(Deep) NOT SO thoughts
A few random thoughts for the day after we celebrate National Meth Awareness Day. So if you’re aware you’re on meth, well, have a merry one …
SWING AND A MISS
It’s December now, which makes it acceptable to talk Christmas (contrary to what Costco would tell you by putting out Christmas displays in June). Which makes it fair game to suggest the NBA surely realizes by now it badly screwed up its annual Christmas Day schedule.
Milwaukee vs. the perennially brutal New York Knicks? Blech. Oklahoma City vs. the surprisingly bad Houston Rockets? Yawn. Philadelphia vs. Boston? That one’s OK. Los Angeles vs. Golden State. O-ver-rate-ed. And Portland vs. Utah? Hope the tryptophan from the turkey has kicked in by then.
Not playing? That would be the league’s top team from Toronto. The one that just beat Golden State. The one that should be getting tons of attention but remains invisible south of the border.
Idiots.
NOT COOL
Perhaps it’s just the warm childhood memories speaking but it seemed almost sacrilegious to see hordes of Rogers’ folks wearing the powder blue Hockey Night In Canada jackets last Saturday. Those blazers were — and should remain — the domain of Brian McFarlane, Dick Irvin, Dave Hodge, Howie Meeker, Bob Cole, Danny Gallivan and Bill Hewitt.
GOOD DAYS
How rare are the days we’re living in right now?
Never before have the Maple Leafs and Raptors both been championship contenders. In fact, only once have the two Toronto teams ever won a playoff series in the same season.
Back in the spring of 2001, the Leafs beat the Ottawa Senators in the opening round before losing to New Jersey, while the Raptors beat the Knicks before losing to Philadelphia.
SCRIPT FLIPPED
Erik Karlsson returns to Ottawa on Saturday with his San Jose Sharks. Certainly not as he expected.
In 26 games, he has 15 points. Senators’ rookie defenceman Thomas Chabot has 29 points in the same number of games. The biggest difference? Karlsson is making $6.5 million this year while Chabot is bringing in $863,000.
UH, WHO?
Hands up if you predicted Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen would be
leading the NHL in scoring as the calendar flipped to December.
The winger has 42 points, which is eight ahead of Connor McDavid, 14 ahead of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, and 18 ahead of reigning MVP Taylor Hall.
EX-BULLDOG ALERT
The highest scoring Hamilton Bulldog graduate — AHL or OHL — in the NHL right now is PK Subban with 12 points in 18 games for Nashville. Tied with another guy who spent a while playing for a Hamilton team. Namely the Leafs’ Zach Hyman, who once had 102 points for the Hamilton Red Wings.
BIG PLAN, SMALL MARKET
The CFL announced recently it’s hoping to put a team into Halifax, which has been the dream of the league for decades. Getting that 10th team on the east coast would make it a truly national league.
Hope it works, though it’s interesting to note that the Nova Scotia city’s population is less than that of both Kitchener-Waterloo and London. On the other hand, it’s considerably bigger than Regina.
PERFECT NAMES
Tyson Fury will fight for the world heavyweight title — one of them, anyway — on Saturday night against Deontay Wilder. Fury’s name is just perfect for a fighter. Not counting him (he’s on the list by default), what are the 10 other most-appropriate athlete names of all time?
1. Usain Bolt Champion sprinter 2. Nathan Leeper Olympic high jumper 3. Anna Smashnova Tennis player 4. Tim Duncan Basketball 5. Josh Outman (say it out loud) Baseball pitcher 6. Zhu Ting Soccer (again, say it out loud) 7. Margaret Court Tennis player 8. Chip Beck Golfer 9. Will Power Race car driver 10. Willie Thrower NFL quarterback AND THE WORST
If those are the most-appropriate names, perhaps the leastdesirable would be those of former Major League pitcher Bob Walk or Jamaican sprinter Steve Slowly.
THE GRIM REAPER
Patrick Deane was president of McMaster when head football coach Greg Knox was fired. In November, he accepted the same job at Queen’s. Two weeks later, Gaels’ longtime head football coach Pat Sheahan says he was forced out after 19 years.
Wherever Deane ends up next, you’ll likely find one very nervous coach.
A NAME TO WATCH
New McMaster coach Stef Ptaszek has been on the job for roughly 48 hours and says it’s way too early to make any decisions about assistant coaches or co-ordinators. But if he decides to change anything up on the offensive side, keep an eye on former UBC OC, Taylor Nill. He is the son of the coach who gave Ptaszek a job last season but he’s also been a player at the University of Calgary and a coach at UBC two years ago before taking a year off to get his MBA.
USELESS INFO
William Nylander’s surname means Dweller On New Land in Swedish.
Not sure what you can do with that, but since you’ve heard every other detail of the young man’s existence for the past few months, thought you could add that to your collection.
KA-CHING VII
Speaking of big money, now for today’s instalment of the William Nylander Lost Salary Meter.
Based on a 186-day NHL season and a salary of somewhere between $6 million (what the Leafs are reportedly offering, meaning $32,258 a day) and $8 million (what some reports say he’s demanding, which is $43,010 a day), he’s lost somewhere between $1,870,964 and $2,494,580 already.
PETERED OUT
Reports out of Buffalo say the Denver Broncos are going to be giving former Bills QB Nathan Peterman a workout this week. Apparently current Broncos quarterback Case Keenum isn’t throwing enough interceptions. Or maybe, they just feel they need to move closer to a top-level draft pick. One final option, perhaps the fan base has been clamouring for more frustration with their Sunday afternoon outings.
Otherswise this makes no sense.
ONE OF A KIND?
We’ve been hearing a lot about how Patrik Laine is a generational goal scorer in the mould of Alex Ovechkin or Mike Bossy. Which he surely is. The 20-yearold Winnipeg Jet has 101 goals in 179 games, meaning he’s scoring at a pace of 0.56 goals a game. Making him really a one-of-akind talent in the NHL.
Forgotten, it seems, is that Auston Matthews has missed 34 games in his career yet still has 86 goals in the 156 he’s played. That’s a rate of 0.55 goals a game.
Almost the exact same.