(Sung to the tune of The Hockey Song by Stompin' Tom Connors)
They're goin' nowhere, we're off the air, no hockey on tonight.
Tension grows, they've come to blows, no settlement in sight.
It all looks bleak, when Bettman speaks, it really is insane.
The fans all roar, we can't take no more, where's our good ol' Hockey Game?
(Chorus)
Oh! The good ol' Hockey Game, is going down the drain.
And it really is a shame, there's no good ol' Hockey Game.
Second round… of negotiations…
The lawyers clash, over terms and cash, as they go down to the wire.
The fingers wag as the meetings lag, while the CBA expires.
The reporters scrum, the statement comes, everyone's to blame.
Each side wants more, owners lock the door, to the good ol' Hockey Game.
(Chorus)
Oh! The good ol' Hockey Game, is going down the drain.
And it really is a shame, there's no good ol' Hockey Game.
Third Round. Last chance to save the season!
Oh take me where the game is fair, and the fans can cheer and shout.
Where they play all night, no lawyers in sight, they can never lock us out.
Fire Bettman's ass, and Fehr's alas, they're both completely lame.
Let's drop the puck, don't let them f**k with our good ol' Hockey Game
(Chorus x3)
Oh! The good ol' Hockey Game, is going down the drain.
And it really is a shame, there's no good ol' Hockey Game.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
This is Not a Resolution
Nope, not posting a New Year's resolution. Absolutely not.
Well, maybe, kinda.
Marking the Earth's full orbit of the sun in the frigid month of January seems a reasonable starting point to embark on new endeavours, or revisit some abandoned ones. Therefore, am I seated at my desk rebooting an old blog with hopes that it will become a useful and entertaining creative outlet.
2011 is in the books, and frankly, good riddance. From a personal standpoint, and for friends and family, it was a difficult year. That is not to say the coming year will be any easier, but at least for the moment we can imagine the turning of the calendar to represent a clean slate.
I believe that psychologically, the metaphor is a healthy one. Over time we begin to realize that our victories are just as fleeting as our failures. In both cases, when the dust settles we must start anew, hopefully carrying forward all of the lessons learned from those experiences.
Perhaps the most important lesson derived from any experience is to keep goals in sight, but expectations reasonable. Those proclamations of radical lifestyle change made at 12:01 AM, 2012, will probably be slapped down by 12:01 AM the following day. Then what?
When browsing through sound clips to put together for a New Year's eve broadcast at CJIM, I came across a funny but also profound observation from the 90's sitcom 3rd Rock From The Sun. In case you didn't already know, the show centred around a group aliens sent to Earth disguised as humans to study our culture. Google it, and you'll get the picture. The scene I came across contained a quote from the alien character Dick, who observed:
"I don't understand this whole hullabaloo about New Years. It's so arbitrary, the Earth makes one orbit around the sun right back to this random point, I mean the man who came up with this calendar thought the Earth was flat. Do you really want to be on his team?"
I suppose the underlying message is that really any day can mark a New Year. That's good news for any one of us whose January 2nd gym membership is a financial liability by the 2nd of March. Beyond that, it's useful to know that we can stumble along the way to self-improvement knowing that the calendar has no mystical power over us, other than that to which we ascribe.
So Happy New Year, whichever year your are starting, and whenever you choose to start it. I wish you health and good fortune, surely something we can hope for at any random point as we orbit the sun.
Well, maybe, kinda.
Marking the Earth's full orbit of the sun in the frigid month of January seems a reasonable starting point to embark on new endeavours, or revisit some abandoned ones. Therefore, am I seated at my desk rebooting an old blog with hopes that it will become a useful and entertaining creative outlet.
2011 is in the books, and frankly, good riddance. From a personal standpoint, and for friends and family, it was a difficult year. That is not to say the coming year will be any easier, but at least for the moment we can imagine the turning of the calendar to represent a clean slate.
I believe that psychologically, the metaphor is a healthy one. Over time we begin to realize that our victories are just as fleeting as our failures. In both cases, when the dust settles we must start anew, hopefully carrying forward all of the lessons learned from those experiences.
Perhaps the most important lesson derived from any experience is to keep goals in sight, but expectations reasonable. Those proclamations of radical lifestyle change made at 12:01 AM, 2012, will probably be slapped down by 12:01 AM the following day. Then what?
When browsing through sound clips to put together for a New Year's eve broadcast at CJIM, I came across a funny but also profound observation from the 90's sitcom 3rd Rock From The Sun. In case you didn't already know, the show centred around a group aliens sent to Earth disguised as humans to study our culture. Google it, and you'll get the picture. The scene I came across contained a quote from the alien character Dick, who observed:
"I don't understand this whole hullabaloo about New Years. It's so arbitrary, the Earth makes one orbit around the sun right back to this random point, I mean the man who came up with this calendar thought the Earth was flat. Do you really want to be on his team?"
