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Canada's vaccine rules mean Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck won't face the Blue Jays, but that's only part of the story – The Globe and Mail

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3 years ago

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Boston Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck looks on during the second inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park on April 21.Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

In that one-way-mirror approach that Americans bring to anything happening outside their own borders, the story of the Toronto Blue Jays and vaccination restrictions is missing a key detail.

Yes, non-resident baseball players who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 cannot travel to Canada to play games. That part is front and centre.

What’s missing is that this isn’t some sort of northern socialist conspiracy. This regulation applies the other way, as well. Just as any non-Canadian entering Canada must be fully up-to-date on their shots, any non-American citizen entering the United States must abide by the same rule. But you won’t read that in the sportiest U.S. sports outlets. It messes up a simple ‘Us vs. Them’ narrative.

It’s almost as though the Jays should have gone out and got one utility player who loves personal freedom so that they could say, “Look. Us too, man.”

This story has been simmering for a while, but it will properly hit the headlines on Monday. That’s when Boston arrives in Toronto for a road swing.

How many Red Sox are fans of Antonin Scalia and his originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution? And what would the Founders have said about vaccines (aside from ‘What’s a vaccine?’)?

We don’t know yet, but it might be more than a few.

One that we know is starter Tanner Houck. He was outed last week when the Jays were in New England. Knowing Houck won’t be able to travel, the Red Sox decided to make him available over the weekend out of the bullpen.

“I’m excited for it,” Houck told reporters. “And you know I’ve always said, anything I can do to help the team win.”

Well, not anything.

However many Red Sox are missing, it will be a story. It will continue being a story for the next few weeks as various teams make their 2022 international debut. It will become a story again if the Jays make the playoffs. And it will probably be a story next year when Canada decides it prefers its visitors vaccinated for all time.

We have reached the point in the pandemic where its primary cultural function is giving people who like to argue something to argue about. Sports is a handy cudgel.

On the one hand, sports is obsessively observed by lots of normal people – fans, broadcasters, reporters – who require some amount of friction for their trouble. Every once in a while, something has to happen that creates in you an irrepressible urge to yell at a screen.

Maybe Tanner Houck’s choices are giving you that right now. Or, conversely, maybe the people who are angry at Tanner Houck are giving it to you instead. Either way, vaccinations are doing their job. They are providing additional incentive to watch the Jays-Red Sox this week. Had Houck played in the series in Toronto, his scheduled start would have been Tuesday.

On the other hand, there are the pros. They don’t want to talk about vaccines. They don’t care any more. It’s doubtful many of them ever did. The ones who do care only care in that Aaron Rodgers way of caring – that they believe their nervous system is superhuman and that were you, a regular shmoe, to bathe in their blood, you might live forever.

This tension – the people who would like to make a thing out of vaccines vs. people who are sick of hearing about it – reflects what’s going on in society.

We’ve talked a lot recently about professional athletes leading the societal conversation. For those who thought it would be all social justice all the time, this is the unintended consequence.

If you encourage famous people to pop off on topics they aren’t expert in (including regular life), they are eventually going to do it in ways you don’t like.

You’ll notice the sports split is not along right-left lines. It’s class-based. The players are their own social class. Excepting a few initial outbursts, they’ve stuck together on this one (and on just about everything else). The players who are vaccinated don’t call out the ones who aren’t. In fact, they’ll go out of their way to defend them. Most of all, they’d prefer never to talk about it.

It’s only some of the rest of us – the lower, non-playing sporting classes – who get exercised about it.

As with cross-border rules, that key detail is also missing from this conversation.

How would it work if you or I decided that we were going to stop travelling for our jobs because we didn’t want to follow public health guidelines? You or I would be fired.

If we walked into our boss’s office and started monologuing about alternative medicine, we’d have to finish that speech in the parking lot after security chucked us out on our head.

In baseball (and every other sport), tolerance of your vaccination status is entirely dependent on your talent. Is your talent great enough to outweigh the inconvenience to your employer? If so, the rules don’t apply to you.

That’s the real story here – that some of us are ‘free’ to do whatever the hell we want, and most of us aren’t. That’s too troubling an idea to tackle in the Sports pages, so what we get is ‘How’s Tanner Houck gonna feel if Boston gets blown out on Tuesday and ends up missing the playoffs by one game?’ instead.

Some day, someone will write a great book about how we all got snookered into believing that a bunch of kajillionaires were just like us, and had our best interests at heart. So much so, that we should be listening to them and following their example. Forget about your fellow regular people. Listen to the man in spandex instead.

But for now, we can satisfy ourselves knowing if there’s any general good coming out of this particular example of noblesse un-oblige, at least it’s helping the many needy billionaires who own baseball teams in Canada.

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Champions Trophy host Pakistan says it’s not been told India wants to play cricket games elsewhere

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4 days ago

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November 8, 2024

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LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.

“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”

Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.

The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.

Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.

“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”

Pakistan hosted last year’s Asia Cup but all India games were played in Sri Lanka under a hybrid model for the tournament. Only months later Pakistan did travel to India for the 50-over World Cup.

Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.

“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”

The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.

“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”

Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.

“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.

___

AP cricket:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Dabrowski, Routlife into WTA doubles final with win over Melichar-Martinez, Perez

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4 days ago

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November 8, 2024

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.

Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.

The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.

The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.

Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Winger Tajon Buchanan back with Canada after recovering from broken leg

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4 days ago

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November 8, 2024

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Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.

The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.

Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.

There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.

Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.

But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.

The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”

The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.

Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.

Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.

Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.

Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.

“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”

“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.

Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.

Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.

The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.

Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.

Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.

Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.

Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.

Canada Roster

Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).

Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).

Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).

Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).

—

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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