Hi Travelpat, I just looked at the volleyball schedule and it appears the games begin at 7:30 am both Friday and Saturday and run until 7:00 pm. Unlike most people, I have to work on Good Friday (April 6) and then may be going to the Roughnecks--Rush NLL lacrosse game that evening, but if your team is playing on Saturday rather than Friday (hopefully not too early in the day!) I may be able to drop by at the U of C gym. You'll have to send me a 'mug shot' so I'll be able to identify you! I'm still not clear on how to get (specatator) tickets for the Western Cup events...the web site lists prices for Out Fest and Out Rights but not for the actual sporting events. In any case, good luck and hope you create 'kaos' for your opposition.

As a follow-up to your comment about Latin America....it's good to see that gay sporting events are gaining some momentum in that part of the world. According to GLISA, there is a first-ever gay football (soccer) tournament in Buenos Aires later this year. I was there two years ago, and it is a beautiful city. I was in Brazil again recently, and I really got a sense there is a growing acceptance of gay people, even in some of the smaller cities (long story, but I spent some time with a guy who lives openly gay in a small town), and recent legislation protecting the rights of gays and lesbians in Brazil confirms this perception. Quite progressive, considering Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world.

Hey Marc:
Actually we are doing the travel for a women's team from here in Toronto for that soccer tournament in Buenos Aires you refer to. Fortunately through one my gay toursim contacts down in BA we have been able to hook them in with some German teams to get a greatly reduced group rate at some apartment style hotels down in Buenos aires. I like gay tourism people - even if some others who post here don't seem to. ;-)

As for tracking me down in Calgary - I'll see if i can come up with a recent mug shot to send you. If not and you do happen to make it to the gym on Saturday look for the somewhat older guy - I'm 47 - but look younger. I have a buzzed head and goatee. 5'9" 160lb - fit athletic build, 7" .... oops - sorry got carried away and thought I was on Manhunt for a second. ;-)

Actually the one good thing about Calgary being in the Mountain time zone is that for such a short trip - my body's internal clock will stay in the Eastern time zone. So 7:00AM games will feel like 9:00AM to me - which isn't too bad.

Cheers,
Pat

Hi Pat,
I have a gay friend here who is also a travel agent, although I don't think he's ever arranged anything like that! Anyway, looks like we are close in age, height, weight and....oh, never mind that other number Look forward to maybe meeting up (I've met several other Outsporters, including Canmark in Toronto, quite a nice guy and I think you may know him too?) When you have a better idea of exactly when you are playing volleyball at the U of C, let me know. Also, I can send you my phone # via PM. Take care! M.

So, lets see - given gay men's penchant to exaggerate, and Pat's well-documented tendancy to WAY exaggerate, that would make him 62, 5'7", 210, and about 5.5" right? :-)

But Kevin - I NEVER exaggerate about anything. ;-)

Although I've got to tell you - I do feel everyone of my 47 years today after playing in the volleyball tournament here this weekend. 8 games is getting a little too much for this body to handle.

To relate this post back to this board, it seemed the team I am going with may be the only team that was planning on going to Calgary. A couple of guys from Montreal indicated to me that they were trying to put a team together. There is a tournament in Ottawa just 2 weeks before Calgary and one in Montreal at the same time as Calgary - that a number of Toronto teams are planning on attending. The main factor being that both of those are driving distance from Toronto. There were some guys I chatted with over the weekend - who were in Montreal for the Outgames - who indicated they are planning to attend Copenhagen in 2009.

Well - one week to go until the inaugural North American Outgames event in Calgary. Actually in fact the Human rights conference portion of the event (Outrights) - kicks off April 2nd with the highlight of that part of the event likely to be the Judy Shepherd presentationon the morning of April 3. Although looking through the schedule of events there are a number of interesting speakers and workshops happening.
http://www.calgary2007.com/documents/OR_schedule.pdf

The Outfest - Cultural part of the agenda is also quite busy. with one of the highlights being Lily Tomlin on the Saturday evening. There are exhibits and shows all week long at various venues in the Cowboy city.
http://www.calgary2007.com/outFest-events.asp

And as for the Outgames/Western Cup portion of the event. I have not yet heard any specific participation numbers from anybody involved with Calgary 2007 - but from various sources here are my own best guesses. The latest newsletter for the event indicated that hockey is completely full and the website indicated they were planning for a 12 team tournament. Considering a hockey team's roster normally has about 15 players - if not more - that is likely over 180 hockey players. That is of course if they have indeed stuck to their plan for a 12 team tournament.

