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A Look at the Last Month in Sports
ROMER BAUTISTA STAFF
Obviously, the biggest sporting news of the past month was the Indianapolis
Colts winning the Super Bowl. But it wasn’t the only news. There were enough
other headlines to fill an entire platter. So let’s take a look at some of
the other big stories from the past four weeks, and take a crack at hitting
for the cycle.
SINGLE: The battle in the NHL’s Northwest division continues to heat up
As the NHL hit the midway mark of their season, one of the most intriguing
stories to follow the rest of the year will be which team comes out on top
of the Northwest division. Currently, only four wins separate the first-place
Calgary Flames and the fifth-place Colorado Avalanche. With plenty of division
games still on schedule, the battle for first place will be something that
all NHL fans can enjoy. Except maybe for Toronto fans, who don’t care unless
it deals with the Maple Leafs. Here are some other headlines that made press
during the NHL’s all-star break.
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Sidney Crosby continues to live up to everyone’s expectations. If he
keeps up his current pace, Sid the Kid will become the youngest player to
lead the league in points.
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Brand new jerseys by Reebok were unveiled, and are set for next season.
The new threads are supposed to be lighter, sleeker, and more durable. It
might be warranted, but this new move is not likely to draw in new fans,
which is what the NHL should really be worried about.
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The laughingstocks of the NHL heading into the season, the New York Islanders
and goaltender Rick DiPietro, have silenced critics with their play. They
currently sit two points out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
DOUBLE: Brett Favre is returning for his 17th season
Lost during all
the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl was the quiet decision of Brett Favre
to return for his 17th NFL season. This is big news for Packers fans, who
are usually subjected to a summer of stress and worry wondering whether
or not their hero will return to lead their franchise. This year, however,
Favre made his decision quickly, which should give fans in Green Bay all
the more reason to get excited. What it means is that Favre likes the Packers’
outlook for next season, and he has good reason to do so. By most peoples’
standards, the Packers over-achieved last season, going 8-8, and just missing
out on the playoffs. With vastly improved defence returning, an offensive
line that continues to grow together, and a meek NFC, the opportunity is
there for Favre to once again lead the Packers to the promised land. TRIPLE:
Hall of fame controversy. Steroids, no — cocaine, yes MLB and the NFL announced
its Hall of Fame class for ’07, and there were definitely some surprises.
In baseball, Mark McGwire, a player who almost single-handedly brought baseball
back into the sporting-world forefront with his 70 home runs in 1998, was
not inducted into the hall on his first ballot. This is clearly backlash
stemming from the steroid scandal that has put a dark cloud over McGwire’s
accomplishments, even though it has never been proven that McGwire took
any banned substances. Meanwhile, the NFL went in a different direction,
choosing to induct Michael Irvin into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, despite
Irvin’s past being just as sketchy as McGwire’s, if not more so. Among other
things, Irvin, a flamboyant wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, was suspended
for five games after pleading no-contest to cocaine possession charges in
1996. Isn’t this a great lesson to teach children? If you’re suspected of
using performance-enhancing drugs, you might as well disappear into thin
air, but if you’re an admitted cocaine user, you’ll be immortalized forever
in the hall of fame.
HOME RUN: The Raptors are making waves in the Eastern
Conference If you are one of the NBA fans who has dismissed the Toronto
Raptors because of their brutal play the last couple of seasons, you may
want to take a second look at the standings. If you do, you’ll find that
the Raptors are two games above .500, have a threegame cushion in the Atlantic
division, and occupy the fourth seed in the conference. And if you’ve watched
the Raptors play at all over the past month, you’ll know that this is not
a fluke. The Raptors are finally getting healthy, and it shows. During the
month of January, the team went 10- 5, tops in the Eastern conference. They
played such good ball that the team swept the monthly honours for the conference,
as Chris Bosh was named player of the month, Andrea Bargnani was named rookie
of the month, and Sam Mitchell was named coach of the month. This team just
continues to improve, and will be a problem for any team they play in the
playoffs. STRUCK OUT: Sammy Sosa The last we heard of Sammy Sosa, he was
pretending to not understand English during the steroid congressional hearings
in 2005. Afterwards, Sosa played some mediocre ball — I suspect because
he was off the juice — before being nowhere to be found during the 2006
season. Well, he’s back this year, as the Texas Rangers have signed him
to a minor-league contract, giving Sosa a chance to make it back to the
major league. Sosa is so confident that he be on the Rangers come opening
day that he said his chances of not making the team were “one in a million.”
I guess Sosa, now 38, doesn’t remember that when he left the game he was
batting a pedestrian-like .221, with just 14 home runs in 380 at-bats.
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