Expect champ to repeat after Battle of the Brads
Robservations ...
Not-so-fearless prediction:
■ Brad Gushue, the defending Canadian and world men’s curling champion, will win the Brier for the second successive year. The Gushue team has had a strong season, save for some hiccups at the Canadian Olympic trials, and has been a consistent force in recent years. The Newfoundland-born skip will win a Battle of the Brads — Gushue versus Jacobs — in the final on March 11.
The bronze medal at the Brier
■ will be won by ... (wait for it)
... (cue fanfare) ... nobody! At long last, Curling Canada has dispensed with the meaningless third-place showdown at the Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Partaking in the fine art of
■ covering a major curling event restores one’s faith in humanity. The curlers are typically congenial, the fans are enthusiastic and respectful and sportsmanship is emphasized.
There are always plenty of
■ characters at the Brier — 25 in the case of Chryssoula (10 letters) Filippakopoulos (15). With profuse apologies to Gushue, Jacobs, Russ Howard, Steve Laycock, et al, the biggest name at the Brier is unquestionably that of my superstar wife, who is volunteering at the event.
Does anybody do anything better
■ than TSN’s Vic Rauter when he calls a curling match?
The Brier won’t be quite the
■ same without a wonderful friend to all, Sam Richardson. Miss ya, Sammy.
The Brier and life in general
■ was even more fun when Guy Hemmings was showcased in some form. Long live Guy Hemmings! (He was our guest columnist at the 2006 event.)
Favourite Hemmings moment:
■ I cannot recall whether the ice was unpredictable or his team was simply having a bad day in terms of making shots, but for comic relief the skip moved to an adjacent sheet of ice and put down the broom in the house. Classic. “Guy! Guy! Guy!”
The NHL was a lot more
■ exciting when Guy Lafleur was involved. He benefited from the open ice that is not available to today’s stars, such as the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid. As Drew Remenda pointed out the other day on CJME’s Green Zone, the officials overlook too many penalties that could be called against people who bend the rules by impeding the mercurial McDavid.
Since when did cross-checking
■ become legal? NHL and WHL officials chronically overlook obvious cross-checks.
And what’s with the reluctance
■ to issue a major penalty for checking from behind? Far too many referees cop out by assessing a minor.
Eek! Major League Soccer’s
■ season begins Saturday. Didn’t last season just end? Does Major League Soccer ever go away?
Bad idea: The NFL is considering
■ capping pass-interference penalties at 15 yards. No! Such an amendment would give defensive backs the option of grabbing receivers in order to prevent a long gain. If anything, officials at all levels should be more vigilant when it comes to calling pass interference.
In hindsight, the CFL made
■ the right call by cracking down on illegal contact on a receiver. The adjustment was made after a somniferous 2014 season in which only three CFLers exceeded 1,000 receiving yards. Last season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders had three 1,000yard receivers — Duron Carter, Naaman Roosevelt and Bakari Grant.
Given enough opportunities,
■ the Roughriders’ Caleb Holley could easily crack the 1,000-yard mark.
Two people who should stop
■ tweeting: Johnny Manziel, Donald Trump.
One person who should stop
■ visiting Calgary: Gary Bettman.
Don’t forget our next sports
■ memorabilia sale benefiting the Regina Leader-Post’s Christmas Cheer Fund. The sale, part of the Sports World Collectors Expo, is scheduled for April 29, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the Conexus Arts Centre’s Jacqui Shumiatcher Room. If you would like to donate some memorabilia, please call me at 306-781-5216 or send an email to the address below.
Nice people who deserve a
■ plug: Ernie Richardson, Guy Hemmings, Guy Lafleur, Steve Hogle, Paige Kreutzwieser, Aimee Fortier, Landon Bigalky, Glenn Gawdin, Tara Day, Lisa Thomaidis, Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, Dave Taylor, Mookie Wilson, Bill Buckner, Linda Dewhirst, Greg Indzeoski,
Barry Rud, Murray McCormick, Jack Upshall, Nancy McCurdy, Jeremy Johnson and Kevin Mitchell.