It’s my Parting Shot for my Monday Grey Cup Post-Mortem Musings…..

Two shout outs first. One to my wife of nearly 33 years. When I met Verna, she was a devout despiser of all things sporty! Over the years, because of my influence, she’s come to appreciate watching some sports – especially if it’s live and in person. Watching on T-V rarely happens for me when she is home – except for last night! Thanks, sweetie for putting up with me watching Winnipeg lose the big game – again!

The second shout out is to my sister Nellie in Winnipeg who referred to last night’s Toronto starting quarterback Nick Arbuckle as “Belt Buckle!” I quite liked that – too bad he had the right fit to overcome the Bombers’ defence!

To me, there were three turning points last night – all of them coming late in the third quarter to early in the fourth. The most obvious was the bleeding index finger on Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros’ right hand that forced him to get stitches and required him to wear a glove, both things combining to render him fairly ineffective once he finally got back into the game in the fourth quarter. By then, the Argonauts had an eight-point lead and their defence took over. In between, there was a loose ball interference penalty against the Blue Bombers after they blocked a punt that negated a turnover deep in Argos’ territory. The interference wasn’t necessary as it would’ve been Bombers’ ball had Toronto recovered because they were no where near the first down! There was also an interception by Willie Jefferson that only became a field goal because Collaros was still getting stitches in the locker room!

By the way, where the bleeding was coming from on Collaros’ index finger made me wonder if the finger nail was ripped off and bleeding, a thought that still gives me the “willies!”

In the end – in my huumble opinion – Toronto’s defence played much better than Winnipeg’s offence, which didn’t utilize Brady Oliveira, the C-F-L’s Most Outstanding Player, enough. And, Nick Arbuckle played like a guy who had started C-F-L games before and the Bombers’ defence didn’t step up like they did the week before in the West final against Saskatchewan!

So, Winnipeg’s five straight Grey Cup appearances, with three straight losses after two wins, is more devastation than dynasty while the Argos have two Grey Cup wins in three years, sandwiching a 16-and-2 season – I dare say a budding dynasty?!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!