Friday, August 24, 2018
The Malarchuk Story
I am sure that most of
us cannot remember what we were doing on the evening of March 22,
1989. One of my good friends remembers that date vividly. His name is
Rick Meagher, and he was playing hockey in Buffalo, New York, for the
St. Louis Blues.
Rick Meagher, # 22 in front of the referee.
Trenton's Tom Tilley in the foreground.
He was standing near
the Buffalo net when there was a stoppage in play. There was a good
reason for the whistle because the Sabres' netminder, Clint
Malarchuk, had been seriously injured. A skate blade had come up and
hit his neck, cutting his jugular vein. Only quick action on the part
of several individuals saved his life. It was one of those freak
accidents that happens occasionally in sports.
Perhaps preventable,
but likely not. Players up to a certain level now wear neck guards,
but there will still be injuries due to the sharpness of skate
blades. Malarchuk recovered quickly, and was back on the ice in ten
days. There was an extended recovery period, as he had received more
than 300 stitches to close the wound.
A few years ago, I
chatted with Rick about this and other injuries he had experienced
when he was playing. I will allow you to finish your breakfast before
I continue in that vein.
Malarchuk soldiered on
in the hockey wars, and posted respectable numbers for his career.
But that one night, that harrowing experience, took its toll on him
as he aged. He began to tumble down that long and slippery slope to
despondency, desolation, and darkness. He was diagnosed with “Post
Traumatic Stress Syndrome”. This tag is usually attached to
soldiers, police officers and individuals that live and experience
serious crises. He was also categorized with the
“Obsessive-Compulsive” syndrome.
There are many names
one can attach to people who have great difficulties with their
mental state. The whole thing falls under the big umbrella called
mental illness. For Malarchuk, it became so difficult for him that he
attempted suicide, using a gun. He blew off the front of his face,
losing teeth in the process. He pleaded with his wife not to phone
the police, nor emergency services. She took appropriate action that
day, and continues to stand by him.
They travel together,
and pass on their message to large crowds. Seek help, if you need it.
We all know that the help one needs does not come easy. Hospitals and
clinics in the mental health field are constantly looking for
psychiatrists and psychologists. I might add that competent and
sympathetic workers in this field are the ones who do the best work.
Understandably.
The sports world lost
one of the really good guys yesterday. “Meadowlark” Lemon, a star
with the Harlem Globetrotters, passed away. It was a joy to watch
him, as he led the team to one victory after another against the
hapless Washington Generals. It would be difficult to estimate the
amount of good will and happiness that the Globetrotters have spread
over the years. If you have never seen their live performance, please
do it.
James Hurst
August 21, 2018
Secrets of The Sandbanks-Our Home
The surprising secrets of Sandbanks: 6 reasons why this provincial park is even better than you thought
Even if you go often, you might not realize you can reach out and touch ancient history
Kimberley Fehr · CBC Life · August 15
Sandbanks Provincial Park is renowned for gorgeous soft sand and endless beaches, safe shallow waters and epic sunsets, as well as being a great base to explore Prince Edward County's pastoral wine country. And you can check "see world's largest freshwater baymouth dune system" off your bucket list. Last year, the park's Outlet Beach achieved Blue Flag status, only the second Provincial Park in Ontario to receive this honour for high quality beach management based on environment, education, safety, and accessibility.
Though, here, sandcastles take on epic proportions, kites seem to touch the sky and you can take a stroll on the beach and walk forever, Sandbanks is far more than three beautiful beaches. Anyone who visits can tell you that this is a special place, but even they may be pleasantly surprised to learn about six more reasons the park is better than one might expect.
You can reach out and touch ancient history
Sandbanks feels like many different retreats, all within one park. The two-kilometre cycling and walking trail at West Point, between the Park's Outlet Beach and Lakeshore Beach on Lake Ontario, feels a million miles away from the busy beaches. The narrow shelves of limestone jut out into the pale blue waters of Lake Ontario. Look closely at the rock shelves to see 450 million-year-old fossils such as the hinged shell of the brachiopod, the flower-like crinoid or the shiny black pieces that are broken trilobites. An excellent cross-breeze makes this a cooling break from the beach on a hot day, and a great place for a picnic.
