Sixty (starting) nines, dude: the all-time baseball league

Baseball is the intellectual's game since all the action takes place in the observer's head — which could also be why it takes nearly three hours to complete seven minutes of action.

That's the best way of introducing a fun little side project borne from a secret shame: creating a 25-player roster for all 30 current MLB franchises, plus another 30 historical rosters. Sixty nines, as it were.

This sort of ties with the concept of metafandom, along with having personal and professional obligations that proscribe any blogging on baseball. Talking about a game will never replace watching the best players in the world do their thing. However, there is a lot to be said for the idea a lot of Seamheads, as Craig Calcaterra put it recently, have come "to love or obsess about the game — through something other than actually sitting down and watching it."

For yours truly, the gateway drug into being a stat geek was a computer simulation from called Earl Weaver Baseball that was released in the late 1980s. There is general awareness that John Madden Football was catalytic for sports video games, but Weaver was innovative in its own right (you could play an entire season and it recreated different stadiums). Its era-specific rosters using Hall of Fame players, this being before people realized using one's name and likeness without compensation was probably actionable, was a better introduction to baseball history than Ken Burns' Baseball (not being hyperbolic, it really was).

From about 1989 through 1996, a shameful number of hours were wiled away playing games between, for instance the AL 00-30 team with its Ty Cobb-Tris Speaker-Babe Ruth outfield (and two .400 hitters, Harry Heilmann and George Sisler, sitting on the bench) and the likes of the AL 61-75 team, on which the 1961 version of Roger Maris was the fourth outfielder behind Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson and Carl Yastrzemski. Even more time was pissed away typing in contemporary players' stats from the backs of baseball cards to make rosters of current players to make imaginary teams.

As a 15-year-old loner growing up in a rural area, it was either that or learn how to hunt or fish. Remember, this was before kids out in the boonies had the Internet or meth labs. Besides, who wouldn't have been curious to see what kind of power numbers Frank Thomas would have put up if he was 'created' and placed on a team that played in Fenway Park?

Suffice to say, that's always been there. So, if all this goes according to plan, by Opening Day each roster should be posted.

Here is a rough format:

• Franchises will be grouped by vintage. The Blue Jays and their 34-season history aren't competing with Red Sox and Yankees, whose lineups can be drawn from nearly a century. Feel free to read that as a protest against MLB wrecking a good thing, being a sport, no salary cap, with a bad thing, unbalanced schedules and too many divisions.
  
  That expanded playoff format cannot happen soon enough.


• No player may be used twice. Rob Neyer of sbnation.com, a few years ago, published his Big Book of Baseball Lineups. When it came out, I was all, "How dare he have the drive and work ethic to see to fruition an idea I never acted on!" However, Neyer's objective was just picking the best lineup. This exercise is under the guise that there's some realm where these teams would actually play, so Barry Bonds can't be on the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants.
  
  A couple years ago, yours truly also managed the Blue Jays in a Seamheads.com sim league. Again, players could be used more than once. This is more pure.


• Each player will be chosen by his most representative season. The criteria is to use WAR (Wins Above Replacement) to pick a 25-player roster with a batting order using a designated hitter, bench, starting rotation and bullpen.
  
• Context counts. That's a way of dealing with suspect Steroid Era seasons or one-year wonders. For instance, Brady Anderson's 50-home run 1996 season (6.6 WAR) should get tossed out, but his '92 campaign (5.4) that better reflected his overall body of work is permissible. Some emphasis will be given to more contemporary players, since baseball has become more competitive over time. In other words, anyone from the pre-Jackie Robinson era or Dead Ball Era (before 1920) will have to be more exceptional than a latter-day player.

Here are the divisions:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

• Classic: The charter franchises — Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers.


• Modern: Teams that took their current form in the 1950s and '60s — Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics.
  
  
• Newbies: The under-40 (as in seasons) teams — Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays. Some allowance is being made for the Royals' small-market woes.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

• Classic: Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals.
  
  
• Modern: Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves (dating from 1966).
  
  
• Newbie: San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks. The Milwaukee team would draw on seasons when that city had a NL team.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

• North Division: Buffalo Bisons (Mets B), Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies B), Pawtucket Red Sox (Boston B), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Yankees B), Rochester Red Wings (all-time Washington Nats/Twins B), Syracuse Chiefs (players born in '40s).


• South Division: Brooklyn Dodgers, Charlotte Knights (Chisox B), New York Giants, Norfolk Tides (all-time Browns/Orioles B)


• West Division: Columbus Clippers (Cleveland B), Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh B), Louisville Bats (Cincinnati B), Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit B).

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

• American North: Iowa Cubs (Chicago Cubs B), Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis B), Nashville Sounds (Brewers AL-only, 1969-97), Omaha Storm Chasers (Kansas City B).


• American South: Albuquerque Isotopes (Dodgers B), New Orleans Zephyrs (players born in '50s), Oklahoma City RedHawks (Houston B), Round Rock Express (Senators/Rangers B).


• Pacific North: Colorado Springs Sky Sox (players born in '60s), Tucson (Padres B), Salt Lake Bees (Angels B), Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners B).
  


• Pacific South: Fresno Grizzlies (Giants B), Las Vegas 51s (Blue Jays B), Sacramento River Cats (Athletics B), Reno Aces (players born in '70s and '80s).

Hope this can be pulled off!

Blog blast past: Balsillie boarded; the Phoenix Coyotes story few people read

As you know, the bond sale that would keep a NHL hockey team in Glendale, Ariz., has gone awry. Reading back to July 30, 2009, it's not surprising when you realize whose interests the NHL and most politicians are really representing these days.

The NHL really showed Wednesday how as a business, it is a game of TEGWAR, The Exciting Game Without Any Rules.

Jim Balsillie's camp smartly pointed out minutes after he was denied that this had nothing to do with his fitness to be an owner, and that the judge in Arizona said in June that the league would have to show he didn't have the cash. Of course, the nets had already been moved, like a group of kids moving their ball hockey game down the street (which might cheese the judge off, but that is neither here nor there). Bruce Arthur's National Post column pointed out, well, if it wasn't money, then it had be something else, but this is the league that let future felon Boots Del Biaggio into the fold.

