Finally I am Back!  It’s been awhile but I am back.  After having a baby and work picking up it seems so hard to find time to blog.  Well, I am here but not for long.  Meaning I am heading to the good (some would argue against that) US of A.  It’s family reunion time which also means a road trip. Yay!  Hmmm, makes you wonder though how much of us actually take the trek to spend a long weekend down south with a drive from Toronto.  Gas prices have really taken us hostage.  Is it really worth it to drive to Buffalo anymore to save a few bucks?  Personally I don’t think so.  Plus, I think we got better chicken wings.  Oh yea one more thing, we got NFL football now!     

Last night is was a toss up between the Lunar Eclipse and The Toronto Raptors. For me the I decided to stay indoors and watch the Raps manhandle the Orlando Magic. For Soaleha, one of our top MB Toronto Flickr group contributors, it was the Eclipse.

Halifax Eurekas 1906 of the CHL - Coloured Hockey League

In keepinmg intouch with my Canadian Black History research I can across some information about the the game of Hockey and it’s early years. Pretty interesting stuff. I also came across George and Darril Fosty’s book Black Ice which I am currently in the hunt for so I can read it in full.

Here is a post from the Black Athlete Sports Wire:

CELEBRATING OUR BLACK SPORTS HEROES- HOCKEY STYLE!

February is Black History Month.It is also “Hockey is for Everyone Month.” Since 2003, the National Hockey League has set aside the month of February to honor the contributions of blacks to the sport of hockey. To those of you who don’t follow the sport because it’s perceived as only a sport that “white people with no teeth play” are saying to yourselves, “what contributions?”

You may know of current players such as Anson Carter and Jerome Iginla. You may even know of such black hockey pioneers like Willie O’Ree and Grant Fuhr. But that’s as far as it goes. But there is a lot more that blacks have given to the sport of hockey that even an avid hockey fan like myself didn’t even know about.

If you watched the Skills competition in the NHL All Star game, which is in my opinion a lot more entertaining than the game itself, one competition called the “fastest skater” didn’t just originate in the NHL as we know it today. Or what about the “Slap Shot?” Those tradition was passed down from black hockey teams in Canada.

What about the hockey term, “stand up goaltender?” (A little Hockey 101 here. What that means is the goaltender doesn’t crouch to stop the puck from going into the net. He or she stands upright.) Goaltenders on black hockey teams were standing up in the net as early as the 1900’s.

What about the black hockey teams themselves? Just who were they and where did most of them come from?
The Canadian province of Nova Scotia is no bigger than the state of Ohio. One might call Nova Scotia the birthplace of black hockey in Canada because that’s where a lot of the original black hockey players came from. Before there was even an NHL, Blacks were playing hockey in Canada as early as 1895.

Like most Canadian children, white and black, the founding fathers of black hockey played on frozen ponds. Not only in Nova Scotia, but all over Canada.The sport is so engrained in the country, that it didn’t matter that teams like the Halifax Eurekas, Dartmouth Jubilees or Truro Victorias were composed mostly of black players. Canadians love their hockey no matter who played it. Attendance for the outdoor games attracted 1200 people, most of them white Canadians.

We all know or have heard of Willie O’Ree,from the Canadian province of New Brunswick, who is called, “the Jackie Robinson of hockey.” But there were other black hockey players from the other Canadian provinces who were either ahead or contemporaries of O’Ree.

No hockey fan, black or white if they happen to go to Toronto, should miss making a stop at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Black children, who think only white people play hockey would be surprised to find information on the St. Catherine’s(Ontario) Orioles, which was Canada’s first all Black hockey team.

There were other pioneers as well. “The Black Aces”, which was a hockey line composed of Manny McIntyre and brothers herb and Ossie Carnegie who played their hockey in the tough Quebec league.

