TERRE HAUTE —
It’s niche sports day here at the Tribune-Star, so we’ll start with a test of how much you learned while watching the recent National Hockey League season.
Had it not been for what I’ll be writing about in a few paragraphs, I would be in serious NHL withdrawal (yes, I caught myself watching an NHL Network rerun of Game 7 of the Hurricanes-Oilers final from 2007 a couple of weeks ago). Major League Baseball (and remember, I’m a Cub fan) just doesn’t have the same tempo.
My NHL fandom, however, is strictly situational.
The Bill Wirtz Blackhawks of the 1990s keep me from fully embracing the current Stanley Cup champions (back then, the Hawks would consistently bring in “character” guys, translation of which meant they couldn’t skate or handle the puck but would win all the fights in a three-goal loss), yet I was happy to see them beat the Philadelphia Flyers in the finals — even though, 35 years ago, I was a huge fan of the Broad Street Bullies (Bobbie Clarke, probably because of the scraggly hair and lack of teeth, is still one of my all-time favorite players).
But one of the main things I’ve always liked about the NHL is the names, going all the way back to Gerry Desjardins and Yvan Cournoyer and Henri Richard and Guy LaFleur. If you could pronounce the names, I reasoned, you were a true fan and not just some punk wannabe.
Which brings us to your quiz. All you need to know is how to say the last names of two players and both first and last of a third. Answers a little farther down.
1. Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks.
2. Conn Smythe Trophy contender Dustin Byfuglien of the Blackhawks.
3. And, just to see if the only hockey you watch is the playoff variety, Tampa Bay Lightning sniper/pest Martin St. Louis.
• The temporary hockey replacement — is World Cup, you may have guessed, and a further comment on how pathetic and dismal the Cubs are is the fact that last Friday I listened to most of the U.S. match against Slovenia on the radio. It’s safe to say that soccer on radio isn’t something I would have considered until a couple of weeks ago, but with British announcers (and their utter lack of political correctness) it’s actually kind of fun.
If the referee didn’t have a particularly good performance that day (and those same announcers were all over him from the get-go), I’m guessing he was no worse than the U.S. defense, by the way. And if we haven’t advanced to the knockout round by beating Algeria (remember, I’m not in the office Tuesday or Wednesday), we have no one but ourselves to blame.
One of the things U.S. soccer lacks, by the way, is a good nickname. If hockey’s strength is its pronunciations, international soccer’s cachet is due to all the team names: the Azzuri (Italy), the Three Lions (England), the Elephants (Ivory Coast), the Black Stars (Ghana), Bufana Bufana (South Africa), El Tri (Mexico), La Furia Rojas (Spain), the All Whites (New Zealand, whose national basketball team, of course, is the Tall Whites), the Indomitable Lions (Cameroon), Les Bleus (France, as in singing les bleus) and my personal favorite, even though they aren’t in World Cup, the Reggae Boyz (Jamaica). If we want to compete, by golly, we need a nickname.
But we probably don’t have one because very few people in the U.S. play soccer for fun. I keep hearing about the upcoming soccer boom in this country because of all the kids in soccer leagues, and I say … well, I say just the opposite. Let’s see, in every other country you have kids playing in the streets and here you have kids being dragged to games by Mom and Dad. Hmmm.
So I’m not rooting against our nicknameless boys, even though they are the 1990s Blackhawks (we’re not skillful, but we try really hard!), but the games I’m looking forward to (“a good watch,” as I heard one team described by the British fellows) involve teams like Paraguay, Argentina, Portugal, Ghana (Jenny has a rooting interest here), Spain and, of course, Brazil. My team to watch a week ago was Cote de’Ivoire, but the Elephants are toast as we speak (thanks for going in the tank, North Korea; hope none of you guys are planning to defect).
• Answers:
1. Taves (rhymes with “saves,” even though he’s not a goalie).
2. BUFF-lin (no, I can’t explain it phonetically).
3. Mar-TAN Sahn-loo-EE.
• Capital of baseball — I have located the baseball capital of the world in terms of most great players per capita, and it isn’t even San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic.
In covering my first Rex game last week, I discovered that outfielder Cooper Smith is from Montgomery, Texas, home of the famous Ransom’s Steakhouse and Saloon frequented often by the Amey family during our recent spring break trip.
Who else is from Montgomery, which is maybe one-third the size of Seelyville, you ask? Well, there’s John Danks, Chicago White Sox lefthander; Andrew Cashner, Chicago Cubs eighth-inning rookie reliever (and hopefully not the next great arm ruined by Larry Rothschild after Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Jeff Samardzija, et al); and Jordan Danks, John’s little brother and future Chisox outfielder, to name three so far.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or at 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
Amey Takes Aim
World Cup replaces void opened when Stanley Cup ended
- Amey Takes Aim
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance
Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Harrowing path for state hopefuls
The bad news is that the winner of Class 4A Sectional 13 in boys basketball heads northeast instead of southeast for regional play in March — to Hinkle Fieldhouse instead of Seymour as a result of Indiana High School Athletic Association’s changes.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: A superior all-star arrangement
I don’t work on Wednesdays, so I wasn’t able to attend the first Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association draft last week to set up the annual all-star game that will be June 23 this year.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The biggest & baddest of a holiday classic
There are more things to love about the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic than could fit in this newspaper, but one of this year’s best things was that for an hour or so on Wednesday, it was Justin Paddock’s world and we were just living in it.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Taking note of ISU’s latest football win
The biggest difference I’ve noticed, as I transition from the high school football beat to quasi-official status as the Indiana State football beat writer for a few weeks, is the length of the games.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: IHSAA playoff draw not as bad as it could have been
First reaction to the Indiana sectional football pairings drawn late Sunday by the Indiana High School Athletic Association? It could have been a lot worse.
