In the early morning hours, True North Sports and Entertainment and the Atlanta Spirit Group finally signed off on a deal that will see the Thrashers move to Winnipeg, returning NHL hockey to the Manitoba capital for the first time in 15 years.
The announcement was met with euphoria by hockey fans in Winnipeg. Thousands gathered in the downtown area to celebrate today’s announcement – the majority of them decked out in Winnipeg Jets garb.
The inked had barely dried on the transaction when True North launched into their sales pitch for season’s tickets. An aggressive season ticket campaign is underway as you read this, cleverly titled “Drive to 13.” The goal is to sell 13,000 season tickets before the puck drops next fall. Manitoba Moose season ticket holders will have first access to tickets and the rest of the population will be able to secure season’s seats beginning on Saturday.
Ticket prices will be comparable to the other Canadian franchises. Single-game tickets start at $39 and will sell for $129 at the top end. With tickets being on par with other markets, it makes it even more important that every ticket for every game is sold. Commissioner Gary Bettman, almost throwing cold water on the deal, suggested rather emphatically that the NHL in Winnipeg won’t work without the sale of the 13,000 season tickets, which amounts to 87 per cent of all seats in the MTS Centre.
Today’s announcement came without one important element – the actual name of the franchise. There have been rumblings that the ownership group is hesitant to bring back the Jets moniker, preferring instead to go in a new direction. Possible names include the Moose or Falcons. There is no question, however, that public support is strongly behind the Jets name. Nostalgia is in fashion these days. Just take a look at the number of teams who cash in with retro sweaters and other memorabilia.
It’s a bit of a stretch, then, to suggest that fans in large numbers will invest thousands of dollars a year in tickets without actually knowing if they’ll be supporting the Jets. True North would be foolish to underestimate the attachment to the name in Manitoba. The Jets, after all, won three Avco Cup championships in the World Hockey Association back in the 70s, led by the great Bobby Hull. An entire generation of Prairie kids grew up worshipping the iconic Jets logo. These are the same people whose hearts were crushed when the moving trucks pulled away in 1996.
NHL hockey has returned to Winnipeg 15 years later. There’s a new CBA in place, the Canadian dollar is much stronger, the provincial economy is humming, there’s a new (albeit undersized) building. True North has done everything possible to bring NHL hockey back to The Peg. And now, as The Commish pointed out, it’s up to the community to get behind this thing.
Manitobans are thrilled to get an NHL team back, but they would like to have their cake and eat it too. They want the Jets. True North and the NHL should make it happen.
While there’s a lot of discussion about how the RBC Canadian Open in Vancouver will have a stellar field this year, regardless of how it turns out it will still a distant second-best when it comes to Canadian tournaments with the best players in the world.
That’s because the CN Canadian Women’s Open, which will be held at Hillsdale Golf and Country Club in Montreal at the end of August will likely have almost all of the Top 50 rated female players in golf.
Last week it was announced that the winner of last year’s tournament, Michelle Wie, will return this year, along with stars Suzann Pettersen, and Cristie Kerr. Also playing will be three-time major winner and World No. 1 Yani Tseng.
None of this surprises LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan.
“If you had 50 of the Top 50 players at a men’s event you’d be writing about it for years,” says Whan, a former golf equipment executive who took over running the LPGA in 2009. “You’ll get that at the CN Canadian Women’s Open.”
Having been to two Canadian Women’s Opens, Whan is no familiar with the old refrain: “Why does this tournament not have major championship status?” The tournament had been one of the LPGA’s majors until 2000 when sponsor du Maurier had to back away from the event due to changing laws involving tobacco advertising in Canada. Railway operator CN has heavily invested in the event since coming on as sponsor in 2006, and its purse is higher than one of the four existing majors in women’s golf. That’s led some to suggest its status should be returned.
Whan understands the fuss, but says that putting another title on the tournament won’t improve what is already one of the best events on the tour.
Getting to the NBA Finals is hard. Winning an NBA Championship is nearly impossible. To do it you need more than just talent, you need more than just skilled offense and tenacious defense. You need more than a superstar or two. You need more than advanced stats or composite metrics. You need ‘NEED’. Without it, you don’t have a chance of summoning what it takes to win an NBA Championship.
In the last week, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have seen their names dragged through the mud because they didn’t have that NEED. Despite doing yeoman’s work to get their respective teams to the Conference Finals, the fact that they got there and didn’t excel has people shrugging their shoulders at what came before. People want to know why they didn’t play smarter or harder or better when it counted. Why didn’t the want it more? Why didn’t the execute down the stretch? Maybe these guys aren’t as good as we thought they were.
Wrong.
