Most heartbreaking losses in Argos history?

[Will]

Some of us have been around longer to offer suggestions but here are some of mine:

2005 East Final loss against the Montreal Alouettes -- there were 44,000 people in the stadium and the Argos got out to an early lead, and then the Alouettes woke up (perhaps inspired by an ill-timed R. Jay Soward TD celebration)

2007 East Final loss against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers -- the Argos were hosting the Grey Cup the next week and laid an egg! This loss was (at least on the field) the turning point for the C&S ownership regime

2013 East Final loss against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats -- the Scott Milanovich regime was never quite the same was it?

Pinball's last game in 2000 -- sad that he had to go out in a blowout loss against the Roughriders

[AngeloV]

In no particular order:
’90 Eastern Final
‘87 Grey Cup.
‘86 Eastern Final
‘88 Eastern Final
‘84 Eastern Final
‘05 Eastern final
‘07 Eastern Final
‘13 Eastern Final

[ArgoZ]

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.

[paulwoods13]

IMO the worst ones were the Eastern Finals we hosted the year after winning the Grey Cup: '84, '05 and '13. So disappointing to be one home win away from a chance to repeat.

[Will]

For whatever reason, the 2013 loss didn't bother me. I'm unsure why.

[OV Argo]

71 GC; 87 GC; 88 East

[OV Argo]

Up there with 71 for me: 69 East Finals - after winning the first game of the two game total point play-offs - at home, 22-14 - Argos go into Ottawa and get crushed 32-3 by Russ Jackson and the Rough Riders = "an act of God" ;o)

Had this young fan thinking we're going to the GC finally, but hopes were dashed; and then dashed again in 71

[Argo57]

1984 Eastern Final, 1986 Eastern Final (two game total point collapse against Hamilton), 1987 Grey Cup, 2005 Eastern Final (Argos up 14-0 early then RJ Soward fired up the Alouettes bench with the popcorn incident), 2013 Eastern Final.

[OV Argo]

Watching the first game of the East Final 69 on YouTube.

Ex. Stadium was packed = those were the days.

Argo D loaded with Canadian starters - Mike Wadsworth, Dave Knechtel, and Walt Balasiuk (don't remember him - but 6 Argo seasons, out of East York Argos (Juniors ?) on the D-line; Mike Blum & Pete Martin at LB; and Ed Learn & Ron Arends (out of Weston Juniors ?) in the D-backfield; seemed Marv Luster was the MLB (? - doubleblue ?), but i recall him as a great safety; Tricky Dick Thornton at corner and Ed Harrington at DE were forces on that D.

Tom Wilkinson at QB; Bill Symons at RB; Mel Profit at TE; Bobby Taylor at WR; Charlie Bray, Bob Hudspeth + 3 NIs - Bob Swift, Danny Nykoluk, Roger Scales on the O-line.

And of course good ole Leo steering the ship.

[doubleblue]

Watching the first game of the East Final 69 on YouTube.

Ex. Stadium was packed = those were the days.

Argo D loaded with Canadian starters - Mike Wadsworth, Dave Knechtel, and Walt Balasiuk (don't remember him - but 6 Argo seasons, out of East York Argos (Juniors ?) on the D-line; Mike Blum & Pete Martin at LB; and Ed Learn & Ron Arends (out of Weston Juniors ?) in the D-backfield; seemed Marv Luster was the MLB (? - doubleblue ?), but i recall him as a great safety; Tricky Dick Thornton at corner and Ed Harrington at DE were forces on that D.

Tom Wilkinson at QB; Bill Symons at RB; Mel Profit at TE; Bobby Taylor at WR; Charlie Bray, Bob Hudspeth + 3 NIs - Bob Swift, Danny Nykoluk, Roger Scales on the O-line.

And of course good ole Leo steering the ship.

They had a guy named Allen Aldridge who was about 6'6 playing some MLB back then. Leo came up with a defensive ploy on field goal attempts, where he would have Aldridge jump up on a lineman's back when the ball was kicked to block it. The League had to pass a rule because of that, to outlaw that trick.
Leo also came up with what he called "the student body" play on offense. Started sending all the receivers in motion left or right to get a running start and flood one side of the field. Was confusing for the defenses for a while. That may have been the fore runner of what we see today with receivers getting that running start before the ball is snapped.

[OV Argo]

They had a guy named Allen Aldridge who was about 6'6 playing some MLB back then. Leo came up with a defensive ploy on field goal attempts, where he would have Aldridge jump up on a lineman's back when the ball was kicked to block it. The League had to pass a rule because of that, to outlaw that trick.
Leo also came up with what he called "the student body" play on offense. Started sending all the receivers in motion left or right to get a running start and flood one side of the field. Was confusing for the defenses for a while. That may have been the fore runner of what we see today with receivers getting that running start before the ball is snapped.

I remember that FG blocking stunt; neither Allen or Dick Aldridge seemed to play at LB in that 69 play-off game (haven't finished watching); what was up with Luster at MLB ?

[Shatto]

1971 Grey Cup. Late in the game, Tricky Dick made a great interception and got to the Calgary 11 yd line. Then McQuay fumbled and the game was lost. As Cahill said later---McQuay slipped and I fell. It led to the ongoing discussion of whether the ground can cause a fumble. Wow was that really 50 years ago!!!

