Being a true football fan in Canada has been a pretty lonely existence
Thirty-six years ago last week, the Calgary Flames scored one of their most famous triumphs – a 3-2 Game 7 playoff victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers. Back then I was sports editor of the Calgary Sun, and that playoff run to the finals (Calgary lost to Montreal in five games) consumed…
From penalty kicks to the Academic All-Canadians, Kiera Fujimoto was a clutch player on the soccer pitch and in the classroom
The second-last time former University of Alberta Pandas midfielder Kiera Fujimoto took a penalty kick to decide a meaningful soccer game, she was a member of an under-15 Team Alberta playing in the final of the All-Star National Championship in Ontario. Unfortunately, her miss as the seventh shooter resulted in a loss in the final.…
Social support in rec leagues builds confidence and offers a reprieve from negative emotions, researcher finds
Besides the physical fitness and social benefits of sport, recreational athletes use their sport participation as a way to cope with adverse life events, according to a University of Alberta study. The study could help adult sport associations better market and reshape their leagues to combat shrinking participation rates. “It’s not surprising that these recreational…
You’ll forgive me if we take a slight detour from politics this week. An important event in sports just occurred that requires some personal attention. On June 25, Liverpool Football Club broke a 30-year drought and clinched the English Premier League title. Yes, this winless streak pales in comparison to the Chicago Cubs (108-year drought)…
So when will sports be resumed and how can they play a role in transitioning to normalcy again?
Canada hasn’t been a trailblazer in much of the response to COVID-19. The federal government has been a day late and a quarantine short on some crucial issues. But in becoming the first major Western nation to completely withdraw from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Canada has made a bold step. Now, an avalanche…
Fans are staying away from stadiums in great part because the games take too long to play. The new XFL is trying a number of modifications to cut the length of games
Football fans have spoken: the games last too damn long. Delays, reviews, timeouts and injuries turn 18 minutes of action into three-plus hours. At least that’s the results of research done for the new XFL, a football league that starts play on Feb. 8, right after the National Football League’s Super Bowl. The startup league…
Professional male sports teams are a cross-section of many cultures. But the idea that they agree about much beyond winning is a fabrication. It's time to open up.
One former pro athlete recently observed that an athlete doesn’t mention three things in the dressing room: His playing time. His salary. And the first name of a teammate’s wife. He might also have added whether your favourite jock likes guys or girls when he gets home from the game that night. This prohibition has…
Let's face it: women's sports are second-tier entertainment, which even most women don't support
The men’s final at Wimbledon on Sunday took five immortal sets of tennis over four hours 57 minutes before Novak Djokovic finally outlasted Roger Federer in a stirring contest that ended in a fifth-set tiebreaker at 13-12. Saturday’s women’s final lasted just 56 minutes in two quick sets for Simona Halep to upset Serena Williams.…
Many people just want Rapinoe to shut up and play soccer because what she says and does makes them feel uncomfortable
America was built by bold people looking for a better life – for themselves and their brothers and sisters. That’s all U.S. women’s national team soccer player Megan Rapinoe is doing. She’s simply asking that, as a country, America live up to the last three words of the Pledge of Allegiance: “justice for all.”…
After years of being the best team in the world, they continue to fight for equal status and respect at home
Sexism sucks. And nobody knows that better than the U.S. women’s national soccer team. The current team members, and their predecessors, have been fighting gender discrimination on the part of the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for decades. The U.S. national team has been the best women’s…