Knock 'em dead, Kinger

Once in a great while, those who Kingston sports near and dear are privileged to know a broadcast talent so extraordinary he becomes part of our shared heritage.

Nineteen seventy-eight: Chris Cuthbert broadcasts football games for CFRC 101.9 during the Golden Gaels' run to the Vanier Cup and goes on to a career at TSN.

Nineteen seventy-nine: Rod Smith enrolls at Queen's to play football for the Golden Gaels and goes on to a career at TSN.

Then for a long time, nothing happened. Until about 2007. On a Saturday afternoon of no particular distinction, yours truly happened to come across the dulcet tones of Tyler King calling a Queen's hockey game on CFRC. The result of that game has been forgotten by everyone save the players and coaches. What endures is that some typical insecure angry young man comment that I made on OOLF prompted Tyler, not that he needed the help, to e-mail asking for any tips to he could use to improve as broadcaster.

There was probably little I could impart since I work in a medium blessed with a backspace key, to be honest, but that hardly matters. What matters is that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, one that has enriched the person who's the older of the two by a decade more than the younger individual. You are probably acquainted with either Tyler or me personally and professionally. If you are devoted or bored enough to be checking this long-dormant site tonight you probably know this is about sending Tyler, AKA Kinger, AKA Cookie, AKA Miguel Sanchez, off well as he wings west. Monday, he'll begin what seems like a great opportunity, working for Rogers Radio as a newscaster and hockey play-by-play announcer calling the action for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

No one gets that an opportunity while still on the cool side of 25 without working so hard for it that people feel compelled to open doors, like the way then-Kingston Kimco Voyageurs owner Gregg Rosen and coach Evan Robinson, my fellow Napaneean, did in 2010 when they agreed to let Tyler set up an Internet broadcast of their playoff games, which was without precedent for the Junior A team.

It has been and will continue to be a trip to have a rinkside seat to watch Tyler work on his craft, refusing to take the easy way out on any task, even though many do while trying to gain or keep a foothold in the tough-to-crack broadcasting field.

No doubt this reads like a total tire-pumping. That is not needed. Tyler has very fully developed ego integrity. It just bears putting in words that without our association, borne from a random CFRC/Queen's/Kingston/sports connection, the past few years would not have been as fun. Knowing Kinger was a conduit for keeping somewhat in tune with the Kingston sportscape. It meant having someone to bounce lines off, someone who could always be meta when it came to having a germane sitcom reference to break out with wit and impeccable timing. It also meant having someone to down a few beers with after the seminal Saturday in November 2009 when the Big Yellow Guys took down Laval. Tyler should know that I feel fortunate to have witnessed his career changes, I am glad I knew him while my professional set-up changed for the better.

None of that is profound, I know. Hey, the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share when we're uncool. That's from the Lester Bangs character in Almost Famous. Tyler has never seen that film, no matter how many times I have recommended it.

That's okay, though, since the kid is stubborn-to-a-fault true to himself, like most people who get anywhere in this life. What draws people to Tyler is that he has taken it to heart that being in the media isn't about the events or stories you get to cover on the corporate dime. It's about trying to keep yourself fresh. It's also about considering why the stories matter to the people involved, knowing all the while that understanding will not make you rich, it will win something much more valuable — respect.

By all accounts, Tyler has learned that, lived it and loved it on all of his stops. One mark that someone is capable of bigger and better things is those who effect lasting change before they move up the ladder. Very rarely does someone get to do that in campus media or at one of her/his first jobs. A proof of how good Tyler is the influence he managed to have in Kingston over a short period of time. The aforementioned Vees had never had live play-by-play prior to his arrival. Next season, that will carry on with Allan Etmanski calling the games.

Similarly, lots of young guys have had sports shows on CFRC 101.9 over the years. Most were just the same variation on Here's What's Happening In Sports And Here's What I Think About It — basically Bleacher Report in spoken-word form. Tyler's show, Offsides, grew into much more over its three-year run (interrupted by his stint at Syracuse). Tyler broke news with respect to the Voyageurs and Kingston Frontenacs and kept Queen's Athletics on its toes. Many informed sports fans came to see it as the city's most credible source for sports news.

One hope in writing this is that someone else comes along to fill that void in Kingston before too long. Sports coverage is a niche, nowhere as big in the grand scheme as hard news, but Kingston's dedicated sports fans are not always well-served by either of the city's two old-media outlets. That's not a slam on the hard-working people employed on the editorial side at the Quebecor-owned newspaper and Corus-owned TV station. Far from it. I am just trying to be honest about what everyone working in a newsroom knows but might not say aloud: the wild world of monetized media coverage means there is precious little a mass-audience newscast or newspaper can do for sports fans who want to know more about the teams in their backyard than who won and who lost. Most allow for as much unbridled creativity now as a box factory.

With time, that will change. All it will take a few more young people such as Tyler going out there and pushing the limits until they're the mainstream. Let's hope it happens soonly.

You'll be hearing me talk ... face for radio, body for sin

Everyone's heard about Ted Williams, that homeless man with the golden voice. It might interest you to know Friday's Carleton-Queen's basketball doubleheader will be called by someone who is typically as dishevelled as Williams was when he was discovered — but minus the golden voice.

Yep, yours truly will be doing play-by-play for all four games at the Queen's Centre this weekend, on the radio live for CFRC 101.9 for the Ravens-Gaels games Friday and for TV Cogeco Kingston's tape-delayed broadcast of the Queen's Saturday games vs. the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Short story even shorter, purely by happenstance, Will Cunningham, the station's sports director and a promising young broadcaster in his own right, needed a play-by-play announcer for a couple games in January.

It seemed like something to do on a lark, just to see if I could pull it off. My experience broadcasting hoops has all been on the colour-commentary end, including working with National Post reporter Mark Masters during the CIS Final 8 in 2009 and '10.

In terms of play-by-play, all I've got is about a half-dozen hockey telecasts a half-decade ago for Cable 5 in Simcoe, along with three quarters of Queen's football play-by-play more than a decade ago. (That was during Queen's 1-7 season in 2000; there were a couple games in which the two regulars just couldn't take it anymore; as one of them put it during a 60-point loss to Laurier, "Both teams have put in their backups, so we're putting in our backup.")

So please listen — and be kind.

Also, yours truly will be on News 570 in Kitchener around 10 a.m. ET Friday to talk about the Kayla Watkins story. (Watkins is the 12-year-old Toronto youth hockey player who quit her peewee rep team after another parent drafted a contract to limit her ice time.) That's right; promote the appearance on a campus station, downplay the one on a major talk radio station.

Bleeding Tricolour: Discussing that championship season

Your humble agent did an interview about the Queen's Golden Gaels' championship season with CFRC 101.9's Robert Carnell, which he'll play tonight on his popular Salt Water Music (6 p.m. ET).

You can also listen. Thanks so much, Rob.

Mediocre journalists bow down to their King and saviour

To know Tyler King, or "Bobcat Jr." as some dubbed him during his tenure at CFRC 101.9 in Kingston, is to know you're seeing the sui generis of the next generation of awesome Canadian sports broadcasters.

It's a pleasure to spread the word Kinger received a bursary award from Sports Media Canada during its annual self-back-patting gala last weekend in Toronto. It's a huge honour and one hopes the adjective also applies to the amount of the cheque.

" 'The guy is very good,' notes Toronto Sun TV critic Bill Harris after reviewing King’s demos. 'He's calm … better than a lot of guys working professionally today that I've seen … I say show him the money!' "

It's nice to see him identified as "Tyler King of Bath, Ontario." It's nicer that he won. The niciest part is anticipating saying, "I knew him when," as his crony, associate and well-wisher, in that I don't wish him any specific harm.

