What Type of Reception Will Glenn Receive?

Tomorrow's game features the return of former Tiger-Cat quarterback Kevin Glenn to Hamilton as he leads the Calgary Stampeders against Henry Burris and the Ti-Cats.

Glenn quarterbacked the Tiger-Cats for three seasons and in each of them the team made the playoffs. He was a great player who was one of the many that helped turn this franchise around. Without Glenn's play, this team was probably not in a position to get "more better" this off-season. Not everyone sees Glenn's time here in the same light that I do, which makes me wonder what type of reception he will get at the start of the game.

I truly hope the fans don't boo Glenn when he is introduced (likely on Calgary's first offensive series). Glenn didn't ask to leave and he gave it his all while he was here. He deserves to get a nice cheer for all the years of great play he gave the fans at Ivor Wynne Stadium. I hope the fans feel the same way I do and show the class that I know we Tiger-Cat fans have. Booing Glenn just means we're like every other fan base who can't look beyond the new jersey (and do we really want to be compared to those irrational Burris-hating Rider fans?). We Tiger-Cat fans are better than that, so let's give Glenn the welcome he deserves for what he did to help the Tiger-Cats mean something again.

After that first cheer, feel free to boo, but we should show Glenn that we appreciated what he did while he was here and the only way to do that is to give him a cheer and a clap when he first steps on the field. I really hope that's what I see and here tomorrow night.

A Call to Fans

I, like many of you, sat in my seat on Friday night, apoplectic about what I was witnessing on the field. It was another disappointing showing from the Tiger-Cats in a big game. It was an all-to-familiar sight.

Fans booed, the team, but I did not. I never feel like it is right to boo the home team. I don't begrudge those that boo, but I won't join them. Like leaving a game before the final whistle, it is just something I will never do.

That doesn't mean I wasn't angry or frustrated about what was happening. Like the 23,000-plus that spent their money to attend the game, I expected better. I expected an effort. I expected a good game. I, and everyone else, did not get that. Not even close.

Following a loss, I avoid the Tiger-Cats forum, I don't listen to the Fifth Quarter after the game or the Tiger-Cats Show on Monday. It always seems like the same voices making the same complaints.

"Bench Glenn."

"Fire Bellefeulle."

"I'm done with this team."

I have made my feelings known about Tiger-Cat fans in the past, but I won't be blasting my Black & Gold brethren this time, even thought I stand by my previous statements about them. In fact, I'm going to do the opposite. I'm going to issue a call to all fans of the Tiger-Cats. My plea is this:

Don't lose faith.

I know it is hard, and watching the team seemingly sleepwalk through another middling performance can test any fans patience, so I understand people's frustrations. But while it was a bad game, this is not a bad team. This is a very talented team. Just look at the lineup:

• Kevin Glenn
• Avon Cobourne
• Chris Williams
• Dave Stala
• Peter Dyakowski
• Marwan Hage (when healthy)
• Stevie Baggs
• Justin Hickman
• Rey Williams
• Jamall Johnson
• Markeith Knowlton
• Justin Medlock
• Marcus Thigpen

That is as talented a group as any in the CFL, and that doesn't include youngsters Ryan Hinds, Eddie Steele and Terry Grant, who are all starting to come into their own. Once those guys truly grasp the pro game, watch out.

I know that the Tiger-Cats have been disappointing this season with their inconsistency, but I'm not ready to give up.

And I won't give up; not until the final whistle has blown on their season. That could be anywhere from Week 19 to Grey Cup Sunday.

Call me foolish, call me an idiot, call me delusional, but I still think that this team can win the Grey Cup this year. It won't be easy, but nothing worth having is ever easy. I won't be ready to concede that the Cats won't win the Grey Cup until they are officially out of the playoffs. I have seen too many strange things to write anyone off, let alone my favourite team.

I am keeping the faith, and I implore my fellow fans to follow suit. If you need to criticize, go ahead. If you want to complain, feel free. But, please, do not give up on this team.

Adam Tafralis

Only in Hamilton could the backup's backup get so much attention and adoration. I guess by writing this I'm just as guilty as anyone.

I guess I have to start by saying that I don't hate Adam Tafralis. I hope that makes my critics happy. In my recaps of the Toronto-Hamilton and Winnipeg-Hamilton pre-season games I was critical of Tafralis's play, and some did not take too kindly to my opinion (check out the comments under the two articles). Fair enough; if you have a different viewpoint, share it. I thought I was plenty clear as to why I viewed both of Tafralis's performances as subpar, but sometimes that's not enough for some people. OK, moving on.

What I see in Adam Tafralis is a kid who has grown a lot in his time here, but who still has plenty left to learn. He's on a CFL roster, so he is not a talentless hack, but he's not the second coming of Doug Flutie either. His claim to fame so far is being the Tiger-Cats' short-yardage QB. Of course there is always the one play people cite when talking about how great Tafralis is: the TD pass to Arland Bruce last season.



Was that a nice pass? Sure was. Was it under-thrown? Sure was. Tafralis threw it where only Bruce could catch it. Of course, Bruce had to adjust to catch it because it was under-thrown, and that point is undeniable.

