Hamilton TigerCats

[urban_planner]

I also thought the boat party was awesome.

[SteelTown]

Ticat fans line up for playoff tickets
Eager to see Cats play Lions

November 09, 2009
http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/669352

Funny what a playoff game can do.

After eight years in the wilderness, Ticat fans were falling over themselves this morning to get their hands on playoff tickets for Sunday's matchup against the BC Lions.

Tickets went on sale an hour after Sunday's victory over the Bombers and fans were lined up at the jarvis Street team headquarters this morning to be sure they had a seat for the first home playoff game since 2001.

[SteelTown]

Hopefully they'll be enough tickets for me tomorrow!

[Gurnett71]

Originally Posted by matt602

Wow, the Ti-Cats are doing awesomely. I'm really amazed. The Grey Cup is actually looking very possible right now... for the first time in a VERY long time.

IIRC, the Cats are the only North American sports franchise to win at least one league championship every decade since the 1910's. Have to win this year to keep that streak going! (won GC in 1912/13/15/28/29/32/43/53/57/63/65/67/72/86/99 source: ticats.ca)

[SteelTown]

I'm so friggin eyeing that Cobb hat. I want it!

[SteelTown]

HAHAHA!!!

Ticats seeking boat sponsor. . . really

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs...rticle1356855/

You've got to like the quick thinking of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats these days.
And I'm talking off the field.

Sunday night, less than an hour after the Cats had handed the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a 37-19 defeat, their staff was on the phone laying plans to try to drum up a boat sponsor.

The idea was sprung after the Cats celebrated a pair of interception returns for touchdown by jumping into a power boat that was parked at the back of the Winnipeg end zone during the fourth quarter.

Linebacker Markeith Knowlton said he heard teammate Chris Thompson yelling "the boat, the boat" as he was returning the first of those two picks for a score.

The Ticats were flagged both times for unsportsmanlike conduct ... but even head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said he'd get over it by Monday.

Now the Cats are hoping to capitalize on the celebration skit by picking up a new sponsor.

[Blurr]

Awesome!

Can anyone find a video link to that boat party after the td?? It aint on you tube.

I saw it on tv this morning but want another look.

[Gurnett71]

Originally Posted by Blurr

Awesome!

Can anyone find a video link to that boat party after the td?? It aint on you tube.

I saw it on tv this morning but want another look.

Try TSN: http://watch.tsn.ca/cfl-news-and-hig...846#clip232846

Around the 1.40 mark.

Or, you can watch the game on-demand:

http://watch.tsn.ca/cfl-news-and-hig...846#clip232850

[highwater]

With the Ticats in the CFL playoffs and the Pan Am Games coming to town, city is finally gaining some respect in the sports community


Stephen Brunt

Published on Monday, Nov. 09, 2009 9:35PM EST Last updated on Monday, Nov. 09, 2009 10:03PM EST

For the football team and the city it calls home, it was one of the best weeks in a long time. Industry is struggling, unemployment is high, Jim Balsillie’s big plan to bring the NHL turned out to be only a cruel tease, but finally some uplifting news.

A week ago Saturday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats dominated the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Ivor Wynne Stadium, their most complete performance against elite opposition arguably since their last Grey Cup win, in 1999. They are well coached, they have excellent personnel, and they’re getting better. When was the last time anyone could say all of that about a Ticats team?

Then on Friday, the “Toronto” bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games reigned victorious over Lima and Bogota, and of course before that event comes to pass, there will be plenty of debate about what it really is, whether anyone really cares, whether it’s worth the expenditure of public money, etc., etc. But in Hamilton, which will actually host some of the more glamorous competitions, the Pan Ams mean one thing for sure: The Tiger-Cats will have somewhere to play in the future. “Long term, our franchise is not viable in Ivor Wynne Stadium,” the team’s president, Scott Mitchell, says unequivocally.

Mitchell doesn’t have to point out that the funky, neighbourhood ballpark itself, originally built for the British Empire Games of 1930, isn’t viable for much longer in any case.

It would have been a difficult decision for a city struggling worse than many others through the recession, faced with pouring money into an old, outmoded (though beloved) building or finding the dough for a new one. Now, there’s no turning back, though the municipality is on the hook for a big piece of the Pan Ams bill, and someone will still have to come up with the money to convert a 15,000-seat track and field stadium into a 25,000-seat CFL stadium.

By the end of last Saturday, thanks to Edmonton’s win over the B.C. Lions, the Tiger-Cats had clinched their first playoff berth since 2004. Then yesterday afternoon, a stirring, convincing win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Canad Inns Stadium delivered Hamilton’s first home playoff game since 2001, a semi-final matchup Sunday against the crossover team from British Columbia.

