I never had the pleasure of watching Gordie Howe play hockey. As a very young man, however, I read a biography on Wayne Gretzky and learned how Gretzky idolized Howe. That made Gordie Howe my hero's hero. Here's a wonderful story about The Great Gordie Howe.
I'll preface this entry by stating the obvious. Derek Jeter has had a fantastic career, and deserves to be voted into the Hall of Fame. He's never been linked to performance enhancing drugs, he's always been classy and he's won. Derek Jeter is also a career Yankee. I don't understand
While I was unplugged for a few days earlier this week, Jean-Sebastien Giguere retired. He was the last former Hartford Whaler playing in the NHL. He played eight games for the Whalers in 1996-97. It's the end of an era. Assuming Chris Pronger doesn't make a comeback, there are no
I alluded to this in episode 83 of my podcast, but it's time to come clean in print. I really don't care for football anymore. As a younger man, I watched a lot of NFL. The Bills were my team and I rooted for them the way I root for
I've been watching tennis grand slam events forever. As a young man, you'd have thought I was German the way I cheered on Boris Becker and Steffi Graf. After all, Canadians were never a threat. Here's something I wrote in July of 2009 about Canada's male singles tennis failure. We
The NBA Draft is tonight. Several Canadians, mostly from the GTA, are likely to be drafted. That would make this by far the best NBA draft for Canadian talent. The previous high for Canadians drafted was three, set in 1983 and 2012. This year, three Canadians may go in the
I've never watched the FIFA World Cup with a true rooting interest. Canada hasn't qualified since 1986 and I have no memory of that tournament. I don't think 12-year old Mike appreciated soccer. In 1986, 28-years ago if you haven't done the math, Mexico was the host and Canada was
Last night, when the Anaheim Ducks were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, Teemu Selanne's NHL career came to an end. The 43-year-old finishes his NHL career with 684 goals and 1,457 points in the regular season and 44 goals and 88 points in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He
I grew up a Leafs fan. I remain a Leafs fan. It's been tough. We've never made the Stanley Cup final in my lifetime, and we've only made the playoffs once in the past decade, when we lost in the first round. There's not much hope for next season, either.
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with baseball statistics. I had a book called The 500 Club that chronicled every Major League batter to record 500 or more career home runs. It was a pretty short and tidy list. At the time, there were only two members of
Elliotte Friedman regularly blogs his 30 thoughts and I'm always impressed with the quantity of observations and insight. I don't have 30 thoughts this morning, but I have a few... John Fucking Salmons The Raptors game last night was insanely entertaining. I only tuned in for the fourth quarter and
The NCAA men’s tournament tips off tomorrow, and there are plenty of Canadians taking part, many with key roles. It's not just Andrew Wiggins, it's also Tyler Ennis, Melvin Ejim, Kevin Pangos and my son's friend's cousin, Nik Stauskas. Here's who you should cheer for over the next two
Back in 2005, the Simpsons predicted this Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. They have it as a 19-14 win for the Broncos. I'm going to disagree with the Simpsons and call it a 20-16 win for the Broncos. Make your prediction in the comments and we'll
The other day, while I was watching the Leafs game, the broadcast experienced an issue with their audio mix. The sound of the game remained loud, but those in the booth became quite muted. For a glorious five minutes I watched the game only hearing the crowd, the players and
It's November 24th and I've only watched one quarter of NFL football this season. I caught the final quarter of Denver's 51 - 48 win over Dallas on October 6 and I got sucked in because it was Peyton Manning and I couldn't believe the number of points on the
The East-of-Yonge version of me, my buddy Bob, shared this on Facebook. It's Mariano Rivera's Yankee Stadium goodbye. I hate the Yankees and even I got choked up by the sight of a tearful Rivera hugging Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter on the pitcher's mound before walking off the field
[via Reddit]
Precisely six years ago today, I wrote this entry about Alex Rodriquez. Barry Bonds hasn't even caught Hank Aaron yet but baseball fans are already wondering if Alex Rodriquez will be the next home run king. A-Rod just hit his 500th earlier today and he just turned 32. That means
If you're lucky enough to be my Facebook friend, you'll know my cover image is Oscar the Grouch proclaiming "shit could be worse." Oscar's right. This could be Cleveland. Before you label me a Cleveland hater, I need to explain myself. I frequently look at the professional sports landscape in
Milos Raonic is the best singles tennis player in Canadian history. That's right, he's even better than Andrew Sznajder, believe it or not. He's the best we've ever produced, but you wouldn't know it from the Wimbledon betting odds. The most exciting part of Raonic's game is his booming serve,
I mentioned that I hadn't golfed since lifetime gym over twenty years ago. Yesterday, on a blustery day in Fenelon Falls, I played the nine hole course at Eganridge Inn and Spa overlooking beautiful Sturgeon Lake with my buddy Elvis, courtesy of Chevrolet. Things got off to a rocky start
I've only golfed once in my life. It was in grade 12 when my lifetime gym class shot nine holes. That was awhile ago, and I never felt the urge to golf again. I'm scheduled to end this monster drought on Monday when elvis and I are set to play
Guys and gals, I need your help. I'm drafting my playoff pool in 5 hours and I still don't know who will win the Stanley Cup. Please tell me, who will win the Stanley Cup?
The 2013 Masters Golf Tournament is underway in Augusta, Georgia, and I'll pay attention so long as Tiger Woods is in contention. I simply don't care about the PGA unless Tiger's competing. If Tiger fails to make the cut, I won't watch a minute this weekend. But if he's in
Without a doubt, I'm rooting for Gonzaga to win this year's NCAA's March Madness tournament. If you're fellow Canadian, you should be too, for two good reasons: Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Pangos. Olynyk, a seven-foot forward from Kamloops and Pangos, a point guard from Holland Landing, Ontario, have led Gonzaga