I suppose the underlying message is that really any day can mark a New Year. That's good news for any one of us whose January 2nd gym membership is a financial liability by the 2nd of March. Beyond that, it's useful to know that we can stumble along the way to self-improvement knowing that the calendar has no mystical power over us, other than that to which we ascribe.
So Happy New Year, whichever year your are starting, and whenever you choose to start it. I wish you health and good fortune, surely something we can hope for at any random point as we orbit the sun.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Highways to Hell
As a kid, I had this poster in my room that depicted the crash of a steam powered train. The engine had smashed through the upper level of the Montparnasse train station in Paris in 1895. Written in small letters in the white space beside the image were the words:
"Oh, shit."
I always thought this poster was hilarious. The words seemed to perfectly capture what must have gone through the minds of those standing at street level, scratching their heads, trying to figure out what went wrong.
What the poster didn't tell you is that a young woman at street level was killed in the accident. Knowing this, the image seems much less amusing.
Fast forward to Montreal 2011 and a repeat performance of the "Oh, shit" poster, complete with orange vested construction workers standing in the Ville Marie tunnel, seemingly scratching their heads, trying to figure out why a 15-metre-wide concrete beam crashed onto the eastbound lanes of the highway.
This picture isn't that funny either. In fact this situation has gone far beyond a joke. The decrepit state of Montreal's highway infrastructure is only slightly less disturbing than the apparent gaping holes in Transport Quebec's inspection system.
The latter is a process cloaked in secrecy, which constantly assures us our roads are safe and yet periodically issues emergency road closures after suddenly discovering an undisclosed structural issue.
If there is any good news in this latest incident, it is that no one was killed. Had this occurred during rush hour, or at any time when the usually busy Ville-Marie expressway was packed with cars or a tour bus, and this would surely have been the blackest day in Montreal's history.
The collapse of the De la Concorde overpass in 2006 that claimed the lives of five people should have been enough for the Quebec government to do more than reassess the state of the province's infrastructure. It should have forced the complete overhaul of its inspection process. Clearly, that system is as culpable as the shoddy work of the company contracted to build the overpass.
What is really needed is an outside authority to probe the state of the province's construction industry and inspection process. In much the same way Montreal Police are investigated periodically by the SQ, there needs to be an external body, with no stake in the process, enlisted to investigate these failures without bias. In an ideal world, that would be the Federal Government. Considering the fact that a good chunk of the province's infrastructure funding has come from Ottawa in recent years, one would think they would want to know how and where their money is being spent.
Unfortunately, the politics of this backward province would intervene. So we are left with politicians from the municipal to provincial level finger-pointing at one-another whilst Transport Quebec lurks in the shadows, revealing nothing to the citizens who literally take their lives in their hands every day they commute to work. Oh, and let's not forget the massive chunk of our income that is siphoned off to help fund this death-defying circus act.
I think the only way to make some progress would be to round up all of those inspectors and the overpaid, entitled bureaucrats and force them to resolve the infrastructure issues while sitting on a stalled bus on a section of the Turcot interchange. Something tells me they'd come up with a plan real quick.
As entertaining as that image may be, it's just part of the ongoing joke that's just not funny anymore. One has to wonder how many lives will be lost before the government get's serious about this issue. Our reputation internationally is crumbling as fast as the roadways we nervously navigate. The tragic death or severe injury of a foreign national as a direct result of this city's decaying highways would not only undermine a valuable tourist industry it would likely expose the pathetic state of the province's corrupt and incompetent administration to the world.
Sadly, this may be the only way that bureaucrats and our elected officials can be held accountable.
Something has to happen soon, before we find ourselves looking at yet another slab of dislodged concrete and muttering...
"Oh, shit."
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The Great Divide
Summing up the current U.S. Government debt crisis in a nutshell is no easy task, but I'll try. As of August 2nd, the American government will run out of operating cash. That is, dollars paid out to those receiving Social Security, Medicaid and various other bills the nation needs to pay in order to function. No, the government can't just print more money, even though that is one of their functions. That explanation is complicated and too lengthy to discuss here. So to pay the bills, the state has to do what most of us plebes do when faced with a need for spending cash: get a second job. No, no, no that would be silly...besides who would be dumb enough to hire them anyway? What the government needs to do is borrow more money. The problem is, there is a set limit they are allowed to borrow, a.k.a. the debt ceiling. If this ceiling is not raised to accommodate the need for extra cash, the government will be in default. Its current credit rating would be downgraded and the state would be forced to pay higher interest on current loans (an estimated $100 billion). This cost more than likely will get passed on to taxpayers. Given the largess of the American economy, the effects of a default could lead to yet another worldwide recession.
So why hasn't this issue been resolved? The simple answer is politics.
Not the kind of politics that involve discussion and debate to further the good of the electorate. The kind of politics inhabited by self-aggrandizing, power-hungry, opportunistic, bottom-feeding morons who are more concerned about improving their standing in Washington than their constituents. You know, the ones who are struggling to pay their rent as well as the bloated salaries of their representatives.