Granted, being the person who waits for Canadians to wake up to what Gary Bettman's NHL stands for is like being sent out on a snipe hunt. Please, though, sometime between now and the next labour stoppage, clue in that denying Balsillie, again, really betrays that the NHL always represents its interests to the bitter end. It's just that those interests have nothing to do with the great game of hockey and everything to do with corporate malfeasance that could launch six Naomi Klein screeds and a couple Bruce Cockburn ditties. They won't care you could have three teams in Southern Ontario which would each draw more than the Phoenix Coyotes (with higher ticket prices) until the day when the U.S. economy is really up a creek.

The Coyotes are just a game piece in a scheme where, to quote an alternative weekly said the week Balsillie's bid for the Coyotes became public, a "broke" city is "also trying to line the pockets of some of the wealthiest investment groups in New York City, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi." (Phoenix New Times, May 14.)

The above link came via Make It Eight, Eh?. From the look of it, a Hamilton, Ont., insurance broker named Craig Ferguson, over the run of this sordid saga, has evolved from a thinking fan's case for the NHL to put more teams into Canada to advocacy for taxpayers in Arizona in the wake of a swindle/boondoggle which is going down in the American southwest. You really should, if you have time, read through it since Ferguson makes it clear why the hell Jerry Reinsdorf wants to own an unprofitable hockey team which has never been about hockey from the day it arrived in the desert.

"The attraction to the Coyotes hockey team has always been an issue of land development opportunites and great deals with government, and the profits that would go along with them. Nobody in their right mind would take this team with the clear math currently in place. As soon as (former owners Jerry) Moyes and (Steve) Ellman broke up the land from the ice, that’s when the 'Coyote' should have chased the Roadrunner out of town.

"Are we to believe, as mentioned by the Reinsdorf camp, and now even by the new Canadian/American mixed coalition represented by Daryl Jones (Research Edge LLC) that trying to share in a little bit of food and parking is going to cut the mustard? 'Little things add up' is the argument? Were we born yesterday? And, if I might add, if Daryl Jones and his group thinks they are going to break into this game with nickel and dime thinking, they had better think again. Like all politics, what would make sense from a genuine, honest angle usually doesn’t win the prize."

In other words: Cha-ching! Ferguson has flipped over a couple other rocks, noting two weeks ago that Jerry Reinsdorf's son is "is a director of a partnering firm, International Facilities Group (IFG), that has a hand in consulting the City of Glendale for the Jobing.com arena, and more."

It is not like this should shock anyone. For the most part this is the way of the world, at least up until Bear Stearns went nips-up last fall. (At this point, one should allow that maybe the NHL would like Balsillie to pay $350-400 million for an expansion team instead of $212.5M for an established team. At some point, though, these guys have to stop playing the Canada card.)

Most sports fans, regardless of background or intelligence, would be like, "Why should I care that the the city of Phoenix is going to hand over $100 million in subsidies in return for 200 public parking spaces at a time when it can't afford to open public pools? I just want to know if the team is going to relocate or not." Thankfully, no one needs a public pool in a desert during a time of high unemployment). That is just the nature of following a sport, nothing wrong or evil about it.

However, it does seem crazy how few in Canada have really gone to lengths to explain how the Duel in the Desert, so-called, was more than Gary Bettman and Bill Daly delivering a big screw-you to Jim Balsillie. In the grand scheme, this only reaffirms Canadians' Pavlovian slavishness to the NHL. Hockey is a wonderful sport, perhaps the best of the team games, and the NHL is more appealing to watch that it has been at pretty much any point in the Bettman era.

At the same time, to repeat Peter Gent's "every time I say it's a business you call it a game and every time I call it a game you say it's a business" corollary, let's have some clear eyes. At the end of the day, this league Canadians hold so near and dear is run by some not-too-nice people who are only to eager to be part of greater outrages. On a macro level, it does affect the competitive product.

It was nice to speculate for a couple days when that one bid group for the Coyotes talked about playing games in Halifax or Saskatoon and having an AHL team in Thunder Bay. Maybe that was akin to The Simpsons episode when Monty Burns ran for governor: "They're like seals. Toss 'em a couple fish and watch 'em jump."

Point being, smarten up. The next person who says Balsillie needs to learn to play by the NHL's rules should get two minutes for bein' stupid. (Outgoing Montreal Canadiens George Gillett actually accuse of him creating a "distraction" that caused the Habs' season to go downhill was a new low. (Mr. Gillett, I have with me a Mr. Jared Allen who has debunked the myth athletes can be distracted, and he's not above using physical force to make a point.)

Rules? The NHL has but one that it honours, realizing its place as a pipsqueak in the lumbering dinosaur of the American economy, 2009. Balsille, to borrow a line from those Ford ads which have been playing all summer, might "pulled off a game-changer" by moving the Coyotes to Southern Ontario, but there were other interests to defend.

Gary Bettman fits right in with the Boomer mentality where old-economy businesses hide that they are just going around in circles, slowly losing ground before realizing time has run out. The commish is a pipsqueak in the grand scheme of bankrupting America, but like any good CEO, he knows who he works for. That's why they pay him the big bucks.

As previously stated, "It would be silly to use the league's idiotic business practices to justify non-interest in what happens on the ice." However, this has been an exercise in the NHL as usual. It has no rules and when you have no rules, you have less of a game.

Related:
Balsillie vows to press on; BlackBerry billionaire given rough ride by NHL's board of governors as bid for troubled Coyotes rejected (Paul Waldie and David Shoalts, Globe & Mail)
NHL: Anybody but you, Balsillie (Bruce Arthur, National Post)

The thinking fan's reaction to the Mike Fisher trade ...

Far be it to point out keeping Bryan Murray is a move down the slippery slope of not really rebuilding a la that other Ontario-based NHL team. Farther be it to feel vindicated that the same diehard Sennies fans blog that ripped yours truly for pointing out the obvious in 2009 is no longer publishing now that the team is contending to win the draft lottery (where Murray will talk himself out of drafting Ryan Nugent-Hopkins). Funny how that worked out.

Canada to become a nation of Gomers

Odd how a government that claims to be on the side of law and order wants to alter laws in a way that would lead to disorder. This is what happens when you have a permanent minority government whose overarching principle is, "What's the worse that can happen?"

