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.
Here is something dumb and silly but I’m glad we did it. See video below.
In September, 2009 I was just finishing up a bit of a business boondoggle trip – presentations on iOS coding in London, Madrid, Berlin and Paris. (I hope it impressed my Dad that I gave a lecture at the Sorbonne.)
On the final night I went to a little sidewalk café with some colleagues.
It had a lovely view of the Eiffel Tower. (Lots of places in Paris seem to have a lovely view of the Eiffel Tower. for instance this was the view from the office.)
So anyway we’re at this cafe.
7:00 PM
One of my friends mentioned that the tower lit up once an hour. Sure enough, at 7:00 or so we noticed it flashing dramatically. That was pretty cool!
And we had some more wine.
8:00 PM
And at about 7:57 somebody said “I wonder if it lights up at Exactly 8:00 on the dot? Like, is it synchronized to an atomic clock or something?”
So we all looked at the clocks on our iPhones intently, and sure enough, at EXACTLY 8:00 on the dot, the light show began again. That’s cool!
More wine. maybe beer. I forget. But we must have had something because we were still there at
8:45 PM
We’re still there. we hatched a plan. I’d spent the week showing people how to build iOS apps. Sometimes I’d build a flashlight app, some dumb little thing where you’d tap the screen and a light came on. What if you had an app that turned on the Eiffel Tower lights? Maybe the tower has bluetooth. That’d be pretty cool. Wouldn’t that be hilarious? But how would you do it?
What if you just faked it? Would it be believable, or just stupid? Or maybe funny?
8:57 PM
The three of us are now standing outside. One guy is filming me. The other is holding up his iPhone where I can see it, displaying the time to the second.
8:58 PM
Ready? Let’s start filming. What have we got to lose? Quick, think of something to say.
8:59 PM
Showtime.
We tried the corresponding turn-the-lights-off stunt a minute later but messed up the timing.
14 years later I’m glad we did this silly thing. But I kind of wish I could have a do-over. I’d sell it better!
Well, I just turned 64. So half my life ago, I was 32, in September of 1991. And in September of 1991, I started work at NeXT, which then merged into Apple in 1996.
So I’ve been doing this job – with great delight! – for half my life. (I figured out the actual day when I’d spent half my life here; it was a few days ago, I won’t bore you with the calendar math.)
I had been working at Indiana University, and bought a NeXT Cube workstation for $11,000. I was fascinated with this computer. A Unix machine, with a great graphical interface, amazing built in sound, awesome object-oriented developer tools, and it’s only $11,000 with the academic discount? I’ll buy one!
That’d be a much younger me, and my brand new NeXT cube in my Bloomington, Indiana apartment (and in the background is an Atari 520ST. It was my previous favourite thing that I think never got turned on again after I got the NeXT cube.
Of course, I still have that NeXT cube. The watch on my wrist is its direct descendant – it’s running sort of the same operating system, using sort of the same developer tools, and it’s a better computer by almost any measurement. That NeXT cube was the ancestor of everything Apple makes today.
So anyway, Indiana was swell but eventually I wanted to move back to Canada, so not knowing anything about sales or anything, I asked the local rep Pat Wootan if, by any chance, did NeXT have an office in Canada and would they have any use for someone like me?
Turns out, yes! There was a sales office in Toronto consisting of a whole two people, and one of them (the “Systems Engineer”, whatever that meant) was leaving, so Pat put me in touch with Phil Hume (the “Account Executive”) and a chain of interviews started.
NeXT flew me out to Redwood City, California, and I remember a theme during the interviews. Multiple people asked me “Wait – you paid $11,000 for a Cube? Did nobody tip you off that a cheaper, faster, $2,000 NeXTStation was about to ship? Geez, I’m sorry. Maybe we can make it up to you by hiring you.” And they did, and I started in September 1991.
Here I am now, half my life put into this job. 32 years of wonder, of fascination with new technology, of nagging impostor syndrome that I still don’t really understand a lot of it, and of excitement about what comes next.
Here’s another in the irregular connection of Off the Field Reports. You can read the details of the football action anywhere, but what if you want to know what’s happening in the stands instead? What if you want another report on whether the QR Code pizza slice contest worked? Where can you go? Where?
Well, here as it turns out. And if you just can’t get enough of this, you can catch up if necessary on Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3.
Game Summary
Argos: 44
Ottawa: 31
Weather: Beautiful
Crowd: Boisterous
what were the other people on the GO Train coming down to see?
Something called KidzBop was playing at the Budweiser Stage, and I must extend my congratulations to all the moms and dads who were accompanying the throngs of excited young people. I hope there was something fun for you older folks too, perhaps some Glenn Miller covers.
wait wasn’t Kidz Bop at 4 and the football at 7?
