2nd Annual Jeju Cup Winter Classic ball hockey tournament registration form

The highly anticipated, fiercely contested 2^nd Annual Jeju Cup Winter Classic Ball Hockey Tournament will be held on Saturday December 13^th at the Jeju City inline rink. Players of all skill levels are invited to participate in this one full day of ball hockey action — the fourth tournament the Jeju Islanders Hockey Club has hosted. Each team will battle it out for the chance of having their names engraved on the prestigious Jeju Cup!

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/912667562141522/

Help us raise funds for the Jeju Islanders Hockey Club so we can grow the sport of hockey in Jeju, and help support worthy charitable causes. As of now, all Jeju Islanders weekly games and events rely solely on donations and out of pocket payments to operate. As our team has grown to regular weekly games of over 20 participants each week, and tournaments with attendance many times that, so have our required expenditures increased. Currently, we need funding for:

-The rental or construction of an equipment storage facility (currently we rely on team volunteers to store and hustle the gear each week).
-Current and future tournament/event costs.
-support of local kids hockey programs.
-Equipment:
-new sticks as old ones break, and to accommodate our rising amount of players.
-stick tape.
-street hockey balls.
-goalie equipment.
-jerseys.
-scoreboard.
-equipment maintenance.

To reach our financial goals, we’ll have mini-game prizes, raffle items, t-shirts, hats, and toques for sale, concessions, and our registration fee that gets you a full day of tournament games, and lunch.

We are actively seeking players, volunteers, and sponsors to make this effort a success.

If you’d like to be a part of the competition and the effort, fill out this registration form: ********

Name(required)

Email(required)

Phone number(required)

Can/do/would you play goalie?(required)

Yes No

Do you require a vegetarian meal?(required)

Yes No

Experience level(required)

Beginner Intermediate Advanced

Additional comments or questions

Submit

Δ

Once you’ve filled out the registration form, COMPLETE YOUR REGISTRATION and secure your spot in the tournament by transferring 30,000 KRW via ATM bank transfer to:

Bank: ShinHan

Acct Holder: Allan Moore

Acct #:  110-396-549650

To get to the rink, get yourself to the Jeju City bus terminal on the 1132 highway. Head south a few blocks and fade a little east. It’s right beside the swimming pool in the Sports Complex. Here’s a map link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/jeju.island.hockey/files/

Bring your own stick if you have one, but if not, we have plenty of extras for you to borrow.

We’ll divide up our players into an even number of teams via draft at The Bar in Jeju City (we will sort and balance the teams according to skill level, don’t worry) to keep things even and fun. 5 on 5, with goalies!

Goalie gear and hockey sticks are provided.

If you can’t play, feel free to come by as a spectator.

Here’s some press of our previous tournaments:

Inaugural Jeju Cup: http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=4231
Inaugural Jeju Cup Winter Classic: http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=4518
Winter Classic semi-final shootout (video):

See you at the rink!

 

 

-Jeju Islanders Hockey Club

XP PSP Podcast episodes 18-20

Follow @aleks_j89Follow @bernienicholls9Follow @davecunningFollow @XPPSP

To catch up on the latest 3 episodes of XP PSP: the eXPat Pro Sports Podcast that I fell behind on posting, have a look at the episode summaries and links below for episodes 18-20 — and take a listen while you’re at it!

==============

Episode 18 – Guest: Bernie Nicholls, 19 season NHL veteran, 3 time all-star.

Bernie and I discussed the All Sports Market Free App (the new sports stock market app Bernie is helping develop and promote), the world of sports gambling and what sports are easiest/most difficult to fix, the LA Kings waiving Mike Richards and whether we will see him in the NHL again, Bernie’s thoughts on the Slava Voynov legal situation, who the Kings should trade for prior to the NHL trade deadline to hopefully improve their chances of making the playoffs, why he engages social media more so than many older generation athletes, whether he wants to resume coaching in the NHL again, and a whole bunch more.

