The second lesson is that defense may very well win championships but it can be a loser in the long term if goal scoring declines. The excitement of the game trends ever downward. The NHL and Ice Hockey had to learn this lesson over 30 years and now tweaks it rules to ensure that scoring goals remains a part of Ice Hockey. FIFA should do the same.

The third lesson is that assists are vital to the game of Ice Hockey, Football/Soccer and any team sport. So assists should be measured that way. Yet FIFA and soccer/football have largely ignored assists – see here for the details around this comment about assists in FIFA leagues:

Record of assists was virtually not kept at all [in Football] until the end of the 20th century. The North American Soccer League kept assist statistics from its foundation in 1968, as its forebears the United Soccer Association and National Professional Soccer League had done the previous year. Analogous statistics were already being kept in basketball and in ice hockey, both established North American sports.

Instead the Golden Boot is awarded to the player who scores the most goals no assists in the World Cup. As well in recent proposals for rating players, FIFA has proposed two points for scoring a goal and one point for an assist. In contrast the NHL scores tallies one point for a goal and one point for an assist.

And look at the semi-finalists in this years World Cup. Germany, Netherlands and Spain interestingly enough are in the World Cup semifinals. All are passing oriented teams. In the quarterfinals, Germany dismembered Argentina 4-0 in which 3 of the 4 goals were tap or head ins after brilliant passing. The emerging soccer/football powers recognize that passing and assists are the real gold in football. FIFA should recognize that and like the NHL/Ice Hockey and award accordingly the power of assists.

The second lesson of Ice Hockey for the World Cup and football is that wilting defense wins games and championships; but at the cost of a Pyrrhic victory. Defensive, low scoring games loses fans in the long term. This year’s World Cup is a dramatic example. Many of the games in the group elimination were defensive struggles for which blowing the vuvuzelas was most appropriate – Boring Big Time. Ice Hockey had to learn this lesson over 30 years.

Look at what the goalie comes packed with to defend his net. Ever expanding padding, much bigger glove, and generally greater bulk to cutoff shots at the net. And the same applies to the other players equipment – so the frequency with which players dive to the ice to block shots has increased manifold.

Big surprise! The number of goals scored in a hockey game had been gradually  falling nearly every year for 25 years. The game, which is fast and exciting, was losing its most important element – scoring goals. So the NHL over the past ten years has modified its rules. Toughened checking from behind penalty calls, limited the size of goalie and player padding and blockers, and even considered widening the net. But the bottom line is that scoring has seen an uptick and the NHL is constantly monitoring the goal scoring status of the game.

Now except for the goalies glove , football does not have the equivalent padding for  defensive advantage as in hockey. So FIFA is going to have to seriously consider actions that will bring about more goals scored. Certainly improving the officiating with an additional referee will cut down on diving, wrestling on corner + free kicks, and shoving and tugging on body or clothing, plus late tackles. But that may not be enough.

FIFA will have to consider more offensively oriented rule changes. perhaps scoreless or 1-1 games would see offside rules relaxed for the last 30 minutes. Perhaps the first pass over the midline would never be offside. Imagine the number of goals that would produce! Or maybe no offside once the ball has been passed over the top of the box line. But as soon as the ball passes back over the top of the line, offside applies again until the ball recrosses the line. Maybe rigorous enforcement of no player contact rules now that an additional referee is available for scrutinizing the action  on  corner  and free kicks would produce more goals.

But goals is what soccer/football needs to make the game exciting again. Now FIFA can say “What, Me, Worry? We have the most popular sport in the World – it is even taking off in North America”.  Two answers to that. Golf and basketball are picking up ever greater popularity world wide. And just see what a few more World Cups and other Football Championships won by penalty kicks does for the game as goals become ever harder to come by.

But also the problem as the NHL-National Hockey league learned to its demise – good TV shows off poor officiating.

This is one of three problems in which FIFA, the World Cup sponsors and organizers, could learn a lesson from Ice Hockey. First and foremost, good TV coverage shows off how bad the officiating can be. Think of the disallowed England goal against Germany and US versus Slovenia. Think of the many Thespian performances as players dive and writhe in pain in order to get a freekick. This nonsense is being caught on camera in HD technicolor; let alone the thousands of still cameras trained on the field.

Brazil’s Kaka caught mid-dive
The fundamental problem is that the referee is running about 12 miles per game across a pitch that is 120m(130 yards) by 45m(50 yards). And with swift long ball initiated counter attacks, the referee is whipped one way and another. The result to no one surprise is that the referee can be 20-40 yards from the point of infraction with his his line of sight obscured by one or more players. Not conducive to making the best of calls and the World Cup broadcasts have certainly shown that.

