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  • Cheerleader etiquitte

    Cheerleader etiquitte

    Okay this post is a week overdue. Sorry about that but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t overreacting to the situation. Last weekend I went to the opening game of the Waterloo Warriors season with a friend and her daughters. I wanted to check out some of the Guelph Gryphon players and see how UW was going to do with their newly resurrected football team.

    The game itself was a blowout but I expected that.  What I didn’t expect was the complete lack of attention the cheerleaders paid to the game.  They were cheering through the huddle, through injured players on the field and when the other team was scoring.  They held up signs that blocked fans’ views of the field while the game was on.  It wasn’t only the signs, they also stunted and did cartwheels which also blocked the view of fans.  To me, doing backflips when there is an injured player on the field shows a lack of respect for the game that you’re supposed to be cheering at.  It seems like the UW cheerleaders have forgotten that they’re not the main attraction but are simply supposed to be cheering on the team and getting the fans involved IN THE GAME.  Distracting fans so they can’t see the game makes true fans not come back.  I’m not sure I want to go to another Warriors game – why would I pay to see a game that I won’t get to see all of because for at least 1 quarter there will be cheerleaders blocking my view and getting the fans to yell at completely inappropriate times?

    They also looked sloppy.  One of them was chewing gum.  the rest of them slouched, stood around with hands on hips (and not in the typical, cheerleader ready to cheer pose – in a I’m bored and don’t want to be here way). I have seen high school cheer teams behave more appropriately.  If the Waterloo cheerleaders don’t want to be at the game – then don’t go.  The true football fans will thank you.

    Because I know a couple of people who were involved in the Warrior Band over the years (and have been persuaded to play when they were shorthanded on more than on occasion) I feel the need to mention them too.  They were there.  They were far from mighty.  They were not balanced – 3 flutes, a trumpet, a sax and a badly played drum from what I could hear and see.  They also barely played.  This is unusual. Typically the Warrior Band is in direct competition with the Rider band for the “who can annoy the opposing team first” award.  I heard them 3 times – once before the game, once in the 3rd quarter when the PA announcer directed our attention to a passable version of the Magnificent 7, and when they murdered the Warrior song.  My friend who went with me to the game has been to a lot of UW games.  I have not.  I asked her if the song I heard was the Warrior song, she said “no”  then “maybe” then “i don’t know – it sounds kind of like the Warrior song but played really badly”.  Being a flute player, I am pretty sure that the flute part i heard was part of the Warrior song – but not so sure about everything else.  Hopefully they, too, get better with practice.

     

    With all of that said, I did have a great time at the game.  Saw some great football (mostly by Guelph) and spent an early fall day (yes I know it’s still technically summer but the leaves are starting to change colour so it’s fall to me) outside in the fresh air.

  • Wordless Wednesday – the lake

    Wordless Wednesday – the lake

    A view looking down a lake at dusk with trees on both sides of the lake and a sky with clouds and a touch of pink.

    The lake never worries about anything, it simply is. And the lake is where I wish I could be right now.

  • Stupid Driver Tricks

    Stupid Driver Tricks

    I may not be the best driver in the world.  Occasionally I speed.  I have been known to get impatient with other drivers when they cut me off.  I have also been known to use my brake pedal to tell other drivers where to go in Morse Code when they’re tailgating me (I know most people don’t know Morse Code but it makes me feel better.)  I do however feel entitled to feel superior to the 2 special drivers I encountered today.  The first bit of insanity came as I was driving to the game – A merge lane was coming to an end and large SUV was barreling down the shoulder.  I had no choice but to let him in, otherwise I would have been hit.  When traffic is  stopped because of an accident, don’t drive up the paved shoulder and then forcibly edge into the queue.  I was tempted to let him hit me, but I was already running late and can’t really afford a new car right now. 

