This post is an amalgamation, of sorts, of all the various posts on this forum over the last week. It is also directed at anyone and everyone associated with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, from the Owner and Management, to the Coaching Staff, to the fans and to the Media. As my heading states, as a community and as a football franchise, everyone needs to KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON - with all due respect in stealing these famous words from Sir Winston Churchill.
Folks, being 0-8 is not fun for anyone involved. Okay, maybe the Hamilton media has more to talk about and sell. But other than the media, no one in the Hamilton football community is having any fun at all.
I have read that (just to name a small portion):
1- Bob Young should sell the team - this is likely the craziest suggestion of them all (I will elaborate)
2 - Fire Scott Mitchell
3 - Fire Kent Austin
4 - Fire June Jones - even though we just hired him
5 - Trade Zach Collaros
6 - Get rid of Brandon "Speedy B" Banks
7 - Get rid of the whole Offensive Line
8 - Get rid of the DB's (except Kennah and Davis)
9 - Fire Stephan Ptasek
10 - Trade the rest of the players for a bag of new footballs
OKAY - the last one is likely the only thread I haven't read about on this forum in the last week - but it illustrates my point of just how silly everyone is acting - it's a panic, typical over-reaction.
Again, we need to KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
Yes, we are 0-8; yes, there have been some mistakes made by pretty much everyone from the top to bottom; yes many players have underperformed, etc, etc. But the worst thing we can all do is follow through on all of the above points.
Lets look back at this franchise, pre Bob Young, the caretaker. I remember sitting at Ivor Wynne for many many games when the attendance was always in the mid-teens. It seemed like 80% of our games, save for Labour Day, and the odd important or promotional game, resulted in a paltry attendance number of 13,000 to 15,000 fans. I used to call the North Stands the "triangle" because the crowd seemed to sit in a triangular formation. Section 7 was the tip and it spread out both ways to the front row in the boxes at both ends, leaving the rest of the sections pretty much empty.
I vividly remember going to an exhibition game at the very early stages of the Bob Young administration - I was astounded to see that there were about 25,000 people in the stands. I remember seeing emails at work, at many of my friends and families places of work offering very cheap, or even free, tickets. They were just beginning to build what we have now. They were finally putting butts in the seats in the early part of this decade. Slowly but surely, they created a large demand for the team and the brand. Hamilton Health Sciences, Dofasco, Stelco, etc - large groups of tickets were offered to these large corporations for their employees at a discount. They were finally marketing the team. People were talking Tiger-Cats again. People were buying merchandise and more importantly tickets. People started tailgating all around the stadium. People then became "fans". Scott Mitchell came aboard and continued to build the brand and brought it to even greater heights. The final piece was bringing in a great football mind like Austin. The 2 Grey Cup appearances, the atmosphere at games, the brand all made for a very respectful franchise. We became the envy of all teams in the East and most in the West. This brings us to our current state. We are an extremely well run football organization. Ten weeks of football and one week with many mistakes cannot take all that away.
To backtrack slightly, yes there have been other mistakes over the last 14 years. No organization is perfect. In talking to many people, even within the organization, I am led to believe that even they know the stadium being built at the waterfront would have been the better idea. They know they made a mistake. Yes this is another topic on this forum, but it is the only stadium or arena in Canada where you can't take your family out for dinner. At the time, the belief was that a true entertainment district could be built around the stadium, or at least in the area - ie Barton, Cannon, Gage, etc. Well they now see that will not happen. And even more of a sore point is everyone sees just how terrific the James St South area has become. Craft brewers, restaurants, great shopping. I won't go on.
Yes this current administration dropped the ball BIG TIME on the stadium. And, yes, this week there has been an inordinate amount of negative press. The team is 0-8 and they tried to bring in one of the greatest offensive minds I have ever witnessed in college football. I watched many Baylor games and honestly, they seemed to score a touch down on every drive. Once Briles learned the CFL game, I am certain we would have easily become the most explosive team in decades. I am not exaggerating. He is a genius. But his hiring, at this time, was a mistake. Football was put ahead of what happened just 15 months ago at Baylor. Maybe he will prove in court he knew nothing. Maybe it will be proven in court he hid what he knew. This will be revealed in time. But this organization was trying to bring an 0-8 franchise out of the basement. They erred, they admitted, and its time to KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
I also believe what is adding to the dismal showing in 2017 is that many of the current admin just have too much on their plate. Scott Mitchell seems to be doing the work of 5 people. Austin was the VP, pretty much a co-GM, Head Coach and essentially Offensive co-coordinator. I truly believe that once Austin settles into the player personnel role and realizes that he no longer is coaching, he will once again start evaluating top notch talent and rebuild the team back to the 2014-2015 heights. I feel Mitchell also needs to maybe delegate, hire a true CEO, etc.
Lastly, we are not an 0-8 team. We have Fantuz, Kennah, Tolliver out. We likely do need some help along both lines. But lets not panic. Letting Zach Collaros go will be akin to the Doug Gilmour trade 20 years ago. It devastated the Calgary Flames for many years and almost put the Leafs into the Stanley Cup. It is also akin to how we let Anthony Calvillo go. Under no circumstances should be let Zach go. June Jones is also a great offensive mind, similar to Briles, but wasn't as successful at the college level as he was. Lets let him build the offensive schemes. I believe he will run the ball more. Zach will get in again in the very near future. Don't repeat what we did with Calvillo. Trust me on this one. We will step back many years - you only find a franchise player like Zach every so often.
In closing, Bob Young, don't sell the team.....don't fire Mitchell and Austin.....100% don't trade Collaros. Re-evaluate everything you do....but whatever you do....
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
