racingmeridian.com

The NHL season kicks off with a Habs - Bud’s game at the ACC Oct 1st. I sat through a dismal performance between these teams last April, highlighted by the Leafs floating through a dreary, passionless fog. What a difference oh, six months, can make. The Canadiens look stripped for parts while the Leafs are pumped and aggressive. Could the date be an arbiter of a long overdue change in the fortunes of the two franchises, with Toronto surging while the Canadiens sag? Expect boffo ratings as puck heads in Toronto gear up for a highly anticipated season of shinny…the Ottawa Sun is reporting underwhelming desire on the part of NHL teams for the services of that loveable rogue Dany Heatley. Apparently only the Edmonton Oilers have furnished an acceptable trade proposal, but Heatley’s delicate sensibilities nixed that arrangement. Who would have predicted a crash in the market for coach killing divas?…tremendous bitterness must be the order of the day in the Dale Tallon household. The improbable firing of a GM who painstakingly constructed the best young team in the NHL leaves a sour taste, one highlighted by an astonishing comment by Chicago Blackhawk owner Rocky Wirtz.  Justifying his decision to bring in Stan Bowman, Wirtz opined, “He’s 36, Dale is 58. We always want younger people”. Tallon should have walked instead of taking on a two year “advisory” role with the organization. Forgot why I disliked the Wirtz family; now I remember…a new HBO documentary on Ted Williams, airing at 9.30pm tonight, confirms the great hitter was, upon his death, frozen at a cryonics facility. I’ll admit I thought the tale was one of wild fancy but his daughter, Claudia, speaks to the matter in great detail and offers her families passionate belief in science as the motivation for the macabre decision…the Ring Talk site, run by a former police officer, estimates Amanda Rodrigues, Arturo Gatti’s wife, could be facing up to five years in prison for the murder of her husband. A reasonable attorney, it is speculated, will portray Gatti as a violent, abusive alcoholic and depict Amanda as acting out of a meaningful fear for her own safety. Now, if the lawyer is really hot, the health and welfare of Arturo Jr, the couples infant son, will be woven through a tale of woe, allowing for the outside possibility she may walk with only a probation term…the odds of being killed by a falling coconut are apparently 250 million to 1 against. Same odds available for a Detroit Lions Superbowl win in 2010…you can watch Precious Passion demolish the field in the July 4^th United Nations Stakes at NTRA.com. What a grandiose effort, what aplomb and zeal. The horse racing industry can be so grim this side of the Atlantic it was just wonderful to watch such a rousing, gutsy display by the six year old gelding. Passion flies to a 20 length win in the first half mile of the 11 furlong race and then remains stout down the lane to record a smashing triumph. The horse will be one to watch as we inch closer to the Breeders…former boxer and noted grape consumer Vinny Pazienza has an autobiography on the markets. Entitled “Vinny Paz: Fight or Die” the tome would only be readable if it includes a realistic, honest retelling of his colourful career. If it is the typical American sports bio it will be written at a Grade 4 level and offer simple tales of divine intervention coursing through the most mundane of Paz’s activities…Ricky Hatton is back in the gym preparing for a November return. The “Hitman” will doubtless manoeuvre himself into a lucrative showdown with current Brit sensation Amir Khan. Hatton has suffered two savage knockout losses and will be closely watched in his return engagement…I watched the second George Foreman - Joe Frazier fight last night and was amazed how completely Joe Frazier had deteriorated following the intense violence of his earlier encounters against “Big George” and Muhammad Ali. Frazier was unbeaten and in charge of the fistic world after his March 1971 win over Ali. Thereafter, he was barely a .500 fighter. When Frazier awkwardly tried to “dance” out of harms way in the opening stanza of the 1976 Foreman rematch, it was clear only the bare remnants of the legend remained in the ring. Overweight at 224 (five years earlier he was as taut as a bullet at 205) Frazier was uncoordinated and flabby. Wisely, Frazier retired after the humiliating defeat, though he did make an ill advised return five years later against Jumbo Cummings, a fight where the all time great was gifted a controversial draw. Frazier never fought again…