Link: http://xppsp.podbean.com/e/xp-psp-e18-bernie-nicholls-returns/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/xp-psp-e18/id643817929

==============

Episode 19 – Guest: Jim Paek, first Korean born hockey player to both play in the NHL, and win the Stanley Cup. Current head coach for the South Korean national hockey team.

Jim and I spoke about how he’s perceived in Korea’s hockey community and his desire to improve hockey in his home nation, the freedom he has to make team decisions, his Korean skills, the language barrier, and how he works through communication issues on the team, the use of foreign born naturalized players to better South Korea’s chances and the pros and cons of that approach, the pressure and expectations for the national team that his resume brings, how the team can compete against the world’s best nations in 2018 while currently ranked two divisions down from their level and the fairness of them being in the tournament, how hard it was to make it to the NHL as a Korean and how he got there, playing with Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, playing under Scotty Bowman and working with Mike Babcock, what he learned from them, returning to the NHL as a coach, juggling being a husband and parent while being continents away from his family, and he makes a verbal commitment to help hockey in Jeju continue to grow!

Link: http://xppsp.podbean.com/e/xp-psp-e19-jim-paek/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/xp-psp-e19/id643817929

==============

Episode 20 – Guest: Aleksandar Jovanović, defender for Jeju United FC (K-League soccer in Korea).

Aleks and I discuss him playing on a team where virtually no one else speaks English and other cultural challenges of living/playing in Korea, the performance expectations placed upon import players, how the K-League stacks up against other pro soccer leagues, how many languages he speaks, Jeju United’s recent coaching change and what they need to do to become a Asian Cup qualifying team this season, his goals and aspirations for the team and himself this year, and lots more.

Link: http://xppsp.podbean.com/e/xp-psp-e20-aleksandar-jovanovic-jeju-united-fc-defender/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/xp-psp-e20/id643817929

==============

Podcast homepage: http://xppsp.podbean.com/

2014 Jeju Cup Winter Classic

Follow @davecunningFollow @CunningAthletixFollow @xppsp

Unwilling to be restricted to being just an annual summer event, the Jeju Cup will be contested for a second time this calendar year — this time at the 2014 Jeju Cup Winter Classic.

On December 7th, 2014 players of all skill levels and from all locales are invited to be part of a full day of street hockey action — to declare the second Jeju Cup champion, and to push towards our goal of raising 1,000,000 KRW (approxmiately $1000 CAD) for the Jeju Islanders Hockey Club.

As of now, all Jeju Islanders weekly games and events rely solely on donations and out of pocket payments to operate. As our team has grown to regular weekly games of over 20 participants each week, and tournaments with attendance many times that, so have our required expenditures increased. Currently, we need funding for:

• The rental or construction of an equipment storage facility.
• Current and future tournament/event costs.
• Equipment:
  • new sticks as old ones break, and to accommodate our rising amount of players.
  • stick tape.
  • street hockey balls.
  • goalie equipment.
  • jerseys.
  • scoreboard.
  • equipment maintenance.
  • proper goal netting (currently our nets are lined with fishing netting).

To reach that goal, we’ll have mini-game prizes, silent auction items, t-shirts for sale, concessions, and our registration fee that gets you a full day of tournament games, and lunch.

If you’d like to be a part of the competition and the effort, fill out this registration form:

Name(required)

Email(required)

Phone number(required)

Hockey experience level(required)

beginner intermediate advanced

Are you bringing your own hockey stick?(required)

yes no

If not, which way do you shoot?(required)

left right I don't know

Would you prefer a vegetarian lunch?(required)

yes no

Questions or comments:

Submit

Δ

Once you’ve filled out the registration form COMPLETE YOUR REGISTRATION and secure your spot in the tournament by transferring 25,000 KRW via ATM  bank transfer to:

Jeju Bank 18-02-312272

You can also pay your registration fee online by clicking on this PayPal Pay Now button:

OR if you are a local you can pay me cash directly when I see you.

