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10 Things on My Mind After a Sunday on the Couch…

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

When you spend an afternoon watching football on television — oh, my gawd, I’ve just spent a month of them — you think about crazy stuff.

Like did CTV finally put the Olympic rings on its logo bug in the corner of the screen? Did it finally occur to them that this is and Olympic year? Or, how in hell can a referee come to the conclusion that Ahmad Bradshaw didn’t fumble with 2:21 to play on his own 20 yard line? I guess, a referee that blew his whistle w-a-a-a-a-y too soon.

Those are the things you think about when a game takes almost 4 1/2 hours to play.

In fact, I wrote down 10 of the things I was thinking about…

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Steven Tyler

1. How can Steven Tyler be a judge on American Idol when he can’t sing a lick? I guess the same way Mike Milbury can pass judgment on the job being done by an actual working NHL general manager after Milbury himself destroyed two franchises — and one, the Islanders, still hasn’t recovered. It has nothing to with his ability to sing. It has everything to do with the fact he passes judgment on other people.

2. Did I miss something? Did Joe Flacco not outplay Tom Brady by about a mile and a half? Damn, Flacco was good yesterday.

3. Was Brady hurt more than anyone would let on and while the Patriots said it was his non-throwing shoulder, when he missed a wide-open Rob Gronkowski by 20 feet, it looked as if he had bigger problems than that.

4. Boy is young Winnipeg Jets star Evander Kane getting beaten up this week. He really must have done something to piss off a city that is so madly in love with its Jets that, when you actually think about it, not one of them could possibly do anything wrong. I’m not sure Kane did anything at all, but suddenly people all over Winnipeg are convinced he did.

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Ahmad Bradshaw

5. Just watched the replay of the Bradshaw fumble again. It was a fumble. Sorry. In fact, that call was so bad it looked like the fix was in. I’m sure the officials can find a way to justify it with the old “quick whistle” excuse but I agree with Niners coach Jim Harbaugh: “It looked like a fumble,” Harbaugh told Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. “Every play that happened in the game except that one was played out to the conclusion of the play.” That call was just horrible. Maybe the officials just believed that after they screwed the Giants twice in Green Bay last week, it was time to make it up. There had to be some reason.

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Dwight Howard

6. Guess the Orlando Magic aren’t thinking about trading Dwight Howard anymore. At 11-4, the Magic are the No. 2 team in the East, a half a game ahead of Miami. Meanwhile, Howard is averaging 20.2 points and 16 rebounds a game. I wouldn’t trade him either.

7. The best thing that happened this week to the rest of MLB’s American League? The Texas Rangers paid $52 million to negotiate with Yu Darvish and then $60 million over six years to sign him. Now they say they’ve pulled out of the Prince Fielder Sweepstakes. If I were the Tigers or the Yankees or the Angels, I’d fear Prince Fielder — especially in a lineup that already boasts Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinzler, Adrian Beltre and Michael Young — a lot more than a Japanese pitcher who just might be the next Diasuke Matsuzaka, or maybe even Hideki Irabu.

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Tiger

8. Flipped over to watch the golf tournament from PGA West on Sunday and dozed off. Can’t wait for Tiger to show up at Pebble Beach on Feb. 6. At least there will be something to watch. Man golf is dull without Woods. Of course, we should be OK this week. The Golf Channel should have plenty of coverage from Abu Dhabi where Tiger opens his 2012 season.

9. Even though he said, “You don’t have to worry about me jumping off a ledge,” I still feel sorry for Baltimore Ravens kicker, Billy Cundiff. Missing a 32-yard field goal at the NFL level (whether it’s to send a game to overtime or was just pooched sometime in the first quarter) has to make you sick to your stomach. Not surprisingly, I got three Facebook messages which essentially read: “The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have announced the signing of kicker Billy Cundiff.”

10. Speaking of the Bombers, many Winnipeg football fans are upset that the Bombers haven’t done anything at all to get better this off-season. Why worry? They didn’t do anything at all last winter and they went to the Grey Cup.

