Recent Comments by Philfromhavelock

HEAD GAMES: What's killing the professional football players

Thanks for posting this.

The fifth estate also has an episode on Chris Benoit and pro wrestling (from February 2008). Interesting that the murders were originally reported as steroid rage. But this show talks about how steroids, amphetemines, (sometimes self-administered) pain killers, and booze compound the problems caused by concussions.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 10:21 PM on November 22, 2009

Manu Ginobili Makes Bat-sketball History

Awesome.

I like how the coach rushed out with hand sanitizer.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:13 AM on November 01, 2009

Phil Kessel is finally traded to the Maple Leafs

Thanks for linking to that comment, rumple. The percentage is interesting.

(The writer of the article missed the Chris Chelios trade - two first rounds picks to Chicago. I think (according to hockeydb.com) that Chicago chose Steve McCarthy and Peter Munro - and together they did not play as many games for Chicago as Chelios has played for Detroit.)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 08:55 AM on September 20, 2009

Top 10 Unbreakable Sports Records

>In the Young and Cobb case, the game has changed so much that those kind of numbers just aren't attainable. Yes. That is a huge factor in a lot of these, such as Glenn Hall's mark or Nolan Ryan's. Similar change: no one will play in the NHL finals ten years in a row again, like Bert Olmstead, Bernie Geoffrion, Doug Harvey, and Tom Johnson did in the 1950s. I don't think anyone will beat Larry Robinson's career +730, Bill Mosienko's three goals in 21 seconds, Doug Jarvis' 964 consecutive games, or Bobby Orr's +124 in a season. My favourite (unofficial) record. Most knockouts by an NHL superstar in one game when Maurice Richard had 2 knock outs in MSG.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:07 PM on April 17, 2008

Why the Leafs stink

I agree with the article, but I have a quibble about the way these (bad) trades were presented in the article, though. >October 16, 1989—Scott Niedermayer for Tom Kurvers >March 13, 1996—Kenny Jonsson and Roberto Luongo for Wendel Clark and Mathieu Schneider That should read "draft choice" because the Leafs never had Luongo or Niedermayer. If the Devils had taken Scott Lachance then this would not have been the worst trade ever? It's a little like saying >"Toronto Maple Leafs traded Craig Berube, Alexander Godynyuk, Gary Leeman, Michel Petit and Jeff Reese to the Calgary Flames for Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Rick Wamsley and Kent Manderville." should really be: "...to the Calgary Flames for Doug Gilmour, Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan, Alyn MacCauley, Jamies Macoun, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Ric Natress, Rick Walmsley, and Kent Manderville." because the Leafs traded Gilmour to Jersey and traded Macoun for draft choice. Whatever a team does with the asset whether it is a player, cash, draft choice, or a bus should not count against the team that gave it away. Other than that and the Fred Modin bit mentioned by grum, fine article.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:25 AM on April 09, 2008

Farewell to Another Great:

Thanks, thanks, thanks for posting this. Tom Johnson is almost a footnote - who broke Doug Harvey's run of Norris Trophies - but he was a good player. My mum lived in the same apartment building with Tom Johnson during the five-in-a-row in the late fifties. My grandfather (who died before I was born) was the super and talked a lot with Tom Johnson - hockey, Johnson's Ford Thunderbirds, whatever. Tom was a bit of a fast living guy, apparently, with lots of guests and a few car wrecks and a couple of other Canadiens roomies. I think it was right that Guy Lafleur turned down the offer to unretire Jean Beliveau's number 4 and took Tom Johnson's number ten - the two of them were skilled leaders on the ice and lived the good life off.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 07:19 PM on November 23, 2007

CBC Radio and TV Archives, Sports Category

I like that link. I wish they had more (say, a full period) of that 1944 Montreal Canadiens game.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 04:40 PM on November 23, 2007

An All Prairie Grey Cup

Honorary Banjo Bowl!

