the mad sports man

 This from Old Time Baseball Photos. This is from a game at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The date was July 14, 1932. Early part of the great depression. A group of boys climbed a tree to catch a glimpse of the Cubs beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-1. Around 10,000 people were in attendance, so there was plenty of seating. Seeing as boys will be boys...... Also check the cars out.

 Summer begins tonight at 8:42pm Prince Albert time, making tomorrow the first full day of summer. This will make the longest day in terms of daylight hours. After tomorrow, we will start losing daylight.

 This season had 21 teams and an 80 game schedule. Highlights include: 1. Wayne Gretzky has 135 assists and 208 points. Next highest points was Jari Kurri with 135. 2. May 12 1985 Toronto signs Steve Thomas. 3. September 11, 1984 Calgary signs Joel Otto. 4. October 11, 1984 Mario Lemieux scores first goal on first shift and first shot. 5. April 2 1985, Wayne Gretzky scores 34th hat trick (record). 6. December 19, 1984 Gretzky scores 1000th point in 424th game. 7. Pittsburgh first to record 3 50 loss seasons. Playoffs: DSF; Montreal 3 Boston 2, Quebec 3 Buffalo 2, Philadelphia 3 New York Rangers 0, New York Islanders 3 Washington 2, Minnesota 3 St Louis 0, Chicago 3 Detroit 0, Edmonton 3 Los Angeles 0, Winnipeg 3 Calgary 1. DF; Quebec 4 Montreal 3, Philadelphia 4 New York Islanders 1, Chicago 4 Minnesota 2, Edmonton 4 Winnipeg 0. CF Philadelphia 4 Quebec 2, Edmonton 4 Chicago 2. Stanley Cup; Edmonton 4 Philadelphia 1. Edmonton wins 2nd Stanley Cup. Wayne Gretzky was Conn Smythe trop...

 Ecuador has qualified for the 2026 World Cup. 3 qualifications today. That is now 13 of 48 qualified. Quarter of the field in.

 Qualified here early this morning Prince Albert Saskatchewan time. Little while ago Brazil joined them. 12 have now qualified.

 Sovereignty reigns supreme here as he won this year's Belmont Stakes. Pretty good time of 2:00.69. Junior Alvarado winning jockey and Bill Mott was winning trainer. Thanks another triple Crown done.

 Here is a shot of Sandy Koufax finishing off his first no hitter on June 30th 1962 at Dodger Stadium. Dodgers beat the New York Mets 5-0 in the Mets 72nd ever game. Outfield bleachers look empty, but there were 29797 people. Enjoy.

 Three more teams going to the 2026 World Cup. Two of them will be making their debuts. Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 and Jordan 🇯🇴 will be debuting and South Korea 🇰🇷 will be making their 12th appearance. 10 qualified, 38 more to join them. Stay tuned.

 It's finally arrived. Opening night of the CFL season. Tonight has Ottawa at Saskatchewan. Tomorrow has Toronto at Montreal and Saturday has Hamilton at Calgary and Edmonton at BC. Let the 2025 season begin.

 The annual Memorial Day of racing has ended. It began with Lando Norris winning the Monaco Grand Prix, then Alex Palou winning the Indianapolis 500, and Ross Chastain winning the Coca Cola 600 that just ended. A long day of racing.

 Sweden beat Denmark 6-2 to win their 19th bronze. The United States beat Switzerland 1-0 in overtime to win their 3rd title, while Switzerland claimed their 4th silver. So that tournament is done. Next international tournament I believe is the world Juniors.

 First semi final has the United States beat Sweden 6-2. The second had Switzerland beat Denmark 7-0. The gold medal game will have the United States vs Switzerland (12:20 pm Prince Albert time) and the bronze medal game will have Sweden vs Denmark (7:20 am Prince Albert time).

 Here is a shot of the Polo Grounds at Giants last ever home game on September 29, 1957. 11,606 fans showed up to see the Pittsburgh Pirates win 9-1. The Giants of the NFL played there from 1925 until 1955, the Titans/Jets from 1960-63, and the national league Mets played there in 1962 and 1963 before moving to Shea stadium. Polo Grounds closed December 14, 1963 and was demolished April 19 1964. The Polo Grounds Towers now sits there. Here is the Polo Grounds on last home game.