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A Huge Weekend Coming Up: What Does it Mean?

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
0915martinjpg2 300x198 A Huge Weekend Coming Up: What Does it Mean?

Josh Freeman

TAMPA, Fla. — There is nothing better than a long weekend. You don’t have to go to bed early, you don’t have to get up early and there is usually enough sports on the tube that there isn’t one dull moment.

This weekend here in sunny Florida, the Houston Texans take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon, but don’t worry, there’s more. Lots more.

In fact, there’s a load of NFL games on TV, more than enough college football to fill your boots, plus hockey and fighting — both boxing and MMA. The CFL playoffs begin, Tiger is hot in Australia while John Daly is off in Oz playing Kevin Costner’s character in Tin Cup.

While we remember our fathers and grandfathers and all the people who fought to keep Canada free, we can also take comfort in the fact they left us a nation that loves sports — and really loves to argue about it.

So with that in mind, here are five outstanding sporting events taking place this Remembrance Day weekend.

Let’s have an argument.

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Tiger Woods

1. Tiger Woods Heats Up in Australia:

I know, the world is full of Tiger haters, but I’m afraid I’m not one of them. I hope Tiger shoots 62 every time he tees it up just to piss off the people who hate his guts. I also can’t watch golf on TV unless Tiger is in contention. Televised golf these days would put hyperactive children to sleep if Tiger isn’t playing.

So heading into the weekend, Tiger has gone 68-67 at the Lakes Country Club in Sydney and at nine under, he holds a one-shot lead over Peter O’Malley.

He talked after Round 2 as if he was ready to win again.

“I think experience comes with managing myself and my game,” Woods told reporters at the post-round news conference. “I’ve been there a few times and I understand how to do it. All the things that can happen, I’ve experienced a lot of it.”

Go get ‘em Tiger.

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Anthony Calvillo

2. The CFL Playoffs Start:

The Winnipeg Bombers don’t play again until Sunday, Nov. 20 when they play host to the CFL’s Eastern final at Canad Inns Stadium. More than 27,000 tickets have already been sold for that game and no doubt, it will be a sellout. Bomber fans have waited since 20o1 to cheer for a first place and this year they’ll be at the stadium screaming themselves horse.

Buck Pierce says he’ll be ready to start at quarterback when the Bombers face the winner of this Sunday’s Eastern Conference semifinal between the Montreal Alouettes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Alouettes are favored by 5.5 points. Game time is 12 Noon. Meanwhile, in the Western semifinal Calgary will play at Edmonton at 3:30. The Eskimos are favored by 2.5.

It says here that Montreal and Edmonton will emerge victorious this weekend, but both teams will lose in the Conference finals. That means we’re looking at a Winnipeg-B.C. Grey Cup on Nov. 27 at B.C. Place Stadium.

You heard it here first.

3. Two Gigantic Saturday Night Fights:

This Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines returns to the ring for a re-match against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez and it will be a dandy. It’s being billed as Pacquiao-Marquez III at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and it’s the rubber match at 144 pounds for Pacquiao and Marquez.

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Manny Pacquiao

The first time Pacquiao fought Marquez in 2004, he knocked him down three times and settled for a draw. The second time, in 2008, Pacquiao won by split decision. There are some who think Marquez is a better fighter. Both Big Will Prince and I picked Pacquaio to win by a unanimous decision. This will be a long, hard, wonderful fight by two of the best pound-for-pound warriors on the planet.

Meanwhile, on the MMA side of the ledger, the UFC heavyweight title will be up for grabs on Saturday night in the first UFC on Fox main event with champion Cain Velasquez taking on top contender Junior Dos Santos. There will be nine preliminary bouts but only one main event – that’s for Velasquez’s UFC heavyweight title and on Streetz 104.7 this week both Big Will and I picked the veteran warrior, Cain Velasquez, to defend his belt,

However, our fight expert, Marc-Andre Drolet from The Fight Network, said he was ready to place a bet on Dos Santos in an upset.

