The Classic | Episode 3 | Made in the Hammer Docuseries | Powered by @PorterAirlines

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Football is ingrained in the bloodline of this city. [Music] There’s a lot of belief in this team. This is when you have to start getting on those lines. It’s like you don’t have friends. You know, everything’s on the line right now. To me, it’s about the city. Backing off, baby. [Music] It was close, but the six-game winning streak finally comes to an end. And now it’s gut check time. Entering the most important stretch of the season, beginning with a trip to meet the league leading Saskatchewan Rough Riders on their home turf in Regina. Brandon Remberg, offensive line, left guard. And this is Do we count CO? This is year 10 if we’re counting CO. I liked it. Double digits. You know, typically on the plane, um, we’re going to watch some film. If it’s going to be a longer flight, like the boys are going to bust out the cards. We’re going to get some uker going for sure. I think some of the guys behind us are playing spades. like B’s usually playing some spades back there. You do spend a little bit of time bonding with the guys just kind of playing some games, but like also like I said, it’s also a moment to to further prepare. [Music] Mark Leio, kicker, and this is my fifth year in the CFL. Traveling for sports is it’s a little different cuz like being on the plane with your teammates is awesome. Like it’s it’s a great time, but you also got business to deal with too, right? He just needs four for 1,000 yards career rushing. There’s a play in here. I can get a four yard for an alltime CFL record. Slowest offensive player to reach 1,000 rushing yards. 13 seasons. There you go. From Porter helping us this year and being our sponsor, like they made everything smooth for us. Like the flights are great, especially, you know, coming home after a win. Like even like the pilots to the steartists are all like congratulating us like they’re excited for us, right? Something like that is just amazing seeing the care that people have for it that are helping us get to our job which is awesome. And then when you do get to the hotel, you know, still do your rolling out, your stretching, get your feet up for a bit and then get ready to play a game. It’s been the talk of the Canadian Football League. Two first place teams, the Riders and the Tiger Catch doing battle live from Mosaic Stadium. Got the best in the west and then you got the beast in the east. This is going to be a great matchup. First down is go by Mitchell. The handoff and up the middle across the 20 to the 15 down to the 10 and across the 10 yd line. Craig Bell with a big first down run and Levi looking looking. He will step up into the pocket and he’s now going to run for it to the 5 yd line. Let’s go baby on the road in Saskatchewan. If I’m them, I got to kick the field goal. I’m not going to lie. They stopped him on defense and to go up plus three is a big win. Three nothing Tigerats lead in Regina. Brett Monson, defensive coordinator. Been coaching the CFL for 16 17 years. There’s so much parity in this league where like every game has its own challenges. The pass here. You can’t give a good football team to easy scores. It’s just not conducive to success. It is caught. Touchdown. Rough run. So, it’s just one of those things where we have to be tighter on our details and understand when those type of plays are going to happen and make sure we do a better job stopping them. And that will end it. The Saskatchewan Rough Riders improve to a CFL best 8 and one after a 29-9 win for the guys in green. I feel like when you play a good football team, there’s always challenges and that game I felt like we gave up a couple big plays and found some good things, found some bad, just looked at where we needed to improve. I mean, they went through a tough stretch there and it’s just get a good reset, come back ready to work, and it’s a new season once you get back. There’s no time to dwell on the loss in Saskatchewan. The Taiats immediately begin preparing for their biggest regular season game this year and every year. The Labor Day Classic. Uh, great day to have a great day, right? The weather’s incredible. You know, I think we’re all ready to go. But we talked about the other day, right? Opportunity, preparation, execution. That’s what leads to our ultimate success. So, done a lot of great things leading up to today, but the work is far from done. Uh, let’s make sure we lock in on all these details. Deliver an amazing experience today. Uh, for those that are doing their first Labor Day, it’s a bit different. It’s a lot different, right? In a good way. A lot of pressure. The eyes are on you, but the pressure is a privilege. So, just embrace it. Take it in. Enjoy it. the spectacle that we’ll we’ll pull together and put on for what will be a record crowd today uh in excess of 25,500 people. I’m Bob Young. I’m the caretaker of the Hamilton Tiger Cats. So, I grew up in Hamilton. I grew up with two brothers, three of us. Uh we would play Joe Zuger and