For six straight Olympic Games, from Sydney in 2000 to Vancouver in 2010, I was the Toronto Star’s Olympics editor/organizer on the ground. I would get our credentials and housing set up and then, on the ground, coordinate our assignments for the reporters and make sure everyone had what they needed to get the job done, including getting media tickets from the Canadian Olympic Committee to cover the big events that had limited media seating. I also would write most of our web stories, usually off a television set in the Media Centre, where I spent 99% of my time. Read more
hockey
Between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens we know who’s had more success on the ice the past few decades. And we know which team made the playoffs this year (said the guy from Toronto). But which team’s star is best at whipping up a hot breakfast? Holiday Inn Express hotels, part of the IHG hotel family, put hockey legends Guy Carbonneau of the Habs and Doug Gilmour of the Leafs together to see who could use the Holiday Inn Express breakfast table to come up with the best morning meal that would help fuel players to the Read more
The new NHL team heading to Las Vegas is changing more than the city’s sports scene. As part of the re-design of the area around the new T-Mobile Arena, where the newest pro hockey team will start play in the fall of 2017, Vegas officials have created an entirely new neighbourhood that’s both pedestrian and environmentally friendly. The new development, called The Park, runs from Las Vegas Blvd. to the new arena between the New York, New York casino and the old Monte Carlo, which is being replaced by a NoMad Las Vegas and the new Park MGM hotel. The Read more
Big. Bold. Impressive. Epic. Those are the kinds of adjectives being used by the folks at 2017 Ottawa as they get the nation’s capital ready for next year; the 150th birthday for Canada. I don’t know what I was expecting when I got a briefing last week off things both ready for publication and still not yet public. But I was totally blown away by the variety and depth and quality of what they’ve got planned. There are some things I was sworn to secrecy about (literally) and others still to be organized. But I saw and can report was, Read more
From a new centre celebrating Stompin’ Tom Connors (“The Good Old Hockey Game”) to the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto and on to a fab new gallery in Whistler, there’s no shortage of excellent events, happenings and openings across Canada in 2016, our nation’s 149th birthday. Here are some things you might want to catch in the New Year. ALBERTA Things are booming in Calgary’s East Village, where the new national music centre is set to open next year. It’s a booming area already just east of downtown, with cool restaurants like Charbar. Calgary’s Pigeonhole (http://pigeonholeyyc.ca/#modal) was named the country’s Read more
