steve simmons

[RICKEARS]

Anyone else seen Steve Simmons on TSN show saying "no one cares about the argos"?

it was a 4 man panel show and they were talking about blue jays & toronto having a winning team when he said last time toronto had a winning team was back in 94 then said "oo there was argos too few years back but no one cares about argos"

[Will]

Was it on The Reporters​ on Sunday?

[RICKEARS]

Was it on The Reporters​ on Sunday?

I think so

[Will]

You can blame the media if you want, but sorry the Argos really are "out of sight and out of mind" ​in this market right now.

[gilthethrill]

You can blame the media if you want, but sorry the Argos really are "out of sight and out of mind" ​in this market right now.

Comments like Simmons don't help. Does Bell not sign his paycheque every week? He is an arrogant jerk.

[Fumblitis]

Comments like Simmons don't help. Does Bell not sign his paycheque every week? He is an arrogant jerk.

I'm probably wrong but I thought Edward Rogers signed his cheques.

Speaking of Brunt he's a chameleon. He changes to fit his audience. When he was in Regina a few years back, he was promoting his book that he'd just written. If you had heard him on the morning show that particular morning, you'd swear he was the biggest CFL fan around. He was rambling on about being a TiCats fan (which explains his Argo hatred) and how he grew up going to TiCat games and spoke very fondly of the CFL. But he pre scripted that because he knew was in the heartland of the CFL and probably thought he wouldn't get out of here alive had he said the things he says in Toronto. That's why I was dumbfounded to hear the animosity toward him when I joined this forum until I heard him on Bobcats show then I knew what a retard he actually was.

I've come to the conclusion that bad publicity is indeed publicity so let these idiots like Simmons, Brunt and every other Rogers hack have their say. As far as the Argos are concerned the only way they'll counter that is to continue what they've been doing: winning.

[Argo57]

Anyone else seen Steve Simmons on TSN show saying "no one cares about the argos"?

it was a 4 man panel show and they were talking about blue jays & toronto having a winning team when he said last time toronto had a winning team was back in 94 then said "oo there was argos too few years back but no one cares about argos"

Pretty funny, I saw that jackass at at least 2 Argo games at the Dome last season, had a pompous look on his face looking around to see who recognized him, my guess is he didn't mention that fact??

[AngeloV]

Yeah, on Friday, he and "Too cool for the Room" Bryan Douchbag Hayes were signing off on the TSN drive show, when Hayes said that Argos football was next. Simmons said, "and I'm going home to watch the Argos"...Hayes sarcastically "Good for you"...Simmons "that was a lie".

[Will]

I've said this before on here, but I've always felt that the Tiger-Cats get better treatment from the PTS crowd than the Argonauts. At least since the relationship between the Argos and Rogers broke down.

Yeah, on Friday, he and "Too cool for the Room" Bryan Douchbag Hayes were signing off on the TSN drive show, when Hayes said that Argos football was next. Simmons said, "and I'm going home to watch the Argos"...Hayes sarcastically "Good for you"...Simmons "that was a lie".

That's the thing that bugs me; Simmons didn't have to say anything. Why the need to take a shot?

For the record, whether it makes any difference or not, Simmons exact quote on the Reporters was "not a lot of people care about the Argos​."

[Argo57]

I have enjoyed Simmons articles over the years but on TV or radio the guy is a slug, maybe Brian Burke and Joey Bats were onto something when they both called him out for being a knob.
I suspect many in the Toronto sports scene share the same opinion.

[ArgoRavi]

So we have Rogers which almost completely ignores the Argos/CFL and then TSN which doesn't seem to do a lot more than that in Toronto with Mike Hogan being a notable exception. Yes, the Argos are "out of sight, out of mind" but the media's ignorance of the team really doesn't help. The coverage today truly sickens me especially when I can recall the days, even just 10 years ago, when it was so much better.

BTW, I absolutely believe that Simmons wasn't watching the Argos on Friday night as he couldn't even watch their home opener because he believed the NFL hall of fame induction ceremonies were more important.

[Argocister]

I generally do not like Simmons either.... and I think he would only watch the Argos or attend because he has to. .... or he will be seen by someone important.
Thats enough for this thread. Won't visit again.

[argotom]

He is a puke.

[Rocket]

Anyone else seen Steve Simmons on TSN show saying "no one cares about the argos"?

it was a 4 man panel show and they were talking about blue jays & toronto having a winning team when he said last time toronto had a winning team was back in 94 then said "oo there was argos too few years back but no one cares about argos"

As a die hard Argo fan and not to big of a fan of Steve Simmons through out his career it is hard to disagree with him on this one. Braley has buried this franchise to the ground the last few years and the new owners have not helped out the cause. Just look at the situation when tanembum bought the Argos he was talking with the media the next day not on how he is going to make bmo field Argo friendly and how he is committed to the Argos, no he was talking about how he wanted to bring an nfl team to Toronto. Look at the situation this year no marketing campaign or any type of push to sell some season tickets for the last year at skydome or how they can be the first ones to purchase tickets at bmo field. For crying out loud these guys can't even decide on if they want e grey cup for next year at such a late date. It's even harder when they have an idiot like Chris rudge as CEO who goes to the media telling them that Toronto is to big time of a city to be supporting the Argos and cfl. When you have jokers like that it is hard for any casual fan to take this team serious.

