Fronts: About that whole community outreach thing

No wonder the Kingston Frontenacs keep talking about what an ambassador Peter Stevens was in the community, even though they traded him.

" 'I actually want to be a nurse,' said Stevens, sporting a swollen set of knuckles on his right hand, a souvenir courtesy a fight in a game last weekend against Niagara. 'I like helping people, so that's what I want to do when hockey's over with.' "
— Barrie Examiner

A hockey player going into nursing makes a lot of sense, given the difficulty of attracting men to the profession. This article is a nice epilogue to the Springer Frontenacs' hilarious and sad appearance before Kingston city council this week. Stevens was invoked as an example of the organization's community outreach, even though he's no longer on the team and his character was instilled first by Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. The Fronts Talk-ers also made note that in terms on appeasing ticked-off fans, owner Doug Springer's team and the U.S. firm which runs the Kingston Ratepayer Centre apparently had the puck bounce over their sticks, again.

One fan claimed that a portion of the east-end stands and concourse (behind the goal Kingston shoots at in the first and third periods) was roped off for a private party. This kept regular customers — paying customers — from getting to their seats.

Meantime, after the 4-3 loss to the Oshawa Generals (who, post-John Tavares, are playing out the string with an almost all-rookie team), there was supposed to be an open skate where children could skate with the players. That went well, until, according to one fan, none of the players materialized.

This would be easy to shrug off if the win and loss totals in Kingston's 10-31-9 record were reversed. It is not the case when they have lost 80% of their games, the charity point for overtime and shootout losses notwithstanding. It hints at what others who are on the ground in Kingston, most notably Kinger's TVCogeco compatriots and regular radio guests Tim Cunningham and Mark Potter, have been saying about the anger toward the owner of the city's OHL team.

Pete Stevens, as 20-year-old overager, deserved a chance to play in the post-season in his final year of junior hockey. It's a little rich to see the adults trade on the young man's integrity after he's gone, especially when based on deed and P.R. flops, they fall short in this area themselves. It invalidates everything that Springer says about having a first-class operation. It's just baffling, since by most accounts the Springers operate with integrity in all their other businesses.

The point is the owner of the 10-win team which plays in a $43-million arena which the city's business and political movers and shakers wanted (and got) in the worst way, needs to start considering optics. How many times does this site need to say perception is reality. This being Canada and a small city, people probably are too quick to scream, "Elitism!" but you have to know how to play ball when your team doesn't play hockey particularly well.

Meantime, good for Peter Stevens. There is no intention to say why can't everyone be like him, since no one is perfect. It is no surprise he's earned a following in Barrie, and the noble profession of nursing should be happy to have him. Far be it to wonder if having played in Kingston for two-plus seasons helped cultivate a compassion for the stricken and enfeebled.

(The Fronts are in Ottawa on Sunday to play the Soixante-Septs. Yes, I will be there. Meantime, James DeLory of the Oshawa Generals, keep your head up.)



Related:
Lover/Fighter; Barrie Colts bruiser Peter Stevens is a menace on the ice. He's also a terribly nice guy off it (Ian Shantz, Barrie Examiner)
Verbal sparring with Stevens (Ian Shantz, Barrie Examiner)
Type rest of the post here

Zen Dayley: Get out the A-Roid headlines and try not to learn anything

One can still look at Alex Rodriguez the same way one did 24 hours ago and believe everything in Sports Illustrated.

He is a pawn in a political game. The real subtext is deeper than a three-time MVP, the shining beacon, the one who said, "we're in a non-trusting era with the fans," being outed as a 'roidoid.

Major League Baseball has had its towline cut today in terms of management-union relations and terms of trust between MLB and union, players and fans, any two entities you want to name. The testing where Rodriguez was nailed was supposed to be anonymous, except for the part where he was tipped off by his union. ("I knew it wasn't anonymous," ex-Jay David Segui said on MLB Home Plate this morning.) It does no good to get hung up on why Rodriguez's name was the first of the 104 who tested positive to get out. Go ask Ben Johnson about being that big skin on the wall.

This will have ramifications in what yours truly jokingly calls the Labour War of 2012. Marvin Miller, back in early 2005, said MLB was risking losing the players' trust permanently. The union might have lost some players. Miller was right all along, just like Jose Canseco. As well, John Brattain points out that the players' agents are villains in this for looking out for the almighty buck and throwing due process to the wind.

On another level, you might want to focus on Rodriguez as villain. He's going to get booed with great gusto, as well he should. Please bear in mind Major League Baseball has handled the steroids problem by selling out its athletes in ones and twos, while the enablers, the agents and owners, get off scott-free. It's such a cynical hand-washing exercise by the moneymen that it has to be rationalized away, unless you're of a mind that stupid reality should never intrude on your sports-following (not entirely unreasonable, given the state of the world).

It beats playing the I-knew-it-I-knew-it-I-knew-it game, or wondering who will be the next big name to suffer a takedown. To be completely honest, the reflexive stance for a baseball nut which has evolved over the past 10 years is just to assume everyone is kinda suspect, the same way you're cool with your favourite authors, actors and musicians are wasted, wired, stoned, bombed, hammered, smashed and shitfaced.

The question I have for everyone, have always had, is why people look at sports differently than other forms of entertainment.

It's too funny to sit here listening to XM Radio, hearing host Casey Stern on MLB Home Plate citing Rodriguez' 60 Minutes interview with Katie Couric, where he said he did not feel he needed steroids to be a better ballplayer. It was a soft focus piece on a commercial network, barely a step up from the stage-managed pieces on Entertainment Tonight. It was, in Earl McRae's phrase, "disco journalism," indicative of sweet FA.

However, it all comes back to the word "trust." People, to put a twist on one of the late Jack Buck's iconic calls, want to believe what they just saw.

You can lose yourself in fiction, but sports still has to be seen as legitimate. There is probably no getting past that in our lifetimes. The view has hardened that Henry Aaron is the clean home run champion. Aaron hit 755 home runs legitimately, while Barry Bonds hit 762 semi-illegitimately, even though in Hammerin' Hank's case, to quote Mike Wilner from a few days ago, "From about the 1950s, maybe earlier, until last year PRETTY MUCH EVERY PLAYER IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES WAS ON SPEED. Sorry, that's just the way it was."

Rodriguez was supposed to be the one who would reclaim the record for the good guys. Well, sorry, that's a kindergarten view of the world. It ignores a lot of what has been going on for 15 years, as John notes.

"Everybody profited big time from this: Bud Selig makes almost $18 million a year, Don Fehr is among the wealthiest union leaders in the country, player agents like Scott Boras looked the other way and reaped obscene commissions off the players that injected themselves with these substances and there is no escaping it – the 'steroid boom' caused revenues to spike and this in turn showered money on all parties.

"The dollar will never fall as low as the means people will stoop to acquire it. Greed won the day and it wasn’t just the players that were responsible – they had a lot of accomplices."

At least Rodriguez and his handlers can keep this at an arm's length than others have. They have learned from Roger Clemens' legendarily bad example how to conduct a defence in the court of public opinion. He'll be booed in every ballpark he visits, except the new Yankee Stadium. You want it make this about Alex Rodriguez alone, fair enough, but it is not. Look at the guys who get to play forever, because it's their ball.

Related:
Sources tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003 (Selena Roberts and David Epstein, SI.com)

Snark break...

Hey, don't snap our fundies...

Long-time NBA player David Wesley is now a student manager for the Baylor Bears. Wesley made $32 million in his NBA career, making him the richest man to end up passing out towels since Conrad Black.

