It’s been a crazier week than normal in the World of Sports. It’s time to weigh in on the seemingly non-stop lunacy:
Tim Thomas
1) Tim Thomas didn’t join his team when the Boston Bruins were honored at the White House this past week.
The guy is free to do what he pleases but it cannot be argued that he put his political views ahead of his teammates.
In the meantime, I don’t need to say anything about Tim Thomas. I’ll leave that to American goaltender Cory Schneider, a one-time popular member of the old Manitoba Moose:
“I have no problem with his personal beliefs, but [Thomas] can suck it up for an hour, say, ‘hi,’ and be with the team, and avoid all of this,” Schneider told The Vancouver Province.
Cory Schneider
Schneider, who hails from Marblehead, Mass., and played collegiately at Boston College told The Province that he believes Thomas “should be more appreciative of the opportunities he’s been given by playing in the United States.”
“Respect the [presidency],” Schneider said. “He plays for Team USA and he has no problem making millions of dollars in the USA, but he can’t go say ‘hi’ to the President? You get a lot of benefits living in the U.S. and he should have a little bit of respect for that.
“It’s about putting your own agenda aside to do something with the team whether you like the guy or not.”
2) I guess you can call it “The NHL All-Star Game” if you want to, but here in Winnipeg, anyone who watches it will probably be watching it on a dare. With not one single Winnipeg Jets player in the game to go with the fact Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Nick Lidstrom, Jonathan Toews, Teemu Selanne, Ilya Kovalchuk, Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson, Patrik Elias, Marty St. Louis, Nicklas Backstrom, Vinny Lecavalier, Bobby Ryan and Anze Kopitar were either not chosen or are just not participating (for whatever reason), this is an “All-Star Game” in name only.
Nick Lidstrom: All-Stars? Anyone?
When you’ve reached the point that one-hit wonders like Jamie Benn, Jason Pominville, Alexander Edler(?), Dion Phaneuf (gawd, the voting is stupid), Logan Couture and Dan Girardi are all-stars and there is not ONE Winnipeg Jet, this game is a misnomer. The fact it will be a no-hit 14-12 afternoon of pond hockey doesn’t even matter anymore. If there aren’t all-stars or a player in the game from every team, what’s the point?
Oh, I know, all it is is an excuse for NHL executives to have a party. I get that. Still…
Here in Winnipeg, people just can’t understand the NHL’s stupidity: Or, if nothing else, the NHL’s inability to grasp a feel-good story.
When it comes to the Jets, the NHL dropped the ball on this one. Frankly, the Jets should have had a whole line at the all-star game in Ottawa. The Return of the Jets to Canada was the feel-good sports story of the year in this country and if the NHL wanted to milk a feel-good story, it should have had a few Jets for the international media to talk to at the mid-winter classic.
Now they can just talk to real all-stars like Alex Ovechkin, Teemu Selanne, Jonathan Toews, Ilya Kovalchuk and Sidney Crosby. Oh yeah, they aren’t there either.
Like always, the NHL missed a great PR opportunity because as happens far too often, the NHL still doesn’t know a really good story when one steps on its throat.
In the meantime, the NHL has another problem, a credibility problem. Regardless of how they want to spin it, the NHL would have a better “all-star” game if, say, somebody invited those players who chose NOT to go to Ottawa, to appear for big money in Vegas or New York or L.A. on the weekend. Now that would have been a game.
Meanwhile, other than a nice excuse to have a small mid-season convention in a member city, the 2012 “No-Star Game,” is a sad joke.
And here is what makes it truly sad: The ONLY thing the media has talked about for two days is which player would be selected last when the teams are picked. That’s it. That’s all they got.
Arizona's Platinum Uniforms
3) Nike, which did wonders with the University of Oregon Ducks uniform this year (Man, I loved those Rose Bowl helmets), has now turned its attention to college basketball.
These unis are called “Hyper Elite Platinum,” and they will be worn by Connecticut, Kentucky, Duke, Florida, Syracuse, Arizona and NorthCarolina. They’re different and kind of fun and they’ll look pretty decent on national TV.
Here is the schedule for when these uniforms will be worn: UConn vs. Notre Dame (1/29), Kentucky vs. Tennessee (1/31), Duke vs. Maryland (2/11), Florida vs. Tennessee (2/11), Syracuse vs. USF (2/22), Arizona vs. UCLA (2/25) and UNC vs. Maryland (2/29).
I like them. Once.
After two days of listening to the complaints about officiating in these Stanley Cup playoffs – and believe me, everyone who has complained has had a right to complain – it was nice to watch a couple of hockey games on Sunday that had more to do with good play than with bad calls.