Sports, sports, and ...'Bing Crosby?'

Page 4

People and places

Oki. How is everyone? I am fine. We are right smack in the centre of hockey season everywhere!! I was down on my reserve in the south, well, to be more specific, Siksika Nation. Anyway, that particular weekend I saw a hockey game on the rez. The teams were Siksika Buffaloes and Kainai Braves. Wow, they are like the arch-rivals: Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers in the NHL. The game had to go into overtime and Siksika won. Wow, the whole crowd was going wild. I figured I might as well go just as wild. I never knew the support the teams get from their reserves. They are in a league called the Ranchland League, based only on the prairies in southern Alberta.

You know the Alberta Native Hockey Provincials are coming up in April. I heard it was well over 100 teams coming to the city of champions to play good ol' Native hockey. The teams range from peewee to midget. I was talking with my brother, Hector, one of the representatives for Treaty Seven. He was telling me that it's getting bigger and better every year. Imagine this - in the National Hockey League today have a good handful of Native hockey players and these little players who are going to be at provincials can become future stars. So, I encourage you to come and support!

Other than hockey, the Driftpile First Nation hosted their first annual mixed bonspiel at the Kinuso Agriplex. I remember way back when I was in high school for Phys. Ed., we had to learn how to play. I didn't mind playing, except for this one time. I was throwing the rock and I was going to get up and I pulled one of the most important muscles. I can't tell you where, but I sure had trouble walking. Anyway, getting back to the story at hand. Twenty-five teams showed up to give the packed crowd a good show. They had three events: A, B and C. Jambe Ward of Driftpile took the A event, Dusty Twinn of Kinuso took the B Event and the C event went to Robert Nygaard of Joussard. Laura Giroux, one of the event's coordinators, would like to thank all the sponsors and helpers.

Way down in Siksika, they also had a big sports happening, too. The 18th Annual Invitational Basketball Tournament took place between Feb. 27 and March 1. I heard that the turn out was the biggest ever. I went last year and, by the sounds of it, it couldn't match up to this year's. There were 12 men's teams and six ladies' teams. I don't usually like basketball, but when I see a game, I can go just as wild as the rest of them. For the men's finals, the Crow Nation from Crow Agency in Montana battled and defeated the Saskatchewan Hoop Dancers from Saskatoon. And the Siksika Selects defeated Lady Blackfeet from Browning, Montana, to reign as the women's team champions.

After talking about all these sports, I broke out into a sweat!

There are two other kind of the events happening in the near future. One is the Denver March Powwow in Denver, Colorado. I heard that the event is getting bigger and better each year. The other is the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College Powwow in Regina. I have been to that powwow a few times; I always had fun. This year, I would love to go. I haven't seen many of the buddies from that area for the longest time. I remember this one time, Bill Cosby was in Regina. My friend and I went out to grab some fresh air and I saw this big crowd, of course, thinking that there was a brawl or something. The crowd was coming closer to us and we realized that it was Bill Cosby. My friend, Mike blurted out: "Hey, there's Bing Crosby!" We had a good laugh. I'll tell you something about Mr. Cosby - he is a very tall man. That's one memory I'll never forget.

Can I share a secret with you? The week before Regina powwow, I will be in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be my first time in "Sin City." A couple of friends of mine were teasing me, telling me that after the five days down there I'll be panhandling or even hitchhiking back to Canada. If I'm not hitchhiking back to Canada, I'll see if I can make i down to Regina. You never know, "Bing Crosby" might show up again. Tee hee!