CFL expansion.... GO SCHOONERS!

2010 is going to be an interesting year for the CFL. BC has its new stadium, and it will be interesting if they can create a Molson Stadium atmosphere, Saskatchewan is selling even more season tickets, Montreal has 5,000 more seats in there stadium, and Toronto will be playing one less home game.

This year the Argos will be playing one game in Moncton, New Brunswick. and this game is popular, selling out in 36 hours! to bad they cant sell out in Toronto.

So the question today is where should the CFL expand too?

Lets look at some candidates:

Ottawa - Ottawa has had a team two times the Rough Riders for almost 100 years and then the Renegades. So why should they get a team back? Well the failur of the two teams has a lot more to do with the management then it does with the City it self. But it seems to me that for Canada's League it should have a team in the national capital.

Quebec City - to me Quebec City is a no brainier, they have a strong fan base with the U of Laval, and it seems to me that football in Quebec is stronger then ever. The CFL needs to take advantage of this growth in a Provence that has had problems getting people into football, especially the francophone community... plus the idea of a Labour Day classic between Quebec City and Montreal sounds amazing!

Atlantic Province - To me we need to move a team into the Atlantic provinces ASAP, there is an interest in the Atlantic for football as we see with the Toronto game, and the exhibition games in the past. The other issue is that most fans in the Atlantic provinces associate with the NFL and not the CFL, so with a team in the provinces it can build our league.

So what teams should the CFL have?

West:

BC

Calgary

Edmonton

Saskatewan

Winnipeg

East

Hamilton

Toronto

Montreal

Quebec City

Atlantic

Anyways that is my thoughts for Our League

Hockey on the Radio

I have been a hockey fan my whole life. I still remember the first game i went to at the Montreal Forum back in 1996, and i also remember negotiating with my Mom to let me watch just a few minutes more (back then i used to say Ill go to bed when they show the score). But even when i couldn't watch the game i could always listen to the game on the radio. The radio Station that always played the Games was CJAD with Rick Moffat.

As I grew older i was able to watch the full games on TV and as time went on more and more games were shown on TV (Today the Canadiens are the only NHL team to have all there games broad-casted nation wide)

But something is lost with TV, the images your mind can conjure up makes hockey that much better... Now i will always watch a big game on TV but for a none important game radio is the best medium for the worlds greatest sport.

My Olympics, Canada's Gold, and Quebec

So as many of you guys know, I attended the full Olympics... now not just a few events on the weekend, my buddy and I flew out to Vancouver for the full 17 Days... here are our statistics:

• 17 Days
• 23 Events
• 6 Canadian Gold Medals
• 2 Bronze Medals
• $4000 total in Tickets
• No Sleep

We saw Alex win Gold in Moguls, We saw Ashely win Gold in Ski Cross, Jon M win Gold in Skeleton, Womens Hockey, and Charles Hamlin win double Gold in Short Track... the list is long.

We watched the Mens Gold from a Bar outside Canada Hockey Place, and after Canada won we didn't spend a lot of time celebrating, we went inside BC Place for the Closing Ceremonies. After watching some of the Montoges, and yes i know its been a month, but I still can't get over them, one thing stuck me. My favourite images after Canada won gold was not from Canada Hockey Place, not from on the streets of Vancouver, not even from Toronto on the other side of the country... these are all great images of pride and pure joy, but the best images come from the Streets of Montreal:



Now maybe this is because I grew up in Montreal during the high of separatism (I remember going to bed during the 1995 Referendum wondering what Country I lived in) and Im as big of a Quebecer as you will find, but seeing the streets of Montreal Covered in Canadian Flags brings a tear to my eye.

Quebec gets a bad break for being too Anti-Canada but looking at those images of young Montrealers covered in Canadian Flags, this to me shows that Quebec is moving away from the Separatist mentality and becoming truly Canadian.

Paralympics

As I sit watching the Closing Ceremonies of the Paralympics It dawns on me that its all over... Canada's 7 year ride with the Olympics has come to an end, we have been a successful Olympics changing the way the games are engineered forever. But I'm sad the Paralympics are over despite never really getting into them.

Now I am as big of a fan of the Olympics Games as you will find. I love every sport, even the ones that arnt necessarily the best sports to watch... but for some reason I can't get into the Paralympics.

Now don't get me wrong what those world class athletes do out there is impressive, and I am excited for the prospect of what they are doing. and I think its great that Canada won so many golds this year in Vancouver, But for some reason I just could not get into it.

