Unless there’s an upset of enormous proportions this week, the Brier will not be won by Saskatchewan for the 43rd consecutive year. In the mid-20th century, this would have been even more unimaginable than the Toronto Maple Leafs and their current Stanley Cup drought. Those were the days when Saskatchewan, […]
Bob Dunn – Distant Replay
How being in the sports media gave one writer & broadcaster the opportunity to interview sports personalities he never imagined he’d even meet in places he never imagined he’d be. These will be his stories about their stories — or just about them — from the pages of his past, while working out of Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver in the 60s and 70s.
Spring training was once where baseball players went to get the old body in shape for the 162 games that abuse it. Major leaguer players — much like Canadian football players — had winter jobs to subsidize the family budget, or at least pay the green fees in Florida or […]
For most of my life, I’ve (a) watched (b) covered (c) played this sport, yet I just discovered the real genesis of curling. I mean, the curling that has made the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the Tim Hortons Brier so big, so rich and so professional that “free-agent” curlers […]
Remember when your favourite hockey team’s cap was something that cost $20 to keep the sun out of your eyes in the off-season? Today, having a cap means being a financial expert and/or a lawyer so you can assess how a team can be put together, who can be traded […]
When the National Football League was largely unknown in Canada (one game-of-the-week on TV, period), a friend of mine followed American football studiously. Its most dominant player was Jimmy (later Jim) Brown and, while my friend educated me of his dominance, he always mentioned “Wooten and Hickerson” in the same […]
There has been a lot seen, written and said lately about Harold Ballard, the Toronto Maple Leafs owner who went to hell 30 years ago. We know that’s where he went because that’s what the CBC documentary Offside: Harold Ballard — and everyone who appeared on it — told us, […]
Seeing Madame Beliveau as the Hockey Night in Canada camera found her watching the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday, I was reminded of something her late husband never knew he did. In his lifetime of class and caring, Jean Beliveau helped many people, including me. He […]
Next week, major league baseball writers will announce which player(s), if any, are going to Cooperstown. That’s where the Baseball Hall of Fame is, with a membership probably more exclusive than any yacht club or Augusta National, home of golf’s Masters. Players are dying to get into Cooperstown. In fact, […]
It’s time for a little name dropping: My “cousin” was once one of the top 25 defencemen in hockey — in the world! His name is Bob Chrystal. Let me explain how he’s my cousin, hoping it won’t bore you to tears, or to sleep. My mother’s cousin was married […]
Hockey celebrates its roots every January by playing outdoors — the Winter Classic with its numerous offspring — and by remembering great moments like the New Year’s Eve game (Montreal vs Red Army) in 1975. But what about celebrating Danny Gallivan? It was New Year’s Eve 1950 when hockey’s greatest […]
There’s a tendency when you write about the past — yes, even in Distant Replay — to think people or things were better back in your era. Sometimes they were, sometimes not. The 2002 World Cup final breathed more life into a long-standing debate that’s relatively new to casual sports […]
Ricky Picard would’ve been 63. He was a goalie, playing Midget ‘B’ for a suburban Montreal team. On December 14, 1974, during a practice re-scheduled because a game was forfeited, a teammate fired a puck that deflected off Picard’s glove and struck him in the throat. He couldn’t breathe. “He […]
