Tag Archives: Boston Red Sox

Lots Going On. Some Good, Some Bad and Some, well you know…

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Another week in Toyland and another week of good, bad, and very, very ugly.

THE GOOD

1) On the good side, there was Ben Dartnell. As a young kid, Ben was a Winnipeg Goldeyes bat boy who used to play catch at Shaw Park (old Canwest Park) with anyone who happened to have a glove. He was a great kid who always seemed to be better than the other youngsters  his age.

This week, Ben Dartnell was selected in the 34th round (1,042 overall) by the Boston Red Sox on Day 3, of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. A 6-foot-3, 210-pound lefthanded throwing fireballer out of Vauxhall Baseball Academy in Alberta, Dartnell has been a Red Sox fan all his life.

“This is a kid who owned Red Sox underwear,” said his dad, Goldeyes director of security, Paul Dartnell.

“I can’t complain,” young Ben said via Facebook. “I’m part of Red Sox Nation!”

It doesn’t get a lot better than that.

2) According to Forbes Magazine, this past week NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told Research in Motion founder, Jim Balsillie, he could still acquire an NHL team as long as he “didn’t create any more bad publicity for the league.”

Interesting comment considering that very few people have created more bad publicity for the NHL than Gary Bettman.

In fairness, however, that’s a big turnabout for Bettman who refused to allow Balsillie to buy the Phoenix Coyotes out of bankruptcy. Now, it’s apparent that with the instant success of the Winnipeg franchise that maybe Balsillie could bail the NHL out of that mess it has created in Phoenix.

The fact that another Canadian-based NHL team could be on the horizon makes Bettman’s reluctant kind-of-apology to Balsillie intriguing.

3) On Saturday,  the Winnipeg Blue Bombers held a day of training camp at Brandon’s Vincent Massey High School. Practice ran from 11:30 to 1:30 and autographs followed soon after the workout.

For no profound reason, that’s just good.

4) Ichiro. Watched him play against Detroit this week. Ichiro is good.

5) Nyjer Morgan. Because the guy is certifiably wonderful. Watch him here: http://ca.deadspin.com/5810810/the-week-in-deadspin?skyline=true&s=i

THE BAD

1) The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat 112-103 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

The Mavericks had another big run to the finish. This time they outscored the Heat 15-3 down the stretch. Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 29 points, but the dagger was a long three by Jason Terry, over a lazy LeBron James, with 20 seconds left. The Mavs shot 56.5 per cent from the field, 68 per-cent, 13-of-19, from three-point range. LeBron had a triple double, 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists but only two points in the fourth quarter.

The Mavs lead the Heat 3-2 heading back to Miami for Games 6 and 7. Miami can still win this championship and LeBron can win the first of all those championships he vowed to win when he decided to “take my talents to South Beach.”

But here’s what can make this still fluid situation bad: the Heat do proceed to lose the series. This was a team that celebrated its 2011 championship BEFORE it held its first shoot-around. It’s as if the Heat are supposed to win.

They aren’t. And if they don’t, the entire season was a failure and the stupid TV show last summer looks even more outrageous.

2) The reports of an “imminent (there’s that word again)” deal to end the NFL lockout was apparently premature. The Eagle-Tribune of Lowell, Mass., reported that the players and owners were close to a deal to end the work stoppage but spokesmen for both the players and owners said otherwise.

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah posted this 54-character comment on his Twitter account: “There’s a report that the lockout is over. Umm…no.”

It’s bad that the lockout isn’t over. It’s good, however, that there is at least some discussion about ending it.

3) So we’re told LeBron and Dwyane made a snotty remark about Dirk Nowitzki’s case of the flu this week and while Dirk seemed a little hurt by it, the American media blew right up.

“I just thought it was a little childish, a little ignorant,” Dirk said. “I’ve been in this league for 13 years, I’ve never faked an injury or an illness before, but it happened.”

To that, Wade’s response was as follows: “First of all, it wasn’t fake coughing. I actually did cough. And with the cameras being right there, we made a joke out of it because we knew you guys were going to blow it up. You did exactly what we knew. We never said Dirk’s name. I think he’s not the only one in the world who can get sick or have a cough. We just had fun with the cameras being right in our face about the blowup of the incident, and it held to be true. You blew it up.”

No matter who is right or wrong — the two Heatles or the U.S. media — the whole stupid little joke was just bad.

THE UGLY

1) The track at Belmont Park on Saturday.

2) LeBron’s shot … on both Tuesday and Thursday.

3) Colby Lewis’ fastball against Detroit on Monday and Minnesota on Saturday.

4) Roberto Luongo on Monday and Wednesday in Boston.

5) Shane Carwin’s face on Saturday night.

 

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Another Week in the Land of Incredulity

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Forgive me my cynicism. I believe I have heard it all.

This has been an odd week.

1) By Thursday the mainstream American media had reached such a high level of mob mentality in its desperate need to have Barry Bonds convicted of something, that it turned a single conviction for obstruction of justice into something on par with a dozen convictions for mass murder.

At no time, in America’s recent past (excluding the ugly Duke University lacrosse case), has the media so desperately wanted someone to fry for something. For anything.

You could read the desperation in their stories every day:

From Mark Fainaru-Wada, the fraud who wrote the Game of Shadows with more than 200 unnamed sources: ”The jury deciding the Barry Bonds perjury and obstruction of justice case wasn’t provided information that the public has been informed about over the years through other court cases, investigations and documents.” Wah-ahhhh.

From Lester Munson of ESPN, whose anti-Bonds bias highlighted every one of his radio interviews this week: “Bonds attorney Cristina Arguedas, a skilled advocate, worked hard for 51 minutes in a cross-examination of Hoskins and succeeded only in enhancing Hoskins’ veracity. Arguedas, who wears over-sized and mismatched outfits in court, tried to question Hoskins on style. Big mistake. The jurors and the courtroom audience erupted in laughter as Hoskins defined style for Arguedas.” And that proved?

