Reader Mail

It's been quite a while since I've gone through the Sports As Life Mailbag - so on the first sub-40 degree day in a week here we go...


"Alright....so here is my first comment ever posted....on any site anywhere. However, as an eskimos fan who has been hearing a lot of crap lately about the riders vs. edmonton, I feel I should give you just a bit of feedback on this. First, thanks for keeping it real (as they say) about the riders success.

I actually received an email that said "it is great to be a rider fan isn't it?". Hilarious. So, welcome back to the real world rider fans.

Here are two points I wanted to mention that you didn't, and keep in mind I follow about as much CFL as to barely call myself an eskimos fan. 1. Pulling Kerry Joseph? Is that the best move? I mean, obviously Crandall threw an interception first drive out...but that is besides the point. Shouldn't you show a bit more faith in your quarterback to rally the troops? The game wasn't that out of reach.

2. And last, and again I don't watch a whole lot of CFL so I don't know the names here, but shouldn't the Defensive Back that was covering G. Simon not celebrate like he had just been given a puppy for his birthday? They were down by like 28 points and he is showing off with dance moves. Sure Simon had been shut down, but it is a team sport.

I can't imagine I will post too many comments, but I have to tell all the Rider fans out there the following. If you know an eskimos fan out there, wait until your team wins more than 2 games before you start talking trash!"
- JK

What makes JK's comments even better is they were posted before Saskatchewan's meltdown against Edmonton on Friday. Who's laughing now!

I totally agree with the dancing when you're 28 points down, I noticed this as well during the B.C game - it wasn't a DB that I saw but a defensive lineman. I can't remember if it was a sack or just a tackle for a loss but whoever made the tackle got up like he'd just stopped Walter Payton on the 1 yard line on 4th down. First of all - SCOREBOARD! If you want to dance after a tackle, do it when it means something, not when you're trailing by 4 converted touchdowns. And second of all, you're a professional - act like you've been there before. I don't get up on my desk and dance after I make a really good photocopy.


About harsher security measures at Taylor Field-
"I really like the moat idea, seriously. I am all about the over-reaction, and people seem to be great at it in this province. Crime goes up, more police, harsher punishment. Price of gas goes up, well lets drive the same amount as always and ask for a new government. People run on the field at a football game (like that doesn't happen anyplace else, moat or not) and misbehave, lets get guard dogs and explosive neck collars for all fans.

Sure people misbehave, but it happens all over the place and isn't confined to sporting events, this is life...get use to it. So you don't want your kids to hear swear words and see fights, go sit in the family fun zone (or perhaps you could cut off their ears and gouge out their eyes cause they will see and hear that stuff sooner or later). Hey riders want to do something pro-active? Have a section for adults only (then put all the lazy security guards in that section).

But I am probably wrong...more guards and a fence will fix everything, good idea Riders."
- T.H.

First of all I love the idea of explosive neck collars. I think that instantly solves all of the crowd-related problems at Taylor Field. It probably creates a couple new problems, but that's neither here nor there.

I like the idea of the Adults Only section - I'm not quite sure how the logistics of it would work. Send in your ideas about what this would look like/contain and we'll work up a proposal for the team.

If you haven't heard, apparently Woody from Jack FM here in Regina is taking donations to cover his fine when he streaks at the game on Saturday afternoon. I'm not sure about the specifics of this, as I don't listen to the radio. But if this is true and it actually happens, it could be the greatest publicity stunt of all time - especially since the rival FM rock station is a big sponsor of the team. Hilarity.

See things like that wouldn't happen at Taylor Field if they had a moat.


"Luke I must agree with you. Kent Austin was so out coached in the 2nd half it was sick. I was there gentlemen live in living color. It was part of the Walker stag extravaganza. I sat there and watched the Riders build a 20-1 first half lead. I was still waiting in line for food after half time was over. Watching on cctv as the Esks scored their first TD. I knew right then and there what was coming. But back to the coaching comparison or lack there of. What was Austin thinking in that 2nd half. Why run the same play over and over and over if it hasn't worked once. Could Joseph learn to sell a play action hand off? For the love of god! Why on 3rd and 2 would you not call an audible at the line and change the QB sneak that everyone on the Esks D can see coming. Then you get a second chance to make good and he gets sacked. I can't talk about this anymore some Wii bowling will take this of my mind."
- Walks

Welcome back to Rider Football! As Andy Fantuz was breaking off his route 2 yards short of the first down marker on 3 and 23 or whatever it was (nice awareness) - I was having a discussion about whether this team is just cursed. Well maybe not cursed but whether this is just their destiny - to be maddeningly inconsistent and finish 9-9 every season for the duration of my lifetime. I think the solution we came up with was to demolish Taylor Field, exorcise the grounds, change the team name and colour and start again.

