Most heartbreaking losses in Argos history?

[argos1873]

The two I remember are the 1986 2 game total point choke, and the 1987 Grey Cup. The one I don't remember, because I wasn't yet alive, but still bothers me as if I had watched it live, is 1971. And no Leon, I don't blame you.

[argos1873]

I never did like that rule. But I think I am coming into the "eliminate the single point on missed field goals", camp.

I'm not going to get into the "eliminate the single point on missed field goal" debate, as that's been beaten to death, but I think it would interesting if a kicked ball that hit the uprights was a live ball.

[jerrym]

1971 Grey Cup to lose with all that talent. To have Argo fans wait nineteen years, then have a team dripping with talent in Joe Theismann, Jim Stillwagon, Jim Corrigall, Mike Eben, Dick Thornton, Leon McQuay, Ed Harrington, Ellison Kelly, Marv Luster, Dick Aldridge, Gene Mack, Bill Symons, Pete Martin, Mel Profit, and Dave Raimey lose 14-11 after Thornton's interception and return to the Calgary 11 with less than two minutes to go only to see McQuay fumble victory away. The brutality of the loss when the team seemed to continue to disintegrate the following year, with the team finishing 3-11 and Cahill being fired.

[Rich]

1971 Grey Cup to lose with all that talent. To have Argo fans wait nineteen years, then have a team dripping with talent in Joe Theismann, Jim Stillwagon, Jim Corrigall, Mike Eben, Dick Thornton, Leon McQuay, Ed Harrington, Ellison Kelly, Marv Luster, Dick Aldridge, Gene Mack, Bill Symons, Pete Martin, Mel Profit, and Dave Raimey lose 14-11 after Thornton's interception and return to the Calgary 11 with less than two minutes to go only to see McQuay fumble victory away.

I remember it like it was yesterday. After the fumble the Argos held Calgary to a two-and-out, and were about to get the ball back with about :40 left. Punt returner Harry Abofs, god bless him, got a bead on the punt standing inside Calgary territory. With :40 left and needing only 3 to tie, the Argos were still very much alive at that point.

But Harry either misjudged the ball or it caught a gust and bounced beside him, and then backwards toward Argos territory. He ran after it and gently nudged it out of bounds with his foot, I guess trying to save a couple of seconds. In his panic he probably forgot that anytime you kick a football you give up possession. And that was that. I've only seen that call made maybe 4 or 5 times in the 50 years since that game, and it applies to American football too.

So it was the whole sequence that made it so gutting: the near-miss pick-six, the flukey unforced fumble, and the extremely rare possession turnover, all in the span of a couple of minutes. A real painful way to lose a game.

I always believed that Cassius Vaughn's incredible play in the '17 Cup -- greatest Argo play of the last 50 years? -- was the football gods at work, finally coming up with a definitive answer to Calgary's bizarre run of luck in that '71 game.

[Rich]

2007 for me. Had tickets to the Grey Cup the next week. No way was Toronto losing, it was going to be an awesome party. Gut wrenching loss, just terrible.

Ya gut wrenching, for me almost as bad as 1971. The Argo offence looked pretty bad for 3 quarters, but when we knocked Kevin Glenn out at the start of the 4th there was a big turnaround. Arland Bruce made a typically huge play and suddenly we were down by 10 with 10 to go. The place was rocking, and the D was knocking Glenn's replacement -- some guy named Dinwiddie -- all over the yard.

Then with about 7 min to go we had Winnipeg second and long, the crowd was roaring, and you could just taste the comeback. It looked like we had Dinwiddie again but he somehow got the ball away and even more amazingly Armstrong made a bobbling, fingertip catch 40 yards downfield. That one play sucked all the energy out of the building like a balloon was popped. Man that one hurt.

[1971GreyCup]

I remember it like it was yesterday. After the fumble the Argos held Calgary to a two-and-out, and were about to get the ball back with about :40 left. Punt returner Harry Abofs, god bless him, got a bead on the punt standing inside Calgary territory. With :40 left and needing only 3 to tie, the Argos were still very much alive at that point.

