I’m off to Tampa tomorrow. Hockey, football, Disney, my daughter, all the things that make Florida great. When you live and work in Winnipeg, MB., it’s October and the snow is on its way, heading off to sporting events where it’s 40 degrees C. is better than a morning on the Tom & Joe Show on 92-CITI-FM — and that’s about as much fun as a human being should be allowed to have.
Speaking of Tom & Joe, we had Chicago Bears defensive tackle Israel Idonije on this morning talking about his fund raising raffle for both the Bisons and Sister McNamara School. What Izzy still does to raise money for the right causes in Winnipeg is way past commendable, but he does it and we love him for it.
This past week, Idonije was tremendous in a 48-24 Bears win over Detroit. He had a tackle and a forced fumble and then, on Monday, went out and had arthroscopic surgery on a minor knee injury. Interestingly, one of our local bird-cage liners carried the headline “Idonije Could Be Out For The Season.” The story came from AP, so you can’t blame the fishwrap, but come on, it was minor arthro. Think before just blindly running an AP story on a local guy who isn’t as injured as the Associated Press (which doesn’t know him and didn’t know the injury) tried to make him out to be.
“I’m doing great, heading off to work, I’ll be ready to go in the Atlanta game,” Idonije said. “It wasn’t a big deal. Just a little clean up. I’m fine.”
Look, the Bears might hold him out an extra week, but he says he’ll be ready to go Sunday night, Oct. 18 against the Falcons. The reason he had the procedure this past week was because the Bears are on their bye-week. Have people suddenly become stupid?
But hey, Izzy is just another extremely talented Manitoba kid caught up in the nasty and high-paying world of big-time pro sports — which might not be as nasty or as messed up as the media types who follow it.
In fact, Thursday was a great day for Manitobans and folks with close ties to the province. Let’s review:
1) In Los Angeles, former Winnipeg Goldeyes reliever, George Sherrill, pitched another scoreless inning against the Cards and earned the win in a 3-2 Dodgers victory. The Dodgers lead the series 2-0 and Sherrill has been almost flawless in two appearances.
2) The Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in a shootout. Winnipeg’s Nigel Dawes scored his first goal of the year for the Flames and also added a goal in the shootout. Finally, Dawes is getting a chance to play on a scoring line in the NHL. The Flames might have the best $750,000-a-year player in the game. By the way, former Jets goaltender, Nikolai Khabibulin, was the best player on the ice for the Oilers
3) The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in a shootout in Tampa. Winnipeg’s Travis Zajac scored his second goal of the season and added an assist. His goal came at the 19:59 mark of the third period and sent the game into overtime.
4) Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia 5-4, but Portage LaPrairie’s Arron Asham finally got a chance to play and gave the Flyers 11 solid minutes.
5) The Anaheim Ducks massacred the Boston Bruins 6-1 as former Winnipeg Jet Teemu Selanne scored twice, 82 seconds apart, in the second period. Head coach Randy Carlyle’s Ducks (Carlyle is a former Jets defenceman and Manitoba Moose head coach) blasted the Bruins right in downtown Boston.
6) Detroit beat Chicago 3-2, but Winnipeg’s Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks captain, played 26 minutes. There is pretty serious talk now that with three of their biggest stars in the final years of their respective contracts, the Blackhawks might be forced to make a trade to free up some salary cap space for next season. Toews, Patrick Kane and Winnipeg-born Duncan Keith can become restricted free agents next summer, however the Blackhawks intend to keep all three. If a deal is done, it won’t be done until next year’s draft and yes, defenceman Cam Barker from Winnipeg (he has a $3,25 million per year salary) appears to be the most likely player who would be involved in a deal.
7) Atlanta beat St. Louis 4-2 but once again former Winnipeg Jets leftwinger-centre, Keith Tkachuk, had a terrific game. Tkachuk had a goal and an assist ad now, at 37, has three goals and three assists in the Blues’ first three games.
And the Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2. Jordin Tootoo from Chruchill and Colin Wilson, the son of Winnipeg’s Carey Wilson, were scratched with injuries Thursday night, but Neepawa’s Triston Grant got a chance to play and did a good job in 11 minutes of action.
In a week in which Todd McCullough, the former NBA star from Winnipeg’s Shaftesbury High School, was inducted, with the first class, into the Manitoba High School Athleltic Association Hall of Fame, it was a pretty great for Manitoba’s athletes.
Keep coming back here for regular updates. Unlike AP, we’ll make an effort to get it right.