{"id":886894,"date":"2026-09-07T16:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886894\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T16:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:04:09","slug":"monday-morning-halfback-tiger-still-commands-our-attention-and-picking-the-perfect-hockey-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886894\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Halfback: Tiger still commands our attention, and picking the perfect hockey panel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The source of people\u2019s continued fascination with Woods is that he has been the greatest athlete in the world, and then its most spectacularly failed athlete, Cathal Kelly writes.Ezra Shaw\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Jamie Ross is the Globe\u2019s Sports editor; Cathal Kelly is the national sports columnist. <\/p>\n

J.R.: Cathal, Tiger Woods lost his driver\u2019s licence<\/a> for five years this week after a brief court appearance related to his latest car wreck. <\/p>\n

You could hear the presses screech to a halt at the outcome, and the news interrupted whichever war the TV anchors were droning about. Has there ever been an athlete with this tight a grip on our attention? <\/p>\n

C.K.: Jamie, the ability to command attention is now the ultimate power. If you can make people turn and look \u2013 for whatever reason, however debased \u2013 you occupy the highest perch in our culture. <\/p>\n

The source of people\u2019s continued fascination with Woods is that he has been the greatest athlete in the world, and then its most spectacularly failed athlete. Having once been so high, he has a chasm to fall through, and he\u2019s still going. <\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Tiger Woods\u2019s never-ending shadow will smother golf until he leaves the game<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also in the unique nature of golf that he can continue to appear at the biggest events well into his dotage. Once you\u2019ve abandoned dignity \u2013 as most people are now happy to do in order to get hold of a little corner of celebrity \u2013 why stop? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s trite to say that the whole thing is sad. It\u2019s certainly emblematic of the era. Woods is our Marilyn Monroe. <\/p>\n

The story I\u2019ve been thinking about this week is the sudden eruption of Canadian sports media news, which never happens in this country. <\/p>\n

I guess Sportsnet is playing hardball with Saturday Hockey Program\u2122 regulars Elliotte Friedman and Kevin Bieksa, who are out of contract. They\u2019ve already punted Kelly Hrudey and may be doing the same to Jennifer Botterill. That\u2019s 80 per cent of the intermission panel. <\/p>\n

Simon Houpt: With NHL season around the corner, Sportsnet\u2019s lineup has yet to take shape<\/a><\/p>\n

Now all the same people who loved to complain that Hockey Night in Canada needed changing are irate that they\u2019re changing Hockey Night in Canada (or whatever they\u2019re going to call it now that CBC isn\u2019t involved).<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your prescription for fixing our most treasured TV program that isn\u2019t Mr. Dressup? <\/p>\n

Would you keep it the same with tweaks? Start over entirely? If so, how?<\/p>\n

J.R.: Maybe I\u2019m a cheap date but I didn\u2019t mind the last cast of the hockey panel. To me, Bieksa was the star of the show (minus the dress sneakers) and the good-humoured Friedman a decent foil. It\u2019s not like there is a farm system replete with stars in waiting. <\/p>\n

So unless Sportsnet has Shaquille O\u2019Neal and Charles Barkley ready to break their Inside the NBA on ESPN contracts and move north to cover hockey, or can convince hockey\u2019s chief influencer Paul Bissonnette to ditch TBS to be the centrepiece alongside (gasp) Wayne Gretzky, they\u2019d probably be better off leaving things as they are for now. <\/p>\n

Which in the end could still be the case \u2013 otherwise, where would they go, Amazon? <\/p>\n

C.K.: Amazon would be the only other real option, I guess. Unless they wanted to strike out on their own. <\/p>\n

You mention O\u2019Neal and Barkley. They\u2019re the gold standard. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t watch a lot of this kind of thing, but when I do, what I want isn\u2019t expert analysis. If I wanted to be lectured in my down time, I\u2019d go back to welding school. What I want is chemistry. Some actual banter. Uncanned laughter. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The beauty of ESPN’s Inside The NBA panel is that Shaquille O’Neal (left), Ernie Johnson (centre), Charles Barkley (right) and Kenny Smith (not pictured) don’t take their topic too seriously and seem to genuinely like each other, Cathal Kelly writes.Godofredo A. V\u00e1squez\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not cracking the Enigma code here. It\u2019s sports. None of what you\u2019re talking about matters. You\u2019re stealing money. The decent thing to do is to seem like you\u2019re enjoying yourself. <\/p>\n