["Issues"Mcgee]

Steve Simmons already proved with his needlessly scathing and infanctual article about Phil Kessel that his words are not meant to be taken seriously. As Brian Burke said, his work is meant for puppydogs and parakeets. He's simply a troll.

[R.J]

Not sure why anyone is surprised. Simmons is the same guy that in 1989 (IIRC) that wrote a piece actively telling readers to stop buying Argonauts tickets, because with the Jays growing in popularity and starting to win, Toronto was big time and the NFL had to come to Toronto.

[argofandave]

Not sure why anyone is surprised. Simmons is the same guy that in 1989 (IIRC) that wrote a piece actively telling readers to stop buying Argonauts tickets, because with the Jays growing in popularity and starting to win, Toronto was big time and the NFL had to come to Toronto.

I posted that article from 1989 on April 21st, 2012 in this thread. It's titled "Steve Simmons Article in the Toronto Sun".

[Mookie Fan]

The coverage of the CFL and Argos on TSN 1050 is certainly disappointing at times. Quite a while ago I happened to have TSN 1050 on the radio, and I think the show was "Macko and Cauz". One of them said to the other, "Toronto demands the best, and that's why the Argos don't work in Toronto". The team was hardly failing at the time.

Obviously TSN 1050 has the Argo radio rights and TSN has the TV rights. That said, they don't exactly promote their product the way Rogers does their Blue Jays property on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and Sportsnet TV. Bell (who owns TSN) even owns part of The Globe and Mail, and their CFL coverage is either very little or even nonexistent at times.

[Neely2005]

The coverage of the CFL and Argos on TSN 1050 is certainly disappointing at times. Quite a while ago I happened to have TSN 1050 on the radio, and I think the show was "Macko and Cauz". One of them said to the other, "Toronto demands the best, and that's why the Argos don't work in Toronto". The team was hardly failing at the time.

Obviously TSN 1050 has the Argo radio rights and TSN has the TV rights. That said, they don't exactly promote their product the way Rogers does their Blue Jays property on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and Sportsnet TV. Bell (who owns TSN) even owns part of The Globe and Mail, and their CFL coverage is either very little or even nonexistent at times.

If Toronto demands the best how the hell do they explain the support that the leafs get???

Aside from Mike Hogan I've been very disappointed in how TSN1050 covers the Argonauts. I expected so much more from them.

Speaking of Brunt, here are a few salacious snippets from his G&M columns over the years:
---------

So it's the CFL, a haven for NFL drug users. That's going to be the perception. (Check out the stories from the United States this week about the Boston signing. Look at how many link him with Williams.)

---------

And you can bet the house on this - one way or another, there won't be a single unsold seat for any of those (Bills in Toronto) games. There can't be, since it would undermine the whole point of this exercise, which is to demonstrate that Toronto is a city desperate and ready for four-down football, full-time.

As the organizers explain it, those sellouts are virtually assured right now, even before the campaigning has fully begun. At a news conference yesterday where the Bills and Rogers confirmed that the first game will be a preseason encounter against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Aug. 14, Adrian Montgomery of Rogers said they already have more ticket demand than seats available - with new requests coming in at the rate of 3,500 a day.

Some time within the next two weeks, the NFL regular-season schedule will be released, identifying the Bills' other opponent in Toronto. The lottery closes on April 24. Only after that will those lucky enough to win the chance to buy tickets be told how much it's going to cost.

----

The Argos, believing there was nothing to be gained from throwing themselves in front of an irresistible force, have cut, with the assistance of commissioner Mark Cohon, the best deal they could with the Toronto backers of the NFL games.

Larry Tanenbaum, Ted Rogers et al don't really have much to gain, except for the appealing optics of having the local CFL team bless the Bills' plan to play eight games in Toronto over the next five years. So the fact Cohon and the Argos secured dibs on the first 20,000 seats for their season-ticket holders could be considered a modest victory.

-----

Back in the fall, when news broke of the Bills' plans for Toronto, the Ticats opted to stay out of the fray. It wasn't happening immediately in their own backyard, and the Ticats' ownership was less convinced of the inevitability of the NFL's progress northward than were Sokolowski and Cynamon.

When the tentative deal was presented to them last week, they didn't like the look of it. Even after Cohon went back and extracted another 5,000 tickets for Hamilton to offer to its subscribers, it wasn't enough to persuade Young to sign off.

------

With the Buffalo Bills coming to Toronto to play two games a year starting next fall, and with all signs pointing to the NFL franchise relocating to Toronto right about the time 89-year-old Ralph Wilson departs this Earth, Cohon has been presented with a challenge that in the past was purely theoretical. He will almost certainly be the one to deal with the arrival of the great colossus. That, and not any marketing or television initiative, or the return of a dead franchise, will define Cohon's term as the commissioner.

