There's been playful bantering this week among the Montreal Alouettes receivers over who will catch Anthony Calvillo's record 395th career touchdown pass. It could come as early as Friday when the 2-0 Alouettes play host to Toronto, although the 1-1 Argonauts' defence has yet to allow a passing TD this season. Going into the season, Calvillo needed eight to tie the 394 amassed by Allen in his 23 CFL campaigns from 1985 to 2007. He got them in two games, including five in a victory Saturday in Saskatchewan. That plus his 29 completions for 409 yards earned Calvillo the CFL offensive player of the week on Tuesday. His prime target, Jamel Richardson, said he'd love to be the one to catch the record TD. "We haven't sat down yet to talk about that — I've got to see the game plan to see who is going to get that ball," he said with a laugh. "But you know it's going to be exciting to see him throw that touchdown this year. I hope I'm part of it." Perhaps the one who deserves most to make the catch is Ben Cahoon, but the glue-fingered slotback who was Calvillo's target of choice for more than a decade retired in the off-season and is now coaching back home in Utah. The league's all-time receptions leader will be in the stadium on Friday night, but only to be honoured before the game. The team will save the retirement of Cahoon's No. 86 for another night, however. But when his name and number go up at Percival Molson Stadium, it is almost certain to be followed not long after by Calvillo's No. 13 With 51 completions this season, Calvillo's career total of 5,091 is now only 67 short of Allen's record. That should fall within three or four games. But the big record is career passing yards, which is also within reach if Calvillo, who turns 39 on Aug. 23, can stay healthy. His 731 yards through two games leaves him 3,489 short of Allen's 72,381, while he regularly throws for more than 4,500 in a season. "Everything that I've been able to accomplish with my teammates here has been special," said Calvillo. "The (three) Grey Cups, the wins and, on a personal note, the touchdown passes, the yards, if that ever comes. "When I look back at it, they're going to be fantastic. They just are. But in the moment, I'm not going to let that absorb my train of thought." Calvillo once felt that records were to be cherished after retirement, but his thinking changed after both he and his wife survived cancer scares. In 2007, the three-time CFL outstanding player took the end of the season off to be with his wife Alexia as she successfully battled a lymphoma in her abdomen. After leading Montreal to its second straight Grey Cup in November, Calvillo announced that he took would need surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid gland. The off-season operation went smoothly and it quite clearly has had no ill-effect on his game, especially his throwing arm. He savours the success earned in his 18-year career with his family and close friends, but says he doesn't want to give the impression of boasting in public. "I'm trying to appreciate it now," he said. "I think that's what I've learned with all that's gone on with my wife and myself — I don't want to wait until my career's over to enjoy it. "I don't want to wait until the end of my career to look back and think 'those things we've accomplished are amazing feats. Those were fantastic.' But those are things I just share with my family." When Calvillo came into the CFL in 1994 with the defunct Las Vegas Posse, he hoped to match the feats of the top quarterbacks like Doug Flutie and Matt Dunnigan. He moved to Hamilton for three seasons, where he was haunted by interceptions, but his play blossomed when he moved to Montreal in 1998 and spent two years as understudy to Tracy Ham. "The difference between me and a lot of quarterbacks is I've been able to be consistent," said Calvillo, who has given up only one interception this season. "I learned a couple of things over the years: One, you have to protect yourself. As a quarterback, you have to feel that you have a great chance to help your team win. "Two, you have to protect the ball. You could have a crappy game, but if you don't turn the ball over you'll have a chance to win. I take a lot of pride in that and it's helped me and the team be consistent over the years and that's the difference." It has also helped that the Alouettes have been consistently strong since the club returned to Montreal in 1996 after a 10-year hiatus. Some feel Calvillo is getting better as he gets older, and that if he had been as sharp a decade ago he may have been scooped up an NFL club. Coach Marc Trestman, who spent decades in the NFL before joining Montreal in 2008, has no doubt he is good enough. "Anthony's as good a quarterback as I've ever been around or ever seen, in all aspects," said Trestman, who coached Bernie Kosar and Rich Gannon among other NFL pivots. "If his journey had taken him south of the border I think he would have been just as successful as he was in Canada." Richardson didn't finish the Saskatchewan game and was on crutches with a sore knee the next day, but looks to have recovered and is expected to play. The same for running back Brandon Whitaker, who left the game with a suspected concussion.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
RIM have it rough
Hundreds of investors descended on Research In Motion’s annual general meeting in Waterloo, Ont., on Tuesday in search of answers to concerns that have tormented Canada’s most important technology company for months – concerns about marketing savvy, product delays and even the focus of senior management. But even in the face of a tumultuous year in which RIM’s(RIM-T27.520.321.18%) value was sliced in half, co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis struck a confident pose. Amid a series of questions about the company’s sliding fortunes, the executives clung to the same narrative they have used for the past six months: The troubles are temporary, and RIM is poised to regain its position atop the market with a new line of products. While Mr. Balsillie conceded the company has “faced some challenges,” there was little in the way of an explanation for how RIM has lost ground so rapidly to rivals like Apple and Google. This is the first time shareholders have had a chance to voice their concerns directly to Mr. Balsillie and Mr. Lazaridis, who have faced considerable criticism over their management and direction of the company. Some analysts and investors have called for fresh leadership to turn the firm around. While a great deal is on