Darren Dupont’s Moose Droppings!
1. MOOSE DROPPINGS 🫎 – How are you liking the new name of this column? I love it! When RP joked in a morning meeting about renaming the piece I liked it instantly. My mind went straight to dropping little pieces of info or a few thoughts just like the moose drops… well, you know! Some could think it hints that my column is 💩 but no way. Even if you think so, I like it and it’s here to stay.
2. MAR 17 ☘️- Happy belated St Patrick’s Day to those of you that still celebrate these things. I do, although I’ll admit that over the years I’d let these things come and go without much thought. I’m not doing that anymore.
RP related a story from the gym on Monday’s RP Show in which an old man in the change room, after wishing RP a good day, turned and said “and make sure you enjoy it!” We talked about how profound that statement was on the show. Enjoy it. Don’t let each day pass full of anger and negativity.
Look back on your last week, month, or year and what’s been happening. Is the first thought good things? Bad things? Out for a walk on Monday in the bright spring sun in the GTA Leanne and I were talking about Rod’s story. We were thinking about some of our favourite people and how we don’t really have any recollection of having negative conversations with them. No complaining, no negativity, and I’m sure there’s more than enough negative things going on in their lives. They just approach things from a positive place.
So, on Monday we woke up and *someone* had turned all of our liquids in the fridge green. That little bastard! 😤 We had a great laugh!
3. OFF TO YQR ✈️ – Tuesday morning I was onboard Air Canada Flight 1113 off to Regina and will be speaking at this Thursday’s Regina Rams fundraising banquet. I’m back Friday and won’t be staying for the CFL Combine which will be held in the Queen City this weekend.
Based on the several CFL types on my flight, though, you’d think I was headed for the Combine! It was a who’s who of CFL management and personnel headed to Regina for the annual player evaluation ahead of the draft. The flight had a quiet “vibe” to it.
4. SEATING CHART 💺- After tweeting about my flight while sitting on the tarmac at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, my DM’s started filling up with CFL fans wanting to know who I was talking to and who was sitting where. I won’t get into it too much other than to say Montreal Alouettes GM Danny Maciocia was sitting in economy while Toronto Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie was in first class. Hey, you win the Grey Cup and you get to sit at the front of the plane!
Danny, meanwhile, is hoping Davis Alexander can get him back into the world of priority boarding, free drinks and complimentary meals.
5. PLAYOFF RACE 🏒 – It’s on, in every league! On Monday the Calgary Flames playoff chances took a minor hit at the hands of the Toronto St Pats (love those white/green jerseys!). Look, for me that game was more about Toronto making a statement and getting up off the mat than it was about the Flames being extinguished. It wasn’t the best night for Calgary and their Calder/Vezina candidate Dustin Wolf but they’ll fight on. For Toronto, getting Auston Matthews scoring again is vital to any chance they have in the playoffs this spring and you could tell it was a relief for the Leafs’ captain to find the back of the net Monday.
6. SO YOU’RE SAYING THERE’S A CHANCE? 🙏 – As we wake up on Wednesday morning the final playoff spots in each conference are still very much up for grabs. I’ll tell you that all of the Canadiens, Rangers, Islanders, Blue Jackets, Blues, Flames, Canucks and Utah are all still very much in the mix. I’m not considering mathematical odds just purely my opinion. I have a feeling the Rangers will find a way to get in and pull their wiener out of the campfire.
7. JUNIOR HOCKEY 🥅 – Elliotte Friedman mentioned on his 32 Thoughts podcast that the NHL will be meeting with the CHL and other junior hockey leagues including the USHL in the coming weeks to talk about player development and the fluid situation involving the NCAA. He also mentioned that the NHL would prefer expansion talk to quiet down in the junior leagues too. It’s all such a crazy situation and I don’t think anyone really knows how this is all going to play out yet.
8. MARCH MADNESS 🏀 – Have you filled out a bracket yet? I am filling mine out today. I love this time of year.
If you’re first thought is to scoff at March Madness and turn your nose up let me direct you back up to point #2. Enjoy the little things for what they are. I don’t follow college basketball more than extremely casually throughout the year but I’m glued to my TV in March! It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s an event.
For the record I like Arizona and Duke a lot. I won the Enterprise Sports bracket challenge just a few years ago and am back in their pool again this year.
9. GOLF & TENNIS 🏆 – Way back when I started this column RP said to me “write whatever you want!” Gotta love hearing that! I sometimes feel like I write what I think I should sometimes and forget about some of the topics I really want to talk about. I feel like I’m getting better and better at it so I’m going to keep devoting space each week to the those things.
I woke up early Monday morning after a late night to catch the three hole aggregate playoff at The Players championship which saw Rory McIlroy knock off JJ Spaun in the playoff. It ended up being rather anticlimactic after a great week of golf. Rory has now won two tournaments before April for the first time in his career. Incredible that hasn’t happened yet. Rory coming into form creates a ton of intrigue ahead of the Masters in April, the next big event on the calendar.
Meanwhile down in Indian Wells, Brit Jack Draper completed a dream stretch at tennis paradise knocking off Hulgar Rune of Denmark to capture his first Masters 1000 title. The 23-year-old’s run included a dominant upset of two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semi. I worried about the game post-the big three, but it appears to be trending in the right direction.
10. RANDOMS 📸 – I do 90% of my work on my phone rather than a laptop and this past week I tried something new: setting my phone’s display to black-and-white. It’s said to help keep you off your phone because social media and games will be very unpleasant. Guess what? It worked! It was awful. I was hardly on my phone. The problem? The whole world started to look black-and-white and I also do need to be on my phone a bit. Needless to say I’ve turned the colour back on after a week. Be open to trying things and then either liking it or not…. I spent Sunday in front of the camera but not the kind I’m used to. Sunday was a three-hour photo shoot where I was put through hair & make-up, wardrobe with a designer, and then in front of the camera in several different looks and scenes. It was quite the experience but something that inwas surprised to find I really enjoyed. I may share some of the photos on social media in the coming weeks. The most interesting part was the strict fitness and nutrition regimen I was on for the four week lead up. The hardest part? Drinking 3L of water daily, then pushing it up over 4L in the final days before the shoot before cutting most all water 24 hours before. It gave the desired results and wasn’t even nearly as wild as people who do this professonally. They “water load” 2-4 gallons per day before going on an abrupt 24-48 hr water fast. I couldn’t!… The trailer for Happy Gilmore 2 has dropped and it has fans excited for the sequel to hit theatres this fall. Expect a ton of cameos and more laughs. I can’t wait… I rewarded myself with a NY-style cheese pizza after my photo shoot from a place called North of Brooklyn. Ordered it well done. It was heaven… No real NFL thoughts this week and that’s a reflection of where I’m at. Free agency has died down (other than the Bengals WR signings) and I’m in offseason mode until the draft… unless we hear Aaron Rogers or Russell Wilson news.
Until next week…
DD
