FIFA this, FIFA that . . . You will want to try a Frankenslice . . . NBA fun begins Thursday

As you will know by now, Sepp Blatter was re-elected as president of FIFA on Friday, despite the seeming implosion of the organization earlier in the week. . . . “Say,” wondered Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post, “wasn’t Sepp one of the original Three Stooges?” . . . More from Hamilton: “Seven of the people arrested in Zurich, Switzerland were picked up at the five-star Baur au Lac hotel. They’re now staying at the no-star Crowbaur Hotel.” . . . The FIFA scandal involves officials being charged with accepting bribes to the tune of more than US$150 million. As comedy writer Jerry Perisho pointed out: “Do you know how hard it is to take $150 million in bribes without using your hands?” . . .

“This FIFA scandal has gained some interest in Canada,” reports Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong. “Mike Duffy wants to know how he can get on the board of directors.” . . . Headline at SportsPickle.com: FIFA fires executive who failed to bribe U.S. and Swiss officials. . . . “Officials at soccer's governing body, FIFA, are allegedly involved in a $150-million bribery scandal,” writes Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald. “Or, as members of the U.S. Congress call that, ‘October.’ ” . . .

“Atlanta Hawks radio play-by-play man Steve Holman made his feelings known about Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova on Tuesday,” reports the afore-mentioned Hamilton. “During the Eastern Conference final between the teams, Dellavedova’s frequent dives into the legs of Atlanta players resulted in an injury to one (Kyle Korver) and the ejection of another (Al Horford, who threw an elbow at Dellavedova’s head). So, as Dellavedova arrived at the scorer’s table in Game 4, Holman told his listeners: ‘Tonya Harding checking in.’ ” . . . Trust a minor-league baseball team, in this case the Fresno Grizzlies, to come up with the Frankenslice — one slice of pizza with hot dogs baked into the crust. One will set you back $7. As Fark.com put it: “Any fan who can eat a whole pie gets to be carted off on the seventh-inning stretcher.” . . .

Vancouver comic Torben Rolfsen: “Draft lottery 1960s: fake injury to avoid Vietnam. Draft lottery 2010s: fake injury to avoid Knicks.” . . . You may not have been aware that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, he of Deflategate, and baseball home run king Barry Bonds both attended the same high school in San Mateo, Calif. Here’s Dickson: “I believe the school’s known as The Fighting Asterisks.” . . . A mid-week tweet from Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated: “The hockey word for 2015, ripped off from basketball, is ‘looks,’ as in ‘getting good looks.’ Calling your team a ‘group?’ That is so 2013.” . . .

The NBA is going to have Steph Curry versus LeBron James in its championship final. Yes, the association is all smiles. . . . The fun begins on Thursday. . . . “Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors passed Reggie Miller for most 3-pointers in one NBA postseason the other night,” notes Bill Littlejohn, our California correspondent who is based in South Lake Tahoe, “but it should come with an asterisk. After all, Curry didn’t do it with Spike Lee hanging all over him.” . . . “Former wide receiver Joe Horn has called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell 'the devil,’ ” Littlejohn writes. “Goodell denied this, saying that he's never even met Charlie Daniels.” . . . Littlejohn also reports: “A newlywed couple in Massachusetts says they won’t go on their honeymoon until Tom Brady's four-game suspension is lifted. Goodell and the NFL reportedly sent them a list of Boston area seminaries.”

“The minor-league Port Charlotte, Fla., Stone Crabs canceled their A-Rod Juice Box Night after the Yankees complained that lampooning PED-inflated slugger Alex Rodriguez was in poor taste,” notes Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “There goes any hope for hosting Tom Brady Ball-Needle Night.” . . . “In tennis news,” Perry reports, “Portugal’s Joao Sousa defeated Brazil’s Joao Souza 7-5, 6-3 at the Geneva Open. So where will they stage the rematch — in Walla Walla, Wash.?” . . . One more from Perry: “Jack Nicklaus donated the 3-wood he used to win all 18 of his major golf titles to the USGA Museum. No word on whether Elin Nordegren plans to hand over her 9-iron.” . . .

