The Mangler On Sports

The Eskimos enter the final two months of the CFL season in unfamiliar territory. They are in jeopardy of missing the playoffs, something that has not occured since the early 1970s. While all other teams in the league have come to expect their clubs to miss out on the post season at least once in a while, such is not the case in Edmonton.

A lot of people are suggesting that "well, you know they ought to miss after all this time, that's OK." But in reality, it's not OK. Acceptance of failure only fosters a tradition of losing. The fact that there is such a high level of accountability in Edmonton has contributed to the great streak of success. There should be no rebuilding seasons in a league where 6 out of 8 make the playoffs, retooling is what the offseason is for. When the fans allow years of patience for a team to get its act together the result is enevitably a situation like that in Saskatchewan. Several years of last place finishes followed by slow improvements that yielded a competitive team, but one which has yet to reach the Grey Cup. When a .500 record is repeatedly met with approval, there's no pressure to improve the team into a Grey Cup champion. Why mess with a team that the fans will show up and see even if they have little hope of winning the Grey Cup?

If Edmonton fails to mount a charge into the playoffs, you can be sure there will be changes within the organization. The most obvious will be the dismissal of coach Danny Maciocia. It doesn't matter that his team won the Grey Cup last year, the fact is that him and his players have bumbled to a 4-7 record, and the coach should take the fall with them, especially considering that he is largely responsible for a pair of last-second defeats. In any other market Maciocia would have likely earned himself a mulligan or two by winning it all, but in Edmonton it comes back to the accountability factor, and the unwillingness to accept failure, even for one season. Tom Higgins was gassed after winning the Grey Cup and then being bounced from the playoffs early on the next year. Of course, there is still a resonable chance for the Eskimos to find themselves on the field in November. A pair of games with the Tiger-Cats is forthcoming, and that should yield a pair of victories, which would pull the team close to Saskatchewan. They also play the Roughriders twice more, meaning that they still control their own destiny, so all hope should not be lost.