Article content Everyone who was fooled by the Edmonton Elks this year, raise their hand. For the record, I have to type this column with one hand because my other one is firmly in the air. They got me.
They got me good. I actually allowed myself to think this was going to be it. The year they finally shook off the maniacal monkey that’s seen them miss playoffs every year since the COVID-cancelled season of 2020.
But after these past two weeks, that big ol’ ape is still firmly draped across the proverbial back of the double-E, who barely bothered to show up, if at all, in back-to-back losses to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. It could have been for all the marbles too, which seemed utterly incredulous for a team that started the season out 0-7. Yet there they were, in a position to possibly force a three-way tie at 9-9 in the race for first place in the West Division — a place Edmonton has been all too unfamiliar with since the 2015 Grey Cup season.
Oh, they looked good too, after having rung up five wins over the previous six weeks. And were coming in off of a bye, to boot. But the full-blown blaze ended in barely a fizzle, as it would take nothing short of a modern-day miracle for this feeble football club to avoid watching the post-season proceedings on television for the fourth year in a row.
The Elks couldn’t get out of their own way when it came to fumbling the momentum that saw them claw back from yet another disastrous start to the season, to winning five of six ga.