The Tribune

The NHL pre-season isn’t a hotbed of competitive juices. Nor should it be used as a barometer for how one’s favourite team will fare in the upcoming season-more often than not, the best exhibition teams are the worst squads during the real games and vice-versa.

I guess I’m unpatriotic. Though, born and raised in Canada-and a lifelong fan of the gridiron game-I have never made a secret of my disdain for this country’s knock-off brand of football or its ramshackle convening body, the Canadian Football League. What mystifies me most about the CFL isn’t its poor management, weak talent pool, inferiority complex or laughable quality of play.

There’s an old cliché in sports: “You have to play 60 minutes to win.” McGill found out the hard way on Saturday that there’s still a lot of truth in that expression. Despite going into halftime with an 11 point lead, the Redmen failed to pull off what would have been a huge upset against the top ranked team in the country, losing to the Laval Rouge et Or 43-27 in front of 1,749 spectators at Molson Stadium.

If you’re a sports fan, you’ve stayed up at night fantasizing about scoring the winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals or hitting the World Series walk-off shot. If you’re a football fan, thoughts inevitably gravitate towards becoming a speedy wide receiver or a star quarterback.

The third ranked Martlets got off to a slow start in Friday night’s season opener at Molson Stadium. But a much stronger second half allowed them to escape with a 2-0 victory over the visiting Sherbrooke Vert et Or. Neither side had been able to find any rhythm or assert itself during the first frame.

Sports teams are notoriously tight lipped and cautious when making preseason predictions about success. Such is the case with the Martlets soccer team. While they didn’t engage in any interviews touting dominance over the rest of the field, the Martlets soccer team clearly has only one target for the season: a national championship.

With Sherbrooke having prevented the Redmen from reaching the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, it’s not difficult to imagine why this meeting was such a scrappy affair. And while it won’t erase the memories of post-season dreams dashed, McGill managed to exact a little revenge by edging out a 2-1 victory at Molson Stadium.

There can really be no doubt about Terrell Owens’ dominance, because while other players may put up bigger numbers, no other receiver is tougher to defend. Get the ball anywhere near Owens and he will make a play. I doubt anyone can honestly question Owens’ value on the field after he has racked up over 1,000 yards a year six times and over 100 career touchdowns.

While the average women’s soccer fan at McGill might point to the team’s impressive conference record and harvest of major year-end awards as signs of a successful 2009-10 campaign, the Martlet players and coaching staff aren’t nearly satisfied with the season’s results.

National Football Conference North Chicago Bears (10-6): If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Last year’s division champion will return all its starters from last season. While that’s good news for the defence-finished second in total yards and first in points allowed-it’s less so for the offence.