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Monday, October 26, 2009

Big Mac Is Back

The last time we saw Mark McGwire, he was driving his career off a cliff. His famous refusal to answer questions at a 2005 congressional hearing into steroids was all the admission we needed.
McGwire has been hermit-like since that appearance. He hasn't done any interviews, he hasn't been to any ball-games, he hasn't been in the public eye---until now.
McGwire is coming back to baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals. He will be the team's hitting coach. (No Roger Clemens isn't going to be the pitching coach.)Like it or not, Big Mac still has some explaining to do. The questions still need answering and now that he is back, he can't hide.
Its time for McGwire to face the media. Its time for the true story to come out. He can continue to deny and say he isn't here to talk about the past, or he can come clean like Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte. It would be wise for Big Mac to choose the latter and come clean. If he doesn't, its going to be a long year for the Cardinals as Big Mac goes from town to town creating a circus like atmosphere.
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Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes is going to sell his team to the NHL. Does this mean we could see NHL games in Saskatoon. One has to think the NHL will be calling the Ice-Edge group to see if they want the team. That group has said it wants to put a handful of games in Saskatoon. Maybe the Coyotes can wear special "green" jerseys when they play in the Bridge City. Oh wait, someone else took that idea!
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I'm guessing Rich Preston will be getting some calls over the next few days. Its because the Ducks have sent defenceman Luca Sbisa back to the Lethbridge Hurricanes--the team that Preston is the coach and GM of. Sbisa is one of the top blueliners in the WHL and with Lethbridge being a team that is in a rebuilding mode, I can't see him sticking with the Hurricanes. Will Brandon call? Will Calgary call? Will Vancouver call? Would Regina call? Having Sbiza on the back-end with Teubert and Delahey would be nice, but what would you give up. Graham Hood? Alex Pym? I can't see the Pats doing anything to get Sbisa, but you never know. It would certainly have Regina looking very good behind the blue-line and it would have people talking.
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I completely forgot to mention this over the weekend, but guess who was at the Rider game on Saturday night. None other than CFL director of officiating Tom Higgins. When I saw Tom, I thought of two things
1)I wonder what type of reception he got from fans as he walked up the ramps to get to the press box as I'm guessing someone had to recognize him
2)Why is he in Regina? Should he not be at the control center making calls back to whoever when a call is looked at or does he leave Jake Ireland to do that himself. Obviously he does.

Whatever it is, I give credit to Higgins for showing up in Regina one week after having his in-box deluged by angry Rider fans for the controversial John Chick penalty against Calgary.
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The NBA season starts tonight which begs the question. When is the next time I will talk NBA on this blog? Sorry to those who read the blog at the U of R who are fans of the Cougar basketball team. Those that know me know I like the NBA, but I also realize there is not a great love for roundball in this province for whatever reason.
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Brock Lesnar won't fight at UFC 106 because he is sick. The happiest person upon hearing this news is likely the man he was supposed to face--Shane Carwin. Its expected that bout will now happen in early January. There is now talk Lesnar has come down with H1N1, but that isn't confirmed. It means the main event at 106 will now be Tito Ortiz against Forrest Griffin. Yeah, no!
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A baseball message board http://www.baseball-fever.com/ is now debating my Joe Buck-Tim McCarver Yankee bias post from a few days back asking if its true. One guy on that board says Buck would rather root for the Taliban than root for the Yankees. Was he watching the same games I was?
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Gas has gone up again. I wonder how comfy the digs will be for the executives of the oil companies when they reside in Hell.
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Why didn't the CBC break into live programming to inform us the Leafs had won. Oh wait, maybe it was because they were in Anaheim so Toronto fans can wake up this morning only to discover their team has won a hockey game. Start the parade plans now!
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Now that John Cena isn't going to fight Randy Orton anymore, they are putting Orton in a program with Kofi Kingston? Oh goody! By the way, the co-hosts on RAW next week are Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mark Mcguire of the career average .263. In 1991 while playing for Oakland I remember he couldn't buy a basehit. He honestly looked like the second coming of Dave Kingman. Either strikeout or put it out of the park. 1991 he hit .201 and his final year he hit .187. You don't hire HR Hitters as Hitting Coaches, and St Louis is going to find this out.

What is so perplexing is this guy gets a job in MLB after he along with his cohorts practically ruined an era of baseball. However an Old Ball Player by the name of Pete Rose makes one mistake that ended up hurting himself the most, and he sits in exhile for 20 years.

Obama

Anonymous said...

Mcguire better find a can opener because he is about to open up a great big can of worms. If you think people have swept this matter under the carpet, you had better think again Mark.

Parker isn't smart enough to improve his hockey team with quality players so why even mention that. Are you hoping he will read it and a lightbulb goes on.

Anonymous said...

I've already taken time off work and shelled out $1500 to go to Vegas specifically to see Brock Lesnar at UFC 106.
I feel like Iève been just kicked in the nuts!

Mike from Vita, MB said...

Regarding Sbisa, who has room for an import?

Anonymous said...

Mike. Being from Manitoba I don't know how much you know about the Pats, but they could easily rid themselves of Tomas Hricina or Hampus Gustafson to get someone of Sbisa's caliber.


Paul

Tyler said...

UFC - I think Carwin's pretty confident he can beat Lesnar. He's already looking past him. The guy is probably a better striker and I don't think he's gonna get out-wrestled that much. And Forrest-Tito is a completely acceptable main event. Their first fight was incredible. I will show it to you the next time you come over for a UFC night.

WWE - I thought they did an okay job of elevating Kofi last night on Raw. The guy's got charisma and is capable of some exciting stuff. Which probably means he's going to lose to Orton and be sent back down the card.