Hockey fans in the early 1940’s and 1950’s claim that they were one of the greatest lines ever to play hockey in Canada. Black hockey players in Canada didn’t face the vicious racist attacks that Jackie Robinson faced from teammates and opposing players alike here in the United States. In the words of former Edmonton Oilers and Hall of Fame goaltender, Grant Fuhr, which speaks for the feelings of black hockey players, or at least the ones from Canada,”my color wasn’t an issue until I played in the United States.” This is not to say that racism didn’t play some part of why we don’t know more about these black hockey pioneers. If it didn’t, more of them would have played hockey in the NHL rather than Canada or in the hockey minor leagues.

Black history shouldn’t just be celebrated just one month out of 12, nor should recognizing black sports heroes in sports other than baseball, basketball or football.

Now here’s a quote from Black Ice:

The Truth Shall Set Us Free.

Today there are no monuments to the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes. There is no reference to the league in any but a few books on hockey. There is no reference to Henry Sylvester Williams, James Johnston, James Kinney or the scores of players who wore the Colored League uniforms. There is no reference in the Hockey Hall of Fame of the impact that Blacks had in the development of the modern game of hockey. No reference to the Black origin of the slap shot. There is no reference to the Black origin of the offensive style of goal play exhibited by Franklyn. There is no reference to the Black origin of goalies going down on ice in order to stop the puck. There is no reference to the Black practice of entertaining the crowds with a half-time show. It is as if the league had never existed. For hockey is today a sport Whiter in history than a Canadian winter. Page 195 - 196

Wow… why is this?

To kick start Black History month her on MB Toronto I thought I would post some info on Toronto’s most popular black politician William Hubbard.

William Peyton Hubbard, (1842 - 1935), was first person of African descent, on Toronto’s City Council. He was first elected in 1894 and served on it for 15 years. Hubbard was born in Toronto to former American slaves, who had escaped via the Underground Railroad. A baker by trade, he was well-known for his strong political opinions, his sharp wit, his convincing oratory and for his strong sense of public duty. His eloquence was such that his fellow politicians dubbed him “Old Cicero.”

George Brown supported him after he had rescued Brown from drowning in the Don River. The horses pulling Brown’s carriage bolted and he was tossed into the river. Brown recognize Hubbard’s political astuteness and encouraged his political ambitions. Not only was he Toronto’s first African Canadian Councillor, he was also Toronto’s first Canadian deputy mayor of African lineage.

He made a name for himself as a champion of little man, protecting the rights of Chinese laundry owners in the city. He also was a supporter of Adam Beck, founder of Toronto Hydro, in his efforts to keep power public.

Losing an election in 1915, Hubbard retired to the Riverdale area of the city, building a home 660 Broadview Ave., now part of Montcrest School, .that he would spend his remaining days in until he died at the age of 93. There is a plaque commemorating this house in the northeast corner of Riverdale Park, just south of Montcrest.

He maintained he had never experienced racism in political office because he ran on his knowledge of real estate, rather than as a “Negro politician,” and said, “I have always felt that I am a representative of a race hitherto despised, but if given a fair opportunity would be able to command esteem.”

Ever checked out Google Earth and visited all the big cities with 3D buildings and wondered why Toronto was not the list of 3D cities. Well it is now, not in Google Earth but in Microsofts Virtual Earth. I just found this out and thought I should share. You need to download the software and you also need a good graphics card running on your PC, if not it will be verrrrrry slow. Why is it that whenever I take pics around the city I never get these clear blue skys? Here are some pics from my visit to Virtual Toronto…

UMMMMM, Where is Union Station?
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The Toronto Star released their picks for the Top 25 Greatest Toronto Sports moments over the last 25 years. Not surprisingly Joe Carters game 6 home run to win the 1993 World Series got top honors. Baseball! My question why do we as Toronto sports fans tend to forget about baseball. It’s been around before our beloved hockey team won anything. The hockey guys even stole the name Maple Leafs from our very successful baseball club. What is it about baseball that turns us off? Maybe there are way too many games in a season to keep us interested. Whatever the reason, baseball always makes for great moments especially here in Toronto. Baseball is big and it always seems to get bigger. Who would have known Babe Ruth would be a baseball superstar after he hit his first professional homerun out of Hanlan’s stadium into the Toronto Bay way back when. We had a Professional Ball park on the Islands?


