This weekend in sports up here in Canada had more drama than an outbreak of poison ivy in a nudist camp. Mats Sundin provided the warm prickly feeling when he scored his 500th career goal in dramatic fashion. The Leaf captain netted the game-winner, in overtime, short-handed, it tied Dave Keon for second all-time in Leaf goals at 365, and it polished off a hat trick.
It looked as though it would be the Flames that would ruin the evening as they threatened on a 4-on-3 power play in overtime, but Sundin blasted a slap shot from just inside the blue-line 50 seconds into the extra period that rocketed past Vezina Trophy winner Miikka Kiprusoff. The goal ignited a raucous celebration by the 19,338 fans at Air Canada Centre.
The fans stayed on their feet and continued to shower applause on their beloved captain, an emotional moment that saw Sundin return the love by clapping in their direction after skating out as the game's first star.
Meanwhile in Hamilton the Tiger Cats played their final 2006 home game losing to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 29-22. One more game and the end to this dismal season will finally be over. At 4-13 the Cats have bared their teeth and wade through the torcherous burn caused by way too much time spent on defense, bad coaching and silly mistakes that made them look like a bunch of amateurs.
The loss was bitter sweet as Cat fans said goodbye to their number one cheerleader, Pigskin Pete. As I mentioned yesterday the affectionate man in the bowler hat said his goodbyes after 31 years. Paul Weiler will be missed and his heir will have a big hat to fill.
And if the stinging wasn't bad enough, in Edmonton, fans watched in shock as the Esks lossed to Toronto 28-25. The loss gave the iron horse of the CFL a record of 5-11 placing them out of the playoffs for the first time in 34 years.
The steak was the longest run of consecutive playoff appearances in North American professional sports.
The good thing is a new week is about to start which means a whole new week of oohs, ahs and ouches. Good luck to all you poolies. Go leafs go!
Later,
Kenaz
Showing posts with label tiger cats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tiger cats. Show all posts
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Thanks for the memories, Pigskin
After 330 Games, and 20,000 chants Pete Calls It a Day.
Paul Weiler, 72 years young, approaches the Tiger-Cats' last home game of the season today. After 31 seasons, he'll be hanging up his bowler hat and retiring as Pigskin Pete, the tireless cheerleader who, through good times and bad, has led fans through the familiar chant:
Oskie wee wee!
Oskie wa wa!
Holy mackinaw!
Tigers! Eat 'em raw!
He will help the Tiger-Cats select his successor before the 2007 season. The team plans to honour his service on the field today. It will a sad day in the Hammer as we say good-bye to some one who brought such class to the city and never asked for anything in return.
THE HISTORY OF 'PIGSKIN PETE'
(sources, The Hamilton Spectator)
Weiler comes from a big family. One of six kids, he is also a father of two, and grandfather of five, so it's not surprising that he has 60 relatives and friends coming to todays game. The Tiger-Cats are hosting them all under two tents in the west end zone. Many are coming from Montreal, where Weiler grew up as an Alouettes fan, and where he drove a city bus until a fateful visit to Hamilton in 1964 made him contemplate a move here.
When word of a job offer from Dofasco came through, he pulled his bus over at noon, rounded up June and the kids in the family Volkswagen and headed to Hamilton for good.
Here, he continued his admiration for the Alouettes, for a little while at least. He and June were great fans of football in general and became regulars at the Quarterback Club, then a thriving hub of football activity in the glory days of the Tiger-Cats and of Hamilton itself. The ballroom at the Royal Connaught Hotel would be jammed for every meeting, and Weiler's allegiance began to shift.
Pigskin Pete II retired after the 1975 season. That was Bill Wirtz, who had taken over the job from his father, Vince Wirtz, in 1967. Vince had been doing it since the '20s.
Before the 1976 season, June Weiler was doing some secretarial work for the Quarterback Club, and team president Ralph Sazio approached Paul about taking over the job, hoping to avoid a public process that was sure to make Sazio "one friend and a thousand enemies," as Weiler puts it.
And so began the career of Pigskin Pete III.
