Save the last dance for Gee

For the last five days or so, the war of words between the Lions and the Stamps increased in bellicosity by the day. Trash talking a staple of professional football, turned into a segment of Dancing with the Stars, as the Lions Geroy Simon under attack from the Stamps Nik Lewis and Jermaine Copeland over the ever popular Touch down pose that he makes after every touchdown he makes.

The Stamps were less than flattering in their comments, heating up the prelims to the Friday Night match and of course gaining as much media mileage as possible about the pose and the poser.

Once the ball got kicked however, the trash talking stopped and the thrashing began.

The Stamps were never really in the game, a showdown for First place and home field advantage for the CFL Western Final. The Lions simply dominated the game from the outset, Buck Pierce continued to prove his place among CFL Quarterbacks with a masterful display of moving the offence and putting points on the board.

Pierce scored Touchdowns on the run, threw the ball for touchdowns and handed the ball off for touchdowns, by the time the night was finished the Lions were free and clear with a 39-13 victory. And Geroy Simon factored in as a big part of the night’s success, picking up his 10th consecutive 100 yard plus night.

Simon picked up some key yardage on timely receptions and scored an early touchdown, allowing him to model the “pose” for all the Stamps and their fans. His efforts once again should solidify his place as an odds on favourite to be a trophy holder at the CFL awards show during Grey Cup weekend in Winnipeg.

And judging by the way the Lions are playing of late, there’s a very good chance that he will be bringing his entire team roster with him for the Grey Cup game itself. With perhaps the most anticipated and important game of the season on the line, it was all Lions. The Stamps were but mere viewers of the solid game plan from Wally Buono and his coaches, such was the control of the play by the Lions on the way to Buono's 200th career win.

Eventually, the Stamps turned to Danny McManus to lead the offence in a mop up affair late in the fourth. McManus out there merely to give the Stamps something to feel good about on a night that all seemed to go wrong.

McManus had his successes; he passed with authority leading the Stamps down the field only to be turned away on a third and goal stand by the Leos. By then the score 33-6 looked to be a lock and the Leos had only to kill off the remaining 3 minutes and thirty seconds.

But a late game turnover allowed the Stamps to end the game on a positive note for themselves as an interception in the Lions end of the field allowed McManus to work the Stamps down the field again, giving Joffrey Reynolds the ball to carry in for the only major of the night for Calgary.

The Stamps picked up the final score on the night, but the Lions and especially Geroy Simon gained the Final word and the Last Dance.

All that is left now to prove for the Leos, is the chance to go to the BIG DANCE, in Winnipeg in late November, something that seems awfully close after the solid whupping laid on the Stamps.

The above post first appeared on my Twelve Men on the Field blog, a site dedicated to the Canadian Football League.