... Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and the crying Giants fan are one and the same. ("Anybody that says we should blow up this organization should get their own bomb and go blow themselves up." Brutal.)
... Nothing Doug Gilmour — Dougie! — did before he played for the Leafs matters . It's forgotten that he was nails in the greatest hockey series ever played, the 1987 Canada Cup, which seems to have been left out of the official hagiography (give Steve Simmons credit for noting he was just as good in Calgary as he was in Toronto).
... The biggest Super Bowl story is how many or how few middle-aged sports columnists have been sent there by their newspapers. No disrespect to the heroes on Prime Time Sports who chewed this over for far too long yesterday, but it's a non-issue. Super Bowl coverage is paint-by-numbers pack journalism and the best stories are found someplace else.
... All the sportswriters who referenced John Updike's famous essay about Ted Williams probably never read any of Updike except his famous essay on seeing Ted Williams' last home run. Poz is a glorious exception. Anyone who would call it "the Ted Williams article" (Maclean's) needs to do more reading.
... the shorter version of CBC's defence of Mike Milbury using the word "pansification" was that, "People are so stupid they don't even realize it's a gay slur."
... Everything about the Detroit Lions organization has to be changed, but they must not touch the Honululu blue colour scheme.
... Friday Night Lights is the one prime-time show which is most willing to dig into the effects of the recession on average Americans, but it will probably be cancelled before it can.
... The reason the press conference announcing the end of Ottawa's 51-day transit strike was delayed was because everyone had to walk. Apparently, the drivers' union reps left for the press conference in a 40-foot-long limousine — well, they couldn't take the bus!
This post is worth nothing; this is worth noting
- Check out The Tao's thoughts on William Houston leaving The Globe & Mail.
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4 comments:
Loved the Poz piece on Updike, and you're quite right that the CBC's defence leaves much to be desired. Can't say I support the '87 Canada Cup as the 'greatest hockey series ever played,' though; give me '72 any day.
It's a good debate, for sure, but considering how much hockey progressed between 1972 and '87, the other series was better.
Depends on your point of view: for me, hockey's been regressing ever since the 1970s. I'd much rather watch old footage of the Production Line or the '72 series than anything from the 1980s or 1990s.
Hockey has REGRESSED since the 70's?
Andrew, you can't possibly be serious.
The 70's were the nadir of hockey history, overall.
The NHL had tripled in size to 18 teams.
The WHA was around and at its height had around 16 teams.
Meanwhile, the number of Europeans playing in North America was restricted to a handful of Swedes and Finns.
With over 30 so-called major pro teams, the talent pool was desperately thin.
It was an era of uncontrolled brawling and mayhem, thanks mainly to the Broad Street Bullies.
And there were the likes of Curt Brackenberry and Steve Durbano slugging their way to lengthy pro careers.
The one shining light in the 70's were Les Canadiens, who played the game as it should be played...with toughness certainly, but also with an abundance of skill.
How many times were NHL teams embarrassed by those exhibition encounters with the Soviet Red Army?
No sir, the 70's were not a nostalgic time for me...it's an era that I, for the most part, would rather forget.
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