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ALWAYS IN THE NEWS
They're sure to grab headlines in 2005.
How do we know? They just always do.
David Beckham: Whether he scores a majestic free
kick or just gets a haircut, the Real Madrid midfielder is sure to
make front-page news in tabloids from England to Spain and beyond.
Vince Carter: Superstar or super wimp? The jury is
still out on Carter, who finally made his exit from Toronto in December.
His play in New Jersey will decide whether he deserves to be ranked
among the NBA's top players.
George Steinbrenner: He's lavished oodles of cash
on some top-notch talent, but still the Yankees' championship drought
continues, now at an unfathomable four years. If there's no World
Series title in 2005 – especially after he doled out big bucks
for stud pitcher Randy Johnson – Mad George could go on a rampage.
Jeremy Wotherspoon: When isn't this Canadian on top
of the international speed skating scene? The reigning 500-metre World
Cup and world champion may have temporarily tripped up at the 2002
Salt Lake City Games, but he's back on track for the 2006 Games in
Turin.
OLYMPIC HOPEFULS
This is a crucial year for Canadian athletes
gearing up for the 2006 Winter Games. Here's a handful who have Turin
locked in their sights:
Randy Ferbey: Team Ferbey is considered by many to
be the best curling squad in the world. Ferbey and company will try
to solidify that reputation when they go for their fourth straight
Brier championship in March, but more importantly, try for a first-time
Olympic berth in the upcoming 2006 Games.
Allison Forsyth: Forsyth is the most prominent member
of the Canadian women's Alpine ski team, and she entered the World
Cup season with high expectations. But Forsyth and her talented teammates
have been kept off the podium so far and have been overshadowed by
the unheralded men's squad. Their performances at the worlds in February
and next season's lead-up races to Turin 2006 will be heavily scrutinized..
Erik Guay: Veteran Thomas Grandi
closed out 2004 with a pair of World Cup alpine skiing victories.
Now the spotlight turns to his young Canadian teammate Guay, who is
often billed as this country's next great hope in the men's speed
events.
Jennifer Heil: Since returning from injury, the pride
of Spruce Grove, Alta., has taken the freestyle skiing world be storm.
She won nine World Cup events last season and looks primed to add
a world championship title in 2005.
Stefan Read: For the first time in more than a decade,
Canada fielded a four-member ski jumping team on the 2004 World Cup
circuit and one of the bright lights was Calgary teenager Stefan Read.
He has been solid on the circuit this season and needs just one more
top-30 finish at an international event to meet Olympic standards.
But can Read overcome funding cuts and the tragic death of development
coach Jindrich (Jindro) Mayer to accomplish his Olympic dream?
CBC SPORTS ONLINE TOP 10Ten
to watch in 2005
CBC Sports Online | Jan. 6, 2005
As we say goodbye to 2004 and look forward to a
new year in sports, we offer this list of notables we think could
grab more than their share of headlines in 2005.
Some are just about to burst onto the scene. Others have unfinished
business to deal with, while some will try to cement their place in
history. But Sports Online is confident you'll be reading about them
all this year.
The Todd Bertuzzi saga didn't end with Bertuzzi's
late-December plea bargain for the on-ice assault of Colorado Avalanche
player Steve Moore. Many questions linger.
Bertuzzi entered the New Year still uncertain about his hockey future.
The Vancouver Canucks forward remains indefinitely suspended by the
NHL and the ban prevents him from plying his trade overseas during
the lockout.
And if Bertuzzi returns to action this year, what impact might the
incident have on his rough-and-tumble style play?
Moore is also a figure to watch in '05. He insists his primary goal
is to focus his efforts on rehabilitation. But what if his head, neck
and psychological injuries prove too great to overcome? The result
could have permanent repercussions for Moore, Bertuzzi, the NHL and
the game of hockey.
They've dug their trenches and have settled
in for a drawn-out fight. Now it's just a matter of waiting to see
which side will win this long lockout battle.
There was no bigger sports story in 2004 than the NHL lockout and
the NHL commissioner and NHLPA executive director have been the two
central figures in this seemingly endless conflict.
After an eerie two-month quiet, the war of words escalated between
the two sides in December when Bettman and Goodenow finally met twice
in Toronto. When the NHL rejected the NHLPA's proposal, it re-enforced
the long-standing idea that the league will not resume unless there's
a salary cap in place.
If there's no serious negotiation in the coming few weeks, most observers
believe Bettman will probably cancel the 2004-05 season.
And the war of words between the two will escalate again.
Some time in the early
stages of the 2005 baseball season, Barry Bonds will smash his 715th
career homer. The blast will propel the San Francisco Giants slugger
past Babe Ruth and leave him just 41 homers away from displacing Hank
Aaron as baseball's all-time home run king. It's a record that could
be broken in September.
While the media attention garnered by any athlete trying to make history
is intense, in Bonds' case, expect the scrutiny to be unprecedented.
Revelations that Bonds may have used performance-enhancing drugs has
sparked rampant debate about the legitimacy of Bond's accomplishments.
It will be interesting to watch as the always-irascible slugger copes
with the suffocating pressures of a record chase stacked on top of
the inevitable questions about his possible steroid use.
Also of interest will be Major League Baseball's reaction to the burgeoning
crisis. The league has already put a splashy campaign to market Bonds’
run at baseball's record book on hold. And what will commissioner
Bud Selig do if an investigation unearths ironclad proof that Bonds
used steroids?
Moments after the stunning spill that derailed her dreams of Olympic
glory, Perdita Felicien bravely stood before a television camera and
addressed Canada. The hurdler from Pickering, Ont., had two messages
for her fans: "I'm sorry and I'll be back."
