There is one sector of the population I can't stand more than any one else: the Learjet liberal set. These trillionaire moral betters who claim they will change the world even if it means spending every last buck of your money to do it.
Michael Bloomberg had a town hall recently and was asked why he flew private, even though private jets are a huge spewer of carbon emissions (they're still bad, right?). His answer? To try and rid the world of coal jobs. He also hinted at the fact that because he's Michael Bloomberg, he's too important to fly with the commoners because he doesn't want to trouble the airlines. Makes me sick – these are the types of people who like to lecture you about carbon offsets for air travel but don't mind them when they fly trans-Atlantic to Davos for their latest conference on carbon neutrality.
Anyway ...
The emergency back-ups stay!
Thank goodness some sort of sanity prevailed at the recent NHL general managers meetings in Boca Raton, Florida (do they always pick Boca Raton?)
If you were paying attention, you would have seen – and heard – that the GMs were considering tinkering with the emergency back-up goaltender rule, the same rule which allowed David Ayres to become a folk hero to many. It's the feel-good story of the year and the threat of someone else not getting their 15 minutes was very real earlier this month.
At issue was whether the system is working i.e. are these guys really worth the trouble of having around the arena? You know, I have a sneaky suspicion Kyle Dubas, GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, earmarked this into the agenda. After all, it was Ayres who burned the Maple Leafs in his now-legendary appearance with the Carolina Hurricanes.
So the GMs talked about it and after going around the table, all 31 of them decided to not monkey around with the emergency back-up goaltender rule as it stands. Right now, each home team is required to have someone in the building to serve as a stopgap, available to either team, should the opportunity arise.
Apparently, there wasn't a problem with it. Of course there isn't because in the history of the National Hockey League, there have been a grand total of two – two! – people who have been pressed into duty: Ayres and Scott Foster, who became a member of the Chicago Blackhawks for one night in 2018. The system is just fine and why this was even a topic of conversation is beyond me.
Again, this was Dubas probably whining because his team lost to a 42-year-old Zamboni driver.
Only the beginning
The 2020 Major League Baseball season is going to be a rough one for the Houston Astros, or Asterisks, as I like to call them now. And I'm being kind when I say rough.
Spring training is on right now and some players are already having some fun at Houston's expense, such as Trevor Bauer of the Cincinnati Reds. The reds played the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 1 and Bauer decided to have a little fun by giving some of the Dodgers' batters a hint at what he was going to throw. Matt Beaty of the Dodgers was a fun at-bat to watch as Bauer showed him every pitch he was going to throw.
Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs was another who took a veiled shot at the Asterisks while mic'ed up for a game late last month. Rizzo was talking with someone from ESPN during an at-bat and, when asked what he was expecting from a pitcher, he said he didn't know and asked for someone to bang for him. The reference is to how Astros players would bang on a garbage can to indicate what pitches were coming after they stole the signs using a camera in centre field.
I haven't looked forward to a Major League Baseball season in many years but this one is going to be so much fun to watch. Only problem is I wish I could get to a ballpark where the Astros were playing if only to see how bad it gets. Yes, I am all about schadenfreude. Schadenfreude and I are best friends.
And finally …
Good Idea: Praising a finger roll by Kyle Kuzma.
Bad Idea: Doris Burke of ESPN praising a finger roll by Kyle Kuzma with a sprinkle of saltiness.
Doris Burke is one play-by-play announcer I can actually stomach. Not only is she knowledgeable about the sport she's commentating on – basketball – she is prepared and does her homework.
She's also from an Irish Catholic family in New Jersey so you know she can dine with royalty and hang with the trucker set all at the same table. The hug-to-swearing ratio in a family like that is something like 50:1 and take it from me – I grew up with a Catholic grandfather. I know every dirty joke there is to know.
Burke was on the call when the Los Angeles Lakers took on the New Orleans Pelicans on March 1. Kyle Kuzma of the Lakers executed a very nice lay-up on a drive and Burke was a fan of it. So much so that it sounds like she enjoyed it a bit too much as she may have dropped an extra word in there to describe it, one which sounds an awful lot like trucking.
Go and have a listen and see what you think. To me, it sounds like she's saying it. Others are trying to cover for her and claim she said "looking" but you keep on believing that. Burke said it and that's that. The legend that is Doris Burke just continues to grow.
Until next time, folks …