Tag: sports

News Sports

Raptor Mascot Out For The Season

One of the most important members of the Toronto Raptors basketball team is injured and won’t be participating this season.

It’s the “Raptor,” the team’s mascot.

Many people think the Raptor–with his athletic moves, edgy attitude and fun-loving spirit–is one of the best mascots in the NBA. Perhaps even professional sports.

He tore his Achilles tendon during a school visit in Halifax before the basketball season started.

People have an emotional reaction to the Raptor mascot–whoever he/she is.

The coach’s daughter cried when she heard the news of his/her injury.

News Sports

Cardinals Win Game Three In World Series After Rare Call By Umpires

On Saturday night, something unexpected happened in an important baseball game.

The St. Louis Cardinals were playing against the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

The World Series is a best-of-seven series. That means the first team to win four games wins the World Series and is named the best major-league baseball team of the year.

The games are always filled with tension and excitement, but Saturday’s game—game three—had a bit more of both.

It was the bottom of the ninth inning.

The game was tied 4-4.

It was the last chance for the Cardinals to score a point. If they did, they would win the game.

What happened next was very exciting.

News Sports

University of Toronto Goalie’s Hockey Dreams Come True

Many young Canadians play hockey. They dream of one day playing in the NHL on a professional team.

Last week, that dream came true for University of Toronto goalie Brett Willows.

One minute he was about to eat dinner with his friends at a restaurant called Noodle Bowl on Spadina Ave. in Toronto. The next, he was suited up as a Toronto Maple Leaf goalie, waiting to go in and play in a professional game.

Willows never got to play in the game, but for a little while, he was a Leaf.

When the Leafs’ goalie, James Reimer, got injured, they put in their other goalie, Jonathan Bernier.

But Bernier would need a backup, and that backup was Brett Willows.

So they called him. Willows ditched the Montreal Canadiens cap he was wearing, threw a $20 bill on the table to pay for the few bites of soup he’d eaten, and ran to gather his goalie gear.

Then he raced to the Air Canada Centre.

Lighter

Cheerleader Fined In London, Ont. For… Cheering

Normally, some cheerleaders going down a street cheering before a big football game wouldn’t be a problem.

Unfortunately for the squad, they were cheering in an area where police were cracking down on excess noise.

Several dozen cheerleaders were cheering for their team, the University of Western Ontario Mustangs, in London, Ont.

They were chanting “Go ‘Stangs, Go” and throwing one cheerleader up into the air.

It was right before a big homecoming football game against the Queen’s University Golden Gaels.

Police in London, Ont. have a “liquor enforcement and reduction of noise” program called “Project LEARN.”

News Science Sports

Some Sochi Gold Medals Will Contain Space Rock

Last Feb. 15, a meteorite landed in Russia.

A meteorite is a rock that comes to Earth from space.

Every year, thousands of asteroids and meteoroids streak past our planet.

Most of the ones headed for Earth simply burn up in our atmosphere.

In this case, the meteorite exploded into thousands of pieces in the air, making a tremendous noise known as a sonic boom.

Some of the rocks fell to Earth in the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Russian scientists have been studying the rocks to know more about them—where they came from and how they were formed.

Sports

The National Football League… Expect the Unexpected

The NFL (National Football League) is in full swing and many exciting stories have already begun to unfold.

Although the league opened just three weeks ago, teams have already surprised their fans, for better and for worse.

Seven of the 32 teams in the league are now 3-0 (3 wins – no losses).

But it may not be the teams you would expect.

Favourites such as The Seattle Seahawks, The Denver Broncos and The New England Patriots are 3-0, but so are The Kansas City Chiefs, The Miami Dolphins, The Chicago Bears, and The New Orleans Saints—four teams that didn’t even make the playoffs last year.

Sports

Diana Nyad, 64, Swims From Cuba To Florida

Diana Nyad stumbled out of the surf at Smathers Beach in Key West, Florida, on Monday, having completed an incredible 177-kilometre swim.

She had begun the swim 53 hours earlier, in Cuba.

Nyad is the only person ever to have made the treacherous swim without using a shark net, swim fins or a wetsuit. It was her fifth try in 35 years.

She told the waiting and excited crowd that she had three things to say.

“One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport but it takes a team.”

Sports

New Blue Jay Winning Over Fans And Teammates Alike

He dances, he gives funny interviews, he bows to his teammates and he loves to flash a smile – even when taking a pie to the face.

His name is Munenori Kawasaki, and he is the gregarious new shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.

Kawasaki was called up on April 13 to replace shortstop Joe Reyes, who had suffered an ankle injury.

Kawasaki is originally from Japan, and often carries around a Japanese-English phrasebook to help him communicate.

Sports

Hockey Canada Bans Bodychecking For Peewee Players

Hockey Canada – the organization that sets the rules for amateur hockey leagues in Canada – has voted to eliminate bodychecking for peewee players across the country.

The ban will start in September 2013.

One of the main reasons for the ban is safety, says Paul Carson, vice-president of hockey development for Hockey Canada.

Last year, researchers at the University of Calgary found that young players are three times more likely to be injured in leagues where bodychecking is allowed than in leagues with no bodychecking.

The study showed that peewee players in Alberta, where bodychecking was allowed, suffered 209 injuries and 73 concussions.

In Quebec, where bodychecking is not allowed, there were 70 injuries and 20 concussions.

News Sports

Basketball Player Jason Collins First To Openly Announce He Is Gay

Jason Collins is a basketball player who played for the Celtics and the Wizards this year.

He’s 34 years old, and he is seven feet tall and weighs 255 pounds.

He is charismatic, intelligent and well educated.

On the court, he is a tough, physical player.

All of those facts describe Collins.

But there is one fact about him that he revealed in Sports Illustrated magazine this week, that relatively few people knew.

Collins is gay.

He is the first male professional athlete, who is still playing a major North American sport, to openly announce that that he is gay.