(Deep) NOT SO thoughts
A few random — and well-saturated — thoughts for National Hydration Day. Stay thirsty, my friends ...
FOOTSTEPS OF LEGEND
Hamilton’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made history on Thursday when he was drafted 11th overall in the NBA draft. The 19-year-old who spent part of his high school years at St. Thomas More and Sir Allan MacNab was taken by the Charlotte Hornets and then promptly traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Lest anyone think being dealt is somehow a bad thing or a sign that he’s not all he’s cracked up to be, remember the last guy who was drafted by Charlotte and immediately traded to L.A.
Kobe Bryant.
HE PLAYED IN FRENCH
Speaking of locals getting drafted, on Friday night Evan Bouchard was widely expected to be a top-10 pick in the NHL draft. The London Knights captain is an offensive defenceman — he had the most points for a draft-year defenceman since Waterdown’s Ryan Ellis seven years ago — who’s said to have huge potential.
Before he joined the OHL team, he went to school in Hamilton at Ecole Secondaire Georges P. Vanier.
OK ... (CLAP, CLAP) ... BLUE JAYS ...
One more local connection story.
If you listen to 900CHML weekdays from 3-6 p.m., you’ll hear Laura Hampshire reading the news. She is the daughter of Keith Hampshire who was a rather prolific rock singer in the 1970s who’s probably best known for his recordings of “First Cut Is The Deepest” and “Daytime, Nighttime.”
But whose most enduring piece of work was “OK Blue Jays” which is still sung during every seventh-inning stretch at the Rogers Centre.
WHO WASN’T WATCHING?
When Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, roughly twothirds of Canadians were watching on their TVs. When Paul Henderson scored in 1972, nearly 83 per cent of people in this country were tuned in.
Those are huge numbers but they pale in comparison to the 99.6 per cent of Icelanders who were watching their national team tie Argentina in their opening game of the World Cup.
LOVE THE BROGUE
Speaking of the World Cup, is there some little-known law that says all broadcasters doing soccer in Canada must have a British or Scottish accent?
LOSING IS EXPENSIVE
It’s not just that the Toronto Blue Jays are 17 games out of first place and wracked with injuries
that ought to be concerning to the good folks at Rogers. According to fangraphs.com, the Blue Jays have shed a remarkable 11,417 fans a game since last season.
Most teams in baseball are down — that’s a whole other problem — but no franchise is even close to Toronto. That’s roughly 925,000 people filing through the turnstiles this season assuming numbers hold. Which they won’t as the season goes on and things get even bleaker.
But even at that rate, with an average ticket price of $35, that’s $32.4 million less revenue for the club. Plus food and drinks and merchandise people buy once they’re in the park.
SO IS BEER
While we’re on the topic of the Blue Jays and money, went to the game on Sunday for Father’s Day. A beer was $15. Meaning you could buy a two-four of Budweiser at the Beer Store for less than it would cost to buy three cans of Bud at the game and still have $7.50 left over to buy hotdogs and buns from Fortinos.
BASEBARF
Yes, the Jays are bad. But Baltimore is already 24 games out of first, putting them on pace to finish 50 games out. The last teams to eclipse the 50 mark were Tampa (51) and Florida (52), both in 1998.
MARTY McFLY-BALL
Remarkable achievement by Washington National Juan Soto this week.
On Tuesday, he homered against the Yankees in a game that was actually a continuation of a rain-delayed contest that began mid-May. Because of the way stats are kept, that home run is recorded as being hit on May 15, the day the game began. Yet Soto wasn’t called up to the majors until May 20.
That means he actually got his first big-league homer five days before he ever played a big-league game, thus becoming the first baseball player to ever successfully travel back in time.
SO, SO AWFUL
There are some bad awards shows on TV. There are some that are even truly terrible.
But is there any awards show anywhere that is so consistently amateurish and embarrassing as the NHL awards? Atrocious fake banter, awkward interviews, fall-flat jokes and, this year, a magic trick that was supposed to reveal a winner that went completely awry.
Perhaps just have a luncheon and send out a press release when it’s done telling us who won.
DINNER’S ON SHAI
The NBA has standardized contract values for all draft picks. Where you get picked determines how much you get paid for your first two years.
Because he went 11th overall, Gilgeous-Alexander will make $3,346,570 US in each of the next two seasons. Which is roughly $4.5 million in loonies, or $700,000 less than the entire Tiger-Cats’ roster.
HMMM ...
This year, for the first time, the ballots for the NHL awards were made public. As in, you can see who the voters picked for each category. Not surprisingly, a few ventured off the beaten path.
While most had Taylor Hall or Nathan McKinnon as first choice for the Hart (MVP), Sportsnet’s John Shannon went with Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler. He was alone on that one. Meanwhile four voters — Mick Colageo of the New Bedford Standard Times, Joe Haggerty of NBC Boston, Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty and Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register — didn’t have winner Taylor Hall listed among their five choices.
Though he didn’t find a spot for Hall, Whicker did give a vote to Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck.
TWO MUCH
Daniel and Henrik Sedin were drafted together, played together, roomed together, finished with almost the same number of points, retired together, will probably be voted into the Hall of Fame together (though they’re only borderline candidates) and on Wednesday they won the King Clancy Trophy together.
We get it, they’re twins. Enough already.
ME TOO, PLEASE
The Blue Jays’ season is 46 per cent done, yet Troy Tulowitzki hasn’t played a game for the team and Josh Donaldson has been in just 36. Between them they’re making $43 million US this year or a little more than $57.3 million Cdn. That means that so far in 2018, the two have been paid $26.4 million for 32 hits, five homers and 16 RBI.
BE HEARD
One last point on the naming debate that’s been going on all week about the new high school being built across from Tim Hortons Field. Many people have been asking how they can have their voice heard in favour of former Ticat great, civil rights pioneer, McMaster and Sheridan coach, teacher, principal and genuinely lovely man, Bernie Custis.
The chair of the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board is Todd White. His email is twhite@hwdsb.on.ca.