Into the Weekend: This Day in World Series, etc.

Haven't had a chance to post today's TDWS, so let's just blend it all together in the usual Friday fashion round here.

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Jack Morris, '91 Series ace, as a Jay in '93.

Lots of candidates: the '04 Red Sox, the '02 Rally Monkeys, but I'm headed further into the wayback machine, to a guy who would cement his rep as the finest big-game pitcher of his generation, and cash in with the Blue Jays as they moved into their golden era.

That'd be Jack Morris, and the '91 Twins. Fifteen years ago today, Morris matched up against a young John Smoltz in a classic duel and won out, pitching a 10-inning shutout and the Twins, who had knocked out the Blue Jays on the way to summit, defeated the Atlanta Braves. If there's ever been a better Game 7 pitching performance, I haven't seen it.

Let's wrap it up then . . .

One Two last read(s). The Guardian's interview with former Irish international Paul McGrath is pretty sobering stuff:

The first of those failed suicides came in 1989, soon after he and Sir Alex Ferguson had fallen out for the last time and Manchester United sold him to Aston Villa. "I was in trouble with the club," McGrath says. "I'm drunk and ashamed, on the edge of my bed, and reaching for the knife. I remember the blood pouring across the floor and the screaming of the nanny looking after our boys."

Oh, and there's a new world record in Scrabble: 830.

One last view. Vintage sneakers for sale - only $8500. U.S.

One last screensaver. Ryan from Hoops Addict sends this one along.

One Two last e-mail(s). Joseph DiDanieli wants to see something this weekend:

I am hoping Don Cherry calls out Tucker the way he called out Barnaby. Tucker didn't goad anyone into a penalty like Barnaby but what he did going after Eaves and then not backing it up two nights later was just as cowardly as Barnaby. If Tucker wants to play the tough guy he better be ready to back it up against all comers - not just against people who don't fight like Eaves.

Don't hold your breath Joe. Meantime, J. Pruschka has this to say about Pro-Line, after that rant of a week ago:

I totally agree with you and Queens Park's ban on internet gambling advertising, or whatever they're trying to do. They're just out of touch with reality. Go to a licence system, make the licences super expensive so only the serious companies can afford to get into it & be done with it. What next, they're going to outlaw bookies too? Wait, they already have . . .
I have a question. If "Toronto FC" make it to the MLS playoffs next year or the year after, who do they expect to sit in the stands at BMO Field on a frigid night in October or November?? Would they move the games indoors to the Rogers Centre?

Makes sense. They have been nuzzling Mr. Rogers of late. But if they don't go in there, they could always rename the place FMAO Field.

Watching. Montreal at Argos, CBC, 3 p.m. It seems this time of year these two teams are always hooking up. Playoffs start next week, and depending on how it falls this weekend here and with B.C.-Winnipeg these two could finish anywhere from first to third in the east.

Pooch punts. Jinks was on fire last weekend, scarfing down winners like they were kibble and cookies - which they were, actually. Here's who he's gobbling up this week, even getting into the CFL:

Alouettes +3 1/2 over TORONTO, Atlanta +3 1/2 over CINCINNATI, PHILADELPHIA -7 over Jacksonville, NY Jets-Cleveland OVER 37 1/2, Indianapolis +2 1/2 over DENVER.

Photo of the Day: Diego checks in

ALEX PENA/REUTERS

Diego Maradona arrives in El Salvador on Thursday.

Related: The website. The news. The Goal of the Century, as voted in a FIFA poll in 2002.

Photo of the Day: Misses Robinson

DARREN STAPLES/REUTERS

A demoralizing night at the office for England's Paul Robinson.

Related: McClaren cancels U.S. trip, Rooney mixes it up with an abusive fan and Robinson's miskick while Borat watches.

Long weekend links

Some links and e-mails that caught my eye over the long weekend:

First, Kukla's Korner had a fine post from George Malik on where the Penguins' new ownership and hockey fans might be best served if the team is eventually moved - and it's not southern Ontario:

The economic giant that is Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, as well as their biggest investor--the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund--have as much interest in competing for dollars as OPEC does in sharing their oil wells.
So, in the unlikely event that the Penguins were to move, where would they go? Kansas City? Las Vegas? Houston? Seattle?
How about Winnipeg?

Just in time for the World Series semifinals, Idolator presents the worst national anthems. Take Them Out of the Ballgame, please:

Scott Stapp ("God Bless America," 2004 World Series, Game 4): Is it the punctuating breaths? The fact that he seems to have forgotten how to pronounce the "ve" sound in "love"? His introduction as "the voice of Creed"? Or is it just that he's Scott Stapp, and even when he's not inflicting his lyrical Jesus complex on the world, he's still flat and completely insufferable?