Now FIFA will counter that the referee has 2 sideline assistants able to make calls. But let me tell you talks with those sideline assistants reveals  they are fully absorbed in the tricky task of calling offsides and out-of-bounds plays. Also some referees do not like interference by the sideline assistants in the games. So referees can count on scant assistance from the sidelines.

The obvious solution is what the NHL did ten years ago – added a second referee to the game and for goal scoring disputes added video replay shortly there after. Now bad officiating, especially disputed goal scoring calls is much less a factor in the NHL and especially Stanley Cup Playoff games. Contrast that with some of  the World Cup “action”.

But FIFA is resisting strenuously.

FIFA’s arguments are threefold. First, an added referee will just cause confusion and conflict between the two referees. Not so from NHL experience. The two referees cover the two halfs of the rink but do flow back and forth with the the play. Nearest referee gets primary call responsibility;but they quickly confer to confirm calls on occasion. Getting the call right is their first priority and how they are assessed and compensated.  The referees work together to call a good game.

The source of the second objection from FIFA is that two referees and video replay will stifle the free flow of the game. But look what all the player protests, painful on-field writhings, and free kick/corner kick  shenanigans are doing to the free flow of the game. Ice hockey was told the same story. But the elimination of a deception advantage with better officiating did the opposite, added more speed and flow to ice hockey.

Last, citing Werner Heissenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Sepp Blatter, head of FIFA says people enjoy this uncertainty on whether the game is called right. It adds an Ich kenn nicht wass [je ne sais quoi] to the game.  Hmmm …. and I don’t know what could be a more ridiculous idea.

So watch what FIFA does . FIFA will do its part for fighting unemployment by adding two more officials standing at the goal mouth and making sure that that the goal scored by Ghana versus Uruguay was not stopped by a hand ball but had broken through the goal mouth plane and so no penalty kick was required.  Meanwhile on field, the game of deception will continue at full pace – and the Toronto World Junior Football Championships has shown how much that can ruin the game. Argentina vs Chile promised speed and flow aplenty. Instead Toronto was treated to a brawl- shoving, shirt pulling, trips, and non-trips, arguments and near fisticuffs between the teams. The worst “game” this reviewer had ever seen in sport. There was no uncertainty that a game like that had done football a great disservice.

Now four years ago yours truly with Sportpics covered the National Volleyball Championships that were held for 3 years in a row on Cobourg’s beaches. Covering those tournaments one quickly picks up the etiquette of not getting in the way of the players. Stay close to the net poles opposite from where the referees stand – it has a bonus of being where some of the best slam shots, curves, and blocks can be snapped up.

Since two friends have kids playing serious volleyball I asked the scorers what age group the players are from. At that point Ms Officious arrives and asks “What am I doing.” Hunh? Taking pictures of the game since I cant get the beach shots desired because of the games here. “What organizations do you represent ? “- PixOfCanada, why? We covered the National tournaments here several times and I gave Ms. Officious my card. “Well you can’t take pictures there you are getting in the way of the game.” What? I am trying to get enough pictures for a story that will be run on the PixofCanada website. But the game is mediocre and Ms. Officious is like one of P.G.Wodhouse’s comic snapping terriers – so anxious to bite and snip at you finding a better match seems the best course of action.

Three courts up the beach, the senior men are playing a very sharp game. Some great digs, even from full-blast slams. This is story worthy. But five minutes in Ms. P.R. Prettyface  from Ontario Volleyball comes over and says “You cant take pictures here” . What? This is a public beach and your courts are in the way of the shots I originally came for. “Well you have to apply beforehand to get approval to take pictures … and its too late to do that”. But if I can get a few more pictures that will make a great story which I will publish on PixofCanada – you don’t want to miss out on 30,000 readers per month? “Nope, you cant take any more pictures” So I asked MS. P.R. to take me to her Ontario Volleyball Leader and sure enough he wanted to slit his own organizations best interests.

Exasperation

If you have detected a note of exasperation – you are an astute reader. Here are the reasons why:
1)The venue is a public park and beach paid for in part by PixofCanada tax payments. Since when could you not take pictures in a public park?
2)There were others taking pictures of the games – that was what convinced a change of heart from deserted beach to beach volleyball pictures.
3)There was no signage whatsoever declaring that this was an event at which picture-taking was forbidden.
4)Since this photographer had covered beach volleyball before, there was utmost observation of the proper picture taking etiquette while near the courts.
5)Finally there were some obvious questions. Does an event vendor using public property buy the right to decide who can take picture of the event? And are the city and county governments knowingly ceding this right of exclusive picture-taking to the event vendors? Also relevant – are governments charging extra for such privileges and demanding that advertising before the event and signage at the days of the event make this prohibition clear to prospective event goers?
So one can only conclude that Ontario Volleyball assumed that by renting the park for a period of time it had also been granted by the city of Cobourg and the county of Northumberland the right to designate who could and could not take pictures of the event.

