Election Day sports quick hits

On the day of Alberta's municipal elections, politics isn't the only hot topic of discussion amongst Edmontonian's as both the Oilers and the Eskimos, as well as week six in the NFL, all have story lines worth noting.

First, after starting the season with two wins the Oilers have lost their last two and have looked like the young, inexperienced team everyone expected. Despite the past two games, both of which were games where the Oil led but managed to lose, there is still lots of room for optimism. In past seasons fans and media pundits would jump all over the Oilers after losing two straight games in such a fashion but this year has proven to be quite the different story. It's safe to say that both the media and the fans have bought into what general manager Steve Tambellini has been selling; that this season is just step one of the rebuild process.

Rather than criticizing every mistake, fans have come to accept the fact that while this team might not be good now, they have the potential to be great later. This goes to show just how strong and loyal the Edmonton fan base truly is. Selling a rebuild to fans in markets like Florida and Carolina is much harder than it is in markets like Edmonton and Toronto and thanks to the faithful followers of their franchises teams like Edmonton and Toronto should be given the necessary time to successfully build their team into contenders.

This isn't to say that the Oilers won't be great this season. While the start has not been ideal it's tough to say how long it will take for the team to gel and mold itself into an ultra-competitive team. This could take place after 25 games, 50 games or after an entire season, the point is is that while the coaching staff and the players work out the kinks, fans have shown their willingness to be patient and support their team entirely. This makes the Oilers one of the truly lucky franchises in the NHL; not many teams have the continuous support that they do and that should make Tambellini's job that much easier.

Eskimos are still in it

It's hard to believe how, after such a disastrous season, the Edmonton Eskimos are still tied for the final playoff spot in the west division. Three wins in the past four games have given the Eskimos a sense of belief that maybe, just maybe, they still might play in the Grey Cup, live in front of their home crowd.

While this may still be a very unlikely scenario, the fact that it still exists astounds me. In a league of only eight teams the playoff window is always left wide open and that has allowed the otherwise hapless Eskimos a chance to play for the top prize. As Edmonton is set to host the nations largest football event in the nations largest outdoor stadium the team itself can't help but imagine how great it would be to play in that game in front 60,000+ screaming fans. But with three games left to play, two of which are against the Saskatchewan Roughriders- not the easiest of opponents-the Eskimos face a seemingly un-climbable uphill challenge but sometimes it's that adversity that brings the best out in football teams.

Time will tell how the Eskimos will respond to this challenge but with Ricky Ray playing his best football and with the CFL being a quarterback driven league, the Eskimos stand a chance on beating out the B.C Lions in the standings. With the Lions opting to cut veteran Casey Printers and going with rookie QB Travis Lulay as the starter, it will be interesting to see if he can outplay Ray down the stretch because ultimately that's what it will come down to.


NFL Week six

With week six almost done the NFL has built up quite the amount of story-lines, too many to follow extensively in one blog, but a couple highlights must be discussed.

• The Cowboys have now fallen to 1-4. What an unbelievably unpredictable start to the season for the Cowboys. While their recent loss to the Vikings wasn't a blow-out, it still exposed the teams lack of offensive execution. While boasting the leagues third highest yards per game average with 400 yards, the Cowboys are ranked 17th in average points per game with 20.4. It's simple, a team averaging that many yards per game has to score more points. Romo needs to get it done because in five games he has only ten touchdowns, and with Witten, Williams and Austin as targets this is simply not good enough.

• The 49ers finally won in one of the weeks ugliest games against the Oakland Raiders. Raiders QB Jason Campbell went 8/21 and threw for 83 yards and two int's . Campbell managed to throw for zero yards in both the second and third quarter yet the Niners weren't able to get the games first TD until the final play of the third quarter when Niners QB Alex Smith threw a bomb to receiver Michael Crabtree who leaped straight up and landed hard in the end-zone for the touchdown.

• The Seahawks and the Rams won again, proving that they are both much better teams than their last season counter-parts. Time will tell if these teams can continue their impressive performances.

• Ben Roethlisberger showed that he carries little to no rust after his five game suspension was lifted. While it was against the Cleveland Browns, arguably one of the worst teams in the league, Big Ben was able to throw for three touchdowns. The Steelers have surprised many by going 3-1 in Roethlisberger's absence but they still desperately need his skills as the team currently sits 28th in the league in passing yards per game with 160.2.

• Are the Jets the real deal? Not only is Mark Sanchez playing well but now LaDainian Tomlinson is back on the scene scoring two touchdowns in the Jets' win over the Denver Broncos. Rex Ryan has his team proving that last season was no fluke. The possibility of a sophomore slump is starting to seem less and less likely as each week passes.

**Don't forget to VOTE! Polls close at 8 pm.**


Photo credit: Dub Architects and Justin Edmonds