The year-end blorf has started and apparently Kim Kardashian topped Justin Bieber as the most-searched person on Bing in 2012. Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express has a question, though: “What is Bing?” . . . Defenceman Micki DuPont, who played four seasons (1996-2000) with your Kamloops Blazers, has signed a one-year contract extension with Kloten of the Swiss National League A. This comes after DuPont, 32, signed a three-year deal in January. It all means he is signed through 2015-16. He was honoured as the league’s top defenceman last season. . . .
Surely, NHL owners can’t be surprised at the mess that has developed. Did the owners really think the players would sit and beg like puppies after they hired Donald Fehr as the NHLPA’s executive director? Have the owners not learned a thing from baseball’s labour history? . . . Folks, if you’re an NHL fan, we’ll see you next season, and maybe even then not until November. . . . Here is what I haven’t been able to understand about the NHL mess. Craig Leipold, the owner of the Minnesota Wild, signed free-agents Ryan Suter and Zach Parise to 13-year contracts last summer. And now the NHL wants to limit contract lengths to five years? . . . Were that to happen, so many teams would be unhappy about losing star players after five years that they would want to blow it all up and start all over again. . . . Just once I wish NHL commish Gary Bettman would stop telling the world how much he cares for the fans. . . .
Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux doesn’t seem to be hurting, even with the NHL locked out. His new home in Mont Tremblant, Que., carries a $20-million price tag. The 15,000-square foot home includes 23 rooms, 10 of which are bathrooms. . . . After Forbes magazine stated that the Toronto Maple Leafs are the NHL’s first $1-billion franchise, RJ Currie of ThatsSports.com wrote: “This just in: There’s been a jump in the price of laughing stock.” . . . U.S. college basketball coach Rick Majerus left us this week at the age of 64. The corpulent one once told the Arizona Republic: “Some guys smoke. Some guys drink. Some guys chase women. I’m a big barbecue-sauce guy.” . . . He was only telling the truth. . . .
If outfielder Jason Bay, the pride of Trail, is to rediscover the power stroke he lost while with the New York Mets, Safeco Field may be the place to do it. After all, the Seattle Mariners are moving the fences in before another season gets here. . . . The Blazers announced a week ago that they will retire Scott Niedermayer’s number (28) on Jan. 25. One player presently on the Blazers roster once wore 28. . . . That would be centre Colin Smith, who wore No. 28 on his back for his first three WHL games when he was called up as a 15-year-old. . . . The most popular baby names in 2012 apparently were Sophia and Aiden. “The least popular baby name,” says NBC-TV’s Jimmy Fallon, “was Kim Jong Sandusky.” . . .
A couple of weeks ago, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak fired offensive co-ordinator Chris Palmer. Someone from The Tennesseean asked Palmer what he did after being fired. “I gave him his Christmas present, said Merry Christmas, and then left,” replied the jolly Palmer. . . . “Nice touch,” wrote Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “Now Munchak will be haunted by the ghost of Christmas present.” . . . Ron Judd, telling it like it is in the Seattle Times: “Ah, the most wonderful time of the year: The lights, the carols, the holly and the ivy. And the post-Thanksgiving flood of delusional Americans rushing to buy high-powered weaponry before the United Nations takes over the country. Nothing says peace on earth like a gaily wrapped assault rifle under the tree.” . . . Did I fall asleep and miss the change in law that upped the speed limit on the Halston Connector to 85 km/h? And the one that turned the Trans-Canada Highway through Valleyview into a race track after 10:30 p.m.? . . . Try driving the speed limit and see how many ugly looks you get! . . .
After the San Antonio Spurs sent four players home prior to playing the Heat in Miami, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel made this analogy: “This just in: The Rolling Stones announced they are holding out Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ron Wood for next Saturday’s concert at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. They’re old and tired, and have been on the road forever.” . . . A midweek tweet from Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register: “I see where LeBron James got SI’s coveted ‘Sportsman of the Year Who Can Sell the Most Newsstand Covers’ award.” . . . In the week’s most under-played story, Mike Tyson told the London Sun that he once caught his then-wife, Robin Givens, and Brad Pitt in bed together. As Bob Ross of BadJocks.com noted: “Either Mike is lying to get media attention because he’s promoting something. Or Brad Pitt can run faster than Mike Tyson.”
(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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