To get to the rink, get yourself to the Jeju City bus terminal on the 1132 highway. Head south a few blocks and fade a little east. It’s right beside the swimming pool in the Sports Complex. Here’s a map:

We are also actively seeking event sponsors who would like to have their company and/or product benefit from the exposure the Jeju Islanders and the Jeju Cup can offer them in our local community, and throughout the world, online. For sponsorship inquiries, please email davecunning09@shaw.ca

Visit the Jeju Islanders Facebook page by clicking here.

Read about the inaugural Jeju Cup street hockey tournament:

1) In the Jeju Weekly: http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=4231

2) On this blog:  https://davecunning.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/jeju-cup-scores-big-puts-hockey-on-the-map-in-jeju-south-korea/

3) in KelownaNow.com: http://www.kelownanow.com/columns/sports/news/Sports/14/07/19/Okanagan_Hockey_Player_Brings_Canada_s_Sport_to_South_Korea

See you at the rink!

-Dave Cunning

President & GM,  Jeju Islanders Hockey Club

Follow @davecunningFollow @CunningAthletixFollow @xppsp

 

Jeju Cup scores big, puts hockey on the map in Jeju, South Korea

Follow @davecunningFollow @JejuWeeklyFollow @dmac5dmark2Follow @WendyMcLeod33Follow @KelownaNow

Photo credit: Douglas Macdonald

I think we might have made hockey a thing on Jeju Island.

The Inaugural Jeju Cup was a stunning success. We amazingly met our fundraising goal of 1,000,000 KRW to benefit the Jeju Inline Academy with purchase assistance of their first set of goalie equipment, which we hope to acquired soon. Besides that, Jeju went from having zero hockey to six teams and 40 players in the span of nine months, featuring a tournament filled with players from Canada, the USA, England, South Africa, and Korea — some reconnecting with the game, and many trying it for the very first time. Backgrounds aside, everyone had a great time, and there were many requests for another event to be hosted in the near future.

But don’t take my word for it, here’s the coverage our tournament got from all over:

event rundown by the Jeju Weekly: http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=4231

the event made news in my hometown of Kelowna, BC Canada too, as Wendy McLeod of KelownaNow.com wrote us up: http://www.kelownanow.com/columns/sports/news/Sports/14/07/19/Okanagan_Hockey_Player_Brings_Canada_s_Sport_to_South_Korea

Locally renowned photographer Douglas Macdonald — who’s had his shots in National Geographic and Getty Images — captured our event through his lens too: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.247836218748279&type=1

If you’d like to support the ongoing growth of hockey in Jeju, South Korea, consider picking up one of our t-shirts, which we sold out of at the event and had to re-order due to their popularity: https://www.etsy.com/shop/davecunning

And you can always join the Jeju Islanders’ Facebook group if you want to keep up with our team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/jeju.island.hockey/

Photo credit: Douglas Macdonald

Follow @davecunningFollow @JejuWeeklyFollow @dmac5dmark2Follow @WendyMcLeod33Follow @KelownaNow

Inaugural Jeju Cup charity street hockey tournament!

Jeju Island’s first street hockey tournament (that I know of) is going down.

On July 13, 2014 players of all skill levels from all locales are invited to be part of a full day of street hockey action — to declare a Jeju Cup champion, and to push towards the goal of raising 1,000,000 KRW (approxmiately $1000 CAD) in July 2014 to be put towards buying the Jeju Inline Academy (JIA) their first set of goalie equipment.

To reach that goal, we’ll have mini-game prizes, silent auction items, t-shirts for sale, concessions, and our registration fee that gets you a full day of tournament games, and lunch. Or you can just straight up donate by clicking on this PayPal Donate button:

If you’d like to be a part of the competition and the effort, fill out this registration form:

Name(required)

Hockey experience level(required)

Beginner Intermediate Advanced

Are you bringing your own stick?

Yes No

If not, which way do you shoot?

Right Left I don't know

Would you prefer a vegetarian lunch option?

Yes No

Phone number

Email(required)

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

TO COMPLETE YOUR REGISTRATION and secure your spot in the tournament, please transfer 20,000 KRW via bank transfer at an ATM to:

Jeju Bank 18-02-312272

OR pay through the above PayPal donation link, or pay me cash directly when I see you.

