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Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg Ice relocating to Washington State

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From the Western Hockey League

WHL ANNOUNCES RELOCATION OF WINNIPEG ICE FRANCHISE TO WENATCHEE, WASHINGTON FOR 2023-24 SEASON

The Western Hockey League announced today that the Winnipeg ICE franchise has been sold and relocated to Wenatchee, Washington, and will operate under the new ownership of David White of the California-based Shoot the Puck Foundation.

The sale and relocation of the Winnipeg franchise has received the approval of the WHL Board of Governors and is effective immediately. Wenatchee becomes the sixth U.S.-based WHL team and will join the WHLā€™s U.S. Division and Western Conference for the 2023-24 season. The relocation to Wenatchee will allow the WHL to balance its Western and Eastern Conferences with 11 member Clubs in each Conference starting next season.

Unfortunately, multiple attempts by the ICE ownership to construct an arena facility of acceptable WHL standards in Winnipeg, based on the agreed upon timeframes, were unsuccessful, leading to the relocation to Wenatchee.

The Western Hockey League would like to thank the Winnipeg ICE fans for their support and the ICE organization for building a highly successful hockey program that we expect will have a great future in Washington State.

About the Western Hockey League

Regarded as the worldā€™s finest development league for junior hockey players, the Western Hockey League (WHL) head office is based in Calgary, Alberta. The WHL consists of 22 member Clubs with 16 located in Western Canada and six in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. A member of the Canadian Hockey League, the WHL has been a leading supplier of talent for the National Hockey League for over 50 years. The WHL is also the leading provider of hockey scholarships with over 375 graduates each year receiving WHL Scholarships to pursue a post-secondary education of their choice. Each season, WHL players also form the nucleus of Canadaā€™s National Junior Hockey Team.

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Bruce Dowbiggin

All Bets Are Off: Why Prop Betting Scares Sports Leagues, Police

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Sundayā€™s Super Bowl concluded another season of wagering on the sport made great by gambling. With billions wagered legallyā€” and billions wagered illegallyā€”the NFL is a Frankenstein of the betting industry. Everything is done to create parity while simultaneously promoting chaos. When other leagues talk about success they are talking about the NFLā€™s colossal gambling industry.

The penetration of betting has only increased with legalization in Canada (Ontario is the only ā€œopenā€ legal market at the moment) and the United States (38 states currently allow sports wagering). It has gotten to the point where sports bettors in Las Vegas, for decades the only legal spot for sports gambling, complain that Nevada is falling behind its neighbours. Some drive across state lines to wager on sports offerings not made in Vegas.

We could do a small book on all the new betting applications that have sprung up with sharps applying stock-market analytics and trading strategies to break down a football game. But for today weā€™ll concentrate on the device that has turbo-charged public betting in the past generation: Proposition bets. And the enormous risk they bring.

In the bad old days when gambling was underground, dominated by organized crime, football betting meant the money line (who will win), sides (by how many points) and totals (how many points would be scored in as game). The range of options within these parameters was limited. You could parlay (two bets), tease (two or more choices with alternate odds) or do future bets.

Then along came proposition bets (props). There are propositions on everything from how many yards player X will run for, how many interceptions Player Y will throw and how many touchdowns player Z will score. There are also team props. The range of props covers almost any result generated by a football gameā€” and a few generated by halftime shows and coin flips.

When props first began to catch the public interest, they were a novelty. Snobs saw them as sucker bets for squares. In Vegas, books would stage a glitzy launch ten days before the game to announce their props. No more. The first props for SB LIX were out minutes after the conference final games were decided. The brushfire is now a conflagration.

The two weeks before SB LIX were saturated with experts breaking down the teams, their predilections and their models for predicting prop winners. In a game with no appreciable favourite this meant every microchip of data being examined. (We had at least a dozen props then added a couple more during the game to hedge against any losers.)

The great fallibility of prop betting is their individual nature. With totals and sides the results are determined by efforts of the 92 NFL players allowed to suit up each week. Outside of the QBs, kickers, coaches and perhaps the referees, no single person could determine a W or L. Not so with props.

A player can drop a pass or miss a tackleā€” affecting his propā€” without anyone being the wiser. The NFL scrutinizes players for erratic patterns, but on a single basis anything is possible for a player who is being influenced by bettors. Integrity of the product is paramount for the NFL and its gambling partners. So a rogue player is like a communist in Joe McCarthyā€™s America.

