Last week I hinted, all right I basically flatly stated, this week I would look at sports which would warrant my viewing if they were only available on Canadian TV with Canadian teams to follow.
It is interesting when you have an idea percolating for a week, or so, you see some fresh perspectives arise.
That happened Friday evening at the home opener of the Yorkton Terriers. While this space has stayed away from local sports, leaving that to others on staff, as I watched the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League game it did cross my mind would I crawl out of the house for other high level sports pitting teams representing Saskatchewan cities against one another?
It would stand to reason a Junior or Senior basketball team should be possible, as an example. Would we see people support such an effort though?
Considering the SJHL struggles at times to hold crowds, it would seem a stretch to see a basketball league supported.
But the Toronto Raptors have raised the profile of basketball considerably across the country, especially the last couple of National Basketball Association seasons, so maybe we are closer to having a core of basketball fans than I think, and yes I suspect I would be interested in such a league.
Of course we do have the Western Major Baseball League, which offers excellent quality baseball, and while the local Cardinals are now long established, they still play to crowds I always believe should be far larger given the quality of the ball being played.
And that brings me to the point I must write of a great sadness if you are a Cardinals fan, or baseball locally, the passing of long-time manager Bill Sobkow.
Bill and I went back a ways. I was a modest hockey and baseball card collector in my years past, and frequented his shop in the city, more often talking baseball than me ever-buying many cards, but he never seemed to mind. That was Bill of course. He loved the game.
When the Cardinals joined the WMBL Bill was instrumental in that effort, and he has been the general manager, coach, president, equipment manager, cheerleader and any other role needed over the years to keep a team fielded. I just happened to be there pen and notepad in hand covering the team’s arrival in the league.
I have covered the team as a journalist ever since, and Bill had filled his multiple roles through the years.
Win, or lose, Bill always had time for the media. He never had harsh words for umpires missing calls, and there were times I know I would not have been nearly as forgiving. He never blasted players, even if the muffed plays the mosquito players on the neighbouring diamond would have made routinely.
Bill was, first, and foremost, a gentleman, and as a journalist I appreciated that.
With his passing a definite vacuum now exists in the Cardinal organization. Since day one Bill has captained the ship, and that leaves a huge set of shoes to fill. Hopefully someone, or some two or three, step forward to take on the multiple roles Bill filled.
But in the interim the Cardinals and local baseball have lost a supporter who loved the game to his very core, and he will be missed for his quiet leadership and tireless efforts for the good of the game.
And now back to the stated premise of this week’s column.
A sport that I would readily watch starts with one that until a few days ago I was aware of, but thanks to happenstance I have fallen quite heavily for.
Back in 2005, a documentary entitled ‘Murderball’ was released. It was about wheelchair rugby and the rivalry between Canada and the United States. It was a great film, and tweaked my interest just a little at the time.
“Wheelchair Rugby is a mixed team sport for male and female quadriplegic athletes,” details the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation website at www.iwrf.com. “A unique sport created by athletes with a disability, it combines elements of rugby, basketball and handball. Players compete in teams of four to carry the ball across the opposing team’s goal line. Contact between wheelchairs is permitted, and is in fact an integral part of the sport as players use their chairs to block and hold opponents …
“In 1993 with 15 countries actively participating, the wheelchair rugby was recognized as an official sport for athletes with a disability, and the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) was established as a sport section of the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation. That same year seven countries participated at the Stoke Mandeville International World Wheelchair Games.
“In 1994, Wheelchair Rugby was officially recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as a Paralympic sport. The first Wheelchair Rugby World Championships were held the following year in Nottwil, Switzerland with eight teams competing.”
But parasports don’t get a lot of coverage, so becoming a diehard fan in Yorkton, SK., was not something easily achieved.
Then last week I am reading late at night, the TV on as background noise. It happened to be on CBC and its coverage of the Paralympics from Rio.
Canada was playing Great Britain in wheelchair rugby. Within about two minutes the bookmark was in Sherlock Holmes pastiche I was reading. It was set on the coffee table and I was glued to the TV. What a great game. It would go to overtime, Canada winning by a single point.
I quickly searched out the schedule and hit DVR.
I marveled at the skill and tenacity of the players. Canadian Zak Madell is a superstar, pure and simple. Cody Caldwell is so steady. And interestingly Miranda Biletsky, a gal is on the team. She hails from Regina.
The top teams, Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan, Great Britain are all amazing, each with one or two outstanding players who are their go-to stars to score.
Canada would end up in the bronze medal game, losing 52-50 to Japan, in a game not as close as the score might suggest.
The gold was a classic game, going to overtime with Australia winning 59-58 over the United States.
Games play out over four, eight-minute quarters. A score is a single point, and hitting 50-points seems a usual occurrence, so the action is fast and furious.
I found it interesting the sport has Canadian roots. Duncan Campbell is acknowledged throughout the world as the creator of the sport. In 1976, in Winnipeg, Campbell, and a small group of friends, developed the basic rules, regulations and chair design that form the basis of this high impact, hugely popular Paralympic team sport.
While you are aware the players have lost limbs, they are in wheelchairs after all, and many are missing parts of hands and arms as well, it is not something that you dwell on as a viewer. The game is too exciting. The action too end-to-end. The drama of big hits, yes chairs get up-ended at times, and the thrill of long passes, to enticing to dwell on more than the ebb and flow of a great sport.
Perhaps too often we focus all of our attention in sport on able-bodied men’s sports, and don’t appreciate what else exists out there.
Watching wheelchair rugby this past week certainly confirms that for me. I’d tune in to watch Team Canada play anytime. I’d go farther to suggest a league of top teams would draw my interest, simply because it is an exciting sport played by athletes dedicated to their endeavour.
More next week.