Yeah, we came down earlier than normal. We took a friend from California to his first ever CFL game, and did a couple of tourist things ahead of time. Including visiting Little Canada, an amazing HO Scale recreation of great Canadian scenes, found at Yonge/Dundas Square. Highly recommended! Even if it features 1:87 working models of the Skydome and Air Canada Centre – or whatever they’re called now – but not BMO Field.
Here’s a panorama of Toronto at Little Canada. You really should check it out.
And we headed from there to the game.
So anyway our friend James really enjoyed the game and is now the Argos Good Luck Charm, as they have never lost when James has been on hand. (My Apple friends, you know James from his band And the Breakpoints of course.)
could we possibly talk about the football game
I’m getting there.
Before the game, I decided I needed to buy an Argos jersey. I quite like the new 2023 design and decided to go for the Cambridge Blue home version. You know, Cambridge Blue. The lighter of the two Blues associated with the Double Blue, the other being Oxford, unless I have that backwards.
I bought the jersey before the game and then hustled back to my seat, and much to my surprise, the custom name/number lettering was done ALSO BEFORE THE GAME with a speed that surprised me. I guess it pays to be one of the first in line.
what name/number did you get
Well I thought about this a lot. In the Argonotes days I was “DICTATOR / 94”. Maybe. Or I could have got “ARGONOTES / 23”. Maybe that too. Or a lot of people get one of their favourite player, and for me that would have been “BALL / 6” (and here’s why Marcus Ball is my all time favourite.)
Ultimately I went with DICTATOR / 94 for sentimental reasons, but I then spent the rest of the game wondering if the iron-on numbers they’d applied were actually in the same font as the real player numbers. Still not quite sure. Will be investigating this further at the next game.
apart from yours what was your favourite jersey
BOATMAN. That was pretty good. The Argos are known as the Boatmen, of course, and the team actually had a player named Shannon Boatman who played five games in 2010. It’s almost the perfect jersey!
Except I talked to this guy and said “Hey, that’s great that you have a Shannon Boatman jersey” and he told me that he chose BOATMAN as just the team nickname, not a salute to Shannon Boatman who he wasn’t even aware of, but that it worked out nicely.
i wonder who actually has a legit Shannon Boatman game worn jersey?
wonder no more.
has the game started yet or are you just going to write about things that happened before the game
Soon. I promise. First though
National Anthem
It came in at 1:31. As usual. Lovely voice. Please go faster.
kickoff!
An odd siren sound was played at the start of the 1st and 2nd halves. I get that they’re trying something new here but they need a better recording, or a better live performance. It was oddly anemic sounding.
how did your american friend James like the game?
He liked that at one point the ball was on the 54 Yard Line, something he’s never seen before.
promotions recap
A good set of promotions this week, including some sort of Match Game thing where you were given a prompt (“Fill in the blank: WATER ______”) and you had to match what the prerecoded player was going to do. I liked that.
This contestant got 2 out of 5 right but the game day hostess said “You’re still going to win.” (cough) isn’t it odd how people just about always win? it’s as if they’re going to give the prize away whatever happens, which is good.
Did they do the spin-the-wheel thing? YES
Did the contestant give yet another extremely weak spin, rotating the wheel only about 60º presumably so it wouldn’t spin forever? YES
Do you understand how this promotion works now? I think so. You get one spin. But you play Rock/Paper/Scissors twice with Jason the mascot, to win additional spins. Something like that.
What about the Possibly Dangerous Tumbling Cross The End Zone Inflatable Thing? NO (unless I missed it.)
Were people throwing footballs into the crowd? YES and the throwers were, I think, actual amateur football players and they were really heaving the things up into the 200 level. That was nice to see.
the cannon
Fired once after every Argo touchdown, and (oops) once after the Argos were stopped by Ottawa on the 1 yard line (oops). A little premature exhilaration there. Whoops. Argos still won. Cannon was fired on the subsequent kickoff rouge to even things up. All is forgiven.
the fight song
Played after 4 out of 5 touchdowns. The Section 123 choir is in fine form and I am happy that people are gradually picking up on the Official Gestures, seen here:
I noticed the words on the scoreboard too. Thanks, Argos! (Now if we could just stop cutting it off before the 2nd chorus ends.)
members of the game
Props to the Argos for honouring long time season ticket holders too (or as MLSE calls them, ‘Members’). Here are (I think) Les and Elizabeth, with former Argo Chad Folk. This is a nice initiative.
how about letting members fire the cannon?
Just a thought. The smoke rings are cool.
Halftime
Dogs! Dogs catching frisbees! I love that. Although they spent quite a while erecting some mysterious structure at center field that was used maybe for one jump only.
The dog did manage to jump over the thing, and also Jason. Good doggie.
the referee
It was everyone’s favourite official, Andre Proulx. The crowd seemed to disagree with many of his decisions. It’s amazing how many experts there are on the CFL rulebook, particular the subsections around Pass Interference or Roughing the Passer, and how clearly the fans can see exactly what happened better than the officials who are standing right there.