It turns out Ontario Volleyball are not alone. Event sponsors using public property being used for public events with paid admission or not are reserving the right to prohibit picture-taking but not informing the public that they are doing so. A colleague discovered that at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto last year where pictures were confiscated and destroyed with the Toronto Police supporting Royal Winter Fair officials. Ditto on no more picture-taking for some photographers at Wakefest even though they were standing outside the grounds on the other side of the lagoon down on Toronto Islands a few years ago.

At least the Ice KiteFest near Orillia informs the prospective event go-er on their website [no confirmation that this is carried through on print advertising] that no picture taking is allowed except for designated individuals – so though attractive, this party does not go there despite the invitations.

Collision Course

For most events people want to take pictures or videos as a memento of the occasion. This is in conflict sometimes with event vendors that want to charge for those “services”. Think the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Toronto Blue Jays. In the case of the Blue Jays, many don’t go to the games because a)the product has not improved since 1993, b)the prices are sky high and c)taking pictures is in a state of limbo – sometimes its okay and other times  it is not.

But these event vendors have to take into account the fact that digital cameras which already have exploded in popularity have been supplemented by hundreds of millions of   cellphone cameras. So now it is estimated that there are about 4 cameras per family in North America. These people want to take pictures of the places and events they go to – this is in conflict with event vendors like Ontario Volleyball or the Toronto Blue Jays who want to control who gets to take images of their events and may or may not clearly warn customers of those restrictions – especially in their pre-event and on site advertising.

If you have experienced episodes of this forbidden picture taking – please make  a comment and it will be added as soon as possible.

Bolsena Dusk

This painting has a wonderful silhouette masking where clouds and limbs intermix, sumptuous colors, and a subtle reflection of those sunset colors in the waters. The mood and hues are reflective.

Vermillion Lake

This is on of the most design playful of Alicia’s paintings with 3 stripped tree trunks, a mountain that could be an ominous cloud, a sun ray that becomes a pointing cloud – and it all looks like a landscape sailing through the scene and time. Such great visual puns bring a smile to ones eye and mind.

Out of the Shadows

This is one of my favorites for its bold convention breaking design and colors. It is a roadside shadowed by shading from trees in Color. But the simplified design with the tree trunks and branches in front and the crimson  leaves behind in the style of a medieval painting gets tricked into revelation by the shadow. The use of polygon but proportionate lighter areas gives the depth and shading cues to pull the piece together. Lovely with a dash of lemon.

To see a full selection Alicia’s paintings visit here.

Susan MacDonald creates wearable art that is most refreshing in design and concept:

Here is just but one of over a dozen designs which can be viewed here.

Judith Tinkl, former head of the textiles section of the Ontario College of Art Design, shows a great creative spirit in her textile and quilt designs. The following quilt shows the great sense of design and color transparency and accumulation in Judith’s works.

Look for great inventiveness in the designs and layouts of Tinkl’s textile works.

In sum be prepared for some color and design delights in cloth and fabric at the Wondrous Textile exhibition – well named, indeed.

But expect inconsistency on keeping conversations under control, use of cell phones [you will have to go outside even in the bitter cold of winter], and expect inconsistency even in help. Port Hope’s Library has become so mixed in its services. This is in contrast with so many other libraries in the  Northumberland area – Cobourg, Hastings, Warkworth, Campbellford and others. It is passingly strange – the library has so many books on Jane Austen and civility – but it is a role of the die if you can expect to find common  sense and sensibility there.

Actually I had seen Bike Polo in Vancouver about 5-6 years ago when I was at a meeting on the UBC campus but by the time I got out of the meeting and had a chance to investigate the players had long vanished from a hockey rink/tennis court. So it was at a Janes Walk in early May within Trinity Bellwoods Park which inadvertently re- introduced me  to Bike Polo.

This game was being played on the otherwise near empty tennis courts in the park. There are 3 players to a side, their mounts are bikes, and they play with a mallet which has a hollow plastic head. The teams here were playing games of “first to 5″ and that is just about the extent of the rules that I could puzzle out and pick up in a quick 15 minute watching of the game.

Mallets used in Bike Polo.

