Chris Zelkovich

    Chris Zelkovich

  • NBA great Steve Nash stars in bizarre taco promo

    NBA great Steve Nash recently starred in a strange ad for a California taco spot.

  • Canadian golfers give 2017 Masters field a distinctive northern flavour

    Okay, maybe not all that prominently considering that there will be only three Canadian golfers in a field of about 100 at the PGA season’s first major. The last time there were three Canadians in the Masters field, gas was 35 cents a gallon, the NHL was still contemplating the success of its massive expansion to 12 teams and the first guy named Trudeau had just become prime minister. It was 1968 and George Knudson, Gary Cowan and Al Balding all vied, unsuccessfully, to become the first Canadians to don the green jacket at Augusta.

  • The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Grey Cup audience down, but there are hopeful signs

    Quarterback Henry Burris of the Ottawa Redblacks hoists the Grey Cup Sunday in Toronto, which drew almost 4 million viewers. How could one of the most exciting Grey Cup games in 104 years, a game that featured overtime and an upset of historic proportions, be watched by fewer people than the previous year? How could it draw the lowest Grey Cup ratings in 11 years?

  • Wild-and-crazy Grey Cup puts shine on CFL's tarnished week

    Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Henry Burris holds up the Grey Cup after the Redblacks defeated the Calgary Stampeders. TORONTO — This was in so many ways exactly what the Canadian Football League needed. After a sometimes dreadful seven days, a Grey Cup week dominated by speculation about the league’s dimming future in Canada’s largest city, the commissioner’s tone-deaf denial of football’s role in concussions and shockingly under-attended events, all seemed to vanish thanks to a classic football game and one of the biggest upsets in league history.

  • CFL boss: 'no conclusive evidence' on link between football, CTE

    The CFL and NFL differ in the number of downs and size of the field, but they’re also apparently far apart on the matter of concussions in football. While an NFL executive admitted to Congress this year that there is a link between football and degenerative brain injuries, CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge said Friday in his state of the league press conference that the jury is still out on the matter. “The league’s position is that there is no conclusive evidence at this point,” he said, noting that concussions in the CFL had dropped from 50 to 40 this year.

  • On Grey Cup eve, rise of MLS casts shadow over CFL's place in Toronto

    No doubt a few heads turned at CFL headquarters when the first leg of the MLS Eastern Conference final between the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC averaged 595,000 viewers on TSN and 429,000 on French-language RDS. In addition, after Montreal’s 60,000-plus Olympic Stadium sold out in no time for that game, there were fewer than 1,000 tickets remaining for Wednesday’s rematch at BMO Field next Wednesday. Unsold tickets aren’t unheard of at this stage of the CFL proceedings, but the entire story of the 104th Grey Cup has created concerns about the league’s viability in Toronto.

  • Calgary Stampeders' Grey Cup hopes inspired by teammate lost to senseless tragedy

    Calgary Stampeders’ Osagie Odiase wears the No. 31 jersey of his fallen teammate and roommate Mylan Hicks in a team practice. It’s a morning ritual that helps Osagie Odiase get through the day. A 23-year-old man, a product of the mean streets of Detroit, playing football in Calgary where guns are rare, cut down for no understandable reason.

  • Bad penalty box paint job mars glorious night for MLS in Montreal

    Well, actually wait 40 minutes as Major League Soccer’s big night in Montreal turned into a rather big embarrassment. “There was a mistake of about close to two metres on each side,”  a somewhat embarrassed Impact executive vice-president Richard Legendre told reporters. Compounding the issue was the fact that the game officials, who detected the undersized penalty box, arrived at the stadium later than expected thanks to traffic woes.

  • The Great Canadian Ratings Report: November shaping up as a good one for sports networks

    The fall of 2016 may be grabbing headlines for a lot of negative stuff, but it’s shaping up as a pretty good one for Canadian sports networks.

  • Canadian upstart Mackenzie Hughes showing that he belongs on the PGA Tour

    When headlines and sports highlights shows trumpeted the name Mackenzie Hughes this week, most Canadian golf fans headed to the internet to find out exactly who he was. It’s a task they’re familiar with after wearing out search engines when unheralded amateur and native son Jared du Toit took the lead at last summer’s Canadian Open. Compared with du Toit, though, Hughes is a grizzled veteran of professional golf, with five years under his belt.

  • The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Good times continue to roll for CFL

    If there was a year in which the CFL shouldn’t have been able to stop its television ratings slide, it was 2016. The Toronto Argonauts were a disaster on the field and at the ticket booth. The Montreal Alouettes continued their slow decline, something that traditionally doesn’t go over well in La Belle Province. Worse, the Saskatchewan Roughriders hit the skids and even briefly lost their title as the top television draw in the league. Despite all that, the league’s broadcast ratings increased at a time when most sports are experiencing declines. That’s quite an accomplishment. ...

  • White wash: Edmonton Eskimos ride running back John White's legs to CFL East final

    Edmonton running back John White’s bursts keyed the Eskimos past Hamilton and into the eastern final. A year ago, John White was standing on the sidelines watching his Edmonton Eskimos teammates head out on the road to the Grey Cup, frustrated and maybe just a little worried about his future in football. Today, he is being hailed as the main reason the Eskimos still have a shot at defending the Grey Cup.

  • The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Hockey trending up

    Statistics gathered over long periods of time really tell the whole story, whether it’s political leanings, climate change,  sports ratings or the volume of Donald Trump’s lies.

  • The Great Canadian Ratings Report: MLS could be on verge of a new era on TV

    Could Toronto FC's hardcore fandom finally be translating into better TV ratings?

  • Raptors' success with young fans a big factor in struggling TV numbers

    Even a successful playoff season may not help raise ratings.

  • The Great Canadian Ratings Report: NFL audiences bucking the trend in Canada

    Football ratings hold despite heavy competition.

  • The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Hockey Night In Canada off to promising start

    Season opener ratings up 10 per cent over last season.

  • The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Blue Jays run sparks huge increase in baseball interest

    Toronto's ALDS-clinching game against Texas averaged 4.7 million viewers.

  • TBS taking heat for its playoff baseball broadcasts as Blue Jays start ALCS

    Graphic goofs, errors, a floating strike zone and a river catching fire add to fans' angst.

  • Hockey Night In Canada goes back to the tried and true as Rogers tries to reverse ratings drop

    After tumultuous two years, Rogers goes back to the tried and true.