Murphy’s Mailbag: Who were your favourite players as a kid?

Sportsnet's Dan Murphy spoke to Vancouver Canucks head coach Travis Green about the NHL's season suspension and why it feels eerily similar to the 1994 NHL lockout.

Well you can certainly tell it’s been about three weeks since our last NHL game because the questions for this mailbag had nothing to do with the Canucks! Except the one concerning one of their defenceman’s ears.

Can confirm that Chris Tanev’s ear is healing nicely, although there does appear to be a little bit of cauliflower to it.

I also asked Chris how Riley (his pug) was enjoying quarantine with people home all the time.

I didn’t think I could like Riley any more, but here we are.

Okay, I’m just going to rank the top five movies that my seven-year-old daughter Marlowe and I have watched during quarantine so far. So this is definitely not my list of best ever. I’m also open to suggestions (please!). Soon we will be watching The Wizard of Oz, James and the Giant Peach, Babe, The Princess Bride and Hook. And if this goes on for months, then I’m guessing the Harry Potter series is in the picture.

With that said, here’s the best we’ve (my ranking only) watched so far since lockdown:

The Greatest Showman
Goonies
Despicable Me
Coco
Frozen
Coraline
Night at the Museum
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.
.
.
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Pup Star

Hmmm, I guess I’d have to say In Flames because I have yet to see them in concert and their library is better overall that GWAR (in my opinion). That said I did go to GWAR at the Commodore Ballroom back in 2009 and the show was fun as heck. Keep in mind frontman David Brockie (Oderus Urungus) and lead guitar Cory Smoot (Flattus Maximus) were both alive then and they rocked. I mean come on, check out this Halloween performance on Fallon a while back. Genius.

I like this question and I recall doing something similar on Twitter a while back.

Hockey: Ken Dryden (Loved goalies and the Habs were always on.)
Baseball: Tim Raines
Basketball: Shawn Kemp
Football: Steve Largent
Tennis: John McEnroe (my fave of all growing up)
Golf: Greg Norman or Fred Couples

Side note to this concerning baseball: When the video game RBI Baseball came out in 1987 I adopted the Minnesota Twins as a “second” favourite baseball team (after the Expos, of course) and so I became a fan of a few of their players for the mere fact I was always the Twins when I played that game. Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, Frank Viola and of course that noted reliever Senor Smoke Juan Berenguer.

YES! Right at the start of lockdown my wife got an Insta Pot for her birthday and I’ve actually put it to good use. My wife is an amazing cook and loves to cook so she’s usually happy to take care of dinner, but I’ve taken the reins a few times since quarantine started. Soy glazed pork ribs/pulled pork sandwiches with home made BBQ sauce and avocado slaw/rich beef, vegetable and potato stew have all been very good. Looking at Vietnamese Brisket Tacos and Chicken tortilla soup next.

I am not a fisherman and don’t pretend to be one. Fishing to me is going on a boat and crushing some cold drinks in the sun for a few hours. Someone needs to set the lines and yell “fish on” and then I’ll attempt to reel it in. Don’t come at me for a 5:00 a.m. start or if it’s monsoon season. I’m soft when it comes to fishing. So I don’t know which one of these former Canucks I would pick. So I asked them. And only BMO got back to me prior to deadline. I can guarantee you Willie didn’t…because he was fishing.

This is a complicated question. First off, I don’t like tomatoes. I’m not saying I like all other foods, but I can choke them down if need be (like at a dinner party and I don’t want to be rude. I’m talking to you Eggplant Lasagna). But I draw the line at a big slice of tomato.

Here’s where things get weird. I like fresh salsa and tomato sauce (if there aren’t big chunks of the devil’s fruit in there). So if you’re asking how much money I would demand to eat a big tomato like an apple? Would it have to stay down? Because I’m not sure there is a number. I could probably pop a cherry tomato down my neck without having to chew it. And if I’m being honest here, John Shorthouse tried to pay me $50 to eat a big slice of tomato on the Canucks plane a handful of years back and I almost went through with it. Like the tomato was pretty much in my mouth. I quickly took it out and said something to the effect of, “I’m an adult, I don’t need to do this for 50 dollars.” There is video of this incident. Shorthouse has it. But if he was to tweet it then everyone would know his burner account.

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