I will say this for Austin though, at least he admitted to being out-coached. Well maybe not in so many words, but he did admit that he needs to do a better job. But he is still a rookie head coach, so there are going to be some growing pains.

One last thing about Friday's game - how about Sean Fleming's 47-yard dagger of a field goal with 2 minutes left? Out of 10, how confident would you be in Luca Congi having the leg to make that kick... 2...3?

And why on Earth does Taylor Field not have a CCTV system where the concessions and beer vendors are? With the lines at those places people usually miss substantial amounts of the game. It's probably because they're saving for the moat.


"Just a quick "told ya so" to Trebor about "he who shall not be named" in the football world. I told you they wouldn't let him play and Goodell telling him to stay away from training camp until the NFL has reviewed the charges is the first step of the NFL washing their hands of this horrible case.

Next will be the team asking him to take a leave of absence until the case is resolved...trust me, I looked into my crystal ball this morning.Oh and sorry for bringing this up, I know no one wants to talk about it, but it is not often that I am right about anything in the sporting world (especially the NFL)."
- T.H.

P.S. I hope you noticed that I didn't actually mention his name...I just alluded to him.


"damm chubby fingers and not thinking my posts through.... as for the one that adidas named 'zoom'. It made sense initially so that i wouldn't have to say the unnamed one but it came out with the wrong words ???"
- trebor

I appreciate you guys being delicate and respecting the Mike Vick moratorium - but that's officially over now - so mention him all you want. I said I didn't want to talk about him until something actually happened and with his suspension from training camp yesterday, I think that would fall in the category of something. He also makes his first court appearance tomorrow, so that's something as well. THEN it was also reported yesterday that the Falcons were going to suspend Vick four games until the NFL asked them not to so they could conduct their own investigation (you can read the story at ESPN.com). So the flood gates are open now.

If I had to guess I'd say that at the very least his career in Atlanta is over. I also have a sneaking suspicion that his NFL career is over. Even if he somehow avoids jail time on this, he'll be suspended for the year by the NFL. After that he's going to be close to untouchable for every other team. What team is going to want to bring in a public relations nightmare like that - especially one with a career completion percentage of about 54%.

My advice to every CFL team is to get this guy on your negotiation list right now.


"I just wanted to point out that if you watch the baseline replay of the first call in the Suns vs. Spurs clip, you can see that there are about 3 players in between Donaghy and the foul. What the hell? Unless they were wearing invisibility cloaks (that is the first and last Harry Potter reference I will ever make), then how the hell can he make the call. There is better reffing in Quidditch....damn it, that is the last one...Seriously...Sirius Black...ahhhhhhh"
- JK

Awesome - you just can't avoid it, Potter mania is everywhere.


"Just watched the video... wow. that first one was a good clip, though you could make the argument that from behind it looked like maybe raja followed through with the hack and didn't pull up ??? however the one at 6:20 is the one that i thought was the best even though it didn't involve donaghy.... Rush is standing 6 ft away from nash when horry slaps his arms.

I enjoy watching basketball and never bought into the conspiracy that certain games are fixed or teams given preferential treatment..even after seeing the ...1986 draft lottery... but with the report that others are being investigated... if there is more than one then this league is in a world of hurt... maybe not as much as NHL but pretty bad."
- trebor

My personal favorite bad call on that Donaghy video (this is the video in question, by the way - in case you missed it yesterday) is the blatant Bruce Bowen knee to the groin on Steve Nash. It was called as an offensive foul but that's one of the more deliberate attempts to injure I've seen in the NBA. And looking back at the video it seems like Ed Rush is involved in most of the bad calls as well - including that one.

