That would be sick!

^^Screw NHL. This sounds promising :cheers:

Major Olympic Renovations planned for BC PLACE STADIUM

From a very reliable source, I can tell you that renovations will start next month (February 2008) and will include:

- Replacement of the roof. The roof will be removed in March 2009, and a new one will be in place by late-spring/early-summer of 2009: it will take about 5 months. The roof will be supplied by the same company who supplied the original roof

- "Renovations will start with the roof structure and the seats, and then progress onto the concession and other smaller areas of the structure. This is an interesting project, as due to the time constraints of the olympics they are beginning work on some of the scopes before final design plans are even completed."

- "Remaining work will all be concentrated on making the facility more accessible to the disabled, renovating the concourses and concession areas, fixing broken seats, upgrading premium seats, renovating the boxes and overall aesthetic upgrades. Substantial work will also be involved in the less glamorous but equally necessary structural upgrades and weather proofing needs of the aging structure."
This is consistent with recent rumours within the media of "something big happening with the stadium." Looks like it won't be demolished after 2010 afterall.

http://www.bcplacestadium.com/images/big_bcplace.jpg

http://www.bcplacestadium.com/images/big_expo86openingceremonies.jpg

F U C K!!!!! The Raptors lost thanks to Kapono!!!! Now we're fucking 22-19. We 're down 56-76 against one of the worst teams!! :bash::bash:
THAT EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN A FUCKING WIN if it weren't for KAPONO & Co. and that stupid ref!!

IS ANYONE in the GREAT Country of CANADA, Watchin the SUPER BOWL???


Super Bowl XLII, the 42nd annual edition of the Super Bowl in American football, will determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) following the 2007 regular season. The game is scheduled to be played on February 3, 2008 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona.

BBC Sport to broadcast Super Bowl for first time

BBC Sport will broadcast the Super Bowl live, over the next two years, having signed an exclusive free-to-air deal with the NFL.



The two-year deal will also include exclusive free-to-air highlights of the NFL London game on 28 October 2008 between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium, plus any other NFL London games that may be scheduled for next year.



Super Bowl XLII will be broadcast live from Arizona on Sunday 3 February 2008 and Super Bowl XLIII will be broadcast live from Tampa, Florida in 2009.



On the deal, Philip Bernie, Head of BBC TV Sport Editorial, said: "The Super Bowl is one of the world's great sporting events and we are delighted that, after many years of covering it on BBC Radio 5 Live, we are now also going to be showing it on BBC Television.



"The Super Bowl always attracts great interest and we are really looking forward to providing a new showcase for this huge occasion."



Alistair Kirkwood, Managing Director of NFL UK, commented: "We are thrilled to be announcing a partnership with the BBC.



"This represents a major landmark in the growth of our sport in the UK and will help us to establish the NFL as a significant part of the sporting landscape here.



"The BBC's reputation in the presentation of televised sport is unrivalled and we are very excited about working closely with them."



Further details relating to the TV presentation and commentary teams, as well as scheduling, will be announced in due course.



In February 2007, Super Bowl XLI reached an estimated worldwide audience of nearly one billion in more than 220 countries as the Indianapolis Colts overcame the Chicago Bears in Miami.



As well as being one of the biggest events in world sport, the Super Bowl is renowned for its spectacular entertainment line-up, featuring performances in recent years by the Rolling Stones, Sir Paul McCartney, Prince, U2, Sting and Beyonce Knowles.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/us_sport/article2446613.ece
PL2


In Canada, CTV has acquired the rights to the game, ending Global's longtime coverage

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/20/NFL-SB_2339.png/200px-NFL-SB_2339.png
Official Logo

The American Idol Crew will Host and the Main Attraction for the Half-Time Show is Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.

The New England Patriots VS The New York City Giants

Canadian Senior Men's soccer/football team have some friendlies coming up along with their World Cup Qualifiers for South Africa 2010. Great improvement in ranking over a year moving 38 spots last summer.

Current World Ranking(Jan 08) - 56
CONCACAF(continental) Ranking - 4 after -- Mexico(15), USA(20), Honduras(54)


Recent Results(from Jun 07) - Win 4 - Draw - 1 - Loss 1

http://i25.tinypic.com/33wsajm.jpg
http://i31.tinypic.com/2zziw6a.jpg

WTF!! St. Lucia?!?!? Where is this going to be played? I was aware of Estonia though. We should win but I'm sure dale Mitchell will somehow find a way to fuck us up.

That's an error on Wiki which isn't damn surprising, it's an away match. I did look everywhere for info on it from Fifa to Concacaf and finally I had to search the CSA(god their website sucks!) who only mention the match with this -

The 2 February match will be Canada’s first-ever meeting with the Staint Lucia. Geographically, Saint Lucia is next to Canada’s first opponent in the 2010 FIFA World Cup(tm) Qualifications - Saint Vincent & the Grenadines. While Canada doesn’t begin qualifications until 15 June (Stage 2), Saint Lucia plays its first match on 6 February (Stage 1) on the road against the Turks & Caicos Islands.

'It will be a benefit to players and staff to play in Saint Lucia as we look ahead to our first round series against Saint Vincent & the Grenadines.'

I'll be missing (for about the 15 th year in a row) the 4 hours of commercials with little bits of football inserted that is the Super Bore. Hype, hype, hype zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!

Great improvement in ranking over a year moving 38 spots last summer

I must admit, that is very impressive! 38 spots in the span of 12 months is great!

Now if we could just crack the top 30 in the world...that would be fantastic!

I'll be missing (for about the 15 th year in a row) the 4 hours of commercials with little bits of football inserted that is the Super Bore. Hype, hype, hype zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!

:lol:

I totally agree with you!

I must admit, that is very impressive! 38 spots in the span of 12 months is great!

Now if we could just crack the top 30 in the world...that would be fantastic!

Possible, but we have to not only work our asses on the pitch but off it too. The damn CSA is keeping us from the National Team we deserve. There is no plan. There should be like 10 year plan or something in which the objective is to qualify and do well in the World Cup and establish a league.

I personally beleive that the key to success is to have a professional league. It worked for the USA, it worked for Australia (we should use them as an example) and it should work for Canada.

from vancouversun.com

Indoor Olympic flame poses problem for organizers

Miro Cernetig
Vancouver Sun

Monday, January 28, 2008

Lausanne, we may have a problem.

We all know the global epicentre for the Winter Olympics in 2010 is going to be BC Place, our mushroom in bondage.

All the medal ceremonies and flag raisings will unfold inside our domed stadium. The world's TV cameras will be beaming images of those gold, silver and bronze medals glinting under the Olympic flame, safely out of the winter rains.

But here's the dilemma the International Olympic Committee brain trust, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is now facing. Exactly how do you fire up the Olympics' perpetual flame -- the main cauldron cannot be extinguished for 17 days -- inside a covered stadium?

If Mr. Wizard was giving you an analogous science experiment to try at home, he might say it's a bit like sparking up a very big candle inside your family's tent. It wouldn't seem much at first, but if you do it for 17 days non-stop, better bring lots of antiperspirant -- and a gas mask. It's going to get hot and smelly in there.

This gives rise to a dilemma for the IOC -- which likes to have its iconic flame near the globally televised medal ceremonies -- and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.

The committee aims to have the most memorable flame-lighting ceremony of any previous Winter Games.

Never before has anyone tried to put the torch inside an enclosed building for the duration of the Games. It's an Olympic first. But it's also going to be an Olympian exercise in air conditioning.

To give Olympic organizers a helping hand, I called one of the top experts in the field, to see if it can be done. His name is Sam Shelton, a mechanical engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who helped design the cauldron in Atlanta, the one that was lit by Muhammad Ali.

"You want to put the flame inside? That's a first," he said, when reached at his office. Then he laughed. Then he said, "You'd have a fair bit of heat and you'd have to deal with the air quality. But I guess it can be done. But it will be expensive."

Then he laughed again.

What would probably be needed, it turns out, would be a mega-ventilation system, one that might be especially designed to sit just below the Olympic flame, to suck out the heat and any contaminants the flame might cause. It wouldn't be unlike one of the negative pressure fans on those fancy new stoves that suck the air downward and out of the house.

Of course, that gives rise to another problem in a covered stadium, where the roof is held up by pumping in massive amounts of air. Any sudden change of pressure and the roof could go saggy, or even collapse. Not something you want when the world is watching.

Still, with the proper engineering -- and enough money -- the quandary can be solved.

But there's another notion being floated, too, it turns out, that would be much more expensive. Why not put a retractable roof on BC Place, maybe in time for 2010?

This idea is now being blue-skied at high levels of the provincial government. It's being kept top secret for obvious reasons: After the retractable-roof debacle at the Montreal Olympics, and the cost overruns at Toronto's Skydome, stadium roofs are a tricky business to sell to Canadian taxpayers

But a retractable roof at BC Place is being considered as part of the plan to revamp the stadium and keep it around for at least another 30 years. The taxpayer wouldn't likely be on the hook, either, since a development plan for BC Place unveiled last week would give developers a chance to build highrise towers around the stadium in exchange for revamping the inside of BC Place and replacing its aging roof.

A retractable roof is an idea that sits well with Olympic officials, now worried about the torch. It would solve all the engineering problems associated with putting the Olympic flame inside for the duration of the Games. An open roof could also make for a better show, opening up more possibilities for pyrotechnics and fireworks exploding out of BC Place. As well, it guarantees the stadium would be cool enough during the Games so that the world wouldn't see Vancouverites watching the Olympics opening ceremonies in their T-shirts, as if they were holding a Summer Olympics.

A retractable roof for BC Place would be a pretty good legacy for Vancouverites, too.

Permanently enclosed stadiums are pretty well passe, a failed experiment from another age. Transforming BC Place into a modern, retractable-roof stadium would add utility and value to this public asset -- and avoid the tens of millions of dollars it would cost to tear it down. Opening up the stadium to the possibility of sunshine also means a chance at hosting a baseball franchise and perhaps even offering a new home for professional soccer.

But there's another problem here: Time.

The clock is ticking down fast on the arrival of the Games, which begin here Feb. 12, 2010.

Can a retractable roof be built on such a tight timeline?

Or is this a good idea that came too late and will need to be delayed until after the Olympic cauldron is extinguished and moves on?

Nothing, after all, would be worse for Vancouver, and Canada, than demonstrating to the world we're a nation that can't finish a roof on time.

mcernetig@png.canwest.com

that would be too freaking awesome!! how can we not ?? how long do these things take to slap together ??

i still love our mushroom in bondage though. i'm very sentimental about it. but an open 60 000 person arena in this city would be hot. i'm skeptical though.

p.s. mr.x do you know what's happening with the whitecaps stadium proposal??

Hey! It used to be called the Marshmallow in Bondage!!! :lol:

that would be too freaking awesome!! how can we not ?? how long do these things take to slap together ??

i still love our mushroom in bondage though. i'm very sentimental about it. but an open 60 000 person arena in this city would be hot. i'm skeptical though.

p.s. mr.x do you know what's happening with the whitecaps stadium proposal??

don't get your hopes up too much, in case the retractable roof idea doesn't go through.

Apparently, tomorrow they will decide at a huge meeting....the Premier, ministers, Pavco, BC Place officials, architects, engineers, etc. will all be there.

They might still go ahead with a new teflon roof replacement instead. But of course, I do hope they choose a retractable roof and start construction pronto! I've heard someone said it would take only a year to put on a retractable roof....but the teflon roof replacement would take only 5 months.

I'm not sure about the Whitecaps Stadium proposal, i haven't heard of anything from them for awhile but it's still going on. The civic strike last year slowed the whole process down.

That thing needs to get built quickly...for me at least!

Canada never ended up playing St Lucia but played Martinique in Fort-de-France, 30 January. They won 1 - 0. They did train in St Lucia though but they must have changed their plans or something.

Their next fixture is the friendly at Tallinn, Estonia on the 26th March.

Did you hera? That wanker Jonothan De Guzman chose The Netherlands. You probably didn't because Canadian soprt media is basically anything American and hockey...;)

I was reading that. I'd say it's a bit of a disappointment as he wasn't born in Holland and has no family connection but he applied for Dutch citizenship and was granted it so only he knows what the decision behind it. He has been living there apparently since he was 12. Nevertheless it sucks for Canada.

They compare this story to Owen Hargreaves but I think that situation was completely different. Hargreaves may have been born in Canada and grew up here until his mid-teens, but he was naturally a British citizen at birth and his entire family are from the UK. His heart from being a young lad was to play for England and club football in England as his father did.

Well I was at the Bell Centre last night for the Miracle in Montreal.

I've been to many games over the past 20 years, and this was the best game i've ever witnessed.

What a comeback..one for the ages!

GO HABS GO!!!

I heard about it this morning. ^^ :cheer:

http://www.cataclaw.com/nhl/game33-pix5.jpg

Look at the RAGE on Komisarek,s face.

I definately would not want to be on the receiving end of that punch!

GO HABS GO!! beat the Pens tonight!

So what happened?

My boys are in first place of the N-E division. Only 1 point behind the Devils for first in the conference.

Go Habs Go"

I've officially put a hex on the Indiana Pacers and their white trash fans.:bash:

Habs are first in the east!!

Lovin' it!:banana::cheers:

^^Heard about that. Congrats

A shocking upset as Canada beats powerhouse Romania 9-8 at the men's Olympic water polo qualifying tournament in Romania. Canada becomes the first nation to qualify for Beijing. The Canadian men have never qualified in water polo besides invites due to boycotts or the automatic berth from hosting in 1976, so this represents possibly the finest moment in Canadian men's water polo history.

Upsets hardly ever happen in water polo and the aquatics world is still trying to process what has happened. In another bizarre turn of events, it is our men's team that is going to Beijing, while the women stay home. Canada is a powerhouse in women's water polo, losing the Gold medal to the Americans at the Pan American games 6-4, and having to go to a qualifying tournament. The women's team only needed to beat underdog Greece to book a ticket to Beijing, but came up short.

So, it's disbelief for the women, and elation for the men. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Canadian men in water polo this summer?!! that's gonna be hot, gotta watch that!

Me too, but must add that I have a huge amount of respect for those athletes. Our aquatics club field both a swim team and water polo team. I've always stuck with the swimming, but thought I'd try out water polo during their open house. Holy crap! Those boys are really powerful.... rough too.

You wouldn't believe what goes on under water.

Coming to sports, Canada lost to Australia 10-5 in baseball-qs. Australia is a good sporting nation and all but honestly....we lost to them in baseball? No one even gives a crap about baseball in Australia because of Cricket and they beat Canada, which is a pretty big baseball country in all estimates. I realize all our best players are not involved in this but we should still be able to do them off.

Contrary to popular belief, Canada is arguably a more successful sporting nation today than Australia. I conducted a small study that tried to ascertain which Commonwealth nation would win the most medals at a Commonwealth Games if all major sports were contested, rather than just summer sports. The premise was that the Commonwealth Games is an unfair benchmark because it focuses on sports that Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. excel at while omitting most of the sports to which the bulk of Canada's elite athletes are funneled into.

It makes sense that the sports contested at the Commonwealth Games are the ones that they are, but they should not be used as a benchmark to conclude sporting dominance within the Commonwealth. To my own surprise, Canada came out on top, followed by Australia, and then England.

Australia does have a superior sporting culture, however. They take sports seriously, they follow a multitude of sports, fund them, and support them. Canada lags far behind in this area, and also hugely underachieves in many sports where we should be dominant.

Baseball and basketball are 2 great examples. We should be contesting for gold medals in these sports on a continual basis, but lose to countries like Australia and Spain. It just shouldn't happen. Canada should qualify for Beijing in both of these disciplines. It is a shock to think that we might not.

I personally think we need leagues of our own.

We do, but the only sport we've managed our own league is football, and look at the state of that. We're simply not a nation that nurtures sport domestically. We seem content to have pro sport develop only in Toronto, and sometimes a few other places.

We're forever navel gazing at the US rather than allowing domestic sport to flourish. That won't change, so we'll have to do the next best thing: massive financial support from government like exists in China, Australia, the UK, France, etc. This needs to be coupled with a grass roots campaign starting at kindergarten to educate our young about the importance of sport to health, well being, character building, and culture. One generation and we will be there. We'll just have to wait 20 years to see the cultural shift needed for sport to mature in this country.

In the mean time, we should relish things like Canadian men's water polo arriving on the world stage, Tyler Christopher winning the 400 m indoor title, swimming talents like Brent Hayden and Erica Morningstar, or being able to produce not one, but 3 women's hurdling contenders. For those that don't know: Perdita Felicien, Angela Whyte, and Priscilla Lopes.

Bang on assessment.

Another thing that I noticed about sports in Canada is that here it is treated more as entertainment than anything (which the way it should be in my opinion) where as in other nations (Australia for one) sports is a part of the culture. Like here, one would ask the question "Where should I go tonight? Movies or Raptors game" where as in other countries such a question would seem absolutely absurd. Hockey is the closest thing to being ingrained in our culture yet even that is becoming more and more about entertainment and less about the good old passion for sports.

By the way, I would like to take a look at that study of yours. Would definitely make for an interesting read. Now that I think of it, I have no doubt in my mind that Canada is more dominant in winter games than Australia is in summer games ...... but you have to realize that only a small portion of the world's population competes in the winter olympics where as the entire planet has the ability to compete in the summer versions.

Lastly, I just recalled that Australia has a government funded Academy of Sports, which helps their athletes compete in the world stage dramatically. If you think about it, this makes sense as well. I mean in Canada, the only sport in which there is a system of categorical development from the grass roots is hockey. If you look at Europe, they have academies set up by professional clubs in which kids live and breath the sport (particularly soccer, basketball, hockey, and rugby). This is the exact reason why countries like Spain have so much success on the international basketball stage since they maximize upon the limited interest of the sport. On a per capita basis, I have no doubt in my mind that there is more interest and participation regarding baksetball in Canada than there is in Spain. The difference seems to be the development system, which Canada is lacking. Having played basketball in highschool, I can vouch to the fact that the level of competitiveness is amateurish if compared with European academies. Same can apply to Sweden with hockey, thus the reason why they are able to win international tournaments.

