Mid Season Sports Update

It is NHL All Star weekend in Ottawa this weekend, kind of my unofficial mid-season of the winter sports. I thought I would compile some highlights and low lights thus far from different sports.


Low-Lights.

• Sarah Burke - A sad day for Canada.

• Sidney Crosby - This one really bugs me. I hope he gets back to the game. I miss him.
• Alex Ovechkin - "Shame on You" - You are a millionaire who is not playing well this year, and the fact that you skipped the allstar game, basically is a slap in the face to your fans.
• The Toronto Raptors  6 wins and 14 losses. - And now Bargnani is hurt. Tough to get excited.

• The LA Lakers. They are in eighth place - Kobe lost 3 mansions in his divorce. I am just Lakered out I guess.
• No New Orleans or Green Bay in SuperBowl - Who would have picked that?
• NHL All Star weekend - having an issue with it. Don't like the draft, not a big fan of the skills competition....maybe its me.

Enough of that. I like the good stuff.

High-Lights

• Canadian Women's Soccer - Going to the 2012 Olympics in London. They will play the powerhouse from the USA in final of the qualifying tournament.

•  New England and New York Giants in the Super Bowl - should be a good one.
• Toronto Maple Leafs (ok, I realize that might be a bit of a reach for some)
• CLax Lacrosse - More Lacrosse is always good.
• Blake Griffin of the LA Clippers. Have you seen this kid??

My last item is a "little" out of the sporting world (I guess). When I started my website www.passitonsports.ca the idea was to ask people to share their "feel good" sports stories and to show gratitude to someone that has helped you along the way.

Patti's daughter and my friend Tristen is a lacrosse player. As a matter of fact she plays lacrosse for the UOIT Ridgebacks in the Ontario University Women's Lacrosse League.

She is also a nursing student (3rd year) at UOIT...and coaches lacrosse in the summer. A busy girl. But somehow busy people find time....that is a fact......to do more. This weekend Tristen decided to cut her beautiful long hair and donate it to a company that make wigs for cancer patients.

 
 
It may not be a sports story, but it sure is a "feel good" story.
 
For more information on this hair donation program go to the cancer website
 
 
 

The "Goat"

We all love to win the big game. Better than that even, (since we are dreaming anyway) - how about scoring the big goal, in overtime during "The Big Game".

What a feeling that must be. Remember "the catch"?
The Catch refers to the winning touchdown reception by Dwight Clark off a Joe Montana pass in the January 10, 1982, NFC Championship Game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. The Catch is widely regarded as one of the most memorable events in NFL history.

Remember the "Golden Goal"?
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver when Sid the Kid, scored the big goal in overtime. A whole country was watching.....what a feeling that must be.
You are the centre of attention, your team loves you, your fans adore you......all is good.

                                         Sidney Crosby gets "mobbed" after scoring the "big goal".


Imagine the opposite of scoring the "big goal". What if you caused it to happen? What if you took a bad penalty and the other team scored the big goal.

What if you were on defence and got beat on the big goal? What if you had the chance to score the big goal and missed....and the other team goes back the other way and wins? How must that feel? Has that ever happened to you? 

It happened to me (more than once......i am sad to admit).  Yes, I have been the goat.
I remember a field lacrosse tournament in Niagara Falls years ago....we were an underdog team, made it to the semi-finals against a powerful Peterbourgh club. Peterborough were famous for winning big games. We played a great game, we got to overtime....somehow I found myself in alone on the goalie....my job is to score....I had the goalie at my mercy with a gaping field lacrosse net (6'  x 6') begging for the ball....what did I do? - Shot the ball right off the goalies head...an almost impossible feat...but I did it.....and shortly after, my buddy Stu rifled another shot off the cross bar... and you can probably guess the rest....Peterborough went back down and scored...winning the game.

For some reason, moments like that seem to stick in your (at least my) head forever.

There is a word for people that don't make the big goal, or miss the perfect pass, or cause the big goal. In the sporting world, we like to call these people the "goat".  And oh yes, these people are remembered.