The current stalemate in the American capital is fast-becoming the most shameless display of ideological tripe in American history.
The main players, Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Congressional House Speaker John Boehner. Both have offered competing plans for dealing with the debt crisis. Obama's plan calls for an immediate increase in the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion (the current ceiling is $14.294 trillion, which they already hit). Boehner's plan calls for a short-term increase, followed by another increase in 2012. Both plans call for deep cuts in federal spending, but Obama's plan calls for the closing of tax loopholes for large corporations and the country's wealthy. Naturally Boehner and the rest of the Republican gazillionaires want no part of this.
Obama sees this crisis as an opportunity to call upon America's richest individuals to cough up more of their share of the country's operating costs. Boehmer sees this crisis as a way to slash government social programs and also ressurrect this already controversial issue smack-dab in the middle of the next presidential election.
In either case, both parties acknowledge that the debt ceiling must be raised, both agree that this must accompany some spending cuts. There is actually common ground.
But that term has become an aphorism in American politics. The ideological divide in the United States has become so stark it now threatens self-destruction. This intellectual crevasse has been so exploited and overblown by ratings-crazed media outlets and political spin-masters that any notion of giving and inch risks becoming a political pariah, rendering thoughtful and responsible decision-making virtually impossible. Intelligent and complex solutions are reduced to catch-phrases and inanely oversimplified mantras used by politicians to clobber one-another senselessly at election time.
The truth is, ideology is really just smoke-and-mirrors technique to disguise the fact that this is all about power. This crazed obsession with owning the top position in Washington supersedes the real needs and desires of the populous who put these yahoos there to begin with. Now they are playing an expensive game of chicken with the livelihoods of the nation's hard-working and struggling citizens at stake.
It is beyond appalling. No wonder voter turnout is so dismal in the U.S.
The real dirty truth the media and politicians don't want you to know is that you can be conservative in some aspects of you life and you can also be liberal. It's called free-thinking, something the stuffed-suits in government blather about protecting and then try to stifle when they come sucking up for your vote.
The long and the short of this crisis is that no matter what happens, nobody will win. The electorate will have been further disenfranchised from a system that claims to protect their interests. Ultimately the cost of this political pissing contest will come directly out of their wallets.
This is typical of most political discourse these days, wherein scoring points in the polls has become the most valuable of currencies. It discards the process of informed, thoughtful and reasonable debate in favour of fast-food solutions, extremely palatable but exceedingly unhealthy. It rewards combative, uncompromising positions in a system that simply cannot function without some degree of accommodation and reason.
The great divide in America is not ideological. Ideology goes out the window fairly quickly when you are struggling to pay the mortgage, or the rent, or for a bowl of Kraft Dinner. The great divide is between politicians and the citizens they pledge to serve and not surprisingly that gap is widening by the minute.
And this is what they call the beacon of democracy?
So why hasn't this issue been resolved? The simple answer is politics.
Not the kind of politics that involve discussion and debate to further the good of the electorate. The kind of politics inhabited by self-aggrandizing, power-hungry, opportunistic, bottom-feeding morons who are more concerned about improving their standing in Washington than their constituents. You know, the ones who are struggling to pay their rent as well as the bloated salaries of their representatives.
The current stalemate in the American capital is fast-becoming the most shameless display of ideological tripe in American history.
The main players, Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Congressional House Speaker John Boehner. Both have offered competing plans for dealing with the debt crisis. Obama's plan calls for an immediate increase in the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion (the current ceiling is $14.294 trillion, which they already hit). Boehner's plan calls for a short-term increase, followed by another increase in 2012. Both plans call for deep cuts in federal spending, but Obama's plan calls for the closing of tax loopholes for large corporations and the country's wealthy. Naturally Boehner and the rest of the Republican gazillionaires want no part of this.
Obama sees this crisis as an opportunity to call upon America's richest individuals to cough up more of their share of the country's operating costs. Boehmer sees this crisis as a way to slash government social programs and also ressurrect this already controversial issue smack-dab in the middle of the next presidential election.
In either case, both parties acknowledge that the debt ceiling must be raised, both agree that this must accompany some spending cuts. There is actually common ground.
But that term has become an aphorism in American politics. The ideological divide in the United States has become so stark it now threatens self-destruction. This intellectual crevasse has been so exploited and overblown by ratings-crazed media outlets and political spin-masters that any notion of giving and inch risks becoming a political pariah, rendering thoughtful and responsible decision-making virtually impossible. Intelligent and complex solutions are reduced to catch-phrases and inanely oversimplified mantras used by politicians to clobber one-another senselessly at election time.
The truth is, ideology is really just smoke-and-mirrors technique to disguise the fact that this is all about power. This crazed obsession with owning the top position in Washington supersedes the real needs and desires of the populous who put these yahoos there to begin with. Now they are playing an expensive game of chicken with the livelihoods of the nation's hard-working and struggling citizens at stake.
It is beyond appalling. No wonder voter turnout is so dismal in the U.S.
