As you know, the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed John Tavares and have the strongest group of young forwards they’ve had in a very long time. If you put aside age, it’s probably safe to say it’s been 25 years or so since the last time the Leafs had this much talent in their Top …
Category: Sports
50 Years of Misawarding the Conn Smythe
The awarding of the Conn Smythe in 2015 to Duncan Keith felt like a dose of sanity, he was well deserving of it. Unfortunately, since the award’s introduction in the mid ’60s, it hasn’t always been so obvious and oftentimes the writers responsible for voting for the award have picked odd, sometimes even terrible winners. …
The Nihilist Hockey League
I have been a fan of the hockey comedian/commentator Down Goes Brown for some time. I don’t remember when I became aware of him, but it was before he started writing for Grantland. I have appreciated both his comedic takes on what is a very silly league and also his perspective, which often seems to …
Your 2017-2018 Toronto Raptors: Blow it all up?
Every year at this time of year I usually write a recap of the Raptors season. (Before I switched allegiances, it was a Leafs’ recap.) I’m sorry to say I don’t really do this for other people. I know there are actual basketball writers in the world who have actual things to say about Toronto …
Memorial May Madness
My fellow Canadians regularly ask me why I watch March Madness. Usually, I tell them, “It’s the greatest sports tournament in the world” and then I spend a while qualifying that by telling them what I think of the NCAA. (I regret to say, by watching this year’s March Madness on cable, I am indirectly …
Riley Goes to Panorama Mountain Resort, February 3-February 9, 2018
For the past week, I was in the Kootenays, skiing at Panorama Mountain Resort, a place I have wanted to ski at for a very, very long time. (That is true of many ski resorts in North America, however.) I cannot say enough positive things about the resort and I would strongly encourage you to …
Boys Among Men (2016) by Jonathan Abrams
This is a pretty excellent narrative history of the one and only generation of NBA stars to come directly from high school. Though I have one minor quibble, I got over it and, for the most part, it’s probably the definitive book about this topic.
The NHL: 100 Years (2017)
This, the official documentary history of the NHL, is an adequate history of the NHL if you don’t watch hockey and didn’t grow up watching hockey OR you like having the old hockey myths repeated to you by different people than the people who usually told you these myths. As an actual history of the …
RIP Roy Halladay
It’s hard to know what to say when someone famous dies. When it’s a musician or filmmaker, I talk about their work. I can’t do that with sports. Normally, I don’t write blog posts about athletes when I they die, as I don’t feel as close to athletes as I to do artists, it’s just …
Rush (2013, Ron Howard)
This is an odd one at times: Howard plunges us into the racing world of the 1970s with greater context, instead focusing on the contrasting lives of two up and coming drivers. For someone who isn’t a racing fan, this must be really confusing. I was a little lost at first.
Your 2016-2017 Toronto Raptors
At this time of year I usually write a summary of everyone on the Toronto Raptors, their contributions and their shot-comings, and what the team should do going forward. Today, on the occasion of The Raptors getting swept by The Cleveland Cavaliers, I think it’s probably time to blow it all up:
The Art of Fielding (2011) by Chad Harbach
This is an excellent debut novel, featuring a richly constructed world and (mostly) believable characters. It works as both a baseball novel and a college novel. It has been a long time since I cared about characters this much.
Am I Still a Leafs Fan?
