Posts with the Super Bowl tag

Barris Beat

Betting on tarnished stars

Written by Ted Barris on . 1 Comment
NHL stars Connor McDavie & Wayne Gretzky endorsing (but looking amazingly off-balance) a betting ap.

You’ve probably seen it. The now ubiquitous advertisement shows Connor McDavid allegedly focused at practice. The Edmonton Oilers’ star forward is firing pucks at a goaltender. Cut to just off the ice where a coach turns to Wayne Gretzky and says: “Connor’s just finishing up. He’s pumped you’re here.”

“No rush,” Gretzky says as he looks down at his cellphone and shouts at it, “Come on! Drain that three.” He’s clearly encouraging some other athlete for some other purpose. But he’s become a distraction to McDavid.

“Trying to practise here, Wayne,” McDavid admonishes Gretzky.

“You need it!” Gretzky shoots back. (more…)

Barris Beat

Words R us

Written by Ted Barris on . 1 Comment
In 1966, Walter Cronkite made the cover of Time magazine. But he still couldn’t pronounce “February.” Photo Robert Vickrey.

I know Walter Cronkite did it and that made it OK. Walter Cronkite, the CBS TV news anchor from the early 1960s until 1981, was once considered “the most trusted man in America.” But just because he was most trusted didn’t make him the most correct. He still couldn’t pronounce the name of the second month on the calendar. All those years ago he still closed his show this way:

“And that’s the way it is, this Thursday, Febuary 7, 1963,” he’d say in his sign-off. “This is Walter Cronkite for CBS Evening News. Good night.”

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Barris Beat

Why is it news?

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
With all that celebrity around, it's possible nobody noticed the football game that took place in Indianapolis.

I don’t know which was worse: the hype over last weekend’s so-called sporting match in Indianapolis, the anticipation over the new 30-second commercials (reportedly costing US$3.6 million each for the airtime), or the guessing about what Madonna would do during her half-time show at the Super Bowl. The newspapers, magazines and TV commentators were all atwitter all week.

“Would she employ her thin veneer English accent?” one asked.

“Would she be naked?” hoped another.

My answer was a resounding: “Who cares?”

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