Paterson vs. Paterson

 

 

Darren and Travis Paterson, Sports Guys

 

This week's issue: Do you support shootouts, slam-dunk competitions, or home-run der-
bies as viable ways to decide regular-season ties after a certain amount of overtime has

 

been played?

Darren says: Bring it on! I’m tired of
all these boring, lame-ass ties.

Let’s start with basketball. Where
pretty much the only exciting plays are
a Steve Nash pass, or a slam-dunk.
Since there’s only one Steve Nash, that
leaves us with slam-dunks as the only
unifying concept between all teams.
And with a game as repetitive as bas-
ketball, nobody wants to see any more
of the same back-and-forth action
after a tie. So let the players who can
entertain decide the game. Because it’s
all about entertainment.

Baseball is a no-brainer here. As a
matter of fact, I don’t think that there
should be any overtime played in base-
ball. Pd even be willing to cut three or
four innings from the existing nine.
Heck, why not just cut the whole
game and go straight to a home-run
derby? Actually, you know what? Let’s
just skip it all together.

How about hockey? This one’s a
no-brainer too. They’ve been testing
the shootout-over-overtime theory in
the AHL and it’s been a smashing suc-
cess. I'd fully support this format in
the NHL for three reasons: 1) It’s
entertaining, suspenseful, and leaves
the fans satisfied, 2) It promotes skill
and talent and allows players a chance
to showcase those skills without Tie
Domi hooking them back, 3) While
people say that it turns a team game
into a game of individuals, that’s not
true. Calgary wouldn’t play to tie
because the only shootout player they
have is Jerome Iginla. Teams would be
forced to drop that fourth-line goon
so that they could carry a shootout
player for the event of a tie. That
would increase the skill level of the
game and then we would at least get to
see something entertaining in a 1-1
tie.

March 16/2005

Travis says: No slam-dunks, no
home-run derbies, and no gosh-darn
shootouts.

Ever since Spudd Webb won the
slam-dunk contest, the NBA has
steadily slipped into an assembly of
narcissistic players gathered to show-
case their talent. It has fostered a
“what can the team do for me?” atti-
tude, when players should be
thinking, “What can I do for the
team?” If the NBA wants to add
excitement to their game, they should
try re-introducing the rules, or try
raising the height of the hoop to 18
feet, thereby removing the 4-step run-
and-jump slam-dunk. Dunks are
redundant, and trivialize the strategic
passing plays that once made basket-
ball interesting.

Baseball is built around the con-
stant battle of pitchers versus batters.
The old black-and-white footage of
Mantle and Hornsby slugging it out in
a home-run contest captures the
imagination, but it would be shameful
to decide a well-pitched game, by
removing the pitchers and lofting
some soft ones into the wheelhouse
of a power-hitter.

And finally, as if I even want to
talk about hockey right now, when the
NHL returns, it better do so without
the shootout or Bettman. With
shootouts, there would be even more
reason to play for a tie, and less need
for goal scorers to perform during the
game. I think it would continue to
entice teams like the Flames to play
their defensive style, holding on to the
end.

 

WINNIPEG (CUP)—Banned  sub-
stances seem to be all the rage these
days in the sporting world. Marion
Jones’ steroid use brought loads of
controversy to the Athens Olympics of
2004, and the media frenzy surrounding
this issue has recently returned to a
fevered pitch thanks to the upcoming
release of Jose Canseco’s tell-all tale of
steroid use in Major League Baseball.
At some point, one might begin to
wonder if or when this sleazy side of
competitive sport will make its way to
the university scene.

In order to prevent this negative
trend, all athletes that participate in the
Canadian Interuniversity Sport associa-
tion are subject to drug testing by the
Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport,
which is also responsible for Canadian
Olympic athletes. The regulations
imposed on CIS athletes are the same
as those placed on Olympic athletes
and come from the Canadian Anti-
Doping Program, which has been
created in compliance with the World
Anti-Doping Code. The World Code is
an international standard that was
developed by sport ministers from
across the globe and was finalized in
March 2003.

According to the CIS website, they
co-operate with the CCES in order to
conduct “no-notice” and “short-
notice” testing, as well as some
announced testing. They also state that
every student athlete is eligible for test-
ing, and approximately one in 25 is
tested each year. What’s mote, this test-
ing can be conducted at any time
throughout the calendar year, both in
and out of competition.

The most recent media release from
the CCES announced that five CIS ath-
letes had committed violations over the

GIS Serious About Doping

Stringent rules now incorporate marijuana

Dan Bockstael, The Manitoban (University of Manitoba)

 

period of Oct 1 to Dec 31. All five were
found to have used marijuana, while
two basketball players from the
University of Brandon also tested posi-
tive for cocaine. Violations by CIS
athletes, which had previously been
rare, have seen a rise since marijuana
was recently added to the list of banned
substances that the athletes are tested
for.

The Canadian Anti-Doping
Program has created a separate class for
violations that involve “specified sub-
stances.” These substances are denoted
specifically in the World Anti-Doping
Agency’s prohibited substance list and
are set aside because they are particular-
ly susceptible to
consumption, or because they are not
likely to be abused as performance
enhancers. This includes marijuana, and
other substances such as ephedrine,
beta-blockers, or alcohol (applicable for
certain sports and during competition
only). A first violation for these sub-
stances entails a maximum of one year
of ineligibility or a minimum of a warn-
ing and reprimand. A second specified
substance offence receives a two-year
ban and a third offence merits a lifetime
ban. The three CIS athletes that recent-
ly tested positive for marijuana received
warnings.

Punishments for non-specified sub-
stance violations are more severe.
Offences including testing positive for a
banned substance, being caught using
ofr attempting to use a banned sub-
stance, being in possession of a banned
substance, refusing to submit a sample,
or tampering with a sample will result in
a two-year ban from the sport. A sec-
ond offence is subject to lifetime ban.
The Brandon basketball players were
given two-year bans.

unintentional

www.theotherpress.ca | 25