Garnney Henley in the backyard. Just huge Tyat fans. rolls out reverse with Henley eludes Miller. And among all of us, my brother Michael was the biggest Tiger Cat fan. He’d be the guy wearing the the yellow helmet uh heckling the uh the Argo buses uh as they either came or went from the Taik game. Uh but very sadly in 2002, Michael passed away from melanoma cancer. And you know, just the way life works, you know, the the stars in the sky. Literally the same week, the estate settled. Uh I get a note from a friend in Hamilton with the link to the Hamilton spectator story about the Hamilton Tiger Cats going bankrupt. And I go, I can’t really let my older brother and his favorite football team pass away at the same time. And that’s what got me into Uh, and yeah, it’s been a fun project. And what the real motivation for me and the rest of the business organization here is just how much our fans care. [Music] My name is Rob Scott. I’m born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. Born and raised a Thaiat fan. I’m 54 years old, so I’ve been a Thai Capat fan for about 54 years. Home for me is Hawkley, Texas, about 45 minutes northwest of Houston. I’ll get to six or eight games a season uh every year, and it we will not miss a playoff game. I will not miss a Grey Cup game if we’re in it. I will be there in the seats cheering them on. Uh, how do you feel about returning back to Hamilton? I feel excited. It’s I haven’t been to a Thai game since I retired in 2010. Lston left side huge hole. Jesse Lston gone. Bob Sledding really took over my life for the next decade. Jesse Lamston absolutely stuck with that start. This team is the second quickest on the planet. I was really surprised when the Thai Cats reached out and I’d seen alumnist recognition in the past and starting to talk with friends and family that are back in the Burlington Hamilton area. Uh it’s going to be a lot of fun and the fact that you know my kids and my wife can come join me for this. More for the big Canadian back out of McMaster. It’s it’s such a cool city. I mean, and it’s just such a passionate town when it comes to the Tai Cats in football. Uh, you know, when I was playing there, we weren’t great, but they’re still super supportive. They also let you know when you’re not doing well, but it’s super passionate. They they, you know, bleed black and gold, and uh, yeah, it’s I’m I’m I can’t wait to get back into that environment. So, how does just another football game in the middle of the regular season turn into a day that’s become a marker on the calendar and a watershed moment in our lives? It hasn’t always been the Argos, but it always should be the Argos. A rivalry that for more than a century has helped define what it means to be from Hamilton. but proudly bluecollar town where hard hats and lunch buckets have long been emblems of civic pride. And then on the holiday Monday, fans gather in the East End, the industrial heart of the city to cheer on their tiger cats. So it may be just another game, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. It feels like a ritual, an act of community, a moment when we come together, the diehard fans and the once a year crowd and everyone in between to affirm just who we are. Tyler Chinowski, the fifth year in the CFL, receiver number 88. When I was growing up, when we had HMFA, the Ironmen, the Hamilton Hurricanes, and then Junior Cats came in, like it was a football city. Playing in that type of game, in a rivalry game. Yeah. It’s almost indescribable. It’s like everything you would dream of as a kid. Keandre Smith. This my fourth year. Yeah. Four years now. Getting old. Yeah. Uh I grew up cheering for double blue. Delivering picked off. And Adrien Smith is going to score. My father was my hero. He is the reason I wanted to play football cuz he did it. Growing up on the other side of it, I was more curious than anything at the beginning. But football is ingrained in the bloodline of this city and I’m glad to be a part of it. Something that makes the rivalry so great between us and Toronto is just the vicinity of it. Like just being so close to each other, you know, down the highway, share the same highway, right? Um, just knowing that there’s such a storied history there. You have those bragging rights with someone that’s only about 45 minutes away. There’s no game like Labor Day, right? As far as CFL games go, that is only second to Grey Cup. Welcome to the Liberty. You hear about it, everyone hypes it up, and then you’re there and it’s a soldout crowd and you got the rowdy crowd out there. Here we go. Hey, let’s go, baby. It’s a crazy atmosphere. And it’s not like the other games. That’s the thing. There is a difference. You can feel You can feel it in the air, right? And uh damn, it’s a lot of fun to play. [Music] Tie fans, tonight we honor one of the most explosive players in black and gold history, Jesse Loves. The Burlington native and the caster star racked up nearly 1,800 rushing yards in just four seasons with the cat. Make some noise for this game’s alumni of distinction. Give it up for Jesse Lston. [Music] It is a new [ __ ] script, right? There are no records. All right, we’re starting from scratch. One and0 this week. By the end of the night, we’re [ __ ] one and0. Let’s go do this. Put your hands in. This is our [ __ ] house. Protect it. Protect it at all costs, man. You got an enemy coming into our territory. Don’t let them do anything tonight. Let’s go. Tie on three. 