Top Ten from one hundred games

[TheZeppo]

I was unaware of what happened at the 92 closer, but I think there was a similar incident in the 96(?) preseason game here. The Lions papered the house with freebies to high school kids. I wasn't there and didn't even see any video, but I read accounts where they proceeded to storm the field in droves before the game was over, hanging from goalposts, etc. The game was delayed about a half hour in total with all these interruptions.

Yes, it was the '96 preseason game, and I was there. All the high school kids were actually in the upper deck and they kept throwing
things on to the crowd below. I remember at one point this oversized role of toilet paper from one of the upstairs washrooms came crashing down into my section. By the fourth quarter, a lot of the kids were coming downstairs and making their way on to the field. Funny thing was IIRC the Lions won big that
night. I distinctly remember Andre Ware hitting a receiver named Darryl Frazier for a long touchdown. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there in 1996.

[TheZeppo]

The subsequent 1996 season was easily the low point in franchise history.

It's debatable, but I'd say 1992 was the lowest point as the Lions went from 11-7 the previous season to 3-15. In 1996, the Lions finished at 5-13, which was still very bad but they didn't have the worst record in the league.

In 1992, the Lions had such high hopes on Danny Barrett to replace Doug Flutie, which he didn't. The loss of Danny McManus before 1996 wasn't nearly as painful because McManus was no Doug Flutie either. True, Andre Ware was totally ineffective. But if it weren't for him, the Lions wouldn't have signed free agent Damon Allen.

Good points all. 1992 was a real downer to be sure, but I have never felt such a negative atmosphere around the team as occured in 1996. Even though the Lions won 5 games (which I had forgotten until you pointed it out), the Skalbania
death watch, the pathetically small crowds, the Mike McCarthy
rants against the fans, and the appalling performance on the field
for the first half dozen games tend to stand out in my memory.

[TheZeppo]

The Lions have had a lot of low points on the field. The ones in the 1990s were brief.

If you want a real low point, I'd vote for the 12 seasons between 1965 and 1976 when the team didn't have a winning record once. The Lions managed to sneak into the playoffs just three times in that span, losing each time. This was part of the club's longest-ever Grey Cup drought between 1964 and 1985.

My definition of a low point would take into considerartion factors
other than on field performance. You are right that some of those
Lions teams in the sixties and seventies were poor (1-14-1 in 1966 for example) but attendance was always pretty good, the media didn't mock the team, and it was still considered to be O.K. to be a Lions' fan. You certainly couldn't say these things about the team in the late '90's.

[Rammer]

The Lions have had a lot of low points on the field. The ones in the 1990s were brief.

If you want a real low point, I'd vote for the 12 seasons between 1965 and 1976 when the team didn't have a winning record once. The Lions managed to sneak into the playoffs just three times in that span, losing each time. This was part of the club's longest-ever Grey Cup drought between 1964 and 1985.

My definition of a low point would take into considerartion factors
other than on field performance. You are right that some of those
Lions teams in the sixties and seventies were poor (1-14-1 in 1966 for example) but attendance was always pretty good, the media didn't mock the team, and it was still considered to be O.K. to be a Lions' fan. You certainly couldn't say these things about the team in the late '90's.

Hockey wasn't larger than football at that time and had just been introduced to Vancouver, so they were just beginning to find their fanbase in the early 70's. I met a few Canucks from that original team including the first selection of the Canucks Dale Tallon, who introduced himself to me in the Cranbrook Mall. Well this 10 year old at the time was taken aback as I couldn't understand the slurred voice and Orland Kurtenback restated his name much clearer. That impression is one that I held of the Canucks for a long time afterwards.

[TheZeppo]

Hockey wasn't larger than football at that time and had just been introduced to Vancouver, so they were just beginning to find their fanbase in the early 70's.

Oh gosh, I'd have to disagree. The Canucks were huge in the early
seventies. They didn't have very good teams for most of that decade,
but the Coliseum was sold out for every game and it seemed that
everybody who followed sports was into the Canucks. But the Lions
always seemed to maintain their fanbase even when they had to compete directly with the briefly-popular Whitecaps in the late seventies. Not to simplify things too much, but back then sports fans
seemed to be interested in, and showed support for, all the local
teams.

[Robbie]

With all the discussion about the 1994 Grey Cup, let's not forget the owner of the team at the time - Bill Comrie.

I think Comrie was a much better owner than Murray Pezim and especially the man he sold it to, Nelson Skalbania. Comrie tried a lot of promotions and giveaways, but unfortunately it didn't lead to ticket sales and his 3.5 stint as the Lions' owner likely was not a profitable one.

This is an article about how Bill Comrie was named Canada's entrepreneur of the year for 2004.

http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/28 ... 078196.php

Here is a very long and detailed article about Bill Comrie from 2003. Aside from his personal biography, it also explains the business strategies he used to make The Brick one of the most successful furniture chains. Comrie only managed the Lions for 3.5 years from mid-1992 to the end of 1995. While the Lions did win the Grey Cup in 1994, they were only a mediocre team finishing no better than third.