To get to the rink, get yourself to the Jeju City bus terminal on the 1132 highway. Head south a few blocks and fade a little east. It’s right beside the swimming pool in the Sports Complex. Here’s a map:

Here’s a look at the one of the shirts we’ll be selling at the event:

This and other hockey themed shirts are available to order through my Etsy Store, and all proceeds on them in the month of July 2014 will go towards meeting our goal.

Hope to see you at the rink!

 

 

Hockey’s alive and well in Jeju, South Korea. Here’s another reason why.

Follow @davecunningFollow @Warrior

Well yesterday was amazing.

It was then that I told you all about a ridiculously generous donation that Warrior Hockey made to us in Jeju, South Korea to help grow hockey on our island. As I post this the next day, that afore mentioned post has been viewed over 25,000 times in more than 20 countries, and the meter’s still running. That’s 15,000 more times than my second highest viewed post — which has had a year and a half’s head start on it. That first day total was received more views than I had in 2009, 2010, and 2013, respectively. On Twitter it got more than 20 retweets and favorites, on Facebook it got 120+ likes, 20+ comments and shares, and on Reddit Hockey, it had around 2000 up votes, and got over 300 comments — many pledging to purchase Warrior products in the future, or mentioning they already have because of the story. Truly, there is no better way to Warrior them gratitude than by having a whole bunch of people boost their business. So endless thanks to all who read, commented, shared, have and/or will pick up some Warrior gear to help me say thanks. Beyond that, the post got mentioned by Sports Illustrated, Puck Daddy, and some other major hockey media outlets. Like I said, amazing. That was one of those moments where you realize how cool the internet can be.

But as cool as that all was, I’d be remised not to mention another benefactor who has assisted hockey in Jeju too. Canadian Ball Hockey Korea (CBHK), a group based in Seoul, also made an extremely generous donation to us, shipping us a pile of their experienced sticks, balls, and nearly two full sets of seasoned goalie equipment. It is because of this that we no longer have to share sticks and play posts. One of our awesome Jeju teammates hauled bags worth of stuff from Busan (where CBHK bused it to from Seoul) via airplane to Jeju, and we’ve had no shortage of players, goalie volunteers, or people with cars willing to help haul the gear to the rink and back yet.

I’ve played on a lot of teams in my time, and this is unquestionably one of the most cool and selfless. The fraternity of hockey players is truly a worldwide phenomenon — whether it’s with people in your own town, or with people on the other side of the world that you’ve never met, hockey players from all backgrounds seem to want to help the game grow when they have the opportunity to make it happen.

So another big thanks, this time to our teammates from CBHK in Seoul for their help in kick-starting hockey on Jeju Island, South Korea. If any of you readers find yourselves in Seoul, be sure to get in touch with them and try to get yourselves in a game sometime.

And of course, if any of you ever  find yourselves in Jeju, the same offer stands for you to come and find us to play a little puck!

Follow @davecunningFollow @Warrior

 

Warrior is the best hockey company out there. Here’s why.

Follow @davecunningFollow @Warrior

Playing hockey all your life then moving to an island in Korea that is void of the sport certainly has it’s challenges. But where there’s a will there’s a way, and I need to take this blog post to recognize Warrior Hockey as someone who has become the way for me and others in my community.

When I moved to Jeju, South Korea in 2012, there was literally zero hockey here. No one playing any version of it, and no one that I knew yet that even watched it or kept up with a team. I essentially resigned to the notion that I may not see or play hockey again until I returned home to Canada, eventually.

Slowly, hockey people began to emerge. As we learned of each other’s presence, we began to gather. Sometimes to watch, sometimes to discuss, and eventually to start playing. A Facebook group was started. An inline hockey rink, shop, and kids inline program was discovered. A half built ice rink at Branksome Hall Asia was uncovered as well. Cheap sticks were bought from China, and a ball was sent from Canada. Interest incubated, and before long, we had street hockey games going. Low numbers, but high level enjoyment. I began to play and coach again. Hockey began to hatch around these parts. It became apparent to me that hockey could really happen here, if we gave it a good push in the right direction.

