NEW YEAR, NEW HOME
Argos kick off season tonight at BMO Field. Will having a place to call their own pay off?
The way that Bryan Hall said it conveyed everything about the well-documented tribulations of the vagabond Toronto Argonauts of 2015.
Hall, now a QB-chasing defensive tackle for the Argos, started his career with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who will be here Thursday night to help open the Argos’ new home at BMO Field and the 2016 CFL season.
He was a rookie in 2014 with the Ticats when the construction of Tim Hortons Field was delayed, forcing the team to play three games at McMaster University. It’s an inconvenience, but nothing compared to what the Argos endured last year, opening their season as the home team in Fort McMurray against the Edmonton Eskimos, then being forced out of the Rogers Centre due to the Blue Jays’ playoff run. They played as the home team in Ottawa against the Redblacks, then played at Tim Hortons Field twice as the home team.
“I can only speak for my first-year experience there,” Hall said. “Vidal (Hazelton), Ricky Foley, Ricky Ray who’s been here for five years — they know what Toronto’s had to go through. There were times where they didn’t know where they were going to practice, terrible situations.
“To have to go and play I think three home games . . . ” Hall’s voice changed here from a simple conversational tone to flat out disgust, “in your rival’s town? With 2,000 people showing up, nobody wanting to be there, more people there booing you than supporting you? That’s something I didn’t go through.”
It’s something the Argos are hoping to never go through again either. Coach Scott Milanovich said Wednesday there were certainly hard times over the last few years as his team struggled to find practice facilities and began to get an increasingly cold shoulder at Rogers Centre.
“It can be tough to look your players in the eye and tell them you’ve got to go play a home game in Ottawa when you’re fighting for the (playoffs),
“(BMO Field is) a top facility for us. It’s something that we’re proud to be a part of. It’s a long time coming.” ARGOS COACH SCOTT MILANOVICH
that’s a tough sell,” he said. “(BMO Field is) a top facility for us. It’s something that we’re proud to be a part of and for a lot of these guys it’s a long time coming and they deserve it.”
The Tiger-Cats are the perfect opponents to have for the opener. The teams’ rivalry runs deep and there are a number of players that hopped the fence over the winter. Hall, and his defensive line partners Justin Hickman and Brian Bulcke signed with the Argos as free agents, while longtime Argos receiver and returner Chad Owens is wearing Ticats col- ours now. Bulcke will miss the opener, as he’s on the six-game injured list. When Tim Hortons Field opened two years ago, the Argos were the guests and Ray cracked the 50,000yard career passing mark in a lessthan-thrilling 13-12 loss. It marked the start of a 10-game home winning streak for the Tiger-Cats.
“They’ve played really well at home and it’s definitely become one of the better atmospheres in the CFL to play a game,” Ray said. “That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to get off to a great start in our stadium and kind of get that atmosphere that they have and get people excited to come watch a football game.
“That’s going to be the key for us . . . trying to get that home-field advantage back and get that crowd behind us and make this a tough place for the teams that come in and play here.”
Coming to Rogers Centre as an opponent, and especially as a Tiger-Cat wasn’t a challenge last year, Hall said. “Hamilton would come down and fill the stands up and you’d get a nice contingency of Hamilton fans drowning out the Rogers Centre,” he said, pointing to the 52,000-seat capacity of the building as something of an insurmountable factor for the Argos.
Excited by what he saw in the preseason game at BMO Field two weeks ago, Hall said he can’t wait to face his old teammates on Thursday evening.
“Just getting a nice stadium, where TFC plays . . . I saw a game the other night and there were a lot of people, the atmosphere was great. I just can’t wait to be a part of that and come out and have those fans support us,” he said.