Canada vs Portugal - Rugby! (and social networks) Posted by Gabriel on 10:07 pm

I’ve recently heard of a new site called “Facebook”. A bit of a crazy name, but what can you do? Anyways, supposedly this site is the next big thing. Therefore, in an effort to show my “techno-hipness”, I’ve created a Facebook page for Canadians in Portugal. You can see the fancy widget thingie to the left.

An example of a "Facebook" profile

What does this have to do with Rugby, you may as?

The Canadian National Men’s Rugby team is coming to Portugal on the 27th November (Saturday) to play against the Portuguese National Rugby team at the Estádio Universitário in Lisbon, at 15h00!

João thought that we should take advantage of these new techno-fads in order to pass the message on. So that's what we've done, and the upcoming rugby match was the first post! Feel free to show up and support your country(ies)!

Here’s the Portuguese Rugby Federation website: http://www.rugbyportugal.com/
And the Canadian Rugby Federation website: http://www.rugbycanada.ca/

This event is supported by the Canadian Embassy in Portugal, so a round of applause for them as well! And hope to see you there!

Calling all Portuguese-Canadians! (part deux) Posted by Gabriel on 7:25 pm

Are you Portuguese-Canadian? Do you like soccer/football (and ice hockey)? If so here’s another chance for you to help out an academic research project!

As you have probably seen below, João Sardinha is a very busy guy. Not only is he a Senior Researcher at the Centro de Estudos das Migrações e das Relações Interculturais – CEMRI, he is also the “Canadian Country Specialist” of the DIASBOLA project. The principle focus of this project is “reporting on football and migration in a Portuguese context.” You can check out the site for yourself at http://www.diasbola.com/

You are probably asking yourself, “That's all well and good, but what can I do to help?” Well, João has created a questionnaire for the project that aims to compare Portuguese soccer (football) and ice hockey and the impact of the two sports on Portuguese and Portuguese-Canadians in Canada.

The questionnaire only takes 10 to 20 minutes to fill out, and you actually end up learning a bit about yourself in the process. You can also get your family members to fill out the questionnaire, if it is applicable to them.

So if you do want to help and are willing to spare a few minutes of your time for an academic cause, send João an email at jmssardinha@gmail.com indicating which language you’d prefer for the questionnaire, and he’ll get in touch with you.

Thanks again!

Playoff fever is in the air… Posted by Gabriel on 12:37 am

I am sure you all know that the Stanley Cup playoffs are now underway, with three Canadian teams in the running! (and not the most important one.. poor Leafs… *sniff*)

If you are planning to watch the games in Portugal, your choices are quite limited. Unfortunately, I personally do not know of any Canadian sports bars in Portugal, or any bar that shows hockey and has buffalo wings for that matter.

Only a mirage in Portugal

Therefore, you have to rely on cable TV, ESPN América in particular (a few games are shown on Sporttv3).

Regrettably, due to the difference in time zones, if you want to watch the games you are going to have to face the fact that you are going to be very sleepy at work. The earliest game starts at 11:00PM, and the latest starts at 3:00AM. Ouch.

You can check out the latest news at the following sites:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/

http://www.nhl.com/

And don’t forget to check out Coach’s Corner!

Força Canucks/Habs/Sens*!
*and Leafs..well, for next year, which incidentally is going to be our year.

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics start this Friday! Posted by Gabriel on 1:08 pm

As any good Canuck knows, the Winter Olympics are the important Olympics, and as such, want to see Canada rake in the medals, especially with the home advantage.

Now, if you are living in Portugal, the Winter Olympics rarely make the news, seeing as how winter sports are practically impossible here due to the good weather, and because Portugal has only one athlete in the Winter Olympics (Danny Silva, the only amateur athlete at the Games... that's determination!).

What is the best way to follow the Olympics in Portugal, if you don't have cable TV, you may ask?

Going to a pub is not an option, since with the time difference, they would be closed, and with the little interest in the winter games, they would probably have it on VH1 or SportTv.

Well, the internet of course!

The Official 2010 Vancouver Olympics website has a listing of on-line coverage. Very, very handy.

I recommend checking out the official website, you can follow Olympic news on Twitter, become a Facebook fan, see the schedules, etc.

The Opening Ceremony is set to start at 2:00AM on the 13th of February here in Portugal (6:00PM on the 12th in Vancouver), don't miss it!