The upside of William Houston stepping away from The Globe & Mail: Team 1200 employees in Ottawa won't have to read that their station "is hurting."

The New York Knicks' trip to Europe next season has apparently been deep-sixed. That's good. People hate America enough already.

The easy way out: Ottawa can afford either a CFL or MLS team, but people will support neither.

Some people pay money to see Eklund's phony trade predictions. The funny part is you can see them for free, which is what they're worth.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting

• Kingston minor hockey product Mike Murphy of the Belleville Bulls got some virtual ink from Sports Illustrated. S.I., much like John Tavares last night, failed to notice Taylor Hall. That was a heavy hit. Between Kingston native Hall and the Frontenacs' Taylor Doherty levelling Tavares in the CHL top prospect game, Kingston is really doing a number on Tavares and London this month.
  
  Too soon?
• Gaius Charles, you will be missed on Friday Night Lights. Friday marked Smash Williams' final episode and it was a beaut. Smash's three touchdowns in the 2006 state championship game and the way he was so good to his mom and little sister will not be forgotten.
  
• Please spare a thought for the guys on the Oakville Seals senior hockey team, who just lost a teammate, Myles Marchenko, who died in his sleep recently, just 26 years old.
  
  (The Seals were part of the Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic sports beat back in the day. Hang in there, everybody.)

Zen Dayley: Je suis désolé, j'ai pensé la cette Amérique

Il est raisonnable de se demander combien la situation d'Erik Bédard dans Seattle affecte l'aileur francophone semblable Phillippe Aumont.

On a pu ne jamais jaillir n'ont rien à faire avec l'autre. Les Mariners du Seattle sont la seule équipe dans les commandants avec deux pichets à extrémité élevé qui sont les deux francophones, jouant un sport qui est couru dans leur deuxième langue. Bédard rencontre les mêmes problèmes avec les médias qu'il a fait à Baltimore. Aumont, qui a à peine voyagé en dehors du Québec dans les 17 premiers, 18 années de sa vie, est des années d'un couple à partir d'avoir affaire avec les écrivains de sport américains réactionnaires qui viennent d'une culture où la diversité de reconnaissance, encore moins lui adaptant, est un péché cardinal. L'élection de Barack Obama ne s'est pas débarassée de Gallophobia latent.

(Les Mariners ont été prudents avec Aumont, comme USA Today l'a mis dans leur annuel «100 Names You Need To Know». Ceci est probablement dû au sien début en retard dans le jeu plus qu'une barrière linguistique; il se manipule très bien en anglais.)

C'est plus au sujet de la façon dont les chroniqueurs ne l'obtiennent pas avec Bédard et de la façon dont les médias l'emploieront comme point de référence quand Aumont arrive à Seattle. Bédard est modeste et lance, un enfant de ferme qui a élevé les Français parlants vers le haut. Un commutateur n'obtient pas renversé juste parce qu'il est $7.75 millions payé pour jeter des baseball. Malheureusement, ce tombe en dehors du coupeur de biscuit pour les types de supports dont l'élément vital est montrant eux, et par prolongation vous, comprenez comme ce qu'il est d'être un pro athlète. Aucun de nous n'a un indice. Il est comme prétendre être un docteur parce que vous observez «House».

Un scribe de Seattle, Jim Moore, est allé jusqu'ici appeler le Bédard «aloof», «jerk», «moody», et le «least-liked Mariner of all time». Sa base était que Bédard ne s'est pas inquiété pour parler aux médias la saison passée où il a été limité par des dommages douloureux de hanche. La plupart des joueurs n'aiment pas parler aux médias quand ils sont blessés. Ne jouant pas des moyens ils sont embarrassed et souvent peu sûrs au sujet de parler aux journalistes.

Il y avait également une citation de Jamie Burke, l'attrapeur personnel de Bédard, «You would know him as well as I do». La signification de celle est peu claire. Elle ne serait pas la première fois que deux personnes qui travaillent étroitement ensemble, beaucoup moins deux joueurs de base-ball, n'ont eu aucun travail d'extérieur de rapport. Évidemment, cet arrangement ne peut pas serrer un certain chroniqueur qui comprend tout «d'une manière vous, étranger faible-chinned, ne faites pas». (Michael Lewis, Moneyball.)

On espérerait qu'Aumont devrait être bon. Il descend à la personnalité, finalement. Il est simplement irritant pour voir Bédard donner un mauvais moment au-dessus de rien puisqu'il est commode pour quelqu'un qui doit remplir espace, mais n'a rien valable pour contribuer. Quel pays.

Rien qu'un certain Canadien dit ne va changer l'esprit ou l'approche d'un chroniqueur 3.000 milles loin. On l'accepte que certains écrivent comme elles pêchent pour être sur ESPN ou pour être sur la radio débat avec tous les «knowitalls» au lieu de dire la vérité. C'est la vie.

(Svp lu cette liste d'USA Today. Pas que n'importe qui a eu besoin d'un rappel, mais de Travis Snider du Blue Jays est deuxieme, après David Price.)

It is reasonable to wonder how Erik Bedard's situation in Seattle affects fellow francophone flinger Phillippe Aumont.

One could never well have nothing to do with the other. The Mariners are the only team in the majors with two high-end pitchers who are both francophone, playing a sport which is run in their second language. Bedard is encountering the same problems with the media that he did in Baltimore. Aumont, who barely travelled outside Quebec in the first 17, 18 years old of his life, is a couple years away from dealing with reactionary American sportswriters who come from a culture where acknowledging diversity, let alone accommodating it, is a cardinal sin. The election of Barack Obama did not get rid of latent Gallophobia.

(The Mariners "have been conservative" bringing along the hard-throwing Aumont, as USA Today put it in their annual 100 Names You Need To Know. This is likely due to his late start in the game more than a language barrier; he handles himself very well in English.)

This is more about how columnists just don't get it with Bedard and how the media will use him as a point of reference when Aumont arrives in Seattle. Bedard is unassuming and shy, a farm kid who grew up speaking French. A switch does not get flipped just because he is being paid $7.75 million to throw baseballs. Unfortunately, that falls outside the cookie cutter for media types whose lifeblood is showing they, and by extension you, understand what it's like to be a pro athlete. None of us, present company included, have a screw's clue what it's like any more than watching House makes you qualified to be a doctor.

A couple weeks ago, one Seattle scribe went so far to call Bedard "aloof," a "jerk" "moody," and "least-liked Mariner of all time." His basis was that Bedard didn't care to talk to the media last season when he was limited to 81 innings (the lowest of his five full seasons) by a painful hip injury. Most players don't like to talk to the media when they're injured; they're usually embarrassed and often insecure because they're not playing.

There was also a quote from Jamie Burke, Bedard's personal catcher, "You'd know him as well as I do." The meaning of that is unclear. It would not be the first time two people who work closely together, much less two ballplayers, had no relationship outside work. Evidently, that understanding cannot crowd some columnist who understands everything "in a way you, weak-chinned outsider, will not." (Michael Lewis, Moneyball.)

One would hope Aumont should be fine. It comes down to personality, ultimately. It is just irritating to see Bedard give a rough ride over nothing since it is convenient for someone who needs to fill space, but has nothing valuable to contribute. What a country.

Nothing some Canadian says is going to change the mind or approach of a columnist 3,000 miles away. It is accepted that some people write like they are angling to be on ESPN or be on talk radio with all the knowitalls instead of telling the truth. C'est la vie.

(Check out that USA Today list. Not that anyone needed a reminder, but the Jays' Travis Snider is No. 2 behind Rays super-lefty David Price.

