Out of sight, out of mind
Certain markets won't miss the NHL
By STEVE SIMMONS, TORONTO SUN
A reality lost in the constant craze that is Canadian hockey culture: When the NHL shuts its doors in mid-September it will be making itself disappear from its largest market -- and hardly anyone will care. College football has begun in the United States. Next week, the NFL kicks off. The timing of the NHL lockout -- if being anonymous is the goal -- couldn't have been better.
Where 24 of their 30 NHL franchises live, some of them barely, there will be no clamouring for hockey, no angst.
Normally, the start of any NHL season is dwarfed by the NFL and baseball playoffs. Now, the NHL will be absent from the markets it needs most to survive.
The Canadian fans fully expect to be victims in this fight between rich and richer. If they are foolish enough to support an NHL-NHLPA tournament just prior to a work stoppage, they will support just about anything.
But if a marginal sport becomes more marginal by shutting down, who, if anyone, wins in the end?
THIS AND THAT
If you break it down into dollars lost, the bill for one ill-advised, possible law-breaking hotel night for Kobe Bryant will be more than $20 million US -- four million to buy an apology ring for his wife, nine million in legal fees, six million in lost endorsements just for the upcoming year. And who knows how much the settlement of his civil suit, certain to happen this week, will cost? ... There's not a doubt that the Colorado Rockies cost Canada a baseball medal at the Olympic Games. And for what? Two big-league starts in which Jeff Francis got hammered. The Rockies claimed they wanted Francis working at altitude to get used to pitching in Colorado. Today, he makes his third major-league start: All of them, for the record, have been on the road. Hope they're proud of themselves ... If Winnipeg management had any backbone, it would have just two words for the Blue Bombers players caught in the recent hazing incident. The words: Bah bye.
HEAR AND THERE
If the Argos are as hungry as they appear for a quarterback, why not go after Ricky Ray, who has fallen to No. 4 on the depth chart and appears certain to be cut loose any day now ... Alert the fire department: Andre Rison is an Argo ... Just wondering: What is Athens going to do with two baseball stadiums and a softball stadium on the same property now that the Olympics are over? ... The NHL did nothing to stop the Quebec Nordiques from moving to Denver years ago but they sure stepped in quickly to prevent anyone in any other league from using the Nordiques name again. The people of Quebec should own that name, not the NHL ... Big week for Yankee jerks: First Mike Mussina with his mouth, then Kevin Brown with his fist ... The Dream Team and last year's Raptors had two things in common: No real centre and no real point guard.
SCENE AND HEARD
And the award for the absolute weakest performance by a Canadian at the Olympics goes to seven-time national champion weightlifter Akos Sandor, who in three attempts in his discipline never managed to lift the bar off the ground ... Julio Franco is 46 years old, hitting over .300 in Atlanta and statistically is just three RBI and about 200 at-bats behind Vernon Wells. Amazing ... Jason Blake in the World Cup? Who knew? ... As Mike Pringle rushes ever closer to the records of George Reed, it is important not to lose perspective over the complete career dominance of Reed. When he retired in 1976, he had scored 46 more touchdowns than anyone who had played in the CFL and was 5,207 yards ahead in rushing. Comparably, those are Gretzky-like numbers.
AND ANOTHER THING
Nothing should trouble Blue Jays management and ownership more than the silence that surrounds Carlos Delgado's apparent final season in Toronto. The lack of public debate -- should he stay or should he go? -- especially considering the non-stop Vince Carter bafflegab speaks loudly about the diminishing buzz of baseball in Toronto .... No one says it, but pound for pound, Don Wittman is the best play-by-play sports announcer in Canada. Name the sport, he can call it. The guy could read the phone book and he'd make me want to listen ... One reason to believe in the Boston Red Sox: Thirteen of their final 19 games are against Tampa Bay and Baltimore. The other six are against the Yankees ... The best thing about an NHL lockout: More time for Ed Belfour to recover from back surgery ... To call the late Moe Norman a legend would be doing him a disservice. He was a Canadian original, an eccentric golfing artist, a man you met once and never forgot ... And hey, whatever became of Brian Glennie?