I know Curling normally draws over 150 participants at Western Cup and for this year's Outgames version they were planning on adding a second bonspeil at a second venue. I assume they must be close to if not over that number as as the newsletter reports they are almost full for curling.

I have no real informaiton on numbers for anything else. As i mentioned on a previous post one teammate told me he had heard that volleyball would have about the same number of teams as in previous years. They usually draw 10 - 15 teams - so that would mean somewhere in the 100 range in terms of participant numbers if that information was true.

I have no idea at all on the bowling, badminton, running or swimming numbers. I guess i'll find out when I get to calgary next Thursday.

By the way registration ends tomorrow for the sports events.

Some more details out on the 'Party Pac' events.
Friday night will be 'Cowboys and Queens - which is a Casino Night/Apollo Idol contest/Western Dance

Saturday night is 'Silver' - the 25th Anniversary dance with DJ Tracy Young - who also happened to spin at the closing ceremonies of the Montreal Outgames.

Sunday - the closing celebration brunch.

Nice to see that CityTV is a sponsor and I am sure some will find it interesting to note Tourism Philadelphia is too.

As I have said several times, I would like the Western Cup to be successful. However, the track record of the GLISA/OutGames people suggests that no matter what actually happens in Calgary this weekend, the report will be a signicant exaggeration of numbers and impact and an under-reporting of financial losses if any. Trust, once lost, is difficult to regain, and obviously the GLISA people don't care about that anyway.

There are many, many, many more people participating in other Easter Weekend tournaments throughout the U.S. and Canada. It's unfortunate that entities like Philadelphia Tourism don't also support those large, successful long-term events. I hope people remember all of this 1, 2 and 3 years from now.

I was very pleased to receive a 'scholarship' to attend the OutRights conference free of charge because of some volunteer work I have done with AIDS Calgary. I was able to attend three presentations/workshops over the past two days.

As Pat said above, Judy Shepard was a keynote speaker this morning. First we watched a short video about the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which included clips not only of Matthew but James Byrd, the black man who was dragged to his death in Texas that same year. Judy exuded warmth and compassion throughout her presentation. She also displayed a delightful sense of humour, and that uniquely American expression "y'all". One example of her humour was when she said that in the work environment, gay employees should feel comfortable on Monday mornings describing their weekends with their lovers and gay friends, putting it this way "you have every right to bore your co-workers as much as they bore you!" Obviously the pain of Matthew's brutal murder will never be completely erased, but she certainly remembers the good times she had with her son as well. She has lobbied tirelessly to get hate-crimes legislation enacted in the U.S. (her home state of Wyoming still does not have one). When asked about the homophobia of organized religion, she specifically mentioned the Catholic and the Mormon church, but she went on to say that she is proud to be an Episcopalian since her church appointed a gay bishop. Judy received two standing ovations from the audience.

The other two events I attended were "Beyond the Black/White Divide: Systemic Invisibility and Racialization of People of Colour in the Mainstream Whilte GLBT Community" and "GLBT in the Media". The former was particularly interesting, and served to remind (us) whites that GLBT persons of colour face the unique challenge of navigating two identities in a society that does not fully accept either one, and that racism is just as rampant in the gay community as it is in the larger society.

I had hoped that Mark Tewksbury would be speaking at the conference...he seems like such a natural fit, being from Calgary, a gay athlete, and having done many speaking engagements in the past. But unfortunately there is no event on the subject of gays in sports; perhaps Mark had been invited but could not make it. I recently read his interesting book "Straight Talk from a Gay Jock".

