Prior to playing the visiting Minnesota Wild on Sunday, the St. Louis Blues paid tribute to the late Stan Musial by donning No. 6 sweaters for the pregame warmup, When the game started, Blues defenceman Wade Redden scored the game’s first goal. Yes, he wears No. 6. . . . In case you missed it, the NFL fined San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore because his socks were down around his ankles in the NFC final two weeks ago. The NFL also fined New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for an apparent kick at Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed during a really ugly slide. . . . Brady was fined $10,000 for the kick; Gore paid $10,500 for the low socks. As Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post put it, “Man, he really got hosed.” . . .
Conan O’Brien of TNT: “Sources are saying that Tiger Woods wants to marry his ex-wife and might be willing to go for a no-cheating clause. This special clause would be known as a wedding vow.” . . . Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times chimes in with: “So what will they serve at the reception if Elin Nordegren says ‘I do’ to Tiger Woods again? Mulligan stew?” . . . It would seem Tiger’s life has gone downhill since his marriage disintegrated, which may be why he now is linked to American skier Lindsey Vonn. . . . Is there anything more irritating in this country than filling out a passport application? You know while you’re doing it that you’re going to have to do it again. My most recent attempt was rejected because I pressed too hard while printing. Seriously. . . .
Coming out of the lockout, the NHL ran ads in 40 newspapers as it apologized to fans. “A nice gesture, sure,” wrote Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, “but if Gary Bettman really meant it, he would have done it on Oprah.” . . . “1 thing I have never understood,” tweets Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette, “Don Cherry, hockey’s ultimate hot dog, bashing people for hotdogging, when he dresses like Liberace.” . . . Headline at theglobeandmail.com: Jamison’s deal to buy Coyotes could be in trouble. . . . That’s news? . . .
OHL referee Joe Monette was suspended for the remainder of the season after tweeting: “Soo Saint Marie, two words, Slim Pickens #noteeth #hicktown #allfaties.” . . . You are left to wonder what Slim Pickens did to deserve that. . . . Wouldn’t it have been more fun had OHL commish David Branch scheduled Monette to work a few more games in the Soo? . . . Ashley Judd has announced that her marriage to Indy Car racer Dario Franchitti is over. No truth to the rumour she said it has been going in circles for a while now. . . .
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle was at Super Bowl media day this week, and took in the give-and-take involving Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis. “Lewis, on what he would say to President Obama, who recently commented that he would have reservations about letting his son play football, if he had a son: ‘I would tell him, ‘Don’t shatter kids’ dreams. We’ll figure out the safety part,’ ” Ostler wrote. “Apparently, Lewis’ safety-research department is hard at work.” . . . Here’s Ostler, writing about his flight to New Orleans: “My flight Sunday morning went through Charlotte, and the captain announced that we were 20 minutes away, but some hydraulics had been lost. Better they should lose my luggage. The captain sounded very calm, and here’s the rule: The calmer the captain, the more dire the situation. He casually mentioned we shouldn’t worry about all the emergency vehicles lining the runway.” . . .
So what did Vancouver Province columnist Ed Willes think of that goal celebration by Nail Yakupov of the Edmonton Oilers? “I refuse to have an opinion on Nail Yakupov’s goal celebration,” Willes writes. “This is what passes for a story among the NHL’s talking heads. Really, it’s not that interesting.” . . . Neither is the fact that Sidney Crosby walked from his hotel to the arena in Winnipeg in minus-20 temperatures. Sheesh, it was a five-minute walk, not a trek to the North Pole. . . . When Brian Burke held his news conference after being canned by the owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he took time to snipe at Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons. . . . On Sunday, Simmons had this in his column: “An NHL GM on all the charitable work Brian Burke did while he was with the Leafs: ‘Most people who do charity work don’t have to tell people they’re doing it. Brian had to.’ ” . . . Yes, the feud lives. . . .
Here’s comedy writer Marc Ragovin: “The Tampa Bay Rays, formerly the Devil Rays, have signed Juan Oviedo, who used to go by the name of Leo Nunez, just weeks after signing Roberto Hernandez, who was once known as Fausto Carmona. Their home opener is against . . . the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.” . . .
“Enough with the Te’o girlfriend hoax story already,” writes RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “It’s turned into a Tuiasosopo opera.” . . . One more Currie: “Temperatures in Winnipeg last week dipped to —44 with wind chill. It hasn’t felt that cold in the ’Peg since Jennifer Jones sacked Cathy Overton-Clapham.” . . . Let’s finish with Currie: “Yahoo! says JaMarcus Russell dropped 12 pounds and is nearer to making a comeback. In related news, I cut my hair and am closer to dating Anne Hathaway.”
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