R.J. Currie of SportsDeke.com: “Rory McIlroy is now the world's No. 1 golfer, has earnings over $5.2 million in 2012 and is dating tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. If that's the luck of the Irish, I want some.” . . .The Vancouver Canucks are slumping and the Left Coasters are all over the panic button. Why isn’t Cory Schneider starting ahead of Roberto Luongo? What’s wrong with the Sedin twins? Mason Raymond on the wing with the Sedins? And on and on it goes. . . . A headline on a column by the Province’s Tony Gallagher reads: Heads will roll if Canucks fizzle in post-season. . . . All the while the Canucks are a handful of points out of first place overall in the NHL standings. . . . And wouldn’t the Toronto Maple Leafs like to be in the Canucks’ skates? . . .
The Philadelphia Phillies’ plan, it appears, is to give Tyson Gillies of Kamloops every opportunity to succeed Shane Victorino, the Flyin’ Hawaiian, in centre field next season. In the meantime, Victorino took Gillies under his wing at spring training. “I don’t pay attention to it or think about it,” Victorino told Ryan Lawrence of the Delaware County Times. “Obviously I would love to be able to show him the way. And if I don’t come back or I’m not here, this is how you go about it. But for him, he does things the right way. And that’s the most important thing.” . . . The Phillies sent Gillies to their minor league camp on Wednesday, which isn’t surprising considering he hardly has played for the last two years. He has the speed to play in the bigs but needs the at-bats. . . . Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon Express: “Forbes Magazine says there are now 1,226 billionaires in the world. How times have changed. Remember the days when the Bare Naked Ladies sang, If I Had a Million Dollars?” . . .
A Wednesday evening tweet from Logan Couture of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks: “Still have my Christmas tree up . . . is today the day to take it down?” . . . Another NHLer just livin’ the life. . . . Phil Mushnick, in the New York Post: “The NBA fined Derrick Rose the same amount — $25,000 — for knocking the refs as it did J.R. Smith for tweeting a nude photo of one of his female friends. How much for tweeting nude photos of NBA refs?” . . . There apparently is no truth to the rumours that Peyton Manning’s ‘Pey Me Lots’ tour will be stopping off in Regina so that he can throw a few for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. . . .
There were 226 arrests made Thursday in Montreal as anti-police brutality protesters took to the streets. “Fans of the Vancouver Canucks were upset,” notes Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “Someone in Canada held a riot and they weren’t invited.” . . . One more from Hamilton: “New Jersey Nets centre Kris Humphries apparently is asking for a $7-million divorce settlement from Kim Kardashian. That’s pretty good money for 72 days’ work.” . . . A new dress code has been put in place at the European women’s chess championship in Turkey — no cleavage, no short skirts. According to one official, some competitors were showing up as though ready for a day at the beach. As Len Berman of ThatsSports.com wondered: “Is that soft-core pawn?” . . .
A Tuesday afternoon tweet from Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times: “Pens' Crosby says he plans to play Thurs; ex-King Avery said he plans to retire and threw skates ‘in the Hudson.’ Day keeps getting better.” . . . The Toronto Maple Leafs are stumbling and bumbling again, which means it’s target practice for some folks, again. For example, a picture showing Toronto players who volunteered during the Second World War showed up on Twitter last week and was spotted by the gang at Deadspin. “It’s grainy,” Deadspin noted, “but we thought it’d be nice to remind the Leafs of a time when they were on the winning team.” . . . More dysfunctional . . . Maple Leafs or New York Knickerbockers? . . .
By now you are aware that Tiger Woods withdrew from a golf tournament last week because of a tender Achilles heel. “And here I thought Tiger’s Achilles heel was Hooter’s waitresses,” comedy writer Alex Kaseberg noted. . . . After super-model Elle Macpherson broke off her engagement, Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald pointed out: “This makes Peyton Manning only the second-most sought-after free agent.” . . . Prior to last weekend, Dickson wondered: “Why do we have to lose an hour of sleep? Why can't we lose that hour when The Real Housewives of Atlanta is on?” . . . Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “London hosts the Olympics this summer. The city will spend $14.8 billion and boasts that it will rake in $1.6 billion. And I thought I did a lousy job of balancing a budget.”
(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score returns in April.)
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