Please don’t rain.

That was the first thought I had when I woke up on Thursday morning. Please let’s not have the weather affect the home opener for the Toronto Argonauts. You can control so many things as an organization but unless you’re the Chinese government prepping for the Summer Olympics you can’t affect Mother Nature. Ironically, the only way you can protect yourself from the elements is with a dome. Thankfully a dome is no longer part of the equation for Argonauts home games. From a non-football standpoint the home opener couldn’t have gone much better for the Argonauts — in fact it was everything you could have hoped for if you are a fan of the double blue.

Hell, if you are just a fan of the CFL without a crazy irrational hate for Toronto you had to feel good about the team playing its first regular season home game at BMO Field. I know the idea that you need to care about Toronto may feel repugnant towards your sensibilities and is just further proof about the Toronto-centric nature of our nation but please hear me out for a second.

I spent a great deal of time before the game wandering around the massive tailgate section that was thriving hours before kickoff. In the midst of a sea of Weber barbecues and more than fair priced beers, you know what I saw? Tiger-Cats tents, Zach Collaros jerseys and plenty of Hamilton fans enjoying themselves. You see, this was the first time that I can remember being at a football game that felt like a football game. The NFL experiment was not exactly a roaring success; the tailgate experience was sterile while the SkyDome was the place where fun went to die. But on Thursday night the environment around BMO Field was what you would want: a celebration of cooked meat that would have enraged PETA; old dudes comfortably smoking cigars; lots of young kids throwing the football and a surprising number of 20- to-30 year-olds just looking to party.

So even if you don’t give a flip what happens in Toronto. at the very least you have a significantly better environment the next time you travel here to see your favourite CFL team. Plus let’s just be honest for a moment, the league is better off when Toronto is doing well. I know you may not want to hear it but Toronto is the economic hub of the country and a successful Argonauts franchise is good for the entire league.

One final note about the tailgating: I thought it was diabolical of the organization to have two giant sections on both sides of Lake Shore Boulevard. For people that don’t know, this is a major road used to get into and out of the city. Needless to say this road is jammed with cars during rush hour. And on this particular night as they were inching their way out of the city they would have been surrounding by images of happy football fans eating, drinking and generally enjoying themselves. Now that is some damn good free advertising.

As an Argonauts fan, hell as a fan of this entire league, I am so tired of my team being an afterthought. I am tired of living in a world where the level of apathy for the Argonauts would just crush you. The move to BMO is so important but even more critical for future success is the destruction of apathy in this city. And that all starts with ownership.

Now what I am about to say is NOT meant to be at all disrespectful towards David Braley. Hell, we all owe a great deal of gratitude towards Mr. Braley and the passion and support he has given to this league for decades. But how could his heart be fully invested in Toronto? Braley has owned the Lions since 1997. He watched his team win two Grey Cups (2000 and 2011) –that is his first love. It just felt like the Argonauts were more of a burden, were more about Braley helping out the league. I live my life by the belief that if you like everything you love nothing. There are only so many hours in the day to immerse yourself in your passions. I would rather be fully invested in a couple things even if it means I miss out on other elements of life.

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There’s a reason why I know a ton about football, wine and ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ and I know almost nothing about how to stream a movie, the latest Kanye West news or anything automotive. It’s because I put my focus on those wonderful things that inspire me. Well now imagine you’re Braley. It is unrealistic and frankly not fair to have expected Braley to be as invested with the Argonauts as he is with his Lions squad. This is not to say he wasn’t motivated to try to win. Of course he was. He’s a competitor — but again, there are only so many hours in a day.

Enter Larry Tanenbaum, who purchased the team back in May. This would have been bigger news if not for the fact that 18 seconds later the Leafs announced the hiring of Mike Babcock. As an employee of Bell Media, which owns TSN, I will refrain from waxing poetic about the glory of Tanenbaum — it will sound like pandering. But I will just throw out there that the level of commitment from ownership towards the Argonauts may increase just slightly with this transition of power. I think we can at least agree this is the best ownership situation for Toronto since the glory days of David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski.

BMO Field is the tip of the spear to eradicating fan apathy in Toronto but the person wielding that spear has to be ownership and the Argonauts are in good hands with Tanenbaum. As has been stated many times there is still a long way to go to build back up this damaged brand that is Toronto Argonauts football but everything we saw on Thursday night feels like a step in the right direction.