One is left to wonder if Comrie remained owner for several more years, whether his entrepreneurship skills in football would have been as good as those he had in furniture.

http://www.albertaventure.com/abventure ... oc_id=5117

[Lions_Fan_4_Life]

Wow I just saw this thread....good recap sj-roc, i have no clue how many games I've been to, probably close to 60 but geez I wish I did keep track

[rickhale]

My top 5 Lions games # 5 1990 regular season game against winnipeg. not a great game but for the lions fan who jumped out of the stands and layed out one of the bomber mascots #4 2000 GREY CUP #3 1983 1985 Western Finals both great games #2 1994 GREY CUP AND MY #1 PIC A game in 1977 at Empire Randy Hahn of cknw taps me on the shoulder and asks me if i want to play kick to win on the field i accepted his offer and proceded to hit the upright from the 13 yard line in the north end of empire stadium and miss a chance to go to the next game.

[Lions_Fan_4_Life]

yay, right after my post I found all of my Lions programs (I buy one every game, yes i know a rip off), and I've gone into BC Place Stadium for football games 34 times (wow 26 less than my estimation lol), and have gone to 37 CFL games (34 in BC, 1 in Montreal, 1 in Edmonton, 1 in Calgary), so by the end of the season I'll have been to 41 CFL games, and 37 Lions games(I'm counting GC05) (I'm not going to the Calgary home game)..........2 playoff games, 1 GC and 34 Regular Season games!

[ThreeTimesOneMinusOne]

Top 10 games I've seen at the dome (I've seen 50 in total, after counting year by year. 2 Grey Cups, 3 Western Finals, 2 exhibition games and 43 regular season games. My 1st CFL game ever live was at Commonwealth in 1991 (Season Opener, Esks/Ottawa).):

10. 1991, BC/Winnipeg (First Lions game I ever saw live.)
9. 1994, BC/Toronto (Highest scoring game I've been to. Lions won 54-37 and Philpot had a long TD run, that is shown on the Team of Destiny video. I went to less games in those days, so I cherished any time I went to the dome that much more.)
8. 2004 Regular Season Finale, BC/Saskatchewan (Kickoff TD to start the game, last second TD from Wynn to Simon and the Felions in Halloween costumes.)
7. 1995 Season Opener, BC/Baltimore (Winning TD with 15 seconds left. I got the BC Lions Team of Destiny video that night.)
6. 2003, BC/Calgary (Biggest Lions rout I've seen live, and the game was punctuated by 2 streakers.)
5. 2004, BC/Edmonton (The one later in the season, obviously.)
4. 2002, BC/Montreal
3. 2005 Grey Cup
2. 2004 Western Final (That was a special day.)
1. 1994 Grey Cup (Because you don't see your favourite team win a championship live, every day. I sat high up in Level 4, in the corner, but it was worth it.)

[sj-roc]

7. 1995 Season Opener, BC/Baltimore (Winning TD with 15 seconds left. I got the BC Lions Team of Destiny video that night.)

Saw that one on TV when I was living in Victoria. BC led the whole way until about 3 mins left, when highly touted rookie Chris Wright (who sadly was murdered a year ago) scored a punt return TD to give the Stallions the lead. We couldn't score when we got the ball back, but then Mike Pringle fumbled before Baltimore could run out the clock, and that set up the game winning score.

Week 3 that year was also memorable as it marked the first return of Kent Austin after he joined the Argos. It wasn't televised, but I listened in to JP & Tom on NW. The ending was much like the way Cgy recently snapped Mtl's unbeaten season -- down by 5, little time left, we sandwiched two FG drives around an Argo 2 & out, the latter of course providing the game winning point -- except I don't remember Lui's kicks being so long!

Fair to say, also, that last week's game is an early contender for one of the ten best of my second hundred.

[Robbie]

Week 3 that year was also memorable as it marked the first return of Kent Austin after he joined the Argos.

Yeah, with two QB's capable of being starters, there's always that kind of problem. I think Kent Austin had the higher salary and that is why he was traded instead of Danny McManus. Despite my great memory, I do not remember this fact: Which two players did the Lions receive for trading Kent Austin to Toronto?

[sj-roc]

Which two players did the Lions receive for trading Kent Austin to Toronto?

I remember the trade, but those names elude me, even though I'm sure I'd recognise at least one of them; I'd have to look it up.

[ThreeTimesOneMinusOne]

Week 3 that year was also memorable as it marked the first return of Kent Austin after he joined the Argos. It wasn't televised, but I listened in to JP & Tom on NW. The ending was much like the way Cgy recently snapped Mtl's unbeaten season -- down by 5, little time left, we sandwiched two FG drives around an Argo 2 & out, the latter of course providing the game winning point -- except I don't remember Lui's kicks being so long!

Fair to say, also, that last week's game is an early contender for one of the ten best of my second hundred.

I missed the Lions/Argos game that year because I was on vacation. I found out the score in a paper in the States (possibly USA Today) by deducting the points for and points against from the first 2 weeks of the season from the points for and points against that were listed for BC's first 3 weeks of the season in the CFL standings. It led me to the conclusion that the Lions won by 1. Not much you can do for finding out scores down there, even when there were US teams around. But at least there were standings in the paper, which said we were 3-0.

I also remember, on the same vacation, watching the Lions/Stamps in Calgary game on ESPN 2 while in Orlando, a whole day after the game was played. I had no idea what happened in the game and I wanted to pretend like I was seeing it as it was happening, so I didn't look for any score anywhere. I watched it but we lost, though. Also on the same trip, we had called home to give away our Lions/Barracudas tickets because we thought we wouldn't make it back to Vancouver in time, due to there being a hurricane and tropical storm warning in Florida. We got home in time (quite a few hours ahead of game time) but the tickets were already given away and we missed the game. Lions beat Birmingham in OT.

I agree about last week's game. It's definitely up there.