At a press scrum last Thursday, the day before the Redblacks were to play their season home opener and officially open the new TD Place Stadium, one of the owners, Roger Greenburg, was asked why he decided to become the co-owner of a football team. His answer just may be the best example of why football will work this time, when it didnt on two previous occasions in Ottawa. Im paraphrasing, but the chairman/CEO of Minto Developments said that he believes there are four pillars that make up a strong community. The first is the medical system. Second, is the education system. The third is the arts and the final one is the sports culture. He went on to say that the Senators have contributed to the sports culture, but it was time to add to that with the return of professional football to the city and the addition of professional soccer. Greenburg and his partners John Ruddy, William Shenkman and Jeff Hunt wanted to be part of building and strengthening one of the pillars of a strong community. In other words, this ownership group has done all of this for the right reason - to strengthen the community that they live in and they were rewarded on Friday night for all their hard work and perseverance. Fridays home opener was an unforgettable experience and, hopefully, showed one of our other major cities in the country, that happens to be only about four hours away, just what is possible. The Redblacks didnt score a touchdown on the field, but they did in the stands and that is what mattered most. Jeff Hunt said the team could have sold another 15,000 tickets to the game and that will translate into demand. Based on the in-game experience on Friday night, nobody should be surprised to hear that the next home game will be sold out soon. The atmosphere was electric. It was a young energetic crowd, who partied like they were attending a rock concert. In fact, in what was an ingenious move, there was also a rock concert going on before the game to get people pumped up for kick-off at what was a Canadian-style tailgate party. TD Place Stadium is fantastic with great sightlines and a design that not only looks outstanding, but is designed to enhance the fan experience for soccer and football, specifically. It doesnt feel like an all-purpose facility that accommodates many, but pleases none. The game itself was not a masterpiece, but it had an exciting finish when, down by two, Redblacks QB Henry Burris hit Kerrie Johnson on a deep ball to set up the game winning field goal. It wasnt a walk-off winner by Brett Maher, but when Ricky Ray was intercepted in the dying seconds, it was game over and the crowd erupted. The games MVP was the crowd, that included Prime Minister Steven Harper, who sat beside CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon and Rough Rider great, Russ Jackson. In fact, one of the highlights of the night was when our TSN cameraa caught a fan walking by the PM and the commish to shake hands with Jackson. It was not a slight to our country leader or the leagues top man, but a show of respect for history of football in Ottawa. And speaking of the telecast, I owe the football fans in Ottawa an apology for mistakenly saying that the five Grey Cup teams in the 60s and 70s were all coached by Frank Clair. My intention was to say that all the Cup teams in the 60s were coached by Clair. Jack Gotta was the coach from 1970-1973 and George Brancato was the coach when the Rough Riders beat Saskatchewan to win in 1976. The telecast wasnt perfect and neither was the night - apparently, some of the concessions ran out of beer and the traffic was a bit tricky, which, of course, was pointed out by some sportswriters...I swear some people would complain that their ice cream is too cold. I recently went to a George Strait concert in Dallas at AT&T Field, one of the most elaborate and state-of-the-art stadiums in the world and it had traffic issues, as well. In fact, it was so jammed up, I ended up tailgating in the parking lot for almost two hours after the event waiting for it to clear. On Friday night, the small issue were just that - small - and didnt, in any way, take away from the success of the event. It was a look at what is possible, even in Ontario ,when it comes to CFL football. The capacity of TD Place Stadium is 24,000, which just may be the perfect number and a blueprint for a possible stadium in Toronto. Our country has great football fans, but just not the volume to consistently fill a 40-to-50,000-seat stadium and at 24,000 in the stands, owners are making money. For those who would say that, if the NFL were in Toronto, they would sell out the old SkyDome, I would remind those people that the NFL regular season games played in Toronto were not sell-outs and not even close. In fact, sources have said that upwards of 20,000 tickets to the games in the Buffalo Bills series were freebies, handed to people on the street. No, 25-30,000-seat stadiums are the perfect size for CFL football, professional soccer and summer concerts and, for proof of that, look no further than Friday night in Ottawa. It can work in Toronto, as well, with a stadium at a realistic capacity and one built for football and soccer, specifically. It worked in Montreal, it is working in a big way in Winnipeg and, after Game One in Ottawa, it looks like it will be a huge hit there, as well. The answer may be BMO Field, which seems to still be part of the plan for the Argos. On our TSN set in Ottawa, Commissioner Mark Cohon had this to say when asked what it would take to replicate the Ottawa plan in Toronto: "The answer is a smaller stadium like BMO," said Cohon. "We know that they have a four-year deal left with Rogers Centre. Were talking to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, were talking to the city of Toronto and were working to see if we can move [the Argos] into BMO Field and replicate what we have [in Ottawa.]" The blueprint for the correct business model has now been created and now all that is needed in Toronto is for David Braley, or whomever buys the Argos, to start building