Tyler seems to learns so much each year that you figure he must look back and go, "Wow, I wasn't that smart 12 months ago," even though he is one of the smartest people in the room. A lot of people get into the media and just go with what worked before, lather, rinse and repeat, without even contemplating whether the audience is being served. Kinger always strives to find what works and reshape it to tell a better story. Tyler is not a tack-to-the-middle type, which is going to carry him a long way.

Whatever he gets, he gives back tenfold. It was true at CFRC 101.9 and TV Cogeco in Kingston in 2007, 2008 and '09 and it will be true in 10 years. Way to go, Kinger.

The other recipient was Jesilou Tongio, a Ryerson student. The correct spelling of her name was obtained from her Twitter. Take note, OMDs. (Robert Carnell at Salt Water Music will be the only one to get the joke.)

Kingston Whig-Standard sports editor Mike Koreen is a previous winner, as his brother, Eric Koreen, now of the National Post.

Kinger now officially another country's problem

Out of Left Field contributor Tyler King,is beginning his master's program at Syracuse University today. From March 24, here's a post heralding Kinger's acceptance to SU.

They are on red alert down in Orange country.

Our own Tyler King, scourge of Kingston Frontenacs management, The Queen's Journal, the National Council of Churches (probably) and those who misuse the semi-colon, is taking the next step in his broadcasting career. Kinger, who's graduating from Queen's in a couple months, will be taking his master's degree in broadcast journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. It's got a long name, so you know it's gotta be good.

In his dreams, Fronts owner Doug Springer sees himself having all border crossings between Kingston and Syracuse sealed.

The noble King has graced this site with his presence for about a year. Having a full-time course load and his 2,795 odd jobs with CFRC 101.9 (cfrc.ca), Kingston's TVCogeco and the city's local radio stations takes priority, as well it should. It's been a real enjoying-the-enjoyment experience, seeing Kinger avail himself of the broadcasting opportunities available to a student in Eastern Ontario, hosting his own shows the radio and TV, calling Queen's Golden Gaels hockey games ("over the line, holds it ... holds it") and broadcasting baseball in Ottawa with Howard Bloom.

He's also helped this site carve out its small, goofy niche, even if you don't always see his name here. Whether it's coming up with analogies between Canadian university football teams and Simpsons characters or pointing out the latest idiocies committed by Springer and GM-for-life Larry Mavety, Kinger can always be counted upon.

Going into broadcasting is a tough road in any era. Here is hoping Syracuse will open some doors for Kinger. Meantime, Kingston still has him for a few more months. Kinger will have the call of a Kingston Voyageurs playoff game on Thursday night.

The Vees won tonight, taking a 2-1 series lead over Huntsville in the Ontario Junior Hockey League semi-final series. It's a junior hockey playoff tilt in Kingston in late March, so it might appear in the TV listings under "science fiction."

Hoserdome 2009: Malkin from Mlodinow as Pens collect Cup

The Pittsburgh Penguins are walking around with Stanley Cup-sized hangovers and meantime, we should all be reading The Drunkard's Walk.

That Stanley Cup final which wrapped up last night is a good chance to reflect on randomness, which ruled this series. Randomness is good in sports. You don't want the odds-on fave winning all the time, it would be boring. So randomness it is for choosing a tell-all for the decider, where the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1. Why the hell not?

The road team won — which had not happened in Game 7 of the final since 1971. The Penguins beat the Red Wings, who almost never lose at home at the playoffs. The Pens were outscored 17-14 in the series, including 12-4 at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. They won even though Sidney Crosby had many points in the final series as non-factor Marian Hossa. Crosby was also knocked out of Game 7 halfway through after his left knee was squished between the Wings' Johan Franzen and the boards. That should disabuse anyone of the notion the Penguins winning was some inside job orchestrated by the NHL to keep NBC happy.

The offensive hero of the decider, Max Talbot, who scored both Penguins goals, was not mentioned in a pregame Yahoo! Sports column on which listed twenty-seven potential Game 7 heroes. In the final two minutes, the Red Wings nearly forced overtime; a shot by Niklas Kronwall pinged the crossbar and ricocheted out instead of into the net and Pittsburgh goalie Marc-André Fleury made the save of his life, sliding cross-crease to deny Nicklas Lidström with one second left.

For this ass-talker's purposes, random is as much of a descriptive for this series as great. The choice here before Game 1 two weeks ago was "Pittsburgh in 7." It was not borne out of believing that Pittsburgh was the better team. It was steeped more in a passage from Leonard Mlodinow's best-seller, The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, which sports economist David Berri posted at The Wages of Wins Journal a couple weeks back:

"... if one team is good enough to warrant beating another in 55% of its games, the weaker team will nevertheless win a 7-game series about 4 times out of 10. And if the superior team could beat its opponent, on average, 2 out of 3 times they meet, the inferior team will still win a 7-game series about once every 5 match-ups. There is really no way for a sports league to change this."

It seemed like a good bit of back-pocket knowledge, especially since well before the playoffs, James Mirtle had written something along the lines of, "I'm starting to think this will be a year where we see a random Stanley Cup champion." It also provided basis for going against the grain beyond being, shudder, a contrarian for contrarian's sake.

Detroit seemed like the superior team, but not vastly superior to the Penguins, especially to someone who had no way of knowing for sure about each team's injuries. The Penguins were good enough to win a Stanley Cup and as Outliers argued, you don't have to be super-qualified, you just have to be qualified.

Berri's predictions for the NBA's conference finals indirectly (or perhaps not) illustrated the point. His analysis backed up what everyone who only half-follows hoops knew, that the Cleveland Cavaliers and L.A. Lakers were supposed to win in a pair of walkovers, five games maximum. You know the rest of the story. The Cavaliers were upended in six games by the Orlando Magic. Berri penned a follow-up called, "Fooled By Randomness," explaining,well, shit happens. As sports fans, we shouldn't run from it. We should embrace it.

"The small sample we see in the playoffs imposes an element of randomness on the outcome. This randomness makes it interesting, but it also makes decision-making complicated."

The New York Times' review of The Drunkard's Walk explains how people don't appreciate randomness when they're making predictions:

"... Anyone who has ever bought a mutual fund because it has been on a roll or bet that a racehorse will extend its winning streak has fallen into the same confusion. Chances are the champion will regress toward the mean and another will have its glory day. In all life's games, some players are better than others, but randomness maintains the upper hand.

Hardest of all for our blinkered brains are cases involving Bayesian statistics, where one must gauge how the probability of one event hinges on that of another."

One event hinging on that of another? That sounds much like the hockey media's tendency to form an opinion of what's going to happen in the next game based on the last game, or the last one in the arena of the team which has home ice. The way the Stanley Cup final played out certainly left everyone covering the series totally bumfuzzled.

The Red Wings won the first two games in Detroit, which was taken to mean that the Penguins were too young and and immature. The young and immature Penguins bounced back by winning the next two games, which indicated the Red Wings were old and tired. The old and tired Red Wings then blew the Penguins off the ice in a 5-0 rout in Game 5 last Saturday, chasing Fleury halfway through the game, hence the Penguins were done. At that point, the Anna Faris character from House Bunny (oh, don't act like you didn't download it) would have chimed in, "Ya, hence!"

Of course, Pittsburgh won three nights later at home to force Game 7. No one really knew what to believe anymore. It's not clear if the predictions for the winner-take-all game broke down along any blogger-vs. MSM lines. Puck Daddy surveyed eight hockey guys who write mostly for a web audience and five chose the Penguins.

