Steve Nash could rule the world, and he's damned funny

There is another viral video of Canada's greatest Steve Nash in addition to the one of him on Letterman last night.

The one for his new not-for-profit social business, Football For Good, seems just as worthy of attention, as is the fact he will be involved in an ESPN documentary about the life of the late, great Terry Fox.

Steve Nash - 'The Player' from meathawk on Vimeo.

Football For Good speaks the whole notion of how the two-time NBA MVP from Victoria, B.C., is a sports hero for Generation X. From afar, he comes across like a guy who would be the last one to describe himself as the leader of a social movement. Like he told Chuck Klosterman for that Esquire piece in 2005, "I don't even like to use the word philosophy when describing what I do for a living; I don't want to glorify the idea of playing basketball. But if you give of yourself, you do get things back." Taking a simple step like soliciting $5 donations to build a football academy in a war-ravaged region of Africa fits right in with the notion of a "hundred million solutions." It's one of just many small ideas that can take what works in our culture and improve what doesn't.

Improving the world isn't going to come from the top down or big, sweeping ideas, policy changes or mission statements the highers-up at your work like to issue periodically (and please, forgiveness if this sounds way too sincere). As Gordinier said in X Saves the World, change comes in stealth. Steve Nash kind of embodies that, or at least does for these purposes. He can do the spotlight stuff, sit in the chair and joke with Dave, ask ESPN.com's Jeff Van Gundy if his brother Stan, the Orlando Magic coach, "got laid in high school," but all of that would be mental dross if it wasn't backed by the change in thinking he represents.

He stepped up to sponsor youth basketball leagues when NBA rules kept the Raptors from doing so outside of a certain geographical radius. That's important, since with divorced-from-sanity cost of hockey, it's important to introduce girls and boys to an affordable athletic option which cuts across cultural lines. He's invested in Women's Professional Soccer, which seems to be gaining some traction in the face of tough economic times. Others can speak better to this, but it's a fair bet that when — not if — WPS expands into Canada, Nash could end up having something to do with a Vancouver team which will (ahem) probably end up beating the pants off the Toronto team. Starting a football academy in Africa with $5 donations from well-off, middle-class North Americans, well, it's a simple idea: Build better stuff for people in need. And anyone who wants to help can. It's a very Generation X idea. Meantime, you respect who came before, as he's doing by, as Jonah Keri noted, "leading the effort on a documentary about Terry Fox."



Getting back to Nash ... The easy way out is to say, "Well, it's not hard to do all that when you're paid obscene amounts of money to play point guard." That might get the point upside-down and backwards. Nash needs that platform. He wouldn't be sitting next to Letterman, getting Dave to go heh-heh-heh, if he was a hockey player or was the central midfielder for the New York Red Bulls. It's as if, on a subconscious level, something told him that if he wanted to make a difference beyond playing a sport , he should play basketball. It's a relatively global game which also is popular in the United States.

A lot of what Nash does is purely for amusement, whether it's playing basketball or his Letterman appearance. The latter probably shows it's better to appear casual, since painfully earnest can backfire. Seeing what Steve Nash is up to raises hope any of us can have a small, goofy impact on our corner of the world. In this day and age, if you're going to have a hero, it better be a guy who can laugh at himself:



P.S. Incidentally, here's an update on the next Nash, Toronto point guard Junior Cadougan, who's going to Marquette:

"Cadougan's greatest strength, however, may be his high basketball IQ. Similar to Canada's most famous basketball product, two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash, Cadougan exemplifies complete body control and court vision. Whether it be a crossover dribble, pull-up jumpshot or pick and roll, seldom will you see Cadougan rush into an offensive set or force a play that is not there."

(Nash clip via Ben Rycroft at It's Called Football. Ben talks the footy talk regularly with Duane Rollins on a podcast of the same name.

Goodbye, Greg

It is be a big day for hockey fans, thanks to the Phoenix mess continuing to play out in court and Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final going tonight, and it's also a big day for Canadian basketball fans with Jason Kapono traded from the Raptors (Michael Grange, The Globe and Mail) for Reggie Evans, but there's some important soccer news as well. Toronto FC announced today (John F. Molinaro, CBC Sports) that they had released veteran goalkeeper Greg Sutton (pictured) and traded a 2010 third-round draft pick to the San Jose Earthquakes for American defender Nick Garcia and the MLS rights to Canadian striker Ali Gerba. Analysis on what it all means and some links after the jump.

This is a move that had to be made. Sutton is a talented goalkeeper, but he's been replaced in the TFC starting lineup by rookie Stefan Frei this season, who has been spectacular so far. Sutton may well be picked up by another MLS club and perhaps even have a chance to start, but he wasn't particularly needed in Toronto after Frei emerged as a star and his guaranteed contract of $165,000 was just too high for a backup goalkeeper in the strict salary cap world of MLS. His release opens a roster spot and adds cap room, plus it should give younger goalkeeper Brian Edwards more playing time to develop as Frei's backup. Gerba and Garcia are nice pickups as well, and Sutton's departure paved the way for their entrance.

