Jenn Writes

Tag: Football

  • 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.

  • 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?

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Venturing into Enemy Territory

    Venturing into Enemy Territory

    Every fan of a CFL team needs to go on a road trip with their team at least once in their lifetime.  It may not be feasible to go and see your team in every CFL city but hopefully you can go to the one closest to you.  It truly is an unforgettable experience.

    For starters, just getting to Hamilton is an adventure in one way streets, streets that suddenly end, and road closures.  So much fun.  It’s almost like they don’t want opposing fans to find the stadium.

    There is no real, designated parking lot near the stadium, instead you get to drive up and down all the streets around Ivor Wynne and (in my case) settle on a street in a not too bad in daylight but sketchy as all get out neighbourhood and walk for 15 minutes to the stadium.  At least it was free.

    The game day experience is truly awesome though.  Granted I didn’t wear my Argo blues until I was safely in the stadium and sitting with other Argo fans.  As a female walking on my own, it just wasn’t worth the hassle.

    95% of Hamilton fans are great people out for fun at a game.  The other 5% are drunken jerks who are not really football fans so much as they are drinking fans.  These are the ones who have already put back 4 or 5 beers before they get to the stadium, consume another 4  during the game (what happened to not being served if you were intoxicated?) and then resume drinking when they are either ejected from the stadium or after the game.  I like to actually watch a football game and remember that I was there, so I don’t get the whole “how much can I drink before, during and after the game” philosophy.

    About 5 minutes into the game, the heavens opened up a bit.  It rained fairly steadily for about 15 minutes.  That’s the beauty of outdoor football people!  I brought a rain poncho for myself and at the last-minute had stuck in a package of the disposable ponchos – which came in handy.  The amusing thing was that all the Ti-cat fans around us ran for the exits to get out of the rain while the Toronto fans stuck it out.  Shouldn’t it have been the other way around since the Argo fans are used to the comfort of the Rogers Centre Skydome?  I love football outside – although I would think twice about bringing my piccolo out to play in the band when it would get rained on.

    Halftime included an awesome tribute to  Bernie Custis, a true football pioneer. Custis was the first African-American quarterback to play in the CFL.  After an outstanding collegiate career with the Syracuse Orangemen, Custis was told that he could not play the position he had excelled at.  The Cleveland Browns, one of the more progressive teams in the NFL, told Custis that if he wanted to play, he would have to convert to be a running back.  Custis declined, and instead headed north to Canada.  As he said last night, in Canada he had the freedom that he had lacked in the US.  Freedom to play the position he excelled at regardless of the colour of his skin.  Custis earned the starting position in his first year in the CFL and went on to play 8 more seasons with the Tiger Cats.  As the first African-American quarterback in professional football, Custis blazed a path that many have followed.  Without Custis there would be no Damon Allen, no Henry Burris, no Warren Moon.  If Bernie Custis had simply accepted the position change to running back, who knows when the next opportunity for an African-American quarterback would have arrived.    A truly remarkable man with a great story.  There is a documentary film coming out in the new year and I can’t wait to watch the story of this hall-of-fame quarterback!

    The PA announcer at Ivor Wynne does a great job of getting the fans into the game.  Toronto could learn a lot from the Ti-cats in this regard.  Even the amusing scoreboard animation when there was a video review got the fans geared up and making noise.  I was glad I brought earplugs, and not just because I was sitting between two Argo fans with very loud noisemakers.  There weren’t a lot of Argo fans in the stands at Ivor Wynne – but the ones who made the trip down the QEW made sure the team knew they were there!

    The atmosphere in Ivor Wynne Stadium is a lot more electric than at the Rogers Centre.  The fans may be chanting “Argos Suck”  or some other equally inventive cheer but they’re loud and they’re proud.  Toronto fans could take a lesson from their Hamilton counterparts – on Thursday, be loud and brash (but please skip being drunk and obnoxious) and come cheer on your Argonaut football team.   I know it’s being called the “bottom bowl” and that both teams are 1-6.  Even more reason to come out and support the Double Blue – it’s easy to be a fan when the team is winning.  It’s much harder to stick by them when they’re frustrating to watch and losing games you think they should win.

    All in all it was a great experience.  Yes there were a few drunken idiots who hassled me as i tried to get to my car.  Better alcohol control in the stadium would improve things immensely in that regard.  That said, I will still go back to Hamilton the next time the Argos play there and cheer loudly and proudly for the Double Blue.