I would be bored to tears in a society completely and wholly devoted to sports, and little else. To me sports are part of a society, but simply one component.

Of course, but you could say that about anything. I'd be bored to tears in a society completely and wholly devoted to any one thing. That doesn't make sports unimportant.

Koolio:

I'll try and dig that study up. There were many considerations, but I'll summarize some of the major points. You are quite correct to point out that it is easier to win in winter sports than summer because there is simply more competition in most summer sports. An opposing argument is that Canada is bound to fair worse at an event like the Commonwealth Games which are geared to countries like England and Australia. If a huge bulk of our best athletes are funneled into winter sports or sports not contested at the Commonwealth Games, is that a fair benchmark to gauge national standing? No. Rugby 7's? Netball? Most Canadians don't even know what netball is. Where are our sports? The Commonwealth Games are only a good benchmark for those sports contested, not sporting success in general.

It is often argued that winter sports shouldn't be included because many nations don't have snow, ice, mountains, or the money to fund such sports. At first glance it seems reasonable, but not once you look closer. Holland wins a truck load of medals at the Winter Olympics and they have no mountains, little snow or ice. Sunny Australia don't seem to think it's an obstacle either. They have shaken off traditional views that they can't compete, and begun to invest in winter sports with dramatic results in just 5 years. They are now set to contend in aerials and moguls. They plan to systematically tackle one winter sport after another.

Do you need cold weather for hockey, figure skating, speed skating, or curling? No. You just need an arena. It's true you need money, but that is true of any sport at the elite level. The cries of foul are no more valid than Canada complaining we aren't summery enough to be good at swimming. Baloney!

What I did was use the results of the 2006 Commonwealth Games as a starting point. I then used the 2006 Winter Olympics results as a good template for winter sports contested on a world stage. Results were tabulated for gold, silver, and bronze omitting all results from non-Commonwealth nations to duplicate closely what a medals table would look like if these disciplines were contested at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

One problem was the fact that the UK competes as England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Island, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Jersey at the Commonwealth Games, but as one nation at the Olympics. This problem was mitigated to a large extent by the almost total absence of any UK athletes comprising a top 3 in the Commonwealth in any of the winter disciplines.

Using this system, Canada not surprisingly won over 90% of the medals in winter sports if the competition was other Commonwealth nations. The results of winter sports contested were added to the summer sports contested, in this case the 2006 Commonwealth Games results, to arrive at a new total.

Canada leapt to undisputed #1 in the Commonwealth by every measure. #1 in golds, #1 in silvers, #1 in bronzes, and #1 in total medals won. Australia was a distant 2nd, and England got obliterated. A fair measure? I believe it is fair, because every nation is free to compete in any sport they desire. If Australians don't have much interest in hockey or skating, that's not Canada's fault. Conversely, if Canada doesn't have much interest in netball or rugby 7's, that's not Australia's fault. We're both rich nations and have equal opportunities for success in all sports. It's all a matter of interest, determination to succeed, and money.

The conclusion: We really should put to bed the idea that Australia is a more successful sporting nation. They may be a sports powerhouse, but no more so than Canada.

As far as supporting sport domestically: Go SMU and Acadia. Our national college basketball championships are this weekend! Now here's a good place for us to start if we are serious about making a cultural shift in how we view Canadian sport.

I don't think there is any society in the world that is completely devoted to sports but some do take it far more seriously than us and it translates into success on the international stage. Personally I have a very diverse interest in sports and I too view it more along the lines of entertainment than anything else (so I'm most possibly criticizing myself, among millions of other Canadians, for the reason why Canada does not do as well as it ought too in many sports) but I honestly believe that the government needs to support the nations sporting ventures as it has many obvious benefits. What I find absurd is that the government pulls the purse strings whenever it is truly needed, where as it doesn't seem nearly as stingy when it comes to hockey. About a year ago the Federal government agreed to set aside tens of millions of dollars for a sporting complex around Calgary dedicated to.....you guessed it....hockey. I found it preposterous that a sport that can easily attract corporate support has an even easier time attracting government support, where as other sports are just left by the wayside.

I would be bored to tears in a society completely and wholly devoted to sports, and little else. To me sports are part of a society, but simply one component.

The problem is sport isn't even part of our society, it's hardly a component of what makes us Canadian. Loving a single sport, hockey, does not count.

The Aussies are also big on theatre, performing arts, etc. But like sports, we aren't either.

I'm not saying sports are unimportant. I just think the more varied the cultural scene, the better, that's all. I enjoy sports, but only part of a broad scene.

I'm not saying sports are unimportant. I just think the more varied the cultural scene, the better, that's all. I enjoy sports, but only part of a broad scene.

I agree too....sports is one component of culture. But we don't have that. And with regards to having a varied culture scene, we don't have that either.

The problem is sport isn't even part of our society, it's hardly a component of what makes us Canadian. Loving a single sport, hockey, does not count.

The Aussies are also big on theatre, performing arts, etc. But like sports, we aren't either.

I would take it even further by suggesting that Canadians actually love a single league...the NHL. In Toronto, the supposed hockey mecca of the world, hockey teams not called the Leafs have a tough time attracting anything that resembles a crowd.

In London, there are 5 teams in Premier League (all of whom are supported well) but in addition, there are countless teams in the lower leagues (QPR, Milwall, Leyton etc) who all have great loyal support. This is why I laugh whenever a Canadian suggests that hockey is to Canada what Football is to England.

^^ "And with regards to having a varied culture scene, we don't have that either."

But it is happening, mr x!! It appears the present provincial government of BC has an enlightened attitude toward the arts and will finally be putting some serious money into improving cultural institutions! :cheers:

( I draw attention to this rather exciting thread:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=588464)

^ it's a start, but we have a long long way to go.

It is a very good, if long overdue.. start. Also the museum needs very seriously to work on it's collection. The building is only the shell... the heart of it is the collection. Museums like the Guggenheim are beautiful shells for an exquisite collection.

I don't think there is any society in the world that is completely devoted to sports but some do take it far more seriously than us and it translates into success on the international stage. Personally I have a very diverse interest in sports and I too view it more along the lines of entertainment than anything else (so I'm most possibly criticizing myself, among millions of other Canadians, for the reason why Canada does not do as well as it ought too in many sports) but I honestly believe that the government needs to support the nations sporting ventures as it has many obvious benefits. What I find absurd is that the government pulls the purse strings whenever it is truly needed, where as it doesn't seem nearly as stingy when it comes to hockey. About a year ago the Federal government agreed to set aside tens of millions of dollars for a sporting complex around Calgary dedicated to.....you guessed it....hockey. I found it preposterous that a sport that can easily attract corporate support has an even easier time attracting government support, where as other sports are just left by the wayside.

True, no society is completely devoted to sports, but their are instances where some societies are too obsessed with one to the detriment of other facets of life. Soccer in many parts of Europe and South America are so ingrained that all other sports suffer and the obsession effects daily life there. That is not healthy especially when the appeal is solely as a spectator and not a participant. It's good that hockey is taken seriously, but we need more balance for sure. Not just balance in the opportunities we build in many sports, but making regular active participation a reality.

What we should be fostering is a culture of sport. Regular participation by all should be the central incubator. Besides the obvious health benefits, we would develop a vested interest in sport as an integral part of life, and encourage the development of a strong sport infrastructure that benefits all Canadians.

It's our low level of importance that we give to sport that translates into poor showings at the elite level internationally. If we took basketball and swimming seriously as a worthwhile endeavour we would be more competitive on the world stage. The problem is that we approach sport in an amateurish way. We, as a society, tackle way too many things in life with this mentality. It's not just sports, but the way we run our industries, to design, and until recently, even our military.

Look what has been achieved at the Winter Olympics since Calgary 1988. What changed was a huge shift in how we viewed sports. Before it was only hockey that we took seriously. If we are going to do something, lets do things properly. This is the new mantra. Compete to win, don't just show up unprepared. From no golds in Calgary to possibly #1 nation in 2010 is a dramatic turn around. We are now seeing successes in sports like swimming and hopefully many others. This maturity is now transcending winter sports and seeping into many other areas of Canadian life from design, to how we run our business and organizations, to our adoption of technology and innovation to advance our society.

All of society can learn a great deal from lessons learned in sports. We are only now starting to run our affairs in a sophisticated, professional, and purposeful manner. The results have been impressive already.

I would take it even further by suggesting that Canadians actually love a single league...the NHL. In Toronto, the supposed hockey mecca of the world, hockey teams not called the Leafs have a tough time attracting anything that resembles a crowd.

In London, there are 5 teams in Premier League (all of whom are supported well) but in addition, there are countless teams in the lower leagues (QPR, Milwall, Leyton etc) who all have great loyal support. This is why I laugh whenever a Canadian suggests that hockey is to Canada what Football is to England.

There virtually no leafs fans in Toronto proper. It's basically just the 905. Toronto is such a scape goat.

It's your favourite time of year if you're a Nova Scotian: college basketball championships! The tournament has moved to Ottawa after a 23 year run in Halifax. This is good for the development of college basketball in the rest of Canada, but the fact remains that Ottawa is NOT a college basketball town of the same calibre as Halifax. In fact, I have yet to see any city in Canada that matches Halifax is this respect. You have to go to the USA to find college basketball interest like exists in Halifax.

In Ontario you have to dig and dig and dig to find one article about the national championships. Ask someone who their favourite team is and they name a team in a foreign country or have no answer at all.

I hope interest builds dramatically in Ottawa and Ontario over the next few years, but we have a long way to go. The quarterfinals should draw 10,000 fans. 2,500 is pathetic. Ontario think they are big college basketball fans. To a Haligonian, that is a joke!

**********************************************

Congratulations Acadia in your quarterfinal win. Laval was no match. :) Unfortunately, it looks like you're about to get hit by a truck called Carleton University. Carleton's a fantastic team having beaten Alabama this year and losing to Illinois in overtime. I don't see anyone knocking them off. That said, it will be great for the sport in this country to have Carleton win the national championship at home. Although I'll be rooting for Acadia at a pub tonight, I won't be too upset if Carleton reach the final. Grudgingly, go Ravens! Um, no, I just can't do it. Go Axemen!

:cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

It's your favourite time of year if you're a Nova Scotian: college basketball championships! The tournament has moved to Ottawa after a 23 year run in Halifax. This is good for the development of college basketball in the rest of Canada, but the fact remains that Ottawa is NOT a college basketball town of the same calibre as Halifax. In fact, I have yet to see any city in Canada that matches Halifax is this respect. You have to go to the USA to find college basketball interest like exists in Halifax.

In Ontario you have to dig and dig and dig to find one article about the national championships. Ask someone who their favourite team is and they name a team in a foreign country or have no answer at all.

I hope interest builds dramatically in Ottawa and Ontario over the next few years, but we have a long way to go. The quarterfinals should draw 10,000 fans. 2,500 is pathetic. Ontario think they are big college basketball fans. To a Haligonian, that is a joke!

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Congratulations Acadia in your quarterfinal win. Laval was no match. :) Unfortunately, it looks like you're about to get hit by a truck called Carleton University. Carleton's a fantastic team having beaten Alabama this year and losing to Illinois in overtime. I don't see anyone knocking them off. That said, it will be great for the sport in this country to have Carleton win the national championship at home. Although I'll be rooting for Acadia at a pub tonight, I won't be too upset if Carleton reach the final. Grudgingly, go Ravens! Um, no, I just can't do it. Go Axemen!

:cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

Well at present most Canadian cities are not college basketball cities. Why should they be. Hosting the finals in Halifax for so long was a disgrace to the rest of the country. The Vanier Cup has been moved around the country, Same with Hockey, Volleyball, etc. The only way to really grow these sports is to bring them to the people.

I would go to that, unfortunately I live in TO.

Thank the Hockey gods Sundin didn't want to leave Toronto! According to RDS.ca(and the Toronto Sun) apparently the Habs were willing to Offer Higgins plus 3 draft picks(1st round, 2nd round and 3rd round) for Sundin. That would have been one of the worst trades in history. I doubt the veracity of these claims made by the Sun. Gainey isn,t stupid. He knows Sundin would be gone by July 1st.

I'm just glad that the Hockey gods are watching over my team to make sure none of these stupid trades took place!:cheers::banana:


Lundi 17 mars 2008

http://www.rds.ca/hockey/chroniques/248085.html

Mats Sundin, S'il avait accepté de lever sa clause de non-échange, le centre Mats Sundin des Maple Leafs de Toronto serait un membre du Canadien de Montréal aujourd'hui.

Selon le Toronto Sun, le Suédois avait été échangé au Tricolore à la date limite des transactions en retour de Christopher Higgins et de trois choix au repêchage. On parle d'un choix de première, un de deuxième et un de troisième ronde. Le capitaine des Leafs a toutefois refusé de laisser tomber sa clause de non-échange.

Le défenseur Tomas Kaberle avait aussi refusé de laisser tomber sa clause de non-échange sinon, c'est avec les Flyers de Philadelphie qu'il serait aujourd'hui.

Kaberle serait passé aux Flyers en retour de Jeff Carter et d'un premier choix au repêchage.

En d'autres mots, si ces vétérans des Leafs avaient accepté d'aller jouer sous d'autres cieux, Fletcher, grâce à d'autres échanges réalisés, aurait notamment obtenu deux jeunes joueurs et trois choix de première ronde.

Fletcher a néanmoins réussi à se départir de Hal Gill, Chad Kilger et Wade Belak à la date limite en retour de choix de repêchage.

Well at present most Canadian cities are not college basketball cities. Why should they be. Hosting the finals in Halifax for so long was a disgrace to the rest of the country. The Vanier Cup has been moved around the country, Same with Hockey, Volleyball, etc. The only way to really grow these sports is to bring them to the people.

Agree with all that, but you don't need to host the national tournament to be a great college basketball city. The tournament surely helps, but every city and town with a team has the opportunity to host conference playoffs and finals. It has just never matured anywhere the way it has in Halifax.

Having 3 perennial national contenders within 2 hours of Halifax and a local media that devote a good amount of coverage to these teams was crucial. Add another Halifax program, Dalhousie, to the mix, and a high school culture that lives and breathes basketball and football, and you have a few generations of citizens that follow college basketball and football above all other sports. I went through grade school and university in Halifax and never stepped foot in an ice-hockey arena. Neighbourhood kids dreamt of playing basketball or football for Acadia, SMU, or X. Everything else was rather secondary.

It was sad to see the Final 8 leave Halifax, but even Haligonians recognize the need for this tournament to be shared with the rest of Canada.

The Acadia - Carleton game was fantastic, but my hat goes off to Brock. Congratulations. A well deserved win.

This may not be terribly important to some but the Canada cricket team has some good news. The Sri Lanka Cricket board is going to "adopt" the Canadian team. An agreement between the Canadian Cricket Association(formed in 1892 interestingly) and Sri Lanka Cricket will see them assuming the responsibility of nurturing the Canadian side to the highest international level. This is similar to what Australia did for Bangladesh on their way to becoming a Test country. I think this is just what Canada needed to help it get up to Test status one day. http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=9451



Some Canada cricket team info(I'm bored so humour me:)) -

Canada currently is an 'Associate' country(everything below Test) with 'One Day International'(ODI) status in the top Division 1(total of 5 divs) which is the second highest division after the top 10 countries holding 'Test' status. Only those top-ten are granted to play the traditional format of Test cricket, the pinnacle of the sport and where all countries vie to be.

Its ranking is 15th in the world out of around 100 countries and no. 1 in the Americas. In Division 1 Canada is ranked 5th behind Ireland, Kenya, Scotland, Netherlands, and have already advanced to the World Cup qualifiers in '09 for the 2011 World Cup. Canada previously qualified for the past two WCs.

Canada will be joined by 11 other nations for the final qualifying bit with only the top 6 teams advancing to WC and keeping ODI status for the next four years. Very important but Canada should do fine. Rivals USA aren't so lucky as they are way down in the bottom Division 5 and don't have a snowballs chance in hell of competing up in Division 1 for quite some time.


*The Test teams in the world plus Ireland, Kenya(< the only 2 non-Test but Full member ODI classed countries) also play in an ongoing One Day International Championship(the LG ODI Championship) which Canada would like to join so it can become a Full member and gain experience so it can one day gain Test status. So the exciting part is how does Canada progress to this contest?

Right now Canada is in a table with Scot, Neth, Berm. They need to either beat 2 Full-ODI classed countries(the 10 Test countries plus Ireland and Kenya) or beat 1 Full-ODI country and beat the other three countries 60% of the time. Once an Associate has played at least 10 matches in total, it has the opportunity to be promoted to the main ODI table. It's updated every August but points are based on the previous 3 years. So far Scotland is doing well at 61% while Canada is at 31%(8 wins 18 losses) and 4 losses to Full-members.

Canada could manage to get wins off of Full-member Ireland, as they were just promoted, but would probably have difficulty beating anything above that. They did beat Bangladesh at the WC but they will need to get their wins more than likely off of the other 3 teams in the table. In June and July 2008, Canada will host Bermuda for three ODIs and also non-ODI matches against Bermuda and Scotland. In August, Canada will travel to Ireland for an ODI. If Canada could pull a win against Ireland it would be heavy.


ODI countries - 10 Test countries + Kenya, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland.

Full ODI status - 10 Test countries(permanent) + Ireland, Kenya(these 12 are able to play in the LG ODI Champion.) Ireland advanced to Full status and the Championship due to it beating 2 Test countries last year.

ODI status = any match played between two such teams under standard one-day rules is classified as an ODI. In ODI matches you will see teams where their coloured kits.

Test status = A "first-class cricket" match is one of three or more days duration between two sides of eleven players officially adjudged first-class. Each side may have two innings. Test cricket has teams wear the traditional white kits.

Footy news! The details of Toronto FC, Whitecaps FC, and Montreal Impact qualifying tourney for Champions League is released.

