Sports in Canadian culture

[rrskylar]

RIP Kobe Bryant

[elly63]

Golden Bears product Carter O'Donnell shines in spotlight of East-West Shrine Bowl
Gerry Moddejonge Edmonton Sun January 23, 2020

When you’re six-foot-six and 315 pounds, there is no such thing as being a small fish in a big pond.

But that didn’t stop Carter O’Donnell from feeling like one after arriving in St. Petersburg, Fla., last week as one of just two U-Sports football players to receive an invite to the prestigious East-West Shrine Bowl.

Of course, being among 14 offensive tackles who play at readily recognizable NCAA programs can have that effect.

For the 21-year-old native of Red Deer, this was the big time.

Sure, he is coming off a Canada West Conference all-star season on his way to being named a first-team all-Canadian in his fourth year with the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

In December, he saw his ranking improve to fourth overall on the CFL Scouting Bureau’s list of top-20 prospects eligible for the draft April 30, which makes him both the top offensive lineman and top U-Sports athlete.

And, while he’s already fielded calls from the likes of the NFL’s L.A. Rams, when he found out he would be playing in Saturday’s Shrine game, it all of a sudden became very real.

“I don’t know, I was nervous,” said the soft-spoken and unassuming Science and Education student (who is no relation to the Edmonton Eskimos offensive lineman, Matt O’Donnell). “I was just kind of wondering what it would be like to play with all those guys from those big schools down there.

“I just kind of reminded myself that I’ve just got to play. I can’t really worry about stuff, I’ve just got to go out there and play football.”

So, on the field over the week of practice leading up to the showcase game, he let his actions do the talking. And it didn’t take long for them to prove he was anything but a fish out of water.

“I remember I locked a guy down on a one-on-one and I didn’t really think about it too much,” he recalled. “And then, all the guys on the sideline were, I guess, really impressed with me.

“That’s kind of when the coaches told me I was doing pretty good. I don’t know, because I’m kind of used to doing really well here. So, it was a little change.”

As for the game, O’Donnell didn’t just play, he earned the start at his right tackle spot for the West, and remained there for the majority of the way to a 31-27 East victory.

“There were 17 O-linemen on our side, contrasted with nine that ended up being on the East team,” he said. “It kind of sucked that a couple guys didn’t get a ton of reps. They say it wasn’t performance-based, but I guess you never really know. But I seemed to move up every day in the depth charts.”

By the end, O’Donnell definitely left an impression. And not just on the gridiron, either.

“I’m just extremely grateful, really, for the whole opportunity,” said O’Donnell, who participated in a Shriners Hospital visit with teammates over the week. “And one of the biggest things that surprised me was just how nice all the guys were and just how similar we all are.

“I tried to introduce myself to as many guys as possible, just to meet people. A lot of guys didn’t know where (the U of A) was and asked me over the first couple days if I was playing in the CFL. After I got to know the guys, everyone really liked me. I’d go and do a rep and they’d yell at me: ‘For Canada.’ It was great.”

So good, chances are the U of A will be holding another pro day at the Foote Field dome, like they did in 2018 with O’Donnell’s former Bears teammate Mark Korte for the Washington Redskins, before he was drafted fourth overall by the Ottawa RedBlacks.

“Me and Mark are still buddies, we go fishing and we go for food all the time,” O’Donnell said of the Sherwood Park product.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise the Bears program is turning into an O-lineman factory for the pros, given former Eskimos champion tackle Chris Morris, who O’Donnell said is the whole reason he chose the U of A.

“Carter is a special athlete that has all the tools a team looks for: He’s a big, athletic body that moves well. He’s an overwhelmingly physical player,” Korte said. “Off the field, he’s a smart guy that can handle the playbook and fits in well with a group of O-linemen. Carter isn’t the type to get wrapped up in everything surrounding football, he’s an all-business type of guy that really does love the game.

“He’s a guy that will do great as a pro and wherever he lands, that team will be very happy to have him.”

In the meantime, O’Donnell is taking his off-season training one day at a time and trying not to look too far ahead after enjoying his shining moment in the Florida sun.

“There was very little time (to sightsee). It sucks because it was like, 26, 27, 28 degrees (Celsius) outside, sunny. We were right on the beach,” said O’Donnell, who managed to avoid the entire -40 C deepfreeze back home. “But I didn’t even go on the beach until Thursday, which was the first day everybody got to leave the inside of the hotel.

“I was showing people how cold it was and they were just baffled. They asked, ‘What do you do?’ I don’t know, wear clothes and stay inside, I guess.”

[suburbanite]

No congratulations to Christine Sinclair yet? 185 international goals to become to all-time leading scorer.

https://www.tsn.ca/sinclair

[Denscity]

Christine Sinclair!! Yet another amazing person from BC to look up to like Steve Nash Larry Walker Terry Fox Rick Hansen...

