CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — If you have been following the state of major professional sports in North America, sooner or later you will realize NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is far ahead of his counterparts, especially NFL boss Roger Goodell.
Bettman was smart enough to move the hockey home sites or bubbles to safer locations like Edmonton and Toronto while the MLB and NFL will travel back and forth within the coronavirus-plagued U.S. borders. All the NBA games will be confined to within the Disney bubble in Orlando, Fla., but, with the virus on fire in that state, how safe are the players?
Baseball, which just began playing Thursday, calls for travel within the country, and it’s a situation commissioner Rob Manfred must be regretting. He forced the reduced schedule on the players, and that could come back to haunt him.
It’s hard to imagine MLB starting a schedule with the virus raging and with a team like the Toronto Blue Jays not knowing where they will play, but that’s the reality.
One of the major problems everywhere, especially with the baseball teams, is the lack of tests and the long wait for results, which has already forced teams to cancel flights. Team doctors are very concerned, and with no help in sight and no national plan, I can see this schedule coming to a halt somewhere down the road.
As bad as the situation in baseball is, the NFL and college football could be worse. Training camps are scheduled to open Tuesday and it was only this past week the NFL sent protocol regulations to all teams.
All the major sports are gearing up for a reduced schedule, but I wonder if any or all will finish?
Building character
I have always maintained that sports help to build character and encourages the team play concept even in work.
Peter Stay is a constable with the Summerside police, and I recently read in this paper he was recognized for his community work in Summerside by going above and beyond his duties in making his community a safer and healthier place.
I got to know Peter when he played basketball for the UPEI Panthers and I am so happy he is having a great impact on the citizens of Summerside. Stay is one of the finest young men I have ever met, and Summerside landed a dandy in this guy.
Golf
The Belvedere club championship goes today and Sunday at the Charlottetown course and it looks like a wide-open field.
Mark Carragher won last weekend’s Cooke Insurance P.E.I. Amateur at Andersons Creek, defeating Stephen Anderson on the second playoff hole, and he’s on his home turf.
I said last week that Anderson was one of the favourites to win the amateur and he did finish first; the problem was Carragher tied him atop the leaderboard after 54 holes.
Anderson had the lowest round – a 65 on the opening day.
Condolences
Mel Jenkins, the last remaining founding father of The Guardian Gold Cup and Saucer died earlier this week on the Island. Mel along with Duck Acorn, Doug Hill and Bill Hancox came up with the idea – Gold Cup girls, the massive parade in Charlottetown and outside horses, which formed the foundation for one of the great races in North America. Mel and Myron Bell established Greenbrier Farms and they owned June Byrd, the first mare to win the Gold Cup and Saucer back in 1964. My condolences to all connected to this gentleman.
RELATED: Click here for Jenkins' obituary
Harness racing
Live harness racing goes tonight at 6 p.m. in Charlottetown featuring a $3,000 top class with Rose Run Quest, Simple Kinda Man, Lisburn, Soccer Hanover, Burn Out Hanover, Jetster and from the rail Rockin Indy.
Sodwana Bay looks like the best of the $2,700 open mares, but it will not be easy.
Dr. Ian Moore’s horses continue to stay razor sharp as Century Farroh was second in 1:47:2 to Dancin Lou in the $351,000 William Haughton memorial at The Meadowlands. Moore’s Tattoo Artist goes tonight in a $104,000 sophomore gold division at Mohawk Raceway, and right now this colt looks to be a serious North American Cup horse.
The other division is just as tough with Jack Darling’s Sportswriter colt, Beaumond Hanover, in a top field, including Moore’s Denali Seelster and Andrew Moore’s Springbridge Jim.
Wade Peconi’s top three-year-old trotter, Lovedbythemasses, was third in the $22,000 trot Monday.
Recently at The Meadows, Major Asset, co-owned by Ian Smith and Reg MacPherson, was a second in 1:54:1. Three divisions of The Del Miller Adios at $25,000 go this afternoon at The Meadows, and Mark MacDonald drives Captain Groovey for trainer Ray Schnittker in Race 5 against the likes of The Greek Freak and Sandbetweenmytoes. Papi Rob Hanover is the best in Race 8.
Major Bean, owned by Carl Jamieson, Rabs MacDonald and his simulcast group, was second in 1:56 Wednesday in a $48,000 New York sires race. Bean was driven by Rabs’ nephew, Mark.
Fred MacDonald's column appears every Saturday in The Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected].