The fight is free on Fox on Saturday, live from the Honda Centre in Anaheim, Cal.

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Claude Noel

4. The Jets Play in Columbus:

The 5-8-3 Winnipeg Jets, coming off a heartbreaking 6-5 overtime loss in Buffalo on Tuesday night and a dud — a 5-2 loss to Florida — at home on Thursday, take to the road to face the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

The Jets can’t afford to sleep walk through this one like they did against Florida on Thursday.

After all, they get one game on the road and then return to Winnipeg to face Tampa on Monday, Washington on Thursday and Philly next Saturday. The road game will be the easiest of the next four.

After Thursday’s loss head coach Claude Noel said: “We were not good from the goaltender out, what do you want me to say?”

Thank you, coach, for the thoughtful, candid, honest response. I watched the game at Buffalo Wild Wings in Orlando on Thursday night and the locals laughed at my favorite hockey team. They had better be better on Saturday or a desperate Columbus team will rip them.

Meanwhile, there is still talk in Jets circles about moving Dustin Byfuglien from defense to forward, but head coach Claude Noel doesn’t want to make the move because Byfuglien “Doesn’t want to play forward,” and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff doesn’t want to make the move because he likes Byfuglien on the ice 22-24 minutes a night on defense while he’d only play 15-17 minutes at forward. Which, of course, didn’t matter much in Buffalo after two of Byfuglien’s mistakes cost the Jets a pair of goals.

This debate will continue for awhile.

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Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings

5. Indy to 0-10, Green Bay to 9-0:

I’m not convinced the Jacksonville Jaguars are any good, but I am convinced they’re better than the 0-9 Indianapolis Colts. However, the Colts aren’t going to go 0-16 this season (my Lions have already EARNED that notoriety) and if they’re going to win a game this year, this is it. It goes Sunday at Noon (CST) and yet if they were playing it in my back yard, I wouldn’t open the drapes to watch it. This might be one of the worst NFL games this season.

Meanwhile, on Monday night, the Green Bay Packers play host to the Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay will win because Aaron Rodgers will throw a pantload of TD passes against that dreadful Vikings defensive secondary. How about 48-36 Green Bay?

The Packers will improve to 9-0 and will only have two semi-difficult games in their final seven. We could be witnessing another 16-0 season.

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Good Days and Bad.

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Had a nice conversation with Fehlandt Lentini on Tuesday. Fehlandt had a good day.

The former Goldeye fan-favorite is now a current Goldeye fan-favorite. After getting his release from the Amarillo Sox of the American Association, he was signed by Winnipeg manager Rick Forney and hit out of the six hole on Tuesday night. He was absolutely thrilled.

Lentini was  released from a team that was 38-43 and right out of the post-season hunt and signed by a team that was 47-33 and first in the North Division. Sometimes being released isn’t the end of the road, even for a veteran player. Sometimes, a release is a ticket to a better situation.

In Lentini’s case, the situation couldn’t be better. He, indeed, had a good week.

So far, it’s been a very interesting week for a lot of people. Some good, some bad. Here’s a guy who could have had a great week, but ended up having a bad one:

steve williams interview 300x189 Good Days and Bad.

The Mouth That Spewed

Professional golf bag carrier, Steve Williams, was able to serve Adam Scott as Scott hit all the shots and won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. It was a great Sunday for Williams who, of course, had recently been fired by Tiger Woods.

But because Williams is such a narcissistic bloviator, he went on television, dumped all over Woods and praised — no, not Scott — but himself for winning the Bridgestone. It was a dreadful and somewhat embarrassing outburst by a person who was described as “delusional” by Golf Digest.

It’s nice to work for a winner. It’s bat-$#it crazy to take credit for winning when you don’t hit a shot.

Williams had a great Sunday, but his mouth turned it into a horrible Monday.

On the upside, it’s painfully obvious why Woods got rid of Williams and, in fact, I’m surprised Woods didn’t fire Williams the day he ripped Phil Mickelson. If you really want to change your life, as Woods obviously does, getting rid of some old baggage never hurts.