You know what, I wonder if he gets hassled more than other CFL referees mostly because he understandably speaks with an obvious accent, so you KNOW it’s him.
I like the guy. Hey, we won. Quit complaining.
signs of the game
I didn’t see any particularly great fan signs this week, but I will point out that our Hide the Defensive Coordinator Signs are WAY better than Ottawa’s. One tiny little logo on the side? Come ON, you can do better than that.
before or after 1914?
This was a fun quiz too. Asking players if certain things had happened Before or After the Argos won their first Grey Cup in 1914.
Hey, we all learned something. Vacuum cleaners predate the first Argo Grey Cup
Drum Battle
I liked it when mascot Jason and a fan were taking turns wailing away on a drum. More like this please.
the QR Code
Did they figure out the Pizza Pizza QR Code technical glitch that has often plagued this giveaway? Well, here’s the code…
This QR code happens to translate to this URL: `https://uqr.to/1jlea`
and once again I think they’ve botched the Javascript on that web page, as it is trying to redirect to this nonsensical URL
which would work, if only they hadn’t messed up the Javascript code on the original page.
This promotion STILL needs some work. if you were at the game and this QR code worked for you, let me know what I’m doing wrong, because it sure seems broken.
conclusion: did you have fun
yes. And you should come too! Here’s yet another reason why: No annoying digital ads on the field unlike when you watch the game on TV!
Thanks Argos for another great night of football, and thanks to the Section 123 Choir for fight songs that just keep improving.
footnote on GO Transit and Metrolinx
Generally taking the train to the game works great, from either East or West. We come in from Oakville. Super easy. Train drops us at Exhibition Station 100 yards from the stadium. But all week long, Metrolinx had been announcing that the Lakeshore East line would not be running on the weekend. This caused a great deal of confusion. Lakeshore East? Like, travelling eastbound? Don’t we travel eastbound from Oakville?
Wait, NO. What they meant was that the eastern half of the lakeshore line, from Union Station out to Oshawa, would not be running. The Lakeshore WEST line, which we take, was still operating from Oakville to Exhibition Station and on to Union, and then back later.
I wonder if they ought to rename the line. Trains run Eastbound on Lakeshore West, and vice versa. People were confused. I don’t mean to slam Metrolinx, I know the work has to get done some time, and there was at least one time when Argo fans persuaded them to postpone a construction stoppage until after the game had concluded so people could get home, so they are trying to do the right thing.
Pro Tip: Your iPhone can decode a QR code if you point the camera at it, that’s easy – but what if instead you are looking at a QR Code on the screen (in a web page, or your photo library, or one someone emailed to you) ? Here’s a quick way to deal with a QR code like that.
0) Try doing a long-press on the QR code image and see if the popup menu shows you what the QR code is. . Sometimes that will work, but not always – how a long press is handled is up to the app displaying the code. (Looks like Safari will try to decode it for you, in which case you can skip all the steps below – but lots of other apps don’t.) (h/t to Tom for the reminder.)
1) Take a screen shot in usual way (press side button and volume-up on a FaceID phone, for instance), then tap the thumbnail image that appears to bring up the photo editor.
2) Tap the text-selection icon in the lower right (shown below in red.) If you don’t see that button, first tap the markup button in the top toolbar (shown in green.)
3) Once you’ve tapped that text-selection button, all the text in the image becomes copyable – AND – you can tap on the image of the QR Code to see what it is, or to open it in Safari, or to copy the URL if you like.
We’ve previously analyzed the Off the Field action for Home Game 1 and Home Game 2 – both, oddly enough, played in Toronto.
But, once again, the fans of the Good Ship Argonaut have, er, graciously donated one of our Home Games to the fine people of Atlantic Canada. So off we go to Husky Stadium at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Touchdown Atlantic 2023.
Bottom line, we had a great time, even if it didn’t feel like an Argos home game, and I really, truly, deeply, want Halifax to get its own CFL team.
Argos 31, Saskatchewan 13
Let’s get the score out of the way. A resounding victory for the Double Blue.
you might want to skip the next part
And, what’s this? A palindrome? 31-13? How often does that happen? Let’s fire up the Unnecessary Analysis Machine! When was the last CFL palindromic game? It musta been a long time ago … let’s see …
CFL Palindromic Analysis
Well, uh, the last time it happened was last season. Winnipeg 31, Saskatchewan 13. And it turns out 31-13 is the Most Common CFL Palindromic Score. Since 1958 the CFL has had 56 games with palindromic scores, but 17 of those were ties, and we are hereby deciding that ties are Uninteresting. Sorry, Saskatchewan-Calgary 4-4 in 1963.
