Category: Sports

My Eddie Shack story

A few days ago I heard that Eddie Shack died at the age of 83. I was never a fan of the Leafs, but it was hard not to be a fan of Eddie Shack. About a decade after Shack had retired (in 1975) I was involved up to my wahzoo in minor hockey. I

Fighting in Hockey is Stupid

Yesterday Montreal Canadien’s tough guy, George Parros fell on the ice and was knocked out cold during a fight. As Kelly MacParland of the National Post said in commenting on the incident, “It’s a bit like a Canadian version of sumo wrestling, but with much more padding. Everything is staged and negotiated in advance; the

Dominican supremacy in World Baseball

The undefeated team from the Dominican Republic The World Baseball Classic finished up this week after what seems like about two months of preliminary games. The coverage was spotty at best, so it was relatively difficult to follow what was happening. For us in North America it was like the divisions that played over seas

Is “hitting” really necessary in hockey

I haven’t bothered following NHL hockey for many years. I will occasionally watch a big game, like the final game of the playoffs, but not knowing the players makes it pretty uninteresting. What impresses me when I do watch is the speed and skill of the players. Having been involved in kids hockey, I know

Big Time minor hockey rejected in KW

I see that last night Waterloo minor hockey parents rejected a proposal to merge their bantam and midget AAA teams (boys) and form 4 (instead of 8) super teams from KW. The new teams were to have coaches chosen and bankrolled by the Kitchener Rangers, the local Junior A team. I suspect there were quite

Hockey Rules and Little Kids

If you have kids (or grandkids) in Canada between the ages of 6 and 17, chances are you spend a lot of time at hockey arenas in the winter. And it’s not just boys anymore. We have three grandaughters and two grandsons playing hockey, and keeping up with their games and tournaments is quite a

Juniors lose to Ruskies in unusual fashion

I’ve been in Florida for the last week and must admit I haven’t been following the Canadian sports scene at all. It’s a completely different world down here. TV coverage (at least where we’re staying) is good if you like “I’m 16 and pregnant” or long boring hearings on CSpan. Other than that, forget it.

Inconsistent Raptors set comeback record

I’ll admit I gave up on the Raptors last night. They were down by about 25 points and looking absolutely awful against the Pistons who colour man Jack Armstrong kept saying had trouble scoring and couldn’t defend. It was a pretty sad showing. I decided to jump around watching two or three movies instead. (There

Last Ontario round of golf for 2010

I played what turned out to be my last round of Ontario golf for 2010 on Nov 21. Fritz and I headed down to Tarandowah and pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was about 5 C and pretty windy, but it didn’t rain, so that was a bonus. It was starting to get

Blue Jays Cito Gaston Appreciation Night

We headed over to Toronto a couple of nights ago to the Blue Jays final home game of the season against the Yankees. It was Cito Gaston’s final home game before his retirement as manager of the team at the end of this season. The crowd at the game was one of the larger ones

Blue Springs Golf Club, Acton Ontario

Back in 1997 Blue Springs Golf Club was the first “championship” course I had ever played. I can still remember the feeling I had for the place. I could barely believe I was actually playing golf at such a beautiful facility. Looking back on #10 fairway at Blue Springs. This is the Championship course. Just

Wyndance Golf Club in Uxbridge, Ontario

Three golfing buddies and I headed over to Wyndance Golf Club in Uxbridge, Ontario this afternoon (Sunday, Sept 19, 2010). Wyndance was designed by Greg Norman for Clublink, Canada’s largest golf course operator, and opened in 2007. Wyndance is built on the site of an old quarry and uses the contours of the quarry to

Tarandowah Golfers Club – Avon, Ontario

Tarandowah Golfers Club is located just outside of Avon, Ontario, a little more than 5 minutes off the 401 highway between London and Woodstock. It is your classic “out in the middle of nowhere” course, seemingly built in a farmer’s field. But this is not just any golf course. It is an example of what