But a major hurdle was the equipment. For a casual hockey tire-kicker, buying a hockey stick for $40-50 in order to try out the sport for the first time was just not feasible. A small handful of us had bit the bullet and bought some, but we did not have the resources to clear the equipment hurdle and provide everyone with sticks in hopes of spurring the interest of  island inhabitants to give our sport a chance.

That is, until Warrior came along.

Though I was constantly sending out S.O.S. messages to hockey companies like Bauer, CCM/Reebok, Easton, and others for months prior, it was Warrior — and only Warrior — that not only sent me a response, but appeared willing to assist our cause. After explaining my intentions to Warrior brand manager Keith Perera on Twitter in 140 characters or less, I was put in contact with Daniel Park, the CEO of Warrior Korea. Mr. Park contacted me via email and expressed interest in visiting our community to assess the state of hockey and whether Warrior could be of assistance to its growth in Jeju.

After flying down and visiting for a day of touring our blossoming hockey grounds, it was not long after that my living room was transformed into this:

Unable to form complete sentences for most of the day, I think I mentioned something about it being like Christmas morning a whole bunch of times.

Without giving you an entire list of inventory, in short, Warrior straight up donated us sticks, helmets, gloves, pads, and bags to help hockey grow and flourish in Jeju, South Korea. It was nothing short of amazing. Warrior has helped us put hockey sticks in the hands of new players that otherwise would not have even tried the game.

So where do we go from here? Well, for starters, if you live in Jeju, come play hockey with us. Join our Facebook group, it’s regularly updated with game times and locations. If you have, or can acquire inline skates, join our inline hockey team. If you have kids in Jeju that want to learn how to play hockey, join the Jeju Inline Academy (email: 6774rlacjfqo@hanmail.com), where I coach. And for goodness sakes, the next time you’re in the market for hockey equipment, please consider Warrior first. Visit warrior.com and/or your local hockey shop and pick up whatever you need (if you’re in Kelowna, Canada, I recommend Chevy’s Source For Sports). They make everything you need, short of skates, and it’s all solid gear. If it works for the likes of Zdeno Chara, Henrik Zetterberg, Jonathan Quick, and other bonafide NHL stars, it’ll work for you too. Your support of them will go a long way in helping me say thanks to a company that cared enough to support us.

If you’re anywhere in Korea and want to buy Warrior gear, shoot Daniel Park and email at ryoma67@naver.com

Thank you Warrior!

UPDATE: This post was mentioned by Sports Illustrated in a post of theirs on May 22nd, 2014.

Follow @davecunningFollow @Warrior

Self Promotion Is So Much Easier When Others Do It For You….

In this little adventure of a writing career I’ve forayed into over the last couple of years, I’ve had a lot of fun talking to all sorts of interesting people and writing interviews and features for various outlets. It didn’t really occur to me that anyone would ever be interested in turning the microphone around towards my face to record what I was saying, but that’s exactly what the Jeju Weekly did recently, when I sat down with Darryl Coote for my first formal interview. It appears in the August edition of their printed paper, and is available online. And below, for your reading pleasure.

Also, I was recently a guest of Thomas Holzerman on The Wrestling Podcast, from the makers of The Wrestling Blog. I talked about WWE-related stuff for a long time, and even got a little hockey talk in at the end. If that sounds like your cup of tea, click right here to listen, or you can click here to listen/download the show on iTunes. 

Enjoy the SDC smorgasbord!

-SDC

Follow @davecunningFollow @CunningAthletixFollow @DarrylCooteFollow @JejuWeeklyFollow @tholzerman

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Writing and hockey, passion and practice

Dave Cunning, a teacher and freelancer, is likely Jeju’s only former pro hockey player

Friday, August 17, 2012, 09:46:07  Darryl Coote  darrylcoote@jejuweekly.com

I met Dave Cunning a couple weeks back. He came to The Weekly’s office looking to write about sports.

