Everyone who came into contact with Tony Gwynn, who died earlier this week at the age of 54, agrees that he was a Hall of Famer on and off the diamond. Tim Flannery, who played with Gwynn with the San Diego Padres, told the San Diego Union-Tribune about one night in Cincinnati. The Reds were leading 2-0 when the game was suspended by rain. The Padres had two runners on base and Gwynn due up. “Because of all the rain delays, it’s now about 11:30 at night,” Flannery recounted. “Tony and I are walking back up the tunnel at Riverfront. He said, ‘Hey, Flan, I want you to be ready tomorrow, because this guy’s gonna throw me a first-pitch slider, I’m gonna hit it into the left-center gap, it’s gonna score two and we’re gonna be tied.’ Sure enough, next day, first-pitch-slider, boom, left-center field, both runners score, tie game. Tony looks at me and smiles. I’ll guarantee you this: Before he went to bed that night, that lefty didn’t know he was gonna throw that. But Tony knew. Amazing. Just an amazing, amazing player.” . . .

The NBA-champion San Antonio Spurs’ roster boasts players from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy and the Virgin Islands. As Janice Hough, aka The Left Coast Sports Babe, noted: “It’s like watching the World Cup, without soccer.” . . . Here’s another note from Hough: “Even FIFA is impressed with the flopping levels in the NBA finals.” . . . “What do you get when you cross the World Cup and The Waltons?” asks Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “Ghana defender John Boye.” . . . You don’t have to be a fan of soccer to enjoy the spectacle of the World Cup. Really, is there anything else like it in the sporting world? . . . The games are over in less than two hours and the play-by-play men are the best in the business. . . .

The World Cup game between Germany and Ghana on Saturday afternoon was nothing short of terrific, and a prime example of why hockey needs to go to a system that awards three points for a victory in regulation time. . . . If you missed it, the game ended 2-2 and there was nothing wrong with that. . . . There are a lot of bad ’dos on display, too, but it could be that Rodrigo Palacio of Argentina sports the strangest one. Surely, he lost a bet. . . . Check it out if you get the chance. . . . A tweet from Ray Ratto of Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area: “Soccer’s greatest failing is that shots off the post don’t clang like in hockey.” . . .

Goaltender Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils has said he wants to play one more season. “To avoid culture shock leaving New Jersey,” writes Vancouver comedian Torben Rolfsen, “I suggest Metallurg Magnitogorsk.” . . . All those baseball fans who were surprised to hear that Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz complained about the official scorer at Fenway Park not being a homer, raise your right hand. . . . Yeah, that’s what I thought. . . . “Ex-tennis star Monica Seles, 40, is engaged to marry former gubernatorial candidate Tom Golisano, 72,” notes the afore-mentioned Perry. “Something old? Check. . . .”

Headline at Fark.com: N.Y. Knicks decide that Derek Fisher will be their next ex-coach. . . . Another headline from the gang at Fark.com: World Cup referees run 6 miles during a match — 2 additional miles after making a game-ending call against the home team. . . . Here’s one from TheOnion.com: World’s greatest soccer stars arrive in Brazil for month-long Coca-Cola ad. . . .

Google has said it will produce a self-driving car that has neither steering wheel nor brake pedal. “Instead of a windshield,” claims Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong, “there is a touch screen so you can text, Google or watch a movie while you are in motion. In other words, exactly what people are already doing.” . . . Perhaps the day will come when I will understand why the price of a litre of gasoline is cheaper in Victoria ($1.38.9) than Kamloops ($1.41.9). Then again, maybe not. . . . Alex Trebek apparently set a record recently when he played host to his 6,829th episode of Jeopardy. “Hey, Alex,” writes Chong, “I’ll take ’Records No One Cares About’ for $500.” . . .

“Orange News reports an estimated 8,000 Portland men and women took part in the 11th annual World Naked Bike Ride,” writes RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “This puts a whole new spin on cycling buff.” . . . I actually witnessed the World Naked Bike Ride in Victoria last Saturday while on a bus tour of the city with some friends. It was the only time in 90 minutes that the driver was speechless. . . . According to the New York Post, the on-field performances of Detroit Tigers starter Justin Verlander and Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin suffered when they were hanging out with Kate Upton. “Good news, Kate,” writes Currie, “I have nothing to lose.”

(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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Hockey and smokeless tobacco. . . . Desjardins to Canucks?

