When I awoke this Sunday I followed my usual routine of preparing an espresso and sat to watch some soccer. It's rare I read the Montreal Gazette but I was caught off guard by an error on the cover of its sports pages. The scoreline showed that the Oilers beat the Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup playoffs 2-0 - the actual score was 2-1. Curious, since all we exist for is hockey and we still make simple errors.
As I turned the pages, I noticed a soccer piece by the sports editor. Reading it I realized that my calls for true sports writing is indeed true. I really did not see the point of the article besides the usual 'we don't get it and don't want to get it' mentality. But nothing was to prepare for the most glaring errors I have personally ever read. Here's the paragraph in pieces. Italics are mine:
"At the 1954 World Cup, when Switzerland was the winner"....Germany unexpectedly won over powerhouse at the time Hungary. " 1958, when Sweden won..."Brazil defeated Sweden in the final. "...before falling to 2.78 in 1962 when Chile won. Brazil won in 1962. "...with a record low of 2.21 in 1990, when Italy won..." Germany won in 1990. Italy finished 3rd.
Incredible. This is the sports editor we're talking about here. This sort of stuff drives me crazy because I am too aware when it comes to sports. I demand that sports writers representing the city paper be the same. I guess I am asking for too much. This guy should have his article proof read by a sports aficionado; at the very least.
-Hockey: We see this in sports often don't we? After Game 3, Carolina Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette complained about Edmonton's second goal (which proved to be the winner). Here's my opinion on this. If they do go on to win they will go down as probably the most unconvincing Stanley Cup winner in recent memory. I'm not usually comfortable about saying this about any team - the Hurricanes are a very good team - but one would think that Laviolette would recognize that you can't be lucky all the time - and the 'Canes have had their share of breaks. In any event, it's mid-June and the NHL is still playing hockey.
Note to Bettman and the NHL: smarten up. I know you had a two-week break for the Olympics but shouldn't you have foreseen this? Shorten the season. This takes vision and - ah, forget it.
Soccer is the game of humanity. Yesterday, we witnessed one of the greatest accomplishments in World Cup history when the tiny country of Trinidad and Tobago managed a scoreless draw against Sweden - a nation with a solid soccer pedigree and with a strong team in 2006. More impressive, T&T did it one man down - with ten men. Prior to today's match between Mexico and Iran the Iranians presented the Mexican goalkeeper with flowers upon news of his father's sudden death of a heart attack. It was a gesture of class and for a moment the world got to see the injustice the Iranian people are facing with their regime. It served as a reminder that while governments can be awful, the people of that country are not necessarily so. As for Mexico, who won 3-1, I wonder if they watch Speedy Gonzalez clips....kidding.
Don't email with hate mail.
You know it. The Oilers have to battle the aligned stars in this series. It's a tema with a lot of guts. We'll see.
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