Sports

[image-1] Last night kicked off the slew of great, and may I add free, Canada Games concerts. I’ve seen my share of Grand Parade shows, but hadn’t been to one since I think the Junos, where I was likely also sardined to see Joel. And last night, sardined we were once again, which is great. Thousands showed up, sang along and bobbed in unison. Downtown was spirited and it was really lovely to see so many people on the streets. Mayor Kelly did his usual candy hand-out, there was free cider, Darrell Dexter showed of his “singing” chops and even

[image-1] Says the Herald: A lack of television coverage of the 2011 Canada Winter Games has ticked off some Nova Scotia fans… He said it is disappointing major broadcasters like CBC or CTV do not have additional cameras and crews in Nova Scotia for the two-week celebration of athletics and culture that has about 2,700 young athletes from across Canada in the province, along with hundreds of supporters. “Isn’t CBC supposed to be our national broadcaster?” he fumed. A similar story was heard from other frustrated fans, some of whom called or emailed The Chronicle Herald to complain about the

[image-1] National Sports channel TSN, in partnership with CTV, offers up Friday’s night’s opening ceremonies from the Metro Centre. I have to give the organizers credit for their choice of performers, amongst them Rich Aucoin, The Stanfields and especially Tanya Davis, whose poem was a highlight. But I wished we’d had a chance to enjoy Aucoin’s introduction and performance before the cameras swooped down on the athletes parading into the arena. And who chose the lighting and set design for this thing? All those empty seats at the beginning—later filled by the athletes—looked terrible. And dancers in toques and sweaters

Walking past Grand Parade, er, I mean, Celebration Square this evening, I noticed they’ve set up the stage for all the noon concerts scheduled for the next couple of weeks. I have no idea how many people will attend these shows, but any more than a couple of hundred, and they’ll be stretching their necks […]