Smoke's Rant: UNBC Soccer Loses A Leader Before Season Starts

On August 11th, the Vancouver WhiteCaps announced that they had named a head coach for their new youth academy in London, Ontario: Alan Alderson. If that name seems incredibly familiar, it's because he is the head coach of the UNBC Timberwolves Men's soccer team. Alderson has been the coach of the UNBC team for the past 3 seasons, helping the program transition to the CIS from the lower tier CCAA. The Smoke Show had the privilege of having the esteemed coach in the studio for an interview before he heads off to greener pastures.

During the interview Alderson expressed that, although he is extremely excited to be starting this new chapter of his coaching career, it is bitter sweet for him. He has taken a team that struggled to fill out their roster to a team that is on the verge of doing great things. His development of the program is noticeable on and off the pitch. On the pitch, the team is way more competitive than in years past, they won 3 games last year and are poised to challenge for the Canada West title this year. The players went from moderate skill and drive, to some of the greatest young Canadian talent that Coach Alderson has had the pleasure of teaching. Off the field, the coach of more than 20 years experience had to take a program that has very little resources and little to offer prospective players to now a desirable place to play; akin to the transition made by the PG Cougars. When asked what the biggest resource UNBC had, he simply said "Me". This response is not one of arrogance or ego, but rather a response to the immaturity of the program compared to the rest of the teams in the CIS. Another huge reason why players would pick UNBC over other schools is that younger players have more playing time than they would get in other schools. If a player would go to the likes of UBC or UViC, they would be on the bench for at least a year of two before seeing any time on the pitch. This kind of development is terrible for the mental as well as physical part of the game. Coach Alderson has created an environment of acceptance and drive to be the best possible player you can be without sacrificing education as the team had 6 players on the CIS academic team. So, where does the UNBC program go from here.

Here's where the rant really comes because UNBC has some huge shoes to fill. They had one of the best developers of talent in all of Canada at their finger tips and now he is gone. The fact that the majority of the program was built by his two hands is something that will not be easy to replace. Their is a culture to the team that the next coach has to come in and try to form into.This is not the case of a coach needing to come in and fix aspects of the program, but one that can work with the framework already set in place and continue its development. As Coach Alderson said during his interview with The Smoke Show, the next coach can almost come in collect a pa ycheck without needing to change a whole lot of things. Part of the culture that was created has to do with players taking responsibility for their action and become a group of leaders instead of a group of individuals trying to play together. The off-field aspect of the program is the one that might take the biggest hit. Even though UNBC still has the draw of more playing time than other universities, they no longer have the recognizable name at the coaching position and the charisma that that Alderson had when recruiting new talent. Sometimes change can be exciting and good, but this change might have some growing pains before we see some light. The short term ramifications of this change of guard will not be felt because the team that has been put together is as dynamic as any in the CIS, but the long-term future of the UNBC soccer program is very much in the air. Fans should be cautiously optimistic about this season and the future of the Timberwolves.

I am Smoke Stark and this has been my rant on Coach Alan Alderson leaving the UNBC Timberwolves and the crater of a whole that is left with his departure. Thank you very much for reading and Alderson's Art is Coaching and He is About to Paint His Masterpiece.  

Highlights in the mail.

One of the great things about having a job, is that you receive far more mail than you normally would as a lowly individual. We fight over it often here at CFUR, and behold the glory that lays within the yellow-wrapped bubble envelopes. Have as listen to some gems: PETUNIA #itspetunia! #country #folk #oldschool #MAPL

HEXRAY #psychedelic #calgary #prettymelody #rock

MAS YSA #synth #synthpop #deep

THE FRATELLIES #pianorock #fun jams #dancey

RATATAT #omg #backwardsguitar #dance #groove

LA LUZ #surf #pop #chill #summer

The Souljazz Orchestra #groove #afrobeat #horns #instrumental #MAPL

Ok, I'm sonically drained. There's lot's more though! Come visit us in office 6-354 at UNBC's Student Centre to get the lowdown, anddon't forget to tune into CFUR 88.7FM to hear all these tasty jams. Of course you can just link up to the online stream right here under the Listen Live tab.

