DISAPPOINTMENT LAST NIGHT
Vinny, member of the Lacombe Fire Dept (to me at Boston Pizza last night): I used to be a Leaf fan until I was about 5, but I was too young and stupid to know any better then.
What was supposed to be a big hockey pool last night turned out to be a social gathering between me and two others, Vinny and Tyler of the Lacombe Fire Department.
It's frustrating to organize something only to have it fall apart. I'm not the organizer type usually, I'm a spur of the moment guy, so when I do put in the effort in holding something, it's disappointing when it doesn't go according to plan.
Last night was one of those times. Over three weeks ago, I had planned on holding a Lacombe hockey pool. Now I'm a pretty lazy and unmotivated person at the best of times, but this pool is something I worked at. I faxed information forms around town, spread the word around to people I know, and even phoned the local Boston Pizza to get them to set aside a space and try and include some BP prizes or something.
It turns out that not only was the manager at BP not around last night, but there was some sort of stag going on instead, and 30 seats in the middle of the sports lounge reserved. And only a couple of the 20 people I were expecting to see there let me know in advance they couldn't make it. Perhaps I gave people too much time to think about it, maybe if I set it up the week of the pool that would've worked better. One thing I've noticed about Lacombe is although its a tight-knit town, people don't stick to their word. Like other places, it's a last minute town where people don't make a big deal out of anything. It's just too laid back here.
Also, competitive sports are normally popular in the smaller towns, but not so much here. Sure, there's lots of sports going on, but people don't care. I've heard complaints from the few people that actually do keep in touch with the media on a regular basis about how bad there's so much potential here, but people aren't committed to improving the local sports scene. It's the old fashioned attitude of "let's keep things the way they are, we like it here" that bothers me.
For years Lacombe has been trying to land a skatepark and still hasn't. While this town is trying to get one complete, smaller towns in the county have their own, towns 1/10th the size of Lacombe. On top of that, Lacombe is in danger of losing its Junior 'B' hockey team because of poor fan turnout. They're playing five games in Sylvan Lake this year. There's towns smaller than this one with Junior 'A' teams, and they have no problem filling the stands.
It's harder to try and commit myself as a sports journalist in a town like this. Oh well, I'm just putting in my time I guess.
Getting back to last night, it turned out to be okay after a few schooners, some pizza and hockey talk. This Vinny guy is the biggest Boston Bruin fan in the world, Silv would just love this guy. His Bruin memorabilia includes something like 20 different shirts and 30 different hats. He went on to tell me while he lived in between Niagara Falls and Toronto, he'd go to Buffalo to watch games and cause trouble every time for cheering on the Bruins when they were in town.
THE WHITE SOX ARE ON A ROLL
I'll admit I'm a little superstitious myself with regards to sports. Using the current White Sox run as an example, I haven't worn my White Sox hat since the playoffs began. In fact, I've been leaving it on my TV set in my room here. They keep winning, and if they can capture their first World Series victory since 1917, I'll be sporting that hat in a heartbeat. After so much controversy over what was obviously a wrong call leading to a 2-1 White Sox victory in game #2, it's nice to see the Sox winning the last two games by clean margins. I hope they can take the title for all the lifelong fans. In game two, sports commentators were in the stands talking to a 95-year-old lifelong White Sox fan. He was seven the last time they won the World Series, and he's stuck with the team through it all. Now that's a true fan.
Vinny, member of the Lacombe Fire Dept (to me at Boston Pizza last night): I used to be a Leaf fan until I was about 5, but I was too young and stupid to know any better then.
What was supposed to be a big hockey pool last night turned out to be a social gathering between me and two others, Vinny and Tyler of the Lacombe Fire Department.
It's frustrating to organize something only to have it fall apart. I'm not the organizer type usually, I'm a spur of the moment guy, so when I do put in the effort in holding something, it's disappointing when it doesn't go according to plan.
Last night was one of those times. Over three weeks ago, I had planned on holding a Lacombe hockey pool. Now I'm a pretty lazy and unmotivated person at the best of times, but this pool is something I worked at. I faxed information forms around town, spread the word around to people I know, and even phoned the local Boston Pizza to get them to set aside a space and try and include some BP prizes or something.
It turns out that not only was the manager at BP not around last night, but there was some sort of stag going on instead, and 30 seats in the middle of the sports lounge reserved. And only a couple of the 20 people I were expecting to see there let me know in advance they couldn't make it. Perhaps I gave people too much time to think about it, maybe if I set it up the week of the pool that would've worked better. One thing I've noticed about Lacombe is although its a tight-knit town, people don't stick to their word. Like other places, it's a last minute town where people don't make a big deal out of anything. It's just too laid back here.
Also, competitive sports are normally popular in the smaller towns, but not so much here. Sure, there's lots of sports going on, but people don't care. I've heard complaints from the few people that actually do keep in touch with the media on a regular basis about how bad there's so much potential here, but people aren't committed to improving the local sports scene. It's the old fashioned attitude of "let's keep things the way they are, we like it here" that bothers me.
For years Lacombe has been trying to land a skatepark and still hasn't. While this town is trying to get one complete, smaller towns in the county have their own, towns 1/10th the size of Lacombe. On top of that, Lacombe is in danger of losing its Junior 'B' hockey team because of poor fan turnout. They're playing five games in Sylvan Lake this year. There's towns smaller than this one with Junior 'A' teams, and they have no problem filling the stands.
It's harder to try and commit myself as a sports journalist in a town like this. Oh well, I'm just putting in my time I guess.
Getting back to last night, it turned out to be okay after a few schooners, some pizza and hockey talk. This Vinny guy is the biggest Boston Bruin fan in the world, Silv would just love this guy. His Bruin memorabilia includes something like 20 different shirts and 30 different hats. He went on to tell me while he lived in between Niagara Falls and Toronto, he'd go to Buffalo to watch games and cause trouble every time for cheering on the Bruins when they were in town.
THE WHITE SOX ARE ON A ROLL
I'll admit I'm a little superstitious myself with regards to sports. Using the current White Sox run as an example, I haven't worn my White Sox hat since the playoffs began. In fact, I've been leaving it on my TV set in my room here. They keep winning, and if they can capture their first World Series victory since 1917, I'll be sporting that hat in a heartbeat. After so much controversy over what was obviously a wrong call leading to a 2-1 White Sox victory in game #2, it's nice to see the Sox winning the last two games by clean margins. I hope they can take the title for all the lifelong fans. In game two, sports commentators were in the stands talking to a 95-year-old lifelong White Sox fan. He was seven the last time they won the World Series, and he's stuck with the team through it all. Now that's a true fan.
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