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:33 PM on November 19, 2007

Lindros announces retirement, donates $5,000,000 to Ontario hospital

Gartner holds the (unofficial) record for playing the most games for a Stanley Cup winning team without being getting his name on the Cup. (Seventy two games when the Rangers traded him at deadline.)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 07:05 PM on November 12, 2007

American Idol: Modano Breaks NHL American Scoring Record

And to quibble, Mike Modano is not the leading scorer of players with U.S. citizenship. Bryan Trottier has 1425 points and Brett Hull 1391. >I just don't know a lot about Modano's history and was just curious about the adversity he has faced, whether hockey-related or otherwise. I don't know either, but he did lose a ton of money on some bad investment advice a few year's ago.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:36 AM on November 10, 2007

Lindros announces retirement, donates $5,000,000 to Ontario hospital

>Dino Ciccarelli... is considered by many as the best player no never win a Cup. I'd put most if not all of these guys ahead of him. Marcel Dionne, Darryl Sittler, Bill Gadsby, Brad Park, Marcel Dionne, Gilbert Perreault, Mike Gartner, Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert, Michel Goulet, Peter Statsny.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:28 AM on November 10, 2007

Kicking the ball to Holland.

Thanks for posting this.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 07:54 PM on November 02, 2007

Washington Nationals Say Goodbye to RFK Stadium

>I still miss Jarry Park, and the Olympic Stadium. Aye.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 08:14 PM on September 28, 2007

Canadian artist Ken Danby dies at 67

>"She said that she had long had a print of it in her home and really enjoyed it. I thanked her, but also explained that, 'It isn't an image of Ken Dryden.' Looking puzzled, she replied, 'Yes it is.' I responded, 'No it isn't.' After a long pause, she loudly exclaimed, 'Yes it is!' I quickly apologized, with the sudden realization that she was right. It's really whomever one wants it to be."

posted by Philfromhavelock at 06:35 PM on September 26, 2007

Canadian artist Ken Danby dies at 67

I feel like I grew up looking at In the crease. It seemed to be everywhere in my childhood. I'm surprised Danby was so young - I thought he was much older.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 08:23 AM on September 26, 2007

Coup d'etat in Ottawa

I'm not really surprised. The word seemed to be that he's 73 and was there temporarily.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:10 PM on June 18, 2007

Sabres 0

>One shot in six power plays. Ottawa had a shorthanded two-on-none. I don't know if I had seen that before.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 06:58 AM on May 15, 2007

Panthers' Belfour and Peltonen arrested

>Maybe a skinny 41 year old Just a quibble. 5'11", 200 pounds. But I see your point.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 01:23 PM on April 10, 2007

Why don't I subscribe to Extra Innings?

>I think it's time to reintroduce myself to my old friend Radio. I've started listening to sports on the radio, too. Highly recommended. Just try not to blare it too much when you're outside :)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:21 AM on March 30, 2007

The search for sports history

>At this point, though, it's only a dream. Video of the series doesn't exist. Are they sure? I've seen that George-Armstrong-into-the-empty-net-clincher game twice in the last two years. On the CBC and on APTN.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 07:46 PM on March 27, 2007

Rickey hangs 'em up.

>the A's once had a million dollar discrepancy in their budget and after much research they discovered that Rickey had framed his $1,000,000 signing bonus check without cashing it and hung it on his wall. [This is funny.]

posted by Philfromhavelock at 07:56 PM on March 12, 2007

Tkachuk to the Thrashers as NHL Moving Day approaches

>The Thrashers are monopolizing the market on consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel-k players This might be my favourite spofi comment ever. That seems a bit steep price for Walter, er, Keith Tkachuk. >He's currently 46th in the league in scoring Well, Mats missed seven games. He's scored a point-a-game. With those seven games he would be twenty-fifth in league scoring.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:58 PM on February 25, 2007

Patrick Roy to HOF!