  • Sexism and the CFL

    Sexism and the CFL

    Look, I’m not new here.  I get that football is a male dominated sport and that some teams like Toronto and Hamilton have an amazing rivalry going.  I get the good-natured ribbing that goes on between the fans of the two teams.  I do, however, expect players to rise above some of the more juvenile fan chants.  I am vacillating between rage, disgust and disbelief at the fact that a player such as Avon Cobourne would retweet something as sexist and insulting towards women as this

    Screenshot of tweet from user Erick Harrison reading How do we like the Argos? On their Knees. How do we like their cheerleaders? The same way Please. There is a not under the tweet saying Retweeted by AvonCobourne with an image of his profile picture indicating he plays for the Hamilton Tiger Cats
    The offending tweet

    I get that fans can be sexist jerks.  I expect much better from CFL players.  It’s not funny.  It’s insulting to women as whole and to the dedicated ladies on the Argos cheer team in particular.     I’m hoping that someone either from the team or from the league (or both) will sit down and have a very serious talk with Mr. Cobourne about the implications of retweeting something.  The guiding principle on twitter should be “would I say this to someone standing in front of me?”  if the answer is no, then you shouldn’t retweet.  It’s that simple.

  • Why I love the CFL

    Why I love the CFL

    I am a football fan.  I like pretty much any football – Canadian, American, college, junior, heck even midget and pee-wee.  I love the strategy and tactics of the game.  Football is a giant chess match played with rather large pieces and at a full contact pace.  To anyone who says that football players aren’t intelligent, I dare you to read and understand a playbook.  Even once you know the playbook you have to constantly adapt and make split-second decisions.  Football is truly an intellectual sport.  I love the challenge of sitting in the stands or standing on the sidelines and predicting (with decent accuracy too) what play is going to come next or what the defensive response is going to be.

    But there’s another reason I love the CFL.  The players.  You’d be hard pressed to find another group of professional athletes as devoted to their communities as the CFL players are.  Players on any given team make hundreds (yes hundreds) of community appearances each year.  Most of these are done quietly and with very little fanfare.  For example, Taylor Robertson of the Toronto Argonauts set up his own foundation last year – the Life on the Line foundation – dedicated to raising money for Breast Cancer research.  Taylor makes dozens of appearances for his charity over and above what he already does as a member of the Argonauts.  These are on his down time.  After a long day of practicing or on a rare day off, he chooses to go out and make a difference.  It’s not an Argo thing either – I can cite examples on every single CFL team of a player who goes above and beyond.

    Like Marwan Hage of the Hamilton Tiger Cats.   (Why does it seem like the biggest guys on the team are the softest touches?)  Not satisfied with simply bringing a minor football team to every game to watch from the “Hage’s Heroes” seats (which in itself is pretty awesome), Hage also gets involved in the Hamilton food bank and with kids at McMaster Children’s Hospital.  Let’s not forget the Ticats QB Kevin Glenn who, in partnership with local Tim Hortons owners in Hamilton is bringing 250 kids from the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation to the game on Saturday.  Wow.

    I’m not going to list every single CFL player who has a charitable organization – the list would be too long.  But even if a player hasn’t founded or partnered with an organization, it doesn’t mean that they’re still not active in the community.   I have been going to CFL games for 30 years now (yep since I was an infant!).  I have yet to see a player refuse a fan an autograph.  I have more often than not seen players who were hot and tired after a hard-fought game wanting nothing more than to jump in a hot tub or a cool shower stay and sign autographs for waiting fans.  That, more than any other reason is why I love the CFL.  This Is our league.

  • Let Me Introduce Myself.

    Let Me Introduce Myself.

    So I’m super-inspired by all my blogging friends – I want to have a blog that people read and that makes them think twice about their preconceived notions – both about women in sports and maybe about women in general.  I am not, however, sure where to start.

    I guess I should introduce myself.  I’m 31, between jobs at the moment as I have just left my Ph.D program (unfinished) to actually *do* something with my life, and a sports fanatic.   My first passion is the CFL.  I co-host a weekly on-line radio show about the CFL.  I have loved football in all of its incarnations for as long as I can remember.  I also love Open-Wheel racing.  I was 6 when the (then) Molson Indy roared through the streets of Toronto for the first time – I went with my parents and fell in love with the sound of the engines and even the smell of the hot rubber.  Formula One came a bit later but I am no less passionate about it.  I watch baseball, hockey, lacrosse, and basketball when there is no football or racing to watch.

    I am also passionate about social media.  I believe that connecting with other people is one of the greatest gifts of the technological age and that social media is an easy way to meet all sorts of fabulous people I wouldn’t otherwise meet.  I am trying to figure out how to merge these two interests of mine – sports and social media.

    I’m also intrigued by brand blogging.  I have always been the type of person who, when they find something neat, is more than willing to tell everyone within earshot how fabulous it is.  I also am not afraid to tell people when something fails to meet my expectations.  It seems to follow that brand blogging would be a natural extension of my nature – the question is how do I start.  Actually there are more questions – how do I ensure that I can remain true to my moral code while still doing the job expected of a brand blogger?  I don’t think I could endorse something I didn’t truly love.  How could I, in good conscience send my friends off to buy something I think is crap?  I don’t lie well.  Never have – even as a kid my guilty conscience would get the best of me within minutes.  I want to be sure that I won’t be selling myself to the devil in order to get some free stuff.

    I guess that’s enough of an introduction.  I have another post I want to share today so I should get going on that one.

     

    Jenn

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