The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 36

CIO II SPORTS BREAKING NEWS: VANCOUVERSUN.COM THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2011 TUFT SIGNS ON WITH AUSTRALIAN CHAIN GANG Langley's Svein Tuft has signed to ride for the Australian GreenEDGE cycle team next season. The 34-year-old Tuft was a silver medallist in the time trial at the 2008 world championship. He is the 1 1 th signing for GreenEDGE, Australia's first UCI World Tour-licensed team which is in the process of applying for a ProTeam licence for next year. Other recent signings include Australians Stuart O'Grady and Simon Gerrans and Dutch rider Jens Mouris.Tuft spent this season riding with Canadian team SpiderTech-C10 after the two previous seasons with Garmin-Cervelo. He likes the energy Australians have for bike racing: "They race hard but have a lot of fun doing it." Associated Press ANTHEM DROPPED FOR AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL A small northern Indiana college that decided to stop playing the national anthem at sporting events will play America the Beautiful instead.

Goshen College President Jim Brenneman says America the, Beautiful is a better fit with the pacifist traditions of the Mennonite Church-affiliated school. Leaders of the 1 college i decided in June to quit playing an instrumental version of The Star-1 Spangled Banner after starting to do so for the first time last year, Some students and graduates opposed the playing of the song because it references using war to defend the country. Associated Press VANCOUVER CANADIANS A. i i.n i'l C's fade in the standings, but not in the stands Minor-league squad on track to establish another attendance record at Nat Bailey Stadium Dunn. "It's not easy saying: 'Hey, we're going to be "There are facility standards and, basically, we would have to add another third to 40 per cent to the building.

Then you also have to be able to find a franchise to purchase and hopefully locate. So it's a huge, huge investment." Dunn did admit the C's are intrigued with the possibility of having the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners play a regular-season series at the refurbished BC Place Stadium but says there are many hurdles in the way. The main one would be to convince either the Jays or M's to give up three home dates. That would take a few dollars, or more. There is also the matter of the scoreboard being too low for baseball and the need for a proper playing surface.

The C's hold the rights to any major league games in Vancouver. "I think a series here would be fantastic but there are a lot of things that have to take place," Dunn noted. "Our stance right now is to let them get the thing BC Place opened and then we'll take a look at it. Even then, you're probably looking at a two-year cycle to get something like that approved." C-NOTES: Centre-fielder Jonathan Jones has joined Nicolino and Syndergaard in Lansing, where the full-season Single-A Blue Jays' farm team is in a pennant drive. Nicolino was leading the Northwest League in ERA with an eye-popping 1.03 when he was called up Right-hander Aaron Sanchez, the Jays' first-round pick in 2010, has been promoted to Vancouver from the Appalachian League.

1 epapvancouversun.com BY ELLIOTT PAP VANCOUVER SUN The Vancouver Canadians were superb during the Northwest Baseball League's first half season and have floundered in the second half. The one constant has been their boffo performance at the box office. C's president Andy Dunn figures the team has an excellent opportunity to sell out its entire final five-game homestand it began Wednesday and concludes Sunday and set yet another attendance record for the season. Last year, they drew 154,592 for their 38-game home slate. A new affiliation with the Toronto Blue Jays hasn't hurt.

Top prospects like Justin Nicolino and Noah Syn-dergaard have taken to the mound at Nat Bailey Stadium, giving those who closely follow the Jays a glimpse of their possible rotation in future years. Nicolino and Syndergaard were promoted earlier this week to the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League. "It's been a fantastic season," Dunn said Wednesday. "It's been a great partnership with the Blue Jays, fan support has been fantastic and it's all worked out pretty well. We're already sold out Saturday and Sunday and, if we sell out this entire last series, we would finish the season with eight straight.

"Of course, our goal at the end of the day is that we want to sell out every game all season long. So until we get there, we still have work to do." A full house at The Nat is 5,157 and the C's average attendance before Wednesday was 4,133 second best GERRY KAHRMANNPNG FILES The dancing groundskeepers at Nat Bailey Stadium are among those who go beyond the normal call of duty to ensure fans have a memorable time at Vancouver Canadians games. The Northwest Baseball League team has enjoyed another banner season at the box office and could set an attendance record with a healthy turnout for its final five-game homestand this week against the rival Tri-City Dust Devils. are the only two leagues that operate in this region of the continent. Vancouver had Triple-A baseball until the league outgrew Nat Bailey in 1999- "Yeah, there have been some rumours and discussions but taking a look at it right now, we've not done anything to move on it," explained BASEBALL guys the Cubs haven't won in a long time and they still do pretty well." With the improvements to Nat Bailey under the ownership of Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney, talk often turns to the possibility of Vancouver again becoming home to a Triple-A franchise.

There are no options other than short-season Single-A or Triple-A as they in the eight-team league to the Spokane Indians at 4,829. "Whether you're five games up or five games back, people come out because it's a great ballpark, a fun outing, it's affordable and when the sun is out, it's an even better experience," Dunn continued. "Take a look at Wrigley Field. Those Lawrie belts his fourth homer as slipping Royals bow to Jays TORONTO Brett Lawrie hit a tie-breaking home run in the seventh inning and Jose Bautista added his major league-leading 37th homer as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Wednesday. Jesse Litsch (5-3) pitched one scoreless inning of relief for the win.

Frank Francisco worked the ninth for his 11th save. Louis Coleman (1-3) took the loss for the Royals, who have not won consecutive games since Aug. 3-4. Kansas City has won four of its past 16. Lawrie of Langley broke a 3-3 tie with a leadoff blast to left in the seventh, his fourth.

The third baseman also hit an RBI triple in the fourth. Associated Press MTOVERSI'N Call (604) 605 READ to subscribe. I Insnirins! minds. 1 THEVANCOUVERSUN.