1 2 3. Here we go. So great to see you, especially on this occasion. on this kind of a beautiful day. Uh, Labor Day. Just something so special about it every year. Bubba, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Okay. It’s ready to go. Labor Day. Labor Day. You hear the, you know, if you only won one game, it has to be Labor Day. I don’t I don’t buy that. You want to win every single game you come, but it means a lot more. And you see it from every fan that walks through the stadiums to every player that steps on the field. I’ve had the good fortune of being on the sidelines for Labor Day games. And I can tell you the players in the room hit different on Labor Day. Uh having been in the stands and been with the fans, it means that much more. Winning on Labor Day, it almost counts double. Hey man, it’s a new part to the season, huh? Yeah. It’s a new part to the season, huh? All right, we going to go [ __ ] one and0. Get on their [ __ ] ass and get that [ __ ] ass back to Toronto. You feel me? 1 2 3 4 5 6. [Music] Winning this game right here sets the tone for the second half of the season. Like it lets you know like this city will jump behind you the second you win this game right here. And so I feel like it’s important for us and for the city to win this for the momentum going forward. and it’s going to give fun. [Music] [Applause] I think it’s always a heated game like you know between the whistles there’s a different energy. It’s like you know you can feel that energy on the field like just from the starting kickoff to third quarter fourth quarter you just get it the whole game comes back with a chip shot and it is good. 855 to play in this opening quarter. 3 nothing Argos lead. Whenever I step on the field against double blue that’s the only thing I can think about is is making a play and then turn around and let them know it. [Applause] Double tight end set is in here for Hamilton on first down. Bol down the middle of the field and a diving grab is made by Keandre Smith the holder. Gordon White’s back at long snapper following his stint on the injured list. The kick is up and the kick is good. 618 to play in the opening period. 33. Let’s go. Stay high. [Music] twists and turns in this rivalry throughout the years. Running back here this afternoon in the Labor Day Classic. He stands there now and then releases his Artbuckle as he throws into the end zone and the heater continues. He’s on fire. Jake Herslo into the end zone and Toronto extends their lead. [Music] Hamilton, it’s who we are. It’s what we are. My father was a steel worker. His friends were steel workers. It’s as blue collar as you can get. Uh this city loves a quarterback sack or a pancake block as much as a game-winning touchdown. They they just love the grit and the grind at the Toronto four yd line. White at the Hamilton 30. It is blocked. It’s blocked at the 10. The football’s in the end zone. Touchdown. Touchdown Cats. Devin Ferris. Tyler Turnowski teaming up on the special teams. And that’s how it happens every single time on Labor Day. I knew how much time I had. It was like 2.1 seconds or something that would counted. I needed four outside steps and just commit and I’ll be there. But him and the gunner did like this switch release like on the fly and I I hadn’t practiced against that and just kind of put my arm out to reach for it and all I felt was poom. It’s like everything you would dream of as a kid playing in a rivalry game, making like an impact play like that. Like 88. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Uh Deshawn Amos. I play defensive back. Uh this is year seven for me in the CFL. you know, the defense. You know, I’m I’m not a selfish guy or anything like that. I’m very humble and I know that it’s 12 pieces to playing good defense. Um yeah, you want to go out there, you want to make every play that you can possibly make. Make sure that you notice it’s more about us than it is about I’m playing my former team. Um and this is just another game that we got to win is what it comes down to. