A quick check of the calendar shows it’s still July, which means there’s a long, long way to go in the Canadian Football League season.

True, the winner of Friday’s clash at McMahon Stadium between the Stampeders and the BC Lions will be able to claim sole possession of top spot in the West Division. But with more than four months of football action to come, it’s not like there’ll be champagne chilling in the locker room for a post-game celebration.

Still, no matter what the calendar tells us, first place is better than second, third, fourth or last place.

“It’s good to be in this position,” said veteran Stamps defensive back Brandon Smith. “It’s an opportunity. But at the same time, it’s a long season. We want to win this game, but it doesn’t make or break our season. We’ve still got a lot of football left to play.

“It’s the most important game, but that’s because it’s the next game. We’re going into it with a sense of urgency but it’s not like our season is riding on this game. But we definitely want to win.”

Sports lends itself to hyperbole, which means terms like “must-win” and “crucial game” get used much too easily.

“Is it too early to call this a big game?” wondered receiver Anthony Parker. “Yeah, probably. You’re not going to determine first place in July. But that said, when you’ve got the schedule that we have and you look at our next four-game stretch — BC, Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan and BC —  this is a big opportunity for us to take a good hold on the West and win the season-series with both of those teams.

“If we can get the win this week, it will be big for us and then we’ll have an even bigger game three weeks from now (when the Stamps face the Lions in Vancouver). Every win that you get against your division is going to help you out.”

“It’s the most important game, but that’s because it’s the next game.
– DB Brandon Smith

In a scheduling quirk, the Stamps will be done with the Lions and Roughriders by Aug. 19. The traditional home-and-home series with Edmonton in early September takes care of the 2016 slate against the Eskimos. That means the Stamps will only play one West opponent over the final two months of the regular season.

Calgary is 2-1 against the West so far this season and Friday’s contest is Calgary’s second regular-season meeting with the Leos, who in Week 1 handed the Stamps their only loss so far this season.

“In this business, you have to have a short-term memory,” said Smith. “That’s behind us now. We dropped a game to them that we all feel was in the palm of our hands to win. But we’re over that now. If we’re still dwelling on what happened in Week 1, we won’t be getting anywhere. You can’t cry over spilled milk.”

“When we looked at the film after that game,” said Parker, “we were disappointed in the things that we left out there. I thought we had several opportunities to win the game but we didn’t finish it out. We’re hungry to prove that we’re better than what we showed and we’ll have an opportunity to do that on Friday.”