The real dirty truth the media and politicians don't want you to know is that you can be conservative in some aspects of you life and you can also be liberal. It's called free-thinking, something the stuffed-suits in government blather about protecting and then try to stifle when they come sucking up for your vote.
The long and the short of this crisis is that no matter what happens, nobody will win. The electorate will have been further disenfranchised from a system that claims to protect their interests. Ultimately the cost of this political pissing contest will come directly out of their wallets.
This is typical of most political discourse these days, wherein scoring points in the polls has become the most valuable of currencies. It discards the process of informed, thoughtful and reasonable debate in favour of fast-food solutions, extremely palatable but exceedingly unhealthy. It rewards combative, uncompromising positions in a system that simply cannot function without some degree of accommodation and reason.
The great divide in America is not ideological. Ideology goes out the window fairly quickly when you are struggling to pay the mortgage, or the rent, or for a bowl of Kraft Dinner. The great divide is between politicians and the citizens they pledge to serve and not surprisingly that gap is widening by the minute.
And this is what they call the beacon of democracy?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
This Is Vancouver
It's officially summer now, so technically we should stop talking about hockey. Well, technically what I have to say is not just about the game. I've already alluded to the fact that I am not sorry the NHL season is over. Like most, I think I'd rather just forget about it. Unfortunately, the post-game riots on the streets of Vancouver make that rather difficult.
There are many in the city of Vancouver that are beyond disheartened that their team failed to win the famed Stanley Cup, but to have suffered an international shaming at the hands of thieves, thugs and those driven by the mob mentality of the day is a much crueler fate.
What has upset me most is the level of public disdain for the city and its team which seemed to surface even before the rioters took to the streets. Listening to local sports radio during the Stanley Cup final, I was disturbed to hear the voices of many callers expressing their outright dislike for the Canucks. This has, and continues, to baffle me.
Living in the east and being exposed mostly to Eastern Conference hockey, it's hard to imagine that anyone could even really get to know the team, let alone develop a hatred. The few games that I watched during the regular season were fairly entertaining. After all, Western Conference hockey has a long established reputation for its wide open, end-to-end, barnstorming style.
Long before the league put the kibosh on clutch-and-grab hockey, the Edmonton Oilers were the most exciting and entertaining team to watch. The games were often high scoring affairs with plenty of action, and of course the Great One putting on a goal-scoring clinic. It was a far cry from the Eastern Conference (known then as the Wales Conference) where it felt as if the game was being played in a phone booth. The Bruins, Flyers, Whalers and even the Habs, all pulling and tugging at one another, with only inches to spare. Boring.
In the new NHL, the Western Conference continues to entertain in much the same way, and this year the Canucks were undeniably one of the most exciting teams to watch. So why the hate?
A more perplexing mystery is the way in which the country has turned against a city that hosted what is without question the most inspiring and unforgettable Olympic games in Canadian history. With apologies to Calgary and my home town of Montreal, the Vancouver Olympics not only showcased awe-inspiring performances by Canadian athletes, it did so against the backdrop of Vancouver's stunning natural beauty and was further complemented by the warmth, grace and hospitality of its citizens.
Were the Olympics perfect? No, there were some serious setbacks and issues that plagued the games. The lack of snow on Cypress Mountain, a mechanical failure during the torch-lighting ceremony to say nothing the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. Yet, somehow the Vancouver games, and the city, rose above failure and tragedy to unite a nation in hope, determination, ambition and pride.
This was Vancouver. This is Vancouver.
Some have regarded the post-game riot in Vancouver as an impetus to attack the city and its population. One local journalist even went as far as to claim the riot was exactly the reason Vancouver did not deserve the cup. Attempting to smear an entire fan-base and its city because of a mixed mob of crooks, vandals and those caught up in the insanity of the moment is a distasteful combination of hubris and callowness.
To suggest that the vast majority of Vancouver fans are just like those who chose to express their disappointment by smashing windows, looting stores and setting cars ablaze, is an irresponsible and gross distortion of fact that borders on contempt. Particularly from anyone who takes up residence in a city that has something of a reputation for hockey-related riots. This glass house has quite a history.
The necessity to label the rioters as fans seems to be another media obsession. I consider myself a fan of more than one sports team and I know hundreds of others like myself. But none of us have ever once felt compelled to express our anger in anything more violent than slamming our fists into the arm of a sofa. You can choose to label the rioters anything you want, but they are not fans. Not by any definition I know. Unless of course you feel the defamation of an entire population is a small price to pay for generating controversy to satisfy a narcissistic need for attention. Don Cherry has to retire eventually.
I am not an apologist as has been suggested. Those involved in the riots should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and perhaps a new law ought to be written to see justice done. The unspoken truth however, is that sports-related riots have become an all-too familiar blight on modern society. Montreal, Boston, Los Angeles and many other cities have all experienced this disturbing trend. Dig deep enough and you will find that every city has its darker side, a powder-keg of pent-up emotion looking for some spark to explode. I don't justify it, but to deny this reality is tantamount to burying our heads in the shores of the St. Lawrence.
