If you were wondering, the Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men’s curling championship that concluded last Sunday, drew 65,005 fans to the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops. That was an average attendance of 2,955 per draw, when 4,000 was thought to be the break-even point. . . . This was the poorest-attended Brier since 1988 when attendance in Chicoutimi was 45,220. . . . The one bright note in Kamloops was that Sunday’s championship game drew 5,238 fans. . . . The Brier was last held in Kamloops in 1996. The attendance was 127,746. . . . What happened this time? The buzz blames the price of tickets and the fact that TSN televised every draw and does a tremendous job of it. . . . Based on the Brier attendance and the decline in junior hockey attendance across the country, I would suggest there is a trend here. . . . Perhaps we can call it the Netflix Affect. . . .

According to RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com, the top three reasons the Los Angeles Angels gave a salary bump to Mike Trout are: “3. He’s a good catch; 2. To avoid an arbitration herring; 1. Just for the halibut.” . . . One more from Currie: “The South Florida police report and videos from Justin Bieber's arrest have been released. Bieber tested positive for marijuana, Xanax and outright stupidity.” . . . “The fact the (Buffalo) Bills in Toronto series is on hold and might be over says nothing about Toronto as an NFL city,” offers Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun. “What it says is this market has wise consumers: Way-overpriced junk packaged as something it wasn’t won’t sell anywhere and didn’t sell here.” . . . And just how many markets could that be applied to in today’s sports world? . . .

Somehow it was only fitting that the Florida Panthers held Tim Thomas Bobblehead Day last Sunday and Roberto Luongo was in goal for them. Thomas, of course, had been traded to the Dallas Stars following the arrival of Luongo. . . . Considering that Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis and head coach John Tortorella each has four years left on his contract, it doesn’t seem likely that either one is on his way out of Vancouver. . . . “At the Iditarod, where some say dogs are mistreated, Scott Janssen, known (seriously) as the ‘Mushing Mortician,’ had a rough day,” writes Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle. “He crashed his sled, hit his head on a stump, woke up, slipped on the ice while chasing a dog and broke his ankle. Do dogs snicker?” . . .

After 12 Years a Slave won the Oscar for 2013’s best picture, Richmond, B.C., blogger TC Chong scribbled: “I had no idea anyone would make a movie about my first marriage.” . . . After Movie 43 was honoured as the worst film of 2013 at the Razzie Awards, Vancouver radio and newspaper personality Torben Rolfsen noted: “They never should have made a sequel to the Jackie Robinson story.” . . . Here’s Rolfsen, again: “Barack Obama has warned Vladimir Putin not to stir up anything else that requires his attention until after the NCAA basketball tournament.” . . .

A couple of weeks ago, there were satellite pictures floating around that seemed to show the firing of a short-range missile by North Korea. “It was intended to be a long-range missile test,” Chong pointed out, “but officials say the elastic band launcher didn’t have enough torque.” . . . After noting that the new word of the year for 2013 was “selfie,” Chong claims the leading candidate for new word of 2014 “is ‘twerking’ . . . as in the Canucks’ power play isn’t twerking.” . . . After playing Quebec in that third-place game at the Brier last Sunday, Manitoba skip Jeff Stoughton told Paul Wiecek of the Winnipeg Free Press: “It’s a game neither of us want to play, neither of us have any interest in, neither of us are focused out there at all.” . . . The Quebec rink had played Saturday night and was there Sunday morning on minimal rest, what with having to deal with the ‘spring forward’ time change as well. . . .

You may have heard that NASA has discovered another 715 planets. As Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald noted: “Commissioner Jim Delany is inviting 712 to join the Big Ten.” . . . One more from Dickson: “Robert Griffin III declined a fan’s wedding invitation and instead sent an autographed photo of himself. Try that next time you’re invited to a wedding.” . . . Receiver Eric Decker has left the Denver Broncos, and quarterback Peyton Manning, for Geno Smith and the New York Jets. Here’s football fan Christopher Campbell, in a post on the ESPN.com website: ““Decker will miss Manning a lot, but Geno will miss Decker a lot more.” . . .

“The Canucks blew a 3-0 third-period lead and lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday,” scribbles Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. “You know things are bad in Vancouver when something like that happens and no one bothers to start a riot.” . . . "Barbie, the world’s most famous doll, turned 55 on Sunday," writes Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. "She celebrated her big day at the beach, strutting her stuff alongside PED Ken." . . . During a men's basketball game at UC Santa Barbara, a fan ran onto the court and confronted Hawaii coach Gib Arnold. As he told ESPN: “You can’t control crazy. That’s why they’re crazy.”

(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.)

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The Vancouver Canucks have gone from Roberto Luongo and Corey Schneider as their goaltending tandem to Eddie Lack and Jacob Markstrom, and you may want to think about how that happened. . . . You also may want to ponder what sank quicker, the Canucks or the Titanic. . . . Is it just me, or have the Sedin twins all but lost their games in less than a year? Did they grow old in hockey years before we knew it? Does head coach John Tortorella’s shot-blocking, grinding style disagree with them that much? . . . BTW, the Canucks owe each of the Sedin boys four more seasons at $7 million per. . . .

