I'm pretty sure I remember a situation some five or so years back where Winnipeg did this to Hamilton in a game with a similar score. I'm also pretty sure I remember Hamilton's players and coaches getting extremely butt hurt over this as well. In fact I believe Ron Lancaster threw a tantrum at Doug Berry during the traditional post game handshake. I know the personnel of both organizations are different now but I'm glad to see the Bombers players and coaches handled the situation with significantly more professionalism than the Tiger Cats of the past. After all in a four game season series, every point could count towards a tie breaker.
Edit: Just to clarify, the reason I made this topic is not because I had a problem with Hamilton kicking the field goal, but because I still get annoyed when I think of the past Hamilton Ticat employees' childish reaction to a logical football decision.
Kavis Reed was always the biggest crybaby over opponents ‘running up the score’ when he was DC in Hamilton. And during that time opponents ran the score up on the Cats and his D a LOT! Jumping up and down on the sideline yelling at the Toronto (or whoever) bench. Then after the game asked what it was about and go on a rant about the opponent’s big score. It happened 2 or 3 times. That’s why I’ve never really cared for him.
My favorite was a game in 2002 or 2003, Stamps at BC and Lions were up like 27-1, so they put in Spergon Wynn (perhaps his first ever CFL snaps) and he went 2-4 for 2 TDs. You see, Calgary fumbled inside their 10 twice in a row or something. In the last minute of the game, Calgary turned the ball over on their 4 yard line and Casey Printers went in (definitely his first ever snaps) and he went 1-1 with a 4 yd TD. Lions won 48-1 or something awful.
After the game there was a big deal about the Lions running up the score, I can’t remember if it was coaches, players or just fans/media. But what is Wally supposed to do? He put in his 2nd and then 3rd string offense (not just QBs) and Calgary kept handing over the ball deep in their own end. Hilarious.
They couldn't care less about the f.g. nothing to do with handling the situation or being professional,your coach is so frigging stunned he probably didn't even realize that we had kicked it in the first place.As for the players they most likely just wanted to get in and shower up and go home to cry in their pillows about having to be coached by a plug like Burke.Kind of hard to get emotional and upset when you play for a beauty like Burke,stunned is more the word.
You know what I mean ... replace a couple of receivers with 5th and 6th guys, your backup tackle, your backup guard, give Lyle Green the TB spot ... etc. And Printers WAS the 3rd string QB.
I think sometimes it can't be helped. DO you want the guys to hurt their overall stats or fake play for the fans? They gotta give it all out, if a team is getting schooled its just a part of the game.
When you say “the Ticat employees childish reaction” was the “employee” the trainer? or was it the waterboy? or did you make this up? You must have seen the kid selling hot dogs swearing at the Bomber bench and he threw that weiner at a player, that was childish but he wasn’t a Ticat employee.
hey the field goal was a smart thing to do. If it has to come down to points later on it could be a factor. Is anyone really surprized by the garbage spewed by bomber fans?
If by some miracle Winnipeg wins the next 2 and ties the season series with the Ti-Cats and can recover their season enough to tie the Ti-Cats in the standings the tiebreaker is points. How do you think players and fans would react if Winnipeg got the playoff spot by 1 or 2 points and Hamilton had taken a knee instead of kicking that field goal. This isn’t PeeWee football (although it does look like it when the Bombers play), they’re professionals and paid to win and make the playoffs. As long as season series are even number of games this is a necessity.
I personally don't like running up the score, especially against the team your playing next week as well. But if it could influence the season series I understand the need. I can remember being PO'd at Kent Austin when he was the OC with the Argos, it always seemed they were running up the score on the Cats.
The OP said Lancaster was furious about the Bombers running up the score one time, but did Winnipeg already have the season series already locked up? If they did I could understand Lancaster getting mad, he always said there was no point in adding to the score when the game is won. Which I also got made at him when the Cats would take a knee when they could have tried for a TD or FG, especially if it was against teams that had done it to Hamilton in the past. If Lancaster was mad at Berry, there was a reason. Ron had class.
Anybody else remember the East Final in "92" ???? The Bombers ran up the score on us to the tune of 59-11,the fans were all pelting our players and sidelines with a barrage of snowballs,and a couple of our players even attempted to go into the stands to stop the morons throwing them.So lets not talk about being classy here,or professional,people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.....or for that matter.....snowballs. :thdn:
They are professionals paid to put points on the board and keep the opposition off. If you want to watch something that makes everyone feel good go watch kids tee ball where every game ends in a tie.
The "rules of the game" dictated this play. In the event of a tie in the standing, they go to the season series between the two teams. If there is a tie in the series they go to the "point spread" during that series, so those "extra" points may be a tie breaker at the end of the season.
My old coach used to say "once your up 30 points, you have shown your the superior team." After that we would make sure everyone got the opportunity to play, but we always made sure we kept a 30 point advantage. One game we got up by 50 some odd points. After the game, the opposing coach burst into our lockerroom and was complaining about us running up the score on his players. We pointed out that 14 of our points had come on defense and we had run back one kick-off for a touchdown as well. Hard to call it "running up the score" when our defense outscored their offense! :roll:
It was through these sorts of situations, that I learned about "fair play" and how to win without "gloating". All that being said, this was a professional game with potential end of season ramifications, so they did what they had to do.
Always nice to see someone taking a shot at Ron Lancaster, one of the greatest and most beloved players and coaches in the history of the CFL, 5 years after he has passed away. Thanks for the lecture on keeping it classy.
I may be mistaken, but back then Winnipeg was in the West and point differential can't effect the crossover. The team crossing over must have more wins, a tie and more points/winning the series doesn't allow the team to crossover. In that context, Winnipeg's field goal would have been needless as it would hold no bearing on the post season.
However, Winnipeg right now is in the east. Points scored could be the difference between making the playoffs or not. You run up the score against teams in your division if you can, unless you've already secured the series.