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, Rob Wagner and John Dancause.

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.

Glad to be back. We’ve taken a break over the summer and frankly, there wasn’t a whole lot that was stirring our emotions. Unless you like hammer throwing.

As someone who has a passion for cycling, it was incredibly sad and unnerving to learn of the death of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew who were killed while cycling in New Jersey, reportedly at the hands of a drunk driver. To have this happen just a day before the wedding of their sister is just unthinkable. He leaves his lovely wife and two small children, a daughter born in 2022 and a son born in February of this year. His brother leaves a young wife who is expecting their first child.

We echo the condolences sent out by the Columbus Blue Jackets and the National Hockey League.

NHL Summer Ramblings – We’re starting to see a big increase in roster activity as NHL GM’s return to the office from their lakeside summer cottages. The biggest news surrounded the St. Louis Blues offer sheets to Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, two former Edmonton Oiler first-round picks. The Oilers failed to match the offer sheets, proving once again that cap space is king and seemingly, more important than a pair of budding youngsters. The Oilers figure to stay the course, hold onto cap space, and wait until closer to the trade deadline to add to what they think remains a Stanley Cup roster.

Good luck to new Oilers GM Stan Bowman who faces the daunting task of signing Draisaitl, Bouchard and McDavid to contract extensions over the next year. The Oilers had better hope there’s a huge jump in the salary cap.

The Toronto Maple Leafs kicked John Tavaras to the curb and named Auston Matthews the Leafs new captain. You have to question the team’s motivation. Tavaras has one year left on his contract. Could you not just wait a year? His speed is diminishing but yet, Tavaras still scored 29 goals last season and chocked up 65 points. If the Leafs think Matthews is the guy to lead them to a Stanley Cup, they are sadly mistaken.

The Athletic recently published their list of the top-10 worst contracts in the NHL. The list contains several familiar names including their number one choice, Jonathan Huberdeau ($10.5M x seven years) of the Calgary Flames. The other players listed are Chandler Stephenson ($6.3M x seven years) of the Seattle Kraken, Tom Wilson ($6.5M x seven years of the Washington Capitals, Colton Parayko $6.5M x six years of the St. Louis Blues, Damon Severson ($6.3M x seven years) of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Mark Scheifele ($8.5M x seven years of the Winnipeg Jets, Sean Couturier ($7.75M x six years) of the Philadelphia Flyers, Seth Jones ($9.5M x six years of the Chicago Blackhawks, Darnell Nurse ($9.3M x six years of the Edmonton Oilers, and Tyler Seguin ($9.9M x three years) of the Dallas Stars. Honourable mentions included Pierre-Luc Dubois, John Gibson, Josh Anderson, Brandan Gallagher and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

No much to discuss when it comes to the Canucks unless you’re excited about the signing of Daniel Sprong. The big concern surrounds the health of the goaltenders. It appears as though Thatcher Demko won’t be ready for the start of the season with lingering knee issues. Meanwhile, backup Arturs Silovs was held out of Latvia’s lineup for Olympic qualifying due to a sore knee. It’s reportedly not a big problem yet you can’t help but shake your head. The Canucks can ill afford another slow start. We’ve seen that movie before.

NFL Season Kick-Off – The new kick-off rule changes seem to be having the desired effect. Since 2020, less than 15 percent of kickoffs were returned for 30 yards or more. In this year’s preseason, that number jumped to 22 percent. Since 2020, the average starting position following kickoffs was the 25.2-yard line. So far this season, the average starting position after kickoffs has been the 27.9-yard line.

A year ago, we were pumping the tires of quarterback Will Levis. We almost begged the Seattle Seahawks to draft Levis who fell to Tennessee in the second round despite having first-round arm talent. Levis is now fully-entrenched as the Titans starting quarterback and appears to be the long-term answer.

Prior to this year’s NFL draft, we mentioned the name of South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler. He fell to New Orleans Saints in the fifth round. It already appears as though Rattler will take the number one job from Derek Carr at some point this season.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is often called the NFL’s Most Overrated Player. Well, he has company in Lamar Jackson and Dak Prescott. Jackson has a 2-4 playoff record with six TD’s and six interceptions and a 45.0 career playoff quarterback rating. Dak is 2-5 in the post-season with only two wins in eight years. His playoff QBR is 61.7. Meantime, Pat Mahomes has 16 playoff wins in six years as a starter.

