News you need to get through the day …
A few assorted thoughts on the 36th anniversary of the day Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat on stage … TILTED FIELD
Tom Brady has won five Super Bowls. The other three quarterbacks still remaining in this weekend’s NFL conference finals — Blake Bortles, Nick Foles and Case Keenum — have a total of five playoff starts between them. MORE THAN A LITTLE SCARY
Among the millions of other people who were in Hawaii when the terrifying, though ultimately false, ballistic missile alert went off last weekend was Dundas PGA Tour pro Mac Hughes.
He, his wife and his infant son had been on the island for the Sony Open. After narrowly missing the cut, they’d decided to stick around and enjoy the hotel.
“I woke up to the alert and started to search online to see if it was legit or not,” he says. “Once I got it cleared up and found out it was a false alarm, I — along with the rest of Hawaii — was incredibly relieved.” BOOK THE MRI NOW
The most frightened person in the CFL today? That would have to be Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly. Because this week, the Eskimos signed Kevin Glenn as the backup QB.
He is the league’s version of Angela Lansbury (no, we’re not talking about his age).
In Murder She Wrote, every time Lansbury’s character visited a town, somebody died. In the CFL, every team Glenn joins sees the starter go down with an injury. In 2012 and 2013 when he was with Calgary, Drew Tate missed most of the season both times. In 2014 he joined B.C. and Travis Lulay was promptly sidelined. And in 2015 while he was with Saskatchewan, Darian Durant was hurt. NOT GOOD
If it feels like you haven’t heard much, if anything, about how the World Junior hockey tournament did on TV a couple weeks ago — we know ticket sales were disappointing in Buffalo — there’s probably a good reason for that.
According to Numeris figures released this week, average viewership for the three playoff games involving Canada was down 23 per cent from last season. NO TIME
There’s been plenty of consternation in Toronto about the Maple Leafs lately about the power play, linemates, and ice time. For the first time, head coach Mike Babcock is being challenged hard about some of his choices. Top of the list? Auston Matthews is inarguably his best player and one of the best players in the league. Yet 186 players across the NHL get more ice time per game. That’s a bit odd.
More head-scratching? There are 199 who get
more power play time per game. And not just by a little. The Islanders’ Matthew Barzal, San Jose’s Tim Heed and Colorado’s Alexander Kerfoot (um, who?) all get nearly a minute more time on the ice with the man-advantage.
Matthews’s 2:16 a game on the power play is tied with Buffalo’s Hudson Fasching. He of one career NHL goal. CONNOR, WHO?
Hands up all of you who predicted that any of Nathan McKinnon, Phil Kessel, Blake Wheeler or Jakub Voracek would be ahead of Connor McDavid in the NHL scoring race midway through January. NOT GREAT YET
Fifteen times this year the Hamilton Bulldogs have played a game against one of the worst five teams in the league. They’ve won 12 of those. That’s good.
Not so encouraging is the fact that five of those games have been decided by one goal and another was by one goal with an empty netter thrown in. A loaded team like Hamilton should be dominating these weak teams.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have played just six games against the top five teams in the league. Because they’re in that group, it’s really the top six. Their record in those is just 1-5, having been outscored 27-13.
Meaning there’s some work to do before the playoffs roll around. SIXTH BEST, AT LEAST
Despite his success this year, Philadelphia QB Nick Foles is hardly the top athlete to come from his high school. Other graduates of Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, include Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees, Major League closer (17th all-time in saves) Huston Street, Justin Tucker, the NFL’s most accurate kicker ever at 90.2 per cent, and former Toronto Blue Jays star and World Series champion Kelly Gruber. NAME GAME
And now we present the one piece of essential news you absolutely need to know before kickoff this weekend to fully enhance your viewing and cheering pleasure.
This is the first time in 13 years that all four quarterbacks starting in the conference championships have monosyllabic first names. As in, Tom, Blake, Nick and Case.
The last time this happened was 2006 when the final four were Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh), Jake Plummer (Denver), Matt Hasselbeck (Seattle) and Jake Delhomme (Carolina).
sradley@thespec.com 905-526-2440 | @radleyatthespec Spectator columnist Scott Radley hosts The Scott Radley Show weeknights from 6-8 on 900CHML