Dan Barnes of the Edmonton Journal, explaining the difference between golf's Ryder Cup and curling's Continental Cup: “The Ryder Cup is steeped in 80-plus years of history and bad blood between Euros and Americans and is played on mythical battlegrounds like The Belfry, Royal Lytham, Muirfield and Pinehurst. The Continental Cup is steeped in beer and played in Medicine Hat, Camrose and St. Albert. Fun, but basically frivolous.” . . . Vancouver comedian Torben Rolfsen with an observation: “(NBA commissioner) David Stern says that NBA fans boo LeBron James because he's good. Maybe, but that doesn't explain why they boo David Stern.” . . . Jerry Crowe, in the Los Angeles Times: “If the NFL followed college football's lead, playing its championship game 37 days after determining the participants, the Super Bowl would be played in early March. In the interim, 34 other games would be played that had no bearing whatsoever on establishing a champion. Wouldn't that be silly?” . . .
Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix: “A television station in Cincinnati, for an obvious reason, had to cancel its Bengals Playoff Special. In a related story, the Toronto Maple Leafs are still going ahead with their Stanley Cup parade.” . . . Hey, it's Hockey Night in Kamloops. The Blazers are at home to the Vancouver Giants (Interior Savings Centre). The junior B Storm is at home to the Revelstoke Grizzlies (McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre). The TRU WolfPack is at home to the Selkirk College Saints (Memorial Arena). The first two start at 7; the latter at 8. . . . Who knew there were that many hockey fans to go around? . . . At 84, Joe Garagiola still has a way with words. “You have dinner with Tommy Lasorda,” he told the Los Angeles Times, “and you become like a pitcher. You need four days' rest.” . . .
The Denver Post's Patrick Saunders has some pet peeves, No. 1 of which is showboating. He writes: “As Mr. (Andy) Rooney would say, 'Don't you just hate it when a defensive end makes a sack and does some crazy dance, acting like he's just won the Super Bowl, even though his team trails 38-10?' ” . . . Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union landed a new sponsor: Bimbo Bakeries USA. Tiger Woods immediately requested a tryout.” . . . Isn't it exciting to climb out of bed every day not knowing what the price of gas will be? . . . A gem from the Left Coast Sports Babe: “Al Davis now seems to think Hue Jackson is the answer for the Oakland Raiders. Of course, each time Larry King probably always believes that 'death do us part' stuff, too.” . . .
Before the NFL playoffs began, syndicated columnist Norman Chad bestowed the Philadelphia Eagles with the title as his team of destiny. Whoops! But, as Chad noted: “Sometimes even genius takes a day off. Everyone remembers Michelangelo for David, but a couple of years earlier, he did a sculpture called Daryl that nearly got him thrown out of online art school.” . . . A writer with The Oregonian, a Portland newspaper, asked former Ducks football coach Mike Bellotti about the importance of Nike chairman Phil Knight to the school's football program. The response: “How important is the sun to life on Earth?” . . . Forward Shayne Neigum, who was dealt by the Kamloops Blazers to the Regina Pats on Dec. 14, had his truck stolen earlier this week in the Queen City. He left it running while he went into a convenience store to get a lottery ticket checked. When he came out, the truck was gone. . . .
Ron Judd, in the Seattle Times: “We missed out on a chance to salute (Starbucks') new logo, which better reflects the entrepreneurial spirit of its CEO: It's an old green Seattle Sonics logo with a giant black screw driven through its heart.” . . . One more from Judd: “Sad to see that NFL star Brett Favre is retiring yet again. He said he wants to spend more time humiliating his family.” . . . The way I hear it, university hockey is only going to get bigger in our city. The TRU WolfPack plays in the seven-team B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League, and I'm hearing it just might grow to nine teams before next season. There are rumblings that a team from Eastern Washington University, which is based in Cheney, may join after this season. Gary Braun, a former WHL head coach, is the head coach of the EWU Eagles. . . . There also is a rumble that the Cranbrook-based College of the Rockies may enter a team in the league, too. . . .
After the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 7-0 to the host New York Rangers earlier this week, Tony Chong noted: “No difference between the Argos and the Leafs. Being beaten by a touchdown is no big deal.” . . . You mave have noticed that first baseman Prince Fielder has signed a one-year deal worth US$15.5 million with the Milwaukee Brewers. Len Berman, over at thatssports.com, notes that Hank Aaron signed with the Brewers in 1974 for $240,000. . . . Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “The New York Yankees have erected a life-size statue of the late George Steinbrenner outside of their spring-training facility in Tampa, Fla. As well, they've signed Dave Winfield to keep the pigeons away.” . . . When Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel heard about the statue, he wrote: “If you stand next to the statue in a downwind, you can hear it firing Billy Martin.”
Here's another one from Hamilton: “Two men who were ice-fishing on a lake in Michigan called police the other day after they were attacked by a woman wielding a fish. The woman, who told police she was upset because she felt the men put their ice-fishing shanty too close to hers, now will face the scales of justice.” . . . Hamilton had a good week: “Seattle Mariners outfielder Milton Bradley was arrested in Los Angeles on Tuesday on a charge of allegedly making threats against a woman. Bradley was told to go directly to jail, to not pass go and to not collect $200.”
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. Email him
at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, follow him at twitter.com/gdrinnan, or visit his blog at gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score will return Feb. 5.
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