HAMILTON, Ont. — Do not step on the tiger.
It will cost you 25 push-ups if your foot touches the Hamilton Tiger-Cats logo stitched into the dressing room carpet. Being a rookie does not excuse the offence, and amnesty is usually only granted to visitors following a volley of heated barking from the assembled veteran watchdogs.
“It’s disrespectful,” long-time Ticats defensive back Jykine Bradley said. “There ain’t no more walking over the Tiger-Cats.
“That time has passed. It’s over with.”
The policy was enacted last year, after the Ticats had spent most of the previous decade as unofficial doormats of the CFL. Hamilton had endured a run of four straight last-place finishes in the East Division when its fortunes finally began to change under a new coaching staff, and a new philosophy.
In Marcel Bellefeuille’s first full season as head coach, the Ticats posted a 9-9 record to finish second in the East, qualify for the playoffs and host a post-season game for the first time in eight years. They lost that game by a touchdown, but return to the field this year with an even loftier goal.
“Aw, the Grey Cup, most definitely,” linebacker Otis Floyd said. “Have a winning season and win that Grey Cup. We’ve got the team to do it.”
Hamilton has the second-longest championship drought in the league. The Ticats have not hoisted the trophy since 1999 — only the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1990) have gone longer — because of a series of questionable personnel decisions and off-field upheaval.
The foundation began to settle when Bob O’Billovich was named general manager three years ago. Bellefeuille was named interim head coach late in the 2008 season, and the two have managed to craft a roster that could challenge the Montreal Alouettes for first place in the division.
Quarterback Kevin Glenn heads into the season as the presumptive starter after relieving sophomore Quinton Porter late last season. The 31-year-old threw for more than 300 yards four times, and has a capable group of receivers led by veteran Arland Bruce III.
Bruce finished third in the league with 1,242 receiving yards after he was effectively dumped by the Toronto Argonauts, and he will be complemented this year by Maurice Mann, Marquay McDaniel, and sophomore running back DeAndra’ Cobb.
“You’re going to see a lot more wins,” Bruce said. “It’s not going to be, ‘Oh, they got seven wins.’ I think we have the type of team that can get to 10 or 15 wins.”
Hamilton’s offensive promise is mirrored by its defensive potential. The Ticats have what might be considered the strongest group of linebackers in the league, led by Floyd, Markeith Knowlton and Jamall Johnson.
The Grey Cup-champion Alouettes were the only team to surrender fewer points per game (18.0) than the Ticats (23.8) last year. Defensive co-ordinator Greg Marshall has added a handful of wrinkles, notably with the addition of two experienced defensive backs (former Argos Will Poole and Jason Shivers) to solidify the pass defence.
Given the ongoing rebuilding efforts in Toronto and Winnipeg, Hamilton is in a position to at least repeat its second-place finish.
“Expectations have risen, and not just within the team, but with the media and the fans,” veteran linebacker Ray Mariuz said. “I think it’s good, though, when the team expects to win.
“Because that’s an important step toward winning, not just hoping to win — it’s going out there knowing that, if we do our job, we can win.”
It has not always been that way since the turn of the century.
The Ticats descended into bankruptcy early in the 2003 season, managing one lonely win in a campaign marked with speculation over the franchise’s very survival. Hamilton-born businessman Bob Young put an end to those questions when he bought the team that winter, but after a revival in 2004, the on-field product fell apart.
Big-name players such as quarterback Jason Maas and running back Josh Ranek were acquired and, ultimately, dismissed for their poor production. Within a decade of its last Grey Cup win, Hamilton became the kind of place where veterans did not want to play.
That, too, has changed.
Hamilton earned the right to host the East Division semifinal last year with a win over the Blue Bombers in the final game of the regular season. The Ticats lost that game, 34-27 to the B.C. Lions, but left for their off-season break with a renewed sense of purpose, and of optimism.
“You’ve got a bunch of guys who are happy in their situation, who are happy to be here and who are happy to be playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats,” Floyd said. “You could tell that in training camp, when you had guys showing up three or four days early.”
Hamilton manufactured 38 points in its final pre-season game earlier this month. Glenn hit the Blue Bombers for 196 yards and two touchdowns an abbreviated appearance, avoiding the mistakes that prompted his departure from the Manitoba capital before last season.
The Ticats open their regular season against those very same Blue Bombers on Friday (TSN, 8 p.m. ET) and their aim is to keep playing right up until Nov. 28, when the Grey Cup is awarded in Edmonton.
“Everybody’s expectation is to get the ring,” Bradley said. “That’s what we play the game for.
“That’s what we train for — to go out there and win the Grey Cup.”
