C is for CLASS

The World Junior Hockey Championships began on Boxing Day in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with the host country's youngsters opening the tournament with a 16-0 drubbing of Latvia. I don't agree with everything Don Cherry says, but when it comes to issues of class and honour he is spot on. For those who want to know here is a link to Scott Fisher's report of the game on the Toronto Sun website.

Canada, did we really need to light the lamp sixteen times on Latvia? What was the motive: Returning earlier favours to the powerful Latvians? Sending a message to the tiny Baltic nation in case we meet again in the playoff rounds? As if the match was not a forlorn conclusion at 5-0 or 6-0, but sixteen goals?

CBC said "Canada defeats Latvia in style" and includes a picture of Canadian players celebrating in front of Latvia's bench. The Star questions the necessity of the 16-0 scoreline on their website, so there are some people in Canada that question the players need to go over the top. TSN would not except anything less than one goal against, so I neglected to provide a link to their pro-Canadian bias, over-the-top, fate of the world at stake reporting of the 16-0 'thumping'...?

I couldn't help it; I had to include it.

Going back to what I said earlier, Don Cherry acknowledges the presence of 'the karma of the game' and 'hockey gods'. When scores such as 16-0 or 82-0 (see Women's Hockey: Slovakia vs Bulgaria) take place, the gods have a way of administering payback in future games, if not the next game. Dear Canada, when you are down 1-0 and hitting post after post to a team that took only one shot on net, remember this day.

Sixty Seven: Trials and Tribulations of a Leafs Fan

My boss is a Bruins fan, and Monday was the first day of work since my Leafs beat his Bruins 2-0 in a regular season game on Saturday. My new co-worker is a Leafs fan as well, but he loves to rub things like this in. I used to do that, but when I realized Leafs fans like me did similar things since '67, I stopped (almost).

Is this our existence? Is this the end for us? Will we end up like our beleaguered baseball brothers forced to live out our lives paired on random benches spouting cliches about days gone by such as...

"Joe Carter worked for peanuts, LITERALLY worked for peanuts!"

"Who scored that goal in '93? Was it McDonald?" "Borschevsky." "Who?" "BORSCHEVSKY!" "Never heard of him..."

"This will be the Cubs year..."

When I move out, I'm changing teams...

(Special thanks to "TheMadHockeyBlogger" and "beachdust" from the Youtube community for video credits)

Step on a Stepbrother?

(But she's so pretty! I mean the other women look like they lost a fight with a 'two by four'... Oops!)

I haven't updated my blog in awhile. The last month at work was hectic, and I did not have lots of time and energy to spend on The Franchise. While I have a spare moment, I decided to talk about this month's current hot topic.

Since 1997, my stepbrother, whom my Mom claimed as her 'pride and joy' until recently, won every title imaginable. I believed Tiger Woods was the yardstick by which Mom measured my accomplishments, so it was easy to feel in second place. His greatest accomplishment on a golf course, which is his U.S. Open victory in 2007, remains the most remarkable individual sporting moment I ever saw; what is more incredible is that he played better golf on one leg than most if not all golfers in the world on two. Nevertheless, Tiger Woods was 'everything my Mom ever wanted in a son', until...

It would be easy to harp on Tiger after recent news of his infidelity drove the #1 golfer to playing his home golf course in the still of night. I am disappointed not just because a man cheated on his wife and kids, thus crippling the family unit, but another one of my heroes went out like a villain.

Keep in mind Tiger was once 'everything my Mom ever wanted in a son', so excuse me for not celebrating my return to the good graces of my Momzo. Tiger's story is similar to that of many young men in this world: How many young men with money, fame, power, ability, or intellect ever heard the world tell them 'No'? Nothing is impossible for us, and when we are successful the world is our biggest fan. There are examples of this everywhere: Asking for our autographs, shaking our hands, sliding a free drink down to us at the local, and as Frank Herzog of 'Skins radio fame said in an interview "giving us all the goodies - even the cocaine", or the women.

Whether we are athletes, analysts, prognosticators or die-hard fans, each of us have a duty to each other and to those we hold dear to keep things in perspective and not fall victim to the hype around our money, fame, power, ability, or intellect. After all, when those things go away, character is all you have to your name and that never goes out of style.

Happy Holidays

This is Phil Wood from The Franchise wishing all my readers a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for your support in 2009, and best wishes to you and yours in 2010.

UEFA: Pony Up

No, I'm not talking about that debacle in France, I'm talking about the 1973 Cup Winners' Cup Final between AC Milan and Leeds United. While the match ended 1-0 in favour of the Italian giants, everyone who witnessed it will remember it as referee Christos Michas' last day.