The real skill in Bike Polo is maintaining balance on the bike   in the constant stop and go that is part of the game. For example, at first the game looked like PeeWee Soccer where the kids gather like bumble bees all around the soccer ball. There seemed to be little positional play. But after awhile I got used to the rugby-like scrum and the ability of crafty players to break away from the scrum and rush “down field” for a break away pass.

However, the trick is not just the making but also the receiving or braking of the pass that is a key skill. Because if  a

Breakaway Play
player even slightly bobbles a pass the opposition is on it and can either create their own return break away, or at the least, get in position to defend their goal. Very quickly one could see that a wide range of skills including mallet dribbling and passing, wheel blocking, and vision of play are each important in the game. If I had not agreed to meet a friend for another Janes Walk this same day, becoming steeped in the subtleties of bike polo could have become a whole afternoon’s delight. Like one bike polo player noted, “what is bike polo to me? No doubt -  like a second woman”.

Find out more about Bike Polo in Canada:
Calgary has great coverage of Bike Polo action
The Halifax story with video
Montreal Bike Polo action
Toronto Courts
WUPass = Winnipeg Bike Polo
Vancouver’s Vibrant Bike Polo scene

As usual the canoers and kayakers have first “sailing” rights on the Ganny. And so up at Dale Road about 2-3 miles

North of Port Hope, the canoes and kayaks are first to appear at the bridge overcrossing. These are the more civil Ganny crafters leaving the racing to about a half dozen paddlers literally plunging down the river. Here the pace is more decorous, one could be reading about it as a scene from a Jane Austen novel.  But don’t be fooled, getting a canoe or kayak down the Ganny without going in  requires skill – the rapids and changing water depths put a premium on good paddling technique. And of course there is the matter of  having to traverse around the fish ladder less than a klick down stream.

Custom Float Craft:The Heart of the Show

But lets be honest, people come to Fanny down the Ganny to see the custom made float craft. It is  sort of like going to an antique car show – with the emphasis on instantaneous boat/float “antiques”. If they make it down the Ganny in one piece, count that  a major triumph as can be seen in this sampling of 2010’s Custom Boat/Float Craft:

A Classic Inner Tube Float with lashed and modified deck accouterments – a little wet and prone position oriented.

The CountrynWestern Khaki Canoe Craft – with signs, pretty lasses and front bumper horns.

The Red-painted Barrel 4 Wheeler – barely suitable for transport on land let alone  water.

The Inverted Satellite Dish - you know they had to patch this one up with all the plastic bailing pails on board.

The Great Ganny Nile Barge - filled with paddlers, beautiful princesses, and note the water gunner.

This is only a sample sampling of what neato Custom Crafts that were to be found on the Ganny this Spring  – go to the galleries  here and here for lots more Fanny on the Ganny pictures.

Ganny Fanny Watchers

It was implied that the chief reason that people came out for the Ganny Run was to catch a bit of Spring and to see how the various custom craft made it down the river. But there are other attractions.  Of course it is a chance to visit and socialize and the many conversation and chats all along the riverbank attest to that. Also it is an opportunity to get the kids out for some fun and they certainly take advantage:

Warm enough to run through wading pool
But there is another attraction – water balloons. Any custom float craft that comes armed with water guns  like so:

Plastic Bottle cruiser with well armed water cannon
these floats are fair game for attack from the shore by water balloon barrages. Let me tell you there has been an arms race going on over the years and now  the water guns carried on board some craft  with their quick suction refills and long piston shooting are getting pretty potent as water weapons. Their shots can go 20-30 feet from the craft. And onshore,  “innocent” spectators can easily be hit in the crossfire. So a very close riverside seat has some getting wet drawbacks.

But getting wet is par for the course, especially for Fanny Ganny Goers. If there is one consistent attribute among the Ganny Floaters is that they are pretty wet [and last year, largely soaked]. But that is a feature of Fanny on the Ganny, it marks the end of Winter because it is warm enough to get soaked and still have fun.

First of all flowers were everywhere:

Every shop and store had flowers on display or for sale:

But I suspect that the flurry were as much a Rite of Canadian Spring – the first warm week in 3 months has to have every Canuck’s spirits flourishing. And the ample sunshine added a touch of bloom to the day that just had to be echoed in the streets. And so it was.

The shopkeepers had everything neat as a pin:

So street walking and Window shopping were a charm.

But Redpath had the sweetest confection of all:

An antique classic truck carrying sample cookies for free distribution among Fanny Goers. This was a popular spot along with the kids jumping gyms and the great bratwurst booths on the West shore side. In sum, Port Hope was more than prepared for its early Spring riverfest.