Keegan Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 quote:Originally posted by theaub I would guarantee that there are at least 2X more people who know more about Canada basketball compared to Canada soccer. Also if you've never met a basketball fan in your life...does your town have like 3 people living in it? What I meant was pro basketball, like people who follow the raptors or NBA and I have met foreign kids who like basketball at school. Canadians at school like Soccer, Football, Baseball and Hockey. And my school came second at OFSAA for basketball. Maybe its a different part of the country but where I live soccer is huge, you go to school and everyone is sitting around watching the champions league after class or soccer saturday on Sportsnet. **** we even had a good 15 people skipping class to watch the joke that was South Africa - Canada. its a boarding school but most canadian fans are local except one from Montreal I would really doubt that more people know more about Canadian Basketball than Canadian Soccer because Canada Soccer gets some decent coverage on Sportsnet and on the footy show on the score. Not to mention the enormous success of TFC, just look at the ticket sales for Jamaica so far. I have honestly never heard of many Canadian basketball players and I followed their first qualifying tournament and then this recent one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 ^ I would agree that very few Canadians know much about Canadian basketball. People think I'm wierd that I knew all of the players on the Canadian roster and where most of them played ball last year. Most hoops fans I know are NBA fans or US College hoops fans. I honestly beieve that Basketball and Soccer share a very similar fan base, especially in the urban centers. There is a lot of crossover. One thing that all B-Ball and Soccer supporters have in common...we all want our sports to be covered more regularly and more in depth by the mainstrem Canadian sport media. Being a fan of something other than hockey in this country is frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegan Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 quote:Originally posted by VPjr ^ I would agree that very few Canadians know much about Canadian basketball. People think I'm wierd that I knew all of the players on the Canadian roster and where most of them played ball last year. Most hoops fans I know are NBA fans or US College hoops fans. I honestly beieve that Basketball and Soccer share a very similar fan base, especially in the urban centers. There is a lot of crossover. One thing that all B-Ball and Soccer supporters have in common...we all want our sports to be covered more regularly and more in depth by the mainstrem Canadian sport media. Being a fan of something other than hockey in this country is frustrating. Agreed. Especially when our teams show glimpses of something special. Basketball with Steve Nash, Baseball beating the US two years ago in the World Baseball Classic and I don't need to mention the soccer things. I support all Canadian teams no matter what the sport, I wish these teams would be given more funding and people wouldn't just complain about it when we fail at something than forgot a few days later as we are going to see at the Olympics next month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theaub Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 We need to make a supporters section for the WBC next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niagara Hammer Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 quote:Originally posted by argh1 Is baseball the exeption that makes the rule as far as National Pro Leagues? There's a strong presence of Canadians in Pro baseball. No National League. Every year 25-35 Canadians are drafted by MLB. Every big city, small town and village has a baseball team at some level, Pro, Semi-Pro, Senior, Intermediate, Junior, Midget............. What gives? Not any more. Baseball, soft ball is dying. The diamonds are over grown. My town of 20k struggles to get a single t ball team. We have over a thousand registered soccer players. 200 are under the age of 8. What we struggle with is the divisions over 18, as well as the lure of summer hockey and ball hockey and lacrosse. Baseball is almost dead. and wont be soon enough for me. ( I was a MVP baseball player at 10) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niagara Hammer Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 quote:Originally posted by argh1 Is baseball the exeption that makes the rule as far as National Pro Leagues? There's a strong presence of Canadians in Pro baseball. No National League. Every year 25-35 Canadians are drafted by MLB. Every big city, small town and village has a baseball team at some level, Pro, Semi-Pro, Senior, Intermediate, Junior, Midget............. What gives? Not any more. Baseball, soft ball is dying. The diamonds are over grown. My town of 20k struggles to get a single t ball team. We have over a thousand registered soccer players. 