Memorial Cup

Junior hockey is in the spotlight for the next 10 days with Memorial Cup tournament in Red Deer.
This is a unique format that is totally different from the regular league playoffs.
This is a round robin format with very little room for error.
In a best of 7 series you can have a couple of off nights and know there are many more games to make up ground. Your goalie can have an off night and have a chance to rebound. Your team can have a game or two of being undisciplined and take too many penalties. You have up to 7 games to feel out your opposition and take advantage of their weaknesses that you have discovered.
In a 3 game round robin it is very important to get your first win as soon as possible. When you win a game you are guaranteed to at least get to the tiebreaker game. Win 2 games and you will at least get into the semi-final game or may even get a bye all the way to the Final. In a short tournament you can’t plan to hope to get better later in the week because you could find yourself going home really quick. Every game is a game 7. The longer you go without a win the more pressure you will feel later in the week.
Another factor is that you are playing in a neutral site. The Rebels are the home team and every time they play the building will have a playoff atmosphere. But for the other games the majority of the fans will not be routing for either team. There is no loud encouragement when you are playing well. There is no booing like when you are playing in a rivals’ building. It has the feel of being at a minor hockey tournament.
London appear to the best team and should be playing at WHL team in the Final.

Uniforms

CFL teams unveiled their new jerseys today and there will be lots of praise and lots of negative reaction.
When it comes to uniforms there are 2 ways you can go. Pay tribute to the colors of the franchise or go totally different from what your team tradionally has done in the past.
It’s evident that every CFL uniform revealed today honors each team’s history.
There are also 2 types of uniforms. One that looks good when you are 10 feet away from the person wearing the jersey and one that looks good when out on the field.
For example the jersey’s that are a dark color and then use dark numbers may look impressive up close but when watching them in a game you have no chance at identifying the numbers.
Early impressions are that the uniforms are user friendly, unique to each franchise and hey I can see the numbers when watching for the stands or on TV.

Leicester City

I don’t watch soccer except when it’s the World Cup and even then I just get involved in a prediction pool and wait to see the results.
But there has been a lot of attention this year for the Premier League as Leicester City has won the Championship.
At the beginning of the season the odds were 5,000-to-1 that they would win.
Actor Tom Hanks has said he has money on this happening.
Not sure how much he may or may not have bet but a $100 wager is worth $500,000.
How big is it to be a 5,000-to-1 underdog?
Team USA beating Russia in the 1980 Olympics was probably at 10-to-1.
William Hill is a bookmaker in England and are famous for taking bets on more than just sports.
The odds on Simon Cowell becoming Prime Minister is 500-to-1.
Loch Ness Monster to be discovered is 500-to-1.
Kim Kardashian for US President in 2020 is 2,000-to-1.
Elvis is found alive is 2,000-to-1.
Leicester City at 5,000-to-1 is the longest of longshot odds.