You'll be hearing me talk ... face for radio, body for sin

Everyone's heard about Ted Williams, that homeless man with the golden voice. It might interest you to know Friday's Carleton-Queen's basketball doubleheader will be called by someone who is typically as dishevelled as Williams was when he was discovered — but minus the golden voice.

Yep, yours truly will be doing play-by-play for all four games at the Queen's Centre this weekend, on the radio live for CFRC 101.9 for the Ravens-Gaels games Friday and for TV Cogeco Kingston's tape-delayed broadcast of the Queen's Saturday games vs. the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Short story even shorter, purely by happenstance, Will Cunningham, the station's sports director and a promising young broadcaster in his own right, needed a play-by-play announcer for a couple games in January.

It seemed like something to do on a lark, just to see if I could pull it off. My experience broadcasting hoops has all been on the colour-commentary end, including working with National Post reporter Mark Masters during the CIS Final 8 in 2009 and '10.

In terms of play-by-play, all I've got is about a half-dozen hockey telecasts a half-decade ago for Cable 5 in Simcoe, along with three quarters of Queen's football play-by-play more than a decade ago. (That was during Queen's 1-7 season in 2000; there were a couple games in which the two regulars just couldn't take it anymore; as one of them put it during a 60-point loss to Laurier, "Both teams have put in their backups, so we're putting in our backup.")

So please listen — and be kind.

Also, yours truly will be on News 570 in Kitchener around 10 a.m. ET Friday to talk about the Kayla Watkins story. (Watkins is the 12-year-old Toronto youth hockey player who quit her peewee rep team after another parent drafted a contract to limit her ice time.) That's right; promote the appearance on a campus station, downplay the one on a major talk radio station.

Blog blast past: The annual Tim Raines rant ...

Robbie Alomar should take his rightful place in Cooperstown on Wednesday when the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced. What of another table-setting switch-hitter who played in Canada? From Jan. 5, 2010 ... apologies to the people mentioned by name. The meds are doing their job, thank you for asking!

Seeing as, "Numbers can be presented so many ways, folded into so many origami shapes," so it's understandable a baseball writer might twist it around after being bombarded with an "avalanche of numbers" during the lead-up to Wednesday's Baseball Hall of Fame election results. Jeremy Sandler should get the BBWAA honour for being a wee bit off-base.

"The obsession over numbers 'proving' Hall of Fame worthiness also leads to inauthentic comparisons. Tony Gwynn was a first-ballot selection with a .388 on-base percentage, 1,383 runs and 319 steals. Thus, one could argue Tim Raines should not be languishing with 22% support with his .385 OBP, 1,571 runs and 808 stolen bases."

(Two paragraphs later)

"Every player needs to be evaluated on his own merits against the best players of his era and of all time. To do this, numbers will tell part of the story, but will never tell the whole story."

Did anyone else see that? It seems as if (and please don't read this as a personal attack, it just happens to be one article that came to attention) the argument is for wanting to one day live in a world where we rate each ballplayer against the best players of his era, but without making "inauthentic comparisons" such as one between Tim Raines and Tony Gwynn. You should just be able to find "what lies beyond what the mere calculations can show."

From the department of, "yeah ... no," you cannot compare Raines to Gwynn just because one was a National League outfielder born in 1959 and the other was a National League outfielder born in 1960, a whole eight months apart! You may not compare a player who was a MLB regular from 1981-98 with someone who was a regular from 1984-99 just because they each:

1. Played a corner outfield spot and some centrefield;
2. Spent their peak years in the NL at about the same time (1983-87 for Raines, '84-89 for Gwynn);
3. Usually batted in a similar place in the lineup (91% of Gwynn's career plate appearances and 90% of Raines' were hitting first, second or third);
4. Hit similarly well in the leadoff spot (Gwynn OPSed .823, Raines OPSed .813)
5. Hit similarly well in the 3-hole (Gwynn OPSed .860, Raines .856)
   
6. Had similar short-and-squat builds (Raines was listed at 5-foot-8, 178 lbs.; Gwynn, 5-11, 199);
7. Batted from the left side (Raines was a switch-hitter);
8. Had a son of the same name make the major leagues;
9. Had a son of the same name make the major leagues as an outfielder;
10. Went into coaching after retiring as a player. Yep, totally inauthentic.
    

This is half about a fondly remembered former Expo getting his due (Jeff Blair: "... the lack of support for Raines is embarrassing") and half about media types who, present company included, get uber-defensive whenever something complex crops up. It is understandable. Some people don't like trying out new ways of seeing. Some cannot wait to see what's next.

Staying barely on-point, the argument is not that Tim Raines was better than Tony Gwynn.

The point is that they had contemporary careers where they each fulfilled the same role about equally well. Except Gwynn was not just a first-ballot inductee, as Sandler describes it, he was elected with 97.6% support three years ago. If you picture the Baseball Hall of Fame as the trendy new nightspot, Gwynn was let inside the velvet rope post-haste. Raines is standing out in the cold while the doorman pretends to scan a clipboard. Raines ... Raines ... Raines ... don't see it.

As Joe Posnanski, whom Sandler cites in his column without even a hint of irony, noted," ... there are only 26 players in baseball history who have received 90% of the vote, and that list does NOT include: Frank Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Al Kaline, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Yogi Berra, Bob Gibson, Walter Johnson and Warren Spahn."

Gwynn had the high batting average and the 200-hit seasons (a hitting feat you know is vital since Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams accomplished it a combined never). Raines had the bases on balls, sick stolen-base success rate and scored more runs. Same aims, different means.

Raines' argument is not airtight; no one's is. However, the same out clauses that are applied to him have been overlooked for other players. For instance, one sympathetic sportswriter said of Raines, "Should get more votes than he does, but unfortunately his peak years were mostly spent on mediocre teams." Raines' teams finished above .500 in 12 of his 15 seasons as a regular, compared to 8-of-16 for Gwynn. For pity's sake, Ryne Sandberg played on only three winning teams in his whole career. No one ever mentioned that when he was on the ballot, since he played for the Chicago Cubs and was a clean-cut white guy.

Anyway, the song remains the same with Tim Raines. He received 24.3% support in 2008, 22.6 in 2009. Billy Williams, the 1960s and '70s Chicago Cubs outfielder, received similar support (23.4%) in his first go-around in 1982 and was elected five years later. For some reason, he kept gaining about 10% each year. It has not happened for Raines. It needs to this year or next.