(A tip of the cap to Garry Trudeau, George Frazier and, Babelfish.)

Finally hope for Canadian soccer again

Even though Carolina Morace's appointment as the next women's head soccer coach was the worst kept secret in Canadian sport, it was still a shock to see her walk out to be announced at today's press conference at BMO Field.

Hiring the best candidate and giving her the power to operate on her own terms isn't typically the CSA's way. I doubt that anyone would have been shocked if Ian Bridge had ran out midway through the presser -- maybe with a B.C. flag wrapped around to the tune of The Boys are Back in Town al la the WWE -- to claim his rightful place as the latest CSA good ole' boy to join the coaching ranks. Instead we stood by dumbfounded that the CSA didn't screw it up. They actually got their woman.

Time will tell whether what appears to be a great move actually will pan out, but the early signs are there. Morace's English is not all that strong yet, so she had difficulty handling questions of depth. Still, she seemed to indicate that he bad old days of boot and chase soccer will be put in the past.

"Tactics are important," she said.

Well there ya go. That shouldn't be refreshing, but, well...it is.

It's, as most know, been a tough few months for Canadian soccer fans. Today, however, represents the first real piece of hope in a long time. It was time for Canada to move forward on the women's side four years ago, but now is better than never. The country is still ranked No. 11 in the world. Unlike the men's side, it has yet to fall into the abyss. Morace and the CSA said that their goal is to win, period. Full stop. Here's hoping that they are good for their word because soccer in this country needs something to grab hold of now. Maybe a Morace led Canadian team -- playing winning and attractive football -- will be just that.

Related:

• Carolina's here, and a thumbs up to the CSA (Canadian Stretford End)
• My slightly more soccer specific take at The 24th Minute

Get with the Times; the CFL is a good game

There might be blogging manna for someone who just wants to recycle American media references to the CFL.

It is at least reasonable to wonder about the possibility of the CFL making another U.S. incursion, given the Arena League's demise. The notion of a high school running back, Bryce Brown, skipping college to play in Canada, fails the no-way test.

(Update: Tell that to College Football Talk. Don't they realize Tim Tebow would struggle in Canada?)

As in, there's no way it world work, even assuming that the CFL got out of the bed with the NFL long enough to let it happen. Speculating about it comes across as Americans failing to appreciate the calibre of athlete playing for the seven professional teams up here, along with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The difference between CFL lifer and a NFL player pulling down a couple million a season is so narrow that you could barely slide a bank card into the gap. Brown has the requisite highlight package online, but that was high school.

(Granted, Brown seems like quite the scatback and the Argos did just loseDominique Dorsey to the NFL. Squash that thought.)



It's too funny by half. Every spring CFL teams bring up players who have got Heisman Trophy votes, played on teams which went to and won big bowl games, and found them ill-suited for the Canadian game, after four years at some big football factory. The Times is right to point out that there are stud basketball players who are opting to play in Europe instead of play for free at Big State, but basketball is a different game.

This is good a time as any to note that in the States, it is National Letter of Intent day in football. One player from Ottawa has signed with a Conference USA school, but you'll have to read it in the Ottawa Sun.

Related:
College Recruiting's Thin Gray Line (Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans, The New York Times)
Bryce Brown to the C.F.L.? (Pete Thamel, The Quad)

The ATJs: Hey, nineteen (wins, against only nine losses)

One of us is owner of the the all-time Toronto Blue Jays team — the ATJs — in the Seamheads.com Historical League (SHL). So how about those Blue Jays? At this writing, they are 19-9, having opened a four-game lead in the SHL's Expansion 3 division.

Fair play to Pittsburgh Pirates owner Curt Schilling for reaching deep into the recesses of time and coming up with a stopper in Jesse Tannehill, who denied the All-Time Jays a chance to tie for the best record in imaginary baseball.

Jesse Tannehill? Nope, never heard of him, until yesterday. He was a lefty control artist who pitched for the Pirates, New York Highlanders and Boston Americans at the turn of the 20th century. Score one for Schilling. The old-timey moundsman flung a three-hit shutout to top Roy Halladay and Co. 5-0 in a matchup of the top pitchers on the celestial circuit. Doc's ERA took a beating, shooting all the way from 0.90 to 1.25, which still leads the league (thank you very much).

That was just a temporary setback; at 19-9, the ATJs are rolling, with the rest of the offence starting to pick up the slack behind the Mad Men of Moseby, Alomar and Delgado. Sun Media's veteran baseball writer (and fellow Kingstonian) Bob Elliott, captured the spirit of the thing yesterday with a post on the SHL for his indispensable Canadian Baseball Network. Missing a chance to sweep one of the established franchises, especially Schilling's, should not sting too much.

That 19-9 record is the best among the 12 franchises which began play in 1961. The ATJs are holding their own with 9-7 record vs. the charter franchises. Far from letting down against lesser teams as their real-life counterparts have been known to do (perception is reality, friends), they're 10-2 vs. the franchises who began play in 1961. Here's some highlights:

Clutchitude: It's a word, look it up. The ATJs are 9-2 in one-run games, which, reasonably speaking, means they are overdue for an evenout soon. In the here and now, utilityman Kelly Gruber picked a perfect time for his first home run, a walk-off job off Big Bob Veale in a 5-4 win over the Schilling's stacked Pirates on May 7. They won't being calling him Kelly Buber.



Gruber's big blast made a winner of Dave Stieb, who hung in vs. a Pirates lineup with seven Hall of Famers in the starting lineup (every position except catcher and pitcher).

Express this: A player can appear on more than one team, so the ATJs got to lay a lickin' on one Lynn Nolan Ryan twice in one week. On April 29, Texas Nolan didn't get past the third inning in a 10-2 romp, going to an early shower after the good guys put a 7-spot up on the board. Four days later, Houston Nolan did better, but couldn't match, Harry Leroy Halladay scattered seven hits across eight innings in a tense 3-1 game.

The two-Martinez lunch: Since players can appear on more than one team, the Boston version of Pedro Martinez and his Montreal incarnation are each tied for second in the SHL in strikeouts, with Toronto Roger Clemens.

Mad Men: Hughsy will probably hate seeing his all-time favourite show co-opted by an extreme nerd, but the all lefty-swinging top of the order of leadoff man Lloyd Moseby, No. 2 hitter Robbie Alomar and Carlos Delgado in the 3-spot deserve a nickname. They are carrying the offence:

Moseby: .333/.387/.447, 21 runs scored
Alomar: .325/.366/.439, 24 runs, 15-of-19 on steals
Delgado: .284/.373/.642, team-high eight homers

Mushy middle: Third sacker Troy Glaus is batting a brilliant .147 with zero home runs (at this rate, he'll be hitting behind the pitcher). Gruber and Rance Mullliniks might yet re-create their job-sharing role at third base.

Injury report: None. It's a miracle. The Cardinals have already had Stan Musial and Dennis Eckersley each go down; the Eck apparently "was hurt while cutting a brownie out of a pan and sustained an undisclosed injury."

Looking ahead to May: Thirteen of the next 19 games after against those expansion teams, including a three-game set vs. Johan Keri's Montreal Expos next week.

Thanks again to Seamheads' Mike Lynch for organizing the league, and to Bob Elliott for writing a nice article. You know what would have been even nicer? Winning both games vs. Schilling's team, but bloggers can't be choosers.

Footy: Morace to nats, Beckham bounces

The occasion of Carolina Morace's hiring as coach of Canada's women's soccer team is as good a time as any to note Rollins is going strong at The 24th minute, his spin-off soccer blog.

