CFL Week 8 Recap: Blackjacked

Well, they did it. The Edmonton Elks now have the new record for consecutive home losses.

The game between the Elks and the BC Lions was over from the opening kickoff. I knew Edmonton was not going to win, because the Lions are on a whole other level this season. Even so, I expected the Elks to actually try, to give something to this game. Instead, what I saw was the Lions playing against a bunch of nobodies posing as a pro football team. Even worse, the Elks wear the same colors as the Green Bay Packers! I really need to start a petition for them (as well as the Oakland A's) to change their colors; they have not earned the right to wear Green and Gold.

The Elks lost, 27-0, to the Lions, marking Edmonton's 21st straight home loss. Remember, this losing streak spans the entire 2020s, as there was no 2020 season due to the pandemic. The Edmonton Elks' current home losing streak is now the longest in North American pro sports, surpassing the 1953 St. Louis Browns of Major League Baseball. The Browns' losing streak started on June 3 of that year and lasted until July 7, and overall, the team went 54-100 and finished in the bottom of the American League in what would be their final season. As for the Elks, their season is finished. Yes, it's early. Yes, there's over three months left in the season. But this team is not going anywhere. The Elks will be playing spoiler for the rest of the season.

Week 8 began with an East Division battle between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Redblacks, and for Ottawa, they were coming off back-to-back overtime victories against Western teams. It looked like they would pull another rabbit out of their hat, but not this time. Hamilton was ready for whatever Ottawa was planning, and it resulted in the TiCats holding on for the 16-12 victory in a hotly contested game. Both teams are jockeying to get close to the Toronto Argonauts, who followed up that Thursday game with a big 31-13 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday. The Argos' 2023 season is one-third done, and they are unbeaten after six games for the first time since 1935. More on this later.

Week 8 ended with a Sunday battle between the Calgary Stampeders and the Montréal Alouettes, and this was a thriller. It did have the potential for overtime, and I was really pulling for overtime to happen, because I'm a big fan of the CFL's overtime format. The Stamps were on the horizon, they were getting close, but with just seconds left, Jake Maier's pass was picked off, and that's that. The Als won, 25-18, continuing their attempt to keep pace (or come close to it) with the Argos.

Here's how things stand after eight weeks. In the West Division, the British Columbia Lions remain on top at 6-1 (wow!), with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers still close behind at 5-2. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are now 3-4, the Calgary Stampeders dropped to 2-5, and as I stated before, the Edmonton Elks are now 0-8. The CFL has been around in some form or another for over a century, but since the league was officially founded in 1958, no team has ever went winless. The 2023 Elks could be the first. Count on it.

In the East Division, the Toronto Argonauts stand tall at 6-0, and after that, it's the Montréal Alouettes at 3-3, while the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Redblacks stand at 3-4. I've been watching the Canadian Football League for 10 years. I'm an Argonauts fan who has seen this team win the Grey Cup in 2017 and again in 2022, but this team? Oh man! This team is better than those Cup teams. This is the best Argos team I've ever seen. The 2023 Argos are a well-oiled machine; everything's working to perfection, at least that's what it seems like! This is the first 6-0 start for the Boatmen in 88 years! I'm just in absolute awe right now.

Week 9 will begin with a huge battle out west between the BC Lions and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers; a game that will determine first place in the West. That game will take place on Thursday, August 3, and on the following day, Friday, August 4, the Toronto Argonauts will face the Calgary Stampeders. On Saturday, August 5, it's an Eastern battle between the Montréal Alouettes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and on Sunday, April 6, the Saskatchewan Roughriders will host the Ottawa Redblacks.

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