The Sportsnet iteration of HNIC could never manage that. Way too stiff. The hosts are all professional, but you got the impression they\u2019d never talked to each other outside the studio. That\u2019s death to a modern panel show. <\/p>\n

Were I in charge I\u2019d give the Ron MacLean spot to Bryan Hayes from TSN, make Friedman the co-pilot and let the two of them pick their co-hosts.<\/p>\n

The marching order isn\u2019t expertise. It\u2019s harmony. Find people you enjoy a friendly argument with. Make it Canada\u2019s most interesting bar conversation. <\/p>\n

Hey, why not put Kawhi Leonard on the panel? He should be back in Canada soon, and we know he loves a high-pay, low-effort side hustle. Just don\u2019t promise him a cut of the network. <\/p>\n

Andrew Willis: Pending reunion with Kawhi Leonard rewards Raptors, MLSE for rejecting absurd demands<\/a><\/p>\n

On a scale of 1-to-The-Benny-Hill-Show, how ridiculous do you find this whole shattering of the L.A. Clippers because they paid Leonard off the books? <\/p>\n

J.R.: The punishment against the club will probably make teams think twice before they get too creative in luring stars in the future. Five first-rounders is … ouch. Especially in basketball. In baseball there are a million different ways to get it right, in hockey there are diamonds in the rough, but basketball is the sport of sure things. The US$30-million fine to owner Steve Ballmer will amount to a rounding error, and ditto for the US$700,000 Leonard will need to cough up. <\/p>\n

Did you ever get the chance to acquaint yourself with the notorious Uncle Dennis when Leonard did his first tour in Toronto? <\/p>\n

C.K.: Despite all my begging, Uncle Dennis never showed much interest in taking me on as a client. He\u2019s the kind of hardball artist we all need in our corner:<\/p>\n

\u2018Two-per-cent raise?? How about a 450-per-cent raise AND Mr. Kelly owns the Report on Business? That isn\u2019t for sale? How about The Report on Business Magazine? Still no? How much do you have in your wallet right now?\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as I can tell, Uncle Dennis is the greatest agent of all time. He got his client the maximum allowable contract, and then got him the maximum unallowable as well. It\u2019s not his fault that the Clippers are even worse at money laundering than they are at basketball.<\/p>\n

What delights me about this is how Leonard gets to stroll away from a disaster he set in motion like Frank Drebin out front of the fireworks factory<\/a>. This won\u2019t even cost him a week\u2019s salary. <\/p>\n

This result is great news for the Raptors. The issue with Leonard isn\u2019t talent. It\u2019s maintaining his interest. <\/p>\n

Getting booed in every arena in the NBA may wake him up. It might even make him angry. Angry Leonard is the Leonard Toronto wants. <\/p>\n

Okay \u2013 prediction time. There are three weeks left in the season. The Blue Jays held the final AL wild card spot briefly on the weekend and fell a game behind on Sunday. Are they making it?<\/p>\n

J.R.: Yes. Both teams have an easy schedule from here on in, so it\u2019ll be a matter of which one screws it up. The Jays have nine games at home. That gives Vlad Guerrero nine more tries for his first home run in Toronto. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s remarkable that they\u2019ve stayed in it while their franchise player is having the worst season of his career. Which means they\u2019ll make it and Guerrero will go off in the postseason. <\/p>\n

All of this must be torture for the die hards, who came into the season expecting a trip back to the World Series, spent most of the season throwing darts at the team photo, and are once again hanging off every pitch as the race for the playoffs tightens. <\/p>\n

C.K.: Damn. I was going to say yes. So now I have to say no. <\/p>\n

Though I don\u2019t actually believe it, I\u2019m going to guess the back end falls off the bullpen. They start blowing leads late. Cleveland (or maybe Texas) pips them at the wire. <\/p>\n

However it turns out, you have to give the Jays credit. They may not be good, but they\u2019re interesting. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

As we enter the final stretch of baseball’s regular season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays are very much in the hunt for a wild-card spot.Jay Biggerstaff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The source of people\u2019s continued fascination with Woods is that he has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-886894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}