Oh no!

[ArgoRavi]

He’s taking the blame to cover for someone.

Without a doubt.

[Shatto]

It appears Pinball has fallen on his sword for the sake of the organization. He indicates he decided not to intercede after becoming aware that the players were attending the Raptor's game. That leaves the obvious question ---who made the arrangements and notified MBT he was to attend the game for PR purposes. We know it wasn't the coach or GM of the Argos, so it has to be someone in the upper echelons of MLSE itself. The often invisible president, Manning, has been conspicuously absent in this whole situation. Wonder why?

The players should not be criticized for their attendance. After all, if an employee is informed by management that they are to perform a PR function for the organization by attending an event, who are they to question the directive? Especially if the directive comes from upper administration. I doubt we will ever know who made that directive.

This distraction can not have been helpful to the team, as they prepare for this critical game. To lose your starting QB for practices would be especially damaging in preparation for the game. Hopefully the team will overcome these problems and go on to win on Sunday

[Neely2005]

Well the silver lining is this is probably the most media coverage that the Argonauts have gotten in years. They're even mentioning the game tomorrow.

[AngeloV]

It was obvious someone from MLSE’s PR team that made the mistake. Manning or Pinball should have been aware of protocols and stepped in if in fact they were aware of the plan. Having said that, the protocols were put in place to stop players from being reckless. In no way was this reckless and should have been a non story, period.

As for missing practice yesterday and walk through today, I see it has having no effect. All the major work is done before the last practice and walk through before the game. He will still be involved in team meetings via zoom, so no great loss there either. This should have no effect on what happens on the field tomorrow.

[ArgoGabe22]

I think Pipkin should start, just to go after those whining about the CFL’s “rule change”. Argos will still win with Pipkin. Richard suck.

[Stevoman]

Outdated policy. The league needs to be shifting their rules based on rules within the country and so I'd say this is on Ambroise and also someone within MLSE.

[AngeloV]

Outdated policy. The league needs to be shifting their rules based on rules within the country and so I'd say this is on Ambroise and also someone within MLSE.

Not solely on Ambrosie. This is something that the league and PA had agreed upon. If there was to be a change, the PA would have had to be involved in it. Agreed though it should have been changed. When the rules regarding travel were set to kick in on Dec 1, the league and PA should have got together to make any amendments to the policy within reason.

[jerrym]

If Argos end up playing this game without MBT, my lifelong love affair with the league and the team might finally be over. The org should not have placed their most important player at risk of getting quarantined, so that's on us, but the league needs to come to its senses as well.

I get that you are upset but the team is more than MBT and there are more important issues than this, even if it were to cost the Argos a Grey Cup. I have been a fan since 1959 through many awful Argo teams, boneheaded management and a few players who ended up committing significant crimes. None of that changed my loyalty to the team. Human beings make mistakes, sometimes big mistakes. Every sport league, including the CFL, NFL, NHL, and NBA allowed players involved in domestic abuse to get away with no consequences for decades ever, only dealing with it when part of the fan base demanded otherwise. Blacks were not allowed to play in many sports for decades and decades and yet teams and fans rarely protested. Nearly every league ignored violations of drug enhanced performance rules for decades or stopped watching. The CFL at least gave many Blacks a chance to play when the mighty NFL would not. More recently Colin Kaepernick was blackballed and prevented from playing for taking a knee in protest to the killing of Blacks, yet most fans still watched and watch NFL games. Sports teams everywhere fly incredible number of miles without ever questioning how this affects climate change or doing the least to tackle an issue that according to the experts is going to create hundreds of millions of climate refugees, wipe many island nations and most of Bangladesh (population 160 million) off the face of the Earth through sea level rise, and quite likely make much of the Middle East uninhabitable, to say nothing of paralyzing BC through heat waves, wildfires, burnt communities, and just this month floods. Now the floods are causing major damage in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. And global warming damage is going to get much, much worse around the world. Has any sport team really tackled its contribution to the problem? Are you really saying preventing MBT from playing would have been so horrendous, that would stop you watching the CFL?

[OV Argo]

Agreed on much of what you say jerry; but tell you what: if MLSE decides to go to the XFL and succeeds in taking the Argonauts name with them, I will totally cease being an Argo fan (since early 60s) - not a second of attention or a penny spent = matter of principal and standing up for CANADIAN football.

[Shatto]

[QUOTE=OV Argo;157294]Agreed on much of what you say jerry; but tell you what: if MLSE decides to go to the XFL and succeeds in taking the Argonauts name with them, I will totally cease being an Argo fan (since early 60s) - not a second of attention or a penny spent = matter of principal and standing up for CANADIAN football.[/QUOTE

I strongly agree with everything you said. Well put!