 Wow. Biggest upset here. Denmark beat Canada 2-1 to go to the semi final. That is huge. Great for Denmark. Big disappointment for Canada. Denmark will play Switzerland in one semi and Sweden will play the United States. Semis are on Saturday.

 Canada got the win they needed, beating Sweden 5-3 and will face Denmark in the quarter finals. Other quarter final games has: United States vs Finland, Switzerland vs Austria and Sweden vs Czech Republic. Quarter finals are on Thursday.

 Canada suffers its first loss, this to Finland 2-1 in a shoot out. Canada still sits second and finishes the round robin tomorrow vs Sweden. That should be good.

 What a comeback here. Journalism was 6th as they headed for the home stretch. He somehow got through a wall of horses and made a mad comeback to win the Preakness stakes. He wins in a time of 1:55.47, with Umberto Rispoli (yup Italian) as winning jockey and Michael W. McCarthy as winning trainer. Last triple Crown race is June 7th at Belmont.

 This was pretty easy. Canada won 7-0 over Slovakia this morning. They are now five for five. Next game is Monday vs Finland.

 Austria was actually up 1-0 in this one. Canada eventually found their game and won 5-1 to go to 4 wins no losses, and tied with Sweden with same record. Canada plays again on Saturday vs Slovakia. Gi Canada go.

 Another game, another win. This time it was 5-0 over France. Three wins, tied with Sweden. Next game is Thursday vs Austria.

 Yeah, this wasn't much of a doubt as Canada beat Latvia 7-1. They're two for two. Next game is Tuesday vs France.

 Canada beat Slovenia 4-0 to open their hockey tournament schedule in Sweden. Canada plays Latvia tomorrow morning Prince Albert time. Stay tuned. 

 It's Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman. They just qualified the mixed doubles curling team last week. They were chosen a few months ago for the Olympics. Stay tuned for more.

 Sovereignty wins this year's Kentucky Derby on a sloppy, muddy track. Winning jockey was Junior Alvarado, winning trainer was Bill Mott and winning time was 2:02.31.  Next race is May 17 and the Preakness.

 This has to be the most beautiful shots out there, and I would love to check this out. This is PNC park in Pittsburgh.

 Thus season had 21 teams and an 80 game schedule. Some highlights include: 1. Wayne Gretzky has a 51 game point streak (153 points in streak). 2. Larry Murphy traded to Washington for Benjt Gustafson. 3. Steve Penney has great rookie season. January 4, Edmonton 12 Minnesota 8 in the highest scoring game at the time. Division semi final: Montreal 3 Boston 0, Quebec 3 Buffalo 0, New York Islanders 3 new York Rangers 2, Washington 3 Philadelphia 0, Minnesota 3 Chicago 2, St Louis 3 Detroit 1, Edmonton 3 Winnipeg 0, Calgary 3 Vancouver 1.  Division final: Montreal 4 Quebec 2, New York Islanders 4 Washington 1, Minnesota 4 St Louis 3, Edmonton 4 Calgary 3. CF: New York Islanders 4 Montreal 2 , Edmonton 4 Minnesota 0. Stanley Cup finals: Edmonton 4 New York Islanders 1. Edmonton wins first cup. Mark Messier wins Conn Smythe trophy. #1 draft pick in 1984 was Mario Lemieux by Pittsburgh. He plays entire career there, playing 915 games, 690 goals, 1033 assists and 1723 points.

 I really like this one. An aerial shot of Dodger Stadium as the sun sets.

 Here is one of what the Polo Grounds from different perspectives. From above to what the decks looked like from a side view. From the diagram, year says 1952. Enjoy.

 This from the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, home of the Phillies from 1887-1938.  This shot shows Dolph Camilli crossing home plate after hitting a home run to put the Brooklyn Dodgers up 3-2 on their way to a 12-5 win on April 19, 1938. Phillies finished the season 45-105. They end up moving to Shibe park on July 4th, 1938, sharing with the A's.

 This is the Polo Grounds from 1911. It was rebuilt on this site after a fire close to destroyed the previous building. This is looking across the Harlem River looking at the south Bronx.

 This morning, Alexander Ovechkin became the greatest goal scorer in the NHL, scoring #895 in today's 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders. Like him or hate him, you gotta respect this. Congrats.