[elly63]

Diana Matheson (teammates on Canada since 2003)

“My favourite goal of Christine’s, and I’ve said this before and I think other people have, I think was in 2009 against Brazil in Brazil and for some reason we had to tie this game against Brazil to win the tournament

– it was a weird tournament. We were down 3-2 and we had a red card, so we were down a man, and I think in, like, the 79th minute or something, we transitioned and it went up to Melissa Tancredi just outside the box – to the right top corner of the box – and she laid it off to Sinc and Sinc came around and hit it with the inside of her left foot and it just curled round, like a 30-yard shot on a string and just into the top far corner. I think there’s only poor video footage of that from the stands. There’s no TV footage of that or that would be replayed forever. That was beautiful.”

Start at 8:35

• Video Link

[megadude]

New TFC jersey has this little thing at the bottom naming all the municipalities of the GTA. It made me wonder if TFC even considered calling themselves GTAFC, though that definitely doesn't roll off the tongue.

For teams named after a region instead of the city, do people in that region feel anymore attachment because of the name?

Atlantic Schooners, Kootenay Ice from Cranbrook, Goldenstate Warriors, Utah Jazz, NE Pats, FLA Panthers, Tri City Americans in the WHL, BC Lions (though this just sounds better to me than Vancouver), Manitoba Moose, NFLD Growlers, Niagara Ice Dogs (Niagara sounds better than St. Catharines and most people I'd say think of this area as a region anyway... well at least outsiders, not sure about residents), Zona Coyotes and Dbacks, TX Rangers (more to do with the law enforcement branch I'd think), Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL, TB Rays, Minny Twins and so on and so on.

Sask Roughriders is the best example where being named after a region enhances the brand and draws more of an association with them from outside city or CMA limits.

Conversely, does this kind of naming convention actual deter some city residents because they feel like the team should just belong to them?

Are there any teams you'd like to see change one way or the other? Could there possibly be any Bombers fans who would want to see them named the Manitoba Bombers?


https://www.wakingthered.com/2020/2/...at-do-we-think

[esquire]

^ I like that patch on the TFC jersey. Nice touch. But really... doesn't Toronto FC imply the region? Naming it GTA FC is sort of gilding the lily... I would imagine that someone living in Markham would embrace the Toronto identity just fine.

Having a team named after a region usually comes across as a compromise where you don't want to piss off residents of a nearby city by excluding them...hence the Minneapolis-St. Paul teams which all get called "Minnesota" instead of being named after the city they play in. Or the Arizona Coyotes given that they don't actually play in Phoenix. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are to me one of the rare instances of a team that is fully embraced by the entire province/region and not really because of that type of compromise.

[megadude]

I do wonder if some TFC fans from Hamilton or KWC or Barrie, etc. would feel any kind of slight by this. Some of those cities probably have more season tix holders than Brock or Scugog, etc.

It would be silly but people are people.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by megadude

I do wonder if some TFC fans from Hamilton or KWC or Barrie, etc. would feel any kind of slight by this. Some of those cities probably have more season tix holders than Brock or Scugog, etc.

It would be silly but people are people.

If I were a soccer fan (although I do root for TFC to win) I wouldn't feel slighted by this. In fact, I would actually be offended if Hamilton was lumped in with the GTA in general as we're not a suburb of Toronto.

[esquire]

^ Even though there may well be TFC fans and ticket holders in Hamilton, it would be overstepping their bounds for TFC to proclaim themselves as "Hamilton's team"... they have better sense than that.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I like that patch on the TFC jersey. Nice touch. But really... doesn't Toronto FC imply the region? Naming it GTA FC is sort of gilding the lily... I would imagine that someone living in Markham would embrace the Toronto identity just fine.

Having a team named after a region usually comes across as a compromise where you don't want to piss off residents of a nearby city by excluding them...hence the Minneapolis-St. Paul teams which all get called "Minnesota" instead of being named after the city they play in. Or the Arizona Coyotes given that they don't actually play in Phoenix. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are to me one of the rare instances of a team that is fully embraced by the entire province/region and not really because of that type of compromise.

I have always thought that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Winnipeg Jets have a kind of "Manitoba" thing going on similar to the Saskatchewan Roughriders - only without the actual provincial name.

[megadude]

True enough about the Hamilton thing. Although Hamilton is closer than places like Clarington and Brock and Georgina and has more STH than those places, The Hammer is its own thing. Plus some of those burbs are only considered part of the GTA because of the Region they belong to but doesn't necessarily function as a true suburb of Toronto.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I have always thought that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Winnipeg Jets have a kind of "Manitoba" thing going on similar to the Saskatchewan Roughriders - only without the actual provincial name.

Though they have some pull in NWO.

