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.