It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…that timeless phrase pretty much sums up the weekend that was in the BCFC. If you are the Langley Rams, the VI Raiders, the Okanagan Sun, the Valley Huskers, fans waiting to watch the Raiders/Rams games on BCFCTV or the Westshore Rebels and Kamloops Broncos…feel free to position yourself next to the former or latter segment of those words.

Monday Musings through the smoke…

Two weeks back I referred to the Huskers comeback over the Raiders as “Is, was, and always will be the game of the year in the 2018 BCFC season.” That statement arguably holds true today, but the Raiders reeling off 4 straight scoring drives to beat the Rams with 13 minutes to play and the Huskers winning for the first time in 30 games (33 including play-offs) against the Okanagan Sun are pretty freaking incredible as well. The fact that those three games all took place in one season, lets along the first three weeks? I really don’t know how another game on its own can measure up, but the fact that the Huskers are tied for first place and the Langley Rams would actually be out of the play-offs if they started today is beyond comprehension and is setting up for a pretty interesting, check that very interesting final seven weeks. With all due respect to Bob Reist, this IS beyond comprehension to anyone outside Chilliwack.

We always spin that the play-off race is going to be interesting in the BCFC, but if we are honest with ourselves that is generally a bit of an exaggeration as we generally see two teams fighting for first and two jockeying for third. That may still prove to be the case this season, but the results in most of the games this year have observers shaking their heads. And that’s a good thing.

I didn’t see the Raiders comeback over the Rams but did get regular updates from Dom Abassi who was handling the play by play that didn’t make the airwaves (more on that later). He laughed that he and colour commentator Paul Shortt were trying to make a 34-7 Rams lead sound interesting but were failing miserably and actually discussed ferry food at one point. 13-minute mark in the 4th quarter saw 4 straight VI scoring drives as the Raiders walked away, escaped, showed their mettle, depending on your point of view with a 35-34 win.

Very unfortunate that an unprepared camera operator cost fans of both clubs the ability to see this game. We miss Doug Watson from Mijen Multi Media who handled the games last season, and thanks to VBN out of Chilliwack for handling the Raiders home opener a week ago.

Rest assured VI games the rest of the way will have the right people in place, so you get to hear Dom’s call of the game and see all the action the rest of the season.

The decision of the BCFC executive (of which I am a member) to cancel the Rebels/Broncos game and play a 4 pointer later in the season has obviously been questioned ad nauseum. I could go into great depth explaining the reasoning beyond yesterday’s press release but at the end of the day, the decision wasn’t a perfect one. But then again there was no perfect decision to be had. Definitely a learning process for next season.

Charly Cardilicchia was one of probably two dozen football related calls I fielded yesterday. His view on the 4-point game? He referred to himself as “Double Up Chuck.” I’ll take that as he is good with the concept?

Am I the only one who still has a hard time referring to Matt Blokker as Snoop? I don’t know what it is, Snoopy just wants to roll off my tongue, I’m not a fan of Snoop Dog, or I just can’t understand why when someone first called him Snoop he didn’t just say “Uh no, my name is Matt thanks.” Not sure if he notices that when I talk to him I don’t refer to him by name or just use Matt.

Interesting fact on Blokker, for all his success at Caledonia Park as head coach of the Raiders, he is winless there as a visiting head coach. Hmmm

The most telling thing about the loss to the Huskers Saturday night is that the Sun didn’t lose the game. The Huskers won it.

Best name in the BCFC? Huskers running back Von Richardson. Maybe it’s just me, but it sounds like a name you’d hear called on NFL Sunday night football.

I won’t mention performances of the week again as I didn’t realize Paul Shortt does that in his weekly column and it would ruin the surprise when the BC Lions Players of the week come out. But if you ever watched the show Married with Children you will remember how Al Bundy sticks his hand partly in his pants and boasts to his son of “6 touchdowns in a single game”. Well, Raiders QB Jake Laberge won’t be able to tell his son about 6 touchdowns in a single game, but he got awfully close this weekend.

When was the last time a team started 1-2 and won the Cullen Cup? I’m not sure if Paul Shortt can answer that question and I don’t know if the 1-2 Rams will pull it off this year. But they are one of the better 1-2 teams I can remember

Did the Okanagan Sun get jobbed last week on the last second missed field goal? I watched on BCFCTV and from that angle can offer no opinion. But I was scratching my head upon seeing one upright official signal good and another not so much. Why does one official say yes and another no? A better question may be why are two referees making a call on whether a ball is inside or outside a goalpost when only one of them is logically positioned to make the call based on the angle of view.

Last week I asked a local official who works BCFC games and he explained that the policy is if the ball is very close to one of the posts, the official closest to  it makes the call and the other essentially defers. He couldn’t explain why the official away from the goalpost in question signalled at all last week.

Still his in-site was interesting and based upon that, the referee who signaled it went wide was the one to make the call. Tie game was the right call

Game of the Week

Weeks ago I would have been watching Valley and Kamloops to see if the Huskers were finally able to crawl out of last place, a dark and stormy place they seem so comfortable in the last few years. They are in first place now so that storyline is kind of dead now isn’t it?

The Sun and Rams is always, always interesting.

But the Hatfield and McCoys are at it again on the island. Batten the hatches everyone, this is the game of the week

Musings is for opinion purposes only and does not represent the views of the BCFC or its member teams