The second part of this is feeling personally frustrated at working in the media and being surrounded by people who are rigid when fluidity is needed, especially when people can call BS so conveniently. It is disappointing to hear Jeff Blair, who is always a great read, say he "will not vote for a player on subsequent ballots if I didn't vote for him on the first."

There are issues with how some ballplayers have crept up to around 20% support to eventually getting the necessary 75% (Jim Rice was a classic example), but come on, Jeff. What, no one should ever re-evaluate their critical opinion, especially if new shit has come to light, man? In other fields, academe, film and literary criticism, people change their minds all the time. They decide they liked a book or movie, or that they hated it. about a book or movie they didn't like the first time around. It's called being human.

Getting back to baseball, you have to be careful not to beat people over the head with sabremetrics. It has found its rightful place. It is just a gas to see poor Jeremy Sandler projecting that he's threatened. Sorry to come off like a graduate of the Harry Neale School of Knowing What Everyone Is Thinking, but here is a grown man who says, "People do not live and die with their favourite players because of mathematical formulae. Adjusted ERA or VORP never made a kid put a poster on his wall." One, as if that proves anything and two, did anyone argue that we should hang our arses on trying to see the world through a child's eyes?

Yeah, when you were a kid, you were drawn to specific ballplayers for all sorts of reasons, but no one voted to put George Bell into the Hall of Fame because he had an awesome Jheri-curl and once tried to do a flying karate kick on a Boston Red Sox pitcher named Bruce Kison.

You grew up, kind of, and you learned to use your mind, instead of losing it when faced with complexity.

Enjoy election day. Please keep an eye on how big a leap Mark McGwire takes. By 2 p.m., Roberto Alomar should be a Hall of Famer. Sweet.

Blog blast past: "It's a white man's game"; an examination of racism in minor hockey in Canada

No doubt you heard the awful story about Greg Walsh, the house league hockey coach whom the Ontario Minor Hockey Association suspended for the entire season after his team forfeited a game in which one of his players, Andrew McCullum, was subject to racist abuse. It is embarrassing, speaking as a Canadian who covers hockey, loves hockey and played in the OMHA (1983-96).

Perhaps it's all of a piece with some larger virulence which is going unchecked (particularly on CBC each Saturday night). Either way, this July 14, 2008 post from Duane Rollins (actually, a repost of a newspaper article Duane wrote in '07) showed minor hockey officials in Ontario are resistant to even broach racism. Their attitude hands-off indifference at best and at worst it's enabling by labelling it as quote, unquote "part of the game."

There are always going to be idiots in the world and the best remedy is to call it out. Greg Walsh acted correctly. Cue Rollins, from two years ago:

Normally, driving home from a hockey game is a chance for Denis Commanda to catch up with his son Theorem. An energetic and athletic boy, Theorem is usually a chatterbox during his and Denis' long drives back to their West Nipissing home.

"He'd want to talk about the game," Denis said. "Everything about it. We'd usually talk about everything."

However, the drive back from Theorem’s March 20 game against a North Bay team was different. On that day, instead of the sound of an excited teenager filling the air, there was silence.

Denis says he wasn't talking that day because he was too angry. He suspects that Theorem was too sad.

Both father and son were responding to an incident that occurred about midway through the third period of the game. It wasn't something that would have been obvious to most of the people watching the game.

Actually, only a select few people were likely aware that anything had happened at all.

What happened was this: Theorem and the opposing goaltender became involved in a discussion. The North Bay player became angry and responded by directing a racial slur at Theorem.

He called him a "bush nigger," referring to Theorem’s Aboriginal heritage. It was the second time this season that Theorem’s team, which has five Aboriginal players, had experienced racism while playing the North Bay team.

In many ways, Denis says that he shouldn't be surprised that these incidents took place. After all, being called a wagon burner, or worse, was a nightly experience for him when he played junior hockey in the '70s. Back then, he dealt with the slurs the way that you would expect a junior hockey player in the '70s to do so -- with his fists.

However, he says that the times have changed. Or, at least they should have.

"I thought we evolved, you know," he said. "I don't think we should have to deal with that type of thing anymore. It discourages the kids."

Not isolated

Incidents like the Commandos experienced aren’t isolated to Northern Ontario. In March, several Six Nations players and fans say they had to deal with similar things during two separate playoff series with the Eastern Ontario town of Campbellford.

(Campbellford, eh? -- Ed.)

During the Ontario Minor Hockey Association all-Ontario midget CC semi-final, the Six Nations players say they were subjected to racial slurs from fans located immediately above the player’s bench. Six Nations players say they had beer poured on them from the crowd while the slurs were being shouted.

In a video of the game taken by a Six Nations fan, there is clear evidence of a young man pulling a silver can from his pants while standing above the Six Nations bench. However, you cannot understand what the fans are saying in the video.

Players and fans of the Six Nations bantam team say they had a similar experience during their OMHA final series with Campbellford.

And while covering the final game of that series, I witnessed behaviour of some Campbellford fans that was, if not racist, then certainly distrustful of Six Nations’ people.

Unaware of my affiliation with an Aboriginal publication, a Campbellford fan approached me prior to the game to offer a bit of advice.

“Watch yourself,” the woman dressed in the Campbellford team colours of black and gold said. “They will spit in your (food) from above.

“Be careful,” she added ominously.

Later, while shooting photographs in the penalty box, I heard a penalized Campbellford player say, “Stupid Indians. I fucking hate them.”

Not a new thing

It's not a new thing, of course. Aboriginals have dealt with racial slurs for as long as they have playing hockey. The unspoken code amongst Native players is that there are two acceptable ways to deal with it -- beat 'em on the scoreboard, or just beat 'em up.

"It's a white man's game," former Boston Bruins tough guy Stan Jonathan, a Six Nations native, said. "They would call me a wahoo and a wagon burner and all sorts of things. You just have to learn to take care of yourself if you want to be successful."

Taking care of himself was something that Jonathan never had difficulty with. In just over six full NHL seasons, he spent the equivalent of 12 and a half games in the penalty box. He added 91 goals, including 27 in 1977-78, but it was his toughness that Jonathan was best known for.