Hanlan’s Point Stadium 1907

Who would have known that the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club would fold after winning all of those Triple A World Series. The MILB.com (Minor League Baseball League) named 5 Toronto Maple Leaf Baseball Teams to its Top 100 MInor League teams of all time. That’s 5 percent of greatness. Here’s a question, why would anyone tear down this Stadium?

Maple Leaf Stadium 1929

Who would have known that interest for a Canadian major league team would swing to Montreal and not Toronto? Someone dropped the ball on that one! World Championships: Montreal - 0 Toronto - 2. Toronto is baseball! You can say what you want about Hockey, Football, Basketball and even Lacrosse. History shows us that Torontonians have always had a thing for baseball and now that Rogers too has found a thing for the sport it will be interesting to see just how much they are willing to make baseball that much bigger again.

Joe Carter - Game 6, 1993 World Series.

Still thinking about the Leafs? New/old General Manager won’t make much of a material difference, with this season at least. Again for some strange reason I decided to kill my time watching a Leaf game and guess what happened, they lost. I guess I was still up on the Raptor victory over the NBA’s best team at the moment the Boston Celtics the other night. What was I thinking? Why do I commit myself to such wastefulness. There is so much happening with the Raptors as of late I don’t know why the Leafs continue to be first news when it comes to sports in this city. We are a city who always loves to push aside the bad and showcase the new. Please, let’s forget about the Leafs they are a waste of time and money.

I must apologize for cracking. Previously I posted about forgetting the Leafs and I cracked. I’m sorry! I guess I am just a devoted Toronto sports fan, but still… The Leafs Suck! Watching them play is like watching a bad movie. This city needs to step away from showcasing itself as a hockey town because as you can tell from my words there is not much hockey being played here. Forget about the Toronto Maple Leafs and get into the Toronto Raptors. I’ll keep saying it because I truly believe if you’re a true Toronto Sports fan you enjoy winning teams you’ll do the right thing.

Tonight the Raptors are in action playing the Milwakee Bucks. Trust me, they are an exciting team to watch. Check’em out. The “Leafs?” Gotta Forget about’em!

Phot by: jgsprenger

So here we are at round five of MB Toronto’s quest to find the city’s top landmark arording to its readers. The first four rounds have been prety intertesting with some for sure selections and some almost but not quite shockers. This week is our “Wild Card” round with some of your runner uppers from previous rounds. Let’s see, this time around we have the Hockey’s Coopertown, the Hockey Hall of Fame. Our second and third pics are our city halls, both new and old. Common readers we have to get one of these two in! Next we got one of Toronto’s grandest structures ever built, Union Station. And finally we got the Sunnyside Pavillion.

If you had a tough time deciding between these before enjoy this second crack at it!

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So, another holiday season is upon us and things seem to get busy, real busy. I’m in Ohio again and haven’t been around the T-Dot to know what’s going on. What I do know is that Pakistan is under the radar since the assassination of former Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto. News reports even from the major networks seem to be conflicting and no one seems to know what really happened. Our friends at MB Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore have been blogging about the situation. First hand accounts, voices from the street and great pictures from the ground, pretty interesting read if you are interested.

http://karachi.metblogs.com
http://islamabad.metblogs.com
http://lahore.metblogs.com

Photo by Mudsi MB Karachi Flick group

So here we are at week 4 of MB Toronto’s Top T-Dot Landmark Poll. Week 3 was very interesting with the Rogers Centre beating out Toronto City Hall; I didn’t think it would happen. Our finalists thus far are the Princes’ Gates, Distillery District and the Rogers Centre. This week we have some new Landmarks to choose from and its a toughie. We have the Hockey Hall of Fame, Queens Park, Ontario Legislature, Fort York, St Lawrence Market and the CN Tower. Which of these 5 is your favorite?

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Hockey Hall of Fame photo by Condo TECH
Queen’s Park phot by Eric Giberson
Fort York Photo by Patrick Landers
St Lawrence Market Phot by nor dicshutter
CN Tower phot by William Self