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...
On 14 December 2021, Stephen Curry made his 2,974th career three-pointer to surpass Ray Allen for the most in NBA history. His team, the Golden State Warriors, sit atop the Western Conference and with a returning Klay Thompson it appears they are looking to re-establish their earlier dominance. Meanwhile, just a few hours south of San Francisco, Lebron James is feeling the pressure. Having just...
Usually, at this time of year, I would be able to rank the teams that have made the playoffs, but with the introduction of an extra week, us football fans must wait an extra week to see who gets into the big dance. However, I can still list five of the biggest storylines heading into the playoffs. #1: GOAT-ing, injuries, and Antonio Brown The defending champions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, have...
With the Omicron variant sweeping through the country, the Raptors may not have an audience to cheer them on right now, but we are always there to support our favorite (by default) Canadian basketball team. Now that the Raptors are nearly halfway through their first NBA season back at home during the COVID era, here’s a look at how the Raptors are faring this season. Overview & the bench The...
Could Chelsea’s response to the Belgian striker’s interview signify the end of player power at the club? In the midst of a run of matches in which he missed out on playing time owing both to being stricken with COVID and not having fully recovered enough to play the full ninety when he became available, Romelu Lukaku gave an interview to Sky Italia. For any other player in the Chelsea side, this...
I was wrong. In my predictions piece, I had ranked the Atlanta Braves last, effectively congratulating the NL East division winner for getting into October by default. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers, a team better than them, convincingly. They beat the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers, the favourite to win the Commissioner’s Trophy. A quick note on the Dodgers, they had a payroll of $267 million—$64...
This Chicago Blackhawks scandal escalated to its peak late last month after Kyle Beach revealed himself as “John Doe One,” one of two sexual assault victims of former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich. The sexual assault is said to have occurred in May 2010, a mere month before the Blackhawks would capture their first Stanley Cup since 1961. This would start the dynasty that saw the winning of...
If you have only started watching basketball in the past five years, you may have noticed an intriguing set of moves developing throughout the league. Perennial MVP candidate James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets, previously of the Houston Rockets, used to set up at the three point line, drive, hook the defender’s arm into his, and immediately push his arms upwards into a shooting motion, effectively...
Welcome back to our preview of the NBA (National Basketball Association) season! We now turn to the West Coast and see which one of these powerhouse teams has the best chances to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy come June 2022. Los Angeles Lakers The year 2020 seems like a long time ago, and yet also as if it was just yesterday. During this time, the Lakers championship team has completely...
Criticisms on doping in sport shouldn’t stop at its most public figures, but extend to the system that allow for it. If you dope in a professional sport and lie about it, that says something about you. You were looking for a competitive edge and you were dishonest. If everyone dopes in a professional sport and lies about it, that says something about the sport. Lance Armstrong, past darling of...