Daisy MacCallum is a massive Winnipeg Blue Bombers fan — even though she’s never been to Manitoba.
Until a few years ago, the California native didn’t know anything about the team or the Canadian Football League.
But looking at her now, you would never know.
On Friday night, as she walked around the Grey Cup Festival in Hamilton, she was decked out in a blue unitard, with blue hair and lights adorning her costume and matching blue light-up sunglasses.
“I knew that this year I had to do something more spectacular,” MacCallum said. “And what’s better than bling and lights?”
There’s no mistaking which team she’s cheering for in Sunday’s CFL championship game, as Winnipeg looks to clinch its third Grey Cup in four years.
“I’m 100 per cent a Bomber fan,” MacCallum said.
MacCallum, Shaff and Diamond with the Grey Cup trophy in Regina in 2022. The three started going to Grey Cup games together in 2019, after Diamond told MacCallum about the long-standing tradition of attending the games with Shaff, his childhood friend. (Submitted by Jay Diamond)
Sunday’s game against the Montreal Alouettes will be the third Grey Cup she’s seen the Bombers play in. Those are the only three CFL games she has ever seen in person.
Her love of the team came through a happenstance conversation after a curling game with her friend Jay Diamond, about his love of the Bombers and the Grey Cup.
Diamond, who is originally from Winnipeg, moved to Menlo Park, Calif. — in the San Francisco Bay area — 30 years ago.
He and his childhood friend, Martin Shaff — who still lives in Winnipeg — started going to the Grey Cup together as a tradition in 2006.
Even though the pair now live more than 2,000 kilometres apart, Shaff said Grey Cup weekend gives them an excuse to co-ordinate their schedules to take a few days off for some fun and football.
They get dressed up and hit all of the Grey Cup weekend events, rounding it out with the big game.
They go no matter where it is, or who is playing.
“It’s an excuse to get together,” Shaff said.
Shaff and MacCallum in Regina for the 2022 Grey Cup. MacCallum, a sports medicine doctor, says the Grey Cup is unique in that it’s ‘really all about the fans and that every single team is represented’ by them. (Submitted by Jay Diamond)
When Diamond told MacCallum about the long-standing tradition, she knew it was something she wanted to be a part of.
“She’s a sports medicine doctor, and she’s been to every sporting event you can think of,” Diamond said.
“I told her about the Grey Cup, and she said, ‘That sounds amazing. I think I need to go to that.'”
In 2019, he and Shaff added MacCallum to their roster.
The trio headed off to Calgary to watch the Bombers beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats that year, ending a three-decade Grey Cup drought.
Since then, the new CFL fan has been quick to jump on the Bombers bandwagon.
The Grey Cup is uniquely Canadian, MacCallum said, and offers a space for fans of every team to come together and celebrate the national league, regardless of who’s playing.
“It’s the only professional sporting entity that’s really all about the fans and that every single team is represented at the finals,” the sports medicine doctor said.
“That is something that is unheard of. You don’t see [that] in the United States, and so that’s what I wanted to be a part of.”
While MacCallum has yet to go to a game in Winnipeg, she is looking forward to getting that chance soon.
The city is set to host the Grey Cup championship in 2025.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
