The winds at THF are a fairly frequent discussion point here as well as most everywhere for us TiCats fans.
My latest: http://3downnation.com/2016/07/04/numbe ... -kickiers/
Hope you enjoy and puts some facts & figures to an issue we already all know too well.
Cheers,
FenderGuy69
Winds always seemed to be an issue at this location, but the change in orientation now has the wind ripping down the field rather than across it. And over the years, some kickers figured it out (Ozzie, Medlock) while others never did (D'Angelo). So the question now is, can Maher figure it out? And how long will it take?
He better be out on that field with Ozzie, punting and kicking FG's every windy day he can until he does figure it out!
I thought this was interesting:
"Justin Medlock obviously mastered the tricky winds as his field goal percentage was actually better at home than on the road."
It will be interesting to keep track of this over the years. So far it's just Medlock. I'd be curious to see Swazey (sp?) Waters' numbers at THF. He was excellent at the Labour Day Game in 2014.
What amazed me is that Medlock was actually more accurate (90.476%) on field goals at THF than he was at other stadiums in 2015. All other kickers averaged 77% at THF. There was a huge advantage in the kicking game with Medlock even more than we knew.
Mahers problem wasn't the wind. He was just plain missing.
I don't quite know why they let Medlock go, but suppose it was because we have the highest paid player in the League, who is not playing, on our salary cap.
That's why we don't have one of the highest scoring players here any more.
Go figure.
Seriously, Paul Osbaldison should make a training video for the Ti-Cats on how to kick at Ivory Wynne and Tim Horton's Field.
We should have ponied up.
Would we have let OB walk if the price was too high?
Edit. 3 edits just to type 2 small sentences. Ugh
Had to think about who OB might be - I’m guessing Ozzie, not O’Billovich?
If it’s Ozzie … it seems funny to say this less than 15 years after the guy retired, but times are different now. It’s almost impossible to imagine a guy playing for 16 years on the same team any more. One side or the other will inevitably want to “go in a different direction” or chase a couple of extra dollars after a few years.
Dyakowski is a borderline freak for being here 9 or 10 years, and no one else on the team comes close.
I would guess that Zach's new contract was in the works during Free Agency, and the team figured that spending the (reported) $170K to Medlock was a bit on the ludicrous side (for a guy that is a poor punter and was average [at best] on kick-offs], albeit a great place-kicker). Right now, with Zach on the 6-game, his salary does NOT count against the Cap, unless he's activated early - whereby his entire salary DOES count.
Don't forget that Leone missed FG's as well - the wind affected BOTH teams last game (but don't let the facts cloud your judgement)...
OZ sorry had too many Happy US day pops last night lol
That's a good point on the long term players. FA has killed sports imo
Money woulda made those FG.
Maybe someone can help me out here. I grew up in Hamilton but haven't lived there in some time. I swear that I remember the city having a fairly moderate climate - including during football games at ol' Ivor Wynne. And yet now it appears to be in some kind of perpetual high-wind zone.
So what's happening here? Either (a) my memory is poor, and it's always been unbelievably windy, (b) it somehow got windier in recent years, (c) it randomly gets windy just on game day, or (d) THF magnifies a moderate breeze into gale force winds due to the layout/design.
Or some combination of the above ... ?
I believe it's a combination of C and D. THF does seem to act like a bit of a wind tunnel, with a strange swirling wind blowing out of both endzones. The weather on game days has been absolutely crazy though. It seems like we'll get calm, typical Hamilton weather for a week, with all the wind arriving on game day. I'm hoping thunderstorms hold off on Thursday and the winds aren't too bad.
Nah you're right, it was pointed out in another thread that Hamilton has just been downright unlucky with weather when it comes to game day. We still have more good days than not, just seems the not days game come when the Cats have a home game.
I also wonder if it is a function of re-orienting the stadium from east-west to north-south? Although I always remember the winds as coming from the west (i.e. from Westdale towards the mills) it seems to be more swirling now, from the west and then around the escarpment and down towards the lake. The stadium picks up the winds and seems to channel them and amplify the effect?
Not a geography major and haven't lived in Hamilton area since 1969, but I don't remember either Civic Stadium or Ivor Wynne as being so consistently windy. Maybe it is just bad luck, remember the monsoon rains at Guelph?
Has anyone been to Ron Joyce out at McMaster for any games? I kinda of picture it as a north-south orientation as well, but it is further from both the escarpment and the lake?
You could really feel the wind blowing in on the open back side of the West stand. When we got to our seats on the West side it felt like it was swirling around, the goal posts were moving around and the light stands on the south end were swaying back and forth. Can't really blame the kicker because the wind wasn't north/south it was out of the west which caused it to swirl on to the field.
The prevailing winds in the region are from the west. I haven't looked into the wind statistics for gamedays at THF. It's certainly possible that whatever direction the winds are coming from, the change in orientation of the grandstands could have an effect. I don't know whether the escarpment also has local wind effects that the old stadium orientation might have mitigated.
Wind is no excuse or reason to miss a field goal.