As for the sporting events, teams are listed in the Outgames booklet I received at the OutRights conference. There appears to be twelve volleyball teams, including Pat's team Kaos and other names such as Rice Krispies and Vas Indeferens. Also, 13 bowling teams, 45 curling teams, six hockey teams, as well as about 75 individual names listed for badminton, running and swimming. The majority of participants are, not surprisingly, from Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, but there are sizable numbers from Toronto as well as a few from Winnipeg, Montreal and several American cities.

The Outgames program booklet also includes a welcome message from Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier and a full-page ad from Philadelphia Tourism Marketing, with the caption "Philadelphia: Get your history straight and your night life gay."

Note to Pat, please check for PM.

LOL! You are kidding, right?

No, I wasn't kidding. Why is it such a stretch for him to come back and speak in his hometown? Am I missing something?

Edit: unless you meant that because he likes to talk so much that he would be unlikely to turn down such a request?

So by the sounds of it from the numbers Marc provided there are going to be somewhere close to 500 participating in the sports program this weekend. That is obviously not nearly as many as they were hoping for initially - but one thing that has undeniably happened is greatly increased media exposure in the Calgary market. By having the Western Cup partner up with others in the GLBT community, making this inaugural NA Outgames event a three pronged program of not only the sports but the Outfest and important Outrights conference it has certainly given the event a much higher profile.

Just a quick search this morning and there are stories about the Outgames found on websites for the CBC, CTV, Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun with some of the stories having gone out on the National wire service Canadian Press and gotten picked up on various mainstream websites like canada.com.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...b4b&k=60251
http://www.calgarysun.com/cgi-bin/publish....es&s=events
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/0...914980-sun.html
http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/RTGAMArticle.../calgary.ctv.ca

Now here is hoping that the Calgary weather forecasters have it right and there will be a dramatic warm-up over the next few days. I could not help but notice that on some of those Calgary news outlets I was surfing that the current weather conditions were a ridiculously cold -8C (about 17F for our American friends) with flurries. But fortunately after a still not very warm high of 2C (35F) for my arrival tomorrow, the forecast has it warming up to 7C (45F) on Friday and all the way up to a relatively balmy 13C or 55F on Saturday. I'm not bringing my parka so that forecast better be right. ;-)

Pat

This would indicate between 450 and 500 participants. 96 in volleyball (12 teams, 6 players, 2 alternates each), 200 or so in curling (45 teams, 4 players, 1 alternate), 60 in Hockey (6 players, 4 alternates each), 52 in Bowling (13 teams, 4 players - don't typically have alternates), and 75 in the other sports. Very respectable and typical for a Western Cup from what Ken has told us. Good job to the Western Cup people. The fiction that the event was ever going to be a "North American" OutGames is proven by the locations of the competitors, of course. As to the parasite known as GLISA ... we'll have to wait to see what they claim ... oh wait - they're already making claims - see Transparent Pat's post above about the fantastic benefit of being on more Canadian websites. Obviously the brand did little to expand the size or scope of the event. Frankly, the publicity Pat's talking about could have been realized without the brand with some competent public relations efforts.

UPDATE: OK so I looked at the websites Pat has linked above. These are not examples of "great new publicity for LGBT sports" as implied by Pat. First one is canada.com which no one in my office seems to be able to access. Second one is about Lilly Tomlin. Third one is about Judy Shepherd. Fourth one is a tiny mention on Calgary TV that probably took 20 seconds to read. How does he make the claim of "greatly increased media exposure in the Calgary market"? What happened last year when Pat wasn't searching websites for Western Cup? I see more than 200 references to Western Cup 2006 in a simple google search.

This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy and is so typical of the GLISA people. I'm sure we'll be treated to more exaggerated claims of success similar to the inflated particpation numbers in Montreal and the CAD$5.5 million difference between reported and actual financials. Packaging existing, successful events together and naming them "OutGames" doesn't seem to have yielded anything substantially positive. Rather, the Western Cup and Fairy Tales Presentation Society have done a service to GLISA by allowing them to attach themselves to their previously successful events. I hope GLISA paid for the naming rights. If not, they got ripped off.