And neither is a score like “10-1” a palindrome even though that’s happened twice. Amazingly, Montreal lost to both Edmonton and Calgary in 1963 by identical 10-1 scores, the only time that score’s ever happened.
31-13 has happened a dozen times.
More CFL Palindromic Analysis
I cannot let this go. After 5,974 CFL games since 1958, there have been 39 True Palindromic Games, starting with Toronto over Ottawa 42-24, and a score of 31-13 is by far the most common, having occurred 12 times (including this year in Halifax.)
The highest scoring palindromic game was the very satisfying Toronto 52, Hamilton 25 in 1991.
now that you’ve actually set up this database, what else should we know?
after 5,974 #CFL games since 1958, the most common score is 27-24 (35 times), and there have been 1,252 different scores.
there are 333 scores that have only occurred once, including
1-0 (Montreal 1, Ottawa 0, in 1966)
56-0 (CFL’s Biggest shutout – Winnipeg over Saskatchewan in 1986)
more oddities –
Hamilton and BC have beat each other 3-0
2-0 has never yet happened, but 3-0 and 4-0 has
the average CFL score is 30-17
the most common score (35 times) is 27-24
every number from 1 to 70 has been a Winning Score, except 2 and 69
every number from 0 to 52 has been a Losing Score.
could we get back to the game in Halifax if it’s not too much trouble
Er, I’ve got more. The (late) Baltimore Stallions are the only team with a Perfect Palindromic Record, having won twice, each time by the same 41-14 score, over both Toronto and Hamilton on consecutive weeks in 1995. That’s crazy! (Either that or there could be a bug in my database.)
Mike Hogan of the Argos helpfully pointed out that 82ºF is 28ºC (another palindrome) and mentioned this off-topic and yet still entertaining Weird Al video “Bob” in which every line is a palindrome –
Anyway, back to Touchdown Atlantic in Halifax
Cathy and I flew down for this and enjoyed the weekend very much. This was supoposedly a TORONTO ARGONAUTS HOME GAME but as you’ll see, it didn’t exactly feel like one.
the overall atmosphere
Halifax was crawling with Saskatchewan fans wearing green. Probably outnumbering Argo jerseys 10-1 or more. How many had actually come from Saskatchewan for the game? Who knows, but somehow that entire province’s identity seems to be wrapped up in the Roughriders and even people who moved away decades ago somehow still have a Roughrider jersey they can dig out.
I like to joke that the reason you see so many Roughrider fans at road games is that people just cannot WAIT to get out of Saskatchewan.
Halifax’s waterfront is great but
disappointment
there were no signs or banners or flags or anything to let you know that Touchdown Atlantic was actually happening. The game was sold out, so maybe someone thought it didn’t matter, but it would have been nice to see a little hype for the locals. Vendors were asking me what was happening, was there a game on? Even the hotel we were in – where the CFL league staff were also staying, and where we were the only people to notice the Grey Cup entering the lobby – showed no evidence that anything special was happening.
The long term goal here is for Halifax to get its own team, not just for it to host some out of town fans once in a while. I wish the event hadn’t been so invisible.
pockets of pregame fun
The team sponsored a night at Durty Nelly’s bar and we’re grateful for the free beer! Pinball was on hand, exuding 110% charm as always. I’m ready to run through a wall! Just say where!
Of course you only heard about this event if you bumped into another fan; there didn’t seem to be much of an official plan to let the Argo faithful know about it.
game day
The game was Saturday afternoon. We made our way over to the campus of St. Mary’s University in the middle of Halifax and the temporary stadium therein. Turns out this is the second time I’ve seen the Argos play here – my son and I came in 2005 for an exhibition 16-16 tie vs. the Ticats. This time I was with Cathy. And weirdly it almost seemed like we were in the exact same seats. Here’s 2005 and 2023 – hey, I got a new hat somewhere along the way.
Cathy had been bugging me all week to be more like a Maritimer, to ask the people at drive-thru windows how they’re doing or to chat about the weather with the guy at the toll booth, and the guy sitting beside me overheard and said “Well it must be working, you actually talked to me when you sat down, unlike typical Torontonians.”
sidebar: Former Chief Centurions of the Warriors Band
How many CCWB’s were on hand? Three! At least! That we know about! It was a treat to invite Halifax’s own Dr. David Greenberg, CCWB I, founder of the Most Illustrious UW Warriors Band back in 1966. Cathy joined the band when I was CCWB IX, and later became CCWB XI herself. And 30 years later we got married. (Me and Cathy, that is.) Thank you Dave! And thanks Mrs Dave (Cheryl) for taking this picture!
signs of the game
Here are a couple of my favourites. Grey Cup in Halifax? Sign us up!
Also be sure to bring a marker in case you need to adjust your sign for the conclusion of the game.
whose game is it anyway?