the line for RIM’s shareholders, much is at stake for the country’s technology industry and the economy as a whole. Since the death of Nortel Networks, the company has for the past decade anchored the sector – spawning startups, spending millions on research and development, and keeping some of the nation’s most talented engineers employed in Canada. That role, coupled with the company’s presence in many Canadians’ investment portfolios, makes RIM’s health vital to the fortunes of much more than the thousands it employs. If RIM fails on the global stage, other tech companies are at risk of being dragged down with it – a collapse the country’s economy can ill afford as it inches out of recession. RIM’s leadership might be sounding an optimistic note, but the company is facing a steep climb. It has suffered through a storm of bad news that has shown no signs of letting up for the better part of a year. Profit warnings, product delays and calls for a management shakeup have seen its share price sliced in half since January. All the while, it has been losing ground to Apple and Google. Earlier this year, RIM issued a warning that its second quarter results would be significantly weaker than expected – news that shocked investors and sent the company’s stock price plummeting. When RIM announced its earnings last month, it also announced a round of layoffs, sending shock waves throughout the Canadian technology industry. Much of RIM’s trouble of late has come in the form of product delays, as the company has time and again pushed back the launch of its newest handsets. The new phones were expected to stop the bleeding as RIM prepares to transition to a an entirely new line of mobile devices in 2012 – devices that, the company’s co-CEOs hope, will turn RIM’s fortunes around. In the meantime, RIM’s BlackBerrys continue to lose market share to Apple’s mobile devices, as well as devices powered by Google’s Android operating system. The trend is most pronounced in North America, where the bulk of high-end smart phones are sold. As a result of its struggles, RIM has as of late been the subject of much investor and analyst criticism. The company barely avoided what would have been an embarrassing showdown over the way it structured its board by promising to form a committee to explore the topic – an investor group had earlier proposed a motion that would force the co-CEOs to give up their joint roles as co-chairs of RIM’s board of directors. A number of other observers have also mused about whether RIM should bring a new management team on board – something current management opposes. Most recently, an analyst also suggested the company split its operations into two distinct areas – networking and handsets – so as to better concentrate on its core operations.
Kimchi or Starbucks?
Inflation causes drop in Starbucks sales
Office workers head into a Starbucks Coffee branch during their lunch break. Inflation has pushed meal prices so high that ordinary workers find themselves having to budget their lunchtime spending and buy coffee from convenience stores. / Korea Times
By Kim Tae-gyu
Park Seon-young, a 30-year-old office worker in Seoul, used to drink coffee every day after lunch with her colleagues. Her favorite place was Starbucks just next to her company.
But she these days skips the high end latte and instead relies on a convenience store for her afternoon caffeine fix where cheaper coffee products are available. The rising cost of agricultural items such as rice and vegetables has eaten away at her budget.
``My lunch allowance is 10,000 won ($9.4). When a typical meal was only around 5,000 won in the past, I could have a cup of Starbucks coffee, which is also about 5,000 won,’’ Park said.
``Nowadays, there are hardly any restaurants offering lunch at 5,000 won excluding some fast-food chains. Staple dishes are priced often at 7,000 won or 8,000 won. Obviously the cheaper coffee was my only option.’’
Park and her coworkers represent a new trend as shown by the solid sales of the country’s top 24-hour convenience shops such as Family Mart, GS 25 and Seven Eleven.
Both Family Mart and GS 25 saw their sales of ice coffee products more than triple during the first six months of 2011 from a year ago, while Seven Eleven also chalked up more than 100-percent growth over the span.
Family Mart sells ice coffee at between 1,000 won and 1,500 won and claims that the taste and flavor are not inferior to those at coffee-only outlets such as Starbucks or Caffe Bene.
``The soaring prices of meals prompt Koreans to opt for inexpensive quality ice coffee. We expect that this tendency will continue throughout the summer due to the strong inflationary pressures,’’ a Family Mart official said.
Seven Eleven, which increased the number of ice coffee products from only four in 2009 to a whopping 25 this year to meet the mounting demand, reasoned with a similar analysis.
The cost of vegetables and rice has remained high over the past several months under an unfavorable climate and there have been some ups and downs.
Beef and pork also rose in the aftermath of the foot-and-mouth disease, which hit the country late 2010 and early 2011 leading to the culling of millions of livestock.
As a result, restaurants have revised their prices to financially weigh on people.
When contacted, however, Starbucks Coffee Korea said that the subsidiary of the Seattle-based international coffee shop brand has yet to see any effect on its bottom lines.
``We are not direct competitors of convenience stores. The increase in their sales would mean the expansion of the overall market rather than our losing ground,’’ a Starbucks Korea official said.
The U.S.-based java giant tapped into Asia’s No. 4 economy in 1999 and now maintains more than 350 outlets across the country.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Fvisajobs new job board
Fvisajobs is a job board for F2, F4, F5 and all F visa holders in Korea and the organizations that have related positions to offer. Employers can post a job, feature their posting for more exposure and paid poster can access the extensive resume database. Job-seekers can publish their resume, save jobs and apply online. All of these features can be controlled from your dashboard. F-visajobs wants to help ESL and all industry professionals quickly find positions that suit them and give employers a simple site to post their openings and connect with the right candidates. We’re about saving you time and being a super targeted job board.making it easy.
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