I would be curious which towns along the MB/SK and AB/SK would cheer on the team located outside the province they live in. Not sure BC people just across the AB border cheer on the CGY and EDM teams to the extent of what I mentioned above.

Lots of examples in the US and obviously ON/QC border.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I have always thought that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Winnipeg Jets have a kind of "Manitoba" thing going on similar to the Saskatchewan Roughriders - only without the actual provincial name.

Everyone is fine with the Winnipeg Jets being the Winnipeg Jets but a lot of people in rural Manitoba get pissy about the Bombers. I think it's a bit of Sask envy where the whole province is part of the football culture.

The big difference of course, is that, as crass as this sounds, the Bombers don't rely on the support of people from rural Manitoba the way that the Riders rely on rural Sask and other cities like Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, etc. I mean it's nice when people from Dauphin or Carberry come in for games, but it's very much a Winnipeg team. When I said that rural people get pissy about that, it's to the point where they cheer for the Riders instead. In the peak Roughrider glory years, it got to the point where Blue Bomber country ended at about Brandon...after that it was Rider country. Now that the Bombers are doing well and people are on the bandwagon again, the Bomber zone stretches out closer to Virden... but that last 100 km or so to the Sask border is still pretty green. You guys from other parts of the country may not appreciate how seriously this is taken... these allegiances are pretty visible and pronounced!

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by megadude

Though they have some pull in NWO.

I would be curious which towns along the MB/SK and AB/SK would cheer on the team located outside the province they live in. Not sure BC people just across the AB border cheer on the CGY and EDM teams to the extent of what I mentioned above.

Lots of examples in the US and obviously ON/QC border.

Cold flat places in BC near the Alberta border and in the Alberta time zone have some Flames and Oiler fans. Example Fort St. John and Cranbrook. In fact in Cranbrook the Tim's and 7-11 only have Calgary newspapers none from Vancouver couldn't believe it lol! Like where am I??
Castlegar had a few Oilers fans when our own Shawn Horcoff played for Edmonton.
The Canucks are an all BC team and not just Vancouver.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by esquire

everyone is fine with the winnipeg jets being the winnipeg jets but a lot of people in rural manitoba get pissy about the bombers. I think it's a bit of sask envy where the whole province is part of the football culture.

The big difference of course, is that, as crass as this sounds, the bombers don't rely on the support of people from rural manitoba the way that the riders rely on rural sask and other cities like saskatoon, moose jaw, etc. I mean it's nice when people from dauphin or carberry come in for games, but it's very much a winnipeg team. When i said that rural people get pissy about that, it's to the point where they cheer for the riders instead. In the peak roughrider glory years, it got to the point where blue bomber country ended at about brandon...after that it was rider country. Now that the bombers are doing well and people are on the bandwagon again, the bomber zone stretches out closer to virden... But that last 100 km or so to the sask border is still pretty green. You guys from other parts of the country may not appreciate how seriously this is taken... These allegiances are pretty visible and pronounced!

That being said, eastern Saskatchewan is pretty hard core Jets territory.

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Even though there may well be TFC fans and ticket holders in Hamilton, it would be overstepping their bounds for TFC to proclaim themselves as "Hamilton's team"... they have better sense than that.

Not to mention Hamilton has it's own soccer team (technically the York region does too, which makes me think this sudden attention to the entire region may have something to do with that...)

[isaidso]

The Saskatchewan Roughriders is the best example in Canada of a regional name that's important in creating a fan base beyond the city it's based in. The BC Lions have a regional name too but I doubt many people drive in from Kelowna, etc. to support the province's team. If the Atlantic Schooners ever get off the ground I suspect people from across the Maritimes will buy in.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

Everyone is fine with the Winnipeg Jets being the Winnipeg Jets but a lot of people in rural Manitoba get pissy about the Bombers. I think it's a bit of Sask envy where the whole province is part of the football culture.

The big difference of course, is that, as crass as this sounds, the Bombers don't rely on the support of people from rural Manitoba the way that the Riders rely on rural Sask and other cities like Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, etc. I mean it's nice when people from Dauphin or Carberry come in for games, but it's very much a Winnipeg team. When I said that rural people get pissy about that, it's to the point where they cheer for the Riders instead. In the peak Roughrider glory years, it got to the point where Blue Bomber country ended at about Brandon...after that it was Rider country. Now that the Bombers are doing well and people are on the bandwagon again, the Bomber zone stretches out closer to Virden... but that last 100 km or so to the Sask border is still pretty green. You guys from other parts of the country may not appreciate how seriously this is taken... these allegiances are pretty visible and pronounced!

Fellow SSPer VANRIDERFAN is from SW Manitoba I believe. His name leaves no doubt as to which CFL team he supports.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

That being said, eastern Saskatchewan is pretty hard core Jets territory.

Oops. Missed this!