“The rebuild was obviously helped by the luck of the draft ping-pong balls — Matthews had an 80% shot of wearing another jersey before the hockey gods blessed Toronto. However, the shrewd moves made by the front office pushed the Leafs to the cusp of Stanley Cup contender status, and separate Toronto’s rebuild from less successful attempts by other teams (cough, Buffalo, cough).”
Category: Sports
The 6ix: Poised for Playoff Success?
“This year, Canada’s team is finally forcing America to pay attention, as the Dinos clinched top spot in the Eastern Conference, set a new team record for wins in a regular season, and look like legitimate title contenders. How did the team with the biggest chip on its shoulder go from perennial basement dwellers and league laughing stock to clinching a fifth consecutive playoff spot?”
How March Madness Turned into March Sadness
“Up to the final four, the rest of the tournament was relatively uneventful with the exception of one outlier: the University of Loyola Ramblers. The 11-seed Ramblers somehow kept knocking off formidable foe after formidable foe, including the likes of 6-seed Miami and 3-seed Tennessee.”
A Euro Half-Step in the Right Direction
“Although the All-Star Weekend officially began with the celebrity game on Friday evening, I’m going to pretend it started with the Rising Stars Game that night since only so much analysis can be devoted to Jamie Foxx’s antics and watching out-of-shape ex-NBA players get their yearly workouts in.”
Lewandowski Leaving the Bundesliga?
“A key element to this current success is in the club’s leading goal scorer, Robert Lewandowski. The 29-year-old striker has been named the all-time top scorer for Poland, been ranked as the fifth-best footballer on the planet by the Guardian in 2015, and been a regular contender for the Ballon d’Or in recent years.”
Concussions: A Linguistic Approach
“It seems that the language we use to characterize concussions matters. Case in point: a 2010 study done by researchers at McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario studied 268 children admitted with head injuries who had had computed-tomography (CT) scan results. One of the more surprising things it found was that many parents and clinicians used the term “concussion” to imply the exclusion of a brain injury in the following sense: “He doesn’t have a head injury, he has a concussion.””
Breaking In Some Tie-Breaks
“I have no strong feelings about National Hockey League (NHL) shootouts. On one hand, they remove the intricacies of the sport and leave the outcome in the hands of gimmicks and raw skill, but on the other hand, they let a game end definitively. On another hand, they give a last minute excitement to the game, but on a final hand, 3-on-3 sudden death is more fun. One thing you can say about shootouts is that they are unique. Only soccer, with its penalty kicks, has anything like shootouts.”
Canadian Athletes on the World Stage
“This coming February, viewers should keep their eyes open for a number of stellar Canadian athletes who will be showcasing their talent at the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.”
Northern Uprising
“For our Toronto Raptors, the 2017–18 NBA season has been remarkable. Currently holding the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Raps are playing at a .722%-win percentage, indicative of not only their dominance in the East but also across the entire league.”
2018 NFL Mock Draft
“Offensive players (and more specifically quarterbacks) seem to rule the 2018 class, with big names like Josh Rosen and Baker Mayfield being projected to go very early in the draft.”
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