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.

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

<title>PizzaPizzaSAS_Argos_G2_Jul3</title>
 <script> 
function redirectToContent(){ 
    /* window.location='https://pizzapizza.lnk.click/toronto-argonauts-score-a-slice-xkr325-july-3'; */ 

    window.location='https\u003A\/\/pizzapizza.lnk.click\/toronto\u002Dargonauts\u002Dscore\u002Da\u002Dslice\u002Dxkr325\u002Djuly\u002D3'; 
} <
/script>

But this is coded incorrectly. The real URL they want you to go to is this one

https://pizzapizza.lnk.click/toronto-argonauts-score-a-slice-xkr325-july-3

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.

https\u003A//pizzapizza.lnk.click/toronto\u002Dargonauts\u002Dscore\u002Da\u002Dslice\u002Dxkr325\u002Djuly\u002D3

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.