"A few minutes after hearing he'd won the Lou Marsh Award as Canada's athlete of the year, Joey Votto was second-guessing the committee that handed him the hardware.

"It almost would have been better if you'd given it to the national hockey team," Votto was saying over the line from his off-season home in Sarasota, Fla. "I'm really honoured to win this considering they won that gold medal, and Sid (Crosby) scored that goal. I was watching that game. I went bonkers, and I'm not even a hockey fan.""