the Riders to win the game, it does have a chance to be close. You never know what can happen in the last 3 minutes of a CFL game. So taking the Tiger-Cats against the spread isn’t a terrible idea. Think about it.
And because this is the Canadian Super Bowl, we’ve got prop bets to look at, which is a lot of fun!
1. Will the team that scores first win the game?
Yes.
2. The first score of the game will be: Touchdown, Field Goal, Single Point, Safety?
Touchdown.
3. Highest scoring quarter?
4th.
4. Team points Over/Under, Hamilton Tiger-Cats: 23.5
Under.
5. Team points Over/Under, Saskatchewan Roughriders: 29.5
Under.
Good luck to fans of both teams today. At the end of it all, I’m hoping for a great game of football that gives us a champion without controversy and lets the fans celebrate…
I just really hope it’s Roughrider fans and not the Tiger-Cat fans.
