It was a week in sports in mid-October that true Fans live for - a hot-dog thrower might even call it ‘epic’ were he lobbing the July 4th staple at one Mr. Woods – with drama being played out on stages around the globe. In MLB the feel-good story Brewers and Tigers both get to watch the World Series from home as The Texas Rangers and Cinderalla Cardinals booked their tickets to the Fall Classic. Die-hard fans from one state and one city might watch this but viewership will no doubt be down without The Evil Empire or The Samuel Adams Nation to root against. Sorry Red Sox fans, even your team slugging beer in the clubhouse during games and letting GM Theo attempt to wave his magic wand in Cub land doesn’t make me dislike your guys any less. The fallout from all this is going to leave a mark next season and with even David Ortiz saying he would love to swing for the fences in NY city, it might be a long year in 2012 in Beantown. Yankee fans took one look at that athletic 36-year old frame of Ortiz and all agreed that getting older in the Bronx would be the way for their team to go! Sign him to a 6-year deal and he can retire the same year as Arod whose salary in part is still being paid ironically by Nolan Ryan and the Texas Rangers. Ah, the circle of life in sports – hakuna matata.

Photo: Contributed

It was a tough week for Detroit sports as in the NFL the Lions fell to 5-1 with a tough loss to the San Francisco 49ers. It was a brutally tough, hard-hitting game which culminated in the aptly named “Handshake Gate” as Head Coaches Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz seemed unable to complete the simple, symbolic, gentlemanly gesture without inciting a player riot. It’s not Harbaugh’s first failure in this area as he had prior issues when at Stanford with then USC Coach Pete Carroll – should make the Seahawk matchup on Christmas Eve a wonderful holiday occasion with Carroll sporting a Santa hat and Harbaugh two weeks in to his handshake anger management course as ordered by Commissioner Goodell. I’ll take Harbaugh with the points… or by rear naked choke in the first round – you decide.

While it is still too early in the NHL season to review predictions – which is my way of saying that I seem to be completely wrong at this stage – some astounding facts seem to have come to light so far. Take a moment… the Leafs are undefeated! Despite giving up 5 goals in the 3rd period of a game – to the Senators no less – and Tim Connolly being day-to-day, week-to-week or year-to-year, I repeat… the Toronto Maple Leafs have 6 points from 3 games! Déjà vu all over again… see last year’s 4-0 start for reference! While there are also some surprising success stories brewing in Colorado and Dallas, the same unfortunately cannot be said of Winnipeg where the Jets have yet to garner a point from their 3 games. This will be a testing year for the Manitoba faithful and one can only hope that come the Lightning visit to MTS Centre on April 7th there will be 15,004 seats occupied and not just because CBC might be televising. “Listen up everybody if you wanna take a chance” might be the locker-room motto True North should post outside the arena but pulling a retro New Kids quote from “Hanging Tough” might be a reach even for them… and me. Can a Winnipeg winter get any longer?

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It is never easy to understand the passing of anyone before their time but on Sunday, October 16th 2-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon lost his life as the result of a 15 car crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the final race of the IndyCar season. While there is an assumption of risk in open wheel racing more than possibly in any other sport, an intense examination of oval racing is going to be demanded in the weeks and months to come, with 5 time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson ready to lead the charge. Drivers had already expressed concern over the Vegas track set-up with cars able to run 3-wide at speeds of up to 224 mph and the onus will be on IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard to explain why driver safety may have been the victim of last year’s horrific TV ratings. Whether you enjoy circulatory racing or grew up, as I did, enjoying the eclectic road tracks of the Formula 1 circuit such as Monaco, it always seems to take tragedy on the track to bring change to the sport. In F1 it was the death of Ayrton Senna and in NASCAR it was Earnhardt Sr. On Sunday, with Wheldon’s #77 posted on the board, with the irony not lost on the gathered crowd, the remaining drivers drove 5 laps, 3-wide to celebrate his life. “Amazing Grace” played over the loud speakers and drivers openly wept. Dan Wheldon was 33. He is survived by his wife Susie and his sons Sebastian and Oliver. Rest in peace.