MisterSG1

Paris was to be the first “normal” summer games since London, at least that’s how I see it. My opinion about this matter seems to go against the groupthink but I’ll say it anyways. What kind of power do us as everyday citizens have with our governments? What I mean, imagine someone training from Belarus, 2021 wasn’t really a true Olympics, and now finally for the first time ever they’d have a shot at being at the world stage, but because of moves done by their own government which they honesty have no say over, they are effectively being banned. I’m not sure why the idea of them competing with an Olympic flag is so controversial because they wouldn’t be representing Russia or Belarus in that matter. I’m not going to get into the politics of the war, and let’s be honest it’s a bad thing, but why is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine considered so bad, but the invasion of the US into Iraq which lasted an incredibly long time wasn’t strongly condemned by the international community to the extent that the Americans and those who followed them into Iraq be banned from Athens 2004. I recall there was lots of opposition within the US against the war in Iraq, but the government didn’t care what the people thought. This situation is rather unique though, while the US and USSR were the “west” and “east” when speaking of 1980 and 1984, the boycotts there were of course different. I presume pressure of this decision would cause France to boycott its own Olympics if athletes from Russia or Belarus were allowed to compete. It’s a rather unusual scenario for sure. I’m not sure honestly how divisive this issue is, the idea of the Olympics at least in theory is to separate politics from sport. One such example is the Russians still playing in the NHL, it seems most fans of the NHL with my experience online aren’t totally against Ovechkin and others continually to play in the NHL. I know the last time the Leafs met the Capitals (Ovechkin’s team) in Toronto the last time, the crowd didn’t boo each time Ovechkin had the puck. Thats just my rant on this, I know I will probably be destroyed, but in the Olympics I presume we are supposed to put politics aside with a truce and compete. At least that’s how it should be.

With Canada’s Team Gushue losing, I was wondering if the Newfoundland Dept of Transportation and Infrastructure would have to change this sign (couldn’t find it anywhere online without street viewing it so this will do) But with him losing, I guess not.

Interesting points. I guess what I was trying to say regarding my thesis on this, was that Olympic Ice Hockey is the closest thing to a true event on par with the World Cup, but the main issue of having an event in the middle of the NHL season (and presumably other domestic leagues around the world) is for quality of play to be decreased by potential injuries. North American leagues (outside of soccer) are more 'rogue' in their nature, in that they don't belong to an international organization that governs them. NBA is not part of FIBA, NHL is not part of IIHF, and I had to look it up, but MLB is not part of IBSF. Interesting point you make about baseball too, but to be fair, I don't think MLB had ever sent its players to the Olympics, I know they have never paused a season (which honestly would be even worse than the NHL doing it, considering the very packed schedule to Major League Baseball and the game being deeply rooted in tradition). As such, NHL and NBA have different rules from their international counterparts, not extreme in the sense of CFL vs NFL, but different rules in basketball regarding possession for example. Hockey as a "blue ribbon" event, I guess you're right even though a "red ribbon" is what is considered first place here. Men's hockey is one of the final medals, but I'm not sure if it has the same allure as the men's marathon in the summer games. As for international tournaments in hockey, it's been a long problem with creating a true "World Cup" style of event for hockey. Since Canadian players were locked up in the NHL mostly when the IIHF World Champions, the NHL and IIHF came up with a tournament called the "Canada Cup", this was played in late August-early September before NHL season and occurred in the years, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1987, and 1991. The tournament was always played mostly in Canada (a few games here and there in each tournament were in held in an arena in the US, but the final was always held in Canada) and was also played with NHL rules. Infamously, the USSR won in 1981 and wasn't allowed to take the Canada Cup trophy home with them, Canada won every other time. In 1996, this tournament was repackaged as the "World Cup of Hockey", the only thing different was that there were now games in European cities, it happened three times, 1996, 2004, and 2016, with the 2016 edition happening entirely in the then named Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The last edition had a team of younger players called Team North America, and a lot of players from smaller European countries competed for a Team Europe (which was represented by no anthem at games). You can see the problem here, the Canada Cup and World Cup of Hockey feel more like some sort of sideshow than a respectable competition, it only happens whenever the NHL feels like it should happen as opposed to the Olympic ice hockey tournament or FIFA World Cup. Let's not also forget what seems like a favourable outcome in each of them for Canada to win (as every meaningful game in all the tournaments were played in Canada) The IIHF since Vancouver 2010 has been more liberal with usage of hockey rink size, but before that, all IIHF sanctioned competition before that always took place on a wider rink than what is seen in the NHL. For the record, ice hockey competition at Beijing 2022 uses the NHL sized rink rather than what we used to call "Olympic Ice" here. I know my opinion of moving hockey to summer kills the unifying bond and it's probably not a good idea, but I was thinking there must be a better way to have a truly fair International Ice Hockey tournament that's fair for everyone.

