Keeping Score: Has Tiger's ex found a hockey player?
T
he folks who aren't CBC blew it Friday as they attempted to cover the men's shot put competition at the London Olympics. The CTV/TSN coverage team featured Gord Miller, who talks far too much, Michael Smith, who talks too much and repeats himself, and Dave Moorcroft, who provided little in the way of meaningful information. . . . The competition featured two Canadians - Dylan Armstrong and Justin Rodhe, both of whom live and train in Kamloops. . . . In the qualifying round that began at 2 a.m., Miller got off on the wrong foot when said Rodhe was in the circle when it actually was Ralf Bartels of Germany. . . . It didn't get much better from there. . . . Rodhe didn't qualify after fouling on all three throws; however, his third throw may have qualified him without the foul. Unfortunately, the camera left Rodhe before he fouled and there wasn't a replay available, or, at least, none was shown. . . . As for Armstrong, he qualified with a throw that, like his first two, went to the left side of the landing area and, in fact, appeared to be in the grid by only a couple of feet. . . . Later, interviewer Arash Madani didn't ask Armstrong about all three throws going left. . . . Might it have had anything to do with an injury to his right (throwing) elbow that bothered him in the spring? . . . Who knows? The announcers never mentioned the injury. . . . Armstrong had nine throws during the day and every one went well to the left. . . . Still, no one mentioned the elbow injury. . . . Miller told us repeatedly that Armstrong had missed a medal in Beijing by one centimetre. . . . Smith repeatedly talked about blocking out with the left side and slamming a door. He badly needed a computer-generated image (CGI) or two to help explain himself. . . . As well, the top two finishers were the only gliders in the 12-man final field. Some CGI work could have helped explain the pros and cons of sliding and spinning. . . . Armstrong, who never once looked comfortable, finished fifth. Shortly after the event ended, James Mirtle, a Kamloops lad who writes for The Globe and Mail, tweeted: "Armstrong puts brave face on another near miss of podium. Says elbow issue did slow him down and may need surgery." . . . That would be the elbow issue that wasn't mentioned by the telecast crew which would seem to have blown a major story. . . .
Be honest now. When you think of the Olympic Summer Games you think of badminton teams throwing matches, don't you? . . . Not playing to win? Sheesh! If some of the MLB teams that held fire sales this week were governed by the IOC, they'd be gone for a year or more. . . . Here's part of an obituary that appeared in the Massena, N.Y., Daily Courier-Observer: "Marylou Cunningham Belles of Bethel, CT died July 13th, 2012, after giving cancer the finger for 27 years. . . . She was also a lifelong NY Mets fan though surprisingly, that wasn't what killed her." . . . Adam Proteau, a columnist at The Hockey News, with a timely tweet: "IOC wants people not to tweet Olympic results. They also want Internet message boards to be a place of respect, & NBA stars to act shy." . . .
In case you missed it, Jordyn Wieber of the U.S., the reigning world women's gymnastics champ, didn't get into the final round at the Olympics this week. That happened despite her finishing fourth overall in qualifying and ahead of 20 women who got into the final. IOC rules allow just two competitors per country into the medal round. . . . Only in the Olympics, kids, only in the Olympics! . . . Outfielder Tyson Gillies of Kamloops will start a rehab session in Clearwater, Fla., this weekend. Gillies was suspended by the Philadelphia Phillies last month after a run-in with a bus driver while with the Class AA Reading Phillies. At the time, Gillies, who has a history of hamstring problems, had just re-injured a leg. . . . It is expected that he will be reinstated once he is healthy. . . .
Boris Johnson is the mayor of London. He has written a newspaper column espousing 20 reasons "to feel cheerful about the Games." Here is No. 19: "As I write these words there are semi-naked women playing beach volleyball in the middle of the Horse Guards Parade. They are glistening like wet otters . . . the whole thing is magnificent and bonkers." . . . As Len Berman of ThatsSports.com put it: "Isn't that what the Olympics people had in mind when they came up with this sport? Semi-naked, wet otters and bonkers?" . . .
A question from R.J. Currie over at SportsDeke.com: "If Disney were to sponsor IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti, would his accidents be called Franchitti-Chitti-Bang-Bangs?" . . . One more note from Currie: "The Associated Press reports Utah wildlife officials are concerned for the safety of a man dressed as a goat in a herd of goats. I kid you not." . . . It seems that Elin Nordegren, the ex-Mrs. Tiger Woods, and Douglas Murray, a defenceman with the San Jose Sharks who didn't, uhh, score all last season, are an item. The Swedish newspaper Expressen reported earlier this week that they were seen canoodling in a Stockholm nightclub. He's 33; she's 32. . . . He's worth a few million; she's worth about $100 million. . . .
It's time for the Kamloops Sports Council to come up with a Good Guy/Gal of the Year Award, and allow me to nominate Tony Parker as the inaugural winner. Whether it's high school sports, senior men's fastball or the Kamloops Broncos or a myriad of other things, no one does more to make sure information gets reported. Thanks, T.P. . . . The Centre Daily Times reports that Dottie Sandusky has said her husband, convicted child molester and ex-Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, is "not who they say he is." Which got this response from the Seattle Times' Dwight Perry: "So where's Dennis Green when you really need him?" . . .
Old friend Janice Hough, aka The Left Coast Sports Babe, was paying attention when the flag faux pas - the South Korean flag was displayed on a scoreboard while the North Korean women's soccer team was being introduced - hit the London Games. "It's times like this," she noted, "I really miss Sarah Palin." . . . Here's The Babe again: "Penn State penalties are supposed to show that no college football program is above the 'law.' And one of the first casualties for the Nittany Lions is the possibility the team's leading rusher will end up at USC - in the Trojans' first year, after sanctions made them bowl ineligible." . . . Indeed, Silas Redd has left Penn State for USC. College footballers as free agents? Now that's a novel idea. Next thing you know, college players will have agents. What's that? They already have agents. Shhhhh. . . . One more from The Babe: "At the London Olympic Games, bettors can place wagers on everything from it raining every day to UFO sightings. But the real longshot bet is whether NBC will show any meaningful event live." . . .
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, tweeting after a signing by the Toronto Maple Leafs: "The Leafs have signed Mark Fraser, and it's too bad they traded Keith Aulie away. Otherwise could have had defence pair of Aulie-Fraser." . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: "Now that Mitt Romney practically turned himself into an Olympic event just by showing up in London, you wonder what happens if he gets himself elected and gets to sit down with one of those Putins." . . . One more from Lupica: "There was a lot of fun stuff in the Opening Ceremony, but I'm not going to lie: They started to lose me at the Industrial Revolution." . . .
After the late Joe Paterno's family said it would hold its own investigation into the Penn State mess, Greg Cote of the Miami Herald wrote: "Yeah, and I hear Nixon's kids are going to take another look at Watergate." . . . Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, writing from London after going for a walk and stepping off a curb: "I've been to England before, I know they drive on the wrong side. But tell my brain. I heard a LOUD horn, knew instantly what I'd done wrong, executed a graceful spin and leapt back onto the sidewalk, just as a bus highballed past at about 850 kilometers per hour. So close. It was a double-decker, too, so I would have been twice as dead."
(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.com and twitter.com/gdrinnan. Keeping Score
appears Saturdays,except when it doesn't.)