Duane was out front on Morace coming to Canada back in November, posing the question with respect to Morace and the Canadian Soccer Association: "Is the CSA serious about change? Or, is it just going to be the same old, same old. How the organization handles this hiring will answer that question." He'll be there at the press conference this afternoon.

A lot has to happen with the national body beyond the hiring of a coach, but speaking as a footy dilettante, Morace is a step in that direction.

Meantime, it apparently did not work out between the L.A. Galaxy and David Beckham. No one saw that coming.

Zen Dayley: The burden is on the state

It's not unreasonable search and seizure when the defendant is a huge jerk.

Straddling the fence until the judge in Barry Bonds' perjury trial rules on the admissibility of his urine tests might e best, but what the hell. No less an authority than Shysterball is saying that the U.S. government is "relying on considerable amounts of hearsay" (dedicated Lionel Hutz legal scholars will note that's a kind of evidence) to build its case against the home run king. The Smoking Gun just outed the sketchy character who gathered much of the evidence that was used for the big bag of nothing that was the Mitchell Report.

(This is more interesting than learning the Blue Jays are about to add Kevin Millar, who slugged a mighty .394 last season? True, he used to be able to hit lefties very well.)

It basically means that most of what the media is reporting about Bonds is water off a duck's back, pending what happens later today in a northern California courtroom. However, most of the procedural decisions by Judge Susan Illston have gone his way so far. Also, as Gwen Knapp says:

"(T)he 2003 sample absolutely was taken under false pretenses. Its appearance in the trial would effectively make Bonds' employers agents of the state. That's not MLB's job."

The Smoking Gun just outed the sketchy character who gathered much of the evidence that was used for the big bag of nothing that was the Mitchell Report. Honestly, all of this seems so mired in sleaze and dodgy ethics that it's turning Bonds into Don Quixote -- no intention of burning.

Other stuff:

• Along with Millar, the Jays continued their raid of the Orioles by adding lefty Brian Burres, who at least was well-liked when he flung for the Ottawa Lynx a few years ago.
  
  That's three former Baltimores now with the Jays on minor-league deals. The Orioles are rebuilding and the Jays are adding their discards. Granted, it might make for a go
  
• It's always better to just talk baseball. Here is one promising report on Canadian Brett Lawrie, the Milwaukee Brewers' super hitting prospect. He might be their catcher or shortstop of the future.
• A portrait of the rightfielder as a younger man with the Jays' Alex Rios.
  
• One-time prospect, now suspect, Matt Murton is now with the Colorado Rockies. You know someone will overpay for him in a fantasy draft, now that he's at Coors Field.

Related:
MLB Bonds drug tests shouldn't be admissible (Gwen Knapp, San Francisco Chronicle)
Major League Snitch; Unmasked: How a white-collar Baltimore swindler turned secret FBI informant and ignited a Major League Baseball steroid scandal (The Smoking Gun)

Snark break...

Hey, we'll always have cheaper beer at the ballpark ...

Doug Smith, on the endless (and ignored by the media) Raptors/Rogers/TSN2 controversy: "Where to look next? How about the sponsors? How about letting them know that, say, you won’t shop at whatever store the omnipresent Galen Weston owns? Or you won’t get your car serviced by whatever bailed out auto giant buys an ad?

"Where to look next? How about the sponsors? How about letting them know that, say, you won't shop at whatever store the omnipresent Galen Weston owns? Or you won’t get your car serviced by whatever bailed out auto giant buys an ad?" That would be Loblaws, and Ford, to name but a few.

Former Buffalo Sabres tough guy Larry Playfair (1,812 PIMs), to ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun: "I think, in my lifetime, there will be no more fighting in the National Hockey League. I think the day is coming. And that's OK. The game is so much better than when I played. The game is skill on skill. It's fun to watch."

Perish the cynicism over Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz buying the city's Golden Baseball League team. Some would say he made made $400,000 investment in the Cracker Cats in hope Edmonton will build him a $600-million arena.

Doesn't Katz know that the owner of a Canadian-based NHL team (if not a Canadian-based owner of a NHL team) should be trying to build a soccer stadium miles from the city core, where most of the footy-minded folk live? That's how you do it.

Remember, death is not an option: Who's more credible, Gary Bettman talking about the Phoenix Coyotes or Eugene Melnyk talking about the Senators' prospects?

Honestly, not a headline about Bernard Madoff, but about basketball: "Boomers lick their wounds."

The unspoken scandal about the teenage camera operator in Oshawa who was reassigned for talking to Don Cherry: That so many city-owned OHL arenas are run by private American firms. Ask everyone how that arrangement is working out in Kingston.

OK, so NCAA hoops won't be on your radar screen for another month, but Duke had its worst loss in almost 20 years last night. Hey, you look happier already.

With the Fronts, the 401's a highway to the crazy zone

Taking a cue from Sunaya Sapurji at Loose Pucks, one would expect to see Rod Serling's ghost host the next Kingston Frontenacs telecast on TV Cogeco, instead of Kinger.

There are some major media outlets starting to echo the popular opinion that, quoth Sapurji, "when did Kingston become the capital of OHL Crazytown?" She also threw in a reference to the Twilight Zone, which was awesometacular.

Serling's catchphrase, "Submitted for your approval," is obviously lost on Frontenacs owner Doug Springer (left in photo, obviously). The movie/TV quote which comes closest to summing up Springer's tenure in Kingston is, "You'll get nothing, and like it!" a la the Ted Knight character in Caddyshack. Anyway, pent-up anger subliminated through cheap references aside, there is a growing clamour that something is rotten with the state of hockey in K-town. Mike Koreen, sports ed. at the hometown Whig-Standard, also started beating one of Kinger's favourite drums: What's going to happen to the team's season-ticket base, especially, as Springer told Koreen, "there's no reason to think otherwise" that GM-for-life Larry Mavety is going to return next season?

At least these questions are being asked by those with a larger forum. It will not help Kingston win any more games or achieve its first two-game win streak, in Game 50 of the season, tonight when it faces the Brampton Battalion, a very strong team. It won't cause Springer to smarten up and it will not bring fans back in the hometown, but at least it's getting harder to avoid the tough questions. Here's the best from Koreen and Sapurji, noting that the spoken word folk such as Kinger, Tim Cunningham and Mark Potter at TV Cogeco were early adopters:

Sapurji, Loose Pucks: if a team's owner isn't a qualified enough expert to talk about his own team, then maybe he isn't qualified enough to own the team?

Koreen, The Whig: The team is not going to have an easy time convincing some of its season ticket holders to renew next season, which could cause further attendance concerns at the beginning of next season. Expectations were high this year after Springer came out and said he expected the team to challenge for a top-four spot in the conference.

Those are welcome words to read, but not as welcome as "Frontenacs up for sale." It's a start. Kingston will continue to be the town that dreaded sundown, but only when the Springer Frontenacs have a home game that night.

(Ethan Werek, by the way, didn't look out of place in the OHL All-Star Game last night, scoring a goal as he and five Belleville Bulls skated for the winning East team. It follows that he wouldn't look out of place if coach Doug Gilmour put him in a shootout.)

It has been 471 days since Doug Springer said he would do "whatever it takes" to bring Kingston a winner. The worst part is we still don't know who stole the strawberries.