Ideally, it would have been nice to get something for him in trade, but general manager Mo Johnston didn't have a lot of leverage. MLS has more depth at keeper than any other position; most teams have at least one solid netminder, and many of them are American, which helps with the roster limits on imports. The U.S. has actually been more successful at bringing up talented keepers than most countries, and certainly has done a better job of developing star goalkeepers than other players; Tim Howard and Brad Friedel are two of the best keepers in the English Premier League (for Everton and Aston Villa respectively) and there are plenty of other American standouts in MLS, including Seattle's Kasey Keller. Thus, no MLS team would be too desperate to trade for a 32-year-old Canadian with a history of concussion problems who was likely to be released anyway thanks to his contract; why pay for what you can get for free? If they are interested, he can be claimed quite easily now.

Toronto fans should thank Sutton for his service. He was one of the original members of the club and was their starting goalkeeper for their first two seasons. He played quite well during that time and turned in some solid performances with the Canadian national team as well. Unfortunately, he suffered a severe concussion at the 2007 Gold Cup, which kept him out for a significant amount of time and appeared to affect his play to a degree when he returned to the TFC lineup. He battled back from that, though, and seemed to be back in fine form lately, but he wasn't playing as well as Frei and was very expendable due to his contract. Despite that, he will be fondly remembered by many TFC fans, and he may be again cheered by national team fans in the future depending on where he winds up.

Where will Sutton wind up? It's hard to say. In MLS, D.C. United is most well-known as a side with goalkeeping problems, but many of those appear to be because of their inability to choose and stick with a number-one keeper. I'm not sure Sutton is the answer there. Another MLS side may take a flier on him, perhaps initially as a backup, but his Canadian passport and contract expectations may hurt those chances. He could also wind up overseas.

One intriguing possibility is another Canadian side. Matt Jordan of the Montreal Impact has looked rather shaky lately and was unimpressive in Sunday's match against the Whitecaps. Sutton's Canadian passport would be attractive to Montreal and his tenure with the national team would likely make him a popular player there. The lack of a salary cap in the USL and Montreal owner Joey Saputo's willingness to pay for quality players might also help. It's pure speculation at this point, but it would make a good bit of sense.

Some reaction from around the intertubes:

• Duane Rollins says it's unfortunate, but logical news about Sutton. He also likes the acquisition of Gerba and Garcia (The 24th Minute).
  
• Sam ponders what this might mean for Canada's Gold Cup team (The Canadian Stretford End).
  
• Ben Van Weelden is happy to see these moves after all the recent bad news for the club (TFC Connected)
• J thinks this move could work out for both Sutton and TFC. (Out of Touch)

Canadian women set for USA clash

Tomorrow evening, a new era will fully dawn at BMO Field as the Canadian women's national soccer team plays their first home match under new head coach Carolina Morace. It's going to be a baptism by fire for Morace, though. The Canadian women are currently ranked 11th in the world by FIFA. They were initially supposed to face seventh-ranked Japan, but the Japanese team canceled their North American exhibition tour because of swine flu concerns. Replacing them will be the top-ranked Americans, a tough test for any team at the best of times but an especially difficult opponent for a new coach still adjusting to her lineup. Early results under Morace have been promising, including a second-place finish at the Cyprus Cup in March, but this match will be a challenge of a different order.

The U.S. has been much stronger over the history of their women's program, boasting a stellar all-time record of 37-3-4 against Canada. Canada's narrowly come out on the wrong side of some of the most important clashes lately, though, including 2-1 losses in extra time in both the 2006 Gold Cup final and the Beijing Olympics, the last clash between the two countries. One player to watch on the American side is striker Abby Wambach, who's always found a lot of success against Canada. She currently plays for the Washington Freedom in the new Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league and has 99 career goals for the U.S, but hasn't played an international match since breaking her leg in their last tune-up before the Olympics last summer. She's back in the American lineup and will be eager to hit the century club.

On the Canadian side, famed striker and captain Christine Sinclair is also stuck on 99 goals. She already holds national team records in career goals, single-season goals, goal-scoring streaks, minutes played, and Women's World Cup goals, and she'll come closer to yet another record tomorrow with her 130th appearance for Canada. That ties her with famed striker/defender Charmaine Hooper for second on the list and puts her only two matches back of former midfielder Andrea Neil, who's now an assistant coach with the national team. Sinclair also plays in WPS with California's FC Gold Pride.

Another Canadian to watch is goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc. LeBlanc shone in the Olympics last summer and was a big reason why the Canadians made it to extra time against the U.S. She's also done well in WPS so far with the Los Angeles Sol, including posting a shutout over Wambach and the Freedom in the league's first match. LeBlanc is the longest-serving player currently with the national team and has spent 12 seasons suiting up for Canada. She holds team goalkeeping records for both appearances (69) and shutouts (29).

