The way the London Olympics went for Canada what happened with the men’s 4x100-metre relay team was the only appropriate ending for our country. Right? . . . Brad Dickson, in the Omaha World-Herald: “I wouldn’t say one man seems to be dominating Summer Olympics coverage, but NBC now stands for Nothing But Costas.” . . . Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle reports from London: “Niger rower Hamadou Djibo Issaka, who took up rowing three months ago and finished dead last, has been dubbed Issaka the Otter, the Sculling Sloth and Djibo the Destroyer.” . . . Ostler, after watching the individual dressage event on Tuesday: “It’s horse dancing. I don’t want to be one of those writers who mocks an event because he’s too unsophisticated to appreciate it, but come on.” . . .
Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News: “I’ve been following soccer for half a century, and never once saw a ref give an indirect penalty kick in the box for stalling. You get a yellow card for that. Indirect kicks are for illegal passes back to the keeper. The Canadian women were robbed against the Americans.” . . . And just in case you think the Canadian journalists in London were under the gun, here’s Bondy again: “I’m very envious of my friends, the Canadian journalists, who’ve only had to chase around one gold medal in trampoline at these entire Olympics. While we rush around to remote venues, eating Cadbury bars for supper, Canadian sportswriters go out for civilized dinners together at real restaurants, resting up for the hockey season.” . . .
Wide receiver Chad Johnson, who used to be Ochocino, spent some time in jail last weekend after allegedly head-butting his wife, who apparently was upset after finding a receipt for a box of condoms. . . . I’m thinking he was trying to use the water balloons-in-training camp defence. . . . Len Berman, at ThatsSports.com: “First, Chad Johnson was arrested for head-butting his wife, then the Miami Dolphins released him, then their reality show was canceled by VH1 and now Evelyn Lozada has filed for divorce after 41 days of marriage. That’s basically hitting for the Ochocinco cycle.” . . . A reality check from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “First clue you might be wound a little too tight as an NFL fan: You think the use of replacement refs might jeopardize the integrity of the exhibition season.” . . .
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m thinking you can forget about the NHL for 2012-13. The players, under the leadership of Donald Fehr, aren’t backing down this time, so I’m thinking that it’s over. . . . Here’s Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, on the NHL mess: “The NHL seems at serious risk of a cancelled season because of labor strife. Dear hockey: Most of America barely likes you as is. Don’t press your luck.” . . . Phil Mushnick, in the New York Post: “Those who wish to buy tickets for the Oct. 15 Denver (Peyton Manning) at San Diego game, must purchase tickets to at least one other Chargers’ home game. In other businesses, such practices are commonly known (and prosecuted) as extortion.” . . .
“The flame is gone. The breakup is complete,” wrote Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel following the departure of Dwight Howard from the Magic. “The only thing missing is Dwight blocking the entire city of Orlando from his Facebook page. Nearly a decade of love and loyalty and hopes and dreams have been flushed down the toilet. Dwight, just as Shaquille O’Neal did before him, has stepped on Orlando’s heart on his way to L.A.” . . . When Baltimore Orioles rookie Manny Machado hit two home runs in his second career game last week at Camden Yards, both balls ended up in the hands of Adam Corder, 15. “My feet were shaking. I had to sit down for a while,” Corder told the Baltimore Sun. “This is the greatest night of my life, that’s for sure.” . . .
Regan Bartel, the radio mouthpiece for the Kelowna Rockets, obviously has begun preparing for another hockey season. Here’s a tweet from him after the visiting Okanagan Sun beat the Kamloops Broncos 35-7 last weekend: “Don’t underestimate the win @GavinLake. Beating a team from Kamloops, whether it be football or hockey, sits well with fans in these parts.” . . . Gavin Lake is the Sun’s first year head coach. . . . Ryan Huska, the Rockets’ head coach, dropped by a Sun practice this week, just to see how the footballers do it. . . . Seriously, is there anything better than minor league baseball? Consider that the short-season Class A Auburn, N.Y., Doubledays have a Head Groundskeeper/Vice-President of Moisture Management and an Assistant General Manager/Vice-President of Tarp Operations. Oh, and the Doubledays have a mascot named Abner. . . .
Josh Liebeskind, who is working as an intern for MLB.com in Seattle, covered his 54th Major League Baseball game on Wednesday. It was Felix Hernandez’s perfect game. In those 54 games, Liebeskind has watched two perfectos and a no-hitter. . . . During last week’s PGA Championship, CBS/TNT had a couple of those tee-box microphones get eaten by alligators. As analyst Gary McCord noted: “It’s one of their food groups.” . . . Defenceman Corey Fienhage, who played with the Kamloops Blazers in 2010-11, has signed a one-year deal with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. He split last season between the Americans and the ECHL’s Gwinnett Gladiators. . . .
After wide receiver Terrell Owens signed with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, Richmond blogger T.C. Chong wondered: “So did T.O. sign his contract in the end zone with a Sharpie?” . . . “In an apparent shipping mix-up,” writes Ron Judd in the Seattle Times, “a 38-year-old Washington, D.C., musician who ordered a flat-panel TV from Amazon.com received a military-grade rifle from UPS. He was a little wigged out. But imagine the disappointment of the guy waiting to shoot up his neighborhood who now has to sit in his bunker and watch ‘Katie’ instead.”
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