In that he was typical of Aboriginal players. Although there have been exceptions, the normal way a Native player makes it to the NHL is with his fists. There is a long history of Aboriginal enforcers in the NHL, from Jonathan to Bob Probert to current-day players like Jonathan Tootoo and Chris Simon.

That toughness is a source of pride amongst many Native hockey fans and players. And it speaks to an overall code of behaviour that has ruled hockey for generations.

If you are wronged, you take care of it yourself, the code says. You do not look for outsiders to fight you battles. Outsiders are not to be trusted.

Don’t want to hear it.

A cheerful voice answered the phone when I called the head office of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association March 30.

"Good morning, NOHA. How can I help you?"

"I'm calling from an Aboriginal publication in Southern Ontario. I have a letter that was," I said before the voice cut me off.

"I know what you are calling about and I don't want to hear any more," it says, more serious now. "I'll take your name and number and pass it on."

"I don't want to hear any more." It was a common response to my requests.

Three calls to Hockey Canada -- none returned.

Calls to several minor hockey officials throughout the province -- none returned.

A call to the coach of the player involved in the act of racism directed towards Theorem Commanda--not returned.

Additionally, no one from Campbellford was willing to talk. Actually, the town’s minor hockey vice president, Fred Todd, indicated that it was the position of the organization that the OMHA would speak for them.

“I have nothing to say,” he said in March 2007. “Talk to the president of the OMHA. What he says is our position.”

And the NOHA never did get back to me.

Denis says the reluctance to talk should be expected. Canadians, whether they are involved in hockey or not, have a tendency to view themselves as “nice,” he says. And nice people don’t make racial slurs.

“They don’t want to deal with it,” Denis said. “But, they need to. I want to make sure that they do.”

OMHA executive director Richard Ropchan was the only hockey official to respond to a request to be interviewed. He indicated that the OMHA did not typically get involved in specific hockey games or series. However, the game officials do have the authority to call a game if they feel that the players’ safety is in jeopardy.

Local officials can also step in if things become problematic, Ropchan said.

In the Campbellford-Six Nations midget series the OMHA took the “unusual” step of sending an observer to the games, Ropchan said. He said that the observer was happy with what he saw during the series.

“Both teams and fans appeared to get along,” he said.

When asked if the OMHA had ever considered requiring racial sensitivity training for its members, Ropchan seemed to be taken aback. It appeared that it was something that he had not considered before.

“We don’t really have anything like that,” he said.

It should be about the game

Ultimately, that’s the type of thing that Denis would like to see. Having played hockey at a high level, he says he understands that sometimes emotions get the better of people. However, if they have a better understanding of where someone is coming from, it’s less likely that they will cross a line, he suggests.

“We just want a chance to talk to the (North Bay) team,” he said. “We want to teach them a bit about our culture.”

The North Bay player that made the slur was asked by his coach to apologize to Theorem after the incident. He did so, and, although Denis says that he is happy that he did, he suggests that it isn’t nearly enough.

“The longer it went, the angrier I got,” he says. “The more I wanted to fight it.”

In a formal complaint to the NOHA, Denis has asked that the player make a written apology and that the coach, managers, trainers and players of the North Bay team, as well as representatives of the NOHA, have an Aboriginal speaker address them. The speaker would talk about the value of multiethnic cultures and about how destructive racial slurs can be.

Denis also asked that the North Bay player be monitored moving forward.

As someone that loves the game, Denis says it would be the right move for the NOHA to make.

“These kids were picked for the team based on their skills and abilities as hockey players,” he said. “At no time did their racial background come into play. That’s the way it should be.”

Denis made the complaint to the NOHA on March 2. He’s still waiting to hear back.

Note: The last time I touched base — about July 2007 —the NOHA had still not resolved the complaint.

Guess which one really did think he was bigger than Jesus

Everyone is doing a John Lennon tribute today; here's his classic Monday Night Football interview with Howard Cosell.

Modern technology won't make you Ice-T; to quote a true working-class hero, you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see

The only way poseurs can offend is with their obscene lack of self-awareness.

The last thing anyone from the over-30 set who grew up on P.E. and NWA wants is to get in a twist over some wannabes. The second-last is to give said wannabes who feel it is high-larious to record a rap video with a chorus that includes "Fuck Queen's" or a gay slur any undue publicity.

Granted, you could point out the University of Western Ontario students shot part of their video in TD Waterhouse Stadium and thus would have had to get permission from school officials. Never mind that connotes giving tacit approval to insulting another Ontario university, the OUA Code of Conduct be damned.

The copycat response from University of Guelph students is probably worse, what with its what-grade-are-you-in homophobia. ("You would have thought I had fangs / Take the 'n' out and you just described the Mustangs" / " ... and Queen's, fuck you too / fuck you fuck you fuck you.")

Seeing a bunch of spoiled brats degrade a musical genre and insult the university two of my family members — my educator mother and engineer sister — attended is blood-boiling. You just know it's a matter of when until someone from Queen's will retaliate, even though some might argue the video response was posted 10 months ahead of time.

A little dollar-store cultural anthropology, kids: the great hip-hop came from a place of being an outsider, feeling excluded, be it due to race, class or intellectual sensibility. Those threads run through the rhymes of Ice-T, Chuck D or Eminem. Perhaps that's why the former two struck such a nerve two decades ago with teenaged white boys. It was also evident in the later work of that working-class hero who left us 30 years ago today.

Now you have these ciphers, who can quote the lines but have learned none of the meaning, mimicking it to validate their snobby, cliquey superiority. This is what the generation which is going to have to save the world, along with Xers, is wasting its time on? They want to do that, fine, but it's not exactly inspiring.

Every generation is entitled to a few years — or decades, in Boomers' case — of look-at-me preening. So it goes. Hopefully, millennials' gift of sharing its self-involvement so quickly and thoroughly will help them get it out of their systems relatively quickly.

Perhaps this is a live-and-let-live deal, it is protected speech, but it is fair to ask what it means. After all, OUA schools have taken a hard line with bad behaviour when it's convenient. In 2009, Guelph suspended senior quarterback Justin Dunk for one game for swearing on live television during a game against Western. How could what Dunk did, off the cuff during a game, be punishable while using the Gryphons logo in a rap that promotes homophobia is okay? Talk about arbitrary rule.

