Can you imagine a Kenny Lawler 21-yard catch in the opening minutes of Friday’s 33-13 win by Hamilton over Winnipeg causing such emotional distress? Now, what if I told you that happened inside a non-sports bar in downtown Toronto? At this point I don’t blame you for your warranted skepticism but I can guarantee you that it’s a 100 per cent true because I was there. If you have never had the pleasure of sitting at a table with a couple CFL fanatics who also love putting some money down on several CFL prop bets, do yourself a favour and check that off your to-do list. It’s hilarious.

With the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Toronto to take on the Argonauts, I had a chance to catch up with former TSN colleague/friend Derek Taylor who is a part of the Riders radio broadcast. You may know Derek as the guy who is a genius when it comes to CFL statistics who is gracious enough to let me pick his brain for my annual end of season column looking back at the year that was. Joining me at this table was TSN 1050 morning show producer and fellow gambling enthusiast Aaron Korolnek, who often does football pick ’em segments for TSN, SportsCentre host Kelcey Brade, and a couple friends of Derek. Sorry for going into such minute, but I really need to set the scene.

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I knew that Derek and Aaron loved CFL Fantasy and gambling, but I had never seen it in action. Both had taken the under for passing yards and touchdowns for Bombers quarterback Chris Streveler, so every completed pass was a punch in the gut. Every dump off to Andrew Harris was painful and every time Mike O’Shea called for a pass over a run was pure torture. For the rest of us at the table watching these two agonize or celebrate after every play was more entertaining than even the game itself. Some of the occupants at the table weren’t even the biggest football fans but were still amazed by the level of passion of those two. I don’t know what was more amusing, watching Derek and Aaron curse the gods when Streveler flicked a short pass to Harris for a first quarter touchdown or the looks of confusion from a group of young women sitting at the table next to us whenever Justin Medlock punted the ball.

My advice to Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa REDBLACKS and yes, you too BC Lions fans, is to jump into either the world of prop bets or single week Fantasy. Now, I’m not telling you to take your kids’ college money and put it on the OVER for Andrew Harris receptions. The guys at my table had modest wagers as sports media isn’t exactly the most lucrative career choice, but even that tiny bit of skin in the game turns any casual game into must watch TV. If you’re fan of any of the above teams let’s face it, this year did not go as planned. Yes, no one expected a banner year from Toronto, but many of us (me) thought both the defence and quarterback play would be better than 2018.

Most Ottawa fans must have entered this season with a sense of dread considering the exodus of talent on the offensive side of the ball, but this current 1-11 record over the past 12 games is without a doubt the worst case scenario. I need to go back and revisit the REDBLACKS’ first two games; do you realize they started the year beating Calgary and Saskatchewan? I know, I had completely forgotten as well. As for the BC Lions, well, they’re doing their best Edmonton Oilers impersonation by wasting a year of one of the league’s best in Mike Reilly. The good news is that turnarounds can happen fast in this league; the bad news is that it won’t matter much for the remainder of 2019.

The best part is you don’t need even to limit yourself to rooting for one team. The biggest bets, as mentioned, were against Streveler having a productive day, but the main side wager was that Dane Evans would throw at least one interception. So in theory my table was rooting for both defences to do well. But it goes beyond that. Every time the Bombers would run, that was seen as a “win” (fewer Streveler pass attempts), just as every Hamilton possession that ended with a punt was a positive as the concern was that any significant Tiger-Cats lead would result in Mike O’Shea committing to the pass, which again would mean their bet was in jeopardy as Streveler just needed about 215 yards through the air to destroy their prop bet.

Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it? That’s because it is, but you put down $20 and suddenly you’re Russel Crowe from ‘A Beautiful Mind’ or Matt Damon from ‘Good Will Hunting’ as you can make split second mathematical conclusions about how a Julian Howsare sack just increased your chances of winning while downing a craft beer and some poutine.

Also, I hate being a bad friend, but it’s easy to take perverse pleasure watching your buddies cringe because Drew Wolitarsky just went for 11 yards. It’s part of the sports code of conduct to be happy when your friend’s team does well, but to take equal if not more joy when things go wrong. Speaking of things going wrong, that is exactly what happened with Derek and Aaron’s UNDER bet for Chris Streveler passing yards. But in the hindsight it was the correct call. Yes, the Winnipeg quarterback finished with 304 yards, but nearly 200 of those passing yards came in the fourth quarter when the Bombers trailed by 20 points for the majority of the quarter.

I know this sounds like a broken record, but Winnipeg’s passing attack is near non-existent with Streveler at quarterback. He’s a great athlete and a fearless runner but he just isn’t there yet as a passer. More specifically, once the Bombers get down, they just don’t have an offence that can come back from double digit deficits. Give them a second half lead and they’re as dangerous as anyone, but otherwise they just don’t have many answers. They had 12 possessions after falling behind 17-7. Five of those drives ended with punts, three with a turnover and their final drive ended with the clock hitting all zeroes. Part of the credit naturally goes to Simoni Lawrence and the work done by Hamilton’s defence but we have this same story from Mike O’Shea’s team.

Quick side note about Friday night’s winning quarterback. I’m loathe to give any credit to the guy but as of this moment, it’s fair to say that Marshall Ferguson may have been right with his Twitter prediction weeks ago that Hamilton was in good hands with Dane Evans. Against a defence that is second best in second down conversions and has allowed the fewest offensive touchdowns, Evans completed nearly 80 per cent of his passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw an interception early in the fourth quarter so at least my friends won that bet.

Going into this game obviously I was interested to see if Winnipeg could bounce back form that tough last second loss to Montreal and the continued growth of Dane Evans, but being surrounded by friends/CFL geeks/prop bet enthusiasts made the night and the game that much more engaging, especially in an environment that wasn’t exactly conducive to Friday night CFL action.

By the way Lions fans, I love the OVER for receiving yards for Lemar Durant next week.