And this is my favorite, from the New York Times: “Even if he is cleared of all charges Bonds will not go unpunished. Now aged 46, he has to all intents and purposes been run out of baseball, shunned by the Major League clubs, all of which passed on the opportunity to sign him, and booed by fans during rare public appearances.”

The media hated this guy and wanted to make sure everyone else did. I interviewed him once in the Giants’ clubhouse in 2002 and he was just fine. I asked him baseball questions, he answered them and that was it. Two guys just doing their jobs. I didn’t care if he liked me. I didn’t care if I ever saw him again. I had a job to do and he let me do it.

But my goodness, there are so many people in the media who just hate this man. And they hate him as much for their own role in ignoring the McGuire-Sosa steroid issue in 1998, as they do for Bonds’ inability to believe the media is somehow important.

Originally, there were 11 charges against Bonds. Six were dropped before the trial, one more was dropped on Day 1 of the trial and of the four remaining charges, all the Department of Justice could do was get Bonds convicted on a nebulous obstruction of justice charge. Then those morons went to their  newspaper cronies and declared victory. Stunning.

However, according to Bonds’ lawyer Allen Ruby: “The government has sought and at least for now” won conviction against Bonds for telling “the grand jury that he was a celebrity child and for saying he was friends with Greg Anderson.” After almost a decade, after more than $400 million and after being egged on by a media horde that was nearly insane in its hatred for a baseball player, that’s all the federal department of justice could get.

To his credit, Sean Gregory of TIME Magazine had the best summation of the Bonds witch-hunt:

“Fans surely weren’t as concerned with these questions back in 2005, when Congress held hearings about baseball’s laughable policing of steroid use. But now what’s the incremental benefit of this trial? It’s certainly not teaching any new lessons. We all know steroids are dangerous, that cheating and lying are immoral. A Bonds conviction won’t add any significant strength to that message. Sure, you can say Bonds deserves to sit through a trial, and perhaps go to jail, because he lied under oath. But is spending so much time and money chasing a liar worth the cost? Especially since many people have lied about worse things, like violent criminal acts, under oath, but have escaped prosecution.

“The Bonds case could also bode well for (Roger) Clemens, and maybe Lance Armstrong. The perjury trial against Clemens, who denied using performance-enhancing drugs to Congress, starts in July. Can the public stomach any more federal expenditures in pursuit of a jock who hasn’t played in three years? And if the government eventually indicts Armstrong, who has also denied drug use despite rumors and reports to the contrary, will that case be worth it too? He last won a Tour de France in 2005. Many of his competitors probably cheated, so he may have gained no real advantage even if he had used performance-enhancing drugs. And his prodigious fundraising efforts on behalf of cancer research will always make him a hero to many.

“The government needs to move on, just like the public it supposedly serves.”

Thank you, Sean Gregory.

2) This week, here in Winnipeg, we have once again read that the return of the NHL to our city is imminent. We’ve have not read any direct quotes that would suggest it is imminent, but the belief is clear: The NHL is coming back, maybe even as soon as this week.

My problem with that is four-fold. There are only four things I have heard that people in the NHL or people involved with the deal will put their names to:

a) That the alleged deal in the desert is not done and that the NHL will continue to be patient and attempt to make the bond sale work (from NHL assistant commissioner Bill Daly).

b) That time is certainly running out on the City of Glendale, Ariz., but there is no deadline. The only deadline the NHL set was Dec. 31, 2010 and it was ignored (from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman).

c) That the NHL has brought high-powered Arizona lawyer John Kaites back onto the scene in hopes that he can fix the political mess in the desert (from John Kaites).

d) That potential owner, Matthew Hulsizer says he hasn’t backed down, will still honor his original agreement and if the city can sell the bonds, he’ll assume ownership of the team (from Matthew Hulsizer).

It seems everyone is convinced the Coyotes will be moving to Winnipeg soon, but no one at the executive level of the NHL, no one close to the potential ownership group in Winnipeg (that one I certainly understand) and no one in Arizona will put their names to that claim.

Until that happens, which we’re told could very well could happen after the Coyotes are eliminated from the playoffs, I’ll keep waiting for the official announcement.

3) The Boston Red Sox entered Saturday’s play 2-10 while the Cleveland Indians were 9-4.

Addition:  The Red Sox finished Saturday 3-10 while the Indians won again and are now 10-4. Amazing.

It was just an odd week.

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Musings After a Week in the Trenches

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It’s been a long week. For one thing we had to keep listening to the NHL’s rationale for keeping the Coyotes in Phoenix, Eric Belanger’s brain-dead comments about Winnipeg (until now, I didn’t think hockey players were that stupid) and the American media’s desperate screams about Barry Bonds.

On top of that I had to call three hockey games (none of which was in Winnipeg), finish a magazine, complete the sports section of a newspaper, do the sports every morning on two radio stations, start a new book (working title, Quiet Hero: The Ken Ploen Story) and try to get rid of this pleurisy/pneumonia/Black Plague thing I have going on. Not whining. Just tired.

In the meantime, there was no shortage of bat-shit crazy going on out there and that will make today’s posting a little easier.

1) Love the U.S. media trying to make Barry Bonds’ ex-lover Kimberly Bell some sort of saint. She was his mistress through two marriages. I can think of a word other than mistress, but I wouldn’t use it in mixed company.

I often listen to ESPN radio on my XM service and they had that guy Mark Fainaru-Wada on, talking about the salient points made by Bell during her testimony in the Bonds case. In case you’ve forgotten, Fainaru-Wada wrote a book about Bonds, The Game of Shadows, using more than 200 anonymous sources (believe it at your peril). Bell was one of the few people he actually quoted on the record. When your entire career clings to the veracity of the testimony of the former mistress of a big league baseball player, you’d better go on the radio and tell people she has an immense intellect and no bitterness ’cause anyone with a brain bigger than a walnut isn’t going to believe it.