One other item of note is how many players on both rosters come from the WPS. Almost all of the American players selected play in the league, which is perhaps to be expected, as domestic leagues tend to focus heavily on developing talent for their own national team. Several Canadians have also proven their talent and earned spots in the new league alongside the best players from the U.S., Brazil and Europe, though. Five of the 22 players on the Canadian roster currently ply their trade in WPS (Sinclair, LeBlanc, Kelly Parker, Candace Chapman and Martina Franko), and there's a good chance that many more of the younger players currently starring for college or USL teams could make their way to the WPS eventually. It's good for the national team to have such a high-quality league close to home, as it allows for easier trips for those players than those who play overseas.

Interestingly enough, this match is also a clash of not only female head coaches, but foreign female head coaches. Morace is famous for her work with her native Italy, while American coach Pia Sundhage has spent most of her coaching career in the U.S. but was a legendary player for the Swedish national team. She has a ridiculous record of 36-1-3 since taking the reins of the U.S. team in 2007 and led them to a gold medal in Beijing last year. She'll be looking to continue America's dominance against their northern neighbours.

The match is at 7 p.m. tomorrow night. It will be broadcast live on Sportsnet (and I'll be live-blogging it here and at The 24th Minute), but there are also apparently plenty of tickets still available if you happen to be in Toronto. This could be a great chance to get to see some of Canada's top soccer talent at home against some of the best players in the world, and it's not a frequent opportunity; the U.S. women's team has only played four of their 44 matches against Canada on northern soil. Twenty-five have been played in the U.S. and another 15 took place at neutral venues. That may change now that Canada has a great stadium at BMO Field, and a good turnout would go a long way to help that cause. Famed Canadian soccer fan Dino Rossi still has a few unsold tickets from the batch he bought in advance, and tickets are also still available through Ticketmaster. Check it out if you happen to be in the area, or stop by the live blog if you're not! It should be a great match.

[Cross-posted to The 24th Minute]

Ottawa stadium debate: Hunt talks USL

It sounds like the USL is on a par with the calibre of the MLS and if things don't work out in Kanata, it might be worth looking into. It certainly represents a way to test the waters of professional soccer in Ottawa at much less risk.

That's Jeff Hunt of Ottawa's CFL bid. Putting aside his absurd assertion that USL-1 is the same calibre as MLS (yes USL-1 fans, it's absurd. The soccer is fine, but it isn't on par with a league that spends roughly four times as much money on salaries), it is the first time that someone from that side of the stadium debate in Ottawa has actually articulated the USL-1 idea. It's been hinted at before, but no one has ever come out and said it.

Clearly MLS is the best option for Canadian soccer. And it would work in Ottawa. It would work in any Canadian city. The country is ready to embrace the sport at the club level. But, if MLS isn't an option another USL-1 team is (literally) the next best thing.

Soccer fans in the capital need to keep the pressure on Hunt et al. to live up to this promise if they win the day on April 22.

The win-loss stat provided in the linked article is misleading because it fails to take into consideration the squad rotation that most MLS teams use when playing USL-1 teams. Essentially, they play the scrubs against a team that is geared up to prove something. When it's best on best, USL wins teams over MLS teams are rare. If you look at the U.S. Open Cup competition (the only competition where the two leagues have met over a long enough period to gauge anything) you'll find that in the semi-finals or later (when MLS starts to take it seriously) of that tournament the USL has not won a game against MLS competition since 1999.

Famously Montreal won the Canadian championship last year against a weak TFC team. However, it is worth pointing out that they did so without actually defeating Toronto and it was Vancouver's win over TFC on Canada Day (combined with Montreal's mastery of Vancouver in the tournament) that handed the championship to the Impact. And the 'Caps win over Toronto was a case of a goaltender standing on his head during a second half onslaught by Toronto. The point being that, yes, upsets happen, but that it's unlikely that it will be a trend. MLS pays roughly four times more salary than USL-1 does. Clearly it's a better league. There is no debate here -- other than by USL-1 partisans in Canada that are as much influenced by wanting to knock big, bad Toronto down a notch than by the cold logic of the situation.

This isn't to say that USL wouldn't be a good fit in Ottawa. In many ways it does make more sense. MLS would have a better chance of capturing the imagination of the city than a league that is clearly minor league.

Related:
Getting their balls in a row; The stadium battle could be shaping up to include a faceoff between competing soccer leagues (Chris Stevenson, Sun Media)
Lansdowne doesn’t need a stadium, mayor says; O'Brien suggests updating Civic Centre, dealing with football/soccer issue separately (Mohamed Adam, Ottawa Citizen)
New plan combines soccer, football (Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen)

(Cross-posted to The 24th Minute).

The door is open ...

Ottawa 67's owner Jeff Hunt was on the FAN 590 tonight and left the door open to partnering with a soccer team, if Ottawa ever gets a stadium.

"For soccer fans the highlight of the discussion came when Hunt said that they would look into bringing a MLS 'or other professional soccer league' to their stadium if they win the day. Although the cynic in all of us might dismiss that as just pandering to anyone in city that is leaning towards the footy option, let’s take it at face value for now." — The 24th Minute

The possibility of soccer was mentioned during the Lansdowne Live press conference back in October (although it might have come off better if there had been any trace of soccer memorabilia on the podium).

