(NOT SO) Deep thoughts
A few random thoughts for a Saturday that is both National Elephant Appreciation Day and National Hunting and Fishing Day, which sounds like a recipe for bad feelings on one side or the other …
GREG TIMES TWO
It was Canadian football that gave us a nine-team league with two teams called the Roughriders (or Rough Riders). So, it seems only appropriate that here in Canada — Ontario, to be precise — we should have an 11-team football league in which two of the head coaches are named Greg Marshall.
The one at Western won a Grey Cup with the Edmonton Eskimos and became a head coach in the CFL with the Hamilton TigerCats before landing in USports.
The one at the University of Toronto won a Grey Cup with the Edmonton Eskimos, spent time as defensive co-ordinator with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and became a head coach in the CFL before landing in USports.
Weird.
FEEL THE BERN
Not only did the public school board get it right when they named the new high school across from Tim Hortons Field after Bernie Custis — golf clap for all trustees who voted for it — but they also created a unique bit of symmetry.
We now have the Bernie Custis Secondary School beside the Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre on Bernie Faloney Way.
Clearly, it’s better to Bern out than fade away.
BRUTAL
The NHL’s Player Safety Department once again proved the laughable irony of its name and its complete lack of teeth when it suspended Montreal’s Max Domi exactly zero regular-season games for sucker punching Florida’s Aaron Ekblad — a guy with a long concussion history — the other night. The blow broke Ekblad’s nose, gave him two black eyes and busted him open.
Banishing him for the balance of the pre-season is like punishing your misbehaving kid on Halloween by taking away all the apples and homemade popcorn balls in his loot bag while letting him keep the rest of his really good treats.
The league should be embarrassed by this but it seems to be incapable of such a thing.
It also must understand that if there’s mayhem the next time the two teams meet, it’s on them. If you won’t protect the players, teammates will.
TERRIBLE ACTING
On a related note, could someone please, please, please take those horrible annoying internet commercials featuring Tie Domi off the air?
The terrible overacting mixed with the creepy excessive smiling and a slight hint of menace is just uncomfortable.
NOT LONG
The Hamilton Bulldogs began defence of their OHL championship last night in North Bay and face the Colts in Barrie on Saturday night. It’s been just 132 days since they won the title.
Sure seems like a lot of work to win for not a lot of time to celebrate.
BIG HELP
When Brandon Saigeon was returned to Hamilton from the Colorado Avalanche this week — where he’d had a terrific training camp — and played in Friday night’s game, he became the final player connecting the Belleville Bulls to the Bulldogs.
He was a fourth-overall pick of the Bulls back in 2014 and played there one season before the franchise moved here.
Justin Lemke and Jack Hanley had been the other two carryovers. Lemke graduated after last season and Hanley was traded to Guelph in the off-season.
GETTING WORSE
The Baltimore Orioles have now blown past the 2003 Detroit Tigers in the games-behind department, making them the worst team by that measurement in the past 50 years. Now they’ve got their sights set on the all-time modern mark.
If they can drop six more games behind Boston in their final 10 games, they will eclipse the 1909 Boston Doves’ 65.5 games out. If they can drop seven more in that time, they’ll finish as second worst in any era as they shoot past the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys and 1889 Louisville Colonels.
Sadly, they have no chance to catch the 1899 Cleveland Spiders who somehow finished 84 games behind the leader.
BLAME TORONTO
If the Orioles fail to reach these ignominious marks, blame Toronto. The Blue Jays have inexcusably dropped four games to Baltimore in the past month. No self-respecting team should do that.
WEIRDNESS
There have been a ton of Major League Baseball franchises that have gone defunct over the years. Most came and went in the late 1800s.
The most head-scratching team names?
1. Cleveland Infants
2. Worcester Worcesters
3. Pittsburgh Burghers
4. Pittsburgh Stogies
5. Cincinnati Kelly’s Killers
NOT DOING WELL
Going into Friday night’s game against Winnipeg, Johnny Manziel had the lowest quarterback rating of any CFL QB who’s attempted at least 15 passes. But at least he’s filling the Alouettes’ stadium in ...
Oh, never mind.
STRANGE SALE
According to 3DownNation, CFL attendance numbers are down a bit this year. Yet the Ticats are reporting 101.5 per cent capacity at Tim Hortons Field. That sounds pretty darn good.
Strange, then, that with this obviously massive demand for tickets, the team is offering a deal of a pair of tickets to next weekend’s game against B.C. and a pair of tickets to the Bulldogs’ home opener for $60, a savings of 59 per cent.
Take that, you well-established economic laws of supply and demand.
STILL WINNING
Only six times since the turn of the millennium has Hamilton had a losing football season. The
city of Hamilton, that is. Though this means counting both the Tiger-Cats and the McMaster Marauders together. Those years came in 2003 (9-17), 2005 (10-16), 2006 (10-16), 2007 (8-18), 2008 (7-19) and last year (12-14). There was one .500 season in 2016.
In all the other years combined, Hamilton’s record is 156113-2.
THEY STINK
The Buffalo Bills have trailed at halftime in their two games — both losses — by a combined 48 points. According to ESPN, that’s the worst in 40 years. Their starting quarterback has been a massive bust, their star running back has cracked ribs, their minus-55 point differential is the biggest in the NFL by far and they’ve even had a player midway through a game.
Their next two games are at the undefeated Vikings and at the undefeated Packers. retire
PREPARE THE ROUTE
The Leafs won their first two pre-season games this week. Beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 and 4-1.
The Stanley Cup parade will be held June 13 beginning at Scotiabank Centre and continuing up University Avenue to …