Tuesday, November 1:
A quick thankee to my NOOF pal Duct Tape for this friendly reminder: Everyone who has ever whiled away a few summer hours with Tom Cheek in the background can relate. Tom's gone now and Cooperstown missed the boat by not electing him to the baseball hall of fame a year ago when he could have experienced the induction ceremonies. But it's up to all of us who cherished his work to see that he is properly honoured posthumously. Here's the link to help get Tom Cheek elected to Cooperstown. You can vote daily but only once each day:
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/frick/index_002.htm
Saturday, November 5:
A non-sports rant: I wish the deep thinkers at Toronto's city hall would get off their rosy red posteriors and get a deal done with the police. Here is a city that is going through the most gun-violent year in its history and its politicians are playing hardball with the very people who are doing their best to serve and protect. Is mayor David Miller that blind to the needs of his own city? Or is this simply a fallout because the police endorsed someone else for mayor in the last election? This is not a Toronto I enjoy spending time in anymore. I'm not a Toronto taxpayer but I work there and I could choose to spend my entertainment dollars there. Instead, I'm quite content to see Toronto in my rear-view mirror each evening, thank-you-very-much.
Tuesday, November 8:
Scorepics has learned the Detroit Lions are furiously lobbying the NFL to allow them to play the bye week in an annual home-and-home series each year. That's despite the Lions' home loss to the bye week earlier this season. There is however, no truth to the rumour that FOX, losers in the annual "do we get Dallas or are we stuck with Detroit?" U.S. Thanksgiving sweepstakes this year, is trying to get the Red Wings to take on the Atlanta Thrashers in a three-hour hockey shootout, knowing it would get far better ratings than the Falcons vs. the Lions on November 24.
Thursday, November 10:
I'm no fan of Terrell Owens and his ilk -- you know the ones who say, "yeah, there's no 'I' in 'team,' but there is 'm-e." And while I applaud the Philadelphia Eagles for taking a hard-line stance, the ultimate villian here in my books is Owens' agent. This whole mess started when T.O. demanded to restructure his contract, after switching agents. I suspect Drew Rosenhaus demanded the Eagles draw up a new contract, 'cause HE wasn't getting any cake from Owens' old one.
Saturday, November 12:
Well that project is finished! I've spent the past few months scanning old photos from long-ago games I've attended and posting them here. Yep, the quality sucks on a great many of the pics, but hopefully they give off enough for you to see what some of these places looked like at the time. Now it's back to live sports -- primarily junior hockey. Stay tuned for updates!
Sunday, November 13:
OK, here's the deal: You don't win a football game with seven turnovers. Never. And it's astounding the Calgary Stampeders even had a shot at it at the end. Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot with a bazooka, twin Colt .45's, a high-powered rifle and a sawed-off shotgun. Calgary should have worn Santa suits instead of their traditional red home jerseys. Give the Edmonton Eskimos credit for coming from behind on the road and taking full advantage of the gifts.
And the Canadian Football League must take complete responsibility for the travel mess the Saskatchewan Roughriders found themselves in. Visiting teams in conference finals should be whisked to the host city on Friday -- period. No excuses. But no, the league insisted the Riders fly Saturday, and because of technical trouble, they didn't arrive until about 24 hours before game time. Suppose a major snowstorm had hit Regina Saturday, grounding the team for 24 hours. Can you imagine the mess the CFL -- and Montreal -- would have been in, without a visiting team today? I'd be tempted to say that this makes the CFL look "Mickey Mouse" if it wasn't such an insult to the Walt Disney character. Having said that, I'm not sure an extra day would have made a difference -- Montreal looked great today.
The Detroit Lions won a football game today. How embarrassing for Arizona. Not sure if Phoenix/Sky Harbor International Airport is allowing the Cardinals' plane to land there on the trip home or forcing them to go somewhere else, out of sheer embarrassment.
Wednesday, November 15:
What a Saturday THIS is gonna be! Being a good native of the flatlands that is Ontario's Essex County, the annual war between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines is must-see TV. And this year, I'm gonna see it in person in Ann Arbor, 25 rows up along the 35-yard line at Michigan Stadium. A few hours later, I'll be yelling for the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena, as they tangle with the St. Louis Blues.
Sunday, November 20:
It was, in the worlds of the late Bob Ufer, "a great big scarlet and grey afternoon." Champions are made of what the Ohio State Buckeyes did yesterday, coming back from nine points down with half a quarter remaining to beat their biggest rivals on the road, 25-21 at Michigan. And after last night's hockey game in the Motor City, I was able to drive back and get some sleep before today's CFL East final.
Once again, here's the deal: You don't win a football game with seven turnovers. Or six. Not when you don't have any takeaways yourself. The Montreal Alouettes made the Toronto Argonauts pay for that in the CFL East final. Do these Als have character? Here they were, on the road, down 14-0 and looking as if they wouldn't record a first down let alone any points. And they storm back and win going away. Very impressive.
I love what they've done with the Rogers Centre for Argos football, but what a contrast in one day from the Big House. At the former SkyDome, you're bombarded by advertisements and promotions. That's fine -- it pays the bills. At Michigan Stadium, there's not a single billboard for anything.