--------

One constant, then and now, was Paul Godfrey, who was the keynote speaker at a Grey Cup event, and did his best not to look like the cat who had just consumed a canary, secure in the belief that the CFL's imminent demise meant that his National Football League dreams were on the verge of becoming reality.

------

Back in 1989, the big game was also played in Toronto. Before kickoff, there was a Saskatchewan pep rally at Maple Leaf Gardens in which provincial icon Wendel Clark was the star attraction.

When the faithful left the rink for the trip to what was then called the SkyDome, an oblivious city wondered who these strange folks were, why they were dressed that way, where they could possibly be headed. A few hours later, on the streets outside the stadium, what may have been the greatest Grey Cup game played might as well never have happened.

-----

Just more than a year after Tanenbaum, Godfrey and Ted Rogers told a news conference they were turning up the heat on their campaign to bring the NFL to Toronto, the issue reached the tipping point this week. It's no longer a pipe dream. It's a touch down in T.O.

"I do think the NFL is coming," Wright said this week. "And if there isn't a well-thought-out and collaborative plan, then it will have significant consequences for the CFL. You have to have a plan and make sure the NFL is part of that plan.

Coming up with smart, unified stands on complex issues has never been a strength of the CFL board of governors. And last week provided a glimpse into the challenges Cohon faces when B.C. Lions owner David Braley suggested fans in Western Canada might boycott Rogers products if Ted Rogers played a role in bringing an NFL team to Toronto - despite the fact Rogers is a major CFL sponsor. Meanwhile, others in the league suggested the Argos might survive a post-NFL world by moving to a phantom stadium in Mississauga.

"I would be putting a [co-existence] plan in front of the NFL commissioner right away," said Mark Harrison, the president of Trojanone sports marketing in Toronto, which handled sponsorship for Toronto's last NFL exhibition game in 1997. "Because if the NFL is not partners with the Argos, there are no Argos."

One month after Goodell was introduced as the new NFL commissioner, Godfrey, Tanenbaum and Rogers held a news conference in Toronto to formally announce they were teaming up to bring an NFL team to Toronto. Another member of their group, Rogers Communications executive Lind, is a Cleveland Browns season-ticket holder.

-----

In their release, the Bills describe Toronto as "the northern sector of our market," which effectively erases the international boundary as any kind of a barrier, and means that in the National Football League's eyes, any claim by the Canadian Football League or the Toronto Argonauts to territorial rights simply doesn't exist.

No need, then, to give the CFL or the Argos a heads-up as to their plan. Both were absolutely blindsided by the news - news that will, as an unhappy, surely unintentional byproduct, go a long way toward undermining whatever happy vibes they might enjoy when the Grey Cup returns to the Big Smoke next month.

Unless the CFL commissioner receives some kind of ironclad reassurance from his NFL counterpart Roger Goodell that his league will be looked after, unless the Argos owners come up with some new rationale for losing money running a team in a market where they will eventually be squeezed out of existence, the only option will be to fight.

The NFL could have worked on neutralizing any potential resistance by cutting a deal that would be beneficial to all. Maybe they don't think it matters, and maybe, in Toronto at least, it won't.

But there have been other times in history when American interlopers expected to be greeted with a scattering of rose petals, and instead were met with a nasty surprise.

-------

Yep, they're going to be expensive (Bills tickets). And, yep, Toronto is a great big city where all kinds of things are expensive. Mass affordability isn't the issue - it's whether there are 50,000 people willing to pay what Rogers Communications chief executive officer Ted Rogers is asking.

If there are, it doesn't really matter who can't pay the piper, and if there aren't, the organizers will have seriously misread the market - which, frankly, is hard to imagine.

-----

Two months have passed since that remarkable press conference at the Rogers Centre, when the eponymous owner of the joint sat shoulder to shoulder with Ralph Wilson and cracked jokes about how he'd bought the publicly-funded stadium at a fire sale price.

Rogers, who at first glance seemed even frailer than Wilson, was positively comedic, cracking one-liners - though some of them might not have been entirely amusing to those who send Uncle Ted a cheque every month to pay for their various communications needs.

"There will be some tickets priced under $100 [Canadian]for the game," Rogers's lieutenant Lind said.

"Two of them," Rogers interjected.

Some of the field-level tickets in the new Yankee Stadium in New York will be selling for $2,400 (U.S.) a piece, Wilson marvelled.

"I like it," Rogers chimed in.

-30-

Well it would be interesting to hear Brunt respond to these quotes now!

[Ron]

Simmons has always trolled Argo fans and clearly he still easily causes a fuffle. Sadly it's easy to trash the Argos when truth helps the trashers. FACTS are that except for a few blips ... the Argos have been small attendance team struggling even to survive. The few Argo fans screaming bloody murder from the back row does not change the perception to the masses. Argo fans can cry about media but it's easy for media to ignore a team that barely scrapes 20K a game if they are lucky.

The good part is that the turn will begin next season. Until then the trolls will continues since the fishing is real easy in the sensitive Argoland river.