Felicien thanked her supporters and vowed to make up for her heartbreak
at the Olympics. She also warned her rivals, telling them the hurdle
that tripped her up in Athens would, in the end, propel her to bigger
and better things.
But first she must get healthy.
Felicien's fall left a deep bone bruise in her left heel. She didn't
start hurdling again until mid-December – nearly four months
after the Olympics. The injury will force her to skip much of the
indoor track season, but she plans to be ready in time to defend her
world title in August.
"I'm just at the mercy of my training and my heel," Felicien
told the Canadian Press in December. "I took so much time off
so I'm a little bit behind."
Six Canadian and two world championships would
be enough to prompt many athletes to retire and sail off into the
sunset. Not Colleen Jones.
The Halifax-based curler has one elusive dream yet to be fulfilled
– a trip to the Olympic Games. It's a dream that could come true
later this year.
After suffering a heartbreaking loss to Sherry Anderson in the semifinals
of the 2001 Olympic Curling Trials, Jones, along with third Kim Kelly,
second Nancy Delahunt and lead Mary-Anne Arsenault, watched from home
as Kelley Law won the trials and brought home bronze from Salt Lake
City.
Since that devastating loss, it's been nothing but Jones on the women's
curling scene.
This February in St. John's, Nfld., the Nova Scotia foursome will
be looking for its fifth straight and sixth overall Canadian title
at the Tournament of Hearts. For Jones, it would be her seventh title.
But the ultimate goal is a trip to Turin, Italy, for the 2006 Winter
Games. She'll get the opportunity to book her ticket by winning the
Olympic trials in December in front of a hometown crowd at Halifax's
Metro Centre.
The pro basketball season hasn't hit the
halfway mark, but already there's a groundswell of support for Victoria's
Steve Nash to be named this year's NBA most valuable player.
ESPN.com basketball columnist Eric Neel made a passionate plea last
month for Nash to win the league's top individual honour. USA Today
readers also selected Nash as the top player through the season's
first two months, putting the 30-year-old Canadian point guard ahead
of marquee names LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.
Nash has been brilliant
since signing a lucrative long-term deal with the Phoenix Suns in
the summer of 2004. His slick playmaking ability has helped transform
the Suns into an offensive juggernaut. Phoenix entered 2005 averaging
more than 109 points per game – seven points better than its
closest competitor.
The result? The run-and-gun Suns sit atop
the NBA standings and will pass last season's 29-win output by mid-January.
Cynthia Phaneuf presents the best hope for the Canadian women's figure
skating program since Elizabeth Manley, who won Olympic silver 17
years ago.
Phaneuf rocketed to the forefront of the sport when she beat six-time
Canadian champion Jennifer Robinson at the national championships
last year in Edmonton.
The 16-year-old from Contrecoeur, Que., proved her performance wasn't
a fluke, winning a silver in her first international event, the 2004
Four Continent Championships. She finished second at Skate America
and then won Skate Canada to become the first woman from this country
to qualify for the Grand Prix Final since 1996.
This year presents a new challenge for the young skater: a virtual
unknown last year, Phaneuf now has the pressure of being under the
Canadian media spotlight. Despite her victories, she still hasn't
competed against many of the top skaters in the world, including Amercians
Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen.
Rifle-armed sophomore quarterback Casey Printers
made the loss of injured starter Dave Dickenson easier to swallow
for B.C. Lions fans in 2004, guiding the team to its first division
title since 1999 and a berth in the Grey Cup.
The 23-year-old showed all the poise and maturity of a veteran last
season, throwing for 5,088 yards and a CFL-leading 35 touchdown passes
en route to being named the league's most valuable player. However,
there is some unfinished business that Printers will look to take
care of in 2005.
Despite his outstanding numbers, Printers didn't play a single down
in the Lions' 27-19 Grey Cup loss to the Toronto Argonauts, as coach
Wally Buono decided to go with the more experienced Dickenson.
Can Printers convince coach Buono to hand him the ball this year as
the Lions' starting quarterback and try and guide the club to another
Grey Cup final?
It's perhaps the most competitive battle to host an Olympic Games
to date.
With such notable cities as Moscow, Madrid, New York, Paris and London
bidding to host the 2012 Summer Games, International Olympic Committee
president Jacques Rogge and IOC members have a tough decision ahead.
On July 6, 2005, the world will be watching to see which city will
win. Early speculation is that Paris has the edge over London and
New York. Should balloting be close – as it's expected to be
– Rogge has the responsibility of casting the deciding vote in
the event of a tie.
And for Canadian media watchers, the IOC has another big decision
to make in 2005 – which broadcaster will win the rights to air
the 2010 and 2012 Games. With Bell Globemedia, Rogers, CanWest and
The Score all in the mix, the CBC – the current Olympic rights
holder – has a battle on its hands. Whichever network (or networks)
wins the rights, one thing is for certain – it will cost a pretty
penny.
After a disastrous past few seasons, former
Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve is looking to rebound in 2005.
Villeneuve, a native of Iberville, Que., left the BAR-Honda team with
one race remaining in the 2003 season after learning he was being
replaced. Villeneuve sat out most of the 2004 campaign – he raced
for Renault in the final three events of the season – before
signing a two-year deal in November with the Sauber-Petronas team.
Competing for Williams, Villeneuve won seven of 17 races and the 1997
F1 championship before being wooed away by BAR two years later. But
Villeneuve never lived up to expectations, failing to win a single
race in three seasons with BAR.
Now all eyes will be on the former world champion to see if he can
re-assert himself among the sport's top drivers.