Canadian teams set to do battle

Now that the CONCACAF Champions League involving 24 clubs has replaced the eight-team CONCACAF Champions' Cup, the Canadian representative will be determined by the tournament involving Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

Each team will play the other in a home-and-away format. The first game, on May 27, will pit Toronto FC against the Montreal Impact at the new Stade Saputo in Montreal. The final game will be Montreal's visit to BMO Field in Toronto on July 22. Vancouver will be at Toronto on July 1, and TFC will visit Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C., on July 9. Vancouver will visit Montreal on June 17 with the return game on June 25. The winner of the Canada Cup will go on to the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League, which will involve 16 of the 24 teams in the competition.

The winners of the preliminary round will join the eight seeded teams in the group stage. The round-robin group matches will be played from Sept. 16 to Oct. 30. The quarter-finals will be in February of 2009 with the semi-finals in March and the final in April.

The CONCACAF Champions League will have four clubs each from Mexico and the United States, two each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, one club from Canada, Belize and Nicaragua and three clubs from Caribbean islands.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080327.TORFC27/TPStory/Sports



In other football news. Canada lost to Estonia yesterday 2 nil in a friendly on a snowy pitch in Tallinn. Fulham's(albeit on loan from Spurs) Paul Stalteri unfortunately had a ball go off his chest and it went in for an own goal. World Cup qualifying starts June 15 at Saint Vincent & the Grenadines.

My beloved England lost yesterday in France 1 nil. I felt England played the better match but France got lucky with a penalty. Even France defender said, "They play very strong and they were very compact. For me, England are back."

Congrats to all those who qualified for Beijing at the Swimming Nationals in Montreal. Finally, it looks like Canada is starting to claw back to respectability after 25 years in no man's land. Perhaps a silver in the men's 4X200 relay? A gold in the men's 100 free? Erica Morningstar, Savannah King, Julia Wilkinson, Audrey LaCroix, Mike Brown, Colin Russell, Ryan Cochrane, and a whole lot more. Things are looking up.

For a swimmer, I've been waiting a long long time for this. Perhaps, another 10 years and we'll be on par with the Australians, just like we were in the early 80's.

The summer athletes really need to have their own Own the Podium program.....look at what Own the Podium 2010 has done for our winter athletes at World Cups and Championships. The same can be replicated for our summer athletes.

This has me really excited! I was never a soccer fan until I went to a couple of U-20 games at the Big O last summer. My Colombian and German buddies explained the finer points to me and I think I've found a sport to tide me over between hockey seasons.
The new Saputo stadium which opens this spring was built to be expandable from 13,000 to 20,000 seats and you couldn't ask for better financial partners than Joe Saputo and George Gillet. The word in the soccer community pegs this as a sure thing.
Olé olé olé olé olé!!


Gillett, Saputo try to bring MLS team to Montreal
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 | 1:37 PM ET Comments0Recommend12
The Canadian Press
Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett has teamed up with the Montreal Impact in a bid for a Major League Soccer franchise, Impact president Joey Saputo said Wednesday.

"I can confirm that we are in discussions with Gillett Entertainment Group as well as with Major League Soccer to bring an MLS franchise to Montreal," Saputo said in a statement.

"However, I am currently in no position to share any more details, since doing so would jeopardize the process."

Montreal La Presse reported that they hope to call the team Montreal FC and begin play in the 2009 season.

The Impact currently play in the United Soccer League First Division — one division below MLS.

The two would split the $30-million franchise fee as well as a $12-million expansion of Saputo Stadium from 13,000 to 20,000 seats, the report said.

The privately financed facility near Olympic Stadium in the city's east end is set to open this season.

The report said Gillett's company and Saputo informed MLS of their interest in a letter on March 12.

Gillett became majority owner of the Canadiens in 2001. In 2007, he teamed with Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks to purchase English soccer giant Liverpool and a few months later became majority owner of the Gillett-Evernham NASCAR team.

© The Canadian Press, 2008

The summer athletes really need to have their own Own the Podium program.....look at what Own the Podium 2010 has done for our winter athletes at World Cups and Championships. The same can be replicated for our summer athletes.

There is slowly momentum building for this view point. For far too long, it was only hockey that Canada aimed to be #1 in. That is an adequate goal for a hockey team, but not an entire nation.

You are bang on to point out our success with Own the Podium. We should aim to be #1 in every endeavour. Massive strides have been made in winter sports in only a few years. It goes to show how successful our nation can be when we stop thinking it's enough just to show up.

Canada will do well in 2010. Our summer athletes deserve equal opportunities. Canada does have a summer version of Own the Podiium. It is called the Road to Excellence plan. It hasn't been supported by government properly, but the winter sports system is beginning to rub off on the summer sport system.

Swimming seems to be the first major sport to show signs of rejuvenation. Hopefully, athletics, basketball, volleyball, and all the rest will eventually benefit in the same way. I'm really tired of losing to tiny Australia all the time.

Australia benefits from being able to concentrate all of it's resources on it's summer team and with 2/3rds of our population they're hardly tiny. New Zealand is tiny.

We can't lavish money on every sport, we're simply not big enough to excel in everything, but we can do a better job of funding our areas of strength on both the summer and winter teams.

It is true that Australia is hardly tiny, but it was meant more as an eye opener. Australia is a smaller country than Canada, but they have been beating us at the Summer Olympics almost since it's inception. Only in the first few decades and a momentary blip in the 70's and 80's, have we been able to give them much competition. It shouldn't matter if they devote most of their funds to summer sports. We should be beating them. They are rivaling countries like Germany! I guarantee you that Australia doesn't concede defeat to Germany because they have 3 times the resources.

At one point you argue that Australia isn't tiny because they are almost as big as Canada. Then you follow up by saying that Canada isn't big enough for this or that. It is precisely excuses like this that need to end. We're not Greenland. We are a big country that can excel at many many sports, and not just winter sports. Most summer sports are contested indoors, or can be trained for indoors. It is such a cop out when I hear people say that we are a winter country so we shouldn't do well at swimming or cycling. I'm not suggesting that you are arguing that, but the argument is a load of shit.

Excuses are for losers and a self-fulfilling prophecy. We have 50% more people than them. A 50% larger economy. We have 50% more resources. What is killing us is this defeatist mentality where we settle for just showing up, and a culture that doesn't demand excellence in everything we do. It doesn't matter if we can't fund absolutely everything. You at least try. Here, the mentality seems to be to give up before you even start. It's really pathetic.

Alex Baumann left Canada to build Australia into the swim power it is today. He left because of Canada's loser mentality to any sport that wasn't hockey. He came back because he sensed Canada was developing an insistence on excellence no matter what it was. We can do this. A cultural shift needs to take place though, and not just in sports.

I LOVE TFC!

It is true that Australia is hardly tiny, but it was meant more as an eye opener. Australia is a smaller country than Canada, but they have been beating us at the Summer Olympics almost since it's inception. Only in the first few decades and a momentary blip in the 70's and 80's, have we been able to give them much competition.

It is precisely the type of excuses that you are providing that we need to end. It is so tiring to hear them over and over again. Yes, but this. Yes, but that. We have 50% more people than them. A 50% larger economy. We have 50% more resources. What is killing us is this defeatist mentality where we settle for just showing up, and a culture that doesn't demand excellence in everything we do.

It doesn't matter if we can't fund absolutely everything. You at least try. Here the mentality seems to be to give up before you even start. It's really pathetic.

It's not being defeatest to admit that we can't excel at EVERY sport, more like realistic. Yes we're 50% bigger but we also have a winter program. The Aussies don't.

Australia has a year-round summer climate so it's only natural that they excel at the summer olympics. Do you think that they're defeatest because they don't try to challenge our supremacy at the winter olympics? Even the Australians don't fund every sport equally, they play to their strengths.

By spreading the money around equally amongst all sports, we only weaken our teams that do have a chance. We should identify our areas of concentration and fund those to the hilt. Trying to do everything will only ensure mediocrity in everything and smaller countries will continue to kick our ass in the summer olympics.

It is true that Australia is hardly tiny, but it was meant more as an eye opener. Australia is a smaller country than Canada, but they have been beating us at the Summer Olympics almost since it's inception. Only in the first few decades and a momentary blip in the 70's and 80's, have we been able to give them much competition. It shouldn't matter if they devote most of their funds to summer sports. We should be beating them. They are rivaling countries like Germany! I guarantee you that Australia doesn't concede defeat to Germany because they have 3 times the resources.

At one point you argue that Australia isn't tiny because they are almost as big as Canada. Then you follow up by saying that Canada isn't big enough for this or that. It is precisely excuses like this that need to end. We're not Greenland. We are a big country that can excel at many many sports, and not just winter sports. Most summer sports are contested indoors, or can be trained for indoors. It is such a cop out when I hear people say that we are a winter country so we shouldn't do well at swimming or cycling. I'm not suggesting that you are arguing that, but the argument is a load of shit.

Excuses are for losers and a self-fulfilling prophecy. We have 50% more people than them. A 50% larger economy. We have 50% more resources. What is killing us is this defeatist mentality where we settle for just showing up, and a culture that doesn't demand excellence in everything we do. It doesn't matter if we can't fund absolutely everything. You at least try. Here, the mentality seems to be to give up before you even start. It's really pathetic.

Alex Baumann left Canada to build Australia into the swim power it is today. He left because of Canada's loser mentality to any sport that wasn't hockey. He came back because he sensed Canada was developing an insistence on excellence no matter what it was. We can do this. A cultural shift needs to take place though, and not just in sports.

Wow. I agree with every single word of that post. And Australia isn't just a great nation in the Summer Olympic sports either. Just look at the number of team sports they excel in. Even in sports such as Basketball and Lacrosse, something that Canadians should be infinitely better than them in considering how we created the game, the gap between the two nations is negligible, if Australia doesn't have the advantage.

However, I will concede the fact that in terms of sports, Australia punches way above its weight. I would consider them a global leader in that regard. Aside from the linguistic similarities and what not, Australia is light years ahead of not just Canada but about 99% of the world.

It's not being defeatest to admit that we can't excel at EVERY sport, more like realistic. Yes we're 50% bigger but we also have a winter program. The Aussies don't.

Australia has a year-round summer climate so it's only natural that they excel at the summer olympics. Do you think that they're defeatest because they don't try to challenge our supremacy at the winter olympics? Even the Australians don't fund every sport equally, they play to their strengths.

By spreading the money around equally amongst all sports, we only weaken our teams that do have a chance. We should identify our areas of concentration and fund those to the hilt. Trying to do everything will only ensure mediocrity in everything and smaller countries will continue to kick our ass in the summer olympics.

I don't think the Winter Olympics is as resource intensive as you are making it out to be. In terms of global participation, it is only a fraction of the Summer Olympics, so treating both events as being equal yet opposite is like implying that the Superbowl is of the same stature as the FIFA World Cup. Both are great events in their own regard but when you compare the number of people + countries participating in the sport of football as opposed to the number of people participating in the sport of soccer, it really becomes apparent that winning one event should not be nearly as prestigious as winning the other.

In addition, Australia has an extremely diverse sporting portfolio. Clearly they are not tending to their strengths exclusively. If they did, they would only be good in Australian Rules Football or Rugby. It would be foolish of them to give up on, say, sports like Cricket, in which it has to compete directly with the cricket mad juggernaut that is India.

I don't think the Winter Olympics is as resource intensive as you are making it out to be. In terms of global participation, it is only a fraction of the Summer Olympics, so treating both events as being equal yet opposite is like implying that the Superbowl is of the same stature as the FIFA World Cup. Both are great events in their own regard but when you compare the number of people + countries participating in the sport of football as opposed to the number of people participating in the sport of soccer, it really becomes apparent that winning one event should not be nearly as prestigious as winning the other.

In addition, Australia has an extremely diverse sporting portfolio. Clearly they are not tending to their strengths exclusively. If they did, they would only be good in Australian Rules Football or Rugby. It would be foolish of them to give up on, say, sports like Cricket, in which it has to compete directly with the cricket mad juggernaut that is India.

I'm not treating the Winter Olympics as equal in terms of global participation but you must remember that winter sports require much more in the way of funding than do summer sports. Think hockey compared to soccer or skiing compared to track. Winter sports require specialised equipment and facillities which summer sports do not. Therefore, although the Winter Olympic team may not include the same amount of athletes as the Summer Olympics, the cost per athlete is probably 2 or 3 times higher.

At Athens 2004 there were 40 medal categories. The Australians won 49 medals but only in 15 of those categories. Of those 15 categories, they won multiple medals in only 7. Of their 17 gold medals, they won 14 in just 2: the pool and cycling. They won 31 of their 49 medals in those 2 categories and a further 6 in other water sports; canoe/kayak and rowing, for a total of 37 of 49 in water sports and cycling. So please, don't tell me that they aren't playing to their strengths!! It's not as if they won 1 or 2 medals in each of the 40 categories.

I lived in Oz for a year and a more beautiful country or wonderful, easy-going people you could never ask for. Aussies live in the water. Almost everyone has a backyard pool, or at least easy access to one, 365 days a year. 90% of the population live within a half-hour of some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. You can ride your bike there year-round and athletes can train on open air tracks year-round. Australia has recognised that they have a natural advantage in these areas and spent the bulk of their Olympic funding developing strong teams in events that they know that can win and have IGNORED THE REST.

I say that we emulate the Aussie recipe for success and direct the bulk of our funding to the development of sports that we have either a history of success in or a realistic expectation of future success in. The splatter gun approach that you two have; let's be great in everything, is a surefire recipe for disaster and a guarantee of perpetual mediocrity in everything.

BTW, Aussie Rules, Cricket and Rugby are not Olympic sports so your inclusion of them in this conversation is somewhat.. irrelevant. I too hope that our camel racing team will someday unseat the Saudi Arabians, I just hope that we don't redirect funding from the swim team in order to attempt to do so.

We should all do a Waltzing Matilda

We should all do a Waltzing Matilda

Hey mr.x! I thought you were in semi-retirement? I hope the marks aren't suffering!

It's not being defeatest to admit that we can't excel at EVERY sport, more like realistic. Yes we're 50% bigger but we also have a winter program. The Aussies don't.

Australia has a year-round summer climate so it's only natural that they excel at the summer olympics. Do you think that they're defeatest because they don't try to challenge our supremacy at the winter olympics? Even the Australians don't fund every sport equally, they play to their strengths.

By spreading the money around equally amongst all sports, we only weaken our teams that do have a chance. We should identify our areas of concentration and fund those to the hilt. Trying to do everything will only ensure mediocrity in everything and smaller countries will continue to kick our ass in the summer olympics.

It is defeatist not to try. If you don't even try, you certainly won't ever succeed. You are correct that we can't be #1 in everything, but we seem to be accepting the other extreme: just winter sports. There is not one summer olympic sport that Canada is at a disadvantage in because of climate. Not one! Swimming, athletics, and almost every other sport are trained for indoors for the most part. Other sports like rowing can be trained for outdoors 8 months of the year in this country. If it was -10C 12 months a year in this country, may be we would have a substantial disadvantage, but that's not the case. It's more a case of excuses piled upon excuses.

Australia doesn't have a winter sports program? That would be no excuse for doing poorly at the Winter Olympics. It would be their own choice. You are misinformed, however. Australia does have a winter sports program. They may not be a land of snow and ice, but they have publicly stated that it is no excuse for Australia to do poorly at the Winter Olympics. Tired of the excuses, 10 years ago they started turning their attention to winter sports. They won their first Winter Olympics medals only recently, and are now considered the ones to beat in aerials.

They have stated their intention to tackle one winter sport after another and build Australia into a winter sports contender. We could learn a great deal from their winner mentality. They don't accept defeat because they are a smaller country or a hot country. They go out there to win every time. They might not succeed, but they do everything they can to win. They concede to no one. Of course, certain countries have traditional strengths. So what? I am not suggesting that we shouldn't be smart about this, but it is defeatist when Canadians argue that we can't compete in swimming because we are a winter sports country. That is garbage. We beat the Aussies in the pool in '78 and in '84. We can beat them again, but not unless attitudes change. They are finally changing in swimming, and it shows.

I understand your arguments, but they are more a result of you being Canadian. We live next to a dominant super power. We grow up accepting that they will probably come first, and we should be content with what we get. I wouldn't be having this conversation with the average Australian. They lose to us in speed skating, but that isn't because they have a warmer climate. It's because they haven't tried yet. I fully expect to see Aussies at the Oval in 2010.

The splatter gun approach that you two have; let's be great in everything, is a surefire recipe for disaster and a guarantee of perpetual mediocrity in everything.


No one is advocating a splatter gun approach. Of course we have to recognize our strengths and capitalize on them. No country will be #1 at everything. What I can not accept is this widespread lack of confidence in the abilities of this country. We aren't willing to try nearly hard enough, but very content to make this excuse or that excuse.

I can respect a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 20th place finish, if an effort is made. What I will never have respect for are people that don't even try because they think they can't do it. Rather that admit that they lack drive, they make excuses for themselves.

You talk about ending up being mediocre in everything if you try and do everything. Satisfaction with mediocrity is what causes mediocrity. You talk to successful people in any field, and they are people that face obstacles, but over come them. Star open water (10 km races in a lake or ocean) swimmer, Tanya Hunks, missed the Beijing Olympic trials because of illness. Instead of conceding defeat, she entered the distance events (800 m) at the swimming trials this weekend and qualified for Beijing that way. A reporter asked her why she didn't just give up. Her response sums it all up: "YOU FIND A WAY"

She's an inspiration to us all. Canada needs more people like Tanya Hunks.

I'm not treating the Winter Olympics as equal in terms of global participation but you must remember that winter sports require much more in the way of funding than do summer sports. Think hockey compared to soccer or skiing compared to track. Winter sports require specialised equipment and facillities which summer sports do not. Therefore, although the Winter Olympic team may not include the same amount of athletes as the Summer Olympics, the cost per athlete is probably 2 or 3 times higher.

At Athens 2004 there were 40 medal categories. The Australians won 49 medals but only in 15 of those categories. Of those 15 categories, they won multiple medals in only 7. Of their 17 gold medals, they won 14 in just 2: the pool and cycling. They won 31 of their 49 medals in those 2 categories and a further 6 in other water sports; canoe/kayak and rowing, for a total of 37 of 49 in water sports and cycling. So please, don't tell me that they aren't playing to their strengths!! It's not as if they won 1 or 2 medals in each of the 40 categories.