the fourth pillar in that community. Congratulations again to the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group and, on behalf of the football fans in our country, thank you. At the end of the night in Ottawa, the scoreboard read Redblacks 18 - Argonauts 17, but the true winners were the fans and the community in our nations capital. Dexter Lawrence Youth Jersey . Snedekers best result so far this year is a tie for eighth place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. He sits 113th in FedEx Cup standings and has dropped to 31st in world rankings — not the results expected from a player ranked fourth in the world only two years ago. Michael Strahan Jersey .com) - The top spot in the AFC South will be on the line when Houston native Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts shoot for their fourth straight win when they take on the Texans at NRG Stadium. http://www.authenticnygiantspro.com/Saquon-barkley-giants-jersey/ .9 million deal Thursday. The 25-year McGinn had 19 goals and 19 assists in 79 games last season in helping the Avalanche tie a franchise record with 52 wins. Eli Manning Jersey . JOHNS, N. Darius Slayton Jersey .com) - Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard notched a win, while second-seeded two-time champion Ana Ivanovic, third- seeded Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova and fifth seed Sabine Lisicki all exited the draw at the Generali Ladies Linz tennis event.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Ghislaine Landry scored the winning try in extra time Friday to give the Canadian womens sevens rugby team a 10-5 win over France in the third-place game at the Dubai Sevens.Canada controlled much of the possession before Landry, from Toronto, raced the length of the pitch to give Canada the victory. It was the fourth straight time that Canada has finished third at a World Rugby Womens Sevens Series event.Kayla Moleschi of Williams Lake, B.C., scored the other Canadian try late in the first half. New Zealand shaded Australia 19-17 in the championship game.Earlier in the day, Canada whipped the United States 36-0 in the Cup quarter-finals before dropping a 29-7 decision to Australia in the Cup semifinals.Canadian head coach John Tait said hes looking for a more consistent effort going forward.We now need to become clinical against the top sides and not panic and try to recover a score by forcing play were not fully prepared to execute on, said Tait. The onus is on me and the rest of the leadership group to develop ways to get us back on plan when this happens. The teams in the series are much improved and we need everyone to bring their individual excellence into a cohesive attack and defence to get those semifinals and finals wins.The result gives Canada 16 points in the standings and they will now be a top seed at the Brazil Sevens in February. The top four teams at the end of the season will automatically qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.In mens play, World Series leader Fiji and defending champion New Zealand reached the quarter-finals with unbeaten records Friday while Canada did not qualify for Cup competition.South Africa and Australia swept their pools to advance to the Cup quarter-finals on Saturday. It will be Fiji vs. Wales, Australia vs. Scotland, South Africa vs. Argentina, and New Zealand vs. England, a rematch from the sseries opener at the Gold Coast in October, when England thrashed the Kiwis.ddddddddddddCanada started the day by upsetting Wales 19-14 before dropping a 24-12 decision to South Africa and then falling 26-7 to Portugal.Canada will settle for an appearance in Saturdays Bowl quarter-final against France.Fiji, winner of the Gold Coast title, dispatched France and Brazil, and was pressed by Argentina, which had already qualified.Fernando Luna exploited a Fiji error in front of its posts, scoring a converted try for Argentina to lead 21-19 with four minutes to go. But that was plenty of time, as Semi Kunatani made a big fend en route to a try to regain the lead, and Fiji prevailed 33-21.New Zealand didnt drop a point while also scoring a combined 120 against Japan, Scotland and Samoa.Samoa, the runner-up on the Gold Coast, needed to beat New Zealand for a chance to advance on points difference, but was already three tries down by halftime and lost 41-0. Scotland, which lost to Samoa, advanced instead.South Africa defeated Portugal, Canada, and Wales, the latter by a score of 12-5.Wales received a lifeline when Portugal beat Canada. That left Wales going into its pool finale knowing it could advance with a loss to South Africa by fewer than 21 points. Wales had beaten South Africa only once.South Africa came from behind, but Wales threatened at least a draw in the dying stages. South Africas defended superbly, especially a Cecil Afrika tackle on Craig Price, who couldnt offload to a teammate outside him.Australia conceded an early Dan Norton try, but tied England by halftime, and won 12-5 with the only try of the second half to win its pool and avoid a resurgent New Zealand.England, meanwhile, face the Kiwis with injury worries, after Dan Bibby joined James Rodwell on the sidelines with an apparent shoulder complaint.———With files from The Associated Press. ' ' 's year, Nadal pulled out a 9-7 win in the fifth set of a semifinal at Roland Garros, denying Djokovic a chance at the closing leg of the career Grand Slam he most dearly wanted to honour his one-time coach, Jelena Gencic, who died earlier during the tournament. Their only meeting this year on a hard court came in a U.S. Open tuneup in Montreal, where Nadal won the best-of-3-sets match in a third-set tiebreaker. Indeed, these are always memorable affairs, though Nadal acknowledged with a laugh that hed rather be playing someone else. "In the end, we have to be honest, no?" he said. "Talking about a final, Id want to play against a player that I have more chances to win. But I play against him. Ive played against him a lot of times. Always, weve played very exciting matches." ' ' '