U.N.B.C's garden is the best

this is what the path to the U.N.B.C garden looks like

Entrance to the enchanted path

we unlocked the mysteries of the path and this land...?

we meet Slippy the frog, guardian of the middle earth garden

this ogre is friendly and he will help you

This veggie is a delicious low carb treat and is super healthy!

Article by Volunteer Extraordinaire: Kaegan Burns

UNBC Community Board Roundup - Best of August 2015, week one

At UNBC everyone takes a look at the community message board in the NUGSS Building, or Student Centre. Here's the finest gem so far: Excellent! Thank you folks. Keep the submissions coming. You're very own creative ad could be featured here!

Smoke's Rant: Harkins Snubbed for Summer Development Camp

Now, this really grinds my gears. As a hockey fan and a fan of the WHL's Prince George Cougars, I am more than a little discouraged that Jansen Harkins was left out of the Team Canada Summer Development Camp. Yes, I know that he still has a chance to make the team if he does well in the start of the regular season either with the Cougars or the Jets. It's the fact that he has been passed over by most of the Canadian teams, despite being a catalyst for the resurgence of the Cougars organization. The Smoke Show had Cougars President Greg Pocock in the studio a couple of weeks ago; he mentioned that the reason some of the other players on the team got the looks they did from the scouts was due  in major part to Harkins plays and draft status. How can you ignore something like that?

If Tom Renney and company wanted to bring in fresh faces to see what they looked like, why not bring in a guy that has helped your nation to a gold in the Ivan Hlinka tournament and a bronze in the under 18 tournament last year? Maybe they have seen what Harkins can do on multiple stages and want to look at players that they have never seen at any point in the international realm. Then why do you have Dylan Strome, Jake Virtanen, Lawson Crouse, Robby Fabri, and Tomas Konecny? All of these forwards are high draft picks and they were on the world junior team next year. There is no need to "develop" these particular players because you already know that they are the best in the world for their age group. It is time to give the likes of Harkins their due on one of the biggest international stages in sports.

Speaking of draft picks, one could argue that all the aforementioned players were drafted higher than Harkins, so they deserve to be in Calgary instead of Harkins. I present exhibit a) Dylan Sadowy. Sadowy plays for Saginaw of the OHL, and was drafted in the 3rd round by the Tampa Bay Lightning, he also happens to have the exact same physical stats that Harkins does. Both are 6 foot 1, both are 180lbs, both shoot left handed. So, why do you invite a guy of similar attributes physically but has supposedly less skill to a Team Canada camp. Colour me confused. Exhibit b) Spencer Watson. Now this one really baffles me when compared to Prince George's Harkins. Watson is smaller at only 5 fo0t 9, and he was drafted a significant amount lower in an arguably weaker draft year; he was drafted 209th overall. Now, I can do into some conspiracy theory arguments right about now showcasing that the vast majority of the invitees were from the Ontario Hockey League (much like where most of the brass is from), or that you can count on one hand how many players are from B.C compared to the overwhelming majority that were born in the east. No, I am not going to go down that path. Instead, I am simply going to say that Team Canada missed the boat on Harkins, but they better start giving him a fair look when it gets closer to Christmas and Hanukkah when he is ripping it up for the Cougars or NHL's Rudy, the Winnipeg Jets.

My name is Smoke Stark and this has been my rant on Team Canada snubbing Jansen Harkins from development camp. Thank you very much for reading and, Hockey Canada... YOU HAVE FAILED THIS CITY!

Smoke’s Rant: Toronto Blue Jays; Stop Giving Fans False Hope

The Toronto Blue Jays have stormed into the Friday’s MLB trade deadline with the might of Mjolnir, making the rest of the teams in the league take notice. On July 28th, the Jays pulled off an improbable trade sending dugout and fan favorite Jose Reyes to the Colorado Rockies for the consensus #1 shortstop in the majors Troy Tulowitzki. Even to the casual fan of the Jays, this trade seems to be almost highway robbery in the favor of Canada’s ball club. Tulowitzki is ranked first in every statistical category for a shortstop. He has the best batting average on the Jays now, and he has the best on base percentage of any shortstop the Jays have had in a long while. Heck, he even lit things up in his debut against the Phillies on Wednesday, getting 3 RBI’s and blasting a homerun out of the park. Nothing about this player screams that this won’t work out, but only time will tell.