How does the DEL react to Winter Olympics normally, does it stop play during the Olympics, and then abruptly return after the Olympics are over? Tell me how any of that makes sense? I know your post appeared to be a somewhat snide remark, but tell me, do we really need skateboarding? Surfing? Breakdancing? Olympic Hockey was the only true thing when the NHL was involved that could be considered a world championship. The IIHF World Championship is usually full of players from teams who didn't make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I have hypothetically thought of this for years, but apparently Gary Bettman (NHL Commissioner) has been wanting this to occur at least since the 1990s. Personally, I think this a great idea myself, for many reasons, and I'll list them: 1) National Hockey League wouldn't have to pause the season if they chose to go to the Olympics As it stands currently, since 1998 and not counting 2018 and 2022, the NHL has been to the Olympics, when this occurs, the season takes a break for about 3 weeks. This year, as it was a last minute decision to not send NHLers, the NHL is stuck with an Olympic break with nothing on. Games that were cancelled mainly due to covid fan restrictions in Canadian cities are rescheduled during this break. Presumably this is the case for all hockey leagues around the world. Compare this for example to how it works in soccer (outside of North America), when the World Cup traditionally happens outside of the soccer calendar. 2) Ice Hockey could be showcased in marquee Summer Olympics cities The winter games are bound by having the appropriate terrain nearby to host alpine events. Even if recent winter games use something like an "anchor city", think Vancouver to Whistler, or Milan to Cortina, or even with Beijing, hosting in a true world city where many of the other events will be held should hypothetically expose ice hockey to more of the world. It's apples to oranges having the best hockey tournament there is being played in such small places like Sochi or Nagano, compared to potential huge world cities like Moscow or Tokyo for example. 3) Olympic ice hockey in the summer, less concern for injury risk No one wants players to get hurt, but consider what happens normally when the NHL stops for the Olympics, players could be injured and miss the Olympics, and conversely players could get injured at the Olympics and not be able to play for their NHL clubs after the games. These are a few examples, now I know many will say this right back, and I have answers for you But hockey is a winter sport! It's played on ice! -While indeed hockey is played on ice, how much of traditional pond hockey do people play nowadays? I'd seriously like to know this, my guess is most NHL players probably never played outdoors on ponds, especially in our world today where any ice is deemed unsafe. (Maybe I'm a coward but I'd never step on a frozen body of water ever) You can take this idea further with Auston Matthews. He's the star of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and where did he grow up and play the game? In Arizona of all places! Similar to basketball, I'm sure most people in today's day and age think of ice hockey as being an indoor game. -International tournaments which do exist, and great international hockey moments like the 1972 Summit Series happened in the first half of September, sure not exactly summer but nowhere near winter either (Prince Charles' Invictus Games in Toronto were held in September). That's also to say, the Canada Cup/World Cup of Hockey have all been played starting at the end of August to the beginning of September. For the last 30 years, not counting COVID seasons, the Stanley Cup has always been awarded in June -Basketball is a "summer sport" yet why is it played in the winter here? As both the NBA and NHL have a pretty much overlapping schedule, Olympic Basketball doesn't have the same problems as Olympic hockey interfering with seasons around the world. By also using similar logic, you could argue that basketball should be moved to the winter olympics. I'm not entirely sure of this, but I believe basketball, when invented by James Naismith, was invented in a gymnasium and designed to be played there (as being an indoor sport). I'm sure many of us think of basketball in the sense of asphalt courts and thus it being impossible for a group of kids to play in winter time, but I don't think basketball started this way.

How exactly is that Japan’s fault? You know it helps when you have easy access to vaccines. Even with vaccines, I don’t think Japan would have been comfortable instituting a laissez-faire approach to COVID allowing for spectators. The right option would have been the postpone but no one wanted to do that. Heck, they could have last minute staged the games in Miami and with the laissez-faire approach in Florida, it would have been business as usual in said Olympics.

