CONTACT US

Contact Form

    News Details

    Alexander: Should we sympathize with Canada over its Stanley Cup drought?
    • June 4, 2026

    The world according to Jim:

    • It is now 33 seasons since a team from Canada last won the Stanley Cup, and while in the past we’ve snarkily noted that drought in This Space every year in which the drought was extended, somehow I don’t feel nearly so much like rubbing it in this year. I mean, hasn’t that country suffered enough? …

    • There is this: The country’s seven NHL teams continue to go without, but the Cup remains in the permanent possession of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, located in the one city that can certainly speak to Cup droughts. The Maple Leafs are 59 years removed from not only their last Cup but their last trip to the championship round, and 22 years since they’ve even gotten to a conference semifinal. …

    Today’s quiz, then, Part I: Why is Kerry Fraser still memorable in Toronto? Answer below. …

    • The latest evidence that legalized gambling is a stain on the sports industry (and certain segments of social media, with its anonymity and lack of filter, might not be that far behind): The online abuse that Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott’s wife received after her husband blew a save on Saturday night, including a threat against their baby. It’s not the first instance, and his isn’t the first baseball family to deal with this.

    Suggestion to those cretins who feel emboldened to act out this way: If you lose a bet, that’s on you, not the athlete. Grow up and deal with it. …

    • Along those lines, an NCAA survey last fall revealed that 36% of Division I men’s basketball players “reported experiencing social media abuse related to sports betting within the last year.” …

    • The sports industry’s coziness with the gambling business resembles the way a snake’s embrace gets tighter and tighter until it squeezes the life out of you. In retrospect, the Supreme Court decision that opened the widespread legalization of sports betting was a terrible, terrible mistake. …

    • Oh, and have we forgotten fifth-year senior Brendan Sorsby, the quarterback suing the NCAA to regain his eligibility after transferring to Texas Tech? A response to his lawsuit claimed that Sorsby bet “at least $90,000 on more than 9,000 bets over the course of his college career.”

    Shouldn’t that get you barred or at least suspended, rather than being able to profit from the transfer portal? …

    • Quiz I answer: Fraser missed what should have been a high-sticking penalty on Wayne Gretzky in Game 6 of the Kings-Maple Leafs Western Conference final series on May 27, 1993. The Kings won that Game 6 at home on Gretzky’s power-play goal 1:41 into overtime and then won Game 7 in Toronto to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final, where they would lose in five games to Montréal. That was Canada’s last Cup victory.

    Fraser acknowledged that he missed it in a 2016 first-person story in the Players’ Tribune. I’m guessing longtime Leafs fans still haven’t forgiven him. …

    • That leads us to Quiz II: How many games in that Kings-Canadiens series were decided in overtime, and who decided them? Answer below. …

    • The College Football Playoff schedule lists the Rose Bowl, a national quarterfinal, as time TBA on Jan. 1. The guess is that it will start either at 1 p.m. or 5 p.m., so we can at least guarantee that the colorful sunset that traditionally reflects off the mountains will not come at the traditional end of the third quarter. …

    • The CFP championship game in Las Vegas will take place on Jan. 25. That is way, way too late. Maybe instead of trying to copy the NFL, the college game should lean into what makes it special, move up the playoffs and crown its champion on New Year’s Day.

    But that would require thought, effort and leadership. Anyone in college football capable of those traits? Didn’t think so. …

    • I’m not surprised that MLB owners have attempted to tie the end of streaming blackouts to the implementation of a salary cap, using the pooling and equal sharing of all TV revenue as a wedge. How better for the billionaires to get the sympathy of working class fans? …

    • Those issues are not inseparable. MLB could have ended geographically-driven blackouts on its streaming platform long ago but chose not to. And the TV revenue could be pooled and shared equally – and a salary floor established – without a hard salary cap. (If the TV revenues are shared, wouldn’t that be less for big market teams such as the Dodgers to spend anyway?)

    Reminder, folks: The salary cap issue is not really about competitive balance, but rather pumping up franchise valuations. And the billionaire owners don’t really care about you. …

    • I love that Dave Roberts came right out and said it in a conversation with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale: “My honest opinion is the majority of takes about the Dodgers couldn’t be more lazy, that it’s just about the payroll. … I actually think it’s a competitive advantage in the sense that people feel that way, and not look at themselves in the mirror and see how they can operate things better. So that’s beneficial for us.”

    If you’re going to be baseball’s villain anyway, no reason not to fire back. …

    • Quiz II answer: Three of Montréal’s four victories in the 1993 Final were achieved on overtime goals. Éric Desjardins won Game 2, 51 seconds into overtime after tying the game at 18:47 of the third period following Marty McSorley’s illegal stick penalty. (Pause here for Kings fans to direct one more muttered insult at Jacques Demers, the Canadiens coach who called for the stick measurement.)

    John LeClair then won Games 3 and 4 in overtime for the Canadiens in Inglewood, 34 seconds in to decide Game 3 and 14:37 into OT in Game 4. …

    • I know, Kings fans. Just think of those 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup banners in your own rafters and you’ll feel better. …

    • Today’s Father’s Day shopping suggestions, especially if Dad (or Grandpa) likes sports books:

    “Earned: The True Cost Of Greatness from One of Hockey’s Fiercest Competitors” by Chris Pronger (with the foreword by Teemu Selanne, which is a story in itself); “Landon: A Memoir,” by Landon Donovan; “Nolan: The Singular Life of an American Original,” a biography of Nolan Ryan by Tim Brown; “Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life” by Dusty Baker, which will be released Tuesday, and “Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love,” by Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur, with the foreword by Tom Hanks.

    Hint to relatives: I’ve already read the first two. The rest? There’s your shopping list.

    jalexander@scng.com

    ​ Orange County Register 

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    News