Sports in Canadian culture

[FrankieFlowerpot]

I wonder if this will be in her future plans

http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/arti...ormance-center

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[elly63]

Have you seen this? I saw it a while back and it's pretty cool. BTW make sure you catch the ending of the match

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[elly63]

It's real and it's spectacular: Erica Wiebe stars in India's flashy Pro Wrestling League
Canadian Olympic champ is one of glitzy event's highest-paid athletes
Callum Ng CBC Sports Jan 09, 2017

Erica Wiebe is officially a pro wrestler.

But the Olympic gold medallist won't be smashing a folding chair over anyone's back or tossing anyone into a turnbuckle. Instead, she's joined India's Pro Wrestling League 2, a six-team freestyle wrestling competition being held Jan. 2-19 in Delhi.

While there are no piledrivers, the league does feature booming announcers, flashy pyrotechnics, network TV coverage and real blood.

Freestyle wrestling is one of the two Olympic disciplines. The 27-year-old Wiebe won the women's 75-kilogram weight class at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Wiebe, who's from the Ottawa suburb of Stittsville, Ont., left Canada for India on Dec. 28.

A week into the event she offers this assessment via email: "This atmosphere has never existed in wrestling until this league. There's more hype, more media, more lights than at the Olympic Games. It's an incredible showcase for the sport of wrestling."

Wiebe is team captain of the Mumbai Maharathi (a type of warrior in Hindu mythology).

She was selected in an auction two weeks before the first match. Her price, as listed on the Pro Wrestling League website, is 4.3 million Indian rupees, which equates to more than $80,000 Canadian.

This is her participation fee, making the Canadian one of the highest-paid wrestlers out of many world-class men and women.

Georgian Olympic champion Vladimer Khinchegashvili is the biggest earner, listed to be paid 4.8 million rupees (over $90,000 Cdn).

Wiebe's weight class includes Alina Stadnik-Makhynia, a Ukrainian world champion, and Belarusian Vasilisa Marzaliuk, who Wiebe wrestled in a Rio 2016 semifinal.

"I came for the adventure to India but I will actually get great wrestling matches in as well," Wiebe says.

The nine-person teams have one wrestler for each of the five men's weight classes and four women's classes. They are also required to include four foreigners and five Indians.

This makes communication an interesting affair.

The Maharathi, for example, have Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan — an Olympic bronze medallist in the men's 74-kg category from Rio — plus world championship medallist Pavlo Olynyk from Ukraine and Carolina Hidalgo, a Colombian Olympian.

Wiebe says team meetings are run in Hindi, then translated to English by one of the managers.

Wiebe then tries to explain in more simple English to Hidalgo, while Olynyk translates to Russian for Hasanov.

"Google Translate is also our best friend. Needless to say, it has been a process," Wiebe says.
A new wrestling league

The Pro Wrestling League is the creation of Indian company ProSportify. The five other teams are named UP Dangal, Haryana Hammers, Jaipur Ninjas, NCR Punjab Royals and Colors Delhi Sultans. They each have an owner or sponsor.

The Mumbai Maharathi's Twitter account often mentions famous Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh, calling him a "co-partner," and Singh tweeted a photo of himself with Wiebe.

The teams wrestle in a dual-meet format on Sony ESPN, an Indian sports channel.

Heading into Monday's tie (set of matches) against the Jaipur Ninjas, the Maharathi's record was 1-2, although Wiebe was a perfect 3-0 in her bouts.

The League had a reported rocky start last season, with apparent delayed payments to wrestlers and even some legal tussles.

This season coincides with the late-December release of the Bollywood biopic Dangal, about the life of Mahavir Singh Phogat. A wrestler turned coach, Phogat's daughters are successful wrestlers, and Commonwealth Games champion Geeta Phogat became India's first women's Olympic wrestler when she qualified for London 2012.

The film comes the same year Sakshi Malik earned India's first women's Olympic wrestling medal, a bronze in the 58-kg division.

Wiebe sees a link between her sport's rise in popularity in India, and more prominent roles for women athletes both on-screen and on the mat.

"There's a big push for women's equality here evident with women and men competing side-by-side on teams and many of the female players being highlighted on the teams," she says.

