{"id":56358,"date":"2026-08-24T10:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T10:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/56358\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T10:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T10:26:09","slug":"monday-morning-halfback-the-pwhls-missing-trophy-could-felix-auger-aliassime-win-the-u-s-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/56358\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Halfback: The PWHL\u2019s missing trophy; could F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime win the U.S. Open?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Marie-Philip Poulin celebrated the Montreal Victoire’s Walter Cup win in May. On Friday, the PWHL said the replica of the trophy that teams are issued to keep after winning was lost while en route to Lethbridge, Alta.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Jamie Ross is the Sports editor at the Globe; Cathal Kelly is the national sports columnist<\/p>\n

J.R.: Cathal, with all the recent fuss around Mark Walter\u2019s disappearing sports empire, his ownership of the PWHL<\/a> got nary a mention until Friday, when the league\u2019s championship trophy (named after Walter himself) went missing<\/a>. What\u2019s sterling silver going for these days? <\/p>\n

C.K.: In a nice metaphor about our shaky confederation, the trophy went missing somewhere between here and Lethbridge. <\/p>\n

The reason this trifle of a story has made international news is it\u2019s subtext: cash-strapped sports league. That\u2019s a real unicorn these days. As the AP noted, \u201cunlike the NHL,\u201d the PWHL doesn\u2019t have a dedicated trophy caddy. Because what respectable sports organization doesn\u2019t employ someone full-time to bodyguard a piece of tin like it\u2019s the Rosetta Stone?<\/p>\n

Good for the PWHL for not treating its baubles like holy relics. As long as they didn\u2019t ship it Canada Post. For that, there would be no excuse. <\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Suspended tennis star Nick Kyrgios takes another shot at redemption<\/a><\/p>\n

Re: Walter\u2019s sports empire, this is one of those, \u2018Why didn\u2019t I think of that?\u2019 scenarios. Apparently, you don\u2019t need to have any money to buy the Los Angeles Lakers, and the L.A. Dodgers, and Chelsea Football Club and a chunk of the PWHL. All you actually need is a bunch of insurance companies willing to give you the money to buy those things, and \u2013 presto! \u2013 you\u2019re Jack Kent Cooke. <\/p>\n

Watching Walter\u2019s empire fall apart \u2013 he\u2019s just sold the Lakers, and is trying to shed enough of the rest to get himself right with U.S. regulators \u2013 is more proof that people in sports aren\u2019t smart. They\u2019ve just figured out new ways to run old cons. <\/p>\n

One thing in this mess jumps out of at me \u2013 a \u201ckey man\u201d clause in Shohei Ohtani\u2019s contract. If Walter leaves the Dodgers (and it seems he must), Ohtani can opt out of the biggest deal in baseball history. And right in time for next year\u2019s lockout.<\/p>\n

Were you Ohtani, would you leave? And if you went, would it be to go to \u2026 I can\u2019t even bring myself to say it.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Could fallout from Mark Walter’s team ownership sell-off end with Shohei Ohtani leaving the team and signing with the New York Yankees?David Zalubowski\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

J.R.: *Cues The Imperial March*. Everyone knows there are only two teams in baseball, leaving Ohtani no choice but to sign with the Yankees. But not before first using the Blue Jays as a decoy.<\/p>\n

Think of the witty Cathal Kelly columns readers could expect. You\u2019d cherry pick all the good stuff and then leave me and MMHB to sift through pebbles in the dirt, but I am getting ahead of myself. <\/p>\n

There is still some fruit on the tree this week. How about tennis? The U.S. Open is fast approaching, and the men will see the return of Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, just in time for Jannik Sinner to bow out<\/a>. Should they just skip the whole thing on the men\u2019s side and give Alcaraz the trophy? <\/p>\n

C.K.: I think you\u2019re right about the Yankees, as well as the Jays. Ohtani has proved he is the greatest human cash generator in sport. Whatever you pay him will be recouped and more. If he had a do-over, he\u2019d be a US$100-million-a-year man. I realize the guy has fewer gambling debts to pay off, but it\u2019d be hard to turn down that kind of money, wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

And you know who\u2019s going to win the U.S. Open? F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s his best surface. Alcaraz has been out four months. Sinner\u2019s gone. The No. 1 seed, Alexander Zverev, won his first major at the French, so he won\u2019t be desperate. That\u2019s the top tier accounted for. <\/p>\n

Auger-Aliassime is 26, which seems young until you compare him to Alcaraz (23) and Sinner (25). There will never be more or greater opportunity than right now. Maybe he just needs to start hearing it. Better yet, to start believing it. <\/p>\n

Is this a selfish prediction? Absolutely. It\u2019s not so much that I think he will win as I want him to win. I\u2019m being foolish enough to root for an outcome. <\/p>\n

