It’s something I had never done in numerous trips to Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium, the site of today’s Grey Cup final between the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Walking toward the goal line in the north corner of the stadium, I made my way to the middle of the field, standing at the nine-yard line where the wider left hashmark would have been. I put my hands on both knees, then started jogging toward the goal line on a slightly greater than 45-degree angle. I turned and looked over my left shoulder, then made my way across the goal line and stepped out of bounds just past the pylon.
Why? I wanted to recreate the greatest Argo moment of my lifetime.
When the Argos celebrated their 150th anniversary season in 2023, a historical subcommittee was established with the unenviable task of combing through the team’s extensive history to come up with the franchise’s top 150 moments.
The formation of the team in 1873 was number one, followed by the infamous Mud Bowl Grey Cup game of 1950.
The top play came in at number three.
A loss in the championship game in 1982 had extended the Argos Grey Cup drought to a remarkable 30 years. They advanced to the final again a year later, it was their chance to bring an end to the futility.
On the first play after the three-minute warning, the Argos trailed the BC Lions 17-12. With backup quarterback Joe Barnes in the game, the Boatmen had a first-and-goal from the Lions three-yard line.
Six yards deep in the backfield, Cedric Minter lined up as the tailback in an I formation. When the ball was snapped, Minter ran the route that would be copied by your humble typist 41 years later. A Lion linebacker got caught in traffic and fell to the ground and Minter turned back to look for the pass, caught it, and walked into the end zone for the game winning score.
CBC’s Don Whitman described it with three simple words that still incite goosebumps to Argo fans of that vintage, “Barnes…Minter…Touchdown!”
As I stood in the end zone this week and turned back to look at the field, I felt a little goofy for doing what I had done, but it maybe, just maybe exemplified my passion for the Canadian game and the team itself.
Reliving a play like that is something that a couple of eight-year-old knuckleheads would do after the game. I’m several decades past that point in my life, but there are times that this game, this sport, the people involved in it, allows an older guy like me the chance to revert back to the days of his youth, when life was simpler, and when an accomplishment on the playing field was the most important thing in one’s life.
When we watch our favourite team play it allows people of diverse backgrounds, ages, and interests to gather together and share a common passion, in the case of people reading this column, it’s Toronto Argonaut football.
For me, the ultimate Argo play was Barnes to Minter. For others it could be the Raghib Ismail touchdown in the ’91 Grey Cup, or Doug Flutie to Mike Clemons in the ’97 Eastern Final, or Ricky Ray to DeVier Posey in the 2017 final, or Robbie Smith’s last minute field goal block of two years ago.
The sport provides ample opportunity to grasp on to one of those moments. The emotional investment made by fans can be, and perhaps today will be worth all the heartbreak that also goes with caring about a team so much.
The growing sense of community among Argo fans is exhilarating to watch. Fans take a sense of ownership over the team into which they invest their time, money and emotions. A bad day at BMO Field still beats a great day at work.
Argo and Blue Bomber fans are lucky on this Grey Cup Sunday, they’re able to do what the fans of seven other teams aren’t – cheer for their favourite team in the championship game. By around 9:00 ET there may be another moment or two to celebrate, perhaps providing a memory strong enough that they’ll revisit it over the course of their lifetime, and that it will bring out the same emotion that a simple three-yard pass does for this typist a generation or two later.