By the way, after Williams shot off his mouth, here is what Paul Azinger said about Tiger in an interview with Steve Deuming at WDAE in Tampa: “I have always pulled for Tiger to do well, he’s the most exciting player whether you like him or hate him now, and for me personally it’s hard to watch the product unless he is in it.”

That’s the most honest assessment of the PGA Tour I’ve ever read.

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Another Week of Craziness

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

While watching Northwestern play Illinois at Wrigley Field, with both teams’ offences going in the same direction (it does sound weird, doesn’t it?), it’s time to look at the good, bad and ugly of another week in loony-land.

(1) I have to admit, I was excited that Tiger Woods had agreed to be interviewed by Mike & Mike on ESPN. I was excited to hear if Tiger had a new swing coach, how much golf he was playing these days, what was his workout regime and did he think he’d be ready to challenge on the Tour again.

What I got for 11 minutes was Mike Golic asking Woods the same questions everyone has asked for more than a year. Without fear of argument, it was the worst interview I have EVER heard on professional sports radio. It was as if Golic was asking questions to satisfy his own ego. It was as if the answers Woods has given for a year weren’t real answers until Golic asked the questions.

Now I’m told that if I’d hung around, I’d have heard Golic actually get into real time, but I was just sick and tired of 11 minutes of year-old repetition. Who gives a crap about, “How did what happened last November affect your life?” We’ve heard the answers already. 100 times. It was just a waste of expensive radio time.

How do these guys get work? It was proof that you could put a monkey on ESPN and the producers would find A-listers for the monkey to interview.

(2) Read this in the National Post following the announcement that Marty Gold’s radio show had been taken off 92-KICK FM:

Graham Thomson, the college’s dean of business and applied arts and a non-voting executive member of the board that canned the show, acknowledged that the Winnipeg Free Press contacted president Stephanie Forsyth, but denied any outside influence. Ms. Forsyth declined to comment.

“As I understand it, the president did get a communication from the Free Press,” he said, later adding that he believed the communication came from editor Margo Goodhand. “There were some concerns about Marty having taken shots at the Free Press … I believe that the concern about the show was voiced by the president to one of our vice-presidents who is on the board.”

The story was written by Kathryn Blaze Carlson. I hope it’s not true and here’s why: On Oct. 18, the Free Press wrote a fawning feature about the new president. Then “communication” from the Free Press to the new president about Gold’s show arrived no later than Oct. 22.

If it is true, and as I said, I hope it isn’t, then it is an illustration of everything that is wrong with big media. And nobody likes a bully.

Gold’s program provided listeners with a load of local sports news that wasn’t available anywhere else. Marty was a great friend of the Winnipeg Goldeyes, local pro wrestling, the province’s aboriginal athletes and those young, often underprivileged, athletes who didn’t get a lot of publicity in the mainstream media.

His program will be missed.

(3) Friday night, the Atlanta Thrashers drew an announced crowd of 11,155 for a game against the always exciting Washington Capitals. There might have been 5,000 — maybe — in the building.

When will the NHL realize that the best league in professional hockey should have more teams in a country that actually cares about hockey? Atlanta is a college football town. It is no place for a National Hockey League franchise.

(4) I have had an incredible level of response for a piece I wrote in the Nov. 9, edition of Grassroots News (you can read it at www.grassrootsnewsmb.com). It was about aboriginal hockey star Brigette Lacquette, a member of Canada’s national under-22 women’s team, who had agreed to play at the University of Manitoba. After being cut by the national women’s senior team, the 17-year-old realized she wouldn’t get the same level of competition at a Canadian university as she would at an NCAA Division 1 school. So after discussing it with her family, she decided to play out the 2010-11 season at the U of M and then move on to play at the University of Minnesota-Duluth next fall.

However, to her credit, she was honest about it. Instead of just playing out the season and then saying, “See ya,” in April, she was forthright with her coach, Jon Rempel, and told him immediately about her decision.

