Mitch Kasprick is the “Motown Curmudgeon” aka “Motown Mitch”
Odds and Ends, Thoughts and Questions, from this past week in sports –
Just so there’s no confusion when I’m spewing my bias, I am a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, Arizona Coyotes, Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Winnipeg Goldeyes, Toronto Raptors, all curlers from Manitoba, and all Canadian athletes competing on the international stage.
I am NOT a fan of Gary Bettman or as I call him, Count Chocula. I am a big believer in the 7Ps. You’ve been warned.
This will be a shortened long weekend edition. Back next week.
1. Jets: Josh Morrissey still hasn’t signed a contract yet for this upcoming season whether it be short-term or long-term. So far there hasn’t been the angst around town that surrounded Jacob Trouba but the closer it gets to training camp, I’m sure the angst meter will get a workout.
2. LPGA: It’s no secret the women from the Pacific Rim have dominated the tour for the past few years but I found some of the numbers interesting. There are currently 39 South Korean women in the Top 100 compared to 26 American women. The scary part of these numbers is that golf is growing big-time in Asia and these numbers don’t even include Japan, China, and Thailand.
3. Blue Jays: Aaron Sanchez has spent more time in the manicurist chair than on the mound in the past two seasons. Talk about NO bang for your buck. Don’t even get me started on Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki.
4. MLB: It’s bad enough that the rich teams can just buy a pennant or even a championship but handing over your best players at the trade deadline for a pittance really pisses me off. I wish the Blue Jays would have just kept J.A. Happ and let his contract expire rather than give him to the evil empire for the crap they got in return. Baltimore and Tampa got ripped off by the Yankees and Red Sox as well. Last time I checked the Orioles, Jays, and Rays weren’t New York’s and Boston’s farm teams.
5. LPGA: Brooke Henderson had a decent (-6) Women’s British Open finishing T11 highlighted by a third round hole-in-one on Saturday afternoon. It was a good showing in spite of her putter letting her down again. She’s not putting poorly but she’s not making anything either. It seemed like most of her birdie puts were tap-ins. By the way, England’s Georgia Hall won her first major and her first LPGA tournament with a -17 score of 271.
6. CFL: With the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on their bye week, I didn’t watch any CFL football last week. I needed a week off from the TSN Johnny Manziel propaganda machine. I hear I did miss some excitement though.
7. Jets: A lot of Jets fans think this is the year Nic Petan finally sticks full-time with the big club but I’m not so sure Paul Maurice is a big fan of Petan. Nic is no longer waiver exempt so we will see if the big club still values him or if they do the humane thing and let him move on?
8. Blue Jays: Considering the Jays were swept in Oakland, I guess a 5-5 roads trip isn’t awful but I’m not sure you can call their 4-game set in Seattle road games. The amount of support from fans that go to the games from BC and Alberta is amazing.
9. PGA: Justin Thomas (-15) won the WGC event this past weekend at the Firestone C.C. by a comfortable four shots over Kyle Stanley. He should be one of the favourites going into the PGA Championship later this week. Tiger (even par) was still the lead story in-spite of finishing in 31st place.
10. MLB: How many home-runs do you think Oakland As slugger Khris Davis would hit if he hit in a hitters ball park instead of a huge football stadium?
11. LPGA: A British Open with benign conditions is no fun to watch.
12. IIHF: U18: The Hlinka Gretzky Cup, formerly known as the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament kicks off in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta >>>> SCHEDULE
13. Key dates:
- July 1: NHL Free Agency Period: Free agency is now officially open and should make for an interesting summer.
- Aug. 10: CFL Week 10, Friday night in Winnipeg – Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-3) vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-4).
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Thanks, Mitch
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