He used to get paid for the gig -- $25 a game under Michael DeGroote's ownership, $40 under Harold Ballard's. David Braley, Weiler remembers, gave him a ticket and a parking spot. In 1993, when the team failed to furnish him with a ticket to a game, he stayed away in protest.
The strike lasted one game, before public pressure led team president John Michaluk not only to invite him back, but to send a limo to his house and drive him right on to the field.
I remember that time and it had to be the only time this mild mannered gentlemen got truly angry, for the right reason. I'm sure there's still poop stains on the ceiling of Michaluk's old office.
Today, the team gives him a pair of season tickets and he pays for another pair, giving the extra seats to family and friends.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
Through sickness and health, and every kind of weather, he has never missed a single game beyond the strike game.
On Weiler's watch, the Tiger-Cats reached the highs of two Grey Cup victories (1986 and 1999), and the lows of the team's worst records ever: 1997, when the Cats lost all but two games, and 2003, when the team produced only one win.
Weiler had actually planned to retire last year after completing his 30th season, but with the team's 5-13 record, he decided he would wait a year and go out on a high note.
With the Cats' acquisition of several high-profile players, including quarterback Jason Maas, receiver Terry Vaughn and running back Josh Ranek, it looked like this would be a turnaround year. Instead, the Cats stumbled out of the gate, opening the season with four straight losses. Going into today's game, the team is out of playoff contention with a pitiful 3-12 record.
Next year, he'll be back on the field to pass his bucket-sized bowler -- size 7 and seven-eighths -- to his successor, and take his seat in Box A, as Paul Weiler, ordinary fan.
I hope the CFL honours him with a special induction into the Hall of Fame, got knows he's contributed to the growth of the Canadian game as much or more than any player, owner or builder has.
Pigskin will be missed.
Later,
Kenaz
Friday, July 14, 2006
Rookie Kicker Gets Tiger Cats First Win
A "Little General" and a new kicker was just what the struggling Hamilton Tiger-Cats needed to pull out their first win of the season, 20-17 over the Calgary Stampeders at Ivor Wynne Stadium Friday night.
Mark Myers, the 23-year-old rookie kicker called to Hamilton earlier this week from his Florida home, nailed a 44-yard field goal with time expired to give his new team their first victory of the season.
With the win, the Tiger-Cats break the goose egg and improve to 1-4, while the Stampeders drop to 3-2.
Corey Holmes, who returned to the line-up after missing two games with a turned ankle, gave Hamilton the 17-14 lead with 6:48 left in the game on a 15-yard touchdown run up the middle, but a 37-yard field goal by Calgary's Sandro DeAngelis tied it at 17 with less than two minutes to go.
DeAngelis the southern Ontario native desperately wanted a tryout with the Cats who incredibly refused to even give him a look. He is currently the best field goal kicker in the league.
Calgary won the last meeting with Hamilton, the third game of the season, on a last-second field goal, a 23-22 score. The game marked Hamilton's Little General Ron Lancaster's fourth return to the CFL as a head coach after Greg Marshall was made a scape goat and fired for the sad effort the team made forth in the previous weeks.
Hamilton receiver Terry Vaughn's 10 receptions on the night made him the CFL's all-time receptions leader with 973 in his 12-year career, one more than former Tiger-Cat Darren Flutie. His three-yard reception from quarterback Jason Maas in the fourth quarter to set the record.
Vaughn also holds the record for the most 1,000-yard receiving seasons with 11. Entering tonight's game, he is ranked third in career receiving yards with 13,267, trailing Flutie (14,359) and record holder Allen Pitts (14,891).
THE GOOD
DeAngelis went three-for-four, hitting from 40, 42, and 37, while missing from 39 yards out in the second quarter, only his second miss of the season. Myers, who replaced the inconsistent Jamie Boreham, also hit a nine-yarder in the third that gave the Ticats a 10-4 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Tiger-Cats thrilled the thunderous crowd of 26,944 after a goal-line stand that began with Calgary at first-and-goal from the two. Calgary quarterback Henry Burris' third-down scramble to the line was stopped short by the Tiger-Cats defence on the last play of the half to preserve a lead.
