ROUGHRIDERS DESERVE PLAYOFF GAME AT HOME
The Saskatchewan Roughriders should be preparing for their penultimate home game of the 2017 season.
No such luck.
This season’s slate of games at new Mosaic Stadium is to conclude Saturday when the Edmonton Eskimos pay a visit.
Thereafter, the Roughriders will be on the road as long as they are in the CFL playoffs.
Meanwhile, the playoff qualifiers from the East (Least?) Division both have a home playoff game in their sights, the league having decided not to take merit into consideration when venues are determined.
The best of the Least will be the Ottawa Redblacks (owners of an 8-9-1 record) or the Toronto Argonauts (who carry an 8-9-0 slate into Saturday’s regular-season finale against the host B.C. Lions).
A victory in Vancouver would give Toronto first place in the East, an opening-round bye, and home-field advantage in the division final Nov. 19.
The second-place finisher in the East will play host to the West’s fourth-seeded team — the crossover being in effect — in a semifinal on Nov. 12.
The participants in the “East” semifinal have yet to be determined, but this much is certain: The visiting team from the West will have more victories, more points, than its host.
The situation becomes even more ludicrous when you consider that a so-so squad from the East will stage a division final and be only one victory shy of a Grey Cup berth.
Of the CFL’s six playoff participants, the East teams will have the two worst records. Yet, both of them will play host to a post-season game.
The West will have four teams with superior slates — doubledigit victory totals — but two of them will have to travel in the first round.
This is fairness? Unfortunately, the CFL’s format allows location to take precedence over quality.
And what do you get? Two undeserving playoff hosts.
A fair, logical approach would be to simply dispense with the divisions and rank the teams one through nine.
Six teams make the playoffs. The top two finishers receive byes. In the first round, No. 3 entertains No. 6 and No. 4 plays host to No. 5.
What is so difficult about that? It used to be worse, mind you. In the pre-crossover era, the divisional boundaries were rigid. There was a time when three teams from each division made the playoffs, period, and it didn’t matter that there was one more club in what was then the Western Conference.
The worst case-scenario unfolded in 1981, when the system royally shafted the Roughriders.
Joey Walters, John Hufnagel, Joe Barnes, Lyall Woznesensky, Mike Samples, Vince Goldsmith, Ken McEachern, Greg Fieger and friends put on a terrific show, week after week, and helped the Riders go 9-7-0 — a tonic after back-to-back 2-14-0 seasons.
However, Saskatchewan placed fourth in the West. Tough luck.
In the Eastern Conference semifinal, the Ottawa Rough Riders (5-11-0) played host to the Montreal Alouettes (3-13-0).
Saskatchewan had more victories than Ottawa and Montreal combined, but was nonetheless denied entry into the playoffs.
The Calgary Stampeders, who were last in the West at 6-10-0, would have been second in the East. Calgary, too, was a victim of the system.
All these years later, even with the crossover provision, the format can still excessively reward teams on the basis of location.
And that is why the Roughriders’ home finale is one week too early.