1. Referee Christos Michas took bribes throughout his career as a soccer referee.
2. Referee Christos Michas took bribes for that game.
3. Referee Christos Michas admitted in court he took bribes for that game.
4. AC Milan, who realized referee Christos Michas was on the take, took advantage of the non-calls and went after Leeds United players with cheap tackles and cheap shots.
5. With the match held in Greece, neutral spectators yelled "cheat" from the stands as the match continued.

I know it is impossible to replay the match as the players involved retired or passed on, and taking medals away from AC Milan would not be right. However, awarding Leeds Utd a champions' medal after the fact would be a gesture of good faith, and show that 'No, UEFA is not an ivory tower establishment'.

Don't believe me? Look at this, and then THIS!

UEFA, do the right thing: Give Leeds their due.

The Iverson Identity

He entered the NBA with all the pro basketball opportunities of a twenty-one year old Allen Iverson, and today he left the NBA with the pro basketball opportunities of a thirty-four year old Allen Iverson.

When Iverson announced his retirement from basketball early this November, I thought about Allen Iverson: The Answer, No.3, The Man. I felt disappointed to say the least, because when this young sophomore left Coach Thompson's Georgetown Hoyas I believed he would assume the role of 'heir apparent', not unlike Grant Hill, Kobe, and now Lebron James.

Here are his career numbers brought to you by Wikipedia.

If I could ask Iverson one question it would be "What is the Iverson legacy?" Of course there are the individual accolades: MVP 2001, Rookie of the Year 1997, 10x All-Star, 4x NBA Scoring Champion. Amidst these accomplishments, Iverson guided the Sixers to the NBA Finals only once in 2001. Perhaps it was bad timing, or a mix of Shaq, Kobe, Coach Phil Jackson, and the Lakers, but the dream of championship glory remained unfulfilled. I held to the conviction that this would not be the end for Iverson: He had the talent, the teammates, the coach in Larry Brown. Iverson had...the answers!

The 2001 NBA Finals were not the end, but they were the climax. A public fallout with Coach Larry Brown, less than spectacular playoff performances afterwards, and a press conference meltdown over "Practice", a bronze medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and short tenures with three different NBA teams later, Iverson is unemployed, unwanted, and out of basketball. Even in Memphis, I expected Iverson to comeback and fulfill the promise, but the Grizzlies are to basketball players what St. Helena was to Napoleon.

No, it can't end like this, I thought, not this way.

Alas, it did this November. Allen Iverson retired from basketball: The promise unfulfilled, the question unanswered.

THE IRISH JOB

I had to wait a week for fervour to die down before posting my reaction to last week's World Cup qualifying mishap between Ireland and France. For those who don't know, here is what happened...

Immediately, two things crossed my mind

1) Excuses, excuses...

What is the diameter of the ball? What wide is the net? What is the format of this leg of the competition (Home-and-Home series, 2nd leg)? How much time elapsed since the start of the game? How much more time is left on the clock, and with that in mind how did both teams manage the clock to that point? Within the space of a week Youtube videos, Facebook groups, and online petitions focused on this five second play with almost no mention of the previous two hours of soccer action (minus Ireland's away goal that forced extra-time) as if what happened before and after never happened.

This was not the greatest non-call in sports history. This was not on the same scale as "No Goal" in 1999, "Denkinger's boner" in 1985, or even the FIRST "Hand of God" play from the 1986 World Cup. Ireland had TWO nights against the SAME opponent, which was weak compared to previous World Cup teams from France, to score but a SMALL ball into a BIG net, and in two hundred and ten minutes of game play only managed it ONCE.

Was France offside before the free kick? Yes.
Did Thierry Henry guide the ball back into play with his hand? Yes.
Did Ireland lose as a direct result of that play? Yes.
Did the referee and linesmen fail to catch all of these infractions? Yes; I get all of these.

However, given all the opportunities provided for Ireland to return to the World Cup for the first time since 1994, did Ireland win when it mattered and not rely on one five second event to make/spoil their entire qualifying campaign? The answer: _____

2) It's show business OR The FIFA circular file

I was writing for a half-hour on this subject alone, and I realized I was giving this more time than I should. Therefore, I decided on a more direct approach:

"It's show business"

Millions of people all over the world want to see Christiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, and Andrei Arshavin in the pre-eminent global competition; that is why UEFA 'hand picked' Portugal to play Bosnia, France to play Ireland, and Russia to play Slovenia (oh well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad). According to Wikipedia, these are the final standings of the group stages for World Cup qualification from Europe.

This is not the first time soccer referees and confederations got it wrong, but the reply to each of these occurrences is the same: Shrug, deny the existence of wrongdoing, put complaint(s) in soccer's circular file. However, in the event authorities do catch up with corrupt referees, confederations do the honourable thing with their previous employers: Cut and run. Don't believe me, does the name Christos Michas ring a bell? Check Wikipedia, too!

Soccer is like the lottery: We know something smells fishy, but when we're hungry we go to fridge.