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Macleans.ca

Canada’s magazine

Newsmakers

Margaret Thatcher beats out Oprah, Ozzy Osbourne’s Neanderthal roots, and a very special seeing-eye dog

Small Balls: Manny being Manny

La première étoile: New York Jets. By acquiring Beautiful Brett Favre for a conditional draft pick the Jets have added a legitimate star pivot to their lineup who should revamp a dismal Jets offence that only produced four wins last year. Even if the team still sucks this upcoming season, management can at least cash in on Favre merchandise sales.

Small balls: home runs, redemption, and Brett Favre’s tears

La première étoile: As baseball reaches the All Star break, the story of the season is, without a doubt, Josh Hamilton. The Dallas Morning News does a nice job of telling the tale of Hamilton’s battle against drug and alcohol addiction, to claw his way back into the major leagues. Batting over .300, with 21 homers and 95 RBIs, just two years after he was completely out of the game. We at Balls don’t often get teary over tales of redemption and the power of the human spirit, but, you know…sniff…we’re not made of stone either.

Small Balls: Thursday July 10, 2008

La première étoile: Dara Torres. The 41-year-old U.S. swimmer qualified to compete in her fifth Olympic Games this week by winning the 100-metre freestyle at the U.S. swimming trials in Omaha, Neb. And she ain’t going just to wave at the crowd. During her 24-year career she has won nine Olympic medals, including four golds.

Small Balls: Thursday July 3, 2008

La première étoile: Marian Hossa. I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve hated Hossa ever since he wildly swung his stick and nearly plucked Bryan Berard’s eye out of its socket in 2000. B.B. was a huge clog on a blossoming young blueline corps whose eye injury drastically thwarted his career. Okay, I feel better after getting that off my chest. Yet by signing a one year, $7.45 million deal with Detroit yesterday the Slovakian sniper is destined to explode in the points department while playing alongside the likes of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. In doing so he will be able to manipulate the hell out of the market next summer and cash in on a huge deal. The only catch is that he needs to stay healthy, otherwise he just left millions on the table.