Those three players are as talented as any trio of 22-year-old players that you’ll find in NBA history. All three have the requisite talent base to take complete control of a game and all three affect winning at an elite level. All three were in the top-25 in the NBA in terms of Win Shares, and all three would be among the very top of the list of players a GM would take to start a roster with. What their problem was this spring is that they didn’t NEED a Championship enough to get to the Finals to contend for one.
All three have had things come fairly easily to them in the NBA. That isn’t to say that they’ve gotten to where they are without work; their skill-sets are a testament to the work they have put into their games. Their talent saw all three in the top-10 in PER this season, but that talent may have also given them a false sense of how ready they really are. All three being featured on an All-NBA team has put them into a stratosphere that belies their readiness for the real grind of the NBA postseason. They didn’t understand before this week what it meant to NEED a Championship, or even a shot at a Championship, like their opponents did, and that is why they ultimately succumbed just short of the Championship round.
Fear not Ultimate Fighter fans, coaches for the next season of the UFC’s popular reality series on SpikeTV have been announced, and for the first time in 2 years, the show might actually be entertaining! Middleweights Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller and Michael Bisping will coach opposite each other in the fourteenth installment of the series. This matchup is guaranteed to end in fireworks, as neither man is known for keeping his opinions to himself.
Mayhem is no stranger to being in the spotlight and playing a role for the cameras. The 30 year old is known for being a professional loudmouth almost as much as he is for being a professional fighter. Miller hosts the wildly popular MTV show Bully Beatdown in which he finds “real” bullies, and puts them in a cage against professional MMA fighters to dole out his own brand of Karmic justice. Fresh off his recent smear campaign of Strikeforce welterweight champ Nick Diaz, Miller can now focus his attacks on Michael Bisping. If there is one-thing fans of Mayhem know it is that he loves to get under the skin of his opponents and given Bisping’s history, Miller will not have to work very hard.
It is no secret that Michael Bisping has issues with his anger. Given ‘The Count’s’ history, sticks and stones may break bones, but names are what really hurt him. Leading up to his last fight, Jorge Rivera firmly planted a bee in Bisping’s bonnet with a series of you-tube based attacks directed at the Brit. During their bout, given the emotionally charged lead up to the fight, Bisping was docked a point for a so-called “accidental” illegal knee landed to his downed opponent. In the end however, the smack talk came back to bite Rivera, as Bisping won by TKO giving him his justice and the upper hand. You think that would be enough, but even after winning the in such a dominant fashion, Bisping was caught on camera spitting at Rivera’s corner men after the ref stopped the fight.
Originally the coaches for season 14 were rumored to be Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen resulting in the much-anticipated rematch to one of the best fights of 2010. This grouping was shelved after the recent very public dissolution of Sonnen’s personal and fighting careers, the fans will have to continue waiting for that rematch.
The UFC has all the right ingredients for success in the fall, and given the current season’s dismal ratings, the reality show needs this shot in the arm to get it back on top.
With the Stanley Cup finals about to kick off on this side of the border for the first time in four years AND an NHL team to call Winnipeg home for the first time in 15 years, this is one wacky week for Canadian hockey fans.
Wednesday night, the Vancouver Canucks start the Final series at home against the Boston Bruins, hoping to become the first Canadian team to win the Cup since Montreal in 1993. The Bruins are aiming to raise Lord Stanley's chalice for the first time since guys started routinely wearing helmets.
On the surface, Vancouver is the team to beat. Better record, more complete line-up, home ice advantage -- it's all there. But Boston beat the Canucks in their only meeting this year, 3-1 in Vancouver. So what does that tell us? Well, about as much as all the other blather commentators will be spouting over the next 24 hours -- not a lot.
They will go on about comparing the goaltending of Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas. How the Sedin twins and Ryan Kesler stack up against the likes of Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton or David Krejci. Sizing up blueline leaders like Kevin Bieksa and Zdeno Chara. The significance of Boston Pizza changing its name... wait, nevermind. It's a never-ending back and forth that can't be settled by relying on past performances. It's about right now and how these teams respond to each other. And that's part of what makes the Stanley Cup finals the most exciting tournament in sports.
Historically, both teams are pretty even. Boston has the advantage of its Original Six pedigree but any fan under 25 probably doesn't care much about that. Both teams have gone just about four decades without a title (Boston 39 years, Vancouver never in their 40-year history). Either team will be the first champion since the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins to win after going seven games in the first round.
In terms of hockey songs, I'd call it even. Boston has the hockey-mad Dropkick Murphys while Vancity is the home of the Hanson Brothers.
So, let's get down to brass tacks. I think Boston might steal Game 1, but as for a Cup prediction? Vancouver in 6.
I can't fully comprehend "being awesome at baseball," I don't really know what that feels like or where it comes from. But I have watched Jose Bautista play like he's Babe Ruth over the past year or so, and before that I saw Doc Halladay pitch like he was a f---ing cyborg. Both of those men are "awesome at baseball." Am I entrirely sure what this entails? No, but I do believe it involves trying your ass off and expecting big results -- in fact, I'm pretty positive that's the necessary starting point.