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Drop pressure on and Julian Howser gets the sack into the back field. Ryan Hunter earlier this season said he had great respect for 95 [Music] rolls inside 80 seconds remaining. The first second down conversion of the Tiger Cats is now flipped the other direction. It’s tea time. Devaris McFaten return for turns the interception and it has it knocked away and it’s punched out of bounds by the Hamilton Tiger. That will bring us to the end of a entertaining first half here in Hamilton. Of course, Labor Day is all about football, but at halftime, after the players leave the field, there’s still a lot going on. Live music, places to gather with friends, old and new. It’s a true celebration of all things Hamilton. But today is also about more than music and beer. As once again, the Hamilton community leads the league in food donations. Being in this stadium, being with these people, these fans, with my dad in this in this venue, it’s just I have the most wonderful times here. Um, it broke my heart in 2014 and 2019 and 2021, but um, I keep coming back with a big smile on my face and wanting the next opportunity and the next game. And boy, I love what’s going on in the hard part of playing defense back in the CFL. Tightening down some of those slot backs as Mitchell with pressure coming, works the pocket, slides around, gets rid of it over the top of it. What a throw from B down the sideline. Keandre Smith is tracked down, but Keandre Smith [Applause] Now the end devastating the once again [Applause] as the dribbling punt will bounce around to the left side of Janer and Grant. The no yards play comes in just a 34 yd punt and now Janeirian Grant turns the corner. Plenty of Hamilton jerseys give and chase. So for us, you know, we have to go out and put as an offense, right? Put up as many points as we can. You know, obviously we’d love to repeat uh what we did last time, you know, putting up 50 um getting Kenny three touchdown, you know, but you just go out there and you play football and you know, however the touchdowns come, whoever the catches go to, um you know, just let it happen. Tiger Cats leading by two. Mitchell pumps looking into the end zone over the top. Shamar Bridges. Touchdown Tiger Cat. Holy by Mitchell with his second of the ball game. Receiver. You got to do more than just be somebody who catches football. Arbuckle up against the crowd. Noise. Just gets the snap off. Backpedals his way away from traffic. Flips it up in the air. It’s complete and it’s Mai Punk back into the CFL end zone in his first game in double blue [Applause] with pressure on once again steps forward keep his eyes down the field up in the air and brought down from the sky post he wanted to help the Argonauts finish football games. How about that? [Music] [Applause] Have much answer to get into the end zone. It is Hersow diving for the corner. [Music] White goes in completely especially Labor Day there’s hatred. like that Labor Day once you go on those lines it’s like you don’t have friends. So as soon as you put those other colors on you step between the white lines it’s it’s a job like I’m here for I’m here to finish my job and not let you get in the way. White will accept at the 38 near side of the 45 and he’s going to get tackled with 48 seconds to go. Hamilton will start this drive at their own 47. Mitchell looking, firing deep. It is at the 15 yd line. Oh, look at this. What a catch. It was by Kenny Law at the 7 yd line. 29 seconds to go. Out comes up. Mitchell looks right. Kenny Law’s open. Touchdown. With 18 seconds remaining, the Tiger Cats take the lead at Bogey by Mitchell. becomes just the 12th CFL quarterback to ever throw 250 career touchdown passes. trying to find a win. They need a field goal. The wind drifting into their face. They need some yardage. Puts it up for grabs. Dean caught it. He’s inside field goal range, but he wants more. He’s diving to the end zone and the clock has hit zeros officially. We’ll wait to see. It was all over. A black and gold victory. But Hyramahu kicks it through the upper and the Labor Day magic in a last second play by the Argos. They find the winning score and get their fourth win of the season. It’s a third straight loss for the Tiger Cats. It was tough. We believe we should win every game. like there’s not a game that we don’t feel prepared for that obviously we were very disappointed and we knew that it was like us with good teams if you lose it’s usually you um again it was a perfect storm for them one of their guys made a great play and um they ended up on top but it’s it’s one thing that uh you know I try to look at the positives out of it you know what can we learn from this how can we take this and be better moving forward um it wasn’t the end of the season it’s not the end you know, the career. So, how can I take this and make sure that something like this never happens again? My whole saying is always the next play, next snap. You’re only as good as your last game really. That’s the that’s the what you think about, but you still get another opportunity. So, that’s always what I like to focus on when you speak to the guys is that think about the next opportunity. Don’t think about that one that’s passed now. You can’t change it. So, let’s think about that next opportunity to go in that next snap, that next play, and focus in on that. That’s always what I try and preach. It’s not much comfort knowing that a heartbreaking last second loss to the Argos was also one of the wildest, most talked about Labor Day games in memory. The ripple effect is felt throughout the Hamilton community, including at the grassroots level of the sport, where the Taiats are doing their part to support