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Under Further Review – Douglas Smith with Editor Bill Morphy. Special thanks to our regular contributors including Jordan Moss, Ian MacPhee, Dave Kittle, Ted Tait, Frank Sullivan, Peter Hucul, Glen and Bill Myles, Howard Steiss and Rob Wagner.

Spanning the digital ether to bring you the constant variety of sport… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition… This is Under Further Review.

Road to the Super Bowl – The matchups are set for Championship Weekend in the NFL. It’s Buffalo and Kansas City in the AFC Championship. Philadelphia will host division rival Washington in the NFC title game.

Let’s start with the biggest upset of the weekend – Washington over top-seeded Detroit. The Lions won a franchise record 15 games this season. They averaged 33.2 points and 410 yards per game, both club records. They also had a plus-222 point-differential. It all came crashing down on Saturday night.

What Super Bowl favourite gives up 31 points in the first half on home field? All the injuries on defense caught up to the Lions. We were right about the Lions never winning with Rambling Gambling Dan Campbell as head coach. Who the hell calls a trick play, and lets a receiver throw an interception, when trailing by ten points in the four quarter? Absolute stupidity. Give the Commanders credit. They forced four turnovers. It’s not easy winning back-to-back road games in the post-season.

The Houston Texans found out you need to throw a perfect game to oust the two-time Super Bowl champion Chiefs. Remember the Brady Rules? After Saturday’s game, we can change that to the Mahomes Rules. Mahomes drew a pair of highly questionable roughing calls that completely turned the game around. Mistakes by Houston on special teams also played a big factor. The Chiefs dialled up the defence when it counted, sacking C.J. Stroud eight times, to earn their 7th straight trip to the AFC Championship game. It was the 300th win for Andy Reid who became the fourth coach in NFL history to reach the mark, joining Don Shula, Bill Belichick and George Halas. Tight end Travis Kelce set a new NFL record for post-season 100-yard games, eclipsing the record held by, you guessed it, Jerry Rice.

The Bills-Ravens matchup had the makings of an instant classic featuring the two likely MVP finalists. Lamar Jackson may win awards but he’s never delivered when it counts. Seven years into his career and his decision-making is still in question. His mechanics and accuracy are poor. Running quarterbacks don’t win Super Bowls. Jackson turned it over twice while jukin’ and jivin’ like Cab Calloway at the Cotton Club. Ravens tight end Mark Andrews picked the wrong time to have the worst game of his career. Andrews had a costly fumble and a pair of drops including a two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game in the final minute. Back-breakers. Josh Allen threw for only 127 yards but the Bills were turnover-free and you know how much that matters.

The Eagles punched their ticket to the NFC title game behind 205 yards rushing from Saquon Barkley who had touchdown runs of 78 and 62 yards. Three turnovers killed the Rams chances of an upset in snowy Philadelphia.

Send in the Clowns – Well, the Cleveland Clowns have struck again. Bridesmaids in the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes. The Blue Jays have become baseball’s laughing-stock. Need a sucker to raise the stakes, call Atkins and Shapiro. The top agents in baseball have been taking these two stooges for a ride and they’re too dumb to notice. How many times’ are you going to be runner-up before you clue-in you’re being played? Is there not a mercy rule? Maybe consider fishing in a different lake where the water isn’t so deep. Maybe not go after the biggest fish? How out to lunch can you be?

Before being informed they were once again being left at the altar, the Jays made a deal with Cleveland (who else?) to acquire light-hitting outfielder Myles Straw and along with it, nearly $12 million in salary, pushing the Jays past the first luxury tax threshold. The trade with the Indians was made to acquire $2 million in international bonus money, presumably to finalize a deal with Sasaki. Who would do this without assurance Sasaki was agreeing to join the Blue Jays? Yes, that would be the Bamboozle Brothers. In the meantime, many of the top international free agents have already signed with other teams while the Clowns were getting rear-ended by Sasaki’s agents.

How desperate are the Jays now? Watch them overpay one of the remaining free agents in a last-ditch effort to salvage the off-season. The vitriol directed at ‘Shatkins’ online is totally justified. Why buy tickets? The best way to send ownership a message is to stay away from the stadium.

