Jonathan Ma

"I’ll remember it for the rest of my life” I'm unlocking today's column on Life After Game 7 for the Blue Jays so it's free for all to read These guys poured their hearts out, talking about the emotions stirred by that game. Great to tell their story! nytimes.com/athletic/70730…

A moment. Immortalized. COMING SOON: A statue to commemorate our back-to-back champs 🏆👀

Macclesfield defender Sam Heathcote is a teacher and was back in school on Monday, just two days after beating Crystal Palace in the FA Cup's greatest upset 😲 He quite rightly received a hero's reception 👏

The time has come, I am retiring from tennis. This is a moment you know will come one day, but somehow you never feel ready for it. This is as ready as I will ever be. Tennis has been my love and obsession for most of my life. I have been the luckiest person to get to live out and fulfill my dreams. I got to show up every day and focus on just getting better, seeing where that will take me, and playing a game I was introduced to at 8 years old by complete luck. Somehow, this became my entire obsession and childhood, and then became my profession and life. I am thankful for the incredible fans I got to compete and practice in front of all over the world. They got to see me shining at my brightest and managing the hardest of moments on the court. They got to see me grow up. Thank you to each and every one who stopped, even for a moment, to watch and support me. Thank you to my coaches and team, who took time away from their families and homes to be on the road with me as I pursue my dream and goals. I am grateful for your guidance and teachings. Thank you to the ATP tour, the ITF, and all the Grand Slams. I dreamt of playing at your great tournaments, and I got to have those amazing experiences surrounded by great people, trying their best for the beautiful game of tennis. Thank you to all my colleagues and opponents. I looked up to you growing up, I looked up to you throughout my career, and I will continue to look up to you as a fan. I became the best player I could be, I am a better person, and I learned a lot of life’s most important lessons thanks to the challenges of competing with you all week in and week out for more than 2 decades. Thank you to Canada. My family and I came over more than 30 years ago. Thanks to you, I pursued tennis, thanks to you, it changed my family's life, and I enjoyed every moment of the opportunity to represent you all around the world. Mom, Dad, Jelena, and Momir, I am so incredibly thankful that you all put aside your lives at many moments for me to have a chance to chase a dream. It was only possible of becoming a reality thanks to you. None of this is possible without the consistent effort and emotional support you put into my dreams. As lucky as I am to have found tennis, it pales in comparison to how lucky I am to have you as my parents, sister, and brother. I hope to make my wife and son proud every day and I hope I can be the kind of family for them as mine was for me. A big part of my tennis journey has been the incredible people I have been fortunate to meet all over the world. On many occasions, they have been wonderful mentors who have given me the time and guidance to figure out the rest of my life. I am thankful to them for making the burden of many of my life’s most important questions a little easier. Their care and time have made this process much clearer and inspiring. What’s next? I won’t be slowing down. There is so much more life to live, and I am as motivated and hungry as I was in 2011, when I broke through on tour. I will put the same effort and intensity into the next thing. If I can pursue the same excellence as I did with my tennis, just trying to be better every day, and let’s see where it takes me.

Someone recreated “Lose Yourself” by stitching together 187 random movie clips to form the lyrics.

I’ve lived a life with God and lived a life without God. Life with God is better 10 times out of 10.

“Just about everything they said wouldn’t happen is now happening.” My words in @TheAtlantic. This is what happens when legislators stop doing their jobs. No real scrutiny, no consequence-testing. Just a unanimous rush to outdo one another in self-congratulatory displays of moral superiority, while dismissing even the politest concerns. And now, reality arrives. theatlantic.com/international/…

@IAmClintMurphy Wow Clint this is amazing!!!

30 Years Ago, I spent my first Christmas with the girl of my dreams. Today, I gave her a gift of memories - I wrote her a song, recorded it with AI and shared 30 years of our life. From then, until now, she's always been the one. Baby, Baby, I Love You.

Merry Christmas everyone. But more than that I hope you have a Blessed Christmas. And if you want to know what that means there’s probably not a better source than Linus. He explained it to Charlie Brown almost 60 years ago in a Christmas Special that has become an American favorite. In 1965 it was extremely daring to have Linus recite from the Bible on prime time television. It probably wouldn’t even happen today and the network executives did not want it as part of the show then. But Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts, was a strong Christian man and he wouldn’t back down. Schultz’s conviction resulted not only in Charlie Brown learning the true meaning of Christmas but in Luke Chapter 2 being heard by millions of people every year at Christmas time.

For more than 20 years I put my hands up in celebration on the gridiron. Now, I put my hands up to the One that gave me all my talents and abilities — the King of my life, Jesus Christ. I’ve never claimed to be perfect, but my aim is for the direction of my life to honor Christ and I pray my faith increases. So I do want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, whether you’re solo, with family, or friends, and if you haven’t done so, put your faith in Him who can save, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Tom Brady explains his mental edge and why practice (not gameday) creates separation. "There was a part of me that was a psychopath out there. I was extremely hypercompetitive every day. I didn't feel like let's get to Sunday and now it's the time...Every day is the time to give your best, even in practice." Every day your standards are either reinforced or lowered by how you treat practice. You don’t flip a switch into excellence. You rehearse it daily. 📹: Impaulsive Podcast

BC’s ports remain open to criminals. City of Delta report says CBSA checks less than 1% of container traffic coming through regional ports. I pressed Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon on this. @GlobalBC #cdnpoli

