It’s my Parting Shot for some Weekend Short Shots, ahead of a couple of weeks away…..

Boy, was I upset this morning when my television-watching routine had T-S-N Sports Centre being totally focused on today’s Canada versus Bosnia and Herzegovina World Cup of Soccer match! No headlines from Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final or last night’s Hamilton at Winnipeg C-F-L game! Or off-day pieces on the Blue Jays and the N-B-A Finals! What gives?!! I had to watch the very inferior, in my humble opinion, half-hour SportsNet Central update – and still didn’t see Ti-Cats-Bombers highlights! This better not be a daily thing from T-S-N or I’ll be some upset on my days off!!

It seems to me that Mike Babcock (pictured) can’t win for losing when it comes to the latest attempt by an N-H-L team to lure one of all-time best head coaches in hockey back behind the bench. Edmonton wants to hire him, but there has to be an investigation into his conduct during his previous time as bench boss with Columbus, Toronto, Detroit and Anaheim. In Columbus, he was forced to re-sign before the season even started a few years back because some players were upset that he wanted to see personal pictures on his phone. Yet, we’re told that isn’t the issue for this investigation. His time in Toronto was besmirched by Mitch Marner and other whiny Maple Leafs not liking his tough, no-nonsense, raise a voice to get a point across style! So, on one hand, he can’t get angry and point fingers in front of the group when things aren’t going well. And, on the other hand, when he tries to be human and show human interest and concern for his players, that’s a no-no as well! Some of these millionaire players need to grow up and become tolerant and take responsibility for their actions – not out the guy who’s trying to make you better and win!! As for Babcock as a coach, players should want to play for a guy who is the only head coach to date to have won the Stanley Cup, World Cup, World Championship and World Junior Championship and coach an Olympic gold medal-winning team! Right?!!

And, remember Kevin Jesus who spent several years in Saskatoon doing sports for Global? He’s based in Edmonton these days, but he said something on social media the other day that made a lot of sense – and something that I’m going to try to get in the habit of doing. It has to do with referring to a year. For instance, this is two-thousand-26. However, saying it that way is a pet peeve for Kevin Jesus – who reasons, why call it two-thousand-26 when in previous centuries it was 19-99 or 18-67, not one-thousand, nine hundred-99 or one thousand, eight hundred-67! In other words, two-thousand-26 should be said 20-26, according to Kevin Jesus. And, I agree!!

I’ll be back with this commentary on June 29th – 20-26! Don’t miss me too much!!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again…..