After one more birthday, how old is Bob Molinaro of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot? “Old enough,” he claims, “to remember when the collected wisdom of the world resided with barbers and taxi drivers, not bloggers.” . . . You have to think that quarterback Henry (Smilin’ Hank) Burris has a bigger grin than ever since his Hamilton Tiger-Cats signed receiver Andy Fantuz. . . . Burris will spend the upcoming season playing pitch-and-catch with Fantuz, Dave Stala and Chris Williams. . . . Tiger-Cats fans won’t have far to go to watch their favourites in the Grey Cup game, which is to be played in Toronto. . . .
Ron Judd, in the Seattle Times, isn’t holding his breath awaiting the arrival of NBA and NHL franchises. “You have to hand it to Mayor McSonic and this Chris Hansen guy — who, based on the keen insight into him we gathered during his half-day parachute trip into Seattle, we can assure you is very probably a demigod,” Judd writes. “It takes some chutzpah to pitch, to People Who Know Better, the mere concept of a ‘self-supporting’ half-billion-dollar sports pleasure palace — its primary tenants a set of currently nonexistent franchises of the two most financially crippled U.S. pro sports leagues.” . . . More from Judd: “Are the ugly little facts that the modern NBA remains a mockery of its own sport, an enterprise shunned by a huge portion of local dedicated sport-fandom, with 1-percenter ticket pricing, a still-failing business model, and a chief executive with the morals of a turkey vulture. Wait; where do we sign up for season tickets again?” . . . Judd is on a roll: “In spite of our distaste for all things NBA, it’d be great — check that, awesome — to have an NHL team in town. Maybe even great enough to merit putting up with fixed basketball games.” . . .
After hearing LeBron James say that he could see himself back with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times wrote: “Yeah, sure — right after Elin takes Tiger back, the Bobcats win this year’s NBA title and three pigs make an emergency landing at LaGuardia.” . . . The Calgary Hitmen beat the Kamloops Blazers 5-4 one week ago tonight in what may have been the best-officiated game seen here this WHL season. Surely, the fact that referee Brent Montsion worked the game by himself was only a coincidence. . . . Buster Olney of ESPN couldn’t be happier to be covering spring training. Here’s a Thursday tweet: “Florida always good for wildlife. Today, saw a newly dead calf serving as lunch for buzzards, and 8-ft. gator lounging on side of the road.” . . . Was that Tiger Woods throwing a club as he exited a fairway sand trap on Thursday during a 1-up second-round loss to Nick Watney in the Accenture match play championship in Marana, Ariz.? Gee, didn’t Woods say he was going to change his ways a while back? . . .
A tweet from Bill Maher: “Seriously, this #JeremyLin dude is blowing up. He’s about 2 weeks away from marrying a Kardashian.” . . . Headline at SportsPickle.com: Knicks front office unsure of how they’re going to mess this one up. . . . The third race at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., on Monday, featured Winforlin, a five-year-old mare without a victory. This time, she finished sixth in an eight-horse field. “Lincompetent if you ask me,” noted Len Berman of ThatsSports.com. . . . Sorry, Hamilton, but that hockey team you are likely to get for next season won’t be in the NHL. No, it seems it might be the OHL’s Erie Otters. . . . I’m betting you didn’t realize Ales Hemsky was a $5-million-a-season player either. . . .
I officially became a huge fan of Alberta skip Heather Nedohin on Wednesday afternoon while watching her play Quebec at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Red Deer. While asking her front end what had happened to a stone she had just thrown, the mic’d up Nedohin let slip with, uhh, “(crap)balls . . . Jesus!” And she didn’t even flinch. . . . Gotta love live TV. . . . You also have to love New York Rangers fans, at least some of the time. With the Rangers rumoured to be in the Rick Nash sweepstakes, their fans chanted “We don’t want you!” after Nash scored in a game at MSG earlier this week. . . .
Steve Simmons, in the Toronto Sun: “Must be a miracle. One week Milos Raonic isn’t healthy enough to play Davis Cup for Canada. The next week, he’s defending his ATP title in San Jose. Who’s his doctor, Benny Hinn?” . . . The sweater that defenceman Ken Morrow wore when Team USA beat the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., had been hanging in a closet at his home. So he decided to sell it. He got US$104,328 for it. . . . The sweater he wore in the gold-medal game is in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. . . . Team USA beat the Soviets 4-3 on Feb. 22 but that wasn’t for gold. Two days later, the Americans beat Finland 4-2 to win the Olympic title. . . .
If you missed it, the New York Yankees have signed former Seattle Mariners closer David Aardsma, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery. Aardsma told Dave Sims, who works on the Mariners’ broadcast crew, that he hopes to be back by July 23. On that night, the Yankees are in Seattle. . . . It is calls like this, from a game between the Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild a week ago, that separate hockey play-caller Doc Emrick from a lot of others: “Shot! . . . And an easy stop — easy for me to say — by Niklas Backstrom.” . . .
Hey, drivers, when the weather gets a bit ugly out there is it too much to ask to have you turn on your headlights? . . . With speculation out there that Mario Rivera may retire after this season, New York Yankees set-up man David Robertson told MLB.com: “He may have hinted, but you never know. He could Brett Favre us.” . . . The B.C. Football Conference’s Okanagan Sun announced Friday that Jason Casey has resigned as its head coach. He is on the move to Kingston, Ont., to work as linebacker coach with the Queen’s Golden Gaels. . . . Here’s Florida Marlins head coach Ozzie Guillen on why he loves shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond: “I’d rather be there than drinking.” . . . Sounds like an advertising slogan.
(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.)
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