As Fainaru-Wada tried to tell people, “ex-girlfriends never lie,” all I could do not to puke all over the steering wheel, was sing Winnipeg Most’s new song as loudly as possible. The American media wants Bonds to be convicted so badly, it no longer has any credibility whatsoever. In fact, anything a sportswriter tries to tell you about Barry Bonds is probably a lie.

2) My wonderful wife is a Cleveland girl, born and raised. As a result, her disposition is often dictated by the success of her beloved Browns and Indians. And that’s not a bad thing. The more her teams lose, the funnier she gets.

So on Friday, as the Indians were losing 14-0 to the White Sox after four innings in their 2011 season opener (they eventually lost 15-10), Sally decided to go to Facebook to vent her frustration.

“I wonder if there is a ‘Cleveland Indians Suck’ page,” she asked.

Moments later I hear, “Gee, that’s harsh.”

Sally found the “Cleveland Indians Suck Big Black Monkey —–,” page.

“No wonder I don’t like Facebook,” she said, and went back to watching her game.

3) Right now, I’m watching the Tigers-Yankees game on FOX. Commentator Ken Rosenthal is an idiot. Miguel Cabrera does not owe anyone a second or third apology for his February DUI —  in English or any other language. One apology is plenty. Rosenthal is far too self-centered, self-absorbed and self-important.

By the way, why doesn’t Joe Buck just wear a Yankees jersey when he calls a game? Gawd, his pro-Yankee game calls are insufferable. And Tim McCarver? He’s now blind as well as terrible.

Thank gawd for the mute button.

4) Here’s what’s wrong with baseball and with every sport that doesn’t have a salary cap. Alex Rodriguez will make $32 million playing for the Yankees this season. The Kansas City Royals’ entire payroll, including players on the DL, is $36.1 million.

The Yankees payroll is $2o1.7 million. They should win EVERY game.

Meanwhile, when Baltimore manager Buck Showalter went off on the Boston Red Sox, the American media all jumped to the defence of their beloved poster-child- for-all-things-holy, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein. Trouble was, Showalter’s comments might have been impolite, but they were also pretty close to true.

“I’d like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll,” Showalter told Men’s Journal. “You got Carl Crawford ’cause you paid more than anyone else, and that’s what makes you smarter? That’s why I like whipping their butt. It’s great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying, ‘How the hell are they beating us?’ ”

Actually Boston’s payroll is about $162 million, but really, what’s the difference?

Oh yeah, A-Rod.

5) This story was e-mailed to us from a reader of the Detroit News:

Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland is a crusty old soul who has little use for the media on a good day. But let’s just say he’s really pissed now.

Player X is an ESPN the Magazine blog written, allegedly, by unnamed players from the various sports. In his inaugural entry, the baseball Player X takes a few unflattering shots at Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera:

“In any group, there’s always the crazy uncle who just can’t seem to figure it out. Cabrera, who’s been charged with DUI, is that uncle. I guarantee any one of his teammates would have picked him up if he’d called. Ditto his GM. …

“But, really, why isn’t Cabrera paying a guy $100 a night to drive him around? Plenty of guys do that. That he didn’t is a slap in his teammates’ faces. Even if it costs $36,000 a year, we have watches worth more than that.”

Even though the remarks make good sense, the comments set Leyland off and I agree with him. Frankly, if you can’t put your name on it, if you won’t take ownership of what you say, you are a gutless swine.

“To me that’s a gutless (jerk) that doesn’t put his name to it,” Leyland said. “If somebody would have said, ‘Hey, this is Jim Leyland and this is what I say, he should do this or this, then that’s fine.

“But when you (another expletive) hide behind somebody else’s expense, that’s chicken (expletive) to me. But you guys know your business more than me. Maybe that’s ethical, I don’t really know. But I’d be (pissed off) if I was Cabrera.”

And that’s why I really, really doubt a player actually wrote it. My sense says ESPN wrote it and declared that a player wrote it. I follow a lot of players on Twitter and if a player wants to say something, he will, and he’ll put his name on it and he won’t care what people think.

I believe Player X is an anonymous blog made up by ESPN The Magazine so that spineless reporters can hide behind somebody else.

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Our Fearless MLB Predictions for 2011

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I will be the first to admit, these predictions aren’t that fearless. I mean, really. When you select the Boston Red Sox to meet the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2011 World Series, you ain’t goin’ too far out onto the limb.

However, I do believe the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins will challenge the BoSox, I believe the Orioles will finally get to .500 and the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves will bettle it out for the National League Wild Card.

So without further adieu — after all, the first pitch is in about two hours — here are our annual Fearless Predictions for 2011.

THE AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST

1)  Boston Red Sox – If the Red Sox stay healthy, this is the best team in the American League. Offensively, they have Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez, J.D. Drew, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz. On the mound, it’s Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Diasuke Matsuzaka and Josh Beckett. Easily No. 1 in the East.

2) New York Yankees – We only pick the Yanks in two spot because they are the Yanks. After C.C. Sabathia, the pitching staff is a big question mark. A-Rod was sensational in the spring, Derek Jeter will be better than last year, Robinson Cano might be MVP and they will hit, but will they stop anybody else from hitting? Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia are the fourth and fifth starters.

3) Baltimore Orioles – This team finished 34-23 down the stretch last season and improved big time in the off-season bringing in Valdimir Guerrero, Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy and Derrek Lee. If the young pitchers mature, the Orioles will challenge the Yanks for second. Buck Showalter might be the best manager in the game.

4) Tampa Bay Rays – If Manny Ramirez grows up and Johnny Damon stays healthy, the Rays will have some lineup help for Evan Longoria. For this team, it’s all about the pitching. If James Shields, David Price, Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann. That’s a lot of ‘ifs.’

5) Toronto Blue Jays – If Jose Bautista hits 54 home runs again, I’ll eat the Rogers Centre. Getting better, but just not good enough.

