Here is the final Keeping Score of 2012. . . . Forgot to post it here over the weekend. Sorry about that. . . . If you like the year-end quote compilations, right here is a good one from Bruce Arthur of the National Post. . . .
The world, in case you missed it, didn’t end on Dec. 21. Here’s Bob Connolly of the Bronx, N.Y., Times-Reporter: “The Mayan calendar said the world would end after my deadline, so if you’re reading this, it didn’t happen. If it happened, I’m sure ESPN will give us a recap.” . . . Football players prepping for college bowl games always get bags of swag. At the Russell Athletic Bowl, the gear included a gift card from Best Buy. Defensive back Antone Exum used the $470 card to purchase gifts for three youngsters he met in the store. As Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times noted: “Good for him but bad for the kids: The NCAA just declared them ineligible for the 2020 season.” . . .
The best part of this World Junior Championship is that Pierre McGuire isn’t inside the idiot box yelling at us. But, as in past years, please wake me when the sacrifices to the hockey gods have been completed and the medal round begins. . . . The WHL headlined a Dec. 19 news release: 54 WHL players called for international duty. Yes, ’tis the time of the season when WHL rosters include a number of players recalled from the midget AAA and junior A ranks to fill the holes created by having players at various tournaments. Too bad fans aren’t given a bit of a break with some discounted ticket prices. . . . The best part of the early new year always is the Australian Open and it begins on Jan. 13. . . .
Three cheers for Eric Dickerson for speaking the truth. With Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings closing in on Dickerson’s single-season NFL rushing record, he told the Houston Chronicle: “All these guys who say, ‘I don’t mind my record being broken,’ they are a bunch of liars. Even if you go back to junior high school and you’re the jump-rope champion, you want to hold on to that record.” . . . Ron Judd, in the Seattle Times: “A week after the Sandy Hook massacre, the gun pimps at the National Rifle Association called for an armed guard in every U.S. school. Seriously? Just one?” . . . One more from Judd: “Yes, That Would Be Correct: An emailer asks: ‘Just to clarify, I can go to a store and legally purchase an assault rifle, body armor, and unlimited ammunition, but if I purchase it in Seattle or Bellingham, it’s illegal to bring it home in a plastic bag?’ ” . . .
A Christmas Day tweet from Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register: “NHLPWA (NHL Players Wives’ Association) feverishly calling Fehr and Bettman and begging for a settlement at all costs.” . . . Headline at SportsPickle.com: Gary Bettman fires NHL Network president over drop in TV ratings. . . . One more headline from the gang at SportsPickle.com: Gary Bettman visits children’s hospital, tells everyone Santa isn’t real. . . . Note to NBA commissioner David Stern: Those Christmas Day uniforms that your teams were wearing? Get rid of them. . . .
Next season, the New York Yankees are likely to have at least six players on their roster who are at least 38 years of age. “Too bad they didn’t bring back Raul Ibanez — he turns 41 next season — just so he could sit with the other old guys when they’re talking about the Beatles,” writes Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News. . . . If you’re an NFL quarterback you know you’ve had an abysmal season when those jerseys with your name on them that were selling for $79.99 two weeks ago now are going for $10. Hello, there, Mark Sanchez. . . .
Stu Barnes, who owns a piece of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, was signing autographs during the intermissions of last night’s game against the visiting Portland Winterhawks. Gotta think the fans in Kamloops would love an opportunity to rub shoulders with a Blazers’ co-owner or two during an intermission. . . . Let’s be honest here. Their Blazers aren’t as good as they were when they were winning 14 in a row, and they’re not as shaky as they’ve played lately. The truth, as they say, is somewhere in between. . . . “After winning a $200 million Powerball Lottery, an Iowa couple has agreed to finance a new high school football stadium in their area, on one condition: the visitor’s locker room be painted pink,” reports Brad Rock of the Deseret News. “Sources say school officials agreed, but have struggled to convince Nicki Minaj it’s not her dressing room.” . . .
These are tough times for sporting fans in South Florida. “Merry Christmas, celebrants!” writes the Miami Herald’s Greg Cote. “You know how this time of year is known for Nativity scenes? Dolfans facing another year out of the playoffs will be joining angry Marlins fans and hockey-less Panthers fans to create a Negativity scene.” . . . One more from Cote: “The NHL has cancelled games through mid-January . . . with both sides apparently prepared to drive over the cliff together. They’ll all be driving those little clown cars like the Shriners ride in circles in parades.”
Thanks for being here in 2012. Happy New Year and stay safe.
(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, except when it doesn’t.)
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