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As Bad As You Wanna’ Breathe

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Callum Ng in Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I have a few swimmer friends preparing for Olympic Trials, and with just over one month to go, people are looking for that final edge, push, or motivation.

Getting ready for one day, more or less a few minutes of your life that makes the difference between legends and lost souls can be daunting.

Different people deal with that kind of pressure differently. Some ignore it, others fight it, a select few manage to embrace it.

Either way, to be successful, when you’re battling for a big goal you’re going to have to want it. Bad.

One of those swimmer friends shared this video with me that’s been going around the internet and really stuck with me.

“When you wanna’ be successful, as bad as you wanna’ breathe, then you’ll be successful.”

IF YOU DON”T WATCH THIS VIDEO AND THINK THE WHOLE TIME ABOUT SOMETHING YOU WANT IN YOUR LIFE, well…work that out.

Western Conference Playoff Predictions

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Callum Ng in Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Over the past few NHL seasons, the Western Conference has been perennially tight when it comes to those final few playoff spots. Last season it was Chicago, fighting off Dallas and coming within a Patty Kane right hook of ending up in 9th place. Of course, the Blackhawks went on to come within a similarly slim margin of knocking off the President’s Trophy winners, but a Burrows one-timer wrote the ending to that story in favour of the hometown Canucks.

This season, just after the All Star break, the schedule resumes with no less than five, (ok sure, maybe six), teams in the hunt for the evermore elusive 8th and final.

Starting from the Top

LA Kings

Darryl Sutter might as well have rode an Alberta-bred stallion into town, because that’s the effect he has had on the previously disorganized Kings. Since taking over from Terry Murray before Christmas, a refreshed Sutter squad as gone 9-2-6 and currently sits in 7th place in the West. Sutter teams don’t typically falter down the stretch, and I don’t see that happening here, which is why the Kings are loosely included in this conversation.
End of season projection: 7th or better

Colorado Avalanche

Collective sigh on behalf of the Avs when it comes to goaltending. I mean, Varlamov is young and no doubt adjusting to the starting role, but there’s no leniency in the Wild West. With a sub 900 save percentage and a GAA that usually sits around a big ugly trois, the nets has to be the biggest focus here. What I do think is that this core group of younger players has been to this party before, and knows what they’ll need to do to avoid missing the post-season. The only question that’s left is can they. I like the Colorado group and if anyone emerges late season, it’s going to be the Avalanche.
End of season projection: 8th

Calgary Flames

Welcoming The Squid to town, ok pause, isn’t that what they should call him? Cammalleri > Calamari. My almost seventy year-old pops and lover of the game, can’t pronounce hockey names worth a darn. In Cammalleri’s last stint with the Flames, my Dad almost always said Calamari. “Why doesn’t that Michael Calamari score more!?” God forbid when Sven Baertschi finally cracks the line up. Anyways, The Squid was a good call, but the Flames will need more than tough angle one-timers to play past the regular season. How about a decent power play? They’ll also need to catch a fast track on some current injuries including David Moss and Curtis Glencross.
End of season projection: 9th

Phoenix Coyotes

Can I just say that I wish I was a hockey fan in the desert? Upon cruising to the ‘Yotes site, there’s an ad for their Feb 4th tilt against the Sharks: $1.00 hot dogs. One dollar!? You could almost take the whole family out for a game AND dinner for less than a single ticket inside Rogers Arena or the Scotiabank Saddledome. Haha, but I digress. This is a really aging squad, doesn’t mean they can’t pull it off but sitting on the wrong end of the bubble is bad news for anyone paying attention to the plight of the Desert Dogs.
End of season projection: 10th

Minnesota Wild

After starting the season looking like a serious contender, the Wild have slowed up big time. A second losing skid, (3-6-1 in their last 10), finds them planted in 8th spot, although they did get four out of four points against Dallas and Colorado before the break. Honestly, this team plays games in a confusing fashion, without consistency. There doesn’t seem to be a fluid offensive system and when the defense breaks down in their zone, it gets ugly. Bright spot alert! Mikko Koivu is skating. If he gets back in the line up it will definitely help.
End of season projection: 11th

Dallas Stars

Jaaaamie Benn. Ok, got that out of my system. Kid can snipe. Definitely an NHL heavyweight if not already. However, I’m not sure if Benn’s emergence in the last season or so is enough to push his team into some extra April ice time. Dallas is tremendously streaky, right? Despite kicking off the campaign 11-4-0, since Nov 12, the team has gone 14-17-2. Winning or losing in little packets of twos and threes. With Brendan Morrow out, (although apparently close to return), they’ll have to win consistently to have a chance. Meh, I don’t see that happening.
End of season projection: 12th

But what about the Anaheim Ducks…?
C’mon, who are you Jamie McLennan? Haha, no way…

July in 250 words or less!