Maybe everyone was just tired of Detroit winning. There are also straightforward hockey explanations. For one, Pittsburgh's rookie coach Dan Bylsma made some adjustments in Game 6 (James Mirtle, From The Rink). Marc-André Fleury had one hell of an evenout in Game 7 after struggling terribly in his previous outings in Detroit.

Secondary scoring also helps. Scratch a hockey coach whose team just lost a tightly contested series and he'll often tell you it could have been different if someone off the second and third line could have just popped a couple goals. The Penguins' winning goals in Games 6 and 7 came from Tyler Kennedy (15 goals and 35 points in the regular season) and Talbot (12 and 22). Meantime, the Red Wings also had five forwards who were, in hockey parlance, squeezing the stick exceptionally hard. Hossa, Tomas Holmström, Hart Trophy finalist Pavel Datsyuk (who was dealing with a foot injury), Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson all went goal-less in the final, finishing with scoring droughts ranging between eight and 19 games.

There's a randomness to that. Could anyone have foreseen Talbot scoring four goals in the final after scoring two in the first three playoff series? Could have anyone have predicted all five of those players going stone-cold at the same time? Likely not. Mlodinow's point about what can happen when one team should beat the other 55% of the time seems to apply.

It would be nice to say yours truly had the courage of his convictions throughout the past two weeks, but I turtled. On Kinger's sports talk radio show on CFRC 101.9 in Kingston, I stuck by the Pittsburgh pick, simply saying, "I'm going to ride it out, like George Costanza when he had that bad stock." It turns out that was the smart play (and in that Seinfeld episode, George ends up with a financial windfall after deciding to "go down with the ship.")

The Penguins were full value for their effort. Writing this is just a way to point out that while everything is so black-and-white in how sports are presented, with winners and losers, really it's not. There was some randomness to how this went down; that's one simplification among dozens.

At the very least, it is one way to disabuse anyone who says the Red Wings are over the hill when, as Mirtle says, "Detroit's got the top minds in the game in the front office and behind the bench, and I have no doubt they'll be back in the finals in the near future."

In sports, sometimes the winning team is the one that executes when an opportunity comes along. It can be completely random, like outcomes in everyday life. It sure made for a hell of a series.

P.S. Did anyone else have an issue with Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry referring to the season as "nine months of war" last night? War metaphors in sports are usually a no-no and it seems kind of hypocritical coming from someone who's always talking about Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. It's almost like Cherry, a smart man, should be more aware of the distinction.

Related:
Playing The Odds (George Johnson, The New York Times, June 8, 2008)

OOLF Hot Audio: Bart Given

Today, your humble pseudo-blogger had the pleasure of welcoming former Toronto Blue Jays Assistant GM, Sportsnet columnist, and proprietor of insidethemajors.com, Bart Given, to Offsides, Kingston's most listened-to hourlong sports talk program. And as always, we're sharing the audio here on Out of Left Field, because it's swanky to do so.

So listen on for insights on Bart's rise from in-game entertainment to baseball operations, the methods by which J.P. Ricciardi ran his front office, and finally a few bouts of prognostication, including on Roy Halladay.



(you'll have to boost your volume a bit - I forgot to amplify the mp3 and with how slow my rural internet is, it's not worthwhile to re-upload it)

Also, since my brain was not working well today (flu not quite gone yet apparently), feel free to guffaw at my frequent inability to formulate complete sentences. It's hard to concentrate when you've got to keep your finger on the cough button. Listening to it now at times my voice cracks so much that I almost sound like one of Stewie Griffin's "how about that novel you been workin' on" rants.

That novel you've been working on | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Fewer, but better Jays fans; or, you're missing some pretty good games

It's glib to say only in Toronto could the baseball team have the best record in the American League and still see sliding attendance.

The Toronto Star's gamer noted the Jays' crowd (15,295) on Monday vs. Cleveland was 5,000 off their average attendance. Another report suggested last season's average of 29,627 was inflated by "ticket giveaways to businesses." One point is that raw attendance totals really reflect when people who don't care decide to temporarily take interest. When it comes to baseball, that's just not happening on the fifth of May.

For what it's worth, attendance is down almost 14 per cent if you control for one big variable, visits by the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. Today's game vs. the Clevelands, where lithe lefty Brett Cecil threw six solid innings in his major league debut, was the Jays' 15th home date. How does the attendance so far this season compare with the first 15 home games last season against non-Evil Empire teams:

2008: 347,583 (23,172 avg.)
2009: 300,217 (20,014 avg.)

There are probably as many explanations as there are empty seats. Most of you probably don't need it pointed out that it is off-base to base everything on raw attendance figures, just as TV ratings are an outdated tracking method.

It doesn't tell the whole story when it comes to reflecting a team's fanbase. The Jays have good fans and, although this is preaching to the choir, a very knowledgeable following. (This obviously does not include the douche who, after catching the ball that Cleveland phenom Matt LaPorta hit for his first major-league homer on Monday, thought he'd be all cool and throw the ball on to the field. He could have shaken down LaPorta for all sorts of schwag with good resale value.)

Point being, 30,000 people at Rogers Centre these days are often more animated than 50,000-plus were during the era of "Winfield Wants Noise!", the Jays' 1989-93 salad days. Kinger did an interview with The FAN 590's Mike Wilner two weeks ago. Asked if the packed house for the U.S.-Canada game at the World Baseball Classic in March reminded him of the old days, Wilner said it didn't, because the crowd was actually noisy and into the game.

"It used to be packed every day, but until you got to the playoffs or to the games when you'd clinch the division, they would sit on their hands. That's what Toronto crowds do. They're kind of averse to cheering and yelling. They need to be led by the scoreboard or at least back then they did. This was way more ... everyone who watched, everyone listened, is going to remember, we can do it. We just need some games that really, really matter."

That pretty much nails it. Obviously, it would be more reassuring the announced attendance was 32,005 today instead of 22,005 for today's 10-6 win over Cleveland. Honestly, it's reductive to just go by how many people are at the park, especially if they have to watch baseball indoors.

Major League Baseball, as a business, seems to get it pretty well when it comes to understanding how the economic model has shifted for its product. It's a mainstream sport, but it serves niches very well (fantasy baseball, statheads, et al.). In a fragmented market and 81 home dates, you just can't expect sold-out stadiums, unless you have a new park or play in a market like Boston, Chicago or New York. Anyone who frames it otherwise is whistling past the graveyard, or is nostalgic for an era that only gets better in their imagination as time goes by.

OOLF Hot Audio: Mike Wilner

This should've been up here a week ago, but technical craziness (Blogger is still refusing to load the posting page properly for me, and archive.org was being silly) and me recently catching the flu conspired against it.

Either way, last week we were pleased to present the third man in the booth on Blue Jays radio broadcasts and the host of JaysTalk, Mike Wilner, on Kingston's most listened-to hourlong sports talk program. Actually his second appearance on the program, and no, I don't know why he's willing to come by my completely irrelevant show but I sure as heck appreciate it.

Here's the latest edition, with discussions of his experience at the WBC, the Jays this year, and so on and so forth:



Took the week off this week for flu reasons, but if all goes well next week we'll be joined by former Jays assistant GM Bart Given, and that interview will be thrown up here afterwards too. But to hear it live, tune into www.cfrc.ca at 4pm on Friday.

OOLF Hot Audio: Evan Robinson

As part of the build-up to one of the biggest games in Kingston junior hockey history, I figured I'd share last Friday's interview with Kingston Voyageurs head coach Evan Robinson, the man whose team has brought pride and excitement back to the birthplace of hockey.