The interesting thing will be if the ill-advised Philadelphia effort goes ahead. In this case, large amounts of money will be used to create an event that didn't exist before and has apparent widespread opposition by the local LGBT sports organizations. Perhaps that will succeed, but it could be bittersweet as it obviously significantly reduces Philly's chances of hosting a future Gay Games, an event they've said they have interest in and has exponentially greater economic impact.

Hey Kevin:
I'm not going to get into an argument with you about level of media exposure in the Calgary market. You are absolutely right I did not do a search on newspaper websites last year but did watch a few Calgary TV newscasts last year during the weekend of the Western Cup hoping to see some coverage but I did not come across any reports at all on the 3 or 4 Calgary newscasts I watched that weekend which was disappointing. That is not to say there was not any coverage at all - but the newscasts i watched certainly did not have any mention. Nor did I see any news coverage at all - in any mainstream media - when I was in Calgary the year before that for the Western Cup - and I was looking for it! This year I have already seen three differrent stories on Calgary newscasts this week - I get 4 different Calgary TV stations on my digital cable - and I'll be curious to see what coverage - if any - the sports program receives this weekend. I'll let you know when I get back home next week - although I won't be watching any local newscasts if they conflict with the TV coverage of the Leafs game in their drive to the Stanley Cup playoffs. :-)

*** Edited to add - the last link in my first post - which Kevin indicated would be a 20 second spot - well if you click on the link for the actual news story that appeared on the air - I believe the link is titled Kevin Green reports - and you will find a fairly lengthy comprehensive report on the Rights program of the NA Outgame. The reason I chose that link is because that is one of the stories I had watched myself. ***

Perhaps somebody who lives in Calgary might want to offer their first hand impression of the media coverage compared to what they may have witnessed for previous Western Cups - that would likely be a better indicator than just google search result numbers as to what level of exposure the event is being given locally.

Kevin - I have to take a bit of a run at you though. After a bit of a lull in this practice - which by the way I did appreciate - you again seem to be intent on trying to misrepresent what I have said when making your arguments. At least that is my impression. The first minor irritant to me is that you keep claiming that I speak for GLISA. I have not even spoken with anybody on the GLISA board since Montreal - so when you state that you wonder what GLISA is going to claim and then indicate oh we already know because they already are making claims because of what I say - well that is just complete and utter nonsense.

You even attribute the phrase 'great new publicity for LGBT sports' to me and even put it in quotes, which would give people the impression that is what I had said. In fact I stated "By having the Western Cup partner up with others in the GLBT community, making this inaugural NA Outgames event a three pronged program of not only the sports but the Outfest and important Outrights conference it has certainly given the event a much higher profile." Note I am saying the event is a 3 pronged program and because of that partnering up the event is getting greater exposure. I did not say - nor was I implying that only sport was getting a higher profile.

And maybe this is the crux of one of our misunderstandings or disagreements. When I was on the FGG board and Culture was a significant part of what the FGG board was pushing - there was always this talk of this great goal of advancing GLBT rights around the world through the sports and Cultural events of the Gay Games. GLISA events have taken that very admirable goal of advancing GLBT rights around the world by directly partnering with those activists in our community who push the rights envelope. Something we have so successfully done up here in Canada and hope for similar progress in other countries. And truth be told Alberta - where Calgary is located - has had a bit of a red neck reputation towards gay rights when compared to the views in the rest of the country - and almost all the members elected to Parliament from Alberta have consistently voted against the Gay Rights agenda. So I think it is great that as part of the Outgames that there is a GLBT Rights conference taking place in Calgary - that is getting decent mainstream media coverage in that province.

It is the one goal of GLISA's that I most support - that we - the GLBT sports community - do what we can to partner with others in our community who work in the human rights field to advance not only GLBT sport - but in the long term GLBT rights around the world. It is a laudable goal that I am very glad to see is remaining a major part of what GLISA is all about. So i am very much in favour of events where we in the GLBT sport community work with those other gay organizations, be they tourism organizations, cultural groups, human rights groups, AIDS activists - all of them - to work together to build events that continue to help grow and give greater exposure to GLBT sport, business, culture and rights around the world.