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Callum Ng in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Invitation to the Royal Reception

Canada Day on The Hill

I have to say that July has been a pretty interesting month. It started in Ottawa, where I was invited to a reception hosting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, (Will and Kate). I also met Prime Minister Harper, and Governor General Johnston. Not only this, but I hung out in the tent room, a giant former indoor tennis court with fabric stretched from wall to ceiling.
A little story about the whole event:
http://j.mp/lL1FQp

Crazy stuff happening on the home front! I added another truck to the Green Grads fleet, added some new employees and I am now considering two additional services for the fall. I have to say that is has been a crazy month for my business. Both in terms of milestones, and the amount of change that accompanies them. It is awesome to construct the evolution of my little company, as it goes from small to…not so small, to…who knows!

The entire month of July blew by, underneath rainy Vancouver skies. I am writing this in a Montreal hotel room hoping to fly back today to some real summer. This past weekend I announced Summer Nationals and Pan American Games Trials! It was a lot of fun, both to do something I find really enjoyable, (announcing), and to see old friends and teammates.

Tonight it is a flight back to Vancouver, and an oath to a good friend to make August an epic summer month. Time to let it unfold.

Act Now BC video shoot!

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Callum Ng in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sharing the Act Now BC healthy living message

Last Tuesday was an inspiring day.

In the afternoon I was at the CSC Pacific HQ, shooting some promo video and photography for my role as an Act Now BC ambassador. When I arrived, I was already among some esteemed company. I got a big hug from Annamay Pierse, a friend, former teammate, and current World Record holder. Basically, she is a great Canadian athlete and role model. Also there was Trevor Hirschfield, a wheelchair rugby Paralympian and Bronze medalist from Beijing. Admittedly, I felt out of place. I also met the very chill Ryan Leech, a Norco Trials rider and yoga teacher. We went through the shoot sharing our message of healthy living. It was an awesome day.

Thanks to Joanna Fox, Trish Fougner, Ryan Clark and the rest of the Act Now team. You guys work hard! I know our message rings across the province loud and clear.

When it comes to hockey, let’s not forget about who really gets hurt.

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Callum Ng in Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Friday, March 11, 2011

As of this Friday morning, a Google News search of two particular names returns 2,166 results.  Those names? Air Canada. NHL.

Sports writers, bloggers, hockey fans and others are all talking, tweeting, writing about the recent letter sent by Mr. Denis Vandal to league commissioner Gary Bettman.

In short:

Air Canada director of marketing writes letter.
The letter says, “Fix hockey, or lose sponsorship”.
Letter is leaked.
Bettman says, “We can fly other airlines”
Media frenzy begins.

The catalyst of this latest PR debacle, (debacle for who is yet to be determined), was a devastating check by Boston Bruin Zdeno Chara on Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadians.

In short:

The puck clears the zone just beyond the Hab’s defensive blueline.
Pacioretty gives chase. Chara closes.
Pacioretty chips past Chara.
Chara interferes with Pacioretty, finishes the check and unfortunately Pacioretty’s head makes contact with the stanchion separating the two benches.
Pacioretty suffers a concussion and fractured cerebral vertebrae.

Deep breath.

As a hockey fan, I cannot help but be concerned with what happens next.

Over the past few days I have read and listened to opinions from everywhere. TSN analysts, prominent sports writers, inside the locker room at my local rink, both people who live and breath hockey and people who don’t know much about the game.

I have forced myself to watch the clip a couple times. And with this collection of opinions and visual evidence I have weighed my personal reaction, accounted for my passion and considered all angles whatever the variety.

Simply put: I feel sick.

At first I found the disciplinary measures dealt to Chara to be sufficient. It was clear interference, and nothing more. The play was part of the game.

But now, after some reflection, what I find more disturbing is my last sentence from above, “The play was part of the game.”

I am not sure anymore if the manner in which the game unfolds on a night-to-night basis is just going to lead to something potentially more serious, and with consequences more terrible than anyone can imagine.

I am not sure if it is still okay to accept this level of violence. In fact, I am not sure it ever was.