"They even have women-only time slots to go see the movie Dangal in theatres so that they can feel comfortable and be empowered."

For Wiebe, her stint in India is all about the experience. In the past she has also expressed interest in trying out for the WWE but remains committed to her Olympic wrestling career.

She has a return flight to Canada booked for Jan. 22, when she'll get back to training for Tokyo 2020.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

That's pretty cool - I've never heard of that.

I remember an ill-fated attempt in the US to try a version of that with MMA fighters

[elly63]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

I wonder if this will be in her future plans

Courtesy Erica Wiebe Twitter

[SignalHillHiker]

I really, really love this one. The tourism videos here rarely use overtly nationalist imagery.

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[blueandgoldguy]

Given the snafu with city officials regarding THF and it's use for the Canadian Soccer League and the fact we have heard nothing about any of the other teams for months...or the league for that matter, I am pretty confident it will not get off the ground next year.

I mean, it's pretty obvious at this point. Barely over half a year away from the supposed start of the season, all 6 teams should be announced by this point. Management and coaching staffs should have been hired. Ownerships confirmed. Stadiums confirmed. League commissioner and head office confirmed. Some players should have been signed. Training camps and sites established.

None of this has happened as far as I know. All we get in regards to this league is silence. Crickets. It's not happening next summer folks. If we are lucky we might get some kind of friendlies next summer involving some quickly thrown together teams.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Given the snafu with city officials regarding THF and it's use for the Canadian Soccer League and the fact we have heard nothing about any of the other teams for months...or the league for that matter, I am pretty confident it will not get off the ground next year.

The CPL i'm guessing?

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

I mean, it's pretty obvious at this point. Barely over half a year away from the supposed start of the season,

The proposed league start date has been assumed to be July 2018.

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

all 6 teams should be announced by this point. Management and coaching staffs should have been hired. Ownerships confirmed. Stadiums confirmed. League commissioner and head office confirmed.

There was word last week that the league's HQ had been set up in Toronto and they're frequently meeting with interested ownership groups in the leadup. Halifax, GTA, Hamilton, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Fraser Valley, Victoria are all potential landing points. Now that the NASL has blown up it's likely Edmonton jumps in, as well. Ottawa would be better off in a potential CPL than the USL.

This is better suited to the MLS/CPL thread of course, but there's still some cautious optimism that a start date for next year is still feasible.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by JHikka

The CPL i'm guessing?


The proposed league start date has been assumed to be July 2018.


There was word last week that the league's HQ had been set up in Toronto and they're frequently meeting with interested ownership groups in the leadup. Halifax, GTA, Hamilton, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Fraser Valley, Victoria are all potential landing points. Now that the NASL has blown up it's likely Edmonton jumps in, as well. Ottawa would be better off in a potential CPL than the USL.

This is better suited to the MLS/CPL thread of course, but there's still some cautious optimism that a start date for next year is still feasible.

Thanks for that. I do not think it is feasible at this point. More should have been established by now like which actual teams are 100% confirmed. Throwing everything together over the course of the next 6 months likely means a poor quality product on the pitch and poor crowd support too given marketing departments have not been established in any of these 6 hypothetical cities. Not enough time. Best to wait another year otherwise this league will be that much more likely to fail after one year like the XFL in the US.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Thanks for that. I do not think it is feasible at this point. More should have been established by now like which actual teams are 100% confirmed.

We have a general idea of who's interested. There's articles out there if you're willing to search around for them.

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Throwing everything together over the course of the next 6 months

The CPL's been functioning more-or-less for a year now, and the groups that are interested are being briefed and sourced on what's to be expected.

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

...likely means a poor quality product on the pitch...

Nobody's expecting the CPL to be this star-studdied, high-quality league right off the bat. Patience will be key in developing the quality of the league.

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

... and poor crowd support too given marketing departments have not been established in any of these 6 hypothetical cities...

There are a number of supporters groups popping up throughout Canada in cities where teams are theorized to be located. Halifax, Mississauga, and Saskatchewan all have pretty sizable supporters groups given the fact that nothing's been confirmed yet.

