TSN has a long, storied relationship with the mustache thanks to anchors like Gino Reda and Rod Black sporting majestic cookie dusters for years. Hard to believe ol' Gino took the razor to his infamous nose neighbour back in 1992.
Anyway, the network is now growing some upper lip action for a good cause. Reda's bringing it back, along with other "Mo Bros" Jay Onrait, Dan O’Toole and Cabbie, each growing a ‘stache to raise funds and awareness with Movember Canada’s men’s health partner, Prostate Cancer Canada.
Said Reda in a press release, "They say imitation is the finest form of flattery, so I’m thrilled that my colleagues at TSN are spending the month of November trying to look half as good as I did with a ‘stache in support of Movember. I’m very honoured to have the opportunity to dust off my duster once again to raise awareness and funds for men’s health…and teach people a thing or two about growing a fine moustache along the way.”
Every Halloween it happens without fail (but with a lot of FAIL), someone dresses up in blackface. Now, what is up for debate, I suppose, is what constitutes blackface? When is it racist and when is it a tribute? Over the weekend, the Phoenix Coyotes held their Halloween party and in the grand tradition of being a clueless public figure, winger Raffi Torres and his wife went as Jay-Z and Beyonce, complete with brown face paint.
I'm not saying this is racist, because that's a very loaded word. Insensitive? Maybe. Point is, as a pro athlete you have to know this will always come off the wrong way based solely on the size of your audience. Which, in this case, is the entire Internet thanks to teammate Paul Bissonette's insanely popular Twitterfeed.
Reaction was all over the place, with plenty of folks citing Dwyane Wade for dressing up as Justin Timberlake as a fitting comparison. But really, anyone who pulls the race card for white people are either ignorant or have never cracked a history book. Apples and oranges, kids. Yahoo's Puck Daddy doesn't see Torres costume as anything but an accurate portrayal of an individual character. But then he's "a pudgy white guy from the Jersey suburbs," not exactly visible minority material.
The idea of dressing up to represent either a general idea or a specific person of a different culture has got a lot of press lately. Where's the line? When does good fun become a bad joke? That's obviously subjective and either way, if you're a pro athlete willing to walk the line, you better be ready for the tweetstorm to follow.
Though, the number of white NHLers defending Torres is pretty funny. Thanks guys, because that's really where we're going to find the insight on this issue. From millionaire white dudes. I'd be more interested to see what PK Subban or Wayne Simmonds thinks of it.
And just like that the start of the 2011-2012 NBA season was thrown back into disarray.
When word trickled out on Wednesday afternoon that talks between the NBA and the NBPA had resumed in earnest in New York City after the prior week’s disastrous mediated sessions, shocking optimism began seeping into the a once volatile conversation. By Thursday night (or, really, early Friday morning), that optimism had turned into full-blown glee as both sides of the negotiations insinuated that they were mere days away from concluding their often bitter standoff and agreeing to a new collective bargaining agreement.
Then came Friday.
In the late afternoon on Friday, talks suddenly and abruptly broke off, all of the joviality of the day before drained away, and the basketball world was thrust back into the abyss of the unknown as neither side seemed sure of how they were going to bridge the gap that currently divides them with regards to their BRI split and the resolution of the most impactful ‘system issues’. Instead of Friday marking the end of the lockout, it marked the day when the rest of November’s games were wiped from the schedule and the possibility of an 82-game season was dashed for good. As has happened so many times prior to this week, the faintest light was extinguished and the veil of uncertainty has re-covered the proceedings.
Or at least that is the way this situation was being painted on Twitter last night and in columns and blogs across the internet this weekend. Doom and gloom has once again pervaded all discussion of the upcoming season, with all of the positivity of the week sucked out of the conversation by the weekend. That, however, isn’t an entirely accurate or even responsible perspective to take on the proceedings.
The cause of the mid-week optimism stemmed from the fact that the NBA and the NBPA made tremendous strides in settling on various system issues like salary cap restrictions and exceptions, the completion (or near-completion) of which brought both sides to the point where the only issues left to tackle were the most acrimonious of the negotiations. The fact that several system issues were tied-up to such a degree that both NBA commissioner David Stern and Players Association executive director Billy Hunter were public joking with each other at Thursday’s press conferences is not a fact to be taken lightly. The CBA is a complex latticework of rules and regulations and while things like BRI and luxury tax get the most ink, those second-tier issues that they’ve resolved (or have come close to resolving) brought these negotiations closer to completion whether or not talks broke off again on Friday. When these sides do eventually return to the negotiating table, they’ll do so emboldened by the fact that they are further up the mountain than they were at the start of last week - and that’s nothing to ignore when discussing the big picture of the current state of things.
