ON THE MARK.

"SPORTSLINE" BACK IN THE DAY

Even though I host the show "Sportsline" with Bubba ONeil (weekdays, 5 pm EST on CHCH TV), the show actually originated over 30 years ago on Global TV.  Back then, Bob McCown fronted the show by himself at 11:30 p.m., and it was billed as "the last word on Sports".   It was a great show.  Innovative, funny, unique.  It was a must-see for hardcore sports fans who occasionally, but not always, got to see actual highlights from games that had just been completed or were still in progress.   This was quite a change from the sportscasts on CBC or CTV, which usually dealt with games from the PREVIOUS evening in their highlight packages.  Satellite technology was just coming into it's own back then, and the folks at Global realized that they could get the jump on the competition by being more, shall we say, up to date.  Being able to see highlights from a game played a few hours earlier in Detroit or Chicago was a big deal back in the day.

Of course, now you can literally see the scoring play within seconds of it actually happening.  And with social media, you don't need to tune into that scratchy radio broadcast anymore, you get your updates as they happen from somebody who's sitting at the game.   Or watching it on TV somewhere.  Yes, the days of waiting up until 11:30 to catch all the action are long gone.    But, in it's prime, "Sportsline" was the real deal.  McCown and producer Mark Askin built up the brand for a couple of years, and then moved on to bigger and better things. In 1984,  Jim Tatti and myself became the first two-man sports show in the country.   The chemistry between us was excellent.  We were both sports junkies, the kind of guys you'd want to sit and have a beer with while watching the game.  We had hockey pools going.  Penalty drafts, fantasy teams, all that stuff.  We used to list the goal scorers, even if we didn't have a highlight of the goal.   Fans loved that.  They didn't have to wait until the next day's newspaper to find out who had scored.   Within a short period of time, "Sportsline" had moved from a cult show to a mega-hit.   Global loved it, especially since they were making over a million dollars a year on the show.  This was the mid 80s remember, when a million dollars was like 5 or 10 million in today's dollars.  Not only did we do fantastic highlights, we also did great sports journalism (an oxymoron to some).  We covered the Leafs, Jays, Argos, TiCats, the NFL, NBA, tennis, golf, auto racing, horse racing and had excellent reporters such as Bill Bird, Don Martin, Mitch Azaria, and before I arrived, Vic Rauter and Gerry Dobson.

I am likely best known for the "Hebsy" Awards.   My nickname came about when Jim McKenny couldn't pronounce "Hebscher" at our weekly media hockey games, and went with "Hebsy" instead.  Typical hockey player-turned-sportscaster.  Just chop off the end of one's name and add a "y" to the end.  Smitty, Jonesy, Hebsy.    One day I compiled a bunch of "bloopers", put them to banjo music and voiced them over "live".  Tatti couldn't stop laughing, and if you've ever heard Jim laugh, you know how infectious it can be. (the laugh, not Jim).     Thus, the Hebsy Awards were born.  Jim came up with the idea of putting my head on top of the "Oscar" award as a logo, and the rest is history. 

Another thing I am proud of is the music that we played (and still play) on "Sportsline".
As musical coordinator back in the day,  it was my job to choose the various "needle drops" that made it to air.  We used to run music under our highlights and for our "bumpers" that led into commercials.  One day in 1988,  I decided to use a 15 second piece from a Tragically Hip song (Highway Girl) on one of our bumpers.  I had met the band through a very close friend who was high up in the Hip organization.  The day after we "debuted" the Hip song,  I got a call from a viewer wanting to know who did the song and where could he find it.   Before you knew it,  the Hip's music became part of the audio landscape of the show. "New Orleans is Sinking" "Blow at High Dough"  "Boots or Hearts", "38 years old", "Little Bones",  "Thugs" and many more  worked beautifully with hockey hilites.  Of course, it didn't hurt that the Hip rolled out "50 Mission Cap" about the death of former Leaf Bill Barilko in a plane crash right about the time Pat Burns and Dougie Gilmour (from Kingston) were leading the Maple Leafs to the playoffs for the first time in years.   Then there was "Fireworks", an homage to Bobby Orr and those great hockey moments we'll never forget. Two things most Canadians have in their DNA:  Hockey and music. 

And since there's no hockey to talk about, I want to point out two athletes who are headed in opposite directions.  Robert Griffin III, the defending Heisman Trophy who plays for the Washington Redskins, is one of the most exciting, electifying players I have ever seen.  His gutsy win over the New York Giants last night was a thing of beauty, especially when he was running out of the pocket and picking up huge chunks of yardage.   Of course, there's always the chance that he might fumble the ball, but that's the risk you take.  Personally, I love watching quarterbacks run.  The more the merrier.

On the other side of the coin is Andrea Bargnani.  He might be one of the best "first half" players in all of basketball.  But, like the baseball player who drives in 80 runs a year, but none of them in the clutch, Bargnani is virtually invisible on the floor late in the game.  Once again he had a chance to hit a clutch 3 pointer last night, but his tying attempt was a "brick", and the Raps lost a tough one in Denver.   Bargnani ended up with 23 points in the game, but in the fourth quarter he was just 1-4 shooting for two points and no rebounds.  Not exactly a go-to guy.   Kyle Lowry, on the other hand, scored 12 points and added two assists in the final quarter to help bring the Raptors to within one point.  Even though Lowry didn't shoot well in the game, he was constantly driving to the basket, and hit on all 11 of his free throws.  Toss in 7 assists and 3 blocked shots and you've got a guy who can do it all.  The problem is, the big 7 footer who's supposed to be able to put the ball in the hole is nowhere to be found when his team needs him most.   If I'm a Raptors player, I don't know if I can go "balls to the wall" if Bargnani is my teammate.   Bryan Colangelo must trade him now if the team hopes to move forward.   Bargnani is badly stunting the growth of this team.