In a shocking result, she was punished for her honesty. If she’d played out the season and just left at the end of the year, she could have benefited from a full season of play. Instead, by telling the truth, she was kicked off the team.

I guess that’s what our education system teaches kids these days. Lie and you will be rewarded. Tell the truth and you will suffer the consequences. It’s an horrendous thing to teach children and it leads me to worry about the future.

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Nice Work PGA Tour. Allow Your Fans to Walk Through the Bunkers. Idiots.

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The PGA Tour hit a new low on Sunday afternoon. The knuckleheads who run golf’s biggest tournaments have now decided that having ropes doesn’t make any sense anymore and they’ll just let the fans trample through bunkers now.

On the 18th hole on the final day of the 2010 PGA championship, leader Dustin Johnson hit a tee-shot straight right. It was a lousy shot, right into the gallery.

Little did Johnson know, however, that the PGA Tour decided that all bunkers are no longer part of the playing area of the golf course and allowed the fans to trample through them. That’s right. “We’ll hide a bunker under the gallery just so some unknowing bastard who hits it right will be ripe for a two-shot penalty.”

So when Johnson hit it into what he thought was a gallery, a gallery that for a week had trampled down everything in its wake, it turned out that the Tour had allowed the galleries to trample through an actual sand trap. What a collection of idiots.

Johnson didn’t know it was a bunker and grounded his club. Automatic two-shot penalty. Sadly, nobody but the Tour rules nazis knew it was a bunker. CBS even had to explain to viewers that in this shit-hole of trampled dirt and rough their could have been a bunker there. “Maybe. Like, maybe a week ago, OK?” CBS even sent out Feherty to explain that “maybe that was a lip.”

Meanwhile TVs two biggest PGA Tour sycophants, Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo, went on about how Johnson shouldn’t have grounded his club anyway because it was kind of sandy. Hey boys, you protect idiots, you sound like idiots.

Johnson paid the price, finished nine under and was kicked out of a playoff. The PGA Tour looked stupid and lazy because they didn’t rope off their hazards and bunkers.

A shaky Tiger Woods hasn’t been the entire cause of the PGA’s TV ratings demise. Idiots have played a part in it, too.

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Monday morning:

Watched the PGA Tour rules official defend allowing galleries to trample through bunkers by saying players were given one-page sheets saying all bunkers would be treated as bunkers.

Now there’s a comment that makes you go “Hmmmm.”

There was never a greater ass-covering comment in the history of golf. This doofus essentially said, “We’ve decided to allow the galleries to trample down the bunkers – even bunkers that are 20-30 yards or so off the fairways – and we expect you, as players, to suddenly become golf course architects and memorize where Pete Dye placed every bunker on this golf course. Even the ones we’ll hide under the sneakers of the fans.

Hope that guy’s running for office. He’s not only full of crap, he’s good at covering his worthless butt. He’s a dream politician.

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Mickelson Wins. Woods Entertains. Masters was Great Weekend Drama.

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

TAMPA, Fla. — So much for reality TV. Survivor, Dancing with the D-List, the Amazing(ly dull) Race, Undercover Boss. Not one of those examples of cheap network programming could hold a candle to the reality TV we watched from Augusta, Ga., this weekend.

I loved the fact Phil Mickelson won the tournament (160-under on that golf course is pretty special) and was able to share the win with his wife. Great story. Good for Phil.

However, the real story was Tiger Woods — and what a spectacular story it was. The 2010 Masters was a movie unto itself. Forget that Woods was an amazing 68-70-70-69 to finish in fourth place at 11-under. Forget that after 144 days out of the game, hounded by a sick American mainstream media that had absolutely nothing else to sell, Woods played four rounds under par at a tremendously tough golf course in the middle of a pressure-packed atmosphere that would have brought anyone else on the planet to his knees. It was one of the greatest athletic performances in history and unquestionably the best fourth place finish ever.

But what was even better — and certainly more entertaining — was how Woods played. On the final day, he was three over after the first five and then played the final 13 holes down the stretch at six under. On at least four occasions, you thought Woods was done, ready to fade to the back of the pack. But he kept turning it one, kept coming back, kept making birdies.