An unsung name for the best ever is Charlie Gardiner. He was terminally ill when he played in the playoffs for Chicago during their Stanley Cup win in 1934.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 10:03 PM on November 15, 2006

The Islanders have officially gone batshit.

>Oh, and regarding the FPP: >15-year deal for DiPietro, $67.5 million. Second in length only to teammate Yashin, who's is a 10-year deal. It's longer than Yashin's, but for less total money.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 08:39 AM on September 13, 2006

Professional football has a new all-time passing leader.

>Me, I'd like to see Damon get those extra 465 rushing yard to move ahead of his brother on the all-time rushing list—Marcus Allen, who is in the Hall of Fame. You come up with some great points.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:53 PM on September 05, 2006

Hockey history

>Just curious anyone know the first black NHL player? Willie O'Ree, Boston Bruins, 1950s. (Someone mentioned him, but I want to make sure you've got your answer.)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 01:35 PM on August 25, 2006

Return of a legend

>Take a poll......(without reading the link) FWIW, as a measure of importance/popularity, Mahre shows up as a crossword puzzle answer.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 06:53 PM on August 11, 2006

Hockey in Israel

Thanks for the article. Roger did a lot of interesting stuff.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 02:34 PM on July 29, 2006

The Fortuanate 50

List of Top 50 Fortunate (U.S.-born) athletes

posted by Philfromhavelock at 02:11 PM on July 29, 2006

Something rare happened on July 15th, 2006

>Mustang ,a walk with bases loaded for an rbi and a grand slam? Or a sacrifice fly, too.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 04:27 PM on July 16, 2006

What does it take to save penalties?

I'm surprised that World Cup-quality players are so predictable with their penalty kicks. I thought they would be able to step to the ball and change their direction/intention in the last second - from looking to hammer it to one corner and then tapping it onto the other side - or be able to hit at least two corners. Or is that only something only guys like Zidane and Figo can do? Thanks for that second link.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 01:00 PM on July 03, 2006

Yzerman to call it quits

>I imagine he will stick around the Red Wings in a consulting role and eventually be groomed to take over Ken Holland's job as GM. I read an interview where Yzerman said he was interested in becoming a general manager and had followed trades for years as a hobby/professional interest. And egads, Anaheim with Niedermayer and Pronger...

posted by Philfromhavelock at 12:49 PM on July 03, 2006

Ken Dryden for Prime Minister

Grzegorz Lato (ten World Cup goals) was a Polish Senator from 2001 to 2005.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 10:10 PM on July 01, 2006

Ken Dryden for Prime Minister

Slava Fetisov is Minister of Sport in Russia.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 05:01 PM on June 30, 2006

Ken Dryden for Prime Minister

Otto Jelinek was an Olympic figure skater and then a Mulroney MP and cabinet minister. Peter Lougheed was premier of Alberta. Pat O'Brien and Moe Mantha Sr

posted by Philfromhavelock at 04:49 PM on June 30, 2006

Oilers GM Lowe says Pronger has requested trade

> the dictionary) spell it Leaves, and only Leaves. The plural of foliage is leaves. The plural of, say, gold coins is leafs. Eats shoots and leafs.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 02:20 PM on June 25, 2006

Wright is Wrong for CFL.

>Nineteen per cent of Canadians said they follow the CFL, compared to 13 per cent for the NFL. Thanks for pointing that out, DrJohn. I would have assumed the NFL would have had a huge lead - but maybe that's the merchandise on the streets talking. I'm one of the nineteen and one of the eighty-seven.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 01:34 PM on June 11, 2006

Young'uns in the playoffs not named Crosby or Ovechkin

I heard there was pressure from the NHL and sportsnet was backing off on Avery. But I'd be with you on that one, grum.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 03:52 PM on April 21, 2006

Young'uns in the playoffs not named Crosby or Ovechkin

>Granted this is two years worth of rookies, but has there been a more promising time for the NHL? Just to quibble. I'll say 1980 was just as good, if not better, with the young guys coming in after the WHA merger - Rick Vaive, Messier, Gretzky, Mike Gartner, Mark Howe, Kent Nillsson - and Borque, Michel Goulet.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 12:50 PM on April 21, 2006

Penguins GM Iced

>an awful lot of highlight film, which admittedly does count for something. Heh. I think you're right.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:22 AM on April 21, 2006

Franco Makes History

I liked Franco's line from an interview: eat hard, work harder, rest hardest.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:20 AM on April 21, 2006

Maybe some Canadian Spofi'ers can help me with this one?

