It’s time for Good News, Bad News!
Let’s start with the positive.
Good: The Vancouver Canucks began their season with five games on the road and in the first four held a multi-goal lead. (In the 5th game, they only held a one-goal lead on two occasions)
Bad: The (0-3-2) Canucks are the only team in the NHL without a win. In addition, Vancouver has started with five straight losses for the first time ever.
Good: The Prince George Spruce Kings are off to a good start with a record of 6-3-0-1 after 10 games.
Bad: The Spruce Kings blew a 3-0 lead and lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Surrey Eagles Thursday night at the BCHL Showcase in Chilliwack. Who do the Spruce Kings think they are? The Vancouver Canucks?
Good: The Buffalo Sabres are 3-1, including 2-0 on the road with a goal differential of plus seven.
Bad: They are still the Buffalo Sabres, a team that has not been to the playoffs since 2011.
Good: Centre Gabriel Vilardi of the LA Kings (Gabriel who?) is in the top 10 of the NHL scoring with seven points (four goals) in six games.
Bad: The same Vilardi had just seven points (five goals) in all 25 games last season.
Good: Three WHL teams are still unbeaten one month into the regular season. Red Deer is 8-0 while Seattle and Portland are 7-0. (Winnipeg arguably has the most impressive record at 9-1, considering all 10 of its games have been on the road).
Bad: Four of the five B.C. Division teams in the WHL, have a losing record. Only Kamloops (5-1-0-1) is off to a good start in arguably the weakest division in the league.
Good: The average Major League Baseball game this year took less time than the previous season.
Bad: MLB games went an average of three hours and seven minutes, the second longest ever behind the three hours and 10 minutes set last year. No wonder new rules are coming with the intent to take 20 or 30 minutes off each game.
Good: The LA Dodgers finished the regular season with the best record (111-51) in Major League Baseball, a whopping 22 games ahead of the second-place San Diego Padres in the National League West.
Bad: What did that regular season record really mean? The Dodgers only played four playoff games and were quickly eliminated after they lost three of them to the Padres.
Good: Russell Westbrook went a perfect 2-for-2 from the free throw line for the LA Lakers on Thursday night. He also led the team with five steals.
Bad: Believe it or not, Westbrook was 0-for-11 in field goal attempts, including 0-for-6 from three-point range in the Lakers 103-97 loss to the LA Clippers.
Good: Geno Smith of the Seattle Seahawks has the highest completion percentage of any of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL at 73.4 %.
Bad: The 3-3 Seahawks have the third-worst defence in the NFL, allowing a whopping 410.8 yards per game, only ahead of the Houston Texans (414.2) and the Detroit Lions (426.8). Both the Texans and the Lions have just one win entering the seventh week of the season.
Good: The Carolina Panthers, 13-point under-dogs Sunday at home against Tampa Bay, can be optimistic about their chances of victory against the Buccaneers by looking at some history. It was 1969, only 53 years ago, the AFL’s New York Jets were 18-point underdogs against the NFL’s Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl 3, yet the Jets won the game 16-7.
Bad: The Panthers won’t have Joe Namath in the lineup at QB, instead will go with PJ Walker, who has only thrown 22 passes this year. Oh, in case you have not heard, the (1-5) Panthers on Thursday traded their best player, running back, Christian McCaffrey to San Francisco.
DJ Moore watching Christian McCaffrey & Robbie Anderson get traded pic.twitter.com/SeCqBYrnpb
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 21, 2022
Cat Scan Podcast:
In this week’s Cat Scan #podcast, @PGCougars associate coach Josh Dixon discusses breaking down the season into 7-game segments, the team’s early season struggles on the PK, team philosophy when facing adversity, his role on the coaching staff with this being his 2nd year in PG. https://t.co/fPDfJkTFcQ
— Hartley Miller (@Hartley_Miller) October 20, 2022
Taking Note:
Has Chaos-By-The-Creek returned to Regina? . . . Bedard streak at 11, but Pats lose in Moose Jaw . . . Canucks lose fifth straight, but have points in last two https://t.co/7gSG6PGgJi
— Gregg Drinnan (@gdrinnan) October 21, 2022
FROM THE QUOTE RACK:
The NFL fined Bucs QB Tom Brady $11,139 for attempting to kick the Falcons’ Grady Jarrett after Brady was tackled. So there you have it: the league’s first roughing-the-sacker penalty.
*Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times http://www.seattletimes.com/author/dwight-perry/
So far in the 2022 season Tom Brady, 45, has been warned for smashing tablets, fined for kicking another player & last weekend was seen berating his own teammates on the sideline. What’s next Sunday in Charlotte; Brady screaming at both the Bucs & Panthers to get off his lawn?
*Comedy writer Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com
Aaron Rodgers on one of his top receivers being named Romeo: ’Where art thou, Davonte?’
*Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California
In Case You Missed It:
Did you catch New York Jets corner Sauce Gardner sporting a cheesehead after they upset the Packers in Green Bay? I’ve had cheese topped with sauce, but this was a first — Sauce topped with cheese.
*Western Canadian comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com
Hartley Miller is the news and sports director/supervisor plus morning news anchor for 94.3 the GOAT and Country 97fm. He is in his 10th season as the radio colour commentator for P.G. Cougars’ home games. Hartley has been on the Prince George airwaves since 1979 and is the author of You Don’t Say (sports quotes).