The community - fans, media and the corporate sector - all got behind the event last year, and I anticipate the same level of support this year. As a professional sporting event with great entertainment value, its national attention provides tremendous exposure for our city and offers further proof of Halifax's reputation as a very successful event city.

The community ? fans, media and the corporate sector ? all got behind the event last year, and I anticipate the same level of support this year.

When you apply for local scholarships, people know you, and they want to support their kids and their community.

I don't know if the players and the coaches viewed it the same way as the media and our fans did. It's just one of 16. Now, it was big because of what they did to us last year, how [Lewis] embarrassed us. And it's a rivalry game. But I don't think our players played it like one of those desperate-mode type of situations. It wasn't an end all, and if we lost there were major changes coming.

My wife, Kim, and I want to show that we care about the fans. Reaching out to the community is very important to us. It's not just about baseball.

There are those who felt the Latin player-base community had been overlooked by fans in that election.