Revisiting Sport's Leap Year

Earlier this year I posted a piece on Sport's Leap Year. 

So far, so good.  I was really happy that the Saints won the Super Bowl, even though I appreciate the genius of Peyton Manning. 

Canada Men's Hockey, Gold Medal Triumph

Now in an Olympic's aftermath, the only thing for me that really went beyond stamp collecting of medals for many sports that I have never tried nor ever seen in real life, was hockey.  The Canadian men and women's teams won gold in hockey, and because of this, the Olympics were a stupendous success.

As expected, the Sedins have been brilliant in these play-offs

The Canucks have found success early in the play-offs, defeating the red-hot LA Kings in 6 games to advance to the second round of the play-offs.  They will now meet Chicago Black Hawks, their nemesis of last season.  Last year, the Canucks came within a couple of minutes from going up 3-1 in the series against Chicago, but the young, speedy, and skilfull Hawks prevailed and won the series 4-2.  This year, the Canucks seem to relish playing the Hawks again, perhaps for the sweet taste of redemption, or perhaps because revenge is a dish best served cold. 

Arsenal still has a wonderfully talented core group of players

Arsenal - brilliant, meteoric, beautiful - crashed out of the FA Cup, Champions League, and are now mathematically eliminated from winning the League Cup.  Oi vay.  The good thing is that they have locked up third place, and so have guaranteed entry into Europe next year for Champion's League play.

Lionel Messi: the best player of our time

Tomorrow I will sit back and watch Barcelona's smooth-as-silk style of play triumph over Bayern Munich and then the winner of Lyon/Inter for the Champions League title. For those of you who do not know, this Barcelona team might be the best soccer team ever assembled.  Even if you do not particularly like the sport, try to catch a glimpse: it is simply a joyous celebration of the beauty of sport.  Lionel Messi might be a god.

Hotel room in the Crystal Hotel, Aqaba, Jordan

The World Cup of soccer is still coming up.  I and Kira will be in the Middle East, and apart from the odd game on weekends, will suffer an almost total eclipse of this most important sporting tournament.  My hope is that on those precious weekends, my daughter, some of my friends, and I will gather around a hotel tv for a game: we will watch beautiful soccer, eat nuts, and drink more Amstel than we really ought to.   And then we will watch another game.