     

    This incident paled in comparison to the 2nd one.  On the way home from the game, I was on the 427 northbound, north of the 401 split.  I was in the left lane, and there was  a car in the middle lane and a truck in the right lane.  I noticed that the car in the middle lane was drifting into my lane.  I honked and the car straightened out.  I don’t like driving close to people who do unpredictable things, so I went to pass the car.  It was then that I noticed that the driver was WATCHING A DVD as she was driving !  She was the only passenger in the car and the DVD player was set up on the dashboard!  I was flabbergasted!  Who does that?  And where are the police when you need them?  In hindsight I should have called 911 but I wasn’t sure if this qualified as an emergency.  Instead I got as far away from her as possible and got home in one piece. 

    Are people really that stupid? If texting and driving is illegal (as it should be ) then watching a DVD is definitely illegal and dangerous!

  • The Good, the Bad, and the Argos

    The Good, the Bad, and the Argos

    I’m not going to play armchair GM at 2 am the morning after a loss.  Especially after a home game where I didn’t see all of the game because I was playing in the band.  Yes the Argos played badly, no I don’t have a magic fix to make the season all better.  It wasn’t just one thing or one player that made the team lose, it was a number of factors working together.  It’s really easy to lay the blame at the feet of a single player but football is a team sport.  Part of the Argos’ trouble seems to be an inability to deal with unexpected changes such as a key player going down to injury.  If left to their own game plan, the Argos seem to be a decent (Not spectacular) team; but when a monkey wrench is thrown into the works, such as Rob Murphy’s injury this week or Kevin Eiben’s injury a few weeks ago, the team collapses in on itself.  I think it goes back to confidence and the Argos seem to be lacking in it.  When everything is carefully scripted, they’re fine but going off script is disastrous because the players are worried that in doing so they’ll make a mistake.  The most dangerous thing to be in football is cautious – it’s also the most boring!   There’s nothing worse than a team playing to not lose.  I can root for a losing team, but not a boring team.  Other than some spectacular special teams plays by Chad Owens. the Argos were boring tonight  There was a lot of potential to not be boring  – there was a great string of 1st downs in the first quarter but then the drive ended with a rather anti-climatic field goal.  Turnovers were not capitalized on, turning an exciting event into nothing.  Again I’m not sure how to fix it but I’m hoping one of the coaches on the Argos does.

    Even with the loss, the Argo game was fun tonight.  That’s the best thing about being in Argonotes – even when the team on the field is less than entertaining, the band is always awesome.  At halftime tonight, we did our usual show – 4 or 5 songs to a small but loyal crowd by gate 5.  As we were playing our first song, I noticed 2 little girls dancing along to the band.  I went over to our director Dictator’s big bag o’ musical toys and dug out a tambourine and gave it to the girls.  The look on their face was of pure delight.  They shook it together and were generally adorable.   Their dad took some pictures and the girls were having a great time.  For the next song, I asked the girls if they wanted to play WITH the band.  Our fantastic bass drummer Tyler came in front of the band and let the younger girl “help” play the bass drum and the older girl got to play the tambourine in front of the band, wearing the Dictators furry blue hat.  The looks of joy on their faces made my whole night.  To make things even better, when I was walking around the Dome after our half-time show, I saw the family.  The girls came up to me and thanked me and then the older one went to call her mum and was eagerly telling her about being IN the band.  The grandmother told me that we had made their night extra special and that they’d remember it for a long time.Thinking about that makes me put the loss in perspective.  The Argos may not have won, but this Argonote sure did.

  • Random thoughts on a CFL standard

    Random thoughts on a CFL standard

    I know a lot of CFL teams have at least one “football 101” day for women to learn about football.  Today, as I was explaining some of the basics of the game to a friend, I wondered why they don’t have the same thing for men.  Are men supposed to just know about football?  is there something in the Y chromosome that makes them know all about football?  What about recent immigrants from countries where there is no football tradition?  I don’t know how well it would go over but I’m thinking there might be a demand, even as part of the game day for a team.  In one of the commercial time outs, instead of some inane promo thing, (or even after one of the short ones), show a play or a formation on the scoreboard and explain it.   I think that you’d get more people coming back to games if they knew what was going on on the field.