“This community has been kicked in the teeth a lot of times,” Mitchell says, and he’s right. This will be a feel-good moment, a break, not just for the citizenry, but for owner Bob Young, a hometown boy made good who has paid the bills, lost millions, made loads of mistakes, acknowledged every one of them, and is now in possession of a football operation built the right way, by the right people, which shouldn’t be headed back into a black hole any time soon.

A whole bunch of qualifiers have to be added here: Spectator sport is a diversion, not real life; what ails Hamilton and other places won’t be fixed by wins or made worse by losses; public money spent on sports facilities more redirects than creates economic activity; the Tiger-Cats aren’t nearly as central to local identity as they were once upon a time, nor is the city in many ways its old lunch-bucket self; the front office wasn’t confident enough of selling out a playoff game to buy it back from the league (as is their right); and if the Lions come in and clobber them Sunday afternoon, then that happy buzz is going to evaporate awfully quickly.

But sentimentally, romantically, if nothing else, it’s hard not to believe that it’s time, that they’re due. Only the most hard-hearted Argos fan could begrudge the not-so-much Steeltown any more and its denizens these happy days in the sun.

[SteelTown]

Ticat tickets a hot item

November 10, 2009
Drew Edwards
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/669814


Hamilton Ticat president Scott Mitchell saw something unusual at the team's Jarvis Street offices yesterday: a lineup for tickets.

With the team hosting its first playoff game in eight years this Sunday against the B.C. Lions, the Ticats had sold 11,750 tickets as of the end of business yesterday .

"The response has been off-the-charts phenomenal. We've had to call in extra ticket reps and add some staff just because the demand has been so huge," Mitchell said. "The phones crashed once and we've had to keep our own people off the lines for anything non-priority."

Season seat holders have been able to purchase advance tickets as part of their renewal packages for the 2010 season and the general public got in on the action yesterday. But the team now has just five days to fill Ivor Wynne Stadium, capacity 29,500.

Adding to the challenge: corporate and group sales, a substantial segment of the team's ticket-buying base, don't extend into the post-season.

"You need to mobilize your corporate sponsors, your community partners, your season seat holders and your casual fan and you need to do it in a short period of time," Mitchell said.

The game is actually controlled by the CFL, the team having decided some time ago it didn't want to take on the risk of a low gate. But the Ticats will still make money from concessions and merchandise.

Even more valuable, Mitchell says, is that a home playoff game should help energize a fan base demoralized by several years of poor on-field performance.

A large crowd could also help the team on the field, coach Marcel Bellefeuille said yesterday.

"We were in a playoff atmosphere in Winnipeg and we wanted to recreate that for ourselves at home and make it tougher for our opponent," he said. "Our fans have been great all year and I'm sure we'll have a great show of support on Sunday."

[SteelTown]

Ticats give new meaning to showboating

November 10, 2009
Stories by Drew Edwards
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/669811



Adrian Labarre, sales manager at Winnipeg Sports and Leisure, was watching the Hamilton Tiger-Cats dismantle his hometown Bombers on TV Sunday afternoon, but found a silver lining in the loss: his business got a whole lot of free advertising.

Labarre's company owns the Lund 1825 Explorer SS fishing boat that was overtaken by Ticats moments after linebacker Markeith Knowlton intercepted a Michael Bishop pass and returned it for a score. The ensuing celebration saw a half-dozen defensive players clamber aboard the 5.4-metre craft stationed beyond the end zone as part of a sponsorship deal.

"It couldn't have been any better for us," Labarre said. "Unless they were wearing Winnipeg Sports and Leisure shirts."

The Ticats repeated the stunt, which was shown on highlight packages across North America, when Jykine Bradley returned a second pick to the house a few minutes later.

"I got a good chuckle out of it and when they did it again, I thought you couldn't get any better exposure," Labarre said. "Any time you get free advertising, it can't be bad."

While it was Knowlton's pick that sparked the celebration, the idea was hatched by halfback Chris Thompson who said he liked the $35,000 boat.

"It was nice -- it held all the defensive backs and a couple of linebackers pretty comfortably. We weren't doing anything to disrespect Winnipeg or their fans. We were just having fun, entertaining the crowd."

Not everybody was amused however: the Canadian Football League is looking into the stunt, said spokesperson Jamie Dykstra.

"The league is reviewing the incident for possible disciplinary action," he said.

A league fine isn't the players' only worry. Head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said he's of two minds about it.

"I'm happy for the players that they could celebrate and be enthusiastic about what they're doing. I really am. At the same time, it did cost us a penalty, so there's part of me that's doesn't want us to be in a situation in the future where a penalty may hurt us."

