The Hamilton Tiger-Cats need to be taken seriously.

The team has been snakebit for many years. The Tiger-Cats are the only team in the league who has not won the Grey Cup in the 21st century. Their last championship came in 1999. Since I started watching the Canadian Football League in 2013, the TiCats have been to the big game quite a bit, but they always came up short. Their closest chance was 2021, with that game going to overtime, but they were defeated by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The TiCats started this season at 0-2, and it looked like it would be another iffy season for the squad, until they went on a winning streak.

The streak is still going. It’s at six games after they won a close one against the Edmonton Elks, by a score of 28-24. I was hoping that game would go to OT, as the Elks were up three late and Hamilton was in field goal range, and it looked like they would have settle for three, but they went all the way, and that was enough. The Tiger-Cats are looking really, really serious right now, they look like they have a good chance to end that Grey Cup drought.

Hamilton’s win took place that Saturday; Week 9 actually bega with the Ottawa Redblacks hosting the Calgary Stampeders, and Ottawa needed something… badly. They definitely got it. A 17-point second quarter led the Redblacks to a 31-11 big time upset win over the red-hot Stampeders, who entered the week looking to keep pace with the Saskatchewan Roughriders out West. Speaking of West, that’s where the Toronto Argonauts were–in Winnipeg. Second straight meeting with the Bombers, and it was a disaster for the Boatmen. Once again, miscues and turnovers were our downfall, as the Bombers went on to win, 40-31, over the team who knocked them off in last year’s Grey Cup.

I mentioned the Roughriders; they were on the road against another red-hot team: the Montréal Alouettes. Normally, a game between a pair of strong teams would be close and gritty. It wasn’t. The Alouettes had no answer for the Riders, who flattened and fricassed the Birdies to the tune of a 34-6 tally. Holy moley!

So after nine weeks, here’s how things stand:

It does look like the Saskatchewan Roughriders do control the West; a commanding two-game lead over the Calgary Stampeders, who dropped to 5-3. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers improved to 4-3, staying ahead of the BC Lions, who took their first bye week after playing for eight straight weeks. As for the Elks… oh boy. In the East, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are all alone atop the East after the Als dropped their game at home. The Argos and Redblacks are both 2-6, with head to head keeping us ahead of Ottawa. However, the loss now puts the Argos behind the playoff line–we are now a full game behind the Lions. Had the Boatmen won, then the Argos and Lions would have the same record, and that would eliminate the crossover and put Toronto above the playoff line.

Week 10 (we are almost at the halfway point) begins on Thursday, August 7 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosting the BC Lions, followed by the Montréal Alouettes hosting the Edmonton Elks on Friday, August 8. On Saturday, August 9, it’s a doubleheader. First off, an Eastern battle between the Ottawa Redblacks and the Toronto Argonauts, followed by a Western battle between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Calgary Stampeders.

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