200 are under the age of 8. What we struggle with is the divisions over 18, as well as the lure of summer hockey and ball hockey and lacrosse. Baseball is almost dead. and wont be soon enough for me. ( I was a MVP baseball player at 10) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red card Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 More Canadians making it in the big leagues is mostly the after-effects of the Blue Jays winning World Series in the early 90s. But that's going to erode over time as baseball has fallen off the cliff in the past 10 years in Canada - especially with the u20 crowd. Combined with the changing demographic which has resulted in cricket as one of the fastest growing sports in Toronto schools, I don't see much growth for baseball in Canada - though it will still be a major sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theaub Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Baseball (at least in Ontario) has been growing at a consistent rate over the past 5 years, probably because of the number of quality Canadian big leaguers now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red card Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 sandlot baseball dying for a number of interesting reasons (non sport related) as per Globe article http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080721.wsptsandlot21/GSStory/GlobeSportsBaseball/home Sandlot baseball, a slice of American life enjoyed for decades by boys from coast to coast, appears on the verge of extinction. Many men over 40 remember those summer days when they headed to the park or vacant lot and played ball all day - or until Mom sent word that it was time for dinner. Nowadays, most neighborhood ball fields sit empty on summer afternoons, the idea of unsupervised play having gone the way of the rotary-dial phones kids once used to round up the fellas for a game. The reasons for the sandlot's demise, baseball coaches and sociologists say, go back to the changing family structure, video games, parents' fear of crime, and the proliferation of organized and so-called "select" teams for more-talented kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theaub Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Sandlot anything is dead. I never even see kids playing street hockey anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devioustrevor Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 quote:Originally posted by red card Nowadays, most neighborhood ball fields sit empty on summer afternoons, the idea of unsupervised play having gone the way of the rotary-dial phones kids once used to round up the fellas for a game. What a shame, I grew up in a village with only about 700 people and we had 3 baseball fields and at least 2 of them were always being used. On the main field the local parks manager basically had to chase me and my fiends off the field so that the various league teams could have it for their games. Of course we'd just hang around the field chasing the foul and home run balls and such until the game was over at which point we'd start playing again. The parks manager loved us because early in the spring, even before all the snow had melted we'd clean the garbage and sticks out of the outfield and rake the infield and as such our field was always the first in the area ready to host games and because of that they'd always host a tournament in early March when many other local fields weren't even ready until May. I don't know why, but for whatever reason parents, politicians and police just don't want kids to be kids anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe MacCarthy Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 quote:Originally posted by devioustrevor I don't know why, but for whatever reason parents, politicians and police just don't want kids to be kids anymore. Unfortunately, I think you forgot the 4th and most important P...Perverts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trident Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 quote:Originally posted by theaub Sandlot anything is dead. I never even see kids playing street hockey anymore. It hasn't come to that for me yet, thank god. And I know why baseball died in Montreal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argh1 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Okay, okay baseball is or is not dead or on the way or not The question is Baseball Canada has the same problems of any sport not named hockey in Canada. Why are more and more Canadians playing MLB or Minor League Ball than ever before. Baseball Canada's registration #'s have stayed at the 450-500,000 mark for a number of years. Is it something that Baseball Canada is doing to help the elite player? Or is it happenstance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmac55 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Just a thought on the topic, but does anyone else find it ironic that Basketball Canada gives Nash his own program etc and sponsors him on the website etc, but really the last time he has helped us internationally would be in Sydney... in 2000? Wow great stuff there.. Between, Nash, Dalembert, and Magloire, they should all be ashmed of how they treated their chances to represent our country. I have to say Basketball has to be our worst international sport. Our pros in Baseball, (besides Jesse Crain), always come out to play in the World Baseball Classic. Soccer - Never an issue as guys always come out for us on duty. Hockey - In the past World Championships would be hard to get the big guys to come out for, but recently the trend has changed with guys like Nash, Thornton, Heatley, Spezza etc playing... IN sum, I would almost say