Labour Day, for me, has always meant CFL football -- the Tiger Cats taking on the Argos.

You have to go back to 1950 (I wasn't born yet) for the first Labour Day Classic. Since then the two have played more than 200 times. The record favours Hamilton with 115 wins, 83 losses, two ties and one overtime loss.

I am not sure why, but this game gets most of the season's attention. Maybe because it is the game with the biggest crowd. Or the only game some fans take in all year. Maybe it is because there is always a strong section of Toronto blue in the stadium yelling ARRRGOS! Maybe because for a long time there was a deep-seated sense of envy and dismay here in Hamilton about Toronto. They were Starbucks, we were Tim Hortons. They were management, we were workers. They were the seat of power for the province, we were the regional seconds. While I think none of that is true today (maybe it was never true), from the time I was a kid, Labour Day was big. And it was important that on that day (and for some seasons it was only that day) Hamilton was better than Toronto.

"Hamilton is maybe different than all the other cities in Canada," Paul Osbaldiston, former Ti-Cat kicker and veteran of many Labour Day battles, told The Spectator just before the 1993 game. "Guys come in here and in more than other cities, get hold of wanting to be part of it. You see the city, end up talking to a lot of its people and understanding it."

Argo kicker Lance Chomyc talked about playing. "The fans are loud and nasty. Those fans have a passion for the game."

By the way, both those quotes come from stories about the 1993 Labour Day game. I remember it well. The Cats were struggling financially and it looked like the team might be sold to Halifax. Players were missing paycheques and the community was struggling to rally behind the team. The crowd that day was 21,672, the largest of a very poor season. Hamilton had the highest unemployment rate in the country.

And with five seconds left on the clock, Paul Osbaldiston kicked a field goal from the 42-yard line to win the game 23-21.

Suddenly nothing else mattered. And as the crowd made its way home to start school and go back to work, all seemed possible.

That is the impact the Cats can have on at least some who have suffered a long drawn out love affair with this city and this team.

Someone once said there are three seasons in the CFL: summer, fall and playoffs. In 2008, as we enter the second "season," the struggling Cats, a young team that needs to come together, still has a chance. That is actually a better place than they have been for several years. Hope springs eternal.

* * *

Thanks to reader Vic B. who suggested last week we run the entire list of suspect Maple Leaf products. "Not everyone has a computer," he reminded me in an e-mail, noting those are the folks who keep buying our newspaper.

He said he had heard from half a dozen or more seniors, long-time and loyal Spectator readers, who wanted to check their food by facts they read in their newspaper. Last Wednesday we published the entire list. Vic wrote back to thank me. It should be me thanking him.

David Estok is The Spectator's editor-in-chief. editorfeedback@thespec.com