Michael "Pinball" Clemons is the best coach in the Canadian Football League, in part because he knows the power of redemption. He knows that in football as in life, the promise of redemption is the ultimate motivator. With this as his theme, Clemons guided a motley crew of toronto argonauts to an unlikely Grey Cup victory in 2004, much to the dismay of argos-suck.com. But Clemons is not just effective; he is also smart, and he knows that redemption often backfires.

Nonetheless, the Tiger Cats stumbled in 2005, while the argos, despite incidents on and off the field that would shatter the integrity of most teams, racked up win after win. With only one game standing between the argos and a 2nd consecutive Grey Cup appearance, it seemed that redemption would again smile upon toronto. But then, in that dark hour, there occurred an event that has already gone down in history as the "popcorn incident," and it was initiated by none other than 2005's argos-suck.com Hall of Fame inductee, Mr. R. Jay Soward.

The raw talent of R. Jay Soward has astounded many. The Jacksonville Jaguars selected him in the first round of the 2000 NFL entry draft, even though his college career was notable mostly for the time he departed in the middle of a game to go take a leak, paused along the sidelines to verbally assault some fans, and then was nearly trampled by Traveler the horse, USC's mascot. But by 2002, after a series of off-field misadventures and a litany of suspensions too numerous to detail, Soward was cut loose by the exasperated Jaguars. And so it was that two years later, when the argos came looking for players in dire need of redemption and discovered Soward, a chain of events was set in motion that would lead straight to the nominating committee of the argos-suck.com Hall of Fame.

At the start of the 2005 season, it seemed Soward had bought in to the redemption game plan. As Hakim Hill and Andre Rison dominated the legal headlines, and various other in-need-of-redemption argos punched their teammates on the sidelines or threw football helmets at the terrified children of Hamilton, Soward quietly caught footballs, gained yards, and scored touchdowns. When Noel Prefontaine's kickoff opened the Eastern Final on November 20, 2005, Soward was not even on the radar in polling for the argos-suck.com Hall of Fame Award. Little did we suspect what was about to transpire.

On their first possession of the game, the argos scored to take a 7-0 lead. Then came the play that popped rocked the C.F.L. universe. With blistering speed, Soward tore through the Alouette secondary and hauled in a Damon Allen pass, which he carried into the end zone to bump the score to 14-0. Skydome erupted with screaming fans whose thoughts turned to booking off work for yet another Grey Cup victory parade, while in Montreal, Hamilton, and many other locations across Canada, the masses were overcome with despair. Most significantly though, it seemed that redemption had finally caught up with its most prodigal son, R. Jay Soward.

And then it happened. In a classic argos-suck moment that will be spoken of in the same breath as "McQuay '71" or "O'Billovich '86," the jubilant Soward continued through the end zone and into the stands. Emerging with a bag of popcorn, the now-notorious touchdown celebration that commenced was not so much distasteful as it was ill-timed. Implying both that Montreal was out of the game and that 14-0 was some kind of meaningful 1st quarter lead in a C.F.L. Eastern Final, Soward (perhaps as an homage to Isildur on the precipice of Mount Doom) turned his back on redemption and instead embraced self-aggrandizement, pomposity and conceit.

With the impact of a thousand chickens coming home to roost, the popcorn dance cast a pallor over the argos, while simultaneously stirring anger and a desire for revenge in the Alouettes. As Pinball's famous smile turned into a nervous grimace, Damon Allen began to wither. Then Bashir Levingston fumbled. Then Jordan Younger took a ridiculous, unnecessary, and costly penalty. Then Levingston fumbled again. Soward meanwhile was a no-show just as his embattled team needed him most, finishing the day with only one insignificant catch (apart from the popcorn grab). It was then that the scorned mistress redemption found a more worthy recipient of her charms, former Tiger-Cat Eric Lapointe. Thusly inspired, Lapointe ran roughshod over the argos - specifically for 112 yards and 3 touchdowns - as Montreal took the victory 33-17.

After the game, votes for R. Jay Soward as the 2005 HOF inductee flooded in to argos-suck central command. Leading candidate Robert Baker was left in Soward's dust, and even perennial favourite Mike O'Shea could not compete with the young upstart. The will of the people having been made clear, your board of governors officially ratified Soward's induction at their annual meeting, which took place at the Shark Club during Grey Cup week 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia. There are many who in the past have sunk lower than Soward. And there are many, also like Soward, who have managed to pull themselves up again. But to work so hard for redemption, only to soil it with such unmitigated hubris, is the hallmark of a true-blue argo. So please join us in welcoming R. Jay Soward to the argos-suck.com Hall of Fame!