Update: I’ve been told that despite what we all assumed, the CFL decided this was to be a neutral game, not an Argo home game, and directed the game day staff and announcer accordingly, which would explain a few things. I’m not sure I agree with that decision, but I guess it’s their show.
This [edit: see above] was an Argo “home” game but it sure didn’t feel like one. Forget that Argo fans were outnumbered by weird green-clad Saskatchewanians. It was still OUR home game. Small but enthusiastic groups with Argo jerseys, and the native Haligonians sitting near us were pulling for Toronto. (And there was at least one guy in a Doug Flutie San Diego Chargers jersey. I’ll count that as double blue apparel.)
So tell me why –
the (local Halifax) announcer – enthusiastically welcomed Saskatchewan mascot Gainer the Gopher to the field, but never mentioned the presence of Argo mascot Jason (i have since been advised by another attendee that Jason was introduced, so apologies if I missed that);
the local announcer guy eagerly told us to stand for the fourth quarter traditional playing of “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate”, which I will concede is a good song, by (ahem) a band from Ontario, but this is a SASKATCHEWAN HOME GAME TRADITION, so why are we doing it at an Argo home game?
“Green Is the Colour”, Saskatchewan’s fight song, was played after the Riders’ lone touchdown. Played louder and repeated more often than Go Argos Go.
The prime VIP seats in the center of the opposite grandstand seemed to be 80% full of people wearing green. How’d that happen? Why didn’t Argo fans hear about those seats?
The hype sure seemed to be for Saskatchewan.
Look, if we Argo fans are going to donate one of our precious home games to Halifax, let’s not turn it into a Rider home game like this.
what else was happening off the field?
None of the regular Argo promotions happened. Hardly any giveaways. But they did have a guy attempt to kick field goals – I think he won a $200 OK Tire gift card. OK Tire also donated $50K to Nova Scotia youth football. Well done! More than OK.
I fondly remember the old Wendy’s “Kick for a Million” promotion and was lucky to be at Skydome when that guy won the $1,000,000, even if it really was just $20K/year for 50 years.
There was another promotion where two fans competed to see who could put on a totally frozen solid T-shirt. That looked cool. (see what I did there?)
what about the anthem
O Canada clocked in at 1:18, sung very nicely by a local singer. Fastest anthem of our “home” season so far.
remember those signs I was wondering about last time?
Well we got a good look at what was on the other side – nothing.
what about QR codes?
There was a temporary jumbotron in the corner and as far as I could tell, the QRCodes it displayed were indeed encoded properly (unlike the Pizza Pizza QR code promotion at home game 2.) This one, for instance, is https://qr.link/qbRUfS which redirects properly to Purolator’s Tackle Hunger promotion.
Another QR code looked for feedback on Touchdown Atlantic for a chance to win a prize package. Hey, fill this out, you never know. (It’s a survey looking at the economic impact of the game – and asking you if you would support the idea of a team in Halifax. Why yes, I would. I’ve been to every CFL game in Halifax so far! (total: 2))
Let’s hope our QR Codes at BMO are fixed for the next game. (Trust me, if they are, I’ll let you know.)
souvenirs
They were handing out little yellow footballs. I gave mine to a kid who didn’t get one. Reminder, this is what you do with free things at sporting events. Give them to kids.
There were Touchdown Atlantic shirts and hats for sale. I wish there’d been a nice souvenir pin. I would have added that to my collection.
Also “Touchdown” beer.
what’s with these orange lines?
I don’t get what these orange lines on the field are.
halftime show
At first I thought, wow, the divot replacement squad here is armed with swords but no, those are Scottish dancers. Nice work, ladies.
did you sing Go Argos Go?
yes! Thank you, game day folks, for playing this (however I think the recording needs a little audio attention or level setting or something. It’s hard to tell at first if it’s actually playing, and then people stumble into the song on about the 4th line.)
Of course I conducted the faithful – thanks Will for the picture!
Two different people said to me “Hey, didn’t you used to be the bandleader?” Made my day.
creature comforts lacking a bit
You can only do so much with temporary seating. Frankly I found it all to be a little cramped, and if you were sitting in the middle of a row, there was almost no way to get to your seat without everybody else getting up and out of the way.
Trash cans were overflowing. OK I get it this is a temporary setup, but still, not a good look.
Worst of all, the food and drinks were sold out of food trucks located quite a ways from the seats themselves, and the lineup for the restrooms was horrendous. Cathy missed most of the 1st quarter in line for food, and almost all of the 3rd quarter in line for the temporary porta-potties (she reported “at least 30 people in line for each of the 20 toilets.”) Even more aggravating, not far from us in the end zone was another row of portapotties, that were off limits unless you had a special wristband for that area.
The stadium was surrounded by campus buildings. Aren’t there restrooms in there we could use?
Which leads me to –
Can the CFL work in Halifax with a setup like this?
