Just remember that sports has always been a traditional enclave where progress is just a word in the dictionary between pigheaded and  protest.

Major League baseball has entered its Wagner phase. Yes, every performance is now a four-hour opera. The just-completed league championship series were mercifully brief (Washington in four; Houston in six). Which is just as well, because the games that were played stretched into eternity.

To that old saying about the things that one should never see we can now say the making of laws, the making of sausage and the making of running shoes.

To those wondering about the demise of Don Cherry, the rumours of his disappearance from Hockey Night In Canada have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, the end is in sight for the man wearing his wife’s table cloths. Hell, he’s 85. But while others in the Rogers constellation have gone dark, Cherry’s star survives.

Matthews vaulted from playing with other teenagers on the U.S. National Team Development (via one year in Switzerland) to making millions with the most visible hockey team in the world. Between fans, media and friends not many would breathe a negative word to him during his ascent. It’s easy to get lost in a bubble.

The question for the Tigers and their brothers in awfulness is can they reward fans with a bounce-back? The Tigers made the 2006 World Series after the 2003 disaster cruise. But only two teams a year can make the Series. And if the Tigers, Jays, Royals, Marlins and  Orioles aren’t substantially better within two years MLB is going to have a problem on its hands. 

The CBA wants these players to wait to get paid the big money on their third contract. The RFA class want to grow their brand now, but they can’t while trapped in the current NHL CBA. In a violent sport where it can disappear overnight. As Freddie Mercury sang, the young guys want it all, they want it now.

If Serena was frustrated and gassed (truly she can’t go three sets against elite players any longer) she has Andreescu to thank. But first, she’ll have to get in line as 37 million Canadian want to thank her first.

Audacious. That’s perhaps the best word to describe Rogers Communications attempt to supplant CBC and TSN as the go-to network for the NHL in Canada in 2013.

The first time I spoke to Russ Conway he wanted nothing to do with me. “I’m tired of reporters trying to steal my stuff,” he said in his Chowderhead accent. “I don’t need any help.”

Bianca Andreescu learned many valuable lessons in winning the title at the Canadian WTA championship this weekend. She leaned that she has more than enough game to win at this level. She learned that her conditioning will be.a vital piece of her success. She learned that the Canadian media will go crazy for her. And she learned she can drive opponents crazy with her high-maintenance dramas in between shots.

How to conclude a great sporting event is equally important. And just as fraught with error. And controversy.

The week of infamy has begun for Toronto Blue Jays fans. Two years ago their team was a powerhouse, seemingly on the brink of a trip to the World Series.

One former pro athlete recently observed that athletes don’t talk about three things in the dressing room: Playing time. Salary. And the first name of a team mate’s wife. He might also have added whether your favourite ball player likes guys or girls when he gets home from the game that night.

So the men’s final at Wimbledon this weekend lasted five immortal sets over 4 hours 57 minutes before Novak Djokovic finally outlasted Roger Federer in a stirring contest that ended in a fifth-set tiebreaker at 12-all.

Okay class. Construct a headline from the following: Kawhi Leonard spurns the Raptors in the middle of the night for his hometown team, the L.A. Clippers. At the same moment southern California experiences a 7.1 earthquake. 

Where did the great French Canadian players go? The 2019 NHL Draft produced an avalanche of players from the U.S. National Development program, Sweden, Finland, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.

You don’t have to ask the impact of the Toronto Raptors winning the NBA title last week. Two million people on the streets of that city speak to the engagement created by the team’s dramatic process through the playoffs. Think of the public’s addiction to the games as Game Of Thrones— except with guys in short pants.