The Jays need to re-think how they are doing business. The organization is broken. The front office is incompetent. The farm system is empty. They are too analytics-driven. Players don’t want to play in Canada. (And one reason is the bozos who are currently in charge).  Wake up and roll out a different strategy. Trying to compete for every free agent is a fool’s game. You’ve missed on Ohtani, Soto, Burnes, Sasaki and nearly every other name that’s surfaced. It’s embarrassing.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers, who started the off-season wanting to improve their starting rotation, are now in position to roll out Sasaki, Yoshi Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and potentially, Shohei Ohtani with Clayton Kershaw in reserve. Oh, did we mention the Dodgers just signed the top available reliever, Tanner Scott, to a massive four-year deal? Hey, who needs a salary cap? Just sit back and watch the Dodgers spend their way to another World Series. Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden has warned about an oligarchy developing in the United States. It’s already happening in major league baseball.

Canucks Notebook – Sure seems like the Canucks season is about to fall off the rails. The team has fallen out of a wildcard playoff spot and the signs are not exactly encouraging. We’re past the midway point in the season and the Canucks have still not been able to find any consistency, Saturday’s win over the Oilers aside.

Defensively, the Canucks have shown significant regression. They rank dead last in the NHL in rush goals against. Offensively, the Canucks rank 32nd in rush chances created. Cutting to the chase, the forward group is not applying the kind of back pressure required to prevent rush chances and the D corps lacks the puck-moving ability to help trigger the attack.

According to multiple reports, the Canucks are on the verge of moving J.T. Miller. He may be on a plane by the time you read this. Miller stepped up against the Oilers but his trade value has been slipping based on recent performance. Looking at the current roster, we’re not convinced a turnaround is in sight. It would be hard to find anyone who believes the Canucks are ready to go on a deep playoff run. We are approaching the point where the best strategy might be to consider selling at the deadline with a view to start reloading for next year.

It’s illustrative of the Canucks season to date that Quinn Hughes is the runaway points leader on the team. Hughes has put up 50 points which puts him 19 points up on the closest teammate. Only six times in NHL history has a defenceman led his team in scoring by 20 or more points. Looks like Hughes could do it. Erik Karlsson did it twice. Ray Bourque, Phil Housley and some guy named Orr also accomplished the feat.

NHL Notebook – It’s about time we gave the Winnipeg Jets some love. It’s long overdue. Through the midway point in the season, the Jets are tops in the league in numerous categories. Winnipeg is tied for the NHL lead in wins with 31. They are number one in goals scored with 165 and number one in goals against with a GAA of 2.40. The Jets lead in goal differential at plus-52. The power-play is running at 32.1 percent which also leads the league. What more can you say? The Jets don’t need to be reminded of their playoff woes. It will stick with them until they do something about it. The Jets have cap space so they should be in position to upgrade closer to the trade deadline. Wouldn’t it be nice to see the Jets get over the playoff hump and get the city excited?

Mark it down. The Boston Bruins will miss the playoffs this season for the first time in nine years. As things stand right now, the Bruins sit 9th in the Eastern Conference. Their minus-23 goal differential is second worst in the conference behind only the Pittsburgh Penguins. No one on the roster is having what could be described as a ‘career’ year. The Bruins look stale and that’s being generous. It’s time for a reality check in Boston. There’s nothing more to patch. They’re out of Spackle. The Bruins have about as much chance of winning the Cup as an account rep in Tel Aviv has of selling ad time on Al Jazeera Radio.

We’re still bullish on the Ottawa Senators making the playoffs this season. The Sens have made big strides defensively under Travis Green. They are a team to watch at the trade deadline. Adding some bottom-six scoring punch would provide a nice boost. Linus Ullmark has been a huge upgrade in goal when he’s been available which is not often enough. Ullmark has only appeared in only half of the Senators 46 games. With Ullmark out, goalie Leevi Merilainen has stepped in and pretty much saved the Senators season. He’s 6-2-0-1 with a 2.20 GAA, .917 save percentage and a pair of shutouts. Where would the Sens be without him?

The Buffalo Sabres are now the owners of a truly bizarre record. The Sabres managed to score a goal and eke out a victory without registering a single shot on goal in the third period in a win over Carolina.  Brent Burns thwarted an empty-netter and the Sabres were awarded a penalty shot and automatic goal. Therefore, no official shot on goal. It’s the first time in NHL history that a team has scored a goal on zero shots in a full 20-minute period.