NBA commish David Stern says that Donaghy was a rogue ref but if some of the reports are true and Donaghy is going to name names and implicate other people the NBA is going to be in enormous trouble. It's going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out.

I was watching Prime Time Sports yesterday and they were discussing Donaghy's personal life and apparently he is regarded as a bit of a nut. It seems he wanted police to arrest his neighbour's 5 year old son because he was throwing mud at Donaghy's house. Sounds like the kind of stable person you want refereeing a professional sport.


"I missed the final U20, but really the whole tournament was pretty good watching. It isn't too often that you can watch a game where five empty break-aways occur in 10 minutes of play (the USA had a non-existent defense). And good for Toronto Metro for doing what they've been known for in the past. Respect through fear. Strength through discipline, strength through action.

I'm just not sure how attempts to invoke fear in all foreigners will work out for the city of Toronto in this day and age. I am more for instilling fear in a general sense. If you're going to target someone, why not make it hippies?"
- Mitch

Just the sort of comment I'd expect from long arm of the law.

Why don't you take your 1980's, made for TV, Grade 10 Social Studies, post-apocalyptic, militaristic propaganda and go elsewhere. Perhaps you'd be more comfortable at Rob Vanstone's blog.


Ok, that's it for now - the Mailbag is closed. Keep the comments coming as always, they're all appreciated.

Reader Mail

Lots to get to today in the ol' Sports As Life Mailbag - so let's get to it.

Letter #1, from Rk:

"WHERES THE VIDEO OF WWE CHAIRMAN VINCENT KENNDY MCMAHON'S LIMO BLOWING UP.... IT'S THE MOST TALKED ABOUT THING AT WWE.COM.... ALSO I COULDN'T FIND IT AND SINCE YOU SEEM TO BE ABLE TO FIND ALL VIDEOS...PLEASE HELP !!!!!"

Happy to oblige as always.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73NeHYRF20M (for some reason you have to log in to You Tube to view this video, no idea why - there's no objectionable material or anything)

Here's another one that someone has spliced some footage of Kane into for some reason. But this one is good because it shows Mr. Mcmahon's walk of shame. I'm not sure if you have to be logged in to see this one or not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-5COgMDrag&mode=related&search=


Letter #2, from Cooper:

"Your facts and stats deptartment must be slacking off. The Bluejays actually won 2 of 3 this past weekend vs the Nats. Not vice versa"

Looks like your spelling and editing department is slacking off. But this is true and 100% my fault and very embarrassing, I blame it on the 11pm fire drill Sunday night. This is why I need a Stat Boy. I guess it's just that even losing 1 game to the Nationals seems like a failure. I know that the Jays lost at least 2 of 3 to Tampa Bay a couple weeks ago - so same difference.


Letter #3, from CH:

"It's funny how few people in Canada can tolerate Mr. Woods. Every single person in the U.S. was emotionally invested in Tiger winning on Sunday. I sensed and heard alot more disappointment in Cleveland over Tiger, than when the Cavs got swept last week. They were all blind to his nipple-showing shirt. I too, think something a little more conservative would have sufficed, but now that he's married, I'll give him the benefit of assuming she picked it out."

I wonder if people in the U.S are always heavily emotionally invested in Tiger or if this was just because it was the U.S Open, and they didn't want to see someone who wasn't American and couldn't even speak English win the trophy. For some reason I got a twisted sense of pleasure out of seeing someone who couldn't speak English hold the U.S Open trophy.


Letter #4, from B:

"The last time Mike Keenan was anywhere near effective as a coach (I'm not professing he ever was), the Ottawa Roughriders (or is that Rough Riders) played in the CFL and Saskatchewan had a Conservative government (which by the way was about as ineffective and less corrupt than Keenan's coaching tactics).

Why do NHL teams continue to regurgitate over the hill has-been coaches (hello Ken Hitchcock) when there are so many young up and comers (hello Craig Hartsburg).I am not a real fan of the Calgary Flames, my team will remain anonymous, it's simply the principle of the thing that is ridiculous."

First of all... Gold.

Secondly, this is especially appropriate considering the Boston Bruins are going to announce Claude Julien as their head coach today. Now Julien is far from over the hill or a has-been (he actually might be a never was), but it bears mentioning that this will be the 3rd NHL team he's coached in 5 years. Now if that isn't a coach getting recycled I don't know what is.

