We've spent three days trying to figure out what exactly went wrong on Saturday afternoon - and how to prevent it from happening again in the East Semi-Final. Now, the so-called "experts" will tell you that the Argos' big mistake was abandoning the run in the fourth quarter, and they're probably right. (As proof the Argos have absolutely no idea what to do with Ricky Williams, the dude was playing special teams on the opening kickoff - and the Argos were the ones kicking.) But from where we were sitting, there were a couple of other factors that towered over that one.

The first, it almost goes without saying, was local man-about-town and Boatmenblog nemesis Frank D'Angelo. Forcing D'Angelo upon us once this season was more than enough. But bringing him back for an encore halftime performance - that was just cruel. And it was terrible karma - not so much because the Argos forced innocent fans to suffer through it, but because they were complicit in the humiliation of presumably innocent Steelback employees. One minute you're minding your own business, polishing your resume so you can send it to Labatt's; the next, you're being dragged up before 38,000 people to join the "Steelback 2-4" as an amateur trombonist or backup singer. It's not hard to understand why these people looked so embarrassed - even Ben Johnson apparently took a miss on this. ("Sorry, Frank...I'm happy to do those commercials, but I'm worried this might be a little undignified...")

So, yeah...no D'Angelo on Sunday, please. And you know what else? Enough with the free junk, too.

We know this sounds crazy. But if you're wondering why the whole stadium was so flat in the second half - a mood that seemed to rub off on the Argos - it's probably best to start with the avalanche of crap that began after half time and carried on throughout the third quarter.

It's well-established that even the most useless free stuff turns otherwise intelligent people into morons. (For proof, consider that day each spring when Baskin Robbins offers free ice cream. If you went up to any of those people at the back of the hour-long lineup and told them they could move to front if they paid $3, how many would turn you down?) So  for some reason, fans who've paid $40 for a ticket to a football game will happily forego watching that game in order to devote full attention to trying to catch an ugly t-shirt that they will never, ever wear.

The Argos presumably know this. They also know that an engaged, noisy crowd is a major advantage for the home team - especially in the second half of a tight game. This would be why Jonathan Brown and Michael Fletcher will likely be seeking treatment in the off-season for repeat stress disorder from all that time waving their arms in the air trying to generate noise.

So next time, how 'bout we save the t-shirt tosses for commercial breaks. Or, better, scrap them entirely. As an added  bonus, this will enable those of us actually interested in the game to watch it, rather than catching the occasional glimpse through a maze of grasping arms. And it will help prevent Maude Flanders-style tragedies, which apparently are not as uncommon as one would think.