So when I see a guy like John Danks of the White Sox walking around with an 0-8 record -- a guy who's cleary playing well below his talent level -- taking the time to chirp Jose Bautista mid-game, it kind of pisses me off.
A little context: Danks and the White Sox were having their asses handed to them by the Jays Sunday afternoon. A fastball -- thrown by Danks -- sailed over the inside half of the plate, right through Bautista's wheelhouse, without so much as a flinch from the slugger. Jose was upset with himself, he doesn't usually let those go without sending a souvenir to the left-field bleachers, but he casually re-gained his composure and waited for the next one. Except the next one was a little less perfect and he popped it up.
Now Bautista, playing as Ruthian as he is, slammed down his bat and cursed himself for the wasted opportunity. He'd obviously expected himself to do better and had fallen short. This is the point where most pitchers would breathe a sign of relief and be thankful they got an MVP-candidate with a lucky out.
But not John Danks, he of the 0-8 record and current MLB leader in underperformance:
"I told him to run the bases, he was out there acting like a f---ing clown... He ran halfway down the line, stopped, and spiked his bat. I get it he's upset at himself. I threw him a 3-1 fastball he missed, and I threw him another heater... He's had a great couple years, but he isn't that good he needs to feel he can hit every ball out of the ballpark. That's just the way I feel."
He's not acting like a clown, John, he's acting like an MVP. Maybe next time -- instead of whining -- you should just shut up and take notes.
The Beasts from the East are the 2011 Memorial Cup champions.
Jacob De Serres was outstanding in goal, making 34 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors 3-1 in the Cup Final on Sunday night to become the first team from Atlantic Canada to capture the most coveted trophy in junior hockey.
De Serres earned redemption, and then some, after he was shelled for nine goals in the final of last year’s Memorial Cup while playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings, who lost the game 9-1 to the powerful Windsor Spitfires. Perhaps because of the lasting impression of that last game, the over-ager from Calgary was unwanted in the Western League early in the season. He passed through waivers in the Dub before being signed by the Sea Dogs, who were looking for a veteran presence between the pipes to stabilize a very young team.
And De Serres provided just that. He posted a remarkable 43-6 record in the regular season, playoffs and Memorial Cup combined. And by all accounts, he’s pretty much the nicest young man you’d ever want to meet. He was incredibly accommodating to the media throughout the week, never shying away from questions about his shellacking last year. Heck, he even agreed to be interviewed by RDS during the intermission of the championship game. While just about every other goalie would go into a cocoon during such a huge game, the kid was hamming it up for a television audience. Very impressive indeed.
The Majors, meanwhile, had a disappointing end to their season. They lost the championship final two weeks to the day they after dropped the seventh game of the Ontario League Final to the Owen Sound Attack. Both losses came on home ice.
Coach Dave Cameron and captain Casey Cizikas experienced the unfortunate trifecta of losing the World Junior final, OHL final, and Memorial Cup final in the same season. As any athlete will tell you, the bigger the game, the harder it hurts when you lose. But the reality is this: 58 other teams could have been playing in Sunday’s championship game, but weren’t.
As Cameron so aptly pointed out, losing sucks. Especially so when you get so close to the Big Prize.
Tiger Woods. Lee Westwood. Martin Kaymer.
And now Englishman Luke Donald.
Donald is golf's new top dog after winning this weekend's BMW PGA Championship in England. Donald dueled with former World No. 1 Lee Westwood, who lost the tournament on the first playoff hole.
"It's pretty good, isn't it?" he said after his win. "Being world number one is an accomplishment I'm very proud of and a big responsibility for me to take on. I'm glad to have won and to take the ranking but it's not as if the work's all done. I've got to keep going and I want more of these trophies and these accomplishments, and there's plenty of time in my career to get more."
Donald has finished in the Top 10 in in nine of ten tournaments this year, including two wins and two runner-up finishes. Donald is expected to be in Vancouver for the RBC Canadian Open at Shaughnessy in July.
Former World No. 1 Tiger Woods is currently ranked 13th. Currently injured, his next event is expected to be the U.S. Open in June.
Canada's top player is Stephen Ames, who is ranked 173 in the world.
 (above: FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke)
In what must come as a COMPLETE surprise to absolutely no one, allegations of bribery and other corruption ballyhoo have hit the governing body of world soccer. First, it was the suspension yesterday of senior executive committee members Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar and Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago over allegations they bribed voters in FIFA's presidential election campaign.
