Indians. Redskins. Braves. Blackhawks. Long-held sports traditions or discriminatory cultural misappropriation? It’s a contentious debate that found itself front and centre in a downtown Toronto courtroom on Monday 17 October. Douglas Cardinal, a prominent Indigenous activist, had just launched actions with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and was...
Dr. Kenneth Lam’s Two Cents As Arm Chair GM: Part Two Source: The Toronto Star While there are many uncertainties with how draft picks would turn out, one thing is certain: Toronto head coach Mike Babcock thinks highly of Maple Leafs prospect Auston Matthews. However, rumour has it that the Leafs’ bench boss is thinking of starting the rookie centre up the middle on the third...
Dr. Kenneth Lam’s Two Cents As Arm Chair GM: Part One On 24 June 2016, Toronto Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter—who has since been promoted to the position of Assistant General Manager—walked up to the podium at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York and with the following words promptly affirmed the worst kept secret since the Maple Leafs won the draft lottery back on 30...
A great television series captivates you. It is intuitive–the thrills and suspense are sprinkled in methodically, and the more mundane parts of the season are purposeful. It knows its audience. Most importantly, a great television series knows when to end. If the show runs a little too long, in hindsight, it is probably as great a series as it could have been. Look at the critically-acclaimed...
How Valuable is the First Overall Section in the NBA Draft? Every decade or so, a supposedly “can’t miss” prospect out of high school or a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I powerhouse attracts national attention and emerges as the crown jewel of a National Basketball Association (NBA) draft. For instance, in the 2000s, there was LeBron James, who was...
Value. Potential. Character. Health. These are some of the things to consider when players are off the books, a.k.a., free agents. Picture two scenarios. In Scenario A, there is a budding talent who just came off a career year with your team (you are the general manager, so you do not own the team). He has yet to reach his “peak”, so to speak. He is just as good as his counterparts at his...
With the Toronto Maple Leafs poised to finish last in the NHL and teams across the four major North American professional sports intentionally losing in order to secure the best possible draft picks, the popular narrative has become that “tanking” is the smart way to build a team, and that without high draft picks, it is impossible to build a successful team capable of winning a championship...
How Valuable is the First Overall Section in the MLB Rule Four Draft? Pop Quiz: What do Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves (2014), Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts (2012), and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers (2015) have in common? Answer: They are all recent household names that were chosen with the first overall pick in their respective draft class. Yet, unlike the National...
The 2016 Entertainment and Sports Law Conference Sponsored by Osgoode’s Entertainment and Sports Law Association, the eighteenth annual Entertainment and Sports Law Conference took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on 4 March 2016. The long-running and highly successful conference brings together some of the top IP, entertainment, and sports professionals to talk about recent...
This past February, the National Basketball Association held its first All-Star Game in Toronto, the first time the event has been held outside of the United States. This was a historic moment for all fans north of the border. “All-Star Toronto 2016,” the banner read two years ago at the press conference. Rising Stars I was able to grab some tickets to the Rising Stars Challenge, the first...
A few thoughts on the very public negotiation between the Blue Jays and Jose Bautista I am normally opposed to opinions that professional athletes are paid too much. Professional sports are highly profitable and athletes are generally paid what the market will bear—within a reasonable range of what they are worth to their teams. But recently, rumours relating to Jose Bautista’s contract demands...
How Valuable is the First Overall Section in the NHL Entry Draft? D-Date: With the Toronto Maple Leafs firmly entrenched in last place (as of 17 February 2016) in the National Hockey League (NHL) standings, Leafs Nation has already circled 29 February as D-Date, because a closer look at the NHL calendar would reveal that it is the trade deadline for this season. Following the Leafs somewhat...
Kudos to anyone who knew beforehand what a “meteor hammer” was. My knowledge of the weapons of ancient warfare is limited. I am of the opinion that Kill Bill, Volume 1 is the best Quentin Tarantino film made thus far (although I have yet to see The Hateful Eight). What he did for female heroines in Kill Bill, Volume 1 and Kill Bill, Volume 2 is analogous to when The Matrix revolutionized action...