From old time baseball photos. Here is a rare color photo of Ebbets Field from April 5, 1913. Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Yankees 3-2 in an exhibition game in front of 25000 people. Enjoy.

 Kansas City Municipal Stadium was opened from 1923-1976. It was built for the Blues of the American Association. It also hosted the Monarchs of the Negro leagues, the A's (1955-1967) and the Royals (1969-1972). Also housed the Chiefs from 1963-1971. The Chiefs moved into Arrowhead Stadium for the 1972 season and the Royals moved into Royals (now Kauffman) stadium in 1973. Here is Municipal Stadium in Kansas City.

 This tournament was in Sarajevo Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina). Soviet Union won this tournament, winning their 6th gold. Czechoslovakia won the silver and Sweden won bronze. Canada finished 4th. Oldest team was Italy at 27 yrs 8 mths. Youngest was Canada at 21 yrs 6 mths. Soviet Union was 26 yrs 1 mth.  Games were played at Zetra Olympic Hall and Skenderija Olympic Hall.

 Two more recently qualified for next year's world Cup. First is Iran. They lead group A in the Asian confederation and will finish top two. Second is Argentina. They lead the South America confederation and top six will qualify for next year's tournament. That's seven qualified.

 From old time baseball photos. This is Candlestick Park under construction from March 4th 1959. It was built on Candlestick Point. Cheers.

 Hello New Zealand. New Zealand has qualified for the 2026 World Cup. Beat New Caledonia 🇳🇨 to win the OFC championship to qualify. That is five in. New Zealand, Japan, along with co-hosts Canada, Mexico and United States.

 1. Happy first day of spring. It began at 3:01am Prince Albert time. Hopefully it gets nice and stays nice. 2. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe has been chosen as president of the IOC. First female to be president. 3. Japan has qualified for the 2026 FIFA world Cup. Qualified this morning. There's today's three things you're about to find out.

  Happy St Patrick's Day. It's the time of year to wear green, drink green beer or pop and other green related stuff. Cheers and enjoy.

 Here is a shot of Olympic stadium in Montreal during an Expos game. I think it's pre 1987ish because of the lack of a roof. Enjoy.

 This season had 21 teams and an 80 game schedule. Highlights include: 1. September 9, Montreal traded Rod Langway, Doug Jarvis, and Brian Engblom to Washington for Rick Green and Ryan Walter. Trade helps Washington get to playoffs for first time. Also on this day, Washington coach Bryan Murray hires brother Terry as assistant coach. 2. April 2 Mike Bossy scores 60th goal three seasons in a row. 3. April 22, New York Islanders wins 14th straight playoff series. Playoffs had: DSF; Boston 3 Quebec 1, Buffalo 3 Montreal 0, new York Rangers 3 Philadelphia 0, New York Islanders 3 Washington 1, Chicago 3 St Louis 1, Minnesota 3 Toronto 1, Calgary 3 Vancouver 1 and Edmonton 3 Winnipeg 0. DF; Boston 4 Buffalo 3, Islanders 4 Rangers 2, Chicago 4 Minnesota 1 and Edmonton 4 Calgary 1. CF; New York Islanders 4 Boston 2, Edmonton 4 Chicago 0. Stanley Cup finals: New York Islanders 4 Edmonton 0. Islanders win 4th cup in a row. Billy Smith is Conn Smythe trophy winner for playoff MVP. #1 draft pi...

 Brad Jacobs is the 2025 Montana's Brier champion aft getting three in the 10th to win 5-3. His last shot got him the win and it was fantastic. Him, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, Ben Hebert and alternate Michael Caine will head to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan to play in the men's world curling championship from March 29 to April 6.

 It's pretty much shot in the same spot. It's located in Toronto. Top was in 1920 named Willowvale park. Bottom is recently, named Dominico Field. Wild eh!?

 This is Exhibition Stadium on opening day in 1977. Toronto beat Chicago 7-4. Doug Ault hit two home runs. This was the sight at first pitch. A Zamboni cleaned the infield. Cheers. Anne Murray sang the anthems and the crowd chanted we want beer.

 This is a roundel. This roundel is from 1977 and has all the American League teams. Spotted this on the 70s in baseball Twitter page. That would be neat to have.

