Hamilton Tiger-Cats: 'Poised to Make Some Noise"
Joe Scaringi
Issue date: 6/9/09 Section: Sports
Last November, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were watching at home as the Calgary Stampeders hoisted the Grey Cup and were crowned champions of the Canadian Football League.
Boasting a regular season record of 3-15 that was unflattering to say the least, the lacklustre Ti-Cats were done like dinner well before the playoffs had even begun.
In 2009 however, Hamilton is hopeful that things will be different.
"I think the biggest thing is improvement - we need to improve what we have on the field," said Danny McManus, the team's Southeast Regional Scout. "For me, being in the scouting department, the biggest thing is to see the calibre of play on the field a lot better than it was last year. We were competitive last year, we were in a lot of football games, but we couldn't win the games. I think right now we've got to get over that hump to know that we can go out there and win each and every game [...] We were young, so hopefully that experience we gained last year will help us this year and get us those wins."
Team President Scott Mitchell shares McManus' sentiments and feels confident that 2009 will be better for the Tiger-Cats.
"I think it's going to be a great year for us, I really do," said Mitchell. "Our G.M. Bob O'Billovich is doing a great job - he uses the term 'we're poised to make some noise' - so I think we're going to have a real good year this year."
With the popularity of the CFL on the rise, it would certainly be an ideal time for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to step up and make an impact.
"I've been around this league my whole life and I don't think the league's ever been stronger than it is right now," said Mitchell. "The TV ratings are up substantially [and] it is the 'A' summer sports property in Canada - TSN's ratings reflect that. We average about 400,000 people a game, which is double what a non-NHL team does on some local broadcast. It's a fairly viable product for TV, the numbers are up across the board, the demographics are up across the board in terms of attracting a younger audience, which is great, and I think for something like the third, fourth, [or] fifth straight year we averaged 28,000 fans a game last year as a league.
Boasting a regular season record of 3-15 that was unflattering to say the least, the lacklustre Ti-Cats were done like dinner well before the playoffs had even begun.
In 2009 however, Hamilton is hopeful that things will be different.
"I think the biggest thing is improvement - we need to improve what we have on the field," said Danny McManus, the team's Southeast Regional Scout. "For me, being in the scouting department, the biggest thing is to see the calibre of play on the field a lot better than it was last year. We were competitive last year, we were in a lot of football games, but we couldn't win the games. I think right now we've got to get over that hump to know that we can go out there and win each and every game [...] We were young, so hopefully that experience we gained last year will help us this year and get us those wins."
Team President Scott Mitchell shares McManus' sentiments and feels confident that 2009 will be better for the Tiger-Cats.
"I think it's going to be a great year for us, I really do," said Mitchell. "Our G.M. Bob O'Billovich is doing a great job - he uses the term 'we're poised to make some noise' - so I think we're going to have a real good year this year."
With the popularity of the CFL on the rise, it would certainly be an ideal time for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to step up and make an impact.
"I've been around this league my whole life and I don't think the league's ever been stronger than it is right now," said Mitchell. "The TV ratings are up substantially [and] it is the 'A' summer sports property in Canada - TSN's ratings reflect that. We average about 400,000 people a game, which is double what a non-NHL team does on some local broadcast. It's a fairly viable product for TV, the numbers are up across the board, the demographics are up across the board in terms of attracting a younger audience, which is great, and I think for something like the third, fourth, [or] fifth straight year we averaged 28,000 fans a game last year as a league.
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