When Wally won the Grey Cup in 2011, after two 8-10 seasons and a 1-6 start to the 2011 season, and then retired, I thought 'smart' move.
But when Wally decided to return to the sidelines in 2016, I thought it was a 'dum move' on his part, even though I also thought no one could be the Head Coach under him due to his overcontrolling and undermining.
But Wally had decided no one had the ability to bring another Grey Cup to our Leos like him.
His comment about the difficulty of filling the shoes of a 'legend' supported the notion of his very high opinion of himself.
What I liked least about his 'legend' comment was how difficult he had made it for Benevedes and Tedford to 'fill his shoes'.
If you are a self professed 'legend' as well as being referred to as such, you don't go up on a cherry picker at practices as the GM and undermine your Head Coaches.
We missed the playoffs last season and Wally would not retire on that note.
So he stayed on another season, while hiring Ed Hervey to get the job done as GM that he knew he couldn't do, while getting Ed to ask him to return for another season as Head Coach, while holding the title of Vice-President, so he could also be Ed's boss.
Only in Wally World would that situation even be considered, let alone happen. It was another 'down the rabbit hole' scenario.
Wally made it clear this season that he had returned to the sidelines for the opportunity to win another Grey Cup. It was all about inflating his ego and enhancing his legacy.
Ed Hervey brought in the players to give Wally that shot. No question to me about that. But our offence stunk the joint out most of the season with Jarious new RPO themed offence,
They scapegoated Jennings for it early and often, with Jarious saying he was essentially not smart enough to run the offence and was thrown under the bus again, after the road loss to Hamilton, his miracle finish the week before, and his two previous wins before that, thrown in the dust bin.
Jonathan Jennings would finish the season with better stats than Travis Lulay in most categories, including passing efficiency and quarterback efficiency. Those stats included pass percentage and interception rate.
Travis Lulay could not make the offence work even as well as Jennings, although both had similar quarterback efficiencies.
Lulay, who is well known for being a) a smart quarterback b) a quarterback who is excellent at reading defenses and c) a quarterback who gets the football out quickly off a first read with accuracy could not make the offence work.
But instead of retooling the offence or adapting it or getting rid of it, our Leos coaching staff made sure the public impression was that Jennings was to blame for the passing attack or lack thereof or Jeremiah Johnson or Chris Rainey was to blame for the weak running attack.
But Lulay nor Sutton could get it done either. In our last two contests of the regular season, we got beaten badly in Saskatchewan, in a game which had implications for the regular season standings and we got our butts kicked by Calgary at home in our last game.
Do you believe in karma? Sometimes I do? Do you believe that the Football Gods ensure that 'deservingness' needs to be earned? Sometimes I do. I certainly did on Sunday in Hamilton.
It was almost as if the Football Gods determined that Wally did not deserve the destiny he saw for himself and that sports columnists as Ed Willes saw for him either.
On a cold November afternoon, in Hamilton, even though we would have lost the game anyway, the Football Gods added more misery to the equation.
The Wally Buono final season was anything other than envisioned by those who wanted it to be a final Buono ego show. The Wally Farewell Tour was a disaster, as he went 2-7 in the regular season. Wally trotted out at half time on Wally Buono night, with the score 25-0.
In Hamilton we were down 28-0 at half time. Mark Washington's defense, which had given up 25 points and 32 points in his two previous playoff games, gave up 28 first half points.
Hamilton scored on three of its first four possessions of the game. It was 44-0 after three quarters.
It was the worst playoff loss in Leo history, surpassing our loss to Montreal 56-18 in 2009.
We lost that playoff game by 32 points but the loss to Hamilton by 40 points was a horror show of Hamilton wide open receivers on defense and fumbles, interceptions, failed third down gambles and a Pick 6 on offence.
Did our players deserve such a humiliating defeat? I didn't think so.
But if anyone deserved this defeat it was Buono, after going to the press to scapegoat players, yelling at Lulay twice on the sidelines this season, and refusing to put a mirror up to our coaching and schemes.
Nothing changed on offende and our return game, when it needed to change this season.
Jarious was just as rigid as Buono too. He blamed Jennings at the start of the season and after the Hamilton loss and he said it was not his scheme that was the problem, but rather that Saskatchewan and Calgary had more to play for in our last two games.
Wally stuck with his 'up the gut' runs on second and short, all season, no matter how many times they failed.
But this playoff game was supposed to show us all the Wally Way was the best way and we had just not been patient enough. Wally would pound Sutton while Lulay would throw high possession style passes to keep our offence on the field while our defense held the fort.
Buono would also win the field possession game by running his punt returns up the gut and all would turn out well in Leo Land. We just had to believe that 'the Legend' would take us to the Promised Land.
It seemed as if the Football Gods decided otherwise. Wally had not done it the 'right' way, the virtuous way.
He hadn't earned it by the way he handled things this season such as the way he had treated some of his players and deflected and blamed, rather than man up, be accountable, and make the necessary changes.
Rather than a confidence combined with an attitude of continuing to improve and adapt as a football coach, there was a conceit, an arrogance, a condescension, and an aura of superiority when it came to Buono's approach this season.
It was as if Buono decided that he deserved to to go out with another Grey Cup victory because the Legend had returned, that was his fate to do so.
It was if the Football Gods decided that Buono's 'deservingness' deserved a much different ending.
Buono's final comments, in his press conference after the game in Hamilton highlighted why our Leos season ended so horribly.
Buono's last comment was:
“Life gives you lessons. I hope they (the players) learn something from this lesson.”
The word ‘they' said everything.
Lessons were to be learned for everyone else but Buono. He never seemed to think that he had lessons to learn too.
If he had, our Leos would have been much more successful the past two seasons and we would not have been blown out in this playoff game.
Leo fans and Leo players paid a heavy price for one man's attitude.