Usually I meet people about town and ask them if they want to write for us. But with Dave, he was one of the few who actually came to me.

Soon after, I learned that Dave and I have some things in common. We’re both Canadian, we both write for newspapers, and we both played hockey — though, impressively, Dave played professionally.

▲ Dave Cunning. Photo by Darryl Coote

In early August I sat down with Dave over a couple of beers to talk shop.

“Well, if you want to get technical,” Dave said, “I started writing in college. I mean it was something that everybody does. You’re writing a hundred papers a year and it just gets to the point where either you get good at it or you don’t.”

And then he found blogging. The freedom it offered him to express whatever was on his mind was a nice break from the rigidity of essays.

In 2006, Dave, who only recently became engaged, took blogging with him to France where he went to play professional hockey for Lyon H.C.

“That was one of the things I wrote [about]; I was writing about my experience. I was away from everyone I knew … and I was just alone with a computer and I wanted to tell people what was going on and I just wrote.”

To play hockey at the professional level, he said, was one of his greatest accomplishments.

“I always wanted to play pro hockey. It’s not something that everybody gets to say [they did].”

After that season he went home to Kelowna, British Columbia, where the transition from sport to a regular job wasn’t easy.

“It’s tough when you’ve spent your life pursuing a dream and … [it’s] the only thing that matters and then you’re doing something that couldn’t matter less. You’re working for a paycheck, you’re working to get by. And it’s awful.”

Since he hung up his skates, writing has been a way for Dave to stay in touch with the game he loves. He is still just as invested he said, it’s just from a different perspective.

And though it may not seem like it at first, for Dave there are two main similarities between writing and hockey — passion and practice.

“When you latch on to a story that you love, your best comes out. It’s not that different from the game of hockey. When you’re tuned into the game, you’ve trained, you’ve practiced, you’ve done a million pushups, you’ve done a million wind sprints, you‘ve done everything because you want to be the best at the game.”

The same is true with writing.

“If you half-ass a story it’s going to show up pretty quick,” he said.

The first story Dave wrote (and was paid for) for the Kelowna Daily Courier shows where these two disciplines intersect.

He visited a Kelowna Rockets practice and saw the players in line, just stick handling. “It was just like a hockey school,” he said. Just the basic back and forth from foot to foot.

And for Dave that was the hook for his story. These players, who were one step below the NHL, were doing drills for children just learning the game and he wanted to show that the game doesn’t change much from minor to professional hockey.

“And it’s not that different from writing,” he said. “The best writers probably write every day, probably two or three times a day, or more. We put this crazy interpretation or perception on professionals of any genre that they’re doing these mystical things that normal people can’t do and at the end of the day they just have been doing them consistently, and long enough, to be in really good practice to do them well.”

Along with The Weekly, Dave writes as a contributor for the Kelowna Daily Courier, BetOnHockey.com, and The Score’s Backhand Shelf. For these publications he’s interviewed some pretty big names in the hockey world like Pat Quinn and Mark Recchi. But to Dave, “I like to think every interview is my biggest one. You never know what you’re going to hear, you never know what you get to write, and you never know who is going to read what you get to write.”

Impressively, from Jeju’s shores he is writing once a month for the Kelowna Daily Courier.

For Dave and his wife, Karma, this has been their second foray to Korea to teach English. They were originally in Geoje Island, near the mainland. They left for a year and came to Jeju this past March, and so far it seems to be agreeing with him.

“I want to keep writing. I want to keep training. I want to keep doing the things I love. I want to keep doing the things I’m passionate about. If there’s an opportunity to keep doing that on Jeju then yeah we very well might stay longer. Like I said this place is beautiful. Jeju has so many things to offer for my wife and myself; everybody really.”

Follow @davecunningFollow @CunningAthletixFollow @DarrylCooteFollow @JejuWeeklyFollow @tholzerman

Schwartzel Taps His Inner Seinfeld For Masters Win, Tiger Loses Again, Norm MacDonald, and Hockey Quips.

