The Labour Day Classic in Hamilton. It doesn't get any better.
I don't know what the Labour Day Classic is like in Calgary because I'm based in the East, so excuse me for the bias. But I don't believe there is anything more defining in the Canadian Football League than the Labour Day Classic in Steeltown.
This year's game featured a rare sellout. In fact, management found a way to squeeze more people than Ivor Wynne can house in the stands with some corporate tent seating in one end zone. The combination of the swelled crowd and renewed confidence in the home team produced multiple choruses of that tribal chant "Argos suck."
Remember when new Ticat owner Bob Young tried to ban the chant because he considered offensive? Well, as Young now knows, there are some traditions that you shouldn't mess with -- good, bad or otherwise.
Ticat supporters dressed in jerseys with the names and numbers of players from years past: Hitchcock, Flutie, Montford, Scott, McManus, Shepherd, Radlein (remember Julian, he was one of my personal favourites?) and those two Jasons (Maas and French, who had brief stays in Steeltown but did enough to endear themselves to some fans). Hey, who needs retro jerseys when everyone is already wearing them?
Ticat fans really made their feelings known when they booed the Argo cheerleaders, who took to the field in the opening half. How any red-blooded Canadian male can boo scantilly-clad women is beyond me. To borrow a line from sexy Shakira, their hips don't lie.
In the third quarter, the Ticats cheeleaders took to the field and danced to a song with country music. The partisan crowd did not boo these ladies. Yippee-yippee-kayay.
The fans also cheered the announcement of an Argo player injured on a play in the fourth quarter.
How heartless.
How Hamilton.
And, of course, there was the guaranteed fight. This one featured a third-quarter donnybrook that resulted in the disqualification of Argo offensive lineman Taylor Robertson and Hamilton defensive lineman Justin Hickman. We recall many Labour Day games in which Adriano Belli was given the quick boot by the officials. Of course, he was playing for Hamilton then. He's now an Argo and he wasn't on the field at the time of the latest broohaha.
And lest we forget, receiver Arland Bruce, traded to Hamilton a few games ago because of a clash of style and personality with Argo rookie head coach Bart Andrus, added an interesting element to this year's Labour Day Classic. He made a spectacular catch that will surely make the highlight reels. He didn't score a touchdown, so he didn't have a chance to do one of his patented end-zone celebrations, but I'm sure he savoured this victory nonetheless.
All and all, it was quite a day for football in the annual Labour Day Classic in Hamilton. This year's game wasn't a classic, but it did have some classic moments. And unlike far too many games these eyes have seen in years past on Labour Day, the home team prevailed.
