Unfair Toronto Star article in my opinion.....

Its Damiens annual Post Labour day shot at the Tiger Cats . He always takes a shot at the fans or the owner . Hes a whinney bastard and i let it go in one ear and out the other !!!!

Time to get some thicker skin boys......what Cox wrote is all true.

Mikey:
Cox's "ultimate crime" comment re the Caretaker was ridiculous and way off the mark.
The rest of the piece was a reasonable assessment of where this team is right now.
Caretaker: Get some good outside advice on your own about this team's onfield performance and do what you have to do. This team needs you sir. Hang in there!!!!!

As painful as it is, the Cox article is bang-on.

Stephen Brunt - a local boy who one can't possibly brand as anti-Hamilton - also has a scathing piece in the Globe today about the miserable state of this woebegone franchise.

I'm no Damien Cox fan but there's nothing in that article for TiCat fans to get upset about.
Still, it's very gallant of Mikey to run to Mr. Young's defence, even when he's not being attacked and certainly doesn't need his help.
What's the deal? Are you trying to score better seats or something?

Ruff: I don’t think finding good seats will be a problem for Mikey the rest of this season.

Please... don't tell Mikey and the rest of the Bob-aholics about Brunts article.We'll have to talk them in off the ledge.The truth is not wanted here.

why’s that?..humour us.

Ok, I'm a self-confessed Bob-aholic (good one there tigger!!) and let me see, who would I rather associate myself with, a Damien Cox or practically anyone in the media ie. "create-a-story because I have to or else my job is on the line" or a Bob Young who has made millions and millions in business and just breeds class all the way? Hmmmm, tough call there, real tough one.

Bob-aholic me is then. 8)

Mikey:

'cos lots of fans will be staying home!

I had a brief word yesterday with the normally-affable Brunt as he was beating a hasty retreat from the scene of the debacle. He was visibly (and audibly) upset - not as a journalist, but as a Hamiltonian/Ticat fan/CFL fan. I empathized.

This part of his article is particularly noteworthy:

“…in front of a crowd that seemed more resigned than angry.”

Fan resignation was also an issue in the 90s, where it quickly turned into fan apathy. The same thing happened in 1990s Toronto. Both franchises almost died because of it. It’s a very dangerous sign for this franchise.

The only cure is to field a semi-competent football team. And that’s exactly why fan resignation frightens me so much. With no end in sight to the woes, apathy could be just around the corner.

Yes I understand the Bob-aholic Kool-aid is quite tasty for many Cat fans, but a growing number are getting a bad after taste after consuming large amounts of his ownership.

He fails miserably to mention that pretty much every football expert in Canada was predicting a Grey Cup appearance for the Ticats last year......on paper at least. So was that Mr. Young's fault the team fell on it's collective faces?...he can only do so much as an owner without having to resort to meddling in the football offices.
Mikey, I'm not expert but trust me......most people did NOT expect the Cat's to go all the way last year. Maybe you, Earl and a few of you pro BOB Young boys did, but most of us didn't!!!!

Now before anyone snapps back at me for saying something bad about Mr Young, for the record I feel he has done a good job on the bizz side and brought in some new faces and fans for all the hipe and jazz.
The football side of things it is not working.

He, as the OWNER…not the “caretaker” ( I always found that a bit odd, that the guy on top wants to excuse himself of ownership )
It’s his job to fix it…enough said!!!

Why do people fall all over this guy sooooooo much??? I just don’t get it!

When he sells the team and someone else buys it then what??? we drove BOB out of town???

I am begining to think some of you " dont’ ever diss BOB " people on here are on the Cat’s payroll!!!

Ditto. The way to fix any smugness behind the observation is to succeed on the field.

A Labour Day loss in any year where you can count the wins on the free hand one doesn’t have to shield one’s gaze from debacle after weekly debacle effectively snuffs out the season.

A Labour Day win – and the Ballard Cup implications of this – are the only satisfaction I ever carry from such horrendous seasons as long as we beat the blue team.

I operated on that assumption as a teen watching some BRUTAL Cat teams of the late 1970s and that informs my perspective today.

