Vancouver

WEST

More often than most other people, athletes have to ignore pain or endure it for long periods. It turns out that in this endeavor, the brain is a very good ally

Boston Pizza, a Canadian chain, spent roughly $20,000 to rebrand 62 stores as Vancouver Pizza during the Stanley Cup finals, including hanging banners over its signs and putting stickers over its logo on takeout boxes.

Big-time clubs left Portland, Seattle and Vancouver 30 years ago, but their fans never did. Now the teams are back in MLS, and their reborn rivalries are turning the region into a hotbed of the sport

In the league's 16th season, the hottest action will be in the soccer-mad Pacific Northwest, where expansion Portland and Vancouver join wildly popular Seattle; in the end, though, it should be L.A. making the...