Don’t look now but Gary Bettman may be running out of second acts. The NHL commissioner for life has spent a good deal of time pushing off the dodgy reality of his league’s lace in the broadcast universe. He’s kept a marginal attraction afloat when ESPN and others ignore the league.
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I know it’s still four years till the next Winter Olympics in Japan. But when they start the planning for Canada’s next Winter Games, might I recommend that they let the freestylers run the show?
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Call them the Missing Olympics. The Pyeongchang Winter Games are missing a few of the staples of previous Olympics. And that’s bad. And it’s also good.
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Too often the hype for a fight is about the weapons. The hype for Luke Rockhold versus Yoel Romero was no different, with a lot of lip service paid to the things we love about Rockhold and Romero’s game – the athleticism, technical ability, and vicious finishing ability. But that hype blinded us to their shortcomings and ultiamtely the reason the fight went the way it did.
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A while back, broadcaster Bryant Gumbel groused that he never watches the Winter Olympics. Gumbel, who is black, reasoned that because there was little or no representation from Africa or other warm parts of the planet, who wanted to see a white Olympics with just half the nations of the world represented?
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We’re told that the sincerest form of flattery is imitation. If it’s the case that teams are imitating the Houston Astros, then it’s no surprise prominent agents for Major League Baseball players are screaming foul about the phony war going on in the baseball talent pool.
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In July, Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic will square off for the heavyweight title. Depending on how it goes down this July, maybe the UFC should think about making this kind of matchup a regularity – all over its roster.
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This being Super Bowl 52 week in Minneapolis, the sports media will be saturated with nothing but. Hours of bloviation await as the strengths and weaknesses of the Patriots and Eagles are dissected by people with inexhaustible oxygen supplies. And who are we to resist the urge to analyze the upcoming tussle between Tom Brady and Nick Foles for the affections of the world’s bettors?
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As heavyweights go, Stipe Miocic is the anti-fantasy. He's big by normal standards, but he isn't a hulk. He doesn't have a terrifying, imposing physicality. He just wins. In spite of that simple measuring stick for greatness, fight fans struggle to appoint him as a star.
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There are many traditions in sport that are fading away. Fighting in hockey. The phantom tag at second base in baseball. The big slow centre in basketball.
Is media objectivity when covering sports about to become another vestige of the past?
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Maybe Edmonton NHL fans should record a song called, How Do You Solve A Problem Named The Oilers?
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In the NFL, it’s very, very hard to win. Winning a game, winning two games in a row, winning consistently over the course of a season, winning over the course of multiple seasons – it’s hard. The margins are slim. And too many NFL teams don't look ahead, thinning the margins further.
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Al Michaels was nettled. The star NBC announcer watched yet another officiating screwup at the end of Saturday’s Rams/ Falcons playoff game then asked the musical question: Why do the final two minutes of a hockey game take two minutes, but the final two minutes of a football game take 20 minutes?
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The UFC Middleweight quagmire of 2017 wasn't all that bad. It allowed to enter the conversation not only the man who would prove its top fighter but maybe pound-for-pound best fighter in the game: Robert Whitaker.
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The 2018 sports year begins with a Bowl, but the full table setting lies ahead. What courses are being prepared? Let’s look forward at some of the most challenging stories ahead.
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Now is the winter of sports discontent. NFL coaches are being primed for the chop. NHL and NBA coaches, too, are trying to stay one step ahead of the grim reaper as their team’s rosy prospects dim. We hear longtime Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis won’t come back next year. John Fox in Chicago, Bill O’Brien in Houston and Chuck Pagano in Indianapolis are all being primed for the pink slip.
Read MoreSports, as the saying goes, is the gift that keeps on giving. This past weekend was one of the most diverse and interesting in recent memory with important stories that re-wrote the sports landscape.
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It has not been a good two weeks for the Toronto Blue Jays. The most recent body blow was the news that the New York Yankees, the Jays’ bitter AL East rivals, had won the Giancarlo Stanton sweepstakes. The prodigious Florida Marlins slugger spurned deals to go to San Francisco and St. Louis to accept a trade to the Bronx. The fact that the 2017 NL MVP is owed a staggering $265 million on his contract had eliminated most MLB teams— including the Jays.
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The debate over the use of the name Edmonton Eskimos was revived again this Grey Cup week. The mayor of the city believes the name is offensive. So do some native activists. But not everyone agrees. As we wrote in this 2016 column, if 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?
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Where’s Bernie Sanders when you really need him?
The socialist scold — who’s usually out of his mind about corporate perks and privilege— has been remarkably quiet about the contract negotiations going on for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
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