The Alouettes lost only two of their 10 home games this season – one of those was a meaningless match – and yet they are not favoured for Sunday’s Grey Cup game in Montreal.

No, the oddsmakers decided yesterday to make the game between the Als and the visiting Calgary Stampeders a pick, meaning bettors will have to lay $1.10 either way to win a dollar.

“If the game were being played at a neutral site, Calgary definitely would be favoured,” Canadian handicapper Randall (The Handle) Steinberg, who is primarily responsible for establishing point spreads on CFL games, told me yesterday. “The Stampeders come out of a much tougher division in the West and they didn’t get to play the weaker Eastern teams as much as Montreal did. So, in reality, Calgary is the better team. But home-field advantage matters, and Montreal has that, so the game has to be a pick.”

Actually, the Stamps were one of the only two teams to defeat the Als in Montreal this season — a 23-19 triumph back on July 19. The Als’ only other loss in Montreal was on Oct. 26, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated them 24-23. That game was meaningless, however, because the Als already had locked up first place in the East.

The Stamps also downed the Als 41-30 in Calgary in September.

“We know we can beat Montreal,” Stampeders receiver Nik Lewis said. “But we have to be all business. Montreal is a party town but we can’t let ourselves get caught up in all the atmosphere.”

The Stamps also will need to play better than they did last Sunday, when they edged the B.C. Lions 22-18 in the Western final. Other than linebacker Mike Labinjo, a Torontonian who recorded eight tackles and three sacks, no Calgary player was spectacular. In fact, the Stamps couldn’t even end the game properly. They tried to run out the clock – a pretty routine task in this era of quarterbacks kneeling – but they failed and actually left the Lions with a second on the clock and a shot at winning with a Hail Mary pass.

The Als, on the other hand, turned in a first-rate performance in their Eastern final victory over the Edmonton Eskimos. They weren’t even penalized once all game.

So you might be inclined to pick Montreal over Calgary this Sunday. Not so fast, though. I’m taking Calgary, and I’ll explain why later this week.