CENTRAL

1) Detroit Tigers – So much for a DUI ruining Miguel Cabrera’s career. He has been lights out this spring, hitting .357 with a .714 slugging percentage, six doubles, three homers and a team-high 12 RBI. With Magglio Ordonez hitting in front of him and Victor Martinez behind him, it will be a big year in Detroit.

2) Minnesota Twins – Justin Morneau is getting healthy and Joe Mauer is already back to form. Throw in a solid pitching staff and Minnesota and Detroit will battle for 1-2 in the Central.

3. Chicago White Sox – The Sox added Adam Dunn’s bat to a lineup that includes Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski and Alexei Ramirez. But do they have enough pitching?

4. Kansas City Royals – The Royals might have the best farm system in the game but it won’t matter this year. Kansas City will hurt the contenders occasionally, but not often.

5. Cleveland Indians – Manager Manny Acta said if his young players show what they’re made of, the Indians will have a good team. They will eventually, I suppose, but it won’t be this year. I was told in Florida by someone who follows the Indians closely: “Anyone who thinks the Indians have a hope suffers from D & D – a case of dumb and delusional.”

WEST

1) Texas Rangers – These guys hit a ton as Josh Hamilton, Elvis Andrus, Nelson Cruz, David Murphy and Ian Kinsler lead the way. It certainly won’t hurt if Adrian Beltre gets healthy, too. The pitching will suffer without Cliff Lee, but that won’t stop the Rangers from repeating in the West.

2) Los Angeles Angels – Dan Haren, Jared Weaver, Scott Kazmir and Ervin Santana give the Angels a great rotation. The addition of Vernon Wells will help the order. L.A. will challenge Texas.

3) Oakland A’s – Can Hideki Matsui find happiness in Oakland? Can the A’s finish better than third? Look out for starter Trevor Cahill: 18-8 with 2.97 ERA last year.

4) Seattle Mariners – How can a team with Ichiro Suzuki and Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez go 61-101? That’s what they did last year and it’s hard to imagine the Ms will be any better this year.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST

1) Philadelphia Phillies – With a rotation that goes like this: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton, it doesn‘t matter if they hit. However, if they can’t replace the injured Chase Utley and the gone Jayson Werth, there is a chance even the Phils won’t hit enough.

2) Atlanta Braves – If Chipper can still play (and stay healthy all year) and manager Fredi Gonzalez is as good a manager as we think, the Braves might threaten in the anemic East. Craig Kimbrel and Jonny Venters will share the closer’s duties and it’s hard not to like a lineup that includes Brian McCann, Martin Prado, Jason Heyward and big Freddie Freeman.

3) Florida Marlins – This is a typical Florida Marlins team: Young, promising and cheap. Rookie Mike Stanton is the player to watch.

4) New York Mets – All questions, not enough answers. Will Jason Bay adjust to Citi Field? Will Carlos Beltran get healthy? Will Johan Santana return to form? Will they be sold? If the answers are positive, this team could threaten.

5) Washington Nationals – Better than last year with Jayson Werth in the lineup to protect Ryan Zimmerman, but still an afterthought.

CENTRAL

1) Cincinnati Reds – With MVP Joey Votto and loads of offence, the Reds will score. A lot depends on the rotation of Edinson Volquez, Homer Bailey, Bronson Arroyo, Travis Wood and Mike Leake. Dusty Baker will keep them in the race.

2) Milwaukee Brewers – The addition of pitchers Zach Greinke and Shaun Marcum will make the Brewers better. They’ll win a lot more than 77 games (2010). Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart give the Brewers a solid middle of the lineup.

3) St. Louis Cardinals – If Albert Pujols just goes nuts with his free-agent winter coming up, he could lead the Cards into the playoffs himself. However, with Adam Wainwright out for the season, the pitching staff suffers mightily. Pujols is clearly the player to watch in the Majors this year.

4) Chicago Cubs – Well, it’s “next year,” again. This is a team likely to win about 82 games and yet again, fail to win a title.

5) Houston Astros – This is a team that finished strongly in 2010 and then just didn’t get better. No threat. If Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee blow up, they could finish ahead of the Cubs.

6) Pittsburgh Pirates – This is a Triple A franchise. They scored only 587 runs last year while giving up 866. If they win 50 games it will be a miracle. Although I do love Andrew McCutchon.

WEST

1) San Francisco Giants – The Giants have enough pitching to prove the 2010 World Series was not a one-hit wonder. Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain will be fine. The only question is: Do the Giants have enough offence after Pablo (Kung Fu Panda) Sandoval.

2) Colorado Rockies – The Dodgers, Rockies and Giants will battle for No. 1 in the West all season long. With Dexter Fowler, Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton and Carlos Gonzalez, this team will score a lot of runs. Can Ubaldo Jimenez carry the worst pitching staff of the Top 3 teams in the West? I love them as the NL Wild Card team.

3) Los Angeles Dodgers – The pitching should be good enough, but players such as Juan Uribe, Andre Ethier and James Loney have to get more done over the long haul. Will new manager Don Mattingly do more with this bunch than Joe Torre?

4) San Diego Padres – Should have enough pitching, won’t have near enough hitting with the loss of Adrian Gonzalez to Boston.

5) Arizona Diamondbacks – Justin Upton and nobody else. Will be young and will be out of the race by June 1.

Playoff Teams:  AL — Boston, Detroit, Minnesota, Texas; NL — Philadelphia, Cincinnati, San Francisco and either Atlanta or Colorado.

AL Champions: Boston Red Sox

NL Champions: Philadelphia Phillies

World Series: Phillies over Boston in six games.

 

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Laughing ‘Till it Hurts at Half-Time of the Bomber Game

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The Bombers are trailing 17-5 at the half against a really lousy Toronto Argonauts team and I have to admit, I feel bad for Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice.

Not only is he Jeff Reinebold without the whimsy, but he’s lost his quarterback, his offense can’t do much of anything and his field goal team team has just been scorched for 108 yards and a touchdown. Maybe Alex Brink will pull off a miracle in the second half because, goodness, gracious, Eden Prairie High School might have been the best team to play at Canad Inns Stadium this year.

