That is to say, what would you say is the turning point to the proud Hamilton Tiger-Cats becoming the losing franchise we have now.
You could argue any number of "moments..."
The change of the logo...
The banning of some chant...
Danny McManus getting injured a few seasons ago...
Heck, if you really wanted to, you could say the Ridgeway field goal in 1989. The following year, Hamilton's stretch of missing the playoffs more started.
I'll blame the Ottawa Renegades. In 2001 we had the second most regular season wins in the league. The expansion draft seemed to hit us harder than most, while at the same time our owners decided to save money by not re-signing key free agents. The slide in performance was noticeable in 2002, and we've never quite recovered.
And there was also a lot of bad deals which seemed to start with the Tony Miles for Joe Montford trade, ironically the only trade we've won since then was the Troy Davis deal.
The two part Troy Davis and Jason Maas deals stick out in my mind as both the Eskimos and Ticats haven't finished higher than last since then. The deal with the devil.
The jump the shark moment may have been when Hitchcock lost a step. While he was in his prime, receivers and backs ran away from him or paid a heavy price. His play anchored the secondary and, some might argue, the whole defence. I miss the days when he used to fly to the sideline and kill a receiver or run up and destroy some runner. Then he slowed and was moved to LB and the Cats haven't been the same since.