in theory that the CSA has an up on Basketball Canada, as they are just a waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squizz1402635577 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 quote:Originally posted by VPjr ^ I would agree that very few Canadians know much about Canadian basketball. People think I'm wierd that I knew all of the players on the Canadian roster and where most of them played ball last year. Most hoops fans I know are NBA fans or US College hoops fans. I honestly beieve that Basketball and Soccer share a very similar fan base, especially in the urban centers. There is a lot of crossover. One thing that all B-Ball and Soccer supporters have in common...we all want our sports to be covered more regularly and more in depth by the mainstrem Canadian sport media. Being a fan of something other than hockey in this country is frustrating. It is utterly ridiculous that we have three 24-hour-a-day television sports networks in this country that seem convinced that the only sport worth following in any sort of detail is hockey. Some kudos to The Score for at least attempting to branch out now and again, but that probably has a lot to do with the fact that they don't have the cash or clout to compete with Rogers or BellCTVGlobeMediaSkynetWhatever for the big contracts (NHL, MLB, etc.) It's a sad state of affairs, but the only way to change things when dealing with profit-driven corporations is by using basic market principles -- i.e. supply and demand. I know plenty of people (myself included) who consider themselves hockey fans, but in no way want to hear about meaningless summertime free agent signings of third-line wingers by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Yet we get it anyway. Why? Because we as sports fans accept that this is the natural order of things (that the Canadian media will inundate us with pointless hockey drivel all year long), so we don't do anything about it, and the media, with our complicity, keep up the same old song and dance. It's up to us, the fans, to dictate the demand before we can expect the supply. That's why it's so great that we're all pulling together for the Aug. 20 match, for instance -- once we show those in the press box that there is a real hunger for increased coverage of soccer in this country, maybe it'll happen. And maybe the same thing could happen for basketball, or baseball, or other non-puck-related games. Not right away, of course, but before the ball can get rolling, someone's got to push it. </end pontificating> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC supporter Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 quote:Just a thought on the topic, but does anyone else find it ironic that Basketball Canada gives Nash his own program etc and sponsors him on the website etc, but really the last time he has helped us internationally would be in SydneyThat is so far removed from the truth that I can't even be bothered wasting my time setting you straight. Try looking up a few facts before posting such inanities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe MacCarthy Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 No one has given more to the program than Nash. Basically, he was playing full NBA seasons and playoffs and then for Canada. He was getting burned out. That coincided with his buddy Triano leaving and he figured he might as well retire from intl play (kind of like DeVos) Nash even ran into issues trying to pay some fellow player's expenses. On the other hand I don't know why people keep mentioning Magloire because he has never been part of the program or wanted to be. There is a quote from the players that he could go screw himself if, as he said, he might want to play finals without playing qualifying tournaments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSoccerFan Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 quote:Originally posted by tmac55 Just a thought on the topic, but does anyone else find it ironic that Basketball Canada gives Nash his own program etc and sponsors him on the website etc, but really the last time he has helped us internationally would be in Sydney... in 2000? Wow great stuff there.. Between, Nash, Dalembert, and Magloire, they should all be ashmed of how they treated their chances to represent our country. I have to say Basketball has to be our worst international sport. Our pros in Baseball, (besides Jesse Crain), always come out to play in the World Baseball Classic. Soccer - Never an issue as guys always come out for us on duty. Hockey - In the past World Championships would be hard to get the big guys to come out for, but recently the trend has changed with guys like Nash, Thornton, Heatley, Spezza etc playing... IN sum, I would almost say in theory that the CSA has an up on Basketball Canada, as they are just a waste. First of all Steve Nash youth basketball was originally Grizzlies youth basketball, a youth basketball program in BC funded by the Grizzlies. When they left town the program was due to be scrapped until Nash stepped in and offered to foot the bill to keep the program going hence the name change to Steve Nash youth basketball. As far as I know he still funds the program. It's not Basketball Canada giving him anything. As for Nash not playing since 2000, once again that's not true. He led Canada to a 3rd place finish at the 2001 Tournament of