The coach was kind enough to join me on Kingston's most listened-to hourlong sports talk program last Friday at 4. It should be noted, though, that this obviously occurred before their 4-2 win in Game 4 that night, or Sunday night's 5-2 loss.

The Vees host the Oakville Blades in Game 6 tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Invista Centre, with a 3 games to 2 lead in the series. I'll have the play-by-play call with Jon Begg and Mark Potter on TV Cogeco at 9pm on delay.

The interview:

Vees for victory, Fronts for foundering

These are good times for a Kingston hockey fan.

The Kingston Kimco Voyageurs, after a 4-2 Game 4 win last night over the Oakville Blades, are a win away from the Ontario Junior Hockey League title. Kingston-born Mike Murphy has backstopped the Belleville Bulls, the city's "spring team" since the one actually located in the city seldom makes it beyond the solstice, to the OHL Eastern Conference final for the third consecutive year. (Is it too early to talk about Murphy leading Bellevegas in an OHL final vs. Kingston's Taylor Hall and the Windsor Spitfires?)

Meantime, over in a forgotten corner of the toy department, the Kingston Frontenacs keep on keepin' on. In the midst of a recession, with a big building to fill, celebrity coach Doug Gilmour, has been nearly invisible in the city as they try to sell hope for 2009-10. The club is also set to apply its faulty, no-account approach to the OHL draft in a month's time. They're drafting No. 2 and it's hard to screw that up. One beauty of sport is sometimes you can succeed in spite of yourself. That's kind of been the basis for GM-for-life Larry Mavety's entire front-office career.

Granted, bringing the Springer Frontenacs into a discussion about the Voyageurs almost sees to cheapen their accomplishment. Of course, if owner Doug Springer had ever given fans something to celebrate as he has on promised multiple occasions, the Vees would not seem unique.

On Kinger's sports show on CFRC 101.9 yesterday, TVCogeco and K-Rock 105.7's Tim Cunningham said you'd have to go back to the old Kingston Aces senior team of the late 1960s and early '70s for the last time a local hockey team had the city in such thrall. And Tim is an apposite observer of Kingston athletics if ever there was one.

The Vees have three chances to close out the Blades, beginning with Game 5 on Easter Sunday in Oakville. Every contest has been a one-goal game so far, since Adam McAllister sealed Friday's game with an empty-netter with 15 seconds remaining (although Kingston had 2-0 and 3-1 leads). Goalie Shawn Sirman, who has committed to play college hockey at Maine last season, made 38 saves. Oakville's one win so far, in Game 3 last Wednesday, required 19-plus minutes of overtime after the Vees had wiped out a three-goal lead on the road.

Words fail, really, and speaking of fail, there's the Frontenacs. As Tim noted, Gilmour should be "a lot more visible in the community ... he's a great asset and I don't think he's being used appropriately."

In other words, Gilmour has been a ghost since the season ended. That seems like a strange tack to take with the legendary former Leafs captain. An astute hockey fan might remember that overworked flunky Jeff Stilwell tried to blame the team's attendance problems on the recession during that farcical appearance before Kingston city council in February, when they were called on the carpet to (wink) talk about their marketing plan. Gilmour's presence, people were told, would help bring out more fans, so why he is not front and centre trying to help the franchise maintain its base of fans? People everywhere, although Kingston is cocooned somewhat since it's a government/university town, are evaluating their discretionary spending.

Season tickets for an OHL team which gives a contract extension to its general mangler (not a typo) despite having lost 99 of its last 141 games doesn't offer the necessary bang for one's buck. Oh, and they've gone 11 seasons without even making it to Game 7 of a first-round playoff series, let alone the second round.

A sizable chunk of people who have devoted their attention to the Vees for the past few weeks are probably the same season-ticket holders who were disguised as empty seats on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons this past winter at the Kingston Ratepayer Centre. They wouldn't mind some further reassurances that Gilmour is committed. He's shown excellent potential as a coach, but the point remains that the Fronts need a lot more than smart coaching before people believe in the franchise again.

Writing on sportsnet.ca this week, Gare Joyce said that, "... a few jackals in the Toronto media suggested that (Gilmour) was a publicity Band-Aid solution for a foundering Frontenacs franchise, one-and-out."

Joyce is in the know, but a fan's reasoning is that hiring Gilmour was a PR move if there is no evident sign of changes to the franchise's management structure. The second is there is no reason to speculate if Gilmour is in Kingston, hitting the hustings and trying to sell hope.

Meantime, the OHL draft is in a month. The Frontenacs could hit a home run, but they'll be swinging with their eyes closed.

Doug Springer and Larry Mavety, who has tenure despite the failures of the past eleven-ure, have a pretty sweet setup with the draft. Their out is that the scouts make the picks. Mavety just rubber-stamps their recommendations, so it's not his fault. Gilmour is now supposed to have more say over decisions on players, which raises the question of why in the name of Sam Pollock Springer has given Mavety a new three-year contract.

(Today's Whig-Standard notes that Daryl Borden, whom Mavety once chanced a second-round pick on, has backstopped the Brantford Golden Eagles into the Ontario Junior B championship. Once again, Mavety helps build winners everywhere except with the team which employs him.)

It could be that one report this week the Fronts were committed to drafting a forward with the No. 2 pick was erroneous. One would hope so, since that's a stupid approach. You don't draft based on the makeup of the club's roster. You're drafting high because the team is deficient throughout, not just at one position, so take the best player. The Fronts, coming off a 50-loss season, can use help everywhere. You can never have too many good defencemen, even as 17-year-old Erik Gudbranson and 18-year-old Taylor Doherty are both off at the world under-18 tournament.

The team could be headed toward another manifestation of their obsession with taking a "big guy who can score" instead of a top-end defenceman, even though the latter is a must-have in the OHL. In 2005, Mavety's scouts took Luke Pither (undrafted by the NHL, but having a good playoffs with, wait for it, Belleville) ahead of Drew Doughty, now a regular for the L.A. Kings at 19 years old. In '06, the scouts took Josh Brittain (a NHL fourth-rounder) ahead of future Atlanta Thrasher Zach Bogosian, who played in the NHL this season at age 18.

The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds will take Daniel Catenacci No. 1, since he's a speedy forward and an Italian, which will play well with the paisans in the Soo. Kingston defenceman Scott Harrington, who's moved up to the Vees for the playoffs, will be available, as is another d-man, Justin Sefton from the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

It's not some ass-talker's place to say who the Fronts should take. Then again, it shouldn't be Larry Mavety's place to say it either. Long post short, the Vees are a win away from a championship, and it's not clear who's steering the ship known as the HMCS Royal Mavesty.

It has been 536 days since Doug Springer promised to do "whatever it takes" to bring a winner to Kingston. Having three former Fronts on the Voyageurs doesn't count.

(The photo of Budd Light is not gratuitous. The character in those beer commercials is played by an actor named Ryan Farrell who once played provincial Junior A hockey in Calgary, whereas Mike Farrell -- same surname! -- scored the game-winner for the Vees on Friday. It is totally relevant to the narrative.)

Capturing the spirit of the thing...

The urban legend going around Kingston is that Frontenacs owner Doug Springer was heard saying the other day, "The Voyageurs must have had a really terrible season. Is that why the league is punishing by making them play all these extra games?"

Forgive Springer for that one; a Kingston junior hockey team being one win away from the league championship series is just such an alien concept to him. (The Ontario Junior Hockey League's Voyageurs are up 3-1 in the league semi-final with Huntsville.)

