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Anunnziata: Ticats, Riders Grey Cup brings back memories of 1989

What’s that old saying about "leaving a Ferrari parked in the garage”? But when your neighbour down the street steals your keys, sometimes you have no choice. That was the case Sunday afternoon when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats knocked off their Southern Ontario rivals in the CFL's East Division Final.

When you own the services of arguably the best quarterback in the CFL, how unfortunate for the Toronto Argonauts when you can't get him off the bench. After an extraordinary first half, where Ray completed 18-of-22 passes for 279 yards, the Argonauts failed to get their star pivot on the field and were shut out at home in the second half by a brilliant game-plan executed by Ticats QB Henry Burris.

Yes, that's right – it was the Hamilton offence, not the defence, that kept Ray sidelined. Proving once again, sometimes the best defence is a consistent offence. Hamilton simply refused to give up the field and as a result, earned a trip to Regina in this year’s Grey Cup.

Early on it became very apparent the only way the Tiger-Cats were going to stop Ray was to keep him on the side line. Toronto had the ball for what had to be a division final record-low 6:07 in the second half. Mission accomplished.

Hamilton punched its ticket to the 101st Grey Cup, it first appearance since 1999, giving their tortured fans something to cheer about at last. Give credit to Kent Austin, a head coach that understood championships are not won in August and September. Tinkering on both sides of the ball until he had just the right combination to compete in the East validates the decision to hire him and give him his own set of keys to not only the car, but the house and the cottage.

Perhaps now, after a decade of ownership, the financial bleeding of Ticats owner Bob Young has finally been cauterized. How refreshing, after a long line of head coaches that Young has paid to stay home, the passionate owner who bleeds black and yellow, finally got his monies worth.

The Tiger-Cats will now face the Saskatchewan Roughriders, renewing hostilities that have carried over from a classic 1989 Grey Cup tilt that saw the Green Riders win on a last-second field goal. How ironic that the QB in that contest now patrols the sidelines for the team he once vanquished in such dramatic fashion. The hero returns as the villain, and with that sub plot taking centre stage in the days to follow, this year’s Grey Cup will have no shortage of storylines.

They say time heals all wounds. The author of that often used cliché probably never played football. Some memories, like losing championships, are just too painful to ever forget. But perhaps, sipping from a Grey Cup in the home stadium of the team that, for the last 24 years, has been the subject of an entire city's discontent might just provide a small measure of amnesia.

The Hamilton Tiger Cats now stand poised to avenge one of the most heart wrenching moments in franchise history. No doubt Tiger Town will be looking for a different sort of ending this time around – one that channels the ghosts of players past, and wills this year’s edition to finish the job that not even the super human effort of Tony Champion could accomplish in the '89 final.

Sandy Annunziata is a two-time Grey Cup champion who battled in the trenches along CFL offensive-lines for 11 seasons. Hard hitting and thought provoking, he takes you beyond the field and inside the locker room as he delivers a candid view of the game, the health of the league, the business of sport and the sometimes fragile psyche of pro athletes.