That's Sports

Growing up I was absolutely enamored with the game of baseball. In my humble opinion, baseball stands alone atop the Mount Rushmore of North American sports in its ability to be romanticized. If you remember the  leitmotif of the movie, "Moneyball", was "It's hard to not be romantic about baseball." It's tough to find a line in a film that resonates so much with reality, at least as I see it. What other game can you watch someone try and be perfect for 27 outs and roughly 130 excruciating pitches? What other game can you watch someone lose their mind over an incident involving the length of pine tar applied to a bat? What other game can you get 'beaned', watch the pitcher 'balk', take your base, avoid being picked off by a sly pickoff move, and jump out of the way of your teammate's line drive all in a matter of a minute? Or, to think of even what happened this week in baseball, Mookie Betts took a homerun away by a matter of inches wi...

Let me start by saying that I don't know exactly what I would do with millions of dollars in my bank account. I also am not certain how having a lot of money would affect my character and my decision making. I'm privileged to work on the "front-lines" during a global pandemic, and I say this to not pat myself on the back but instead to acknowledge the perspective from which I'm writing. I'm getting quite annoyed with the reports by multiple high-profile athletes about how difficult life in the playoff bubbles has been for them. I can appreciate that the day-to-day would have been isolating at times. However, by many reports it seems as though athletes were invited to return to freshman year of college, outside of attending classes, and the parties that were anything but physically distanced. Also, some players have maintained that they chose to treat their playoff experience "like a business trip" and therefore not bring their families along. I'v...

Brendan Gallagher has been hailed by some in the hockey world as "the diminutive giant". Gallagher is certainly a spark plug for the storied bleu, blanc, et rouge since he arrived in Montreal during the 2012-2013 season. Gallagher seems to gravitate to the front of the net, sparking a a popular t-shirt from North Legends illustrating "Gally's office". He's a absolute thorn in the side to opposing defensemen who often outweigh the pesky forward by 50-70 pounds. His relentless net-presence is often dreamed about by coaches but rarely does it come to fruition with a player. His offensive numbers are good. They are by no means outstanding. However, it's the other parts of his game that enhance his value to Team Canada. Generally speaking in professional sports today there is not enough heart . There's a lot of show-boating, many egomaniacs, and many prima donnas. With said players there's a noticeable trend: Extra effort is magically outputte...

In our first year of marriage my wife and I lived on the 13 th floor of our apartment building in apartment 14 04. Bizarre, right? Last week some news broke in regards to Mike Cammalleri, his jersey number and a New Jersey Devils' newly changed policy. All I can say is it's about time! The often celebrated and rarely criticized  Lou Lamoriello ran, understatedly, a 'tight ship' in his tenor as Devils' General Manager (1987-2015). His 'no nonsense' approach was arguably the backbone of a trap-heavy, defensive juggernaut of a team that won three Stanley Cups in '95, '00, '03. However, along with Lamoriello's assertive leadership came a more than bizarre superstition. Absolutely no one on the Devils were permitted to dawn the number 13. Upon being asked about Lamoriello's ban of the number 13, my colleague Kirk Lougheed summed it up best. "That type of irrationality would make me want to slap him." Due to the arriva...

The 7th year man out of Villanova is enjoying his most productive season to date. Kyle Lowry is averaging over 16 points a game to go along with more than 7 assists a game. I could go off listing all the stats ad nauseam, but instead I want to focus more on something Lowry did not do right in yesterday's heart wrenching loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. The Raptors at one point were trailing the Bobcats by an astounding 30 points (71-41 with 4:37 left in the 3rd quarter). Toronto then went on a tear sparked by the solid play of Greivis Vasquez, Chuck Hayes, and timely shooting by Steve Novak. Their point guard Lowry was having an uncharacteristic slow game but made up for it with 11 points in the 4th. Lowry made an acrobatic jumper while being fouled with 24 seconds to go. There he was at the charity stripe with the chance to bring the Raps all the way back to even with the Cats. The 81% free throw shooting Lowry proceeded to hit back rim and one could see right away in his eyes tha...

This past summer I made projections for team Canada. With the Olympics fast approaching, here are my updated projections!   Forwards: Chris Kuntiz        Sidney Crosby        Patrick Sharp Matt Duchene       Ryan Getzlaf           Corey Perry John Tavares       Jonathan Toews      Claude Giroux   Jamie Benn           Tyler Seguin        Martin St. Louis   Extra:    Patrice Bergeron *Notables left out: Thornton, Marleau, Hall, Eberle, Lupul, Kane Assessment:  Team Canada brass and TSN commentators need to stop with the nonsense about experience and attitude. Seguin and Duschene are probably playing the best hockey of their careers; they deserve to be on the team. And don't worry, Seguin's entourage probably ...