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Bruce Dowbiggin

Davies Injury Illustrates Insanity Of November World Cup In Desert

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Canada’s hopes in the 2022 FIFA World Cup were always modest, at best. So imagine the collective throw-up-in-the-mouth for Canadian fans of the sport, high on their first WC since 1986, when the news came that their star Alphonso Davies has injured his hamstring playing for Bayern Munich.

It’s still early days in the diagnosis/ rehab for Davies as the tournament kicks off on the twentieth of this month. But anyone who knows this type of injury will tell you that, while he’s reportedly ready when Canada meets powerful Belgium on Nov. 23, he’ll be restricted. In a sport that demands powerful acceleration and sudden stops, a torn hammy is the worst possible injury.

With Davies, Canada’s chances of escaping its Group were tenuous. Without a healthy Davies Canada’s chances of progressing are slim and none. And Slim just rode out of Qatar on a camel.

Which is a shame. The sudden elevation of Canada in FIFA has been nothing short of remarkable. Back in 2018, Canada’s men were ranked 122nd out of 207 teams. That put them in the strata of Niger and Liberia. Now they face the world’s No, 2 (Belgium) , No. 16 (Croatia) and No. 24 (Morocco) in the Group of Debt. But this injury imperils that optimism.

Davies was in an unwinnable bind. His loyalty to might Bayern required that he not coast into the tournament. But his passion for wearing the maple leaf also demanded he do nothing that might jeopardize his performance as Canada gets back into the big time.

He’s not alone. Players around the globe are in the same bind. With just one more week of league play no one wants to do anything to risk his performance on the biggest stage in sport. With Champions League and regular Premiership or Bundesliga games allowing no let-up even if it means missing a trip to Qatar.

Speaking of Qatar, let us be the umpteen millionth person to ask FIFA, WTF? A tournament in the desert in the midst of the regular season for almost all the major leagues from the Premiership to La Liga? Is there some unanswered market demand from the 2.6 million subjects of Taman bin Hamas Al Thani? Are there not other regions that deserve the honour more?

You know the answer. It’s so the suits at FIFA HQ in Zurich can say there has been a World Cup in an Arab nation. If you wanted to advertise your complete corruption and adherence to the gods of ESG management, you could not have done a better job than wrenching your prime product from its exclusive summer slot to late November in exchange for a boatload of sand and petro dollars.

While creating a timeframe that threatens the health of the game’s mega-stars with no down time before clubs play in Doha. If unavailable Davies will join Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante (France), Georginio Wijnaldum (Holland), Timo Werner (Germany), Paulo Dybala (Argentina) and others as out for the tournament with injuries.

But, in a media culture that genuflects to the one-world fantasies of Klaus Schwab, organizations such as FIFA and the IOC feel obliged to put ESG points ahead of the health of their brand. And they’re not shy about charging for the honour of staging their soccer shindig in the home of Al Jazeera and there third-largest reserve off natural gas in the world.

If Qatar doesn’t tarnish the brand too much. Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will be the next hosts in 2026— in the regular summer slot.  As we wrote in April : Just how expensive will it be for a Canadian city to host some of the 10 preliminary-round games assigned by FIFA? 

Chris Selley of The National Post has a few numbers. “Toronto Mayor John Tory’s Executive Committee adopted a staff proposal to forge ahead with the city’s bid to host a maximum of five preliminary-round games. The projected cost? Ahem: $290 million, with the city picking up around $90 million and other levels of government the rest. For five soccer games.”

Among the costs of doing FIFA business: “– $64 million for upgrades to BMO Field that it would not otherwise need, notably an expansion to 45,000 seats.

– $41 million for training sites of a calibre that the city does not otherwise need.

– $32 million to run the stadium for the five games. FIFA keeps the ticket revenues.

– $40 million for safety and security.

– $17 million to operate the FIFA-mandated “FanFest,” in a city that turns itself into a World Cup FanFest all on its own every four years.

– $42 million booked under “contingency, inflation, tax.”

Hands up everyone in Edmonton and Vancouver who think their cities can afford this kind of chump change for the glory of having the world’s attention for a couple of hours? The sentiment about hosting these mega-projects in Canadian cities was summed up when Calgarians soundly rejected a bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.”

Will others follow the example and tell FIFA where to put it it? As long as there are plutocrats like Putin and ba-jillionaire oil sheiks don’t count on it. And don’t expect endangering the careers of superstars to lower the asking price for future World Cups.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft YearsIn NHL History, , his new book with his son Evan, was voted the eighth best professional hockey book of by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted seventh best, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx

 

BRUCE DOWBIGGIN Award-winning Author and Broadcaster Bruce Dowbiggin's career is unmatched in Canada for its diversity and breadth of experience . He is currently the editor and publisher of Not The Public Broadcaster website and is also a contributor to SiriusXM Canada Talks. His new book Cap In Hand was released in the fall of 2018. Bruce's career has included successful stints in television, radio and print. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster for his work with CBC-TV, Mr. Dowbiggin is also the best-selling author of "Money Players" (finalist for the 2004 National Business Book Award) and two new books-- Ice Storm: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Vancouver Canucks Team Ever for Greystone Press and Grant Fuhr: Portrait of a Champion for Random House. His ground-breaking investigations into the life and times of Alan Eagleson led to his selection as the winner of the Gemini for Canada's top sportscaster in 1993 and again in 1996. This work earned him the reputation as one of Canada's top investigative journalists in any field. He was a featured columnist for the Calgary Herald (1998-2009) and the Globe & Mail (2009-2013) where his incisive style and wit on sports media and business won him many readers.