Last weekend in the NFL we were lucky enough to have two goats. There were a pair of great football games - and in both a "goat" was a big factor.

Game 1 - Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots.

The Patriots triumphed 23 - 20 when  Ravens place kicker Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal attempt with 11 seconds remaining that could have sent the game into overtime.
“It’s a kick I’ve kicked 1,000 times in my career,” Cundiff said. “I just went out there and didn’t convert. . . ...... There’s really no excuse for it.”

Game 2 - New York Giants vs San Francisco 49ers

Kyle Williams (punt returner) of the San Francisco 49ers was lucky enough on the weekend to be the goat twice.  Earlier in the game a punt that he decided to not catch (which was the right decision) hit the ground, but Kyle for some reason, instead of backing away and letting it bounce, decided to hang around, and the ball took a funny bounce, hit his knee, making the ball live, and the Giants recovered. Not good in a playoff game.

But the game was not over, in fact it was in overtime and the Giants were forced to punt which would give San Fran the chance to win.....there was a punt, Kyle William caught the ball and started a decent run back....he was hit, and out popped the ball. The game was all but over.  The Giants field goal kicker hit a chip shot to win.......Kyle Williams was the goat (again).  A very tough loss......and shortly after the "extremists" were "tweeting" death threats........nice. Really nice.

The funny thing about sports is, there is such a fine line sometimes between being the hero or the goat....but the fallout after can be massive.

It is easy for me to say, but if you are "the goat" - how you handle it after can go a long way to dealing with it. It is very difficult to look people in the eye, to talk to reporters...you just want to hide.

Guess what? - In life we make mistakes every single day (albeit not always on a massive stage like a pro athlete)...but in both cases, we must deal with it and move on. And yes, it may be corny, but making mistakes, and dealing with them, can quite often make us stronger.

I will keep an eye on these two guys, let's see how they deal with it.

Patriotism - Sarah Burke

 pa·tri·ot·ic/ˌpātrēˈätik  - Having or expressing devotion to and vigorous support for one's country.

By Definition, I am a Patriotic Person. There is no question about that. I have played for Canada in Lacrosse, and the feeling in indescribable. I cheer for Canadians every time they are in an "event" -
 (for example our Canadian girls are in Olympic Qualifying right now - are 2 wins 0 losses which means they have qualified for the semi-finals - win there and they go to the 2012 Olympics - this is great stuff)

I love the World Junior Hockey Tournament every Christmas, I love Canada/Russia Hockey, and yes 1972 and Paul Henderson was an amazing Patriotic moment for me (and a lot of Canadians).

Canadians are Patriotic, no doubt, but we are not alone....what about Americans and Football, and The British and Soccer (I mean football) - India and Cricket, - I could go on and on. Being Patriotic just feels good, no matter what country you are from....it feels good to be proud.

Patriotism is always with us, every day. It is just that sometimes an event or a moment happens that brings patriotism back with a flourish, even if the event is a sad one.

One of my favorite sporting events is the Olympics, and I especially love watching the winter Olympics. In particular, I always enjoyed the skiing and snowboarding events. To watch these great athletes "do their thing" is something I always make time for.

This week, Canada lost one of the good ones.


Sarah Burke 

Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke died Thursday after sustaining serious injuries in a skiing accident on Jan. 10. Burke died at the age of 29 in hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, after tearing the artery that supplies blood to the brain stem during a training run.

This was a sad day for Canada. A sad day for the skiing world, and this is a time when being Patriotic is difficult, because with all the pride that you feel when watching a great athlete, you also feel the pain that surrounds when a tragedy happens.

Sarah was a pioneer of this sport, and always wore the Maple Leaf proudly as she travelled the World, doing what she loved, and doing what she excelled at. She was just fun to watch, and knowing she was a Canadian, just felt really good.

To give a great example of Patriotism, after Sarah passed away, her family was faced with enormous hospital bill.....reaching up to $200,000. People in Canada and around the World responded.
By mid-afternoon Saturday, two websites - giveforward.com/ sarahburke and wepay.com/ donations/sarah-burke - had recorded donations of more than $300,000, significantly more than the estimated $200,000 bill the family is expected to receive.

