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Greg Mercer, Special to the Star RALEIGH, N.C. –  It’s an hour before puck drop outside PNC Arena, and a jug of moonshine that someone’s neighbour’s cousin made suddenly appears and is passed around the crowd. We’re tailgating in a grassy patch by one of the parking lots that rim the rink, and in between all the barbecue, beers and games of bean-bag toss – called “corn hole” here – you’d forget we’ve got a hockey game to go to. And the high-test homemade...
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Mat McCarthy photo, Waterloo Region Record  Greg Mercer, Record staff This story originally appeared in the Waterloo Region Record.  TORONTO — A dozen boxers are working out in Atlas Boxing Club, a cinder block bunker beside the roar of Highway 401, hip-hop blasting from a stereo in the corner. Mandy Bujold, a bundle of tightly packed muscles, is the smallest person in here. And the loudest. She’s unleashing ferocious jabs and hooks at the pads worn by coach Adrian Teodorescu, sending shock waves through...
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This article originally appeared in Sportsnet.ca GUELPH, Ont. – With just a few short weeks remaining until Toronto Blue Jays pitchers report to spring training, Scott Diamond is putting the finishing touches on a curveball he hopes could help him crack the team’s opening day roster. If he does, he may want to break out that lucky Blue Jays belt he wore as a teenager. The Guelph-raised lefty was signed by Toronto in November as part of Mark Shapiro’s efforts to re-stock the organization’s...
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If you’ve been putting off telling your boss what you really think of him or her, this might finally be your chance to let it all hang out. There’s probably never been a better time in our city’s history to be out hunting for a new job. It’s true: Guelph’s unemployment rate sits at a tiny 4.2 per cent, one of the lowest rates in the country. We had job growth of more than nine per cent in December compared to a year earlier....
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It was as close as you could get to a culinary institution in downtown Guelph. And it was at its best after midnight, when hundreds of customers from the after-bar crowd would line up, wait patiently, and re-emerge with Styrofoam containers stuffed to the gills with Chinese takeout, spilling it down the sidewalk as they went. Sun Sun Restaurant was the most unusual, and wonderful, place to eat in this city. The name made no sense. The late-night takeout system felt like queuing for...
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