Osgoode Hockey primed for Queen’s Law Cup 2016 Take note: Osgoode’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ Ice Hockey teams are whooping some serious ass this season. It’s a little known fact that there are two extremely good hockey teams representing Osgoode in York University’s Ice Hockey Intramural League. Over the last several months, Osgoode ‘A’ (Tier 1) and Osgoode ‘B’ (Tier 2) have been rolling through any team in...
The history, present, and future of gambling and sports A recent investigative report alleges widespread match fixing in high-level professional tennis. These serious allegations again raise serious concerns relating to sports gambling. The dangers of sports gambling and its potential to corrupt the competitive process is not new. In 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of...
Why We Should Play The Most Sensible Lottery General Managers (GMs) in Major League Baseball (MLB) often want to try to catch lightning in a bottle when and if they can, especially given the current economics of the game, where the average salary of a big league player now exceeds $4,000,000 per season. One highly economic way often utilized that goes far back in time is the infamous Rule Five...
Entering the 2015-2016 NFL season, few expected the Carolina Panthers to repeat as division champions, and no one foresaw the team getting 15 wins, let alone making a trip to the Super Bowl. In the summer, Kelvin Benjamin went down with a torn knee. As the Panthers best receiver, this did not bode well for their playoff chances. At the same time, great teams find ways to win. This is football. ...
Every year, we witness things in sports that provide us with lasting memories. Some of these memories remain with us for a lifetime. This year was no different as the last twelve months gave us jaw-dropping, head-scratching, fist-shaking moments. NBA Year of the Warriors 2015 NBA Champions. A 24-0 start to the following season. The Warriors had the best start in NBA...
A Comparison of the 2015 Team with Its 1992 Predecessor Part Five: Examining the Starting Pitching: Back-end of the Rotation Traditionally speaking, the back-end of the starting rotation is where General Managers (GMs) can go “bargain hunting” for cheap options via non-tendered players and/or wavier claims. Why? With the front and middle of the rotation sorted out, GMs can...
On November 15th, at approximately one o’clock a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), the mixed martial arts (MMA) world was flipped upside down. It was one of those moments that every fan that watched will remember, recalling their whereabouts and feelings when it happened. On November 15th, I had every intention of writing a comparison of the celebration of “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey, (at the time)...
A Comparison of the 2015 Team With Its 1992 Predecessor Part Four: Examining the Starting Pitching: Middle of the Rotation As much as “Chicks Dig The Long Ball,” the iconic tagline made famous by the Nike commercial featuring Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Mark McGwire back in 1998, there is a general consensus in baseball: pitching and defence win championships. In fact, pitching is...
I always enjoy a good storyline coming into a sporting event. I think a lot of people do. It adds to the hype. It raises the stakes. It gives you another reason to root for this person or that team, if you so choose. In non-team sports, like boxing or mixed martial arts (MMA), spectators often identify a little more with one of the competitors over the other. Instead of focusing on their acumen...
A partial list of the ridiculous things that happened during the seventh inning in game five of the ALDS “Bilbo rushed along the passage, very angry, and altogether bewildered and bewuthered – this was the most awkward Wednesday he ever remembered.” This throwaway line from The Hobbit has always been one of my favourites, both because of the wonderful made-up word bewuthered, and because...
A Comparison of the 2015 Team With Its 1992 Predecessor Part Three: Examining the Starting Pitching: Front of the Rotation Correction: This article was intended for publication in Volume 89, Issue 4. There is an old saying in baseball: good pitching stops good hitting. In Part One, I compared the infield of the 2015 American League Division Series-bound Blue Jays with its 1992 predecessor, the...
One of the reasons why sports is so ubiquitous is not only because of the celebrity of its performers, but a lot of the issues that are pervasive in society—issues surrounding race, ethnicity, and class—are (usually) suppressed for a moment, allowing us to enjoy the competition inherent to the game. Now, I am not saying that sports are free of those issues, but for the most part, sports remains...