OK - I'm off my soapbox and now it is time to pack and off I go to Calgary to have some fun with my friends. I'm really looking forward to it!

Pat and others,

From where I sit in Vancouver, this Western Cup and the other three parts of the program have had just about nil increase in exposure. The event organizers themselves have made almost no effort to ensure that folks in Vancouver were any more aware of their event than they have in the past. In fact, they have probably done less than in the past considering the lack of local advertising.

We had our year end Curling Banquet just this past Sunday and there was almost no discussion of the Calgary event. Most years it is the talk of the Club as many of us go there as a natural end to our season - a trip to see many of our firends and have some fun out of town. That is not to say that there are no teams from Vancouver attending- there are. What is missing is the buzz of past years.

I do know that some people changed their minds about going once the entry fee was reduced. I also know that some people that had registered earlier were upset that other people (that registered later - part of the GLISA model) got a cheaper deal.

I went through the local GLBT magazine for Calgary to see if they got any more information than we did in Vancouver and was surprised to see almost no coverage. My guess is that GLISA NA was supposed to cover that kind of thing as part of their partnership.

Based on the reports of participation numbers, this is not an increase over past years but simply a holding even. Of course, this is really an increase because the event would clearly have lost participants if it was not a GLISA NA event. The fact that they probably have at least a 70% retention rate in participants from year to year in Volleyball and Curling (sports I have participated in) does not indicate that the event was likely to succeed for the 25th year in a row. Thank the GLISA NA people for coming in and saving them at a time that nothing changed!

I would say that it is really unfair of Pat or any of the GLISA folks to take any credit for this event unless there is a dramatic increase in the status quo - either by increased regional numbers or by significant increases in the number of participants from the farther reaches of North America. So far we are being told that this is the same old event with a slightly different skin.

The winner will be Western Cup if they are able to put on another event next year.

Ken

Pat: While you say you have had no contact with the GLISA people since Montreal or soon thereafter, you continue to spout the same party line that you were spouting for 2 years before Montreal. You begin from the point of view that the purpose, mission and people of GLISA are positive contributions to our world. This is not surprising since you played a role in forwarding this world view for so long. The fact that you continue to do so independently of actual contact with them doesn't make it any different. Indeed, one could argue that it makes it worse since you should be one of the few people that helped keep this whole mess going who has had significant access to data that should show you that your faith in those people (and your initial ideas) was misplaced. You claim to have been "cut loose" or "thrown under the bus" or something and yet you continue to sing the praises of GLISA and GLISA events even as you admit there is incontrovertible proof that you were misled and lied to. Yes, it is infuriating (which I suspect you enjoy) but it is also kind of sad.

So you'll pardon me if I continue to view you as the apologist. In some ways you're like the neo-con gays who are hated by the Bush administration, denied their rights, lied to, and continue to sing the praises of the Republicans. It just doesn't make sense.

Back to publicity.
1) to make claims that "wow - lots more publicity" whether in Calgary or beyond, you need to do more than just give four links. PR is quasi-measurable. Do the research on what happened before and what's happening now and then make the claim. Otherwise you're just doing what you always do - knee-jerk support of anything GLISA-ified.
2) a North American OutGames should have come with a NorthAmerican PR and recruitment campaign. About the only significant publicity I saw was in the Bay Area Reporter - and the writer was a former FGG Board member, ironically enough. There was more of course (Advocate may have done an online bit). Top that off with the over-the-top claims on how many athletes would attend (remember 2,500?) and you have a successful event that could apear to be a failure.
3) Frankly, having the 1st NA OutGames as a parasite on Calgary was both predictable and a mistake. Western Cup is largely a Canadian event. That is perfectly fine. I like the multi-sport model and have advocated on OutSports for more of them (though not a full-scale NA OutGames). The issue with GLISA now is that it really feels like a few Canadians that got pissed that the FGG wouldn't cower to Montreal and bought the crap being spewed by Louise Roy and her cronies that the FGG obviously didn't buy (thank god). Yeah, there are a few Danes involved and some Australian rowers and field hockey players. But, really, there's not much more significant stuff going on there.