Shameless self-promotion: I had my latest newspaper article published; did you pick up a copy of The View on Friday? Click here to read it online if you don’t get the paper. Also, follow @LakeCountryBB and @BlackbeltsLCF on Twitter.

==================================================================================

Sorry if this throws you off, but I’ve got a few golf comments to make. I watched the final round of The Masters today, something I didn’t think I was capable of doing. A big part of making it tolerable was listening to Norm MacDonald’s “Norm Cast” running commentary of the event, and even getting one of my tweets read on the air live by Norm.  You should follow Norm on Twitter @normmacdonald and @normsportsshow , and check out the website.

The tweet I got read was, “If Tiger Woods wins the Masters today, expect Michael Vick level forgiveness of transgressions from the masses.” Valiantly try as he might, Tiger did not win. Charl (es?) Schwartzel did wins The Masters, and subsequently lifted the “Seinfeld Curse”(dubbed by Norm and company, as Charl has a striking resemblance to Jerry Seinfeld, facially). So I guess this means Tiger is still a dirty man-whore. How slutty do you think Tiger was over the weekend to play as well as he did? Also, do you think Tiger Woods was rattled that Lee Westwood’s wore his same red shirt, black hat/pants/shoes setup for Masters Sunday? That’s Tiger’s Sunday getup, Lee, everybody knows this.

I felt painfully bad for Rory Mcilroy, watching his Masters-sized meltdown. Guy was leading until he hit a shot onto some guy’s front lawn (who has a house on Augusta, btw?), and basically collapsed from there. Had a chance to be the youngest guy since Tiger to win the Masters, and then he BA-lew it.

I was closet-cheering for South Korea’s KJ Choi to win, and he was in the hunt. I bet KJ Choi played a lot of screen golf in Korea as a youngster. Only people who have lived in Korea will understand that comment. Basically, screen golf is virtual golf; and most Koreans play it instead of real golf because there are very few real golf courses in Korea as there’s very little previously undeveloped land to build them on, and the ones that exist are extremely expensive and exclusive. I am a little surprised Jinro Soju isn’t KJ Choi’s major sponsor (another Korean inside joke, sorry). SK Telecom must’ve won a screen golf bet for his rights.

====================================================================================

So the last place Edmonton Oilers beat the Canucks back to back before the end of the NHL regular season? Can anyone else feel Vancouver’s first round slipping out of their hands?

Vancouver’s Raffi Torres’ hit on Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle seemed like a classic tall guy’s elbow naturally falling at short guy’s head level. Clean hit if Raffi got lower. I honestly thought it was a good, hard, borderline clean hit. The Chara-Pacioretty thing has every call on eggshells, and discipline is expected everytime someone goes down. I think Torres said it best himself, saying he was just finishing his hit, and if he hadn’t he probably wouldn’t be seeing much more ice. I like Eberle, but if players can’t hit, the NHL turn into touch hockey before we know it.

I’m happy that my LA Kings won’t be facing Vancouver in the first round of the playoffs, especially now that they are without Anze Kopitar. I’m also happy that Vancouver will be meeting Chicago in the first round. I’m a casual fan, and I don’t invest my entire existence into my hockey team, nor their playoff hopes. If LA doesn’t win, no big deal. However, for Canucks fans, if Vancouver bows out early yet again, look out innocent civilians residing in the lower mainland of BC….

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Rookie Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes and seasoned veteran Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils both have 30 goals this year. The difference between them? $97.3 million in salary. That seems fair. Oh, Jacques Lemaire just retired again, and Brodeur sucks now? New Jersey is in trouble going forward. Jeff Skinner on the other hand, not so much. Calder?

***************************

Martin St. Louis sure is content using those obscenely yellow Easton sticks, isn’t he?

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I have a hunch that more NHL players are going after Gordie Howe hat tricks on purpose and as a real stat these days. Not that I mind.

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I enjoyed Toronto’s late playoff push. I love how mad so many people would have been if they got in. I think the Leafs have a lot to look forward to next season, as long as Brian Burke doesn’t Niemi/Halak his #1 goalie and trade James Reimer in the off-season, in favour of backing Giguere or Gustavsson (who is anything but a monster. Unless he’s one from Monsters, Inc).