Will the players be a little lighter in the pocketbook, coach?

"I'm going to meet with them and find the best resolution that's consistent with what we believe in," he said.

Bellefeuille has invested considerable effort in curtailing receiver Arland Bruce's celebrating ways only to be derailed by the normally low key Thompson and Knowlton.

"It's extremely ironic," Bellefeuille chuckled.

Labarre was a good sport about the whole thing, offering to cut the Ticat players a deal if they wanted to purchase the boat. His only terse reply came when asked what the Bombers should do with head coach Mike Kelly. "No comment."

[SteelTown]

Cat tickets 'moving at an incredible pace'

November 11, 2009
Drew Edwards
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/670436

15,442 and counting.

That's the number of tickets sold for the Tiger-Cats' East Division semi-final match up against the B.C. Lions on Sunday.

"Tickets are moving at an incredible pace, so I'm optimistic," said team president Scott Mitchell yesterday. "But we need to maintain the momentum. The enthusiastic fans have bought their tickets, so now we need the casual fans and our corporate and community partners to jump on board."

Mitchell said the team is posting the ticket count at ticats.ca so the public can follow along and is planning to recognize organizations and individuals who buy large blocks of tickets via the web and through print advertising.

Prices for the 1 p.m. game are similar to the Labour Day game, the team's other premium contest, ranging from $25 to $95. But there are deals available for season ticket-holders, families, seniors and those looking to buy a flex pack for next year.

"It's crucial to have the stadium full on Sunday," said veteran centre Marwan Hage. "The noise can be a real advantage for us."

Tickets are available via Ticketmaster at ticketmaster.ca or by calling 905-481-4444. Fans can stop by the Tiger-Cat offices at 1 Jarvis St. or call 905-547-2287.

[Gurnett71]

I was trying to find the ticket count on the ticats.ca website and couldn't see it. Am I blind??

[drpgq]

It seems to do something weird with Firefox and only pops up briefly. Last I saw was 17,550.

[realcity]

this will be sold up. everyone knows Hamilton is a walk-up market

[Gurnett71]

Weird, can't see the ticket sold counter on my PC at work, but is fine at home. Will have to see if I should upgrade IE at work.

Anyway, 18,024 sold with three more days to go till the big game!

I think you're right, realcity, Hamilton has traditionally been a big walk up market. I imagine that they may sell around 25-27k by Saturday, and then a sellout should be a cinch with the walk-up! Here's hoping!

[SteelTown]

That's dedication: Ticat fan buys 20,000 rally towels

November 12, 2009
Ken Peters
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/671343

For the better part of this decade, Hamilton Tiger-Cat fans had thrown in the towel by the second week of November.

Not this Sunday. Thanks to a Calgary moving company owner and diehard Cats fan, Blair Turner, some 20,000 Oskie-wee-wee-chanting fanatics will be waving them this weekend.

Turner, who is flying in from Cowtown to witness Hamilton's first home playoff contest in eight seasons, credits Tiger-Cats business and marketing boss Mark Bowden with coming up with the black rally-towel giveaway he's funding -- at a cost of $14,000.

The idea is borrowed from the Pittsburgh Steelers' yellow rally towels.

As of yesterday, the club had sold about 19,000 of the 29,600 Ivor Wynne Stadium seats for the Eastern semifinal match between the Ticats and their Western crossover opponents, the B.C. Lions. The first 20,000 get a towel.

Turner, 48, has been a Tiger-Cats fan for as long as he can remember. He said he is more used to crying towels than rally towels, given Hamilton's performance in recent years. The terrible Tabbies have just one playoff appearance in the past eight seasons.

"My friends think I'm a little bit warped," Turner said yesterday. "I put up with a lot of stuff when I go to the (Cats) games in Calgary and Edmonton."

Turner bought two Tiger-Cats season tickets this year and donated them to a local charity. He took part in a fan excursion to Montreal that led him to talk to Bowden about sponsorship. That chat spun the towel talk. Soon, Turner was writing a cheque for the 20,000 towels.

He says the Cats are "going to the Grey Cup. They're coming back to Calgary."

And guess who plans to be at McMahon Stadium to cheer them on? Here's a hint. Look for the man of the cloth.

[SteelTown]

A-w-e-s-o-m-e!!

[bigguy1231]

Just an update on ticket sales.

As of this time there have been 24,084 tickets sold for the game Sunday. Thats about 4,000 per day. If the trend continues it looks like the game will be a sell out.

Way to go Hamilton.

[Gurnett71]

27,400 see the Cats lose the Eastern Semi-final 34-27 in OT. Good game, but the Cats streak of winning a Grey Cup every decade since the 1910s has ended.