Jordan Cripps Sports Editor

I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Sports Editor of the Other Press. I’d like to talk a bit about what you can expect over the coming weeks in the sports section and about the direction we are trying to take the sports section. I'd also like to issue a plea for anyone interested in sports to sub- mit their articles to the Other Press.

I am a long-time sports fan, having grown up watching the Canucks struggle to emerge from the basement of the Western Conference. One of my favourite sports memories is the 1994 NHL playoffs, watching the Canucks band together after a mediocre season and take the New York Rangers to the absolute limit—one or two lucky bounces, and the Canucks wouldn't still be looking for the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

At the other end of the scale, one of my worst sports memories has got to be the way that the NBA treated this city. | must admit that I am pleased when I hear that the Memphis Grizzlies are attracting even fewer fans than the Vancouver Grizzlies did despite that team’s ability to attract decent free agents. When play- ers would rather have played in Europe than come to Vancouver and play in the best league and, I would argue, the best city in the world.

Having played both hockey and basketball, I re-read my article from last week’s Other Press, and I realized that I had, in fact, made a mistake in assessing my involvement in college sports. I have actually represented Douglas as an athlete. I took part in two wheelchair basketball tournaments. I don’t remember too many of the details from those tournaments but I do know that we were able to capture second place at one tournament—if I had been

able to shoot free-throws better than Shaq, we might have even won the whole thing.

That’s more than enough about me. I would like to let people know a bit about the direction that the sports section is going to take over the next while. The Other Press has made the decision that it would like to have more Douglas related articles in its pages. The sports section is no different. In this issue, for exam- ple, we have introduced a weekly “column” called “Douglas Sports at a Glance”. Every week this column will have scores from games involving the Royals, provide standings and a schedule of upcoming games. Eventually, athlete profiles will also be found in this section. We will also make a greater attempt to give coverage to the Royals. We hope that this coverage will include game write- ups and, with any luck, reaction from players and coaches. It will not be an overnight change and we ask our readers to be patient as we attempt to introduce these changes.

Because this is a big section and lots of words are needed to fill the space, I would like to encourage anyone who has an interest in sports (or if you don't, tell people why) to submit their stories to me. If anyone attends a Royals game and would be interested in submitting a write-up of the game, please contact me. I would also like to send out a special invitation to any Royals athletes who would be interested in writing about their experiences as a college athlete to get in touch with me. Finally, if you've got anything you would like to say that falls into the category of sports or recre- ation, please do so. Articles can be submitted to me at dcsportsed- itor@yahoo.ca. For more information on submissions guidelines please see page 1.

Live long and prosper at the Other Press!

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