As I find myself wrapped up in the success of The Blue Jays so far this playoff, and eagerly awaiting the NBA season, I wonder to myself if I still care about the Maple Leafs, this at a time when there is more legitimate optimism around the team than perhaps there ever has been before …
The Boxing Girls of Kabul (2012, Ariel Nasr)
This TV episode-length documentary concerns a group of girls in Afghanistan who are boxing, and competing internationally. Like any film that focuses on people doing something their community thinks they shouldn’t, this is illuminating. Afghanistan, as a society, obviously doesn’t approve of women boxing (and, at one point, sports in general) and yet these women …
The Barkley Marathons: The Race that Eats its Young (2014, Annika Iltis, Timothy James Kane)
This is a very conventional documentary about one of the craziest races you’ll ever hear about. Not only is it insane (somewhere between 100 and 130 miles in 60 hours, over hills and through the woods) but is run in such a kooky way. Part of the appeal of this film is the sheer accomplishment …
Initial Reactions to the Raptos’ 2016 Draft
I saw a CBC story that claimed Raptors fans (on twitter) were not happy with Toronto’s #9 pick. Some twitter users were unfamiliar with Poeltl because they apparently do not follow college basketball or NBA mock drafts or…maybe they aren’t even actually Raptors fans (but just play them on twitter)? Frankly, if this is the …
Your 2015-2016 Toronto Raptors
Putting aside any disappointments we may feel about those last two games, it must be acknowledged that, by nearly any standard, this was the Greatest Team in Franchise History; the most regular season wins, the most home wins, the most road wins, the most playoff wins… I may have had my expectations raised too high …
Senna (2010, Asif Kapadia)
This is a captivating and engrossing film about Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian Formula One driver who some believe was the greatest driver the sport has ever seen, but who died young, before he might have broken some records. The film does a good job of making us understand why Senna had appeal outside of his …
The Crash Reel (2013, Lucy Walker)
If you have a child (a teenager) who doing or is interested in playing or participating in a sport that involves serious risk of head injury, you should make your child watch this movie. There are lots of moving and penetrating accounts out there of what life is like after a head injury however I …
Conn Smythe Watch 2016
I am watching more playoff hockey this spring than I have probably since the last time the Leafs were in the playoffs. That’s still not as much as I used to watch, but it’s a lot more than than I was watching more recently. And so, for the hell of it, I wanted to see …
Top 33 Maple Leafs Draft Picks of All Time
More than a little while ago now (this past summer), Scott Wheeler (of PPP, etc.) claimed that Mitch Marner might be the most talented hockey player ever drafted by the Maple Leafs. And now that the Leafs have the #1 overall pick for the first time in over 30 years, Marner might be only the …
2015-16 NBA Awards
MVP Curry is
2015-16 NHL Awards
For the second time in as many years, I watched barely any hockey. But that won’t stop me from deciding who was good! I can’t decide whether I am doing this as some kind of self-parody, or just because, really, I want to know who was good, so that I can do better on Sporcle …
Triple Doubles
Draymond Green is two blocks away from being the first player in NBA history to record 1000 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists, 100 steals and 100 blocks in a single season, since steals and blocks were recorded. That’s big news. But I’m fascinated by how close he’s been this year to a triple double: 13.8PPG, …
Does Brenden Morrow Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?
The answer is ‘no,’ obviously, but I like to spend a little time celebrating players I either liked or had a few stellar moments in their careers, even if their careers were not great. Career 265G, 310A for 575P, +107 in 991 games Drafted 25th overall in 1997; 5th in Goals and Points, 7th …
Bow Down Before Alexander the Gr8
Ovechkin is now the 5th fastest to score 500 goals in NHL history. Of the others, Gretzky did it in the ’80s, Bossy mostly did it in the ’80s (and the rest of his goals were scored in the nearly equally high-flying late ’70s) and Hull and Lemieux scored most of their first 500 goals …
Does Hedo Turkoglu Belong in the Basketball Hall of Fame?
Obviously the answer is ‘no,’ but as usual, I want to have a look at his career anyway. Career 15 seasons, 8? quality (by VORP) 11,022 points, 3,971 boards, 299 blocks, 2,832 assists, 750 steals in 26,695 minutes over 997 games 26.9 MPG Per 36: 14.9P, 5,4R, .4B, 3.8A, 1S .426 FG%, .384 3P%, .784FT% …
The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014, Chapman Way, Maclain Way)
This is a sub-30 for 30 quality sports documentary (or low end 30 for 30) that makes up for its lack of film quality with the incredible story of the Portland Mavericks, possibly the most popular single A team of all time and the only independent baseball team of its era. It’s obvious to me …
Does Simon Gagne Belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame?
I missed that Gagne retired on the 15th. So here is my belated post. No, he doesn’t qualify for the Hall on points. Still writing this anyway. Career: 14 seasons, 10 quality 291G, 310A for 601P, +129 in 822 games 82-game average: 29G, 31A for 60P, +13 3-year peak (’05-’08): 40G, 34A for 74P, …
The Armstrong Lie (2013, Alex Gibney)
This is a fascinating film. It began as a documentary about Lance Armstrong’s 2009 comeback attempt but, before it was finished, new allegations emerged about Armstrong’s use of performance-enhancing drugs and the film was eventually altered significantly to focus on the revelations that soon followed. So there are really two movies that have been combined …