It looks as if it will be a Southern Cal-Texas battle in the Rose Bowl for US college football supremacy. But I'd sure like to see Ohio State get a shot at knocking off USC. It won't happen with the Buckeyes' two losses, but that run defence is incredible. Michigan never got a sniff of anything resembling a decent gain on the ground yesterday afternoon in Ann Arbor.
What's happening in Hockeytown? Detroit's Joe Louis Arena was one-quarter empty for the Red Wings and Blues Saturday night, and PA announcer Budd Lynch mentioned many times that there were still tickets available for Monday night's game against Nashville. I doubt the Wings won over any potential new fans Saturday. Their skating legs must have stayed behind on their road trip in a 3-2 loss to lowly St. Louis.
Monday, November 21:
I love sports, but the importance of fun and games can come crashing to a halt in a hurry when faced with the kind of life or death situation that occurred tonight at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. Red Wings' star Jiri Fischer suffered a seizure on the bench. By all accounts, quick work by doctors and paramedics saved Fischer's life. Wings' captain Steve Yzerman and teammate Robert Lang appeared to be instrumental in helping to get a stretcher to the players' bench and to help escort Fischer's fiancee across the ice. Early hospital reports are encouraging, thank God.
Tuesday, November 22:
There's been much debate lately about the best rivalry in sports. Red Sox-Yankees? Barcelona-Real Madrid? Packers-Bears? Maple Leafs-Canadiens? Well, there's no way to judge, of course. A baseball fan might not give a hoot about hockey and a North American football fan may hate the world-wide game of football -- which is what they soccer in the U.S. and Canada.
For me, it's simple -- Ohio State against Michigan in U.S. college football. There's no greater college fight sing than UM's "The Victors." But OSU's "Fight the Team" is just as stirring. And Carmen Ohio is an incredibly beautiful and moving piece. I first heard it played live on Band Day at Ohio Stadium 10 years ago at an OSU-Washington game and it sent shivers down my spine. Everything Michigan does in regards to football, Ohio State does as well and vice versa.
Woody/Bo. Script Ohio/Block M. Scarlet & Grey/Maize & Blue. The Horseshoe/The Big House. And on, and on. To me, it's a rivalry like no other.
Finally seeing this great event in person was a lifetime highlight.
Thursday, November 24:
Happy Thanksgiving to our U.S friends. May your holiday be filled with happiness, cheer and lots of stuffing!
To answer a question from a fellow lover of the UM-OSU football rivarly, yes a couple of the fonts I used to use on this website are dedicated to the rivarly, and the old (long gone) scoreboards from both the Big House and the Horseshoe:
Not perfect, but not too far off!
Saturday, November 26:
I can't think of any reason why the Montreal Alouettes shouldn't win tomorrow's Grey Cup game. So by that logic, I'll pick Edmonton.
PREDICTION, Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos 31, Montreal Alouettes 29.
By the way, nice effort by the Detroit Lions in their U.S. Thanksgiving Day no-show. The Atlanta Falcons likely break more sweat at practice. I guess what they mean by the Lions and the Thanksgiving tradition as that they have to have a turkey game before the real football starts in Dallas later in the day.
Yogi Berra is alleged to have once said, "it's never over 'til it's over." And that seems to be the way in hockey this season. Exhibit 'A' was on display tonight. The London Knights trailed the Sting 4-2 with 70 seconds left in Sarnia. When the smoke cleared, London skated away with a 5-4 overtime win.
Is nothing sacred anymore? The Boston Celtics are the latest team to feel the need to incorprate black into their colour scheme. They unveiled a third uniform this week that is green in colour with black numbers and white trim. The Boston Celtics, fer cryin' out loud! I don't mind black if a team's colours already have it (i.e. Oakland Raiders, Chicago Blackhawks). But to add it because some marketing moron has decided black has to be part of every uniform everywhere, simply sucks.
Sunday, November 27:
Another Grey Cup classic! There have been so many and you wonder why there so many great Grey Cups and so few great Super Bowls. The team I was cheering for lost (I seem to be the kiss of death these days) but I was especially cheering for a tremendous game. On that score, everybody won.
Monday, November 28:
Sometimes I think the grey matter that's lodged inside my cranium is made of mushy dog food instead of anything that is supposed to produce some sort of logic. For months I've known that you can't present a decent photo web site if you process said photos with an uncalibrated monitor. Somehow, I believe that MY monitor was perfect, and every other monitor I ever viewed this site on was flawed. Somehow, I also manage to get through each day without self-destructing. Obviously, after a quick run-through with the excellent Spyder-2, I realized it was MY monitor that was off-kilter. The upshot is that all of these photos you see here are pretty off-kilter too, when it comes to post-shot-production. So the winter project is to try and fix them so they at least look halfway presentable. Bear with me, friends!
SCOREPICS' OVER-UNDER LINE: 7.28 seconds.
That's the amount of time elapsed after you tune in mid-game before you hear Maple Leafs' radio colour commentator Jim Ralph ripping a referee. Usually (but not always) when the infraction goes against Toronto.