Hamilton scored first when Tay Cody's 22-yard interception return gave the Tiger-Cats the ball on Calgary's 39 yard-line at 4:47 of the first quarter. That sent the Tiger-Cats off on an 11-play drive that took 7:01 off the clock. It survived a botched play deep in scoring territory when an awkwardly pitched ball from Maas to Ranek got bandied about in a crowd and fell to the ground at the two-yard line.Calgary was called for roughing the passer and two plays later Maas kept it for the one-yard score.
THE UGLY
Hamilton, marched up the field and looked like it was turning over a new leaf with first-and-goal at the eight-yard line. But a time-count violation put them back to the 13-yard line. Two plays later, they went for the major at third-and-goal from the one. Ranek fumbled the pitch from Maas and Calgary's George White recovered it at the eight as the Tiger-Cats came away empty and the crowd grumbled its disapproval.
Click on the title link for full stats.
In other Cat news former QB Danny McManus and receiver Darren Flutie where named the fourth of nine nominees in the Greatest Quarterback-Receiver Connections in CFL History contest. A program that gave fans the opportunity to vote for their fav's online.
The two were first teammates with the B.C. Lions (1993-95), then the Edmonton Eskimos (1996-97) before both headed East to join the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They spent five years in Steeltown before Flutie retired after the 2002 season as the CFL's career leader in catches (972) and playoff receptions (85).
Ron Lancaster and Hugh Campbell of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Khari Jones and Milt Stegall of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Warren Moon and Brian Kelly of the Edmonton Eskimos are the other entrants named thus far.
Danny Mac and Flutie where great, but I remember having to hear Moon to Kelly for the TD way to often back in their day, especially against the Cats. So my vote has to go to them, but that could change.
It will be interesting to see who makes the cut when the full list comes out. so many great combos to choose, Doug Flutie/Allen Pitts-Calgary; Clements/ Gabriel-Ottawa; Dewalt to Fernandez-B.C; Condredge Holloway/Cedric Minter-Toronto and of course the ledgendary combo of Sam Etcheverry-Hal Patterson from the Alouettes.
Later,
Kenaz
Mark Myers, the 23-year-old rookie kicker called to Hamilton earlier this week from his Florida home, nailed a 44-yard field goal with time expired to give his new team their first victory of the season.
With the win, the Tiger-Cats break the goose egg and improve to 1-4, while the Stampeders drop to 3-2.
Corey Holmes, who returned to the line-up after missing two games with a turned ankle, gave Hamilton the 17-14 lead with 6:48 left in the game on a 15-yard touchdown run up the middle, but a 37-yard field goal by Calgary's Sandro DeAngelis tied it at 17 with less than two minutes to go.
DeAngelis the southern Ontario native desperately wanted a tryout with the Cats who incredibly refused to even give him a look. He is currently the best field goal kicker in the league.
Calgary won the last meeting with Hamilton, the third game of the season, on a last-second field goal, a 23-22 score. The game marked Hamilton's Little General Ron Lancaster's fourth return to the CFL as a head coach after Greg Marshall was made a scape goat and fired for the sad effort the team made forth in the previous weeks.
Hamilton receiver Terry Vaughn's 10 receptions on the night made him the CFL's all-time receptions leader with 973 in his 12-year career, one more than former Tiger-Cat Darren Flutie. His three-yard reception from quarterback Jason Maas in the fourth quarter to set the record.
Vaughn also holds the record for the most 1,000-yard receiving seasons with 11. Entering tonight's game, he is ranked third in career receiving yards with 13,267, trailing Flutie (14,359) and record holder Allen Pitts (14,891).
THE GOOD
DeAngelis went three-for-four, hitting from 40, 42, and 37, while missing from 39 yards out in the second quarter, only his second miss of the season. Myers, who replaced the inconsistent Jamie Boreham, also hit a nine-yarder in the third that gave the Ticats a 10-4 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Tiger-Cats thrilled the thunderous crowd of 26,944 after a goal-line stand that began with Calgary at first-and-goal from the two. Calgary quarterback Henry Burris' third-down scramble to the line was stopped short by the Tiger-Cats defence on the last play of the half to preserve a lead.
