Argos go from basement to beauty of BMO
Pinball Clemons calls the move from the Rogers Centre smart business for the Argos and something that is ‘bigger than pride, if that’s possible’
A rediscovered Argos pride emanated on Thursday — and not just from the BMO Field rainbow of colour and the wall of sound that accompanied pre-game ceremonies — with introductions of Argos heroes from the past, at their new digs. The pride was palpable in the fans, the front office and the players.
The genesis of this new Argos pride stemmed from anticipation of a season away from the Rogers Centre, now playing outdoors, on grass, in a smaller and more intimate building. It’s a little like a married couple living in their parents’ basement, then finally being able to afford a first home. It may not be perfect. You may find it needs work, but by any comparison, it’s perfect, it’s theirs.
“That is essentially what it is,” Argos vice-chair Michael (Pinball) Clemons laughed when asked the legitimacy of the basement comparison.
“It is a new-found freedom. If you were in the basement and you were content there, that’s one thing. But here, I think there was a longing for more.
“So not only do you have the freedom from your parents’ basement, but it’s what you have longed for. That’s the only thing that I can say to add to that comparison.”
The new fan experience began at 4:30 p.m. with the much-ballyhooed tailgating experience, even though it is regulated more stringently and not accorded the outlaw atmosphere of the majority of NFL parking lots, with beer here being sold out of coolers at $4 a pop and a visible police presence everywhere. And even though it was only two of the Exhibition Grounds parking lots that offered it, this was still a smiling experience for Argos fans who threw footballs and enjoyed barbecue out of the backs of their cars while showing respect for tailgaters supporting both the Argos and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Etobicoke’s Tim Healey was flipping burgers on a small barbecue off the back of his pickup truck. A former football player at the University of Toronto, he wore an Argos jersey and spoke of the reasons that he decided to come back to the Double Blue.
“I went to Rogers Centre two or three times, it was incredibly disappointing, cavernous,” Healey said.
“So I was incredibly excited about this. As soon as they made the move, I got season tickets and jumped right in. I think as soon as (fans) get a taste of this, it’s going to be fantastic.
“Unfortunately, the Rogers Centre was just a really bad place to watch a football game.”
One lane of vehicles over, part of a father-son family barbecue, was a Toronto-born chef at a local Spanish restaurant, Joel Dolman, wearing a Packers Aaron Rodgers jersey.
Even though he had never been to an NFL game, he has found himself paying more attention to the American league, rather than the team in his own backyard.
Dolman was enjoying his first tailgate experience.
“That’s the impressive part about where Toronto’s going right now with their football team and that’s where my heart is driven,” Dolman said. “But I think it’s the camaraderie and that. It comes back down to the food and the drinking and being a community and being together.
“I think having the open stadium and bringing it back, maybe not to the exact same field as Exhibition Stadium, and just allowing the people to do what they do and experience it.
“We have fathers of players on the team sitting here with us. It’s a proud day for them to experience this and have their son play on a team where they can come in and hang out and enjoy it.”
That brings it back again to the word “pride” and to Pinball and his natural exuberance, which could not be hidden, standing in the middle of a tailgating parking lot fulfilling his media duties and schmoozing gracefully with excited fans on the day the Argos officially moved into their new home.
“It’s bigger than pride, if that’s possible,” Clemons said. “We haven’t had a winning business model. We’ve had some success on the field, we’ve had some success off the field. We had a win in a Grey Cup game that we hosted, so we’ve had some business wins.
“This is not just a pride thing. This is ‘Yes, it’s possible.’ This gives you a chance to be successful in all facets. It gives you a chance to go out and win every week because you have a crowd that is behind you that you can feel that has the charisma. It’s a business model that gives you all the revenue lines that you need that you didn’t have.
“And it really does create that pride. While it is pride, it is so much more than that.”