From Football to… Bobsledding?

2020 has been a rough year for professional sports. While many leagues managed to resume play, be it with “bubbles” or other methods designed to reduce the spread of Covid-19, some leagues, like the Canadian Football League, lacked the funds for such ambitious endeavours and had to cancel their season altogether. The move left a lot of CFL players out in the cold, so to speak. Some sought to play in other leagues, while some were content to take the season off and spend time with their families. Some, like Montreal Alouettes running back Shaquille Murray-Lawrence, decided to try something completely different.

“It was very nerve wracking,“ said Murray-Lawrence in an interview with the CBC. ”Once I got in the sled, it was just the longest 50 seconds of my life. I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I couldn’t breathe. But when it’s over, I was like ‘Hey, man, I think I could do that again.’”

Murray-Lawrence was talking, of course, about bobsledding. And he wasn’t the only footballer to pick up the sport. Along with Murray-Lawrence, Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back Jay Dearborn and B.C. Lions running back hopeful Kayden Johnson joined the Canadian national bobsled program after the CFL cancelled its 2020 season. The trio had been training at the ice house at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park, but recently moved to the sliding centre in Whistler, B.C., which was built for the 2010 Olympic Games. Bobsledding may seem like an odd choice for these three athletes, but they seem to be enjoying themselves, and may even continue in the sport once the CFL resumes play.

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Unusual Oscar Stories

With the recent controversy surrounding the upcoming Academy Awards we thought we’d share some unusual stories of the Oscars. Specifically, the award trophies themselves. Here are four unusual stories about the ways Oscar recipients have treated their prizes.

An unusual doorstop. Although his views would later change, early on in his career Charlie Chaplin didn’t think very fondly of the Academy Awards. In fact, his first Oscar received in 1929 had a special use in his home, as a doorstop.

Cracking open a cold one. Timothy Hutton and his sister once decided to throw a party, and to entertain their guests they decided to throw Timothy’s 1981 Best Supporting Actor Oscar into the fridge to greet guests as they went to grab a beer. It has lived in the fridge ever since.

Bigger eggs. Russell Crowe won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2000 for his role in Gladiator. Of all places to display it, Crowe chose to prominently place his Oscar in the chicken coop on his ranch in Australia. He claims the award helps the chickens lay bigger eggs.

Dressed in drag. John Lassiter received not one but two Academy Awards for his work with Pixar, the first for Tin Toy in 1989 and the second for Toy Story in 1996. Along the way he made a discovery: Barbie clothes fit the trophy almost perfectly.

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