The latest salvo launched in this pile-on trash-fest was the suggestion that the Canucks were not Canadian enough because they didn't have as many Canadian players on their roster as the Bruins. I guess once one is done slamming the fans and the city, might as well move on to the team and the organization.
The audacity to suggest that the people of Vancouver, who are no different than ourselves, somehow deserve this fate is wrong. Plain and simple.
I feel Vancouver's shame, as it is Canada's shame. I never believed the city was somehow entitled to the cup, but they certainly deserved a more graceful end to this story. My pride in Vancouver will not be shaken by this event, as my pride in Montreal remains strong despite its own long and often spotty history.
I have visited Vancouver a handful of times in my life, and each time was memorable. The last visit took me to Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria. It was during the intial deployment of Canadian troops to Afghanistan. Soldiers boarded transport ships to set sail from the harbour for a long journey into the unknown. As the ships passed the shoreline, a small crowd began to gather. It grew steadily until it swelled into the streets. Quietly, and without prompting, the crowd began to sing O'Canada. Like many, I was moved to tears. It was one of the most unforgettable moments in my life.
This was Vancouver. This is Vancouver.
There are many in the city of Vancouver that are beyond disheartened that their team failed to win the famed Stanley Cup, but to have suffered an international shaming at the hands of thieves, thugs and those driven by the mob mentality of the day is a much crueler fate.
What has upset me most is the level of public disdain for the city and its team which seemed to surface even before the rioters took to the streets. Listening to local sports radio during the Stanley Cup final, I was disturbed to hear the voices of many callers expressing their outright dislike for the Canucks. This has, and continues, to baffle me.
Living in the east and being exposed mostly to Eastern Conference hockey, it's hard to imagine that anyone could even really get to know the team, let alone develop a hatred. The few games that I watched during the regular season were fairly entertaining. After all, Western Conference hockey has a long established reputation for its wide open, end-to-end, barnstorming style.
Long before the league put the kibosh on clutch-and-grab hockey, the Edmonton Oilers were the most exciting and entertaining team to watch. The games were often high scoring affairs with plenty of action, and of course the Great One putting on a goal-scoring clinic. It was a far cry from the Eastern Conference (known then as the Wales Conference) where it felt as if the game was being played in a phone booth. The Bruins, Flyers, Whalers and even the Habs, all pulling and tugging at one another, with only inches to spare. Boring.
In the new NHL, the Western Conference continues to entertain in much the same way, and this year the Canucks were undeniably one of the most exciting teams to watch. So why the hate?
A more perplexing mystery is the way in which the country has turned against a city that hosted what is without question the most inspiring and unforgettable Olympic games in Canadian history. With apologies to Calgary and my home town of Montreal, the Vancouver Olympics not only showcased awe-inspiring performances by Canadian athletes, it did so against the backdrop of Vancouver's stunning natural beauty and was further complemented by the warmth, grace and hospitality of its citizens.
Were the Olympics perfect? No, there were some serious setbacks and issues that plagued the games. The lack of snow on Cypress Mountain, a mechanical failure during the torch-lighting ceremony to say nothing the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. Yet, somehow the Vancouver games, and the city, rose above failure and tragedy to unite a nation in hope, determination, ambition and pride.
This was Vancouver. This is Vancouver.
Some have regarded the post-game riot in Vancouver as an impetus to attack the city and its population. One local journalist even went as far as to claim the riot was exactly the reason Vancouver did not deserve the cup. Attempting to smear an entire fan-base and its city because of a mixed mob of crooks, vandals and those caught up in the insanity of the moment is a distasteful combination of hubris and callowness.
To suggest that the vast majority of Vancouver fans are just like those who chose to express their disappointment by smashing windows, looting stores and setting cars ablaze, is an irresponsible and gross distortion of fact that borders on contempt. Particularly from anyone who takes up residence in a city that has something of a reputation for hockey-related riots. This glass house has quite a history.
The necessity to label the rioters as fans seems to be another media obsession. I consider myself a fan of more than one sports team and I know hundreds of others like myself. But none of us have ever once felt compelled to express our anger in anything more violent than slamming our fists into the arm of a sofa. You can choose to label the rioters anything you want, but they are not fans. Not by any definition I know. Unless of course you feel the defamation of an entire population is a small price to pay for generating controversy to satisfy a narcissistic need for attention. Don Cherry has to retire eventually.
I am not an apologist as has been suggested. Those involved in the riots should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and perhaps a new law ought to be written to see justice done. The unspoken truth however, is that sports-related riots have become an all-too familiar blight on modern society. Montreal, Boston, Los Angeles and many other cities have all experienced this disturbing trend. Dig deep enough and you will find that every city has its darker side, a powder-keg of pent-up emotion looking for some spark to explode. I don't justify it, but to deny this reality is tantamount to burying our heads in the shores of the St. Lawrence.
