Are you ready, Canada? Team Canada takes on Slovakia in Men’s Olympic hockey tonight (Friday February 26). The game is on at 9:30pm Eastern (6:30pm Pacific) and will be broadcast live on CTV. (more…)
Canadians are demanding Men’s Hockey gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver - rightfully so, in my opinion. To cheer on our Canadian Olympic hockey team, here’s your 2010 Men’s Olympic Hockey schedule for Team Canada: (more…)
Apparently you’re looking for the lyrics to ‘Free To Be (The Leaf’s Song)’ by Alan Frew. Look no further. The song lyrics from the video version are reproduced here courtesy of sportaholik.com (where you can find other Toronto recreational players to play with!):
Free To Be - The Leaf’s Song (Alan Frew, formerly of Glass Tiger)
From the Isle of Vancouver
To the Labrador Sea
One nation, glorious and free
Where I’m free to be me.From the song of the Prairies
To the call of the ponds
Heroes of times come and goneWhere the memories go on and on and on
Oh! Oh! Oh! This is Canada’s song (Go Leafs Go)
Oh! Oh! Oh! Where my heart belongs (Go Leafs Go)Oh! Oh! Oh! This is Canada’s team.
Now you can sing along… I guess.
The Post had a front page article today about the new unofficial Toronto Maple Leafs anthem ‘Free To Be’ (the Leaf’s Song) by former Glass Tiger front man Alan Frew. It seems to be ruffling feathers across Canada as it declares the Maple Leafs to be ‘Canada’s Team’. Catchy tune, sure, but I think fans of the rest of Canada’s NHL teams may have something to say about the lyrics. Judge for yourself, below.
The Toronto Argonauts were soliciting feedback from Argonaut fans after this dismal 2009 season. I decided to fill out the survey as I’m a big fan (despite their awful record). What does an Argonauts fan sitting in the same end zone seats for four years think? Here are some ideas. These are more than I could write in the survey as they limited their ‘additional comments’ field to 350 measly characters - yowch, do you want feedback, or not?
Bring Back the End Zone Seats
This past season the Argos got the big idea to replace the end zone seats (regular ‘Skydome’ seats) with benches-sorta. Bottom line is there’s no seat backing and they’re really not comfortable at all. The ‘official’ word was it was to build camaraderie among the end zone patrons. Great goal, but wrong approach. These ’seats/benches/whatever’ are horribly uncomfortable.
Lets Fans Keep the Footballs
A regular occurrence at Argonaut games is when a football misses the mesh on a field goal some lucky fan gets a free ball. Not so fast. They’ll be surrounded by Rogers Centre staff in no time - and asked to give up the ball. The usher I spoke with says it’s a ’safety issue’ — ummm, ok. It seems they may give you a ’souvenir’ football in replacement - which, of course, if not an official ball. I’m not sure if this is the Argos policy, Rogers Centre policy, or that of the CFL. Whatever it is, it stinks. The CFL (and especially the Argos) need every fan they can get. You destroy the fan experience when you start confiscating footballs. How about this scenario: The ball is caught by a young fan attending his first Argonauts game. He’s elated, and brings it to school, telling all his friends what happened. Right away, the Argos are shown in positive light from the best source possible — word-of-mouth. This young fan’s friends take interest in the game and then bug their parents to take them to the next Argos game. If they’re hooked, you may have an Argonauts fan for life. The alternative is that this impressionable young fan is bugged by multiple Rogers Centre ushers/security folks to cough up his newly won ball. What’s his story at school now? I can tell you it won’t be positive. So much for getting new Argos fans on that playground. I’m still not sure of the real reason why the Argos take the balls or if the ’safety’ reason described to me is legitimate. I can see how they may want to deter people from running/pushing/whatever for the ball when it enters the crowd, but how does taking the ball away after-the-fact help that cause? Or, if it’s because the football becomes a ‘projectile’ after-the-fact then they should be sweeping everyone for everything they bring in. I can tell you the cowbells of the front row of Section 122 (and 123) can do a lot more damage than that football. Oh, and don’t even think about taking them.
Bring Back the Argonauts Fight Song
We (myself and my fellow Section 122ers) were elated when the Argonauts brought back the Fight Song a year or two ago. What a great way to connect with the past (so much history with this club, why not reach back for some of that!). Also, it’s simply a great tune that had the fans of the end zone and beyond standing and chanting/singing/whatever upon an Argonauts touch down. The Argonotes (including Taylor!) got in the act as well (sidenote: more Argonotes - they’re great!). So, what happened in the 2009 season? Sure the team scored less, but even when they did the Fight Song was not to be played (from what I recall) - or, if it did, it got cut off by some awful promo-bit. Really? Kill the fight song so we can plug Barrie Nissan - or whoever? (side note: ‘dependability, trustworthiness,…’ I forget the rest. Help me out Kent Austin!). So, umm, yeah, bring back the song! Put the lyrics back on the big screen so all can join in. Have the Argonotes play their hearts out. Good times. Hopefully there will be more touch downs, too.
Crowd ‘Promo’ Noise During Defensive - Not Offensive
This one is not my idea, but it’s genius. Hat tip to the Section 122 crowd noise leader, and ‘Renew-Your-Tickets’-poster-boy, Jube. For whatever reason (oh, free stuff!), Argos crowds make noise (and lots of it) for the lame promo giveaways. You know, T-Shirts that say ‘Show us your Parts’ (ok! - enjoy kiddies), and the like. So, coordinate these giveaways for when the defense is on the field and wants fan noise - not when the offense is on the field and want quiet. So simple.
Toronto Argonauts organization, if you’re listening, leave us a little comment below with your thoughts. Thanks-much! I’ll see you next season, hopefully in seats that don’t hurt my…
Hockey goalie masks have changed dramatically over time. Fifty years ago tomorrow was when the first goalie mask was worn in the NHL. It was Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens, after taking yet another bruising puck to the head. Red Fisher describes that night:
“What happened was that 3:06 into the game, Plante had been struck in the face by a short shot from Rangers right-winger Andy Bathgate, opening a deep, seven-stitch cut running from the corner of the goaltender’s lips through his nostril. Then, after a delay of 21 minutes, he returned to the ice wearing a full-face mask - the first goaltender in NHL history to do so.”
To me the best goalie masks are still the ones from the older days. Most had scarier looks and more simple paint jobs. Flipping through the retro goalie masks shown on hockeymasks.com (where, yes, you can order your own replicas!) and found some great ones. Clicking the link will take you to an image of the mask.
Top favourites:
Other notable goalie masks:
Mostly simple white masks, but still awesome:
The masks of today totally don’t compare to those above, in my opinion. Obviously goalie mask design had to change to keep up with harder shots and better sticks - for safety reasons. Unfortunately that took away from some of the sinister look and uniqueness of goalie masks being worn.
Below is the Jacques Plante story, as retold in a Canadian Heritage moment. He had to stand up to coach Toe Blake who wanted no part of him wearing a goalie mask due to reduced visibility.
Some interesting information on the history of the goalie mask, as told by a goalie mask historian.
Good news sportaholiks! Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment (the folks who own the Leafs, Raptors, and FC) have donated $2.3 million dollars over the next few years to uprade Toronto indoor and outdoor ice rinks. So, curse them all you want when they gouge you for watching a sub par product (the Leafs… actually, throw the Raptors and FC in there too!) but it’s nice to see them contributing some of their money making machine towards recreational hockey players. Don’t forget, we’ve got a nice map of Toronto shinny rinks for when winter returns.