    I had a friend from high school, a very smart woman, who when watching her first live CFL game asked “where’s the yellow line” – referring of course to the line that is generally added by television to show where the first down is.  Naturally since this line is added in production, you can’t see it in the stadium.  Her boyfriend at the time (now her husband), nearly choked himself laughing.  It’s not that it was a dumb question but it was one he had never thought of, having watched very few games on TV.  Everyone coming to the CFL for the first time is going to have questions.  Simple things such as what a first down is.  Why a team is kicking a field goal when they are, what a 2 point convert is, onside kicks, simple offensive and defensive formations, man versus zone defensive schemes.

    What about you, football fans?  what else would you love to know more about?

  • Sponsorship Questions

    Sponsorship Questions

    I’ve been invited to attend the She’s Connected Conference in Toronto in September.  I’m really excited to go because I want to learn how to make my blog and Twitter and Facebook accounts more relevant.  In the last few days the excitement has started to be co-mingled with  trepidation (yes it’s a $20 word but I love it so I’m using it).  I’ve seen a lot of the other attendees actively seek wardrobe, travel, or shoe sponsors for the event.  Lord knows I’d love to have someone pay for the hotel room for #SCCTO – Money isn’t a luxury I have a lot of right now, but I’m wary because I’m not sure I want to sell myself to do it.  Right now, whenever I endorse something on Twitter, Facebook, or here, it’s because i use it and genuinely like it.  I won a new Blackberry Bold 9900 on Twitter in July.  I entered the #BB7FanNight Contest and won.  I got to go to a really fancy launch party and play with all of the new devices that use the BB7 OS and choose one.  I received it on Friday an tweeted that I love it.  I really do love it.  It has a touch screen and a keyboard and it’s really easy to use.   There were no terms in the contract that said I had to tweet about how much I loved it –  I gave Blackberry PR the right to use the tweets I entered the contest with in their advertising campaign, they liked one of the entries, I won a new Blackberry.   If I hated the device I would say that, but I don’t.

    Incidentally I also won a pair of Skullcandy ROCNATION headphones at the BB7FanNight event and I love them too.  I’ve been looking for a new pair of headphones for awhile, and the ROCNATIONs in addition to looking really cool (they came with a cloth to make sure the outside stayed shiny!) are incredibly comfortable too.   The only problem may be that they’re TOO good – when I tried to do some transcription off of a cassette tape they conveyed every hiss and crackle of the tape!  I had heard of Skullcandy headphones before but figured they were too ‘hip’ for me – now I don’t care – I just love them.

    I have an iphone that I got from my best friend.  I like it  a lot too – but there are some things about it that drives me nuts.  I’m sure after I use the new Bold9900 for a year, there will be things that drive me nuts about them too.  If I were to be offered a sponsorship by Blackberry, would I be free to voice any concerns I had about my device?

    I’m afraid that if I enter into a relationship with a brand to get sponsorship for a conference, it will force me to not be honest about my opinions of products.  I like to support local companies and failing that, Canadian companies.  but I’m not willing to support a company that has crap products.  I want my friends to know that when I recommend something (like I did with the Adult Essentials vitamins this week to a group of friends) that I actually use and enjoy the product.   I’m still pretty new to the whole brands and blogs thing, but I’m not sure I’m willing to sell my soul for the price of a hotel room.

  • Swimming with beavers

    Swimming with beavers

    This post got eaten.  I’m going to blame the beaver at the cottage.  Maybe he’s shy and didn’t want the notoriety that being on my blog would bring.  I’m not sure why it got deleted but I’m trying to recreate it from memory.