We hate making predictions but Kansas City and Detroit are our picks to reach the Super Bowl. If you are looking for a couple of dark-horse candidates, our picks would be the Houston Texans and the Green Bay Packers. C.J. Stroud and Jordan Love have both emerged as legitimate top-end quarterbacks. Both teams have good talent across the board including an excellent crop of receivers.

The Name Game – In honour of my great and good friend and frequent UFR contributor Dave Kittle, we offer up our favourite names from among the recent NFL training camp cuts. The winner? Dicaprio Bootle. Here’s a few other dandies.

• Sheldrick Redwine
• Equanimeous St. Brown
• Micah Baskerville
• Rachad Wildgoose
• Racey McMath
• Javelin Guidry
• Messiah Swinson
• Snoop Conner
• Xazavian Valladay
• Sione Takitaki
• Quintez Cephus
• Pheldarious Payne
• Geor’Quarius Spivey

Just a thought, but whatever happened to Bob, Joe and Dave? Maybe consider a nice biblical name like Michael.

Blue Jays Notebook – In this season of disappointment, the Blue Jays had a chance to provide Joey Votto with one last shining moment. They managed to screw that up as well. The Jays had games in Toronto scheduled against Votto’s former team, the Cincinnati Reds. It was the only team he ever played for. All they had to do is call him up from Buffalo and put him into the lineup at first base and enjoy the moment. Votto could have been removed from the game after one at-bat and a sure-fire standing ovation. Instead, the Blue Jays did nothing. Votto was left to announce his retirement from a parking lot in Buffalo. How tone-deaf can you be?

Votto is, without a doubt, one of the greatest Canadian-born ballplayers of all-time. He retires with a .920 career OPS. That’s higher than many Hall of Famers including Ken Griffey Jr., George Brett and Reggie Jackson. Votto retires with a .409 career on-base percentage. That’s better than Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays. It’s also better than fellow Canadian Larry Walker. Votto led the National League in on-base percentage seven times. You would think he’s at least a borderline Hall of Fame candidate.

Something is off with the Blue Jays from the top down. Veteran pitcher Chris Bassitt alluded to it on a podcast but quickly recanted. His biggest bombshell? “I don’t want to identify the problems because I think some of the problems, I don’t think are fixable.”  Like what? Being based in Canada? Border checks? No Cheetos in the grocery store?

The Jays made eight deals at the MLB trade deadline, adding 14 new players to the organization but none that you would call a blue-chip prospect. When you look at the kids now in the lineup, are any of them anything more than bottom-of-the-roster player? The list includes Joey Loperfido, Will Wagner, Ernie Clement, Leo Jiminez, Spencer Horwitz and Addison Barger. They’ve all flashed at times but we’ve seen this movie before when it comes to young players. We still don’t see a path to contention next season in a very tough American League East. Too many holes to fill especially when it comes to legitimate pop in the lineup and arms in the bullpen.

MLB Notebook – Back on June 18, the Seattle Mariners held a 10-game lead in the American League West.  They are now three and a half games back of the Houston Astros and five back in the wildcard race. The Mariners have completely wasted the best pitching staff in baseball. Seattle leads the majors in ERA but rank near the bottom of the league in runs per game.

You have to wonder why so many hitters struggle when they arrive in Seattle. The Mariners have acquired a succession of hitters over the past several seasons and nearly every one has failed to produce. Eugenio Suarez, Teoscar Hernandez, Jesse Winker, Adam Frazier, Kolten Wong, Ty France and Mitch Garver all had delivered outstanding seasons at the plate before going listless in Seattle.

Cleveland Guardians rookie right-hander Cade Smith is quickly emerging as one of the top relievers in baseball. He has an ERA of 2.02 with 79 strikeouts in 58 innings. Better yet, he has a 0.87 ERA in his last 20 innings. Smith grew up in Abbotsford, B.C. He attended the University of Hawaii with plans to become an ophthalmologist. Smith spent four years in the minors before making the jump to the majors. He was available to every team in 2021 when he went undrafted in the Covid-shortened MLB draft. Where were the Blue Jays, you ask?

