This week on 15MOF we recap a very interesting Super Bowl between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, we discuss the opening weeks of the NHL season and how the Edmonton Oilers are looking and we answer the question: who owns the Phoenix Coyotes?
In the GABBYs: Vincent Lecavalier, David Beckham, the NFL, Ottawa’s CFL team, PED’s and pro sports blackouts. The Punchline this week is OHL ref Joe Monette.
Canada does not have a rich men’s soccer history. Yes, they won the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City and won the 2000 Gold Cup in Los Angeles. But after that, Canada’s success in men’s soccer has been rather bleak.
In professional league play however, one of Canada’s greatest moments was when the Vancouver Whitecaps won the 1979 Soccer Bowl by defeating the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-1 at New York’s Giants Stadium to win the North American Soccer League Championship. In a humurous moment, according to the Vancouver Sun, ABC commentator Jim McKay addressed the Whitecaps victory with the comment, “the people in the village of Vancouver will be excited.”
The NASL folded in 1984, and Vancouver had great success as the 86ers in the old Canadian Soccer League from 1987-1992, being the champion four times. Vancouver also played in the A-League and United Soccer League over the last two decades.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we’re discussing Marty Turco’s return to the NHL, the end of the line for Sean Avery, the latest on Sidney Crosby and a couple of interesting concussion notes from around the league. As well: Peyton Manning is no longer a Colt, so where will he end up?
In the GABBYs: Leo Messi, Hiroshi Hoketsu, David Beckham, Nicklas Grossmann, Fernando Torres and Jose Canseco. The Punchline this week is David Price and David Robertson!
For most North American sports fans, the off-season is a fairly boring period where the best you can hope for is a big trade or signing, or perhaps a new collective bargaining agreement.
If you’re a soccer fan though, the off-season apparently just means more highlights! I’m not even sure that there is an off-season for soccer fans, because when your European league of choice closes shop for the year, there is always Major League Soccer, which plays on an opposite schedule!
This year, while NFL & NBA fans sweat their respective lockouts and NHL fans get overexcited about player movement, the “off-season” for soccer fans has been jam packed with action. First, there was the Women’s World Cup, which really showed us all how far women’s soccer has come. Then we’ve got the Copa America, which has featured some massive upsets so far, and finally, the Herbalife World Football Challenge is now in full swing.
I know what you’re saying: “Kerrzy, the World Football Challenge is just a series of money-making friendlies where they make 10 subs at half time!”… (more…)
Do you think UFC president Dana White ever wishes he could move his entire production up to our side of the border?
Every time the UFC comes to Canada, records are set and that’s a trend that continued this week with a couple of new ones ahead of UFC 129 in Toronto – the organization’s first Ontario-based event. If Las Vegas didn’t have the deep connection and history with the fight game that it has, I’m sure more cards would find their way up here given our country’s track record.
In less than one hour on Thursday, more than 42,000 tickets (valued anywhere from $50 to $800) were sold for the April 30th event! That’s right, the “pre-sale” for the Toronto date almost doubled Montreal’s UFC attendance record of 23,152! (more…)