It will be very tough for GLISA to break out of that perception now. They should have 1) waited a year (ESPECIALLY given the financial issue), 2) worked on developing a non-Canadian base (especially in N.A.), 3) gotten rid of some of the discredited leaders as a show to the world that they learned from Montreal, 4) cancelled the 2nd OutGames (or gone to EGLSF and asked them to consider a GLISA-cosponsored - but not named OutGames - EuroGames in Copenhagen in 2009 and simply given up on the quadrennial). Instead, they move full-steam ahead with Philly, not pausing to consider how they are doing to Philadelphia's sports community what Montreal did to the LGBT sports community.

And that is MY soap box.

When I have more time I'll give a more lengthy report but the short form highlights from Calgary:
- just under 600 total participants in the 7 sports. A record for the Western Cup
- a big thank you was given from the organizers of the rights conference and Outfest and those involved with the Calgary Legacy to GLISA for partnering with them
- the best sport venue I have ever played volleyball in at the University of Calgary
- a big way to go to the runners - who took part in all the running events in spite of unseasonably cold weather with temps in the -2C range. (high 20's F)
- great turn out of well over 600 people at the dance party on Saturday night in a superb venue - unfortunately due to a flight problem the headline DJ did not make it - but people still seemed to have a lot of fun. Had the chance to catch up with a lot of people who I had not seen since the Outgames in Montreal
- a superb closing ceremony/show at the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts
- an update from a representative from Copenhagen on their plans for 2009. His presentation was given an enthusiastic reception from the 400+ who were at the closing event
- when I get more time I'll fill you in on some other highlights of the weekend - but the consensus of everybody on my silver medal winning volleyball team and any of the curlers, runners, swimmers and bowlers I had a chance to talk to either at the Saturday night dance or on Sunday afternoon was that it was a great event. Certainly something that Calgary, the Western Cup and GLISA all could be very proud of.

Yes, I agree that GLISA should be proud. They went into a town and talked the locals into adding their by-line to an existing successful event (25th year) and did not ruin the event. But then, I am thinking that they should be really proud of the fact that their lack of support and any oversight whatsoever did not interfere with a machine that was already functioning well without them.

The lack of any support or oversight makes their involvement a facade at best.

On another note, I got a funny note today from a friend of mine. He was approached by Greg Laroque - the President of GLISA NA. Apparently Greg was looking for people in Vancouver that would be interested in putting on a 2011 Vancouver NA OutGames. He was referred to me and of course Greg did not remember that we had met and been on the Board of Team Vancouver together.

I am wondering when the GLISA NA folks are actually going to start following their own statements in regards to involvement of everyone. I hate to agree with Kevin that this seems to be a Canadian movement but all evidence points in that direction. I would love to see more of an effort to see if the US cities with available facilities be approached to host an event. So far they can be accused of thinking that NA ends at the Canada US border.

My thought is that there would not be any level of support for such an idea. I base that belief on the fact that there is already an incredible amount of GLBT sporting events that occur in NA every weekend. On long weekends there are more events than anyone could ever hope to attend even if they went to a different event every year for 10 years!

It is clear to me that the multi sport model is not required in NA due to a highly developed range of sporting and Cultural programming.

I will acknowledge that lesser developed areas of the world could probably benefit from this concept but I predict that GLISA NA really doesn't have a need to exist and will slowly die as members drop off.

I had put together a feasibility group here in Vancouver to look into the possibility of a Winter Gaymes in Vancouver in 2004. I was even able to get the local Curling League to support the event by allowing their annual event to be used as the Winter Gaymes Curling competition. That took some discussion but the vote was overwhelmingly in favor.

The hockey folks I talked to were not very interested in pursuing the concept and the ski and skating guys were concerned about quite a few things. Basically, the event did not have enough community support so I let it go. When the dates came around for the event as I had planned, it turned out that there was record low snow on the local mountains and the ski events would have been cancelled. I was really glad that we had not gone forward.

Many people jumped all over me as they felt that the ski events would have to be held in Whistler but that would have been silly. The Olympics are struggling to overcome the distance issues and we would never have been able to aolve it. Basically it would be 2 events at the same time. Sounds great but it would be a logistical nightmare.

