My son and I attended the Argos game this afternoon. It was a rather important game, with Montreal in town, and we lost 24-12.
I was offered two tickets to give away to a reader, courtesy of EcoTraction, and these tickets were already won by Luke F. when EcoTraction found another two for my boy and I. We hadn't been to a game since Ricky Williams was an Argo, so we made our way to the stadium formerly known as SkyDome for this East Division battle.
On my way to the game, I was thinking about a comment Tim left on this site yesterday. He wrote:
I have seen three Argos games. They have been the most boring, uninspired sporting events of my life. You could not pay me to see them.
I've always thought the folks marketing Argo games have it tough. As the Marlies marketing team will tell you, Toronto is a "big league" city. If we deem you minor league, we're unlikely to come out in droves. At some point over the past twenty years, Toronto decided the Bills were the majors and the Argos were the minors, and attendance and buzz has suffered.
Remember, these free Argo tickets I got came from EcoTraction, an environmentally-friendly alternative to road salt that helps to reduce tire slippage. They didn't come from the Argos. In fact, I've never heard from the Argos PR / marketing people, something that I find surprising considering I rank #1 in Google for the keywords 'argos blog'. But I digress...
My 10-year old son and I had a lot of fun today, despite the fact our team's offence was almost non-existent and the dome seemed to have more passionate Alouettes fans than Argos fans.
When my tickets aren't comped, they're still reasonably priced and the product is typically good. Yes, it's more exciting when the dome seems fuller, but every time I go I'm glad I went. I didn't even mind spending $6.50 for mediocre popcorn.
It doesn't have the glitz and glamour of the NFL, but I like that. It's our game, rarely boring and often inspired. Tim and I disagree.
I just hope we have Ricky Ray back in time for the playoffs.
