The Bird of Prey

Need I say more. There's no other cornerback like Green Bay's Al Harris. For years I've been drawn to Green Bay for the legend of Vince Lombardi, its heart and soul Brett Favre and the killer instinct of Al Harris. For a few years it seemed like there were only two players on Green Bay. On the offence Favre and on defence Al Harris. Now both key players have a team and Harris is as lethal and driven as ever. The guy never stops moving. Never misses a beat. Like he has eyes in the back of his head, he swoops in on his kill when he's out of their range and he's on them when they're out of his range. He creates big plays out of nowhere. In last night's game against Dallas, he was everywhere that he could be. Lurching, stretching, flying through, over and above the likes of T.O. and the rest of the Cowboys stellar offensive weapons. Even losing Favre didn't rattle this team's constitution, they are a team, one for all and all for one and Aaron Rodgers proved his strength. Comforting to know they've got a QB in the wings who can really play. But the man on the field that never stops working, scoping, attacking for a second, like a hungry falcon, Mr. Al Harris. Lethal.

The Dream Job

The thing I love about sports is that it is a meritocracy. One gets ahead based on merit. If you're good - you play. Unlike writing, art. If you're good it doesn't really matter because it's not so black and white. It's too subjective and those in power affect your destiny based on personal taste, politics, the market and numbers. So no matter how original or great your work is, how well you hone your craft, how many books you have out, if you're not writing the right thing, telling the saleable story, then the powers that be dismiss you, even if the 'people' like you. Shades of socialism - oh yes. I should have been a wide receiver. I'm fast, agile and disciplined and being in the writing business all these years, I can handle a hit or two. But being a wide receiver wouldn't be my dream job. No, being one of those guys on Rogers Sportsnet's televised talk-radio shows, that's my idea of a dream job. You go to work in jeans, sip Tim Horton's coffee all day and talk about sports. They sit around all day, in jeans, drinking coffee, talking about sports and get paid for it. There's not even the pressure of being an on-air TV personality because really they are on the radio being filmed, podcasts. The camera is like a fly on the wall. Hair and makeup aren't an issue. They just have to talk, and talk, and talk all day about sports and get paid for it. Now that's a dream job. How do you get that job? I love to talk about sports, look good in jeans - are you hiring?!

Draining the Football Pool

I'm not a quitter. A procrastinator, complainer, oh yes, but I don't give up, usually. While travelling last week, incessantly I checked my email for week ten's picks. Saturday night, Sunday morning, still nothing. I arrived home, nothing. I didn't receive last week's picks. Missing a week in a pool is a huge impediment. It's virtually impossible to catch up, unless the gods grant me all my wishes and from here on out I ace every single game including the Superbowl. Impossible. So I withdrew from my football pool. I quit. Not out of spite, or even because I'll never win, but it seemed like the perfect time to shed myself of the unhappiness being in a football pool brings me, the constant disappointment and the inability to watch the games for the game's sake. Today I did that, when the score said Indy 13, KC 10, I didn't think, oh no, they didn't cover the spread. I thought, yay, Indy won. And that happened with every game. I celebrated wins and losses for the pure joy of seeing a team I prefer win or lose. I watched the day's games with the monkey off my back, with emotion, not counting numbers, checking the spreads and my football pool print out. Today, I enjoyed the game of football for what it is and for that I don't mind being a quitter.

