the "Great American Race." "The last Daytona was so f

I had a couple of things happen this week that show how great the fans of the CFL are and how special it is for all of us to be part of this league. First and foremost it was great to see how quickly the ALS challenge has and will continue to help bring awareness and donations to help fight the disease. The players and people of the league are always eager to help whenever possible. I have a few interesting stories about interactions with fans and although it is a little weird for me to be recognized at times it is usually a nice thing meeting the many fans of this league. I was at a restaurant by the airport in Toronto after the Argo game Sunday night having a late dinner before I checked into the Airport hotel. I was at the bar and a young guy came over and said he was from Winnipeg and he wanted to say hi. He was a season ticket holder for the Bombers and was very complimentary and said that he was disappointed in what had happened to me when I was released. I told him I appreciated the kind words and I have been doing fine since that day. As he and his friend were leaving they said goodbye and asked about the new regime for the Bombers. I said he should be excited in the guys who are running the team now, I would call them all friends of mine and I have great respect for them. He was excited about continuing to see the season unfold. A while later I went to pay my bill and the bartender told me the two guys who left had picked up my entire bill! When they asked to buy me a beer, I said I was fine and I appreciated the offer but they didnt listen and paid for the whole thing! It didnt need to be done, but the gesture was and is appreciated. I still live in the City of Winnipeg and the people are very positive and great to interact with then and now. I remember after my first year in 2010 we had a CFL-record nine losses by four points or less. I was outside the house the day after the season and an elderly gentleman walked by and said, "you the Bomber Coach?" I said "yes" and he said "tough season" to me and I replied "yes, I was expecting a lot more." He didnt miss a beat as he kept walking by and said "SO WAS I". The same day I picked my daughter up from day care and a father with his kids said "nice season coach" positively and I said "you and I got different ideas of what good is". He stopped me and said "it will take time and you will get it turned around I believe". Both are examples of great CFL fans. I received a note and a Bomber jersey with my name on it and green numbers with 82 on it this year. This baffled me until I read the note. It was from a woman from Quebec who told me in the note that she was a big football fan and had her ninth (yes, ninth) child at the start of the 2011 season. She would PVR the games and watch them during the long nights with the baby. The Bombers became her favourite team and I (along with Marc Trestman) became one of her favourite coaches. She had a great time during those sleepless nights with the baby watching the Bombers season, winning first place and advancing to the Grey Cup. In 2012, she actually went out of her way and contacted Plymouth State College - my alma mater - and asked them to find my number in their archives. She actually got herself a Bomber jersey before the season and added green numbers (which were my college colours) to the Bomber jersey with my name on it. She said she was sorry to see that I had been released and had some kind words of encouragement as well as the jersey she had made up. These type of letters and E-mails and correspondence with people are amazing and mean a lot to all the players and coaches in the league. This letter and gesture meant a lot to me and shows how connected the fans are to the game we all love. My last story happened this past Tuesday night. I was helping with the ALS challenge at a friends house and I met an individual who is a big Bomber and CFL fan. But instead of talking about the season or about TSN, he wanted to tell me about when Matt Dunigan came to a fundraising breakfast when he played in Winnipeg years ago. He went on and on about the function and how great it was that Matt came and how well Matt did at the breakfast. Its safe to say that Matt only met this person once and it was years ago but he remembers it still and Matt made such a great impression on him for helping with the cause. A Hall of Fame QB who had the time for a charity breakfast to help out - that is what makes the CFL a great league, how approachable all the players are. Well to the guys who paid for dinner the other night, "thank you, you didnt have to" and to Anne Catherine, "thanks for the kind words, my head is up, I love the jersey and God bless you for raising nine kids!" Royce Freeman Broncos Jersey . The Mets made the announcement Sunday night. Parnell blew a save on opening day against Washington and the next day it was revealed he had partially torn right elbow ligament. Case Keenum Broncos Jersey . -- Canadian mens rugby coach Kieran Crowley has made four changes to his starting roster for Saturdays Pacific Nations Cup clash against the United States. http://www.broncosrookiestore.com/Bronco...utton-Jersey/.J. -- The New York Jets have promoted Tony Sparano Jr. Tramaine Brock Jersey . The result was a game-winning, power-play goal. Chiasson snapped a third-period tie and lifted the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory on Monday night. Courtland Sutton Broncos Jersey .Shipulin pulled away from Martin Fourcade of France, Simon Eder of Austria and Fredrik Lindstrom of Sweden to finish in 35 minutes 16.8 seconds. Fourcade was 1.2 seconds back in second place to reclaim the overall World Cup lead, with Eder another 0.DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Its been 21 years since Joe Gibbs Racing celebrated its only Daytona 500 victory. Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have the team in good position to end the drought. The JGR drivers swept the Daytona 500 qualifying races Thursday night. For Kenseth, it was redemption after a pair of wrecks during Speedweeks. Hamlins victory kept him undefeated on 2014. Hamlin also won last Saturdays exhibition Sprint Unlimited, and he goes into Sundays season-opening Daytona 500 trying to become the first driver in history to sweep Speedweeks. "Once that snowball starts to roll, its hard to stop it, and right now were just on a heck of a run," said Hamlin, who closed last year with a win in the season finale. After going so many years without winning a second Daytona 500, team owner Joe Gibbs wasnt looking ahead. His only win was with Dale Jarrett in 1993. "Weve come with great cars over the years. It shows you what a tough race this is, the 500," he said. "This race is extremely, extremely hard to win. That probably says it the best. That says it the best, over 21 years, thats a bunch." JGR had strong cars last season and seemed to be the team to beat during the race, but came up empty when Kenseths engine failed while leading. Minutes later, teammate Kyle Buschs engine also failed. Toyota is still looking for its first win in the "Great American Race." "The last Daytona was so far away, weve moved well beyond that," said Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson. "Were certainly not sweating the issues we had last year." The qualifying races make for an emotional day as drivers race their way into the Daytona 500, while others are sent home from the biggest event of the NASCAR season. Those left broken-hearted this year were Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Ryan Truex, Eric McClure and Morgan Shepherd, who at 72 was trying to become the oldest driver in the field. Dave Blaney withdrew from the qualifying race after wrecking his only car in Wednesdays practice. But it was euphoria for the small teams of Swan Racing, which got both Cole Whitt and Parker Kligerman in the race a day after both drivers wrecked in practice, and Hillman Racing, which will be in the Daytona 500 with Landon Cassill, who was hit by a car Saturday while riding his bike in Daytona. "Ive been stressed out about this siince July," Cassill said.dddddddddddd "I think Ive played this race over in my head, what I think it could do, for months now. For a small team, this race kind of makes our whole season, just the prize money alone to start on Sunday gets us through the next six or seven weeks. Its just huge for us." For Swan Racing, getting rookies Whitt and Kligerman into the field erased the nightmare of Wednesday. Whitt wrecked moments into practice, and the team was forced to rebuild his car after Kligermans was totalled when he went airborne. It was the first time Kligerman was ever upside down. Because Swan has only one backup, Kligerman got it, and the team went to work rebuilding Whitts car. Whitt raced his way in, but Kligerman faded in the first race and had to nervously watch the second race unfold to see if he earned a spot in the Daytona 500. "I feel like in a lot of ways, you have the weight of an organization on your shoulders to get these two cars in the race," Kligerman said. "Its a growing organization, an organization that wants to be around for a long time to come." But the second race ended in chaos, making everyone unsure of anything as defending Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas on the final lap to trigger a crash that caused Clint Bowyers car to flip. "I knew he was saving gas coming to the green. Its too bad to tear cars up like that," Bowyer said. "That was one of the wildest flips Ive ever had. I think we would have been just fine if I hadnt hit the grass right here." Johnson was apologetic. "I feel terrible. To tear up that many race cars ... to see (Bowyer) flip ... certainly want to apologize to everyone," he said. "I tried to get up out of the way. So much energy in the pack that I knew I was going to get run over if I ran out because guys warned me about it -- and it did." The first race was uneventful as Kenseth led two times for 31 of the 60 laps. Harvick pulled out on the final lap to make his bid for the victory. Then Kasey Kahne pulled out of line to make it three-wide. After the race, Harvick was informed while sitting in the Fox Sports 1 studio as an analyst for the second race that his Chevrolet, sponsored by Budweiser, had failed post-race inspection for the first Budweiser Duel. 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