So, as I headed into Calgary this morning to referee some bantam football at Shouldice, I passed the TSN Kraft Celebration Tour bus heading the other way down Highway 1 towards Cochrane.
It was weird but I kind of chuckled and was a little bit tickled thinking about the fact that my adopted town for the last 11 years (moved here Aug. 20, 2001) will be the focus of Canada on Sunday as hundreds of thousands watch TSN SportsCentre. I'm almost 40, I'm in the media, but I still felt a little giddy at the scene in Cochrane on Sunday.
As I drove further, I thought about it a little more. This Kraft Celebration Tour is a pretty big deal. For the last four years, communities across Canada have hosted the event, and benefited from the $25,000 Community Refresh grant that comes along with being selected. The voting for the communities reaches into the millions across the country and thousands show up for the live broadcasts of SportsCentre.
Then it hit me - TSN (The Sports Network) itself is a pretty big deal. I doubt that anyone involved with the creation of the network knew how important it would become when it launched in 1984. The little sports network that could - has, and is now an integral part of the fabric of Canadian society.
It is arguable, but TSN has become as synonymous as Canadiana as the Canadian Football League, hockey, the Stanley Cup and even the hallowed CBC. While TSN hasn't been around for generations like all of the others, the impact it has had can't be argued.
The network's personalities have become the country's top authorities on the CFL, the NHL and pretty much any other sporting events important to Canadians.
The network has covered sports news across the country big and small, using personalities across the country in various roles.
And, while at times I have been a huge critic of the network - or at least some of the personalities they have, I think they deserve tremendous credit for being quintessentially Canadian instead of completely Torontocentric. They don't shove Toronto sports news down our throats, and while most of Toronto has given up on the CFL, TSN has been the league's most important partner over the last many years. They do a fantastic job of covering the league, broadcasting each and every game. The last decade or so has been one of the most stable in the CFL's history, and don't downplay the crucial role TSN has played in that.
So, kudos to you TSN! I appreciate the $25,000 that Cochrane's Mitford Pond Project will get. I appreciate the $1 million Kraft will have given to communities across Canada these past few years. And, I appreciate TSN's role in helping to build and bring this nation together.
Welcome to Cochrane TSN!!
