News

It has been a long, slow climb, four seasons of ineptitude finally interrupted this season with respectability and a playoff berth.

Yesterday afternoon, on the last day of the CFL's regular season, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats made sure their first playoff date in five seasons will be at home with a 39-17 win over Winnipeg that ended the Blue Bombers' season and put the B.C. Lions in the playoffs.

The Ticats will host B.C. in the East Division semi-final Sunday at Ivor Wynne Stadium, where there hasn't been a CFL playoff game since 2001 and where the Ticats were 6-3 this season.

“It's great to be able to come in here and get such a win, to go home and let our crowd be the 13th man,” said Hamilton centre Marwan Hage, the longest-serving Ticat in uniform yesterday. “Hopefully by February the tears will come out, but right now I'm too jacked up to express emotions. I'm happy for my team, the organization and me. And the Hamilton fans deserve it.”

By kickoff time yesterday, most of the CFL playoff picture was complete. Montreal and Saskatchewan had sewn up first place in the Eastern and Western divisions, respectively; the Roughriders did so Saturday night with a 30-14 win over Calgary in Regina, earning the right to host their first West Division final in 33 years.

The Edmonton Eskimos reached the postseason Friday night by beating the B.C. Lions 45-13 in Vancouver, earning a date in the West semi-final Sunday against Calgary.

To make sure the final piece of the playoff puzzle did not involve their returning to Winnipeg this week, the Tiger-Cats dispensed of a Bomber team playing before a near-sellout crowd on a perfect November afternoon for football.

The Bombers were closing out an often calamitous regular season, but they'd won four of their past six games.Hamilton 4

Hamilton carried a 17-16 lead into halftime, scoring on the opening drive and on a 25-yard pass to Arland Bruce III while Winnipeg managed a 60-yard touchdown pass to Titus Ryan and an interception returned for a touchdown by Lenny Walls.

There were ominous signs early in the second half for Winnipeg when quarterback Michael Bishop missed on his first six pass attempts, while Hamilton was having success containing running back Fred Reid.

Cats cornerback Jykine Bradley was doing a great job covering Winnipeg receiver Adarius Bowman, who had 10 catches for more than 200 yards and two touchdowns the last time these two teams met. And Bishop's efforts to force the ball in his direction eventually resulted in two fourth-quarter Hamilton returns for a touchdown, one by linebacker Markeith Knowlton and one by Bradley.

Bishop's final numbers, good on 8 of 36 passes for 122 yards – including just two completions after halftime – put a cloud over his future in Winnipeg.

Two years ago, Bishop's poor play in a playoff game with Toronto led the Argos to replace him. Last year, his disappointing performance in a playoff game with Saskatchewan led to his release. Now, in what is the equivalent to a playoff loss for the Bombers, they've got to decide where the 33-year-old fits into their future.

“I like the young kids we've had here practising, but they just weren't ready to get thrown to the wolves yet,” Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly said. “I'm very pleased and proud of the way Michael came in here and handled himself and the fact that gave us a chance to play a game that meant something at the end of the year.

“We'll bring him back to camp next year and we'll bring in competition at all positions and we'll get this right.”

No Bomber game would be complete without a controversy involving Kelly, and yesterday was no exception. Before the game, Kelly and Hamilton linebacker Otis Floyd began jabbing at one another, with Kelly telling Floyd he was too stupid for the Bombers to respond to his verbal jabs.

After the game, Floyd told Kelly, “Better luck next year,” which elicited an expletive from the Winnipeg coach.

“After the game we all shake hands and have respect for each other, but after that, all that went out the door, so I went off on him,” Floyd said. “I told him he's a clown. I told him he won't be in this league too much longer. I told him he could come work at my car wash when he gets fired. And he can be on the tires, on his knees looking up at me.

“I might send him some wings and some popcorn to watch us play next week. I'll send him some flowers, too.”

CFL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Sunday

East Division Semi-final: B.C. at Hamilton, 1 p.m.

Bye: Montreal

West DivisionSemi-final: Edmonton at Calgary, 4:30 p.m.

Bye: Saskatchewan

Sunday, Nov. 22

East DivisionFinal: B.C./Hamilton winner at Montreal, 1 p.m.

West DivisionFinal: Edmonton/Calgary winner at Saskatchewan, 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 29

Grey Cup: East v. West champions, 6:30 p.m. in Calgary.(All times Eastern)