More info:

Official CFL Website

Standings (don't click if you're not up-to-date on all the games!)

CFL Broadcast Schedule (US and Canada)

Synopsis: Some games are carried by ESPN (usually ESPN2) but not enough to get a feel for the flow of the season.

You can buy a subscription to ESPN Plus, which is $5 or so per month. More than reasonable for all of us Arfcom millionaires.

Other methods exist which may or may not be legitimate (Youtube, Reddit, etc.) and won't be dealt with here.

Also, understand that many people sometimes watch the games on delay (including me), so it might be courteous to put scores, etc. under a SPOILER tag.

For those who don't follow and are interested in learning about the basic differences:

Warren Moon explains the major differences between Canadian and American football:



There are other minor differences that are easily learned as you watch more.

TEAMS:

West Division:

Edmonton Eskimos
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Calgary Stampeders
British Columbia (BC) Lions
Saskatchewan Roughriders

East Division:

Ottawa Redblacks
Toronto Argonauts
Montreal Alouettes
Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Playoffs/Championship:

Instead of the Super Bowl, the CFL competes for the Grey Cup, usually played the first weekend after Thanksgiving.

At the end of the season, the top three from each division are selected for playoffs. The second and third place teams play one another in the semi final, and the winner of that goes to the final to play the first place team.

Crossover Rule:

The exception to this is if the fourth place team from one division has a better record than the third place team from the other.  For example, assume that the order of the teams above is how they are all ranked within their own division at the end of the season.

Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Calgary would go to playoffs for the West. Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal would go for the East.

But, let's assume that Saskatchewan has a better win-loss record than Montreal (likely, since Montreal is very, very bad...the Cleveland Browns of the CFL) Saskatchewan would bump Montreal and play in their spot in the playoffs, even though they are in the other division.

Saskatchewan would be called the "crossover" team, and would subsequently be cursed, since no crossover has ever won a Grey Cup. Edmonton was the last to attempt it last year, but inexplicably, their coach, Jason Maas, had a brain fart and kicked a FG with only a couple minutes to go instead of trying to get 7 (what they needed to tie the game). They ended up losing that game to Toronto when they couldn't get a defensive stop.

Other differences:

Penalty flags are red and challenge flags are yellow. Each team gets one timeout per half, and a challenge uses that timeout. In some cases, penalty calls can be challenged. Punts may not go out of bounds between the 20 yard lines, or it is an illegal kick. After a field goal, there is no kickoff...the ball is placed on the 25 yard line.

If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask. I am by no means an expert, but I hate baseball so the CFL really helps me get my summer sports fix, so I've been watching for several seasons and have picked up quite a bit along the way.

Collaros...I feel bad for the guy.

He has looked good up until now. He's been so injury prone and hasn't played well for a good while until this season.

Started off well last night, but then threw two picks. Then, spent the rest of the game in concussion protocol.

Hate it for him.

OTOH, the Redblacks looked pretty good. They are only two years past a Grey Cup win and Trevor Harris looked like the man last night.

WINNIPEG @ MONTREAL on ESPN 2 right now.

I think the 10:00 game, Edmonton vs. Hamilton, is going to be a better game.

My fearless picks:

Winnipeg 33, Montreal 10.

Hamilton 38, Edmonton 35. Possibly decided on the last drive.

Let's see how close I am!

And, as I type that, Winnipeg throws a lateral, then a halfback pass to the end zone.

Winnipeg 10, Montreal, 0.

I might not have given Winnipeg enough points.