Monday was the anniversary of Tom Cheek's passing. Neate Sager remembers.

Whatever happened to Wayne Ruiney? Richard Williams investigates.

And one more. E-mailer Chuck Smith Murphy sends in this on Kyle Wellwood:

Kyle Wellwood is simply a young Adam Oates looking for someone to finish off his fine playmaking ability. Could Mats be the guy for Kyle? Players like Kolovchek and Ovechkin are perfect matches for Wellwood's considerable playmaking skills.
Last year was particularly frustrating to see Pat Quinn limit Welly's ice time. He averaged more points per minute played than other other Leaf player. Yes PPM -Points Per Minute played is the most important offensive stat a coach needs to monitor, but many coaches don't understand that concept yet.
The Leafs may not realize it right now, but this guy is the cornerstone of the franchise once Mats Sundin retires. The team with a long history of extremely poor player management has to make sure he stays a Leaf for a very long time.

I was at the Leafs game last night, sitting in the greens, my first game in three years. I'd just said it for about the fifth time this season - "If this guy had a shot, he could book his all-star ticket right now" - when Wellwood, apparently tiring of deking the puck into the goalie's pads, simply blasted away and wired one past Alex Auld.

So maybe he does have a shot after all. In the bigger picture, it proves one thing. Although there's a time and place for everything, including Pat Quinn with the Leafs, there's no better illustration of the necessity for a coaching change this season than Wellwood's development from last year's spare part into this year's first-line, power-playin' dipsy-doodler.

Into the (long) weekend: Banner night

Wednesday night's pregame ceremony raising banners for Salming, Kelly and the late Hap Day provoked this from one e-mailer:

FRANK LENNON/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Baun: Deserving of a banner?

The fact they chose #21 in honor of Salming and overlooked Bobby Baun, who also wore the number and played on (four) Stanley Cup winners and scored one of the most famous Stanley Cup goals ever. Baun was there, invited I believe by the Leafs, but why not twin the honor with Salming like they did with Kelly and Hap Day?

Baun was one of 11 Leafs to play on their four Stanley Cup winners of the 1960s. He played with Toronto from 1956 to '67, went away in the expansion draft (to the California Seals) and came back for a last hurrah from 1970 to '73. That's a lot of meritorious service, and that goal in the 1964 Cup finals will always be recalled by fans of a certain vintage. On the other hand, it's not like Baun was anything other than an rugged, stay at home defender. That goal was his combination Henderson/Willis Reed Moment - Baun never made an all-star team. Does he belong up there with Bower, Mahovlich et al? Sounds like a (long) weekend assignment (for anyone over 40, that is).

One last read. Dave Feschuk's column on the NBA's shorter training-camp practice regimen got this rejoinder from Mark Cuban: I wish I was allowed to write this.

One last letter to Gary Bettman. Aaron Reynolds, part of the JABS Baseball Roundtable, sounds off in Batter's Box on the advertising links on the NHL's redesigned website, including scam survey offers and pirated streaming TV:

Gary, someone who works for you is approving this junk and allowing it to be put on the NHL's website. It's a serious disservice to your fans, and a major embarassment for the NHL -- this is the league's flagship site, supposedly the number one place to go on the internet to read about hockey. Why are your people tarnishing the reputation of the NHL for a relatively miniscule amount of money?

One last story. In the current (October issue) When Saturday Comes, a look into the uncertainty surrounding the age of Newcastle's recent signing Oba Martins, reported to be six years older than what was listed on the website of his former club, Inter Milan. Apparently the discrepancy was not a result of a doctored birth certificate, but had its roots in the Nigerian Football Association's website, where the webmaster was in a dispute over being paid and hadn't bothered to update erroneous information:

Suddenly the webmaster was public enemy number one in Nigeria. The culprit was traced and theatrically arrested, with police staging a dawn raid at his house. He was put in jail until he'd agree to cooperate by revealing the password needed to change the site.

One last appeal. ArmchairGM, a wiki-type blog, is looking for contributors, especially on the CFL. Any blog with a posting on Irish Road Bowling is pretty fine in my books.

Sports around town. Up at York, it's the final women's hockey tuneup before another season starts next week - U of T meets York. And oh, but we have to mention it - the 0-5 U of T football Blues, minus their suspended coach, meet Western at Birchmount Stadium.

Watching. Yankees at Tigers, Friday, 8 p.m., Sportsnet. You mean the playoffs are on? And the Tigers are in them?