Tranquility, and paddleboarding, can be yours
You can rent a canoe, kayak or stand-up paddleboard right on the water at the Park's Woodyard, and paddle up and down the river, or even venture out to the Lake. Between the Park's East Lake and Outlet Beach on Lake Ontario, lies the Outlet River, a short, meandering stretch of placid water winding through cattail marsh and lily pads, where painted turtles sunbathe, dragonflies hover and red wing blackbirds chirp. You may even spot a muskrat in the marsh. The paddle might take less than an hour but the scenery makes you want to stop and linger. Warning: as you're near Lake Ontario it gets so shallow you'll likely have to get out and drag your boat.
Magic can happen before your eyes in the freshwater pannes
Want to see something magical? Wait for the rain. One moment the pannes in between the sand dunes at West Lake appear to be dry. After rain changes the levels of Lake Ontario and Park's West Lake, the pannes transform into swampy wetlands, then the next day they can be perfectly dry sand again. "The sand is permeable," says Jack Stokes, a Natural Heritage Education Assistant at the park. "These freshwater pannes are a sand wetland where the water level fluctuates on daily basis. Last year when we had all our flooding, the pannes were basically a swamp."
No rod, no problem!
The Outlet River is an ideal place to drop a line and try fishing. It doesn't matter if you "don't fish" — at the Park's Woodyard, you can sign out a rod, reel and fishing tackle. Sandbanks participates in the Tackle Share Program, established by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) and sponsored by Ontario Power Generation. East and West Lake are popular for yellow pickerel, smallmouth and largemouth Bass, Northern pike and various pan fish. Or on a hot day you can stand right in the Outlet River to stay cool while you fish.
The monarchs love it here too
Summer is the season for monarchs and they begin to arrive at Sandbanks and the shores of Lake Ontario in May. A species of "special concern" in Ontario, monarchs are threatened by dwindling habitat and the loss of milkweed along their migration routes. The females lay eggs, pass on, and the next generation hatches into caterpillars and takes flight in late summer, the numbers intensifying into September and October. The butterflies hang out on the Lake's north shore, waiting for a tailwind to carry them south across the lake, flying as much as 80 kilometres in a single day. Not only do these featherweight creatures fly right across Lake Ontario, but some 3,000 kilometres to central Mexico where they spend the winter. Sandbanks is a popular choice for the monarchs — but nearby Presqu'ile Provincial Park does usually attract even more butterflies.
The incredible tenacity of trees (and people)
Take a walk in the dunes and you'll see trees that have taken root in these sandy inhospitable conditions and grown despite it all; amazing roots that reach down and suck life out of shifting sands. The Park is working hard to bring back the forest to the dunes and surrounding landscape. Over 100,000 trees have been planed over the past decade or so, and approximately 37,000 pine, spruce and oak trees were planted in spring 2018, in partnership with the organization Forests Ontario and with the help of volunteers and the Friends of Sandbanks, a local non-profit that supports the park.
Johnny Be Good!!
Johnny Manziel
You might
recognize that as an old rock and roll song from Chuck Berry. In the
summer of 2018, the phrase applies to the Canadian Football League,
and more specifically to the Montreal Alouettes.
About a
month ago, the Alouettes acquired Johnny Manziel in a trade with the
Hamilton Tiger Cats. Manziel had signed with the Cats on May 19th,
but had seen very little action. Manziel is an athlete, and he wanted
to play the game he loves. He jumped at the chance to move to
Montreal. He was encouraged to do so because Montreal Head Coach Mike
Sherman was Manziel's coach in Texas, when Johnny began playing his
college ball.