[Mocha]

Agreed on much of what you say jerry; but tell you what: if MLSE decides to go to the XFL and succeeds in taking the Argonauts name with them, I will totally cease being an Argo fan (since early 60s) - not a second of attention or a penny spent = matter of principal and standing up for CANADIAN football.

I'm with you on that, too.

BUT

If they take an Argos team to the XFL for a spring league AND keep them in the CFL for the summer-fall, I'd probably watch them all year.

[paulwoods13]

I get that you are upset but the team is more than MBT and there are more important issues than this, even if it were to cost the Argos a Grey Cup. I have been a fan since 1959 through many awful Argo teams, boneheaded management and a few players who ended up committing significant crimes. None of that changed my loyalty to the team. Human beings make mistakes, sometimes big mistakes. Every sport league, including the CFL, NFL, NHL, and NBA allowed players involved in domestic abuse to get away with no consequences for decades ever, only dealing with it when part of the fan base demanded otherwise. Blacks were not allowed to play in many sports for decades and decades and yet teams and fans rarely protested. Nearly every league ignored violations of drug enhanced performance rules for decades or stopped watching. The CFL at least gave many Blacks a chance to play when the mighty NFL would not. More recently Colin Kaepernick was blackballed and prevented from playing for taking a knee in protest to the killing of Blacks, yet most fans still watched and watch NFL games. Sports teams everywhere fly incredible number of miles without ever questioning how this affects climate change or doing the least to tackle an issue that according to the experts is going to create hundreds of millions of climate refugees, wipe many island nations and most of Bangladesh (population 160 million) off the face of the Earth through sea level rise, and quite likely make much of the Middle East uninhabitable, to say nothing of paralyzing BC through heat waves, wildfires, burnt communities, and just this month floods. Now the floods are causing major damage in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. And global warming damage is going to get much, much worse around the world. Has any sport team really tackled its contribution to the problem? Are you really saying preventing MBT from playing would have been so horrendous, that would stop you watching the CFL?

Those issues, as important as they all are, have little or no relevance to this particular issue. My words were said in a moment of anger, and probably not as measured as I'd have liked. But at the same time, if the Argos had been severely punished for doing what fans here and around the league have been demanding for years -- using MLSE's massive resources and fanbases for its other sports teams to promote its football team -- yes, I would have been furious. Clearly MBT's attendance at the game was not a case of deliberately flouting the rules (which are outdated and should have been revised to reflect changing public health directives, but that's a different issue) for personal reasons. It was done at the team's behest to drum up interest in the team and its biggest game in four years. Something we have all been wanting it to do. Someone (or multiple someones) within MLSE screwed up big time in either not realizing this was a violation, or choosing to ignore that fact. Either way, it's a big screwup for which those responsible should be held accountable. But to then penalize the player who did what he was asked to do, and the fans who would face going to a playoff game where their team's chances of winning had been severely curtailed, would have been too much to just shrug off. I've lost a lot of my love of the league in recent years because it is not close to what made me fall in love with it -- a more exciting, wide-open brand of football than is played down south -- and because it is so badly run, with nine franchises all seeming to act solely out of self-interest rather than toward the common good. Doesn't mean I don't still love the Argos. (And for the record, I expect I will continue to love the Argos even if they end up playing in a different league. I would hate to leave the CFL, but in some ways the CFL left me quite a few years ago. Maybe it can return to the fast-paced, action-packed game of the 1980s and '90s, but I'm not seeing much evidence the league actually wants to make the type of changes that would be needed to achieve that.)

[jerrym]

Agreed on much of what you say jerry; but tell you what: if MLSE decides to go to the XFL and succeeds in taking the Argonauts name with them, I will totally cease being an Argo fan (since early 60s) - not a second of attention or a penny spent = matter of principal and standing up for CANADIAN football.

[QUOTE=Shatto;157295]

Agreed on much of what you say jerry; but tell you what: if MLSE decides to go to the XFL and succeeds in taking the Argonauts name with them, I will totally cease being an Argo fan (since early 60s) - not a second of attention or a penny spent = matter of principal and standing up for CANADIAN football.[/QUOTE

I strongly agree with everything you said. Well put!

I'm with you on that, too.

BUT

If they take an Argos team to the XFL for a spring league AND keep them in the CFL for the summer-fall, I'd probably watch them all year.

I also agree that if the Argos are moved to the XFL (which I think would be a way of killing it anyway since I doubt the league, let alone the Argos, would survive) I couldn't be bothered to watch the team as I wouldn't have any sense of attachment.

[ArgoRavi]

The Argos aren't moving to the XFL. That is a ridiculous rumour that makes zero sense.