Then Alex Anthopoulos goes and makes another gigantic deal mere days later acquiring dominant ace pitcher David Price from the Detroit Tigers for some prospects. I am not saying that the prospects of P David Norris, P Matt Boyd, and Jairo Labourt won’t turn out to be great assets for the Tigers in the future, but to get an ace like Price to try and Juggernaut your way into the postseason takes some major stones and some masterful negotiating by the Jays GM. Price has a 2.53 ERA and is 9-4 on an underachieving Tigers team. Now put him on a team with the most potent offense in the league and you have a recipe for success. But why am I saying that these trades lead to a false hope for Jays fans?

Well, recent history shows that the Jays like to hover around .500 year-after-year. They start every season campaign saying that they are going to contend for the divisional title and then predictably they miss the playoffs with a mediocre record. Yes, adding these pieces is a huge step forward for this season, and yes, Troy Tulowitzki is locked up long term (6 more years) but Price is only a rental, and if the Jays miss the playoffs and continue their par play next year, then Jose Bautista is definitely going to walk once his contract is up. It does seem like the Jays are going all in for this season and possibly next year as well, but they are heading towards a cliff that they might fall off if they are not careful. If one looks at the Jays payroll, one would realize that most of their players contracts expire in a year or two. Josh Donaldson and Mark Buehrle are free agents at year’s end, although at least Donaldson is likely to resign with the team. Encarnacion, Dickey, Bautista, and Izturis are all free agents at the end of next year with at least a couple of them destined to be opponents afterwards. Of course the Jays will have Rogers money to try and keep the team in tact, but one has to believe that some of these players are inching closer to the end of their careers and want a legitimate chance at the World Series Championship. If the Jays fall flat on their faces at the end of this season, then Toronto becomes a less desireable team to stick with for current players and even less desirable for top-end free agents to come to the north. In talking to a Jays fan before writing this article, him and the rest of Jays nation have been dragged through the mud hoping that they will see their team in the promised land but fail to make it every time, who's to say this time is any different. The Blue Jays need to stop giving their fans false hope, because you keep hearing tens of thousands of baseball heart break every single year.

I am Smoke Stark and this has been my rant on the Blue Jays giving their fans false hope after two spectacular blockbuster traders. Thanks for reading, and, It’s Clobbering Time!

Best-of Calgary Folk Fest

After an action-packed four days of letting my ears soak in as much sound as possible on Prince's Island for the Calgary Folk Music Festival, here is a quick list of what I thought were the highlights:

1) Kid Koala's Vinyl Vaudeville: Disguised as a koala mascot (or maybe as a furry?), Kid Koala scratched his entire set on vinyl. That alone is impressive. But it gets better because the sound was old-school R&B, a dose of blues mixed with bass, and scratched saxophone. Edgy, brave, and a really fun, groovy set. His entourage was a little more confusing, with puppets and dancers and then a very random appearance by Terry from Fubar who took part in an 8 Mile-esque kazoo competition. I was a little lost but happy to see Terry nonetheless.

2) "Old-Fashioned New-Fangled" Workshop:

First-thing Saturday morning, somehow I made it on time for this set and I'm grateful I did. Although I could argue about the logic of the title, this workshop consisted of two parts "old" (Petunia and the Vipers and Leftover Cuties) and two parts "new" (Kid Koala and Calgary's own Dragon Fli Empire). The artists felt a little trepidation about this random mix but they had a lot of fun experimenting on stage. Dragon Fli Empire broke out in a rap alongside Petunia's "Mercy" while Kid Koala scratched blues and Leftover Cuties plucked away on strings. Pretty cool.

3) Volunteers:

With over 1,000 volunteers, they deserve a shout out for all their hard work during the festival. The Media Tent was completely on it and scheduled all the interviews for me, which was amazing. Security volunteers showed up bright and early to chant "No running! Only skipping!" to the tarpies as they dashed to stake their spots in front of the mainstage. And when weekend rafters tried to "accidentally" sneak onto the island to catch Father John Misty ("What's going on here? Is this a festival or something? Who knew?"), security volunteers were on it. Finally, an extra-big thank you to the volunteers in the beer gardens who poured me beer all weekend with such smiles and grace. Boo to the $8 price per can at the volunteer afterparties.

