Sunday . . .

Yes, as an astute observer noticed, a couple of games were missing from Saturday’s highlight package that was posted here in the wee hours of Sunday.
That is the fault of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who met up in the final of the Australian Open.
The match began Sunday shortly after 12:30 a.m. Pacific time; it ended somewhere around 5 a.m. Yes, I watched the whole thing.
And somewhere in the middle of it all, with my brain obviously having become numbed by, one supposes, weariness, I began to ponder . . .
With both singles finals beginning at 12:30 a.m. — that’s 3:30 a.m. Eastern — is a fan better off being in one time zone or the other?
If you’re in the Pacific zone, you have yet to go to bed when it begins, but you are tired when it’s all over. If it’s a five-setter and you watch the whole thing, you get to bed sometime after 5 a.m., which also means you may end up short of sleep so could be tired through most of Sunday.
If you live in the Eastern zone, you might miss the first couple of sets but if you rise at 6 a.m., you are going to be able to watch the last three sets — assuming that, like this final did, it goes five sets.
Of course, if it’s like this year’s women’s final, which lasted about 15 minutes early Saturday morning, if you’re in the eastern time zone you probably missed the whole thing.
No matter.
It was worth it to stay up and watch the men’s final which featured two of the greatest competitors of our time.
The fact that Nadal was able to recover from the longest match in Aussie Open history just 48 hours earlier — I watched the first two sets of that one before I capitulated — and go five sets with Federer, who spent far less time on court in this tournament, says a lot about the Spaniard’s competitiveness.
And it won’t be long — perhaps another two years — before the experts are talking about Nadal the way they have talked about Federer.
Is he the best ever?
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THE MacBETH REPORT: F Frank Banham (Saskatoon) has been loaned by Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia, Austrian Erste Bank Liga) to Biel (Swiss NL A)
for the rest of this season as part of a cost-cutting measure by Olimpija. Banham had 30 goals and 29 assists in 51 games for Olimpija this season.
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Veteran sports columnist Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun took in the game between the Regina Pats and host Oil Kings on Saturday night. His column is right here.
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Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald informs me that Silvertips F Shane Harper has been awarded three penalty shots this season. . . . F Kenton Dulle of the Kamloops Blazers also has had three penalty shots this season. . . . Dulle scored Saturday night against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers for his second goal in the three attempts. . . . Harper, meanwhile, is 0-for-3. . . . Everett visits Kamloops on Wednesday night. . . . Here’s hoping they each get a penalty shot, or that the game goes to a shootout and each guy gets an opportunity.
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The QMJHL’s Lewiston Maineiacs have asked the QMJHL for permission to move. The owners would like to move to the Montreal off-island suburb of Boisbriand. The request comes less than a year after the St. John’s Fog Devils left Newfoundland for Verdun, Que., which also is in the Quebec area, where they now operate as the Montreal Junior. . . . A new sports complex is soon to be built in Boisbriand. . . . The Mainiacs have an 18-34-0-1 record and are averaging 2,192 fans per game.
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The game to look forward to this week has the Vancouver Giants meeting the Chiefs in Spokane on Friday. The Chiefs are on an 11-game winning streak, while the Giants have won seven in a row. . . . Sometime this week, the Chiefs should get another diagnosis on the knee injury suffered Friday by D Jared Cowen.