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ANDY AMEY: Between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & a hard place
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Amey Takes Aim: UFC fighter’s bloodines traced back to ISU brothers
As a mild-mannered reporter from a great metropolitan newspaper — or thereabouts — I admit I haven’t paid much attention to the burgeoning mixed martial arts scene.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Predators’ win is music to new fan’s ears
For many, many years, the number of live games televised on WGN has been cited as perhaps the main reason for the popularity of the Chicago Cubs (it’s got to be something besides masochism, right?).
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AMEY TAKES AIM: You’ll be having a good ol’ time on vacation with the Ameys
When one of the first people you meet is Tammy Wynette’s stepdaughter, when you’ve stepped on the feet of people you haven’t met while trying to navigate Ernest Tubbs’ old Silver Eagle tour bus, and when the activities director of your resort is, well, Elvis, you might be vacationing in Nashville.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The Annual All-Amey basketball teams close out the prep season
The most encouraging boys high school basketball event I’ve attended so far in 2011 has been the Lafayette Semistate a couple of weeks ago.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Family remembers Cheryl Weatherman as caring grandmother
As far as Riley and Keely Davis are concerned, Cheryl Weatherman was simply their grandmother, and a pretty darn good one at that.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Honor to see Turkey Run girls close out memorable career
I don’t know if anyone in this part of the state could actually say they enjoy going to Fort Wayne and back, but I was glad to see the Turkey Run Warriors play one last time during the girls basketball state finals Saturday.
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So many matches, so many favorites
Go ahead, ask me anything about the 224 wrestlers who competed last week at the Indiana state finals — or at least about the 112 wrestlers who survived Saturday’s first round.
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ANDY TAKES AIM: A sportwriters’s lament: Oh, the games we missed
I was already tired of winter by the time that first bitterly cold snap passed through in mid-December, so it’s safe to say the season hasn’t grown on me.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Time of the season for teams to tough it out
In the last month or so I figure I’ve seen at least four boys high school basketball teams with legitimate state-championship dreams as the season heads into its dog days.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: It's the fall 2010 Amey Awards
I won’t get to know the kids from Casey and North Putnam until they come to Terre Haute in droves next June for the Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star game, so I guess it’s not too early for the high school football awards from this space.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: An early look at Indiana prep football playoffs
I wasn’t at all surprised to watch Linton pick up a 20-point win over previously unbeaten North Knox in high school football last Friday, one week after the Miners had lost by 40 to North Daviess.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Baseball season rounding third for an exciting ending
Major League baseball is coming down to an interesting week for the National League, then a couple of interesting weeks for the American League.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Look for me in the yellow shirt
I won’t be wearing pink or blue tonight for the Terre Haute South-Terre Haute North volleyball match at North, but I’m anticipating that plenty of you will be.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Little QB had big moments in ISU blue
You won’t find his name easily in the Indiana State record book, but for my money the best quarterback the Sycamores have ever had was Verbie Walder.
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Amey Takes Aim: Biggest baseball pet peeve … Nibbling
Having seen some outstanding baseball — and some not-so-outstanding baseball — at literally every level of play this spring and summer, I have identified what without a doubt is my main pet peeve with the sport. Nibbling. I’m not referring to popcorn or pretzels or nachos or cheese sticks or corn dogs or snow cones or candy or ice cream. Those can also be a serious problem — particularly if the kids are with me — but one that can be solved by simply running out of money.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Head to the high seas: Ameys’ vacation cruise
It’s good to be king. Abdication? Not so good.
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World Cup replaces void opened when Stanley Cup ended
It’s niche sports day here at the Tribune-Star, so we’ll start with a test of how much you learned while watching the recent National Hockey League season.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Win or lose, a softball season to remember
Well, this is awkward. I’m writing this late Monday night, with my Tuesday and Wednesday days off in the future, not knowing entirely how happy I am with state-finals softball.
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Amey Takes Aim: Wabash Valley is a softball powerhouse
Greetings from the high school softball capital of Indiana. Your Tribune-Star will be spending all day Saturday at Ben Davis, dominating the press box and elbowing those other newspapers to the back row where they belong. No other paper has as many teams to cover as we do (go Panthers, go Miners and go Patriots); The Times and Post-Tribune get off to a good start with Whiting (against Riverton Parke) and Wheeler (versus Linton), but couldn’t get anything going among the bigger schools (now that my cousin Keith Hauber no longer coaches at Lake Central).
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Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs > NBA playoffs
Eavesdropping, as I often do, at a couple of sporting events recently, I heard conversations that warmed my heart. At both the Rose-Hulman baseball game recently and the Terre Haute North-Terre Haute South girls tennis match a week ago, I heard spirited arguments involving — the NHL playoffs.
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Amey Takes Aim: Amey family travels to Astros land
I have an uneasy feeling that I know what I’m getting for Fathers Day. Not sure how your family celebrates that holiday, but mine uses it to get me things I wouldn’t otherwise buy for myself. It’s probably the only reason I ever got a cell phone, and a couple of years ago it was a good excuse for a flat-screen TV for the living room. Yes, I use both of them now.
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Amey Takes Aim: Favorite group for boys basketball Amey Awards ... Most Improved team
As much as I enjoyed the girls high school basketball season this past winter, I liked the boys season even better; something about a team winning its last game — or another team practically becoming the 2010 version of “Hoosiers” — will do that for you. Maybe that’s the excuse for having a record number of captains for some of the Andy Amey teams, as you are about to see.
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ANDY AMEY: Butter your popcorn! It’s time for the Amey Awards!
Yes, you’re right. The high school girls basketball season has been over for awhile, which can only mean the Andy Amey teams are getting out a little late this spring.
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