It’s amazing, you know. Not just here in Winnipeg, where a 4-12 record beckons (yes, we called 4-14 at the beginning of the season), but all over the 1,000-channel universe, sports has been more fun than a barrel of Mike Kelly radio interviews. From a quarterback who texts pictures of his junk to suite hostesses to helmet-to-helmet hits to the CFL’s decision to remove players from games who wear pink, to fans disguised as seats in Phoenix,  Planet Sports just gets loonier every day.

For instance:

(1) The Onion reports this week that the NFL will fine Monday Night Football for its helmet-to-helmet smash in the pre-game musical intro. Read it here: http://www.theonion.com/articles/nfl-fines-monday-night-football-for-helmettohelmet,18312/ I’m still laughing and it sheds all the light you need on the NFL’s sudden fear of head injuries.

(2) When the Texas Rangers eliminated the New York Yankees from post-season play on Friday night, I found it interesting that the final out was the Yanks Alex Rodriguez being called out on a third strike. I was surprised there wasn’t a riot.

It was Cleveland Indians play-by-play announcer Tom Hamilton who said this year, “No wonder Yankees and Red Sox games last four hours all the time. Every time a Yankee or Red Sox player has a strike called against him it’s like an affront to his senses. Every one of them steps out and argues on every single called strike. These games take forever because the umpires won’t say ‘Shut up and get back in the box.’”

Hamilton is right. There is nothing more annoying than watching the Yankees whine about every called strike (except maybe watching Daryl Johnston on an NFL telecast without a mute button). Games take forever because the umpires are too frightened of or awestruck by the Yankees’ pinstripes. When A-Rod went down on a called strike, the Rangers started to celebrate, the umpires walked off the field and A-Rod had no one to complain to.

It was a moment of pure baseball Zen.

(3) Rod Black just said the Bombers have the wind at their back to start the third quarter. Then he said Bomber punter Mike Renaud was kicking into the wind.

Right now, the wind is out of the east at 11 kilometres per hour. Canad Inns Stadium runs north/south.

Honey, where’s the remote, I need to find that mute button.

(4) This week, the Phoenix Coyotes played a National Hockey League game in front of 6,700 people. On the same night the Manitoba Moose played an American Hockey League game in front of 6,100.

When is Gary Bettman just going to admit that it’s over in Phoenix? Last year, Coyotes president Doug Moss said to my face, “I believe that if we put a winner on the ice here, people will come.” Moss — a tremendous hockey mind and a great guy — was fired, the Coyotes started winning and still, nobody bothered to drive to that rink out in the middle of nowhere.

We all know that the NHL won’t return to Winnipeg until Bettman has completely exhausted all of his options in Phoenix. Of course, if he finds someone with a billion dollars and a brain larger than a walnut to buy that team,  and keep it in the Arizona desert, he’ll be the greatest snake oil salesman in American history.

(5) Yes, I know it’s only pre-season, but I love watching the Cleveland Cavaliers win and the Miami Heat lose.

Sure, reality sets in on Tuesday when the regular season begins, but for now, watching LeBron score 30 and still lose gives me hope for the future of mankind.

(6) BTW, Montreal Alouettes head coach, Marc Trestman, the former Golden Gophers quarterback, would make a great coach at the University of Minnesota.

We’ll be back with a Bomber update in about an hour.

BOMBER POST SCIRPT

Final score: Toronto 27 Winnipeg 8.

The season is over for the Bombers. They’re 4-12 and all playoff hope is gone.

On the up-side, they probably have more built-in excuses than any losing team in history. In order:

(1) It’s Mike Kelly’s fault. He damaged the brand.

(2) Oh, damn, Buck Pierce got hurt.

(3) It’s the referee’s fault.

(4) It’s Steven Jyles fault.

(5) It’s Alex Brink’s fault.

(6) Oh damn, Steven Jyles got hurt.

(7) Oh damn, Alex Brink got hurt.

(8) It’s Joey Elliott’s fault.

Now that the Winnipeg mainstream media’s darlings are 4-12, Mike Kelly looks pretty good doesn’t he?

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Lots of Stuff From a Week at Home and on the Road

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Sitting in the hotel room on a rainy Saturday waiting for the England-USA World Cup match and hoping tonight’s Twins-Braves game is not rained out…

1) Visited $545 million Target Field for the first time last night and it’s better than advertised. A small park with fewer than 40,00 seats, it’s an absolutely perfect place to watch Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.

The press box is one of the best I’ve ever experienced. Great food — cheap, too — and tremendous working areas.

The concourses are spacious and the Twins Store is beyond belief.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you’re visiting:  (a) If you don’t stay at a downtown hotel so you can walk to the park, do your best to park at an LRT lot and take the train. Parking is crazy near the ballpark and if you pay the big bucks to park near the stadium, you might never get out. (b) Some high seats in the 300 level in left centerfield have obstructed views (you can’t see the warning track). Standing room is a better seat choice than high upper deck outfield seats. As long as you can stand for three hours. (c)  The concessions are expensive ($6 for a small bowl of soup), so eat before you go.

It’s a marvelously beautiful Mankato limestone ballpark that cannot be compared to any other major league stadium — past or present. It’s small, intimate and perfect for a place like Minnesota. Progressive Field in Cleveland used to be my favorite big league park, but it’s Target Field now.

2) Speaking of Cleveland, Indians radio announcer Tom Hamilton had the line of the year this past week. As the Indians were beating the Red Sox 11-0, David Ortiz was called out on strikes and, of course, Big Papi had words for the home plate umpire. Hamilton watched this go on and said, matter-of-factly, “Why is it that all Red Sox and Yankees hitters are in shock whenever an umpire calls a strike on them? Nobody whines as much as Red Sox and Yankees hitters.” Hear, hear.

