The Hamilton Tiger-Cats will figure prominently when the Canadian Football League announces Friday its Hall of Fame inductees for 2011, Sportsnet.ca has learned.
Three of the seven members will have Ticat influences, sources say, and two of the inductees will be quarterback Danny McManus and rush end Joe Montford
Speaking of the Hall of Fame - we have our fingers crossed in Ottawa that the announcement is coming soon that the Hall will move to the historic Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park
That is not a bad idea, the Hall just doesn’t get the support in Hamilton. It would open the Hall up to more than the 10 people a week that the Hall gets now. Ottawa is putting in an Art Gallery at Lansdowne and lots of other development, the Hall would definately get good attendance up there.
The Rough Riders or Renegades ... you did have a CFL franchise at one time
But Ottawa ALWAYS had better attendance than Hamilton, Riders or Gades and you guys live in a Metro area of 6 Million people! The Gades before their demise had higher average crowds than the Argos too.
Can't blame the Ottawa fans! It was the owners and the league that let Ottawa down
It's great to see these two go into the Hall together. They really were the keys to our offence and defence during that all-too-brief period of great success for the Ticats. Both will always be strong contenders for the All-Time Ticats team, even if the franchise lasts another 50 years. At least, I plan to lobby for them at age 90 on the chat boards - or whatever they have in 2061 - thought readers maybe.
Too bad Darren Flutie went in a little earlier (having retired a few years before Joe and Danny), and Ozzie is still waiting for his call. After that, I'm afraid, the odds are long of any other teammates from that era joining them. If there's a dark horse he probably comes out of the defensive backfield.
Which reminds me (to take things back to the preceding era): What's taking them so long to induct Earl Winfield? He's one of the all-time great return men in the league, and that wasn't even the best part of his game. Over 10,000 yards receiving puts him in some pretty elite company. The fact that he did it with at least 8 different starting QBs and a string of head coaches makes it even more impressive in my eyes - though the voters may be swayed by championship rings.