The Winningest Coach in Canada - Page 1

With the zeal of an evangelist, Jim Bishop would like to convince the world that lacrosse is the greatest sport on this planet.  Bishop does more than talk about it. Oshawa Green Gaels, the team he has coached and managed, have won the Canadian junior championship for the past six seasons.  Last year, he assumed the same roles with Detroit Olympics in the National Lacrosse Association as pro lacrosse was revived.  Bishop had a major role in the formation of the NLA and his Detroit team won the Eastern Division, but lost the final to New Westminster.

Now, if it appears that Jim Bishop is a rather busy man with two lacrosse teams, that's only part of the story.  He also is sports director of radio station CLKB in Oshawa and operates a thriving sports goods store there, too.

Bishop claims that coaching and boosting lacrosse are his real professions while the other jobs are merely necessary hobbies to support his main pursuit.  Of course, he'd like to make his living by coaching a lacrosse team, but, due to the state of the game, that's impossible right now.

Lacrosse is still the official national game of Canada, although the point is debated by most hockey people, who carry the torch for the country's most popular sport.  In fact, some members of parliament have tried to make hockey the recognized national game in Canada by having the government pass a bill to that affect.

Lacrosse has been around since Geronimo was a boy. The North American Indians invented it and the history books use it as an example of "culture" from Canada's early days.  The palefaces plagiarized the game before the turn of the century and lacrosse has stayed in the twilight zone of major sports ever since.

The game has been up and down like an elevator throughout the past four decades, most of the time operating by the seat of its pants.  Lacrosse, however, does have an authentic place in Canadian sports history with its own great teams, players and eras.  For the most part, though, it's been kept alive by the devotion of the Jim Bishops.  Lacrosse never has been a big city sport, thriving mainly in the smaller centres such as Brampton, Fergus, Mimico and on the west coast.

An annual joke is that the sure signs of spring are March winds, April showers, May flowers and the lacrosse men making claims of a big comeback by their game.

The signs are present right now that lacrosse is a popular game among the younger set.  Minor associations are springing up all over the place, lacrosse sticks are in short supply and registrations at the minor level increase every year.  Kids ask for lacrosse sticks as Christmas presents and just about every province has its own lacrosse association.

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