As you read in these pages the other day, the KIJHL, of which the Kamloops Storm is a member, will be playing some best-of-nine playoff series next season. Somewhere, Ben Hatskin, Bill Hunter and Scotty Munro are nodding in approval. . . . A tip of the hat to Storm owner Barry Dewar, who has been a high-visibility sponsor throughout the pageantry involved in selecting a Miss Kamloops Ambassador. . . . The NHL team that selects John Tavares in the 2009 draft should be forewarned — he has dumped his agent and is being represented by his mother. Come to think of it, perhaps more athletes should try that. . . . Bill Bellamy, the host of the TV show Last Comic Standing, is a cousin to NBA star Shaquille O’Neal. As Bellamy told FSN: "He's rich, and he's my third cousin. If he was to give me some money, he'd be my first cousin."
The Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League traded right-hander John Odom to the United league’s Laredo Broncos this week. In return the Vipers, according to a press release, received “10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, 34-inch, 32-ounce, double-dipped, black, model C243.” . . . It’s believed that negotiations almost broke down when the Vipers also asked for a rosin bag. . . . Former WHL and NHL star Theo Fleury will throw out the first pitch when the Vipers play their home-opener on Thursday. He also is expected to sign with the Vipers and make his professional baseball debut with them at some point during the season. . . . Ichiro stole two bases Sunday, giving him a Seattle Mariners’ career record of 292. Sometime earlier, Julio Cruz, the previous record holder, had sent Ichiro a bottle of cologne. "It smelled like old men," Ichiro said through an interpreter. "I felt the generation gap between us." Yes, you have to wonder what he really said.
With NFL owners having opted out of the CBA, it’s hard to believe that an agreement won’t be reached before there would be a work stoppage in 2011. As Chris Foster noted in the Los Angeles Times: “It would be hard to imagine a commissioner and union president taking a sport into a damaging lockout that ends with a lost season and games being shown on something called Versus.” . . . Former WHLer Nathan Smith, now with the AHL’s Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins, was nabbed while streaking recently and charged with indecent exposure, open lewdness and disorderly conduct. Foster referred to that as "a Hanson Brothers hat trick."
In case it was keeping you up nights, Stubby Clapp’s first name really is Richard. And he is from Windsor, Ont. . . . Centre Colin Smith, the Kamloops Blazers’ first pick in the WHL’s 2008 bantam draft, attends Vimy Ridge Academy in Edmonton and is enrolled in The Hockey Program. One of his teachers and coaches is former WHL player, coach and general manager Rick Carriere, one of hockey’s good guys who offers that Smith “is a true leader, outstanding player and a great citizen. Every shift is as good as his last one and he never takes one off.” . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “Did you read about those two guys who robbed that bank in Miami? They thought they got away clean. Luckily, the bank was being secretly videotaped by the New England Patriots.” . . . One more from Cote: “After being threatened with arrest, Charles Barkley admitted he owes $400,000 in gambling debts to a Las Vegas casino and plans to pay. Hey, I can relate. Who among us hasn't owed $400,000 and it simply slipped our minds?” . . . Sir Charles was able to scrape together 400 big ones and paid his debt earlier this week.
Alex Rodriguez’s wife mentioned the other day that the New York Yankees third baseman fainted during the birth of their now four-year-old daughter. “The same thing happened to Roger Clemens several years ago,” wrote Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, “when he found out Mindy McCready was only 15.” . . . Shortstop Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies recently spent three days in the minor leagues as he worked to come back from an injury. While in the minors, most players recognized him. But there was this one player . . . "One catcher didn't know who I was," Rollins said. "He said, 'They let you wear Rollins' jersey?' I said, 'Yeah, they say I look like him.' " . . . With allegations having been made that basketballer O.J. Mayo, who spent one season at USC, was on the receiving end of some improper cash and gifts, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle notes: "O.J. says it wasn't him, and he vows to spend the rest of his life searching for the real freeloaders."
So the NHL’s Western Conference final concludes on Monday and the Stanley Cup final doesn’t begin until five nights later in order to give TV three Saturday night games should the series go seven games. And, as a result, the NHL ends up scheduling Games 3, 4 and 5 directly against the NBA’s Eastern Conference final between the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons. Which means the Detroit Red Wings and Pistons will go head-to-head on TV. Now just who do you think will win that battle? . . . Check out the recent track record of Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs. According to the Chicago Tribune, a former girlfriend earlier this month sued him for child support. At the same time, a second woman said he is the father of a soon-to-be-born child. And there is another child by yet another woman. . . . As Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times put it: “George Halas died in 1983, but Papa Bear lives!”
The BCFC, the junior football league that includes the Kamloops Broncos, has unveiled its new website. You may check it out at www.bcjuniorfootball.ca. . . . By the way, the Broncos and Okanagan Sun will play an exhibition game in Salmon Arm on July 12. . . . After Detroit ousted Orlando from the NBA playoffs in five games, some Magic players were heard to say they still felt they were better than the Pistons. "In related news," wrote Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel, "the Grenadan army still maintains it is better than the U.S. military, the squashed armadillo in the middle of I-75 says it is better than the Mack Truck, and Engelbert Humperdinck says he's better than Sinatra ever was."
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews. ca. Taking Note appears Saturdays.
