What did the NHL and NHLPA do since 2010? When they saw that their omertá had worked in sidelining Kyle Beach’s complaints they moved on. While Beach suffered silently as his career crumbled. And while his assailant went on to attack again in Michigan. Worse, in December of 2020, the Blackhawks rewarded GM Stan Bowman, making him president of hockey operations.

This just in: Even if the virtual strike zone is off an inch or two it’s the same standard for both pitchers and all hitters. There’s also no need to put people out of work. The home-plate ump can still make calls on foul tips, swinging strikes, plays at the plate and the running of the game. Enough already.

Even if, arguably, Jonathan Quick’s overall talent and technique are not superior to Carey Price’s, his peak proved more productive, more significant and more legendary. Plus, Quick had to fight to reach his esteemed position in the league after being an unheralded third-round pick seven years prior to his 2012 triumph. Let’s say he won the battle if not the PR war with Price.

Apparently the public has computed the unreliability of the media, and— like MLB hitters turning down the shift to accept the easy bunt—are taking steps to reclaim their lives from the Fear Merchants. As long as fear won, the entrenched interests sought to exploit the observation of Canadian psychiatrist J.T. MacCurdy. “We are all of us not merely liable to being afraid. We are also prone to being afraid of being afraid.”

Almost two years into the panic black NBA stars, of all people, are the ones making this point to the civil libertarians or free-speech liberals that freedom is for everyone, not just for those with whom you agree. Who’d have thunk’ that?

NBC largely kept us from the lively banter and occasional flare-ups on-course between players and caddies or players and fans. And when they grew nasty over putts not conceded the on-course interviewers never mentioned it to the players themselves in post-round interviews. Instead, announcers often referred to reading the lips of players. Why? The repartee is the secret sauce in such events, beloved by fans.

With nothing likely on the pitch clock till at least 2022, get set for some long ball games this autumn. With no disincentive for loitering, players will continue to act like taxi drivers— paid by the minute.

One thing that seems sure amidst the data breakdowns and the football clichés: Unless Tom Brady wins yet another SB, the team hoisting the trophy is most likely going to be a team with a QB on a manageable salary-cap number. Outside of Brady’s SB wins the past decade, the teams that have won the NFL’s top prize— or played in the big game— have had QBs on entry-level contracts at a fraction of what the big boys make.

Gauging from stadia full of maskless fans this past weekend around CFL and college football the general public has moved beyond viral doom playing wack-a-mole with the public. They seem to be saying they accept the “risk” that, for under-70s, 99.998 percent of them will not die of Covid. That message seems lost on league officials.

Holding your principles when everyone around you is going along to get along is an exhausting process. It is like the free-speech laws now being trampled by Twitter, Facebook, the Liberal Party and others. We protect free speech not for the people we agree with— but for the people with whom we disagree. In the paranoia and power grabs of today‘s “health passports” those principles are being forgotten in the rush to “make it easy”.

Their power over the sheeple has been reinforced. Why give it up? Those who submitted willingly since April 2020 will soon discover that reining in their betters is about as difficult as tackling Barry Sanders in the open field.

When does Joe Fan realize the people he’s cheering for hate him? Or as Bruce Springsteen might sing, “Is that you baby? Or just a brilliant disguise?"

Unfortunately the five percent who think they run modern Canada don’t count Olympic blessings they way they used to. A prime minister in a hurry to call an election during a pandemic— that he’s abetted— sees the roll of honour quite differently.

There have long been a few NHL father/ son duos. Gordie Howe’s boys and Bobby and Brett Hull spring to mind. But they were not as pervasive in the league as they are today. Witness the just-passed Draft that saw a host of familiar family names getting new surnames.

It is time to ask if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is still engaged in the work of having his league taken seriously or whether he’s playing out the string. What should have been a great NHL week was tarnished. And he had the power to stop most of it.

Enjoy stronger/ higher/ faster/ more liberal the next two weeks. You’re probably witnessing the end of the Games as we knew them and the birth of something that takes marching orders from Woke politicians. Pro tip: You won’t like it.

In the annals of athletic bad-assery you’ll have to go a long way to surpass the bare-chested, profanity-laden media performance of Stanley Cup champion Nikita Kucherov after his Tampa Bay Lightning dusted off Montreal in five games.

The winners are clear. It’s likely a loss for those athletes in other collegiate sports whose programs were kept alive by the flood of money from football and basketball. That especially means women’s programs which cannot support themselves in their current iteration based on TV ratings and attendance.

One would like to take the league and their snoozing media at their word that they will do better in covering these abuse stories in the past. Sadly, there is little reason to believe this contrition after so many false starts in the past.

Fans looking at the 2019 Raptors NBA title over wounded Golden State— Toronto had its main weapons playing—will no doubt find an echo in this year’s postseason as the stars on the favoured teams are decimated by injury. Add in Covid-19 absences. The postseason feels like Saving Private Ryan as wounded players are cut down.