3) Next weekend, the University of Winnipeg will announce that the brand new Wesmen men’s and women’s soccer programs will begin play in the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference this fall. The plan is to play in the MCAC for a year and then join the Canada West Universities Athletic Conference in 2011.

It will be great to have men’s and women’s soccer join men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball at Winnipeg’s downtown campus.

4) Gerrard just scored on Howard. The Liverpool captain scores on the Everton goalkeeper. Time to go watch the match.

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There is no way to make Hall of Fame inductions even plausible anymore… too many idiots involved in the process

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 8 Comments

I lost my temper this week.

 

Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

 

That’s not a bad thing, but the process by which they were elected, is so flawed it’s comical.

 

That’s because baseball allows sportswriters to vote players in — or out, depending on the mob’s current point of view.

 

Henderson, the greatest base stealer and, arguably, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, was elected with 94 per cent of the vote. That’s great to a degree, but what were the other six per cent thinking?

 

ESPN radio found an editor named “Barry” who evidently had a vote. Barry did not name Henderson on his ballot. Barry went on the air and defended his insanity by saying he thought Henderson dogged it from time to time and he was going “to punish Rickey for dogging it.”

 

What an ass crack! Michael Jordan dogged it occasionally. LeBron James takes a mental vacation for the odd quarter. Rickey was weird, no question, but he was still a first-ballot unanimous Hall of Famer.

 

Sadly, these self-important baseball writers see themselves as the moral compass of their sport. That would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Fact is — and the FACT is — most of them are fat, drunk, arrogant womanizers who have never thrown or caught a baseball and don’t get as much on the road as they like to tell people.

 

These are the same clowns who won’t vote Mark McGwire into the Hall because they’ve decided — even though there is no real, actual proof that he was ever guilty of committing any sin against nature — that McGwire did steroids, won’t get down on his knees and admit it personally to them and therefore, isn’t worthy of the Hall.

 

It was the 1990s. They ALL did steroids you morons! They did steroids and worked in the gym while you were being judgmental and drinking your noses red.

 

To make themselves look even more stupid, the members of the BBWAA, voted in Jim Rice and left Andre Dawson and Tim Raines out. Both have better numbers — in almost all categories — than Rice, but evidently, because it was Rice’s final year of eligibility, he made the grade. That’s sheer, unadulterated insanity. You are either good enough or NOT good enough to be in the Hall. This voting system is a travesty.

 

Trouble is, it’s also become evident that if you get a handful of experts around a table and try to select honoured members to the Hall of Fame, you still run into the same problems.

 

That’s the curse of the Hockey Hall of Fame where Clark Gillies gets in but Butch Goring doesn’t. Where Jim Gregory gets in but John Ferguson doesn’t. 

 

Lately, my friend Ed Sweeney, the brilliant former curator of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and the historical researcher on my book, “The Winnipeg Jets: A Celebration of Professional Hockey in Winnipeg,” became quite ill. This year, he will not be able to write his annual letter to the Hockey Hall of Fame.  

 

However, every January, for a decade or so, the 74-year-old Sweeney sat down at his computer, turned on the juice and fired off a letter to Bill Hay or Jim Gregory (He was not only inducted into the Hall, he helps select the Hall of Fame members. Can we say “Gill Stein” children?) or Harry Sinden or somebody on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, just to let them know that he’s still thinking about them.

 

“I have a list of five men, coaches, builders and players who should be in the Hall, but for reasons I don’t understand, are not,” Sweeney told me last year. “There are probably even more people than the men on my small list who deserve to be in. But, for now, I’ll just keep reminding the Hall of the people from my part of the country.” 

 

Sweeney is an old baseball player and bowling champion (he used to set pins at Billy Mosienko Lanes in Winnipeg’s North End) who has always had that deep, abiding love for hockey that only a Canadian can have. By last winter, his list of the slighted had been refined and studied. Sadly, he can’t stand up for the people the Hall has ignored this year because of his illness. That means the Hall’s selection committee will remain conflicted and ignorant.

 

So on Ed’s behalf, here’s “Sweeney’s List”…

 

Robert “Butch Goring: He played 16 years with L.A., Boston and the New York Islanders. Was a Masterton, Lady Byng and Conn Smythe Trophy winner and helped the Islanders win four Stanley Cups in the early 1980s. “If Clark Gillies is in the Hall, then Butch Goring should be in the Hall,” said Sweeney. There is an outstanding profile of Goring at 

http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=12752

 

Murray Murdoch: The NHL’s original Ironman, Murdoch played 11 years with the New York Rangers from 1926-27 to 1936-37, won two Stanley Cups and never missed a game. There is a tremendous profile of Murdoch at http://www.newyorkrangers.com/tradition/bio.asp?Player=Murdoch

 

Billy Reay: “Most people don’t believe me when I tell them Billy Reay is NOT in the Hall of Fame,” said Sweeney. Reay retired as one of only two players to win a Memorial Cup, an Allan Cup and a Stanley Cup (with the Canadiens) and after retiring as a player he went on to coach the Chicago Blackhawks. He left coaching in 1976 with 598 wins — at the time, the second most in NHL history.

 

Lorne Chabot: Port Arthur’s “Old Bulwarks” won a Stanley Cup with the Rangers and had 73 shutouts in his career back when the NHL was in its infancy. There is a fine profile of Chabot at 

http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=18462

 

John Ferguson: “Even if you don’t count the fact, he was the best fighter in the NHL and a pretty good player during his time, John has to be in as a builder,” said Sweeney. “He was assistant GM with Team Canada ’72 and then GM of the Rangers. He built the Winnipeg Jets and had a lot to do with building the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks of today.”

 

Last year, Sweeney wrote his annual letter and received another terse reply from the Hall, telling him that only the Hall’s 18 selection committee members can nominate a candidate.

 

But Sweeney didn’t care. He showed me all of his rejection letters. 

 

He just hopes that someday, the gatekeepers will pull their tiny little pointed heads out of their butts and give them all a collective shake.

