Day 104: The Sandy Sports Page

originally published April 13, 2012 I thought I’d found a goldmine with today’s Wiki-selection. “Beach sports” could be such a fascinating topic, a tome of strange and fascinating goings-on from around the world, a stash of quirky time-killers employed by those fortunate enough to live in much warmer, much more awesome places than I. Unfortunately, […]

Day 94: Mitch Williams & The Agony Of Defeat

originally published April 3, 2012 As we all know, it is mandated by law that every American boy grows up dreaming of wanting to play professional baseball, just as it is written that every Canadian boy must dream of becoming a professional hockey player. As a lifelong rule-breaker, I instead grew up with aspirations of […]

Day 59: The A-Z List Of Defunct Sports Franchises

originally published February 28, 2012 A – Philadelphia Athletics (1860-1876) – This team, which bears no relation to today’s Oakland team, finished with a record of .500 or greater for all but its final year in the National League. In 1876 they were horrible, and at one point refused to head out west for a […]

Day 52: Forgotten Sports – From Finger Jousting To Chessboxing

originally published February 21, 2012 Sometimes we as a society allow ourselves to become complacent, inviting certain repeated activities into our lives almost rut-like, ignoring fresh ideas and innovation. I’m talking about the sports world today. We see enough hockey, enough baseball, enough football… we see some curling, and that’s more than enough. What about […]

Day 41: Trevor “The Punching Boxer Guy” Berbick

originally published February 10, 2012 I could have been a boxer. Of course, this would have necessitated a completely different childhood from the one I experienced, probably in a different city with different parents and a more gritty urban soundtrack playing as a dismal grey rain pierced through the neon glow of a dingy street […]

Day 30: The Sunken Scandals Of Ireland’s Swimming Past

originally published January 30, 2012 This morning started out beautifully. For school, I had written a short script for a Greatest American Hero video game, as well as another video game snippet in which you play the fast-food cashier who must contend with Clara Peller’s demands of “Where’s the beef?”. I was feeling creative, feeling […]

Day 15: Football – And Not That Kick-The-Spotted-Ball Kind Of Football

originally published January 15, 2012 Every so often it seems that Wikipedia’s Random Article generator has a sense of humor. She has sent me to three consecutive pages about uninhabited regions of Antarctica, flooded my brain with a seemingly unending stream of international soccer players and track athletes, and today she decided to turn topical. […]

Day 11: The Twisted Circus Of NBA Mascots

originally published January 11, 2012 Today’s column will be rather photo-heavy, not because I’m trying to cheat my word-count (the whole “one picture is worth a thousand words” adage has come to mind before, and I have to say, I like the math), but because I’m going to be discussing a topic many people aren’t […]