A Life In Sport

Tuesday June 10, 1986. I am in my living room when the phone rings. The digital clock on a side table indicates the time is 10.14pm. For...

I love the holidays. After a busy school term, they are a precious time to relax and decompress. To watch sport on TV, to fiddle with a...

The clock ticks on a high school coaching career closing in on fourty years. I am blessed, been given a box seat to countless memorable...

It was just before Christmas, years and years ago, at a cozy pub in northern Vancouver Island. When gatherings, minus Covid masks, social...

Late May 1993. The final practice of the term comes to an end, a slick 45 minute session without a single dropped pass or mental error....

With his team’s NFL season teetering on the precipice, the Dallas coach has a novel idea. In advance of a recent game vs Minnesota, he emphasizes the need to “hit” certain key strategies. To reinforce his point, he and several players take a sledgehammer, then smash a selection of defenseless watermelons. They must have made a hell of a mess. Still, the unusual, even bizarre, ploy comes up trumps. The Cowboys scramble to an unlikely victory, giving a brief spark to their flic

Fall 1974. Only 46 years ago. Yet, various memories from my senior year in high school remain vivid. The old pavilion has seen better days. The walls are rough and stained, the wood floor uneven. A window in the corner has been smashed, shards of glass held by brown packing tape. The 1st XV gather in a circle, linked tightly. For some, a quiet confidence, others, nerves jangling, less sure. Charlie, our captain, gives final instructions. The excitement builds and the tension

He sets off, ten months ago, to study in Australia. It is fair to say things do not quite unfold as anticipated. Almost immediately, Covid 19 throws a spanner in the works, forcing universities to introduce remote learning. Harsh, state-wide restrictions then are required to suppress the spread of the virus. Melbourne becomes a ghost town. Amid lockdown, complete with its stay at home orders, limits on daily movement and lengthy curfews, anything to break the monotony is appr

I reach out and try the basement door. To my complete surprise, it opens. I hesitate, but then venture inside, inching carefully along a...

He is neatly dressed, other than for the fact a full sized, stark white home plate hangs by a cord from his neck.