Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post has written a lot about baseball - and its labour difficulties - during his career as one of North America's best sports essayists. This week, he wrote about Donald Fehr, the executive director of the NHLPA. Fehr, of course, used to head up the Major League Baseball Players' Association. “Hiring Don Fehr, the Sun Tzu of jock labor, to face NHL owners in a lockout is like getting the Godfather to help you fix a parking ticket,” Boswell writes. . . . Have you come to the realization yet that there won't be an NHL season in 2012-13? . . . It's over. . . . And you get the feeling that if the NHL doesn't replace its commissioner, Dr. Lockout, there may not be a 2013-14 season, either. . . .
Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “Not only should Jeff Loria of the Marlins not own a baseball team, there shouldn't be Major League Baseball in the state of Florida. Now the Rays want a brand-spanking-new stadium in Tampa, they say that will be the big difference maker for them, if the state of Florida and its taxpayers will just give them a helping hand. Stop me if you've heard this one before.” . . . Here's Lupica, again: “You know why the NFL does everything it possibly can to protect quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Vick until it can't? Because when you turn the league over to backup quarterbacks, it starts to look a little bit like Arena League football.” . . .
Forward Brandon Mistal of Kamloops is the new captain of the BCHL's Salmon Arm SilverBacks. Mistal, 20, was handed the 'C' on Friday. . . . An obituary for Loren G. (Sam) Lickteig appeared in the Kansas City Star the other day. It listed the cause of death as “complications from MS and heartbreaking disappointment caused by the Kansas City Chiefs football team.” . . . Bill Simmons, at grantland.com: “Everything you ever wanted to know about professional sports in 2012 could be summed up with the sentence, 'Jose Reyes needs to pass a physical but is currently still on vacation in Dubai.' ” . . .
The WHL really does look amateurish with the way it reports injuries. Everyone knows that winger Jordan DePape, who left the Kamloops Blazers on the weekend, has a shoulder injury and that Blazers forward Dylan Willick has a broken ankle. Still, they are listed on the WHL injury report with upper- and lower-body injuries. . . . Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops has served his three-game suspension for an unspecified violation of the Student Code of Conduct and is back with the No. 17-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team. He started Thursday night in a 57-49 victory over the Clemson Tigers in the Old Spice Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and had 13 points, four rebounds and a block. On Friday, against the Oklahoma Sooners, Olynyk had eight points and eight rebounds as the Zags won, 72-47. The tournament final on Sunday will have Gonzaga meeting Davidson. . . .
After the Toronto Blue Jays signed outfielder Melky Cabrera - the guy with the PED asterisk - Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun wrote: “Three reasons to wonder about Cabrera: 1) he tested positive last season; 2) he never apologized to his Giants teammates for his 50-game suspension; 3) the Giants didn't feel the need to bring him back for the post-season.” . . . A sign of the times from Simmons: “The latest minor hockey problem around Toronto: Texting timekeepers. Clocks are being improperly run in local rinks - and probably across the country - while kids with cell phones communicate with friends.” . . .
If you missed it, Maryland and Rutgers are to become the 13th and 14th members of the Big Ten. As Janice Hough (aka the Left Coast Sports Babe) notes: “And we wonder why football players are bad at math.” . . . A note from a local hockey fan, who wonders “why must we suffer with that inferior scoreboard video screen” at Interior Savings Centre? Hmm, good question. . . . The same fan says he refuses to “pay to see a game if I'm sitting behind the black netting” - “why not white?” he wonders - and figures “a better screen would make the game much more enjoyable, rectifying much of the netting issue.” . . . Roger Sloan of Merritt will be busy next week as he continues pursuit of his PGA playing card. Sloan, 25, starts the final round of PGA Tour qualifying on Wednesday at La Quinta, Calif. Yes, he'll have his father, Curtis, on his bag. . . .
Jim Doan of the Western Karate Academy has a has a “framed signature of Chuck Norris along with a Certificate of Authenticity” and he is auctioning it on behalf of The Daily News Christmas Cheer Fund. Doan is accepting bids at the Academy, via email (sensei@westernkarateacademy.com) or on the Academy's Facebook site, until Dec. 15. The bidding was at $75 late Friday afternoon. . . . John Gagliardi holds the NCAA record for seasons (64) and victories (489) as a football coach. At 86 years of age, he says he is looking forward to retirement after a lengthy career at St. John's, Minn. Yes, he plans on sitting in the stands and being a fan next season. “I'll get up there and know everything,” he told The Associated Press, “just like the fans always seem to do.” . . .
Al Cameron, who used to sit in this chair as the sports editor in these parts, is leaving the Calgary Herald where he has covered curling and the CFL's Stampeders. He will be joining the Canadian Curling Association as director, communication and media relations. Cameron starts in his new position on Jan. 2, which means that family, friends and acquaintances are free to start perstering him about tickets to the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier shortly thereafter. . . . Ron Judd of the Seattle Times, after U.S. soccer star Hope Solo married former NFLer Jerramy Stevens one day after he had been arrested for domestic battery against her: “The bride wore a beaded, ivory, off-the-shoulders flak jacket; the goon, sorry, groom was attired in a black tuxedo with contrasting white ankle locator beacon. The couple is registered at Bed, Bath and Battery.”
(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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