CBC-Sports

Going to the bathroom with my chaperone

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | 05:23 PM ET

The bathroom was small, with green walls and three brown towels that hung next to my wife’s white bathrobe. I placed the clear plastic cup and its flimsy red lid beside a colourful fish-shaped soap dish. Following the new rules, I washed my hands, and pulled down my pants.

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It should be an interesting dozen days

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | 03:27 PM ET

Complain as we often do about the parity in the NHL often feeling more like mediocrity, there is no denying that the past few weeks have produced some tremendous, intense hockey and, undoubtedly, the next fortnight will have more of the same.

While several teams obviously have either locked up playoff spots, or have all but guaranteed them, virtually every team in both conferences is still playing meaningful games because of seeding positions.

And, of course, the seventh and eighth spots on both sides are wide open. You could even make a case of six, seven and eight being open in the West.

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Blues knocked down, beat up, but back in contention

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | 10:53 AM ET

When the St. Louis Blues woke up Monday morning in a playoff spot they might have felt as though they’d scaled Mount Everest.

The Blues hadn’t been top eight in the Western Conference since Oct. 30 and after back-to-back wins over Columbus on the weekend, they’d run their winning streak to five games, gone 18-7-5 since the all-star break and climbed over six teams on their way to snatching the eighth spot.

Then they got up and saw there was still the Hillary Step to climb in order to get to the top.

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Outstanding week for Canadian figure skaters

Monday, March 30, 2009 | 04:41 PM ET

It was an outstanding week for the Canadian figure skating team at the world championships in Los Angeles. For the second year in a row, Canadian skaters claimed a medal in three of the four disciplines.

The story of the week had to be the unbelievable performances from eventual world women’s champion, Yu-Na Kim of Korea.

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Good fortune favours Toronto FC

Monday, March 30, 2009 | 03:40 PM ET

There is a good reason I don’t play the lottery. It’s a lesson I learned the hard way as a young boy and have come to appreciate as a not so young man.

I have a vivid recollection of the fairground stall with its dazzling lights and loud music. I was a somewhat naive 10-year-old but, among the shiny new “Chopper” bicycles hanging tantalizingly from the rear wall, I didn’t need anyone to explain the banner which read “Every Ticket Wins a Prize!”

The excitement grew as I handed over my coins in exchange for my ‘winning’ ticket. My mind was racing – should I ride my new bike home in the dark, where would I store it, and would my parents allow me to ride it to school on Monday?

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Believing in figure skating

Monday, March 30, 2009 | 10:33 AM ET

Not long ago, in small CBC radio studio in Saskatoon, Kurt Browning and I talked about figure skating over the airwaves for the better part of an hour. We took calls from listeners and discussed the growing pains the sport is experiencing in these troubled times.

Browning, you must know, is an expert. More than that, he’s a legend, a Canadian icon, a four-time world champion and the man who made “The Quad” a universally understood idea.

Still, as we braved the whipping wind and made our way back to the hotel to retrieve the car and drive to the arena to broadcast the Canadian championships, it was he who had a question for me.

“So you’re pretty much behind our sport,” he said out of the blue. “How come?”

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Today's goalies can thank equipment advancement

Saturday, March 28, 2009 | 11:21 AM ET

Hockey Canada does a wonderful job in so many areas, but one in particular stands out to me is its Hockey Academy program.

This program helps incorporate the great game directly into many schools across our country with a focus on skill development. Occasionally, Hockey Canada will ask me to help out a little and I always jump at the opportunity.

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With Mitchell gone, who will take over as Canada's coach?

Saturday, March 28, 2009 | 09:56 AM ET

Dale Mitchell finally paid the price for Canada's failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

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The five people you meet in playoff heaven

Thursday, March 26, 2009 | 04:22 PM ET

The great sportswriter from the Detroit Free Press, Mitch Albom, wrote the book titled The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It’s a wonderful story about how the people you meet are influenced by your life and it gives meaning to the significance of the lives we all lead.

As we head into the afterlife known as the NHL post-season, I would like to share with you the five people who hold a special place in my version of playoff heaven.

To begin, I must explain my belief that a team’s playoff success usually requires, to some degree, five elements in order to win the Stanley Cup. These include a great goaltender, a prolific scorer, an outstanding offensive defenceman, a checking line or shut down defensive pair, and, last but not least, an unlikely scoring hero.

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Lennon or Beckham? The choice is clear for England

Thursday, March 26, 2009 | 04:13 PM ET

England manager Fabio Capello has a big decision to make ahead of his team's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine next week: who to start on the right side of midfield, Aaron Lennon or David Beckham?

It'll be interesting to see if Capello has been sufficiently swayed by Beckham's Italian renaissance with AC Milan to hand him a starting role against the Ukrainians, or whether he goes with Lennon, one of the few bright spots for Spurs in what has been a hugely disappointing season for the London club.

Beckham, 33, has more experience, but for the long-term future of the English national team, Capello would be wise to go with the 21-year-old Lennon and tell Beckham, "Thanks, but no thanks. We won't be requiring your services any more."

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