Zen and the Art of Football Maintenance

All I have to say is the Colts vs the Patriots. The ultimate match-up, the pre-Superbowl. Manning vs Brady. It makes the hair on my arms stand on end. Makes me think of the movie Gladiators or Braveheart or Apocalypto, great fight scenes, lots of drama, emotion and no matter where one's loyalties lie, someone's going to lose and it's going to be devastating either way. I've been dreaming about it. The Patriots have been extremely lethal this season, slaughtering the Redskins 52-7 last week, the week before that they beat the Dolphins 49-28. Despite the Dolphins self-pity media banter how would they have handled the Redskin's 52-7 defeat or one of the more touted teams, Dallas' 48-27 defeat. It's all relative and for the Patriots it's just another day at the office. Whether the NFL's patching up hurt feelings, broken bones, broken rules or terminations, nothing can change the fact that one of its undefeated superstars is about to lose. Tomorrow it's my team the Patriots are up against and in my dreams I hear warrior drums and everything's in slow motion. Brady strides onto the field in his silver helmet, robocopish stature and sturdy glare. Followed by the thundering cleats of his brilliant teammates and Manning's standing there in all his wizardry and lethal genius, his sly and tricky and equally brilliant teammates at his side and it's like Yoda vs Darth Vader. It's a toss-up whose mental strength and cunning is going to outdo the other. This weekend's game against the two power houses is going to be physically exciting but I think it's going to be the Zen of these two teams that will decide the outcome.

A Bull Fight

How many superstars does it take to score a goal? Apparently twelve because the eleven Barcelona put on the pitch in yesterday's 0-0 Champions League match against Rangers were useless. Barcelona has always been one of my favourite European sides, and now more than ever with a stellar line up including the likes of Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Gio Dos Santos, Eidur Gudjohnsen,Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, plus the former Dutch international Frank Rijkhaard at the helm. No strangers to goal scoring, how is it none of the superstar strikers put a ball in the net? Ranger's defence was good but really. Ronaldinho had moments of brilliance and came closer than anyone to scoring. At least he appeared to be trying. Unlike his teammate and usually great goal scorer Thierry Henry who was for the most part invisible, so invisible I wondered if he was slipping over to the Arsenal vs Slavia game and scoring goals for his former team. Talk about going from the ridiculous to the sublime - Arsenal beat Slavia 7-nil. Of the 8 Champions League games played yesterday, two really stood out to me. One for what did happen and the other for what didn't. One of Barcelona's newest stars didn't light up the pitch, and his old team Arsenal proved the show must go on and pretty damn well without him. No doubt Henry made the right move going to Spain's often dazzling side, however is sharing the spotlight with so many other stars going to put a damper on his flare? Rangers put up a good fight warding off Barcelona's tempered weapons. It reached a point where I was praying they would score. Barry Ferguson had a few good chances; if only his legs had been a bit longer. I wanted them desperately to take the bull by the horns. It would have been a sweet victory. So how many superstars does it take to score a goal? Probably only one, as long as the rest stay in the wings.

Hey Ladies!

On my flight back to New York yesterday, the Italian Women's soccer team were on the same plane. I would have assumed that they were on their way to China, via JFK, except that Italy didn't qualify for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China. Had I not gathered from the conversation the flight attendant attempted to have with them that they spoke little to no English I would have asked them a slew of questions. Of course my immediate reaction when I saw the team dressed in blue T-shirts and shorts board the plane was a superstitious one, OH, My God, I'm flying with a soccer team. The team might also be superstitious because compared to the amount of them that were checking in, only half were on my flight. However, the flight was perfect and superstitions are, well, just that. But it did get me thinking about the upcoming Women's World Cup. I've become familiar with many of the US and Canadian national team's players over the past few years and for the most part the women's national teams from those two countries have stronger sides than the men's. It's in the statistics. The US have weapons in their forwards Kristine Lilly, Natasha Kai and Abby Wambach and break out of the gate on Sept 11 against Korea DPR, who I have no doubt will be packed with their own ammunition. Canada's side is full of players who already play for MLS clubs and USL sides such as the Vancouver Whitecaps, New Jersey Wildcats, Toronto Lynx and Ottawa Fury, they include striker Christine Sinclair, defender Melanie Booth and forward Rhian Wilkinson, to name a few. They kick off on Sept 12th against Norway. In my gut, I foresee Canada and the US in the finals, be it quarter, semi's or the big 'F'. It all starts on September 10th. Should be high calibre play, another great event to fill up the old sports calendars with.