DEEP Cove's Silvana Burtini (right) knocks the ball past a Mexican opponent dur- ing an exhibition game last month at Swangard Stadium. Burtini is hoping to be ready for Saturday's opening day match against Japan at the Women's World Cup in San Jose, Calif. Her 14 goals in five games helped Canada qualify last summer for 16-team tournament. Support athletes who IF you have the enthu- siasm of a rabid dog at a meat factory when it comes to our national obsession, then the Stanley Cup Playoffs are the place to be. And, since Gur home team doesn’t offer us any local involvement, we experience all the thrills and spills on the tube. Whar I don’t understand is why we call this period of the season the “playotts”? In reality the National Hockey League schedules 1,107 relatively meaningless “exhibition games” before 16 teams are chosen to partici pate in a “regular season” fasting around two months. I base this opinion on my observation that the vast majority of teams cruise — - through the October-to-April period offering levels of eftore varying trom moderate to downright mediocre. ICs only when these obscenely over- paid athlet ni ro have anything tangible to compete tor (i.e. the Stanley Cup) that we start seeing a level of effort supporters have been paying for and expecting to watch. The same thing happens in the National Basketball Association, yet the fans con- tinue to hand over their hard- earned cash so as to keep these spoiled and greedy underachievers in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. [ wouldi’t mind so much if the Vancouver Canucks or Vancouver Grizzlies charged appropriate ticket prices. Thy poor ever-loyal fans, however, get stifted with incredibly high prices just to watch cach team warm-up for the only period they really give a damn about: the playoffs. But in this city, post-season play seems but a distant dream. When we throw these jocks* salaries in the air, the figures don't reaily mean much, So fet's try to make the numbers more relevant to us mere mortals. Our long lost Pavel Bure was miffed about how he was treated by the Canucks so he stomped his foot on the ground, held his breath and said he’s just not playing and that’s all there is to it, This character was getting paid alnias: $12-million a year to shoot a piece of rubber benween nvo pipes. Those same twelve million bucks would be enough to support the annual salaries of 320 (count them) emergency room nurses to staff our undermanned hospitals Our glorious Grizzties have Bryant Reeves, a “star” who goes by the moniker of “Big Country.” Now I'm sure Mr. Reeves is a decent chap, even if he did show up for the season 40-plus pounds overweight. Bob Mackin News Reporter A hamstring injury is all that may keep Deep Cove’s Silvana Burtini on the side- lines when Canada meets Japan Saturday on the opening day of soccer’s Women’s World Cup. Te could've been much worse. Burtini has struggled to overcome fibromyalgia: a mysterious, chronic syndrome that causes intense fatigue and widespread pain. Approximately 90% of fibromyalgia sufferers are women between 20 and 50, “Ivs challenged = me because it’s taxed my system to the point of exhaustion where [ was unable to do any training when we were in Toronto,” said Burtini, 30. “I had to sit and watch the prac- tices and J could only play 45 minutes (per game).” Canada finished 10th at the firss Women’s World Cup four years ago in Sweden. The team earned a berth among Canada plays in Group C with defending cham- this year’s “sweet 16” with an impressive run through last summer's North and Central American qualifying tourna- ment in Toronto. During a 21-0 win over Puerto Rico, Burtini set ‘a world record with eight goals — the most seered by a male or female player in a single qualifying or championship tournament run by FIFA, soc- cer’s world governing body. Canada ended the tourna- ment in first place and Burtini was scoring queen with 14 goals in five games. Her knack for finding the back of the net earned her Canada’s female soccer player of the year award in 1998. Who knows what kind of damage Burtini could have inflicted on her opponents. had she played an cntire game? Burtini took leave from her job at BC TEL Mobility earlier this year to focus on her World Cup duties. She has regained the erier- gy to play a full 90 minutes, bur had ro miss the final nvo friendlies against Australia last week. She was nursing a ham- string injury suffered 10 min- utes into a June 6 game pion Norway, Japan and Russia. A berth in the sec- ond round will qualify Canada for next year's Sydney Olympics. Canada (1-2-1) was 10th