Monday Morning Halfback: Tiger still commands our attention, and picking the perfect hockey panel

Jamie Ross is the Globe's Sports editor; Cathal Kelly is the national sports columnist. J.R.: Cathal, Tiger Woods lost his driver's licence for five years this week after a brief court appearance related to his latest car wreck. You could hear the presses screech to a halt at the outcome, and the news interrupted whichever war the TV anchors were droning about. Has there ever been an athlete with this tight a grip on our attention? C.K.: Jamie, the ability to command attention is now the ultimate power. If you can make people turn and look – for whatever reason, however debased – you occupy the highest perch in our culture. The source of people's continued fascination with Woods is that he has been the greatest athlete in the world, and then its most spectacularly failed athlete. Having once been so high, he has a chasm to fall through, and he's still going. Cathal Kelly: Tiger Woods's never-ending shadow will smother golf until he leaves the game It's also in the unique nature of golf that he can continue to appear at the biggest events well into his dotage. Once you've abandoned dignity – as most people are now happy to do in order to get hold of a little corner of celebrity – why stop? It's trite to say that the whole thing is sad. It's certainly emblematic of the era. Woods is our Marilyn Monroe. The story I've been thinking about this week is the sudden eruption of Canadian sports media news, which never happens in this country. I guess Sportsnet is playing hardball with Saturday Hockey Program™ regulars Elliotte Friedman and Kevin Bieksa, who are out of contract. They've already punted Kelly Hrudey and may be doing the same to Jennifer Botterill. That's 80 per cent of the intermission panel. Simon Houpt: With NHL season around the corner, Sportsnet's lineup has yet to take shape Now all the same people who loved to complain that Hockey Night in Canada needed changing are irate that they're changing Hockey Night in Canada (or whatever they're going to call it now that CBC isn't involved). What's your prescription for fixing our most treasured TV program that isn't Mr. Dressup? Would you keep it the same with tweaks? Start over entirely? If so, how? J.R.: Maybe I'm a cheap date but I didn't mind the last cast of the hockey panel. To me, Bieksa was the star of the show (minus the dress sneakers) and the good-humoured Friedman a decent foil. It's not like there is a farm system replete with stars in waiting. So unless Sportsnet has Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley ready to break their Inside the NBA on ESPN contracts and move north to cover hockey, or can convince hockey's chief influencer Paul Bissonnette to ditch TBS to be the centrepiece alongside (gasp) Wayne Gretzky, they'd probably be better off leaving things as they are for now. Which in the end could still be the case – otherwise, where would they go, Amazon? C.K.: Amazon would be the only other real option, I guess. Unless they wanted to strike out on their own. You mention O'Neal and Barkley. They're the gold standard. I don't watch a lot of this kind of thing, but when I do, what I want isn't expert analysis. If I wanted to be lectured in my down time, I'd go back to welding school. What I want is chemistry. Some actual banter. Uncanned laughter. You're not cracking the Enigma code here. It's sports. None of what you're talking about matters. You're stealing money. The decent thing to do is to seem like you're enjoying yourself. The Sportsnet iteration of HNIC could never manage that. Way too stiff. The hosts are all professional, but you got the impression they'd never talked to each other outside the studio. That's death to a modern panel show. Were I in charge I'd give the Ron MacLean spot to Bryan Hayes from TSN, make Friedman the co-pilot and let the two of them pick their co-hosts. The marching order isn't expertise. It's harmony. Find people you enjoy a friendly argument with. Make it Canada's most interesting bar conversation. Hey, why not put Kawhi Leonard on the panel? He should be back in Canada soon, and we know he loves a high-pay, low-effort side hustle. Just don't promise him a cut of the network. Andrew Willis: Pending reunion with Kawhi Leonard rewards Raptors, MLSE for rejecting absurd demands On a scale of 1-to-The-Benny-Hill-Show, how ridiculous do you find this whole shattering of the L.A. Clippers because they paid Leonard off the books? J.R.: The punishment against the club will probably make teams think twice before they get too creative in luring stars in the future. Five first-rounders is ... ouch. Especially in basketball. In baseball there are a million different ways to get it right, in hockey there are diamonds in the rough, but basketball is the sport of sure things. The US$30-million fine to owner Steve Ballmer will amount to a rounding error, and ditto for the US$700,000 Leonard will need to cough up. Did you ever get the chance to acquaint yourself with the notorious Uncle Dennis when Leonard did his first tour in Toronto? C.K.: Despite all my begging, Uncle Dennis never showed much interest in taking me on as a client. He's the kind of hardball artist we all need in our corner: 'Two-per-cent raise?? How about a 450-per-cent raise AND Mr. Kelly owns the Report on Business? That isn't for sale? How about The Report on Business Magazine? Still no? How much do you have in your wallet right now?' As far as I can tell, Uncle Dennis is the greatest agent of all time. He got his client the maximum allowable contract, and then got him the maximum unallowable as well. It's not his fault that the Clippers are even worse at money laundering than they are at basketball. What delights me about this is how Leonard gets to stroll away from a disaster he set in motion like Frank Drebin out front of the fireworks factory. This won't even cost him a week's salary. This result is great news for the Raptors. The issue with Leonard isn't talent. It's maintaining his interest. Getting booed in every arena in the NBA may wake him up. It might even make him angry. Angry Leonard is the Leonard Toronto wants. Okay – prediction time. There are three weeks left in the season. The Blue Jays held the final AL wild card spot briefly on the weekend and fell a game behind on Sunday. Are they making it? J.R.: Yes. Both teams have an easy schedule from here on in, so it'll be a matter of which one screws it up. The Jays have nine games at home. That gives Vlad Guerrero nine more tries for his first home run in Toronto. It's remarkable that they've stayed in it while their franchise player is having the worst season of his career. Which means they'll make it and Guerrero will go off in the postseason. All of this must be torture for the die hards, who came into the season expecting a trip back to the World Series, spent most of the season throwing darts at the team photo, and are once again hanging off every pitch as the race for the playoffs tightens. C.K.: Damn. I was going to say yes. So now I have to say no. Though I don't actually believe it, I'm going to guess the back end falls off the bullpen. They start blowing leads late. Cleveland (or maybe Texas) pips them at the wire. However it turns out, you have to give the Jays credit. They may not be good, but they're interesting.