Taking Note

Things I wonder about as the temperature in these parts heads towards 40C . . .

aHow fast is too fast for some of the clowns on our nation’s highways?

a George Leach’s first album, Just Where I’m At, was terrific. But it was
released in 2000. So when is his next album coming out?

a How long is Sportsnet going to subject us to that horrid InBox feature?
Talk about fingernails on a chalkboard! (And, gee, in this Internet age,
wasn’t it thoughtful of Sportsnet to show Monday’s Home Run Derby on a
delayed basis in the Pacific time zone? Why didn’t they give Tuesday’s all-star game the same treatment?)

a Nothing is more fickle than your average sports fan. How else to explain
the reignited love affair between the football fans of Saskatchewan and
Roughriders head coach Kent Austin? There was a time, not all that long ago, when he left as the most despised man in the province. Now the Roughies are 2-0 (4-0 if you include preseason). Austin rules!

a In the end will the Roughriders’ break their fans’ hearts? As though that
hasn’t happened before, eh?

a There is nothing better in sports today than Federer versus Nadal.

a The only people who have offered any support to Barry Bonds during the
steroid days of baseball are the fans of the San Francisco Giants. Given an
opportunity to repay them, Bonds stiffed them by choosing not to participate in the Home Run Derby during All-Star festivities right in San Francisco. Thus he reinforced his reputation as the most arrogant person in sports.

a Still trying to get my head around the goings-on between the Edmonton
Oilers and Buffalo Sabres late last week. The Oilers offered Buffalo C
Thomas Vanek, a restricted free agent with all of one terrific season behind him, a contract worth US$50 million over seven years. The Sabres, as we all know, were quick to match. Unrestricted free agents Daniel Briere ($52 million, eight years) and Chris Drury ($35.25 million, five years) left Buffalo for less money than what Vanek now will be paid. So if Buffalo has that kind of money, why didn’t it get Briere and Drury signed?

a You are a true WHL fan if you remember that the Brandon Wheat Kings selected Vanek with the 25th pick of the CHL’s 2001 import draft. He never did play for Brandon, though, as he chose to attend the U of Minnesota.

a The Lethbridge Hurricanes have announced that they are going to put
together a Hall of Fame. Why doesn’t the WHL have a Hall of Fame where it
would be able to honour its history?

a Canada was the only team not to score even one goal in the first round of
the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Have Canadian officials yet suggested soccer go to bigger nets?

a Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Kelowna on Monday, and the Canadian Press picture service carried a photo of him walking off a stage carrying a Kelowna Rockets jersey with his name on the back. No one markets a WHL team better than does Bruce Hamilton, whose brother, Gavin, doesn’t get nearly enough credit for this team’s stature.