Here are 4 coaches currently coaching in junior hockey who could make the jump:

Craig Hartsburg (as mentioned above) - Coach of the Sault Ste. Marie (spent a month there one night - I sill maintain that 15 year old at Subway was hitting on me - and not the other way around) Greyhounds and coached Canada to the World Junior Gold Medal in 2007. Will be back to coach the juniors again in 2008.

Brent Sutter - The man who coached the Canadian Junior team to back to back gold medals in 2005 and 2006 and currently the head coach of the Red Deer Rebels. Some of us thought he might be the next head coach of the Calgary Flames.

Dale Hunter - Coach of the London Knights. Led them to the 2005 Memorial Cup championship. But that might have had less to do with his coaching and more to do with the ridiculous amount of talent he had on that team, including Corey Perry, Rob Schremp, Danny Syvret and Danny Fritsche. Also might be discriminated against in NHL circles because he holds the title for Worst NHL Playoff Cheapshot of All-Time.

Don Hay - Calgary Flames' fans with long memories just had collective stroke. But you can't argue with his junior record - he's won 3 Memorial Cups with 2 different teams, including this years. He does have previous NHL coaching experience and it isn't flattering but I don't think he had a lot of talent to work with on those Phoenix and Calgary teams he coached.


Letter #'s 5, 6, 7, 8, from T.H, Trebor, Chris and Cooper in that order (all dealing with the same subject, so all getting grouped together):

"Well put, I think that I now have a tear in my eye…seriously. The University section was the place where I learned to love watching the Riders (people would try and stay to the bitter end even if it was a crushing defeat, or else endure the chants of “part-time fans” from certain individuals who shall remain unidentified, lets call him Chris H.).

I have not been to a game in the University section-less Taylor Field (or whatever it is called this year)due to being away, but I don’t know if I am going to like it. Sitting on my hands reminds me of going to a game in BC place where people clap…at best...in that giant cave of theirs that can only be filled with a few thousand people for a lions game.

My question is why didn’t/don’t the people who use to sit in the infamous section 28 still sit there? Is it the price that is keeping them away? Where do all these ‘hard-core’ fans now sit? Or have they merely stopped going to the games? Why?

Oh and can someone explain why the ticket prices have leapt so much since 2005? I don’t see new heated seats or a dome or, heck, even a grey cup winning side on the field. What is the justification for these grossly overpriced tickets? Do you have the answer Mr. Sportsaslife?

Once again, great article."
__________________________________________________________________

"Great article, but have to kinda agree with the first comment, if it wasn't just about cheap tickets...where did they all go ???

I do wish that they could have kept that atsmosphere if not the area. But when you want the famalies at the games and keep raising prices and start calling it mosaic stadium, your going to lose the university/party type crowd. Luckily it can still be found elsewhere, last year in Calgary was amazing...much louder than anytime I was at the unveristy section.

One last thing, last year when the name changed to mosaic, everyone was saying "it'll always be taylor field to me"... less than a year later though i'm not seeing/hearing that. When listening to drew remenda on cjme, a lot of callers refer to it as mosaic, news papers... mosaic. Where did Taylor field go? We all knew that eventually it would be fazed out... but this soon??"
___________________________________________________________________

"Ahhh, i cannot agree more. A tear escaped me when the mic died on the anthem singer two years ago, and was saved by an even more intense than usual rendition by the university section.

The university section kept you honest. I believe the only sacred people in that section were pinball clemons (as witnessed when an anonymous fellow made advances on his wife, only to get ostracized) and perhaps bobby jurasin, although i can't fully vouch for this. You're a roughrider and you happen to suck on a particular day -- the university section will let you know. You're a U of R grad putting up awesome numbers for the opposing team -- we'll openly question your abilities and family. You're a quasi-local celebrity -- we'll throw things in your direction, just to keep you real.

Great memories. The only time i made national TV was when the "6 Canadians on a Bus", witnessed first hand the power and notoriety of the university section (the only time i made local television was high-fiving a certain blogger after the Canadien men won the gold medal, almost costing him his job, as previously mentioned a few articles below - in beautiful soft-lens slow motion, no less).

Where else can you find a local NFL punter puking in the aisles on labour day, a year before making his big break with the bombers?