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I don’t like ‘em. I’m sorry, but I just don’t like ‘em.

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

I have to admit, I don’t like sports officials at the best of times. I believe that there is no one anywhere who can referee anything properly at anytime.

My battles with basketball referees, subjective sport judges (every subjective sport judge on the planet, doesn’t matter if it’s figure skating or gymnastics, is crooked) and hockey officials have become legendary and, for the most part, I’m not proud of many of them.

 

However, I have no remorse. Everytime I yelled at an official, he deserved it. Every technical foul I took, I rejoiced in it.

 

Among my favourite shots directed at umpires have come from baseball fans. Here’s one from a well-known New York heckler named Bill Ferraro. This was a man who hated umpires almost as much as I do: “Hey, Blue! How about using some Windex on that glass eye!”

 

And another: “Hey Blue! I’ve had better calls from my ex-wife!”

 

And one of the greatest of them all: “Hey Ump!!! Damn good thing you don’t have three choices!”

 

Ferraro’s heckling brilliance was first chronicled by the New York Daily News. The Daily News loved this one: “Hey Blue! Don’t ever think about donating your eyes to science. They don’t want ‘em!!!”

 

Then there was this classic: “Can I pet your seeing eye dog after the game!”

 

And this one: “Come on Blue!!! Pull the good eye out of your pocket!”

 

Oh yeah, and this one: “Lenscrafters called…they’ll be ready in 30 minutes!”

 

Now, that’s harsh. But true.

 

This past weekend, I sat in my big-ass easy chair and spent almost 20 hours screaming at the TV.

 

First of all, we got dreadful homeplate umpiring in the ALCS. I know EVERYBODY loves the Boston Red Sox, but you can only squeeze the strike zone so far until somebody notices. I noticed. I threw things. I really didn’t care all that much if Tampa won the ALCS, but the freakin’ homeplate umpires made me cheer out loud for the Rays. Good on ‘em, Tampa got screwed and still prevailed.

 

Not so for the Minnesota Vikings in Chicago on Sunday. A second-half pass interference call in the end zone that resulted in first-and-goal at the one instead of loss-of-ball-on-downs, fried my shorts. By no definition — and I am reading the NFL rulebook as I write — was that pass interference. Two players fell down. Period. It cost the Vikings the football game.

 

That call was so bad, in fact, it appeared as if the fix was in. If crooked NBA ref Tim Donaghy went to jail, that whole NFL officiating crew in Chicago yesterday should have been locked up. If was as if they all had the Bears on their Vegas parlay ticket. 

 

Gawd, I can still smell that gas bomb.

 

Officiating in every sport is generally awful. Frankly, it should all be done in the booth, with video replay. 

 

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Things that make you go, hmmmmmm….

Posted on July 15, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

On an almost daily basis, someone in the American media will write a column hailing 2008 as being, perhaps, sport’s greatest year.

 

From Nadal’s muscular win at Wimbledon to Tiger’s gimpy victory at Torrey Pines, the American media believes it isin the midst of actually living sport’s “Good ol’ days.”

 

Which, of course, may very well be true. But for all the wonderful stories — the Giants Super Bowl win, the Red Wings dominant Stanley Crown, the Celtics old school win over the Lakers in the NBA final and the emergence of Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer on the planet — 2008 has also left us with enough goofiness to fill a book.

 

Of course, it wouldn’t be a novel, ’cause you can’t make this crap up… 

 

Canseco a Bashed Brother

 

Jose Canseco took steroids, fought with wives, wrote a couple of interesting books and hit a load of home runs, but he wasn’t ready for the fight he got in Atlantic City last weekend. 

 

The 6-foot-4 former tater pounder from Miami who calls himself, “a martial arts specialist” was knocked into next week by 5-foot-9, former Philadelphia Eagles kick returner Vai Sikahema, in the first round, no less, of their celebrity boxing match at an Atlantic City casino.

This fight wasn’t fair. Sikahema, who doubles as a sportscaster, has had more than 80 fights as an amateur boxer while, based on his history Canseco has only had a couple of bar grawls.

Apparently, Juiced and Juiced II didn’t sell all that well. Jose apparently needed an extra payday. The shot to the head he took from Sikahema wasn’t likely as embarrassing as the fact Canseco found himself in this predicament in the first place.

Favre denied Release. 

After watching Brett Favre’s interview with Fox’s Greta van Susteren on Monday night, it became apparent that saying, “Sport is a business,”is just a pleasant way of saying, “We really want to screw over a guy, but hey it’s just business, nothing personal.” I experienced that sentiment first-hand in the media business and if people just wanted to tell the truth they’d say, “We want to screw over the guy because we can.”  

Sure, Favre screwed up his retirement deal, but let’s be honest with each other: Did we ever believe for a second that he was really going to retire? The last pass he threw in that playoff game against the Giants, the one that was intercepted, was never going to be the final pass he threw as an NFL quarterback. Never. Favre was coming back and one senses that the Packers expected he’d be coming back, too.

So favre decides he wants to come back — as everyone expected he would — and now the Packers say, we’ve decided to go another way and have maded Aaron Rodgers the No. 1 quarterback. Favre says, “Hey, no problem, give me my release and I’ll be on my way.” But then, the Packers come back with some nonsense about “preserving Brett’s legacy,” and say, “We they don’t plan to grant Brett the release he is seeking from his contract but we are committed to Aaron Rodgers as the starter.” Oh, oh.

GM Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy went on to tell AP: “We’ve communicated that to Brett, that we have since moved forward. At the same time, we’ve never said that there couldn’t be some role that he might play here. But I would understand his point that he would want to play.”

Yeah, right. If these guys truly believed Aaron Rodgers was any good, they’d release Favre and let Rodgers take the ball and, well, run with it, metaphorically. Instead, they aren’t sure about Rodgers and even less sure about Favre, so they’ll cover their behinds and make sure Favre doesn’t go anywhere. Especially to a place like Chicago or Minnesota where he could come back and bite them in the ass.

