MLSE's Emerging Military Obsesion

Now first thing, this is a topic that is very touchy. People often feel very strongly about ANYTHING that has to do with the armed forces. In particular, people feel very strongly about how criticizing any undertaking done in the name of "supporting the troops" is something that ought not be done. So for that, I apologize in advance for an article that will undoubtedly be interpreted as an "attack" on our brave men and women of the armed forces. So with that disclaimer out of the way, on to my thoughts...

The creeping obsession of MLSE with the Canadian armed forces is something that bothers me for a couple of reasons.

One, I think it is cheap public relations. It is one of the easiest things any corporation looking to deflect criticism can do; wrap themselves in the flag. Not that MLSE has done anything scandalous to deflect from (aside from arguably establishing a monopolistic stranglehold of sports and telecommunications in Southern Ontario), but, metaphorically, it never hurts to throw a symbolic yellow ribbon on your car bumper. Society tells us it is unpatriotic and ungrateful to criticize something that has tied itself to the troops, so associating yourself with them is a useful PR move. For example, Brian Burke deflecting criticism of his July 1 non-activity by citing his Afghanistan trip. Not that there is any connection, but any discussion of his efforts was conveniently stunted as soon as he mentions the troops. 

Two, I don't think sport is the place for so much blatant and outright militaristic jingoism. It is why the Olympics (for all of its cynical commercialism and economic blood sucking) pushes the idea that sport unites the world, and that political hostilities ought to be put aside during athletic competition. It is why nations/continents that have actually had war on their doorstep (and in most cases, barge in the door and start smashing stuff up), don't play national anthems before games (i.e. European football teams). They realized long ago that mixing sports with politics and warfare isn't really a good idea. Conversely, those of us who live here on "Fortress North America" have never really had to learn that lesson. To us, warfare is something that happens elsewhere. It is heavily sanitized, so many of us view it as merely a token gesture, without giving much thought to what it really means to have the military seeping into so many facets of our daily lives.. 

Last week @MLSEPR was tweeting about the Toronto Maple Leafs' annual Christmas visit to Toronto Sick Kids Hospital. Obviously, visiting sick kids in hospital for Christmas is a GREAT gesture by the city's biggest stars. Kid's love sports, they idolize the players, and they are undoubtedly thrilled to see their heroes in person (bearing gifts nonetheless!).

What I didn't understand, was why Tom Anselmi needed to be flown onto the roof of the hospital in a military helicopter. I didn't understand why, instead of wearing the iconic blue and white of the Maple Leafs, Anselmi chose to wear a camouflage version of the Leafs' jersey. I don't understand why the entire endeavor needed to be wrapped in the "flag" of our military. These are children. Sick children (if the hospital name didn't convey the point). Christmas is one time of the year when they get to forget about their disease and enjoy all the trappings of being an innocent, wide eyed child. Do these children, laid up in a hospital bed, really understand the significance, or meaning of our armed forces? But more importantly, do they need to? What purpose does it serve? Why do these children, trying to enjoy their temporary respite from life in a hospital, need to be reminded of war, and the sacrifices our armed forces are making? Why can't they just be innocent, oblivious children, meeting Santa Claus and getting presents on Christmas?

Who was that military regalia really for? Was it for the kids, or was it for MLSE and their corporate image?

And now today, MLSE unveils the NBA's first military inspired uniforms. The lone Canadian franchise beat all 29 American teams to the punch in "honoring" our troops with a camouflage uniform.

Of course, this "honour" that MLSE is bestowing on the troops, will have the ancillary effect of making MLSE money on jersey sales, and of course, if MLSE really wanted to show their appreciation for the troops they could fill the arena with free seats for Canadian military personnel (as opposed to the incredibly crass move of asking season ticket holders to "donate" their tickets to service men and women), but as I suspect, "honouring" the troops isn't really priority #1 here. As it is for any large corporation, money and "goodwill" for the brand are what really matters.

I don't necessarily think there is anything wrong, in and of itself, with the Raptors wearing a special camouflage uniform; this is nothing new to the Raptors. They have worn uniforms to honour other countries like Spain, Italy and Ireland; but taken as a whole, the endeavors of MLSE as a corporation to wrap themselves in the armed forces is becoming a bit much for somebody with even just a mild skepticism of militarism.