 Today is Crosley Field in Cincinnati. This particular game has Philadelphia Phillies in town. Philly won 5-4. Ray Semproch with the win, Bob Wright with the loss. Attendance was 32,848. Note some of the fans getting to sit on the field to watch. I love some of the old ads and the scoreboard shown here. From old time baseball Facebook page.

The top half was the former home of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres from 1936-1957. The bottom half is Lane Park. It was dedicated as one in 2015. A plaque was placed on corner of Broadway and Pacific, presumably where home plate was. There is a circle in the park to show where the mound was.

 Oh man I'm slacking. What's happened? The Scotties tournament of hearts that Rachel Homan won for the second year in a row. Back to back undefeated championships. And shot a perfect 100% in the final. Exhibition baseball began. Canada won the 4 nations face-off. The Brier began yesterday. Had some really nice weather and melted a fair bit of snow. My blog turns 21 tomorrow and Monday will be three years since I started working. Had my eyes checked on Tuesday. Love getting my eyes checked. Taxes got done yesterday (yay for refund). That's all I can remember. Stay tuned for more.

 Today marks the 60th birthday of Canada's flag. February 15 1965 it's when it flew for the first time. So happy birthday.

 Wow. The Philadelphia Eagles put on a clinic, winning super bowl LIX 40-22. They had a 34-0 lead. Jalen Hurts is super bowl MVP. That's it for another NFL season. Let's get some baseball going.

 St John's Newfoundland and Labrador. Brad Gushue won the last time St John's had the Brier in 2017. I'm sure St John's will be party central. I hear they can party.

 This season had 21 teams and an 80 game schedule. Highlights include: 1. Division realignment happens and is geography based. 2. Playoff format changes. It becomes divisional replacing 1 v 16, 2 v 15 etc. 3. Wayne Gretzky: scores 50 goals in 39 games, records 212 points and scores 92 goals. 4. Philadelphia and Hartford wear cooperalls. 5. New York Islanders win 15 straight games. 6 miracle on Manchester happens (Los Angeles comes back from 5-0 down to win 6-5 at the forum). 6. April 7, Los Angeles and Edmonton score a playoff record 18 goals in a Los Angeles 10-8 win. 7.  October 10, Borje Salming is first European to record 500 points. 8. February 15, Tony Esposito records 13th straight season of 40 games played. Playoffs: DSF; Los Angeles 3 Edmonton 2, Vancouver 3 Calgary 0, Chicago 3 Minnesota 1, St Louis 3 Winnipeg 1, New York Islanders 3 Pittsburgh 2, New York Rangers 3 Philadelphia 1, Quebec 3 Montreal 2, Boston 3 Buffalo 1. DF; Vancouver 4 Los Angeles 1, Chicago 4 St L...

 Yup the 5000th post. Nearly 21 years of pure madness. And don't believe the groundhog. If you're in Canada and the northern States, you know winter won't end until April anyways. So there's post 5000.

 One of the few times you will see Exhibition Stadium and Skydome in the same shot. Enjoy 

 Today marks the lunar new year. It is the year of the snake. Hope the festivities went well.

 The 2026 Scotties tournament of hearts will be in Mississauga Ontario from January 23- February 1. The earlier start due to the Olympics that begin February 6th. This year's tournament is in Thunder Bay starting February 14.

 The Kansas City Chiefs are in the super bowl again after beating Buffalo 32-29. They will play the Philadelphia Eagles in super bowl LIX on February 9th

 Philadelphia didn't leave any doubt as they beat Washington 55-23 to advance to their second super bowl in three years. Coming up has Buffalo at Kansas City to represent the AFC.

 Jack Crawford became the first Canadian skier to win in Kitzbuhel Austria since 1983 when Todd Brooker won.  Cam Alexander won bronze as did Ken Read in 1983. Wild eh.

 Saw this on Twitter. On the mound is Larry Dierker of the Astros. At the plate is Ron Hunt of the Mets. Don't know who is catching or umpiring. Neat eh.

 Another tight one. Buffalo hangs on to beat Baltimore 27-25 to go to the AFC championship game in Kansas City to play the Chiefs. That game is next Sunday night. And then there were four.

 Philadelphia hung on to win 28-22 over the Los Angeles Rams. They will host the Washington Commanders for the NFC championship game next Sunday afternoon. A good ol' fashioned NFC East match up. Next has Baltimore at Buffalo.