Relax, that is just a way to introduce the video tribute that MisterDB of Fronts Talk put together for Kinger.



It is beyond the pale to divine the intent of headline writers, but there are two ways to take the headline in the Kingston Whig-Standard's advancer, "Owner ensures Vees can have shot at glory." One is that it's simply capturing the spirit of the thing; for this site's purposes, it can be read as a thinly veiled shot at the owner of the city's other junior hockey team, the one which is No. 2 in its market.

Let it be said Doug Springer also ensures the Frontenacs can have a shot at glory. There's some glory in being in the running for the No. 1 or No. 2 overall draft choice, right?

Bleeding Tricolour: Pitch-and-catch progeny joining Big Yellow Guys

Notes on our athletes/teams of interest from The 613...

"Queen's brings an American atmosphere to Canada. They get a lot of fans at their games, and they get a lot of media coverage. That was a plus for me." — Justin Chapdelaine

The news has been out there for a while (even this site takes a month off from thinking Queen's Football — always capitalized). However, it bears noting brothers Justin and Matt Chapdelaine, sons of former Vanier Cup-winning coach and long-time CFL assistant coach Jacques Chapdelaine, have signed on with Queen's.

Justin Chapdelaine, a quarterback, was a stellar passer for his B.C. high school team, which went to the provincial final last season. Matt Chapdelaine, a receiver, played for Alberta a couple seasons ago, before encountering concussion problems.

Queen's quarterback Dan Brannagan is entering his fifth season, so there would be an opportunity for Justin Chapdelaine to advance early in his career. Between players such as Chapdelaine, Ottawa defensive back Chayce Elliott and Laurier linebacker Mitchell Bosch, there's a steady trickle of B.C. football players coming to Central Canada.

For anyone wondering, Queen's coach Pat Sheahan's teams were 4-3 vs. Jacques Chapdelaine's Laval squads when they were rival coaches from 1997-2000. Concordia beat Laval in the infamous Blackout Bowl (the 1998 O-QIFC final which required two days to complete after it became too dark to play). Sheahan's Stingers also also handed the Rouge et Or one of their two losses in 1999, when they went on to win their first Vanier Cup.

(The last meeting between those two coaches was Sept. 30, 2000 in Kingston. Laval won that one, 33-14, but at least the third man on the CFRC 101.9 crew was on the call for the Gaels' first offensive touchdown at home all season, a long strike from Craig Spear to Nathan Gorham. It kind of spoils the vibe to mention it took till the third quarter of the third home game for the offence to get in the end zone. It was a long season for the Gaels, 1-7, but it is not forgotten who was the "one.")

Fronts: Mav-ematical Elimination Day comes earlier every season

You can't skate away from yourself ... so often it is the case with the whole durned human comedy which is the Kingston Frontenacs.

Being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, thanks to a 7-2 loss to the John Tavares-led London Knights, was a perfect capper to this hockey weekend. Friday, Kinger reported on CFRC 101.9 that "de facto general manager for life" Larry Mavety is returning next season, citing "multiple sources close to the team." Forty-eight hours later, Justin Taylor, who was once drafted by Kingston but refused to report, tallying five points in the blowout (yes, Kingston was within a goal in the third period, but let's not kid ourselves). Taylor's hat-trick goal came when he snapped the puck in after a between-the-legs pass from Tavares. Taylor even wears the No. 93 once popularized by Kingston coach Doug Gilmour, so someone has a sense of humour.

All in all, as hard as the Kingston kids have competed, today encapsulated the bleakness of the whole situation with Frontenacs owner Doug Springer, who along with Mavety, was never mentioned once on the Rogers Sportsnet telecast in between all the, "JohnTavaresJohnTavaresJohnTavares ... DougGilmourDougGilmourDougGilmour." Springer, as far as anyone knows since Gods do not answer letters or interview requests, remains blinkered to Mavety's unsurpassed incompetence. No amount of gilding the Gilly from the cheerleaders in the press box about the improvement the team has shown under Dougie! or how the players are giving it their all can alter that reality.

Anything said about a particular game must be tempered by the knowledge it was Kingston's third game of the weekend and they were tired.

There is just no getting past knowing a national TV audience saw the whole gamut of what has been the norm in Kingston for the past decade. Running around in their defensive zone (like on the second goal, when the Knights' John Carlson was able to snap one in between the hash marks)? Check. A soft team getting pushed around physically? Check. Undisciplined penalties? Check. A game that was closer than it should have been thanks to good goaltending and an opponent who was fully aware it does not have to play its best to beat the Frontenacs? Check. Out-of-town announcers talking about what a great coach Doug Gilmour is? Check.

The best piece of news, via MisterDB of a Fronts Talk, was that Kingston will go drop its white Count Frontenac jersey next season and wear the much more popular Circle K next season. When the biggest positive of the day involves jerseys, you know it's bad.

The Frontenacs are three points ahead of Sault Ste. Marie in the Daniel Catenacci Derby. They have two games in hand over the Greyhounds, meaning there's a chance they can play their way out of the No. 1 overall choice. Would that not beat all.

Yes, it was only 3-2 in the third period, but that just says there's no staying power. Knights coach Dale Hunter also poured it on a bit, including putting Tavares out on the power play with less than two minutes left in a long-decided game. As a final insult, Tavares high-sticked Mavric Parks in the mask when the Kingston goalie (whose favourite Tragically Hip song should be So Hard Done By) took offence at the goal-grubbing after the final buzzer. It was too late by then, just like it was too late by the time Gilmour took the coaching reins in November after Springer futzed around for a year while Mavety was the permanent interim coach.

It's been said before and it will be said again, if Larry Mavety survives in Kingston, junior hockey won't. C'est la vie.

Thanks to Kinger, Mister DB and Andrew Bucholtz for taking part in the liveblog. Oh, once again, it has been 495 days since Doug Springer said he would do "whatever it takes" to bring a winner to Kingston.

CIS Corner: GGs going to women's Final 8; GoldenWatch 2009 begins...

Notes on our athletes/teams of interest from The 613 ...

HOOPS

• Gee-Gees: Ottawa's women's team found redemption for that lost 2007-08 season, as they're going to the CIS Final 8 after shutting down Toronto 68-55 in the OUA East final tonight.
  
  It was a textbook win for Ottawa, which got 14 points apiece from Kelly Weir and senior Allison Forbes, plus 11 from OUA East second all-star guard Émilie Morasse. They pretty much shut down Toronto (32.8% shooting, just 21 points in the second half) and were a lights-out 24-of-27 from the free-throw line, including 10-of-11 by Forbes.
  
  Considering how last season unravelled, it's nice to see Ottawa play to its potential. Congrats are in order for Ottawa coach Andy Sparks, who was named the division's coach of the year on Tuesday.
  
  Plans for this weekend include getting out to Ottawa's semi-final game against either Toronto, Ryerson or York.
  
  Western's Brad Campbell (a Nepean High grad), took the OUA West men's honour.
  
  
• Ravens: Carleton's graduating guard Tanya Perry seems like a pretty deserving choice as the OUA East's top defender; she was all over the floor whenever you saw Carleton play this fall. The other graduating starter, forward Ines Jelic, was a first-team all-star, with Perry on the second team.
  
  Carleton forward Kendall MacLeod and point guard Alyson Bush were all-rookie selections to go along with Carleton Place's Abby Edmison, a RMC post, being rookie of the year.
• Golden Gaels: An acknowledgement is due to Queen's guard Brittany Moore for being named to the OUA East first all-star team.
  