local football. The football atmosphere in high school football in Hamilton’s just special because it’s very competitive. Better better. Especially when like when I was growing up, it was a football city. Like I every kid that I played against in high school usually like played in house league or rep before. Obviously the Thai Cats have like a huge part of that. Our responsibility is to being leaders not just on the field in our organization but also into the community, right? And as far as athletes go, you guys are in a position as well where you can all be leaders. All right. So, growing up here is great. Uh, played a lot of sports, hockey, baseball, football, obviously. Um, football in Hamilton was just great. Like, it’s great to come back here and actually coach in, uh, the same stadium that I was able to play in growing up. I’ve been able to see all sorts of Hamilton football. Even back then, just working with their kids camps. That was a good experience to kind of see the love that the fans around here have for the game and have for this team. Tiger Cats are huge to this city. Whether it’s the fan experience, whether it’s the success of the team, whether it’s getting kids like this involved in the game and and becoming young Tigerat fans or young football fans. We paired up with the Alumni Association and the Hamilton Tiger Cats alumni have been sending a group of kids to each home game this year. The kids are loving it and it creates a buzz for football here. You can see how fired up the kids are when they come back from a game. You know, sir, let’s play flag football. Let’s get going. Let’s throw the football around. Go for it. Touchdown. Nice job. The game is so important and the team is so important to this city, the history of our team, and and the direction that we’re headed right now. Yeah, we’ve taken a few losses uh the last few. You know, we haven’t come out on top. There’s been a few tight games, but like I said, as a as a fan, I I don’t think we should be discouraged. We’ve got a lot of good football games to go and we’re excited about this final stretch. I think we’re in a great spot in the East Division. A really good time to be a Hamiltonian football fan. It’s time to put the Labor Day loss in the rear view mirror. The Thaiats head to Montreal to face a divisional opponent with a chance to tighten their grip on first place in the East. Like I said, it’s a high performance business. We’re not going to give you excuses. Um where are we coming off of some shorter weeks? Were the boys banged up? Yeah. But it’s ultimately our job to go and perform and we didn’t. The boys got refreshed physically, mentally, let the bodies recover and uh the boys are juiced up, ready to go. Now, that was the message. Just make sure that we’re ready to go one and0 that next week. We were able to just again do a deep dive of what we were doing well, what we weren’t doing well, and just how do we improve moving forward. [Music] Welcome to a cold, wet afternoon in Montreal. It almost feels like playoff weather and these two teams have a great chance to meet up in the 3-week playoff sprint, but today it’s all about getting back into the win column as both of these East rivals. Of course, Wayne have gone into a bit of a slide here in the last little while. I mean, like that’s kind of what you have to do as a a good football team is when you deal with adversity is you come together and you all play as a football team. Mitchell has it. Looking looking. He’s going to run up the middle. Gets to the 10 to the five. Touchdown. Touchdown Cats. Bo Levi Mitchell. It’s a 14 yd TD. The number one thing on defense to me is running to the ball and then running to the ball ends up creating more turnovers. They’ve just bought into that selling point. That was just again a cohesive unit doing it. Pressure on Julian bends the corner and throws down Dukes. Felt like a playoff game. Uh, it was definitely that atmosphere of just, you know, the crappy weather, just spitting the whole time. I love that. He’s going to get hit as he throws and it’s intercepted. Jamal Peters at the center line. JP with the int. Fox just always kind of sets that example for doing that. Always tries to do his job. Go get him. Go get him. Y of man, it’s no good. You could really tell in that game that he just he changed the game for sure. And we’re back at the will, baby. Let’s go. 269. What a very efficient win by the Hamilton Tiger Cats who I thought out muscled the Montreal Alowettes. Yeah, this is how you respond after the emotional loss that they had last week. So everybody’s going to have an extra eye on this team and they come back out and they dominated Eastern opponent. Back on track on track. Let’s go. Let’s go. [Music] It’s the first win in a month. A triumph and a relief. The Tiger Cats are now in full control of their destiny with a birth in the Eastern final theirs to lose. Next up are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. A league power for the past 5 years in the midst of a difficult season. And it’s more than it’s going to be team Ted. [Music]