Alex Anthopoulos strikes again. The off-season trade with Boston for oft-injured Chris Sale has paid big dividends for the Atlanta Braves. Sale is the leading contender for the National League Cy Young Award.  He’s 15-3 with a 2.58 ERA. The deal came with big risks. In his 6 years with the Red Sox, Sale went on the disabled list nine times. This included a broken collar bone, Tommy John surgery, broken ribs and a broken finger. At $27.5 million per year, it was not exactly a good return. The Red Sox were so eager to get rid of Sale, they ate $17 million of the last year of his contract.

Way Too Late Olympic Takeaways – As much as you want to celebrate the performance of Canadian athletes, the Paris Olympics will be forever remembered for the scandal surrounding our women’s soccer team. It was a huge embarrassment for Canada and the repercussions are far from over. Thank goodness for Celine Dion who crushed the opening ceremonies with her amazing performance atop the Eiffel Tower.

It really was the Summer of Summer. At 17, Summer McIntosh is just beginning her Olympic journey. She came away from Paris with three gold medals and one silver. The level of commitment it takes to reach those heights is just incredible. Leading up to the Olympics, McIntosh trained six days a week, taking only Sunday off. Her average day started at 4:30am. She would spend two and a half hours in the pool in the morning followed by an hour and a half in the gym. She would then head home for a big lunch and a short nap. It was back in the pool for at least two hours in the afternoon and another hour and a half of dryland training. That’s how Olympic champions are made.

In case you didn’t notice, most of Canada’s success was delivered by our female athletes. The women’s soccer team showed incredible courage in advancing out of their group despite being docked six points in wake of the drone scandal. Although they were unable to defend gold, it was a remarkable achievement.

Our women’s rugby team won a surprise silver in the Rugby Sevens, dropping a 19-12 decision to New Zealand in the gold medal game. You have to wonder what might have happened if Canada had Victoria native Sophie de Goede in the lineup. The 25-year-old missed the Olympics with a knee injury. In May, de Goede led Canada to an historic first-ever win over New Zealand to claim the Pacific Four title. Before her injury, she was a favourite to be named World Rugby Player of the Year.

We left Paris knowing one thing. Canada is tops when it comes to hammer-throwing. Kamloop’s Ethan Katzburg won the men’s title while Richmond’s Camryn Rogers won gold in the women’s event. BC athletes certainly shone, winning a total of eight medals. Team Canada accumulated nine gold, seven silver and 11 bronze medals, beating the previous best of 24 medals set at the 2020 games in Tokyo.

One of the biggest surprises had to be the gold medal won by the men’s 4X100 relay team which included Kelowna sprinter Jerome Baker. The U.S. team should be dominating this event but seem to find new ways to bomb out every four years.

Memo to Jamal Murray:  Thanks for coming.

What’s happened to Olympic boxing? The glory days are a distant memory. So many legendary boxers won gold at the summer games including Muhammad Ali, Teofilo Stevenson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael Spinks and George Foreman. Canada had its share of outstanding pugilists including Lennox Lewis, Shawn O’Sullivan and Dale Walters. How much has the sport slipped into the background? Canada had only one male boxer in Paris. Kid named Wyatt Sanford. Good for him. He came away with a medal.

Final thought. The summer Olympics should be the time for athletes in lower profile sports to have the spotlight. Track and field, swimming and rowing take center stage. It used to be that way with boxing. (And let’s make sure we make room for break-dancing.) Apparently, we’re good at that. We shouldn’t be watching LeBron James and Novak Djokovic and Scottie Scheffler and Lionel Messi. They have their own platform. Leave the spotlight to those who only have their shot at glory every four years. What’s next? Shohei Otani and Aaron Judge in the Olympics?

Athletes for Hire – U.S. college athletics are in a state of complete anarchy. NIL money is flowing uncontrolled. Athletes are transferring without having to redshirt. The horses are out of the barn and its created utter chaos. How absurd is it? The Oklahoma State Cowboys plan to attach QR codes on their helmets this season linking to a donation page for the school’s NIL fund. The Cowboys coach says he hopes the players can now focus on football instead of the “business side” of name, image and likeness.