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Bruce Dowbiggin

From Hall of Fame To Hall of Shame? Shohei Faces Banishment

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Holy Backtrack, Batman. With MLB Opening Day— the North American, not Korean version— days away, the sport’s biggest star is up to the bill of his new L.A. Dodgers cap in gambling controversy. Turns out that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s closest companion since coming to North America in 2018, has committed “massive theft” and stolen a reported sum of at least $4.5 million to pay off debts to an alleged illegal bookmaker.

At least that is one story. There are others. After the Dodgers’ first of two games in Seoul last week, Mizuhara admitted that his buddy Ohtani had “loaned” him $4.5 million to pay off a gambling debt which has a paper trail to California and possibly Japan. Sooner than you can say Cy Young, Ohtani’s lawyers said, nay, nay… he didn’t lend anything to Ippei, and Ohtani is severing his relationship with him.

(Which is just as well, because the Dodgers were firing Mizuhara already.) Then Mizuhara did a complete reversal, telling ESPN that Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling debts, and that Ohtani had not transferred money to a bookmaking operation in California, where there is no legal gambling. About this time someone got to Mizuhara and told him it might be a good idea if he 黙って (Japanese for damare or STFU).

Friday, reports emerged showing large amounts being bet in Japan on games played by Ohtani and his lousy performance in those games. While no one has been able to say the bets were placed by the pitcher or those around him, there are a few games that look highly suspicious. Monday, Ohtani sought to distance himself from his former buddy.

What is undeniable is that payoff money came from Ohtani’s account. And that for almost five years, a gambling addict had complete access to the inner workings of the California Angels dressing room. What injury insights and insider knowledge might Ippei Mizuhara have traded for gambling debts or favours? MLB and the police say they are investigating, but if it can be shown the Ohtani had any betting interest in his own team or other MLB games he will— based on the Joe Jackson and Pete Rose examples— be banned for life from MLB.

Also, are these stories exposing Ohtani about something else? Some believe the allegations may be revenge for Ohtani signing a friendly contract that backloads most of his compensation till after he retires— thereby depriving tax-hungry California of hundreds of millions in taxes.  Finally, why was MLB, which purports to have a security department, caught flat-footed here, and why are they only “gathering information”? Not a good look on any of these fronts for a business already struggling to re-capture lost audience share.

For those who like comedy we can only hope this mess has the entertainment value of the NHL when its greatest star ever was caught gambling with a shady character outside Philly. Okay, Wayne Gretzky never bet on sports , which was then illegal everywhere in North America outside Las Vegas. Never. Perish the thought.

When the Gretzky story broke in 2006 we were informed by people throughout hockey—including many sniffers in the sports media who still have jobs— that it was Wayne’s wife Janet and his pal Rich Tocchet who had the gambling problem. The walls around No. 99 went up quickly to protect him. There was concern about Gretzky’s eligibility to manage the 2006 Olympic mens hockey team.

VANCOUVER, BC – OCTOBER 20: Head coach Wayne Gretzky and assistant coach Rick Tocchet (R) of the Phoenix Coyotes discuss a play during their game against the Vancouver Canucks at General Motors Place on October 20, 2005 in Vancouver, Canada. The Canucks defeated the Coyotes 3-2. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)

For weeks the police and the NHL did a dance around the Gretzkys, placing most of the blame on Tocchet as the point man who financed and placed bets. Much was made of No. 99’s simon-pure record, even though wiretaps later showed his knowledge of the scheme and of Janet’s “involvement”.

Janet, who was taking the heat for hubby, later whined to Chatelaine Magazine. “It’s unfair that Wayne and I have had a great marriage for 20 years and a nice family, and the people in the media could care less if they are trying to cause friction in your marriage, trouble in your family, and make your kids feel a certain way. That was a little hurtful, because it was like, ‘Why? What have we ever done to you?’”

Um, as the wife of a hockey legend, you were, at the very least, dealing with illegal gambling when any such activity at the time was strictly verboten in the NHL and with the cops. That’s what you did. Your marriage had nothing to do with it.

Just to prove that Gretzky is not the type to get involved with the sleaze of gambling he immediately signed up to advertise sports betting as soon as it became legal in 2022. He’s done commercials with Connor McDavid yukking it up over parlays and teasers. He’s the hockey face of legal gambling. But he’s not a gambler.