Back to Calgary, I am looking forward to hearing more about their financial reports now that the event is over.

MARC - the reason why it would be inappropriate for Mark Tewksbury to speak is because his embarrassment at trashing the world leaders of GLBT Sports as well as lying directly to everyone - would keep him away. Do not forget that he is one of the central people in the Montreal debacle. He was on the Board of GLISA and was Chair fo the M2006 Board. He clearly had access to the information that would have told him about the mismanagement. He had a legal responsibility to keep an eye on it and he said nothing. What I am wondering is what he could say that you would want to hear? Is the shine on his Olympic medals still so bright that you cannot see what he has done?

Ken

Hey Ken:
Speaking of Mark Tewksbury - I did actually run into him - very briefly at the cocktail reception - just as I was heading into the theatre - so I did not get a chance to talk to him much beyond exchanging pleasantries. He did say they were still working on the Montreal financial mess - and that as a Calgarian - he was very proud of the Outrights, Outfest Outgames/Western Cup event that was just rapping up. No real news there.

And speaking of approaching an American city - well they have - Philly. And look at the ruckus that has raised with assertions being made that if the city were to move forward with a GLISA sanctioned event - that they could rule out ever attempting to host a Gay Games. I'm not sure if I would personally put it in words this strong - but one of the Vancouver volleyball players did when we were discussing this with some other players from Toronto, Winnipeg and San Francisco between games on Friday. He said - so does that mean any city or group that works with GLISA are going to be blackballed by supporters of the FGG?

But enough of that - back to my positive experiences from Calgary. One of the highlights was the tie in of the sport event with the gay rights and cultural festival components. And the speeches from those involved with those non-sport aspects of the first North American Outgames made it clear that the tie in with the Outgames led them to do things they had only dreamed of doing before in terms of the scope of the Cultural Festival and the significance of the Gay Rights conference. Thousands of Calgarians attended the various events of Outfest. Hundreds attended the Rights conference. They were certain that the legacy of the event could only mean good things for the GLBT community of Calgary. And that community - quite frankly could use some help. I was caught off guard with just how closeted so much of the community seems to be in comparison to what I am so used to living here in very liberal Toronto.

I'll give you a volleyball example. Part way through the day on Friday a CBC cameraman came in to film some of the games whcih were going to be part of an Outgames story that would appear that evening on the news. He filmed my team playing against a team from Vancouver - and he asked if anybody on the court had any objections to appearing on the CBC in a story about the Outgames - and we all immeditely said no - no problem. When my serve went into the net while I was being filmed - I was tempted to re-consider though. ;-)

The game following ours - which featured two Calgary teams - he also wanted to film a bit - but when he asked if anybody would mind been seen in an Outgames story - half the members of each team immediately indicated that no they would rather not be shown. So the cameraman did not even bother doing any more filming of their game. I thought - how sad. But then later on one of my teammates - who was off the court when the CBC guy was filming our game - whose parents still live in Calgary - indicated he too would have asked not to be filmed - had he been on the court during our game, because - and these are his words - his parents living in red neck Calgary would really not take it well were he to be shown on TV at a gay event. That is why a number of Calgarians I talked to were so glad to see the tie-in with the Human rights conference and the well attended Outfest - that did receive such good mainstream media coverage - as they felt it would be yet one more step in the gradual process of Calgarians catching up with the mainstream attitude of people in places like Toronto. So that maybe one day the gay community could be as open there as it is here.

As for how Canadian GLISA is - well not much i can do about that. They did announce a new GLISA North American board - and I don't remember the names - but some of the new board members were from Colorado, Houston and somewhere in Florida. So I suspect they are aware of and taking steps to address that percpetion. I'm sure there will be a press release soon.

Low point of the weekend was when I was talking to one of the bowlers - originally from Toronto and now living in Vancouver who told me that there were fewer American bowlers than usual at the Western Cup, but some of those who did come told him, that they were actually encouraged by their leagues to NOT attend because of its affiliation with Outgames. How sad that there are actually people out there actually trying to stop people from attending a GLBT sporting event that has the full support of the host community and has had dozens of volunteers working on to be a success.