Don’t ever believe for one split second that the Packers care about Brett Favre’s legacy. The Packers care about the Packers and the team’s coach and GM care about themselves first and their veteran quarterback a distant second — as all football men do. In the greatest of team games, there is no one more selfish than a football executive.

If the boys in Green Bay really cared about Brett Favre, they’d either announce he’s their starter or they’d let him go. After all, he’s earned it. He’s played hurt. He played after his dad died. As one scribe suggested, “He’s always played for the moment, not the money. There are bits and pieces of his body all over Lambeau Field.”

After what Favre has accomplished in Green Bay, he should have the right to determine his own future. If the people who run the Packers decide that he’s no longer in their plans, they should act like human beings, not dicks, and just let him go. Or, at least, they should make a legitimate effort to trade him, an effort they don’t appear to be making.

Why All-Star Games are a Waste.

Personally, I love Major League Baseball’s all-star game.

In fact, one of the wonderful things about the great game of baseball is that its all-star games are exactly as advertised – real games, played at the highest level of skill.

 

Football and hockey all-star games just aren’t the same because no one wants to get hurt in a game that doesn’t matter in the standings so the inherent violence that sports fans love is all but removed from the equation. Basketball all-star games don’t work because, hey, who really wants to play defence?

 

But baseball? Baseball is different. The nature of the game alone is an invitation to get out onto the diamond and give it your best shot. Throw it, catch it, hit it. Ballplayers love to show the fans how well they play and when it’s all-star time, those stars shine.

 

“You wanna see an unhittable slider? Watch this!”

 

“You wanna see if I can hit it in the river? Well then, show me the cheese, meat!”

 

However, to make an all-star baseball game truly great, you have to have real all-stars in the game. This year, MLB has, as they say, dropped the ball.

 

No Diasuke Matsuzaka. The Red Sox ace, who has overcome injuries and even gone back to A-ball to rehab, is now 10-1 with a 2.65 earned run average. That’s an all-star, but he wasn’t selected to play in the game.

 

No Kyle Lohse. One of three aboriginal Americans in the Majors, Lohse is having a remarkable comeback season. He’s 11-2 with a 3.39 ERA and is one of the big reasons the Cards are in the hunt in the NL Central. He’s an all-star but he’s not in the game.

 

And there is no Ryan Howard. Oh, spare me. Howard leads the National League in home runs and RBI. He’s the biggest run producer in the NL, but he’s not in the game. First time since Hank Bauer in 1945, that the league’s No. 1 homer and RBI man is not in the all-star game. That’s just stupid. Idiot Clint Hurdle and his National League pretenders deserve to lose tonight’s game.

 

You can also go on about Placido Palanco, Mike Mussina, Xavier Nady, Magglio Ordonez and Jermaine Dye, but that’s just picking nits. The fact is, while baseball’s all-star game is the best of a mediocre lot, it loses what lustre it has left when some of the real all-stars are off playing golf.

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Blue Jays fire Gibbons. Wrong guy gets the axe.

Posted on June 21, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

The Toronto Blue Jays should have fired J.P. Ricciardi, but instead, the people who run Ted Rogers’ baseball team, decided on Friday that manager John Gibbons should go.

The Jays, wallowing in last place in the American League East, were 35-39 and had lost five straight when Gibbons was gassed and replaced by Cito Gaston, the special assistant to Jays president, Paul Godfrey. 

 

When Gibbons was fired, the Jays had lost 13 of 17 and fallen 10 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East. On Friday night, when Toronto played Pittsburgh — and Gaston was the manager — the Jays lineup went like this…

 

1. Marco Scutaro, 2B

2. Lyle Overbay 1B

3. Alex Rios RF

4. Vernon Wells, CF

5. Scott Rolen, 3B

6. Rod Barajas, C

7. Kevin Mench, LF

8. John McDonald, SS

9. Roy Halladay, P

 

Frankly, that’s an awful lineup. Barely big league. Late in the game, the Jays used Brad Wilkerson, Matt Stairs and Joe Inglett as pinch hitters. Still, it didn’t matter. The final score: Pittsburgh 1, Toronto 0 in 12 innings. The Jays fell to 35-40 and they’d now lost six straight.

 

Well, why wouldn’t they lose? Why should they win, even with Doc Halladay on the mound? Marco Scutaro is a .248 hitter with nine extra base hits in 202 at bats; Lyle Overbay is a .262 hitter with six homers; Alex Rios is hitting .272 with only three homers and 27 RBI in 290 at bats hitting out of the No. 3 hole; Vernon Wells has struggled through injuries and is hitting .277 in only 148 at bats; Scott Rolen has battled through injuries and is hitting only .268 with three homers; at .289 in 142 at bats, Rod Barajas is the best hitter on the team (Rod Barajas???); Kevin Mench, who had been released by Milwaukee, is hitting .217 (no surprise there); John McDonald is hitting .171; Brad Wilkerson, released earlier this year by last-place Seattle is hitting .244; Joe Inglett is hitting .291 with only one home run in 86 at bats; and Matt Stairs is hitting .255, but at least he has eight homers.

 

The Jays are hitting .257 as a team, baseball’s 21st best overall. In terms of the major league standings, they are 19th overall. That’s the Blue Jays. People who believe the Jays have a good team are delusional. The pitching is decent, but the team has no power and doesn’t hit for average. Only the Minnesota Twins (46) and Los Angeles Dodgers (48) have hit fewer homers than Toronto (49).  It doesn’t run badly (47 steals), but has been caught stealing 23 times, third most in the game. And they field the ball pretty well, fifth in the American League.

 

But they can’t hit. They can’t score. And if you can’t score in the Majors today, you can’t win. 

 

J.P. Ricciardi handed John Gibbons a bad team. Cito Gaston won’t be able to fix it. Unless the Jays find themselves a general manager who can legitimately build a team (Pat Gillick, perhaps?), then the franchise will never again find success.

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