It was the best weekend in sport in years. Too bad Woods is going t take more time off.

In the meantime, the Stanley Cup playoffs start this week. If they’re a tenth as entertaining as the Masters, it will be the best post-season in decades.

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Woods Play Makes for a Wonderful Weekend of Golf

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The best thing about hanging out about three miles from Tiger Woods’ house, is listening to the rumours.

“Oh yeah, Tiger banged his neighbor’s 21-year-old daughter while his wife watched from the window.”

Friendly, huh?.

“Oh yeah, and did you see those texts he sent to the stripper/hooker/porn star? He wanted to tie her up.”

Kinky.

“Did you know that Tiger’s a sex addict who has to bang women even when he doesn’t want to?”

No, didn’t know that.

Friday night, I had both the opportunity and joy to watch Jesse Ventura guest host the Larry King Show. Forget the fact that he essentially called the hot Republican strategist/guest/talking head a lying bee-yotch (which she was), he also declared the American media to be at the saddest and most disgustingly low ebb in its history. As an example, he used all the time and resources that have been wasted creating a gossip-mongering campaign on Tiger Woods’ sex life.

He’s right, of course. The fastest way for me to hit the mute button or turn the station is for some radio or TV donkey to mention “another Tiger Woods mistress.” This thing is so out of hand, it’s reached the point where clearly 90 per cent of the crap we hear is NOT true. It’s made-up mainstream media clap-trap, just like WMDs in Iraq, the Duke lacrosse story and now, apparently, the Ben Roethlisberger sexual abuse scandal. If Tiger Woods got the action the media claims he got, he couldn’t walk, let alone head into the third round of the Masters in contention.

Which is why this weekend’s Masters Championship will be as compelling as golf can be. And the ratings will match the excitement and drama. If Tiger can pull this off, it will be one of the greatest stories in sport.

After the international media failed to have any idea about Tiger’s private, personal sex life and then, when it found out, did everything humanly possible to destroy the rest of its life over its own ignorance, it appeared as if Tiger’s place in golf history was tainted forever. This weekend, however, as he enters the third round of the Masters at 6-under, just two shots back, there is a chance he can become the comeback of the athlete of the year in just four days of work.

Somewhere between the truth and the media’s fabrications, lies a real human being who could still be the greatest golfer in the world. The next two days at the Masters will be the most compelling in decades.

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After a Week on the Road, Some Thoughts and Observations

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

TAMPA, Fla. — We’ve been out watching hockey, baseball and golf for a week.

Here are some things we’ve heard and a whole lot of things we’ve seen.

1) Sure, just about everyone you talk to in the NHL these days believes Phoenix Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett will easily win the Jack Adams Coach of the Year Award. But could it be that Tippett is merely the illustration we’ve been given to show that Wayne Gretzky was a horrible coach? Could it be that Tippett is a good coach (there are plenty of good coaches) who just happened to inherit a very good hockey team that got plenty of help at the trade deadline?

This past Saturday night, the Nashville Predators locked up a playoff berth with a brilliant 4-3 win over the Red Wings in Detroit. Tippet is worthy, but Barry Trotz is the best coach in hockey. Nashville — with a lineup of no-names, has-beens, never-weres and Shea Weber — is now 46-29-6 and will play either Vancouver or San Jose in the opening round of the playoffs.

For a guy who has never won a major coaching award and only coached our national team on one occasion, he’s the most outstanding coach that nobody really knows. And this year, frankly, he’s the Coach of the Year.

2) Watched Tiger in the opening round of the Masters on Thursday. What an incredible performance. Say what you will, Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer in history.

Considering that after all the crap he went through — some of it of his own making, most of it the media’s making (he didn’t do anything that hundreds who have gone before him didn’t do) — Woods went out and shot a first round 68 at the Masters. It was his finest opening ever at the Masters. The first time he ever had two eagles in the same round. It doesn’t matter what happens the rest of the way. Nobody plays the game better than Tiger Woods. Period.

