We’re down to the final three games of the 2025 CFL season – I certainly hope we have some entertainment left here. I With just over a week until baby’s expected due date, I would just like a final chance to get my report cards done and final CFL Beats completed before kiddo’s arrival. Also
In league news this week:
- The league announced its 2025 Awards nominees late last week:
- Most Outstanding Player: QB Nathan Rourke, BC; QB Bo Levi Mitchell, HAM
- Most Outstanding Defensive Player: DE Mathieu Betts, BC; DE Julian Howsare, HAM
- Most Outstanding Canadian: QB Nathan Rourke, BC; DL Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund, MTL
- Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman: Jermarcus Hardrick, SSK; Brandon Revenberg, HAM
- Most Outstanding Special Teams Player: KR Trey Vaval, WPG; K Lirim Hajrullahu, TOR
- Most Outstanding Rookie: KR Trey Vaval, WPG; LB Devin Veresuk, HAM
- Coach Of The Year: Corey Mace, SSK; Jason Maas, MTL
- The league also announced its 2025 All-CFL team, featuring many of the same award nominees in key places:
- QB: Nathan Rourke, BC
- RB: Dedrick Mills, CGY
- WR: Kenny Lawler, HAM; Keon Hatcher, Justin McInnis, BC; KeeSean Johnson, SSK; Tyler Snead, MTL
- C: Logan Ferland, SSK
- G: Brandon Revenberg, HAM, Jacob Brammer, SSK
- T: Jermarcus Hardrick, SSK; Jarell Broxton, BC
- DE: Mathieu Betts, BC; Julian Howsare, HAM
- DT: Jaylon Hutchings, CGY; Micah Johnson, SSK
- LB: Tyrice Beverette, MTL; Jameer Thurman, CJ Reavis, SSK
- CB: Tevaughn Campbell, SSK; Jamal Peters, HAM
- HB: Rolan Milligan Jr, SSK; Evan Holm, WPG
- S: Stavros Katsantonis, HAM
- K: Lirim Hajrullahu, TOR
- P: Mark Vassett, CGY
- KR: Trey Vaval, WPG
- The Ottawa REDBLACKS made huge waves out of the blue yesterday by hiring Ryan Dinwiddie away from the Toronto Argonauts, where he’d won two Grey Cups in five seasons as head coach, and hiring him as the team’s new head coach and general manager. To make way, current GM Shaun Burke received a promotion to VP of football operations – and also got a two-year contract extension himself to keep him with the team through the end of 2028. Let me be the first to say that this is an absolute home run hire for the REDBLACKS; not only did he win multiple championships in his time in Toronto, but he knows how to get the most out of his quarterbacks – whoever they may be. I am extremely excited for the REDBLACKS significantly overhauling things for 2026 now that this guy’s in place. It’s a huge loss for the Argos, who are probably kicking themselves that they couldn’t find a way to offer him a football ops role in addition to coaching in order to keep him around the organization.
- The CFL suspended Montreal Alouettes DL Shawn Oakman for violating the league’s policy on gender-biased violence and harassment; in an especially egregious incident, Oakman is accused of threatening to send sexually explicit material to an underage child of a domestic partner. Hopefully we some clarity soon, because right now that’s an awful look for Oakman.
- The Edmonton Elks signed WR Kaion Julien-Grant to a contract extension through to the end of the 2026 season; they also extended DB Tyrell Ford through to the end of 2027. Both Canadian, these players are going to form some very nice pieces for the Elks’ roster in the near future, and this national talent will help significantly in meeting Canadian starter roster ratios while maintaining solid depth on the field.
Onto the games!
DIVISION SEMIFINAL RECAPS
EAST DIVISION SEMIFINAL
(C) Winnipeg 33 vs. (2) Montreal 42: The Blue Bombers will not, in fact, be headed to their sixth straight Grey Cup final, as their season came to an end on the road at the hands of the Alouettes. Despite their era as championship contenders seeming to finally draw to a close, they didn’t go down without a fight in this one. Montreal took a 19-point lead into halftime, but the Bombers struck extremely quickly in the third quarter to score three unanswered TDs and take their first lead of the game. However, the Als got the lead back shortly thereafter with a rushing score by RB Stevie Scott III, and never relinquished it again. It was yet another solid performance from Als pivot Davis Alexander, who continues to have never lost a game as a starter in his professional career, extending it to 12-0; he finished with 384 pass yards, a TD, a pick, and a rushing TD. Zach Collaros did his best under center for Winnipeg, but it was too little, too late for the Bombers; he finished the day with 304 pass yards, a TD, and a pick; he’s under contract for 2026 with Winnipeg, but one feels the sun setting on his successful CFL career at this stage.
