In case you missed it, Justin Bieber was in the Chicago Blackhawks’ dressing room the other day and touched the Stanley Cup. “That,” offered Vancouver comedian Torben Rolfsen, “is like when your enemy in high school goes out with the girl you love.” . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: Prince Fielder dominates home-run eating contest. . . . Mountain biker Catharine Pendrel was moving pretty well on Shuswap Road on Wednesday afternoon, showing no ill effects of a collarbone that was broken in June. Have to think she was enjoying the cooler weather that day as she rehabs and tries to get back into competitive action at a World Cup event in Mont Sainte Anne, Que., Aug. 10-11. . . .
Here’s Janice Hough, at leftcoastsportsbabe.com, after 7-Eleven held Free Slurpee Day: “What does it say about this country when people can’t be bothered to vote, but they line up for free frozen sugar water?” . . . There have been reports that Dwight Howard, as he left the Los Angeles Lakers, expressed disappointment in Kobe’s not having passed the torch. “Really?” Hough ventured. “How dumb is it to go into a situation expecting Kobe to pass anything?” . . . “Good grief,” added Bob Molinaro of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. “What did Howard expect? Kobe won’t even pass the ball.” . . .
If you watched Tuesday’s MLB All-Star game, you couldn’t help but think of Roy Hobbs’ final at-bat in The Natural as reliever Mariano Rivera walked in from the bullpen in the eighth inning. It was one of those magical moments that will hang around for a long time. . . . With no MLB games scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday nights, you have to think the CFL missed a wonderful opportunity for TV exposure by staying black on those nights, too. . . .
EA Sports has taken former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez out of Madden NFL 25 and NCAA Football 14. “But,” notes Seattle Times reader Bill Littlejohn, “you can catch him on PlayStation 3’s Prison Break.” . . . “Hundreds of formerly keen ‘urban farmers’ are reportedly swamping Minneapolis animal shelters with their backyard chickens,” reports RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “Call them the Clueless Clucks Clan.” . . . The NHL is to social media what Ed McMahon was to Johnny Carson, thus it names its divisions Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific. . . . A tweet from Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News: “NHL’s new division names actually an improvement on their original idea: Left, Right, Middle, Something Else.” . . . As Larry Brooks of the New York Post points out via Twitter: “All five Atlantic Division teams — NJD, NYI, NYR, Philly, Pitt — remain in same division but no longer play in Atlantic Division. #NHL_Logic” . . .
The new stadium in Hamilton will be home to the Tiger-Cats and is to be known as Tim Hortons Field. “Opposing receivers should prepare to face double-double coverage,” warns Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. . . . Here’s BBC radio’s John Inverdale after Marion Bartoli won the women’s singles title at Wimbledon: “Do you think Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little, ‘You’re never going to be a looker. You’ll never be a (Maria) Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight’?” . . . Here’s Hadley Freeman of The Guardian, via Twitter: “Do you think John Inverdale’s mother told him when he was little, ‘You know, you’ll always be an idiot…’ ”
In Nigeria, officials have suspended four soccer teams amid a match-fixing investigation after two games ended 79-0 and 67-0. “To put that in perspective,” notes Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times, “only one MLS team, the 1998 L.A. Galaxy, ever scored as many as 79 goals — in an entire season.” . . . After Joey Chestnut won Nathan’s Fourth of July eating contest by putting away 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes, NBC-TV’s Jay Leno asked: “How is that possible? My garbage disposal doesn’t work that fast.” . . .
Those drivers who go 80 km/h or more on the Halston Bridge . . . where are they hurrying to? I spent last Saturday on the North Shore and wasn’t able to figure it out. . . . Meanwhile, when was the speed limit on the Summit Connector raised to 80? . . . Hey, Kamloops, how are you doing with those gas prices? Is that some kind of shell game they’re playing, or what? The price goes up by six cents, then down by four, then up by six, then down by three, then up by five. . . . And at the end of the day you think you’re getting a heckuva deal when it’s $1.31.9. . . .
If you have seen the movie The Blind Side, you will recall a few second-half appearances by various college football coaches as they attempt to recruit Michael Oher. Well, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel interviewed Leigh Anne Tuohy — Sandra Bullock played her in the movie — “and asked her which college football coach was the most genuine in the recruiting process.” Tuohy’s response: “None of them.” . . . The Miami Spice got off to a 2-0 start in the Bikini Basketball Association. “I don’t know much about the BBA,” writes Greg Cote of the Miami Herald. “I just pray it’s a women’s league.”
(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.ca and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears Saturdays, except when it doesn’t.)
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