Greater Sudbury Northern Life Columnist Randy Pascal
For roughly 40 weekends a year, I have absolutely no problem
immersing myself in the world of local sports in Sudbury.
Another six or seven weekends are devoted to following the
pursuits of my own children.
Add in another few weekends of holiday time or a quick trek to
Timmins to spend time with Mom, and the calendar year is almost
completely accounted for. But for one three-day stretch each
year, for the past 17 years, it's time to soak up as much
professional and college sports as possible.
Each and every fall or early winter, four friends - dating back
more than two decades now - will head off, generally south of
the border, for a gathering that seems to feature an increasing
amount of reminiscing with every passing season.
It's a ritual that owes its start to very humble beginnings.
Co-workers with the TD Bank in Kingston at the time, the four
of us formed a less than integral part of a mixed slo-pitch
team, proving on endless occasions that one needs not possess
any athletic prowess whatsoever in order to remain fully
qualified as a sports fan.
Yes, we were awful, but the camaraderie following most games
made the on-field embarrassment at least bearable. It was
during one of these post-game gatherings that the idea came to
partake in a "boys sports weekend away" - the first involving a
trip to Montreal for a little Expos action and what may have
been the last known championship encounter of the World
Football League.
The experience proved to be so enjoyable that the bulk of the
two-hour ride back to Kingston quickly became a debate about
the value of making this impromptu trip more of a required
annual commitment.
And so it began, a collection of weekend sojourns, that offered
a varying degree of personal recollection, which somehow had an
uncanny correlation to the amount of beverages consumed while
taking part in the sports-related festivities.
The memories garnered over time provide sufficient material for
an epic far greater than this weekly column. But as is so often
the case, the stories appear to be incredibly humourous only to
the four of us, and are met with more of a worrisome,
bewildering glance when shared with other friends and
acquaintances.
While Canadian football may have initially peaked our interest
(Grey Cup 1992 provided one of our earlier destinations), we
seem to share the same need to expand our territory as all
great conquering heroes.
I have to believe even Christopher Columbus would have known
enough to be aware that a handful of Subway sandwiches, washed
down with coffee and Kahlua, would not allow us to maintain any
degree of tail-gating respectability within the institution
that is the pre-game NFL party.
We learned from our first trip to Foxboro, to bring along our
own barbecue. It's just one of the many valuable learning
experiences the "TD Sports Tour" has provided.
I mean, who really could have known that when it comes to
football aficionados in the City of Brotherly Love
(history-rich Philadelphia), the term "obstructed view"
actually means one's tickets are at field level, directly
behind the home team bench, with only the Eagles' cheerleading
squad some ten feet ahead providing the entertainment, in lieu
of the game we could not see.
Not quite the same challenge as the girders at the Sudbury
Arena, but we somehow survived. Little could we have known in
the summer of 1996, as we purchased our tickets to a
Steelers-Browns game on the Lake Erie waterfront in Cleveland,
that one Arthur B. Modell would have a mid-season change of
heart, opting to move the beloved Browns franchise to
Baltimore.
The anti-ownership hatred that had developed by the time we
arrived in November, made for one of the most memorable of our
18 trips to date. Over time, the weekends have grown
increasingly more subdued. Trust me when I say this is a good
thing.
This most recent trek provided for the coolest temperatures
endured to date, most notably for the Saturday evening Florida
State-Maryland football battle in lovely College Park,
Maryland, just north of Washington.
A lopsided loss for their beloved Terrapins (who the heck names
a football team after a turtle??) made for an even longer night
for the 40,000 or so Maryland faithfuls, who had huddled
together.
Thankfully, this was completely offset Sunday afternoon as the
Baltimore Ravens defense not only prompted the much-debated
benching of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, but also set a
new NFL record in the process.
Late in the fourth quarter, Ravens cornerback Ed Reed returned
an interception 108 yards for a touchdown, setting a new
standard that has little room to be bettered (considering the
entire length of an NFL field, end zones included, is only 110
yards).
Just one more memory to add to our collection as we work our
way towards a quarter century tradition. Yes indeed - boys will
be boys. 
Randy Pascal is the voice of Persona 10 Sports and the
founder of
SudburySports.com
.