“Thanks, or no thanks, to technological advances,” writes Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot, “MLB can gauge the height of a home run ball at its apex. Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton, for instance, hit a homer the other night that crested at 143 feet, the fifth-highest by anyone this season. Another relatively new measurement is the speed at which a ball leaves the bat. Do these revelations actually enhance our enjoyment of the game . . . or just serve as a reminder that some people sitting behind computers have too much time on their hands?”

(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.)

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

WHL final down to one game . . . Dead-puck era coming to end in WHL?

This deer, along with seven of his/her friends, strolled by our deck. When
asked, they said they were on their way to Portland for Game 7.

You don’t have to be a huge hockey fan to understand that analytics are beginning to play a role in the way management looks at the game.
It’s not that long ago when it dawned on those inside the game that faceoffs are of the utmost important, that you are so much better off to win the draw and have possession of the puck, rather than to lose and be chasing it.
These days, things quickly are progressing well past that point.
Analytics now looks at things like dump-ins vs. zone entry, shooting percentage, shot quality, even-strength save percentages, adjusted plus-minus rating and on and on it goes.
Of course, there is one other number that figures into all of this, and that is attendance.
It could be that when Ron Toigo, the majority owner of the Vancouver Giants, told Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province that he wants his team to score 300 goals, he is really drawing a line linking his team’s offence to tickets sold.
According to Ewen, Toigo wants the Giants to change their game. Rather than owning a team whose game plan comprises the big bang theory -- dump and chase, bang and crash -- Toigo wants, as Ewen wrote, a team that will “play a puck-possession, skill game.”
Of course, that can be easier said than done, but Toigo told Ewen that he feels that kind of game matches the talent on the Giants’ roster.
“We want to score 300 goals,” Toigo told Ewen.
You should know that the Giants, in this dead-puck era, have scored fewer than 300 goals in each of the last five seasons. Two seasons ago, they didn’t even score 200 goals.
In 2008-09, the Giants scored 319 goals, with centre Casey Pierro-Zabotel winning the scoring title, with 115 points, and Evander Kane scoring 48 goals. At the gate, the Giants averaged 8,470 fans per game as they went 57-10-2-3 to finish atop the Western Conference. (They lost the conference final to the Kelowna Rockets in six games.)
This season, the Giants scored 234 goals, went 32-29-11 and wound up seventh in the conference. They were swept from a first-round series by the Portland Winterhawks. In the regular season, Vancouver’s average attendance was 6,266, down from 7,205 the previous season and down more than 2,000 per game from 2008-09.
It is no wonder, then, that Toigo says the Giants’ new head coach, whomever that may be, will be a puck-possession guy.
Chances are good, I think, that you will see more teams headed in this direction as more and more owners/operators come to the realization that they are in the entertainment business and that more needs to be done to provide an entertaining product for the fans. With regular-season attendance having fallen in 19 of 22 WHL cities, some people are starting to realize that more offence just might mean more fannies in the seats.
After all, would you rather watch a game like the won in Edmonton on Sunday evening, in which the Portland Winterhawks beat the Oil Kings 6-5 in overtime, or the one in Chicago later that night in which the Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild, 2-1?
Yes, this could be the beginning of the end for the dead-puck era, at least in the WHL.
---



1. For a look at some analytics from Game 6 of the WHL’s championship final, check out Megan’s Twitter account (@butyoucarlotta).

2. There had been speculation that Glen Hanlon could be the next head coach of the Vancouver Giants. However, Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province indicated early Saturday that Hanlon won’t be the man. . . . Hanlon, a former Giants assistant coach under head coach Don Hay, is the head coach of the Belarusian national team, the host team at the IIHF world championship that is ongoing in Minsk. . . . Ewen asked Hanlon about the Giants’ job and received this email: “It would be a great job for me and my family, but I’m under contract for next year.” . . . Ewen also reported: “There have been reports Hanlon, the former Vancouver Canucks goaltender, is taking over the Swiss men’s team.”