I know University of Toronto actually has some fraternities, but I know they don't have that same kind of debauchery role you speak of. I've heard the term "dorm" used in the Canadian sense, but I believe "residence" is more common. Nevertheless, if you said "dorm" people know what you're talking about. Ryerson University for the most part is more or like a "super high school", in that most students live in the Greater Toronto Area and make the commute each day downtown and go home when class is over. (even though we haven't done that at all in quite some time) As for athletics, it's a shame too, because Ryerson has such a nice arena, sure not as big as the top US schools, but they occupy the top floor of the legendary Maple Leaf Gardens, where the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1931-1999. Remember the Curling event at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics? Team Shuster of Minnesota took home the gold? Because of winning that gold, Team Shuster got invited to one of the top world curling events that have been held at Ryerson the last few years. Incidentally, I wondered how Team Shuster would play against Team Gushue, and well Team Shuster didn't make it passed the group stage. This venue, as relating to Olympics was used for basketball for the Pan Am Games and wheelchair basketball for the Parapan Am Games.

I can't really help you there either, mate. Generally, sports at the high school level and collegiate level here no one really cares about. Which brings me to my first point, across Canada, and I assume like the commonwealth, the words "college" and "university" refer to two distinct institutions. Someone goes to "university" in Canada when speaking of a place that grants degrees like say Cambridge University. A college in Canada usually refers to a "community college". In Canada, like the US, the years are called "grades", but usually, what grade a student is in is almost always referred to as Grade X. Rather than in the US where Xth Grade is more common. The US terms for the high school grades are not used here, you know, Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior. However, the final year at least in Ontario I've heard as a senior year in some ways for example when some students speak of a "Senior Prank". While Ontario here in Canada has 4 grades in high school, I believe other provinces like Newfoundland have just three grades in high school that start at Grade 10. Which brings me to Senior Prom, yes Senior Prom does happen in Canada, I didn't go to my own because I was sort of an outcast so to speak. But the whole package like hiring limos and showing up in tuxedos happens here. The Homecoming Dance, and all the homecoming stuff, I have no clue what it means. I know depending where you are in the US, high school football is quite the big deal. I'm sure that most students who go to US High Schools aren't involved with the athletic or cheerleading aspects anyways. As in the end that would be a small amount of the typical student body. The NFL doesn't play on Friday or Saturdays during most of the Fall because if I recall there's a federal law in place to not compete with high school and college football. Traditionally, in the US, high school football plays on Friday, college football plays on Saturday, and pro football plays on Sunday. But football itself is a totally different beast in Canada, they play football with a totally different ruleset in Canada, it's the same game as gridiron yeah, but the field size, amount of downs, time rules are different. When it comes to the professional ranks of Canadian Football, the CFL, going to any Toronto Argonauts game, you'll find mostly baby boomers who attend the games now. Case in point, I'm a mature student of engineering at Ryerson University, (an institution in the heart of downtown Toronto) I knew quite of my fellow students who could name many teams in the NFL but not any team from the CFL, or the fact that the rules are different. As you know at the collegiate level in the US, schools offer full scholarships entirely on students' abilities to play sports. None of that exists here. There was one game where Ryerson faced Duke in an exhibition. There was a player from Mississauga who just signed on to Duke, and thus the crowd at the game was actually openly rooting for Duke over Ryerson, it was shocking lol. The only time Ryerson will ever be on an ESPN broadcast. Finally, one time when the early rounds of the NCAA March Madness tournament were held in Buffalo, that was back in 2017. I found it funny those games didn't have the national anthem, and there were a very small amount of actual diehards. All what either team had with them were a few cheerleaders and a band. As for use of the national anthem in school, my parents recall (even though they grew up in Newfoundland) that it was pretty much the same way as you describe it, in that "God Save The Queen" was sang at assemblies only. This is all I can help you with regarding this matter,

Isn't it, like how the vast majority in schools do it here with O Canada, played every single morning in school in Australia presumably with lyrics? It's hard to ever forget the words if you were forced to hear it every single school morning for 13+ years of your life. With friends I have from the US, they didn't start school with the anthem but the Pledge of Allegiance. The use of O Canada at domestic sporting events in Canada pretty much mirrors that of how The Star Spangled Banner is used in the US. Generally, even in club sports, if a team based in Canada plays a team based in the US, then both anthems will be played, which as I said happens at every single Blue Jays and Raptors games as they are the only Canadian based team in their respective league.