I lived in Oz for a year and a more beautiful country or wonderful, easy-going people you could never ask for. Aussies live in the water. Almost everyone has a backyard pool, or at least easy access to one, 365 days a year. 90% of the population live within a half-hour of some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. You can ride your bike there year-round and athletes can train on open air tracks year-round. Australia has recognised that they have a natural advantage in these areas and spent the bulk of their Olympic funding developing strong teams in events that they know that can win and have IGNORED THE REST.

I say that we emulate the Aussie recipe for success and direct the bulk of our funding to the development of sports that we have either a history of success in or a realistic expectation of future success in. The splatter gun approach that you two have; let's be great in everything, is a surefire recipe for disaster and a guarantee of perpetual mediocrity in everything.

BTW, Aussie Rules, Cricket and Rugby are not Olympic sports so your inclusion of them in this conversation is somewhat.. irrelevant. I too hope that our camel racing team will someday unseat the Saudi Arabians, I just hope that we don't redirect funding from the swim team in order to attempt to do so.

I think its somewhat glib to assume that you can win medals in Summer Olympics without any high tech equipment. Even though swimming is probably much less resource intensive than figure skating for a person like you and I, to make it seem as if you all you need to do is find a swimming pool to train is kinda simplifying it a notch. Booking an ice rink is probably more expensive than booking a swimming pool but swimmers require the same training equipment that any athlete in the world requires. In addition, the coaches also require expensive equipment and softwares to gauge the talent of their swimmers and to concoct their training regimens and what not.

And I don't see why you need to disregard the sports in which Australia did not win multiple medals or a gold medal and sports that involve water. When you are judging Canada's performance in the Winter Olympics, do you bunch all the sports in categories like "ice" or "snow"?

Also, it seems that you failed to comprehend the reason why I brought up other non-Olympic sports. That was to display the fact that Australia manages to achieve success in many sports, even though logic would dictate that their talent pool would do nothing but thin by doing that. Their government doesn't just go "Oh wow....how the hell are we ever going to beat Brazil in soccer? Lets stop funding that sport all together." If they stuck with their defeatist attitude, successful initiatives such as the Australian Institute of Sport, something that has benefited EVERY sport in that country (amateur or otherwise), would have never gotten off the ground.

BTW, to state that Australia has no Winter program to speak of would be quite erroneous. Its called the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia.

It is defeatist not to try. If you don't even try, you certainly won't ever succeed. You are correct that we can't be #1 in everything, but we seem to be accepting the other extreme: just winter sports. There is not one summer olympic sport that Canada is at a disadvantage in because of climate. Not one! Swimming, athletics, and almost every other sport are trained for indoors for the most part. Other sports like rowing can be trained for outdoors 8 months of the year in this country. If it was -10C 12 months a year in this country, may be we would have a substantial disadvantage, but that's not the case. It's more a case of excuses piled upon excuses.

Australia doesn't have a winter sports program? That would be no excuse for doing poorly at the Winter Olympics. It would be their own choice. You are misinformed, however. Australia does have a winter sports program. They may not be a land of snow and ice, but they have publicly stated that it is no excuse for Australia to do poorly at the Winter Olympics. Tired of the excuses, 10 years ago they started turning their attention to winter sports. They won their first Winter Olympics medals only recently, and are now considered the ones to beat in aerials.

They have stated their intention to tackle one winter sport after another and build Australia into a winter sports contender. We could learn a great deal from their winner mentality. They don't accept defeat because they are a smaller country or a hot country. They go out there to win every time. They might not succeed, but they do everything they can to win. They concede to no one. Of course, certain countries have traditional strengths. So what? I am not suggesting that we shouldn't be smart about this, but it is defeatist when Canadians argue that we can't compete in swimming because we are a winter sports country. That is garbage. We beat the Aussies in the pool in '78 and in '84. We can beat them again, but not unless attitudes change. They are finally changing in swimming, and it shows.

I understand your arguments, but they are more a result of you being Canadian. We live next to a dominant super power. We grow up accepting that they will probably come first, and we should be content with what we get. I wouldn't be having this conversation with the average Australian. They lose to us in speed skating, but that isn't because they have a warmer climate. It's because they haven't tried yet. I fully expect to see Aussies at the Oval in 2010.

So to make a loooooooooong story short...

Do you agree with my statement "I say that we emulate the Aussie recipe for success" Yes? No?

Since I have never suggested that we can't compete, I will ignore that bit. And it is you, not I who are exhibiting the typical Canadian tendancy to bring the United States into any and all conversations. I'm sorry that you grew up with an inferiority complex. I did not.

I think its somewhat glib to assume that you can win medals in Summer Olympics without any high tech equipment. Even though swimming is probably much less resource intensive than figure skating for a person like you and I, to make it seem as if you all you need to do is find a swimming pool to train is kinda simplifying it a notch. Booking an ice rink is probably more expensive than booking a swimming pool but swimmers require the same training equipment that any athlete in the world requires. In addition, the coaches also require expensive equipment and softwares to gauge the talent of their swimmers and to concoct their training regimens and what not.

And I don't see why you need to disregard the sports in which Australia did not win multiple medals or a gold medal and sports that involve water. When you are judging Canada's performance in the Winter Olympics, do you bunch all the sports in categories like "ice" or "snow"?

Also, it seems that you failed to comprehend the reason why I brought up other non-Olympic sports. That was to display the fact that Australia manages to achieve success in many sports, even though logic would dictate that their talent pool would do nothing but thin by doing that. Their government doesn't just go "Oh wow....how the hell are we ever going to beat Brazil in soccer? Lets stop funding that sport all together." If they stuck with their defeatist attitude, successful initiatives such as the Australian Institute of Sport, something that has benefited EVERY sport in that country (amateur or otherwise), would have never gotten off the ground.

BTW, to state that Australia has no Winter program to speak of would be quite erroneous. Its called the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia.

Nowhere did I state that summer events require no high tech equipment, only that winter events require MORE.

Let's assume that all sports require roughly the same amount of coaching, software and training equipment. They cancel each other out at that level. It's when you move on to the actual playing and competing level and training in the sport itself (not physical conditioning) that winter sports require highly specialised infrastructure and equipment. Consider the requirements of skiing compared to track

Both require sophisticated timing and scorekeeping equipment

Skiing requires:
1 mountain of suitable size
1 ski resort on said mountain
A number of Olympic caliber runs
Ideal weather conditions
Sophisticated snow-making equipment
Helmet, goggles, poles, bindings, suit, boots etc costing many 1,000's of dollars

Track requires:
1 track
Shirt, shoes, shorts

The difference between hockey and soccer requirements are well known. Soccer requires a field, ball and minimal uniform. Hockey requires an arena, ice and 1000's of dollars of equipment.

I'm not disregarding the other sports that Australia won medals in. I'm only trying to illustrate that they won the bulk of their medals in the pool, rowing, and cycling because those are the areas that they chose to concentrate on and those are the sports to which their climate and culture are best suited.

And no smart ass, I don't bunch winter events into ice and snow categories. The pool is a category at the Olympics as is cycling and paddling. Skating is a seperate event from skiing for example and from bobsled. They all have their different sub-categories but they are grouped together as "the swim team","the cycling team", "the ski team", "Canadian skaters" etc.

I comprehend why you brought up the other sports and I consider them irrelevant to the conversation. They are professional league sports and we have many equivalents here that we acheive great success in. We produce some of the best hockey, football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, volleyball.. players in the word. It won't be long before we start producing some great soccer players and we even have a cricket team! For a country of 33 million, we do amazingly well

At any rate, do you agree with my earlier statement "I say that we emulate the Aussie recipe for success " or am I somehow coming accross as a "defeatest" by saying that?

Own the Podium has worked well for the winter team. What we need is for Road to Excellence to be properly funded so that our summer team can excel as well. They shouldn't have to wait until we host another summer Olympics.

At any rate, do you agree with my earlier statement "I say that we emulate the Aussie recipe for success " or am I somehow coming accross as a "defeatest" by saying that?



No I don't agree with that because of what proceeded that statement "...and direct the bulk of our funding to the development of sports that we have either a history of success in or a realistic expectation of future success in." I think thats an ineffective approach and this would lead Canada downwards in the medals standings. Once again, I hate to do be doing it again and again, but Australia has NOT being doing what you just said. Tell me, what history of success do they have in Canadian sports like basketball and lacrosse? That doesn't keep them from funding those sports none the less. It saddens me to see that Australia is about 10 spots above Canada in International Basketball rankings, even though I know for a fact that there is much more interest in basketball here than there ever will be in Australia.

The point I'm trying to get across is quite simple. The government needs to fund its sporting ventures appropriately so that it is able to compete with other countries around the world. I'm not saying that we should fund each and every sport in existence. What should be done is that sports in which there is already grass roots interest in should be funded appropriately at the higher levels of competition. Soccer, being the most participated sport in Canada, deserves proper funding. In its stead, we are left with an extremely dysfunctional and probably corrupt organization that is the CSA. Australia used to have a similar problem with its soccer association but eventually the government intervened and now they are fast approaching the top tier of soccer nations. You might disregard it by calling it a professional sport but the problem with sports in this country is beyond the now arbitrary distinction between amateur and professional forms of competition.

Sorry, I can't get all whipped into a patriotic frenzy over a medal or point count as I don't see it as a reflection of my personal, or national worth. If we had a year round outdoor climate suitable for training and if we poured tons of money into the machine we could get more medals and get into the flag waving patriotism of weighing the pile of medals. Why is that so important, however? I'd rather just see some money go into school sports programmes to encourage physical activity amongst the young and leave the medal counting to other nations. Australia prizes sport, and funds that far more than other cultural or artistic programmes. I like to see a more balanced approach for this country.

World Figure Skating Championships:

Canada won 3 medals, the most.

Mens: Jeffrey Buttle won GOLD, Patrick Chan NINTH!
Dance: Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir won SILVER!
Pairs: Jessica Dube/Bryce Davison won BRONZE, with two other pairs finishing TOP 10!
Ladies: Joannie Rochette FIFTH

Our skating future at Vancouver looks bright!

We look very good in most of the sports on the Winter Program at Vancouver. We're going to top the medal standings!!!

Just in case nobody in the R.O.C. noticed, the Habs (who were supposed to finish 14th according to the so called experts) are the Eastern Conference Champions!!:cheers::banana:

Yeah baby!

Kick some pooh-bear ass tonight!

GO Habs GO!!!!

Drive for 25!!!

LOL!! Go Habs Go!! :banana:

LOL!! Go Habs Go!! :banana:

Yeah baby!!!

15 more wins for 25!!

Bring on game number 2!!!:banana::cheers:

Go Habs Go!!!

The Habs drew the 1st blood and won the game by the score of 4-1.

Canada Wins World Curling Championship


Apr 13, 2008 05:31 PM
Brian McAndrew
Staff reporter

GRAND FORKS, N.D.–Canada's Kevin Martin finally captured his long-awaited men's world curling championship Sunday afternoon with a 6-3 win over Scotland's David Murdoch.

Martin played in the worlds in 1991 and 1997, taking the silver medal in his first appearance, but despite being the all-time money leader on the World Curling Tour, he had never before been able to claim an international gold medal. He could do no better than a silver medal at the 2002 winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

That all changed with the superb play in the final by Martin, third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert.

Canada got the game going with a steal of a single point in the second end that was possible because of the extremely precise shot-making by Morris, who put his second stone on the button behind guards.

Martin held Murdoch to a single point in the third end and played a scoreless fourth end.

Martin played a soft raise-takeout to score two in the fifth end and then made an astounding hit-and-roll to the button in the seventh end that set up a steal of one.

Murdoch scored two in the eighth to close the scoring gap to one point.

Martin blasted a cluster of rocks from play on his last shot of the ninth end to take a 6-3 lead. Murdoch, the 2006 champion, never got to throw his final two rocks in the tenth end after Martin removed the only Scottish stone in the rings with his first shot making it impossible for the Scots to catch up.

It leaves Canada with two world curling championships this year after Jennifer Jones downed China to win the women's tournament two weeks ago in Vernon, B.C.

The Canadian men have now won 31 gold medals since the world championship started in 1959. Scotland increased its silver count to 17 and remains tied with the U.S. with four gold medals.

That is a huge relief.

Damn! the habs lost, but the flames scored 4 unanswered goals to lead the series 2-1.

So to make a loooooooooong story short...

Do you agree with my statement "I say that we emulate the Aussie recipe for success" Yes? No?

Since I have never suggested that we can't compete, I will ignore that bit. And it is you, not I who are exhibiting the typical Canadian tendancy to bring the United States into any and all conversations. I'm sorry that you grew up with an inferiority complex. I did not.

No, I do not agree with your first statement. You can't import a system from one country to another and expect success. You have to tailor a system to your own country.

I brought the US into the conversation, because they are a big influence on our national character whether you want to admit it or not. It plays a central role in why so many Canadians expect to win in so few areas. Ignoring this reality is to ignore the root of the problem. I don't see how you can argue that I have an inferiority complex when I am the one arguing that we are a very capable country and need to stop expecting to win only in a few select areas like hockey.

The links you are clumsily trying to make just don't add up. I brought up the US>>Canadians typically bring up the US>>therefore I have an inferiority complex? This is your logic? Word of advice. When you try to make links that don't exist, your arguments quickly lose validity.

I don't have an inferiority complex. Nice try, but boy are you way off. I grew up in London, UK. Londoners are far from being a people who grow up with an inferiority complex. Quite the contrary, they're probably some of the most confident, bordering on arrogant people you're ever going to meet. Being born to a nation that recently had an empire breeds a populace with a certain sense of entitlement. If anything, I expect too much. I don't accept 2nd place to anyone no matter what the obstacles are. That's hard wired into me whether I like it or not.

It would have been convenient for you to label me that, but you are obviously way off the mark with your assumptions and the links you are trying to make regarding my motivations.

The giants have better win the next game or it would be over for the season!

Who are the Giants?

Local Junior hockey franchise (WHL).

Memo to Canucks fans: Be afraid. Be very afraid

Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, April 16, 2008

We always knew this day was coming, that this outcome was possible. It was ownership's first test.

You be the judge whether Francesco Aquilini and his brothers passed or failed.

Forget the public persona Aquilini presented Tuesday while making it official that Dave Nonis is gone as the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. That's mere cosmetics.

Sure, you'd like to think that the owner of your favourite sports team might be able to express a thought that wasn't written down by one of his public relations flacks, or answer a question without recycling one of the many catch-words from his prepared text -- like "sustainability" and "leadership," neither of which he seemed to know how to define.

Yes, the explanation for firing Nonis would be easier to swallow (a media wag pointed out Tuesday) if the owner hadn't borrowed his rationale from Spider-Man. "With great power," Peter Parker's dying Uncle Ben told Spidey's alter-ego, "comes great responsibility." Aquilini -- or his speechwriter -- didn't even credit the source.

And yes, you'd like to think he'd have a better answer to the question of what style of hockey he wanted the new administration to adopt than: "My favourite style is winning."

And it would have been more satisfying if he could have come up with any reason for firing Nonis other than "we didn't make the playoffs, and Canuck fans deserve better."

Deserve? Says who?

Let's be honest: the first test was always going to be about money, and that's all there is to this story: at issue was the few million dollars the Canucks' owners failed to rake in because their team missed out on two playoff dates, which is all they were going to get even if they had managed to squeak in.

A few million dollars which -- compared to the enormous pool of revenue the newly certified keepers of the Canuck commercial juggernaut have squeezed so thoroughly from every private and corporate pore in the Lower Mainland and beyond -- is such a drop in the bucket, it makes you cringe to think what the knee-jerk reaction might entail if they ever lose some real money.

A few million dollars was left on the table by the Nonis administration, and the Aquilinis swung the axe. As if Nonis personally stole the money that rightfully belonged in the family till.

So now we know. We couldn't tell until things went a little sour, but now we know.

Be afraid, Canuck fans. Be very afraid.

Your team's owners have hit the first pothole in their path to untold riches, and unless we are very much mistaken, they have punched the panic button without having a hot clue how to proceed from here.

"We operate many successful businesses," Aquilini said ... as if the Canucks were an unsold apartment, and Nonis was a lazy building superintendent, or a low-grossing sales manager.

Well, maybe that's what owners do. It's their cash cow, why shouldn't they have the family brand on it?

They didn't ask for Dave Nonis, they inherited him from John McCaw, so they want their own man on the job, and that man will want his own coach, so no doubt Alain Vigneault is on borrowed time. And therefore, so are his assistants, and so on down the line. Presumably, the scouts will not escape a hard examination of the Canucks' recent draft record, nor should they.

Three seasons, Nonis got.

It's not much, but there is no denying the club missed the playoffs two of his three years in charge, and did so ignobly both times. The notion that a hockey club should get a little better each year or expect to be asked why, is not unreasonable. This one finished with the fewest points of any Canuck team in nine seasons.

The middle season of Nonis's three -- with the novelty of Roberto Luongo's big-time goaltending providing the team an adrenalin rush -- may have been the natural bounce that comes after being dropped from a great height, or it may have been the real thing. We'll never know, because that team is history.

There are all kinds of reasons the Canucks took a huge step backward this year, the biggest one -- crippling injuries on defence -- being absolutely no fault of Dave Nonis. But some of the reasons were his fault, or at least they occurred on his watch, which amounts to the same thing.

Nonis had control over the scouts, and approved their draft choices. If nothing very significant came out of the draft in the way of scoring forwards during his time as their boss, that's on him. The forwards he added last summer, Brad Isbister and Byron Ritchie, were non-entities. Almost anyone could have told him they would be.

He gambled that he had the inside track on Peter Forsberg, and lost. He stood pat at the trade deadline.

He had to guess how much Markus Naslund had left in the tank when he gave him three years at $6 million per season, and overshot by two years.

