John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

An Olympic video diary from St. John's

A young fellow named Chris Wheeler has been travelling the country as the Oympic torch relay winds its way to Vancouver. You can follow the progress here, on the Travel With The Olympic Torch YouTube channel. Click below to see his video post of Friday's tour through St. John's.

Jersey boys

Here's a list of the worst and best hockey jerseys in the NHL. Guess which one the Canadiens' stripey anniversary ones fall into?

A thought on hockey night, in Canada or otherwise

"I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out."
- Rodney Dangerfield

A thought on sports

"Sports is like a war without the killing."
- Ted Turner 

If kids yelled back at parents

We've all seen them: the parents who like to give their lungs a workout while their kids are playing sports, and could very well be giving their kids a complex. I love this Little League video, which turns the tables nicely.

Serena Williams, and conversational problems

Serena Williams is still making waves with Saturday's spectacular outburst at a U.S. Open semi-final, in which she unleashed a series of threats and expletives against the judge who called a foot fault. The video below includes an annotation of what witnesses heard; the audio recordings have not been good, but the reports have been consistent.

Immediately after the set, which Williams lost to unseeded player Kim Clijsters, who would go on to win the women's final, Williams was in character: 

"An apology? For what? How many people yell at linespeople?" 

As for the judge to whom Williams apparently said, "I'll kill you," Williams said, "I don't know why [the lineswoman] said she felt threatened. I've never been in a fight in my life." Williams also said she could not even remember what she had said.

The incident, of course, was more than a weekend sports story; videos of the tirade have blown over the web, prompting a viral phenomenon. In the world of tennis, where, you know, stars are not supposed to threaten to kill line judges, this is not good form.

So, Williams is out and about this week, to salvage her reputation - or, to use a marketing word, her brand. This part of a CNN interview amused me:

"It was a really tough point in the match and it was really close and got a really tough call that wasn't the correct call, and, you know, things got a little heated and I had a conversation with the line judge that didn't go so well." [My emphasis]

I think all parties would agree it didn't so well, either.

Nor was it, really, much of a conversation.

The quick wit of Muhammad Ali

The Guardian publishes today a list of some of the things Muhammad Ali has said over the years. My favourite, from 1960, when Cassius Clay was in a segregated restaurant:

On being told "We don't serve negroes"

I don't eat them, either. Just give me a cup of coffee and a hamburger.

The rest of the feature is here.

A thought on habits

"Winning is a habit. Unfortunately so is losing."
- Vince Lombardi

Ribald hockey boxers on sale at the CBC Shop

While I know from first-hand experience that some people at the CBC can crack a naughty pun, that kind of stuff doesn't get on the airwaves too much. Certainly, anyway, you don't expect to see ribald boxers at the CBC Shop.

A colleague snapped these for me at the shop in the Broadcast Centre.

"He shoots, he scores!" Indeed. And how about this one, about "High sticking"?

Hmmm! As my colleague put it, "At least they didn't have a pair that said 'Pullin' the goalie!' "

Incidentally, neither of this items appears to be listed in the online catalogue for the CBC shop. (Maybe some people are aroused by Nature of Things Tees. Who knows.) If you're in Toronto, you can check out the store by the Front Street address.

An 'impossible result,' except that it happened

I had read yesterday about how long-shot Mine That Bird won the Kentucky Derby, but I hadn't seen until just now by how much. (The "impossible result" comes from the gobsmacked commentary you'll hear.)

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