THEN, today an email between secretary general Jerome Valcke to Warner surfaced that ever-so-subtly suggested Qatar had "bought'' the right to host the 2022 World Cup. The email said, "For MBH (bin Hammam), I never understood why he was running. If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB (current FIFA president Sepp Blatter). Or he thought you can buy FIFA as they bought the WC (World Cup).''
Of course now Valcke is spinning harder than a Messi strike, trying to deflate the situation saying that what he meant by "buy" was simply Qatar's superior financial strength in running the tournament. Riiiiiiiiiiight.
Just to recap, Qatar is a country of 1.5 million people, the majority of which are migrant workers. As Nate Silver said in the New York Times back in December, the population of actual Qataris is closer to that of St. Petersburg, Florida. Then forget for a minute that the country will build 20 stadiums for the event only to dismantle them afterwards, and that Qatar has a less-than illustrous soccer pedigree (currently ranked 92nd), let's talk about the HEAT. This is the Middle East in the dead of summer. It will be just shy of a billion degrees. Sure, they say they'll be cooling off the stadiums a bit but who in their right mind would go as a tourist?
So, if FIFA is wringing its hands over all these "scandalous" allegations, it should know that anyone with half a brain believes it to be the most corrupt sporting organization this side of the IOC. No wonder the English are still angry.
It's been a long time coming. After an entire season of competition among Europe's best clubs, the start-stop-start again UEFA Champions League coughed up two finalists. That the Final at Wembley May 28th pitted the two best known clubs in the universe -- Manchester United and Barcelona -- was hardly a surprise. They've met before. They'll meet again. And it doesn't take a pre-game Vinnie Jones voiceover to tell any of the estimated 300 million TV viewers that this game was a very big deal, indeed.
Just in case you didn't pick up on the grandeur of the event, the story-lines ran thicker than mosquitoes at a Manitoban BBQ : Barcelona's stalwart back man Pique was still dating Shakira. MUFC's Ryan Giggs was involved in a sex scandal but, at 37, it wouldn't affect his game. Rooney wanted redemption on the world stage after a dismal World Cup. Red Devils' keeper Van Der Sar was playing his last game as a pro (he's 40) and really wanted to keep a clean sheet. (Against Barca?!) Carles Puyol might not be starting but, man, look at that hair. Xavi and Iniesta were the soccer player's soccer players. And, oh yeah: Lionel Messi was still the best footballer in the world with no signs of passing the crown anytime soon.
A squadron of Beefeaters brought out Big Cup. Champions League hardcores gritted their teeth through that stupid @#!&# song and yet another Heineken commercial. Wembley had almost 90,000 fans present, if poorer. United had taken their domestic league as had Barca. The big question was which style would prevail: tika-taka or Manchester's unique ability to make their shots count, especially late in vital games.
In the end, Barcelona clotheslined Man United for the second time in three years, denying Sir Alex Ferguson's men the glory of lifting Big Cup. The 3-1 scoreline tells only part of the story, though... Up until that last goal from David Villa, it was a stunning Final with little of the sketchy officiating, prissy tempers or childish antics that have plagued so many primo soccer games lately. Just two of the best teams you can imagine leaving it all on the field.
Highlights Below
Pedro opened the scoring 27 minutes in, putting Barca on the board with the kind of calm goal youth coaches have preached since the dawn of time. Rooney answered near the 35 minute mark and orchestrated the a kind of half-field play Barcelona's famous for. The best part was not the goal itself, gorgeous in its simplicity; it was Rooney's pass to Giggs that the veteran somehow "hipped" back to Rooney to bury.
The 1-1 scoreline stood at the half but the usual "Barcelona Possession: 67-percent" stat at the break suggested problems to come for MUFC. The Red Devils only had one real shot on goal and scored with it. Barcelona came out hungrier after the orange slices and mastermind Messi stung Van Der Sar with a goal from 20+ yards out. You always expect Messi to dribble past five guys right into the crease but he shocked everyone by just bashing it from outside the area. 2-1 Barca and Messi's 53rd goal of the season. (Plenty of respectable soccer players don't score 53 in their pro careers…)
By three-quarters of the way through the match, the attempts were 17-3 in favor of Barcelona. United were chasing the game, playing into the hands of Pep Guardiola's mini-men. Rooney, Park and Vidic deserve props for their amazing work-rate against this team that will run and pass you to death but Barca's use of predictably unpredictable short passes and twisting shapes moving forward made them impossible to contain. The odd time the striped team did screw up they seemed to get the lucky bounce and regain possession almost immediately.
Playing Barcelona must seriously suck...
Villa had been looking the likely lad all night, though not quite in the assassin's form that stunned audiences during Spain's World Cup run last summer. He put the game away at 69 minutes with a beautiful bending ball, 3-1 Barca. Van Der Sar certainly didn't end with a clean sheet but approximately 300 million soccer fans worldwide got their big-time soccer fix.
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April 2011
