Friday, October 30, 2015

When the Argos say they play for each other; they really mean that they play for each other

2015 by any measure has been perhaps the most baffling season ever for the Double Blue, a year that has seen the team collectively use up more Air Mile reward numbers than most Canadians use on an extended summer vacation.

Owing to any number of reasons, availability of their usual home the Rogers Centre became problematic for the Argos for much of the season, starting with the Pan Am games which saw Toronto punted from the stadium for the start of the season, a moment in CFL time thad delivered the Argos to Northern Alberta as the home team for Fort McMurray

Then came the fall and the Major League baseball run of the Blue Jays which found the Double Blue dispatched to Ottawa once and twice to Hamilton for home games through October.

Such has been the state of their season, that the Argos probably should have adopted the theme from Where in the World is Carmen San diego as their official team song for the year.

All in all, if gate receipts were to be the measure of the team this year, the financial books probably are smeared in red, an incidental account somewhere in the back pages of the Bell/MLSE reports.

The average attendance numbers for the Argos for 2015 to be forever marked by a string of asterisks dotted across the road maps of the nation.

Our attendance tracker will give you a glimpse into the state of the home by way of the road trip attendance figures for 2015, where the term lots of good seats available has never been more true.


As seen from a recent TSN broadcast, Argos (home) games
in Hamilton and elsewhere haven't really packed the stadiums

On the field though, the Argos seem to have taken the challenge of the endless road trip of 2015 as one of those US against the WORLD scenarios, rattling off win after impressive win, all of them while using their back up quarterback Tervor Harris at the helm, while Ricky Ray convalesced through the majority of the season.

Tonight, (providing they can remember how to find the stadium) the Argos reintroduce themselves to their Rogers Centre locker room, with a 7 PM match up with the British Columbia Lions, it marks the first time that they've had to make their way downtown since September 11th.

And for the first time in months, with the exception of news out of the Leafs camp, the Argos will have the news cycle to themselves, the Blue Jays now done for the year (with the off season drama perhaps to capture a bit of media attention for sure).

Toronto FC (the less than enthusiastic partner in the new digs for next year), has seen their season come to a conclusion as well.

So for the next two, three, maybe four more weeks if all goes well, perhaps the Argos can carve out some space and attention from the various media outlets of the Big Smoke.

They play their final regular season home game next week with Winnipeg coming to town and that milestone for the year gives us a thought, that the Argos perhaps may want to offer up a salute to their less than helpful landlords at the Rogers Centre as well.

Considering some of the anger that seems to be percolating towards Rogers Communications with the departure of the Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos over the last few days. Maybe the Argos should provide the opportunity for Toronto sports fans of all persuasions, football, hockey, soccer and baseball to provide AA a proper and grateful send off from Toronto fans.

Anthopoulos bafflingly allowed to leave Jays in search of ‘right fit’
Alex Anthopoulos' Toronto Blue Jays departure a failure by ownership, and not a surprising one
Blue Jays ownership responsible for this ridiculous ending
To say Alex Anthopoulos rejected an extension from Blue Jays is ridiculous
Rogers not getting AA to re-sign is shameful


From Twitter: A fairly accurate perception as to how
Toronto residents may be feeling about Rogers these days

We say, bring AA into the Argo tent for the night, hold an Alex Anthopoulos thank you celebration at half time during next weeks regular season ender.

We have a feeling it might bring in the largest crowd in years and in the end make for the most effective way say thanks to their landlord, bidding Rogers adieu as they make their migration to BMO field for 2016.

Can you hear the chants now, I think I can, that ever popular call of ARGOOOOOOS replaced with something along the lines of ...  Rogers S ....





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