PICK: Montreal
RESULT: Montreal
WEST DIVISION SEMIFINAL
(3) Calgary 30 vs. (2) BC 33: This was an absolutely electric semifinal game, and the Stampeders threw absolutely everything they had at the Lions to try and steal this one from them. After a relatively quiet first half, with the Lions sporting a 13-7 lead after the first 30 minutes, both teams woke up and got their A games in action. BC scored thanks to Rourke running in the ball himself on a 4-play, 64-yard drive to make it 20-7, but Calgary responded shortly thereafter to cut the home side’s lead to six points thanks to Canadian receiver Jalen Philpot snagging a TD catch from Vernon Adams, Jr. The Lions’ Robert Carter, Jr. then immediately snuffed the visitors’ momentum with an impressive kickoff return TD to make it 27-14. The Stamps then battled back with two straight TD scores to knot the game at 27, and with time ticking down, both teams successfully kicked a field goal; BC had a brief lead, but the Stamps battled back to get Rene Paredes the game-tying kick with 29 seconds to go. It was just enough time for the Lions to march down the field to set up Sean Whyte for the walk-off game winner, and he connected from 43 yards out to send the Lions to the West Final.
PICK: BC
RESULT: BC
BYE: (1) Hamilton (11-7), (1) Saskatchewan (12-6)
DIVISION FINAL PREVIEWS
EAST DIVISION FINAL
(2) Montreal (11-8) vs. (1) Hamilton (11-7), Saturday, November 8th, 3:00 PM EST (CTV, TSN, CFL+): The Tiger-Cats may be the home team, may have the East nominee for Most Outstanding Player on their roster in QB Bo Levi Mitchell, but they’re not the Alouettes. Whatever’s going on with Davis Alexander is something truly remarkable, and it’s pretty impressive to see how he’s managing to make his entire team rally around him on and off the field. Surely that streak is going to end at some point, but the Als surely hope it won’t be in the next two games. No doubt that Hamilton’s passing game is extremely impressive, but Montreal also has the kind of defence needed to match up effectively with the Ti-Cats’ receiving corps. I really like the Als’ chances here; we could similarly re-litigate the “rest vs. rust” debate for division winners for approximately the ten billionth time, but Hamilton hasn’t been the most impressive division winner we’ve seen in recent years.
PICK: Montreal
WEST DIVISION FINAL
(2) BC (12-7) vs. (1) Saskatchewan (12-6), Saturday, November 8th, 6:30 PM EST (TSN, CFL+): The Lions have now won seven games in a row, and I truly don’t know what it’s going to take for anyone to stop them. The Stamps did come close last week, to be fair, but that took a level of desperation that I’m not sure any other team has the ability to manufacture right now. The Riders may have two key receivers back healthy this week in Dohnte Meyers and KeeSean Johnson, which would definitely help the pass game; they also probably have the edge in the run game with AJ Ouellette able to run so punishingly between the numbers. But the Lions have the best pass attack in the league, and Nathan Rourke has been every bit as good as he has been hyped to be in his young career. Saskatchewan has a 2-1 lead in the season series this year, but their two wins were quite early in the year while the Lions’s victory was just a few weeks ago, on October 25th; I’m going to have to hand it to the underdogs on this one.
PICK: BC
Enjoy the games, everyone.
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:g2c7i7faf5effgregvklypdg/bafkreie2sozyhav6bppnkppyec2yizu7asrs5gyundmlx7xwfwry76e5da@jpeg
Sent an email to the large Italian construction GC I play poker with, asked about chimney.
“I got a guy for this. Works for cash.”
I see no way this takes any unexpected twists.
My SIL and I are putting on the Ritz at The Breakers.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46874797/ex-nfl-star-antonio-brown-arrested-attempted-murder-charge
So, AB’s still… AB.
Was he like this before Vontaze scrambled his brains?