3. Congrats to old friend Bruce Enns, who was inducted into the Basketball BC Hall of Fame on Saturday night at the Langley Entertainment Centre. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since Enns, then the head coach with the U of Winnipeg Wesmen men’s team, taught an eager, young sports reporter about the finer aspects of the game.

4. Did Pittsburgh Penguins F Sidney Crosby look like a frustrated hockey player last night, or what? Does he get fined for throwing a spear at New York Rangers F Brian Boyle? Does Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist get fined for squirting water in Crosby’s face? Do these guys adjourn to a sandbox when the game is over?

5. How big has the NFL draft become? Consider this from Richard Deitsch of SI.com: “Viewers could not get enough of it. The combined audience on Thursday night for ESPN and NFL Network's first round coverage was 12.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched first round ever. Taken separately, ESPN averaged 9,943,000 viewers during the first round, up 60 percent over 2013. The NFL Network's first-round coverage drew 2.4 million viewers, a 60 percent increase over last year's record (1.5 million viewers). As for the entire draft, ESPN's 15-plus hours on ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 4,121,000 viewers, a 36 percent gain over 2013 (3,035,000), while The NFL Network viewership was up 33 percent over last year. draft coverage of all rounds across ESPN, ESPN2, and NFLN averaged 5.4M viewers, the most-watched draft in history.” . . . Deitsch’s complete media column, which always is an excellent read, is right here.

6. The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens are meeting in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 34th time. And one only needs to mention ‘Too Many Men’ for hockey fans to know . . . right here is Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated with a great read.
---
THE QMJHL FINAL:
In Val-d’Or, two goals from Pierre-Maxime Poudrier helped the Foreurs to a 6-3 victory over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday. . . . The series is 3-3 with the championship to be decided Tuesday night in Baie-Comeau.
---
THE COACHING GAME:
The OHL’s Ottawa 67’s announced late Sunday night that they are in the market for a head coach. Chris Byrne, who had been their general manager and head coach, has stepped aside as head coach in order to focus on the GM’s duties. . . . The 67’s didn’t qualify for the playoffs this season.
---
Jamie Fiesel, the general manager and head coach of the Melville Millionaires, has signed an extension with the SJHL team that will take him through the 2015-16 season. Fiesel was named the SJHL’s coach of the year this season after the Millionaires finished 34-16-2-4.
---

THE FOURTH ROUND (best-of-seven; all times local):
WHL final, for the Ed Chynoweth Cup
(All games televised live by Shaw)
(All games televised on delayed basis by Root Sports)
PORTLAND (2, West) vs. Edmonton (1, East)
(Series tied, 3-3)
Season series: Portland, 0-0-1; Edmonton, 1-0-0.
Saturday: Edmonton 2 at Portland 5 (10,947)
Sunday: Edmonton 1 at Portland 3 (10,645)
Tuesday: Portland 2 at Edmonton 3 (6,799)
Wednesday: Portland 0 at Edmonton 2 (7,859)
Friday: Edmonton 3 at Portland 2 (10,947)
Sunday: Portland 6 at Edmonton 5 (OT) (11,902)
Monday: Edmonton at Portland, 7 p.m. (Veterans Memorial Coliseum)
---

