Football
Tackleball's Cannon
I got to light the Toronto Argonauts Ceremonial Cannon to kick off last week’s CFL game. That was cool!
Music Behind Enemy Lines
Here’s an article I wrote for the CFL web site in 2007 after the Argonotes visit to Hamilton for the Labour Day Classic - and I’m saving it here in case it disappears from the recently-redesigned CFL web site.
Remembering Vern Kennedy - Argonotes trumpeter, singer, composer, all-around good guy
The heart of the Argonotes trumpet section, and lead singer of “Go Argos Go”, passed away this week.
Remembering Waterloo hockey and football coach - and friend of the band - Bob McKillop
Waterloo’s football coach was a friend to me and the Warriors Band.
The story of Go Argos Go - the Toronto Argonauts Fight Song
All about the Argos fight song. Sing along with the bouncing ball!
Remembering former Argos owner Sherwood Schwarz
I was curious whatever happened to Sherwood Schwarz, the New York businessman who owned the Argos during the tumultuous 1999-2003 era, and who we should all thank for promoting Pinball to head coach.
(No, not the "Gilligan's Island" guy, that was Sherwood SchwarTz.)
Sadly, it seems he passed away in February 2023, at age 92. (Did the team ever acknowledge this?)
He was, IMHO, a kind guy who probably didn't quite know what he was in for when he bought the team at a time when nobody else would, although he'll be remembered more for the strangeness of that era - hiring his cousin J.I. Albrecht as GM, John Huard as coach, getting Garth Drabinsky to produce the halftime shows, a Lucky Loonie contest that awarded one fan $1-per-person at every game, and a misguided and ultimately cancelled plan to stage pre-game wet t-shirt contests.
Eventually he couldn't manage to pay the bills, and the league had to take over the team.
One time we got a call from the Argo office. Sherwood wanted the band on the field at halftime. I couldn't imagine why. But we went down, and discovered that they'd planned a field goal kicking contest. Supermodels. Kicking field goals in their elegant gowns and high heels, and Sherwood wanted the band to play "Tada!" after each attempt.
I actually gave him a ride once. I was at the Argo office for some reason or other and he was there and I heard him ask the receptionist if she could call him a cab - coincidentally, I was headed to the airport myself and I gave him a lift, in a car full of Argonotes percussion equipment. We had an interesting yet somewhat awkward conversation - what restaurants did we each like in Toronto? and then he asked me some sort of investment question about Rogers and whether I would buy their denatured certificates of accrual, or something, and I mumbled some answer as if I knew anything about money.
Rest in peace, Sherwood. I hope someone writes a book about that Argo era, it was quite a story, and the team might have folded if you hadn't stepped up.
Standard CFL Arguments
The league announced that Green Day would be the halftime show for the 110th Grey Cup next month in Hamilton, and although the response was generally positive (and I think it’s a great choice), it reminded me that there are some evergreen CFL discussions that just won’t go away. I wanted to note these here for future reference.
The Standard CFL Arguments.
1. The Halftime Act.
“The halftime act should be Canadian! Dozens of people would surely tune in to hear (obscure band from Flin Flon, or some other band that was popular 40 years ago and which would appeal to that coveted 65+ demographic, or some artist that it turns out has already played at the Grey Cup , etc)”
You know what, we’ve already had Justin Bieber, Gordon Lightfoot, Bachman/Turner, the Guess Who, Bryan Adams, the Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, Nickelback, Celine Dion and Shania Twain at the Grey Cup, so you don’t need to suggest those. Come up with some other suggestions. (Also for the record, Rush is no longer available.)
Incidentally the 78th Grey Cup featured “Esmeralda Colombian Dance Group, Mlada Srbadia Serbian Folk Dance Group, Joy of Movement Studiom Yuen’s Institute of Tae Kwon-do and the Hungarian Csardas Dancers of Vancouver”. Now THAT was a show.
I tend to feel that if the halftime act is a band that I, an old guy, actually like, it’s probably not exactly the right choice to attract new interest to the CFL.
2. CFL Expansion
“The CFL should expand! Here, let me show my amazing geographic knowledge with a list of a dozen random cities.”
I have actually seen Churchill, Manitoba and Cornwall, Ontario offered as serious suggestions. Which kind of reminds me of Nate Silver’s infamous recommendation, based on counting up Google searches for the term “NHL”, that the NHL should consider to something called “Sudbury - Thunder Bay.” Never mind that those cities are an eleven hour drive apart. Let’s just name random cities.
3. Location and Time of Games
The right day, time and location for home games (which usually means “more convenient for me, personally”)
(Sometimes people say “If the Argos played at York, they’d attract lots of fans from north of the city”, which conveniently ignores that they’d probably lose even more fans who take Lakeshore trains to the games.)
Paul Woods noted that “it is surely a prerequisite that anyone who says “York” lives west of Thunder Bay and has never been to Toronto.”
4. Attendance Problems in Toronto
“CFL attendance is a complicated problem, so here is a simple trivial solution that I can’t believe MLSE hasn’t tried”
Right, put up some billboards, blanket the newspapers with ads, why don’t they let people in for free, that’ll fix everything. Just ignore that, unlike every other CFL city, there are five other pro teams in town, and an NFL team just an hour away, and another couple of NFL teams just four hours away, and another entire CFL team just down the QEW.
My friend Cameron Hayglass added another -
5. Problems Unique to the CFL
“only in the CFL!” (highlights problem routinely seen in at least one of NBA/NHL/MLB/NFL)
and I then also remembered to include
6. New Stadiums
Any observation about building a new stadium anywhere that does not include any indication of where the $200,000,000 is coming from.
And a problem in every league everywhere -
7. The Fix Is In.
“The referees and the league obviously want team X to win”, say fans of team Y that just lost to team X.