 Who saw this coming? Washington just beat Detroit 45-31 to go to their first NFC championship game since the 1991 season. They will be going to either Philadelphia or Los Angeles.

 Kansas City just beat Houston 23-14 in the first AFC divisional game. Kansas City will host the AFC championship game. Coming up is the first NFC divisional game between Washington at Detroit.

 It's the 25th edition, this time, Canmore Alberta is the feature host. Boston at Ottawa is on now. At 6pm Prince Albert time has Toronto at Montreal and Calgary at Winnipeg, and at 9pm Prince Albert time has Edmonton at Vancouver. Gonna be fun as usual. Update 1: Ottawa 6 Boston 5 (so) Update 2: Calgary 3 Winnipeg 1, Toronto 7 Montreal 3. Update 3: Vancouver 3 Edmonton 2. That's it for another hockey day in Canada 

 It finally came out today. First preseason game is May 19. Opening weekend starts June 5th with Ottawa at Saskatchewan. Toronto at Montreal on June 6, and two games June 7th: Hamilton at Calgary and Edmonton at B.C. Road to the 112th Grey Cup game will soon begin.

 Bit of a surprise as the Los Angeles Rams beat Minnesota 27-9 in the last wild card game of the weekend. The divisional match ups have: Houston at Kansas City and Washington at Detroit on Saturday and Los Angeles Rams at Philadelphia and Baltimore at Buffalo on Sunday. Stay tuned.

 Washington beat Tampa Bay 23-20 and will face Detroit in the divisional. The winner of the Minnesota vs Los Angeles Rams will face Philadelphia. Stay tuned.

 This had Philadelphia beat Green Bay 22-10. Divisional round matchups soon. Coming up has Washington at Tampa Bay.

 Buffalo beat Denver 31-7 to go to the divisional round.  They will play Baltimore, while Houston will play Kansas City. Both games next weekend. Right now, Philadelphia leads Green Bay 10-0 with about 4 minutes left in the first half.

 This had Baltimore beating Pittsburgh 28-14. Tomorrow has Denver at Buffalo (to decide the divisional match ups), Green Bay at Philadelphia and Washington at Tampa Bay. Stay tuned.

 First one of the weekend had Houston beat Los Angeles Chargers 32-12. On now has Pittsburgh at Baltimore.

 This is from the vintage scoreboards Facebook page. It was after Don Larson threw the first world series perfect game at Yankee Stadium. Cool eh!?

 This went to a shootout. Czech Republic wins 4-3 over Sweden. Their third bronze since Czechoslovakia split and 9th overall. Sweden finishes 4th for the 5th time since 2013. Coming up is the gold medal game between the United States and Finland.

 This had the United States beat Czech Republic 4-1. It was pretty close. A late U.S power play goal and an empty netter ended it. It will be Finland vs United States for gold and Sweden vs Czech Republic for bronze. This world Juniors ends tomorrow.

 Not surprised this was close. Finland beat Sweden 4-3 to play for gold. Sweden will play for bronze. At 6:30, the United States will play Czech Republic..

 This one someone posted on their Facebook page. This is from the 1958 Grey Cup at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. Winnipeg eventually won 35-28.

 Heartbreak for Canada. Lost to Czech Republic 4-3. Rough first, better second and great third until a borderline penalty call on Canada (it was a clean hit) Czechs scored on power play and that was it. Heartbreaking, frustrating and disappointing finish to said game. Other quarter finals had Finland beat Slovakia 5-3. Semi finals has Sweden vs Finland and United States vs Czech Republic. Both games on Saturday.

 Let's start with relegation. Germany 4 Kazakhstan 3. Germany will be in Minneapolis/St. Paul bor next year's tournament, Kazakhstan demoted to division 1A.  Now the quarters. First had Sweden beat Latvia 3-2 and the second had the United States beat Switzerland 7-2. Man Latvia put up a battle here. Finland is playing Slovakia and Canada plays Czech Republic at 6:30. I don't feel good about that one. Stay tuned.

 This was on your Winnipeg Jets hockey Facebook page via Brad H. Arrison. This is construction of an Eaton's store in 1905 in Winnipeg. It is now the site of Canada Life Center, home of the Jets. Wild eh!?

 It's arrived. 2025 is here. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year.  Cheers mate.