SPORTS: Great Pictures

Tonight was a great night for attention-rivetting pictures within moments of each other. The hockey game ended with an unhelmetted Jarome Iginla setting up Oleg Saprykin's overtime winner as Calgary beat Tampa Bay in the fifth game of the Stanley Cup. Just as my hurrah was finished echoing off the walls of the room, I turned to the other TV and watched a shot of Marco Scutaro of the Oakland A's sliding back into first base during a pickoff attempt by Miguel Batista. The great shot was a close-up of Scutaro injuring his pinkie and then YANKING it back into place. It was fabulous.

And doesn't Scutaro (SKOOT a row) have one of the best sounding names in baseball?

The Flames' victory in Tampa Bay was a triumph of hard work as it's painfully obvious that Iginla IS the offense for the Flames. He scored the second goal and his indefatigable work on the winner was something to behold. On the other hand, if the refs didn't swallow their whistle's half-way through the third, the winning opportunity would never have occured. Never have figured out the rationale for this changing of the rules of the game as soon as the beards start growing, but everybody else seems willing to live with it.

The other point of interest in the game was the incredibly bad ice, prompting more than a few skating opportunities for the comely skating lasses who haul ice chips during breaks. I think I'd still be a sports reporter covering hockey if they had that kind of pulchritude in my era.

Cheer up Lightning fans. There WILL be another game down in the Deep South. Mind you, I still think Calgary wins the odd game(s).

The Blue Jay game was another extra-time affair, although the bad guys won this one. The other point of interest in THAT game was the continuing detoriation of my opinion of Alexis Rios. Yes he has speed and yes, he looks like a major leaguer at bat. But his defence is not up to snuff. And if he makes ONE more sun-caused mistake in the outfield while wearing the sunglasses ON his hat rather than on his nose, I'll picket the team offices until he's benched or sent to the minors.

One last note in this melange of a report: Congratulations on the nuptials Sunday of one of the best sports reporters in Canada, Deb Matejicka. And condolences to Tom Cheek who lost his father Thursday and ended his consecutive Blue Jay broadcast streak at 4306. He'd broadcast EVERY regular and post-season game the Blue Jays ever played. EVERY game. Twenty-seven plus years. There's lots to admire in that number and in the man.