Years back they talked about five pin as being Canadian. It was a radio PSA, not quite a hinterland's who's who, but more of a winterland's what's what.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 08:06 PM on April 20, 2006

The Toronto Maple Leafs fire coach Pat Quinn and assistant coach Rick Ley

>Also, The Star had an almost hilarious speculation team roster for next year... That article was wishful thinking. I liked Pat Quinn as a character. But he had way too much patience with some players and too much anti-patience with others. I think part of it was that Canada did not win at Turin: Ferguson couldn't fire the gold medal winning coach.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 07:57 PM on April 20, 2006

Penguins GM Iced

Funny. I read somewhere (maybe here at spofi?) that Alex should win the Calder - regardless of his Russian elite league experience - over Sid because Sid had so many great players (Lemieux, Palffy, Gonchar, Recchi) and Alex had no one of that calibre to play with. Heh. To his credit, Patrick was stuck: he had to give away all those cats he acquired - Jagr, Francis, Kovalev, Straka and others.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 07:52 PM on April 20, 2006

Report: Kings part ways with Sean Avery

257 minutes and you lead the league (and no one else is at 200). That's a long way from Tie Domi's 365 minutes a few years ago. It's fine with me that Avery is gone. As far as interviews go, Jeremy Roenick, Mogilny and Brett Hull were more interesting to listen to and less offensive.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 03:36 PM on April 13, 2006

Belfour's season is over

>long stretches of decent bluelinery followed by spasms of intermittent infuriating idiocy. Nice phrasing.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 05:04 PM on March 25, 2006

Japan wins World Baseball Classic

I really enjoyed the wbc. I've been looking forward to it for years. I always thought I would enjoy it and I did. > It is a shame that nobody really cared about the Classic except the diehards. I'm not disagreeing with you: the last time I watched baseball (besides the Sox-Yanks and only because the games went into the tenth inning when I was coming home from school) might have been when Ketih Hernandez was smoking cigarettes in the Mets' dugout. To answer the question above. I'd rather watch world cup of baseball/basketball/hockey/soccer than individual club and league play. >HathenDan: I still don't see the best Japanese teams playing a season in the MLB. The Americans teams (and the lone Canadian holdout) play a longer season than Puro Yakyū teams. I donno. I think this was the same argument used about Euro-based hockey players not being able to last in the NHL. >Nice switcheroo. This logic suggests AAA teams could regularly beat MLB teams if they're better trained. Or that a Little League team could. Before a AAA team could beat an MLB team, the players would become MLB players and the AAA team would no longer be MLB-calibre but be AAA calibre. I watch very little baseball but I'd like to see Japanese club sides play MLB teams, but I doubt it will happen soon. > Switcheroo de Nice. Heh.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 08:19 PM on March 21, 2006

BertBelongs.

chicobang, I like that link. Ed Porray, pitcher, place of birth: "A Ship on Atlantic Ocean." (I didn't know Bert was born in Netherlands.)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 12:01 PM on December 05, 2005

Feagles Breaks Record

Good eye, DrJohnEvans. 1960-1979

posted by Philfromhavelock at 08:05 PM on November 27, 2005

The NBA's ugliest Uniforms

The numbers on the Portland Trailblazers 1984 uni look a little odd to me. It looks like a reversed "22", sort of "ss." As if the gent is wearing it inside out or the photo was reversed. (I wish these lists went further back than they do. Surely some of those old school cats looked pretty slick. Or sick. Whichever. Wilt (?), Jerry , Bob and Wilt, again.)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 01:44 PM on October 31, 2005

No Nash! No!