Getting there, maybe. He had thrown his stuff off his apartment’s balcony, couple of speeding and reckless driving stops. He had had some minor tiffs in the media. The porch furniture rain was the first real incident that could be considered “violent.”
Nothing that would be indicative of “trouble” trouble. That really did become more noticeable after.
— OR —
They became more widely publicized. It is possible the local Yinzer media turned the other way to early incidents or events that might have happened, but were poo-poo’d by Stillers PR. I can’t rule that out.
Our Commander-in-Chief…
A man loses conciousness in the oval office, so the guy in charge of public health in America immediately exits stage left, while the Prez stands & stares at the camaras…
We’re in good hands, here folks.
Nailed it:
Thank God our Prez is so calm after moments of chaos. Looks like were back to business as ususal:
No, no, it starts with a “K”.
“He cares about people…”
Who collapsed? Should a I break out a bottle of something nice?
.
It’s three peices of paper they taped to the wall. Nice.
But they made it real classy with the gold ink…
In all seriousness, what other reason is there for it to be there? It’s not like anybody working there doesn’t know what room it is, and guests aren’t exactly going to be wandering around unescorted poking their heads into rooms.
Setting aside the fact that the Secret Service loves it when you point out where the President spends most of his day, but if you work in the White House for more than a week and you don’t know where the Oval Office is, you deserve to be thrown out of the building Jazz-style.
Heh, sandwich thrower guy found Not Guilty by a jury of his hungry peers.
That’s awesome. Fuck ’em.
🐍 🥪 🇺🇸
I mean come on “BREAD” was right there.
I saw those but it was too easy and doesn’t connect to Revolutionary Times.
Ah, fuck.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/06/sports/marshawn-kneeland-cowboys-defensive-end-dead-at-24-days-after-playing-in-game/
I’m not saying losing the Arizona Cardinals is bad enough to make a man want to kill himself — but there is also no other explanation.
He’s actually the guy who scored the touchdown on that blocked punt. Reports are that cops attempted to pull him over for speeding; he subsequently ran (and lost them) then said his goodbyes to his family and then shot himself.
Or else the cops shot him and then staged it to look like a suicide; this is Texas and he’s black so I wouldn’t put it past them.
That’s too much work; I think in Texas that gets you a medal, a sheriff position and a get-out-of-statutory-r*pe free card.
Anyone else have someone over for a $300 chimney cleaning only to be told both your chimneys need to be replaced and by the way do you have $40K you weren’t doing anything with?
No? Just me?
Cool. Cool cool cool.
If I cancel the chimney sweep appointment, perhaps I can avoid the darkest timeline you’ve stumbled into . . . yeah, that’s the ticket!
Ignorance is bliss.
They tried that with my parents. Mom and Dad all but laughed in their faces.
There is definitely a pressure component to the sales tactics, but the problem I have with laughing in their faces is that even I can see the chimney we no longer use, (off the kitchen, was no doubt long ago attached to a stove but not for 30+ years now), is basically holding together out of habit at this point, and the one we do use has rather suddenly developed a large soot stain on one side, which have done a smidge of research on the topic is what is technically termed NOT GOOD.
That’s what you get for hiring Dick Van Dyke.
They could tell that you have Applebee’s money.
I don’t know man. If it’s standing and billowing out smoke, I could give a fuck what someone else thinks of how bad my chimney is standing and billowing out smoke.
The issue is how long one of them is going to keep standing and how long the other one will only billow smoke out the top, as opposed to into the house.
Can’t you just avoid using the fireplaces? I mean, this is the 21st century, I thought you lawyers all destroyed documents using paper shredders now.
You tell Lowratio he can’t roast marshmallows in the house.
Joe Flacco’s career is pro wrasslin’-like with all the heal and face turns he’s taken.
That makes sense. Like John Cena’s heel turn earlier this year, Joe Flacco’s tenure as Bengals Starting QB has been an surprising success showing he can still perform at a high level yet like John Cena’s heel turn, Flacco didn’t have any agreed upon support by The Rock/Defense, so it feels like a wasted opportunity.
Maestro, there’s still time for a baby name draft. I would suggest, Pugnacious; for a boy, Yubierkis.
Ooh, we should draft baby names!