[AngeloV]

It led to the ongoing discussion of whether the ground can cause a fumble. Wow was that really 50 years ago!!!

And as we know, the ground CAN cause a fumble as long as the ball carrier goes down without contact from an opposing player. Leo never seemed to understand the rule.

[Bleeds Double Blue]

Argo D loaded with Canadian starters - Mike Wadsworth, Dave Knechtel, and Walt Balasiuk (don't remember him - but 6 Argo seasons, out of East York Argos (Juniors ?) on the D-line;

The East York Argos were a senior team mainly comprised of ex-college and high school players and aged out juniors. They became the Bramalea Satallites and played out of Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke. Damn, I am old. Coincidentally they played 4 down football with Canadian rules.

As for the worst Argo loss it would have to be 71 against Calgary. The Cup slipped through our fingers just like the ball slipped through McQuay's.

[doubleblue]

I remember that FG blocking stunt; neither Allen or Dick Aldridge seemed to play at LB in that 69 play-off game (haven't finished watching); what was up with Luster at MLB ?

If my memory is correct I believe Leo thought Luster could spy on Russ Jackson and contain Jackson's running better than Aldridge. Also try and contain Ronny Stewart (5'7 180) on his around the end sweeps he was famous for. How the game has changed. Ottawa all star Guard Roger Perdrix was a great pulling Guard to lead those Stewart runs. I think he was listed at 6'1 225.
Pete Martin could tell all this better. He was there.

[OV Argo]

If my memory is correct I believe Leo thought Luster could spy on Russ Jackson and contain Jackson's running better than Aldridge. Also try and contain Ronny Stewart (5'7 180) on his around the end sweeps he was famous for. How the game has changed. Ottawa all star Guard Roger Perdrix was a great pulling Guard to lead those Stewart runs. I think he was listed at 6'1 225.
Pete Martin could tell all this better. He was there.

Yeah - and the great MLB Wayne Harris played at 195 or something like that - but he could tackle and hit like a truck.

Give any of those old players an off-season of today's athlete preparation - weight training, applied diets & supplements, etc, and they could easily get to today's size standards; the old, smaller pulling guards at 230 or so would not be near as effective trying to pull and run block at 300 pounds though - but the game has changed so much; still say an interior O-line now of athletic, run blocking skilled guys could kick-@$$ in today's CFL (and the little tweener type LBs would be in trouble there); but that would take an offensive coaching group that believed in a diverse, applied run game = not gonna happen with only same olds hired to run CFL offences.

[OV Argo]

The East York Argos were a senior team mainly comprised of ex-college and high school players and aged out juniors. They became the Bramalea Satallites and played out of Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke. Damn, I am old. Coincidentally they played 4 down football with Canadian rules.

As for the worst Argo loss it would have to be 71 against Calgary. The Cup slipped through our fingers just like the ball slipped through McQuay's.

There was a brief period (late 60s / early 70s ?) when the Ottawa Sooners Junior team fielded a team in one of those Senior Leagues; i remember my Dad taking me to see some games - at the Laurentian HS field that had a decent size stands - torn down a few years back to make room for a Wally-Mart; I recall seeing some Ottawa Rough Rider stars of the day turning out to watch some games. I do not recall them playing 4 downs, but maybe they did.

[argolio]

Gotta have some regular season heartbreakers.

1992: Losing 24-23 at Winnipeg in overtime. Fought back to tie it up late only to blow it in OT, ending our late-season playoff chase. Should have re-signed Dunigan!

1994: 29-27 loss to Shreveport thanks to a long Bjorn Nittmo FG on the last play of the game.

2003: Giving up two TDs in the last minute, the second after a successful onside kick, in a 20-18 loss to the Riders. A 53-yard pass and run to Corey Grant was the winner with three seconds left. I remember thinking that one of the nearby defenders will surely tackle him, but no one ever did.

[AngeloV]

Not sure about heartbreaking here, but the Argos lost a weird late season game in 1983 to the Ottawa Rough Riders. It was definitely an upset. The strange part was with the Argos trailing 20-19, Hank Ilesic would miss a go ahead FG, but the ball would travel through the end zone to presumably tie the game at 20. The scoreboard clock read 20-20, but the minutes later it would change back to 20-19 for Ottawa. It was determined that Ilesic's FG attempt skimmed the upright, which resulted in a dead ball. This was not announced in stadium until very late, perhaps even as the game ended.

Strange, and in a way, heartbreaking.

[doubleblue]

Not sure about heartbreaking here, but the Argos lost a weird late season game in 1983 to the Ottawa Rough Riders. It was definitely an upset. The strange part was with the Argos trailing 20-19, Hank Ilesic would miss a go ahead FG, but the ball would travel through the end zone to presumably tie the game at 20. The scoreboard clock read 20-20, but the minutes later it would change back to 20-19 for Ottawa. It was determined that Ilesic's FG attempt skimmed the upright, which resulted in a dead ball. This was not announced in stadium until very late, perhaps even as the game ended.

Strange, and in a way, heartbreaking.

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