Related:
'Other' options for Ottawa (The 24th Minute)

The W.C.E. is in like with Lansdowne, not in love

It seems best to pass the conch with regard to the latest on Lansdowne Park. It has been a popular topic.

The Globe figures MLS took a body blow to the solar plexus while the CFL bid only had the wind knocked out of it. Perhaps this forces Eugene Melnyk and the soccer people to call Roger Greenberg and the CFL lobby and start collaborating, as D. Rollins wondered.

The worst fear, of course, is that a city which hasn't done anything about this for a decade, won't do anything. A functional sports stadium is for some other city, not the capital of a G8 nation.

Again, who knows what will happen in 15 days' time, especially since it is up to the W.C.E. under the Joker, Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien.

A more pressing concern is that the ballpark on Coventry Rd., the former Lynx Stadium. City councillor Rainier Bloess mouth was ahead of his mind yesterday when he lumped it in with Lansdowne Park as one of two "white elephants." He is, no disrespect, speaking ignorance. The baseball stadium, in Carl Kiiffner's words, is "entirely paid for -- every last penny." It had a tenant for 16 consecutive summers until last week. Meantime, Lansdowne Park, counting this summer, has lacked one for 10 of the past 13.

A personal stance is that as someone who is will be not be around Ottawa for much longer has no claim on saying what's best for the city. It really falls to people who are more personally invested, so have at 'er.

Related:
Preserving part of our souls at the heart of the city (Earl McRae, Sun Media)
Stadium dreams put on ice (Shane Ross, Sun Media)
Councillors skeptical of 'big ticket' spending on stadium (Patrick Dare, Ottawa Citizen)
Ottawa's great stadium debate continues to simmer (David Naylor, globesports.com)

International incidents of epic proportion, indeed

Our own Duane Rollins has a first-person account of the "gong show" (his term) that occurred after the Toronto FC-Columbus Crew match last Saturday.

Duane makes a pretty salient point when he saw a much smarter approach to crowd control when he was covering the Grand River land dispute in Caledonia, Ont., than he did last Saturday. Think about. There's centuries-old simmering tensions present in the first instance. Toronto and Columbus have only been opponents for barely two years and it got out of control (we'll thank you to not say it was due to the bumbling of the Officer Bartlebys working security at the stadium).

"The police were everywhere, they did not appear to be communicating with each other and 'hands on' was a matter of first response rather than last resort. About all they accomplished was to further enrage the group and to put those not involved at risk – at one point two police cars took chase after a fleeing Toronto fan. Driving about 60 km/h they weaved their way through a crowded parking lot."

A couple TFC fans who happened to be off the wrong skin colour, in the cops' eyes, were also targeted. That's brutal, but not shocking if you know about who can be licensed to carry a badge and a gun in the U.S. That story about NFL running back Ryan Moats having a cop draw a gun on him when he was trying to get inside a hospital to see a dying loved one is, well, not atypical.

This is not about doing the smug Canadian routine or being a cop-basher (two in my extended family, thanks). The mind does reel when you're presented with how the U.S., in some precincts, just has a different concept of law and order, compared to its backwards neighbours in countries which astonishingly manage to not have more than one in every 100 adults in prison. That mindset is probably best expressed by the twitbag who covers the Columbus team, but thankfully not the local courts:

"The highlight from my vantage point on the concourse had to be the perp running toward the railroad tracks who eventually ran out of gas and was taken down with a perfect form tackle by one of the city's finest."

That's hilarious.

Related:
Sober second thoughts: Send in the clowns (The 24th minute)
TFC fan Tasered, others arrested after U.S. game (Lance Hornby, Sun Media)
"Like We Were Dogs": The Story of Ryan Moats (Dave Zirin)

Soccer: Dale Mitchell is out

Duane called it a while ago, but it's official now. Dale Mitchell has been fired as head coach of the Canadian men's soccer team, according to a Canadian Press report (via The Globe and Mail). Read on for more details and analysis.

The CSA pretty much had to make this move. The dismal failure of last year's World Cup qualifying run was one thing and led to plenty of criticism of Mitchell by the fans, pundits and observers. On its own, that might not have been enough, though; there have been plenty of protests before that haven't changed much, and firing a coach mid-contract while you're facing tough economic times and budget cutbacks is never the easiest thing to do. The public criticism of Mitchell by Canada's top stars was what pushed the momentum for this change over the edge.

Soccer is becoming a larger player on the Canadian sports landscape, but it's the players that are making it happen. Coaches and press releases are one thing, but for the national teams, it's the players that draw much of the media and viewer interest. Enough recognizable players went after Mitchell and refused to don the Canadian colours while he held the reins, and that was what stoked the building outrage against him.

There's no word yet on who will replace Mitchell, but Stephen Hart is the forerunner for at least the interim job. Hart has had success with the national team before, most notably in the Gold Cup, and is apparently well-liked by the players. More importantly, he's already within the CSA and thus can be shunted over to a new role quickly and easily (and probably without significant added costs). The view from this corner is that he'll do a good job, but the proof is always in the pudding. Nevertheless, this move shows that the CSA is continuing to pay at least some heed to its critics. It's been a long time coming, but they seem headed in the right direction.