     

    I was at the cottage last weekend for my dad’s birthday weekend.  It rained most of the weekend.  On Sunday evening, during a break between rain storms I glanced out of a window at the lake and saw what I thought at first was a log floating in the lake.  Upon closer inspection, however, the log moved!  It was a beaver, swimming about 5’ out from shore!  The beaver in question didn’t seem to care that there were people in the cottage, he swam around the bay and returned about 25 minutes later.  (this time both Mum and Dad saw it – at first they thought i had just seen a log or something in the water).  We tried to take some pictures which really do look like a log in the water due to the fact that beavers swim mostly underwater with just their nose sticking out at the front.  It was a cool piece of Canadiana but I put it out of my head as one of those one-off things you see at the cottage.

     

    Monday, Dad left early so he could make it to work relatively on time, leaving Mum and I to stay and clean up the cottage.  Tidying the cottage is hot and sweaty work, mum can’t get down to the lake anymore, so she got the shower and I went for a swim.    The air was cool and the lake was warmer than the air – which made it a very refreshing swim.  I had been swimming for about 10 minutes, had taken a few dives off the raft and was swimming between the raft and the shore when I heard a noise that gave me pause.    I looked towards the shore and there was the beaver again.  They look a LOT bigger up close and personal!   This thing was at least 2 feet long (not including the tail which looked huge!) and about 30 lbs.    It raised its head out of the water a bit and wow are the beaver’s teeth prominent.   It didn’t seem to care that I was in the water and kept on swimming.  I, however, wasn’t taking any chances.  I swam over to the dock (the beaver was swimming away from the dock) and got out of the lake as fast as I could.  The fact that I got out on the dock demonstrates how nervous I was about the beaver – I never get out there – I use the beach because the dock has dock spiders and I really hate dock spiders!  I have since read that beavers don’t attack humans, at least not in the water, but there’s a first time for everything right?

  • Bye Week

    Bye Week

    So it’s the bye week for my team the Toronto Argos – I’m going through withdrawal even though there were 2 very good teams playing football this week.  The Bye week means that we’re halfway through the CFL season – It feels like it just started yesterday.  I’m not ready for the regular season to be over in 8 short weeks!  the CFL season is so short compared to the off-season.  Pretty soon it will be November and November means PLAYOFFS.  I dearly hope that my Argos  turn things around and make it into the playoffs!  There’s nothing better than playoff football.  And while I root for the Argos, that  doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good game no matter who is playing.  This week was a prime example of why I love the CFL – Both games went down to the final two minutes, and both of my picks were right (but boy was I nervous!).

     

    I was rooting for Winnipeg primarily because of the flak Tina LaPolice got for daring to express an opinion.  I don’t believe that anything is different because she is the wife of the Head Coach of the Bombers.  I think she has a right to cheer for the team and not take crap from certain loudmouthed players and fans on twitter.  It even says in her twitter bio that her opinions are her own.  I LOVE her twitter bio Football wife, mother of 2 gorgeous babes! Opinions are my own, not that of my husband! It’s not the 50’s..I say what I want! Still!!   I think the whole situation got seriously blown out of proportion.   When Dave Stala commented about wanting to take the swag out of swaggerville, she replied “We’ll see hacky sack boy!” – the Hacky sack boy comment refers to a touchdown celebration in which Stala plays hacky sack with the football (how this doesn’t run afoul of the non celebration rule still boggles my mind).  That’s it.  That was the comment that got everyone riled up.  Seriously?  Don’t you people have better things to do with your time?  Tina is a strong woman who has strong beliefs – she was a Bomber’s cheerleader too so it’s natural for her to stick up for her team.  I know I’m in the minority here, but I salute her and hope that she continues to show confidence in her team.  They are one of the best stories of the 2011 CFL season to date – Yes Calvillo breaking the passing records is a great story but it was expected.  I’m not sure that anyone expected the Bombers to be 7-1 at the midway point.  Instead of making a twitter tempest in a teapot, let’s celebrate the great season the Bombers are having – and this despite the untimely death of their Assistant Head Coach Richard Harris earlier this season.

