Tuesday column

With apologies to the late, great Jimmy Cannon, nobody asked me but . . .
d Ajay Baines may never make it into Hockey’s Hall of Fame. But he was in Jenna Fowler’s Hall of Fame on Canada Day, and we’ll let you figure out which is more meaningful.
Baines, one of Kamloops’ favourite sons, scored the game-winning goal in the final game as his Hamilton Bulldogs won the AHL championship last month. The Calder Cup, the AHL’s big prize, spent the weekend here and, Baines had it on display at his folks’ place Sunday afternoon.
Among the visitors were Jenna and her father, Ken, who also were planning on venturing to Riverside Park for some of the festivities. But first things first, you understand.
“Jenna said, ‘I’m not going to Riverside Park until I go to Ajay’s house,’ ” her father related.
Jenna has health-related issues that are cause for a trip to Vancouver every three weeks. On this afternoon, however, nothing could have been further from this young lady’s mind.
The smile on her face was enough to help flowers grow. And to see Baines chat with his No. 1 fan was to understand how he is one of the most-popular players ever to wear a Blazers jersey.
d Baines and the Calder Cup spent part of Saturday night in downtown Kamloops.
“Yeah,” Baines said, “we had it in a few bars. People were drinking out of it and having a good time.”
Judging by the small piece of detritus — wilted lettuce, surely — stuck to one side of it, the trophy must have gotten close to a salad bar during one of its stops.
AHL president Dave Andrews should know that Baines really took good care of it.
d The Calder Cup has been around since 1938 when it was won by the Providence Reds.
Part of its package is two wooden bases — this is one heavy trophy — on which are mounted plaques that feature the names of those on each winning team. But with only two bases, space is limited. Which means each time one team is added, another must come off.
So it will come to pass that when Baines and the 2006-07 Bulldogs get their plaque, off will come the 1986-87 Rochester Americans. Rochester’s roster included right-winger Richard Hajdu, who played for the Kamloops Junior Oilers, and goaltender Darcy Wakaluk, the Blazers’ goaltender coach not that long ago.
d The committee that chooses who goes into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and who doesn’t, has spoken.
This year’s inductees are Ron Francis, Al MacInnis, Mark Messier and Scott Stevens, all four of whom had brilliant NHL careers.
While it is hard, if not impossible, to argue with the selection of either of those players, the fact that Igor Larionov wasn’t among the chosen four borders on illogical.
Larionov, as smooth a centre as has played the game, was a key contributor on three Stanley Cup-championship teams — the Detroit Red Wings of 1997, 1998 and 2002.
But where Larionov really left his mark was on the international pond with the then-Soviet Union. His Olympic resume includes two gold medals and a bronze. Teams for which he skated won four World championships and also finished second and third.
Think about that for a moment. Two Olympic gold medals. Four World championship golds. Three Stanley Cups.
On top of that, he was, through the 1980s, considered by many to be the best centre in the world not named Gretzky. That was when Larionov centred the famed and feared KLM line, with Vladimir Krutov and Sergei Markarov.
Yes, Larionov should have been one of the chosen four last week. After all, it is the Hockey Hall of Fame, not the National Hockey League Hall of Fame.
d Professional wrestling is three deaths from a milestone.
If you visit the website prowrestling.about.com, the list is mind-numbing. It really is.
It is a list of prominent wrestlers who have died since 1985. It includes only those wrestlers who were of some prominence and only those who were under the age of 65 when they died.
There are 97 names — NINETY-SEVEN! — on that list; 38 of those, including Chris Benoit, were 40 or younger. (In what other sport or entertainment avenue, does someone keep a list of those who died young?)
Benoit, of course, is the Canadian wrestler — he was known as the Canadian Crippler — who murdered his wife and son in their Georgia home and then gave himself the ultimate sleeper hold, if you will.
You wonder how many more of Vince McMahon’s boys are going to be put in the ground before U.S. politicians stand up and take notice.
Three more and it’ll be an even 100. Maybe then something will happen.
This, by the way, is a relatively new phenomenon.
As Steve Simmons wrote in the Toronto Sun: “The wrestlers of my youth didn’t die young. The Sheik, after all the fire, the gouging and the biting, lived to 76. Bobo Brazil, whose head suffered no damage from a lifetime of Coco Butts, managed to make it to 73. Freddie Blassie bled his way all over America to the ripe old age of 85.”
Something, indeed, is wrong with pro wrestling today. Something is killing today’s wrestlers well before their time.

Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.