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Not enough time. Best to wait another year otherwise this league will be that much more likely to fail after one year like the XFL in the US.

There's still nine months until matches are presumed to be starting. I agree that timelines aren't looking too promising but i'm doing my best to sit in the optimistic camp. Either way, there's been significant groundwork being done behind the scenes. Again, it's about tempering expectations - this is going to be a small league to start out with. We're not talking about highly complex stadiums, teams, or league structure.

The XFL was a gimmick league. CPL will have a purpose and will have a place to slot in within the current Canadian soccer pyramid.

[mistercorporate]

My understanding is the first season will be a low profile launch and will involve test markets and a limited number of teams, with a full launch with twice the number of teams the year after. They want to tweek the format and adjust it based on feedback the first year before going all in during the second. Growth will continue after that, the feedback is there's lots of demand from owners groups and sponsors for such a league.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

the feedback is there's lots of demand from owners groups and sponsors for such a league.

Really, who?

[elly63]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

I wonder if this will be in her future plans

I've done a fair amount of reading about Erica since you posted this and I was questioning to myself her place in WWE vs the world of amateur wrestling. I had one question that she answered in her blog.

What does a wrestler look like?
Erica Wiebe Blog 5/26/2016

Apparently, not me.



I meet someone, out and about in the world and inevitably, they ask me what do you do? Then the awkward moment of telling someone I wrestle for a living begins...

More often than not the response that I get is infused with a mixture of disbelief, intimidation, awe, and confusion.. because quite often, they say something like; "well, you sure don't look like a wrestler..."

So what does a wrestler look like?

What is your idea of how an Olympic athlete should appear? Why do we have these conceptions of what a female athlete must look like?

The conflicting images of the female and wrestler is something we have well, wrestled with, for many years. My identity as an athlete and woman is something I negotiate on a daily basis as we are increasingly inundated with constantly evolving conceptions of what the ideal female body should be.

These negotiations often occur in the back of my mind and yes, if you are waiting for me to get to the point, I struggle with how I look and how I feel about my body.

But in the same way that I struggle in the pursuit of excellence within my sport everyday, I overcome these challenges, expectations and pressures of societal expectations around body image by replacing the negative with positive and by focusing on what I can control.

The image of the ideal body has been distorted and altered to an unbearable degree within the media and increasingly on social media. The creation of #fitspo and the pornification of the athletic female body is increasingly problematic as the focus on athletic pursuits have shifted away from the sheer joy of movement and towards likes and shares and followers.

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[elly63]

Here's where I see all of this going. It's looking like WWE is trying to position Erica as the female Kurt Angle. If she plays this right she could also become the female Hulk Hogan, a position that has never been filled. They had the intent with Wendi Richter but when she asked for more money she was gone.

Despite their haterz I believe Stephanie and HHH are following the right path here. They're trying to bring a little legitimacy back to pro wrestling. They have good female athletes but they need someone like Erica to bring their plan to fruition.

Q&A: Stittsville's Erica Wiebe and her WWE adventure
Blair Crawford September 29, 2017

...

Q: Then you went to Las Vegas and Florida with the WWE. How did that come about?

A: The WWE and I have been in conversation since Rio, but it didn’t work out until this time. I went to the Mae Young Classic finale in Vegas and that’s kind of a development league that the WWE is doing to increase the depth and the quality of women’s wrestling.

Stephanie McMahon and her husband, Paul Levesque — or Triple H as he’s known in wrestling — are poised to take over the WWE business and they’re trying to create an organization that they and their two young daughters will be proud of. It’s 2017 and women are athletic and capable and they’re providing a platform where women can showcase these skills.

[isaidso]

Record Crowd at Panda Game


Courtesy of the Ottawa Citizen

In one of the most anticipated football games of the year, Carleton beat Ottawa 33-30 in double overtime. TD Place filled to capacity as the Panda Game set an attendance record with 24,420 fans taking in the annual classic.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by elly63

Really, who?