Related:
Fronts developing an identity: Gudbranson (Doug Graham, Kingston Whig-Standard)
What a waste of time; City council's grilling of Fronts achieved nothing (Mike Koreen, Kingston Whig-Standard)
K-Town moves into Twilight Zone (Sunaya Sapurji, Loose Pucks)

You can't make this stuff up: Marty York out at Metro

Just to keep it in the spirit of the thing, an "anonymous source told me" tonight that a pillar of the Canadian sports journalism community, and favourite of "babbling bloggers" (his phrase, most assuredly), has been canned.

Marty York, a man that wasn't afraid to write anything, is looking for work. We won't make too much fun because he was let go as part of a downsizing at the Metro. Many others less prone to hyperbole, and more inclined to verify sources, are also out of luck.

However, my unnamed source has a warning for Mr. York's many detractors. "The sad thing is," he or she said, "he will likely infect the Internet next. And where rumours are treated like truth Marty York could be king."

(Sager talking.) The last thing people should do is a joyous tap dance over a bit of news concerning the man who once graced the The Globe & Mail. He also, among other things, once wrote that then-Raptor Vince Carter body-slammed then-coach Sam Mitchell on to table during the Raptors darkest days. He was also the one behind the infamous story in 1992 that the Blue Jays pretty boy, Kelly Gruber, was water-skiing in the Muskokas while he was on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. (A year later, Gruber was out of baseball.)

Say whatever you want about the man, he didn't run with the traffic. In York's halcyon days where he probably pulled down a salary on par with that Brunt fella who wrote the definitive Bobby Orr biography, York was the biggest polarizing figure in Canadian sportswriting circles.

That above link, to a Ryerson Review of Journalism article from 1992, is a must-read for a media junkies. Anthony Seow talked to a who's-who of Canadian sports media columnists, most of whom are still full-time writers. The one and only Earl McRae swore by York.

" 'Marty is a terrific reporter. He's often maligned for the wrong reasons. A lot of it is simple jealousy.' And, he adds, York also suffers because he works outside the pack, asking the tough questions while others cheerlead for the home team."

It's a helluva read, in hindsight, since Seow left it open-ended as to why York, who was then 35 and had been covering sports half his life,would subject himself to such ridicule. The question remains unanswered now that he's in his 50s and he's been doing it two-thirds of his life. The only conclusion was that he had some sort of personality tick, which caused his strength -- refusing to follow the pack -- to become his weakness.

It was kind of a cautionary tale for a budding journalist. Was it worth ending up bitter, insecure, without many friends in the business, just to have stuff in that the other paper didn't have? It can happen to anyone and York is far from done.

Conference USA gets some Canadian capital

There's an under-the-radar quality to Brander Craighead, subject of a feature on tomorrow's Ottawa Sun Schools sports page.

The media hysteria over national signing day in NCAA football, the first Wednesday in February, is not completely lost on Canadians. There are football families up here, and the Craighead clan, of Barrhaven just south of Ottawa, got to experience it yesterday when Brander, an offensive tackle, signed his letter of intent with the University of Texas-El Paso, becoming a member of the Miners' recruiting class. (Mike Price, UTEP's coach, apparently said in his prepared remarks that Craighead was "quite a character.")

As if to add to the under-the-radar quality, Craighead's name was not among a list of Canadian signees listed at Posted Sports. In fairness, that is probably due to the fact he spent this fall at a prep school, Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy, where as his mom, Pam, put it during a conversation last week, they "stripped him down and made him into a football machine ... six, eight, nine hours a day, whatever it took.."

Fork Union's program is not for the callow or weak-willed, but Craighead and another O-lineman from Ontario, centre Henry Lorenzen from Waterford soldiered through this season after going down to Fork Union on the recommendationg of Peter Zonta, who runs the Canadian Scouting Combines training program in Hamilton. Fork Union is a total military school, the whole nine yards: Reveille at 6 a.m., being confined to barracks at night, not being able to leave on weekends, no iPods, no cell phones, limited e-mail and telephone access. The 6-foot-6, 260-lb. Craighead, when we chatted, said he didn't even know what movies were playing in the theatres these days, that's how isolated it is -- but paid off for him.

It has also paid off for Henry Lorenzen, who (small world) played in in the Haldimand-Norfolk High School Football League, during the timeframe when yours truly was the sports editor of the Simcoe Reformer. He apparently has interest from see really good academic schools such as Buffalo, Colgate and Cornell.

Point being, a story such as Craighead's brings home a sense of what Canadian footballers have to do to narrow the gap in development between high school players up here and those in the U.S. Among the big college sports, it's tough for a Canadian to get a scholarship to a FBS (formerly Division I-A) school, relative to baseball, basketball, fastpitch and soccer players. The U.S. kids are completely on another level in terms of getting their names out there, with no small amount of thanks to a very well-developed media culture.

(It's changing in Canada, but very slowly. That being said, Rollins and Radoslav will no doubt appreciate seeing a highlight reel of Julius Jones-Carter, a running back recruited by their beloved Laurier Golden Hawks; that's Laurier safety Courtney Stephen handing the ball off in some of those clips).

Even if you can get noticed, coaches might say, "How good can he be? He's Canadian." It's another sport, but if you ever get a chance, ask Steve Nash what it was like for him. He should have been in the Pac-10 at Arizona or UCLA, rather than at Santa Clara before the days when "mid-major" entered college basketball fans' lexicon.

Anyway, it was cool to try to give Brander Craighead and his parents, Steve and Pam, some attention for their son's achievement. He is actually the third offensive tackle from Ottawa who's heading to a Conference USA program, along with Tyler Holmes at Tulsa and Scott Mitchell at Rice.

(By the way, it's noteworthy that Rice, which requires its football players be real students, signed two Canucks yesterday, safety Tolu Akinwumi from Brampton and D-lineman Hosam Shahin from B.C.; the Owls might become a favourite NCAA team yet).

Getting back to Brander Craighead, and hopefully the point of this post, it is a kick as a sports journalist to write about someone whose story is relatively untold. Craighead actually came to attention quite by accident, when the lacrosse coach at Mother Teresa High School mentioned offhandedly last spring that one of his players was headed down to Virginia to play football. The little hamster started running on its wheel that Fork Union might be the destination, and that led to having a fun feature to write eight months later. Who knows where this leads; when a team announces it recruiting class, it's hoping half the players pan out. Craighead's dug deep to get this far, so wish him well.

CIS Corner: Putting out the call for CFRC

It is only sporting to spread that word that CFRC 101.9 (cfrc.ca in Kingston, the station which has given so many good Canadian broadcasters their start, is having its annual funding drive.

The Kinger will be hosting a CFRC alumni show on Offsides, Friday at 4 p.m. ET. Anyone who is interested in donating might want to make their call to 613-533-2572 for that fine hour of programming.

CFRC's alums includes the likes of TSN play-by-play man Chris Cuthbert and CBC Radio's Shelagh Rogers. Less famously, only slightly so, no less than five contributors to this site have been been part of the CFRC family.

So break out these checkbooks, people. This is your chance to say you donated while the next Keith Olbermann was on the air.

SOCCER

• Obviously, this has been known for a while, but Amanda Robinson, the Ottawa Gee-Gees midfielder, has transferred to a NCAA Division I school, Oklahoma State. The Gee-Gees made out decently last season when she was in the Canadian U20 team's residency program out West. It's a better calibre of soccer, presumably, so it's tough to begrudge her leaving the U of O, especially since (ahem) some of the school's other teams have been boosted by transfers from the States.

HOOPS

• Ottawa native Garry Gallimore, who was involved in a very unfortunate incident one week ago tonight during an Atlantic conference basketball game, has resigned as an assistant coach of the St. Francis Xavier X-Men, one wek after an unfortunate incident during a game in Cape Breton.
  
