This Week in Sports – The latest updates on all of your favourite sports!

BY MARCEL MARIAK

Hockey: Nation mourns the loss of ‘Canada’s Hockey Dad.’
The hockey community is in mourning following the death of hockey legend, Wayne Gretzky’s father. ‘Canada’s Hockey Dad,’ Walter Gretzky the father of the Great One who dominated the hockey game in the 1980s passed away on March 4^th at the age of 82. Walter Gretzky was a pillar in the hockey world. Not only did he help create the greatest hockey player to ever live, inspiring generations for years to come, he was also the ideal model of what it means to be a Canadian. Although the stories and legacies told by the people who knew Walter vary, they always make a point of mentioning his humble demeanor and willingness to always help others. Walter was buried in Brantford, Ontario, and his funeral was broadcast live on media networks across the nation. Walter’s passing created an outpouring of tributes and support on social media, showing that while we may all have our differences, a single outstanding individual can unite us and serve as a reminder of what it means to be Canadian.

Mixed Martial Arts: UFC 259 – Jamaica gets its first-ever UFC champion in controversial victory!
In combat sports, there’s seldom any question as to who won a bout. It’s typically easy to determine the winner of a fight because one competitor is standing and the other one, well, isn’t. Every once in a while, the MMA philosophers get a chance to debate a controversial judge’s decision or dirty technique. This time, not only did fans witness a controversial championship bout, Jamaica also got its first-ever UFC champion.

In the men’s Bantamweight championship, the Russian champion Petr Yan defended his belt against the Jamaican-American Alazani Sterling. The fight ended with a rarely seen disqualification. Late in the fourth round, Petr Yan threw a brutal head-knee to his downed opponent. The strike had enough power to snap Sterling’s head back and nearly knock him unconscious. The fight was immediately paused by the referee, and when Sterling failed to get back up after a couple of minutes, he won the fight by disqualification. While Yan’s knee was unquestionably a dirty hit, Sterling’s failure to return to the fight sparked intense controversy in the MMA world; with several big-name fighters like Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw claiming that Sterling exaggerated the injury to win the fight by disqualification. No matter what the MMA community argues, the official ruling stands as a disqualification (and rightly so). This means Jamaica can celebrate its first UFC champion!

Basketball: Kyle Lowry looking likely to leave the Raptors – sells his Toronto home.
Rumours about a possible Kyle Lowry trade have been going around for a while. With the success of the Raptors in the past few years, it’s no surprise that when whispers about a possible trade of our favourite point guard began circulating through the grapevine, the situation immediately became big news.

Last week, Lowry sold his Toronto home, which sent shivers down the spines of all hardcore Raptors fans. Although negotiations between clubs and players are secretive and difficult to predict, it’s beginning to look more and more likely that Kyle might be looking for a new team to represent. Not only did Lowry decide to sell off his house during the pandemic (an atypical move for someone who’s looking to keep playing for the Raptors), he also sold his Toronto mansion for quite a bit below its market value. With the trade deadline fast approaching, what this seems to suggest is that Kyle Lowry has his eyes on settling in another city in the very near future. This predicament leaves fans with an ominous question: is this the end of Lowry in Toronto, and if so, who would replace him?

Soccer: UEFA cracks down on racism in the sport.
Over two decades into the 21st century, it’s a shame that we still need to tell people that racism has no place in society. Unfortunately, racism continues to be a constant issue around the world. Just last week, the soccer world was shocked when a referee made a racial remark to a coach during a UEFA Champions League group-stage game between Istanbul Basaksehir and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. During the game, an argument broke out after a UEFA referee referred to Istanbul’s assistant coach as “the black one.” This comment sparked an outrage with players of both teams and the game was eventually abandoned as players began walking off the pitch. The game hadn’t even gone on for fiftee minutes.

To control the damage done by their referee, UEFA instantly put the arbiter under suspension and has launched an investigation into the offence. Tentatively, the official will have to attend a reeducation class before he’s able to return to the pitch. In the past UEFA, as well as other soccer associations, have been poor at handling racism-related issues. At times, it seemed that they simply didn’t care. This time, the situation was different. The controversy on the field sparked a massive social media storm when several big-name players from around the world began condemning racism.

Many still believe that the soccer world is failing to take racism seriously. Despite the various anti-racism campaigns and programs implemented by leagues and organizations around the soccer world, racism is still very present in the sport today. It’s no secret that racism breeds racism; and if a sport as popular as soccer fails to take it seriously, it demonstrates to countless young fans around the world that racism is ok or just an afterthought.

Baseball: Blue Jays pitcher, Robbie Ray, looking strong in spring training.
In baseball, spring training is a series of exhibition games that teams play against each other to practice strategy and improve performance. While it’s common to see players performing better as they get farther into spring training, it’s unusual to see a player improve in the middle of a game. That’s exactly what happened when the Jays played the Detroit Tigers!

Although the Jays lost 5-1 to the Tigers, the real takeaway for fans was the performance of Robbie Ray. Although the recently traded pitcher took a little while to get into his groove. Robbie played for 2 ⅓ innings, walking two hitters and giving up an RBI double. Despite this, Robbie Ray also got an impressive 6 strikeouts which redeemed him in the eyes of fans… but that’s not the interesting part. The odd yet very satisfying facts lay in Ray’s pitching statistics. As a rule of thumb, as pitchers become fatigued following subsequent pitches, their pitch velocity tends to decrease. Not Robbie Ray. When pitching his first two batters, Ray’s velocity was between 94-95mph. In the rest of the inning, Ray’s velocity ramped up to an impressive 96-97mph range with him even throwing a 98mph slider at one point.

After the game, Ray attributed his increased velocity to an efficient change he made to his posture while pitching. The Blue Jays’ manager, Charlie Montoyo, was incredibly happy with Ray’s performance despite the team’s harsh loss, “It’s huge how he made that adjustment. His stuff looked really good today,” praised Montoyo,’Although the Blue Jays have many things to improve and tweak before they’re ready for their first season game against the Yankees on April 1, fans can rest easy knowing that we have dynamic players on the team who are capable of making big improvements on the fly!