Sports – Page 2

Cheerleader etiquitte

September 18, 2011 by koalateagirl

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

September 3, 2011 by koalateagirl

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

August 31, 2011 by koalateagirl

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?

Only Children…

August 17, 2011 by koalateagirl

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.

On injuries and life in the CFL

August 11, 2011 by koalateagirl

This has not been a good week for CFL players. Two of the nicest guys in the game have gone down with season-ending injuries. Fred Stamps of the Edmonton Eskimos suffered internal bleeding after taking a hard hit early in last week’s game. He complained of tenderness and was taken to hospital where it was determined that he had internal bleeding and that he would need immediate season-ending surgery. Thankfully the surgery went well and he is home in Edmonton recuperating.

The second injury hits closer to home – Kevin Eiben one of the nicest guys on a team full of nice guys, the Toronto Argonauts, suffered a torn pectoral muscle (even typing that hurts!) in last week’s loss to Montreal. the MRI revealed that surgery was required and Kevin’s season ended on Tuesday.

Football is a collision sport. It usually involves two (or more) people hurling themselves at each other in order to get or stop a gain of yards. Injuries happen. What has been amazing is how each of these men have stepped back up and supported their teammates while injured. Fred Stamps is a leader in the locker room as well as on the field and has stated that his injury will not alter that. Kevin Eiben was at Argo team meetings on Wednesday morning after his surgery on Tuesday evening.

That’s what is so great about the CFL. Players care enough about their team and their teammates that even when their season is done, they still come back and support them. This is truly OUR league.