For Canadian fans on holiday, unsettled by Donald Trump jibes about making them the 51st state, the Latvia loss portends something deeper and darker. Canada has owned the tournament for much of its being, winning five golds in the past decade. But now the U.S. is suddenly king-in-waiting, winners three times in that decade, including last year. It’s gut-check time.

Consumers cutting the cable wanted to punish cable/ satellite providers. So they made the change. Then a funny thing happened. It was now only some of what you wanted. The expansion of multiple carriers pissed off viewers just as much as the arbitrary cable companies. the magic solution of cable cutting is now the tragic solution.

MLB has no trouble with the financial big boys in New York, Los Angles, Texas, Toronto, Atlanta and Chicago shelling out money no small market dare pay. In the MLB cheap seats, Tampa, Pittsburgh  and Miami can’t send out quality players fast enough. But MLB is cool with that too as those paupers get a healthy slice of TV money.

Where it was rare for QBs to gain more than a few years running it’s now common to see six or seven QBs in the Top 50 rushers in the NFL. Currently six QBs are in the Top 50. But where the competition have been race cars, Josh Allen has been a snow plow, going through, not around, defenders. 

Ask yourself, at what other position in what other league would the three best players at a vital position be allowed to switch team from 2023-24?. That’s what happened last winter when top candidates for 2024 OPOY— Barkley, Jacobs and Derrick Henry— all departed their former teams for slightly better paydays on the Eagles, Packers and Ravens. Doesn’t seem to make sense.

Damn that Tom Brady. Because of the now-retired NFL GOAT it is widely believed that an athlete in his 40s can still triumph over younger men. That a good diet, plenty of sleep and keen desire can sustain you against twenty-two year olds. It ain’t so.

Over the decades we’ve spoken with many parents and players trying to parse this CHL/ NCAA equation. It was a heartbreaking scene when they gambled on a CHL career that gave them no life skills or permanent physical problems. Or the promised NCAA golden goose never appeared after playing in a lower league for prime development years. 

It’s safe to say that as Canada prepares to defenestrate Justin Trudeau in the next federal election, Wayne Gretzky will not be invited to Rideau Hall for beaver tails with the PM. It’s likely he’ll experience the Bobby Orr blackout, becoming a non-person in Canada for getting too close to Trump.

So is Nick Bosa acting like a college sophomore to express a voting preference compare to Kaepernick wanting a race-based social revolution in America? Mmm. These things are not like the other. It’s like accusing Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce of political interference for appearing with his girlfriend Taylor Swift, a vocal Kamala Harris supporter.

It’s eariy. But not so early that several NHL coaches are not feeling the heat already. We can expect that heads will soon roll if certain teams don’t find their mojo. It’s a sad but predictable result of a salary cap league where the most disposable item is a coach.

Fans and contemporary media still think they we are living in a time when every club, given a little luck and nan good draft, will reward its fans with a champions parade. That’s what the mania for parity and salary caps was about. But it doesn’t work that way any longer.

All of which begs the question: If so many of those affected by this supposed insult don’t see it as an insult… then who is the progressive culture industry doing it for?  I’ll take your answer off-air.

Was he guilty? Hell, yes. Did he perpetuate lame excuses and construct a grubby martyr narrative? Sure did. Had he alienated just about everyone who could get him to Cooperstown? Oh yeah. A recent HBO documentary series on him is an accurate portrait of a rude, uncouth character still worshipped by sycophants. But whose record as a player is impeccable.

At the time the merger of Bell (TSN) and Sportsnet (Rogers) was compared to Twitter and Facebook deciding to partner. Such was the rivalry that many predicted it wouldn’t last. But it did—if you don’t include Stanley Cups. Until this past week when it was announced that, if approved, Rogers will buy out Bell’s stake in MLSE, leaving it with 75 percent ownership.

Even in a time of peace this would be interesting to see the public reaction in Canada and the U.S. to a Russian passing Canada’s GOAT No. 99. While the No.1 pick in 2005, Sidney Crosby, has had a squeaky clean image, the Great Eight has been a little salty for some folks. He plays a game Howe would love, dispensing devastating hits as well as brilliant goals. His gap-toothed sneer has not always endeared him to many. 

What did Iron Mike say about plans? The peak of the 2024 season probably occurred last winter where, for a few short days, some Toronto media convinced the fans that Shohei Ohtani was taking Toronto’s money over Dodgers’ green. He didn’t, and with no Plan B, Shapiro started talking about the re-design of the Rogers Centre. Anything but the fact they were in big trouble on the field. 

Without a salary cap, the beautiful game has allowed for the growth of super teams in smaller leagues. There is no parity narrative in soccer, just the unending quest for the best product possible. As a result, the sport has finally made a breakthrough in North America. While small, the NWSL may be about to prove a very large point about the running of sports.

The tragic death of NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew in a car/ bike accident last Thursday in New Jersey was sad beyond words. The pair, riding home from a rehearsal dinner for their sister’s wedding the next day, were killed by a drunk driver who’d passed on the right side of a vehicle ahead. Words fail. 

Is constantly exploring the depression faced by highly motivated women athletes counter-productive? Current research shows that rumination, the pathological obsession of pain turning over in your head, only serves to make those problems grow. For women athletes trained to confront challenges this often is destructive. It becomes a vicious cycle.

The other week we ran into Dean Moberg at Costco, and he invited me to sit for an extended conversation about our new book Deal With It, my other books (http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca), the Calgary Flames, broadcasting, betting and life. It’s just a terrific chat. Give it a listen and subscribe to their site.