Cuddy Shark

March Madness in the office

And you thought the five bucks invested in the office pool hurts.
According to NBC News, which is not the holder of broadcast rights to U.S. college’s March Madness, nearly $4-billion worth of productivity will be lost by corporate America during the handful of days the tournament is being played.
Due to games being played Thursday and Friday during business hours for a couple of weeks and streamed free of charge on-line by rival CBS, it is estimated $3.8-billion is the cost of workers peeking into their monitors to follow results, presumably due to participation in office pools and other sources.
It’s not like workers are sitting by their computers all day awaiting updates. Those figures are based on employees spending just 13.5 minutes per day checking out their results.
According the NBC News, those figures are based on studies and wage tables released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Now, how much is lost in gambling? Well, you can bet it’s a lot.

March Madness, party hardy

This is some combination — March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
And perhaps quite the hangover is in store for the weekend as the two clash on a Friday.
St. Paddy’s Day is big, to be sure. But there’s few things quite as stirring in sports as the three weekends or so it takes to complete the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. That Ireland’s big day coincides with Day 2 of the American college’s spring fast-break is sure to add to the celebratory nature of the day in some parts of the United States.
Enthusiasm. Passion. Competitiveness. Tears of joy and heartbreak. And that’s just the fans, many of whom are lured by the prospect of being part of an office pool and wagering a nickel or two on something most really know little about.
March Madness, which tipped off today, is without debate one of the most intriguing and entertaining sports spectacles in North America. Practically non-stop network TV coverage from noon to midnight, and again tomorrow. Try looking away once updates from all corners of the United States start to trickle in. It’s tough, in part because it is so much fun.
It is that way because of the enthusiasm generated by a bunch of college kids we’ve never before heard of playing for schools we’re never heard of, a vast majority of whom we are unlikely to hear from again any time soon.  They’ll play their hearts out, some merely for the 40 minutes of glory it takes to be eliminated. But what pure drama is generated in this ultimate of reality shows, fueled by a one-loss elimination format.
In the space of four days, the field will be stripped down from a field of 64 hopeful teams to a Sweet 16. The next weekend, it’ll be a replay with terms such as Elite Eight and Final Four bandied about as the process of melting down to the nitty gritty of declaring a national champion proceeds.
It would be nice, but also a little naive, to think this is strictly some clean-cut college students with a flair for athleticism playing a little b-ball for the school colours. It’s way beyond that, we know, because of scandals which jump up every now and again to taint some school or another.
But, geez, it’s fun.

Two paths, same destination

Owners of Provincial Jr. A Hockey League teams are faced with a fine mess now.
Just two series into the playoff marathon to determine a league champion and already there is no clear method to putting together a championship hockey team. Not after two teams at extreme ends of the hockey universe have crashed and burned.
The assignment at hand is to compare the Newmarket Hurricanes, a team comprised almost entirely of inexpensive hometown and area players, and the Milton IceHawks, whose checkbook approach is also a burned out shell of a project at the side of the Royal Bank Cup highway.
The IceHawks were everyone’s pick to represent the Provincial league at the Dudley Hewitt Cup tournament and join the Streetsville Derbys as league representatives at the national championship tournament to be held in May in Brampton. After all, the team lost just three times in regulation time during the regular season.
The Milton franchise went to considerable lengths to acquire and compensate top-notch players with one goal in mind. We know this because the IceHawks were caught red-handed and penalized by the year-long suspension of their head coach and scapegoat, George Dupont. It is a severe penalty some observers believe ultimately proved the difference in Wednesday night’s seventh game loss in the West Conference semifinal series against the Oakville Blades, despite holding a 3-1 lead at one point.
Milton bashers will also gleefully note money cannot buy heart and character, neglecting to note the successes of high-budget teams in the recent past.
Still, it is certain a lot of folks in junior hockey were smiling large Thursday morning.
The Hurricanes hometown approach also possesses flaws.
It is kind of warm and fuzzy that the Hurricanes perform with just one billeted player. The Hurricanes, who steadfastly refuse to pay players weekly stipends, are quite pleased about that fact although they must portray their contentment from the sidelines after being pushed aside in six games by the Stouffville Spirit.
The fans? Well, that could be another matter come future seasons if the same approach is applied. And there is no reason to think it will not. Present ownership views it as a source of pride. Fans might expect to have their loyalty rewarded by a team capable of advancing beyond the second round of the playoffs.
Ah, well. There remains three rounds worth of high-priced teams and low-budget outfits trying to determine a league champion before the ice melts.
How to build a junior hockey team? To spend or not to spend?
Never has the question been more complex.

An athletic brain-drain plagues GTA

It’s too bad the Region of York’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games fell short last  December.
After all is said and done, landing the Commonwealth Games would have been the best thing ever to happen to amateur athletics in the region.
And it wouldn’t have hurt Canada’s future in athletics either.
Not to say winner Halifax, one of three international contenders in the race, will land the Games, but at least there is a flicker of hope for athletes on Canada’s east coast.
Canadians were once again reminded of the shortcoming of facilities in this part of Canada during the recent Turin Olympics.
Of the 150 or so non-hockey playing Canadian athletes participating, just 10 hailed from the GTA. Ten! That is simply out of whack with the rest of Canada, given that approximately 30 per cent of the nation’s population is located in southern Ontario.
As it is, three York Region residents — Gillian Apps, Gillian Ferrari and Cherie Piper — won gold medals as members of the women’s hockey team.
But nary a bobsled, luge, or skeleton run exists here. Speed skaters hail from Quebec and places located in western Canada because that is where facilities exist.
Former Canadian Olympian and silver medallist Bill Crothers, who was spearheading the York Region bid, played up the legacy card during the process to land the Commonwealth Games.
He is also keen, by the way, to see a high-performance athlete-oriented school established in the region, a project that would surely provide facilities for a wider variety of summer and winter athletic endeavours.
Too many critics of projects such as the Commonwealth Games, and to a larger extent, the Olympics, are quick to dismiss or overlook the positive influence of area athletes training and performing at a superior level.
For evidence, look to what has been the off-shoot of the Calgary Olympics in 1988. A significant portion of Canada’s medal-winning performances in Turin can be credited to training facilities left behind for future generations in the Alberta city.
Often overlooked is the fact youngsters often emulate the heroes they see on TV. So, what’s to think young people in the GTA would not want to emulate a Cindy Klassen or a Clara Hughes or a Duff Gibson ... except that they live in an area in which there is no access to these sports.
As Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Rudge pointed out following his return from Turin, not all athletes with medals are from the places they call currently home. Some were initially from the GTA, but, in order to be near training facilities, were obliged to leave in an athletic form of brain-drain.
That’s not much of a legacy for the GTA.