  It is unfortunate and one hopes it would not put Gallimore off ooaching, if he has something to contribute. It was mistake, he took ownership, but one would hope that Cape Breton U. makes sure it's proactive rather than reactive when it comes to protecting visiting coaches and players.

HOCKEY:

• Ravens/Gaels/Gee-Gees: Queen's 3-2 win over Carleton on Tuesday brought them within a point of Ottawa and within four of Carleton for the final playoff spots in the eastern half of the OUA.
  
  There is the possibility of divisional realignment in OUA men's hockey (Nipissing joining will bring it up to 19 teams). In the meantime, it would appear Queen's could get sneak in, based on the remaining schedule:

  Carleton (26 pointsw): Concordia, Ottawa, McGill, Trois-Rivieres
  Ottawa (23): McGill, Toronto, Carleton, Ryerson
  Queen's (22): RMC (twice), Ryerson

  Former 67 Brady Morrison, solid all season, finally got some offensive support in the past three games (former CJHL player Pat Doyle also had a goal and two assists in Queen's 3-2 overtime win over Carleton on Tuesday.
  
  Billy Burke has also popped in six goals in the past three games after scoring just three in the first 21 games. It's a wicked burn, since it's not surprising that Queen's has a player whose parents could buy the Kingston Frontenacs, but wouldn't you know it, they already own a team. They're not selling.
• Guelph coach Shawn Camp summed up the educational mission of the university game pretty well in a recent interview with Hockey Now:

  "We have some great kids at the school that are very committed to becoming better players, they’re all excellent students. When new guys come to the program, they quickly understand that there's a certain level of expectation and culture that we’re trying to establish in terms of being a good student/athlete. It's a commitment. They have to be prepared to make some sacrifices in order to become better players and maintain a high average at school." — Shawn Camp

  That is about the size of it; Canadian university hockey has much to offer players who want to take advantage of their CHL scholarship money and play a decent calibre of hockey. The big hurdle to cross over is realizing how tough a calibre of hockey it is; a lot of coaches could fill a book with stories of players who expected the CIS to be a cakewalk.

Related:
U. of Guelph Head Coach Energized To Be Back in OUA (Mike Beasley, Hockey Now; via Big Man on Campus)

Tech, Money & Sports: Michael Phelps vs. The United States of Idiocracy

I've had it. That's it. I'm done.

To borrow a phrase from one of my favourite blogsters, Chez from Deus Ex Malcontent, just get out the guillotine for those who are attacking Michael Phelps. Or find some industrial strength twine and sew up their mouths. In Obama's World, morons across America (and Canada) need a collective, very hard kick in the ass.

It's not news anymore that eight-time Beijing Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps was caught with a bong. I won't go into the pros or cons of pot smoking, or whether this was simply misplaced youth having too much fun during an age of omnipresent digital cameras and viral news stories.

It's more likely that Phelps – a man-child of epic proportions who has been one of the very few bright spots for America on the world stage as of late – was simply careless or naïve enough to not realize how careful an international celebrity like him has to be when it comes to letting loose. After all, this is America we’re talking about: A country that loves to tear them down as fast as they rise up.

One false move, one ill-advised photo and it’s over. Human nature dictates we're more likely to remember one single bad thing than a thousand (or in this case, 14, counting Phelps' six golds in Athens in 2004) good things a person has done.

Unfortunately for Phelps, he’s caught in the perfect storm of a) being an alleged role model, although it’s highly debatable if athletes have any obligation whatsoever at being role models simply because they’re athletes; b) a very successful Olympian, and c) caught smoking weed.

Of course, none of this is about morality, in spite of what shrill Ann Coulter-wannabe Elizabeth Hasselbeck (full disclosure: if I were Keith Olbermann, she’d be on my personal list of Worst People in The World everyday) thinks. Her bully pulpit on The View notwithstanding, she and the reactionary forces at work in the Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Office seem in a time warp when it comes to pot use.

Pot use in North America is rising, not declining. Walk-of-life folk openly support and watch corporately made stoner comedies such as Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Knocked Up or Pineapple Express.

Most people with even a modicum of common sense aren’t going to get too wrapped up over a guy toking up when they might do it themselves (if Phelps was caught, say, doing a bump or shooting up, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?). Hell, it’s even arguable that pot smoking is hardly a behaviour that should be condemned in comparison to the incredibly unhealthy behaviour of Phelps eating McDonalds' every day (funny how McDonalds is also a major Olympic sponsor, of course).

Naturally, this has everything to do with money.

Phelps is perhaps the single most influential brand mover – to borrow marketing lingo – in global sports today, aside from David Beckham, Ronaldo and possibly Derek Jeter. He has global reach with his supported brands – especially in, of all places, China (hey, the Chinese really took to Phelps even while he crushing the mostly Chinese competitors, strangely enough).

Sure, Phelps’ corporate image is no longer squeaky clean or predictably dull (only Corporate America could possibly think predictably dull is a sure-fire approach to business). But this isn't a bad thing for Phelps. He’s humanized himself beyond the superhuman feats he accomplished in Beijing. He’s more real now than he’s ever been before.

So far, Phelps’ sponsors like VISA are sticking by him. Sensible, intelligent sponsors will see this for what it is: a young guy who let loose for the right reasons at the wrong time.

If Smith says so...it might be true. Maybe.

Does Stephen A Smith know what's he's talking about? Does Chris Bosh want out of Toronto?

Who the hell knows.

But, what's interesting about the fall-out of the Smith's assurance that CB4 is about the become the next Air Canada or T-Mac is how it shines a light on the modern world of sports journalism.

Smith is an acquired taste. He's loud, contrarian and, well, urban. A lot of people are rubbed the wrong way by him, sometimes for reasons that don't seem all that, um, pure of heart.

This afternoon Jack Armstrong and Doug MacLean ripped into Smith on the Fan590's The Game Plan. Missing the irony of that fact that they are on a radio station that employs about 3,842 NHL insiders, they called Smith's credibility into question.

MacLean sarcastically praised journalists that fight to get a scoop "30 seconds" before their competition (I guess he won't be in Sportsnet's studio on NHL trade deadline day then. You know, on moral grounds). Armstrong talked about people "sitting in their basement" (at least it wasn't "parent's basement" I guess) causing trouble for teams and players.

Here's the thing. "Insider" sports journalism exists because there is a market for it. Ultimately those insiders will be judged by their audience. If they are making crap up, as many are accusing Smith of doing in this case, the readers will eventually tune them out. We don't need watchdogs like Armstrong and McLean to protect us from the big, bad insiders that are out to take down our favourite player/team.

As for the rumour? The fact that Smith says that he is going doesn't mean that he is. But, the fact that Bosh and Brian Colangelo are denying it means even less.

Whose game is it a part of anyway?

This doesn't quite meet Neate's less than 5,000 views rule, and it certainly won't in a day or two more, but it needs to be watched by anyone that claims to love the game of hockey in this country.



Sadly, you can likely find similar videos out there. When watching I was reminded of a situation in the Madoc, Ont. arena many years ago. A young referee was walking off the ice after officiating an atom DD league play-off game (yes, DD. And don't mistake league play-off with OMHA playoff. This was a game involving teams that had been eliminated from meaningful -- as meaningful as 10-year-olds play, anyway -- games and that were playing out the string).

Said referee had called a penalty with about two minutes left in the then tied game (slashing. Although the referee was not the most skilled in the world, he had never been more sure of a call than he had been of that one). The visiting team scored on the power play to win.