4) Colin Stetson: I don't think words can sufficiently describe the experience of hearing Colin Stetson, other than maybe mesmerized. My core felt his bass notes beckoning from across the island so I rushed over to his stage. The sound reminded me a little of Tanya Tagaq. I can't really describe it but my limbs could just feel that it was something special.

5) Bike Racks: Three cheers for Nenshi for doing such a good job of promoting biking! I've never seen so many bikes at Folk Fest before.  The organizers even built a second bike lot on the west side of the island and that lot was also full. For a second, I thought maybe I was back in Amsterdam. See? Calgary's not so bad :)

Article by Alycia Mutual

Smoke's Rant: Kenny Lally Makes PG Proud at PanAm Games

The PanAm games recently finished in Toronto with an astounding showing by Canada racking up 217. One of those Canadians that made our nation proud, and more specially, our northern city proud was boxer Kenny Lally. I mean let's be honest, Prince George is a beautiful town, but we are also a tough town. It's about time that we have a champion fighter to try and combat Williams Lake and Quesnel, who can boast that they have perennial #1 contender Rory MacDonald in the UFC. Boxing is the oldest and most prized fighting in the world. When there is a big fight, the world stops to watch as the next icon makes there way to squared gladiator arena to entertain the masses in a physical chess match the would make Bobby Fisher roll in his grave in fright. Now the new wave of Gladiators enter the ring, and this time Canada has one of the best fighters in the world. Kenny Lally is a 6 time national champion and has made huge strides to gaining a spot in the Olympics. His quarter-final match against Ecuador's Padilla Segundo was fast paced and exciting. The Canadian champ ended up with a split-decision call to earn a spot in the semi-finals against Cuban boxing sensation Andy Cruz. Unfortunately for Lally, he couldn't muster any sustained offense against the Cuban, who looked like he could have tried out for the Justice League as the scarlet speedster. Despite the fact that the casual observer believes that offense wins bouts, elite level boxing uses a lot more strategy and angles. Look at Floyd Mayweather or even Lally's idol Muhammed Ali, both fighters used their speed and angles to frustrate opponents before going in for the kill. Cuban fighters in Lally's division are the gold standard, but Lally has been one of the only Canadians to be successful as he defeated a Cuban during the Continental Championships in 2010. Even though he fell short against Cruz (the eventual gold medal winner), he captured the bronze medal at the games and has gained incredible momentum when he continues to make his bid for the Brazil Olympics in 2016. Lally's next tournament is in the middle of August when he knocks heads off in Venezuela. But, before he makes that journey, he is training hard in his hometown of Prince George, as well as making his debut on The Smoke Show on Wednesday. I will have the honor to sit down with Kenny Lally to talk about the PanAm games, the upcoming Continental Games, his training regime, and his debate between boxing and MMA. Listen live on Wednesday at 4pm for all the action.

The Wooden Sky at Calgary Folk Fest

Toronto-based The Wooden Sky fit right into Calgary's alt-country/bluegrass/Canadiana skyline Thursday night as they took the evening stage in front of a packed crowd. It took me a little while to adjust because more than 2,000 fans showed up to see them. Folk Fest has around 12,000 attendees pass through the gates each day, while a "larger" festival in northern B.C. like Artswells has more like 1,500-2,000. Arts on the Fly was even smaller, at a few hundred.

Such bigness quickly felt like a small-town hoedown, though, because frontman Gavin continuously took note of fans he recognized in the crowd who attended previous shows. He said hello to two girls near the front and told a story about their show in Banff where the girls brought the band a huge bottle of wine in hopes they could get on the guest list. They did. He even wished a couple happy anniversary. This fan recognition nicely bridged the gap between audience and artist and the large crowd felt like we were somehow neighbours.

Such a sense of neighbourliness suits their music too. The Wooden Sky is a band that ranks high in terms of danceability, and the crowd danced their hardest to songs on their newest album like "When the Day is Fresh and the Light is New." I was especially happy when they took out a harmonica to play one of their new songs.

Wondering when (or if) they'll pass through Prince George? You don't have to wait long because they're playing next weekend at Artswells. Bring your boots and smiles and I'll see you on the dance-floor.

Written by Alycia Mutual