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VIEWPOINT: SCOTT OAKEQ
& A
Each week, Sports Online will turn the tables on Scott Oake,
who's used to peppering others with questions.
It seems that the CFL exhibition game in Halifax was an unqualified success. Commissioner Tom Wright wants to put a franchise there in the near future. Is this goal feasible?
CFL expansion to Halifax is a nice idea but it’s a non-starter without two things: a stadium and an owner.
Getting a stadium built would be a tall order. The project would undoubtedly
require substantial provincial government support and that would be
far from a sure thing.
And even if the stadium issue could ever be solved who would want to own a team in a league where very few franchises are profitable?
The CFL has a wonderful product to sell but save probably for the Edmonton Eskimos it’s a not a money-making venture.
So with respect to Halifax, the CFL will be there just as soon as someone can find an owner willing to write off losses and the Nova Scotia government ponies up for a new stadium.
In short, it’s not a feasible goal.
Mike Tyson lost to unheralded journeyman Kevin McBride last week. Has Tyson fought his last match? How will history look at his career?
Mike Tyson was "the baddest man on the planet" in the late 80s.
He was fascinating to watch then as he destroyed his opponents through intimidation. I remember one of his quotes: "They all have a plan until they get hit." And not many of them hit back. When one of them did – Buster Douglas in Tokyo – Tyson lost.
He can’t be remembered as one of the greats. He undid that possibility by failing to win a significant fight in the last 13 years of his career.
This assumes his career is over although I wouldn’t bet against someone trotting him out again in an attempt to cash in.
I think Tyson is a tortured soul who is to be pitied for any number
of reasons: his destructive behaviour, his freak attraction status,
the fact that he grossed $400 million US from boxing and now is supposed
to be $40 million in debt and on and on.
After his loss on Saturday night he said: "I’m really a sad pathetic case."
I think that’s how Mike Tyson will be remembered.
And finally…is the NHL and the players' union close to
a deal now?
I’m not sure they’re as close to an agreement as has been reported but I’m fairly confident they’ll reach one in time for next season.
The daily, extended meetings are producing results. Like a lot of
other people I wonder why this couldn’t have happened a year ago,
but that’s the nature of most labour disputes.
I’m just happy there appears to be an end in sight to the lockout.
I do wonder if the players, when this agreement is finalized, will consider the loss of the season to have been worth it.
Lightning-round questions:
Most dominating boxer of his era
Muhammad Ali
Will NBA owners lock out the players at the end of this season?
Yes
Casey Printers or Dave Dickenson?
Dave Dickenson
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Scott began his career by volunteering at the university radio station during three years of pre-med. studies at Memorial University in St. John's, Nfld. After two summers working at CBC-St. John's in radio and television, he was hired full-time in 1974. Since then, Oake has covered the Olympic Winter and Summer Games and the Commonwealth Games as a commentator for wrestling, hockey, alpine skiing, swimming, rowing, diving, boxing and athletics.
FULL
BIO
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