He laughed -- almost anyone would have -- at suggestions that to get a big-time scoring forward at the deadline, he might have to give up the Sedins. A few months later, they have everyone wondering. He thought they would learn from last year's playoffs, and was wrong. He was not alone, but he was in charge.

Nonis had the final say on giving Luongo all the time he wanted at the all-star break to go home and see his wife, even permitting him to miss a regular-season start. In hindsight, benefit of which Nonis didn't have when he gave the okay, it was the beginning of the goalie's downward spiral.

Absentee players' families, like absentee owners, are bad news. You can't make a player move his family to the city where he plays, but you don't have to indulge him, either, if he chooses to be a long-distance hubbie. Unless he's giving the money back.

Even so, no one expected Luongo to break down when he was needed most. We're all guilty of failing to predict that. But not all of us are out of a job today.

Nonis won't be, for long.

He's a good man, and a loyal one, and if another team doesn't call, Brian Burke probably will -- either from Anaheim or Toronto, where the Hogtown scribes are convinced he can't possibly resist the siren song from the Centre of the Universe.

Nonis's successor, meanwhile, will inherit a team with cap room, a fast-developing goaltender on the farm, and a surplus of defencemen with which to barter for offensive help, thanks to Alex Edler falling out of the sky last year.

Who, exactly, is that successor? The choice will tell us more about the Aquilinis, about their tastes, about their willingness to hire a competent man and then leave him alone. Or it will tell us whether anyone with credibility will sign up for the chance to work for owners this intrusive, this impulsive.

Meanwhile, it's well within their rights to adopt "Off with their heads!" as the ownership slogan. They're paying the bills.

But let's see who answers the help-wanted advertisement, knowing what we know now.

ccole@png.canwest.com

QUOTE, UNQUOTE: AQUILINI SPEAKS:

We've got a great foundation. I think we can build on it and it's going to be the challenge of the new GM to provide that.

Leadership is vision. You have to have a vision where you want to go, have to have the support group around you to get you there.

It's about quality people committed to what they're doing, people who serve the organization, who care, who get the job done.

ONLINE

Online vote: Did Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini make the right choice in firing GM Dave Nonis?

Yes 51.39%

N0 48.61%

As of Tuesday evening. Register your vote at VancouverSun.com under

Editor's Picks. See E3

WE can all say bye bye to the Sens!! THe were swept by the Penguins last night. The hens didn't even put up a fight. Had they at least given a solid effort (like the Bruins are doing right now) maybe i'd have a little more respect for them, but the hens just gave up! Pretty sad!

Hockey's still on? When does it end?

Damn, the Habs lost again! now they are only leading the series by just one game, I hope they can finish off the Bruins in Montreal this weekend.

The 6th game is in Boston!

In Boston? Shit! now the Habs is in trouble.

^^Americans are so good at hockey. No wonder they have so many teams! Congrats to all you Beantown fans!

^^Americans are so good at hockey. No wonder they have so many teams! Congrats to all you Beantown fans!

Bah, I ain't worried yet. Half the crowd in the two previous games played in Boston were Habs fans from Montreal. Seeing as the game is on a saturday night (people don't work the next day) I expect there will be even more Habs fans in the TD Banknorth Garden.

The Habs will win tomorrow!:banana:

GO HABS GO!!

^^ Hope you are right ! But this small Canadien team really worry me, don't know if they can endure the more physical playoff style hockey for how much longer.

Those f...... Habs are totally useless and I bet they will lose the deciding game to the Bruins!

Hockey's still on? When does it end?

Not for ages.. the playoffs take a long, long time.

Corrie episodes getting thrown aside for 2 months sucks. Sundays and streamed episodes aren't the same. I will be interested if Montreal goes far though.

Corrie episodes getting thrown aside for 2 months sucks. Sundays and streamed episodes aren't the same. I will be interested if Montreal goes far though.

ditto. Bitter about Corrie being bumped, but at least the Sunday omnibus edition is unmolested!! By the by, Overground, did you know you can see any episode you like on the CBC website in the Corrie section, with streaming video? Very cool to catch up on episodes you miss! :cheers:
Anyhow, hope the Habs smoke 'em and win it all handily.

Hockey's still on? When does it end?

You can tell that you're from Toronto! Playoffs? What are playoffs? Stanley Cup? Who's he?

The Habs will win tomorrow but I don't know how much farther they will be able to go.. this year! You never know though.. GO HABS GO!!

You can tell that you're from Toronto! Playoffs? What are playoffs? Stanley Cup? Who's he?

The Habs will win tomorrow but I don't know how much farther they will be able to go.. this year! You never know though.. GO HABS GO!!

Chocho didn't grow up in Canada, and his main interest is soccer.
People here are about as interested in the playoffs as Montrealers will be if
they lose the game tomorrow. ;)

I didn't grow up in Canada either, I just happen to like sports, follow hockey and become one of the crazy Hab's fan. :)

I think the game is tonight, so hopefully they will win! Nice to see the enthusiasm out there.

Chocho didn't grow up in Canada, and his main interest is soccer.


Many Canadians have zero interest in the NHL. That isn't limited to Toronto either. I'm fanatical about sports, but if someone says playoffs in March, I instinctually think basketball. Hockey is something I watch when the Olympics are on. I've been living in Toronto now for many years and couldn't name one player on the Maple Leafs.

It's a welcome reprieve when the Leafs fail to make the playoffs. If you don't follow hockey, the constant bombardment of hockey news gets to the point that even the mere mention of it causes revulsion. My 'hockey fuse' is very very short after decades of relentlessly having it shoved in my face. If it wasn't so smothering, I'd probably watch it once in a while. Well, international play, not NHL.

I hope Montreal or Calgary win because it's important to a significant number of people in Canada, but that's as far as it goes.

I'm not a hockey fan, either... but if your city's team gets in the playoffs, the excitement is contagious and it is fun to get in on the celebrations. Chocho is totally our Toronto forums soccer expert!!!! :)

I'll be the West Coast rep then;)

BTW....for footy fans, Toronto FC for the first time is at .500 after the weekend's home win against RSL. And also only the second time they have won back-to-back games. Last weekend they beat Galaxy in LA. Robert, the new midfielder from France scored the winner so this is promising news. TFC really need to sort out these offsides they keep getting.

TB....I heard about the Corrie eps on CBC but haven't checkout them out yet. It's pretty awesome if you think about it though. Could you imagine several years ago if someone told you that you could watch them on the net whenever you wanted?

Chocho didn't grow up in Canada, and his main interest is soccer.
People here are about as interested in the playoffs as Montrealers will be if
they lose the game tomorrow. ;)

Well I did grow up (1st generation) in Canada, but yes my interest is soccer.

I love it! :banana:

Too bad I'm not going to the game on the weekend though...:ohno:. I hope "El Lobo" nets one in!

I briefly saw the last of the Habs game when I finished work, and it looks like they won! :)

La......La......La....Hey, Hey, Hey, Good Bye...

Yes, they've won the game 5-0! I am so happy! :banana:

Finally! the real Habs showed up for the Last and most important game, and thoroughly kicked some pooh-Bear ass last night, and best of all, I was in attendance and got to watch it all!

What a great game...too bad a group of idiots decided to ruin it for everyone by burning some police cruisers.

In anycase, Bring on the Rags or the Flyers!!!:banana:

GO HABS GO!!!!

I'm not a hockey fan, either... but if your city's team gets in the playoffs, the excitement is contagious and it is fun to get in on the celebrations. Chocho is totally our Toronto forums soccer expert!!!! :)

Yeah, that's how I look at it too. If you don't follow the sport, you still root for the home team on some level because you see how happy it makes those around you.

I am like that with most sports.. can't really "get into" them a lot unless I am actually at a game, or if our team is in the playoffs. Otherwise it is a bit boring to me. I played hockey as a kid, but did not carry the interest on later in life.

Participating is more enjoyable than watching for me, but I do like both. Sports devotion can be divided into 3 camps. There is a desire to feel a part of something. This is a tribal instinct. There are those that marvel at what the human body is capable of. Finally, there is the spectacle of sport, be it the Queen's Plate or a Grey Cup.

Most sports fans are a result of a mix of these 3 things in varying degrees.

At least the Raps have home advantage tonight! Should be able to sneak a win!!

Habs won in OT, my heart almost stopped for the excitment.



The Raps also won tonight but they still trail the series 2 games to one.

Raps won! YES!!

GO HABS GO!!!

KOVY for Prime Minister!!!:banana:

Even though the Habs didn't play a very good game, they came out on top when it mattered. The Flyers looked a bit deflated out there, i expect them to be much stronger in Game two!

^^^At the end of the day, it is only the final score that counts... no one remembers whether it was a great game or not! ;)

Even though I live in the GTA, I just can't stand the Leafs. The Habs, on the other hand, have always appealed to me. There is just something about that team and its fan base that seems legitimate. The Leafs, on the other hand, always give me a "plastic" feeling. Whenever I go to a Leafs game, the unnatural amount of "fans" in the ACC stands who are there primarily for business deals pisses me off.

So in short, Go Habs Go! :D

Here's an update on the construction of the Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton

0Sd0PM66ijs

Grand opening for the stadium will be September 13th, McMaster vs. Ottawa.

Nice, any pics of the stadium?

Is this our saviour?!?!

http://www.gsoccer.ca/images/Little...-Jan17-2008.pdf

Father and son train like this year round, six days a week rain or shine, inside the parking garage
with little orange cones on lousy winter days. They’ve been doing this for four years now and
they’re not playing around. Juan Carlos wants Gianni to be a pro and someday take Canada to the World Cup.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/story.html?id=b2850249-31ff-40c6-a316-1ffcd36a4dab&k=80262

Soccer phenom, 9, signs with Barca
Parents will take hotel jobs in Spain to help their son shoot for his dream
Ian Austin, The Province
Published: Friday, May 02, 2008

BARCELONA - A local soccer prodigy is taking his scoring skills to one of the historic hotbeds of international football.

Young Gianni Patino of North Vancouver has been selected for the elite Barca under-12 soccer team, part of the phenomenally successful Barcelona soccer stronghold.

"There are kids from all around the world trying to get in," said the nine-year-old's proud papa, Juan Carlos Patino, a former semi-pro footballer who has practised four hours a day with Gianni since he got his start at four years of age.

"Since he was little, people noticed that he had special talent. He scored 45 goals this season."

Gianni put on an impromptu soccer clinic yesterday, effortlessly keeping the ball aloft for minutes at a time with knees, feet, head, and heels.

Mom Hannah Enkerlin said tireless practice has led the striker/centre midfielder to a point where he makes it look absurdly easy to keep a ball off the ground for 300 touches with his knees or 200 touches with his feet.

"He has worked like crazy since he was in kindergarten -- sometimes he comes home at 10 p.m. after practice."

Mom said young Gianni's quickness applies better to some sports than others.

"He loves all sports. He has a brown belt in karate. He plays basketball, but he's short. The players like it, because he can bring it down the court, but when he gets close to the basket he has to pass it to a tall guy."

Gianni's tryout in Barcelona last week was a gamble that paid off.

"The soccer is at another level over in Europe," said Patino, a former player with Wolfsburg in Germany. "But he took a ball, went through two defenders, took out the goalie, and scored.

"The coach came over and said, 'We'll see you in September.'"

Gianni's room has a poster of his favourite player -- Barcelona striker Lionel Messi -- and a jersey from superstar Thierry Henri.

"I like Messi because he dribbles like me," said Gianni, who sports the same long hair as his soccer hero. "He's really fast, and knows a lot of tricks."

Gianni should adapt well to coaching in Spain -- his soccer education from his Mexican-born father was in Spanish.

The family speaks four languages between them -- skills that they hope will land them hotel-workers jobs in Barcelona in the fall as the whole family moves and starts a new life in Spain.

"We don't know what will happen, but this is the most important thing, to support this little guy's dream," said Juan Carlos.

The family would like to thank their many sponsors, especially the Yamaoka family and Mayfair Hotels & Resorts. Anyone wishing more information should phone 604-983-3736 or log on to gsoccer.ca.

iaustin@png.canwest.com

Saputo Stadium is looking nice.

http://www.boutiquemeteo.com/saputo/semaine53/panosection120top.jpg

oh oh.. I hope they have not made the same mistake as BMO Field, and made it too small. What is the seating capacity of this one, and BMO?

oh oh.. I hope they have not made the same mistake as BMO Field, and made it too small. What is the seating capacity of this one, and BMO?

13,000 seats expandable to 17,000 with a fourth grandstand on the Olympic Stadium end.

The proposed Whitecaps Stadium in Vancouver on the waterfront will have 15,000 seats and be expandable to 30,000 with the addition of a second tier of seating.
http://www.whitecapsfc.com/files/Images/Stadium/renderings/renderingsouth.jpg

^^ oh dear.. it appears to be falling into the water in that rendering! :D

Is this our saviour?!?!No, because the guy would probably become a Spanish citizen and play for that country if he somehow ended up as one of the better players in the Spanish league. Unfortunately for us, that seems to be the way things go. If the option is given to him, playing for Spain would be the more attractive option. Chances of actually getting to the World Cup are higher for Spain and getting to qualifying games is not problem. Not to mention that soccer is taken a 100 times more seriously in Spain. The only way I could see him playing for Canada is if he ends up an average player, which really wouldn't be a saviour would it? :)

Saputo Stadium is looking nice.Looks good, and it has real grass!

Is this our saviour?!?!

http://www.gsoccer.ca/images/Little...-Jan17-2008.pdf

Father and son train like this year round, six days a week rain or shine, inside the parking garage
with little orange cones on lousy winter days. They’ve been doing this for four years now and
they’re not playing around. Juan Carlos wants Gianni to be a pro and someday take Canada to the World Cup.

Are you a poster on the RPB message board by any chance?

^^ oh dear.. it appears to be falling into the water in that rendering! :D

And I should add that BMO's seating capacity is 20,000.


I think the original plan for BMO was 35,000 seats, but with the lack of funding they kept cutting the design and the scope. I'm quite sure you could add more tiers to BMO, to increase capacity.

We've heard many rumours that they are going to expand the BMO, but most of the rumours have been started by us in the Toronto forums!! :D
I'll bet they wish now they had gone with the 35,000. That would still be an easy sell out. Photo posted by Krazy Kanadian:


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/TorontoFC-KrazyKanadianofflickredit.jpg

@koolio: Yes.

No, because the guy would probably become a Spanish citizen and play for that country if he somehow ended up as one of the better players in the Spanish league. Unfortunately for us, that seems to be the way things go. If the option is given to him, playing for Spain would be the more attractive option. Chances of actually getting to the World Cup are higher for Spain and getting to qualifying games is not problem. Not to mention that soccer is taken a 100 times more seriously in Spain. The only way I could see him playing for Canada is if he ends up an average player, which really wouldn't be a saviour would it? :)

If we pick him up from U15 and keep on working with him I'm sure he will play for us. Canada is only going to get better (association wise and skill wise) and will <-optimism-you should try it! qualify for 2010, and hopefully for 2014.

If we pick him up from U15 and keep on working with him I'm sure he will play for us. Canada is only going to get better (association wise and skill wise) and will <-optimism-you should try it! qualify for 2010, and hopefully for 2014.So basically bribe and threaten him is what you are saying. ;) I agree with you - Canada will get better. There's only one way to go now isn't there? :)

So basically bribe and threaten him is what you are saying. ;) I agree with you - Canada will get better. There's only one way to go now isn't there? :)

Exactly! :cheers:















Although we're not THAT terrible, we're just terribly inconsistent.

Balsillie still in the hunt as would-be team owner

Billionaire rumoured to have contacted Sabres owner about purchase

May 06, 2008 04:30 AM
Rick Westhead
Sports Business Columnist

Billionaire Jim Balsillie contacted the owner of the Buffalo Sabres about buying the team earlier this season, a sign the Research in Motion co-founder is still seeking an NHL franchise after two previous high-profile flameouts.

Balsillie phoned Sabres owner Tom Golisano around Christmas, according to a source familiar with the matter. Golisano indicated he would be open to selling the club – but not if Balsillie intended to relocate it.

Golisano, founder of payroll processing company Paychex based in Rochester, N.Y., has long ties to the Western New York area. Worth about $1.8 billion, in 2003 he bought the Sabres out of bankruptcy for $92 million.

Comparatively, Balsillie's pursuit of an NHL team has been chock-a-block with tumult. The 47-year-old had a tentative agreement to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006. But he withdrew his offer after learning the NHL would restrict his ability to move the club. His next attempt was to buy the Nashville Predators. That was scuttled last summer.

Balsillie indicated he would move that club to Hamilton and began taking deposits from prospective season ticket holders. But Predators' then-owner Craig Leipold would go on to sell the team for less money to local investors.

Some observers believe the NHL pressured Leipold to accept the less-lucrative offer to keep the team out of Balsillie's hands – and keep the Predators out of the Maple Leafs and Sabres backyard.

Balsillie's setbacks notwithstanding, several investment bankers who specialize in the sports industry said there's still a good chance he will wind up with an NHL team.

As concerns about the stalling U.S. economy continue to percolate, as many as half of the NHL's 30 teams – a group headlined by the Phoenix Coyotes, the Atlanta Thrashers and the Predators – could be available.

Balsillie, a long-time hockey fan who named conference rooms at RIM's head office after retired NHL stars such as Guy Lafleur, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe, isn't speaking publicly about his pursuit of an NHL club, his lawyer said.

In an interview with CBC last month, Balsillie said of his attempts to buy a franchise: "I don't know where the path is going to go. It started as something like, `Boy, this would be fun.'"

Asked about clashing with the NHL and commissioner Gary Bettman, he said, "They're doing what they're doing. For me it started as a fun thing. After a while, I got tired of feeling like a boarder in my own house. As a Canadian, I felt like I was a boarder in my own house."

Balsillie, who hired a former Ontario Hockey League player to whip him into shape for shinny games, said he plays hockey twice a week.

His position? "A rover," he told the CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos. "I don't know my goalie's name."

Several sports bankers said the Coyotes headline the list of NHL teams that Balsillie may now be targeting. The Coyotes are said to be losing as much as $30 million (U.S.) a season and are struggling to pad season-ticket sales, as well as local broadcast and sponsorship revenue. One obstacle to buying the Coyotes and moving them would be the team's lease, several bankers said.