When leaving the ice surface the official was met by a father, possibly drunk, who shoved him hard. Losing his balance (he was on skates, on land, after all) the referee fell backwards, slamming into the boards. Although the official's partner quickly stepped in between to prevent further damage, the man wasn't done. He waited several minutes for the official to come out of the dressing room before arena staff asked him to leave. Then, he stood by the referee's car until he left the rink.

Have I mentioned that the official was 17?

Upon seeing the man standing by his car, the referee swallowed his pride and went back into the rink and did something that he had never done before and would never have the misfortune of doing again -- he called his dad to come help.

Only after his father -- a police officer -- arrived was the referee allowed to go home and enjoy the rest of his day. It would be his last year officiating.

I'm sure by now you've figured out who the official was. It's good to see, he says sarcastically, things haven't changed in the last 15ish years. The great game is still ruined by the morons.

The most telling part of the above video is the voices of those not on the camera. They are quick to place blame on what's happening. Clearly, they are yelling, it's the officials fault they were attacked because they let the game "get out of control" ) something that usually means that their kid's team wasn't getting the calls they wanted to see.

Writing this I'm fully aware that I'm preaching to the choir and that it doesn't matter what I, or anyone else, says about the inherent violence that surrounds the game at all its levels. That violence is on the ice and all too often in the crowd.

And, you know, it's all part of the game. What game, it's hard to say, but it's not the game I fell in love with.

Fronts: The great Limestone City gong show

Doug Springer no doubt figures he should get credit just for showing up.

Poor leaders don't die, they just snake away. Springer, whom the Kingston Frontenacs belong to in deed but never in the way they belong to fans, blew a chance to prove he's better than most kinds of dirt (not that fancy store-bought kind; that stuff's loaded with nutrients). It was the momentous occasion when the Frontenacs brain trust went before city council to answer for the team sucking out loud not having a successful marketing plan to draw fans to the Kingston Ratepayer Centre.

Surely the chief cook and bottle-washer would have the couth to take questions from the duly elected representatives of the city which built a $43-million toy for him to play with (and perhaps run into the ground so he could scoop it up for pennies on the dollar, like the Blue Jays did with the former Skydome).

Surely, you jest. Springer made it clear he would not take questions, not now, not ever. Save Our Kingston Frontenacs sets the scene very well:

"Springer appeared only to introduce Jeff Stilwell and The Manchurian Coach (Doug Gilmour -- ed.). He instructed councillors to direct their questions to 'the two experts that are most qualified.' A convenient way to avoid accountability; always the top item in Springsy's repertoire. What’s he afraid of, anyway?"

Somehow, "the two experts that are most qualified" are a rookie coach with five wins in 26 games and the franchise's resident Waylon Smithers/Bob Cratchit (poor Jeff Stilwell is so overworked that he deserves two pop-culture references).

It meant Doug Gilmour had to pull on his economist hat to answer questions about the cost of parking at the arena. What would Gilmour know about parking? He's the coach; he's in the building when people are pulling into the lots. It was a gong show, exactly what Springer wanted.

One keeps hoping that Springer, one of these days, will wake up. At least he ended up having to admit, ipso facto, that neither he nor GM-for-life Larry Mavety (who was, we were told, off at a league meeting) are homogenously unqualified to speak to why their team has not won a playoff series since 1998, when they have been the two constants in the organization across that entire span. Also, in the chain of command, if the GM was indisposed because he was attending a meeting, wouldn't it fall to the assistant GM to take his place? Assistant coach Tony Cimellaro, who's outlasted several head coaches, has that title, but clearly it's only a title.



It's quite a contrast between Doug Gilmour last night and the Doug Gilmour who was feted by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Hockey Night in Canada 72 hours earlier. Please make note of how he reaches up and scratches his face right when he says, "Doug," referring to Springer (40-second mark). That seems to be his tell.





You have to love the "let's not make excuses for Mav" line. People have been making excuses for Mavety for only the last 11 seasons.

Gilmour also said, "The trades that have been made, I did, so don't blame them, it was me." That was pretty shrewd, since it cut off the ill-informed councillors from asking about the moves made before Gilmour was hired, such as releasing team leader Kyle Bochek, trading for a player who had moved up to the AHL, or having almost nothing to show for the December 2007 trade of Cory Emmerton, save for rookie Charles Sarault. Please bear in mind that was only in the 12 months immediately before Gilmour's hire. There is so much more.

Then there was Stilwell, a good man caught in a corrupt system, enduring a grilling from city councillor Vicki "Hellraiser" Schmolka (Save The Fronts' splendid sobriquet), the one it-getter on council. The only other exception was Rob Matheson, who asked Gilmour pointedly what the Frontenacs plan to do to get top prospects to report to the club. Gilmour didn't have an answer, which is pretty glaring when the No. 1-ranked prospect for the OHL draft, defenceman Scott Harrington, is from Kingston.



Long post made short, Springer, the flourishing miserably fop got his farce. No one really believes he's lower than dirt and he had no legal obligation to explain himself, since a lot of what the politicians are doing in Kingston amounts to closing the barn door after the cows got out. Morally, ethically and professionally, he owed it to people to take questions and explain,

It was a sham and that is a shame. It just goes to show how it never changes with the Kingston Frontenacs. The franchise's hard-done-by fanbase had a rare good 24-48 hours last weekend, between the underutilized Ethan Werek scoring the game-winner in the dying seconds to knock off John Tavares and the London Knights and the ceremonies for Gilmour in Toronto. (Mark Potter of TV Cogeco had a killer line, saying Werek had to find a way to score, since he probably wasn't going to get a spot in a shootout. Incidentally, three of Gilmour's five coaching wins have been by a goal and Werek has scored or set-up the game-winning goal in all three.)

It all turned to mud on Tuesday. It's comical how it reverts to form the very second the national media stop paying attention to Gilmour. This is what Springer wanted, though. He is there, always, even when he doesn't want to be there.

You'd end with "damn him," but you can't damn someone who, as an OHL owner, lacks a conscience, couth or fully functioning brain. Springer might be able to if he wanted to, but that's clearly not in his interest.

It has been 470 days since Doug Springer promised to do "whatever it takes" to make Kingston a top team.

A real football team in Detroit...

There is a good chance this gets buried by the news out of Regina about Eric Tillman, but ... RotoExperts.com is reporting the former NFL wideout Oronde Gadsden wants to put a CFL team back in the U.S., in Rochester, N.Y., or Detroit.

The CFL might be wary of returning to the U.S. after the disastrous boondoggle there in the the mid-1990s. Gadsden has a successful second career as a director of a company which makes sports apparel, so apparently he has the chops.

"Oronde Gadsden, a former Miami Dolphins WR and AFL player, told RotoExperts.com he is leading an effort to bring a Canadian Football League team back to the United States, maybe even for the upcoming season. Gadsden said the potential franchise would be located in the Detroit area, or Rochester, New York. The CFL last included American franchises during the 1995 season.

“ 'Those are two great cities that would support the game and would really fill a niche if we can get agreements from the league, then one of the cities,” Gadsden said. 'With the AFL not active, there are some great players who deserve to be seen, and the time is right for CFL expansion back into the U.S. The league is more stable than ever.' ”

There is a void in the minor-league football market and if the CFL did it reasonably, only going into northern cities with a strong Canadian tie, much like major junior hockey. It could work, or the CFL could keep the cards it has been dealt.