One final thing; let's not be too hard on Mitchell on his way out the door. The man has contributed a lot to Canadian soccer over the years, both as a player and in various coaching roles. Yes, his recent stint at the top was anything but successful and his U-20 team performed well below everyone's expectations in the World Cup, but coaching is a difficult job. Any observer of sports knows that there are plenty of factors that go into every game, including coaching techniques and strategies, the skill of the players, the chemistry of the team and pure, simple, unadulterated luck. Those factors didn't mesh successfully during Mitchell's term, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's all his fault.

Mitchell certainly deserves a share of the blame, but even with that, keep in mind the level of play involved. It can't be easy to try and coach at a high level, especially given the competition, the various players involved and the budget and facility problems that are a reality in Canada. I spoke with Mitchell a couple of times back in 2007 when he was still coaching the U20 team, and I was impressed with his soccer knowledge and his sense of the game. He was anything but successful at the highest level, but I'm quite certain he still has forgotten more about top-level soccer than I'll probably ever know. It's worthwhile to remember that the man devoted a lot of his life to Canadian soccer and accomplished some important things along the way. It's unfortunate things didn't work out any better for him.

(Cross-posted to The 24th Minute.)

Vancouver in MLS; what's it mean for Montreal (idly wondering)

Vancouver is officially in MLS, as you know since Rollins was out front. Meantime, Théo Gauthier, the Ottawa Sports Guy, has some misgivings about what it might mean for Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo.

"It's difficult to tell, but remember that George Gillett, owner of the Montreal Canadiens and Liverpool FC, has made it known he'd love an MLS franchise. It's not out of the realm of possibility that (MLS commissioner) Don Garber is much less comfortable with a French-Italo-Canadian-cheese and Jos Louis maker than with a WASP Texas businessman with much deeper pockets that would immediately link his MLS club to the storied Liverpool FC.

"If I'm right, and this is what truly happened, it would be quite unfair to the Saputo family. They have nurtured the soccer culture in Montreal from its embryonic stage to the solid franchise it is today. To have the rug swept from under them by a swaggering cowboy would be sad indeed."

There was a similar situation, you will recall, when MLSE-owned Toronto FC came into being and the Toronto Lynx owners promptly folded its team post-haste. They were a mom-and-pop store up against Wal-Mart. It passed with barely any notice, even though MLSE-bashing might be Toronto's official sport.

It piqued some interest, to say the least. Gillett has his hands full with Liverpool, by most accounts; replacing CEO Rick Parry, trying to replace undersized Anfield (44,000 seats; Manchester United has 76,000) and making nice with co-owner Tom Hicks. There's also the matter that FIFA boss Sepp Blatter isn't hot on having Americans own European teams and wants MLS season to start in late summer and run through the winter, which might be a bit of a problem in Toronto and Montreal.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for Montreal in 2013 and, yeah, there's Ottawa too.

Related:
Hooray! I think? (Théo Gauthier, Ottawa Sports Guy)

Vancouver to MLS!

I’ll have far more on this as the story plays itself out, but it appears that the news that I first broke on The 24th Minute, that Vancouver will be awarded a MLS team, will be confirmed at a press conference later today.

This is awesome news for soccer fans in Canada. Although the USL does provide a decent brand of soccer it does not match-up with MLS in terms of exposure or potential growth. As good as the current Whitecaps are, they are still playing in a stadium that sits 5,000 with limited attention outside of the Lower Mainland. By joining TFC in MLS, the ‘Caps have the potential to become a truly national brand.

There are some questions. Most notably, whether the ‘Caps will be allowed to keep their current player development system. Here’s hoping they are because it’s top notch.

What isn’t a question is the future of the league or sport in this country (don’t believe me? Then ask Stephen Brunt). MLS soccer is in Canada to stay. If you are a soccer fan, rejoice. If you don’t like soccer...why should we soccer fans care what you think? Back away from the comments section. We’ve heard whatever “joke” you’re going to post already. Let us enjoy our moment...

As stated, I’ll have more on this tomorrow...

Snark break ...

(Please omit flowers for the Montreal Impact. Canadian soccer teams always being the scrappy underdog is so little for the mind ... but they came so close.)

There is a method to the madness of the CFL legalizing the Wildcat formation: Based on last season, the Argos should have the quarterback handling the ball as little as possible.

It's good to see the single point we know and love will be spared. It might be universally regarded as an award for failure, but that's Canada at its essence. Thank your lucky stars for that, eh, John Tory?

Say whatever you want about Terrell Owens, but four quarterbacks have thrown 30 touchdown passes in a season with him, and only one of them ever did it without him, Hall of Famer Steve Young. Granted, it's better for ESPN when the Dallas Cowboys are stupid. (Fist bump: Pacifist Viking.)