The latest salvo launched in this pile-on trash-fest was the suggestion that the Canucks were not Canadian enough because they didn't have as many Canadian players on their roster as the Bruins. I guess once one is done slamming the fans and the city, might as well move on to the team and the organization.
The audacity to suggest that the people of Vancouver, who are no different than ourselves, somehow deserve this fate is wrong. Plain and simple.
I feel Vancouver's shame, as it is Canada's shame. I never believed the city was somehow entitled to the cup, but they certainly deserved a more graceful end to this story. My pride in Vancouver will not be shaken by this event, as my pride in Montreal remains strong despite its own long and often spotty history.
I have visited Vancouver a handful of times in my life, and each time was memorable. The last visit took me to Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria. It was during the intial deployment of Canadian troops to Afghanistan. Soldiers boarded transport ships to set sail from the harbour for a long journey into the unknown. As the ships passed the shoreline, a small crowd began to gather. It grew steadily until it swelled into the streets. Quietly, and without prompting, the crowd began to sing O'Canada. Like many, I was moved to tears. It was one of the most unforgettable moments in my life.
This was Vancouver. This is Vancouver.
Friday, June 17, 2011
The NHL’s Annus Horribilis
At a time when fans of the NHL should be celebrating an exciting championship final, I have a sense that the vast majority would rather just forget the whole thing.
The 2010-2011 season seemed to kick off with great promise. An original six champion set to defend its title, a rejuvenated Sidney Crosby exploding out of the gate and a ray of light for Habs fans, Carey Price earning back some respect from a cynical and bitter fanbase.
On paper it looked good, but all was not well in NHL land.
Just as the season began, a hit by Chicago Blackhawk Niklas Hjalmarsson on Buffalo Sabres' Jason Pominville cooled the early momentum. This was the first test of the NHL’s new Rule 48. Hjalmarsson received a two-game suspension, and it seemed the league was serious about how it applied the rule. But things did not change. Repeat offender Matt Cooke continued to target the heads of fellow players, despite repeated warnings and suspensions. Then the league lost arguably its most talented player in Sidney Crosby due to a concussion sustained in a head shot delivered at the Winter Classic. He did not return for the rest of the season.
Instead of stepping up its efforts, the league began to flip flop on its definition of an illegal head shot. This culminated in the most notorious decision of the season, the non-suspension of Zdeno Chara for his near career-ending hit on Max Pacioretty. This would unleash a firestorm of controversy, and the hit itself became a PR nightmare. The major news organizations jumped on the story and the NHL’s reputation as a league of abject violence was further cemented in the minds of the casual observer. For many of us, this became the turning point of the season, and the hockey was never quite the same.
The league’s disciplinary committee, which consisted mostly of Colin Campbell, whose son Gregory plays for the Bruins, and Mike Murphy, spent the better part of the season developing inexplicable, and at times indefensible, interpretations of Rule 48. The net result was a policy that was often inconsistent in its interpretation and confusing to many. Even as the league claimed it was concerned about change, mid-season meetings among owners, led by commissioner Gary Bettman, concluded there was no need to change the rule or apply it any differently.
The league’s inaction prompted Hall-of-Famer and Pittsburg Penguin owner Mario Lemieux to take the league to task after a penalty-riddled, cheap-shot affair against the New York Islanders. Lemieux also signs Matt Cooke’s paycheque. The statement resulted in a lot of name-calling and some of the most spectacular displays of hypocrisy and ignorance from coaches, league officials, hockey commentators and players. Meanwhile, the cheap shots and concussions continued unabated.
As the league lost control on the ice, the ownership situation of the Phoenix Coyotes went from bad to worse. The team, now owned by the league, was bleeding cash and a potential deal to sell the team to Chicago investor Matthew Hulsizer was circling the bowl. Hulsizer was demanding the city of Glendale pony up some of the $170 million purchase price in the form of parking revenues. Conservative think tank The Goldwater Institute, who adamantly opposes public money being used to support private ventures, threatened to go to court to block the move. In the end, the city of Glendale agreed to pay the league $25 million to support the team for one more year.
As this scenario played out, the league was forced to deal with the Atlanta Thrashers ownership situation, which was disintegrating even faster. With Winnipeg on speed dial, the league tried its best to spin the situation with a fictional ruse that it could somehow find a way to keep the team in Atlanta. Even as the story broke of a deal being reached between Thrashers ownership and Winnipeg-based True North Sports and Entertainment, the league (read Commissioner Bettman) continued to deliver denial after denial. When it was finally announced that Winnipeg was indeed the beneficiary of Atlanta's (and the league's) failure, Bettman felt absolutely no reason to celebrate the return of hockey to a hockey market, in a hockey-crazed country. His press conference in Winnipeg was a combination of Droopy Dog and a scolding first grade teacher. He warned that Winnipeg would have to sell out every game just to survive. Winnipeg's MTS Centre's capacity is just over 15, 000. Average attendance at Thrashers games this season was around 13, 500.
