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With news that the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes are likely to get a new arena in Tempe, Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register notes: “Coyotes are abandoning a beautiful arena in Glendale. Wrong side of town? Not if they adopted a new parking plan called ‘winning.’ ” . . . Headline at TheKicker.com: Anthony Davis can’t name anyone else on the Pelicans either. . . . Headline at SportsPickle.com: Week 10 TV ratings up after NFL tries new strategy of good games. . . .
A report from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “English golfer Ian Poulter, in fit of pique, took a club and whacked his bag a few times — shattering not only his cellphone, but his caddie’s, too. That was certainly uncalled for.” . . . One more from Perry: “Giddy Cubs fan Ricky Rainey, to commemorate the curse-busting World Series title, had the Wrigley Field marquee tattooed onto the top of his head. So how does he top that, get ivy implants?” . . . By now, you may have seen the video of the deer that took out cross-country runner Justin DeLuzio in Center Valley, Pa. As Perry put it, it was a case of “a fast-moving Bambi deciding to turn Thumper.” . . .
“The Chicago Cubs have won their first World Series title since 1908 and Donald Trump has won the U.S. presidential election,” writes Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “Those logic-defying events can mean only one thing: Congratulations to the 2017 Stanley Cup-champion Toronto Maple Leafs.” . . . Fore Twenty, a marijuana-friendly golf tournament, is scheduled for Oregon City, Ore., in June. Hamilton reports: “Highest score wins.” . . . Hamilton, again: “The Houston Texans and Oakland Raiders are to meet in an NFL game Monday in Mexico City. Raiders fans had better hustle home before Trump’s wall goes up.” . . .
“President Obama inviting the Chicago Cubs to the White House before he leaves office reminds one of a similar situation the last time the Cubs won the World Series,” writes Bill Littlejohn, our South Lake Tahoe, Calif.-based correspondent. “Pharaoh invited the Cubs for a visit just before the Ten Plagues of Egypt.” . . . Littlejohn, again: “Cubs owner Tom Ricketts says he plans to 'reach out' to Steve Bartman. Hope it goes better than when Moises Alou reached out to Bartman.” . . .
“In Freehold, N.J.,” reports Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong, “biker Dan Barkalow stopped to help a stranded rider whose chopper had broken down. It turned out to be Bruce Springsteen. So of all the bikes sold in New Jersey, Springsteen bought one that wasn’t Born to Run.”. . . “Kate Upton aimed a twitter tirade at two Cy Young voters who left her fiancé Justin Verlander off their ballot,” writes RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “I can only imagine what it's like having Kate Upton against me.” . . . One more from Currie: “Game 3 of the World Chess Championship in New York lasted six hours. I caught most of the second half by switching back-and-forth during the final three minutes of an NBA game.” . . . Currie, again: “Metro UK reports a German found a long-lost wedding ring in his garden with a carrot grown through it. He was happy to find the band, even if it was just one-carrot gold.” . . .
If there was any doubt as to which B.C. community is the province’s Baseball City, it was removed with the news that Victoria will be the site of the next two Canadian senior men’s championships. The 2017 tournament is scheduled for Aug. 23-27, with the 2018 event running Aug. 22-25. Victoria also is home to the HarbourCats, who led the West Coast League in attendance in each of the past two seasons. In 2016, the average crowd was 2,239. . . . Yes, Kamloops remains on the WCL’s radar, but that would be in 2018 at the earliest. . . .
After the visiting Chicago Bears lost 36-10 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune wrote: “The Bears went down to Tampa to play a football game. Instead, they held televised auditions for clown college.” . . . “Don’t look now, but the Los Angeles Lakers are respectable again,” notes Janice Hough, aka The Left Coast Sports Babe. “So is it Luke Walton coaching or Kobe Bryant leaving?” . . . The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled that Notre Dame’s police department doesn’t have to release crime reports to ESPN. “Well, yes,” writes Hough, “because there is no higher authority than Touchdown Jesus.” . . .
It’s Thursday night and there are five NHL games to choose from on TV — Winnipeg at Philadelphia, Florida at Toronto, Nashville at Ottawa, Edmonton at Los Angeles, and Arizona at Vancouver. . . . Whoops! That’s not quite right. They all are regional telecasts. . . . So we’ll watch one of the two NBA telecasts, the NCAA college football game or the NFL game. While we’re watching, we will be wondering just how it is the NHL thinks it is growing the game. . . .
Here’s Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald: “SI.com ranked the most memorable moustaches in sports. I believe that six of the top 10 belong to former members of the East German women’s Olympic team.” . . . Long-time Chicago Cubs fan Mabel Ball died on Nov. 8 at the age of 108, just days after her favourite team had ended its championship drought. As comedy writer Jim Barach noted: “Her last words were ‘I’m not going through that again.’ ”
(Gregg Drinnan is a former sports editor of the Regina Leader-Post and the late Kamloops Daily News. He is at greggdrinnan@gmail.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears here on weekends, except when it doesn’t.)
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