a oy B Men's

‘COACHIN Chena
Swim Club has hired Craig
Mortimer as the club's new
head coach...

Mortimer joins the North

‘Vancouver: club. following
two years at.the helm of the
Burlington Youth Aquatic
Club. The McMaster gradu-
ate has .been. involved. i
competitive. swimming for
the past 18 years, including

NEW CHENA head «|

coach Craig Mortimer

14 as a swimmer.
'. Also,:. both: Thomas
¢ Chang and Aaron Dahl! are
returning as Chena coaches
for the 1995- 96 sei ISON,
; e.e8 0
TENNIS... The following is
a list of Winners and runner-
i ups at the recent West Van
Tennis Tournament: .
i @ Men's: A singles: Trevor
‘ Richards def. Greg Pears.
«GP: Men's B” singles: Bob
Langford”. def, : Peter
a Pillingham, oot
@. Men's C singles: James
; Ducommon def. ‘Thomas
a Hayek. 7
: M Men's D singles: Peter Li
def, Chris Nicholson. -
MMS: Men's X singles:
‘8 Rayinond Lim def. John
i, Roberts,
s 35+ singles: Greg
of Pears def, George Lea.
Men's 45+ singles: Gee:
-VanZoest def. Ben Nikkel.
; a Men's 55+. singles: Dave
E Ross def, Rudy Derton.
: RM, Men's -B° doubles: “Ron
“Eng/Rob Bterrani def. Cliff
Kryzanowski/Naz Mitha.
: 2. Men's
4 HoylerBlades. def.
Rudner/Scobbie.. :
@ ‘Ladies’ C. doubles:
Carol. Engler/Marie. Lee
def’ Sharon. Schultz/
; Yvonne Nakai.

‘C: doubles: :

THAT OLD Scottish
proverb — time and tide
wait for no man — is in |
need of a little updating.
How about time, tide
and...technology? °

‘The thought came to mind a few -

days back when the nearly com-
pleted GM Place was opened for a
media tour, at which Canucks boss
Pat Quinn hailed the $160 million
edifice as state of the art forall of
North America in the matter of
indoor athletic entertainment.

At the same time, away down
there in Houston, the NFL Oilers
cancelled a pre-season game
because of the terrible state of the
indoor carpeting; and threatened 10
nove to some other cily unless
they get a newer and larger build-
ing to replace the Astrodome,

State of the art, it seems, has a
shelf life of about 30 years. For it
Was justover 30 years ago — April
9, 1965 — that the Astrodome
opsned for business. li my files |
discovered a semi-precious relic
from that occasion: a souvenir pro-
“gram (31) in which it is described

as the Eighth Wonder of the World,
. Given the needs of professional
sport in the 1990s —'dallars, dole
lars and yet more dollars =the
Eighth Wonder of the World is now
considered obsolete,

Planned obsolescence.is what
keeps’ the economy chugging
along, but just 30 years from the
world’s most fabulous jock struc-
ture to a state of inadequacy?
Frightening, isn’t it?

But not that uncommon. Just 20

“years on, the Seattle. Kingdome has
received a thumbs down from both
the Mariners and Seahawks.

And here in Vancouver, when
the Pacific Coliseum opened for ~
business at the beginning of 1968,
it wasn't hailed as the world's ninth

Sept. 5, 6, 7th
6:30-8:30 pm
 Norgate Park

Boys & Girls ages:
8-16 years, in lag
(non: contact) and_

contact divisions

For further
_information contact:

MIRIAM @ 984-7746

wonder. But it was the equal of the
best existing buildings in the NHL:
a wonderful longterm investment
for a mere $6 million,

Twenty-seven years later, as
GM Place prepares to open, the
Coliseum is considered a relic.

So there’s a cautionary note
here for all the brass at the new
building —- don’t go over the moon
with your hyperbole. Not too far
into the new century your jewel-
box may get failing marks. Hubris
is out. Or should be.

At the media preview, it wa
emphasized that at $160 million,
GM PLace came in on budget.
Houston got its Eighth Wonder of
the World for $38 million, which
just goes to show the inroads of
inflation. With seating capacity of
20,000, the GM Place price tag
works out to $8,000 a seat,

At an average ticket price of,
say, $40, that seat has to have a
backside on it for 200 events
before it pays for itself And that's

based ona completely full building

for all 200. Let's revise that to a
more plausible 300 ur more.

Now you know why there are
no Astrodome-style bargains under
that particular roof, Baseball box
seats thatfirst year went for $3.50,

When the NHE Canucks made
their debut, there were plenty of
Coliseuin seats for under $10. And
when the Patrick family brought
nnijor league pro hockey. to the
coustin 1942 you could wateh
Cyclone Taylor and company for

" See Wonder page 13

WHO TO CALL:
Sports Editor
Andrew McCredie

985-2131 (147)

WINDSOR GRADS Amy. (lott and:  Lindaay, ‘Sidwell, bot
North Van recreation. centre lifeguards;. have. ‘received:
scholarships to study engineering. at Canadian. universi-.
tles. Amy was awarded a $10,000 BC outstanding student.
initiative. scholarship, while Lindsay picked up the $14,800:
Dolan, scholarship: to’. attend Queen's ‘Universit |
Kingston, Ontario. ; : om

Freedom to choose sYour, choice of two brand new cellular phones -
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