As if the NHL’s season of epic fails were not enough to drag professional hockey through the manure, we have to add the deplorable actions of a mass of meatheads tearing apart the streets of downtown Vancouver after Wednesday's game seven final. This sad scene was enough to prompt some in the media to suggest Vancouver, who had arguably the most talented and skilled team in the league, somehow did not deserve the Stanley Cup. Apparently the lack of intelligence and insight in the league’s head office is contagious. The goons win again.
As the streets of Vancouver descended into anarchy, a chorus of boos descended upon Bettman as he presented the Stanley Cup to Zdeno Chara, whose 2010-2011 highlight reel features an attempted decapitation of a fellow player. Chara then handed the cup to his colleague Mark Recchi whose Mensa-inspired statements this year included accusing the victim of faking. Class all the way.
One can only hope that next season will see some positive change. That the game’s integrity can be restored.
Are you listening Brendan Shannahan?
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Losing, It's The New Winning
Habs fans can be forgiven for daring to feel good after last night's team-effort to secure themselves a place in the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. They might even feel compelled to express such good feelings with Subban-esque exuberance. After all, this season's conclusion is certainly a far cry from the bumbling, stumbling manner in which they entered last year's post-season (a single point secured in an overtime loss to the Laffs).
The truth is, last night's game was one of the Canadien's most impressive team efforts this season, taking nothing away from the Chicago Blackhawks, who also put on a remarkable display of skill and effort. It was the net-minders who stole the show, with Montreal native Corey Crawford bringing everything he had to the game, and Carey Price somehow bringing that much more.
There was a lot at stake for the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks, struggling to make the playoffs, and the Canadiens trying to prove that last year's post-season run was not an enigma.
This is just part of the back story in what turned out to be a very entertaining hockey game. Yet thus far I have written more in this blog than anything that appeared on TSN's NHL webpage last night. In fact, I already surpassed their coverage by the time I had written "Habs fans can be forgiven..."
Despite what some people down the 401 might think, Canadiens fans generally don't mope around with a chip on their shoulder. They are much harsher toward their own team than with their rivals. Nonetheless, there's always been a sense that respect for the Habs in Toronto-based media is grudging at best.
What truly exposed the negative bias was something that should have united fans and the league, the now infamous hit on Max Pacioretty by Zdeno Chara. It should be noted that to a man, all of TSN's Hockey Insiders, and many other analysts and players believed that Chara should have been suspended; if anything for not taking everything he should have learned in his 13 years in the NHL to back off a dangerous play. The league not only did nothing, it went as far as to chide the Canadiens organization for what it perceived as an exaggeration of fact. This left Don Cherry, who's intelligence and charm have decades exceeded their expiration date, to blame the Habs organization and the stanshion for being at fault and Chara's negligence consigned to the annals of great 'hockey plays.'
League officials, it seems, can barely hide their contempt for the team, as evidenced by Colin Campbell's eye rolling treatment of La Presse reporter Richard Labbé. When Labbé questioned the league's inaction on Chara, Campbell all but concluded Pacioretty deserved a face full of stanshion because of his questionable hit on the New York Islanders' Mark Eaton earlier in the year. So much for impartial.
Recently, Team 990 radio host Mitch Melnick noted an interesting omission in one of the NHL's latest 'History Will Be Made' television ads. The commercial, titled simply 'Mess,' is a collection of film footage from decades of Stanley Cup celebrations, replete with flying sticks, gloves, ticker tape parades and spilling champagne. Several teams are represented in the video, most of them American, and none of them include the Habs. The Canadiens have enjoyed the majority of those celebrations (24 of the 94 times it has been awarded).
Even the encyclopedic mind of Pierre McGuire is not immune to reserving his harshest criticisms for the Canadiens organization. As an astute analyst of the game of hockey, Pierre is generally fair and honest when talking about the Habs on local radio. Put him under the studio lights at TSN headquarters and Dr. Hyde emerges, slamming the Habs front office while regularly giving the Leaf's Brian Burke a hall pass.
Further to the head-scratching treatment of the National Hockey League's most successful franchise (that is a fact, not fan interpretation) was last night's inexplicable praise for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In case you haven't heard this one before, the team began the year with great promise before coming apart at the seams as the season progressed. They went on to make a desperate end-of-season run for the last playoff spot, and (stop me if you've heard this before) fell short. The NHL's version of the Dallas Cowboys had praise heaped upon them from Sportsnet's Hockey Central analysts last night for their 'courageous' season-ending desperation, topped off with a delightfully rosy prognosis for next season.
Really? Why exactly should anyone in Leaf nation be celebrating? A season that began with such promise was squandered by poor play, and let's be honest, bad coaching. If I were a fan I'd be thinking that this is worse than deja-vu, it's a nightmare. How could you not wonder aloud why the largest market in professional hockey, and perhaps the largest fan base, can't do anything better than falling a few point short of a playoff birth for the sixth consecutive time?