Ontario Hockey League commissioner David Branch said this week the recession is having "no significant impact on the league." For instance, the Kingston Frontenacs will sell as many playoff tickets as they did last season.

That's not a cheap shot when you consider that the Frontenacs tried to blame their attendance on the recession, despite the fact most season tickets were paid in full before the Dow took a dump.

Thank you, Cox Bloc: We want Sean Avery. We need Sean Avery.

Lastly, one for The Tao of Stieb: It's a sad commentary on the state of Canadian literacy that so many have heard Prime Time Sports regular James Deacon on the radio, but never read one of his columns.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting

• The MLB Network is getting rave reviews, which perfectly explains why it could never get carriage in Canada.
  
• Twitter is bad, very bad. Go tweet that to all of your followers.
• Ottawa native Chris Bisson, a sophomore shortstop at the University of Kentucky, is on the Canadian Baseball Network's 2010 draft list.
• The economy is bad, Ken Griffey is back in Seattle, it's pretty much like the early '90s, so perfect time for all four Seinfeld actors to reunite.
  
  (In the old days, this would have inspired a Top 5, but turns out ESPN.com did the best Seinfeld sports moments almost five years ago.

That night in Montreal ...

The image of MLS commissioner Don Garber doing a spit take all over his BlackBerry — Montreal won?! —, well, that's a good place to start.

Eduardo Sebrango scored both goals for the Impact in their 2-0 CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final first-leg win over Santos Laguna of Mexico in front of 55,571 absolute nutters at Olympic Stadium. It's early yet to know what kind of watershed this is for Canadian footy, but as D. Rollins says in his 24th Minute post, "Maybe every person who has fought to bring this sport into the mainstream in Canada also walked away with a victory."

One would hope that succeeding years prove that to be more right than wrong, regardless of how much or how little you're into soccer. Canada only excelling in team sports which a small, snow-bound fraction of the world cares about is gets old pretty quickly. Obviously, CONCACAF's club competition is several rungs below the Champions League or the Copa in South America, but what counts here is people investing themselves emotionally in their local team, and by extension, the sport on their own continent, rather than settling for watching it via satellite.

That, at least in this recovering soccerphobe's opinion, is what Garber showed the back of hand when he tried to demand a $40-million franchise fee out of the Impact and owner Joey Saputo. Now the Impact, for one night at least, are the toast of fans across North America, while Garber is in scramble mode trying to find an ownership group willing to ante up in the midst of a recession.

Who knows what Montreal winning, especially since even a casual Canadian fan knows not to count on anything when one of our teams heads south of the Rio Grande for a game. Duane is the guy who gets football and he says don't even try to understand it, so it might be foolish to try. Let's just say it was great. It wasn't aired live in CBC prime time, but the next time something like this comes along, it probably will, which is progress. That contributes to a great night all-around. Let's keep hoping it leads someplace.

MLS in Ottawa: Eunibomber drops the big one

The race to get to the trough is on and we'll see who finishes first.

"Eugene Melnyk's company, Senators Sports and Entertainment, wants to build on to its existing recreation hub — Scotiabank Place and the Sensplex nearby — by seeing the city build a stadium that would house a Major League Soccer franchise, creating an 'entertainment village' that would attract something in the order of four million visits a year." — Ottawa Citizen

Please bear in mind that just because Mr. Eugene says he's going to do it doesn't mean it will happen. Never, ever underestimate the incompetence and foot-dragging of Ottawa city council.

It is understandable if people see this is a body blow to the Lansdowne Live! plan, especially since Roger Shenkman, John Ruddy, et al., could end up cutting friendly neighbourhood frontman Jeff Hunt out of the picture to get a piece of action. Don't be so hasty; Duane and others on It's Called Football (you can access it through The 24th Minute) pointed out that MLS commish Don Garber tends to praise every potential expansion city to the skies, and the local media in each city tend not to notice the "pillow whispers" (Ben Knight's term) he's giving to each of the other cities.

The ballpark village is, in good friend Pete Toms' phrase, is "all the rage" in the U.S., since it is a way to dress up the fact that sports magnates are sucking at the public teat. Pete wrote an extensive piece, "When Stadium Financing and the Recession Collide" (The Biz of Baseball, Jan. 20) that covered the subject very thoroughly.

There is a huge scramble on, especially since the federal governments in both the Canada and U.S. are ready to throw money at projects which are, wait for it, "shovel ready." Melnyk can also sell this as part of Canada's push to host the 2015 Women's World Cup, a point which seems to have sailed past a lot of people, with Duane as a notable excpetion.

Please keep in mind that a lot of these stadium village projects are having trouble taking form. That's a big unacknowledged part of this story. The Wiki for the ballpark village in St. Louis next to the current Cardinals baseball stadium refers to it as "a big embarrassing turd right in the middle of the city." (It will probably get more attention this summer when the Cardinals host the baseball all-star game.)

Oakland Athletics owner Lew Wolff "heard crickets" (Examiner, Feb. 14) when he pitched a ballpark village for Fremont, California. (Wolff might have switched his sights to San Jose, where he owns , wait for it, a MLS team. Another proposed for Arlington, Texas has never got off the ground.