But back to the positive - some other items that made the weekend so memorable.
- the bonus of prize money - by winning Silver our team actually received $200.00 second place money! What a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Mind you with my teammates incredible thirst for Martinis - that money didn't last long, ;-)
- Arriving in Calgary on a Westjet plane from Toronto that had myself and one other teammate with 2 bowling teams and two curling teams from Toronto on the flight, one of the flight attendants made an annoucement to have everyone on the plane give us all a hand to wish us luck at our events that weekend. That was very neat!
- Flames fans! They are as hockey crazed in Calgary as they are in Toronto - so while I had to painfully watch the emotional roller coaster ride of a weekend that ultimately ended badly for my Leafs from a distance, it was neat to see the entire city of Calgary so into the Flames. The one new sports bar 'Flames Central' was full to its 2000 person limit 5 hours before the Flames game event started on Saturday.
- the eye candy at the U of C. My goodness - what can i say when you happen to be playing volleyball in the same facility as the Canadian Olympic training centre. We had gymnasts practicing in the gym next to ours - who were all gorgeous and walking around with their ripped bods shirtless all weekend. It was hard to concentrate on the volleyball. ;-)
- again the superb volleyball facilities. As a setter I particularly liked the indirect lighting - where all the lights were pointed at the white ceiling - so there were no lights facing down at the court - that so often can blind you when trying to set if the ball passes right through the light. That combined with the high ceilings and lots of room around each court to rundown all my teams bad passes - and yes there were many- made this one happy setter
- the great comaraderie of the entire weekend. Everybody at volleyball, anybody I met participating in any of the other sports or some of those who had been in town mainly to attend the conference but hung around to watch some of the sports and take part in some of the weekend's social events - it was all just such a great positive and uplifting experience. And fortunately - no posts here can change that!

Pat,

I cannot imagine who the Volleyball player from Vancouver was that implied (or even directly stated to you) that Philadelphia should not receive a nod for a Gay Games if they were to support the OutGames in any way. Just when I think it is not worth discussing in Vancouver because they have all put their heads under the sand, you give me reason to hope! Do you remember their name?

I think the issue with Philadelphia and the whole OutGames concept is that they are not working through the community, they go directly to the folks that are in control of the Tourism taxes and the way in which they are spent - more specifically - the money.

Mark has to be full of crud at this point as the amount of time that has gone by tells me that they are trying to find ways to spin this so it looks like they were not lying all along and he, specifically, can disavow any knowledge of things that he had a responsibility to be aware of in both of his official capacities. He was a great swimmer but he is not an organizer at all and his credibility is as flat as the Canadian Prairie (where you can watch your dog run away from home for 2 days!!)

After I left my last post it occurred to me that Greg Laroque - President of NA GLISA is biting the nad that fed him this past weekend. He is already looking into the possibility of holding an event in Vancouver in late MArch of 2011. This would have a direct competition with the Calgary event in its' year 29. How is that fior a thank-you?

Ken

PS As for the U of C facilities, the Western Cup has used them on more than a few occasions prior to this year. The last time I played Volleyball it was at the U of C that year. I do have beeter memories of playing there from my University days when it was a brand new facility. I agree with you that it is a great place to play.

Hey Ken:
The Vancouver guy I spoke of did not mean it as a positive when he stated 'Does this mean anybody that affiliates with GLISA is going to end up being blackballed?' He said it incredulously with the implication I took from the way he said it, that it would reflect badly upon those who would do the blackballing. As for his name - you've got me. He was an Asian guy - not playing in our division - seemed to know some of the guys on the Rice Krispies team who we did play against. That's the best I can do.

And yes the facilities at U of C were by far the best I have ever played at. I remember dropping by there two years ago just to watch some of the volleyball when I was out at the Western Cup 2 years ago promoting our Outgames packages to Montreal at the time. But until actually playing - 23 games in all - yes that is how may we played this weekend - I really did not appreciate just how superb a venue it really is. It puts anything we use in Toronto to shame.