I think so. I hope so. The buzz in the packed stadium – uncomfortably packed, but thankfully packed – was great. Everybody wants it to work!! BUT – A flimsy temporary stadium isn’t going to be good enough, at least without substantial improvements to the food and restroom situation. People might tolerate that for a single exhibition game but the casual fan would be unlikely to return. Fix that situation.
The CFL staff were all staying in our hotel and I had a few conversations with some, including one with a senior exec where I said “look, we all want this to work, we just need to find someone with $200,000,000 for a stadium, so you should find someone with $200,000,000.”
I was informed it’s a little more complicated than that. But I’m hoping. I want to go to a Grey Cup in Halifax too.
Cathy and I really enjoyed the show by the Barra MacNeils last night at the Alqonquin Theatre in Huntsville. We’ve seen them perform a dozen or more times, usually during their annual cross-Canada Christmas series, so it was of course a concert full of great Cape Breton Celtic music with not a single Christmas carol.
If their music doesn’t make you tap your feet, please speak to your doctor.
The Barras sang the Stan Rogers classic, Barrett’s Privateers, and mentioned that it was 40 years ago that this legendary Canadian singer passed away.
Can it be forty years – really? He left us with so many great songs.
Northwest Passage.
The Mary Ellen Carter.
At Last I’m Ready for Christmas
The Barra MacNeils always play this great Stan Rogers tune at Christmas time, about someone panicking as at last they’re ready for Christmas, with only two hours to go.
and of course last night we all sang this one with great gusto….
Barrett’s Privateers
Most Canadians have a visceral reaction when we hear the first line
Oh, the year was 1778
and we all respond
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!
The Barra MacNeils let the audience sing at least one chorus on our own and can I say the front row did a great job belting it out although I’m not quite sure the rest of the theatre held up their end. Anyway.
sitting in the exit row
I think often of Stan Rogers when I’m sitting in the exit row on any flight.
You know how you get a speech from the flight attendants about how to open the emergency exit? You probably think they have always said that. Well, they haven’t.
forty years ago
Stan Rogers was only 33 when he died in the firey emergency landing of Air Canada 797 in Cincinnati in 1983.
He was coming back from a show in Dallas.
Fire broke out in the rear washroom, the attendants herded everyone to the front of the plane, and the pilots made a heroic emergency landing of the broken plane in Cincinnati.
Smoke filled the cabin. They didn’t open the doors quickly enough. And – unfortunately – not everybody made it out. The five crew and 18 of the 41 passengers got out, but sadly, 23 passengers died in the fire – including Stan Rogers.
Smoke apparently overcame people during the attempt to exit and not everyone could find their way to the door. Some passengers even perished towards the rear of the plane, as if they were heading the wrong way in the confusion.
It’s just infuriatingly stupid. God damn them all. The plane landed, but why couldn’t they get everybody out in time?
the aftermath
Of course after every accident like this, there’s a serious investigation and steps are taken to improve flights for everyone in the future. Here are some of the changes all around us today that are a direct result of the investigation into this accident.
smoke detectors in lavatories;
strip lighting marking the path to the exit door;
aircraft makers must prove they can get everybody off of a full flight in 90 seconds;
and passengers seated in overwing exits must be instructed how to help in an emergency.
I like sitting in the emergency exit row.
I like to think I’d be helpful in an emergency.
I listen attentively to the flight attendant’s instructions.
Argos 45, BC Lions 24 in a thrilling battle for first place between the league’s only unbeaten teams. But you can read about the action on the field anywhere. What was happening off the field? And why doesn’t the Free Slice of Pizza QR Code work?
Weather
Beautiful. Absolutely a great night for football, although if you were sitting on the east side staring into the sun, you probably enjoyed the 2nd half better after the sun set. I wish TV could show the west grandstand though. it was pretty full, but the east was, as usual, kind of sparse. BECAUSE YOU’RE STARING INTO THE SUN
Anthem
Anthem clocked in at 1:31, and we will concede once again that she is a lovely singer and we only wish she could pick up the pace a little bit.
Apart from the Argos, What Were Other People on the GO Train Coming to See?
Garbage was playing at the Budweiser Stage nearby, along with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, and I am not nearly hip enough to make any kind of a comment about either group.
Was There Live Music At the Game Itself?
Yes! For the first time in a while, the half time show – a dance number by the Argos A-Team and a few Caribbean dancers – was accompanied by a live steel pan band, Pan Fantasy, who performed on the northwest terrace. Well done. And if I can figure out the name of the dancers, I’ll be sure to update this post.
What Was This Musical Instrument?
I’m not sure about that either.
What About the Traditional BMO Field Half Time Show
Not to worry, we were entertained by the Divot Replacement Squad, the standard BMO Field half time show for the past several years, who you can see working alongside the dancers in the photo above.
Do Kickers Care About Half Time Shows?
No, they’re going to warm up anyway.