    I will also add to the twitter follower who told me after I tweeted in support of @tinalapo … “Of course you’d defend her your (sic)  a mouthy broad too”.  Thanks.  I will take that as a complement.

  • Cottage

    Cottage

    I love heading to the cottage.  Not the drive but just the act of actively getting away from it all.  It’s not that I don’t love life in Kitchener but I feel more relaxed at the lake.  I’m generally doing as many (if not more) things up there than I am in the city but I can drop any of them and go for a swim if i feel like it.  Now that’s freedom.    I generally get chewed by the mosquitoes (and if I’m really unlucky, the deer flies),  but other than that I enjoy hanging out with the local wildlife – the chipmunks, minnows, and even Snappy – the 60+ year old snapping turtle who teaches people not to leave fish on the dock by eating them.

    My grandfather built the cottage 50 years ago this year.  A lot has happened there.  I have spent time almost every year of my life at my beloved cottage.  Yet, times change.  Mum’s growing mobility issues will soon force us to sell the cottage and find a more level lot.  I will be sad to say goodbye to the cottage but also happy to have one that the whole family can enjoy.

  • Only Children…

    Only Children…

    Some recent news articles have made me think  about my status as an only child.  My mum, asked me a few months ago whether I felt left out because I was an only child.   I didn’t then and I don’t now.  I loved being an only child.  I’m sure I would have loved siblings too but being an only gave me advantages I wouldn’t have otherwise had.  That’s not to say that I was spoiled.  My parents took great care to avoid that.  For starters I had a bunch of cousins within a 10 minute drive from my house who were over a lot and tortured me like siblings.   They took my stuff and roughhoused and generally had a good time.

    I was also involved in Guiding, hockey, and swimming lessons plus occasionally other things like a little chefs course.  I was well socialized and I’m not sure that I could have done all those things if there was a sibling in the mix.

    I wasn’t lonely.  I was the type of kid who was happiest reading a book, and in books I found all sorts of wonderful people and stories.  I also had a lot of friends who I could go and call on and play with after school or on weekends.    Yes… go out and play – around the corner or, when i got a little older, down the block and through the walkway.  I played with my friends, got annoyed by their siblings and returned to my cozy home.

    I am both my father’s daughter and my mother’s daughter.  Mum and I would sit and do crafts and she would patiently teach me how to knit day after day when I forgot.  Would we have had all that 1 on 1 time if I had siblings?   Dad treated me like one of the boys – I got to watch sports with him.  Hockey, Auto racing, and football.  Dad loves football and as he put it, they were pretty sure they were only going to have 1 kid, there was 1 tv, mum tolerated football but didn’t love it and he wanted to make sure the vote would be 2 vs 1 FOR football.  Hence my beginnings as a football junkie.  I wonder if I had had a brother, if my dad would have spent as much time explaining all the nuances of football to me?  I’d like to think so but I’m not sure.

    I know i missed out on things by not having a sibling.  Mum’s big worry is that I won’t have family to support me when they die.  I told her that I have friends and that just because people are related by blood doesn’t necessarily mean that they can stand each other.    I feel loved and supported by the friends I have made and that is enough for me.

    I wouldn’t have minded to have had someone else to blame things on either, come to think of it.    When there was trouble in the house or something got broken, it was almost always my fault and I took the blame.  If I’d had a younger sibling, I could have blamed them.  There’s only so much you can blame on a dog.

    Overall I feel like I had a well-rounded, happy childhood.  I don’t think that I missed anything huge by not having biological siblings, I have a few friends who are as close to me as they are to their biological siblings if not closer.

    I know quite a few only children, and none of us feel like we were deprived in any way of part of our childhood.  I’ve had friends worry that they don’t have a sibling for their child yet.  Relax, I tell them, even if you don’t ever end up with another kid, your firstborn won’t be horribly scarred.  I may not get the mushy “sister” cards, but that’s ok with me.

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