the Americas. He came to camp in 2002 with every intention of playing in the World Championships in Indianapolis until Mavs owner Mark Cuban blackmailed him into backing out. He still played in a friendly against China in Vancouver before leaving the team. In 2003, he played for Canada for the last time in the Tournament of the Americas finishing 3rd in pool play behind a loaded American team and Argentina (who went on to win gold at the Olympics). Canada lost to Puerto Rico for the last spot in Athens with Nash leaving absolutely livid with the officiating. So many people forget that aside from injuries in 98 and the Mark Cuban fiasco in 2002, Nash gave every summer to Canada from the age of 17 until 2003. He called the Olympics the highlight of his career ahead of being drafted in the first round and leading a 15 seed over a 2 in March Madness. As for basketball being our worst team sport, I don't think a lot of people realize how competitive international basketball is. Even in Rugby and hockey you can count the number of competitive teams on one hand and the bottom half of every world chamionship and world cup has teams getting absolutely destroyed beyond reason. In basketball there's going to be teams like Italy, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Serbia, Slovenia, France and Turkey who at full strength are capable of medaling but couldn't even qualify. Of those teams Italy, Puerto Rico and Serbia have already beaten the United States. Let's be realistic here folks and keep this in perspective because when you look at the list of teams sitting home from Beijing there's nothing to be ashamed of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devioustrevor Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan Of those teams Italy, Puerto Rico and Serbia have already beaten the United States. Let's be realistic here folks and keep this in perspective because when you look at the list of teams sitting home from Beijing there's nothing to be ashamed of. What's that point supposed to make? Canada (without Steve Nash, Jamaal Magliore, Sammy Dalembert) beat the US at the 2005 Tournament of the Americas, of course so did Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Venezuela (twice). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmac55 Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 quote:Originally posted by BC supporter That is so far removed from the truth that I can't even be bothered wasting my time setting you straight. Try looking up a few facts before posting such inanities. Yes and your 1 line reply really sets the record straight.... who cares If Nash runs these programs etc like the other poster said below.. What has he actually done for us on the court lately? That was my point people.. you need to calm down and read the original post before you get off your high horses My point was, he runs all these things, but really what has he done for us lately on the court.. plain and simple.. I commend him for his efforts with youth but really the topic at hand was him in a Canada jersey and it's been way too long since I remember... o yes I am sorry I was off by 1 year... 2000 or 2001, it's still a good 7 to 8 years ago... not good enough in my books... I am proud of his MVPs, don't get me wrong, but I was further alluding to the fact that the Basketball Canada is a joke at times... Baseball is in much better shape internationally then basketball probably ever will be for our athletes. Minus the removal of the sport from the Olympics.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSoccerFan Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 quote: What's that point supposed to make? Canada (without Steve Nash, Jamaal Magliore, Sammy Dalembert) beat the US at the 2005 Tournament of the Americas, of course so did Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Venezuela (twice). Ummm yeah and here was the roster of the United States team that year Tyus Edney (178-G-73) of Lottomatica Roma (ITA) 5 Marque Perry (186-G-81) of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus (GRE) 6 Lynn Greer (186-G-79) of Pompea Napoli (ITA) 7 Charlie Bell (191-G-79) of Milwaukee Bucks (NBA) 8 Alex Scales (192-G-78) of Seoul Samsung Thunders (KOR) 9 Tang Hamilton (201-F-78) of Fayetteville Patriots (NBDL) 10 Ron Slay (203-F-81) of Asheville Altitude (NBDL) 11 Adam Chubb (207-F/C-81) of Mobis Phoebus (KOR) 12 Noel Felix (205-C/F-81) of Talk N Text Phone Pals (PHI) 13 Aaron McGhee (202-F-79) of Pusan KTF Magic Wings (KOR) 14 Jerome Beasley (208-F-80) of Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) 15 Kris Lang (211-F/C-79) of Caffe Maxim Virtus Bologna (ITA) Needless to say that results against that team don't mean a thing. The point is that Italy, Puerto Rico and Serbia beat the United States with a loaded NBA roster. There's a difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Niagara Hammer Not any more. Baseball, soft ball is dying. The diamonds are over grown. My town of 20k struggles to get a single t ball team. We have over a thousand registered soccer players. ................................................................................. Baseball is almost dead. Yet we turn out out more and more quality major leaguers. Which proves that strenght lies not in numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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