  The men's picks in the West, which Greg Layson reported earlier this week, and women's picks in the East, are posted at cisblog.ca.
• There will be a story on Ottawa native Anneka Bakker, who's helped the Alberta Pandas qualify for the CIS Final 8 women's championship, in the Ottawa Sun in the next day or two. Bakker will be matched up vs. Napanee's Matteke "Muddy" Hutzler , the starting centre for the Simon Fraser Clan, when their teams meet in the Canada West Final Four semi-final on Friday.
  
  In other words, it's another Ottawa and Kingston matchup, only Hutzler represents the capital since she's a cousin of Carleton's Aaron Doornekamp, which Bakker represents Queen's, since her dad, Dick Bakker, starred for the Gaels' 1978 Vanier Cup team. Of course, Bakker told me one of her youth coaches was Kingston coaching legend Tom Turnbull, so like the kids say on Facebook, it's complicated.
  

GOLDENWATCH 2009:

It might not even be worth going into this issue again.

Remember how much Internet ink was spilled last fall over Golden Gaels vs. Gaels debate with respect to what Queen's calls its sports teams? Then football season ended, the first snow flew and everyone, to quote Aldous Snow, just continued living their lives. For some of us, getting a life is not an option, so it was noticeable that CBC's Hockey Day In Canada feature (available at CBC Sports On Demand, search for RMC or Queens) on the Carr-Harris Cup rivalry contained no reference to the name Queen's has had for half the rivalry's history, 61 of 123 years.

Queen's was referred to as Gaels in the on-screen graphic and in the voice-overs (which sounded like Mark Lee, who as a Carleton Ravens quarterback in the 1970s, got to know the Golden Gaels very well, often in violent fashion). This is despite the fact Queen's athletic director Leslie Dal Cin is on record saying, "We have not changed the name."

(This might be more of a commentary on how university sports in Canada don't have much of a stickiness factor. A national journalist in the U.S. would know that the full name of the University of Minnesota's teams are the Golden Gophers, not Gophers, but it Canada it can under the radar screen.)

This all points to this whole debate flaring up again come the 2009 football season, especially now that the homecoming game has been deep-sixed, which might have spurred less outcry (since at least then there was a reason Queen's had to act decisively, even if it was knee-jerk). It's not this alumnus' place to start soapboxing, but one would hope we don't go through this again next season, lest it become a big distraction. Even in the small world of the Tricolour, it's not as important as building new stadia or raising athletics fees or any of the other issues which cause Kinger to go into high dudgeon every Friday at 4 p.m. on Offsides on CFRC 101.9 (cfrc.ca), coming to you live from the bowels of Carruthers Hall.

It's better to settle it sooner rather than later. The football team could keep the Golden Gaels name; the other teams could be Gaels. Other schools have different names for historical reasons. It's not perfect, but not everything can cut-and-dried for marketing purposes.

Bleeding Tricolour: Only we can do that to our pledges

On behalf of the alma mater's radio station, thank you.

CFRC 101.9 in Kingston (cfrc.ca), the community radio station on the Queen's campus, exceeded its target for its 2009 funding drive. Rob Carnell at Salt Water Music notes that the station raised more than $22,000 during its 12-day funding drive earlier this month, surpassing its $18,000 goal.

That is pretty impressive considering the way the economy is going (and it had nothing to do with putting out the call here; in reality, that might have hurt the cause). It's great to hear, because CFRC is a big go-to for Queen's football, hockey and the latest idiocies committed by the Limestone City's Light Brigade, the whole durned human comedy which is the Kingston Frontenacs.

The exact dollar figure is probably pending, give or take any donor, say someone from Queen's class of 2000, taking his sweet-arsed time making good on his pledge. Honestly, guys the check is in the mail. You have no need to send the CFRC Pledge Enforcement Van ("Kinger knows where you live!").

Rodriguez: Thirteen thoughts on the baseball Judas

It is better for your health to "ignore these blowhards" with regard to the media coverage of the Alex Rodriguez scandal, to quote FanGraphs, which has created the Hyperbole Index (HI, for short).

Good friend Pete Toms notes this is a chattering class issue. The majority of people who will attend ballgames, just for something to do or on a company outing, will have forgotten about this by April. For sanity's sake, condensing the whole Rodriguez matter to 13 thoughts seems appropriate for putting the matter to bed for a few days.

1. Rodriguez breaking the home run record... good thing: Contary to what you might have heard, Rodriguez has not destroyed the game's history. His shame will serve to liberate it from the conceit, kept up by self-appointed gatekeepers such as Bob Costas, that baseball is the best game of all because of its record book.
   
   Those of you who have also watched all 18½ hours of Ken Burns' Baseball, six times over in the past 15 years might remember this part. At one point, Costas says the grand old game stands alone since you can rhyme off numbers such as 56, 755, 4,256, .406 and everyone will get the reference. In other sports it is, "How many yards did Jim Brown have when Walter Payton passed him? How points did Wilt Chamberlain have when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar passed him to become the all-time leading scorer in the NBA?"
   
   Statistics are a good backup for confirming what you saw or filling in what you missed. It's mostly a reflection of the competition player faced, the conditions (i.e., segregation, scouting, home ballpark), the way the game was played at the time and whether he was fortunate enough to enjoy a long career. Everything needs to be put into context, not just the Steroid Era.
   
   The failure to understand is this is why Dick Allen, who played in the low-scoring 1960s and early '70s, is not in the Hall of Fame. It is also a big part of why Jim Rice got in last month by the skin of his teeth. Oh, and remember, anyone who played before the game was fully integrated, their numbers are a bit suspect too.
   
   It's a fair leap, but if the top two home run hitters of all time are a pair of universally hated cheaters, perhaps it gets slower-thinking sportswriters to stop furrowing their brows in a vain attempt to understand the situation. This is a small, nerdy point to list first.
   
   
2. Marvin Miller must be laughing. The now 91-year-old former players' union boss warned five years ago (The Biz of Baseball, July 13, 2004) that the U.S. government might step all over players' constitutional rights in order to be the white knight on Steroids in Sports. No one was listening (guilty as charged):

   "... it's one thing if an employer makes it a labor-management issue. It's quite another when the government says, 'I now will subpoena records of confidential tests and I will use the material,' which, after all is tantamount to saying, 'I will require self-incrimination and I may send some of you to jail.' I think the sports media, like so much of the other media, is just asleep on this issue."

3. This shall pass. This is only the second-worst scandal in sports history, according to the estimable Seattle baseball writer Geoff Baker. (Canadians might be interested to know what claimed the No. 1 and No. 5 berths.) People are so jaded that they can shrug this off, noting it was timed so it keeps Steroids in Baseball on the front burner in the lead-up to the start of Barry Bonds' trial (which is going so, so well for the prosecutors).
   
   
4. Statistics can prove anything; 14 per cent of all people know that. Baseball was due to see an attendance decrease in 2009 due to the recession. Expect someone to blame that on the Bonds and Rodriguez fallout.
   
   
5. Putting the media on trial: The Sports Law Professor turned the cannon on Sports Illustrated's Selena Roberts, who broke the story Saturday.

   "Where is the reporters' complicity? I see Selena Roberts, Sports Illustrated's new back-page moralizer ... being interviewed on evening news programs without having to answer for her conduct. If it not permissible for an insider to reveal the contents of sealed evidence, then why is it morally permissible (if not illegal) for an outsider, especially a veteran reporter experienced in prying admissions out of reluctant innocents, to cajole and entice such insiders to break their known legal obligations? Isn't luring another to commit a wrong just as culpable as the wrong itself?"