All i can really say is that it will be sorely missed. The atmosphere can still be found when the riders visit alberta, and all the ex-saskatchewanians invade commonwealth or mcmahon. I think the resurgance will have to come from the underground. I for one, am willing to spend the extra $15 to sit in 28. Perhaps a grassroots movement via the saskatchewan bloggers association is necessary on a given home date to bring it back.

If someone in an adjacent section doesn't like it -- I WILL FIGHT THEM."
___________________________________________________________________

"I am feeling a little choked up after reading that. I have to admit that games have never been the same since the death of section 28. I remember the ti-cats game last year and even with a 30 point spread the crowd sounded as if it was on life support. Reading this brought back memories of section 28 screaming in unison "Benn-drops", "Benn-Drops"."
___________________________________________________________________

Wow, there's a lot to deal with there and I honestly have no idea where to start, so I guess I'll just start. First of all, thanks to everyone for their responses to the University Section piece, it really seemed to strike a chord with a lot of people. Tony Soprano once said that, "Remember When is the lowest form of discourse," or something to that effect, but it's nice to take a stroll down memory lane every know and again.

As far as the ticket price thing goes, I said it wasn't just about getting a cheap ticket but obviously that was a big part of the reason that people sat in that section. Going from a $25 ticket to a $40 ticket is quite a big jump and the Riders, like so many other professional sports franchises, seem bound and determined to out-price their fans. The cheap tickets were what drew people to the section and when the cheap tickets went away, so did the fans - make of that what you may. There obviously are some hold-overs, mostly season ticket holders I think. But the non-season ticket holders don't automatically look to the University Section for tickets anymore. I think the team made such a big deal and went to such lengths to squash the University Section that it just turned a lot of people off.

I had the Mosaic Stadium discussion on the weekend, about how people are starting to not call it Taylor Field anymore. And the conclusion we came up with was that certain people in media are obligated to call it that, as that is the stadium's name now. So if you have to report fact, you have to call it Mosaic Stadium. And as for regular people, I think people just sort of get brainwashed after hearing it so many times. Obviously some of us will only ever refer to Taylor Field but if you're not careful you might start to fall into the Mosaic Stadium trap.

See I wasn't going to bring up the Jon Ryan thing, but since Chris did anyway, I think I'm in the clear. The university section was the only place you could see a soon-to-be NFL all-star punter puking on his shoes, nearly passed out. Good times. And the anthem thing too, priceless. The anthem singing in the University Section was almost better when you weren't sitting there, so that you could hear them from across the stadium.

And of course, how could I have forgotten "Ben-drops"? That was maybe the loudest and most in-sync the University Section ever was - it was just like a wall of sound. He was never the same after that.

And just so everyone who wrote in and admitted to getting a little emotional when reading about the University Section doesn't feel left out, I can admit too that even when I read it I get a little misty.

So thanks again to everyone for writing over the last little while. Keep your comments coming and I'll keep answering or responding.

And as always, tell your friends.

Reader Mail

Because I have been fighting cold-like symptoms (call it an upper-body injury) and just crushing boredom since I've been back from holiday, I am not really in much of a creative mood. But I feel like I should put something up today, so I'm going to meet you halfway and respond to some Reader Mail. Not that I have much of a response, but since people take the time to add comments, I will take the time to write back.

Letter #1, from someone who obviously wishes to remain anonymous, so let's just call him Chris H:

"You would still be watching if it was the Leafs and not the Sens. The Sens have been a much better and more exciting team for many years. It's about time Hockey Night in Toronto starts showing some other teams play the early half of the double header (besides when they're playing the buds). I'm still behind them. Despite the fact that the buffalo/ottawa series was 5 games, it was still good hockey, and from what i recall all one goal games, except for game 1 which had plenty of great goals.

Three short years ago, while being stuck in Ottawa during the Flames run, all of Ottawa was behind our team. There were people in the streets after the games and the bars were full. I'll give them the same courtesy and have more than a passing interest in the cup final. Much more interest than in that oiler series last year.

Beyond being a fan of the sens, i still can't believe you're not picking them to win. They have been dominant. Detroit outplayed Anaheim for at least 4 of their 6 games. Sens are due. They'll win it in 6."