Of course
this is a human experiment. But it is not without precedent. CFL
observers can tell you a young man named Doug Flutie came north to
play a little football, Canadian-style. Flutie was also a slightly
undersized quarterback, with great athletic skills. He also had a
dismal start in the league, when he threw more interceptions than
touchdowns. Manziel threw four interceptions in his first game at the
helm for the Alouettes, before he was replaced.
He was most
contrite after the game, taking full responsibility for the loss. But
this is a team game, and it certainly was not entirely his fault.
Receivers dropped passes, balls were tipped into the hands of hungry
defenders. Motivated linemen blitzed with enthusiasm when the saw
Johnny lining up to pass.
Manziel was
only given a few days to get ready for his first game. He is in the
process of learning all of the quirky things about our game: the
field is much longer, and wider; there is one extra player on the
field; replays take place on pass interference calls; players in the
backfield are entitled to move long before the ball is snapped. Once
he gets a better vision of all of these things, and many more, he
will put up big numbers in the CFL.
Essentially,
he has big shoes to fill in Montreal. It has been a few years since
Anthony Calvillo quarterbacked the Alouettes. No one has been able to
step up to the plate since he retired. He virtually mastered the
Canadian game, directing the team to several Grey Cup games during
his career. He now coaches quarterbacks in the CFL, but in Hamilton.
It appeared to me that Manziel might have been a great fit there when
they signed him. For some reason, that just did not work out.
To say that
Johnny has had his demons over the years is almost an understatement.
He was a rich kid who was adored as an athlete from the time that he
was in grade school. He could play all games. (He was even drafted by
the San Diego Padres.) He was drafted in the first round by the
Cleveland Browns long before he would have finished his university
career. He loved to party. He had anger-management issues. He was
young and was constantly pushed to the higher levels in the game. He
was not ready for the prime time in the NFL.
He was
married in the spring of this year, he has been diagnosed with mood
disorders, and is taking medication for that. He enjoys listening to
Drake! All good.
No matter
where he plays the rest of this CFL season, he will put bums in the
seats. He plays in Edmonton this week, and the Eskimos sit at 5-3 so
far this year. The Alouettes have won one game in nine tries. It is
tough for any Eastern team to win in the west. But we know that the
season is but half over, and this is the CFL, and anything can, and
does happen.
Johnny will
revive interest in Montreal. It is imperative that he stay healthy
the rest of the year. Go Johnny Go!
James Hurst
August 14,
2014.
Note: Johnny had his bell rung attempting to score...and sat out the next game.
Ouch!!
As
a slight change of pace from the usual column, I thought I might take
a moment and write about truly horrible losses in sport. You know,
the ones where you are left scratching your head, muttering, “What
happened?”
These
moments may happen in all games and sport. They can also happen in
political situations as well. If you are a Torontonian, I do not need
to elaborate on that.
For
the most part, I refer to those times when your team has an almost
insurmountable lead, with little time left in a game. You begin to
count all the ways that you might spend the fortune you have won, if
you are a gambler. You break into an enormous smile in your living
room, as your friends are suffering defeat. You are awaiting that
moment when you are about to receive all the accolades. You will get
to raise the trophy above your head. You will do a victory lap. Your
driver will do victory donuts on the infield.
And
then, and then? You guessed it. Something dreadful happens. Sometimes
this occurs slowly, painfully. Quite often, instantly.
It
can happen at all levels of sport. Example. There is a bar near our
place in Fort Myers that has enough television sets to fill every
living room in Scarboro. And it has one giant screen that shows the
most important game. A few years ago, we went there to see a World
Junior Hockey Championship game between Canada and Russia. All of the
circumstances surrounding that game are now muddled in my brain. But
I do remember that the Canadian squad was leading by three goals at
the start of the third period.
At
that point, I should have remained humble. But that did not happen. I
began to high-five all of the other Canadian supporters at the bar.
We wore red shirts. There were plenty of maple leafs. Some carried
little flags. Little did we know that there was some chemistry
brewing in the dressing rooms before the start of the third period. I
suspect that the Canadian dressing room was quietly confident.
Goodness only knows what was going on in the Russian room.
