CFL Soundtrack: The Ticats are good on paper, but will they be hummin’ this year?

Rolling on with our CFL Soundtrack series, an examination of each of the CFL's nine teams and what musical acts they compare to, here's a look at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and their similarities to Arkells

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This was an obvious comparison, considering that not only are Arkells from Hamilton (and they played at the old Ivor Wynne Stadium, perhaps most notably at the 2008 Vanier Cup halftime show), but they've worked with the CFL and the Ticats before, creating a "Ticats Are Hummin" anthem, performing before the 2011 Grey Cup in B.C. and performing at the unveiling of the league's Grey Cup train in 2012. There are plenty of similarities beyond that too, though, with the band's meteoric rise from a little-known indie group to a prominent force in Canadian rock somewhat mirroring the Ticats' transformation from league laughingstocks to Grey Cup contenders.

The Tiger-Cats had a 4-14 record in 2006 and then back-to-back 3-15 campaigns in 2007 and 2008, but things started to change late in the latter year when they fired Charlie Taaffe in September and replaced him with Marcel Bellefeuille. The rewards weren't immediate, as the team still struggled through the end of 2008, but they improved to 9-9 in 2009 and made the first of three straight playoff appearances under Bellefeuille. Similarly, Arkells formed in 2006 and didn't immediately find massive success, but they steadily progressed and struck it big in late 2008 with the Vanier Cup gig and a tour with Matt Mays and El Torpedo. That year also saw their first Deadlines EP (initially self-released) reissued on Dine Alone Records and their first full album, Jackson Square, released. It found significant success, with "Oh, The Boss Is Coming!" and "The Ballad Of Hugo Chavez" hitting #4 and #12 respectively on the Canadian alternative charts.

The band continued to get bigger and bigger, winning a CASBY Award from Toronto's The Edge in 2009 and the Juno Award for new group of the year in 2010. Things got even better in 2011, when they released Michigan Left, on Universal Music Canada. "Whistleblower" and "Michigan Left" charted at #5 and #7 respectively, and "Kiss Cam" found great success as a video (appropriate to put here, as it is about a sporting event!):

Similarly, 2011 marked a peak for the Tiger-Cats. Although their 8-10 regular-season record was a slight step down from the previous two seasons' 9-9 marks, they pulled off an incredible road playoff overtime upset over the twice-reigning-champion Alouettes. Despite that, though, Bellefeuille was fired after the season (presumably, he wasn't considered to be meeting his deadlines?) and replaced with George Cortez, who promptly went 6-12 and was fired after one season himself.

That led to the messianic return of coach and general manager Kent Austin, which seemed a little ambitious at first, but wound up working out very well for the team. The 2013 Tiger-Cats went 10-8, won two playoff games and made it all the way to the Grey Cup. Austin still made major roster overhauls in the offseason, though, especially at quarterback, where he traded for Toronto backup Zach Collaros and released veteran starter Henry Burris (who eventually wound up in Ottawa), and he's made it clear that he expects great things from this team. Arkells don't appear to have done quite as much recent tinkering (or to have experienced the valley that was the Ticats' 2012), but they also have high hopes for 2014, with the release of a new album (High Noon) scheduled for August.

How will this work out for Hamilton? Is bringing in Collaros a blueprint for victory, or will losing Burris' experience at quarterback prove to be a tragic flaw? Well, that's still to be decided; Collaros looked very good filling in for the injured Ricky Ray last year, and at least he has more CFL starting experience than say, Winnipeg starter Drew Willy (another promoted backup, but one who played much less in 2013), but he hasn't been tested over the duration of a season yet. He'll have plenty of targets to throw to, though, including Andy Fantuz, Sam Giguere, Greg Ellingson, Bakari Grant and Luke Tasker, and if for whatever reason he can't succeed or stay healthy, the Tiger-Cats do have promising backups in Dan LeFevour and Jeremiah Masoli. They also have a solid offensive line and an impressive running back (C.J. Gable), and if Justin Medlock can find the CFL form he showed before heading to the NFL in 2012, their kicking game should be very good. The defence may be more of an issue, as the 468 points the Tiger-Cats conceded in 2013 were the fourth-highest total in the league, but we'll see how they do with some new pieces. Keep in mind that the Tiger-Cats' accomplishments last year came despite essentially playing a season on the road, too ("home" games were played in Guelph thanks to construction on their new stadium); at home, in the confines of their new Tim Hortons Field and before larger, more raucous crowds of home fans, they should do quite well. We might yet hear about gold found down the 403, 402 and 401:

And we'll see if the Ticats are indeed hummin:

Prediction: 10-8, second in East, win in East semi-final, loss in East final.

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