When the Winnipeg Jets returned to the NHL and wrapped themselves in the armed forces (and specifically the Royal Canadian Air Force) there were people who complained about the overt militarism of it all. I wasn't one of them. The Jets, and their association with the RCAF, was a completely logical and understandable connection. The pomp and circumstance that surrounded the uniform unveiling was all part and parcel with any team launching a new brand.

But I find the efforts of MLSE to involve the military in almost everything their teams do to be completely overboard. At best, its all just a braggadocios effort to show gratitude to the troops , at worst, it is a crass attempt to cash in on the public goodwill for the military while deflecting from the persistently terrible performances and overpriced tickets of their franchises.

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Tim and Sid: Cut - On Fan 590

So after an extended hiatus, Tim and Sid are back on the air. It is certainly good to have them back on the podcast rotation, but there have been some considerable changes. A lot of the "window dressing" is still there. The Famous theme song, the rapid fire intro/segment, unfortunately though, a lot of the stuff that isn't window dressing, .i.e. the stuff that actually matters, just isn't the same.

Now I understand that regular radio is different from satellite radio; very different. But the problem here is that what made Tim and Sid so successful (on sat radio & podcast), and what helped them develop their following, has been drastically altered to make them better fit into a prototypical, Toronto sports radio program.

I listened to Tim and Sid (a podcast, that I would have had to seek out), because I was sick to death of listening to puckheads on the radio fill time by droning on and on about the Leafs' pathetic penalty kill, or the problem of concussions in hockey. I heard Tim ask the question "so what do we do about concussions" about three times last week, which is three times more than I ever wanted to hear it. There are other people, hosting other shows, whose job it is to ask that question every fucking day (as if somebody is ever going to actually have "the answer" anyways), I never listened to Tim and Sid in the first place to hear this topic lamented for 20-30 minutes a day. I am sure Millard and Kypreos are nice guys, but I don't listen to Hockeycentral for a reason; because, living in Toronto, and watching every Leaf game, I get my fill of hockey talk through any number of avenues; I don't need to seek it out on radio.

I am definitely not surprised to see these changes, but I am disappointed. Tim and Sid: Uncut was such a successful podcast because they didn't do what every other program was doing. They were the alternative to the incessant white noise of TSN and Sportsnet, and unfortunately, they have now been taken in by that white noise. I understand it is just business, and I certainly don't begrudge Tim and Sid for "getting theirs", and making the jump to Sportsnet, but I am not convinced this strategy is going to work, long term.

The people who want to hear interviews with Dion Phanuef and Luke Schenn, the people who want to hear special teams and concussion talk every single day, they think it is serious business, and they won't appreciate Tim and (especially) Sid's irreverent approach to the topic. The people who don't want to hear interviews with hockey players and who don't want to hear about concussions all day, that is Tim and Sid's wheelhouse, and they will be turned off by the, as Bob McCown would put it "hockey hockey hockey hockey" talk.

The best segments of last week were when they brought in the writers (people with eloquence and forethought like Brunt and Grange), and the absolute worst, were the ones where they brought on Sportsnet's "Hockey Experts" to ask them the same tired questions they just finished asking each other during the previous hour of radio. Maybe next week, with Bobcat on vacation, they can poach some of his better guests. I think Darren Rovell would be a perfect guest for Tim and Sid. The three of them talking hot-dog eating competition could be comedy gold.

It is good for Tim and Sid that they made the jump, and I hope they succeed. But as an original "Tim and Sid-izen", I really hope their show evolves, back in to the irreverent, light-hearted and fun program that it used to be.


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Change has come

Disclaimer: The NHL is referring to these four new groups as "Conferences". Now as a North American bred sports fan, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of four "conferences". Four "divisions" I understand, but I had always imagined "Conferences" were something you had a pair of. So with that in mind, I will slip back and forth between the two terms, but I think you will get my point regardless.

Firstly, and as it relates to the Leafs' division, it is pretty funny that the league just said "**** it" and blew up the Southeast division. It was definitely the right move regardless of any geographical inconsistencies. Through no fault of the individual teams involved in the Southeast division, they all collectively received significantly less media exposure and less public cache because their divisional opponents all lacked any sort of history. Putting Tampa and Florida in the current NE division makes no sense geographically, but I think of it as "the cradle of hockey" taking one for the team. The added trips through Florida can only help those teams increase revenues, and it isn't like Florida and Tampa Bay will cause NE division fans to stay away from the arena in droves.