We already did? In my defense, I’m old and I smoke a lot of weed. And of course, fuck you!
We have not, but we’re gonna!
I think Maestro’s white, so Jaxsyn (boy or girl).
I thought this was settled a while ago. Maestro’s spawn will be named Brady.
Oh yeah, it’s all coming back to me. And by “all,” what I mean is “some.” Vaguely.
You were probably high when we discussed it. Which means you need to be high to remember it properly. My point is: I order you to go smoke some weed.
(only if you want to, of course)
House-O!!!
Why u wanna be mean to a sweet lil babby?
we already did a draft, here
https://doorfliesopen.com/2025/09/02/subsequent-gtd-reflections-237/
There’s a Zootopia 2? Why didn’t they call it 2topia?
2topia
2urios
Tr2K
War2
Fu2ure
Termi2ator
Super Mario Bro2.
Wo2ld War
Happy n2 Birthday!
Colin Kaepernick eagerly awaits the seventh Zootopia
Zootopia 2: Electric Zoogazoo
Zootopia 2: The Zootopianing
I know that’s not actually racist, but it sounds racist.
Morning News Channel Updates (Redshirt’s Artistic Interpretation):
CNN: “Per the Oregon Attorney General, a Portland man dressed in a chicken suit is boarding a plane to Washington, DC.”
Fox News: “OH, MY GOD! WE HAVE INTELLIGENCE THAT PORTLAND IS INVADING DC! WILL THE COURTS LET OUR MAGNIFICIENT PRESIDENT DO SOMETHING?!”
MSNBC: Crying on the air while watching highlights of Nancy Pelosi’s career to “Tell Me a Lie”, the song the WWF played when Shawn Michaels “retired” in 1997.
I think it’s kind of funny that when a guy who did nothing but run his big fat mouth took a bullet in the throat the networks (not just Fox News, all of them) wailed and gnashed their teeth for two weeks, but when the most powerful and influential Vice President in history died it barely made a ripple because he’d been deemed an unperson by the hateful bully that had filled his hateful bully shoes.
I’m glad I got the covid booster, but man that shit takes it out of me the next day. I feel like I got hit by a truck.
“Oof. I know what you mean.” – Dwayne Haskins
I should get the shot, but I’ll have to check if Ohio made getting the COVID booster a felony or just a misdemeanor.
i go tomorrow to get my flu and covid shot.
Need the nanobots to fix my eyes so i can not need glasses anymore
Nanobots? That reminds me. I’ll let everyone know when I get my shot. That way if I start going off on how Trump is right all along and we should all trust him, everyone here knows I’ve been activated and need to be deprogrammed. Again.
Some damn fine semi final games. Who’d have thunk a Paredes missed PAT would cost the stamps the game.
I’m hoping for Lions-anyone but would be fun to see Montreal get there with Alexander. Although beating old man Mitchell in a Grey Cup would be swell, too.
Only two more Grey Cups before they fuck it all up. Enjoy it.
As a Raiders fan, *I* might have thought that.
Whoo, it’s almost baby time, daddio! I’m excited for you. I’m assuming you get some leave time, because Canadia is awesome. Unlike here in the pants, but I felt the first glimmer of hope on Tuesday that I’ve felt in a very long time.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46869849/cowboys-second-year-de-marshawn-kneeland-dies-24
Yikes. Take a moment to appreciate what you have; life is not guaranteed. Godspeed.
They just released the cause, and Jeebus
Glad I opted out of the polling picks this season, because it’s been wild. Seriously, this series got me to follow the CFL on a fairly regular basis; this season has been like the 2007 college season. Anyone can win any week. Any of the four teams left could realistically win the Grey Cup this year. You could talk me into, and out of, any of them.
Montreal seems to be destined for something this season. They just have that feel. That said, BC has looked the strongest overall all year. I also think they’re the most balanced. Hamilton is just plucky, and they won the East for a reason. Same for Saskatchewan.
Thanks for keeping the fire lit again this season. Now, get back to your ice fishin’ hole with your touque. Here’s a sixer as appreciation.
Aw, Moosehead! There was some occasion during college when we would drink that, but I can’t remember what it was.
That means it worked
For us it was when it was on sale.
I remember it always tasting like skunk.
those green bottles are not being used anymore. Just cans from here on out