The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs earned spots in the Feb. 7 Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Fla.
I was not surprised Tampa Bay posted the mild upset in Green Bay, Wis., or by Kansas City’s victory over the Buffalo Bills, but I must admit Green Bay head coach Matthew LaFleur aided the Tampa Bay cause with two absolutely stupid decisions.
Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady will be making his 10th Super Bowl appearance and, at age 43, he continues to play extremely well. The Brady critics, even before the game, suggested he is no longer a deep threat, just a short-pass specialist, and a quarterback Father Time had finally reeled in.
Brady’s touchdown bomb to receiver Scotty Miller on the last play of the first half broke the game wide open and sent Tampa Bay to Super Bowl 55, the first time a Super Bowl host team will actually play in its own stadium.
Early in the year, the same Brady critics suggested that without head coach Bill Belichick, he’d be regulated to the scrap heap of quarterbacks. I haven’t seen anything wrong with Brady at any time this season. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite. He still has a rifle arm and is able to go deep on occasion. He can still move around in the pocket and is agile enough to sidestep opponents and make big plays.
It’s time people look at Brady for what he is, the greatest NFL quarterback of all-time.
No quarterback – not Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre, nobody – comes even close to Brady’s accomplishments. Whether he wins or loses to Kansas City, and young phenom Patrick Mahomes, in Tampa, he is in a class by himself at the top of the all-time greats.
Hockey
Congratulations to Charlottetown’s Billy McGuigan, who was recently named Sport P.E.I.’s coach of the year for 2020.
McGuigan has fashioned an impressive record during the last decade with the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals of the Maritime Junior Hockey League. They went 42-7-3 last year and were a cinch to capture the league title until COVID-19 closed the season.
One of the players he helped develop was Jordan Spence, who played with Team Canada at the world juniors and has signed with the L.A. Kings, quite a feat for the ex-Summerside defenceman. McGuigan has been at numerous Hockey Canada development camps and workshops through the years and his work with the Canadian para hockey has not gone unnoticed.
He’s never had a losing season in Summerside, which is quite an accomplishment. Keep up the great work Billy.
Baseball
Baseball writers did not vote any players into the Hall of Fame this year.
Red Sox ace and three time 20-win pitcher Curt Schilling fell 20 votes shy of the 75 per cent needed to enter the Hall while Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens both came in at 61 per cent.
Bonds, the all-time home run king at 762 and a seven-time MVP, and Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young winner with 354 victories, should have been voted in long before now. The same goes for Schilling, who was a big game pitcher, 11-2 in post season, along with 216-146 regular season record. It’s so sad.
Harness racing
Live harness racing continues today at 12:30 p.m. at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park with a 12-dash card.
The $2,900 feature has attracted a field of six with favourite Chocolate Swirl on the outside against Winter Blast, Pictonian Storm, Hunger Pangs, Mugsy McGuire and Rockin Indy. The $2,800 open mares goes in Race 8 with Woodmere Skyroller and Woodmere Chella facing Filly Forty Seven, Southwind Ion, Roselily and Berazzled.
In up-country racing, Lisburn was in to go earlier this week in a $14,000 overnight at Yonkers but was scratched. At the same track, Island-bred trotter Getti Messi was fifth in 1:58 in Wednesday’s $14,000 trot.
At Pompano, Windemere Ryan was second by a neck in 1:52:2 (purse $7,500). On the same card, Saulsbrook Deputy (by Western Paradise) was first in 1:52:4. Island native John MacDonald won the Monday night $11,500 open pace with Seeing Eye Single in 1:49:3.
At Northfield, Ohio, Brett MacDonald posted a one, two, four in four starts Tuesday for trainer Patrick Shepherd. On Wednesday, he won in 1:55:4 with Bettors Western and was third with Walter Mitty, both horses co-owned by Brett and Allan MacDonald of Charlottetown with Sherpherd doing the training. Cornwall’s Mitch Tierney also has horses in to go this weekend at Northfield as does Teesha Symes of Springhill, N.S.
Decked out
Horseman turned sports analyst Dougie MacGregor was AWOL at the simulcast room since his Seattle Seahawks were bounced from the NFL playoffs by the L.A. Rams. Last Saturday, he challenged Cape Breton, N.S., native Barry MacPhee, who is now a P.E.I. resident and BioVectra employee, to a wager. The loser of the bet had to wear the winner’s hockey jersey at the next race card. MacGregor bet the Canucks, MacPhee the Habs, who trounced Vancouver 7-1. Looking forward to seeing MacGregor wearing the Montreal sweater.
Fred MacDonald's column appears every Saturday in The Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected].