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of Buffaloes head coach and former NFL mouthpiece Dion Sanders, will earn an estimated $4.1 million this season. So much for institutes of higher learning. Education is no longer even a consideration. Why even bother attending classes?

U.S. universities are raking in hundreds of millions and could care less if the players get an education. Once the NCAA came to a $2.8 billion dollar settlement to pay college athletes far beyond full-ride scholarships, all common sense went out the window. The previous perks given under the table to athletes by alumni seem like chump change now. Crooked programs have been given license to go bananas. Phil Mushnick of the New York Post calls what’s happening nothing more than racketeering. Universities are like a crime boss using their “primary business” to serve as a false front.

You know things are out of control when the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, #1 team in the country, is making $13 million per season plus perks. That’s working out well. Over the past two seasons, Georgia players have totalled 24 reckless driving charges, including a fatality. Nothing has come of it but they have hot new cars thanks to NIL money. It took a second felony charge of domestic abuse, including cruelty to a child, for WR Rara Thomas to finally be dismissed from the team.

Under Sanders, Colorado’s football team is awash in controversy. There have been reports of gunplay in the locker room and wads of cash being thrown around in large-scale betting. One former player says it’s “like real-life Grand Theft Auto.”

Flushed at Flushing – It’s the end of an era in tennis. For the first time since 2002, none of the big three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will win a major this year. Djokovic, who won a gold medal in Paris, was bounced out of the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows, New York by 28th-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia. Tournament favourite Carlos Alcarez of Spain fell victim to 74th-ranked Dutch upstart Botic van de Zandschulp. (Nice handle.) The upsets have opened the door for Italian star Jannik Sinner who somehow avoided suspension despite twice testing positive for steroids, proving once again there are different sets of rules for different players.

It was a pathetic showing for Canadians at the U.S. Open. Both of the top-ranked men, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov were bounced in the opening round as were the two top-rated women, Leylah Fernandez and Bianca Andreescu. Shapovalov has become a whining, petulant imbecile. If he’s not cursing the crowd, he’s throwing his racket like a spoiled child. Nice way to represent Canada. Try winning once in a while.

22-year-old Gabriel Diallo, the six-foot-eight unknown from Montreal, made it to the third round before being eliminated by American Tommy Paul.

Golf Notebook – Golf fans don’t know what to make of the Tour Championship. Scottie Scheffler had a 7-stroke lead after the opening round. The PGA Tour needs to find a way to create more drama to end the season.

Canada’s Taylor Pendrith is a sure bet to make the International squad for the upcoming Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal. Captain Mike Weir will have an easy choice. It remains to be seen whether Mike will select any other Canadians. Corey Connors is a likely selection. However, Pendrith and Connors were shut out at the last competition.

It was heart-breaking this summer to witness the massive fire in Jasper, Alberta. Golfers were devastated to learn that the Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course was severely damaged by the fire. In Golf Digest’s recent ranking of the Top 100 golf courses in the world outside of the United States, Jasper Park was ranked 45th. Banff Springs was ranked 60th. Jasper Park Golf Course has long been considered a Stanley Thompson masterpiece. We’re told the original golf course drawings will be used to eventually rebuild the course. However, many trees were lost so it will take decades to recover.

It’s time Tiger Woods looked in the mirror and considered retirement. His appearances in this year’s majors have been nothing more than ceremonial. He’s missed the cut or withdrawn in six of his past seven starts in majors including this year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon. He finished 60th (16-over) at this year’s Masters which was last among players who made the cut. Woods missed the cut at both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship. At 48, time and injuries have taken a heavy toll on Tiger’s ravaged body.

Shoot the Messenger – The newspaper business has never been in worse shape. Most of the great sportswriters are gone. One of the few great remaining scribes is Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette. Jack is still banging out good stories and never afraid to “tell it like it is.”

Todd echoed our feelings about the Euro 2024 and Copa America tournaments. He noted that, outside of eventual champion Spain, the other European soccer powers seemed happy to play “strangulation soccer” and hope for a scoreless draw. The beautiful game was anything but.

