TORONTO — We’re about to step into the best regular season weekend of football of the year.
The OK Tire Labour Day Weekend is a rite of passage across the country, laced with three all-time great rivalries that are loaded with history. The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers get things started for us, as they always do, when the meet at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday. On holiday Monday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts renew hostilities and are followed up by the Battle of Alberta, with the Calgary Stampeders hosting the Edmonton Elks.
We asked CFL.ca’s writers, who are spread across the country and who have attachments to each of these games, which one they thought was best. Their answers are below in this edition of The Weekly Say.
OK TIRE LABOUR DAY WEEKEND
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WHICH LABOUR DAY WEEKEND RIVALRY IS THE BEST ONE?
Matt Cauz: I’m biased on this one but how can the answer not be the Argonauts-Tiger-Cats rivalry? This game is about football, city pride and identity. A losing season feels much better if your team at least won on Labour Day. From a sentimental standpoint it takes me back to very quietly rooting for Doug Flutie when I was in my early 20s sitting in the heart of Ivor Wynne Stadium, hoping the home fans would not see my joy as Paul Masotti found the end zone.
Kristina Costabile: While all the rivalries are exciting matchups, I’m going with Hamilton and Toronto as the best. I’ve been to a handful of these games in the past and not only is the game on the field intense, the vibes outside of the stadium are pretty great too. The fans in Hamilton go above and beyond on OK Tire Labour Day Weekend; last year I walked by a band playing in the bed of a classic pick-up truck on someone’s front lawn. Epic. There’s also just something about these rivals being a 45-minute drive away that really punctuates the dislike for each other. What more could you ask for?
Don Landry: My favourite LD rivalry is, of course, the Toronto Argonauts vs. the San Antonio Texans. Sure, it was contested just once, in Toronto, in 1995, but I was there. The Texans stunned the Argos at Skydome, 48-27. I miss that rivalry so much, and still despise the city of San Antonio even though I have never been there.
Okay, okay.
For me, the best Labour Day rivalry is the Blue Bombers-Roughriders clash. I get that this question has been framed specifically around Labour Day Weekend but I just cannot separate the Roughriders’ home game from the follow-up in Winnipeg the next week. Both are typically beauties. Together, they are this bigger, super-beauty kind of thing. The Sunday game in Regina feels like the first half of an epic tale to me.
Fan Poll
Which OK Tire Labour Day Weekend rivalry is the best one?
Jamie Nye: The Riders-Bombers rivalry tops the charts because the fans of both teams make it a great weekend. It’s not just a game day buzz in Regina, it’s a full weekend from Friday when Bomber fans start to arrive, through Saturday and into the game on Sunday! Now first place is on the line this year!
Chris O’Leary: There’s a great regional attachment to this question. I grew up in Alberta and for a number of years, making the trip down the QE2 to Calgary from Edmonton had a festive feel to it that really helped grow my love of the CFL. I can picture those sun-soaked afternoons at McMahon Stadium and how the intensity for that game stood on its own no matter what each team’s record was. Whenever I think of Labour Day, I always think of that game in Calgary first.