What has it been? Ten years now since Brendan Shanahan took over in Toronto and unveiled the famous Shanaplan? What was actually contained in the mysterious Shanaplan? Coach Chippy knows.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18AHuiejoM/?mibextid=wwXIfr

In case you haven’t noticed, we have little time for pro athletes who are constantly injured. Call it the Kawhi Leonard Syndrome. Thanks to Kawhi, we now have load management. (I’ve got a load you can manage. It’s in the toilet!) Seems like today’s athlete rarely plays hurt. In the 1963-64, Bruins goaltender Eddie Johnston played every minute in all 70 games. That would never happen today. Yogi Berra often caught both ends of a doubleheader. We’re not saying we need to go back to a bygone era but still, it may be time to change IR from Injured Reserve to I’m Resting.

Veteran Penguins star Evgeni Malkin is the latest high-profile athlete to have his home burglarized. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirms he’s been in touch with NHL clubs regarding recent targeted robberies of professional athletes. Among those targeted so far include Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr., Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr., Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić, and Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin.

It’s less than a month before Team Canada opens against Sweden to kick off the Four Nations Face-Off. We should not be surprised that ticket sales have been slow despite the long wait for the return of international hockey. We may see some half-empty stadiums in Montreal and Boston. As much as we are excited about best-on-best, the tournament does seem a bit contrived with only four teams competing and nothing important to play for, other than national pride.

Montreal Canadiens rookie forward Emil Heineman was lucky to escape serious injury after being struck by a car near the team hotel in Salt Lake City. He’s expected to miss three or four weeks with an upper-body injury. Heineman has been a pleasant surprise for the Canadiens this season with ten goals, third among NHL rookies.

Seahawks Notebook – It appears as though John Schneider is safe for at least one more season as general manager of the Seattle Seahawks. You would think change is coming if the team fails to win the division next season. We’ve been in Schneider’s corner over the years but our faith is waning.

Schneider’s work in free agency has been abysmal. Check The Athletic’s list of free agent signings from last off-season. An utter waste of money.

  • S Rayshawn Jenkins (two years, $12 million)
  • OT George Fant (two years, $9.1 million)
  • LB Jerome Baker (one year, $7 million)
  • LB Tyrel Dodson (one year, $4.2 million)
  • C Connor Williams (one year, $4 million)
  • TE Pharaoh Brown (one year, $3.2 million)
  • C Nick Harris (one year, $2.3 million)
  • DT Johnathan Hankins (one year, $2.05 million)
  • S K’Von Wallace (one year, $1.5 million)
  • OG Laken Tomlinson (one year, $1.2 million)
  • OL Tremayne Anchrum Jr. (one year, $1.1 million)
  • WR Laviska Shenault Jr. (one year, $1.2 million)

Anchrum and Harris didn’t last through training camp. The two starting linebackers, Baker and Dodson, were gone by mid-season. Williams retired in November. Shenault was eventually cut. Jenkins and Wallace were outperformed and lost their spots in the lineup. Fant couldn’t stay healthy and played in only two games. Nice work John!

The draft class produced only defensive tackle Byron Murphy II, linebacker Tyrice Knight and tight end AJ Barner and not a whole lot else. Meanwhile, the rival Rams used the 19th and 39th picks on edge rusher Jared Verse and defensive tackle Braden Fiske. Verse made the Pro Bowl and is the favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year. Fiske led all rookies with 8.5 sacks.

Seahawk fans are sure to hear more promises about how the team is going to fix the sieve-like offensive line in the off-season. We’ll believe it when we see it. The Seahawks have wasted more draft stock on offensive linemen than any team in football. How about these names Terry Poole, Mark Glowinski, Rees Odhiambo, Ethan Pocic, Phil Haynes, Damien Lewis, Anthony Bradford, Christian Haynes? Do they ring a bell? The Seahawks have fared no better in signing O-linemen in free agency. Center BJ Finney signed a two-year deal in 2020 for $8 million and promptly crapped the bed. Schneider gave Gabe Jackson a three-year, $22.5 million extension after he was acquired from the Raiders in 2021. Jackson did nothing to justify the investment.

Pretty pathetic when you take a hard look at Schneider’s performance overall. In other markets, it would get the guy fired.

NFL Notebook – Watching the NFL playoffs, are you not getting sick of the finger-pointing antics every time someone earns a first down? Can we just stop that right now? Even linemen are doing it. Just move the sticks and cut the meaningless celebrations. While you’re at it, the NFL needs to adopt the NCAA rule for pass interference. Why award a penalty at the spot of the foul? Just make it a 15-yard penalty. It will stop the constant controversy over whether it was a good call, especially at critical points in the game.

