A midweek tweet from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News: “Cautionary tale to NHL teams: Aston Villa of British Premier League had to cancel Goal of the Month promotion because it didn't score any.” . . . This was just days after the Winnipeg Jets scored three goals in three road games and still managed to earn five points. They lost 2-1 in a shootout to the New Jersey Devils, beat the New York Rangers 1-0 in a shootout and got past the Chicago Blackhawks, 1-0. . . . Shades of the dead-puck era. . . . During the World Series, Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost admitted to having lost some of his anonymity and added that he often uses the name “Frank” when he’s out and about. “I have the same problem,” explains blogger Chad Picasner. “When I make reservations, I use the name ‘Ned Yost.’ ” . . .
The Detroit Lions sent CJ Mosley home from London and suspended him for two weeks. The crime? Smokin’ dope and being a dope -- he disabled a hotel smoke alarm. According to Vancouver comic Torben Rolfsen: “Mosley and the NFLPA have filed a grievance with the league, asking that future overseas games be played in Amsterdam.” . . . “Designer Oscar de la Renta was laid to rest this week in New York,” notes Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong. “No word on what he was wearing, but a relative said Oscar wouldn’t be caught dead wearing an Armani suit.” . . .
This is just so Chicago Cubbish. The Cubbies are paying three managers right now -- Joe Maddon, who was just signed; Rick Renteria, who was fired to make room for Maddon; and, Dale Sveum, who was dumped before Renteria was welcomed aboard. . . . When the Cubs signed their latest manager, the headline in the Chicago Sun-Times read: Maddon 15. . . . Last season, Arkansas Razorbacks basketball coach Mike Anderson and forward Alandise Harris didn’t see eye-to-eye. When asked by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette just what happened, Harris explained: “He didn’t like the answers I was giving him. We solved that when I got suspended.” . . .
Fox Deportes has decided to add stock car racing in Spanish to its TV schedule. As Greg Cote of the Miami Herald noted: “NASCAR previously had been broadcast in only two languages: English and Redneck.” . . . If you are of a certain age, you will remember Bruce Jenner as the winner of the Olympic decathlon. “When I was growing up his face was on a box of Wheaties,” says Jimmy Kimmel. “Now his face isn’t even on his face anymore.” . . .
Headline at SportsPickle.com: LeBron: ‘It’s just now hitting me that I chose to play in Cleveland again.’ . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: Sportswriter has hunch team will use bye week to get healthy. . . . Another headline from TheOnion.com: New evidence confirms A-Rod invented steroids. . . . “How do the Philadelphia 76ers mark the end of Daylight Saving Time?” wonders Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “They set their clock back one hour, and then some other team comes and cleans it.” . . .
You may have heard that former big league outfielder Jose Canseco was cleaning one of his four guns the other day when he shot off a finger. “On the bright side,” notes CBS-TV’s Craig Ferguson, “he’s taken so much human growth hormone that the finger grew right back.” . . . Apparently, it was the middle finger of Canseco’s right hand. . . . “Doctors say he’ll recover,” reported Bruce Murdock of Portland radio station KKCW, “but he’ll never be able to drive in New York City again.” . . .
RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com was in Selkirk to watch some Grand Slam curling on Oct. 31. Why? He explained: “3. I enjoy watching others clean house; 2. I enjoy being the youngest spectator; 1. Anna Sidorova.” . . . One more from Currie: “I apologized to my wife for being late for dinner and said I was a real dumbell. I got held up at the gym.” . . . A tip of the fedora to Mike Wiens, who owns the Great Canadian Oil Change franchise in Regina. He is offering free oil changes for drivers with veteran's licence plates through Monday. Gotta love that. . . .
Kelly Olynyk, who played his high school basketball in Kamloops, is in his second season with the Boston Celtics and is the NBA team's starting centre. In each of his last two games, he has gone 2-for-2 from three-point range. According to Elias Sports Bureau, "Since the NBA instituted the three-point field goal in 1979-80, the only other starting centres who shot 2-for-2 or better from beyond the arc in each of two straight games are the Lakers' Vlade Divac in January 1993, Utah's Mehmet Okur in January 2009, and San Antonio's Boris Diaw in January 2014. None of those players extended their streak to three games." . . . On Saturday, Olynyk went 2-for-4 from long range -- he missed his second attempt -- as the Celtics shocked the host Chicago Bulls, 106-101. Olynyk finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes 26 seconds of playing time. . . .
“President Obama has declared the lava flow from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano to be a major disaster, which frees up federal money to help,” reports Janice Hough, aka The Left Coast Sports Babe. “Wonder how many people are thinking.‘Yeah, just like Obama to send U.S. money overseas.’ ” . . . Here’s Hough, after courts upheld a ban on gay marriage in the states of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee: “So in those last two states, men can still marry their sisters, just not their brothers?” . .
“The price of gas jumped six cents one day last week,” writes Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express. “What happened? Did somebody in Saudi Arabia fart?” . . . ICYMI, pro golfer Keegan Bradley decided the other day to tweet this about Michael Jordan: “MJ how does it feel to get beat by me everyday at Bears Club? #GoHornets.” . . . To which Jordan tweeted back: “Last time I looked, you were wearing MY shoes. You don’t see me wearing Air Keegans . . .” . . . Bradley came back with: “Hahaha. Damn. Game over.”
(Gregg Drinnan is a former sports editor of the Regina Leader-Post and the late Kamloops Daily News. He is at gdrinnan.blogspot.ca and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears here on weekends, except when it doesn’t.)
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