Beyond that, anyone who wants to build one of these has to have financing. They need tenants for any retail development. They also need developers willing to build homes in the area.

The bottom line is you cannot predict where this is headed, especially considering the rot of incumbency that permeates Ottawa city council (how are you coming along with light rail, everyone?).

In the short term, it means that two of Ottawa's irreplaceable amateur sports institutions, the Hunt's 67s in the OHL and the Ottawa Gee-Gees in CIS football, are in a bit of flux. However, and this is just coming from an outsider, it seems like Ottawa has had a blind spot with this for a good 15, 20 years, and it's caught up to them. A lot of people want something new.

The irony is original Senators owner Bruce Firestone, Cyril Leeder and co. wanted to do this two decades ago out in Kanata; they had projections of "profits that would scrape the sky," and everyone doubted them. It seems like were information rich, but cash poor.

(Incidentally, Duane pointed out the B.C. Place project for footy is a "disaster," which runs counter to what the Paper of Record said last Saturday.)

Related:
Melnyk plans ‘entertainment village’; Project would include offices, restaurants, bars, apartments, hotels for area near Senators’ arena (Patrick Dare, Ottawa Citizen)

Footy: Morace to nats, Beckham bounces

The occasion of Carolina Morace's hiring as coach of Canada's women's soccer team is as good a time as any to note Rollins is going strong at The 24th minute, his spin-off soccer blog.

Duane was out front on Morace coming to Canada back in November, posing the question with respect to Morace and the Canadian Soccer Association: "Is the CSA serious about change? Or, is it just going to be the same old, same old. How the organization handles this hiring will answer that question." He'll be there at the press conference this afternoon.

A lot has to happen with the national body beyond the hiring of a coach, but speaking as a footy dilettante, Morace is a step in that direction.

Meantime, it apparently did not work out between the L.A. Galaxy and David Beckham. No one saw that coming.

TFC: Twenty-nine plus a winning eleven equals footy fever

Our own Duane Rollins, despite being out of country, manage to get a Dwayne De Rosario post up at The 24th minute, in anticipation of tomorrow's big Toronto FC press conference:

"There hasn't been a modern athlete vibrant and exciting enough to capture the city's heart. Vince Carter, for a while, but we all know how that turned out.

"DeRo will be that athlete. His coming to Toronto is the final piece in the near perfect storm that has allowed TFC to explode into the city’s consciousness. The sport has always had a place in new Toronto, but it has struggled to focus its attention. Not anymore. And, now the star, the local star, comes home to complete the picture."

Twenty-nine could be a watershed year in the battle to be Toronto proper's summer team, which is actually a pointless battle (a mature sports city doesn't play off the sports faction against one another). The Blue Jays don't have a lot of buzz, although another season with 80-some wins is probably likely. The CFL's Argonauts, similarly, are rebuilding.

It's acknowledged there are footy fans who would never watch baseball and there are ball fans who are pretty resistant, resentful even, of MLS' inroads into the Toronto sports market.

In between, there are casual fans who might be more inclined to see what the fuss is about with TFC. A Canadian starring for the team really puts the game in front of people after two seasons where the players were largely faceless to a soccer dilettante (guilty as charged), outside of Canadian national players such as Jim Brennan.

Snark break ...

First things first: Our own Duane Rollins will be on ThatChannel.com's It's Called Football, today at noon Eastern. The rumour is that they might talk about soccer.

Mats Sundin has been likened to a "slow-moving mountain." The Vancouver Canucks wanted the Sundin the way he played in Toronto and got Eric Lindros, the way he played in Toronto.

Did Bill Romanowski really think he had a chance of coaching the Denver Broncos? He has to the dumbest NFL player who attended Boston College, but that's only because Mark Chmura knows assault has two S's.

Here's a prop bet: The Ottawa transit strike will be over before the Kingston Frontenacs get their next win.

(The Detroit News referred to the Plymouth Whalers "winning at Frontenac, 2-0." Apparently the team no longer merits being attached to Kingston.)

It honestly wasn't clear if this was from The Onion or the New York Post.

Strange as it sounds, it's disappointing that Corky Simpson recanted and said he was sorry for not voting for Rickey Henderson for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Damn him for having grace and backing down.

Gerry Dee on the inspiration for those bits he does on The Score, as told to Kurtenblog: "“We decided that my character would become the worst sports reporter in the world that actually thinks he’s the best. I wanted the character to be different and have lots of imperfections. It also irks me to see people like Steve Simmons who has probably never bounced a ball or skated around a rink have so much to say about sports."

Last and certainly least, that is Kingston's own Brett Angel running the goalie to start this minor-league hockey brawl (via Puck Daddy)



This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

• TV Feeds My Family is asking readers to vote for the best show on TV. It is dirty pool to demand all you click through and vote for a certain drama that revolves around a high school football team in Dillon, Texas and returns to NBC next Friday?
  