SUNDAY’S GAME:
In Edmonton,  F Keegan Iverson scored at 7:23 of OT as the Portland Winterhawks beat the Oil Kings 6-5 to force a seventh game in the WHL’s championship final for the Ed Chynoweth Cup. . . . Game 7 is scheduled for tonight in Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum. . . . The teams shared a charter flight back to Portland following last night’s game. . . . Each of these teams has played on back-to-back nights in these playoffs. But neither team has played back-to-back in different cities. . . . The Winterhawks overcame 3-0 and 5-2 deficits to force extra time. . . . Iverson won it with his fourth goal of the playoffs, tipping in a shot by F Dominic Turgeon. . . . Portland D Derrick Pouliot, who had a goal and two assists, forced OT with his fifth goal at 11:14 of the third period. . . . The Oil Kings led 3-0 after one period, thanks to two goals from F Henrik Samuelsson, who has eight goals, six of them in the final, and one from F Edgars Kulda. . . . The Winterhawks cut into that lead in the second period, getting goals from D Mathew Dumba, on the PP, and D Anton Cederholm. . . . Edmonton got both those goals back before the period ended, with F Curtis Lazar scoring at 13:57 and Kulda getting his 10th at 14:46. . . . Dumba got the Portland comeback started with his eighth goal, via the PP, at 2:57 of the third. . . . D Keoni Texeira added his second goal at 6:09, setting the stage for Pouliot’s tying goal. . . . If you’re counting, Portland got its first five goals from defencemen. . . . Pouliot has 32 points, tying him for the playoff scoring lead with teammate Oliver Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstrand leads in goals (15); Pouliot is tops in assists (27). . . . A defenceman has never won a WHL playoff scoring title. . . . F Mitch Moroz and D Dysin Mayo each had two assists for Edmonton. . . . Portland G Corbin Boes surrendered three goals on 10 shots and left after the first period. Brendan Burke came on to stop 28 of 30 shots. . . . Edmonton G Tristan Jarry stopped 35 shots. . . . Portland was 2-for-5 on the PP; Edmonton was 1-for-4. . . . The last time the WHL’s championship series went seven games was two seasons ago. The Oil Kings beat the visiting Winter hawks 4-1 in Game 7. . . .
---
Here’s Mike Johnston, Portland’s GM/head coach, to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: “We’ve had some sickness in this series and (Boes) was a little under the weather. . . . I thought his fatigue was showing in the first period with some of his rebounds. (It was) one of those gut things. You make a decision. Sometimes it works out. We did it in the Kelowna series, too.”
So who does Johnston start tonight? Perhaps a flu bug will make the decision for him.
---
A game story from Brian Swane of the Edmonton Sun is right here.
The game story filed by Chris O’Leary of the Edmonton Journal is right here.
---







From WHL Facts (@WHLFacts): “May 11 - Since 1999, 14 WHL Championships have been decided between May 7th and the 14th... But none on May 11th.” . . . That was tweeted before Sunday's game, so you now can make it 15.
---
From Edmonton Sun sports columnist Terry Jones (@sunterryjones): “In WHL final history no visiting team has managed to win Game 7. Oil Kings in Portland on Monday night. Winner to Memorial Cup.”
---
From Portland freelancer Scott Sepich (@SSepich): “Portland's never hosted a Game 7 of the WHL final. Also hasn't won WHL title in Portland since 1982.”


