My Town Rocks: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

(Writer's note: I am having some problems with my computer, but as soon as I can I will upload a picture.)

Why does my town rock?  Let's begin with sports (since this is a sports website, duh!).

Port Coquitlam is about a one-hour drive from Vancouver, BC.  That gives us a chance to watch the Vancouver Canucks (unfortunately), the Vancouver Giants (the WHL hockey team that is actually better than the NHL team, go figure), the BC Lions (Canadian Football League), the Vancouver Whitecaps (Soccer), and the Vancouver Canadians (Short season Single-A baseball, Oakland A's minor league team).

But that's Vancouver, the big city—we're the small city that nobody knows until we say, "It's close to Vancouver."

PoCo, as we're known, has a rich sports history, most coming from Terry Fox Secondary School, my current stomping grounds.

We are a public school, so as far as money going into the athletics department, we cannot compete with private schools.  That's not an excuse—it just makes our achievements sweeter.

1989 marked the school's first Provincial Title (in Canada we have provinces, not states; just clearing that up) when the Football team went 12-1 and beat Handsworth (private school) in the finals.

The school's first two basketball titles came in back-to-back fashion, 1992-93 and 1993-94.  The 1994 Team became only the fifth team in the 60-year history of B.C. High School Boys’ Basketball to win back-to-back Provincial titles.

This Raven team had an incredible year as they compiled a 40-2 overall record, going undefeated in the toughest league in the Province.

Both teams were inducted into the Terry Fox Secondary Wall of Fame in 2005.

However, if you thought this was Terry Fox Secondary's golden age of athletics, you would be wrong.

In 2006 the football team won both the Varsity and Junior Varsity titles (the first time by a public school, take that private schools!).  The following year, the JV team made it back-to-back and the Varsity team made it to the Provincial semi-finals.

In 2008, the Varsity team is ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls, and the JV team will again be very good.

Terry Fox Secondary also has titles in competitions that do not have a provincial final.  Tennis, Rugby, and Swimming teams (among others) have collected many District titles over the years.

Terry Fox Secondary has many famous alumni: Bret Anderson (BC Lions slotback), Chris Szarka (Saskatchewan Roughriders Fullback), Jamall Lee (Quebec University Football League most valuable player and a first-team All-Canadian), and Constantine Kudaba (2008 Olympic Canadian Water Polo Team Member).

But Terry Fox's greatest alum is the man who has his name on the front of the school—Terry Fox.  If you don't know who Terry Fox is, educate yourself.

His story is too important and complex to squeeze into the middle of this article.

Our city also has many reasons why it rocks besides sports.

Our mayor is a convict.  Not a joke.

Our most famous "citizen" is a convict.  Not a joke.

No wonder some people call it Pocompton.

We have quite a few Facebook groups dedicated to the city.  From the one above (Pocompton 4 life), to PoCo Pride!, this one, and a few others dedicated to the aforementioned Terry Fox Secondary, You know you go to Terry Fox... is the best one.

My town is divided in two (Chi-town style).  Northside (my area) and Southside.  And believe me, people start fights over it.  All the time.

So this is my town, kind of crazy and out of place, just like its citizens.

I hope you enjoyed the little "virtual tour," and if you ever come to the Vancouver area, don't hesitate and visit.

P.S.: If you do ever stop by and talk to a PoCo resident, don't ever say "Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, whatever, it's all the same."  It's not gonna end well for you.