Milan Borjan (right), Canada’s 2022 FIFA goalkeeper, is seen helping up a Croatian player. Prior to the start of the 2022 World Cup, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) president Gianni Infantino urged teams to direct their focus not on politics but solely on soccer. But this is an impossible task, not only for the teams competing, but also for those following along...
The Toronto Maple Leafs just lost defenceman Morgan Rielly for at least the next ten games. This was not welcome news: Over the last few weeks the Leafs have also lost TJ Brodie from their blue line and Ilya Samsonov from their crease. On the other hand, fans were seeing their team get on a roll with Matt Murray recovering and the team racking up at least one point in nine out of their last ten...
FIFA is a disgrace. I hope Gianni Infantino is forever smeared for the comments he made when defending the tournament this past week. I also hope that Sepp Blatter never has the opportunity to do anything relevant in the world ever again. Qatar should not be hosting this tournament. Unfortunately, it is. If you will not watch because your values and morals prohibit you to do so, then you are a...
November 12 saw one of the most anticipated UFC pay-per-views of the year come and go: UFC 281. The card featured several stand-out fights that resonated with both die hard and casual fans alike. I watched the card with some friends, most of whom rarely tune into UFC cards or combat sports in general, and they were all clamoring that the Poirier versus Chandler fight was one of the best fights...
Qatar, the host of this year’s FIFA World Cup of soccer, has faced a barrage of criticism that began in 2010 when it was awarded the tournament. Concerns about the treatment of migrant workers and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community have made this World Cup one of the most heavily criticized and denounced in history. Migrant workers in Qatar who helped build stadiums and World Cup infrastructure...
Bills @ Patriots To start us off, we have the Bills visiting Gillette Stadium to take on the Patriots. The Thursday Night games this season have been under par to say the least. However, this game has the potential to be a good one, within reason. The Bills are 0-2 against their own division and are looking to get a much-needed divisional win on the road. With the AFC East having the possibility...
We are entering the halfway point of the 2022-2023 National Football League (NFL) season. Fortunately for some, and unfortunately for others, we have enough evidence to indicate how the rest of the season will go for most teams. Occasionally a slow starter may catch headwinds, ultimately shocking the rest of the league at the end, but generally speaking, this is rare. Without further ado, here...
Historically, Manchester City has been an irrelevant club in English football. Overshadowed by their neighbours—Manchester United—City was known for choking in big moments and never winning trophies. In 2022, they have completely transformed into the best footballing side in the world. Since the Abu Dhabi United Group purchased the team in 2008, City have won six out of fourteen league titles...
As I begin writing this article, the city of Toronto is mourning the Blue Jays as they blew an 8-1 lead to be eliminated from the 2022 MLB postseason. This event has resulted in many Toronto sports fans comparing the Jays to the Leafs, and losing all hope for Toronto sports. As a devoted Leafs fan who is too far into the fandom to lose hope, I present to you a fairly optimistic and, in my mind...
Over the past month, the chess community has been embroiled in arguments surrounding the allegations levied against Hans Niemann, a nineteen-year-old rising player, by Magnus Carlsen, who has won the world championship title five times. The way that discussions of the allegations so quickly gripped the two parallel chess communities—both the traditional over the board (OTB) organisations such as...
The Toronto Blue Jays were agonizingly close to making the postseason in 2021. They were one game away from a wild card spot and were unfortunately eliminated on the last day of the regular season. Blue Jays star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr was emphatic that 2022 would be “the movie” and that fans should be excited about the team. The Jays may have lost American League Cy-Young winning...
The 2022 to 2023 NFL season thus far has been nothing short of exciting and full of surprises. As we are quickly approaching the halfway point of the season, I will be taking a look at the Week Seven match-ups and predicting the outcome for the first ten games on the slate. Saints vs Cardinals Cardinals Coming-Out Party. With the return of DeAndre Hopkins, the Arizona Cardinals finally...
tennis Earlier this September, the sports and tennis world alike witnessed the last game of a true legend. The younger Williams’ sister announced her retirement earlier this summer and at her final performance on 2 September 2022, where she lost to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in the US Open. Audiences around the world and at the court rarely noticed her losing the match but focused on losing a...