And golf is better off now that it has him back.

3) See the Bombers lost $1.2 million in 2009. See the Winnipeg mainstream media wants to blame Mike Kelly for it.

Talk about a one trick pony. The Winnipeg mainstream media either hasn’t got the cojones or the intelligence to point the finger at the people responsible. Wonder how long this will last? In 2016, when the Bombers go 4-14, it won’t matter who’s coaching, it will be Mike Kelly’s fault. Nice deal for Paul LaPolice, though. If he goes 0-18 as head coach this season, the local media will blame Mike Kelly.

If  the coach is the guy who single-handedly lost $1.2 million, why wasn’t he fired a helluva lot sooner? In fact, why wasn’t the guy who hired him fired? And why weren’t the people who hired the guy who hired Mike Kelly all fired? When a football organization loses $1.2 million, the responsibility lands a lot higher up than the head coach. The local media in Winnipeg did a lot more to help the Bombers lose $1.2 million than Mike Kelly did. When you keep telling people to stop buying tickets, a lot of them will eventually stop buying tickets.

By the way, I see that the CFL sent $150,000 less than it did a year earlier to each of its eight teams. That means the CFL raised $1.2 million less in corporate sponsorships in 2009 than it did in 2010. How did that happen? How did the CFL lose $150,000 per team in revenue when the league’s popularity has never, ever been greater.

Wonder where Tom Wright went?

4) The Stanley Cup playoffs start next week. After this past week in Tampa, I can’t wait. Too bad Steven Stamkos doesn’t play in a city where people actually care about hockey.

Speaking of which, my people in Phoenix tell me that the chances of the league still owning the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night after Glendale city council votes on that sweetheart rental deal for Jerry Reinsdorf at jobing.com Arena, is better than 50-50.

Winnipeg might not be dead yet.

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A Week in the Trenches. Mostly Reading and Listening to Silliness.

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Why is it, when I turn on the TV or read the newspaper, I get a headache? …

Evidently Tiger Woods will play in the Masters, beginning April 8 at Augusta. It was pretty hard to miss the news even though we first reported it on the Tom & Joe on 92-CITI-FM on March 12 (check out the sports report on March 12 at www.92citifm.ca).

Naturally, the news that Woods would return to the Tour brought out all the holier-than-thou media judgment passers. “Tiger did this. Tiger did that. What a jerk. What a bad guy.” After awhile, it just got tiresome.

It never ceases to amaze me that a group of people — media people — who, more often than not, have been through a couple of marriages, usually as a result of bad behaviour, can rip a professional athlete because he sometimes thinks with his second brain.

Seems to me this is just like the steroid scandal. These people didn’t know what Tiger was doing and when they found out they were embarrassed. So, like a mindless mob, they attacked. Its the same phenomenon that resulted when they were embarrassed for keeping steroid use in baseball quiet for all those years. Now they love to take shots at Mark McGwire even though McGwire  used steroids when steroids weren’t on any banned-substance list because baseball didn’t have a banned-substance list.

Oh yeah, I forgot, the media still believes it was McGwire’s fault and that pitchers NEVER used steroids. Mob rule is indeed mindless.

The biggest problem we face in the world is the misinformation and disinformation doled out by the mainstream media.

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In recent weeks, the Canadian media has had a field day hopping on the “stop-head-shots” bandwagon. Canadian columnists have been screaming for the NHL to penalize players who check other players in the head.

Naturally, the people doing the screaming have never played hockey — or never played the game at a high level — and they have this belief that a 6-foot-3, 220-pound defencemen wearing the finest equipment in the history of the sport, using skates that help him fly like the wind, can make a decision in mid-bodycheck to alter his target. In fact, so many players who have taken head shots have taken them because they had their head down and were off-balance, falling or in an unorthodox position. Sadly, while the media mob screams to find some special penalty for what they call “pre-meditated headshots,” it took Eric Duhatschek in the Globe and Mail to find former NHL referee Bruce Hood.

