C’mon, John Tory. You should know better
Toronto Argonaut fans have long wondered what they did to warrant the cold and sometimes hostile treatment by the city in general. The Argonauts have won 16 championships in their 143 years, but are often joked about, or worse, completely ignored.
Fans have become accustomed to ignoring the haters while finding solace in the Double Blue community and the team itself. However, what happened on Friday is both baffling and disconcerting.
Toronto Mayor John Tory took to Twitter to retweet a Rolling Stone magazine article about Toronto sports. Tory was overjoyed with the piece, as it waxed eloquently about Toronto’s love of sports as well as the improving championship aspirations of several of its professional teams. Happily, he tweeted the good news to every Toronto team, and said he was set to plan their parades. That is, every team except the Argos.
What makes this transgression particularly egregious is that Tory was once the commissioner of the Canadian Football League, from 1996-2000. He personally awarded the Grey Cup to Toronto twice during his tenure and understands first-hand the challenges the Argonauts face in the Toronto market. Yet somehow, the Toronto Rock popped into the mayor’s mind instead of the Argos.
Nothing against the Rock. They’re an entertaining, successful lacrosse enterprise, but they don’t have the same storied history as the Argonauts.
Sure, the Argos don’t exactly fit into championship discussions given the current rebuilding state of the team. But, really? The Maple Leafs - while finally on the road back to respectability - are still barely flirting with a playoff spot and haven’t won a Stanley Cup for 50 years now. That Bay Street parade remains on hold.
And ironically, the most recent Toronto team to win a championship was - drumroll, please - the much-maligned Argonauts. Just five short years ago, Mister Mayor. Y’know, in case you forgot.
Fortunately, devoted Argo fans were quick to give him an earful. A Twitterful, in fact.
To his credit, Tory tried to fix the mistake, tweeting a shoutout to the Argos an hour later.
But the damage had already been done. The bottom line is this: It’s embarrassing when the former commissioner of the CFL neglects the football team in his very city.
With friends like this, who needs enemies?
Top Image: John Tory with current CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge
Image source: sportsnet.ca