First of all, I need to set the record straight - there is no way I would be watching this series if it was Toronto instead of Ottawa - I'm just not going to watch on general principle and general disinterest, not because it's Ottawa. I stopped being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan on May 2, 2004 - yes I still remember the day- when Toronto lost 7-2 to Philadelphia in Game 5 of the Eastern Semi-Final and Bryan Mcabe somehow managed to be about -18 for the game. I sat there and watched every single goal that Philly scored that night and swore I'd never go through that again - we broke up for good that night.

I totally agree with the 'Hockey Night in Toronto' comments. Toronto gets much more exposure than any other team in this country for no other reason than they're in the biggest market. They basically do nothing to warrant the coverage they get - they haven't even made the playoffs the last two seasons! Every other team in Canada has made the playoffs at least once in the last two years - except Toronto. Yet every Saturday you know for a fact who one of the two teams is going to be on Hockey Night in Canada. I totally agree that Ottawa has been a much better team than Toronto for many seasons and deserves some national exposure.

On a related note, I wonder who Bob Cole and every other Maple Leaf fanatic at the CBC will be cheering for? Will Bob actively cheer for Anaheim (or will they bring Andy Murray back to do that just like he did last year, in possibly one of the worst colour-commentating jobs in television history) - or will Bob just root against Ottawa? That right there might actually be a reason to watch this series.

I still don't really buy that people across the country are going to get behind Ottawa, like what happened with Calgary and Edmonton. But if they do here in Regina, you can bet that Rob Vanstone will have a complaint about the sudden appearance of Senator car flags (I couldn't resist).

I only said that Anaheim will win in 7 because of the last two finals: Tampa Bay in 7 and Carolina in 7 - both struggling American cities against Canadian teams. I'm just saying that it's a little fishy when you look at it - I'm not prepared to bet against the commissioner's office just at the moment. In all honesty, I hope that the Sens do win this series. I don't think I can take another American expansion city winning a cup. Tampa Bay, Carolina, Anaheim as the last three Cup winners....wow, I think I'll go wander in traffic now. Plus there is no one, I repeat, no one that deserves to lift the Stanley Cup LESS than Chris Pronger. I'm generally not a vindictive person (oh wait) but he doesn't even deserve to be on the same ice as the Cup for the way he weaseled his way out of Edmonton last year. It troubles me how he was given a total pass on that one.

Wow, after writing all of that I feel a powerful need to watch the games and root very, very strongly against Anaheim.


Letter #2, from Trebor:

"I was never really a hockey fan to begin with and though I watched most of the games during the 1st and 2nd rounds not much interest anymore. Maybe it's the season finales that have been on lately, but I'm not even tuning in anymore, i go to the net to get updates on the game rather than flip to CBC. I've also noticed that the NBA has gotten really boring as well. I too watched the lottery and wow, why even put that on TV. As for the actual games, phoenix is gone, GS gone... no stories left except for how the suns got screwed. San Antonio in the finals again... how exciting. Then the east never really was exciting.. Detroit in the finals again.... guess shouldn't count out the jazz and cavs but...

If only there were some other sport to watch during the summer, something outdoors, in a park perhaps ??? Nope can't think of anything guess I'll just have to wait for football to start."

I agree with the losing interest after the 1st and 2nd rounds of the hockey playoffs. The season obviously need to be shorter. I equate hockey with the winter and as soon as the weather gets nicer outside the last thing I want to be doing is watching hockey. There doesn't really seem to be any reason for the Stanley Cup Finals to be just starting in the last week of May. I guess we're not allowed to have any days without professional sports in Canada - so the NHL and CFL seasons have to overlap with one another. I'd say the NHL playoffs should end about mid-May at the latest.

Basketball has gotten boring too I agree. It looks like we're on pace for yet another San Antonio-Detroit final. Oh joy. They have got to be the two least entertaining teams to watch in the league. Don't get me wrong, they both have tons of talent and are great teams - but the defensive style they play just puts people to sleep. Not exactly good for ratings. Unlike exciting teams like, say Phoenix - who got railroaded out of the playoffs by bogus suspensions from the commissioner's office. Just a shame all around.

