The NHL is locked out of this column. The vote by the Keeping Score board of governors was unanimous. . . . There weren’t any serious negotiations, just like the NHL and NHLPA. . . . The only difference between Keeping Score’s situation and the NHL/NHLPA? Keeping Score isn’t overpaying anyone, nor is it overpaid. . . . A mid-week tweet from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe: “An NHL with no games. An NFL with amateur refs. In BOS, Red Sox sellouts with empty seats. These are the games of our lives.” . . . Len Berman, over at ThatsSports.com, analyzes the NHL situation: “When it comes to hockey, the players as a group are a great bunch of guys. Hockey fans are the most loyal and rabid anywhere. As for the owners? If they could outsource their labor to China, they probably would.” . . .
Syndicated columnist Norman Chad has a question: “Why is it called ‘Tommy John surgery’? Shouldn’t the procedure be identified by the doctor who first performed it, Frank Jobe? After all, the Heimlich manoeuvre isn’t named after the person who was choking.” . . . Dennis Eckersley is the only pitcher in MLB history to finish a season with at least 40 saves and an ERA lower than 1.00 when he was at 48/0.61 with the Oakland A’s in 1990. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports notes that Fernando Rodney of the Tampa Bay Rays might get there this season. Amazingly, as Rosenthal wrote, Rodney “looks like a steal now, but last offseason some rival executives wondered why Tampa Bay even gave him a major-league contract.” . . . . Remember the CFL’s Baltimore Stallions? Before he covered MLB, Rosenthal wrote about the Stallions for the Baltimore Sun. Yes, he was at the 1995 Grey Cup game in Regina. . . .
“Now for the real entertainment,” notes Ron Judd of the Seattle Times, referring to his city being closer than ever to getting a new arena. “The collective civic sucking up to weasel king NBA Commissioner David Stern and relocation committee chairman Clay Bennett. Nothing could possibly warm the cockles of each man’s slowly thumping reptilian hearts like a once-screwed city coming back and begging for more.” . . . One more from Judd: “Soon-to-be beleaguered (U of Washington) Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian has threatened to throw reporters who mention injuries out of future Husky football practices. Don’t fret: We’re working up a system where Times beat reporter Bob Condotta can use code words. Like, for a pulled groin: ‘Huskies quarterback Keith Price yanked his chain at practice today.’ ” . . .
You have to think the TRU WolfPack men’s volleyball team will be a long time forgetting its two-hour visit with Rick Hansen, our Man in Motion, on Sept. 14. Hansen, who was in town with a daughter’s high school volleyball team, talked about the accident that left him in a wheelchair, his Man in Motion tour, being a role model and being part of a team. He spoke for an hour and then took part in a Q-and-A session. . . . Hansen didn’t want any attention so it all was done on the QT. . . . You no doubt have been waiting to hear who won last weekend’s Pie-Wood Fire Pizza Joint pizza eating contest in Barrie, Ont. Well, Takeru Kobayashi took out 680-pound Manny Yarbrough and it wasn’t even close. In 10 minutes, Kobi wolfed down 40 folded slices of pizza. Yarbrough ate only 11. . . . A year ago, Kobi won by eating a record 43 slices. . . .
Gee, I don’t think the Sports Curmudgeon liked what he saw during the NFL’s weekend. “After Week 2 of the NFL season with replacement refs on the field, the NFL image has taken a body blow that would drop King Kong to its knees,” he writes. “The replacement refs threw up on their shoes last weekend. There is not enough pine oil cleaner in the country to cover up the stench.” . . . That being the case, this weekend can only be better. Right? . . .
“Pippa Middleton — the younger sister of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge — was shown around New York City recently by NHL pest Sean Avery,” writes Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “While her sister is married to a man who will be king, Pippa hangs out with a man who was dumped by the Kings.” . . . One more from Hamilton: “A golfer in Reno, Nev., suffered pellet wounds to an arm and a leg after he and his playing partner were fired upon by a homeowner who lives adjacent to the course on which the men were playing. Irate when a wayward ball smashed a window in his house, 53-year-old Jeff Fleming grabbed his shotgun and shot at the two golfers. He put holes in one.” . . .
If you read the story about Andy Clovechok in these pages yesterday, you will recall that he mentioned getting a new pair of skates for 1946-47 that cost $40 and did him for the season. . . . Today’s Kamloops Blazers pay $545 for a pair of skates and the average player goes through two pairs in a season. . . . Clovechok also is in the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, as a member of the Allan Cup-winning 1947-48 Edmonton Flyers, and the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame. So why isn’t he in the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame? Quick, someone nominate him, please. . . . Headline at SportsPickle.com: “NHL owners say they can’t afford to give players the huge contacts they’ve been giving them.”
(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears Saturdays, except when it doesn’t.)
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