Oski Wee Wee,

Bunner,

Fan apathy in the 90's was more about the Skydome phenomena ie. "Toronto is getting an NFL team, who cares about the CFL etc. the Skydome, the Skydome and the Blue Jays are the best, we all need to keep driving to Toronto for our sports entertainment dollar". When people finally realized that the Skydome was anything but the perfect NFL stadium or baseball stadium, people started to look at things and the Jays started being mediocre (but really, CFL football beats the arse out of MLB for me that's for sure). And started to see that the CFL and IWS isn't that bad, especially when good well-heeled local owners came along like Mssrs Young, Cynamon and Sokolowski. Fan apathy ain't going to happen with this fellow, I'm a self-confessed person who loves Hamilton and realizes that the Tiger-Cats are the best entertainment value in this town where you can spend money in your own town without travelling to some other city and contribute positively to your city and have fun at the same time. It's about committment to this city and the biggest team we have.

Hey DP, Bob is a guy just like anyone (well, he does have lots more money than the rest of us I suppose) but if it weren't for him, maybe no TiCats right now. That is worth a lot in my books, at least enough to fall over him in my books to a certain extent. And I'm not on his payroll.

I don't blame the caretaker for the Ticat debacle.
He's hired football men with proven records and has allowed them to do there job. These are the guys who have to answer for the teams failure.
I think the owner has an enormous influence on the marketing and professionalism of the organization and B.Y's done a great job in that regard. But...as he's often stated, he's more of a football fan than expert and he depends on the 'experts' to get that part of the job done.
They've let Bob and the Ticat faithful down so far.

They were and are also building a team here when the likes of the Als, Bombers and Argos were way ahead of establishing their team at key positions.

Funny thing here.....in restrospect, one of the best ideas that would have really gotten this "new franchise", so to speak, off the ground nicely was the attempt a few years ago at getting Doug Flutie in here for a year or two....what better "teacher" than him for our new QB's like Eakin etc. ?

No one has mastered the CFL QB position better than Doug and given his character, would have been more of a player/coach than anything.

It's too bad it never came to be and it's ironic that the idea came from the front office really and not on the football side. Some people howled at the idea as if Katz, Dean and Young were certifiably nuts, but I am here to say that, had they have pulled the deal off, we'd be in a hell of a lot better position than we are right now.....

...so no-one can say that every attempt to make the right moves haven't been tried by the powers that be.

....but keep trying they must...something has got to stick sooner or later.

Hey DP, Bob is a guy just like anyone (well, he does have lots more money than the rest of us I suppose) but if it weren't for him, maybe no TiCats right now. That is worth a lot in my books, at least enough to fall over him in my books to a certain extent. And I'm not on his payroll.
Agreed somewhat.....the key word being "maybe". BOb will not be the "Caretaker" forever..... ( that caretaker bid does really crack me up though lol ). There will be owners after him as well. ( the hall of fame is in the Hammer, would the league let the cats fold???? I doubt it )

Bob, IMO, needs to get off the wallet and spend some money to bring in the “right” people.
Why are we the only team that far under the cap???
Why is there so much drama in the dressing room and behind the scenes??? i.e Hitch, Mike, and Marshall comments!!!
Fix it, please do not say " the peole have turned on me" I was never for or against him in the first place.

He owns the cats, I buy seasons tickets and cheer for the cats!!!
I would love to sit down and buy a beer for BOb…I’m sure he’s a very interesting guy, and he love the Cats as well.

It’s not about that at all!!!

I have issues with this team and so do a lot of people. From top to bottom, even down the to water at Ivor Wynne…
When its a Labour day classic and its Real hot out, and people have to wait in line for a half hour to buy a bottle of water for $3.50…come on!!!

How hard is it to have tubs full of ice and water in it all over teh stadium?
Charge what you want but don’t ever tell me this place doesn’t make Owners aren't supposed to make tons of on a team…its a right off for them!!!

and for that matter last game not having programs was bush league IMO.

I appologize for going off on a rant!

And maybe you should be on the payroll…some of the pro’s on here prob know more what this team needs than who is there now!!!
Cheers

Hey DP, good read even if I care not to join in the rant and disagree somewhat but your post is all part of being a fan, right on, and about what you experience at the game! Everyone experiences different things in different ways.
I only question anyone who thinks Bob Young isn't trying to build a winner. Is he trying to do it spending the least amount possible? I don't know the answer to that. I suppose if he was like 99.9 percent of owners in business the worldwide, that is exactly what he should do but really, I don't think he is doing this. Maybe having some cap room is there for a Casey Printers situation? The bottle of water? Hmmm, I bought a pop about 15 minutes before the game and waited about 5 minutes to get it, to be expected.