6. In other words, Rodriguez didn't have to make stuff up: Rodriguez steered some of his ESPN interview with Peter Gammons around to spewing invective about Roberts. He even went so far to accuse of her of committing a B&E:

   "What makes me upset is Sports Illustrated pays this lady Selena Roberts to stalk me. This lady has been thrown out of my apartment in New York City. This lady has, five days ago she was thrown out of the University of Miami police for tresspassing. And four days ago she tried to break into my house while my girls are up there sleeping, and got cited by the Miami Beach Police. I have the paper here. And this lady's coming out with all these allegations, all these lies, because she’s writing an article for Sports Illustrated. And she's coming out with a book in May. And really respectable journalists are following this lady off the cliff, and following her lead. And that to me is unfortunate.

   Jeff Pearlman has some choice words for Gammons for not challenging Rodriguez's assertions. Roberts was also slagged by The Futility Infielder last night.
   
   
7. Yes, him again: Rodriguez's infamy means that Pete Rose, who's been sent down the river so many times only to keep bobbing up like some raspy-voiced Rasputin, can continue his two-decade-old image rehabilitation.
   
   Rose was on MLB Home Plate on Tuesday afternoon, where he drew a distinction between his crimes as an athlete-gambler and a juicer: "What I did had nothing to do with the direct outcome of a game. What I did (betting on baseball), I did as a manager." That might be a flimsy premise, but taking a banned substance definitely impacts
   
   For what it's worth, Rose did not buy any claim Rodriguez was young and naive in 2001-03, pointing out "he wasn't a kid." Granted, at the time Rodriguez was playing for a team whose former managing partner who referred to things he did in his 30s as "youthful indiscretions." Maybe that gave him the idea (kidding).
   
   
8. Cooperstown needs new shorts: Rose, who of course wants to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame worst than anything, said, "I just got a call from a guy in Cooperstown. He's all pissed off. He's like, this is going to ruin us because no one from the last 10 years is going to get into the Hall of Fame because of steroids."
   
   There would not be a problem if the Baseball Writers' Association of America would get off its collective high horse, but that's another 100 posts. To borrow a phrase from one of Kinger's contemporaries, Tim Cunningham, the Hall of Fame voting system is "totally broken." A-Rod sticking a needle in his bum doesn't let anyone off the hook.
   
   
9. Comfortably numb: Please keep in mind that some other big name will get out at some point.
   
   
10. Who is innocent by association? Poz noted Frank Thomas, who was just naturally huge and cooperated with the Mitchell Report, comes out very well. Thomas was huge naturally and his career has wound down at a normal pace. Some of the pitchers who played through the Steroid Era, such as Mike Mussina, might have stronger arguments for the Hall of Fame, assuming they were on the level.
    
    It's been hard, as a Jays fan, to shake the idea that Carlos Delgado's reputation might improve even though there's no way to presume anyone was clean as a bean. The former Toronto slugger, as you probably remember, finished second to Rodriguez in the American League MVP voting in 2003. Delgado was fourth in 2000, behind the tainted Jason Giambi, Thomas and Rodriguez.
    
    Being a former MVP draws a lot of water with the BBWAA. The view might take hold that Delgado actually should be looked at as the winner in 2003, which would help his borderline Cooperstown bonafides. As a first baseman who has OPS+'d 138 over his career, Delgado is an iffy Hall of Fame candidate, but he is getting close to the 500-home run plateau which once meant automatic induction, along with 500 doubles and 1,500 RBI.
    
    
11. Talk about timing: The Rodriguez scandal has done for the new MLB Network what the first Gulf War did for CNN back in 1991, as Sports Media Journal noted. It's been a real coup for the digital channel, although Canadians have to take everyone's word for it since the channel is not available in Canada, thanks Rogers.
    
    
12. Why the shrug? It is tough to feel scandalized when one made his peace with the Steroid Era three flippin' years ago:

    "Baseball’s hamfisted attempt to put a gloss over the steroids scandal last year makes every fan a little bit guilty. We are taking pleasure in a sport that you know has been altered by drug cheats, knowing that there are strings attached."

13. Barry Bonds is still in the 10th circle. It makes no sense to draw a distinction between Rodriguez and Bonds because the latter is a more arrogant jerk. No one thought to call Rodriguez a cheater before Saturday, and Bonds was pilloried far, far worse.

CIS Corner: The scarlet letter for RMC is a W

Notes on our athletes/teams of interest from The 613, including football recruiting news...

HOCKEY

• Gee-Gees/Golden Gaels: Ottawa winger Dan McDonald had a hat trick in a season-saving 4-3 win over Toronto. It was an odd day involving current and former Kingston Frontenacs in the nation's capital.
  
  McDonald, an ex-Frontenac, scored twice in 72 seconds midway through the second period to help resuscitate the Gee-Gees; he scored the game-winner with 7:32 left. Strangely enough, while all this was happening, McDonald's former OHL team came back from two goals down to beat the Ottawa 67's 8-6. Crazy.
  
  Ottawa needs only three points from its last three games, or less depending how Queen's does in its season finale Friday against the quintessential spoiler, RMC.
  
  Queen's hopes practically rest on hoping Ryerson can upset either Ottawa or Toronto. The Varsity Blues just need a point eitherWednesday vs. a ranked Waterloo team or Friday vs. Ryerson.
  
  The Gee-Gees' comeback on Sunday all but dashed Queen's hopes. Saturday, Brady Morrison made 25 saves and Scott Kenway got the lone goal in the first minute of the third to help Queen's squaeak by RMC 1-0 in the Carr-Harris Cup. The Gaels have earned nine-of-10 possible points, but they've almost run out of rocks.
  
  The Gee-Gees women's team had a nice night Saturday, getting all their goals on special teams in a 3-1 win over St. Thomas, which is having a good season (11-4-4) in the Atlantic Conference. Ottawa will lose coach Shelley Coolidge and forward Kayla Hottot to World University Games commitments; Sun Media had a nice article on Hottot on Saturday.
• Ravens: Carleton can clinch fifth place and a first-round matchup vs. either Concordia or McGill if it beats Ottawa on Tuesday. Their magic number is two.
  
  Attention is due to Carleton's big Andrew Gibbons-Brandon Maclean-Ryan Berard line for accounting for three goals in Friday's 4-1 win at Concordia that clinched a playoff berth.

MEN'S HOOPS

• Ravens: No real problems, with Stu Turnbull scoring a game-high 18 points Saturday in a 74-54 road win over Toronto. This was all about defence; Toronto had just 32 points after 30 minutes.
  
  The night before, youngsters Cole Hobin and Kyle Smendziuk each scored in double digits in a 36-point win over Ryerson.
  
  
• Gee-Gees: The bright spot of Ottawa's two road wins (80-72 over Toronto, 89-70 over Ryerson) was their 85.1% free throw shooting. Dax Dessureault totalled 37 points and 20 rebounds across the two games.
  
  Ryerson's all-everything post player, Boris Bakovic, scored 26 vs. Dessureault, but he needed 19 shots and turned the ball over six times. When the big man needs that many touches, it's a win.
  

WOMEN'S HOOPS: How about those Paladins?

RMC pulled off something it's been on the precipice of for a while, ending their 128-game women's basketball losing streak Friday with a 64-61 win over York.

Attention must be paid. One can only imagine what it feels like for coach Brad Schur and his players, including two rookies from the Ottawa area, Abby Edmison, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Samantha Bayne, who chipped in seven. Thirty-four-year-old masters student (and mother of two) Sharlene Harding had 25 points and 12 rebounds, both team highs, to contribute to the great night.