There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

In case you missed it, the NHL’s board of governors approved two real changes during meetings in Las Vegas in June.
A player who puts a hand on the puck in an attempt to hide it from an opponent or to keep an opponent from playing it will be given a minor penalty. (Sorry, but I always thought it was a penalty to put your hand on the puck, so I don’t quite understand this one.)
The other rule change calls for a minor penalty to any player who attempts to use a hand to win a faceoff. That now will draw a delay of game penalty.
———
All of this is bad news for WHL observers who may have been hoping for the removal of the trapezoid.
The QMJHL has shown some terrific foresight in moving to get rid of the trapezoids from behind both nets, a move that will allow goaltenders to go back to playing pucks, thus taking some of the heat off defencemen who are far too often getting drilled by onrushing forwards.
The WHL isn’t expected to follow suit, choosing instead to continue to blindly and stubbornly follow the example being set by the NHL.
The junior leagues also need to go back to allowing one defenceman to hold up a forechecking forward, just for a beat or two, in order to prevent some of the brutal hits that are being put on defencemen as they recover the puck on dump-ins.
That, however, won’t happen as the WHL continues to choose to treat concussions rather than work harder to eradicate them.
———
Without releasing the actual numbers, the WHL has admitted that the number of players suffering concussions was up in 2011-12 over the previous season.
In 2010-11, more than 100 concussions were suffered by players on the WHL’s 22 teams. An increase means that WHL players again experienced more than 100 concussions.
Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, has said the league was not surprised by this increase.
Here’s what he told Bruce Luebke, the radio voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings:
"We anticipated that the numbers could increase this year because of the heightened awareness around the league at every level . . . from our doctors to our trainers to the players themselves being more conscious of it.
“We are very confident that the seven-point plan that the competition committee has put into place is a solid plan, is very comprehensive and addresses all of the areas.”
With all due respect, that is nothing but hogwash. At best, it is naive; at worst, it is disingenuous.
If, as Robison seems to indicate, the WHL didn’t go into a state of heightened awareness until after the 2010-11 season, there should be an investigation of some kind.
Because the rest of the hockey world was well aware long before 2010-11 that concussions were a major problem. Long before 2010, research had shown that “getting your bell rung” was more serious, a lot more serious, than it sounded.
The brothers Lindros, Eric and Brett, had come and gone, as had Paul Kariya, Keith Primeau, Pat Lafontaine and on and on and on.
On Aug. 27, 2009, Chris Shafter, in writing about The Messier Project wrote at thehockeywriters.com:
“According to the project website, TheMessierProject.com, the numbers are staggering. Since 1997 more than 750 players have experienced a concussion. The amount of games missed during that same time frame is averaged at 639 games per season lost due to concussions and concussion-related injuries. On top of that, nearly $60 million has been lost by organizations in player salaries alone while the injured are recovering, a subject that cannot be left out during these hard economic times while organizations struggle to break even.
“These scary concussion rates though are getting even worse. Over the course of one season (from 2005-06 to 2006-07) the number of NHL games missed due to concussions rose by 41 percent.”
The Messier Project, if you aren’t aware, has to do with the development of a better helmet for hockey players. D Willie Mitchell of the Los Angeles Kings is one player who wears the M11 helmet. Yes, he has been a concussion victim.
You should expect to hear a lot more about the M11 and M11 PRO helmets. That’s because Cascade Sports, the maker of those helmets, has been acquired by Bauer Performance Sports.
———
There also was this piece right here, written by Michael Farber for Sports Illustrated in December 1994. If ever there was a canary in the coal mine for concussions in sports, this was it.
It is a devastating look at concussions that, unfortunately, not enough people seem to have taken seriously.
———
If you didn’t see it, this comment recently was left by a reader of this blog:
“Regarding concussions: my son had two concussions playing in the WHL last year, both the result of hits to the head (and I would say flagrantly so because he is very tall — players have to hit very high to get his head). Neither hits were penalized. Until hits to the head are taken out of the game, nothing will change with concussions.”
———
From Len Berman, at ThatsSports.com:
A school teacher who doubles as a school board member in a Philadelphia suburb may have just started something. Patty Sexton stood up at a town board meeting and said some things which might have sounded radical just a few years back. She advocates banning football at the high school level. She thinks asking taxpayers to "fund gladiators" is no longer appropriate. She said the sport is too dangerous and the kids are being put at risk for injuries, especially concussion. She said "our mission is to grow brains, not destroy them." She says if kids want to play football, fine, but let the community set it up, not the school system. This might sound blasphemous, but she has a point.
———
A tip of the hat to The Concussion Blog (there’s a link over there on the right) for a terrific piece headlined “An Oldie But A Goodie.”
In this essay, the point is made that having a “mild concussion” is like being “mildly pregnant.”
If you have anything to do with sports, you should be checking out The Concussion Blog on a regular basis.


There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.