Whole CFL world’s gone absolutely mad

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/09/2011 (5327 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’m one of those people that likes to think that the world he lives in makes perfect sense.

My expectations for the most part are that things happen around us in a predictable fashion, and most of the time science and logic dictate these events and actions. What is happening right now in the CFL, however, subscribes to no trends, formulas, or logical assertions.

The 2011 season, thus far, is straight-up chaos theory. I am actually sympathetic towards those who are in the business of covering this football campaign right now, for discerning a trend or pattern, or even picking a winner from this mess of randomness must be an exercise in head scratching.

Chaos theory, as defined on the Internet, tells us that, “small differences in initial conditions yield widely diverging outcomes, rendering long-term prediction impossible in general.” That is also the best way, in my mind, to describe the 2011 CFL season just past the midway point, as a campaign where “small differences in initial conditions,” on a weekly basis are, “yielding widely diverging outcomes,” all across the league.

Let’s start in the Western division. Eleven games into the season and the Edmonton Eskimos, who finished last in the West in 2010 and out of the playoffs, are now tied for first with as many wins as they had the entire 2010 season. This is obviously a significant swing from a year ago, but they have already experienced seasons within a season this year to boot. After starting the year 5-0, they lost three in a row including losses of 27-4 and 36-1, but have recovered and just recently beat Hamilton by 15 points. Where they go from here, it is safe to say, no one has any idea.

Do not look to B.C. or Saskatchewan to try and get a grip on patterns, trends, or consistent play either. B.C. started their season 2-6 but haven’t lost a game since and their defence has been pitching no-hitters for most of it. Saskatchewan was even worse from the get-go, beginning the season at a deplorable 1-7, but like Barrin Simpson said, after punching us in the mouth twice, they have also won their last three games in a row. Riddle me that Batman.

If you are looking to the East Division for a sense of normalcy and calm, well look again. Your Blue and Gold have already doubled their win total from last year, and after playing back-to-back weeks like what Dave Ritchie used to refer to as “the sisters of the poor,” we went on the road and won against the two-time defending Grey Cup champions. While Hamilton so far is approximating what they did last year, sitting at 5-6 — they finished 2010 at 9-9 — Toronto, who finished an even 9-9 one year ago with a trip to the Eastern final and with the Coach of the Year in tow, is now at 2-9, but a team to definitely tread lightly around.

Even the two-time defending Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes, in search of that elusive “three-peat,” have diverted a little off of their usual path of unwavering dominance. After starting their season 5-2, they have now lost three of four and would have to win six of their last seven games to equal their 2010 record of 12-6.

As a result of this study and the research I have done on records from this year and last, we can now conclude a number of things. The first is that anybody can beat anyone in this league, at anytime. There are no New England Patriots currently in the CFL. You might be the best team record-wise, and they might be the worst team in the standings, but you could still lose by 30 on TSN. You can also expect teams that look like world beaters one week to resemble egg beaters the next. Consistent, reliable, and dominant are words to describe football teams of yesteryear. Those terms have been replaced with unpredictable, bi-polar and erratic. 8-3 teams will be underdogs, and teams with losing records will be heavily favoured.

Welcome to the world of the CFL in 2011, I hope your having as much fun as I am trying to figure out what is going to happen next.

Doug Brown, a hard-hitting defensive tackle with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and even harder-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Winnipeg Free Press.