January Heatwave

Yesterday I went to the neighbourhood beach. 

I've never spent longer than a month in a place like Fuzhou, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying life in a place where winter doesn't come with mountains of snow and scraping my car windows every morning. As a Canadian kid, a January 4th beach day sounds bizarre, but yesterday we enjoyed an unexpectedly warm day with rarely seen blue sky all over the place. Thankfully we were able to take full advantage; since it was our day off we spent the whole afternoon there, throwing the frisbee and football around, and watching the old men be amazing at flying kites. 

OK so the sky wasn't "blue" ALL day...

What about the swimming, you ask? Settle down there cowboy, this is still China. Sure, the sand was surprisingly nice for a beach on a Chinese river, but I don't know if I'm ready to be jumping into that can of worms just yet.  

I've always wanted to live by the beach, and although it may not be Hawaii, I'm thankful to have this spot across the street.

Pierce, Palardy… Parker?

Tonight I was up in the press box.

You need a press pass for that- I'm excited about mine!

A couple of weeks ago The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ preseason started, and with it my season as the writer for bluebombers.com began as well. With tonight being the first home game, it was my first chance to get up in the press box and try to fit in with all the real journalists. And I didn’t know who any of them were! (Apart from a few CreComm grads- those guys are everywhere.)

So if you aren’t keeping up with the Bombers by reading articles both previewing and recapping each game, first of all I’m surprised and disappointed in you. Second, you should start. You may have noticed that I’ve been blogging less and less these days, and reading these articles may be the perfect antidote to your throes of withdrawal. Who knows, if you read them very carefully, maybe I’ll spell out your name with the first letter of each line or something. Hmm?

You can check out my article documenting the ups and downs of tonight’s game here, and there’s links to my other articles very close by. The Bombers have given me a little “Written by Andrew Parker” list so just get in there and explore! 

Here's another example.

Bombers impress in OT

Today I watched the Bombers win in overtime.

      Another nail in leaving-the-game-early-to-beat-the-traffic’s coffin, today the Blue Bombers rallied a huge comeback to beat the BC Lions in overtime. I had never been at a game that went into overtime before, and this was intense. The crowd was on their feet, cheering like crazy. After Winnipeg made a quarterback change, putting in Jyles to satisfy the crowd’s chanting, the Bombers made huge plays to come back and tie the game, with touchdown passes to both Edwards and Carr.

      An incredible game with an amazing finish; Beasley intercepted and ran back for a touchdown to seal the deal. Oh, and this game also had the best fight I’ve ever seen in a football game. The complete package!

Edwards make the catch! Photo: Canadian Press

Read the CFL's coverage of Jyles' revival here.