It takes intelligence to be a top NFL quarterback. The NFL used to use the Wonderlic Test to gauge the intelligence of draft eligible players. It was outlawed after it was determined to be prejudiced against black ball players. Former NFL quarterback bust Vince Young scored 6, reportedly the lowest score ever recorded. That represents an IQ of 71 which is borderline mentally handicapped. Lamar Jackson’s Wonderlic score was 13 out of 50 or 26%. This represents an IQ of 86. Don’t think we will see Lamar on Reach for the Top anytime soon.

Sam Darnold’s bank account took a mighty hit with the Minnesota Vikings quick exit from the post-season. When it counted, Darnold did the El Foldo routine in the team’s two biggest games of the season. Kind of similar to his days with the New York Jets. Darnold was sacked nine times against the Rams in the wildcard game with a pair of turnovers. In the showdown with the Detroit Lions in Week 18, Darnold gave a preview of what was to come, looking painfully out of sync.

The Vikings now have a tough decision to make. Do you bring Darnold back at a much higher cap hit or do you turn to J.J. McCarthy, this year’s first-round pick who missed the entire season with a serious knee injury? When the Vikings were riding high, there was talk Darnold might command upwards of $45 million per season on a new deal. Not now. That’s what happens when you deliver a pair of clunkers with everything at stake.

Contributor Rob Wagner agreed with our note on the NFL donating only $5 million to fire relief in Los Angeles. There are three NFL teams in California. You would think they could easily donate $5 million by themselves. Have you noticed the ads on NFL games urging fans to donate to the Red Cross? www.redcross/NFL.org I guess the NFL expects fans to donate more than a league swimming in profits.

During the Eagles wildcard playoff win over the Packers, receiver A.J. Brown was caught on camera on the sidelines reading the book “Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life” by Jim Murphy. The next day the book was number one on the Amazon best-selling list. Published in 2020, “Inner Excellence” advertises itself as a ‘life guide’ to train the minds of athletes. Says Brown, “it helps me with my mental.” Whatever you say A.J.!

TGL Monday – It took about 5 minutes for the UFR jury to render its decision. The new TGL golf venture is nothing more than a Tiger Woods vanity project. Tiger made a glittering entrance in his first appearance on Monday night and promptly plopped three balls in the virtual water. Your intrepid bastard bloggers wasted two hours forming an opinion and you would have to be a diehard golf fan to want to tune in on a regular basis. The whole charade is cringe-worthy.

Monday’s matchup pitted the Los Angeles Golf Club (Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, and Justin Rose) and Woods’ Jupiter Links GC (Woods, Kevin Kisner, and Max Homa). Don’t ask us how the scoring works but the final result was 12-1 for LAGC. The match was so one-sided, at one point, Kisner remarked to Tiger’s son, “Charlie, you want to come play? Come sub in, man.”

The golf simulator thing doesn’t transfer well to live television. Who wants to see a series of sponsor executives being interviewed? There was a segment with Serena Williams who is an owner of the L.A. team. Real compelling stuff there! Fans in the arena were loud with music blaring in the background. The sound echoed and distracted the live broadcast.  In two hours, Tiger hit a grand total of 20 shots.

Like a bad TV sitcom, the whole enterprise should be cancelled after one season. It’s nothing more than a prime-time showcase for Tiger’s over-sized ego.

Ode to Mr. Baseball – We are saddened to say goodbye to Bob Uecker who died on Thursday at the age of 90. The self-deprecating broadcaster spent 53 years behind the mike calling Milwaukee Brewers games on the radio. But he was an icon in pop culture as a result of his more than 100 appearances on the Johnny Carson Show, more than any other celebrity. Uecker was one of Johnny’s favourite guests. It was Johnny who gave him the nickname Mr. Baseball.

Uecker became an icon as a pitchman in the Miller Lite commercials. He appeared in the movie “Major League” and turned actor in the sitcom “Mr. Belvedere.” In case you missed it, we published a list of our favourite Bob Uecker quotes in a recent Under Further Review column published only three weeks ago. It can be found in the archived columns dated December 22. Rest in Peace Bob! There will never be anyone else like you.

MLB Network paid tribute to the Hall of Fame broadcaster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttRPZy2caoU

Always in rare form, here’s Bob at his induction ceremony into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/9566115676732444

The passing of Bob Uecker brought back fond memories of all the old Miller Lite commercials. Miller’s long-running “Tastes Great. Less Filling” campaign was one of the most successful in advertising history.