Other NHL teams that could be available for sale include the Thrashers, Florida and Columbus, whose attendance slipped a league-high 9.5 per cent this season and whose owner John McCallum recently died.

In Buffalo, meantime, the Sabres have emerged as a small-market NHL success story. The Sabres sold out 38 of 40 home games this season, and drew 71,217 to an outdoor game at the NFL's Ralph Wilson Stadium. A lean operation – one team official said "we don't have a bunch of vice-presidents of this or that" – the Sabres also generated as much as $9 million from their local broadcast contract with broadcaster MSG and was cash-flow positive.

And I should add that BMO's seating capacity is 20,000.
I think the original plan for BMO was 35,000 seats, but with the lack of funding they kept cutting the design and the scope. I'm quite sure you could add more tiers to BMO, to increase capacity.

It was very short sighted on their part. BMO Field is designed so that another tier of seats can be added above the eastern stands to bring the total capacity closer to 30,000. The positioning of the stadium on its lot, and the overall design makes any further expansion near impossible. Adding seating on the north and south isn't possible at all.

They had a decent sized lot, but decided to build the stadium smack right up to the road on the western side. By doing this, no additional tiers can be built here. On the eastern side of the stadium sits the stadium parking lot. If they were smart, they would have positioned the stadium in the centre of the lot and designed the stadium so that it could be expanded in stages. As they have it now, if they attempted to join the east stands to the west by looping seats uninterrupted around the south, the stands don't even match up because it's not a symmetrical design.

It's a great stadium to watch a game, but was completely shocked at some of the design choices they made. I hope they didn't pay them too much. I could have told them these things for free.

^ though it's a lot more expensive, they could tear down some of the stands and build new two-tier stands over each other.....right?


Well, I don't think you could blame them....30,000 seats does seem quite a lot for expansion, and I doubt anyone at the time could forsee the franchise's wild success.

^^ No, the west stands are already 2 tier, and built right up to the road. There is no room for another tier, since you have to stagger tiers so that people can still see the field properly. You can't simply stack them like you might plates. If they want more seats on that side, they have to tear the whole stadium down and move it at least 80 feet to the east.

It isn't about building a 30,000 seat stadium for an expansion team, it's about having the foresight to design a stadium that you can easily expand down the road to 30,000. Then, if need be, expand it again to 40,000, and again to 60,000.

Not only did they ensure that anything past 30,000 would be near impossible, an expansion to 30,000 will leave a stadium that looks quite awkward. You'll have 2 tiers on both sides, but of different sizes and elevations. Then you'll have south zone seats that match up to one side, but not the other.

I still like this stadium, but were these guys doing acid?

I heard a rumour that the CFL Argos are considering moving to an expanded BMO field to share with the FC, and out of the Roger's Skydome. Might be just a threat to get a better rent deal.

I heard a rumour that the CFL Argos are considering moving to an expanded BMO field to share with the FC, and out of the Roger's Skydome. Might be just a threat to get a better rent deal.

I hope for you guys that this isn't just a threat. Watching Football OUTSIDE in the summer is way better than being in a concrete stadium!

The roof opens on the Roger's Centre, however! If the weather is crappy, they
keep it closed. And watching football outside in the summer/spring/fall when the weather is
crappy is way better in a concrete stadium with a retractable roof than a concrete
stadium with no roof! ;)

The roof opens on the Roger's Centre, however! If the weather is crappy, they
keep it closed. And watching football outside in the summer/spring/fall when the weather is
crappy is way better in a concrete stadium with a retractable roof than a concrete
stadium with no roof! ;)

:okay:;)

I hope for you guys that this isn't just a threat. Watching Football OUTSIDE in the summer is way better than being in a concrete stadium!

Like Taller said, the roof can open.

KEEP THE ARGOS OUT OF BMO!

BMO Field is an soccer specific stadium and there is no room to play football. htey would have to reconfigure the stadium for CFL. Htis is just crazy and Stupid. BTW the Argos pplaying in a red 25 000 seat stadium? that will just make the Argos look like more of a joke. What they sould do is build their own stadium in the portlands or somehwere on the eastern waterfront.

Agreed. I support their search for a smaller, more intimate venue but BMO Field should be reserved for soccer.

Football is here to stay: http://www.boutiquemeteo.com/saputo/stadesaputo.htm
(soccer)

http://www.boutiquemeteo.com/saputo/semaine57/pano57.jpg

Thought I'd throw this in, just for comparison.

flickr: sjgardiner
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/187/476130976_02540b5049_o.jpg

Its strange that Toronto's stadium has the red colour theme, with this city's traditional sporting being blue. But I guess that changed when the Raptors arrived. Meanwhile, Montreal gets the blue colour theme when I always associated their sporting teams with red (Expos, Canadiens).

The red represents the colours of the Canadian flag, and I suppose the one in Montreal reflects the colours of the Quebec flag.

Here are some pictures that have been posted by various people in the Toronto forums over the past year, of the Toronto FC stadium and its view downtown. I don't know who took most of them:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/torontofci.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/TorontoFC.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/TorontoFCstadiumatnight.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/TorontoFCgamebyBilgemonkey.jpg
photo by byBilgemonkey

I really love the fact both the Montreal and Toronto stadiums have the stands situated as close as possible to the playing surface. It makes a big difference in viewing the action. I'm not sure what the maple leaf is doing in the Toronto stands. I would rather see 'Toronto FC' instead, if I were a TFC fan. Would the maple leaf indicate TFC is Canada's team :|, a Canadian team, or more the fact BMO field can be used as a national team home field?

I really love the fact both the Montreal and Toronto stadiums have the stands situated as close as possible to the playing surface. It makes a big difference in viewing the action. I'm not sure what the maple leaf is doing in the Toronto stands. I would rather see 'Toronto FC' instead, if I were a TFC fan. Would the maple leaf indicate TFC is Canada's team :|, a Canadian team, or more the fact BMO field can be used as a national team home field?

The Maple Leafs have a maple leaf too. I think you may be reading too much into it. The history of using a maple leaf associated with sporting teams in Toronto is long. I imagine most FC fans here are proud of the maple leaf.

I really love the fact both the Montreal and Toronto stadiums have the stands situated as close as possible to the playing surface. It makes a big difference in viewing the action. I'm not sure what the maple leaf is doing in the Toronto stands. I would rather see 'Toronto FC' instead, if I were a TFC fan. Would the maple leaf indicate TFC is Canada's team :|, a Canadian team, or more the fact BMO field can be used as a national team home field?

They have this:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1171/bmofield1pc5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I really love the fact both the Montreal and Toronto stadiums have the stands situated as close as possible to the playing surface. It makes a big difference in viewing the action. I'm not sure what the maple leaf is doing in the Toronto stands. I would rather see 'Toronto FC' instead, if I were a TFC fan. Would the maple leaf indicate TFC is Canada's team :|, a Canadian team, or more the fact BMO field can be used as a national team home field?

"Toronto FC" is on the grandstand. And the Maple Leaf was put there to represent the fact that BMO field is also the "National Soccer Stadium" as decided by CSA and FIFA, although the CSA has seemed to sour on artificial surface and prefers the new Montreal venue because of this.

^^Well there you go. :cheers: Although it looks like it just says "Toronto".

And so they very well should favour the grass surface, but time will tell which stadium they prefer.

Li
KEEP THE ARGOS OUT OF BMO!


Why so hostile to football? There was never this hostility from football teams and their stadiums to accommodating soccer. If this was going to ruin the intimacy of the stadium, I could understand it, but it won't.

A football field is only marginally longer than a soccer pitch, and a little narrower. There would only have to be a small adjustment to how far the stands behind the net are from the field. All the other stands wouldn't have to be moved at all. Toronto FC needs its stadium expanded while the Argonauts need a stadium in the 35,000 to 40,000 range. This is bigger than what Toronto FC needs, but surely this team is popular enough that a stadium of this size would get filled? Both of these franchises could benefit if they worked together.

I don't understand this hostility at all. There is no reason for it.

Montreal gets the blue colour theme when I always associated their sporting teams with red (Expos, Canadiens).

While I understand why you would associate Red with the Habs, I don't understand why you would associate red with the Expos. The Main colour on the Expos Uniform throughout their 35 year history was Blue, not red!

Why so hostile to football? There was never this hostility from football teams and their stadiums to accommodating soccer. If this was going to ruin the intimacy of the stadium, I could understand it, but it won't.

A football field is only marginally longer than a soccer pitch, and a little narrower. There would only have to be a small adjustment to how far the stands behind the net are from the field. All the other stands wouldn't have to be moved at all. Toronto FC needs its stadium expanded while the
Argonauts need a stadium in the 35,000 to 40,000 range. This is bigger than what Toronto FC needs, but surely this team is popular enough that a stadium of this size would get filled? Both of these franchises could benefit if they worked together.

I don't understand this hostility at all. There is no reason for it.

I have no hostility to Canadian football at all. I like it and respect it considering it was a game that we invented. I am anti-NFL and for me it's CFL all the way. BUT! TFC and Association Football come first


TFC does not need stadium expansion. There is high demand but I would say for only 10,000 more people.

Also, Canadian Football field is larger than the pitch at BMO, so they would have to reconfigure the stadium to meet CFL Field regulations, putting the supporters end a good 20 feet behind the net.

Watching association football with gridiron lines is painful.

Probably the #1 reason why TFC has been so successful is because of the soccer specific stadium. Note that this stadium is also the National soccer stadium and Canadian Soccer has long been ignored and put aside.

And, it's the Argos own fault they do not play at BMO. The original plan was to have the stadium at York University and the Argos backed out.

BTW, I think it would also make the Argos look like more of a joke to play at BMO. Sure it's beautiful, but it isn't exactly a 5-Star ground.

I do understand BMO Field was built with taxpayer money and that TFC did not build it themselves, but I personally have no problem paying for an Argo stadium either.

I think that the Argos should build a nice 45,000 seat stadium at the east waterfront and should share it with nobody.

It's the Whitecaps FC v LA Galaxy friendly tonight at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Their last meeting ended in a nil nil draw at BC Place last Fall in front of 48k people. The weather is supposed to be sunny and 20c.

For fans in Vancouver the match is going to be shown on Shaw with kickoff at 6pm Pacific. For others you'll have to depend on getting a feed off an internet tv channel. Go to myp2p.eu for links if there are any. edit...it says it will be on http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/ So I guess they will stream it??

I hope Becks stays fit after tonight's match and the one on Sunday so he can get cap 101 with England against the USA at Wembley next Wednesday. I'll will be supporting Vancouver tonight obviously:cheers:

LOL, I love how Back's has played in Vancouver and will play ain Edmonton yet he has never played in Toronto and we're in his league. He's not coming on the 31st 'cause of the call-up. I don't htink Landy is either. Meh, better for TFC anyway. When does it start? Eastern time? (I hope that's my time)

Oh ya I forgot about the trip to Toronto he would be making. England has the USA on the 22nd and then they're in Trinidad on 1 June. I really can't see him missing the Trinidad friendly to get back with Galaxy. He takes his career with England very seriously, as players should. Donovan apparently has an injury so I wonder if he'll be healthy. Toronto fans will see Becks at BMO for the All Star game though.

The kickoff tonight is at 9.00 Eastern(yip that's your time) or 7 in Alberta. Check the CBC site for a stream.

The Caps won 2-1!

:rofl:

The Galaxy are terrible!

I have no hostility to Canadian football at all. I like it and respect it considering it was a game that we invented. I am anti-NFL and for me it's CFL all the way. BUT! TFC and Association Football come firstTFC does not need stadium expansion. There is high demand but I would say for only 10,000 more people.

Also, Canadian Football field is larger than the pitch at BMO, so they would have to reconfigure the stadium to meet CFL Field regulations, putting the supporters end a good 20 feet behind the net.

Watching association football with gridiron lines is painful.

Probably the #1 reason why TFC has been so successful is because of the soccer specific stadium. Note that this stadium is also the National soccer stadium and Canadian Soccer has long been ignored and put aside.

And, it's the Argos own fault they do not play at BMO. The original plan was to have the stadium at York University and the Argos backed out.

BTW, I think it would also make the Argos look like more of a joke to play at BMO. Sure it's beautiful, but it isn't exactly a 5-Star ground.

I do understand BMO Field was built with taxpayer money and that TFC did not build it themselves, but I personally have no problem paying for an Argo stadium either.

I think that the Argos should build a nice 45,000 seat stadium at the east waterfront and should share it with nobody.

Fair enough. I agree that the Argos would suffer a perception issue if they moved to BMO Field. It is much too small for them.

Gridiron lines on the soccer pitch are problematic too, but don't they paint over them when go from one sport to the other?

As far as the differing field sizes, pushing the stands behind the net back 20 feet isn't a huge alteration, but I do agree that the Argos would be best suited in their own 45,000 seat stadium. The Skydome is an awful place to watch football.

I'm a big supporter of both franchises and want them both to succeed. I'm just sick of watching football in the Skydome. Perhaps, when Toronto FC outgrows an expanded 30,000 seat BMO Field it might be time to consider a 45,000+ seat stadium that accommodates them both well.

:rofl:

The Galaxy are terrible!

Their defence were embarrassing, especially Xavier. Beckham had another great cross in to level the score. I checked out their supporters club forum and quite a few of them were saying they'd love to swap the Caps for their Galaxy.

That horrendous pitch did make play difficult for both sides and LA did field some reserve players, but the Caps were faster and played better in both fixtures against LA so far. I think Vancouver could at least hold their own in the bottom half of the MLS Western Conf.

Attendance was 37,104. Not bad considering it's two clubs not from Edmonton that played in a friendly.

Yeah the Gals are as easy as a drunk high school girl at a house party, the real test will be against the mighty reds. See you on Canada Day, 'Caps.

Canadian Chocho are you watching the FA Cup this morning? It's on the internet but not sure if you follow English football. It's Portsmouth up 1 on Cardiff City who both have not won since 1939 and 1927. The only times they have won. It's interesting because CC is from Wales and one of only 3 non-English teams playing in an English league. If they win it affects how English teams will enter UEFA Cup competition next year.

This they say could have an affect on Toronto and Concacaf Champions League qualifying. If they ever won the MLS Cup or League would they get instant qualification into the group stage or would they just have to stick with Canada Cup qualifying, which only sees the Canadian winner go to the preliminary stage?

Also don't forget it's Columbus visiting Toronto today at 3.30 est on CBC. Love Nigel Reed's commentary

I was watching it (in romanian lol), but I had to take a shower and get ready for today's match. i completely forgot about it afterwards and started playing FIFA 07. If we do get instant qualification. I can only imagine that there would be another Canadian team to represent also. We'll see how it all unfolds soon, yes that's right soon! We're going to win the cup!!

Game was changed to 4:00pm actually. If the hockey game goes into OT, you can catch a live stream on CBC.ca or watch it on CBC Bold which is channel 277 with the rogers Box.

They have this:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1171/bmofield1pc5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Makes me wonder where they're going to put the parking for the Whitecaps' future stadium, since it will be in downtown...

^ the plan is to not have parking (well, there will be parking but only something like 40 spots for VIPS and staff), considering the transit hub right next door with SkyTrain, Canada Line, SeaBus, streetcar, West Coast Express, bus service....there are also 30,000 parking spaces in downtown from the stadium within a 15 minute walk.

This will the same for BC Place too I guess with the parking lots now being filled up with towers.




Game was changed to 4:00pm actually. If the hockey game goes into OT, you can catch a live stream on CBC.ca or watch it on CBC Bold which is channel 277 with the rogers Box.

Thanks for the tip! I just turned on the tv to see kickoff and bloody hockey is on....erggggg!......I don't even want to go there. I have to go out in 1 hour and I was hoping to catch the first half. I'll tape it though!

It was a draw.. saw the last bit of the game! :)

^^Some beautiful plays made by Dicchio, Cunningham and I forget that other guy damn. Saw the last bit too.

I don't mind soccer and I used to play a lot when I was in Hong Kong, but now hockey is my #1 sport. Dallas won tonight and I hope they will win the the next two games.

Congratulations too Team Russia! 5-4 Overtime victory over Canada. Great game!

It was a draw.. saw the last bit of the game! :)


I watched it this morning on tape, hungover no less. I'm not drinking ever again.......ya right...lol. I think I'm really turning into a TFC fan and feel ripped off if I don't see every match. They really controlled that game yesterday and should have won. Boy was it windy though!

Canada lost but my other hockey team won today, it is Pittsburgh!

Montreal Impact vs. Vancouver Whitecaps live on Radio-Canada 2:30pm eastern time. The first ever game at the stade Saputo.

I totally forgot that game is today. We have it on tv here too on Radio-Canada at 2.30 Pacific taped. I'll will have to practice up on my French! I wonder how many Toronto supporters travelled to Montreal.

^^ For next weeks game? Probably a small number, the game is on a Wednesday.

Whoops! It's actually a Tuesday.

Ya, sorry my brain was getting confused with the Champion's League stuff.

Got the game on. Raining cats and dogs in Montreal but the turn out doesn't look too bad. The grass pitch looks amazing as well.

MLS head, Don Garber is apparently at the match today.

TFC kick DCU ass 1-0.

Ya, sorry my brain was getting confused with the Champion's League stuff.

Got the game on. Raining cats and dogs in Montreal but the turn out doesn't look too bad. The grass pitch looks amazing as well.

MLS head, Don Garber is apparently at the match today.

I watched the game on Radio-Canada but I'm new to soccer and still can't tell a good game from a bad game!

I must say though that as a hockey fan, a 0-0 score is so.. unsatisfying. A low-scoring hockey game is 2-1 or even 1-0. 0-0 is tough to handle!

^^ It wasn't that great of a game because of the rain. Though 0-0 games can be very exciting.

I watched the game on Radio-Canada but I'm new to soccer and still can't tell a good game from a bad game!