I saw this a few weeks ago but withheld comment. My student days are long, long past. There is enough burden involved with getting a degree, especially with runaway student debt

However, even as recently as the late 1990s, there was still this notion that post-secondary education was as much about cultivating some semblance of character and couth, not just the degree. Those qualities count for more in this life than any numbers on a transcript, especially when studies show a lot of those numbers are generated by academic fraud.

The bright side is most people have to learn this eventually. Some will make it tougher on themselves than others.

Latest on Brock Lesnar

It’s amazing how since his loss against Cain Velasquez at UFC 121, much of the discussion has been about Brock’s next move and not Cain’s.




Since the one round beat down by the hands of Cain, Brock has been rumoured to

A) Wrestle in the WWE

B) Have a 3rd encounter with Frank Mir

C) Fight “Big Country” Roy Nelson, who recently had his bout with Shane Carwin scrapped after the latter pulled out with an injury.


Well, UFC boss Dana White has said that Lesnar isn’t going to the WWE, and it doesn’t look like he wants a Lesnar-Nelson fight to happen. Lesnar, and many other fans, don’t seem to be too interested in a third fight with Mir, even though that is the fight that would generate the most dough and PPV buys.



Shane Carwin is still sidelined with a back injury so he’s out as the next opponent for Brock (unless they fight in the spring). Going further down the list of available opponents after Mir and Nelson is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira who’s definitely a stiff test for Brock and also Ben Rothwell.



If the UFC wants Lesnar to stick around for a while though (and earn some major moolah and PPV buys), they need to develop him and match him perfectly so he can improve. If not, he may have one of the quickest downward spirals in MMA history.



The reality is though, whatever Lesnar’s next move is, and whenever he announces it, many people will be listening closely. He’s still one of the most popular UFC fighters there is, and he can bring in all sorts of fans.



And as far as the question of, “Is Lesnar’s mystique gone?” - or anything along those lines – the answer? Far from it.



Brock has lost twice in the UFC but that’s not that strange for an MMA fighter. No fighter that Brock has fought in the UFC so far has been scared of him. People know what he brings to the table and he’s definitely beatable. He was beaten by Mir in the first fight, was hurt against Carwin and Velasquez but his wrestling skills are outstanding as are his ground and pound.



He’s still a top UFC contender, an entertaining fighter, and if matched perfectly, could be a big money maker for the UFC for many fights to come.



If he can win enough that the UFC can sell him as a credible opponent, then their job is done.

It's a big building with patients, but that's not so important right now

Leslie Nielsen has left this mortal coil where a lot of people are humming the Naked Gun theme tonight. Requiescat en pace.

"I'm a locksmith and I'm a locksmith."



"Give me the strongest thing you've got."



"I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."



" ... and where the hell was I?"

Enjoy the turturkeykey and your football with that milquetoast fair catch

A happy Thanksgiving to our American friends. You might not have invented insulin, instant replay, standard time, caulking guns or the BlackBerry, but you did perfect the three-camera sitcom.

WKRP Turkey Drop
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Close only counts in horseshoes, not for purple ponies

Dedicated to Greg Marshall and the Western Mustangs, for the third consecutive year.



Remember, kids, it is OK to be an opportunistic jerk if you admit your jerkiness. It is also OK if you likened Donnie Marshall to Rex Grossman during a radio hit before the Western QB's four-interception day against Laval. (It's in Kinger's archive from last Thursday.)

Nine of 19 for 61 yards with four picks and a 15-yard sack, what's that in adjusted net yards per pass? Minus-6.7 yards. Really.

New interests, new blog

I have started my own blog on Canadian curling issues and commentary called As the Rock Turns, located at http://www.borksport.wordpress.com.

I may still post here from time to time, but my main efforts will be placed on my Brandon Sun duties and the new As the Rock Turns blog at the address listed above.

Thanks for reading and please continue to support Neate Sager and his work with Yahoo! Sports Canada by reading his excellent work. I once had the honour of being the first person to read his stories before they were placed on a newspaper page. It was never boring, and always informative and entertaining, even if it was describing games that were debacles or interviews that were gong shows. Or it was simply the best read that day.

Without him, we wouldn't have had many years of reading entertainment here, and I wouldn't have become a blogger.

Keith Borkowsky

30-for-30 on the occasion of a special sibling's big 3-0: celebrating a great sister who plays goal, with a list of 30 great goalies

You try coming up with a list of 30 Trinas.

In hindsight, our parents were prescient to bestow a somewhat rare first name on their only daughter. They must have had some hunch their second-born would be the pony to bet on, so picking one of the trendy girls' names of the day — Brooke, Shannon, Ashley and so on and so on — would fail to suffice.

Man, did they ever call their shot. My sister, Trina Sager, who celebrates her Big Three-Oh on Monday, has matured into a young woman whose many facets are always turned on. She has found her calling as a professional engineer working at a Fortune 500 company without being overly careerist, as witnessed by the presence of my wonderful brother-in-law, Amer Murad.

It is not self-deprecation when I talk about Trina and say, "She's the successful one." Trina has just never let anything hold her back from using her gift. She can visualize a finished product and all the steps needed to make it reality and she will get everyone around her enthusiastic about being on that track. The Top 40 Under 40 awaits.

She has expanded upon a family calling. Our dad is builder. Trina became an engineer. Our mom is an educator. I make a reasonable stab at a living by using words. Having a daughter follow dad and a son follow mom kind of fits that age.

Still, that name has posed a challenge for almost a year. A first thought that came to mind last year after writing a birthday tribute post to our brother — 25 Shawns — was "how am I going to come up with list of 30 Trinas for next year?"

There are not that many famous Trinas this side of Scandinavia. Using Katrina would be a cheat. Our mom made it a point to clip the K-a. The only moderately well-known Trina is a mediocre rapper whose given name is actually Katrina.

Fortunately, Trina being a goaltender was a perfect write-around opportunity. Goalie is the only position in hockey that defines the individual for perpetuity. Say, "I played goal," and people will intrinsically understand that your take on things will be out of the ordinary. There aren't many positions in sports that someone can use as self-defining shorthand long after their playing days end. The quarterback in football and the catcher and pitcher in baseball are the only others which come to mind.

It is specious, but fun to wonder if being a goalie sowed the seeds of Trina's success. That line from that famous sketch with Margaret Atwood ("a good goalie anticipates play; a great goalie influences play") applies to her. Trina has influenced everything she has touched.