Our city has been experiencing periods of heavy rain and more is expected. We are continuing to closely monitor, take proactive action, and respond to local conditions. Our City staff have been out early and working hard, checking pump stations, lowering water levels, and clearing debris to make sure our drainage system is ready for the next round of rain. With all of systems running at optimal levels, residents can be confident that we’re taking every proactive step to protect and keep our community safe. The following trail areas around the Coquitlam River remain closed: ⛔ Under Red Bridge ⛔ Under Kingsway Bridge - East side: trail from Lions Park to Maple Trail - West side: trail from Davies St to Kingsway Ave ⛔ Patricia Footbridge - Small section on the NE trail portion ⛔ Small section of PoCo trail north of the back of Shaughnessy Dog Park Drive with caution, avoid fast-moving waterways, and keep catch basins clear of debris. Rain is expected to ease this afternoon. Notice a City service issue? Report via: 💻 portcoquitlam.ca/report 📱 Sort & Report App 📞 604.927.3111

This is where youth sports often get it backwards. Kids don’t need more sport-specific training. They need more athletic development. Somewhere along the way, we convinced ourselves that earlier specialization meant better outcomes. More reps of the same skills. More drills. More structure. More pressure. But strong, fast, coordinated, resilient athletes are not built by narrowing movement early. They’re built by expanding it. Before worrying about a child’s shooting form, throwing mechanics, or position-specific skills, we should be asking: Can they run, jump, stop, and change direction? Can they balance, rotate, climb, crawl, and fall safely? Can they move with rhythm, coordination, and confidence? Athletic development is the foundation that sport skills are built on—not the other way around. Speed, strength, power, and durability don’t magically appear because a kid played one sport year-round. They come from movement variety, free play, and exposure to different physical challenges across multiple planes and environments. When we skip this phase and rush into specialization, we don’t create better athletes—we create fragile ones. Develop the athlete first. Then layer the sport on top. #LTAD

I've been reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and I just came across a paragraph that hit me harder than I expected.

So about last night. My take on the Hughes trade and a lot of you will NOT like it. #Canucks

Random thoughts on the Quinn Hughes trade :

Quinn Hughes trade thoughts: 1) Van had to move now. This was going to drag down the season. All signs pointed to him leaving. We all knew it. Best time to get a big package. The Wild get Hughes for over a season and a half. They can start talking contract now. They can't officially ink him until July 1st. Unless the Hughes Corporation forces another trade (the 1974 banger "Rock The Boat" was sung by Hues Corporation) Minnesota is the only team that offer Hughes dying 8 year deal with all the juicy front loading as they goes away next September with new CBA. Like his brothers in New Jersey, Quinn is in a high tax state in Minnesota. We'll see if that matters. 2) Guerin and Rutherford are good trading partners. Both alphas who swing from the heels. Don't try to win a trade. Make a deal. Guerin got a "in his prime" superstar but gave Van a possible haul. No one was taken advantage of. Who knows? Maybe Sherwood or Kane or both end up in Minnesota! (Could use them both on 3rd or 4th line) 4) Zeev Buium. 31 games into his career. 3-11-14 Quinn Hughes first 31 NHL games: 2-22-24. Zeev is a gigantic talent and a winner. U18 Gold, Two U20 World Junior Gold, World Championship Gold. All in successive years (2023-2025)! NCAA Champion with Denver. Should have won a Hobey. Big time talent and player. He rises to the occasion in big moments. If he develops high end professional work habits with his big game talent he can be a Hughes peer in terms of production or at least very close. 5) Marco Rossi is good. He can be a 30 goal, point per game guy with good wingers. Ideally a perfect #2 center but he is a confident player who took a bridge deal because he sees himself as more than the Wild did. (Part of that was Wild cap mgmt). Those players play with something to prove. He's a UFA in 2029. 6) Liam Ohgren turns 22 in January. A first rounder and looks the part. He's scored at every level except the NHL. Start him on 3rd line, trade Sherwood (might get late first from good team, more likely a 2nd) and Kane. Then give Ohgren Top 6 minutes to see what you got. Talent and measurables are not enough in the NHL. You need to be tough, confident and smart. 7) The 1st rounder for Van will likely be 27-30 overall for Van. Decent. Their own pick should be a Top 3. 8) The Wild were already a Top 10 NHL team. This makes them a Top 3 team. They have 3 stars now in Kaprizov, Boldy, and Hughes. And Faber is close. GMs know they need stars. They are hard to get. Is Minnesota A) Colorado, B) Dallas or (With Barkov and Tkachuk) C) Florida? Not yet. But they are closer and good as every other team in the NHL. None of those (COL, DAL, or FLA) teams have a 1st rounder next summer. But they, like Minnesota, have one in 2027 to deal. (Florida not another one until 2028. But two 2's next summer.) 9) This trade all but locks up the Top 3 in the Central which means either the Avalanche, Stars, or Wild will see their season end in April with a first round playoff exit. An electric NHL season got even more voltage with two trades on Friday. Let's go.

I’ll try to make this as crystal clear as possible, because much of the strength and conditioning field still views resistance training through a very narrow lens—a weight room filled with barbells and dumbbells. I’ve read the research. I’ve seen the papers. Resistance training for pre-adolescent children consistently shows positive outcomes across the board. That part isn’t controversial anymore. Where the confusion lies is what actually counts as resistance training for kids. In our industry, “resistance training” has become almost synonymous with external load. And to be clear—external loading through dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, bands, and medicine balls is absolutely safe and beneficial when properly coached. But resistance training does not begin and end there. Sprinting, jumping, grappling, tackling and blocking, climbing, crawling, carrying, throwing, parkour, gymnastics, and Ninja-style activities are all legitimate, highly effective forms of resistance training. These activities challenge force production, absorption, coordination, and control—often at levels far more complex than a single-plane lift. More importantly, they’re fun, engaging, and developmentally appropriate. They expose kids to resistance through their own body weight, gravity, momentum, and interaction with the environment—across multiple planes of motion and constantly changing contexts. If the goal is to build strong, resilient, adaptable athletes, then resistance training for children must be viewed as a movement experience, not just a loading strategy.