NHL STARS DON’T PICK UP THE MIC
On one channel, there is Charles Barkley talking to fellow Hall of Famer Shaquille O’neal at halftime — and you don’t want to miss a word.
Two all-time greats now working on the best panel in basketball.
On another channel there is football Hall of Famer and Super Bowl champion, Troy Aikman, calling a game. And when baseball playoffs were on just a few months back, there was Frank Thomas on the panel with Alex rodriguez and Big Papi, david Ortiz, three of the greatest hitters in recent baseball history, now broadcasting.
The new star of hockey broadcasting in Canada is Kevin Bieksa, refreshingly honest and original and quirky. He once he finished 18th in Norris Trophy voting.
The more established star broadcasters among former players are ray Ferraro, Eddie Olczyk, Craig Simpson and Keith Jones. All of them decent NHL players themselves, none of them all-time anythings.
Which begs the question: What is it about hockey, the sport, the culture, the product that doesn’t attract playing stars to the broadcast booth?
Wayne Gretzky tried coaching. Steve yzerman and Joe Sakic have been NHL GMS for years. Brendan Shanahan is president of the Maple Leafs and Cam Neely holds the same position in Boston. Mario Lemieux owns a serious portion of the Pittsburgh Penguins. All of them in the Hall of Fame. None of them behind a mike. None of them on television.
Where would the raptors be without Chris Boucher? The question is real, the answer may not be. Boucher is long and skinny and unconventional but no doubt he is fun to watch and his story remains remarkable ... The NBA’S apparent investigation into Terence davis’ situation has entered its third month. And you can’t get anyone from the league to say anything about its very existence ... The NBA season is just more three weeks old and there’s already been 12 games postponed due to COVID-19. Makes you wonder what’s in store for the rest of the NBA and NHL ... When Toronto/hamilton’s Shai Gilgeous-alexander scored 33 points with 10 assists for the Oklahoma City Thunder the other night, he became just the third Canadian to score more than 30 points with at least 10 assists in an NBA game. The other two: Steve Nash and Jamal Murray.
I had the pleasure of covering the four Buffalo Bills Super Bowl teams and maintain to this day that their run, with no championships, is one of the great accomplishments in NFL history. One question, though: There was nothing called Bills Mafia back then. It was a healthy tailgate scene. But when the did this Mafia thing become so fashionable? ... What an amazing rookie year for the Canadian, Chase Claypool, who ended up scoring 13 touchdowns in 17 games, including a playoff loss, for the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s more Tds than Jerry rice, Calvin Johnson or Odell Beckham Jr. scored in their rookie seasons although it was nowhere near the randy Moss number of 17 scores as an NFL freshman.
Teoscar Hernandez is a cheap us$4-million buy for the Toronto Blue Jays if he continues to hit the way he did in the shortened baseball season. His next contract could be somewhere in the teens for the 28-year-old dominican late bloomer ... dj Lemahieu wanted two things: $90 million and to stay with the New york yankees. He got both. The Blue Jays couldn’t promise a home game or where they’re going to be playing and wouldn’t go beyond $78 million over fewer years. Nothing wrong with their offer. you just can’t compete with the yankees when a player wants to be a yankee ... It’s looking like J.T. realmuto is heading back to Philadelphia, which means the Jays could take runs at remaining free agent stars Trevor Bauer and George Springer and still wind up going 0-for-everyone in the off-season.
I wish I understood the Blue Jays and how they conduct their business.
On the opening morning of the National Hockey League season, they chose to announce that Mark Shapiro had signed a five-year extension to remain as president of the baseball club.
That was pretty large, yet expected, news. It means Shapiro will be in charge of the Jays for at least 10 seasons in total, which would mark him as one of longest-serving sports executives in Toronto history.
Normally, that’s a news conference, even a virtual one. Normally, there’s a question-and-answer session. Normally, there’s something to talk about — the future, the present, maybe a new stadium, who knows?
Except there was no news conference. There were no interviews, no radio appearances. Shapiro said nothing and turned down interview requests.
So why announce the extension in the first place and then bury it on a day when most sporting attention is on a Leafs-canadiens game? They could have announced it a day earlier or a day later. But with nothing to say and no one to say it, they managed the unusual.
Shapiro has his extension. To date, neither general manager ross Atkins nor manager Charlie Montoyo have had their deals extended. unless that’s happened behind closed doors and not announced yet. With this team, you just don’t know.
The word ‘no’ apparently doesn’t exist in the NBA.
Especially when it comes to dealing with star players.
James Harden didn’t just play and talk his way out of Houston, he all but demanded to be traded to Brooklyn or Philadelphia, and got his wish.
Harden has played 11 years in the NBA, led the league in scoring, won the MVP, and has never been really close to a championship. For all these hardships, he has been paid the pauper’s sum of $186 million. This year he is being paid only $41 million to tank it in Houston. Next season, the contract goes up to $44 million, $47 million the year after that.
And the power, somehow, in the NBA, is not with those paying the contracts or those managing the teams or even with the league, it’s with those being paid. They ask and they get. It doesn’t seem to happen in any other sport or league.