The
Russians began to nibble away at the Canadian lead. I began to feel
that something dreadful might be happening. When they cut the lead to
one goal, you wanted the coach to call a time out to halt the
collapse. It felt like a great freight train was barreling down the
tracks at you, and there was not a damn thing you could do about it.
At the end of the game, we filed quietly from the bar. I swore to
myself that I would never again get so carried away in such a
situation.
I
came very close to doing the same thing the other night. The Ottawa
Red/Blacks were ahead of the Argos by twenty-four points
in the second half of the Canadian Football League game. I was about
ready to turn out the lights because I thought the party was over. I
was sure I could hear the fat lady singing loudly. Alas! Wrong again.
The
Argos' quarterback, an unlikely hero named McLeod Bethel-Thompson,
began to hit his stride and led the Double Blue to an improbable
49-48 victory. He sailed a pass into the end zone in the dying
seconds of the game. It was snatched, just in bounds, by Armanti
Edwards to win the game. That victory has likely changed the entire
season for the Argos. The Red/Blacks were left licking their wounds.
Fans
of the Buffalo Bills can provide you details when you mention two
words: wide right. The team went to four Super Bowls without ever
tasting champagne. More recently, the Toronto Maple Leafs experienced
a third period collapse against the Boston Bruins.
I
am sure you get the idea. It just hurts.
James
Hurst
August
7, 2018.
Friday, August 03, 2018
Dustin Johnson Wins the Canadian Open
With almost
surgical precision, Dustin Johnson carved up the course at Glen Abbey
in Oakville to win the RBC Canadian Open. The Canadian Open is the
third oldest national open golf championship, established in 1904.
The Open, in Great Britain, of course, and the U. S. Open are
slightly older.
The
tournament moves to Hamilton next year to the Hamilton Golf and
Country Club, and is scheduled to start in early June in the week
before the U. S. Open. This is a significant change for golfing
aficionados, as there was always a slight conflict in previous years.
As you will recall, The Open took place last week in Scotland, and
many of the touring pros skipped the Canadian Open annually, because
it took place too soon after The Open.
To his
credit, the # 1 player in the world decided to put the Canadian Open
on his list for this year. He now has more than one million reasons
for thinking that was a good idea.
There is not
a lot that phases Johnson as he prowls along a golf course. He
entered the final round tied for the lead with three other players:
Kevin Tway, Whee Kim, and Byeong Hun An.
Johnson
birdied the first two holes. He added four more birdies on the back
nine to secure the victory. “It was definitely good to get off to a
fast start,” he said after the round. No kidding.
As they say,
he is engaged to Wayne Gretzky's daughter, Paulina. With Brantford
not too far down the road, the galleries were crowded with Johnson
fans all week. He knew they had his back: “It was a lot of fun out
there this week. I thought I had a lot of support. It's a lot of fun
to play out there for a big crowd”.
Top Canadian
in the field was Mackenzie Hughes. He ended up in a tie for 8th
place, his best finish thus far this year. He was awarded the
Rivermead Cup, which he called “a pretty good consolation prize”.
Several
people from this area made the trek to Cooperstown this past weekend.
It was reported that more than 50 000 people crowded the village for
the Hall of Fame weekend. I have been there several times, but never
on the Hall of Fame weekend. With Mariano Rivera likely heading that
way next year, I am supposed to accompany the New York Yankee fan
that I live with to the ceremonies.
Congratulations
to these players entering the Hall this past weekend; Chipper Jones,
Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, Trevor Hoffman, Alan Tramell, and Jack
Morris. Guerrero paid tribute to Montreal, and Morris to Toronto,
where they played, respectively.
A final
baseball note. Francisco Arcia, a Venezuelan, is 28 years old. He has
been playing minor league baseball for twelve years!
Last weekend he got a call to play for the Angels. In his first two
games, he had ten runs batted in. He is the first player in Angels
history to homer in his first two games. He was batting .244 in the
Minor League this year. Go figure.
James
Hurst
July
30, 2018