Signs
Sadly, there were no signs to equal the majesty of the “Days Since Last Grey Cup: Ticats 8,603” we saw last time. However I did notice that the “All Time Argos” list has been relocated from its previous position amongst the multitude of Grey Cup banners over the south stands, to a new spot in the middle of the west grandstand.
The new row of 18 Grey Cup Banners looks pretty good, though.
Other Signs
I still don’t quite get what this is for. And one of the two guys was holding his upside down for most of the game.
Update! Actual Information!
From a comment on Facebook by Argos Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Usama Mujtaba (thank you!)
It’s for two reasons:
1) So that the playcallers are more visible.
2) So that when opposing teams get the film on the tablets (the sideline view will be from behind the bench), they can’t see the signals and as a result won’t know which signal related to which call. This unfortunately won’t work when you are in a stadium where the benches are on opposite sides of the field (why we didn’t use them in Edmonton).
Hope that helps!
Speaking of All Time Argos
It was great to see both Damon Allen and Derrell “Mookie” Mitchell added to the All Time Argos list during a break in play! We were lucky to get a good view. BUT … Their announcements were rushed, and an official actually had to shoo Mookie and his entourage off the field so the game could restart. That would have all been better to do at halftime.
Speaking of Derrell “Mookie” Mitchell, What Song did Argonotes Play when He Retired in 2007?
M is for Mookie. That’s good enough for me.
M is for Mookie. That’s good enough for me.
M is for Mookie. That’s good enough for me.
Oh, Mookie Mookie Mookie starts with “M”.
did anybody apart from the band think that was as hilarious as the band did
No need to ask.
Speaking of Alumni
They introduced Matt Black, hero of the 2017 Grey Cup, to a resounding cheer. And once again I could see it all on the scoreboard, but had no idea where to look in the stadium. (Tip: It’s usually in the alumni suite in the southwest corner.) I wish the scoreboard could tell us where to look!
Infinitely Spinning Prize Wheel Update
You’ll recall that at the last game, the Prize Wheel spun and spun and spun and seemingly wouldn’t stop until the mascot and/or the game day host actually put their hand on the wheel to slow it down.
Well, last night, they must have said something to the contestant because he gave it a tremendously weak spin and I don’t think it even went all the way around once. Also there is some rock-paper-scissors thing that happens before the wheel is spun and honestly nobody understands this particular game.
Let me know if you understand how this one is supposed to work.
What about the Dangerous Inflatable Race
Went much better this time, the winning team clearly figured out how to make these things work. I’m still amazed nobody gets hurt bouncing around inside.
Did the QR Code for a Free Slice of Pizza Actually Work This Time?
No.
a forensic analysis of why the Pizza Pizza QR code does not work
I happen to know a little about how QR codes and other barcodes work. (Ask me about the PDF417 format some time – that’s the code on the back of your drivers license. It’s encoded as a base 929 number!)
QR Codes – and other formats – are usually just strings of text encoded in a way that your phone’s camera can decode and turn back into text.
Here’s how this promotion is SUPPOSED to work.
1) They show a QR code on the scoreboard, like this
Notice that it says “Scan this code and turn on push notifications to redeem your free slice tomorrow.”
2) You take a picture of the QR code. Your phone will – usually – automatically decode this image for you. In this case, the QR Code contains this string:
https://uqr.to/1jle9
3) Your phone recognizes that that string is a URL, and opens that URL in your web browser
4) Your phone’s browser goes to
https://uqr.to/1jle9
So far so good.
This is where it starts to fall apart. That web page contains some Javascript code, which your browser is supposed to interpret to redirect it to a different web site. Normally you would not be aware this is happening – the browser fetches code from uqr.to, and then quietly redirects to a different site.
Here’s the problem. This is a piece of the Javascript code on that initial uqr.to web site – you would normally not see this but your web browser would read and interpret it as an instruction to go to a different web site
but somehow that real URL is inside a javascript comment, and the window.location line below it is really redirecting you to this url, which doesn’t make sense, it’s encoded all wrong.
Your web browser will not know what to do with that URL, and as a result you’ll never wind up on the right site to redeem your free slice. You’re probably staring at a blank screen after snapping the photo of the QR code. I know I was.
Now if you’ve read this far, you could of course just click here but you shouldn’t, if you didn’t go to the game.
I wonder if Pizza Pizza ever notices that nobody redeems their slice and asks themselves how much they’re paying for this ad.
did you catch a T-shirt thrown into the crowd for the first time in 30 years?
Yes!
what size is it
medium
what size are you
Well in college I was a medium but I’m really now more of an extra-medium.
can we see a photo of you wearing the shirt because that would be quite humourous
no.
Hey There’s a Siren
I think this was new, an attempt to get some grassroots supporter to crank a siren to make a glorious sound. This is a great idea
is the siren loud enough
not nearly.