We don't know about you, but our entire knowledge of the UK is based upon watching soccer, er, um, football... We know where Liverpool and Manchester are. Sure. And London -- duh. But how about Wolverhampton? Norwich? Blackburn? Is Tottenham even an actual place and is it really "hot"?
While the Barclay's Premier League loses a few teams every year and adds new ones, it would be nice to know where some of these top flight teams hang their boots at night rather than just the colour of their kit. Follow this link to an awesome, interactive Google map that includes the locations of all the 2011-12 clubs, info on stadiums, and even travel distance between teams.
It’s amazing what a pair of wins will do for a struggling hockey team. Actually, it’s astonishing. Just 48 hours ago, the Montreal Canadiens were buried in last place in the Eastern Conference. With one win in their first eight games, they threw an assistant coach under the bus, firing Perry Pearn, as though he was solely responsible for a spate of injuries, inconsistent goaltending, and a lack of offence.
Now, as the first month of the season draws to a close, the Habs find themselves on a two-game winning streak, have points in four of their last five games, and have climbed three spots in the standings and are only two points out of eighth place.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the season is still very young. These days, the standings change more often than Ron Washington’s strategy. Case in point: wins by Montreal and Winnipeg on Thursday vaulted them out of 14th and 15th place in the East. The new cellar dwellers are none other than the defending Stanley Cup champions. And I use the term defending very loosely.
Luke Donald is the PGA Tour’s player of the year. In fact, over the past year he’s been the best golfer in the world – anywhere, on any tour. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be recognized as such when the PGA Tour’s member finally get around the voting for its standout star of the year.
Donald, from England, seemed to have it all locked up last weekend when he carded a remarkable six consecutive birdies to come from behind and win the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney on Sunday, bettering Webb Simpson who had the lead on the money list heading into the final event. The win gave Donald $6.7-million in earnings, ahead of Simpson by a mere $350,000, or one high finish on today’s PGA Tour.
The win was so decisive that the BBC proclaimed in an article that Donald had won not only the money title, and the Vardon trophy for the lowest scoring average, but the player of the year as well. Not so fast apparently.
In a strange move, the PGA Tour announced that its player of the year ballots, which are sent out after its last tournament, wouldn’t go out until after the HSBC Champions tournament in China in a week’s time. The HSBC is a World Golf Championship tournament, making it an official PGA Tour event, though winnings don’t count as official money.
Things may be looking up, but for now there's still no NBA basketball happening. So where to go for a hoops fix? College ball, yeah. But this new Under Armour ad uses dramatic music (is that a cello?) and an earnest voice-over to remind us that the soul of the game is still very much alive on the playground courts and in high school gyms.
That's all nice and goosebumpy, but can someone please put the same music and voiceover over film of some flabby over-40 beer leaguers? Thanks.
Just when you thought the UFC couldn’t deliver any more top notch pay-per-view cards in the month of October, they go and one-up themselves again. UFC 137 brings us a battle of top welterweight talent live Saturday October 29th from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Here is how the card breaks down:
George Roop vs. Hatsu Hioki (145 lbs) Scott Jorgensen vs. Jeff Curran (135 lbs) Mirko Cro-Cop vs. Roy Nelson (206+ lbs) Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione (206+ lbs) BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz (170 lbs)
Follow us on twitter for round by round coverage of the event live as it happens @mcarson & @CanadianBP. Send us a tweet or leave a comment below to let us know your picks for UFC 137!
While driving around in our suitably-cheap, Cheap Seats K-Car the other day, we heard this amazing documentary on the satellite radio unit that cost more than the car itself. The doco was called "The Loneliness of the Goalkeeper" and it was so good that we stayed in the car after arriving at the office to listen to the entire thing.
Yep, it's true. This isn't some bizarro TMZ-style situation but a new show from the Score called The Project. It's basically The Bucket List but instead of two terminally-ill old guys crossing off life dreams, it's two sports fans named Lawrence Payne and Ethan Cole tracking down old heroes and getting in Jackass-ian adventures. Not everyone can get a disgraced gold medal sprinter to call them "retarded."
As the promo says, "Why ask Otis Nixon about the 1992 World Series bunt when you could reenact it with him? Why talk to Buster Douglas about boxing when you could just pay him to fight you?"
Why indeed. Here's hoping they get Tie Domi to pummel them on TV.
September 2011