I must say though that as a hockey fan, a 0-0 score is so.. unsatisfying. A low-scoring hockey game is 2-1 or even 1-0. 0-0 is tough to handle!That'll be a problem for you if you want to get into soccer. It's a very common complaint among people who are into North American type sports. There's so much more to it than just goals. That goes for all sports. It's hard for a lot of people, especially those who haven't grown up with soccer, or played it very much to appreciate what goes on. I guess one way to think about it is to see the on field action as foreplay... Some people don't have the patience for it.

Good analogy Plumber! What I find from N. American sport is that some fans require instant satisfaction in the form of points. It's a person's own opinion obviously on what they like, but I think there can be so much more to a sport if you look at the whole picture.

Take cricket for example, some N. Americans might find test cricket boring but the contradiction is that there is hundreds of runs scored and plenty of 6's(home runs) and 4's(line drives to the perimeter). Yes it takes all day to play but the strategy throughout and suspense can make it riveting.

TFC kick DCU ass 1-0.

Great! I can't believe I missed it and had no idea there was a match. I have got to get it together and write the games on my calendar that's sitting in front of me..lol.

So they are just cruising now and are undefeated in 6...wow! They need to stay healthy and stay confident - which is probably why Carver is sticking with the same starters. Robert and Dichio have slight injuries but are supposed to start. We need them healthy too for the CL match on Tues too so maybe they will get subbed early.

There's a match tomorrow in DC, I really hope we get three points from that game. the only thing that worries me is that we do not take enough shots. We should try long shots, which we never do.

I didn't recognize this at first. BC Place looks amazing in this render. With 2010 not far off, this looks like something we'll be seeing sooner, rather than later. It's almost like Canada's getting a whole new stadium. An open air stadium would certainly be a relief for visiting CFL teams. The noise level sometimes gets so deafening at Lions games, that visiting teams simply can't hear the plays being called.

From imageshack:
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4370/50436235bi5.jpg
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8630/68503015bd5.jpg

younger i was more into soccer than hockey, then i got addicted to hockey... now I can barely watch a soccer game, its slow worsened with too much time wasting, referring is never good and the cry baby players... omg i hate those.

younger i was more into soccer than hockey, then i got addicted to hockey... now I can barely watch a soccer game, its slow worsened with too much time wasting, referring is never good and the cry baby players... omg i hate those.

I agree about the cry baby players Malek but I really like the game itself. The refereeing.. it sucks in every sport, especially hockey!! I've finally had it with all of the other North American sports: NBA, NFL, MLB.. they're just 3 hour long commercials attempting to sell you crap beer (Bud.. ugh!) and SUV's. I caught the U-20 last year and really liked it and I think it will be fun to lose my voice chanting and singing at Saputo! I just have to adjust my North American need for points and goals and.. an outcome (!) to an appreciation of the play itself. The entire rest of the world can't possibly be wrong can it?
Still.. I salivate waiting for the Habs first game...

Still.. I salivate waiting for the Habs first game...

Hey, wait a second... I thought you were a big Leaf's fan!!!


:lol: (dons sunglasses and waits for fireworks to start!! :cool:)


I don't mind a slow moving game, and very much enjoy going to a baseball game.
Had to play a lot of hockey as a kid, but not into it anymore. Basketball I never did
get the hang of, and I don't know the rules of soccer at all.

younger i was more into soccer than hockey, then i got addicted to hockey... now I can barely watch a soccer game, its slow worsened with too much time wasting, referring is never good and the cry baby players... omg i hate those.

It really depends on where the game is. A hockey game is in an arena so it's all the same. Soccer games take place in all sorts of places. There's games which are played in extreme heat, some played in wind, some in rain, hell sometimes even snow. There's high altitude and low altitude. There's day and night. And of course the styles are different, theres the long ball, there's the counter-attacks, there's the falshy South American way where they like to make short passes over long.

If you watch a Serie A game, you will probably notice it's more low paced than an EPL game.

younger i was more into soccer than hockey, then i got addicted to hockey... now I can barely watch a soccer game, its slow worsened with too much time wasting, referring is never good and the cry baby players... omg i hate those.

Ever try roller derby? I'm going to see the Rollergirls vs. Smoke City Betties tonight. It's not slow, and there certainly won't be any crying going on.

Hey, wait a second... I thought you were a big Leaf's fan!!!


:lol: (dons sunglasses and waits for fireworks to start!! :cool:)


I don't mind a slow moving game, and very much enjoy going to a baseball game.
Had to play a lot of hockey as a kid, but not into it anymore. Basketball I never did
get the hang of, and I don't know the rules of soccer at all.

Taller! That was uncalled for!!

Good analogy Plumber! What I find from N. American sport is that some fans require instant satisfaction in the form of points. It's a person's own opinion obviously on what they like, but I think there can be so much more to a sport if you look at the whole picture.

Take cricket for example, some N. Americans might find test cricket boring but the contradiction is that there is hundreds of runs scored and plenty of 6's(home runs) and 4's(line drives to the perimeter). Yes it takes all day to play but the strategy throughout and suspense can make it riveting.

Actually a real cricket match takes a lot longer than one day, try 5 day tests. Also the runs are still being scored, one or two at a time but at least something productive comes of it. Watching grown men chase a ball around a field for 90 minutes and if lucky you might see a shot or two on goal, maybe even a goal is not excitement. Might as well watch paint dry.

My opinion anyways.

^^ You are welcome to your opinion. :) I've seen plenty of soccer games which were like watching paint dry. Depends a lot on the quality of the teams, conditions, and importance of getting points. But a lot of people might say the same thing about other sports - that it's like paint drying. I could describe hockey as a bunch of grown men bashing into each other while dumping and chasing, dumping and chasing... I could swear all the teams in the NHL have the same strategy.

Anyone watching UFC tonight?

i feel like shit

^^ You are welcome to your opinion. :) I've seen plenty of soccer games which were like watching paint dry. Depends a lot on the quality of the teams, conditions, and importance of getting points. But a lot of people might say the same thing about other sports - that it's like paint drying. I could describe hockey as a bunch of grown men bashing into each other while dumping and chasing, dumping and chasing... I could swear all the teams in the NHL have the same strategy.

Anyone watching UFC tonight?

We are all entitled to our opinions.

Now for something different are there any other sports besides soccer going on right now in Canada?

The CFL will soon be`starting its season, baseball is chugging along etc.

i feel like shit

why?

I like watching a bit of cricket, and friends of mind from Sri Lanka play it.
From yesterday's Globe. link:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080523.wcricket24/BNStory/National/home


Howzat!?! Cricket bowls over the city

TENILLE BONOGUORE

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

May 23, 2008 at 9:31 PM EDT

When students first approached Paul Hillman to ask if they could form a cricket team at Central Commerce Collegiate, near Ossington and Harbord, he was taken aback. The gym teacher was aware cricket had once been offered, but he knew little else about the sport.

A couple of coaching clinics later, he found himself in charge of an instant 10-team competition filled with teenagers from all over the globe. “What surprised me was how many kids wanted to get involved,” said Mr. Hillman, who is now in his sixth year as convener of the Toronto District School Board's south region cricket league.

School cricket is big. About 150 schools in the Greater Toronto Area offer it, it will be a sanctioned school sport this year in York region, and the Royal Bank of Canada is sponsoring a program introducing cricket to elementary schools.

But the challenge is how to break through in a town of Jays fans and Argo nuts. A successful game can't run on passion and devotion alone. The sport lacks serious funding, is crying out for facilities, and lacks the internal structure to produce players that can compete internationally.

“People just think it's something foreign. I think that's why indigenous Canadians haven't stepped up to join,” says Mr. Hillman. “It's the same thing with soccer – they don't realize how big it is elsewhere.”

Cricket may be the globe's second most popular sport – it trails only soccer for player numbers and fan base – but that doesn't mean Canucks have to pay attention.

“Our team qualified for the World Cup the last two years, but something is not clicking well in Canada,” said Ranil Mendis, who organizes the CIMA Mayor's Trophy tournament, Toronto's highest-profile cricket competition.

“There is no big corporate support or big media support for games. How far can [the sport] go without proper support? That is the problem.”

But the booming success that soccer has experienced here is now on the horizon for cricket, says Toronto mayor and cricket booster David Miller. In Toronto, “cricket is the fastest-growing sport,” said English-born Mr. Miller, who learned to play the game “about the time I started walking” and keeps a cricket bat in his office. “You go to the cricket pitch and you see the face of Toronto. I think it's moving into the mainstream now. Cricket is part of Toronto's life.”

Indeed, cricket's worldwide governing body, the International Cricket Council, has set its sights on the city as one of the sport's next hot spots, and Cricket Canada has been restructured to take players, and the sport's profile, to the next level.

Expanding the appeal

Further, in a bid to make cricket more appealing to modern sporting palates, the game better known for tea breaks, politeness and five-day matches is getting a makeover.

A new, shorter form of cricket brings the game down to about three hours.

Called Twenty20, the format gives each team 20 overs (akin to baseball innings), and includes showtime pizzazz, continuous play, and – gasp – cheerleaders.

That was the format used in last weekend's national cricket championships held in King City, Ont., and forms the basis of the star-studded Indian Premier League, a dazzling new competition modelled on European soccer's Premier League.

For purists, Twenty20 is just not cricket, but it is hoped that North Americans will lap it up and, in the process, bring cricket out of the shadows.

If the new format doesn't grab Toronto, a bonanza of international cricket coming to the city this summer is poised to make the sport unavoidable.

Toronto will play Bermuda in King City (home of the region's premier cricket facility) on June 28 and 29; will host four-day matches against Bermuda and Scotland in July; and then hosts Bermuda and the West Indies at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club at Wilson Avenue and Avenue Road in August. Pakistan has also signalled its interest to visit this summer.
“People are very bullish about the appeal of the sport. It's going to catch on in Canada,” said Cricket Canada CEO Atul Ahuja, who plays in the Markham cricket league.

“The beauty of the game is it's such a great way to bring people together. Lennon said, ‘All you need is love.' I say, all you need is cricket.”

The irony is that Toronto already has a deep cricketing history: The Toronto Cricket Club was founded in 1827, and its members made up most of the winning Canadian team in the first ever international cricket match – Canada beat the United States by 23 runs in 1844.

Yet the passion, obsession and devotion that cricket inspires in almost every Commonwealth nation somehow bypassed the Great White North. Instead, someone arrived one summer with a baseball bat, and cricket fell by the wayside.

Cricket's resurgence is seen as a win-win for the sport and its players, many of whom come from cricket-mad countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica and Bermuda. “Inside the school, cricket is a big deal. A hundred people try out for the cricket team. It's bigger than the rugby tryouts,” said Lahiru Gallege, a Grade 11 student at Scarborough's Cedarbrae Collegiate. “It's something I really know how to do. I know it's not big in Canada, but one day it will be.”

The 17-year-old from Sri Lanka is on the shortlist for the trip of a lifetime. Next month, Mr. Miller will announce the first Toronto Mayor's XI, a city-wide cricket team that will go to London, England, in August to take on a similar mayor's team from Kingston-upon-Thames.

More than 100 youths from across Toronto applied for the all-expenses-paid summer cricket tour organized by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Canada, the City of Toronto's Department of Parks, Forestry and Recreation, and corporate sponsors.

Next wave of cricketers

The final 12 youths chosen will include nine teens from the city's underprivileged neighbourhoods. (A parallel girls' competition could be considered in future years.)

For 15-year-old Michael Walton, making the team could bring him one step closer to his life's dream of playing internationally. Michael and his twin brother Patrick grew up watching their West Indian dad playing cricket.

“I love the game of cricket so much,” Michael said. “I hope to go on and play for the Canadian team. Over the years, we're improving, [so by then] I think it'll be top.”

A weekend drive past the Flemingdon Park sports fields or Sunnybrook Park will attest to the continued popularity of cricket with players of all ages and cultures.

“There's a pile of talent here, and talented kids who've been brought up on a diet of the game,” says Richard Done, the International Cricket Council's high-performance manager.

Mr. Done is tasked by the sport's global governing body with raising the bar for cricket in the six up-and-coming nations: Canada, Bermuda, the Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland and Kenya.

While he saw plenty of potential when visiting Toronto's practice nets from the ICC head office in Dubai recently, he said there's much work to be done, both in nurturing players and providing infrastructure.

To that end, the City of Toronto could be one of the sport's best friends.

Cricket is played on an oval field with a hard-packed “pitch” in the centre where the ball is bowled to the batters. A decent pitch costs $10,000 and requires special maintenance. Meanwhile, indoor facilities are critical to training and year-round game play, and the city has desperately few available.

Ken Jeffers, the manager of access and diversity for City of Toronto parks and recreation, said the city has fielded calls asking if baseball diamonds could be used for cricket instead. By simply adding a pitch to the centre of the field, hopeful callers say, the one area of land could be used for two sports.

“It's not seen as a competing sport. It's an option,” said Mr. Jeffers, who played cricket in his native Trinidad before switching to track in North America. “They're very particular with not competing with baseball. It's a question of providing another outlet.”
Ball players couldn't really be blamed for casting a cautious eye on the cricket boom. Both sports are played in summer, on open fields, which could lead to a tug of war over facilities.

But Toronto Baseball Association president Dave Black says that's far from the case. Cricket and baseball could easily co-exist, he said. Indeed, doing so could benefit both sports in the cash-strapped city.

“For any organization to go the city and request services, the first thing they want to understand is what you can bring to the table to defer the costs,” Mr. Black said.

“If you can share the costs [with another sport or a sponsor], it will be easier for the city to be able to look at a new use, or a reallocated use.”

There are many derelict fields in the city, he said. His Scarborough district is considering converting them for soccer or cricket use. That's not detracting from baseball's popularity, though, he said. Indeed, if cricket makes its way into the summer spotlight, the sport could find itself facing competition of an unexpected kind.

“Cricket players make the best pole hitters,” Mr. Black said. “They hit down the baseline and they drive the ball very hard. It's all the same skill set so it's a relatively easy crossover.

“Down at Greenwood area, around Gerrard, there's a high density of East Indians. There's a lot of cricket players in the community. The baseball league down there should be soliciting from those people.

“That's all your big power hitters coming up,” Mr. Black said.

“They just don't know it yet.”

It would be sick if a there were an IPL exhitbition match at the SkyDome. I am kind of interested in Cricket but I really don't know much about it.

I've played cricket a few summers as a young kid. I found it quite enjoyable, although you have to keep yourself from losing concentration while fielding. Games were a few hours long as I recall. One second you're dozing out after a long period of no action, the next you have a ball flying at your head. Unlike baseball, you have to try and catch it with your bare hands. Batting was great fun, unless you were up against a deadly bowler. Those balls can come at you pretty quick.

Any Impact fans here?

Any Impact fans here?

Hey I'm going to the game tomorrow Choco! I'll post some pics.

Hey I'm going to the game tomorrow Choco! I'll post some pics.

Sweet! Who are you rooting for?

Sweet! Who are you rooting for?

I'll give you 3 guesses and none of them end with "FC"!

I would have fallen backward with a heart attack had that been the case, habsfanman! :lol:

Any Impact fans here?The Impact can go lick the dogs bollox. :)

Any Impact fans here?


Go Impact! Kick some TFC butt!

Hopefully it won't rain tonight!

^^ forecast is clear!! Should be a good game....

Thanks TB for the cricket article! This is good news for the sport in Canada. I also read that Scotiabank is the new premier national sponsor and official bank of Cricket Canada. That ought to help the coffers.

So what is with the Voyageurs Cup(I refuse to call it Nutrilite thingy) not being on tv until midnight? Out West there is nothing on but Frasier and the Simpsons and out East you have the usual 22 Minutes and Just For Laughs. It will be streamed but this really should be on tv live.

Thanks TB for the cricket article! This is good news for the sport in Canada. I also read that Scotiabank is the new premier national sponsor and official bank of Cricket Canada. That ought to help the coffers.

So what is with the Voyageurs Cup(I refuse to call it Nutrilite thingy) not being on tv until midnight? Out West there is nothing on but Frasier and the Simpsons and out East you have the usual 22 Minutes and Just For Laughs. It will be streamed but this really should be on tv live.

If you have CBC Bold (former Country Canada) it will be shown live. Pretty dumb I know.

I'll give you 3 guesses and none of them end with "FC"!

No one?!!? :dunno:

(the full name of the Impact is Montreal Impact FC or Impact de Montreal FC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Impact

zinged!! :D

No one?!!? :dunno:

(the full name of the Impact is Montreal Impact FC or Impact de Montreal FC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Impact


I think the guy from Wikiedia is full of it. Nowhere on the Impact official website are the letters FC attached to the name Impact.

In over 10 years, I've never heard anyone call them the Impact FC.

oh....okay then

BTW, we're going to kick your ass :)

Good job

If you have CBC Bold (former Country Canada) it will be shown live. Pretty dumb I know.

Oh man...I don't have that Bold malarkey. Is this a channel most people have or am I out of the loop...lol.

I'm putting my money on the Reds winning this one tonight. Prediction 2 to nil.:cheers: 30 mins til kickoff!

Oh man...I don't have that Bold malarkey. Is this a channel most people have or am I out of the loop...lol.

I'm putting my money on the Reds winning this one tonight. Prediction 2 to nil.:cheers: 30 mins til kickoff!

3-1

Sutton will let one in for pitty.

Yay it's on!

Brenda at CBC control.....it's Toronto FC, Toronto, or just Reds. NOT FC! It doesn't mean anything.:nuts:

This would be like the Leafs playing at Calgary and Ron McLean said, "tonight HC(hockey club) are at Calgary". Ummm which HC would that be?
.
.
.
.
Pesoli sent off! Montreal down to 10 men. Toronto had better win this match now.

I saw some red monkies in downtown going to support the FC.

I saw some red monkies in downtown going to support the FC.

Red Monkies, you mean the Red Army!!

oh yeah...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9364/wewinvj0.png (http://imageshack.us)

I think you can tell the difference between the red monkeys and the blue monkeys. The red ones were smiling and happy!! :) :cheer::banana::cheers2: The blue ones were... well, blue! :cry::wallbash::doh:>(:gunz:

Observing this thread for a few months, it seems that soccer is what receives the most attention. It's refreshing to see a lot of interest beyond hockey.