place at the inaugur- al 1995 World Gup in Sweden. Other groups: against the U.S. in Portland, Ore. Head coach Neil Turnbull said he’s likely to decide the starting 11 bv Friday for the Saturday match in San Jose, Calif. He’s confident Burtini will be ready for the opening whistle. The Williams Lake native, who plays with the University of B.C. Alumni team, hopes the second Women’s World Cup will spark formation of a women’s professional league in North America. It hap- pened for men after the 1994 World Cup was hosted by the US. She also hopes to ateract the attention of overseas scouts, since professional women's leagues thrive in Japan, Germany ind Italy. “Dve gota few years left in my legs, so I would be inter- ested in that.” _ Canada continues the first round June 23 — in Washington, D.C. againse defending champion Norway and June 26 in East Rutherford, N.J. against Russia. Quarterfinals are June 30 and July 1. The top cight teams qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. vs. Russia (June 26) @ East Rutherford, N.J. Group A: U.S.A., South Korea, Nigeria, Denmark Group B: Germany, Brazil, Mexico, italy Group D: China, Australia, Ghana, Sweden Canada qualified for USA99 when it won the 4998 CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean zone) tournament last summer in Torontc. Canada scored a world record 21-0 victory over Puerto Rico and a 14-0 triumph over Martiniciia en route to a 1-0 defeat of Mexico in the final. Canada’s first round schedule: vs. Japan (Saturday) @ San Jose, Calif. _vs. Norway (June 23) @ Washington, D.C. Quarterfinals: June 30 @ San Jose; July 1 @ Washington, 0.C. Semi-finals: July 4 @ San Jose and Boston Third-Place and Final: July 10 @ Los Angeles CTV SportsNet and CTV network are broadcast- ing all 32 games. Check TV listings for air times. Follow the Women’s World Cup on the web: wwwfifa.com deserve your money But this is the same cat who joined his buddies around the league and refused to play tor much of last season because his $9-million annual salary didn’t have the right ring to it. Ie would ring nicely with the Vancouver City Police. if “Vancouver's finest” had another $9-million ta spend, another 189 cops could be hired to stem some of the violent crinte we have became so familiar with. One final example could be that of Doug Gilmour from hockey’s Chicago Blackhawks. This much- beloved and respected super- star who is one of the game's true sportsmen pulls in about the same as “Bix Country.” There ts no doubt he is one of Canada’s most popular players, but just consider how his income could better be used in our society. Vancouver has four MRI (magnetic resonance imag- ing) scanners and there is up toa six-monin waiting list to use this equipment. MRI can detect all manner of threatening diseases, includ- ing cancer. People die waiting to have their illnesses detect- ed. Nine million dollars would buy three of these machines! How about stopping this madness and start switching your allegiance — and hard- earned money — to sports thar still place a high value on effort and commitment. * A couple of weeks ago I went over to. the University of B.C. and watched an inter- national swim meet. Some of the world’s rop swimmers attended including American stars Lenny Krazelburg and Kristine Quance, as well as our own Joanne Malar and Marianne Limpert. To see these same athletes compere in the Sydney 2000 Olympics will cost you several hundred dollars but my wite Debb-. and I were able to experience this extraordinary talent for a big far $2 —~ and chat was for the parking. Hf you are a died -in-the- wool pro team fanatic, then how about watching the B.C. Lions play a few games? Two tickets along with parking, a couple of beers and hot dogs will cost far less than a single seat at the “Garage.” If noth- ing else you can be pretty sure the players are going to give everything they have. The point is you do have choices, so start flexing your fiscal strength. Whether it's junior hockey, top-class local rugby or Vancouver Canadians ba:eball, get out there and support the athletes who are driven to 100% eftort. In some cases they are professional and in others they enjoy an amateur status, but all seem committed for sport’s sake. An old-fashioned concept that surely still makes some sense. On a closing note I would like to share a comment courtesy of G.K. Chesterton: “To be clever enough to get a great deal of money, one must be stupid enough to want it.” Shane Collins is a physical trainer, athletic coach and marathon swimmer. He ts abo 1 professional speaker on the subject of sport and heatth.