And yes the draft lottery - wow, can I have my half an hour back? Why was that even a half hour T.V program. They could have just saved 10 minutes on the NBA pregame show and announced the results live on there. Given the magnitude of this draft I thought there would be some drama and suspense - but nope, there was none. Just some nerd opening envelopes and announcing the draft order. Oh well, at least the draft itself should be good - June 28th - circle the calenders.

Football season can't come soon enough - I'll even settle for the CFL.


Well that's all for now, thanks very much to those who wrote in. As always if you have questions or something to say, don't hesitate to leave a comment or send an email to the Sports As Life crew.

Reader Mail

You have no idea how happy it makes me to have some comments which I am able to respond to. If you're reading this and haven't viewed some of the comments left on this page, do yourself a favour and check them out (just click on Comments, underneath each entry). We have had some great ones, ranging from a vicious cricket/British Commonwealth debate spanning two continents, to a comparison of Nate Davis to Rita McNeil. So keep your comments, questions, complaints and insights coming - all feedback is appreciated.

But we've got a couple in the last few days that I thought warranted response:


From Trebor:

"Though it's not a sports related observation something in your Robservation Piece could have included the Daily Show's new set...very nice. Also, I watched the dog show which was mildly entertaining especially when a Mr Muggles look-a-like went in attack mode on judge #3..... in case you don't know who Mr. Muggles is here's a clip,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJooNqNT4O8.

If anyone actually watches this can you post what song is playing during the clip, it's starting to bother me ... "

First of all, the answer to the question is the song from the clip is the theme song from Who's The Boss. I won't lie to you though...I have no idea what that song has to do with the clip. Perhaps it's meant to show that in his own Danza-like way, Mr. Muggles is the The Boss.

Secondly, I wanted to respond to let people know that watching a dog show is not the lowest form of sports broadcasting. This past Saturday I awoke early in the morning to find there was a cat show being broadcast on the Game Show Network. Not only that but the cat show was called The Cat-Minster Cat Show, putting itself in direct competition with the Westminster Dog Show I assume (I assure you, I'm not making this up - see for yourself). I stopped watching the broadcast around the same time as one of the contestants proudly showed the viewing audience that she had a separate, full-size kitchen in her home just for cat food preparation. At this point can anybody really blame the terrorists for hating the Western World?

So next time you find yourself with nothing to watch on TSN but a dog show, just be thankful you're not watching the Game Show Network.


From Chris:

"In the spirit of Robservations (man I hate that guy) I would like to make a few comments on the playoffs, or more importantly TV coverage of the playoffs.

- Has anyone noticed the "pixie dust" sound effect on CBC that accompanies every transition between replay and live coverage. Turn up the sound if you haven't. I cringe every time. First time I noticed was with the sound turned up watching the Flames/Oilers game a month back, right after the Smyth debacle.

- Did anyone else have an epileptic seizure during the Sens game last night? Every time it looked like there may be a hit, goal, or save there was a 1200 kilowatt camera flash which took over the television screen. Is this common, and my eyes are suddenly picking up more frames per second than before? If it is truly an Ottawa thing, I revoke my Eastern favourite pick for the Cup.

- During that hilarious, yet tragic play of events during the islanders/devils game on Sunday, did anyone else enjoy the TSN commentating on Dubielewicz during the shootout. Who knew having a Yoda picture on your mask would turn your goal stick into a "lightsaber", as mentioned multiple times by the commentators. The combination of Mitch's passions must have been too much to handle. "

Confession time, due to familial-dinner commitments I was only able to watch part of the first period of the Ottawa-Pittsburgh game last night. Add to that the fact that I can no longer listen to Bob Cole announce a hockey game (more on this today hopefully), meaning that the TV was muted for the few minutes I was able to watch. So this all adds up to me not noticing either of Chris' first two points, but my radar will definitely be up for them in the future. And I urge all readers to do the same and write in with your comments.

I did however see the Islander/Devil game on Sunday that Chris talked about. And while I didn't see the TSN studio crew talking about Dubielewicz's mask, I did enjoy the commentators of the game. TSN got the feed from MSN, who is a New York sports broadcaster, so the commentators were unabashedly rooting for the Islanders. So when the Devils scored with 1 second left to tie the game the two guys calling the game started shouting like another plane had crashed into New York City - they were wailing like cats in heat. It was highly entertaining.

So that's all but keep the comments coming.