Hamilton scored first when Tay Cody's 22-yard interception return gave the Tiger-Cats the ball on Calgary's 39 yard-line at 4:47 of the first quarter. That sent the Tiger-Cats off on an 11-play drive that took 7:01 off the clock. It survived a botched play deep in scoring territory when an awkwardly pitched ball from Maas to Ranek got bandied about in a crowd and fell to the ground at the two-yard line.Calgary was called for roughing the passer and two plays later Maas kept it for the one-yard score.
THE UGLY
Hamilton, marched up the field and looked like it was turning over a new leaf with first-and-goal at the eight-yard line. But a time-count violation put them back to the 13-yard line. Two plays later, they went for the major at third-and-goal from the one. Ranek fumbled the pitch from Maas and Calgary's George White recovered it at the eight as the Tiger-Cats came away empty and the crowd grumbled its disapproval.
Click on the title link for full stats.
In other Cat news former QB Danny McManus and receiver Darren Flutie where named the fourth of nine nominees in the Greatest Quarterback-Receiver Connections in CFL History contest. A program that gave fans the opportunity to vote for their fav's online.
The two were first teammates with the B.C. Lions (1993-95), then the Edmonton Eskimos (1996-97) before both headed East to join the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They spent five years in Steeltown before Flutie retired after the 2002 season as the CFL's career leader in catches (972) and playoff receptions (85).
Ron Lancaster and Hugh Campbell of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Khari Jones and Milt Stegall of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Warren Moon and Brian Kelly of the Edmonton Eskimos are the other entrants named thus far.
Danny Mac and Flutie where great, but I remember having to hear Moon to Kelly for the TD way to often back in their day, especially against the Cats. So my vote has to go to them, but that could change.
It will be interesting to see who makes the cut when the full list comes out. so many great combos to choose, Doug Flutie/Allen Pitts-Calgary; Clements/ Gabriel-Ottawa; Dewalt to Fernandez-B.C; Condredge Holloway/Cedric Minter-Toronto and of course the ledgendary combo of Sam Etcheverry-Hal Patterson from the Alouettes.
Later,
Kenaz
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Tabby by the tail
Cats new, white helmet and logo just for Labour DayIt's seems with the Cats, nothing appears taboo.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats unveiled a new and rare white-based headgear featuring a new logo. The white helmet with an aerodynamic tiger head that replaces the traditional leaping tiger will be worn just once this season, on Labour Day against the Toronto Argonauts.
The white helmet with new logo will be combined with white jerseys and pants for the Labour Day contest as part of the club's 'Never Wear White After Labour Day' promotion.
After the Labour Day contest, the Ticats will auction off the helmets with the proceeds going to charity, similar to the plans for the third jersey, which will be worn Aug. 12.
This is the first time in club history that the team's traditional leaping tiger logo has been significantly altered and for good reason, it's a great design. This is an ugly bad idea. Not all big guys look good in white. The Michelin Man comes to mind right now.
The club says it may encourage fans to wear all white to the stadium on Labour Day to create a white-out effect similar to that employed in the past by the former hockey Winnipeg Jets. The Cat's may want to reconsider or hook up with a sunglass company as part of its promotion.
The new logo isn't much new, it has a similar look to the New England Patriots design as well as that of the Nashville Predators of the NHL. It's the work of designer Dan Simon of Studio Simon of Louisville, Kentucky. Simon was responsible for the re-designed leaping tiger logo unveiled last season.
Provost, the clubs Vice-President admits the new logo could offend some of the team's traditional fans. That is not the intent, he insists.
"So far the reaction has been really positive, the coaches and players really like it," Provost said.
"We don't want to offend our traditional fans, we just want to introduce something a little bit different and if the fans from our traditional fan base don't like it, there are pretty decent odds that it will just go away," he said.
I'm sorry I have to admit I am one of those traditionalists I like the black and gold, and the leaping tiger. You would never see the Steelers try something like this, the owners would be linched.
Other Ticat promotions include a classy tribute to former Ticat Travis Claridge, who died of pneumonia.
Later,
Kenaz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)