This will be in response again to Yoshi, even though the baseball competition and Olympics is now over. I forgot that he made a lengthy reply to my post and I apologize for not answering back sooner. Regarding the lineup, the batting order resumes where you were in the lineup when the third batter/runner was put out. So if let's say the inning ended with Encarnacion striking out, in the next inning, the batting order would resume in their half of the inning with Saunders to bat. In that situation, Saunders, Martin, and Carrera would be guaranteed a chance to bat in the upcoming inning. To explain how the endgame works, consider for example the Toronto Blue Jays were facing the Boston Red Sox. Going into the Top of the 9th, the score is 0-0. Boston does not score any runs in the Top of the 9th. So in the Bottom of the 9th, the first batter to bat hits a home run. At this point, Toronto has won the game because as the home team bats second, there's no way for Boston to come back in the 9th inning. The game ends immediately at this point with Toronto winning 1-0. But let's use our scenario again and say Toronto DOESN'T score in the Bottom of the 9th. Now that the game score remains 0-0, we move to the 10th inning. Now in the Top of the 10th, let's assume Boston scores 2 runs. So the score is 2-0, now in the Bottom of the 10th, Toronto does not score any runs. Of course Boston wins the game with a score of 2-0 in that scenario. If Toronto in the Bottom of the 10th instead were to even up the score to 2-2 and not score anymore runs, then there would be an 11th inning because the game is still tied. However, as the home team bats in the second half of an inning, if Toronto were to score THREE runs in the Bottom of the 10th, as soon as that third run was scored they would have taken the lead and the game ends immediately with Toronto winning 3-2. As the home team bats second in an inning, there is no way for the visiting team to score and thus the game is over. So in a test, if we were to think of it like a baseball game, the teams could reverse the batting order for the "Second Innings"? To make myself clear, if say England was facing Australia, England bats first and then Australia bats second. In the second innings, it's possible for Australia to bat first? That's something I wasn't aware of but then again I've never actually witnessed a Test Match even on TV. I've only ever saw the IPL on TV and watching the IPL is how I learned how T20 cricket works. The dots are to resemble lights on an older scoreboard, it's not the best way of getting the point across if you aren't that familiar with the sport. But yeah there is one out because only one of the two dots is lit up. (An inning automatically ends whenever you reach 3 outs so there is no point in showing 3 dots) Other broadcasts would display the Ball, Strike, Out information as "0-0, 1 OUT". Which is precisely how it was done in this most recent Olympics. The "0-0" is the count in the "at bat", number on the left is the amount of Balls and the number on the right is the amount of Strikes. Therefore, if a batter had 2 balls and 1 strike, the "0-0" would appear as "2-1". Up until 2020, position players (those who play any other position other than pitcher) in MLB could in theory play as pitchers and it has occasionally happened but in very rare situations. Regarding the ball, from my experience seeing a T20 match in Toronto once, this very one below: Regarding the ball, generally at cricket matches, does a Six ball need to be thrown back? The fan in the audience who catches it can't simply keep it as a souvenir? I was just wondering this because I believe they made you throw them back at that event. I live in Brampton which has a high Indian population and thus cricket is popular here to a certain extent. In that sense it's seen mostly as an "ethnic game" if that's the right term to use, there are some public cricket pitches in Brampton. I found it amusing in a certain way once that I saw someone on a cricket pitch standing playing as a batsman but wearing a Blue Jays jersey. There was a Global T20 Canada event held in Brampton in 2019, I do wish I knew about this. I didn't even know this temporary facility was even built in Brampton. Since we are talking about baseball, it's believed that it's the other way around for most sports here in Canada/USA because the home team bats second in baseball or is the bottom team displayed on the scoreboard. This would make most sense because pro baseball was the first big league in North America, and baseball was the most popular sport at the turn of the 20th century, even in Canada. So it would appear that this kind of sports reporting in baseball simply influenced how other sports were reported. Another head scratcher is W-L-D vs W-D-L, I believe the second one is the proper way to do it in soccer. But NHL and NFL do report it as W-L-D, while there are no draws/ties in the NHL, the third number is the amount of "overtime losses", where if a team reaches overtime but loses, they still get a point in the standings. NBA and MLB have a winner every game so it's pure W-L.