  (Mad Men is also in the mix, but it has enough votes already.)
• The World of Junior Hockey sees the Kingston Frontenacs' Nathan Moon and Ethan Werek as possibilities for Team Canada at the 2010 World Juniors. Werek, maybe.
• No one asked, but for the NFL playoffs this weekend: Baltimore, Carolina, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
• There is no cynicism about Steve Sullivan's comeback with the Nashville Predators. He's been out of the NHL since the Senators were last Stanley Cup contenders. That's how long it's been.

Snark break ... that was quite Ruud of him ...

No word of a lie. For years, the Ottawa 67's had the slogan "Hockey With Bite." Their NHL counterparts have co-opted it; that it also Jarkko Ruutu was doing, plus a Finn would never miss a chance to parody something a Swedish player was accused of doing.

The Senators players are beyond mocking, although did you see Eugene Melnyk out on the ice celebrating with the world junior team after it won the gold medal on Monday? Granted, it was a proud moment for Canadians from Barbados to Vancouver Island.

The topic to turn your nose up at today: Tonya Harding is scheduled for a mixed martial arts fight in Detroit. Spare the wisecracks. It was 15 years ago and God forbid there ever would be a woman in figure skating who didn't conform to the stereotypes. She should be thanked for actually making Nancy Kerrigan relevant for three months back in 1994.

Julián de Guzmán has never been shy about criticizing the Canadian Soccer Assocation. Calling it "a cancer" in an interview with The Canadian Stretford End has some serious damn factor, though. (Our senior men's national team should have a score like the one Sam had with that inteview.)

The Globe & Mail has its sweeping take on hockey violence.

As Jason Giambi returns to Oakland, six words that make neck hairs stand on end: "Jack Cust as an everyday outfielder."

Today is the 15th anniversary of the release of Cabin Boy. Count yourself lucky that is not being broken out for a full post, although the day is young.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

• Is anyone up for taking bets that John Tavares ends up playing the season out with the Oshawa Generals?
• Wish former Niagara IceDogs star Stefan Legein well in his return to hockey. Have a heart.
• Ottawa native Tyler Holmes did his part to help the Tulsa Golden Hurricane win their bowl game -- they rushed for 439 yards vs. Ball State in a blowout win in the GMAC Bowl.

Hey, it beats voting for Prime Minister, again

The Guardian's Sportblog is having is having its Big Blogger 8 contest and wouldn't you know, there's a Canadian entry in the final five.

(Oh, and there's another blog contest which all of you have been informed about, the Canadian Blog Awards Best Sports Blog. Paraphrasing William F. Buckley when he ran for mayor of New York City in the '60s, there's a very real fear of winning, so please, make us face that fear.

The Guardian's contest is based on a single entry, and the one from villasupportgroup on Canadian football contains a lot of people's history of sport-type stuff, particularly about the early days of Canadian footy.

"Canada was once on the verge of becoming a footballing power.

"In the 1880s, a Canadian-born teacher, player, and coach by the name of David Forsyth helped put Canada at the forefront in the development of association football. Among his accomplishments: defeating the US 1-0 in 1885 in what is considered one of the earliest international football matches played outside the Home Nations, and winning the Olympic Gold medal in the 1904 Games in St Louis.

"Most remarkable however was Forsyth's tour of Great Britain in 1888, when his team of players largely from southwestern Ontario drew Glasgow Rangers, beat Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Newton Heath, the future Manchester United, and finished with a record of nine wins, nine losses, and five draws. As the London Sporting Life wrote at the time, '... considering the formidable opponents (the Canadians) have met over here, they have made themselves a deservedly high name as all-round exponents of football.'

"It took a long and bloody war to halt these early advances. Soccer was among the most popular sports in Canada until the Great War wiped out a generation of young Canadian footballers. In their stead came an influx of British immigrants in the early 1920s, picking up where Forsyth's young men left off. Soccer was eventually considered the game of outsiders, hockey the more 'indigenous' sport, an evaluation that persists to this day."

There's a who-knew factor there ... there's pretty a good book and a movie about the 1950 U.S. World Cup team who upset England 1-0, but is there anything out there about the generation of Canadian footballers who could take on the world? Note to any sports historians: There's some grant money in your future if you do

Anyway, go in haste to Sportblog and give villasupportgroup some support, and uh, yeah, about that other one ... thank you for your support.

Shameless self-promotion

First of all, I'm not going anywhere. If Neate was dumb enough to give me a set of keys, I'm hardly going to give them back voluntarily. But, I have realized that there might be a market out there for something all my own.

Moments ago, I launched the Canadian soccer blog The 24th Minute. With a name inspired by Danny Dichio's historic first ever TFC goal, The 24th Minute will endeavor to provide Canadian soccer fans with daily news and commentary about the world's game--all from a Canadian perspective.

It will be modeled off of Soccer By Ives in that the it will attempt to break news rather than just react to it (I did go to J-school after all).

I will still post soccer news to OOLF. There are still a lot of topics that demand a general audience. But, the true soccer geek will find a home at the 24th Minute. Hopefully the casual fan will come over from time to time too.