D Cody Carlson (Medicine Hat, Regina, Prince George, 2006-12) has signed a one-year contract with Peiting (Germany, Oberliga). Last season, with Strasbourg (France, Ligue Magnus), he had 18 points, including four goals, in 22 games. . . .
F Jakub Langhammer (Spokane, 2002-04) has signed a one-year contract with Eispiraten Crimmitschau (Germany, DEL2). Last season, with Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had six points, four of them goals, in 33 games. On loan to Slavia Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had five points, including four goals, in 10 games.
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Tony Gwynn, one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball History, died this week at the age of 54.
He had fought a long battle with cancer, something he blamed on a smokeless tobacco habit.
Of course, chewing tobacco -- or using smokeless tobacco or snus -- has long been popular in baseball circles, although in recent years there has been a serious movement away from it.
However, because it has over the years been so associated with baseball, you might not see it as a hockey problem.
Well, you’d be wrong.
Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press wrote a story in December that should be mandatory reading for all parents of junior hockey players or aspiring junior hockey players. (Turner’s story, headlined Hockey’s Disgusting Little Habit, is right here.)
In that story, Turner reported that half the players in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League were regular users. So were 40 per cent of the U of Manitoba Bisons and 40 per cent of the Transcona Railer Express of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League.
This is rather startling when one considers the damage that can be done by this habit. If you don’t believe it, just go to Google and find a story or two about Tony Gwynn, a terrific baseball player, and an even better human being, who is gone far too soon.
Yes, there are users in the WHL, too. I don’t know what the percentage is, but if it’s 50 per cent in the MJHL, it would seem to be a safe bet that it’s in double figures in the WHL.
The WHL came out against all tobacco products a few years ago, and its rule against such products is posted in all dressing rooms. It reads:
“The WHL does not permit the use of tobacco products (including chewing tobacco) at any WHL events. This includes all practices, game situations and travel to and from games.”
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Adam Proteau of The Hockey News also has written about hockey and its smokeless tobacco problem. That column is right here.
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THE COACHING GAME:
The game of musical chairs NHL style took another turn on Friday with the news that Willie Desjardins turned down an offer to become head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Matthew Sekeres of Vancouver radio station Team 1040 AM tweeted Friday afternoon: "Was just told Desjardins spurned #Pens b/c offer was for 2 years only, no authority to hire own assts. Now expected to be hired by #Canucks."
There was immediate speculation that should the Vancouver Canucks hire Desjardins, he might be interested in having Mike Johnston, the GM/head coach of the Portland Winterhawks, as an assistant coach.
However, I’m thinking that Johnston won’t leave the Winterhawks for anything less than an NHL head-coaching position, not when you consider the freedom that he gets to run the Portland on-ice operation. Johnston has taken the Winterhawks to four-straight WHL finals and you know that owner Bill Gallacher is looking after his guy.
Then again . . . would you rather fly charter or ride a bus?
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Jeff Brown, a former NHL defenceman, is the new head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. Brown had been general manager and head coach of the Indiana Ice, who are the USHL champions for 2013-14. . . . Brown played 747 NHL regular-season games over 13 seasons. That followed four seasons with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves. . . . Brown takes over from Chris Byrne, who had been GM and head coach. Byrne left to scout for the Los Angeles Kings. . . . Pat Higgins, the assistant GM, has since been promoted to GM.
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The Central league’s Denver Cutthroats have signed Brad Smyth as their director of hockey operations and head coach. He had been working as the team’s general manager and assistant coach. . . . Derek Armstrong, who was the head coach last season, now is the Cutthroats’ president and general manager. . . . The Cutthroats reached the CHL final last season for the first time in franchise history.
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Roy Sommer will be back for another season as head coach of the Worcester Sharks, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. He is preparing for his 19th season in the Sharks organization, his 17th as the head coach of the NHL team’s top developmental club. . . . David Cunniff won’t return for a 13th season as an assistant or associate coach with San Jose’s top developmental team. . . . According to a Worcester news release: “Charlie Townsend will return for a second season as the Worcester Sharks’ video coaching assistant, while development coaches Mike Ricci, Bryan Marchment, Corey Schwab, and Dirk Graham will all have a continued presence in Worcester during the 2014-15 season.”
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The Kelowna Rockets have placed F Marcus Mitchell on their protected list. Mitchell is a 1998-born player from Kelowna who played last season with the Midget Elite 15 team at the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna. He had 34 points, including 11 goals, in 37 games. . . . The Portland Winterhawks have added F Ezekiel (Zeke) Estrada, 16, to their protected list. A native of Homer, Alaska, Estrada headed south at the age of 10 to pursue a career in hockey. He played last season with the Los Angeles Jr. Kings midget AAA team, putting up 46 points, including 25 goals, in 18 games. . . . Mitchell and Estrada are being  advised by EA Sports Management. . . .

D Matt Thomas, 19, isn’t likely to be back with the Kamloops Blazers, who have dropped him from their protected list. Thomas, from Calgary, has seven assists in 132 career regular-season games. He had four assists in 55 games after being acquired last season from the Kootenay Ice. The Ice acquired F Tim Bozon and D Landon Cross, both 19 at the time, from the Blazers for Thomas, F Collin Shirley, 17, a 2014 third-round bantam draft pick and a fifth-round pick in 2015. . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes are expected to announce a new deal with a local radio station at a Monday afternoon news conference. The Hurricanes and 94.1 CJOC didn’t renew their contract after last season. . . . F Luke Bertolucci, 19, of the Edmonton Oil Kings was involved in a BCHL trade on Friday. His junior A rights, along with future considerations, went from Salmon Arm to the Merritt Centennials, with the Silverbacks getting F Logan Mick, 19. Mick is the son of Troy Mick, the Silverbacks’ governor, president and GM. Logan spent last season with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers.
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#WHL Giants talking with former #Canuck Tim Hunter about coach job, but also with ex-Americans boss Jim Hiller now as well. #Staytuned
— Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) June 20, 2014

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