So in honour of her 30th birthday, here is a list of 30 goalies who have been great, with one catch. Each one must have done her/his best work during Trina's lifetime, since the 1980-81 season.

30. Kim Martin (2001-) — The Swedish netminder who upset Team USA in the 2006 Olympic women's semifinal.

29. Gilles Meloche (1970-88) — Being mostly on lousy teams obscured that he was good; in the spring of '80, he drove the final nails in the Habs' chances of winning five consecutive Stanley Cups.

28. Shannon Szabados (2006-) — Quite possibly the best women's goalie ever.

27. Mike Richter (1988-2003) — Reputation suffered by playing on apathetic Rangers teams, but was good enough to back Stanley Cup- and a World Cup of Hockey-winning teams.

26. Kelly Hrudey (1983-98) — He is in the top 100 in adjusted goals-against average and at did his best to make the Wayne Gretzky L.A. Kings looked defensively sound.

25. Dwayne Roloson (1994-) — Still going relatively strong at age 40 with the New York Islanders. Could have had a Stanley Cup ring and a world championship gold medal within a span of 12 months in 2006-07 if Marc-André Bergeron could have contained Andrew Ladd.

24. Cristobal Huet (1994-) — The best French-born goaltender in NHL history. Well, there's actually only been two.

23. Olaf Kölzig (1989-2009) — Class act who won a Vezina Trophy.

22. Sean Burke (1987-2007) — Canada's goalie in two of last Olympic hockey tournaments when it was a quasi-amateur affair; had a better career than most realize.

21. Mike Liut (1977-92) — The first goalie to win the Ted Lindsay (then Lester B. Pearson) Award and the only one to ever help the Hartford Whalers win a playoff series.

20. Jaroslav Halák (2005-to date) — One of the best 'tenders of the post-lockout era.

19. Ron Hextall (1984-99) — The volatile temper overshadowed that he could play. How's this for long-term success? Hextall led the NHL in save percentage once in the high-scoring 1980s and in goals-against average once in the low-scoring '90s.

18. Grant Fuhr (1981-2000) — Wasn't necessarily great, but a generation of impressionable kids thought he was during the '80s.

17. Andy Moog (1980-98) — Better numbers and more longevity than his flashier and more famous Edmonton netminding partner.

16. Miikka Kiprusoff (1994-) — Good enough to trick people into believe the Calgary Flames have a competent front office. Helped Finland win the Olympic bronze medal in Vancouver.

15. J.S. Giguère (1996-) — One of the better Dead Puck Era netminders and won a Conn Smythe Trophy despite playing on a non-Cup winner.

14. Billy Smith (1973-89) — The Islanders probably could have won with many different goalies when they ran off four Cups in a row in a diluted league (just check Smith's stats vis-à-vis his backups' numbers). Battlin' Billy was their guy.

13. John Vanbiesbrouck (1981-2002) — Got the third-year Florida Panthers to the Cup final once.

12. Curtis Joseph (1989-2009) — The second-best undrafted goalie of the entry-draft era, who helped some mediocre teams go deeper into the playoffs than they were otherwise entitled.

11. Marty Turco (2000-) — Lack of playoff success has hurt how he is perceived, but he's been awfully good. Only Tony Esposito surpasses him as the best goalie to ever grow up in Sault Ste. Marie and play at a Michigan college (Turco at the U of M, Tony O at Michigan Tech).

10. Jonas Hiller (2001-) — Better than most people know.

9. Ed Belfour (1989-2008) — The best undrafted goalie of the entry-draft era

8. Tim Thomas (2002-) — The best late bloomer since Roli; not his fault he was almost 30 by the time people realized he could stop the puck.

7. Ryan Miller (2002-) — So good that some Buffalo Sabres on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls would not have minded if the U.S. had won in Vancouver.

6. Tomáš Vokoun (1996-)— Criminally underrated. Started out in the Canadiens system and they failed to hold on to him, so you know he's good.

5. Martin Brodeur (1991-)— Calling him overrated has come into vogue, but he is a unique athlete. Name how many other teams in one of the big North American ball-and-stick leagues have had the same starter at a key position since the year Jean Chrétien and Bill Clinton each took office.

4. Roberto Luongo (1998-) — Probably the best of the aughties, or at least the best one to play exclusively in cities which are never seeing a Stanley Cup parade. Saved his best Olympic performance for when it mattered the most, which was no doubt appreciated by Canadians who were based in the U.S. during the Vancouver Games!

3. Henrik Lundqvist (2000-) — Wow, just imagine how good he could be if he had a glove hand? Three-time goalie of the year in the world's second-best pro league, the Elitserien, and a Vezina might just be a matter of when. Also has an Olympic gold medal.

2. Patrick Roy (1985-2003) — Helped make the butterfly ubiquitous while winning four Stanley Cups and becoming an antihero for the ages by telling off Montreal Canadiens president Ronald Corey.

1. Dominik Hašek (1980-) — The best ever. Put it this way: if Roy had played half his career in Europe and Hasek had spent all of his in North America, would anyone need convincing the Dominator was the most dominant? His peak is right up there with any player's best, as The Contrarian Netminder recently argued:

"In the calendar year of 1998, including the regular season, playoffs and Olympics, Dominik Hasek had the following stat line: 54-20-14, 1.75, .943, plus 16 shutouts. He averaged nearly 1 shutout every 5 games, playing mostly on a Buffalo Sabres team that was the worst team in the league at shot prevention in 1997-98 and 5th worst in 1998-99. The Sabres' win threshold over those two seasons was .917, meaning that they needed a very good goalie just to be a .500 team." (Brodeur Is A Fraud)

Trina, hope you enjoy the list if it happens to come to your attention. Happy birthday.

Halladay and His Accomplishments Are Easy To Cheer For

In an era where many athletes have massive big headed ego’s (sometimes both literally and figuratively – see Barry Bonds), few are as deserving and as former Jay Roy Halladay.

While numerous others have won awards, and have pitched the no-no and the perfect game, Halladay’s achievement stands above many with his performance against Cincinnati last week. Here’s why:

When
Not only was it the post-season, it was Halladay’s FIRST post-season game! If that doesn’t say amazing and astonishing then what does? Playing great in the regular season game and doing great in the post-season are two completely different accomplishments. Need a better example? Okay, having 30 wings in one sitting is impressive, but having 30 wings in 15 minutes deserves more accolades.

