Beware! Today is April 1st, and we all know what that means. Do not believe everything you hear or read. Then again, how is that different from any other day?

 

Let’s have some fun and celebrate April fool’s day. My job is to reveal some statements in the sports world while your task is to decipher whether or not I am pulling your leg and stating an April fool’s folly or actually telling the truth:

 

 

Statements:

 

1) The Presidents’ Trophy winner (which is awarded to the team with the most regular season points) in the NHL has only won four Stanley Cups in the last 24 years.

2) Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders have three players with at least 27 goals this season.

3) Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils ranks last out of 872 skaters in the NHL plus-minus department.

4) Charles Inglis was the top Prince George Cougar in the plus-minus ranking this season.

 

5) The Kelowna Rockets had three players in the WHL top 10 of rookie scoring this season.

 
6) The Regina Pats and the Seattle Thunderbirds led the WHL in shootout wins in 2010/11.

 

7) The average NFL player earns less per season than the average NHL player.

 

8) Local boxing rivals Wayne Sponagle and Bob Pegues have made a truce and are best friends.

 

9) Slugger Jose Canseco will be playing for the host team at the 2011 World Baseball Challenge in July at Citizen Field in P.G.

 

10) Tiger Woods is coming to Prince George this year.

 

 

 

Answers:

 

1)     False:   Will the Vancouver Canucks fall victim to the “Presidents' Trophy Curse?” Over the past six seasons, only one Presidents' Trophy winner – Detroit in 2008 – has gone on to win the Stanley Cup. However, looking at the bigger picture, the Presidents’ Trophy winner has captured the Stanley Cup four times in the last 11 years and seven times over the last 24 seasons. So, there may be hope for the Canucks after all.

 

2)     True: Michael Grabner, Matt Moulson and John Tavares of the Islanders; Phil Kessel, Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin of the Maple Leafs have each scored no less than 27 goals. Moreover, as a reward, both the Leafs and the Islanders will miss the playoffs again.

 

3)     False: That honors belongs to Chris Phillips of the Ottawa Senators with a minus-35 ranking. At one point this season, Kovalchuk was sitting at the bottom, but he has moved up a few spots, and now sits at -22. You see, “Kovie” is not as bad as he’s made out for that $100+ million contract.

 

4)     False: Inglis was actually second on the team with a plus-6 mark. The runaway winner was rookie Troy Bourke at plus 15.

 

5)     False: That honor belonged to the Prince George Cougars. Taylor Stefishen finished second among WHL rookies with 67 points, Martin Marincin came 4^th with 56 and Troy Bourke wound up ninth with 42.

 

6)     True: Regina was first with nine shootout wins with Seattle next with seven and both teams missed the playoffs. FYI: the Brandon Wheat Kings, who made the playoffs, went 0-8 in the shootout.

 

7)     True: The average NHL salary according to Forbes is $2.4 million while the average NFL players earn just under $2 million per year. Furthermore, the average NBA player pockets $5.84 million per season while the average MLB player has an annual income of $3.2 million.

 

8)     False: Sponagle admits he was the happiest guy in Prince George when his Spruce Capital scrapper, Marcus Hume, upset Pegues’ boxer from Inner City, Jag Seehra, at the Silver Gloves. We have not heard the last jab between these two strong willed coaches by any stretch of the imagination.

 

9)     False: Jose would participate if the price is right, but WBC organizers have decided not to
          spend all their profits on one steroid user, and if they did, Barry Bonds would be their guy.

 

10)I am even puzzled on this one. More than one reliable source has indicated to me that Tiger will be making a promotional tour on behalf of the Tiger Woods Foundation and one of his sponsors (Nike). This would take place in late November/December once his tournament schedule is complete. Prince George, yes as in B.C., will be a stopover while flying to Alaska. The plan is for him to make one public appearance during a short stay in P.G., with details still being finalized. Yes, I do find it surprising that one of the world’s most recognizable figures would even consider landing in Prince George, especially since we do not have a “Hooters”.

 

 

 

What's the biggest April fool’s day joke in sports? Cub’s fans saying "This is our year."

Tiger Woods has a new mobile application called “Tiger Woods: My Swing.” Wonder if it includes the advice, “Your swing will be better if your wife doesn’t catch you swinging?”

 

 

Tiger Woods has launched a $9.99 golf app — called "Tiger Woods: My Swing" — for the iPhone and iPod touch to tutor players of all skill levels through video analysis and instruction. Among the rejected marketing slogans, we assume: "Want to swing like Tiger Woods?"

 

Can you imagine a year without professional football? It's like living in Detroit.

There may be no football season because the players have been locked out. In a related story, Rex Ryan was locked out of an Olive Garden.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league is not planning on using replacement players. Which is more bad news for Bengals and Panthers fans.

 

Mr. Spock's prosthetic ear from 'Star Trek' is going to be auctioned off in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The leading bidder is expected to be Evander Holyfield.

A portrait of Pedro Martinez is going to be displayed at the Smithsonian. It's the first thing Pedro has sent to the canvas since Don Zimmer.

The federal judge at Barry Bonds’ trial is considering whether to bar testimony about the size of his testicles. It may be in violation of some penal code.

 

Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski says he almost left in 2004 to coach the LA Lakers.
It was a choice between coaching immature, spoiled whiners or the kids at Duke.

 

I'm not saying that Virginia Commonwealth basketball coach Chaka Smart is young, but he has more eligibility remaining than most of his players.

 

I love March Madness it reminds me of a rerun of my name is Nobody.

Columbian soccer team Cucuta Deportivo is under investigation after bringing a dead drug gang member into the stadium for a game. The team says he wasn’t dead when he entered but became bored to death during the 0-0 game.

A Montana Radio Shack has tripled business for its satellite TV package since it started a promotion that offers a free handgun or shotgun for new subscribers. For non-gun enthusiasts - or those that fail a background check - a $50 Pizza Hut gift card is also available.

 

From what I've seen of small-town Montana, they should be doing background checks for the pizza card...with a scale.

 

TSN commentator, Vic Rauter, at the world women's curling championship said Russian skip Anna Sidorova looked good for the playoffs. I'm thinking most men agreed.

 

Film legend Elizabeth Taylor died last week at the age of 79. She won her last Oscar in 1967, the last year the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. Since then, Liz is still known for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And the Leafs are still known for nobody being afraid of them.

 

 

NHL GMs Vote to Allow Head Shots on Gary Bettman Only.