>I thought Rick Nash was a star Agreed. I thought contact with an official was automatic penalty. Tom Lysiak took twenty games for tripping a linesman in the early eighties. Andre Roy took a few for pushing a linesman. And, of course, J.P. Parise, September 1972.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 03:16 PM on May 09, 2005

Round up the usual suspects!

No Mordecai Richler. No chance too flimsy to mention this, from On Snooker: Bill Werbeniuk "suffered from a hereditary disorder that made his cue arm tremble - a disability that could only be suppressed by a measured intake of lager, sometimes running to forty pints a day." Two novels. Richler's Barney's Version ("That bastard Savard should never have traded Chelios") and Mark Anthony Jarman's Salvage King, Ya! (about a worn-out AHL/IHL grinder who had a few cups of coffee in the NHL).

posted by Philfromhavelock at 11:04 PM on May 08, 2005

Wisp of regret on day playoffs would have begun

>The "Maple Leaf" as a symbol of Canada, on the other hand, is pluralized Leafs. I think you're right. Even when the leaf is on coins and flags it's "maple leafs." (I never put that together before.)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 02:46 PM on April 14, 2005

Hurlers in Chief

>Because in matters of state, it totally matters who can throw a fastball and who can't. I'm surprised politicians risk this. 1974 federal election campaign, Robert Stanfield dropped the ball in North Bay. Photo, photo. Vladimir Putin was thrown by a child in a martial arts match, but this site spins it in his favour (12th paragraph).

posted by Philfromhavelock at 02:31 PM on April 14, 2005

2 weeks, 22lbs of gold, 7,456 miles, and cold as, well, Russia.

I wish this were televised, a la Dakar.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 05:03 PM on March 01, 2005

This Mailman no longers delivers

Finals, late nineties, Sunday afternoon, Malone at the free throw line. Scottie Pippen tells him, "Mailman don't deliver on Sundays."

posted by Philfromhavelock at 01:27 PM on February 14, 2005

Bertuzzi pleads guilty.

>Wonder what would happen if I was to nail a person on the street like Bertuzzi did to Moore? You can't bodycheck someone into a shop window, even if they have something you want. You can't follow someone down the street and tug their arm with your umbrella to make them drop their grocery bags. A bare-knuckle fight outside a bar would get you more than a five minute jail term. There are different rules for professional sports and everyday life. I don't think you compare them.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:22 AM on December 23, 2004

Don't miss field goals in the CFL

>and with interesting differences Some people I know think the CFL is a better game than NFL: bigger field, one fewer down, deeper end zones make for more running, more excitment. CFL attendance up eight per cent over last year. The front page link reminds me of this. No more details in this link. >A Fenerbahce goalkeeper was recently (well, spring of 2000) hauled from his car and soundly beaten by fans who blamed him for losing a match.

posted by Philfromhavelock at 12:52 AM on November 18, 2004

Where are they now? Lockout edition

>Nik Antropov, Denis Arkhipov, Fred Brathwaite, Darius Kasparaitis, Nikolai Khabibulin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexei Kovalev, Vincent Lecavalier, Alexei Morozov, Brad Richards, Ruslan Salei, Sergei Varlamov That team is some good. This article says the Ak Bars Kazan arena has four thousand seats and five dollar tickets. (Apologies, French-language link.)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 02:47 PM on November 13, 2004

Contract Killers

I was surprised the article didn't mention Fedorov's offer sheet with the Carolina Whalers. Detroit had to match with a fat front-end offer for making the semi-finals. It was 1997-98, the same year as Kariya's. The year each of them played twenty-two games. (Clever title, garfield.)

posted by Philfromhavelock at 09:03 PM on September 21, 2004