Football is back and I could not be more excited. The Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl last season, but 2021-2022 will probably be remembered for the Super Bowl halftime performance rather than any game. Here’s what I am keeping watch over this year. AFC West Arms Race My Denver Broncos are finally relevant again. The Broncos traded for star...
Rob Manfred is the Tenth Commissioner of Baseball, specifically Major League Baseball (MLB). He was appointed in 2015, well into the MLB’s continual popularity decline. The MLB’s audience is the oldest of the four major North American sports leagues, with the average age well over fifty. Although MLB revenues have increased nearly thirty per cent – from $8.2 billion in 2015 to over $10.7 billion...
For once, the NBA trade deadline was explosive. The teams that were rumoured to be heavily linked to trades actually traded players. The Twitter-sphere received a heavyweight showdown between Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski, the two greatest NBA transaction reporters of all-time. The general consensus has Woj as top-dog because of his “Woj-Bombs,” but in an upset, Shams broke eleven trades...
Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to allow Kamila Valieva to compete is a slap in the face to sport integrity Figure skating has a reputation for corruption and questionable scoring techniques seen in the Olympic winter games. In 2002, at the Salt Lake City Olympics, the Canadian team composed of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier were belatedly awarded a gold medal due to a judging controversy...
The Blues win the FIFA Club World Cup to complete their already bursting trophy cabinet When Australian referee Christopher Beath blew the whistle on 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, several Chelsea players collapsed to the Abu Dhabi pitch of both exhaustion and joy. For Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta, playing one hundred and twenty minutes of football in stifling heat at 37 and 32 years-old...
Note: This article was written before the 2022 NBA All-Star Reserve Picks Were Announced First off, congratulations to Golden State Warriors Forward, Andrew Wiggins for making his very first All-Star team. The Thornhill native was controversially voted in through the fan vote along with the rest of the starters. As a front court player, he joins the Western Conference Starters––Stephen Curry and...
Sportswashing refers to the general practice of using premier sporting events or clubs to deflect from controversies. The scenario involves a country, organization, or wealthy individual hosting a premier sporting event or purchasing a sporting club to improve their reputation. Sportswashing should be a consistently relevant topic, especially for sports fans. In 2022 there was a rise of two clear...
I know what you’re thinking, figure skating in Obiter? I am a hardcore Raptors fan, but when the Olympics comes around, one of my favourite sports to watch other than hockey and short track speed skating is figure skating. For these Olympics, we will take you into each of the four-figure skating disciplines (men’s, women’s, pair’s, and ice dance) and make our predictions on who will achieve...
As the NFL continues to co-opt the symbols of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Black head coaches are pushed to the margins. Like most public-facing institutions in the summer of 2020, the National Football League faced a considerable amount of public scrutiny. In order to placate rising external demand for some sort of expression of Black solidarity on the part of the league, the NFL’s...
Toronto FC’s recent signing of Italian superstar Lorenzo Insigne is a stunning coup Soccer fans, Italians, and a combination of the two waited with bated breath as the England and Italy national soccer teams were performing penalty kicks on 11 July 2021, during the UEFA Euro 2020 Final. I can guarantee every soccer fan and Italian knew where they were while watching the final penalty kick save...
Late on January 5, Novak Djokovic landed in Melbourne after a long flight. He had travelled to the city in order to participate in the Australian Open, one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world, and one that he was widely favoured to win. Instead, Djokovic soon found himself detained at the airport by the Australian Border Force, in the midst of a soap-operatic legal battle, as...
The National Hockey League (NHL) is not participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in Beijing. This decision was made in consideration of COVID-19 concerns and the highly contagious Omicron variant which has already led to the cancellation of the IIHF’s World Junior Hockey Championship and U-18 Women’s World Hockey Championship tournaments. This news came as a shock to the hockey fans...