This is what Patriotism can do. It is truly amazing.

To get a slight glimpse into who Sarah Burke was, have a look at this video.

Sarah Burke   1982 - 2009    Rest in Peace.

Sports to Watch!!

There are other sports in the world aside from lacrosse and hockey and basketball (I am told).
There are a couple of things going on right now that have my interest.

CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Soccer.

Date: 19-29 January 2012
Location: BC Place, Vancouver, BC.

Canada and seven other CONCACAF nations will compete for two available tickets to the London 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

Group A: Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba and Haiti

Group B:  USA, Mexico, Guatemala and Dominican Republic.

If you remember last year the Canadian women had a very disappointing World Cup, but in the world of sports, you simply must put that behind you and focus on the task at hand.
(great teams can do that!!)

From all accounts Canada should do well here, the top two from each pool advance to the semifinals and then there is a crossover. I am never one to like looking ahead when in a round robin event, but in this case, I will. Out of 8 teams, only two go to the Olympics, a dream of any athlete on the planet.

When (and I am saying they will) Canada advance they will have to play likely the USA or Mexico, and this is where it gets tough. This is the game they have to win to go to the Olympics.

With a player like Christine Sinclair on their team, only one of the best female soccer players in the world, anything can happen. Keep an eye on this one, lets go to the Olympics.

                                        Good Luck Ladies!!  It is time to show the World.
                               Did you know that the summer Olympics are 190 days away???

                                For more about Canadian Soccer click on Canada Soccer.

Now, lets flip the world around and go down under.

The first Grand Slam of Tennis is underway in Melbourne, Australia and of course being a good ole' Canadian boy, I am excited to see how our young star Milos Raonic is able to do.

The 20 year old will look to move on at the Australian Open tonight when he faces Philipp Petzschner.
You can watch the match live on TSN.ca starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. (hope that is not a jinx)
I have said this before, and I will say it again, you really need to check out this match and and watch this kid serve. It is incredible.

Milos Raonic.

Talk to you soon.

Jim Veltman: Giving Back

Lacrosse is a funny game really. To those that don't know much about it, it is an odd little game

 (a bit rough they say) - more of a "cult" sport.

For those of us that play, there is really no description I can tell you here that would suffice. It is just a really great sport to be a part of.

Jim Veltman has played lacrosse for a lot of years. His stats are impressive to say the least, have a look.         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Veltman

Jim is a part of the new Canadian Lacrosse League (CLax), a league that has given a lot of  talented lacrosse players that did not make the N.L.L. a chance to play Pro Lacrosse. I have a theory, there is never too much lacrosse, the more we play, the more we support new leagues, our favorite teams, and the more we encourage people to play....the better the game will be.

I have heard some negative rhetoric about the new league from some people...mostly lacrosse people trashing lacrosse people...silly, I think. If you are related to lacrosse in any way, then you should support lacrosse in any way. Period. We need growth, we need players and we need fans.

What has Jim been doing in his spare time? - Doing just that. Growing the game...and giving back to the game that he loves, a game that has been good to him.

Last Saturday Jan. 14th was the first CLax Masters game, something that I have had some fun being a part of. I arrived at 10am so that I could get set up to do registrations for the new league.

I decided to have a look at the Brampton Powerade Centre floor, and this was my view.

Jim Veltman was in the centre of this group of kids, running a clinic.

I heard that he had been there since 8am running clinics for different age groups. I was impressed by his energy level, and I could tell the kids were enjoying being "schooled" by probably the greatest loose ball guy lacrosse has ever seen.

Later that same day the "Masters" began play. The first game featured my team from Peel playing against Durham, great game (we lost 8 - 6).

Next it was Oshawa and  Brampton, with the Brampton squad winning that one, 8 - 7.

If you look at the picture below, far right you will see Jim after the game heading to the showers.

While the rest of the Masters players went for lunch before the next games, Mr. Veltman went back to the floor to do another clinic.