This story was never going to be told straight in 2006 with Gretzky’s name involved. He’s just too big in Canada to be taken down for a silly betting scheme with a few goombahs in Tony Soprano’s old Jersey neighbourhood. You could tell by the indignation of Team Gretzky in the day that they were calling in their markers… er, discussing the issue with friendly media on burying the story.

MLB can just hope that it has enough lackeys of its own in the press and friends in the DOJ to keep the Japanese Babe Ruth out of trouble. But the bases are full and the runners will be in motion with the next pitch

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

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Bruce Dowbiggin

Don’t Bother Asking. Justin’s Only Got One Daddy Now.

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Why did almost 600 people cram a hotel room in Charlottetown Sunday to hear speakers (including former RCMP and CSIS employees) describe Chinese efforts to buy up their land and influence the political process in PEI and Canada? In a province as sleepy as PEI, 600 people travelling from every corner of the province on their own dime to attend a Sunday political rally is the equivalent of the Truckers’ Convoy.

Then why, say organizers, were there no local CBC or CTV reporters covering the event? (A CTV documentary unit was there, but to get video for an October broadcast.) They’d been told of the meeting that forced hotel staff expecting 300 people to add a second room and hundreds of chairs. And why did no local papers send reporters?

With a federal election possible this year, there must have been some politicians there to hear the speakers, right? Get the temperature of their voters? Nope. Zero cabinet members, MPs or MLAs were in attendance. Probably they were off voting on fatuous NDP motions in the Commons telling Israel not to defend itself.

By contrast, if ten people shouting “Charlottetown4Gaza” had gathered in front of the PEI legislature building you have to know that Justin Trudeau’s paid media would have been there to record the keffiyehs and the masked antifa thugs. As of this writing there has been no reference to this hotel event in the PEI or larger Canadian media.

Meanwhile, Veterans Affairs, which is headquartered in PEI, dedicated an entire recent struggle session to disparaging white Canadians and calling the military racist. You want to know how PEI will go from all-red to all-blue next time? This weekend’s meeting will suffice. The Tim Horton crowd ain’t buying.

This detachment from The Other happens with greater frequency as Canada’s Tiffany media turn further inward and the demonization of the non-416/613/514 fact increases. Despite government efforts to pour millions into corporate media that no one watches or trusts anymore. As Stephen Taylor noted, “The worst people in Canada never had so much access to government.”

The unreported story of the 2022 Truckers Convoy was not mounted police trampling old ladies in the crowds. Okay, that was a story, too. No, the principal takeaway was how completely unaware the Family Compact was of the dimensions headed toward them. From the puny police presence to Justin Trudeau’s deer-in-the-headlights response to complaints about his unyielding vaccine regime. “How dare they?” Establishment Ottawa thought it could finesse the whole thing, bring in the purchased media to rough up the protesters verbally, get the Liberal base outraged about… uh, honking horns and Bouncy Castles.

How’d that work? The images of ordinary folks lining the convoy route and the groundswell of disgust over Trudeau’s Covid calumny never penetrated their bubble. And when it did, crashing into the placid vaches qui rit beside the Rideau, their only response was to cite a vestige of War Measures Act to protect their privilege against unarmed protesters. And have CBC hacks talk about “gold-standard” policing and wonder aloud if Putin was behind it all.

Contrast that treatment with the recent demonstrations on Parliament Hill where Hamas supporters weren’t asking for the right to refuse useless Pfizer shots. They were talking about death to fellow Canadians and the eradication of a democratic ally of Canada (or was before Monday night’s vote.) It was hard to tell who police were protecting: the free-speech public or the protesters with their hate speech.

Why? People misunderstand the motivation of Team Trudeau. Yes, they are obsessed with keeping their power to order $1,822-a night Dubai hotel suites to discuss climate Armageddon But most of all, they fear being ostracized by the “cool kids”. The pecksniffs of the Left are the modern equivalent of the Greek aristoi, the aristocrats who labelled themselves “the best”. The Hellenic equivalents of Barack and Michelle.

Their greatest fear, even 5,000 years ago, was finding themselves lowered to the Kakoi, the rubes and hicks in Athenian society,  shunned by their former aristoi buddies. Required to be the catchers, not the pitchers in the Ottawa circle jerk. Today’s status seekers are mortified they will be pilloried by their heroes, Racial Maddow, Joyless Reid and the At Issue panel.

Isolation is their nightmare. So while they recognize that Justin can’t dance and Melanie don’t rock ’n roll, there’s safety in staying under their skirts. They won’t have to turn on CBC or CTV and confront rubes in Charlottetown who’ve noticed that Team Trudeau is selling PEI off by the pound to the CPP. They’ll be able to trade Saturday Night Lies skits with fellow travellers.

And that’s not such a bad life, is it? Especially when someone else is paying.

(For more information about concerns in PEI with land purchases see video below)

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

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