Related:
CFL returning to the U.S.? (RotoExperts.com)
CFL heading back to the States? (Pro Football Talk)
Type rest of the post here

Can't laugh at this when it's the 'Riders

One should not — should not — make light of a serious criminal charge, but this phrasing from a story this morning about the Saskatchewan Roughriders' pending free agents is ironic now:

"The only concern pertains to Abou-Mechrek's age."

D'oh! You don't know, and I don't know, what happened. Please spare a thought for the young woman involved. Please spare a thought for the CFL's best fans, since the situation with Eric Tillman will definitely tear at the fabric of Riderville, no matter how it unfolds.

Related:
Roughriders GM Tillman charged with sexual assault (CBC.ca)

Zen Dayley: The Bonds travesty

At what price a skin on the wall?

Were justice blind, the Barry Bonds witch hunt would be over in a trice, and people will probably wonder that it will be, given the public pronouncements of the new U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, who says there will be no "witch hunts" on his watch.

It appears, according to those who done the due dilegence, that the much-ballyhooed testimony of Jason Giambi does not amount to much more than a a bucket of warm spit. Giambi apparently never even met the notorious Victor Conte, the Clear was actually legal (although as Sports on My Mind noted, you might not have heard that since ESPN conveniently passed on picking up the story, which often dictates how much play it gets in Canada.)

Please think back to the kind of emotions that were attached to Bonds back in 2004, '05, '06, '07. The thought of him ending up in prison, even three months in Club Fed, was the stuff of pleasant dreams for a lot of sports fans. Now, as it appears the prosecution's case is little more than smoke, mirrors and press releases, there's one big shrug.

This is why people can suck sometimes. It is understood that this is short attention span society. Bonds is old news when it comes to the athlete-celebrity who can be used as a straw man for everything wrong with the world. He will never cut much of a sympathetic figure. Those who know how the legal system really works know that the highers-up hate to invest time and man-hours in an investigation that goes nowhere. It can be a constant refrain of, "Have you laid charges yet?"

With all that being said, it's impossible to stay silent about this, as Only Baseball Matters noted last week:

"There is nothing fair about this anymore, nothing at all. And forget about fair, how about the astonishing abuse of power we’re seeing here. Barry Bonds didn’t kill anyone, he doesn’t smuggle cocaine into high schools, or rape little girls. He used something to make himself better at what he does for a living. He took steps to improve himself. Regardless of whether you think it was right or wrong, whether you believe that it is the government’s job to tell us what is legal or illegal to take to make us happier, stronger, faster or just plain high; what Bonds did is in no way commensurate to the level of money being spent, and quite frankly, laws being broken, in chasing him down.

"Make no mistake, standing by and watching (the U.S.) government do this without a word of protest will haunt us. This is a targeted witch hunt, a black man who is being taken down because a government employee – a man whose salary is paid for by you and me– IRS Agent Jeff Novitzky, decided he wanted to take him down because he was an, 'arrogant asshole.'

"Not to mention, this investigation, costing between $30 and $50 million while our economy is crashing like the Hindenburg, is the height of absurdity. Twenty federal agents raiding the home of a 60-year old woman, in an effort to pressure Greg Anderson to testify? Really?"

It's a little glib to just expect the Obama White House to step in and say, no more. It should not be Priority One, but the new POTUS has said it's not the governnment's business to regulate what athletes put in their bodies; it's up to the leagues themselves.

It seems like the people going after Bonds have nothing. They'll probably, like they did with Al Capone, get him on something barely related, and it will not be worth the time and effort invested. Shame on them.

Related:
Giambi's testimony lacks blunt force (Jonathan Littman, Yahoo! Sports)
I hope they have something better than this (Shysterball)
Why New Barry Bonds Witness Can't Be Trusted (Sports On My Mind, Jan. 30)
... Obscene (John Perricone, Only Baseball Matters)

Tell them this idea sucks; let 'em know you're there

It's not news, exactly, but now that the Slap Shot remake has a director, it's best to record any objections.

In terms of bad ideas, this is somewhere in between Greedo shooting first and the Ottawa Senators giving their three biggest contracts to three forwards. It is a "cherry on the sundae of suck" (/Film, August 2008) that Hollywood is so hard up for ideas that it just it's going to bowdlerize a sports movie that came from a specific time and place, the 1970s.

Granted, that was a period when America was down on its luck, which sounds somewhat germane to the times we're now living in. Honestly, though, the real fear is that all the other sports movies classics from the 1970s are going bowdlerized, bastardized and sanitized, which will be a shame. There was the Adam Sandler version of The Longest Yard; the Billy Bob Thornton-helmed Bad News Bears.

Bang The Drum Slowly and North Dallas Forty have to be in development. God. At least the hack who's rewriting Slap Shot, Peter Steinfeld, knows what he's up against:

“Right now I'm finishing writing the re-make of the iconic hockey movie Slap Shot for Universal. I’ve never had so many people hate me for writing something they haven’t seen yet. (Emphasis mine.) It’s such a classic film and fans of the original feel like I’m grave-robbing or something. But I think the movie will be really fun and will capture what it’s like to play minor league hockey in 2008. We haven’t set cast yet..."

Uh, Pete? They have seen it, and they don't care to have it revised by someone whos words such as "iconic" like it might win him an Amana gas range.

Related:
Slap Shot remake gets a director; Galaxy Quest’s Dean Parisot will tackle the job (Total Film)
Parisot skates to 'Slap Shot' remake; Universal sets director for update (Variety)

Snark break...

As you were working on your "connectitude" ...

Can we put to rest the notion that fewer NHL teams would mean better hockey? It would be tighter, closer-checking. Someone has to be the unwitting foil for Alex Ovechkin to look good.

It's amazing Kobe Bryant scored 61 points last night, topping the Madison Square Garden scoring record. It's even more amazing he managed to fit in three assists.

Kobe is a prince, but he's no King. How big would Bernard King (who had held the MSG record) have been if hell hadn't ripped his knee in 1985, before David Stern's marketing machine starting running on all cylinders?



King's 60-point game at Madison Square Garden came on Christmas Day 1984. If that had happened five years later, people would still be talking about it.



Just another your-medium-is-dying moment ... via Nicks, a Toronto columnist noted on Off The Record yesterday, "I keep hearing how Ottawa fans want a puck-moving defenceman. What was Joe Corvo?" Short answer: He was everything but the "defenceman" part.

Everyone's seen Peklund The Phoney Hockey Blogger, right? "Here is an update. I KNOW NOTHING. End of update. Ok well I am hearing a few things from my fake sources. Like some players will be moving this week, next week or maybe even the week after that. What I can absolutely guarantee is that THERE WILL BE ALOT OF PLAYER MOVEMENT ON DEADLINE DAY."

Man, it sucks when Southern sheriff stereotypes turns out to be true. Some reactionary actually wants to charge Michael Phelps "if he can determine (the swimmer) smoked marijuana in Richland County (S.C.)." Please, let this go, already. You can shoot someone, but smoking pot is bad.

Canadian ice dancer Andrew Poje on the stereotypes of figure skaters: "You think about it, guys that are playing hockey are always with the guys, whereas we get to deal with the girls, the pretty ladies. I think when it comes down to it, who's the smarter one?"

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

• Manny Ramirez turned down $25 million a season from the L.A. Dodgers. That ought to keep the bloviators on talk radio occupied all day.
• Some Blue Jays players used amphetamines 10 years ago. Yes, and some rock stars drink too much. Why even dignify Brian McNamee and Joe Torre with media coverage?
  
• Kingston's Taylor Hall has seen a drop-off of late in his scoring totals, but he'll be all over the TV Wednesday in the OHL All-Star Game.