How
Pretty much every pitcher who’s had a no-no or perfect game has had great defensive plays behind him, but Halladay’s pitches were hitting every corner. Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy Collins snag and throw to first was beautiful, as was Jayson Werth’s low catch in right field. But for Halladay, he had curveballs fooling hitters and making them look as confused George Bush talking about sovereignty. Former teammate Scott Rolen was a three time strikeout victim. The cutter hit the corners and the four seamer zoomed by batters. On top of that, he had a hit, run and RBI more then the entire Cincinnati Reds team.

Not bad for a guy who’s a lifetime .123 hitter.

Who
It’s Roy. In an era where major stars from Toronto teams have left for bigger money and have had their dedication questioned, Halladay remains as one of the few who arguably left after being dedicated to the franchise. Halladay stuck around and tried to make things happen, but left on not “good” terms with the Blue Jays faithful, but incredible terms!

To this day even when Vince Carter returns to the ACC, he’s met with boos curses and fans holding funny signs. The same is likely to happen for Chris Bosh. And just last night was Hedo “Ball” Turkoglu met with boos and jeers.

But for Halladay? After his no hitter against the Reds, the Blue Jays celebrated as if they won the World Series.

And in short, that’s what makes you want to cheer for Roy Halladay. A dedicated athlete who goes about his business in a quiet, humble and professional manner. While that used to be the norm, it is now refreshing to see an athlete so deserving get his dues.

Hope this helps ...

Got a favour to ask.

A good friend, Clifford Martin, and his father-in-law, Mikhail Gorbounov, are each entered in the half-marathon event (21 km) during the annual Army Run in Ottawa on Sunday.

It's a little late in the game, but Cliff has an idea. His sister, Tanya Martin, is having a is having a corneal transplant but the cost of artificial cornea, some $3,000 isn't covered by OHIP, so the pair have decided to make it a fundraiser. For $5 apiece, you can guess either Cliff or Mikhail's time on Sunday. The winner will get half the pot and the other half will go toward Tanya's procedure.

Mikhail, a competitive athlete, completed a 10-km event in about 45 minutes earlier this year. Cliff averages 50-55 minutes for 10 km, so there is a gauge.

To make a pledge and place a bet, drop a line to cliff_martin@hotmail.com. Cliff may explain whether it's $5 to bet on one runner's time, or $10 to bet on both.

Canada vs. Brazil U-17 Women's World Cup Live Blog

Tonight the Canadian U-17 Women's team plays Brazil in their final group stage game of their World Cup campaign. The Canadian girls will need a win or a draw and some help elsewhere to qualify for the knockout stages. The match kicks off at 7:00 PM EST/ 4:00 PM PST and will be live on CBC Bold and cbcsports.ca.

Canada Break Eight Game, Fourteen Month Winless Streak

The Canadian Mens National Team's 2-1 win over Honduras in Montreal last night was a watershed moment for the Canadians in several ways. First off it broke a winless streak which spanned over eight matches and fourteen months. It also will help Canadians put behind them the memory of Canada's last match against Honduras in Montreal, the ill-fated World Cup Qualifier which saw the team's realistic hopes of qualifying go up in flames after a 2-1 loss. Following a more recent loss in Toronto against Peru last week it was important for the team to leave their home supporters with something to cheer about from their first set of home friendlies in three years.

Canada came out looking much more physical than the side that lost to Peru on the weekend. Last minute call-up from the Vancouver Whitecaps,Terry Dunfield, added some grit in the centre of midfield. As did Montreal-native Patrice Bernier. The two new starters along with Will Johnson who started his second straight match kept the Honduran midfield from generating many opportunities and prevented them from really playing with the ball at their feet.

The real key to preventing the Hondurans from having anything like the free reign they have previously against the Canadians was the centre back pairing of Kevin McKenna and Dejan Jakovic. McKenna played the role of the hardman, winning balls in the air, getting stuck in, but he also was a threat going forward as demonstrated by his game-winning headed goal and several attacking runs. Jakovic on the other hand was the real ball playing centre back, he moved the ball forward, intercepted Honduran passes and played a very smart positional game. The two played together at the 2009 Gold Cup for Canada and have featured together in several friendlies since. They really compliment each others abilities and look to be Canada's top centre back pairing heading into 2011.

Going forward Canada had much more of a cutting edge than they did against Peru, or really for all of the last fourteen months. Although Rob Friend still was not creating loads of chances as the lone front man he got a lot of help from the left flank in the form of Josh Simpson. Simpson was named CSA man of the match and showed some of his best stuff beating men down the wing and putting the ball into dangerous areas. He was rewarded with a somewhat of a scrappy goal, but after a good bit of build-up play from the Canadians. Coming off a fantastic match in Toronto three days earlier Simeon Jackson was kept quiet by the Hondurans, but he still managed to carve out a beautiful chance in the last ten minutes which only to fire it hopelessly over the bar.

With fifteen minutes left Canada started to look stretched so Stephen Hart brought on Atiba Hutchinson in the centre of midfield for Dunfield. Hutchinson calmed the game down and helped create several chances going forward. He was Canada's biggest attacking threat for the fifteen minutes that he was on the pitch.

The game was delayed with only eight minutes remaining for about half an hour due to lightning. The stoppage really killed the flow of the game heading into the last eight minutes, but added to the drama as Canada held on for a tight win over their CONCACAF rivals.

For coach Hart a 2-1 win over a weakened Honduran side will not be enough to prove that Canada is ready for a serious run at the World Cup, but it certainly is a start. After the match McKenna said he found the Honduran game to be more difficult than the Peruvian match, but Canada just adapted quicker and were more up for the challenge. This kind of comment really bodes well for a team that has had difficultly adjusting to different opponents in the past. Just one of many reasons to be a little more optimistic following this set of Canadian friendlies. It may take a while, but slowly this team is improving and preparing for Mission 2014.

Canada vs. Ghana U-17 Women's World Cup Live Chat

Join me for a live blog as the Canadian U-17 Women's team kicks off their World Cup campaign in Trinidad and Tobago against Ghana. The match kicks off at 7:00 PM EST and will be live on CBC Bold and cbcsports.ca.