There is also betting on non-football props concerning length of national anthem, colour of Gatorade used to douse the winning coach and clothing choices of the halftime performers. Here, bettors are truly on their own as the NFL has no control on Kendrick Lamarā€™s playlist. (Considering KLā€™s associates ā€œin the hoodā€ this a very Wild West way to lose money) own the colour of Gatorade used (yellow).

So far the NFL has avoided any public gambling scandal like the one that landedĀ  the personal translator for Dodgersā€™s star Hideki Ohtani in jail for tipping offĀ  gamblers. (So far MLB has managed to wall off Hideki from the crimes). But the possibilities are there in NFL and other sports where a player compromised by debts, drug issues or sexual activity can be leveraged for profit.

The league with the most visible prop problem is the NBA with its small rosters (15 players game day). For a reminder the NBA was forced to admit that there is a current police probe into player Terry Rozier, now of the Miami Heat. ā€œIn March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozierā€™s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,ā€ NBA spokesman said. While the NBA has cleared Rozier police area not satisfied.

In the 2023 matchup between the Hornets and the New Orleans Rozier pulled himself from the game after just nine minutes. As a result Rozier finished well below his prop bet of 32.5 combined points, assists and rebounds. Bettors howled about the suspicious nature of Rozierā€™s exit with a foot problem.

What made cops suspicious was that the network of gamblers placing money on Rozier was the same network that had allegedly manipulated former Raptor Jontay Porterā€™s prop numbers. Porter has been banned for life over charges he shaved numbers for the nefarious characters cited in the rosier story. Police are still investigating him.

The NBA is still reverberating from the 2007 scandal of referee Tim Donaghy who used his knowledge of the NBA to bet on professional basketball games and tip off crimes figures. He was banned for life and sentenced to 15 months in prison. Now released from prison Donaghy continues to warn about the vulnerability of betting NBA games.

Then there is the risk associated with U.S. college athletics now that players are paid to attend a certain college. Money and temptation flow freely in the new portal system that allows players to transfer schools midway through their eligibility.

Sundayā€™s game produced a one-sided windfall for Eaglesā€™ bettors and the usual controversial referee calls did not affect the outcome. But it should not be seen as a reason to be less vigilant, particularly with props.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public BroadcasterĀ  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org. You can see all his books at brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

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The Top 10 Best Super Bowl Commercials of Super Bowl 59

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Vigilant News

The price for a :30 Super Bowl ad space is up to $8 Million

#10 – Pfizer

As much as it pains me to say it, this was an effective ad.

Unfortunately, many viewers will fall for this propaganda using a cute kid to sell the narrative of Pfizer ā€œknocking outā€ cancer.

#9 – Bud Light

They are at least trying to salvage their image after the Dylan Mulvaney disaster.

#8 – ā€œHe Gets Usā€Ā ā€“ an ad campaign promoting Jesus Christ.

@BehizyTweets responded to the commercial, saying,Ā ā€œā€˜He Gets Usā€™ just aired a Super Bowl ad promoting Jesus, and itā€™s a massive improvement from last yearā€™s woke ad.ā€

#7 – Rocket.com

@annamlulisĀ reacted to this ad, saying:

ā€œThe Super Bowl just showed the most beautiful pro-life ad. Instead of fearmongering people out of having a family, it showed U.S. service members getting married and having kids.ā€

ā€œEveryone deserves their shot at the American dream.ā€

#6 – Coors Light

#5 – Duracell

#4 – Michelob Ultra

#3 – Hims & Hers

As a company that donated $1 million to Trumpā€™s inauguration, the ad aligned well with Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) messagingā€”despite the company primarily operating within the pharmaceutical space.

ā€œSomethingā€™s broken, and itā€™s not our bodies. Itā€™s the system.ā€

ā€œThe system wasnā€™t built to help us. It was built to keep us sick and stuck.ā€

#2 – Mountain Dew

The only ad that made me laugh out loud.

#1 – Jeep

They dropped $32 million on this adā€”and theyā€™re about to get their moneyā€™s worth and then some.

Starring Harrison Ford and the American flag, the ad featured several patriotic statements, including:

ā€œFreedom is for everybody. But it isnā€™t free. Itā€™s earned.ā€

ā€œThere are real heroes in the world, but not the ones in the movies. Real heroes are humble, and theyā€™re not driven by pride.ā€

ā€œThe most sacred thing in life isnā€™t the path. Itā€™s the freedom to choose it.ā€

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Thanks for making it all the way to the end! If you enjoyed this list, follow me (@VigilantFox) for more.

Fun fact: Each 30-second ad spot cost about $8 million this year. Which ad was your favorite?

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