That really is the thing. I think most in Tokyo probably weren’t against the games per se, but they wanted a chance to do It in ideal times. What I assume this felt like to those in Tokyo was kind of like how it felt when Toronto hosted one of the NHL Playoff Bubbles around this time last year. Despite it being in Toronto, it didn’t exactly feel like it because practically everyone was forbidden from going anywhere near it. The dull broadcasts wouldn’t have mattered if they were in Toronto or on the moon. Unlike Toronto simply hosting hockey games, an entire Olympics was held this way and now taxpayers are 20 billion dollars in the hole for an event that no one in Tokyo got to celebrate.

Very sorry to triple post, but I forgot to add, remember who the COC made the flag bearer for the closing ceremony even after that fiasco. Yup, that sore loser, Christine Sinclair.

I also like the opine that I'm indifferent as to what happened in Women's Soccer.\ Christine Sinclair was quite mouthy as to what happened in 2012 and I personally saw her as a sore loser, CBC and the Canadian public were brainwashed into believing that they were robbed and supported her disrespect to the sport. That's why I've personally seen both Sinclair and Rapinoe as mouthy pieces of work. “We feel like we didn’t lose, we feel like it was taken from us,” "It’s a shame in a game like that that was so important, the ref decided the result before it started.” -Christine Sinclair"

And that really is the thing. Many in Canada can't seem to see past this either. I do remember seeing NBC in the past, I think it was the Sochi games, show coverage or replays of Biathlon events. CBC rarely shows anything that Canadians are not in, like Modern Pentathlon for instance. I remember the whole Bailey-Johnson feud, and I admit myself that Donovan Bailey is a piece of work, unlike a much more respectful track and field athlete like Andre De Grasse or Damian Warner. Thankfully we have access to live streams, so we can actually watch events, unlike whatever the CBC wants to show us. I paid attention to many hours of CBC coverage, and I never did see a medal ceremony with no Canadians on the podium. The only anthem I ever saw from medal ceremonies on CBC itself was O Canada, had a Canadian had silver or bronze, they would cut the ceremony off before the anthem plays. So yes, I agree with you, CBC are much worse than NBC at this.

TV? Heh, I've never ever seen a clip of that event on TV before. I've only ever seen it on streams in the last two Olympics. So I was wrong about its introduction, but you can't deny the existence of the sport is meant to be a callback to the Ancient Olympics. Would you know how long Modern Pentathlon has used that "American Gladiators" "Eliminator" type finale known as the Laser Run? To those unfamiliar with the sport, I've explained the Laser Run as working like the Eliminator, where the points earned in the previous events convert to how much a head start the leader has from you. I like the Laser Run myself, it's kind of like a Summer Biathlon, the Biathlon is a very underrated event on this side of the world.

What annoys me, many are throwing their arms in the air about NBC not showing O Canada after the gold medal final for soccer (football). I've been having to stick to the CBC streams online to get real impartial coverage during these games, and to actually see entire medal ceremonies. CBC's coverage is much more "nationalistic" than NBC's coverage is, heck NBC showed Rhythmic Gymnastics when the only US competitor didn't have any real chance of winning. Even as we speak there's action in the velodrome, they are skipping entire races because there's no Canadians in them, I think CBC's coverage is inherently disrespectful myself.

Such disrespect by the fellow audience! I think during national anthems at Track and Field events that all activity should stop while an anthem is playing. I remember at the Pan Ams that athletes were still throwing during anthems being played. I don't know, maybe in North American Olympics, everyone will stand because it's so engrained in our sporting event culture to begin with.

Thinking about the "hat" thing made me think of when Slash played the anthems for a Home Opener for the Toronto Blue Jays back in 2005 https://youtu.be/8mfhxoV7HUY The legendary Slash walks in with that famous hat, and he conveniently has a stand to put his hat while he shreds both anthems on the guitar.

Interesting, during every medal ceremony I saw at the Pan Ams, I did remove my hat and a fair amount of other people did. If you see footage of medal ceremonies from Vancouver, SLC, Atlanta, or even LA, you're most likely to see the crowd doing that if they're wearing hats. Everyone, I mean at least 99% of the crowd stands when we are asked to "Please rise if you're able to, remove your hats, and welcome ___________ to perform our national anthem(s)" Toronto FC's first ever international friendly was against Benefica from Portugal. In that game I remember the anthem singer performing both the Portugal anthem and O Canada just like at any North American sporting event (which is acapella). I remember them also facing Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers in which there was an instrumental of both God Save The Queen and O Canada. MLS matches are like international soccer matches with the flags brought out during the procession.