“Kazakhstan finished last in the medal count with one bronze at Sochi,” writes Richmond blogger TC Chong. “Richard Petty said they would have won it all if no one else showed up.” . . . Shades of O.J.: In South Africa, a 24-hour TV channel dedicated to Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial went on the air last Sunday. . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “My feeling on LeBron’s mask: Hey, aren’t Marvel superheroes supposed to LOOK like Marvel superheroes?” . . .

Steve Simmons, in the Toronto Sun: “Word around the Olympics was that Rogers is targeting CBC star George Stroumboulopoulos to host its NHL broadcasts next season after it couldn’t secure James Duthie. And it’s all but been confirmed that Paul Romanuk will be Rogers’ second play-by-play man, after Jim Hughson in the No. 1 chair.” . . . Romanuk, a former TSN hockey play-by-play voice, has been in London, England, for the past few years. . . . I haven’t got my hands on a copy yet, but you can bet that I’ll read His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir, from the legendary Dan Jenkins. The book hit the shelves on Tuesday. . . .

“Don't really understand the mass appeal of outdoor hockey games,” tweeted Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as the Penguins and Blackhawks played in a Chicago snowstorm last weekend, “but assume it has nothing to do with the exceptional quality of play.” . . . Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register chimed in with: “Good job, Bettman. Let's don't have Olympic hockey. Let's have fiasco hockey in a snowstorm instead.” . . . I really need someone to explain to me just how it is that Toronto’s mayor is still in office. . . . And while they’re at it, they can explain to me how Russia rattles sabres in Ukraine and the price of gas in Kamloops jumps from $1.20.9 to $1.33.9. . . .

Here’s Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post, writing about Tiger Woods before the final round of last week’s Honda Classic: “Now, however, the familiar refrain for Woods is one of a player grasping at straws, one of a player who is reluctant to accept his new reality. Woods, in bad times and in good, now sounds a lot more like the masses of weekend amateurs who are in constant search of their elusive game, never knowing what’s coming with the next swing.” . . . Former San Francisco outfielder Barry Bonds is working with the Giants as a hitting coach during spring training. “Let’s just hope all of that attention and power doesn’t give Barry a big head,” offered comedy writer Alex Kaseberg. . . .

During the recent NFL Combine, Auburn defensive end Dee Ford, speaking on Sirius XM radio, took a shot at South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. “People are just looking at the fact that he is a physical specimen,” Ford said. “Honestly, if you watch the film, he plays like a blind dog in a meat market, basically.” . . . How did Clowney react to that? “I just feel like he’s trying to build his stock up or something,” Clowney told the NFL Network. “It doesn’t bother me, but I told him, ‘I’m still better than you.’ ” . . . Hey, Capital One, it’s time to retire that commercial with Martin Short in it. Please! . . .

So . . . Larry Brooks of the New York Post wrote about 10 days ago that the Rangers had attempted to get forward Martin St. Louis from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for their captain, Ryan Callahan. . . . That prompted this response from Phil Esposito, a Lightning broadcaster, who was appearing on The Next Sports Star: "Some (bleep) in New York that writes for the New York Post, and we all know who he is, decided, 'Let me put something out there so maybe we can start some controversy.' It's a bunch of (bleep). It's been going on for as long as I've been in the game of hockey . . . Don't give me this (crap) you're going to trade Marty St. Louis, who has a no-movement clause, he doesn't want to leave, for Callahan, who's a kid, I like him, he's a heart-and-souler, but he couldn't score more than 25 or 30 goals in his (bleeping) lifetime, and he doesn't play all the time because he gets hurt, because he plays like he's 6-foot-5." . . . Of course, Brooks fired back: “If Phil Esposito feels obligated to talk about me on the radio, perhaps he would like to tell the story about the time he spent an elevator ride in the Garden kicking me in the back of the legs because he was upset with something I had written the previous day. At least that would be accurate.” . . . And then, come Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline, guess what happened? Yes, St. Louis ended up with the Rangers, with Callahan going the other way. . . . Atta boy, Espo! . . .

“Men’s curling in Saskatchewan is at an all-time low. Again,” writes Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express. “Pat Simmons, our best curler, plays in Alberta. And two Albertans have twice come to our province to cherry pick a pass to the Brier. It worked once. A handful of provinces are sending pros and we are sending the equivalent of good club teams. We’ve won seven Briers in 75 years. Not good enough. Maybe the Richardsons will consider a comeback.” . . . The Los Angeles Dodgers will have Larry King (yes, that Larry King) playing host to a show on their 24/7 TV network. The show will be called Larry King At Bat. “Presumably,” notes Janice Hough (aka the Left Coast Sports Babe), “Larry hopes to get as a regular guest that nice young man Vin Scully.” . . .

