Accepting that you can fail leads you to handling failure during a competition
As an athlete, coach and sports fan, I’ve long been enamoured with the subject of confidence in sports, more specifically, how you get it and maintain it. I’ve been equally enamoured with the phenomenon of choking in the sports arena. Why do our minds sometimes sabotage our efforts to perform well by feeding us self-doubt…
This year's Kentucky Derby produced a great moment in horse racing history
This past Saturday’s 148th Kentucky Derby, one of the three jewels of the American Triple Crown with the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, produced a great moment in horse racing history. It’s a heartwarming tale of a longshot horse that barely made it into the race, and a trio of individuals who had never participated…
Being a true football fan in Canada has been a pretty lonely existence
Thirty-six years ago last week, the Calgary Flames scored one of their most famous triumphs – a 3-2 Game 7 playoff victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers. Back then I was sports editor of the Calgary Sun, and that playoff run to the finals (Calgary lost to Montreal in five games) consumed…
Perfectionism has been shown to be a leading cause of depression and, thus, suicide
As Shalise Manza Young pointed out in a recent column for Yahoo! Sports, at least five National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes in the United States have died by suicide in the last couple of months. One young person committing suicide is a tragedy. Five young student-athletes with bright futures taking their lives in such…
Fans left with an increasingly boring game
I don’t hate baseball analytics or their use by crafty baseball operations folks. I look at analytics gurus like Billy Beane, Theo Epstein and Andrew Friedman as smart guys who figured out how to exploit market inefficiencies in the game. But they’ve also inadvertently damaged the game as a fan experience and entertainment product. There’s…
His father never won the WWE World Championship. Will he?
In William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, the intensity and raw emotion of personal redemption is contained in Isabella’s line to Angelo from Act II, Scene 2: “Why, all the souls that are were forfeit once; “And He that might the vantage best have took “Found out the remedy.” The true remedy to the struggles some…
It takes from the poor and middle class and gives to the rich
“The NFL is the richest sports franchise, full of billionaire capitalists demanding socialist handouts so they can make even more profits.” – Ralph Nader The billionaire owners of the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, Terry and Kim Pegula, have landed US$850 million in taxpayer dollars for the construction of a new…
Time to end the government-sanctioned cartel
“Every other sport – like virtually every sort of business – is governed by the antitrust laws.” – Stuart Banner, author of The Baseball Trust: A History of Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption The fact that the Supreme Court of the United States gave Major League Baseball an antitrust exemption in 1922 was…
A six-year obsession finally pays off
Ever been in business with a spouse? How about a sibling? How about three siblings, all brothers? Daunting as that sounds, it is a successful business recipe employed by the Brothers Schroenn (Justin 56, Matthew and Gareth, 49) as they attempt to transform the world’s aquatic recreational market. The trio is inventor/creators of SWMBRD –…
Paralympian Danielle Peers questions how to eliminate barriers that prevent athletes from getting involved in parasport
The 2022 Winter Paralympics will shine a brief spotlight on Canada’s elite athletes in China over the next 10 days. But much more is needed at the community level to get athletes involved in parasport before they can even dream of competing at an elite level, according to former Paralympian Danielle Peers. While changes are needed at the…