"It appears that at least six CPL teams — in Hamilton, Edmonton (currently in the NASL), Ottawa (USL), Winnipeg, Regina and, most noteworthy, Halifax — could be ready to go next year. Respected soccer websites such as Waking the Red are treating that central half-dozen as very real."[Source]

Moncton

Halifax

"Beyond Hamilton and Winnipeg, Halifax, Moncton and Regina - who hosted a friendly between Spanish side Valencia and the New York Cosmos at Mosaic Stadium in July and a CPL summit at the same time - look to be furthest along the line in their pursuit of a CPL team."

"Saskatoon, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria, Quebec City, the Fraser Valley, Mississauga, London and Kitchener-Waterloo have also been linked with clubs to varying degrees."[Source]


"And there are supporters groups in Calgary, Fraser Valley, B.C., Halifax (Wanderers), Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont. (Grand River Union), London, Ont., Mississauga, Ont. (Sauga City Collective), Quebec City, Regina (Pile O Bones), Saskatoon (Bridge City Firm) and Toronto.

Fans in Edmonton and Ottawa are watching to see whether FC Edmonton (North American Soccer League) and Ottawa Fury FC (United Soccer League) remain with their current leagues.

“It’s not just about ‘my local club in Winnipeg,’ it’s also about the good of the game across the country,” said Beirne.

The CPL is still in its formative stages, with 10 employees. But it has been sanctioned as a member of the Canadian Soccer Association, as have teams in Winnipeg and Hamilton." [Source]

I haven't seen any concrete commitment from sponsors but there'll of course be some desire for shirt sponsors and general league sponsors. I know the joke/half-hope was that Keith's would be the Halifax club's shirt sponsor, but I don't know how much validity there was in that and was most likely tongue-in-cheek. I imagine the sponsors, presumably like the league itself, will be more regional in nature instead of vast national brands. Remains to be seen.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by isaidso

In one of the most anticipated football games of the year, Carleton beat Ottawa 33-30 in double overtime. TD Place filled to capacity as the Panda Game set an attendance record with 24,420 fans taking in the annual classic.

That's great but what was the record for, the Panda game itself? The RBs had 24,893 vs the Riders on Friday.

Nitpicking, but of course that attendance is fantastic and further proves how USports is the best kept secret out there. With that number, maybe the word is finally getting out.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by elly63

That's great but what was the record for, the Panda game itself? The RBs had 24,893 vs the Riders on Friday.

Record was for the Panda Game itself. The previous record was north of 20K as well I believe.

Originally Posted by elly63

Nitpicking, but of course that attendance is fantastic and further proves how USports is the best kept secret out there. With that number, maybe the word is finally getting out.

As much as I love USports the Panda Games are 95% students only going to yell shit at the other school. I ended up walking down Bank after the game and it was a sea of students from both schools. There's more interest in supporting your school/yelling at the other school than there is actual interest in football.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by JHikka

"It appears that at least six CPL teams — in Hamilton, Edmonton (currently in the NASL), Ottawa (USL), Winnipeg, Regina and, most noteworthy, Halifax — could be ready to go next year. Respected soccer websites such as Waking the Red are treating that central half-dozen as very real."[Source]
I haven't seen any concrete commitment from sponsors but there'll of course be some desire for shirt sponsors and general league sponsors. I know the joke/half-hope was that Keith's would be the Halifax club's shirt sponsor, but I don't know how much validity there was in that and was most likely tongue-in-cheek. I imagine the sponsors, presumably like the league itself, will be more regional in nature instead of vast national brands. Remains to be seen.

The original source is speculation from an article six months ago and I'm not sure what if anything concrete has happened since then. I'm going to have to head over to Vs to see what's new.

Not sure why Keiths would be a joke, I used to work in front of the Olands Brewery, any of those brands would be noteworthy. Maybe a more historical tie in would be for The King of Donair to be a sponsor

[elly63]

Originally Posted by JHikka

As much as I love USports the Panda Games are 95% students only going to yell shit at the other school. I ended up walking down Bank after the game and it was a sea of students from both schools. There's more interest in supporting your school/yelling at the other school than there is actual interest in football.

Certainly, but the product has improved leaps and bounds and as we know interest has not always been great.

The modern credo in sports now is just to get people out for an experience, the game has almost become secondary.