Frankly, I thought a Chinese buffet was an inspired, delicious idea for a wedding reception.
The spicy green beans. The noodles. The ginger beef, tofu, something-or-other-in-black-bean-sauce. And that was just half the offerings. Brilliant! Yes, let’s go back for more boeuf!
At 3:30 a.m. — yes, just 11 hours ago — it seemd decidely less inspired. I’d been in bed since midnight, tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling, covers on, covers off. Mind racing. Sweating profusely. You expected something else?
Still, a fabulous wedding in Calgary. A deliriously happy young couple, in their mid-20′s but seeming older, more mature. A great moment: bride dancing with her father, the groom standing with his pals in the distance, and he can’t tear his eyes away from her. It was the look of love and contentment. That’s a great way to start a marriage.
Of course, we here at The 2 O’Clock (wait, it’s just me) are here to talk sports. So let’s get to it.
First, from the film world comes news of some of the Canadian movies that will highlight the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. One of them is Sarah Prefers to Run, the directorial debut of Quebec’s Chloe Robichaud, about a track athlete (Sophie Desmarais) who moves to Montreal to join the McGill University running team and, uh, discovers other amazing things about being off at university. Yes, it’s a sports movie. Sports movies are inevitably about relationships!
Frankly, I’m not sold yet. I love trailers, and love to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down after a trailer. The thumb is wavering so far on Sarah, which actually did show at Cannes a couple of months ago. Then there’s the latest from Vancouver’s Bruce Sweeney, who’s received a lot of ink in The Province over the years. Best known for the indies Last Wedding and Excited, Sweeney is delivering The Dick Knost Show to Toronto. Now here’s an interesting one in light of the coming changes at TEAM 1040: a story about a radio talk show host who’s, well, a dick. Not only is Dick Knost a dick, but he’s also obnoxiously dismissive of the concussions issue (“Yeah, a guy could choke on his own vomit, but I hesitate to bring up the Leafs” — yowza!).
Thumbs up to The Dick Knost Show. And you have to love the twist — that Knost himself suffers a concussion playing squash. (I can see that happening. Not a stretch!) At least in a two-minute trailer, Vancouver actor Tom Scholte, who plays Knost, is awesome. And it’s shot right here.
Now on to the real world, or at least the Twitter world, which is somewhat real. You might be aware of Lee Westwood, the 40-year-old golfer who is considered really very good but has never been able to win a major. What’s wrong with you, Westwood? Well, the criticism of Westwood following a so-so performance at the PGA Championship was a heck of a lot stronger than that. And the blowback from Westwood, it seems — judging from the story The Guardian tells — was way, way stronger than that. Among Westwood’s supposed tweets (and so far, no claims that his account was hacked): “Like I give a f___ what the haters say!” Or “Will you get a life first.” Or “Ahhh just when I’m in the mood the haters all go quiet! They must have the porn on!” Holy mackerel, someone needs to stay off Twitter for a while, maybe even just shut ‘er down.
Speaking of Westwood, he’s cited by Sports Illustrated editor Mark Godich as the best player without a major. (“He’s just too good a ball-striker to still be on the outside looking in.”) Every Sunday night, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group, which includes Golf Magazine and Golf.com, do an email roundtable to discuss the most pertinent issues of the just-ending weekend. It’s fun and clearly easy to do. And when the group was asked what was most impressive about PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner, Golf.com’s Eamon Lynch responded: “His ball-striking and unflappable demeanour under pressure was impressive, but his ability to marry out of his league was truly outstanding.” Well struck, Eamon!
What’s a picture worth? How about 100 of the greatest sports photos of all time? This has been out for a while, but if you haven’t seen it, take some time to flip through these, from Sports Illustrated. How great is the first one you land on, of Muhammad Ali and Cleveland Williams? You can scroll, either way, by the arrows that will appear when you hover over each photo.
Finally, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has addressed some questionable comments that former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar made during the TV broadcast of a preseason game last week between the Browns and St. Louis Rams. Pluto’s one of the best, and while he doesn’t defend Kosar, he also wonders what’s got everyone so worked up — to the point of, possibly, making slanderous accusations against Kosar.
