Canucks Abroad with Thomas & Juan #1: Aramis Kouzine

bash, bash, bash.

I personally would have preferred the top four teams moving into the playoffs, rather than one bye and a play-in match. To avoid situations like last year where the best team through the season goes somewhat unrecognized if they don't win the playoffs though, I'd do something along the lines of MLS or the A-League and have a shield for the top overall club of the campaign and a trophy for the winner of the playoffs. I know this probably isn't a popular notion, but given precedents elsewhere and this being North America, I think it would be a good fit.  *braces for bashing* 

I don't see a link to a google calendar (or other cal format) that we can add to our calendars. Anyone seen one?

P.S. At the very least, if anti-playoff people think that those big 3 competitions have to go to knockout rounds, wouldn’t you argue that only the group winners should advance from the group stage? Crap, now I am curious as to how many winners of those 3 won their group. I am guessing it is a large percentage. I feel like there is no payoff but not sure I can resist looking this up.

Now they've fixed it. Good!

. . . so, seriously. No one has been contacted for season ticket sales yet? 

Why would those competitions necessarily have to be 32 (or 24, whatever the Euro is) teams? There was a time when Olympic hockey was a single table round robin. Should it go back to that instead of the knockout competition it is now? If knockout tournaments (which is what playoffs are) are so inherently boring/stupid/sacrilegious/whatever negative word you think is appropriate, then why are the 3 most popular soccer competitions (the ones I mentioned above) all knockout competitions? Shouldn’t they be less popular than single table balanced schedule competitions? Apologies if the EPL is more popular than one of those by some measures, but even if it is my point remains. For me I like each of regular season and playoffs for different reasons. Regular season is about the long haul, the percentages. Playoffs is about winning the big game, best teams against best teams. Both are great accomplishments with different merits/downsides.

I'm probably the only Argos and y9 season ticket holder and there's no conflicts I believe. 

I consider myself more of a Canadian supporter nowadays, than a Canadian fan. In other words, I want to see the men's national team do well, but I can't really say that I have ever been a very big fan of the Canadian style of soccer. I find too many in this country have adopted the American mentality of ""Winning isn’t everything; it's the only thing!" And it's not exactly like we've done a whole lot of winning, either in the past or the present. I would rather lose and have played well, than end up with a poorly played victory. Fear of losing has always been the Achilles heel of the Canadian soccer community, which is very evident in your post above. Fear to play against a better, whether the opponents are more athletic, better technically-school, or whatever, is precisely the reason I believe why soccer has never really caught on with the youth in this country. Canada needs learn how to lose and play well before it is ready to win and be successful. There is no shame in losing to countries like Egypt or Nigeria, as they are simply better than we are at this point in time. However, the benefit and experience our players would derive from competing against a Mo Salah or a Vincent Enyeama would be priceless, as well as inspiration and captured imagination of our youth. Neither players or fans will remember anything about games against the likes of Barbados, Iceland and Trinidad and Tobago other than a few FIFA-ranking points gained that may or may not get us to the HEX. However, a well-fought loss to Mo Salah and Egypt will live on in their minds forever.