If it looks like a catch, talks like a catch, walks like a catch and 100 football fans in a bar say it’s a catch, then it’s a catch. Except in the NFL. . . . Look, by the letter of the NFL law, Dez Bryant’s catch wasn’t a catch. But if I hear one more person talk about “the process,” I am going to be ill. . . . The rule needs changing. . . . One other thing: The NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball need to watch where they are going with video review. Yes, it’s admirable to want to get every call correct. But I’m thinking the games may have been better with more human error and less huddling by officials. . . .
“The Winter Classic has become a lot like baseball’s all-star game,” writes Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun. “It matters in the city it’s being played in. It matters in the cities of the teams involved. It doesn’t matter much anywhere else.” . . . Here’s Simmons, again: “Weird place, Toronto. We’ll buy overpriced Leafs tickets and world junior tickets. But give us reasonably priced tickets for the Argos or the Pan-Am Games and suddenly we’re not so interested.” . . .
If you missed Rich Sutter as a Sportsnet analyst during the Thursday game between the host Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers, you missed a lot. He threw former Vancouver goaltender Richard Brodeur under the bus and how many other talking heads have done that? . . . They were picking the top three goaltenders in Canucks history and Sutter put Brodeur third, accusing him of having quit on the team at times. Sutter, who was with the Canucks at the time, said there were problems in the dressing room back then and that some of that, he claimed, was attributable to Brodeur’s attitude. . . . Hey, Sportsnet, more Rich Sutter, please. . . .
Ron Judd of the Seattle Times writes that he “enjoys the diversion of the NFL playoffs, too. But please spare us the annual torrent of media hype about monitoring of fan-caused ‘earthquake’ symptoms at the local football stadium. There’s probably some value in this hypefest’s main goal — ‘testing’ the impact of large numbers of people simultaneously clicking, in Pavlovian style, on an earthquake-info website. But claiming grand scientific value in the exercise sits between questionable and ludicrous.” . . . Here’s Judd, again: “Baseball pitching great Curt Schilling, ticked at not being inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame alongside truly deserving honorees such as former Mariner Randy Johnson, whines that being a Republican costs him votes. Now he knows how Mitt Romney feels.” . . .
“Kim Kardashian claims she doesn’t smile often because it causes wrinkles,” writes Janice Hough, aka The West Coast Sports Babe. “Got news for Kim, people aren’t looking at her face.” . . . “Boston beat out San Francisco as the U.S representative amongst bids to play host to the 2024 Olympic Games,” notes Hough. “So they have the Olympic bid and Pablo Sandoval. Wonder which one will give Boston buyer’s remorse first?” . . .
Veteran receiver Steve Smith of the Baltimore Ravens has admitted to The Associated Press that he loves playing in prime time. Why? “Family members get to see you play,” he explained, “ex-girlfriends that wished they wouldn’t have dumped you, they’re questioning themselves right now.” . . . Here‘s Smith after the Ravens lost to the host Houston Texans late in the regular season: "We expect and understand and anticipate all of the negative feedback and all of the fat, lazy, sorry couch quarterbacks are going to come out. We expect that and understand that. We're not going to pay attention to it." . . .
After Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was given 18 months probation on a DUI charge, Vancouver comic Torben Rolfsen noted: “A judge denied his request to be sentenced to Sea World.” . . . Jim Mora, the head football coach at UCLA, has told The Associated Press that he isn’t in any hurry to return to the NFL. As he explained: “I don’t mind the recruiting. I’m at the point in my life where I would rather deal with moms and dads rather than wives and agents.” . . .
ICYMI, some Michigan-based rocketeers launched an outdoor iffy into the wild blue yonder the other day. As Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald put it: “If the Redneck Games had a space program, this is what it’d look like.” . . . There is something wrong with an intermission interview in which the two participants refer to each other as Sweens and Beersy. But that was the case on a recent night when Bob Beers, an analyst on Boston Bruins’ broadcasts, interviewed Bruins assistant general manager Don Sweeney. . . . Rob Vanstone, in the Regina Leader-Post: “Pet peeve: Any interview that ends with ‘thanks for this.’ ” . . .
“A time capsule from 1795 was opened in Boston,” reports Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong. “Among the articles inside were some petrified baked beans, a bloodied sock once worn by Paul Revere and a loud Minuteman jacket that once belonged to Don Cherry.” . . . Comedy writer Jerry Perisho noted that the most surprising thing found in the time capsule, at least part of which was put there by Revere, was “a Steve Nash rookie card.” . . . “I just hacked into Sony Pictures’ computers,” Chong claims, “and found a movie to be released this week. It’s about NFL coaching brothers Rex and Rob called ‘Saving Ryan’s Privates’.” . . .
“British tabloids report David Beckham has approached U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard about joining his Miami MLS team,” wrote Greg Cote of the Miami Herald last month. “Which would be exciting if Beckham actually, you know, had a Miami MLS team.” . . . One more from Cote: “A Memphis man was charged with stealing 7,500 pair of new LeBron James shoes valued at $1.5 million. That’s galling! I don’t mean the thief thinking he’d get away with it. I mean Nike charging $200 for a pair of sneakers.” . . .
RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com wonders: “If Santa's helpers snap photos of themselves, are they taking elfies?” . . . “Holly Sonders of Fox Sports is one of golf.com’s Most Beautiful Women in Golf 2015,” notes Currie. “So many male admirers voted for her in December, one could deck the halls with beaus of Holly.” . . . The NFL off-season is off to a fast start for the Chicago Bears. Cornerback Tim Jennings was arrested for speeding on a Georgia interstate (he was doing 99 mph in a 65 zone), reckless driving and DUI. Uhh, it was noon. Uhh, he was en route to a parent-teacher conference. His excuse? He said he was late. Perhaps he’ll be late for the next NFL season.
(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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