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Swapping blades for cleats in Scarborough


Richard

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so pretty much its brittania,sunset and kerrisdale that are used in vancouver minor hockey.

trout lake is under construction(anyone ever get bodychecked against the brick wall at trout lake)

riley park was pretty run down even in my day in the early to mid eighty's

killarney was alright ,the forum was interesting to play in with the steel wire around the boards in stead of plexiglass.

i played a tourney once at a twin rink in poco.is that still around?

got to play a bit at queens park arena.awesome rink

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Guest Soccrman

Here in cowtown they are building a $120Mill+ rec centre and it won't have any hockey in it!! But it will have 2 indoor and 3 outdoor soccer fields and the local NE community - very ethnic - were consulted and did not want rinks!! Progress for us.

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^ I don't think that's necessarily the case. I just think that hockey's domination of sports media coverage (at the expense of sports like soccer) has a tendency to breed resentment in some people.

I mean, I grew up watching hockey on TV, but have never played the game (whereas I've played soccer since I was five) so while I definitely like hockey as a spectator, I don't have the same visceral connection to it as I do to soccer. I think there may be others in the same boat.

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quote:Originally posted by Vic

I can't take any of those Sportsnet or TSN guy's seriously. They're the Mary Hart/Ben Mulroney people magazine version of sports journalism, and they do more to cheapen and degrade sport than reveal it's greatness and beauty.

Well said. The advent of the specialty sports networks has contributed, to some extent, to my declining interest in hockey. before, hockey was on TV saturday night primarily and on radio the rest of the time. Anyone who followed the game seriously, would follow on radio. There was no information overload or overhype. You got all the information content that you wanted or needed by seeking it out rather than being force fed. You could go to the NHL draft and get in for free on the same day as the event day.

What you have now with the sports networks is not as much more sport as "More hockey". So much so that you are being force feed info not becaue there is a need or want for it but because there is need to promote their programing to justfy the expensive rights fees that they paid just to beat out teh competition. And you get more filling of airtime with clichés. Now you have fools who will buy tickets to go see the NHL draft and in fact its sold out. Why? because the sports networks have create and culture whereby people think that that they need this info to stay in the converstaions around office water coolers.

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quote:Originally posted by squizz

^ I mean, I grew up watching hockey on TV, but have never played the game (whereas I've played soccer since I was five) so while I definitely like hockey as a spectator, I don't have the same visceral connection to it as I do to soccer. I think there may be others in the same boat.

Thought this was an interesting snippet in one of the article being discussed above from that sort of standpoint:-

According to John Gardner of the Greater Toronto Hockey League, only 40,000 kids are registered at some level of hockey out of the 950,000 children under the age of 14 in the GTA.

About a decade ago I can remember callers (not me) and even one studio guest being ridiculed and treated very aggressively on the FAN590 when they tried to suggest to certain on air personalities that indoor soccer could one day supplant hockey in participation terms in southern Ontario in the same way as was already happening at that point outdoors with baseball. These articles are maybe a sign that mainstream media types are finally coming out of denial about some of the changes that are occurring in urban Canada. Hockey may be more deeply ingrained in cultural terms but it has far bigger issues than baseball ever faced where the sheer cost of participating is concerned so I don't think there are any easy answers for the minor-league hockey types.

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Those who dismiss hockey as a sport for "white rich kids" hopefully are cautiously aware that soccer may be following the same path (minus the "white" part). High profile youth soccer clubs play the same "money making game" that elite minor hockey clubs play in extorting families into paying unjustifiably high fees so that little Gianni has the best chance of "making it big".

Yes, the equipment costs for hockey are greater than those for soccer, but most everything else in the organizational side of things does parallel hockey.

The only thing soccer has going for it over hockey is that a less fortunate family will choose soccer over hockey at the introductory level because of these high initial equipment costs. But won't they still face the same financial challenges if they are good enough to compete at an elite level?

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quote:Originally posted by TOcanadafan

Those who dismiss hockey as a sport for "white rich kids" hopefully are cautiously aware that soccer may be following the same path (minus the "white" part). High profile youth soccer clubs play the same "money making game" that elite minor hockey clubs play in extorting families into paying unjustifiably high fees so that little Gianni has the best chance of "making it big".

Yes, the equipment costs for hockey are greater than those for soccer, but most everything else in the organizational side of things does parallel hockey.

The only thing soccer has going for it over hockey is that a less fortunate family will choose soccer over hockey at the introductory level because of these high initial equipment costs. But won't they still face the same financial challenges if they are good enough to compete at an elite level?

Isn't soccer already on that path? But now that we have TFC, it will give some hope for young kids who want to become pro soccer players.

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quote:Originally posted by TFC07

Isn't soccer already on that path? But now that we have TFC, it will give some hope for young kids who want to become pro soccer players.

Yes, that's kind of what I was trying to say. How young do you think the football academies (like TFC) will reach? If they only go as low as 15 or 16, the academy structure will parallel the Junior structure in Hockey - except there are more than 50 clubs in the country where the best 16 + hockey players do not have to worry about paying to play elite hockey.

For people to make the argument that a sport like soccer could attract financial strapped elite athletes, an academy structure would have to exist that would identify elite players at much younger ages (say 9-11).

The only sport that stands a chance to attract poorer elite athletes is basketball, where the highest youth level occurs in the school system.

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quote:Originally posted by TOcanadafan

Yes, that's kind of what I was trying to say. How young do you think the football academies (like TFC) will reach? If they only go as low as 15 or 16, the academy structure will parallel the Junior structure in Hockey - except there are more than 50 clubs in the country where the best 16 + hockey players do not have to worry about paying to play elite hockey.

