(NOT SO) Deep thoughts
A few random thoughts on National Ghost Hunting Day. Speaking of which, if anyone’s seen Baltimore first baseman Chris Davis’ bat …
THE BEGINNING ...
Back in 2012 when the McMaster Marauders and Laval Rouge et Or were about to meet in the rematch Vanier Cup, a press conference involving the coaches and a couple players was scheduled a few days before the game. It was to be held in the media room in the bowels of Rogers Centre in Toronto.
When reporters and camera people arrived to cover it, they had to mill about in the hallway outside and wait as the prescribed starting time passed. Then wait some more as the backdrop and staging area for the presser were set up.
The reason?
That was the same day — and basically the same time — the Blue Jays were introducing John Gibbons as their manager for the second time. In the same room.
... AND THE END
Gibbons, who is wrapping up his tenure with the Blue Jays this weekend, is nothing if not consistent. In his first stint as Blue Jays’ manager he finished with a 305-305 record. Exactly .500. Going into Friday night’s game he was 487-482 in his second goround, or .503.
LOST IN THE MIDWEST
The Buffalo Bills may have turned a bit of a corner last weekend when they shockingly beat the Minnesota Vikings on the road. But their social media team is apparently still in pre-season form.
The day before the game, the organization sent out a tweet announcing “Your Bills have arrived” with a map of the United States and a flight path from Buffalo to Minneapolis.
Unfortunately, where they’d arrived — according to this map — was somewhere in northwestern Illinois.
So unless the team was visiting Waddams Grove, Lake Le-AquaNa State Park or the Galena Cellars Vineyard, they were hopelessly lost.
TIME FOR ONE
It looks certain there will be a crossover playoff again in the CFL. This would be the third straight year this will happen and the fifth time in the last seven. This could also be the third straight year the crossover team — always the West’s fourth-place team — ends up with more points than the second-place team in the East yet has to play a road game at the weaker team’s home.
Which makes it beyond time for the league to do the right thing and finally switch to one division with the top six teams getting into the playoffs.
If the Eastern teams can’t make
themselves competitive, they shouldn’t be in the post-season simply because of an outdated geographic loophole.
EWWWW
This baseball season is going to end with four of the Blue Jays’ top batting averages belonging to pitchers.
Tiny sample size, sure. Still, pretty much says everything.
TOUGH ONE
In light of that, who’s the Blue Jays’ MVP this season? Take your time.
To make it easier, nobody is an acceptable answer.
EASES THE PAIN
Between his salary and signing bonus, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is being paid $41,950,000 this season. That’s $54,802,638 in loonies.
On Sunday, he blew out his knee and will be out for the rest of the season. Meaning the 26-yearold will receive $44,527,143 for not playing the rest of 2018.
If you make $75,000 a year, you’d have to work 594 years to earn that much.
OOPS
When Wake Forest lined up for a field goal last weekend against Notre Dame, one thing was missing. The kicker. Turns out Nick Sciba was still practising on the sideline and didn’t realize the FG unit had taken its place on the field. It was only when the holder looked up to see if he was ready that his absence was noted. It’s OK though, he sprinted onto the field in time to take it.
He missed.
HOMERVILLE
Only in the OHL does a goalie playing on home ice (North Bay’s Christian Propp) give up five goals on 33 shots and get second star of the game while a visiting player gets five points (Hamilton’s Brandon Saigeon) and is awarded just the third star.
Yes, small-town homerism is alive and well.
JUST WEIRD
If you’ve solved pi, figured out who really killed Kennedy and nailed every one of the Scripps Spelling Bee championship words, you may want to take a stab at understanding the world’s greatest riddle. Namely, the USports football national rankings.
Despite being way down in seventh place in Ontario, Wilfrid Laurier with its 2-2 record is somehow ranked eighth in all of Canada. The three teams directly ahead of it in the provincial standings — Waterloo, Queen’s and McMaster — aren’t on the national list at all despite two of those (Waterloo and Mac) actually beating the Golden Hawks this year.
Meanwhile, St. Mary’s from the perennial sad-sack Atlantic conference is ranked seventh, ahead of Ottawa (ninth) which is 3-1 in the tough Ontario league? And 2-3 Guelph (which missed the top 10 by one spot) got the same grade as Mac despite a losing record and a loss to the Marauders?
Oh-kay.
LOOK OUT FOR THE ...
Teenage Head is playing the street party on Bay Street prior to the Bulldogs’ home opener on Sunday. Last time they played that area before a Bulldogs game was back in 2003 during the Calder Cup finals.
Midway through their set that day, Bruiser (the team mascot) was standing on the roof of the arena firing loot from the T-shirt cannon. One shot sent a T-shirt flying across Bay Street, which wasn’t closed to traffic. Without looking both ways, three or four people took off after it, running right in front of an oncoming HSR bus. Thankfully the driver was more alert than the fans.
The road has been closed to traffic this year.
BIG DIFFERENCE
The Boston Red Sox have scored 229 more runs than they’ve allowed. The Baltimore Orioles have allowed 269 more runs than they’ve scored. That’s a 498-run spread between the first- and last-place team in the American League East.
TURFLESS
The teams in the National League Central and National League West will finish this season without playing a single game on turf.
The only Major League stadia with artificial surfaces are Toronto and Tampa Bay. Since neither had interleague games with the American League East this year, they were able to play all their games on natural grass.
GOOD, BUT
Tiger Woods’ victory last week was the culmination of a great comeback, for sure. Jim Nantz on CBS called it “the most improbable comeback in sports history.” Was it really?
Mario Lemieux played a game just hours after undergoing radiation therapy and went on to win the scoring title that season.
Dave Dravecky had a cancerous tumour removed from his pitching arm but came back to win his first start the following season.
Clint Malarchuk nearly died on the ice when a skate sliced his jugular vein. Yet he was back in net playing 11 days later.
So no, it wasn’t the most improbable. Or the greatest.