I've found that an unintentional side effect of the competition, in that the show jumping portion appears to be a luck based competition of getting a horse which cooperates with you. As for replacing it with cycling, I'm not sure. This event is steeped with Olympic tradition despite it being probably one of the least known sports, at least around here anyways. As we had a host explain the different parts of the competition at the 2015 Pan American Games, he explained that the name of the sport, Modern Pentathlon is derived by what would make the perfect modern soldier, at least in 1896, as opposed to the Ancient Pentathlon at the Ancient Olympics. This Ancient Pentathlon consisted of a foot race, discus throw, javelin throw, long jump, and wrestling which in ancient times were useful skills in battle. Thus replacing horse riding with cycling, doesn't exactly fit for the ideal "modern" soldier.

I was just wondering this, generally when I've seen medal ceremonies and anthems, as well as anthems in FIFA tournaments, often I see those in the crowd with their hats on during the anthem. Is the custom of removing your hat strictly a North American (Canada/USA) thing? I know the announcer at the Olympics says only, "The National Anthem of ___________", he/she doesn't even ask the audience to rise. For those outside of North America, in domestic sporting competitions, is there any singing or playing of the national anthem before you start. Like do EPL matches begin with God Save The Queen? Every single "club" pro sports event I've been to has had at least O Canada sang, you'll hear Star Spangled Banner sung prior to O Canada if the opponent is based out of the US, which will happen with every single Toronto Raptors or Toronto Blue Jays game. So it was a huge shocker to me when I saw Toronto FC play in the CONCACAF Champions League that there was no national anthem(s) at all.

Finally, forgot to add, it seems in the Big 4, and in most sports in North America, when scores are listed such for example Manchester United 2 Chelsea 0 I think you would think that Man U was the home team in that match, but in nearly all sports reporting except MLS around here, the team on the bottom is the home team, such that if we were speaking about NHL: Chicago 3 Toronto 5 This would mean that this game took place in Toronto. I know I didn't explain it to you in baseball, but Top of the 1st, Bottom of the 1st of course also refers to the position of both teams on the scoreboard, the visting team always bats first and they are always listed first or "on top" while the home team is listed below or "on the bottom".