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And finally, Cory Clouston gets tossed out of Ottawa. After getting the worst out of every good player Ottawa had under his regime, feuding with Dany Heatley to the point of a no-trade clause waiving trade, and finishing nearly last in the league over and over, how did it take this long for this to happen?

Look Soccer, We Have to Talk….

Look soccer, I tried.  I tried really hard to like you, and to even fall for you.  On your grandest stage of all, the World Cup, I’ve kept up to date on highlights, tried to get a feel for who’s good and who’s not, forced myself to watch “The Footy Show”, and in the end, I hate to break it to you but….I’m just not that into you. 

I’ll stand by my earlier claims that I respect the abilities of the top players in the game, and thoroughly enjoy playing the game; but as far as sitting at home at watching on TV, I’m going to have to pass. 

I feel like this point has been beaten to death over the years, but you guys gotta score more goals.  Scoring = excitement in all sports, 100% of the time.  I can’t pretend to be riveted to the action of another “nil-nil” scoreless draw.  As I’ve previously iterated, Your game features THE BIGGEST NET IN SPORTS, so someone fill that net already, especially in a tournament that allows you to pick up extra points in the standings for your team’s “Goals For”, in addition to wins, losses, and draws.  Oh yeah, by the way, points for a tie?  Isn’t this the playoffs?  There are no ties allowed in the playoffs of any sport, I thought this was unilaterally understood.  Someone win the freaking game already, you only get to compete every 4 years in this tournament, so go make your mark, don’t just be happy to be there.

And can someone please tell us, definitively, how much time is actually left in the game? 90 minutes is clearly not 90 minutes.  I think the whole injury time thing is a good idea; recouping all the time the divers have wasted, plus the legitimate stoppages.  But why does the referee have to keep this seemingly arbitrary number of game extension time so secret?  Why can’t it be displayed on the clock with the rest of the time; or even better, why can’t you just stop the clock all together for said stoppages??

It’s possible that because Canada sucks at soccer didn’t qualify for the tournament nor will they ever, I am less enthused about the whole event.  On a side note though, I heard you’ve been screwing the American team, so you’ve got that going for you; keep it up, you’ll win Canadians over yet.  After spending a year in South Korea, I’ve found myself rooting for them a bit; also for the home South Africans because of friends we have there, and for the old standby’s of Brazil, Italy, and England.  Wasn’t France supposed to be good too?  But after a while, you realize there’s like a bazillion teams (well, 32) competing, and that just seems like such an obtuse number of squads competing at once.  Can’t you just narrow down the field a bit more before calling the tournament?  I mean, you’ve had 4 years to whittle down the numbers, it’s not like you were short on time or anything…   

I feel like comparing your game to China; in that we’ve been hearing for years now that China is going to take over the world in all aspects, and we’d all better learn to speak Chinese or we’ll all be screwed and have no future.  I’ve been hearing how soccer is the most popular sport in the world (probably true, in the global sense) and how it’s eventually going to be all the rave in North America.  Well, bad news for both hopefuls – I’m getting tired of waiting, and the language I’ve been speaking and the sports I’ve been playing all my life seem just fine they way they are (If China wins the World Cup, I’ll sign up for Mandarin classes).

I’ll give you one thing though, I DO like those vuvuzelas.  Seriously, I think they’re great.  I’m not sure if they’re an African thing or not, but if they are, no one should be saying a thing about banning them.  If that’s a cultural thing, let it be.  They sing during games in Europe, let them blow horns in Africa; why is this worth so many people getting angry about, and people having to invent software to edit them out of broadcasts?  I think it adds a unique flavour to the tournament.

I resolve to continue to be a casual soccer fan.  I’ll probably watch the final, and the odd highlight package, but don’t expect much more from me.  Unless they give all the players sticks.  And they let the players bodycheck.  And they pour water on the field and freeze it.  When those things happen, let me know, and we’ll talk.  Until then…..