When the Canucks dealt goaltender Roberto Luongo to Florida on Wednesday, it looked for a while as though Luongo and protagonist Tim Thomas would be the Panthers’ goaltenders. Asked how the two of them would get along, Luongo responded: “I always get along with my backups.” . . . Thomas was later dealt to the Dallas Stars. . . . “Just woke up in a cold sweat from the ultimate Sochi nightmare,” writes Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times. “As in, tennis scream queen Maria Sharapova decided to take up curling.”

(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.

Tuesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Andrej Podkonicky (Portland, 1996-98) signed a two-year contract with Kometa Brno (Czech Republic, Extraliga). He had nine goals and 19 assists in 52 games for Liberec (Czech Republic, Extraliga) this season.
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Here are the highlights to date from the WHL annual general meeting which is being held somewhere in Calgary, as tweeted Tuesday by Cory Flett, whose title is Director, Communications:
1. “We did not issue a #WHL AGM agenda yesterday, will issue a release outlining the outcome of the mtg tmrw at 1pm MT.”
2. Three hours later . . . “The #WHL has officially decided to move away from printing a 'pocket schedule' for the 11-12 reg. season #makesense”
3. Immediately after that one . . . “The #WHL however, will remain the only League in the #CHL that does a FULL print order of media guides still #makessense”
So . . . there you have it, WHL fans. Another exciting day at another WHL AGM.
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Here’s a thought: Why doesn’t the WHL hold its AGM in the home city of its championship team? Gotta think it wouldn’t have done the Kootenay Ice any harm at all to have all of the WHL pooh-bahs talking it up in Cranbrook.
Of course, if the WHL isn’t going to let people know what’s going behind its closed doors, it may as well hold the AGM in Rankin Inlet.
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JUST NOTES: City council in Swift Current voted Monday night to spent $251,000 on a new scoreclock that will have video capabilities. However, it isn’t likely to be installed in the Credit Union i-plex in time for the start of the 2011-12 season. . . . The Prince Albert Raiders have signed F Reid Gardiner, the eighth overall pick in the 2011 bantam draft. Gardiner, a Prince Albert native, had 81 points in 24 games with the bantam AA Humboldt Broncos last season. . . . The Prince George Cougars have signed D Jordan Harris, the 10th overall selection in the 2011 bantam draft. Harris, from Prince Albert, had 34 points in 23 regular-season games with the bantam AA Prince Albert Pirates, who won the provincial championship. . . . The NHL’s Calgary Flames have purchased the NLL’s Calgary Roughnecks. Mike Moore, the Calgary Hitmen’s director of business operations, will wear the same hat with the Roughnecks. Moore is a former GM with the Kamloops Blazers and Medicine Hat Tigers.
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Two former WHLers -- Terry Ruskowski and Terry Egeland -- are said to be in the running for the vacant head-coaching position with the Central league’s Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. There is more right here.
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A few thoughts on the NHL and the way its game is being played in the Stanley Cup final:
1. It is quite evident that the cross-check is back in the game, especially has wielded by a player defending the turf in front of his goaltender.
2. I still am trying to come to some kind of understanding of the four-game suspension given to Vancouver D Aaron Rome for that hit on Boston F Nathan Horton. . . . Mike Murphy, who is handling discipline in this series on behalf of the NHL, said the hit was late. By one second. . . . If that one second is worth a four-game suspension in the Stanley Cup final and if the NHL is going to maintain consistency, that hit is going to be worth at least 12 games in the 2011-12 regular season.
3. I thought the NHL had outlawed the can-opener, but Boston D Johnny Boychuk took out Vancouver F Mason Raymond with it just 20 seconds into Game 6 on Monday night. (Raymond ended up with a compressed fracture of a vertebrae and won’t play again for perhaps four months.) There wasn’t a penalty on the play and the NHL chose not to take another look at the incident.
4. I am not a fan of the blustery Brian Burke, who is the king of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But were he the GM of the Vancouver Canucks, do you think he may have come up with a world-class rant to take some of the heat off that team? Surely you remember his rant from a 2002 series with the Detroit Red Wings: "I want to point out to the officials that Todd Bertuzzi does not play for Detroit, it just looks like that because he's wearing two or three Red Wings sweaters all the time. . . . Sedin is not Swedish for punch me, or headlock me in a scrum.” . . . The Canucks, the Sedins and Roberto Luongo in particular, really could have used something like that to relieve the pressure. And you just know that the media would have eaten it up.
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So . . . who wins Game 7? I’m thinking Luongo wins 1-0 (or 2-0 with an empty-netter). Like a hitter who sees the ball well in a particular park so has real success there, Luongo’s comfort zone in Rogers Arena seems especially large. So I would look for him to play well there, again. . . . But should the Bruins win, and that is a real possibility, I would expect the Left Coast of British Columbia to slide quietly into the water.
And the light created by the burning of those Canucks flags flying from automobile windows will light up the sky and confuse a whole lot of birds.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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