Long-time actor Mickey Rooney died this week at the age of 93. Yes, he liked to play the ponies. As he once said: “I lost a $2 bet 65 years ago and have spent about $3 million trying to get it back.” . . . When DH David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox homered on Wednesday, it took him 32.91 seconds, including standing around time, to get back to home plate. Apparently, it was the slowest home run trot ever recorded, and he was going as fast as he could. . . . Something like that is just one more reason not to cheer for the BoSox. . . .
“A British fishmonger was robbed by two youths who grabbed a fish, hit her on the side of the head with it and ran off,” reports RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com. “As a result, the victim suffered a loss of herring.” . . . One more from Currie: “Pope Francis fired a German bishop whose newly-renovated $43-million home angered Catholics. If the bishop is looking for work, he has the makings of an Alberta premier.” . . . Is there anything more frustrating in this life than attempting to do your own income tax? Sheesh, does it have to be that difficult? . . . And that was before Heartbleed was discovered feasting on the Internet. . . .
Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard is due to hit book stores on Oct. 14. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter John Branch, this book is certain to put the spotlight squarely on fighting in junior and professional hockey. . . . Branch has written extensively about Boogaard for The New York Times. . . . All is fair in love, war and business, so should we congratulate Rogers Sportsnet for all but killing off CBC’s sports department? . . . The CFL and CFLPA are back at the negotiating table. According to the aforementioned Currie, the CFLPA’s top three demands are: “3. An end to coin-operated showers; 2. Paycheques must always round up to the nickel; 1. Compensation for brain damage caused by Rod Black.” . . .
"It’s still fun watching Ichiro play baseball," writes Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, "even now that he’s 90 years old." . . . . A note to Capital One Canada: I blocked your promoted ads from my Twitter account. When that Martin Short TV commercial has been mothballed, have your people call my people and we’ll see what can be done about unblocking. . . . If you didn’t hear, the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes are going to take a look at Chad Johnson, who isn’t related to Billy (White Shoes) Johnson. Surely, there are ochocinco reasons why this won’t work. . . . But, hey, what if Terrell Owens came along for the ride, too? . . . There is some good news for CFL fans as Chris Cuthbert, play-by-play man extraordinaire, has signed on for six more years with TSN. . . .
“Forget David Letterman,” suggests Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express. “What’s going to happen to Paul Shaffer?” . . . Here's Kansas basketball star Andrew Wiggins, after declaring for the NBA draft: "I wish I just had more time. College goes by so fast.” Uhh, he was at Kansas for seven months and no one is pushing him out the door. . . . To listen to all the goings-on in Vancouver this week, you would think it took Mike Gillis three years to make the Canucks into a mess and Trevor Linden an hour to clean it all up. . . . It’s also been fun watching members of the Vancouver media trying to decide which side of the John Tortorella debate they want to be on. . . . Ahh, which way is the wind blowing today? . . .
Headline at SportsPickle.com: Crips release DeSean Jackson over concern about his affiliation with Washington Redskins organization. . . . Headline from fark.com: Dodgers Brian Wilson goes on disabled list; Mike Love immediately called up from Triple A. . . . SportsPickle.com selected the top nicknames in fantasy baseball, among them: Honey Nut Ichiros, Concerto in Mike Minor, and Los Jhonny Beisbols. . . . Hope you enjoyed Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, and, yes, its coverage of Ryan Smyth’s farewell was live TV at its best. But that’s it for HNIC as we know it. . . . Now we are left to wait and wonder what will happen to the two best parts of HNIC -- Glenn Healy and P.J. Stock. . . . Just kidding! Elliotte Friedman and Jim Hughson are the stars and you have to wonder where they will be when another NHL season arrives. . . .
If you missed it, the Columbus Blue Jackets were in Dallas for a rescheduled game with the Stars on Wednesday night. This game actually began on March 10, but was halted early in the first period after Dallas forward Rich Peverley collapsed at the players’ bench. The NHL chose to replay the entire game, with Columbus opening with that 1-0 lead. That makes Nathan Horton an instant trivia answer to this question: Which NHL player scored a goal in a game in which he didn’t play? . . . An injured Horton didn’t make the trip to Dallas for Wednesday’s game. . . .
When NASCAR held its Duck Commander 500 in North Texas, folks had to go through a metal detector in order to enter the facility. The Vancouver Province’s Torben Rolfsen notes that “fans were refused admission unless they were carrying firearms.” . . . One more from Rolfsen: “Someone needs to tell Yasiel Puig that the L.A. sports tradition of showing up to games late and leaving early is just for the fans.” . . . Some Kamloops gas stations pumped the price of a litre of regular gasoline from $1.23.9 to $1.36.9 this week, making me wonder, because we all know we’re not being gouged, if Vladimir Putin had marched on another country. . . . Or, as my friend Doug the Mechanic, suggested: “Maybe another plane went down.” . . .
“Former Dancing with the Stars host Brooke Burke-Charvet tweeted that she was OK after crashing her Maserati,” writes Janice Hough, aka The Left Coast Sports Babe. “And millions of men were thinking, ‘Fine, but how’s the Maserati?’ ” . . . Here’s Hough with a really good question: “So in the cellphone, wifi, texting era, can someone explain why the ‘call to the bullpen’ still takes place using a landline?”
(Gregg Drinnan is a former sports editor of the Regina Leader-Post and the late Kamloops Daily News. He is at gdrinnan.blogspot.ca and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score appears here on weekends, except when it doesn’t.)
There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.
Posts
