Category Archives: Sports
U18 Female Hockey Play-by-Play all weekend
From January 5 to January 7 (Friday to Sunday), 2024, the BC Elite Hockey League’s U18 Female Division held a showcase in Richmond, and I was asked to do their games…and I ended up calling:
- three games on Friday
- five games on Saturday (with the first game starting at 8 a.m. and the last one beginning at 6:45 p.m. – back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back)
- two games on Sunday
Saturday was exhausting for sure — my legs were sore from standing for the entire day. But it was a great experience. Here are some of the highlights:
One of the most interesting games I’ve called…
On Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023, I called one of the most interesting games ever…. Here’s an excerpt (which I wrote) of the game itself:
On Sunday at the Oval, the Canadians again outshot the Giants, this time by a margin of 40-28. GVC goaltender Liam Leslie stopped all 25 shots he faced, as the only Giants goals were empty-netters, with the Canadians employing a 6-on-5 attack (or 6-on-4 during some power plays) at various points during the contest (at least eight separate occasions). Joshua Mytton scored two goals in the first two periods as the two teams battled to a 2-2 tie in the second before Aidan Yao gave GVC a 3-2 lead with 3:35 left in the period. The Giants tied it up with 8:17 remaining in regulation, their third empty-netter of the game, but Neven Heer scored only 21 seconds after that to give the Canadians the lead for good. Aidan Mark then added an insurance goal with only 1:27 left to close out the victory.
By my count (because I was actually looking at the goalie and at the bench to see if/when the coach would signal the goaltender to skate to the bench), there were eight separate times that this tactic happened. The first time it happened, it was in the first minute of the game and completely threw me off.
Also, in this game, at the start of the third period, the camera person had not returned from the intermission break, so I manned the camera for four minutes. All in all, an interesting day.
New book on knuckleballs
My new book on knuckleballs has now been published.
Every book that I’ve written is different. This one started before the COVID19 pandemic, and although I left it alone for a while (I wasn’t particularly motivated for a time), I finally decided to continue working on it the last few weeks and it was finally completed.
A lot of research went into this book (most of which came before the pandemic hit), and I’m very proud to have completed it.
Is this one my proudest piece of work? I can’t say that. I’m proud of all of the books I’ve written. This one just took a while to be published, and a big part of the delay was related to motivation.
Special thanks to Michael McCormick for several of the photos used in the book. Special thanks to Michael Unger for spending time to chat baseball cards with me. Special thanks, too, to Stan for chatting sports with me, period. Jason, too, was often checking in and wondering what I was up to.
I think I need to also mention hockey historian Todd Denault. After a conversation with him in late August, I was a little more motivated and really started the process of completing this book. It’s super important to surround yourself and interact with those who take the time to listen and offer insights. For that, I’m appreciative of the conversation with Todd.
EDIT: I also want to thank a couple of journalists: Jeff Pearlman and J.P. Hoornstra. I reached out to both of them via email (shortly after my conversation with Todd Denault) because I had a complicated question about baseball card images. Both took the time to respond despite having extremely busy schedules. For that, I appreciate their gestures. They most certainly didn’t have to respond, but they did… and that definitely pushed me a little to get my book done.
Hopefully this streak continues…
Tonight (Monday, April 24, 2023) was lucky because the Lakers came back to win and covered, and the Kraken also won their game. The Texas Rangers blew their 5-1 lead, which was not the outcome I wanted.
But this winning has continued… Saturday, the profit was $2,633. Sunday, it was $1,651. Tonight, it was 2,776.
I invested $800 on Julius Randle to hit his point targets on Sunday but he had a tough day vs. the Cavaliers. If I had followed the scouting reports (which all said he would not be back to his scoring ways because of his injury), then I would not have picked him. That would have made Sunday’s profit much higher. But I thought he would have a big game at MSG. I was wrong. Oh well.
But hopefully the winning will continue.
To be clear, I don’t classify this as “gambling” or “betting” – nor are these sports “bets.” I call these “smart investments.” There are a couple of very reliable sources that I use and I also spend a lot of time looking at trends and scouting/injury reports. So, let’s hope the success continues.
Wait…isn’t that…?
There have been people who’ve asked, “Wait, isn’t what you’re doing gambling or betting?” Or: “How’s your betting today?“
Well, I don’t consider this gambling or betting. I read scouting reports when I’m sitting inside an Uber and when I have a couple moments to do research. I look at trends and statistics. I look at patterns. Heck, when a game is on (doesn’t matter whether it’s basketball, football, hockey, or baseball), the “betting” lines are prominently shown on the screen and analysts even give their picks before the game about whether or not Jayson Tatum (or whoever) will get X number of points or assists in the game that the network is about to show.
But a lot of research goes into it before making specific investments.
It’s not the same as what people do at the casino — one Uber driver told me recently that he picks up passengers from the casino all the time, and one passenger apparently told the driver that he’d lost $20,000 gambling that one night.
No, I am doing smart investing.
I need to do so to finance things around me. For instance, I have a mortgage to pay every month, and my sibling has chosen to live with me on the property but is paying well below market value. And this month (today is the 7th of April as I’m typing this) my sibling hasn’t paid this current month’s rent money yet. The funny thing is my sibling has actually asked me for a loan this month so that the (below-market value) rent can be paid to me.*
What the heck is that?
Well, I am employed and I am kept busy at work, but this smart investment helps to pay for many expenses, that’s for sure.
Hey, it will even come in handy if my sibling (who’s older than me) decides to stop paying (below-market value) rent altogether. When one of your own bosses plants this idea into your sibling’s head (jokingly or not) — my boss’s exact words to my sibling were, “If K.P. bullies you, don’t pay him any rent!” — well, you never know.
*Speaking of “funny” things, when my sibling found out I was doing these investments, my sibling actually asked me for a cut of my profits — but doesn’t want to contribute any funding or research/knowledge. My sibling’s idea is that I should fork out several hundred dollars out of my own pocket, invest on my sibling’s behalf, and then actually give cash payments to my sibling directly on the profits made. Isn’t that “funny”? And my sibling acted as though I was insulting my sibling when I didn’t want to do it.
