It really should be something to marvel at, to stand back and appreciate -- like a mounted trophy head of a magnificent antlered creature.
Such a sensational season in the CFL's wild, wild West deserves to be stuffed and preserved.
If you just hadn't watched it from so damn close up, where it seemed so phenomenally flawed that it deserves to have flies on it.
If there's ever been a year where anybody in the West could beat everybody else in the West to get to the Grey Cup, this is it.
Some of the scores in games when West teams played each other so far this season: 28-24, 38-33, 24-23, 38-35, 35-34, 31-27, 23-20, 19-16, 34-31, 44-44, 33-30 and 28-26.
Twelve out of 18 West vs. West games were settled by fewer than six points!
"That's pretty amazing," said Eskimos head coach Richie Hall.
"That really says it for the way it's been in the West. A couple of plays here and a couple plays there and we could be in a situation like Calgary or Saskatchewan."
The Stampeders and Roughriders play this weekend to decide first. The Eskimos and Lions play to decide third.
The Eskimos would be under less pressure if Byron Parker and T.J. Hill didn't both go for the ball and run into each other to allow Geroy Simon a 62-yard touchdown in the last minute to lose 34-31 to the Lions after Ricky Ray had appeared to have engineered a comeback win.
Mind you, the Eskimos would already be out of playoff contention if Omarr Morgan didn't slip and fall and allow Mo Mann to go uncovered for a 68-yard touchdown with just over a minute to play to beat Saskatchewan.
"I think of the Calgary game we lost here and the Saskatchewan game we lost here," said Hall.
Then again, if Edmonton didn't change offensive co-ordinators between games of the Labour Day doubleheader against Calgary ...
All spilled milk now.
"It is what it is, no matter what it is," said Hall.
"We're playing for third place. Our fate is in our own hands.
"There's also an opportunity that's not in our hands. But if we go out there and win, we're in and it's B.C. that has to wait until Sunday to see what happens."
Nobody is more in the middle of it than the Eskimos.
Door No. 1? Door No. 2? Or Door No. 3?
The front door? The back door? Or the trap door?
The way the weekend has worked in the CFL, the Eskimos, despite everything that's happened to them, could stop what is so far a three-year streak of missing the Western Conference playoffs with a win over the B.C. Lions Friday night in Vancouver.
Thanks to the Lions losing 28-26 to the Calgary Stampeders this past weekend, the Eskimos, with a win, would put themselves in position to turn the same trick they did for the first time in their history in 2005 when they won their 13th Grey Cup without hosting a single playoff game.
The winner Friday night in Vancouver takes third place and wins a trip to the West semifinal in either Regina or Calgary.
Lose and -- thanks to Winnipeg getting bombed 45-13 by the Montreal Alouettes yesterday -- Edmonton could still sneak in the back door as the crossover team.
For that to happen, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats would have to beat the Bombers in Winnipeg on Sunday. The Eskimos would then travel to Ivor Wynne Stadium for the 52nd playoff year in their 61-year history.
At least Hamilton isn't in a pick-your-poison situation with the option of resting players due to the fact a Hamilton loss would give Winnipeg home field for the East semifinal.
Unlike last year, when the theory was that the easiest route to the Grey Cup might be through the East with many fans licking their lips at the idea of Calgary vs. Edmonton in a Grey Cup game in Montreal, this year is a different deal.
Not only are the Alouettes 14-3, unbeaten at home and with their last game against the absolutely awful Toronto Argos, the Tiger-Cats have been tough at home, where they're 6-3 this year.
Go West, young men.
Yes, anybody can beat anybody in the West in this season of endless possibilities.
Ah, check that.
The Eskimos, in their stumbling season, have actually managed to beat every team in the league except one: the B.C. Lions.
TERRY.JONES@SUNMEDIA.CA
