Too many on the field on the final play of the Grey Cup? I honestly didn’t think that was possible. I feel sick for the Riders and their loyal fans. But hats off to Anthony Calvillo and the Als for pulling off the win in the Grey Cup.
I was thrilled to see some of my favourite people in sports (Ben Cahoon, Brian Chiu, Scott Flory and Anwar Stewart) get another ring for their respective trophy cases. And now on to this week’s questions.
Name: Ryan
Comment:
Hi Jim, so I just won a contest from work. The prize is that I get $4,000 to go anywhere in the world and bring as many people as I want. Any suggestions?
Answer:
Hi Ryan, it all depends what you’re into. If you love to party, I would highly recommend spending a couple days in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The pub crawl along George Street is something every Canadian should experience at least once in their life.
If you are a sports freak like I suspect you are, then you need to log on to the website www.roadtrips.com. There you can follow the links and check out the pricing for the different events.
For $1,575, you can go to the BCS Championship game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
For the very reasonable price of $1,545, you can take in the Stanley Cup final.
For just over $4,000, you can go to the Super Bowl in Miami.
I have been lucky enough to cover both the Stanley Cup final and the Super Bowl and they are both incredible events to experience live. One of the items on my “bucket list” is to attend a World Cup of Soccer match. If you can swing it, I would try to find a way to get to South Africa and take in something like an Italy-Brazil match. I am not sure if you’re into to this kind of thing, but female Brazilian soccer fans pride themselves on wearing next to nothing when they go to games.
Name: Richard
Comment:
Hi Jim,
Thanks for sharing Man Law No. 3 last week (thou shalt not bring a camera to a bachelor party). Would it be possible for you to publish a list of the Man Laws for the uninformed — or totally clueless, in my case?
Answer:
Richard, I am the Wayne Gretzky of being clueless. So don’t feel bad. This has been something I have researched and investigated for most of my adult life. Here’s a list of the key laws that every man should know. Some excerpts:
– Under no circumstances may two men share an umbrella.
– It is ok for a man to cry ONLY under the following circumstances:
a. When a heroic dog dies to save its master.
b. The moment Angelina Jolie starts unbuttoning her blouse.
c. After wrecking your boss’s car.
d. One hour, 12 minutes, 37 seconds into “The Crying Game”.
– Any Man who brings a camera to a bachelor party may be legally killed
and eaten by his buddies.
– Unless he murdered someone in your family, you must bail a friend out
of jail within 12 hours.
– If you’ve known a guy for more than 24 hours, his sister is off-limits forever unless you actually marry her.
– Moaning about the brand of beer in a buddy’s fridge is forbidden. However complain at will if the temperature is unsuitable.
– No man shall ever be required to buy a birthday present for another
man. In fact, even remembering your buddy’s birthday is strictly
optional.
– On a road trip, the strongest bladder determines pit stops, not the
weakest.
– When stumbling upon other guys watching a sporting event, you may ask
the score of the game in progress, but you may never ask who’s playing.
– Thou shalt not buy a car in the colours of brown, pink, lime green, orange or sky blue.
– The girl who replies to the question “What do you want for Christmas?” with “If you loved me, you’d know what I want!” gets an Xbox. End of story.
Name: Chris
Comment:
How long will it take for the Leafs to name their next captain?
Answer:
Chris, that’s a tough question. In a perfect world, Luke Schenn was supposed to develop into the next great defensive defenceman in the NHL and he would have been handed the “C.” Right now, there’s no one on the Leafs who would be a good captain. Maybe Brian Burke can sign someone in the off-season that would be worthy of wearing the “C” in Toronto.
Name: Chris
Comment:
Sup Clubber. Hope all is well. Which Sportsnet personality spends the most time on personal grooming (hair, makeup, etc)?
Answer:
Hi Chris, what up pimp? That’s the easiest question anyone has ever asked me. This one is not even close, no one at Sportsnet spends more time working the hair product and getting his “look” just right than Daren Millard. There’s a clause in everyone’s contract at Sportsnet that strictly forbids anyone from touching his hair. The unwritten rule at work is that you have to get into the makeup room before Millard, because everyone knows that once he gets there, the dude is going to be there forever. You know what I’m saying?
 The New York Jets weight room. |
I had to take a break from the questions to share this with the readers. I was in New Jersey last week doing some sitdown interviews with Rex Ryan and a number of the Jets players. While I was there I snapped this shot of the Jets weight room in their new $75-million state-of-the-art practice facility. After talking to a few of the players, running back Thomas Jones gets my vote for the member of the Jets who makes the most quality use of the weight room.
Name: Dale B.
Comment:
Hi Jim, did Pat Sajak play semi-pro hockey before his career as a game-show host?
Regards,Dale
Answer:
Hi Dale. I believe you’re thinking of Gord Salt, he was a centre of the Toledo Goaldiggers of the IHL back in the early ’80s. Pat Sajak actually spent over a year in Vietnam in the late ’60s as a deejay for U.S. Armed Forces radio. And yes, legend has it he started every day by saying, “Good morning, Vietnam.”
Name: Ron
Comment:
Hey Jim, so much of our sports that are shown on TV are very N.A. with NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB leading the way. In recent years Football (Soccer) has become more accepted in N.A., what sports are missing that are big elsewhere in your opinion? I personally like Hurling in Ireland, any other great sports out there that we don’t see often enough?
Answer:
Hi Ron, good call on Irish Hurling. There are a lot of great sports we don’t get to see enough of. I am huge fan of weightlifting and it bothers me that the only time we see international competitions is every four years at the Olympics. I would love to see Sportsnet carry the world amateur wrestling championships as well. Carol Huynh’s gold medal-winning performance at the 2008 Olympics was one of my personal highlights of the Beijing games.
Name: Brian
Comment:
Again we continue to hear all about the Leafs. Who really cares about the Leafs except Sportsnet because that is all they write about? There are 5 other Canadian teams with fans as well so get over your love affair with Burke and the TML. I think I need a Gravol.
Answer:
Brian, let me take a wild guess and say you’re from out West? Let me put it this way, in the wake of last week’s blog, I was overwhelmed with e-mails from disgruntled and frustrated Leaf fans. In fact, I could have published a three-part mail-bag blog on nothing but Leaf questions. My advice to you is to load up on the Gravol, because all those questions about what’s wrong with the Leafs will never go away.
Name: Tim from Flin Flon
Comment:
Hey Jim, the Flin Flon Bombers are having their best season since hosting the Royal Bank Cup in 2001. This past weekend, they beat the Weyburn Red Wings, who are ranked No. 7 in the country, 12-1 and 2-1. Now they have nearly identical records, but Flin Flon obviously was the better of the two teams. They also have a way better GF/GA ratio. However, Weyburn maintained their No. 7 ranking and Flin Flon didn’t appear in the top 20. What gives?
Answer:
Tim, I have to be perfectly honest with you, I have no concrete answer to this question. I just wanted to include the question because anyone I have ever met from Flin Flon has been totally righteous. Besides, with studs like Mike Rey and Devin Mitzner, Weyburn doesn’t stand a chance against the Bombers.
That’s all for this week, keep the questions rolling in.