Lionbackers.com

In which decade did you become a hardcore, lifelong, loyal fan of the BC Lions? Judging by the number of posts that I read on Lions trivia etc (about players like Matt Dunigan and Roy Dewalt), I am guessing the 80's. But then again, a lot of people have become converts since Dave and Casey arrived on the scene...

DH 8)

Born in '72 so didn't really know much about it through the 70's - it was probably the late 70's early 80's that I really got into it. Jerry Tagge is a vague memory Paopao and then Dewalt are where I start to remember games.

So I'll just mark off the 80's ...

There was something special about the team's first Grey Cup run in 1963. I hadn't followed football before that year, but happened to have enrolled that fall in a local school where football was a religion and was played on the playground every day before and after school and at lunch. It was the purrfect time to get hooked on the Lions.

80's for me as well. I was able to catch a few games in the late 70's at Empire, but didn't really become a big fan until the early 80's.

Born and raised in Ottawa, schooled in Montreal... Came here in time to see Tagge pull one out of the fire in the pouring rain at Empire. If any of you saw him, you know what I mean. John Sciarra was going to be the franchise player, then Tagge just....did his stuff. Jim Young, a very young Lui, Vic Rapp, Al Wilson, John Blain,I could go on.

The vice principal of Rideau High in Ottawa where I attended 2 years was the greatest quarterback that the CFL has ever produced, but his former team could not hold a candle to what the British Columbia Lions could do on the football field with 3 minutes left.

Totally hooked after that.

Joe Kapp and co did it for me.

80's

Matt Dunigan was the first QB I remember.

My older brother would take me to games at Empire stadium when I was a kid. But I became a real die hard fan in 84. I do miss the outdoor games in the elements, but nothing beats the crowd noise at the dome. I also watch every CFL game that is on TV.

Joe Paopao, Larry Key, John Henry White, Joe Fourqueen, Al Wilson.

I think the first game I went to (at Empire) was Jim Young night, and they retired Dirty #30.

HATED Warren Moon (respect him, now).

LOVED Vince Ferregamo (Lions 48, Alouettes 8).

I remember Dad retelling stories of Kapp, Flemming, Parker, et al. I suppose that's where loyalty starts.

It was the eighties for me. I remember going to a few games with Joe Paopao at Empire, bt for me the real connection was with the Roy Dewalt, Fernandex, Orange crush era.

I'll never forget going to the airport in 85 to welcome home the Grey Cup champs and personally starting a "We want Roy!" chant.

This was also the era I became a Hebeler fan of course.

That said, I did have a period where the league and the lions pissed me off enough that I stopped going to games. That combined with none of my friends wanted to go. I remember my folks had season tickets and I couldn't give a ticket away.

Bobby Ackles return and this site rekindled my love the Lions, and friendships made in the last two and a half years have rekndled my love for the CFL.

OrangeShoes99 wrote:Bobby Ackles return and this site rekindled my love the Lions, and friendsjips made in the last two and a half years have rekndled my love for the CFL.

I have met more great people through this site than could ever be imagined.

As I stated in other places in these Fora, we will look back on these years as a Golden Age for our team and the entire CFL. It just doesn't get any better than this.

To all of my fellow Section 17ers, and all who frequent this site, and especially D, who gave us a place to sit.....

Have been a big CFL fan since the first footbal game I ever watched (89 Grey Cup). Followed the Lions all throughout the nineties and is one of the reasons I passionately despise anything and everything to do with the Stampeders including Doug Flutie. However, the Lions didn't become an obsession for me until the start of the 1999 season and have only missed a handful games since then (either not broadcast or was working in the States).

It was the late 90's when I started to become a fan.......then when 2000 rolled around, I was a die hard.

I was 8 years old in 88 when we lost to Winnipeg in the Cup. I remember my dad telling me that the Lions were in the Grey Cup. I chose to go outside and throw the football with friends rather than sit in and watch it.
I remember watching the 89 grey cup which first got me interested. In 1990 I remember sitting the in the Barbers Chair in Pender Harbour watchin an August game between the Lions and Argos that had some outrageous score something like 60 - 50 and the lead changed and PaoPao was at QB. I stayed long after my haircut was done to watch the game with Colonel...(anyone who has been to Pender Harbour may remember Colonel Flounders...he was an older fella who had a soda shop, fish and chips, grocery, and barber shop all in one store - if you sat in the barber chair he had a tiny tv and a bunch of olf lions memorobilia hanging on the walls - he is the one who got me hooked that day!!!)
Made my dad take me to a Lions game against the Eskies later that year in October after seeing that.
Started following the team seriously in 1991 when we had Jon Volpe and Flutie. Went to the Hamilton game that year where we lost at the end of the season. Was diehard after that. 1992 with Danny Barrett I cried when we lost to Calgary in the West semi, 1993 I kept crossing my fingers that we would get 30,000 fans in the 9th game of the year we were already 0-8 and the owner was saying 30,000 was needed to stay afloat. We then won 3 in a row. Was there in 94 for that incredible run, the grey cup tix were my bd present....since then it has pretty much been fanatical. ....I can't wait for this season to see how the DD and CP drama plays itself out. Boy is it going to be exciting. Glad it looks like I will be back in Van for the summer....

Does anyone remember the details of the high scoring lions argos game in the summer of 1990 that I am talking about?

I got hooked when I went to the Lions vs Argos game that we won in overtime in the summer of 2003. Head got the game winning FG, and I couldn't get enough. Since then I was a defacto ST holder, and this year I finally got season tickets.