This obvious thought prompted Mr. Vandal to pen a letter to Mr. Bettman. Whatever you think of the commissioner that presides over the NHL and our game, his response was, by any measure of professionalism, rude and thoughtless. Who speaks to a sponsor like that?

But this isn’t about Mr. Bettman, or Air Canada. Understanding that the world of professional sport is driven by ticket sales and TV revenues and that the airline industry is driven by passenger miles and public image, these two men are simply behaving as one would expect.

Instead, it seems that everyone has forgot about what makes this system exist in the first place.

People.

Chara forgot. When he imposed his 6’9”, 255 lb frame on the smaller Pacioretty and drove him into an immovable object.

Some owners and GMs will tell you that it was a standard hockey play. Of course, the league agreed and Chara had no further punitive measures applied to him.

I say the standard has to change.

We have to change the mentality that will lead a player like Chara to drive an opponent into a known danger area, (between the benches at the Bell Centre). Someone has to tell young hockey players and parents thinking about enrolling that the game isn’t like that.

That we don’t treat people like that.

In sport, we respect our opponents, care about our game and want others to enjoy the fun.

Not lying on the ice, crumbled and unconscious.

I suppose the question is how.

I wouldn’t profess to know the answer right now, but what I do know is that hockey people in high places should pay attention to letters like those issued by Air Canada. Because these letters indicate that the speed, danger and violence that sold hockey in the first place, may be its undoing.

Waiting for a connection

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Callum Ng in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The view from the NG Farrell offices

Sitting in the office this morning waiting for a repair to our Telus internet, (what a disaster), I thought I would write an update.

It’s been busy around here at NG Farrell Marketing. On Friday, we moved to larger offices, this time in Gastown’s historic Petrina block. The building was one of the first resurrected after the Vancouver fire, built in 1888. Looking out my window, I can see the aging space between the brick factory buildings on Hastings, and the early century tops of our W Cordova neighbours.

Amid this history, there are spots and dots of modernity, a lit “Exit” sign here, a telephone cable line there. In one of the windows, of the largest pile of brick I can see from my window, there is a yellow computer desk. The cables running down the back like thick black hairs.

Back inside the office we have arranged our space, with empty pockets asking to be filled.

Sean sits across from me, with is mid-2000 iMac, a green Myrtle tree, next to a beige IKEA chesterfield. He is framed by the exposed red sand brick, and looks like a screen shot from Ally McBeal, or Friends. I don’t think he prefers one or the other.

I am still waiting for Telus. The longer they take the longer this is going to go.

It’s been a busy time for NG Farrell. In a few short days I’ll be Singapore bound, with the rest of Team Canada. En route for the Youth Olympic Games.

Just bought a new Blackberry, to make sure I can tweet, Facebook, blog, live from the Games.

Our Canadian athletes are going to be amazing. I get this feeling that it will be a great success.

Buses. There are a lot of buses on this street, going to have to get used to the urban roar through our windows.

Telus is here. If you are reading this, it means they fixed our internet.

Today is Olympic Day. Celebrating pursuit and admiration.

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Callum Ng in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Today is Olympic Day. June 23. Celebrating the Olympic Movement, and all that is good about the Games, and the positivity they create.

This morning, somebody asked me how I felt about Olympic Day.

Here was my answer:

“Today we should celebrate the pursuit of the Olympic Dream, admire those who try, and realize that whether we pursue or admire, we are all a part of something truly magnificent.”

To build on that, I want to imagine a place where people understand that being a part of something bigger than themselves is the most rewarding of memberships.

I used to have a coach who said that the most important thing we can do is be a part of something bigger than we are. To strive for it, and fight for it, even when it gives us no return or reward. We are most effective when we embrace that “big” thing, and join its supporters.

So today, to celebrate Olympic Day, remember that you don’t have to stand out from the crowd or do something worthy of applause. You just have to do something. That is the beauty of it. You might support a local athlete, cheer for a team on TV or just spend the day happier, because you know that every other Olympic supporter out there is doing that little “something” with you.

Happy Olympic Day. Thanks for your cheers, big and small.

Singapore 2010: Go Canada Go!

Posted on May 22, 2010 by Callum Ng in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Singapore 2010.

If this doesn’t mean anything to you right now, it will in less than 3 months.

This is because Singapore will be the site for the first EVER Youth Olympic Games!

August 14 – 26, 2010.

