U should really catch some of the action

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/02/2017 (3485 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

My first few opportunities at sportswriting were assignments covering university sports. While attending the U of M, I had strolled into the offices of The Manitoban and asked if I could write some sports stories. The sports editor at the time, John Ehinger — for some reason said, “Sure.”

When I later landed a paying gig at the Winnipeg Sun, I spent a considerable amount of time at Bison East Gym and the U of W’s Duckworth Centre — once again covering university sports.

And then when I made my way to the Free Press in 1987, I also was also often assigned the task of keeping readers up to date on the Wesmen and Bisons.

I remember a number of things from those early days in my career: the Wesmen women’s volleyball team winning five straight national championships; Terry Garrow draining one three-pointer after another for the Bisons men’s hoops team; Stu Grimson scoring goals (and knockouts) for the Bisons men’s hockey team; and a crazed, packed house watching the Bisons play top-ranked Pepperdine University in men’s volleyball.

The buzz and excitement around the two local gyms was wildly invigorating to a cub reporter new to the profession.

Over the years, those crowds at the U of M and the U of W have dwindled — from thousands to hundreds.

I’ve been asked many times, and have always been curious myself — Why don’t Canadians rally around high school and university sports like our American brethren? I don’t have an answer for that — do you?

Is it YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Netflix? There are certainly more entertainment options today than the late ’80s. But, college sports in the U.S. does not seem to have been affected by the advent of the Internet.

Is it the return of the Winnipeg Jets? The Jets 1.0 were around back then, but today’s 2.0 version seems to have a much broader and captivated audience.

Is it the long drive out to the U of M? Bomber fans aren’t crazy about that either.

Is it the parking downtown at the U of W? Jets fans seem to find a place to park.

Perhaps I’m getting older and longing for yesteryears; perhaps you get a little tired of listening to the waves of emotions folks around these parts express over the wins and losses of our local NHL team; maybe it’s the response I have received to this recent column of mine where your comments, calls and emails have encouraged me to provide more support to local sports.

Whatever the motive, my question is the same — what happened to those larger crowds that used to attend university sports events in our city?

I know a guy to ask.

Garth Pischke was coaching that Bisons men’s volleyball team back when I first wrote about them, and hundreds and hundreds of wins later — he’s over 1,000 now — he’s still coaching them to the top-ranking in the land. He’s seen the crowds dwindle and admits to periods of frustration over the lack of interest. And frankly doesn’t get it.

“These athletes put just as much dedication into their sport as an NHL athlete,” Pischke said Thursday after a Bisons press conference where he introduced seven local recruits for the 2017-18 season.

“Folks are missing the boat. If they would come out and watch, they’d see how athletic these guys are.”

I asked Pischke, never one to pull a punch, why he thinks less people come to the games these days. With a raised eyebrow he looked me and said, “It’s not that people are not interested, but someone has to nurture that interest.”

He meant me and my colleagues in the local media.

He also admitted the university could do a better job at showcasing the talent with a video replay board and a better sound system — making it a better “fan experience.” That, of course, takes cash, and there’s not a lot of that flowing into Canadian university sports programs these days. Perhaps increased attendance would help.

It’s the old chicken and the egg: we here at the FP have cut our coverage of university sports — one of the reasons being lack of interest. But Pischke intimates that if we increase our coverage, more people will come out.

Hmm, that’s a bit of a dilemma. What do you think? If we had more stories on the Bisons and Wesmen, would you perhaps become more interested; skip the occasional Jets game on the tube and head out to IGAC or the Duckworth Centre?

So, it seems there is a shared responsibility here: ours, the universities’ and yours.

It’s playoff season on the campus scene and the Bisons and Wesmen have numerous teams battling for a Canada West and/or national title. We’ll have reports on (www.winnipegfreepress.com) and our Saturday edition of the paper. Perhaps that will pique your interest.

Last week, I challenged you to show your support for amateur sport by considering a volunteer position at this summer’s Canada Games. This week, I’m inviting you out to a game.

For a complete schedule of events check out either  (http://www.gobisons.ca/index.aspx) or (http://www.wesmen.ca/landing/index).

 

On the home front..

• Four student -athletes were recipients of the Dr. Dale Iwanoczko Memorial Volleyball Scholarships this week.

The $1,000 awards are presented annually in memory of the Selkirk volleyball player, who began his career playing for Lord Selkirk Regional High School and was later a five-time All-Canadian with the U of M Bisons. He died of Hodgkin’s disease at the age of 30.

To be eligible for the scholarship a student must be proceeding to a post-secondary institution and have a minimum 75 per cent academic average. The individual must have proficiency in volleyball; academic standing and involvement in school and community are also considered.

This year’s winners are: Owen Schwartz of the Lord Selkirk Royals; Georgia-Rae Maxwell of the Elton Collegiate Sabres; Taylor Kleysen, captain of the Vincent Massey Collegiate Trojans; and Dylan Sutherland of the Vincent Massey High School Vikings in Brandon.

• Family and friends gathered on Thursday at the Bisons weekly press conference to watch Pischke introduce those previously mentioned seven local recruits for the 2017-18 season.

Joining the U of M program next year will be middle hitter Carter Butterfield (Dakota), outside and middle hitter Zach Janzen (Linden Christian), left-side hitter Jon Laube (Fort Richmond), setter Jack Mandryk (Lord Selkirk), left side Owen Schwartz (Lord Selkirk), setter Dylan Sutherland (Vincent Massey-Brandon) and middle Brendan Warren (Vincent Massey).

 

On the horizon..

• The 2017 Yonex Canadian Masters Badminton Championships will be held in Winnipeg April 3-8 at Red River College.

The annual event is for athletes 30 years and older, in age categories that go all the way to over-85.

It’s the first time the Manitoba Badminton Association will be hosting the event since 1993 and it’s expected hundreds of athletes will be participating from across North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Registration deadline for the competition is March 3 and more information is available @ Masters2017.ca

 

And finally — the stats, man..

I often get calls and emails from readers wondering about decisions we make regarding our stats page. As a young lad it was my favourite page in the paper, so I understand the emotional attachment folks feel to the various scores and standings

A few years ago, I made the decision to no longer run Major League Baseball boxscores. Always my favourite thing to pore over while enjoying a morning coffee, it was a tough cut. Unfortunately, the MLB boxscores took up so much space, and with real estate in the sports section at a premium, the decision was made to use it for stories rather than stats. The same logic went into last fall’s decision to drop the full page of NFL summaries we had historically had in our Monday paper.

While space for stats has been shrinking in recent years, the demand for them has been as well. Most folks these days get instant access to stats on a variety of websites. Our priority has always been, and continues to be, providing distinct content you can’t access anywhere else.

Over the last few weeks, I have received some calls and emails about our decision to run standings for the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League once a week (Tuesdays) instead of every day. There are many leagues in many sports that would like to have their standings in our section on a daily basis. That is not feasible, but we try to run them periodically to keep our readers up to date. The MMJHL has a website with scores and standings and a number of readers have said they get their info there, but also appreciate the weekly standings update and daily scores in our section. Thanks to Harvey from the MMJHL for sending the daily scores and weekly standings — without him we would not have been able to arrive at this compromise.

steve.lyons@freepress.mb.ca