But Harry either misjudged the ball or it caught a gust and bounced beside him, and then backwards toward Argos territory. He ran after it and gently nudged it out of bounds with his foot, I guess trying to save a couple of seconds. In his panic he probably forgot that anytime you kick a football you give up possession. And that was that. I've only seen that call made maybe 4 or 5 times in the 50 years since that game, and it applies to American football too.

So it was the whole sequence that made it so gutting: the near-miss pick-six, the flukey unforced fumble, and the extremely rare possession turnover, all in the span of a couple of minutes. A real painful way to lose a game.

I always believed that Cassius Vaughn's incredible play in the '17 Cup -- greatest Argo play of the last 50 years? -- was the football gods at work, finally coming up with a definitive answer to Calgary's bizarre run of luck in that '71 game.

I echo both replies! I was fourteen and loved that team. It seemed like there wasn’t an event in the 1970s that had a bigger impact on my adolescence. Wow. As that game ended, I silently got out of my chair and walked out the front door and didn’t return for a couple of hours. Nobody raised that topic to me for weeks.

Tricky Dicky Thornton always said he felt guilty. He should’ve put the game away by using he last block to score the TD.
Since then Toronto is 2-0 against Calgary.

[Will]

3-0 actually ('91, '12, '17)

[OV Argo]

I remember it like it was yesterday. After the fumble the Argos held Calgary to a two-and-out, and were about to get the ball back with about :40 left. Punt returner Harry Abofs, god bless him, got a bead on the punt standing inside Calgary territory. With :40 left and needing only 3 to tie, the Argos were still very much alive at that point.

But Harry either misjudged the ball or it caught a gust and bounced beside him, and then backwards toward Argos territory. He ran after it and gently nudged it out of bounds with his foot, I guess trying to save a couple of seconds. In his panic he probably forgot that anytime you kick a football you give up possession. And that was that. I've only seen that call made maybe 4 or 5 times in the 50 years since that game, and it applies to American football too.

So it was the whole sequence that made it so gutting: the near-miss pick-six, the flukey unforced fumble, and the extremely rare possession turnover, all in the span of a couple of minutes. A real painful way to lose a game.

I always believed that Cassius Vaughn's incredible play in the '17 Cup -- greatest Argo play of the last 50 years? -- was the football gods at work, finally coming up with a definitive answer to Calgary's bizarre run of luck in that '71 game.

Yeah - that call on Abofs was such a downer (and if the ball just bounces off your foot, the rule should not apply, but there was probably a kicking motion); rare call indeed; can't ever recall it being used in American football = are you sure it is the same rule ?

Was at the 81 GC game - almost an all-time big upset by Ottawa over the EE dynasty - that featured another rare call = double interference - that probably helped decide the game; the rule should be there because a receiver and DB can both be guilty of interference on the same play; as much as many CFL fans complained about a bogus call there/ only in the CFL, the very next weekend watching some NFL I saw another double interference call; but i can't recall the last time I ever saw that penalty called ?

[ArgoGabe22]

Not heartbreaking by any means but disappointing to point out the Argos lost to an NFL team three times (Steelers and Chicago Cardinals x2) from 1959-1962 and we’re pretty lopsided. 55-26, 43-16 and 36-7. And that was probably when the pay might have been on par. Some American stars moved to the CFL because of the pay.

[OV Argo]

Not heartbreaking by any means but disappointing to point out the Argos lost to an NFL team three times (Steelers and Chicago Cardinals x2) from 1959-1962 and we’re pretty lopsided. 55-26, 43-16 and 36-7. And that was probably when the pay might have been on par. Some American stars moved to the CFL because of the pay.

That 1960 Argo unit was a good team too - 1st in the East - Dick Shatto & Cookie Gilchrist a big 1-2 punch at RB - but they lost to Ottawa in the play-offs; mind you, that was Tobin Rote's debut in the CFL, so he was on a new team and had to learn/adjust to a new game / new offence.