ARGOS SOGRA
Game day off field highlight for me is that the runners with the flags that spell “A” “R” “G” “O” “S” have finally realized that they should run back in the OTHER order, so that the word ARGOS is spelled out properly first for the west grandstand and then the east. In other years, the east side only ever saw SOGRA. Congrats to the team for figuring this out at last!
Singing of ‘Go Argos Go’
The team played the touchdown song 4 out of 5 times and I am pleased that the crowd started to react to the big clumsy guy in 123 trying to conduct the Section 123 choir.
amount of fun that was had
Plenty. You should come. Argo games are a great value. Not ridiculously overpriced, a great stadium, a beautiful night, easy to get to – AND WE BEAT THE LIONS. come on down.
Argos 32, Ticats 14 in the home opener. But more importantly, what was going on OTHER than the football game? Here’s a report.
Anthem
The usual. Could have been faster. Nothing deflates an excited crowd faster than a slow performance of the anthem. She is a nice singer, though.
Game Day Plus
Overall the pregame Grey Cup Banner Raising was pretty good, the banner attached to the balloon was a nice idea – I wondered how they were going to “raise” it. I’m happy they let some long time season ticket holders have the honours.
Jason – the mascot – has been equipped with a proper T-shirt gun to reach the higher seats. (I don’t know who actually wants these free shirts, though, and I bet they’re all “Extra Medium.” A reminder, if you catch something like this thrown into the audience, give it to a kid.)
Despite all the Ticat fans in attendance, I don’t think I heard a single “Oskee-wee-wee”. But I bet they were happy with the promotional giveaway – it’s the closest a Ticat fan will get to a Grey Cup ring.
Game Day Minus
A lot of the stunts and promotions didn’t click, or were rushed to completion before the game resumed.
Spin a wheel to win a prize – and the wheel wouldn’t stop spinning, until the host put her hand on it to slow it down. That really looks bad.
the Rolling across the end zone in an inflatable tube thing race probably sounded like fun in a meeting but honestly looked a little dangerous (and didn’t come close to finishing in time.)
Father-and-son match answers on a whiteboard, well, come on, we can’t see what the wrote on the whiteboard and it looked like they spent most of their time furiously erasing the previous answer.
I hear there’s a new game day coordinator this year so it may take a game or two to work out the details.
A north end zone full of brand new empty seats looks bad. I hear the stadium capacity needed to be expanded as part of the World Cup bid but they should find a way to put people there.
The usual issues of inequitable distribution of “free to the first 10,000 people” handouts. We entered through Gate 1, and it was a bit of a madhouse as they were being distributed, but many who came in other gates missed out. Surely there is a better way.
I got my ring, but I gave it to a kid sitting behind me. Gotta pay it forward.
I have already seen some of these for sale on eBay. Reminder, you can just buy a new one. you don’t need to pay some ridiculous markup.
It’s 9:30 AM the next morning and there is nothing on argonauts.ca about last night’s game.
game day travel
We took the GO Train, which was evenly split between people who wanted to see the Ticats, the Argos, and Ed Sheeran.
The Opposition
I hadn’t seen one of these before, a pop-up tent of sorts that shielded players from view of the fans. Here’s Hamilton quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell entering the Tent of Concealment.
Performances of “Go Argos Go”
I led our section in singing Go Argos Go three times – after each touchdown – and people are beginning to get the hang of it, even if the audio they play cuts off before the 2nd verse. Next time I’m bringing a baton.
Total Argonotes Alumni in Attendance
At least 6.
did anybody ask about Argonotes
One guy said to me “I loved you guys, I heard you at the Skydome 45 years ago.” Um, I’ll have to check the math on that one
was there an actual band?
No. Lots of empty seats in the North End Zone where the Burlington Teen Tour Band, a.k.a. the At One Point Argos Band, used to sit.
Signs:
Major props to whoever brought the sign that said “DAYS SINCE LAST GREY CUP WIN – ARGOS 210, TICATS 8603”. That was awesome.
There’s lots of chatter about Augmented Reality these days.
Here’s a Sports Illustrated article from 10 years ago, talking about an AR innovation from 25 years ago – the birth of the yellow first-down line in football broadcasts, first seen in 1998.
That was probably the first Augmented Reality thing most people saw and enjoyed, and it took a 48-foot truck full of equipment to make it work.
Fox had introduced FoxTrax, the glowing hockey puck, in their NHL broadcasts two years earlier in 1996, but everybody hated that and it didn’t last. The idea of sensors in the puck is still around though.
The first-down-line on a football broadcast seems so normal now, it’s almost jarring to go to a live football game and NOT see it. Or to wonder on a broadcast “How come the guy didn’t run a bit further? Why did he step out of bounds there? Didn’t he see the line?”
Interestingly, the same guy, Stan Honey, appears in both of those stories.