This is where my criticism of Tafralis comes into play. When his throws are on, they are on. He has a cannon for an arm, and he really trusts it. But he trusts it too much, which is a problem. He either gets Receivers tattooed (see Nicolson, Adam), or under-throws them (see Mann, Maurice) or over-throws them (see McDaniel, Damon). His decision-making leaves a lot to be desired.

The debate right now centres on, "Should Adam Tafralis replace Quinton Porter as the backup to Kevin Glenn?" At this point, I say no. The team has invested two years into the development of Porter, and to demote him now would basically relegate him to the scrap heap. If they are going to demote him, they might as well release him. If Tafralis goes above Porter on the depth chart, Porter is likely never to regain his spot. That said, if Porter does not show marked improvement in 2010 – and really, only the coaches will know if he has, since Glenn is the starter, barring injury – then I will abandon this stance. But let's face it, it's not like people are knocking down walls to get to Tafralis, so a decision on him does not need to be made hastily. At this point in time, I haven't seen enough good stuff out of Tafralis to warrant putting him above Porter on the depth chart. It seems as if Head Coach Marcel Bellefeuille and General Manager Bob O'Billovich agree with me.

One last thing I do wonder is if the fans who are now calling for Tafralis to replace Porter are the same fans that were so enamoured with Porter after his gonzo game against the Als in 2008? I was in the stands when fans were calling for Marcus Brady to replace Danny McManus, and then as soon as Brady threw an interception, they started calling for McManus. Ti-Cat fans are among the most fickle in all of professional sports, and while I won't bother hazarding a guess as to whether the "Porter Supporters" are now "Adam Advocates," I think I know the answer.

Now that I've taken a can of gasoline and poured it on myself, feel free to grab a match and light me up.

The Fickle Nature of Tiger-Cat Fans

It has been a long time since I posted anything, and I apologize for those who have been looking for content and have found nothing. The CFL has slow periods every now and then, and it seems as if we are in the midst of one. The draft is almost here, training camp is just around the corner, and before we realize it, the season will be in full swing. With that, I now bring you my first piece of writing in a week. I'll try my best not to have such a long dry spell in the future, but if there's no news, there's no news.

So to pass the time I have been spending more and more time on the Ti-Cat and CFL forums talking about various topics, none of which I thought required a post by yours truly. People talking about the new stadium, our burgeoning rivalry with the Blue Bombers, and just general chatter about the goings-on in the Canadian Football League have been topics that have tended to dominate the forum as of late.

One topic, however, sparked a bit of anger in me (and actually got me reprimanded by Ti-Cat owner Bob Young), and that topic was Quinton Porter.

I'm not going to spend an entire post discussing Quinton Porter, but the debate that raged on the Tiger-Cat forum got me thinking about the nature of Tiger-Cat fans. This one poster is steadfast in their belief that Porter is, has been and always will be a terrible Quarterback. That Porter will never develop and that the Cats would be better off in trading him for a bag of balls or cutting him outright. I'd even hazard to say that this poster would be fine with the Cats just receiving the bag and making the Cats supply their own balls. I spent the better part of my week trying to show this poster the error of their ways. I wasn't trying to change their opinion, just show them that their opinion wasn't fact and that they could be wrong. After trading insults back and forth (which resulted in the aforementioned reprimand) I decided I had had enough and stopped participating in the discussion.

I understand and accept that most, if not all, sports fans are fickle to a certain degree. Tiger-Cat fans are no different. After years of... what's worse than mediocrity? Anyway, Ti-Cat fans are understandably frustrated after dealing with losing season after losing season. It seems that that frustration has turned Hamilton fans into the Canadian equivalent of Philadelphia fans. Harsh? Perhaps, but here me out.

I have noticed that Ti-Cat fans have been very quick to anoint a player, usually a Quarterback, as the next saviour (see Printers, Casey; Maas, Jason), and when that player doesn't immediately become the second coming of Danny McManus the fans turn on him almost as quickly as they crowned him. Of course I'm talking about early Danny McManus, not the guy that was mercilessly booed out of Ivor Wynne Stadium during the latter years of his tenure in Steeltown because, clearly, that guy sucked. (Please note my sarcasm.)

This is the type of attitude that I am talking about. It seems as if a guy can go from hero to goat faster in Hamilton than in any other city. It's this fickleness that makes us all look bad as fans. It seems as if the Ti-Cat faithful lack a little thing called patience. It may be hard to practice patience when the team is mired in a slump so bad it requires serious, long-term psychotherapy, but we should at least be able to allow for longer than a season.

This is why the topic of Porter's skills (or lack thereof, according to one Ti-Cat forum poster) sets off the response in me that it does. Do I know for sure that Quinton Porter will become the next great Tiger-Cat Quarterback? No! Does anyone know that? No! But does anyone know that Porter is destined to join the many other forgotten players who journeyed north of the 49th parallel? No!

And that's the point I'm trying to make. We, as fans, need to be vocal and opinionated, but we also need to be rational. We can all be a bit quick to judge, but it is the irrational few who have turned it into an art form, and they are also the ones that make us more moderate fans look like lunatics as well. Throwing the baby out with the bath water is what got us stuck in this cycle of atrociousness, which finally looks to be ending. We need to give players time to acclimate themselves and see what they can do. A little patience goes a long way. A wise man once said, "Patience is a virtue." It seems as if it is a virtue that some Tiger-Cat fans do not possess.