Punters' corner. I'm giving Jinks the long weekend off from the arduous task of handicapping. Happy Thanksgiving.

Zidane: Some thoughts

Friday's showing of Zidane: Un Portrait du XXIe Siècle (A 21st Century Portrait) surpassed my lofty expectations, and was the perfect example of why an annual like the Toronto International Film Festival keeps people coming back. You're never quite sure what you're going to get, good or bad, and this, happily, was one of the good ones.

This is a film that will likely not achieve wide release (so far, nothing in that regard) and I wonder how effective it would be on television's smaller screen -- not nearly as arresting, I reckon, as it proved on the Varsity's wide screen. While not trying to explain Zidane like a traditional documentary would -- there's not a world of dialogue, and about the only thing the great French star says is "hey" or "here" as he prowls the green -- it instead focuses on his every move during an April 2005 Real Madrid match at the Bernabeu. In the end, it's the portrait of the footballer at work, far more impressionist exercise than sports doc. At its best, it's utterly mesmerizing.

Robert Di Zio, a teacher and coach at Senator O'Connor, picked up one of the tickets on offer at JABS last week, and checks in with his "film-inspired observations" here:

In soccer, as in life …

We find the truly fascinated, fascinating.
We spend most of our time without the ball.
Be ready. Know it might be your moment; don’t be surprised when it isn’t.
Walk. Speed and power are effective only because they’re contrasts.
Never touch the ball twice when once will do. Don’t touch it once if none will do.
Give up the ball, trust. Don’t stop trusting when you don’t get it back.
Smile … but only when you mean it.
When you could swear ‘it’s about you’, give your head a shake, it’s not.
Worthwhile time is never remembered linearly.
Keep intermissions short, bad things happen when you’re not playing.
Spitting is forgivable only when you’re playing hard.
Play as if the final score is easily forgettable, because it is.

Film’s final caption:

(in soccer there is) “almost magic, then nothing”

untrue

“almost magic” is everything

I couldn't have said it near as well myself. Many thanks, Rob.

Into the weekend: Catching up on Clinton

Time to wrap it up here and head to the movies. Let's head straight into the usual roundup.

One last read. The current issue of the New Yorker includes The Wanderer, a lengthy profile of Bill Clinton that's a fantastic must-read (but not available online). It opens with Clinton in Berlin for the World Cup final, and the former president's initial reaction to the confusion surrounding Zidane's head butt deserves a footnote:

Clinton was instantly forgiving of Zidane and wondered what would become of him. He recalled Gao Hong, the goalie for the Chinese women's team, who, in the 1999 World Cup final, gave up the decisive penalty kick to Brandi Chastain, of the American team. Gao had played brilliantly until that point but, like Zidane, she had to return home and endure the consequences of her defeat.
"I identify with people who get beat up," Clinton said. "I remember that game like it was yesterday."

The footnote? Gao got up quite well. She left China a couple years later, coming to the U.S. to play in the women's pro league, then moving on to Canada. She currently works here in Toronto, at Ontario Place.

One last look. Arsenal and Manchester United get round 1 of their renewal on Sunday morning. In anticipation, let's go back to 2004, an infamous year in the rivalry, and this Happy Birthday Wayne Rooney! bilingual commentary.

Sports around town. Neate Sager advises this may well be the weekend U of T ends its 35-game winless streak in pigskin -- that's almost 2,000 days worth. The Blues host the Waterloo Warriors Saturday at 2 p.m. at Birchmount Stadium, although just the thought of the Blues playing home games at Birchmount puts me off. Up at Woodbine, it's the Woodbine Mile, Sunday afternoon in beautiful downtown Rexdale.

Watching. Of course it's Arsenal-Manchester United, Sunday at 11 a.m. on Fox Sportsworld. For a little background on this particular bun throw (really, it is), go here.

Punters' corner. Recreational purposes only, of course, after a 2-3 opening week:

RAVENS (-12) over Oakland. In week 1, Art Shell took out his QB for safety's sake, not a very good sign.

Browns (+10) over BENGALS. Wave 'em high.

DOLPHINS (-6 1/2) over Bills. I don't get it -- since when is a pulled hammy a season-ending injury? Oh, now I get it.

JETS (+6) over Patriots. Pennington's got his marbles.

JAGUARS (+1 1/2) over Steelers. Monday nighter. Keep choppin' wood, Jags.

The latest in logos

There was a little stirring this week with the debut of FC Barcelona's new kit, with its UNICEF sponsor logo part of the deal. And good on 'em for that - pretty good week for Barca, too, with that emphatic Champions League opener.

