Though a similar event was held just two years ago, there were no complaints about doing it again.
The Toronto Argonauts invited season ticket holders to gather at BMO Field and reintroduce themselves to the guest of honour, the Grey Cup. Just under a thousand people responded to the invitation, which gave them a chance to get their picture taken with the trophy that the Argos won on November 17 with a 41-24 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Vancouver.
Fans responded to an email and were able to book a time to attend the get together, spread out over two days. The extended time prevented a rush at any given hour and allowed more people to attend. It also gave fans a chance to relax, speak to other Argo fans, share a coffee and a snack, and perhaps bump into someone like receiver DaVaris Daniels, who unexpectedly popped by for a few minutes.
Among those fans that took advantage of the opportunity was Gary Babcock, who has been a season ticket holder since 1994. This is the seventh championship the team has won since he first signed up, something he wouldn’t have had the chance to do if he remained true to his childhood team of choice.
“I grew up in Ottawa,” Babcock recalled for Argonauts.ca. “But I was not an Ottawa fan, I was an avid Hamilton Tiger-Cats fan.”
Excuse me?
Luckily for him he moved to Toronto and started going to Argo games in the late 80s.
“I had gotten away from watching the CFL for a few years while I was going to university, so I wasn’t as tight with Hamilton as I used to be. A couple of years after I got the tickets Doug Flutie came to town and they won a couple of Grey Cups, which gets you excited.”
Babcock has experienced much more excitement as an Argo fan than if he had stayed loyal to the black-and-gold guys from down the QEW.
The team’s success has been great, but the on-field wins are almost a secondary reason for him to come to the games.
“Me and some friends started a tailgate years ago. It’s gone from a small group of about 30-40 people to about 300 people now. We look forward to that, it’s the pre-game ritual, and it’s not wild and crazy like in some of the U.S. towns; it’s controlled, it’s polite, it’s fun. A lot of people come and have a great time and they’ve started coming to the games. We’ve added other season ticket holders through that. This year’s schedule is really good for the tailgates.”
While Babcock’s group gathers in the south parking lot, Brad Dennis literally starts his game days on the other side of the tracks. He’s a resident of Liberty Village, the area just north of the QEW and train tracks, about a long par 5 north of BMO Field.
“I’ll have some friends over for a barbecue before the game,” he told Argonauts.ca. “We can walk there, it’s affordable, we can sit out in the sun and have a great time. A lot of the time it’s a group of about 15 of us and sometimes some of them don’t know a lot about football, but they hear a group of us are going and there’s beer and a barbecue involved, so they enjoy it.”
A sort of Pied Piper, Dennis has converted about 15 of his friends into Argo fans.
“I love that it’s such a Canadian thing,” he continued. “Three-down football is ingrained in our culture and it’s also an affordable ticket to see a team you can really get behind.”
Seeing the Argos win two Grey Cups in the four years he’s been a season ticket holder hasn’t hurt.
Babcock was all smiles during the conversation, his time with the Cup, and then while mingling afterward. He wasn’t alone.
Your humble typist bumped into an old college classmate at the event, neither one of us realizing the other was going to be there. He’s gone to games for years, but this season he’s become a season ticket holder for the first time, purchasing his seat in the area he’s usually sat in the past because he’s gotten to know fans there and now refers to them as family.
He’s hoping the Argos can win the Cup again this year and those fans can use a similar event to this as an off-season family reunion twelve months from now.