Sporting Madness

The Scribblings of the Scribes of Sport book review series is back! Leave your own thoughts on the book in the comments below, or get in touch with me at andrew_bucholtz@hotmail.com if you have suggestions for other books for me to review! The World Is A Ball: The Joy, Madness and Meaning of Soccer, by John Doyle The World Cup is over, but soccer rolls on. North American soccer is in full swing, and things are looking good for Canadian teams at the moment, with Toronto FC finding success in MLS and Vancouver and Montreal both having solid USSF Division II campaigns. There have been plenty of interesting international friendlies, including the Kansas City Wizards' surprising win over Manchester United [ The Telegraph ] yesterday, and the English Premier League's set to kick off in just a few short weeks. With soccer, and particularly with major international competitions, it's important to remember that it's about much more than just the results. Sure, we'll ...

I spent last weekend camping up in the wilderness at Manning Park, so the blog's been a little quiet lately. I've got plenty of content planned for the next few days to remedy that, though. First, I'll break down the World Cup quarterfinals. After that, I'm bringing back the Scribblings Of The Scribes of Sport book review series with reviews of John Doyle 's The World Is A Ball and D'Arcy Jenish 's The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years Of Glory . After that, it's back to the World Cup previews with a look at tomorrow's Uruguay - Netherlands clash. Hope you enjoy these posts!

The Montreal Canadiens are in tough against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first-ever NHL conference final between a #7 seed (Philly) and an #8 seed (Montreal). They're down 2-0 in the series, they've given up nine goals and they haven't yet been able to beat Flyers' goaltender Michael Leighton . As Bruce Arthur wrote in his column in today's National Post , Philadelphia's rounding into form nicely and Montreal hasn't been impressive. If that continues, it seems likely the Canadiens' Cinderella run will end here. Yet, there are several factors that have me thinking this one isn't over yet. For one, Philadelphia's lineup doesn't overly impress me, especially without the injured Jeff Carter . They have talented players like Mike Richards , Danny Briere , Simon Gagne and, as much as it pains me to say it, Chris Pronger , but much of their roster is filled with guys who are most known for their thuggery. Montreal wasn't any better during...

Seeing as there are so many quality sports writers out there these days, and many of them are producing fine books, I figured I’d start occasional posts about the best works by sporting journalists I’ve read recently. To start it off, there’s Future Greats and Heartbreaks by Gare Joyce, which I received for Christmas and promptly read in the next couple days: it's very difficult to put down. The book provides a fantastic look at the profession of hockey scouts with a good deal of access from the inside, as Joyce was able to sit in on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 2006 draft preparations and was involved with much of their subsequent scouting season. There are also interesting takes on a variety of other topics related to junior hockey, such as the tragic Swift Current Broncos bus crash of 1986, the world junior championships, and the players who never make it to the big leagues. Another thing that helps this book excel is Joyce’s terrific writing talent. As established in his previo...

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last few days: a combination of my computer dying (or at least suffering serious injury) and the craziness associated with Christmas meant that I wasn't able to find the time to sit down and hammer out a post. Anyways, in step with the many pundits who have traversed the road before me(such as Ben Knight and my own father ), here's my shot at offering symbolic Christmas presents to those I write about. Hockey: -To Roberto Luongo : A trophy case for those he should collect later this year. Luongo narrowly lost out to Sidney Crosby and Martin Brodeur in the Hart and Vezina Trophy races last year, but is having a better season than either to this point. He also dominated their head-to-head battles, stopping Crosby twice on late breakaways and shutting out Brodeur's New Jersey Devils in a 5-0 rout. As the Vancouver Province 's Ed Willes pointed out in an insightful column yesterday, "Luongo, at this moment, is the best play...