TSN: AWA 1985- Curt Hennig vs Nick Bockwinkel: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Source:AWA Wrestling– Curt Hennig vs Nick Bockinkel in a bloody hell.

“Nick Bockwinkel vs Curt Hennig Showboat bloody match AWA. The last 8 minutes of the 1 hour match that was on TV, both had the crimson mask.”

From Strad

Curt Hennig and Nick Bockwinkel, two of the best pound for pound pro wrestlers of all-time. I first got into AWA pro wrestling around 1987 or 88 when my parents finally got cable TV in the house. Curt Hennig was part of the World Wrestling Federation at that point. But Nick Bockwinkel the Ric Flair of the AWA, All Star Wrestling Association was still wrestling and winning championships in his early fifties at this point. And you can tell just by looking at him that he was in great shape. Still wrestling at two-hundred-fifty pounds of so and most of that being muscle.

Curt Hennig had his career cut somewhat short dying in the late 1990s or early 2000s, but someone who could do anything in the wrestling ring. He got bigger when he went into the WWF and WCW and wrestled at about two-fifty pounds or so, up from two-hundred thirty-five pounds from when he was in the AWA. But he was a classical wrestler who also had great athletic ability, strength and pure wrestling knowledge and intelligence. That made him a world champion several times.

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on Blogger.

Read Full Post »

Paul Woods: Video: TSN: CFL Expansion 1995: CFL Commissioner Larry Smith

Kire Schneider on Google+

The New Democrat on Facebook

The New Democrat on Twitter

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

Canadian Football League expansion, or CFL expansion in America, was a great idea because the CFL, lets face it, was a 9-team league back in the early 1990s, before they expanded inside the United States. From a country (Canada) of roughly 30 million people struggling just to pay their bills, let alone save a few dollars, they needed American fans and American dollars spent on the CFL to pay their bills. At the time, there were plenty of major markets inside the U.S. that could afford and want to support major league gridiron football.

The problem with the CFL expansion was that it was poorly executed and poorly thought out, which is what happens when you get 10-20 thousand fans at CFL games inside 65 thousand-seat stadiums, which is what they had in Memphis and San Antonio, because they didn’t have the right marketing for America or the right management groups for the American teams.  Only Baltimore was profitable in the CFL, while Sacramento, Las Vegas, San Antonio, Shreveport, Memphis, and Birmingham all folded in the CFL.

Thanks to the new United States Football League, the CFL, I believe, will have the opportunity to merge with the USFL, especially if they agree to play in the spring and summer instead of summer and fall. And you could have an American Football Conference and a Canadian Football Conference in this united league in the future. There will be a future blog about that, but bringing in an American conference would more than save the CFL financially and give lots of Canadian and American football fans teams to root for and follow.

Read Full Post »

TSN: CFL 1995: Shreveport Pirates @ Hamilton Tiger Cats: Short Video

Source:TSN– the Shreveport Pirates against the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

“CFL 1995 SHREVEPORT PIRATES AT HAMILTON TIGERCATS”

From CFL Video

The Pirates who were probably the worst American team in the CFL,  actually looking pretty good here.

Read Full Post »

TSN: CFL 1994- Shreveport Pirates @ Ottawa Renegades: Short Video

Source:TSN– the Shreveport Pirates of the CFL.

“CFL 1994 SHREVEPORT PIRATES AT OTTAWA ROUGHRIDERS”

From CFL Video

Perhaps the two worst teams in the CFL playing each other in 1994. The Shreveport Pirates were 3-15 and played like the expansion team that they were. And the Rough Riders were 4-14, but still managed to make the CFL Playoffs, because 4-5 teams in the Eastern Division automatically made the playoffs that year. You don’t have to be good or even be winners to make the CFL Playoffs.

Read Full Post »

Canada Classic Sports: CFL 1988- East Division Semi Final- Hamilton Tiger Cats @ Winnipeg Blue Bombers: Full Game

Source:Canada Classic Sports– welcome to Snow Bowl 88 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

“1988 CFL East Division Semi Final
Hamilton Tiger Cats vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers
From Winnipeg Stadium
Late November 1988
Watch for Tom Larscheid & Dave Hodge in the studio”

From Canada Classic Sports

A battle of mediocrity, which unfortunately in the CFL, because they’re a league (not conference) where they’ve never had more than 8-10 teams (at least in the modern era) except when they expanded to America in the 1990s. And they also allow 3-4 out of five clubs in both divisions to make the playoffs every year. So even if if 1st 2 clubs in both divisions are good, winning teams (and sometimes just one winning team in a division) you’re going to have the 3rd or 4th place team that might not even be a 500 club and 7-9, 6-10, 5-11, even that season and still make the CFL Playoffs.

Read Full Post »

TSN: MLB 1997- Canada Day- Montreal Expos vs Toronto Blue Jays: Highlights

Source:Global Sportsline Toronto– Canada Day at Skydome in Toronto, Ontario.

“Montreal Expos vs Toronto Blue Jays on Canada Day. Rob Sinclair reporting for Global Sportsline in Toronto.

From Global Sportsline Toronto

The only reasons why Montreal doesn’t currently have a MLB franchise a Major League Baseball Franchise, is because of management and facility. A management team committed to winning that will spend the resources to make that happen, but will also spend them wisely, but also a ballpark that will give them the revenue to support their club, where people will want to go to watch baseball, but also have a good affordable time, as well as a fan base that is committed to the team in Montreal whether that is the Montreal Expos, or whatever new name a possible new Montreal MLB franchise would be called and Major League Baseball could succeed in Montreal in the future.

You get the right management group, organizational structure, right ballpark and MLB baseball could succeed in Montreal, because the reason why the Expos no longer exist and why Montreal no longer has an MLB franchise eight years later, is not because of the market as far as size and wealth, but because of the lack of support this market gave their franchise and how cheaply they were run.

Read Full Post »