It was an exceptionally warm and humid early autumn day in Montreal yesterday, and it just happened to be the annual 42 KM Montreal Oasis marathon. As usual, parts of the city were closed to traffic to let the runners through. Four members of the Vigilant Run Club registered to run the half marathon and today a few of them are a little more sore than your typical Monday morning.
Our very own 5* Athlete – an occasional Vigilant blogger – finished with the best Vigilante time of 1h 45mins, but the others did really well too. They looked as good yesterday as they did last week running the marathon in their matching Vigilant jerseys.
Members of the Vigilant Futures run club at the Montreal marathon
So for the past few months – each Wednesday – about six to eight Vigilantes meet in the lobby after work and jog through the streets of Montreal. The purpose: train for the Montreal Oasis Marathon.
In the lead up to the big event (which happens to be this coming weekend), some members of the Run Club donned a new Vigilant team jersey and oh-so-lovely and stylish head lamps to run the Energizer Night Race on Parc Jean Drapeau. Some got to the park more prepared than others with healthy snacks and drinks.
If you want to see the Vigilantes in action and in the dark with their great Vigilant gear, check out the rest of the photos at Vigilant Futures Flickr photostream.
Tonight, the streets of downtown Montreal will be deserted between 7 and 10 PM because Montrealers will either be at the Bell Centre, at a local sports bar, or at home with friends to watch the Habs’ home opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning. We live, eat and breathe hockey here.
At the end of the game, as always, is the announcement of the “the three stars”, a great way to spotlight the three players that outshined their teammates. True puckheads always stick around after the game to see who the “stars” will be. For tonight’s game, we are going to see new added little twist from the usual magic on ice. And at the end of the game, a new system will be introduced that will allow the fans to choose who those three stars are.
How, you say?
Yup, there’s an app for that too.
As of today, Smartphone users can download a new Canadiens app to vote for their three stars…a first in club history. It’s totally the fans call tonight.
It’s the third year that the Vigilant Futures NetBlasters play in the Concordia University recreational soccer league. Our first two years were a lot of fun but winning a game was a rarity and came none too easy.
Although we never did find time for practice, our team has really come together this year! The players are committed and the team spirit is impressive! It’s been challenging to make our place in the standings but we did it and we’re going to give it everything we’ve got!
Here’s the link to view the standings and league information. We hope to see all our supporters with a vuvuzela next Tuesday!
Tuesday is going to be a big day! This is going to be our first ever playoff game and I’m pretty excited. I’m getting a little nervous too because I want to be at the finals so bad…I am pleased we don’t have to sing the Vigilant anthem though. Maybe we have to scream out the vigilant values to help us through the game!
I can feel the energy within my team mates too.
Every game is a dog fight, the playoffs are very physical and hard to win, we have to stay Vigilant and blast our way through the finals.
Marianne St. Gelais’ unbridled, no-holds-barred cheering for her boyfriend Charles Hamelin’s 500m skate for Olympic Gold has to be one of the most heart-lifting moments from the Games.
Paul Henderson’s goal as Canada defeated Russia in the 1972 Summit Series is now deeply entrenched in Canadian lore. Foster Hewitt’s call on the frantic goal is etched into the memories of a generation of hockey fans, and almost everyone who was in Canada in 1972 can answer, “Where were you when Henderson scored?”
In due part to USA sniper Zach Parise, perhaps our current generation has its own “Henderson moment”… For it weren’t for Parise’s frantic tying goal with 9 seconds left, Sid would never have had the chance for our ‘golden goal’, as eloquently announced by CBC’s Chris Cuthbert. If it weren’t for Parise, we might never have had the chance to answer, “Where were you when Crosby scored?”…
So thank you again Zach Parise, we will forever be grateful to you…
A recent article in the New York Times titled “Bloomberg Technology Embraces Baseball” has left me astonished, perplexed and really in a state of confusion. Bloomberg, best known for its around the clock financial news terminals, has stepped into the world of sports and developed software to analyze baseball player stats. Come again? Really? Baseball stats? Astonished and confused come to mind considering I spend half my life in front of a Bloomberg terminal and the other half watching, eating, and breathing baseball.
My astonishment comes from my perception of Bloomberg and its global powerhouse profile. The last article I read on the company was how its business strategy is to “Rule the World” or at least in terms of world of business news. Bloomberg L.P. has approx. 280,000 customers subscribing to its financial news and data terminals and the vast majority of its estimated $6.3 billion in revenue is derived from these terminals. Why would Bloomberg even bother investing time and energy by plunging into the world of baseball?
My confusion comes from the math behind this baseball venture. If my numbers are correct and Bloomberg signs all 30 teams for their service (for say $50,000 each) it would bring in $1.5 million annually. Wouldn’t this be considered small change for Bloomberg? Why try something completely new with such a small return? What really didn’t compute was Daniel L. Doctoroff’s (Bloomberg’s President) quote about this new endeavour: “Not everything we do has to be huge.” Really? Does this fall into your modest strategy of global domination?
Don’t get me wrong. I’ll be the first person to sign up for Bloomberg’s baseball software if they extend the invite to the public. But is this a natural extension of Bloomberg? I’m sure that they only made a relatively small initial investment into this project, but do they hope to seek a return beyond baseball? Do they plan to expand and develop software for teams and leagues around the world? Of course they do! May as well aim to “Rule the World” of sports news and data too.
Bloomberg has always been doing the counter intuitive with all its endeavors. They are world leaders in technological research and even though this release seems to be out of the norm for them I fully support this venture in all its shapes and forms.
If you’d like to read the original article from the New York Times, click here.