Some may say we are derailing the thread, I say we aren't, baseball is a new sport technically and I'm simply trying to explain the rules. It's often been said a picture is worth a thousand words, so let's start out with one, if this is too big mods, please resize it. In a baseball game, like cricket an inning (yes I know inning is always called innings but bear with me) consists of one team fielding and one team batting, later on they switch sides and the team fielding now bats and vice versa. These two sections of an inning are referred to in baseball as half innings. The visiting team always bats first in a game, so when it's the visiting team's turn to bat, it is referred to the "Top of whatever inning it is", when it's the home team's turn, it is the "Bottom of whatever inning it is", hence in my example, you can see that the Toronto Blue Jays are up to bat, in this game right now it is the "Bottom of the 1st", that graphic with the 1 and the down arrow is a nice touch they use in Toronto. The empty boxes represent the score in each inning thus far, as it is only the bottom of the 1st, the rest are still blank, the Philadelphia Phillies did not score in the Top of the 1st, and thus a zero is placed in that scoreboard called the "line score", to the right of the 9 inning score are three more columns usually (this one has four), the first one is always the RUNS column which is the total score each team has, the other 3 are for "hits", "errors", and "left on base" which are more for stats and do not effect the score at all. "Hits" is a similar statistic for example to say shots on target in a soccer game. On the left is the Blue Jays lineup, as you can see Bautista is batting, after he bats, whether he gets on base in some way or is out, Donaldson will then bat after him. Down the order we go, after we reach the last batter, Goins, we simply go back up to Bautista again. It is rare that a batter will get to bat twice in an inning, but it does happen occasionally. Any time THREE batters/runners are put out, the inning ends and the other team gets to bat. There is no limit as to how long a half inning can last in theory, but as it is much more difficult to reach base in baseball, rarely does a batter get to bat twice. Currently, you can also see that in Bautista's "at bat" (at bat being when the batter faces the pitcher) he currently has 0 balls and 2 strikes, there are also 0 out. But to make it clear, an inning will continue indefinitely until three batters/runners are put out by the fielding team in some way. In Major League Baseball, games cannot end in ties/draws, if they both have the same score after the Bottom of the 9th, then they will simply play a 10th inning and so on, this is where home advantage becomes interesting, because anytime the home team takes the lead from there on, they win the game, as you can only score when your team is batting. I know games in NPB actually do have ties, but they only happen when games remain tied after the 12th inning. The longest MLB game ever went into 25 innings before it was decided back in 1984! Also, in regards to score, should the home team be leading at the end of the Top of the 9th, the game is over at this point and the Bottom of the 9th is not played. This is of course because the home team has already won and there's absolutely no way possible they can lose. Think of it like a penalty shootout in soccer, if for example the team kicking first misses the first 3 goals but the second team kicking scores on the first 3 kicks, it's already over because there's no way for the first team to come back, it's completely pointless play. I presume this would happen in a test match but probably has never happened, where the second team who bats in the first innings scores a colossal amount of runs that even after two innings of the first team batting, they don't get enough runs as the second team batting did in their first innings. I presume a test cricket match would end here as they've technically already won. As for balls and strikes. I should have been more clearer. Any pitch, whether or not it passes through the strike zone or not, if the batter SWINGS at that pitch and misses, it's counted as a strike. If the batter DOES NOT swing, that's where the strike zone is used to determine if it's a strike or a ball. Yes, this is a tough and often controversial part of being a home plate umpire, but they are right the vast majority of the time. Modern broadcasts show the rough image of the strike zone at all times during the game. That white rectangle is of course the strike zone, if a pitch goes through when the batter doesn't swing, it would be a strike. Should a pitch not pass through the strike zone when the batter doesn't swing, it is a ball. Any swing and a miss regardless of where the ball ends up is a strike. I hope this clears it up. In this broadcast, you can see that it is the Bottom of the 4th, there are no strikes or balls yet, and there is one out. The P: 72 is how many pitches the pitcher has thrown at this point. Now lastly, you asked about pitchers. Baseball is flexible with players changing positions within the game. For instance the third baseman and left fielder in theory could switch positions anytime in the game however, the batting lineup remains the same regardless. When it comes to any actual player substitution, once a player is removed, he CANNOT be used again in that game. Pitchers in MLB rarely make it passed the 5th or 6th inning these days, every team has a bunch of pitchers who take over partway through a game called "relief pitchers". They sit in the bullpen (bullpen being what the area is called for the pitchers) until they get the call to be put into the game. A bullpen has a place for the pitcher to warm up before being put in the game, that is practicing pitches before coming into the game. Above is a picture of the Visitors Bullpen at Rogers Centre (Home of the Toronto Blue Jays). So with pitchers, the pitchers who start the game, usually there's 5 of them, work in a rotation, they only pitch every 5 games (as pitching is strenuous) while the relievers work every game usually. The top reliever in the bullpen is usually designated as the "closing pitcher" and comes in during the 9th inning when their team is winning to "close out" the game and prevent the other team from scoring. So I hoped that helped, if you have any other questions I will be glad to answer them.

I saw this very event at the 2015 Pan Am Games and since became intrigued by it. In London I know it was at the same pool as the regular swimming, and that was the case in the Toronto Pan Ams as well. All five of the events were contested in the same facility in Toronto, they used a gymnasium for the fencing rounds, and the adjacent field outside for the show jumping and laser-run (perhaps it should be modern tetrathlon) Usually modern pentathlon’s pool is a 50m pool.

This is a prime example that despite what the CANZUK advocates like to think, culturally (not necessarily politically) Canada is much more similar to the US than the other commonwealth countries despite what many like to think. Certain words are spelled in Canada as in the commonwealth but others aren’t, realise is realize in Canada. I know I’m getting off topic, but I’m sure you guys don’t call the object a shopping cart at a grocery store in Australia. As for seeing a hockey game in Canada, seeing the Leafs live, it’s nothing exciting, during game play it almost seems like the nearest public library has more of an atmosphere than that place. I’ve seen real fans in games in both Detroit and New Jersey despite the latter supposedly being a struggling team. The Cubs did manage to win a World Series after 108 years, I wish the Leafs would win a Stanley Cup, hasn’t happened in 54 years….