I can\u2019t think of anyone who makes a better global brand ambassador for Canada than Auger-Aliassime \u2013 just a lovely, lovely guy. Imagine if he supercharges that image by winning the U.S. (!) Open just as we go to (trade) war with America<\/a>? <\/p>\n

It would be Canada\u2019s sports story of the decade, no?<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

If F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime could win the U.S. Open during these testy times in Canada-U.S. trade relations, it would be the sports story of the decade, Cathal Kelly writes.Emilee Chinn\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

J.R.: Is this you priming the pump for a trip to New York next month? Given that importing menswear will be a pricey proposition if it lands on Carney\u2019s retaliatory tariff list, I can see you making a double-barreled trip out of it and smuggling a few suits from Bloomingdale\u2019s back across the border upon return. <\/p>\n

As for Auger-Aliassime, I\u2019ll take your word that he\u2019s a lovely guy but I still think a well-rested \u2013 if rusty \u2013 Alcaraz is a tough out, especially this late in the season. <\/p>\n

Keeping things moving here, we\u2019re coming up on an new NFL season. Did you catch the news that The Athletic, the titanic sports media entity owned by the New York Times, could be getting into bed with the league<\/a>? The outlet also had some promo of<\/a> its stories on the NBA league website. Should we pour one out for the idea of independent sports news coverage? <\/p>\n

C.K.: Bloomingdale\u2019s? That\u2019s the cruellest thing you\u2019ve ever said to me. They have a perfectly serviceable Drake\u2019s on Canal St. <\/p>\n

Independent sports coverage went the way of the dodo a decade or more ago, but nobody noticed. Once Sports Illustrated collapsed and ESPN stepped up to take its place, it was over. You can\u2019t pay to broadcast the games and do truly independent journalism on the games. There\u2019s no wall high enough to keep that church and that state apart. <\/p>\n

The beauty of this system is that there is no actual fix. No one need say anything to anybody else. Everyone just understands the deal. You can go this far, but no further. <\/p>\n

Every once in a while, circumstance tosses the journos a warm body to shred. The important thing is to prevent them from following the money up to the top. <\/p>\n

This shift didn\u2019t register for the first while because the corporate types were cowed by the glamour of old-timey journalism. So a League of Denial could still slip through. But that\u2019s ending now. <\/p>\n

The fact that the New York Times \u2013 from a remove, but the Times nonetheless \u2013 is considering polishing the NFL\u2019s brass is indicative of how far we\u2019ve fallen. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure there ever was a golden era of sports reporting. Sportswriting, sure. But sports reporting? One or another section of the media has always been in bed with the teams. Which suits me fine. There\u2019s no business where power is more easily disturbed by the written word. It\u2019s duck hunting with a bazooka. <\/p>\n

Pull back the curtain for me. How often do you hear it from some unhappy subject of a Globe sports story?<\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Will uncomplimentary coverage of the WNBA cost you your seat in the Toronto Tempo\u2019s press box?<\/a><\/p>\n

J.R.: It\u2019s almost never the subject of the coverage you hear from but someone who represents them. I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s common, but it does happen. Most people you encounter are total pros. Rarely, you\u2019ll get a media relations person who behaves as if they are running the Department of War, making demands over some coverage they disagree with. <\/p>\n

With readers, it\u2019s usually much more level-headed and sincere. When I get those queries I do my best to find time to send them a likewise response. <\/p>\n

Then there are the expletive-filled rants that cannot be reprinted here that I save in my own personal digital Wall of Fame. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve got a few of those. <\/p>\n

Speaking of Walls of Shame, I can\u2019t not mention the time, years ago, some Blue Jays players put your picture up in a players-only area of the clubhouse with a caption \u201cDo not talk to this reporter.\u201d It was only thanks to a mole on the team staff that we even found out about that one. <\/p>\n

C.K.: So many angry rants, but I keep only a few of them close to my heart (i.e. in a designated folder or \u2013 in exceedingly rare cases \u2013 framed around the house. That includes the Donaldson\/Bautista Wanted poster). <\/p>\n

I am daily aware that we work from an exalted position \u2013 able to comment on what\u2019s going on without need of fear or favour. <\/p>\n

Like legendary Star sports columnist Dave Perkins loved to say after a big event or a night out on the road \u2013 \u2018It\u2019s good to be us.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Marie-Philip Poulin celebrated the Montreal Victoire’s Walter Cup win in May. On Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1457,1443,1458,1406,1435,1459,425,1434,1448,1449,1445,1436,1433,1453,1455,1452,1447,244,1442,1470,1437,1438,763,1444,681,543,1460,1440,1465,1466,1468,1463,1467,1461,1464,1439,986,1451,32,1450,1462,1291,1454,1456,1446,1441,783,1469],"class_list":["post-56358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-felix-auger-aliassime","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-felix-auger-aliassime","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}