How much are sports figures being paid, and who controls their salaries? Having recently participated in the Hockey Arbitration Competition of Canada, I realized I knew almost nothing about the NHL salary caps. Below is my “idiots guide to salary caps,” for anyone else who might have been living under a rock. A salary cap is an agreement or rule that puts a limit on the amount of...
With the recently commenced 2014-2015 National Hockey League (NHL) season, Leafs Nation can’t help but think about the question that seems to keep resurfacing since 1967: Why can’t their beloved Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup even though the team is the most valued franchise in the NHL (at $1.15 billion) according to the most recent Forbes list of “The World’s 50 Most...
Both Roger Goodell and Adam Silver have recently had to deal with public relations disasters. Former NBA owner Donald Sterling’s phone conversation with his then-“friend” V. Stiviano revealed him to be a racist. A particular hot button issue bothering Sterling was Stiviano having taken a photo with former Laker Magic Johnson and posting the photo on Instagram. Sterling was apparently outraged...
A group of former National Football League (NFL) players made headlines in April 2011, when they filed a federal lawsuit against the league alleging that the league’s negligence contributed to their suffering repeated concussions over the course of their careers. Since then, over 4,800 former players have joined the suit, including former stars such as Jim McMahon and Bruce Smith. The players’...
With television and movie producers increasingly turning to the Internet to reach audiences, and the music industry in a state of chaos as they lose hold of the proprietary value once held in their product, it is clear that major changes to the entertainment industry are underway. Significant shifts in the expectations of audiences, the makeup of that audience, and the availability of services...
This is the second of two parts of an Olympic post-mortem (read the first part here), in which I arbitrarily assign ranks to the participating countries. Following the 2012 Summer Games in London, I published a story in the Obiter declaring Grenada to be the Winner of the Olympics. I realize that this was an arbitrary designation, but it was not entirely unfounded. I developed a method of...
In this, the first of a two-part Olympic post-mortem, I take a historic opportunity to bloviate at length about Canada’s forgotten talent. I’m not going to explain the game. If you want to know how to curl, take the 90 seconds to look it up on Wikipedia. To an outsider, cricket and American football are difficult to understand, but there’s no use pretending that the roaring game is hard to learn...
A few weeks ago, Citlally Maciel wrote an article on these pages describing, among other things, the National Football League’s (NFL) history of condoning “acts of homophobia, bullying and discrimination” amongst its executives and players. No one could have predicted how timely this article would prove to be, as the league’s collective attitude towards tolerance, respect, and acceptance is...
To be honest, I am not a fan of football. I have tried getting into it, but I just do not have the attention span necessary to sit through even one entire game, let alone an entire season. In fact, being a true fan requires more than watching one’s favourite team play. One must also watch all the other teams play to know how they compare to one’s favourite team. The idea behind this...
The NHL’s Western Conference has reigned supreme over the Eastern Conference for the better part of a decade. Since the end of the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Western Conference teams have consistently gotten the better of Eastern Conference opponents, winning close to 60% of inter-conference games in each season. In addition, the West had produced 5 of the last 7 Stanley Cup Champions. However, the...
What is the biggest issue facing sports today? Is it doping? Head injuries? If you ask investigative sports journalist and recent Osgoode guest Declan Hill, he would tell you that there is no bigger issue in sport than corruption and match-fixing. Match-fixing refers to the practice by which sports are played to a pre-determined result in order to earn a profit by betting on the match. One...
Like many Canadians, I can remember exactly where I was when Sidney Crosby scored the “golden goal,” propelling the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team victory over the United States at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics (it was at a hotel in the Dominican Republic, in case anyone is curious). The 2010 Olympic hockey tournament was by far the most invested I have ever been in a sporting event in which I...
Halloween is just around the corner and with it comes another Osgoode Hall Athletics Association Halloween pub night and the opportunity to be whatever you want to be for just one night. Whether that happens to be a sexy bumblebee or flirty nurse is your call. While it’s easy for a female to dress as a “sexy” version of just about anything, there is a lot of pressure on dudes to come up with...
EVAN IVKOVIC <Staff Writer> For Chris Bosh, his dream of headlining a major motion picture is finally coming true. Bosh, harnessing his knack for looking like a dinosaur, is headlining the new Jurassic Park movie as a brachiosaurus. Bosh informed reporters: It was either this or a movie where I play an ostrich that learns to love his owner. There was also a promising role as a giraffe...
ANDREW CYR
<Sports Editor>
Canadian hockey fans had more to cheer about than usual in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 NHL season, as four Canadian teams made the playoffs for the first time in seven years.
DANIEL STYLER
<Staff Writer>
In 1996, following a loss to the New York Yankees, the long-time manager of the middling Minnesota Twins, Tom Kelly, said this about Yankees’ reliever Mariano Rivera: “We don’t need to face him anymore.
ANDREW CYR
<Sports Editor>
Of all the major professional sports, NFL football may be the least predictable.
DANIEL STYLER
<Staff Writer>
During my early elementary school days, my wardrobe almost exclusively consisted of sports-related clothing.
DANIEL STYLER
<Staff Writer>
Shortly before Christmas, two friends and I discussed the possibility of running a marathon.
ANDREW CYR
<Sports Editor>
A few issues ago, I made predictions as to the fortunes of the NHL’s Canadian franchises this season.
DANIEL STYLER
<Staff Writer>
I love a lot of sports, but none of them have ever been able to surpass my love for baseball.
ANDREW CYR
<Sports Editor>
DANIEL STYLER
<Staff Writer>
Prior to the end of the indefensible NHL lockout, I wrote that the work stoppage had forced me to quit the Toronto Maple Leafs in a way that I couldn’t have done myself, and that I was happy with it.
DANIEL STYLER
<Staff Writer>
According to the NCAA, college athletic programs in the United States generate $6.1 billion from ticket sales, radio and television receipts, alumni contributions, guarantees, royalties, and NCAA distributions.
DANIEL STYLER
<Contributor>
I made a comically large bet with a co-worker this past summer that Tiger Woods wouldn’t break Jack Nicklaus’ record for major wins.