We arrived outside the Rogers Centre at around 2.30pm so as to soak up the atmosphere and the "tailgate" party, check out Finger Eleven and, as it turned out, have a very brief conversation with Bills former great Thurman Thomas. The difference between the experience of attending a game at Ralph Wilson Stadium and trying to re-create it in downtown Toronto has been widely discussed and my only expectation was that there would be at least a bit of improvement over the first three years of this awkward experiment.
In terms of the tailgate party, we had a good look at the long security line-up to get into the area where beer is actually sold and where a view of the stage was possible. It didn't look very appealing so we walked around to an area behind the stage and saw two members of Finger Eleven pound out a couple of their songs which I don't know. Then, we continued our circumnavigation of the stadium and, as we walked up the stairs on the west side, Thurman Thomas was coming down the stairs toward us. He was walking quickly and reading his Blackberry and when I made contact with him and extended my hand, he very half-heartedly did the same but never stopped and never took his eyes off the Berry. I guess he was just trying to blend in to Toronto culture.
Once inside, it got more interesting, sort of. Toronto crowds are notoriously late arriving but I hoped that a 4pm Sunday start time might be more manageable for them. At kick-off, it still looked half empty and didn't "fill in" until the end of the first quarter (the game was, apparently, about 2,500 short of a sell out). The Bills scored two touchdowns and three field goals in the game which meant that the "shout" song was played five times. It was began and ended each time with the sound of a cannon which, with the roof closed, made us jump every time- eventhough we knew it was coming. Rogers Centre staff were throwing bundled up T-shirts into the crowd - something the Raptors have been doing for years. The Raptors do it during time-outs but yesterday it was done when the game was on. Anyone who watches football on TV knows that there are more than enough TV time-outs to allow as much T-shirt tossing as anyone would want - BUT NOT WHEN THE GAME IS ON.
Chan Gailey was complimentary of the crowd in his post-game press conference and he referred specifically to three false start penalties caused by the noise. In the 500 level, it seemed a bit louder than in previous years but still only a small fraction of what it is at the Ralph. Anyway, he (generously) attributed two Redskin false starts to the crowd noise but also mentioned that, with the Bills offence lining up on a third down and one, the crowd decided to do "the wave" and the Bills false started. He seemed mystified by this.
To the game itself: The Bills came in to this game with a league low four sacks on the season. They found a pass rush yesterday and earned nine sacks in total. The Redskins looked lost (maybe it was the intimidating crowd) and were never in the game at all. Apart from the newly found pass rush, Fred Jackson continues to roll, gaining 194 all purpose yards, Scott Chandler caught two more TD passes and now has six on the season, George Wilson had another strong game, as did Spencer Johnson and Dwan Edwards. The 5-2 Bills have a real home game next week against the Jets before going on the road for three straight.
Municipal politics note: As the Rob Ford/22 Minutes/911 call fiasco was playing out last week, I decided to write an email to my city councillor. She is well regarded in the ward and, with a right of centre orientation, is a member of Ford's Executive Committee and Chair of the TTC. To mark the unfortunate one year anniversary of his election last Tuesday, Ford and his team had a press conference where he speculated that they would all be re-elected if another election were held now. I said to my councillor that her continued association with this mayor causes me to question her judgment to the point that I can no longer support her (not that I ever did but how would she know that?) . I called on her to publicly dis-associate herself from him. I have had no response. She's probably still thinking about it.
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