Uecker himself appeared in one of the early ads, being moved from his seat at a ballgame, and escorted away by an usher. Uecker exclaims “I must be in the front row,” but ends up in a far corner of the upper deck. This gave rise to the term “Bob Uecker seats.”

Who can forget the assembly line of former football stars like Ray Nitschke, Paul Hornung, Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus? Coaches like John Madden, Red Auerbach and Tommy Heinsohn. One commercial played on the feud between Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner.

Here’s a few classic Miller Lite ads that will bring back a few memories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzIZxpL8N9I

Random Leftovers – Jesper Sorensen is the new head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps.  The 51-year-old Dane joins the club from Brondby IF in the Danish Superliga where he spent two seasons as head coach. Sorenson replaces excitable Italian Vanni Sartini who was fired in mid-November. The Whitecaps remain up for sale. Whitecaps sporting director Axel Schuster has given no update on the status of the sale.

Looks like Canadian soccer star Alphonso Davies is going to sign a new four-year contract with Bayern Munich. An agreement is expected sometime this week. Davies also had offers from clubs in England and Spain.

Is there a better managed team in the NBA than the Oklahoma City Thunder? The Thunder sit atop the Western Conference standings with a record of 31-6 and lead the standings by six and a half games. If the season were to end today, the Thunder would be sitting with three first-round picks in the next NBA Draft including the eighth pick (via the Philadelphia 76’ers); the 17th pick (via the L.A. Clippers); and the 19th selection (via the Miami Heat).

Veteran star Jimmy Butler wants out of Miami and the Toronto Raptors are trying help facilitate a deal prior to the NBA trade deadline on February 6. The Raptors have several expiring contracts which would net draft pick compensation as part of a three-or-four team deal.

Did you hear that both the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles had deals in place to sign reliever Jeff Hoffman before he landed in Toronto? Both teams backed away after conducting an MRI. It apparently didn’t matter to the desperate Blue Jays. They gave him $33 million away. Watch it blow up in their face.

Did you know that by playing just one MLB game, a player qualifies for lifetime healthcare? Being on the active roster for a total of 43 days qualifies a player for a minimum annual pension of $34,000. Better tell your kid to pick up a ball and bat.

Butch Patterson: Private Dick – The Canadian TV comedy series is now an underground classic. The series had a three-season run, airing on The Comedy Network, centering on the seedy exploits of a self-described premature ejaculating, alcoholic, kleptomaniac, sexually deviant private detective played by Canadian actor/comedian Greg Lawrence. The show was not a critical or commercial success, but maintains a cult following.

The show was shot in a drab hue that provides a film noir feel. Much of the humour is derived from the candid narrative of Butch as he reflects on his cases and his general state of affairs. There is a heavy reliance on recurring jokes about Butch’s seemingly irrational disdain for bartenders and tailors, his chagrin regarding his childhood bullies and his brassy, open references to his sexual dysfunction and his near unquenchable craving for alcohol and cheap cigars. Here’s a link to highlights of each of the three seasons. An absolute hoot!

https://youtu.be/z7k5YjfbcLQ

https://youtu.be/4w13-5SqoXs

https://youtu.be/-d0XSCLSWH0

YouTube Feature Artist of the Week – Eliane Elias has been called the greatest female jazz pianist of all time. Heady stuff! Elias was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and combines the great tradition of Afro-Latin rhythms, like samba and bossa nova, with straight-ahead classic jazz. She’s a fine singer as well and for those of you in the Victoria area, we highly recommend checking out her performance at the McPherson Playhouse on Wednesday, June 25 as part of the TD Victoria International Jazz Festival. Tickets are on sale now. Here a taste of her incredible talents from a performance at the Rochester Jazz Festival.

https://youtu.be/2_mKMrSwdTY?si=DDCksfgUP3ntpR8p

Eliane was married for a time to trumpet player Randy Brecker. She’s now married to her bass player Marc Johnson. In December, 2022, Elias was invited to perform on National Public Radio (NPR) in the U.S. as part of their popular Tiny Desk series.

https://youtu.be/PxKHo8kiBG4?si=QVSDdIfkXOhRmcZF

Eliane has also covered the song “Call Me” originally composed by Tony Hatch and turned into a hit by Petula Clark in 1965. The song has been covered since by many artists including Chris Montez, Nancy Wilson, Nancy and Frank Sinatra, and dozens of others. Here’s Eliane’s version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5cyhK2vrXo

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