What are people's views regarding MLS vs USL or a Canadian league? After watching the Montreal-Toronto game, it cemented my view that it's way more interesting seeing Toronto FC face Canadian opposition. MLS is a good league, but I can't see the Americans granting more than 3 franchises to Canadian cities. 8 would be tolerable, but not 3. If it's only ever going to be 3 teams, I'd rather an all-Canadian league.

If Columbus can have a team in MLS, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Montreal should all be big enough to support one. Hamilton, Quebec City, Winnipeg, and another Toronto team could probably attain higher support than half the teams in MLS today. I doubt MLS would be too keen though. Amazingly, they were even cool to the idea of a Montreal franchise. That doesn't bode well for the development of professional soccer in this country unless it's USL or something else.

Well, I believe a professional league in Canada is where it's at. Look at Australia, they got a renewed league in 2004 and they qualified for the WC. Canada needs professional clubs to not only entertain but to develop talent. I've noticed that soccer fans in Canada are quite pessimistic, I guess it's because so many failures that happened in the past.

I think a league co-existing with T.O, MTL and VAN in MLS could work too. (assuming that they get in before my imaginary league is put in place)

Victoria
Vancouver
Surrey
Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg
London
Toronto*
Hamilton
Ottawa
Montreal*
Montreal 2
Quebec City
St. John's

Hye, St. John's was where we qualified for the WC and 10,000 peoople attented. There's like no sports in that city so maybe a 7,500 seater could work like Pigadia Stadium in Greece (for the team Radzinski plays for):

http://www.stadia.gr/pigadia/pigadia11th.jpg

I collected examples of stadiums I think would do good in Canada but I have no time to post them.

Soccer in The New World is a great Doc on how not to run things:

http://www.omnitv.ca/ontario/tv/signatureseries/episodes/soccer/

this guy:

http://www.canadiansoccerhistory.com/

wrote this:

Colin José replies to Ben Knight's blog

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Ben,

Just a few thoughts and comments triggered by your latest blog.

Some years ago one of our grandsons wanted to play soccer, he was 5-6. So I took him, sat and watched, and kept my mouth shut. It was house league soccer, and he was fortunate in that first year because he had someone coaching who knew the game. The next year, his coach was a volunteer who was a basketball coach in the winter and had never played soccer. He was a nice man, the kids had fun. A lady whose son was also playing said to me "Isn't it wonderful they are going to play 14 games." I said "No lady it's a disaster they should be playing 40." She said "What! I wouldn't allow my son to do that I want him to play basketball and hockey in the winter." The boys didn't play 14 games, given that they spent so much time running on and off being substituted, they might have played seven.

Fast forward a few years and my grandson is in a rep team. The coach wanting to get an early start called a practice late January, early February in a school gym. There were something like 18 boys on this rep team, that first Saturday morning only about 7 showed up. Where were the rest? Playing hockey and basketball. This went on until almost opening day, when the outdoor practices, drew more. Hockey season was over. This was a Hamilton team playing in places like St. Catharines, Ancaster, Malton, Brampton etc. I think they won one game all season, and on average lost by at least 10 goals. Players were still running on and off, unlimited substitution. By mid-summer, there was no substitution because the team often played one, two or three short. Reason. Their parents were on holiday, so off the boys went to the cottage for two weeks, or on a trip somewhere. Yet as I sat through those seasons I saw potential everywhere, boys with natural skills.

Perhaps this is not the norm across the country. House league should be fun, but the more skilled you are the more fun it is.


Some time later I was in the Skydome one morning for a CSA press conference leading up to the two games Canada played there in around 1995. The press conference was out on the playing field. Tony Taylor, then the U-17 coach, showed up, he had just returned with the team from the Caribbean or Central America, and he was not a happy man. He described how his first job in training camp was to try to get the players fit to play 90 minutes, most of then could only handle 45. Then how it was hard to get some players released because their clubs wanted them so that they could win their local competitions, and in particular because it was more important for one ethnic group to beat another. He pointed out that the teams we were playing down south played at least nine months of the year and were totally focused on playing soccer. No unlimited substitution. I wish I had a tape recorder that morning because I have always had a lot of respect for Tony Taylor as a youth coach, and I think that day he touched on a lot of important things.

Now let's look at history, always my thing. Manchester United (formed 1902), Rangers 1873, Boca Juniors 1908, Inter-Milan 1909, Aston Villa 1874, Slavia Prague 1892, Borussia Dortmund 1909, Benfica 1904, Real Madrid 1898. TORONTO FC 2007. There was a time when we did have good teams that were around for many years. Westminster Royals, Toronto Ulster, Toronto Scottish, Montreal Carsteel, and even the various incarnations of the Blizzard lasted 18 years. But currently our only pro soccer team is now in it's second year. Which means that we are 100 years behind Europe. During last summer's U-20 tournament, one player in particular caught my eye – Ever Benega of Argentina, then perhaps 17. I heard people saying, if he had been born here the CSA system would never have developed him. But the point is that the national association of Argentina didn't develop him, Boca Juniors did. It's the clubs that develop players in the rest of the world not the national associations. It's an apprenticeship system. Only when the NASL existed did we have anything approaching that, and to set it up today will cost millions.

Example #1. When the Netherlands plays in Euro 2008 next month their assistant coach will be John Van't Schip. Van't Schip was born in Fort St. John, B.C. His Dutch parents took him back to Holland when he was eight years old. He grew up in Amsterdam, and by the age of 12 was in the Ajax system. He progressed up through the various levels until he reached the first team, he went on to play 273 games for Ajax and 41 times for the Netherlands. He wasn't developed by the KNVB but by Ajax.

Example #2. Some years ago Owen Hargreaves was selected to attend one of the youth teams training camps. Tony Taylor was the coach and he was under pressure to produce a team to compete in one of the CONCACAF tournaments. He looked at Owen and thought. "He needs one more year of development before I can use him." Nothing unusual about that. Owen got that year of development in the Bayern Munich youth system, and like Van't Schip made his way up through the system. He wasn't developed by the DFB. This is not to defend the CSA, but to point out that until we have a professional system here we are just whistling dixie. Tony has taken a lot of stick over this, but it was a normal decision. So where is Tony Taylor today? He is coaching in the Glasgow Celtic academy.

On Wednesday I was at the Soccer Centre and CBC-TV was filming part of this years "Soccer Day in Canada" in the Hall of Fame. When it was over some of us were asked where soccer in Canada goes from here. I said my piece on camera. Soccer in Canada needs professional CLUBS, not professional teams the way it has been in the past. Toronto FC is on the right track and so are the Whitecaps and Impact. The program airs May 31.

As I say, just a few thoughts. I agree with much of what you are writing about the CSA because I have been close to it for 40 years. But the problems are many and so much of it is parochial and people lacking is knowledge and vision.


Best wishes,
Colin Jose.

I think a league co-existing with T.O, MTL and VAN in MLS could work too. (assuming that they get in before my imaginary league is put in place)


The danger is that Canadians abandon anything that isn't MLS. Look what happened to that other Canadian league. Canada can easily support its own league, the problem is Canadian support. Canadians tend to support American based leagues over their own. Australians support their own leagues and the development of the sport within their country.

I'd prefer a Canadian league, but I imagine that Canadians would rather go without pro soccer in most of the country in exchange for 2 or 3 teams in MLS and no development of the sport domestically or the athletes it would produce. It's why we have one basketball team, one baseball team, and just 6 hockey teams in the whole bloody country. Smaller countries like Australia have their own leagues in many sports, crown national champions, and develop domestic players to represent them internationally.

The development of pro sports in Canada is rather hopeless because of the mentality here. I hope you are right about a Canadian league, but we'll probably end up with 3 teams and nothing else, which would put us on par with some tiny country of 4 million.

Well, we could always start a league with more imporst to make it better than MLs, then we will have academy's for each club and eventually allow more domestic players. MLS isn't THAT highly regarded.

Pesoli sent off! Montreal down to 10 men. Toronto had better win this match now.


Lucky for the TFC that Pesoli was sent off, cause the Impact were dominating up till that point!

Just goes to show that the talent level in the MLS isn't much higher than in the USL!

Anyways, it was a good game!

Canadians tend to support American based leagues over their own. Australians support their own leagues and the development of the sport within their country.


There's a simple explanation for that. Canada is right next to the USA, whereas Australia is 15,000KM's away.

^^ absolutely. Islands always develop more inwardly looking than continental countries that border on others. I don't see anything inherently wrong in sharing leagues with the USA.. they are our neighbour, and our historical trading partner. The movement of the world is toward globalization, not isolation.

^^ That's a nice sentiment, but it isn't about that.

Nothing against the Americans, but what this pro sports linkage has done is stunted the growth of sports at the professional level in this country. Domestic pro-sports teams not only provide entertainment, but they act as an important cultural glue for a nation. We don't crown national champions in any sport of consequence, curling excepted. Almost every other nation on the planet does.

This void creates a huge cultural disconnect between the regions of the country. As trivial as sports may be, it is a vital cultural link that binds a nation. All nations from South America to Asia, from Africa to Europe have this important national bond. We stand very much alone in the world as a nation devoid of this cultural bond. It is one of the very visible ways that Canadians exhibit a massive disconnect with their own country. We look to another country for a cultural reference point and then wonder why we have trouble defining what Canadian culture is. It is a monumental error in judgement as a nation. I can not over emphasize how debilitating this situation is to the national psyche.

In addition to this, pro sports act as an important cog in the framework of any sport. Grade school athletes are funnelled into the amateur club system, enter international competition, and the pinnacle is a job in pro sports. Joining American leagues results in the stunting of pro sport throughout Canada, and a huge decrease in the opportunities available for Canadian youth interested in a career in sports. Canada is a small enough country that withholding the biggest markets in the country from exploitation, effectively kills the development of any pro sports league. You simply can't operate a pro sports league in this country without Toronto, and to a lesser extent Montreal and Vancouver.

On the surface, Canada's tendency to simply seek franchises in American leagues seems harmless, but it has far reaching national consequences that aren't evident until you look a little closer.

There's a simple explanation for that. Canada is right next to the USA, whereas Australia is 15,000KM's away.

Yes, I know, but it's no less aggravating and frustrating. If you read the above, it goes a long way in explaining why I think it is so important.

Yes, I know, but it's no less aggravating and frustrating. If you read the above, it goes a long way in explaining why I think it is so important.


I can understand why you find it aggravating, I just don't agree with you.

Just to expand a little on what I said earlier, when I said we were right next to the USA and not Australia.

One of the major reasons why we don't have many pro sports leagues in Canada is quite simple. Seeing as the US is so close, if Canada were to have pro sports leagues in Hockey, Baseball or Soccer, the best Canadian players would not be playing in these Canadian leagues. They'd all be in the US, where they could make 10 to 20 times more money. (just look at the CFL vs the NFL) Even though the CFL brand of Football is more interesting(more fun to watch) we all know that the CFL acts as a "minor league" for the NFL. As soon as a CFL player becomes good enough, he goes to the NFL. I know that if the NFL were ever to establish a Team IN Montreal, you could pretty much kiss the Alouettes good-bye. The same can be said for Toronto and the Argonauts.

In Australia, the best Soccer players or the best Rugby players remain in Australia(for the most part) cause there's nowhere else(close-by) for them to go. THe Fans will cheer for these Australian teams(and Leagues) cause there is nothing bigger close by!

Lucky for the TFC that Pesoli was sent off, cause the Impact were dominating up till that point!

Just goes to show that the talent level in the MLS isn't much higher than in the USL!

Anyways, it was a good game!

Not really, by that time we had woken up. I don't think you guys would have won anyways, your finishing wasn't the greatest.

Not really, by that time we had woken up. I don't think you guys would have won anyways, your finishing wasn't the greatest.

Boo red guys! Impact looked pretty good until the red card but I agree Choco, the finishing wasn't there.

Lots of fun though. It was worth being there for the Italian guys who were sitting behind us. Their running commentary was hilarious! The stadium is really nice although they could organise the concessions a little better. We only paid 11$ for tickets so I think I'll be there a lot this summer.

I only have crappy phone pictures from the end of the game but my friend brought her camera and is going to send me hers.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii68/Habfanman/Montreal%20SSC/27-05-08_2132.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii68/Habfanman/Montreal%20SSC/27-05-08_2126.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii68/Habfanman/Montreal%20SSC/27-05-08_2122.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii68/Habfanman/Montreal%20SSC/27-05-08_2128.jpg

Thanks for the pics! Got to love that real pitch. I hope MLSE gets their arm twisted to put in real turf down the road for BMO.

Well we got the two Vanc v Mont Champions League matches in the middle of June to look forward to!

I heard there were some brawls after the game.

Anyways here is my somewhat possible dream

St. John's Athletic Club (will be a club with the Rugby team and will share stadium but that's a whole diff topic)

Colours: Pink and Green

9 000

http://www.stadia.gr/pigadia/pigadia11th.jpg

FC Quebec Voltigeurs

Colours: Red and Grey

15 000

http://www.stadiumguide.com/odense1.jpg

Olympique de Montreal

Colours: Blue and Red

14 000

http://www.stadiumguide.com/esbjerg4.jpg

http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/europe/denmark/esbjerg_idraetspark1.jpg

Ottawa (couldn't think of anything)

Colours: Black with hints of Red and White

18 000

http://www.footballmatch.de/Stadien/mainz.jpg

Hamilton (something)

Colours: Back and Yellow (preferably stripes)

14 500

http://www.azulones.com/sites/azulones/img/info/estadio/coliseum_alfonso_perez4.jpg

London City FC

Colours: Purple

12 000

http://www.sang-et-or.net/images/articles/Gilbert%20Brutus%201.JPG

http://idata.over-blog.com/0/54/69/32/dscn1896.jpg

I'll do the West later...

They said there were about a thousand unsold seats for the game, which surprised me. What percentage of Impact fans are season ticket holders, and what % are up for grabs game by game?

Attendance was 12,084. Not bad imo.

Some basic info. The Nutrilife Canadian Championship is the domestic qualifying tournament for one of the three Canadian pro clubs(Toronto FC, Whitecaps FC, Montreal Impact) to advance to the Preliminary Round of Champions League. The tournament ends in July. The NCC winner also is awarded the Voyageurs Cup.

Champions League Preliminary Round. 16 Preliminary Round clubs will be paired in eight home-and-away match-ups(starting 26-28 August).

Group Stage. The winners of the previous round will join 8 teams that were previously seeded. Matchday 1 starts 16-18 September. The eventual winner of CL goes on to play in the FIFA Club World Cup in Dec 2009. Where it is all possible to see a Canadian club meet someone like this years qualifier Manchester United or an AC Milan. Difficult but possible.:cheers:

Here's the logo for the Nutrilite Canadian Championship.
http://i30.tinypic.com/2airmld.jpg
Voyageurs Cup.
http://i28.tinypic.com/28rhy82.jpg
Champions League logo.
http://i29.tinypic.com/14wy2jc.jpg

Vancouver Canuck defenceman Luc Bourdon killed in motorcycle crash

Canadian Press
May 29, 2008, 2:29 PM EDT

SHIPPAGAN, N.B. - Luc Bourdon, a promising defenceman with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, was killed Thursday afternoon when his motorcycle struck a tractor-trailer in his native northern New Brunswick.

Bourdon's sister, Eve Bourdon, and his stepmother Maryse Godin both confirmed the death but declined further comment when reached at the family's home in Shippagan.

"Luc was a winner, he was a competitor," said Kent Hughes, his agent. "There was no quit in him. He persevered through a lot. He was a great guy and a great teammate."

RCMP in Shippagan wouldn't confirm the identity of the victim but said the driver of a motorcycle was killed at about 12:30 p.m. AT in crash on a road between Shippagan and Lemeque, N.B.

Bourdon, 21, was the first-round pick of the Canucks, 10th overall, in the 2005 NHL draft.

He split time this season with the Canucks and the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. In 27 games with the Canucks, he scored twice but had no assists.

Bourdon was a member of the Canadian team that won gold at the 2006 world junior hockey championship in Vancouver and was named to the tournament all-star team.

He helped Canada win another gold at the 2007 world juniors in Sweden.

Bourdon played for Val d'Or, Moncton and Cape Breton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League before turning pro.



Canucks.com:
It is with deep regret that the Vancouver Canucks today announced defenceman Luc Bourdon passed away in a motor vehicle accident on Thursday morning. Bourdon was 21 years old.

“We are deeply saddened by today’s news and on behalf of the entire Vancouver Canucks organization, I would like to extend my sincere sympathies to Luc’s family,” said Canucks General Manager, Mike Gillis. “Luc was an extremely talented player with a bright future. He brought great passion to the game and was a valued team member on and off the ice. He will be greatly missed.”

They said there were about a thousand unsold seats for the game, which surprised me. What percentage of Impact fans are season ticket holders, and what % are up for grabs game by game?

They've sold out all of the sections except the bronze TB. The CONCACAF and exhibition games aren't included in the season ticket packages although I imagine that they would receive first priority/discount on the price. I'm not sure how many tickets are held before each game but for the home opener they held 1,000 until a week before the game.

They've sold out all of the sections except the bronze TB. The CONCACAF and exhibition games aren't included in the season ticket packages although I imagine that they would receive first priority/discount on the price. I'm not sure how many tickets are held before each game but for the home opener they held 1,000 until a week before the game.

Is it possible to get last minute tickets if a person is in town visiting? What is the price range?

Good thing to try good time.

Is it possible to get last minute tickets if a person is in town visiting? What is the price range?

Here's the website TB. The bronze or grandstand prices run from 9-19$, plus a couple of $ for those stupid service charges that get tacked-on to everything!

http://www.montrealimpact.com/Tickets/Tickets_Individual.aspx?language=EN

Hey, $20 is a most reasonable price. Something to look into next time I visit. Thanks for the info..

AND IT'S A WIN~!

Yay FC!!!!
I want a Galaxy Sucks Shirt.

Yay TFC!!!!
I want a Galaxy Sucks Shirt.

LOL they do suck. They have absolutely no dept.