For people to make the argument that a sport like soccer could attract financial strapped elite athletes, an academy structure would have to exist that would identify elite players at much younger ages (say 9-11).

The only sport that stands a chance to attract poorer elite athletes is basketball, where the highest youth level occurs in the school system.

This year, TFC are going to add U-14 team. Also I remember that Carver said he wants an U-8 team.

As for basketball is concern, it is probably most popular sport (at grassroots level) right now in Toronto. I see more kids playing basketball than soccer at schools and parks.

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quote:Originally posted by Free kick

Well said. The advent of the specialty sports networks has contributed, to some extent, to my declining interest in hockey. before, hockey was on TV saturday night primarily and on radio the rest of the time. Anyone who followed the game seriously, would follow on radio. There was no information overload or overhype. You got all the information content that you wanted or needed by seeking it out rather than being force fed. You could go to the NHL draft and get in for free on the same day as the event day.

What you have now with the sports networks is not as much more sport as "More hockey". So much so that you are being force feed info not becaue there is a need or want for it but because there is need to promote their programing to justfy the expensive rights fees that they paid just to beat out teh competition. And you get more filling of airtime with clichés. Now you have fools who will buy tickets to go see the NHL draft and in fact its sold out. Why? because the sports networks have create and culture whereby people think that that they need this info to stay in the converstaions around office water coolers.

This is the best post I have ever read!!

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quote:Originally posted by TOcanadafan

Those who dismiss hockey as a sport for "white rich kids" hopefully are cautiously aware that soccer may be following the same path (minus the "white" part)......But won't they still face the same financial challenges if they are good enough to compete at an elite level?

No danger of that if they are playing futsal in the winter months, in my opinion. Outdoors you have a stronger argument in elite player development terms but this thread was really about which sport can provide affordable mass participation.

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  • 2 weeks later...
quote:Originally posted by Free kick

Well said. The advent of the specialty sports networks has contributed, to some extent, to my declining interest in hockey. before, hockey was on TV saturday night primarily and on radio the rest of the time. Anyone who followed the game seriously, would follow on radio. There was no information overload or overhype. You got all the information content that you wanted or needed by seeking it out rather than being force fed. You could go to the NHL draft and get in for free on the same day as the event day.

What you have now with the sports networks is not as much more sport as "More hockey". So much so that you are being force feed info not becaue there is a need or want for it but because there is need to promote their programing to justfy the expensive rights fees that they paid just to beat out teh competition. And you get more filling of airtime with clichés. Now you have fools who will buy tickets to go see the NHL draft and in fact its sold out. Why? because the sports networks have create and culture whereby people think that that they need this info to stay in the converstaions around office water coolers.

Bang on the money. The World Juniors is the biggest example of this. TSN has single handedly brainwashed the whole country into actually believing the World Juniors is a big deal.

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quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan

Bang on the money. The World Juniors is the biggest example of this. TSN has single handedly brainwashed the whole country into actually believing the World Juniors is a big deal.

^Exactly, I have been saying this ever since the World Juniors were in Vancouver.

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^ The World Juniors is a big thing in Canada. Canadians like hockey. In Southwest Calgary, I lose kids to hockey each season. And I see lots of minorities playing the game. To say the World Juniors is not a big deal is just plain stupidity. It obviously is a big deal. Why else would attendance records be set every time it's held in Canada? Why else would it set ratings records? You know it is not a cop out to both support Canadian soccer and NOT deny that Canada's biggest sport -- by a huge margin -- is hockey.

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quote:Originally posted by Ed

^ The World Juniors is a big thing in Canada. Canadians like hockey. In Southwest Calgary, I lose kids to hockey each season. And I see lots of minorities playing the game. To say the World Juniors is not a big deal is just plain stupidity. It obviously is a big deal. Why else would attendance records be set every time it's held in Canada? Why else would it set ratings records? You know it is not a cop out to both support Canadian soccer and NOT deny that Canada's biggest sport -- by a huge margin -- is hockey.

I believe what they are saying is that no one would have given a crap about the World Juniors if TSN hadn't turned it into their pet project and hyped the hell out of it.

I tend to agree with that point of view, but at the same time I enjoy watching the World Juniors (I attended the Canada vs. Sweden pre-tournament game in Toronto and it was some great hockey).

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Many people out west despise TSN from a hockey coverage perspective (could they physically have wasted more resources on the Brian Burke story? Are you kidding me?) yet they still fill the rinks for the juniors. They picked a good time to air the tournament. Not much else in the way of hockey. And it beats watching the god-awful commercials sewed into the jerseys of the "stars" in the Spengler Cup.

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quote:Originally posted by Ed

Many people out west despise TSN from a hockey coverage perspective (could they physically have wasted more resources on the Brian Burke story? Are you kidding me?) yet they still fill the rinks for the juniors. They picked a good time to air the tournament. Not much else in the way of hockey. And it beats watching the god-awful commercials sewed into the jerseys of the "stars" in the Spengler Cup.

I agree with you on that one, the Spengler Cup is utter crap. And yes, the Burke "saga" was vomit-inducing to say the least.

But getting back to the point, it is true that the WJHC benefits immensely just from the time of year it takes place. I'm not trying to detract from the tournament, it is some very entertaining, high-quality hockey. Much better than the average NHL game to be sure.

As much as I enjoy the tournament (and every year I find myself watching even after I tell myself that I don't care that much), it does seem a bit hollow that we're the only country participating who actually gives a damn about the outcome.

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