By Jessy Dhillon
I like to call this time of year the “calm before the storm”. The National Football League season starts; the NHL season is only a month away, followed by the NBA season two weeks later. Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball and CFL playoffs are just around the corner. October will be an exciting month for sports fans! This week I take a brief look at news around the North American sports world this week.
Vancouver Canucks players are slowly trickling into Vancity and getting ready for training camp which starts in two weeks. It’s good to see players coming in early and training together at the UBC rink. Some of the notables that have been training together are Kevin Bieska, Jordan Schroeder and Eddie Lack, who is expected to back up Roberto Luongo. Speaking of Luongo… Many think he is too upset with how the organization treated the whole goalie situation in Vancouver and will not report. I feel Roberto has something to prove to the Canucks and the rest of the NHL. There is also that Team Canada starting goalie carrot dangling in front of him. Roberto Luongo will be one of the best goaltenders in the league this season, mark my words. The Canucks must have something to prove after being swept by the Sharks.
Speaking of Sharks, One of the most impressive athletic feats that I have ever seen was accomplished in the shark infested waters between Cuba and Florida. 64 year old Diana Nyad successfully swam from the coast of Cuba to the coast of Florida. The 110 mile swim took about 53 hours to complete and was accomplished without a shark cage! This was Diana’s fifth attempt at the feat. Well done Diana!
The Major League Baseball season is winding down and for the 20th straight year, the Toronto Blue Jays will not make the playoffs. I really thought this was the year that they finally would have reached the playoffs. The Blue Jays tried to spend like the Yankees and Red Sox and it did not work. The hiring of John Gibbons as manager was a mistake, the pitching staff could not stay healthy and the Jays hitting was too inconsistent. The lone bright spot for the Blue Jays failure of a season was the bullpen. The Blue Jays are one of two teams that have not made the playoffs since the introduction of the wildcard; which was introduced in 1994. A second wildcard was added last season.
I attended my first BC Lions game of the season last week. The Lions defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 29-26 in front of an announced crowd of around 30,000. It was the first crowd that the Lions have had that has been over 30,000 this season. The Lions use to average 30k+ every game during the Wally Buono era at BC Place. However it looks like people are losing interest in the Leos. I feel tickets are too overpriced in certain sections. It can cost up to $75 to sit in the upper bowl and $40 to sit in the end zone! I don’t mind watching BC Lions football but those prices are way too much for the product that is being served. If the BC Lions wanted to raise their attendance, they should lower all lower bowl tickets to $20-25.I remember when I was a kid, my dad use to buy tickets for $10 from Safeway and in my early 20s, me and my friends use to buy tickets for $20 from 7/11. Hey BC Lions! Stop being so greedy!