Copa America produced a better product. However, the tournament did away with the 30-minute overtime and went directly to penalty kicks. The diving and embellishment was worst among the South American teams. As Todd pointed out, the “diver-in-chief” was Argentina’s Rodrigo De Paul who rolled around every time an opponent breathed on him.

Don’t expect anything to change when the World Cup comes to Canada in two years. The powers that control soccer are more interested in counting the dollars than improving the game.

Random Leftovers – “Sycho” Sid Eudy is the latest wrestling legend to die at a young age. Eudy passed away at the age of 63 after being previously diagnosed with cancer. In the 90’s, Eudy wrestled under the names “Sid Vicious” and “Sid Justice” before later adopting the moniker “Sycho Sid.” He was involved in an infamous hotel fight in Europe with Arn Anderson in which Eudy reportedly stabbed Anderson 20 times with a pair of scissors. What were you using? A pair of pinking shears? Do you think maybe this was a case of steroid rage? No charges were ever filed.

In January 2001, Sycho Sid suffered one of the most gruesome injuries in the history of wrestling. He attempted to jump on an opponent from the top turnbuckle but landed awkwardly, snapping the tibia and fibula in his right leg with the bone breaking through the skin. It was all caught on live television. Eudy would require extensive surgery including the insertion of a metal rod in his leg.

Edmonton businessman Larry Thompson has stepped up and purchased the woebegone Elks, leaving the CFL with only two community-owned teams. After starting the season 0-5, the Elks had no choice but to gas GM and head coach Chris Jones. The team were 8-33 under Jones including a 22-game home losing streak. Can you imagine being a season-ticket holder and going over two full seasons without seeing your team win a game? It remains to be seen if Thompson has the guts to axe the name Elks and revert back to the Eskimos.

Night Music – Years ago, there used to be a wide range of variety shows on network television. Some would feature up-and-coming bands and musical artists. Who can forget the Ed Sullivan Show? There were other music-focused shows as well like Austin City Limits, Midnight Special and Soul Train. Today, there are no platforms on mainstream TV that showcase young talent.

No network music program in history was better than Night Music, a late-night television show that aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990. It was hosted by Jools Holland and sax whiz David Sanborn as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists.

Guests included acts such as Sonny Rollins, Sister Carol, Sonic Youth, Joe Sample, Pharoah Sanders, and many others. In addition, they aired vintage clips of legends like Sonny Boy Williamson, Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck and Billie Holiday .

Here’s a show from 1988 that features Dr. John, Mavis Staples and Canadian Jeff Healey.

https://youtu.be/zshh-vBfVmE?si=7pZkPIRiSPRBZtzF

John Mayall RIP – For a lot of us, John Mayall was our introduction to the blues. He was certainly one of the most influential musicians in history, providing a training ground for Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood and so many others. Mayall died recently at the age of 90 and will be forever remembered as ‘The Godfather of British Blues.’

‘Turning Point’ is a documentary of John Mayall and his career playing the blues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xpsQFe73N4&ab_channel=SecretRecordsLimited

Mayall kept playing right up until the end. Here’s a clip from a live show in March, 2022 at the CoachHouse Concert Hall in San Juan Capistrano, California.

https://youtu.be/EfWU2MV9_ZI?si=ltD2kqlzlgosCiil

Hot List – Here’s a Top 10 Playlist for this week that you may want to add to your collection.

1. Ryan Hurd – ‘Breakdown’ from the release Petty Country (A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty)
2. Roy Rogers + Shana Morrison – ‘Hello Stranger’ from the album Everybody’s Angel
3. Norton Buffalo – ‘Hoodoo Roux’ from the album King of the Highway
4. Pops Staples – ‘Father Father’ – title track from album Father Father
5. Josh Farrow – ‘Who’s Gonna Love You When I’m Gone’ from the release Trouble Walks with Me
6. Zach Bryan – ‘Better Days’ featuring John Mayer from the album The Great American Bar Scene
7. Nils Lofgren Band – ‘Blue Skies’ from the release Crooked Line
8. David Grissom – ‘Never Came East to Me’ from the release How It Feels to Fly
9. Kajsa Vala – ‘Fly Free’ – single release featuring Mike Andersen
10. Shelby Lynne – ‘Track 12’ (Rainy Night in Georgia) from the album Suit Yourself

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