26 sports, over 200 countries, thousands of athletes, coaches, support staff, officials, volunteers, sponsors, media.

It’s the Olympics folks. Just for Youth aged 14-18. And it’s going to be really special.

Canada is sending a team of over 50 athletes. The absolute best youth athletes our country has to offer. Just like Vancouver, they’re going to be reaching for the top of the podium.

Strong and proud Canadians, unafraid to stand up next to the best in the world, and confident enough to beat them all.

I am going to go help them out. Anything I can do, because as much as this generation of athletes will forge a new definition of Canadian confidence, we’ll also be classically humble and helpful, as always.

Follow the dream right here. There will be a Facebook group and plenty of tweets, just for the Canadian Youth Olympic Team, launched in the next week or so.

The other cool thing is that the athletes will get the chance to take part in the Culture and Education Program, aimed at teaching athletes about Olympism, Skill Development, Healthy Lifestyles, Social Responsibility and Expression.

Go Canada Go – Allez Canada!

Learn more:

http://singapore2010.sg/public/sg2010/en.html

http://www.olympic.org/en/content/YOG/

A bit about the Sport BC Awards, John Furlong and have a great long weekend!

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Callum Ng in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Last night I had the chance to check out Sport BC’s Athlete of the Year Awards.

The swimmers did well, and there was an amazing speech from Mr. John Furlong.

It was a pleasure to attend. Oh ya, have a great long weekend!

YOG seminar in Singapore, final thoughts

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Callum Ng in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

With the Merlion, Singapore's official "mascot"

There are few experiences in my life that have moved me as much as the 6 days last week.

Last Friday marked the end of only one small part of what will be an incredible story to cherish in our collective memory and share with others both over the next 5 months and throughout the Games in August.

I have 33 new friends, each one with their own beautiful culture, sense of humour, passion and love for the Olympic values.

This week has changed me, in the way I carry myself, the way I relate to others. I have learned more from my 33 new friends in 6 days than I could ever have imagined. I am so thankful and happy that it is difficult for me to properly articulate what it means to have met them.

All I can hope is that my effort to put it into words will attest to the grandeur of the past week.

We all arrived in Singapore tired and unsure of what to expect. The jungle-like setting of NACLI on one side of Singapore was the site of all the Cultural and Education Programmes that we will be promoting to the Youth Olympians come August. This was everything from career workshops to island adventures.

With my buddy Nghi. Just like "knee!" he would exclaim

I was fortunate enough to try a handful of fruits that I had never seen or touched including jack fruit, guava and durian. I am sure that most of the YAs will agree that durian ranks somewhere between moldy sandwiches and street gum in terms of taste and texture. But hey, different strokes right?

In those first two days, one of the most valuable experiences was an informal exercise where we each explained our understanding of “culture”. Everyone can define this term, but what it really “means” is completely different. And wow. What a beautiful example of how diverse backgrounds can paint a variety of pictures, and when you line them up, nail them to the wall, all in one spot, what a breathtaking cultural mosaic this constructs.

The next big highlight was an intimate conversation with Dr. Jacques Rogge, the IOC President. The comment that echoed throughout the group was that Dr. Rogge might be one of the most influential persons in the world. He heads the Olympic movement, and worldwide, who doesn’t like the Olympics? This was a really cool experience. His vision for the Olympic movement is to promote the values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect to an earlier age group, the strong motivation for the Youth Olympic Games, (YOG). I asked him why he felt that sport was such a compelling vehicle for spreading these values. (Of course the philosophy grad. asks a question of this nature). His answer was simply, sport joins us, it allows us to play together and to grow together. Most of all, he finished with the comment, “Sport is fun”. Simple wisdom.

With IOC President Jacques Rogge

It was a hectic week. We slept very little, and spent all day in meetings, activities or on trips. What I can say is that the people of Singapore are perhaps the most energetic and excitable of any group I have ever encountered in my travels. To be truthful, at first it was overwhelming. But after 2 days, my South African friend Devon and I chose to embrace the energy, and by the final day I was honoured to have been welcomed so warmly to a city-state that will bring nothing but their best to the Youth Olympic Games.

When it is all said and done, as I sit here in my office on a rainy Vancouver Monday, I am missing my new friends from Singapore. Both the YAs and CEP Champs that welcomed us. I cannot wait to bring back our Canadian athletes, both for the athletic success they will no doubt achieve and the beautiful friendships they will hopefully create.

So long Singapore, but just for now :)

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