The only regret is that first win did not come before Jennifer D'Onofrio, completed her eligibility. Inch for inch, she was the toughest player in the OUA over her time in Paladins scarlet and white, playing the 4-spot at about 5-foot-6.

One can only imagine what must be running through the mind of Schur and some of his veterans such as Anna Dupuis and Julie-Christine Lasalle. Anyone who's played on a bad team for a while knows about the feeling of being resigned to your fate, trying to keep your head up against the long odds of ever winning a game. They probably feel like champs, and now that they've won once, hopefully it won't be too much longer before they pull off another victory.

Mike Koreen not only wrote a story about the win, but he sent in a tip on Friday the moment it happened.

• Gee-Gees: Ottawa's split in Toronto was productive, since they moved closer to a second-place finish in the OUA East. Kelly Weir had 15 points in the Ryerson game (67-61 for the Gee-Gees), while Hannah Sunley-Paisley narrowly missed double-doubles in each game.
  
  Ottawa controls its destination for the playoffs. Win their final two home games next weekend vs. RMC and Queen's and they will host an OUA East semi-final, possibly vs. Carleton. You know the saying about how it's tough to beat a team three times in one season, but then again, Carleton's already beaten Ottawa twice, so they know what it takes.
  
  A 40-point first half on defence and 31% shooting did in the Gee-Gees vs. Toronto. Hey, that means they'll go into the playoffs believing they can beat Toronto if they play their best game.
• Ravens: Carleton has lost three of four since beating Ottawa in the Capital Hoops Classic, all close games, and will likely end up hosting Queen's in the 3 vs. 6 quarter-final.
  
  Please keep in mind it would be the first home playoff game ever for a Carleton women's team. It must be teeth-grinding to have lost so many close games.
  
  The Ravens will need help from Queen's next weekend to get a first-round bye, but at this rate one wonders how well they'd handle the Gaels. (Queen's is struggling in its own right. One wonders, looking at Brittany Moore's 4-of-19 shooting line vs. York, if teams are just defying the other Gaels to beat them.)

FOOTBALL

• Golden Gaels: The great CIS Football Recruiting Database has a list of Queen's prospective recruits. Granted, this is not the U.S. with Rivals.com, and there is something to be said for the schools who are hush-hush about their recruiting. The people with paying gigs can worry about that stuff. Queen's recruits include:

  Jerod McCrory, linebacker: He played for Team Ontario in the Football Canada Cup and he's athletic enough to hold his own on the basketball team at Burlington Assumption, which is ranked No. 10 in Ontario by TheHoop-la. The message board buzz was that it was either the Gaels or Western for him.
  
  Martin Colangelo, defensive tackle and Paul Miniaci, linebacker: Each of them helped St. Michael's College win successive Metro Bowl championships. They won the 2008 championship game by 30 points, topping the prediction of one Pat Sheahan, who had very diplomatically called a seven-point win.
  
  Steve Dennis, Brent MacDonald and Andrew Surya, defensive backs: They each played at Burlington Notre Dame, last fall's Golden Horseshoe Bowl runners-up. Surya is listed as a running back but he did make the game-clinching interception playing cornerback in the regional semi-final. Dennis also kicked the game-winning field goal.
  
  Curiously, all three were mentioned as headed to McMaster on cisfootball.org.
  
  Josh Prinsen, offensive tackle: The Whig reported in December that Prinsen, a regular Toledo-tipper at 6-foot-7, 290 lbs., had interest from more than 30 U.S. schools, including some teams in the Ivy League. It sounds like he would be a good get. He's from Napanee, as is another promising Queen's lineman, Derek Morris. (The hometown has not done so well providing Queen's with football players, just super-fans who blog until 4 a.m.)
  
  Andrew Mizzi, offensive tackle: He's 6-foot-3, 270 lbs., from Michael Power in Toronto. Beyond that, I got nothin'.
  
  Matt Lapointe, offensive tackle: He helped St. Peter in Ottawa win the city championship last fall, so he comes out of a good program.

• Kinger reports that $525 was raised for CFRC 101.9's funding drive during a special Offsides on Friday afternoon, where he interviewed CFRC alumni Neil Acharya of The Score (and OOLF), Richard Zussman of Citytv Edmonton (and cisblog.ca) and Calgary radio producer Peter Watts.
  
  On behalf of Kinger, thank you. The final totals should become available some time this week.
  
• Speaking of Rich Zussman, he has signed on cisblog.ca as its Western Canada reporter. He should increase the property values exponentially, although it is getting to be a real Queen's mafia (oh, and this site isn't?).
  

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)

Snark break ... drop the hockey shtick and walk away, Renée

The Florida Panthers are rolling with Pete DeBoer and Jim Hulton behind the bench. Meantime, in the 613, the teams which respectively could be employing them, the Ottawa Senators and Kingston Frontenacs, are third-last and dead last in the NHL and OHL, respectively. (It's like their owners, Eugene Melnyk and the Fronts' Doug Springer, are on the same Ork cloud.)

One suggested nickname for the Senators' owner: The Eunibomber.

One sportswriting trope which must be allowed to die is segueing into a feature on a Canadian athlete by referencing his hockey experience. It was cute once and now it's just tired, like Renée Zellweger's acting shtick.

Not to nitpick, but the "grand total of the Canadian content in Super Bowl XLIII is wrapped up in the well-travelled right leg of Pittsburgh punter Mitch Berger?" The Cardinals' Sean Morey makes his off-season home in Toronto with his spouse, who played hockey for the Brampton Thunder (she was known as Cara Gardner) before "she broke her femur in a snowmobile accident and decided to have a family." (New York Times.) It doesn't get any more Canadian.

If MMA training can help the Minnesota Vikings' Tarvaris Jackson improve as a quarterback, then it should be legalized in Ontario.

Two words which can never again appear together in print: "Star punter."

A Yale student was taken aback that author Buzz Bissinger "swore often" during a talk he gave there recently. It pisses the shit out of me to know some people are so well-adjusted that they don't follow sports obsessively, thus missing out on Bissinger-Leitch.

TSN's Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire are great on most nights and McGuire's anti-fighting stance is admirable, but then there's the times when, no doubt by some producer's edict, they have to jazz up a mid-season game, like the Panthers' pounding of the Habs.

The low boiling point was reached somewhere between McGuire describing a play as "fantastically good" (forgetting Rick Reilly's ASS rule, Adjectives Sorta Suck), praising a referee for having the "courage" to award penalty shot after a (uh, he made the correct call, and it favoured the home team) and Miller saying, "These are not your father's Florida Panthers," and repeating it during the next intermission.

Of course they aren't your father's Florida Panthers. When my pops was the age I am today, it was 1984. The Panthers did not exist.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting

• An online sportsbook had to close betting on Bruce Springsteen's setlist for the Super Bowl halftime show.
  
• Argos coach Bart Andrus' son, Travis Andrus, has committed to play wide receiver for the Montana Grizzlies, who are coincidentally Kinger's favourite Football Championship Subdivision team as of this morning.
• The XMp3 radio got another solid review, this one from Sun Media. Incidentally, XM channel 27 (The Bridge) is pretty sweet.
• Charlie Murphy (the funnier Murphy brother) is going to publish an autobiography later this year.
  

Please tune in to hear Kinger's sports show, Offsides, today at 4 p.m. on CFRC 101.9 FM and cfrc.ca elsewhere. The campus radio station is in the middle of a funding drive. Don't make them have to send in the muscle. Kinger hates it when he gets his knuckles all lined up for nothing.