Belleville is known as the Friendly City.
For this reporter, the city certainly lived up to its moniker
and then some during my recent two-day stint covering the
Sudbury Wolves on the road for Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern
Conference championship.
My first sense of the overall friendliness was when I pulled
out of my hotel parking lot onto a major city street in the
middle of rush hour traffic.
I groaned as I reached the street and realized there was a long
line of traffic waiting to go through the intersection. I
thought I'd be waiting for hours to merge out.
But, the very first car gave a short blast of their horn to get
my attention and waved me in. (This would happen time and time
again at this particular location, going in and out of the
hotel parking lot.)
On my second day in Belleville, I took a trip downtown to get
some pictures of the local scenery.
I got lost and was forced to make a U-turn on a bustling
downtown street. I waited patiently until traffic had cleared
and made my move.
I wasn't fast enough and managed to cut off both lanes of
traffic. I waited for a round of blaring horns, but this didn't
happen. The drivers just slowed down and waved at me to let me
know I could finish the hasty turn.
One gentleman even asked if I needed help because I looked
lost.
Then I was prepared to endure some mild manner abuse at the
Yardmen Arena where Belleville plays since I was from Sudbury
and covering the Wolves.
Media from out of town usually cheer for their club to win, and
are usually subjected to some sort of teasing by rabid hometown
fans.
Again, this wasn't the case.
The Belleville fans went out of their way, literally, to ensure
my experience in the heart of "enemy" territory was pleasant
and good-natured.
The Belleville fans let loose with big cheers for Andrew Self
and Sebastian Dahm (two former players), along with Justin
Donati (twin brother Tyler plays for Bulls) when they were
introduced in the Yardmen Arena.
When it comes down to it though, a fan is a fan and Belleville
ones aren't any different than those in Sudbury. They love
their team, and gripe about the fact ticket prices jump
astronomically with each round.
I did point out to a lot of them that at least they didn't have
to also pay for parking to see their squad go all out.
In other news...
The death bell has sounded for the Sudbury Canadians. A press
release was issued stating the team has folded operations for
the 2007 season.
Recruitment and logistical issues were cited as the main
reasons for folding.
It comes as no shock to anyone which has tried hard to cover
this struggling United Soccer League - W- League franchise.
The team looked promising in it's first two seasons. They went
from one win to three wins. Last year though, the team took a
big step backwards and lost all their games and looked out of
place against stiffer competition from southern Ontario and the
northern United States.
In some ways, this is a big blow to the local soccer scene.
The Canadians were mostly made up of local talent, and the
girls played their hearts out to be competitive. It gave a lot
of them a real competitive edge when they went back to their
university or high school programs in the fall.
Hopefully, the team can regroup and continue down the road in
some capacity.
