Prized free-agent Mats Sundin has said that he doesn't want to rush any decisions when it comes to where he signs.

Well it looks like he's come to a decision.

They're like the Maple Leafs fans of the CFL, except they've seen a championship this generation.

It doesn't matter where you are in Canada, if you have a CFL team, they'll show up in droves to watch their team.

Whenever, the "Green Riders" come to town (I guess they'd be the only "Riders" now) to play the B.C. Lions, crazy things have been known to happen.

As a kid when one, or all, of my teams lost, I'd take it personally; these days a loss just rolls off my back.

The losing streak that my alma mater's football team is on, however, is a little too much. The SFU Clan football team hasn't won a game in three seasons; 25 games to be exact.

Anytime I'd listen to sports talk radio, the topic du jour was Canada's medal count--even Jim Rome and some of his dumbass clones took shots.

Fortunately, the dike broke and a flood of medals has come our way; 13 medals at last count.

Back in the days it was a piece of unadorned fiberglass used to strictly to protect the goalie's face from the puck, kind of like the mask Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees runs around in.

Later a helmet/cage combination was en vogue--the same kind of helmets worn by Troy Gamble and Dan Cloutier.

These days a modern fiberglass helmet, that covers protects the entire head and chin, is what the cool kids wear and it gives the netminder the opportunity to get a little creative with the design.

Kirk McLean's Scottish horses, Corey Hirsch's homage to Hitchcock's Psycho, whatever the hell was on Felix Potvin's, Kay Whitmore's eagle and salmon, Luongo's current Johnny Canuck are some of the designs that Vancouver goalies have used.

But the most popular sport in the world, football, aka Soccer, seems to be gaining a lot of traction too.

I attended all the games from the Under-20 World Cup last year and I don't remember seeing an empty seat.

I was also at the Nutrilite Canadian Championship game, between Toronto FC (Major League Soccer) and our Vancouver Whitecaps (USL Division 1) recently, and again it was a packed house.

The 'Caps covet a promotion to the MLS and recently added a heavy hitter to ownership with the announcement that fave hoops son, Steve Nash, would be footing part of the bill and would do his part to aid in the bid.

I know the emphasis is on the local scene but I also like hearing about other sports too.

That's where shows like ESPN's early morning Mike & Mike show and "The Jungle" with Jim Rome come in.

I like hearing about the local teams but I also like hearing about American college football and basketball and MLB as well.

I particularly like "The Jungle."

Rome is an acquired taste and can be grating if you aren't used to his style.

Yes, he's extremely sarcastic; yes he ridicules his callers if he doesn't agree with them and yes there is a lot of dead air; still it's easily one of my favorite shows.

Echoing a number of callers who phoned into the postgame show on the TEAM 1040, I was disheartened to find out only 37,000 and change showed up to the game that also served as a public memorial to late-Prez and CEO Bob Ackles. (Pics inside)

I remember back in the nineties when we used to go to B.C. Lions games; we would buy nosebleed seats and sneak down to the lower section.

B.C. Place was so empty back then the security guards didn't really care.

When I caught the Western Final back in 1999, the announced attendance was only around 29,000 if memory serves me correctly.

Under 30,000 for a West Final? Numbers unheard of considering the last few Western Finals under the Dome have been near capacity (but not sold out).

We've come a long way baby.

-Djarums
-a ridiculous headband
-witty banter/extensive knowledge of obscure Italo space disco
-some sort of fancy fig tapenade
-war paint
-a bottle of cheap but slightly eccentric alcohol, such as Baby Duck, Scnapps, Rice Wine, Cooking Sherry...
-free spirited alt-moms
-fixie

* Denotes photos from Flickr user Bob Ayers.

I had the pleasure of catching my second ever Terminal City Rollergirl Flat Track bout between the Faster Pussycats and the Bad Reputations--mind you, the Reputations also were in the first bout I caught.

This time around there was a lot more mayhem; more bodies flying and a lot more carnage.

How does one prepare for something like Flat Track Rollerderby and how does one cool down?

I decided to ask a member from each team; "Cinder Hella #86" from the Bad Reps and "Lorenagade #5000" from the Faster Pussycats.

Bob Ackles, the man single-handedly responsible for the renaissance of the B.C. Lions, passed away early this morning of a heart attack according to TSN.

He was 69-years old.

Having the Canucks play a game vs. Toronto at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday a few years ago to appease the fans in the East.

Seeing the Leafs' pursuit of Eric Lindros as the lead story on Sportsdesk (remember Sportsdesk?) for a month straight even after it was clear there would be no deal.

The examples are seemingly endless.

Fans of three down football also have a reason to get their hate on for T.O. as a group of Torontonian businessmen (including Ted Rogers) are attempting to bring a National Football League team to the "Center of the Universe" and that has people around here irked.

Last year I caught a couple of games for the U-20 World Cup at Swangard and again, I was in awe of the "Beautiful Game".

On the world stage there are two major soccer tournaments, the World Cup being one and the 2008 Union of European Football Associations' (UEFA) European Football Championship (Euro 2008) being the other.

Since the tournament is based in Europe -- Austria and Switzerland to be exact -- the time difference means that games that are in prime time there are in the early and late mornings here.