I have been a fan of all Toronto sports teams since I was a very young child (I’m 52 years old now).
My early life consisted of everything Toronto Maple Leafs, a young rookie named Darryl Sittler caught my eye as a very good player, joining the likes of Jacque Plante, Bernie Parent, Bob Baun, Norm Ullman and the like.
My father although a Leafs fan often mention great football players he enjoyed watching Joe Kroll, Bill Symons, Jim Stillwagon etc who played for Toronto’s professional football team, the Toronto Argonauts.
I remember watching a CFL skills competition show called All Pro Countdown and seeing Jim Stillwagon tear up his knee during this show to which he was never the same player after that injury.
Around his time my father finally took my brother and I to our first Argo game in around 1975 or so.
I didn’t know a lot of the rules but one look at the Argo uniforms with players such as Granny Liggins, Jim Corrigall, Gene Mack and the Big Z add Leo Cahill to the mix and I was hooked.
The Argos of that era weren’t very good but there was something about this team I couldn’t shake and so it began.
Years of incompetence and the next Argo saviour yielded little results.
I remember Condredge Holloway arriving in 1981 to give a really bad Toronto team hope but once again they were a bad team.
Despite this on field performance my father decided to get season tickets for the 1982 season (great timing as it turned out).
We didn’t miss a game during what I would consider the golden era of CFL football in Toronto, Bob O’Billovich arrived and holdovers like Holloway and Greer took to the new offence and he rest is history (read Paul Woods book for details of his era).
If the Argos won I would have a great week at school, if they lost I would be truly bummed out until the next game, each day I couldn’t wait to get the Toronto Sun to read up on anything Argo.
One of my best days was finally seeing my hero’s win in 1983, although attendance the following season started to decline my passion for this team and league only got stronger.
World Series championships by the Jays were thrilling but were never as special as an Argo Grey Cup triumph.
As I’ve gotten older and the years have passed I’ve often wondered why the Argos are so special to me?
Much has to do with spending endless nights at the CNE with my father living and dying with the Argos through good times and bad, I would pass on school dances and nights out with my friends to go to games with him.
Special times indeed.
I still call my 82 year old father during each game to let him vent (if the Argos aren’t playing well) or listen to his joy if they are winning!
I also tend to root for the underdog which we all know the Argos are in this market, for years I have defended the Argos and CFL from criticism that they are a minor league team and league.
Now some of my greatest times are spent at Argo games with my son Eric, although we cheer for different teams it doesn’t matter we look forward to time together at the games.
I can be as critical of the Argos as anyone but it comes from a good place in wanting them to succeed.
I feel 2017 will be seen as a major turning point in Argos history (for obvious reasons) and I couldn’t be happier.
Long live the Toronto Argonauts!!!