sports

I hate to admit it, but this goal made me scream like a 12 year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert:

As the Vancouver Canucks prepare for game seven with the Chicago Blackhawks, I can't help but think that the negative energy and pessimistic attitude of Vancouver fans and media has played a role in this teams recent losses.

I have been around sports long enough to know that the energy from not just the crowds at the games but also the fans in the city, plays a huge role in helping or hindering a team. Energy fields are real things and self-fulfilling prophecies are real phenomenons.

An example of how this works to the detriment of the team can be seen with the British world cup football (soccer) team. A plethora of horrible, paparazzi style media in the UK is constantly searching for the slightest issue to turn into a massive negative story. This constant negativity combined with the high expectations of UK football fans creates a highly charged negative atmosphere that constantly hangs over the team. Englands results at World Cups over the last 40 years speak for themselves.

An example of how positive energy from fans and a city can support a team can be found most recently with team Canada's performance at the Olympics. If you were in Vancouver durring the Olympics, then you know that the positive energy that I am talking about is a real thing. Team Canada's win in the hockey gold medal game is now legendary, but without the positive energy that permeated this city, I am convinced that the pressures on the team would have been too great to overcome. The "I believe" campaign worked; we did believe.

I once was part of an Ultimate frisbee team that won the Canadian university championship. We had a skilled team but it was on the mental side that we really excelled. The team openly preached something we called PMA: positive mental attitude. PMA means never getting down, it means staying light and having fun, it means never yelling at a teammate when they make a mistake, it means believing in yourself and your teammates.

Canucks fans that want to see the team win need to embrace a PMA. We need to consider ourselves as part of the team. If you were on the team, would you yell "Luongo, you fucking idiot" if he let in a bad goal? Would you boo and cat call from the bench if things weren't going the teams way? Would you say out loud "Oh no, here we go again, were're going to lose". If you did those things, you would be kicked off the team pretty damn quick.

Of course, as a fan, you have every right to yell and scream whatever you want and to think however you want. But if you want this team to win, then you will be best served thinking the way you'd want the players to think: positively. If you want the players to believe in themselves, then you have to believe in the players... you can't have it both ways.

I've posted another video on wing suit base jumping (here) but the video below is the best I've seen. The progression that is happening with these suits is amazing; especially considering that making a mistake in this sport is not an option. I have no doubt that someone will eventually land one of these things without a parachute.

Watch carefully for base jumper at the beginning:

Evolution seems to be the rasion d'etre of the entire cosmos. That idea is reflected in a lot of individual adventure sports; progression for both for the sport as a whole and the individuals who practice that sport is what it's all about.

In skateboarding, I still think a "simple" rail slide is a crazy trick, but now any top level skateboarder will throw in some kind of kick flip combo on the way onto and off of the rail. It's on the mega-ramps, though, that the sport is really progressing in new ways:

It's still early days for this sport; the skis look budget and the skill set isn't there; but you can definitely see the potential in what these guys are trying to do.

This is obviously going to be a pretty specialized sport with the jet ski requirement but, with a paddle, it could become more popular (like stand up paddle surfboards are now). There looks to be good potential with the kite surfing/ skiing too.

Sport can progress quickly... mountain biking didn't really get going until the late 1980's and look at it now at the: red bull rampage

10 world surfing titles is an amazing feat that will probably never happen again but coming so soon after the untimely death of 32 year old Andy Irons, it doesn't seem that important. R.I.P. - Andy Irons

A while back I posted this video of Patrick Rizzo downhill skateboarding. That video gives such a great point of view experience of what it's like to fly down a hill at un-godly speeds while standing on a board that's a few inches above the pavement.

Today, I came across the video below of a good o'le Canadian boy demolishing the previous downhill skateboarding speed record. 27-year old Mischo Erban, who lives in Vernon, BC, hit 130.08 km per hour (almost 81 miles per hour) powered only by gravity at a secret location in Colorado.

What blows me away about this video is how calm he looks while riding an inch away from serious personal damage:

Not many sports have progressed as fast as mountain biking. It was only about 15 years ago that the first decent full suspension bikes were coming out. Hell, front suspension didn't even exist until the late 80's when it was basically just a bunch of rubber bumpers.

Check out Jenson Kimmett from Edmonton Alberta winning the 2010 yo-yo championship. These are some mad skilz. Canada representin' yo..... yo.

I used to play quite a bit of ultimate frisbee; especially in University. The sport unfortunately doesn't get the respect it deserves when it's played at a high level. This highlight real catch,however, made it onto ESPN and seems to have earned some props from the announcer:

P.S. - sorry about the stupid add at the beginning of the vid

Here's a you tube version without the commentary