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 gone
Where 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)
For those interested in watching the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and other Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events streamed live online to your computer, there are a number of options from justin.tv and other websites. The problem is you have to deal with signals dropping suddenly, poor choppy feeds and sometimes lots of popups.
Here at sportaholik.com, we’ve found from first hand experience a better solution that is more stable and reliable. Just follow these simple steps and get ready for the next event!
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 2009 Grey Cup is today (Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes), and since TSN has the broadcast rights those without cable cannot watch the game unless they head to their nearest bar. What are your options to watch the Grey Cup online? So far us at sportaholik.com have found one Web site that appears will be streaming the game starting a half hour before kick off (6pm Eastern): NewWorldChannel.net. Know of other online TSN Grey Cup streams? Please comment below.
As much as I’d like the game to be broadcast on an over-the-air channel, I can’t argue with TSN producing CFL games. They, far and away, put on the best CFL coverage. Far better than the CBC ever did. Enjoy the Grey Cup, Canada!
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…
I was just checking out the turf indoor soccer registration options for the next season over on the Toronto Sport and Social Club site. This season they included links to view a video. I was thinking ‘great idea!’. What a great way to check out the indoor venues before you sign up (as, lets face it, there was always a big difference between Soccerworld and, lets say, Waterside). Click the video aaaaaaaaaaaand it’s just a generic indoor soccer video. Click the video for the next registration venue - same video. So, a great idea with poor execution. They’ve got some new-ish Toronto indoor soccer fields listed this year (Varsity, Lamport w/ a bubble, etc.) and it would have been great to see how they are. Maybe next year?
Ever heard of the ‘World Masters Games’? I hadn’t either, until we received an email from Paul down in Australia (yes, Australia). Apparently the first World Masters Games was held in Toronto. So, what are the World Master Games? It’s for those ‘a bit older’ (’To compete at the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games people need only satisfy their sport’s minimum age criterion, which is as low as 25 for diving and swimming and does not rise above 35 for any of the 28 sports.‘) And, you’ve got to be some sort of amazing athlete right? Not quite: ‘Anyone who meets the minimum age criterion for their sport can compete in the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games. Many sports competitions will be graded so as to provide competitors with the choice of participating seriously or socially.‘. Like the Olympics, it’s held every four years. In fact, many retired Olympic and professional athletes participate in the World Masters Games. So, sportaholiks, this could be something of interest to all of you. Paul put together these great videos from the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games. Enjoy:
No matter what you think of whether Toronto should be hosting the Pan Am Games (personally, I don’t think it’s popular enough to warrant the money being spent - the Olympics, different story) I think we can all agree that this video entitled ‘The Dream’, that was part of Toronto’s bid presentation, is pretty powerful.
The other one from the presentation not as great, in my opinion.
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.
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.