But frankly, they've got nothing (and plenty, actually) on Stambridge United, barred from playing in their local club league after their new shirt featured a sponsors' crest that read "The Referee's a W*nker":

Club officials said they had been told not to discuss the ban. But writer Chris (Turner), 41 — who was on Southend’s books as a schoolboy — said: “I think it’s absolutely absurd.
“They played a few games with the shirts on and it caused a laugh.
“The strips are part of a sponsorship deal worth thousands and are certainly not meant to be offensive — you can hear the chant at every football match in the country.”

So if I pay enough money, I can have basically anything splattered across my team's chest - if it's commonly heard in the stands? Interesting logic, that. Tons of possibilities.

(Thanks to Sunaya Sapurji of the petroleum-based product division for the latter link.)

Free fest tickets to Zidane

The Toronto International Film Festival is into its final few days, and I'm excited about what's still to come on my plate.

But enough about This Filthy World. As for Offside, it was very good and more's the pity that the morning timing, the late notice and the Typepad performance let us down the other day when it came to giving away some passes.

Reuters

Zidane: 'Perhaps the greatest film about an athlete ever made.'

But here's the last chance for that kind of thing. This is about Zidane: Un Portrait du XXIe Siècle (A 21st-century Portrait), one of my Flick Picks for sports lovers at this year's fest. And you can snag tickets - free tickets, yay! - to Friday afternoon's 3:45 p.m. showing at the Varsity. Friday afternoon, 3:45 - good timing, in this case, late enough that you can nip out early from the office/school/halfway house, and early enough to make happy hour yoga class parole dinner.

I've got a pair to give away to loyal readers, as we move toward the one-year anniversary of this tiny corner. The catch is that I'm going, too, but trust me, in these packed theatres -- and this show is SRO, I'm told -- just getting two seats together is a victory bigger than Italy at the World Cup. So you won't have to put up with me, other than the ticket handoff. But I would like you to submit a 50-word review/monologue/musing that I can pop in the blog on Monday. C'mon, you knew there was a catch.

Oh yes, the film. No head-butting here, but fascinating nonetheless from the sound of it -- A 90-minute (of course) doc that uses footage from 17 high-def cameras trained on Zidane during a 2005 Spanish League game. No interviews, no talk, just Zidane, doing his thang.

John Doyle, my old soccer-travelling pal from the Globe, had a review of this one today, and to say it was glowing is an understatement. It's subscribers-only, unfortunately, but here's a free lift: "The result is fabulous, perhaps the greatest film about an athlete ever made. It is not Zidane explained or exposed. It is Zidane the player scrutinized with an artist's eye for grace, beauty, physical tension and the subtlety of human drama."

Wow. I can't wait.

So here's the deal. Either email me or post a comment below (they won't be published) to indicate your interest. Early tomorrow afternoon I'll close the windows and do a draw here at JABS Mansion for the two tickets. Go to it, kids.

Another long contract

In light of yesterday's latest outbreak of long-term lunacy on Long Island, it's natural (at least to me it is, in the bloggerhia sense) to pick up on this item from this morning's Daily Mirror:

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fabregas: Food fighter signs on for eight years.

Cesc Fabregas has agreed a record £20million, eight-year contract to stay with Arsenal.
The Spanish teenager will sign the longest deal in English football next week.
Fabregas has pledged his future to the Gunners despite interest from Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Longest in history? Not sure, but in the post-Bosman ruling era of free player movement and longer contracts, none others this lengthy pop to mind and a little web-searching this morning was no help. Kids, go to it.

Fifteen years for soon-to-be-25-year-old Rick DiPietro vs. eight years for Fabregas, 19. It's kind of like comparing apples to pomegranates, but that Islanders deal looks worse and worse on this scale, doesn't it?

Meantime, former Gunner Ashley Cole, having whined his way out of north London, is delivering the coup de grace in excerpts from his new book in the Times Online, in which he lowers the boom on Fabregas, among others:

Cole also condemns Francesc Fàbregas as an “unproven featherweight” compared with the “heavyweight champion” that is Patrick Vieira, criticism unfortunately timed given that Fàbregas is on the brink of signing a new eight-year contract.
In the most detailed account of the infamous Battle of the Buffet at Old Trafford two years ago, Cole hints that it was the Spanish midfield player who threw the pizza at Sir Alex Ferguson. Cole confirms that the culprit was not English or French and is believed to be referring to Fàbregas.
“This slice of pizza came flying over my head and hit Fergie straight in the mush,” Cole says. “All I’ll say is that the culprit wasn’t English or French, so that should narrow it down.”

An unproven featherweight AND a food fighter! Perhaps the Islanders don't come off so bad after all.