Straight shot from here to Ireland. Not a bad spot to catch the bus to @smuarts.bsky.social. Morning chat with the sea birds is essential.

Very good point. The additional engagement re: sport, and the blurring of lines, is something I haven't seen discussed much

Markus Hicks sentenced to 18½ years for sexual assault, child luring | CBC News Markus Hicks, a former St. John’s volleyball coach and teacher, was handed an 18½ prison sentence in Newfoundland's provincial court Friday morning.

Newfoundland volleyball coach and referee Markus Hicks just received a lengthy prison sentence for dozens of sex crimes against minors. Hopefully there is also education, review, and reform to help prevent another Hicks from exploiting the same weak points in the system. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Toronto staff told to find ways to make some FIFA FanFest tickets free following backlash | CBC Sports The City of Toronto's proposal to charge for tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup fan festival has been met with backlash from councillors after it was originally promised to be free. City staff have be...

The FIFA FanFest in Toronto was meant to be free. The city tried to abruptly change course and charge between $10 and $300. They've now switched gears again, after criticism, and are trying to provide some of the tickets for free.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Oh snap, which ones?

3/3 A restorative approach could help people reconnect and reorient themselves, while also acknowledging that this incident and others like it impacted people beyond the folks fighting, with implications for spectators, officials, players, and broader basketball community in NS.

2/3 A restorative approach, like those espoused by my colleague Jacob Glover, could go a long way to mending what feel like recurring tears in the broader sporting culture. We patch them up by dolling out puishment, but in no time the seams let go again and we're looking at the same tear.

1/3 One more quick thought about the crowd violence in youth basketball. When we inflict harm on someone like this, we often lose sight of the other person's humanity. We're viewing them as an object, something to be overcome. We don't see them as a person anymore. www.ctvnews.ca/sports/artic...

3/3 Respect, empathy, humility are all a distant after thought. Losing becomes something to be ashamed of and rejected, rather than an opportunity to demonstrate solidarity, by growing together through the loss and celebrating those across the field, court, or rink who won.

2/3 Sometimes we fail to reach a goal because of our own action/inaction, sometimes its because of something out of our control. Sport, we claim, allows for this. These adults brawling at youth sporting events send the opposite message. Their actions suggest winning is all that matters.

1/3 Adult violence at youth sports really drives home the culture problem we face. Losing, and learning from the loss, is important. Arguably more important than winning. We need to fail. www.ctvnews.ca/sports/artic...

Finally a couple consecutive days of spring weather. View from the the Woodsode ferry terminal. A perk of working at @smuarts.bsky.social

FIFA doing #FIFA stuff. Unfortunate that 🇨🇦 is co-hosting this circus. We get to be complicit in all the #FIFA2026 shenanigans because we've already committed millions upon millions to partner with one of the most notoriously corrupt organizations in sport. www.nytimes.com/athletic/718...

The igloo is overflowing for the mainland senior hockey final. Truro leads East Hants 3-1 in the third. This is the best senior hockey there's been in NS for decades.

Federal government saying little about Toronto's call to block ICE from World Cup | CBC Sports The federal government is not responding directly to a Toronto city council motion opposing the presence of any U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at upcoming FIFA World Cup games.

Chatted with the Canadian Press about FIFA, ICE, and Canadian anxieties about the USA. www.cbc.ca/sports/socce...

"We are 10 weeks out from the biggest World Cup in history & we don’t know if every country will be there, if supporters from every country will be allowed in, how they will be treated when they get there...It would be weirder if we weren’t fearful," writes @danielstorey85.bsky.social

Amnesty International warns Fifa World Cup risks becoming ‘stage for repression’ Amnesty International has warned that the World Cup, spread across three North American countries, risks becoming a ‘stage for repression’

I would say #FIFA risks "remaining" a stage for repression, rather than "becoming" one. Not good either way. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Had too many drumsticks. Big stew. Soda bread too

4/4 At a point, looking away, over and over, must amount to a rejection of an athlete's full humanity and the sport's potential for harm. I watch combat sports. I box. This is not an argument against these activties, so much as a challenge to fans to fully comprehend them - the good, bad, and ugly.

3/4 We shouldn't look away, in my opinion anyway, but rather look very carefully, acknowledge the outcome, and reflect on our orientation toward the sport.

2/4 By hiding the most difficult bits from ourselves, we construct a veil of ignorance around the sport(s) we (claim to) support, just so we can go on consuming it in comfort, abandoning the very athletes we claim to support when they're at their most vulnerable.

1/4 There's been some debate over whether the UFC camera operator should have showed Maycee Barber unconscious last night. She was knocked out by Alexa Grasso. In general, showing the consequences of combat sport is essential to experiencing such events as fully as possible.

Just got cited as "Ross MacIntosh." That b'y is from Pictou. Sort yourself out. Just kidding, call me whatever. I also answer to Toots Winchester.

4/4 These alleged retaliatory behavior reinforces the culture of silence around maltreatment, which the ITPs are meant to help resolve.

3/4 As the Future of Sport in Canada Commission final report explains, confidence in these ITPs, and their suitability in the sporting context, is low at best. This case raises important questions about what protections exist to protect complainants from retribution.

2/4 The ITP ruled the complaint against Carnegie as "entirely without merit" but the team removed Carnegie anyway. Carnegie believes this is all in retaliation for a substantiated complaint Carnegie made regarding a coach's mistreatment of his son. He's now suing.

Who is ‘Rick Jones’? Toronto hockey team accused of making up parent complaint to remove coach A Toronto hockey coach whose grandfather was a celebrated Black hockey player is fighting back after he was fired from his position in a lawsuit that alleges his team invented a parent complaint and t...

1/4 Minor #hockey coach Rane Carnegie, grandson of Herb Carnegie, had a fictitious complaint submitted against him, by a fictitious parent, to the Ontario Hockey Federation's Independent Third Party (ITP). www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...

Mackerel and blueberries! Nova Scotia diet activated

It was a really strange interview, full of contradictions.

5/5 Speaking out of both sides of his mouth, he would then say there is a lot of work that remains to be done. Call his office. Send emails. Connect with folks who have his ear. Make change politically expedient for him.