Keeping Score

Why is the chatter always about the potential for two NHL teams in Toronto? Hey, what about Vancouver? The Canucks are a religion on the Lower Mainland. Vancouver-based businessmen Tom Gaglardi and Ryan Beedie, who at one time filed suit in an attempt to gain ownership of the Canucks, surely would be interested. And, hey, how about Brian Burke as GM? . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “Lots of people think the Rays are a terrific underdog story, but most of those people live in Tampa or St. Pete. To the rest of the country, the Rays are sort of like the Kansas City Royals, only without the tradition.” . . . One more from Cote: “The New York Rangers finally lost after a 5-0 start. Out of habit, Mercury Morris and Nick Buoniconti celebrated.”
Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria was playing for the Class A Hudson Valley Renegades in Fishkill, N.Y., two years ago. Mind you, he played only eight games — he hit .424 — before movin’ on up. But the locals there knew he was something special. “He always signed for kids. Whether he had three punchouts or not, he still signed autographs,” Renegades P.A. announcer Rick Zolzer told the Middletown Times Herald-Record. “We’ve had knuckleheads who worked at Kmart within a year who didn’t do that.” . . . The Boston Red Sox voted Manny Ramirez a two-thirds playoff share. Yes, he also will get a chunk of change from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ share of the playoff pool. “The Boston Herald reported the vote was divided,” wrote Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel, “but ultimately the players decided it was a simple case of money being money.”
Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel feels that Tampa Bay’s involvement makes this an important World Series, meaning parents should allow their children to stay up and watch it. As Darling wrote: “Baseball can provide memories for a lifetime, and if they miss a historic moment they’ll regret it. Just ask Cubs fans who skipped the 1908 Series.” . . . Jose Canseco, profiled in a TV documentary — Jose Canseco: The Last Shot — that was shown earlier this week, is scared for his health, thanks to steroid use and abuse, and broke. Perhaps it’s because of the latter that an agent for Canseco has been in touch with organizers of the World Baseball Challenge, which is scheduled for Prince George, July 16-26. Canseco, 44, just may end up playing for the local entry in that tournament. . . . The WBC has seven teams confirmed with Bahamas the latest addition. The last spot will go to Cuba or Venezuela. . . . The Cubans were thought to be in but then some baseball players defected in Edmonton in August and Fidel’s baseballers now have cold feet. . . . Hey, Fidel, it’s one thing to defect in Edmonton, but P.G.?
In Toronto, the Maple Laffs are being run by interim (until Burkie arrives) GM Cliff Fletcher, the Argos brought back Don Matthews, the Blue Jays are trying to recapture the past with Cito Gaston and Paul Beeston. . . . Only in Toronto is everything old new again. . . . Steve Simmons, in the Toronto Sun: “If Jesse Lumsden was a package, the sticker would read: Fragile. Normie Kwong was the China Clipper. Lumsden is the China Doll.” . . . How hard has the injury bug bitten the Seattle Seahawks’ wide-receiving corps? “We not only lost our starters and our backups,” Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren told The Associated Press, “we also lost the guys we signed who worked at the Chevron station, you know?” . . . New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey is feeling much better since having surgery to repair a hernia. As he told the Biloxi, Miss., Sun Herald: “It’s the first time I can sneeze without feeling like I’m getting stabbed at a bar.”
So I flip over to the new TSN channel on Thursday night and find a rerun of an NHL game between the Boston Bruins and, yes, the Maple Laffs. The game had been over about an hour and already we could watch it again. Thank you, CRTC, thank you. . . . Ian Winwood of the Guardian, a London newspaper, visited our side of the pond recently and seems to have spent most of his time in Toronto. His report: “Toronto is probably the ice hockey capital of the world. The city is home to the Hockey Hall of Fame (which, frankly, isn’t all that great); it’s home to The Hockey News (which, frankly, isn’t all that great), and it’s home to Gretzky’s, a burger joint owned by The Great One, which, frankly, isn’t all that great. Toronto is also home to the Maple Leafs, one of the NHL’s ‘Original Six’ teams. And, frankly, they’re absolutely awful.” . . . Other than all that, Winwood had a great time. . . . In Florida high school football, Naples recently beat Estero High, 91-0, scoring 13 touchdowns along the way. Estero defensive line coach Pat Hayes noted: “I didn’t even know 91 was a multiple of seven.”
Pardon my confusion but if our city’s new bantam hockey tournament is going to be known as KIBIHT, what exactly did the old KIBIHT sell to the good folks of Langley? . . . And isn’t the new tournament’s keeping the same name something of a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to the previous event’s organizers? Doesn’t someone need to recognize that, even with all the acrimony of the last couple of years, somebody kept this thing alive for 40 years? . . . Sarah Palin was back on the NHL tour last night, taking part in a ceremonial faceoff in St. Louis prior to a game between the Blues and Los Angeles Kings. “The foreign policy novice says she’s especially excited,” wrote Pete McEntegart of SI.com, “because she hasn’t met any Kings before.”
Kevin Gleason, in the Middletown, N.Y., Times Herald-Record: “The NBA just laid off 80 employees and yet I haven’t heard a word about David Stern taking a slice from his reported $8 million annual salary. I’m sure it happened and we just missed it.” . . . You no doubt will be excited to know that John Wayne Bobbitt is in training for some kind of celebrity boxing match. Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix points out: “It’s hard to believe that it has been 15 years since the Bobbitts severed their relationship.”
Bill Price of the New York Daily News, after discovering that some Philadelphia Phillies fans are using the slogan “Ya Gotta Believe,” which originated with the late Tug McGraw and the 1973 Mets: “Many of these same people booed Mike Schmidt, threw snowballs at Santa Claus and cheered when it appeared another human being (OK, it was Michael Irvin), had been seriously injured in a football game. Some of them even cheered for Sarah Palin . . . at a Flyers game. They erected a statue of a fictional boxer because he was able to run up some stairs without tripping. A Steak-umm and Cheez Whiz sandwich is their greatest contribution to the culinary arts. Their most famous landmark has a huge crack in it.”

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