So I sat down with all the sports and tried to figure out the issues I had with the Winter Sports:

• Wheelchair Curling: this is the sport i have the hardest time watching, all it is is glorified shuffleboard. There is no athleticism at all... they could just have one guy doing it the whole time. Again its great Canada won gold, and i like the idea of it, but in the end its not a great visual sport.
• Alpine Skiing: I love watching sitting skiing and amputee skiing, its fast and its impressive. My issue with Skiing is the ones were (as an outsider) they dont look like they have a disability, they just look like slow skier, and when the winner of all the women golds is almost 5 secs faster then the silver medalist, it just dosnet make good viewing.
• Cross Country Skiing/Biathlon, I find hard to watch in the Olympics, but I will give it the benefit of the doubt because i didnt see much of it.
• Sledge Hockey was by far my favourite sport to watch on TV, Its fast, its Hard Hitting, and its just plain fun... my only complaint was Canada chocking!

Now this was the year i said i would watch the Paralympics.. it was supposed to be on TV a lot, it was going to be fun, see Canada win lots of medals, but i just couldnt get into it. I have to put some of the blame on CTV, they didn't show a lot of the stuff and pump it up as much at they did for the Olympics. I found that both VANOC and CTV didn't anticipate the reception both the Olympics and the Paralympics would get from the Canadian people, and that's reflected in the under manufacturing of red mittens and the lack of Paralympic coverage.

I will say this, I do look forward to the 2012 Paralympics, there are a lot more sports and a lot more chances for entertainment... lets hope that CTV will let us watch it more then they did in 2010... in fairness CBC never showed anything either.

On a closing note, i do thank the Athletes of the Paralympics, your stories are truly inspirational.

2018 Olympics Candidates...

So with the Vancouver Olympics over, and the Summer Youth Games looking like a disaster, i will move my Olympic focus to the Winter Olympic Candidates for the 2018 Olympics. We have three Candidates for the games:

• Annecy, France
• Munich, Germany
• Pyeongchang, South Korea

So lets look at some factors, now the bid books have yet to be realised so everything is in theory. First lets look at the last few games: 1998 Nagano (Asia), 2002 Salt Lake City (North America), 2006 Torino (Europe), 2010 Vancouver (North America), and 2014 Sochi (Europe). So it will of been 20 Years since the last Winter Games in Asia, and it will be 4 years since the last games in Europe. Now back to the Candidates.

• Annecy, France: Now I dont know alot about this small resort town in the french alps, but this town may be hurt alot by Vancouver and Sochi. Vancouver turned out to be a success, and alot of that has to due with the fact that its a larger city and could accommodate the extra people who arrived for the games, on the flip side you have what is looking like a disaster in Sochi which is a resort town and may not be able to take the burden of an Olympic Games, Torin also suffered from those issues. So i would not be surprised if the IOC wants to step away from the Resort towns and move to more legitimate cities.

• Munich, Germany: This city in my mind has a strong chance at winning these games, They have hosted the Olympics before (1972 Summer Games). Munich is a larger city, and as i explained with Annecy, that may play to its advantage. The one major burden with this Olympic bid is the fact that Sochi will of hosted the previous Winter Games, and the IOC likes to spread the games around more. So for Munich it will come down to experience vs same areas.

• Pyeogchang, South Korea: Pyeogchang has bid on the last 2 winter Olympics, and has yet to win, so the question is what does the IOC want from them. Are they missing something so large that they will never get the games, or is the IOC worried about going to a country that is still at war with its neighbour. Pyeogchang has one major factor on its side that may get them the games... It has been 20 years since the last Winter Games in Asia (and 10 years since any games). The IOC may want to increase winter games in Asia, and give these games to Pyeogchang.
  

My thoughts at this point, with one year to go, is the IOC will go with Munich... Germany hasn't hosted a games in a long time, and its a bigger city, they will try to re create Vancouver.

Here we go again!

So i probably should of blogged when i was at the 2010 Olympics, but alas...

So school is ending, Olympics are over... so that means i have three things to look forward to...

1. MLB Season: I look forward to the boys of summer being back, sit back and watch some good baseball...

2. NHL Playoffs: Habs are making a late season run, and it should be a good ending... now I'm finally getting into the season, for some reason this season has not sparked my interest, but this should be a good ending.

3. CFL Season: This is my league! this will be my first year as an Alouettes Season Ticket Holder, so im pumped for our run to win back to back Grey Cups!

So the next few months should be some good sports action.

On other news my song of the week... or month haven't decided...



Now before you guys all bug me about being a Nickelback fan... Im not... I just love this song, its a great stadium anthem and a good rock song. I heard it for the first time at the Closing Ceremonies and I was impressed.


Till next time
Later dayz