It was difficult, the first week of the Beijing Summer Olympics, with Canada failing to capture any medals.

Anytime I'd listen to sports talk radio, the topic du jour was Canada's medal count--even Jim Rome and some of his dumbass clones took shots.

Fortunately, the dike broke and a flood of medals has come our way; 13 medals at last count.

The goalie mask has really evolved through the years from being something that protected a goalies mug, to something much more; a form of expression.

Back in the days it was a piece of unadorned fiberglass used to strictly to protect the goalie's face from the puck, kind of like the mask Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees runs around in.

Later a helmet/cage combination was en vogue--the same kind of helmets worn by Troy Gamble and Dan Cloutier.

These days a modern fiberglass helmet, that covers protects the entire head and chin, is what the cool kids wear and it gives the netminder the opportunity to get a little creative with the design.

Kirk McLean's Scottish horses, Corey Hirsch's homage to Hitchcock's Psycho, whatever the hell was on Felix Potvin's, Kay Whitmore's eagle and salmon, Luongo's current Johnny Canuck are some of the designs that Vancouver goalies have used.

I listen to sports talk radio everyday and although there is a lot of talk about the BC Lions and other teams, let's face the facts, this is a primarily Vancouver Canucks town.

But the most popular sport in the world, football, aka Soccer, seems to be gaining a lot of traction too.

I attended all the games from the Under-20 World Cup last year and I don't remember seeing an empty seat.

I was also at the Nutrilite Canadian Championship game, between Toronto FC (Major League Soccer) and our Vancouver Whitecaps (USL Division 1) recently, and again it was a packed house.

The 'Caps covet a promotion to the MLS and recently added a heavy hitter to ownership with the announcement that fave hoops son, Steve Nash, would be footing part of the bill and would do his part to aid in the bid.

One of the reasons I like the TEAM 1040 sports radio is because of the wide range of sports talk shows.

I know the emphasis is on the local scene but I also like hearing about other sports too.

That's where shows like ESPN's early morning Mike & Mike show and "The Jungle" with Jim Rome come in.

I like hearing about the local teams but I also like hearing about American college football and basketball and MLB as well.

I particularly like "The Jungle."

Rome is an acquired taste and can be grating if you aren't used to his style.

Yes, he's extremely sarcastic; yes he ridicules his callers if he doesn't agree with them and yes there is a lot of dead air; still it's easily one of my favorite shows.

It was a mixed bag of emotions for the July 18, 2008 CFL game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the B.C. Lions.

Echoing a number of callers who phoned into the postgame show on the TEAM 1040, I was disheartened to find out only 37,000 and change showed up to the game that also served as a public memorial to late-Prez and CEO Bob Ackles. (Pics inside)

Photo courtesy of the B.C. Lions.

I remember back in the nineties when we used to go to B.C. Lions games; we would buy nosebleed seats and sneak down to the lower section.

B.C. Place was so empty back then the security guards didn't really care.

When I caught the Western Final back in 1999, the announced attendance was only around 29,000 if memory serves me correctly.

Under 30,000 for a West Final? Numbers unheard of considering the last few Western Finals under the Dome have been near capacity (but not sold out).

We've come a long way baby.