After that there were two more Masters games, Brampton defeated Durham in a goaltenders battle

7 - 5.

The final game was a close one too, as our Peel team lost 10 - 8 to the Oshawa squad featured the tireless Mr. Veltman. He seemed to be enjoying the game, and still has a lot of magic.

Here is a snippet of Jim (#32) in action.

Jim is a humble guy. I know a lot of the guys appreciated him coming out...the opportunity to play with (or against) the "best" does not happen often.When it does, it is special. I am a pretty seasoned lacrosse player (age will do that) - and I know that as hard as Jim was playing on this day, I'd say, he was at about 60% - he was just kind of on cruise...and at the end of the weekend, when I got all my stats updated.....well....you can probably guess....but have a look. CLax Masters Stats.

 

Four clinics done. Two lacrosse games......and then ready for the CLax Pro game at night to help out. I would say that Jim Veltman is giving back to the game. Good on you Jim!!

...and you want to talk about the full package, he even works the doors.....

Jim Veltman - A Class Act.

200 years of Lacrosse Experience

Sunday night I went to the Toronto Rock Lacrosse Game. It was the home opener and the Championship Banner was raised to the rafters...exciting stuff (...hint, hint...Toronto Maple Leafs).

What made this night really special is I went with my two brothers and my Mom.
 Steve (Tippy) a long time Lacrosse goalie who has won a Mann Cup (Senior A Lacrosse)  - a Presidents Cup (Senior B Lacrosse) and  A Vanier Cup (Canadian University Football)....and has never met a booster club he couldn't make a friend. He still plays Masters Lacrosse.
Don - played lacrosse for years, was an enforcer in the day (his lacrosse stick - and old wooden Mackenzie was a thick as a Maple tree), I could hardly lift it. He could crosscheck like nobody I have ever seen, a lot of bruised shoulders and arms. He still plays Masters Lacrosse.
Mom - what can I say, she has been to a million lacrosse games. Constant positive support from day one. Always an encouraging word to say, a relentless volunteer, and anyone that organized a lacrosse event, were always happy to have Mom on the team. She still watches us play Masters Lacrosse.
I did some quick math and I realized that between the 4 of us there is roughly 200 years of lacrosse experience. WOW. What a number. Really cool.
One thing that is not on my Mom's resume...she has never been to a Toronto Rock Game. Thanks to the generosity of Tippy, we finally made it happen...and we decided to go the whole deal.

We started at the Real Sports Bar to make a donation to the cash strapped MLSE. A great meal though and prepared us for the game.

                                          Mom, Steve , Don and me...at The Real Sports Bar.

Next - it was game time....looked like a solid crowd....of around 10,000, not sure. After the Banner raising, the game was on...and the Rock came flying out of the gate....and before the banner above has even stopped waving....it was 5 - 0 for Toronto, the rout was on.
Hang on a minute, this is lacrosse and no lead is ever safe, and Calgary started to chip away at the lead, it was shaping up to be a good game.

In an effort to give Mom the whole experience (and the fact that we were thirsty) we took a stroll down to the "Bar" at the ACC for a halftime banterfest. We saw a lot of lacrosse guys, always a great trip down memory lane.

By the time we got back to our seat in the 3rd quarter it was 7 to 6 for Calgary....they traded goals back and forth but then late in the game Calgary scored to put it out of reach. Final score on this night was Calgary 12 Toronto 9.

***note*** We all enjoyed the game and the atmosphere but I am compelled to add my cheap editorial, and that being.....even My Mom commented on the Defence off and Offense on and vice versa during the game, it slow the game of lacrosse down huge. I don't like it (I don't like it). I really don't like it. The New CLax league has addressed that in their league. Check them out this weekend with games in Oshawa and Brampton. Check out the schedule at  http://www.clax.ca/

Sports news.

Canadian Milos Raonic won an ATP event yesterday. I watched this match, and if you have not seen this kid, make a point to watch him. his serve is phenomenal and he had 36 aces. Wow!

                                                                        Milos Raonic