Yet somehow it makes perfect sense to give the Leafs top coverage.
Am I exaggerating? I invite you to check out both TSN and Sportsnet's NHL pages today, and tell me who dominates the headlines.
Personally, I don't have time for conspiracy theories. Usually they are based on little fact and appeal to an audience ready and willing to cling on to what little information fits their world view.
Besides, Habs fans really shouldn't care. The team's track record speaks for itself. Regardless of how far anyone might think the team will go this year, once again the Habs made the post-season. If my numbers serve me correctly that would be a league-leading 78 playoff appearances.
Still, you have to wonder what a team has to do to get some respect from the league and the media.
The truth is, last night's game was one of the Canadien's most impressive team efforts this season, taking nothing away from the Chicago Blackhawks, who also put on a remarkable display of skill and effort. It was the net-minders who stole the show, with Montreal native Corey Crawford bringing everything he had to the game, and Carey Price somehow bringing that much more.
There was a lot at stake for the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks, struggling to make the playoffs, and the Canadiens trying to prove that last year's post-season run was not an enigma.
This is just part of the back story in what turned out to be a very entertaining hockey game. Yet thus far I have written more in this blog than anything that appeared on TSN's NHL webpage last night. In fact, I already surpassed their coverage by the time I had written "Habs fans can be forgiven..."
Despite what some people down the 401 might think, Canadiens fans generally don't mope around with a chip on their shoulder. They are much harsher toward their own team than with their rivals. Nonetheless, there's always been a sense that respect for the Habs in Toronto-based media is grudging at best.
What truly exposed the negative bias was something that should have united fans and the league, the now infamous hit on Max Pacioretty by Zdeno Chara. It should be noted that to a man, all of TSN's Hockey Insiders, and many other analysts and players believed that Chara should have been suspended; if anything for not taking everything he should have learned in his 13 years in the NHL to back off a dangerous play. The league not only did nothing, it went as far as to chide the Canadiens organization for what it perceived as an exaggeration of fact. This left Don Cherry, who's intelligence and charm have decades exceeded their expiration date, to blame the Habs organization and the stanshion for being at fault and Chara's negligence consigned to the annals of great 'hockey plays.'
League officials, it seems, can barely hide their contempt for the team, as evidenced by Colin Campbell's eye rolling treatment of La Presse reporter Richard Labbé. When Labbé questioned the league's inaction on Chara, Campbell all but concluded Pacioretty deserved a face full of stanshion because of his questionable hit on the New York Islanders' Mark Eaton earlier in the year. So much for impartial.
Recently, Team 990 radio host Mitch Melnick noted an interesting omission in one of the NHL's latest 'History Will Be Made' television ads. The commercial, titled simply 'Mess,' is a collection of film footage from decades of Stanley Cup celebrations, replete with flying sticks, gloves, ticker tape parades and spilling champagne. Several teams are represented in the video, most of them American, and none of them include the Habs. The Canadiens have enjoyed the majority of those celebrations (24 of the 94 times it has been awarded).
Even the encyclopedic mind of Pierre McGuire is not immune to reserving his harshest criticisms for the Canadiens organization. As an astute analyst of the game of hockey, Pierre is generally fair and honest when talking about the Habs on local radio. Put him under the studio lights at TSN headquarters and Dr. Hyde emerges, slamming the Habs front office while regularly giving the Leaf's Brian Burke a hall pass.
Further to the head-scratching treatment of the National Hockey League's most successful franchise (that is a fact, not fan interpretation) was last night's inexplicable praise for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In case you haven't heard this one before, the team began the year with great promise before coming apart at the seams as the season progressed. They went on to make a desperate end-of-season run for the last playoff spot, and (stop me if you've heard this before) fell short. The NHL's version of the Dallas Cowboys had praise heaped upon them from Sportsnet's Hockey Central analysts last night for their 'courageous' season-ending desperation, topped off with a delightfully rosy prognosis for next season.
Really? Why exactly should anyone in Leaf nation be celebrating? A season that began with such promise was squandered by poor play, and let's be honest, bad coaching. If I were a fan I'd be thinking that this is worse than deja-vu, it's a nightmare. How could you not wonder aloud why the largest market in professional hockey, and perhaps the largest fan base, can't do anything better than falling a few point short of a playoff birth for the sixth consecutive time?
Yet somehow it makes perfect sense to give the Leafs top coverage.
Am I exaggerating? I invite you to check out both TSN and Sportsnet's NHL pages today, and tell me who dominates the headlines.
Personally, I don't have time for conspiracy theories. Usually they are based on little fact and appeal to an audience ready and willing to cling on to what little information fits their world view.
Besides, Habs fans really shouldn't care. The team's track record speaks for itself. Regardless of how far anyone might think the team will go this year, once again the Habs made the post-season. If my numbers serve me correctly that would be a league-leading 78 playoff appearances.
Still, you have to wonder what a team has to do to get some respect from the league and the media.
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