Off with a bang

And what better way to kick off a blog dedicated to the most successful athletics program in Canada than with a World Cup in one of my three favourite kinds of football--namely, the Women's Rugby World Cup, which starts this Thursday here in Edmonton. The fourth-ranked Canadian squad has a strong Panda presence: off the top of my head, I count Maria Gallo, Summer Yeo, Heather MacDonald and Katie Murray as current or former Pandas on the squad. Chances to watch high-level rugby live here in Edmonton are rare, so I highly encourage anyone reading this to make it out to as much of the tournament as you can. I'll be updating throughout the event, although I'll probably be spending more time watching Ireland and Australia than Canada.

The Journal has a couple articles on the Cup today: Scott Peterson talks to, among others, Yeo, who suggests that Canada's got the size and strength to overpower the opposition, while Dan Barnes says, probably quite correctly, that nobody will beat New Zealand. Based on the one time I've seen the Black Ferns, it certainly seems that they've come across their Pandas-hockey-like winning record honestly (not to mention easily). But then, no one thought the Swedes would beat the Americans in women's hockey at the Olympic, so who knows? I guess tomorrow we'll find out how Canada compares.