Hood was clear: “The NHL already has rules that, if called, would almost completely eliminate head shots.” The trouble with the NHL is that the rulebook isn’t really a rulebook, it’s just a suggestion.

If there is a problem with headshots and the resulting concussions, the problem is simple. The players are too big and fast; the light, hard-plastic equipment is dangerous; and the ice surface is too small. On top of that, the league’s referees don’t want to call a penalty on every rush, so the rulebook is never adhered to, at least not literally.

The media can scream all it wants about eliminating headshots, but if the NHL wants to market itself as a fast, collision sport, then accidents will happen even if the league starts kicking out players who inadvertently bodycheck opponents higher than they should. And I really love how people on TV can mind-read and tell me if a player is taking a shot at an opponent’s head on purpose. I love that. I wonder if they know tonight’s 6/49 winner too?

Any rule designed to eliminate headshots will be for show. The rule will be meant to protect the players, but in a sport as fast and violent — with players as big as they are today — as professional hockey, injuries, even serious head injuries, can’t be eliminated. At least, not if the people who run the sport want the sport to be the exciting sport they have today.

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A Week’s Worth of Stuff.

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

After eight days of Olympic watching (and yes, I’m still watching most of it with the mute button on), Ohio State basketball watching, Cleveland Cavaliers watching and Tiger Woods watching, here are some thoughts on well, stuff.

1) New Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice told the Winnipeg Sun this week that he’s going to take telephone calls on his radio show again.

He’d better go 18-0 or he’ll regret that decision.

2) Here is the typical response I’ve received from e-mailers on Canada’s Own the Podium program.

Scottie

Own the podium my expletive!  I am not your typical apathetic Canadian….I’M EXPLETIVE PISSED OFF. Just watched the Koreans sweep the short track speed skating. GIVE ME AN EXPLETIVE BREAK…KOREA?

Outside of Nesbitt…the entire speed skating program long and short…along with the alpine skiing program has been a total joke and a disgrace. Especially on Canadian soil. What the expletive have they been doing for the past four years? Smoking dope?Are these people not in shape? Do they not train properly? Or is it just the laid back attitude of accepting LOSING IN CANADA. Or maybe it is just Canadian genetics? I don’t know!

Well, I won’t accept it. NO OTHER NATION ON EARTH SHOULD BEAT US ON ICE…we should be the expletive ICE KINGS OF EARTH.

These programs have to be revalued and heads must roll. I don’t mind my tax dollar going to support our athletes….BUT YOU BETTER START SHOWING SOME RESULTS.

Korea…GIVE ME A BREAK…!

And If I hear that ‘I Believe’ song one more time….my expletive head is going to explode….or I’m going to kill somebody!  So I guess I will be using the mute button on a regular basis from now on….as you can’t turn on your TV or change the channel without it bellowing from the speakers.

I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this expletive any longer.

Ted Arichteff

Winnipeg.

For a lot of Canadians that pre-Olympic TV hype combined with the $118 million Own the Podium program was just a little too much to take.

We should win four medals in hockey and curling so we’ll easily get into double figures in medals, and for me, that’s about as much as could have hoped for. I think Canada will look back on this experience as a good one, but we over-promised and that’s never good.

3) Tiger Woods didn’t owe me an apology. I don’t care what he does with his own life. None of my business.

I just want to know when he’s going to play golf again because the overwhelming boredom that is today’s PGA Tour is for mavens only. Ian Poulter vs. Paul Casey in the Match Play final? Zzzzzzzzzz.

4) Why are VANOC officials making excuses for bus troubles at the 21st Winter Olympic Games? The buses never, ever run smoothly at the Olympics. Ever.

Of the nine Olympics I’ve covered, the only one I enjoyed was Salt Lake City because I had a rental car and there were places to park at the events. If you expect the buses to run properly, you have no idea what you’re involved with and you’re whining about something that will never change.

5) Just in case you’ve forgotten, hockey fans, the NHL trade deadline is March 3.

Maybe the Leafs will make enough deals to finish .500. Or not

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