All World Hockey by T. Michael Travers

R ecently, a Toronto hockey buddy asked, "Why is there a trophy named after  Detroit Red Wing, Ted Lindsay"?  I offer my answer below and apologize for retrieving some details from other blog pieces I’ve written about Lindsay and things you may have read before. Architect of the National Hockey League Player's Association The Ted Lindsay Award is the replacement of the 2nd most important award in the NHL, next to the Stanley Cup.  Today’s "Lindsay Trophy" was formerly known as The Lester B. Pearson Trophy.  Who? The "Lindsay" is given to the player who is voted best in the league BY THE PLAYERS.  The companion award, the Hart Trophy, is the best player in the league as chosen  by sportswriters.    With the renaming of this very special award, the NHL finally got it right.  According to Bobby Hull, Ted Lindsay was "the best left winger to ever play the game”.  Original Six Referee, "Red" Storey, said, "If I were starting ...

He used to be called Bill, then he became "The Cos" then "Dr. Cosby" then, according to his accusers, he became just plain evil. In Toronto, from the 1960s to the 1980s, Lou Myles Disegnatore was the place to go if you wanted a fine-quality, made-to-measure suit. He opened his Yonge at Gerrard St. store in 1960. But, the competition was fierce with Disney Men’s Wear (no relation to the Hollywood animation genius) near Lou downtown and Mitty’s Men’s Wear, on Bloor, in west Toronto. Once he was up and running news of his workmanship and classic designs spread quickly. Before Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, there was Lou Myles. In the early 1960s, comedian Bill Cosby started his career at the Hungry i in San Francisco and a short time later found himself at a Toronto nightclub across the street from the King Edward Hotel for a one-night stand. There were lots of comedians making their mark in show business at the time but Richard Prior and Bill Cosby separated thems...

  It started with Danny Gallivan ... There was something strange about it - something foreign. To me, it seemed to say ... "we are the Habs and it doesn't matter what the score is, we are going to win". We have "little Charlie Hodge" and "big Robinson" and "the speedy Cournoyer". He was such a Hab, he even had his own Montreal Canadien hockey card. He enunciated with an unusual flare. He seemed to create new words while describing the game. It was distracting. He wasn't like Foster or Bill Hewitt. He said stuff that didn't sit well with me and my Leaf buddies. You know, the "Savardian Spinerama", "the dearth of whistles" ... "6 and a half ounces of vulcanized rubber finds its way into the seats"... and, oh yeah, the "cannonading drive". The stuff he said made you say to yourself ... what did he say? He was a homer and I had to turn the sound off the TV when he got to be too much for me. On...

Have you ever heard about a friend's friend, or perhaps a brother-in-law of a cousin, or some other obscure person who went to a flea market and bought a $2.00 painting that turned out to be worth $20,000? Or, how about the woman who bought a piece of costume jewelry that turned out to be real diamonds? The finder is always someone remote. It always happens to someone else - never you or me. Then one day, I got a call from a buddy who was a little short on cash but had assembled quite a collection of high-end watches. He had to sell them off quickly. He said I had my choice of Rolex, Patek Phillipe, Hublot, Omega, Piaget, or Corum. He claimed his favourite was a Rolex Daytona, and he would let me have it for $500. The year was 1985. $500 for a watch (of any kind) was way out of my league, but he was desperate, and I wanted to help him out. I soon became the proud owner of that Daytona. But I didn't treat it any differently than I would a Timex. Sometimes I'd forget and ...

We've always wanted to visit Paris, France maybe for the same reasons as you. It's historically significant. Only 10 years ago, archeologists found human remains in Paris dating to 8,000 BC. Some say it's the art and fashion capital of the world, and it's earned the nickname City of Lights because, at one time, it had 50,000 gas street lights. Oh, ya, and they've got all that wine. We did our best to check as many of the must-dos off our list for the five days we were there. We had lots of tips from friends. Also, warnings of pickpockets and gypsies and rude waiters and areas of the city to stay away from. In reality, we never experienced a bad incident and the only rudeness we encountered was a city bus driver who didn't care for my pronunciation when asking for directions to the Louvre. On our final day, we decided to take the Metro (subway) to the airport. It sounded easy, safe, and efficient. However, when we left street level and descended the escalator to ...

Don't blow on the dice  ... don't throw dice with both hands  ... don't buy into the game  when the shooter is on a good roll  ... a 7 often appears after the shooter  has accidentally thrown one of the dice off the table  - watch out for stick-changes too ...  A 7- out often follows a stick change. There are lots of rules in the casino game of Craps.   Don't play unless you know the rules.  Most of the time, the rules are opposed to the way the game is depicted in movies.   If you've never played, don't start.  It's a game that can really beat you up and it has a difficult-to-learn vocabulary. As mentioned, I play a lot. Maybe too much.   But, I never speak to anyone at the craps table, ever.  I am not being discourteous or disrespectful or superstitious. I play hoping to be lucky enough to make some money. There's nothing social or sociable about craps. It's a very, very tough game. It's incredib...