Its sort of an inconvenience I suppose for the current NE teams, but I personally don't have a problem with the added travel (granted I aint doing said travelling). This move was obviously motivated by the fact that the Florida teams draw so well when the Leafs and Habs are in town (and presumably the other NE teams as well), so it is hard to argue with the logic behind the decision. And personally I am happy to have more opportunities to catch the Leafs in Florida for cheap.

And of course, this division is the logical landing spot for the new Quebec Nordiques when the Coyotes inevitably move.

The other "Eastern Conference" division is basically perfect in my opinion. You keep all those established rivalries from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, while rescuing Washington from the sinking ship southeast, returning them to their rightful spot among the old Patrick Division, and more still, the division gives Carolina their best possible chance at achieving long term, financial stability by placing them in the NHL's marquee division.

The new "Western Conference", with its more time-zone friendly alignment seems to make a lot of sense, and solves a lot of individual team complaints in the most practical way possible. The two new divisions seem to lack any "Northeast division" like geographical anomalies and solve the problem of time zone differences in the best way possible.

While the makeup of the "Pacific conference" doesn't really provide much room for creativity, but the new "Central division" is a really well thought out grouping that should really please all of the teams. Detroit and Chicago don't have to deal with so many late night games, and Minnesota, Dallas and Winnipeg finally get put into a geographical grouping that makes sense.


The best part of the changes however is the introduction (or re-introduction) of divisional playoffs. All this nonsense with endless regular season games versus divisional opponents is over and the NHL is finally accepting the fact that the playoff matchups are what creates rivalries. You can play a team 8 times in the regular season for decades and you won't ever create the same kind of hatred that 2 consecutive playoff meetings will.

The only scary thing about this re-alignment is that it opens the door wide for the possibility of expansion. In the long run, it really isn't fair that half of the league's teams have a statistically better chance at making the playoffs than the other half, and I suspect the NHL might be looking to solve this problem by adding two more teams. There don't seem to be any real obvious candidates for expansion, but the NHL appears to be getting it's ducks in that row regardless.

My baseless prediction, Phoenix moves to Quebec City (and the East division), a Seattle expansion team replaces Phoenix in the West division. A Kansas City expansion team moves into the Central division, and Columbus gets bumped over to the Atlantic division. And there you would have a perfectly balanced 32 team league.













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The Case for Canadian Exceptionalsim or the Evolving Landscape of Canadian Sports

As times change, economies and societies change with them. From a time in the mid 90's, when it appeared professional sports in Canada was on life support, to today, where professional sports in Canada seems as strong as it ever was, Canadian sports fans have been riding a roller coaster of mild success and seemingly prolonged failure for quite some time now. In some ways, traditional, Canadiana in our sports scene is going stronger than ever, and still, the global nature of sports (as has oft been predicted for the last 20 or 30 years) is making a real impact on the Canadian landscape. Canada's historical favourite sport is thriving, Canada's only exclusive professional league is seeing its first wave of new construction in decades, and Canada's favourite "World's game" is seeing a huge boom in infrastructure and professional expansion.

More hockey, hockey, hockey...

I suppose the best place to start is with Canada's first love (and fuck lacrosse). The game of hockey, particularly at the highest professional level, is experiencing a bit of a renaissance in the wake of the US economic downturn. All of a sudden the real money of fans in markets like Winnipeg and Quebec City seems a lot more enticing than the theoretical money of fans in markets like Atlanta and Phoenix. Canada has already re-claimed one team from the wave of southern expansion and it seems entirely possible that a second could be on its way. With the prospect of new, NHL caliber arenas in Toronto and Quebec City, it seems only a matter of time before Canada sees an eighth (and if we dare to dream, ninth) NHL team.

New Winnipeg Bluebombers Stadium

Canada's lone, exclusive professional (or more specifically, relevant) sports league, the CFL, is also on a tear of new development. With BC Place already refurbished to nearly NFL caliber levels, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats set to move into new buildings in the next couple years, and the Ottawa Roughriders still trying (although somewhat uninspiringly) to return to the CFL in a refurbished Frank Clair Stadium, the league might look like an entirely different animal by the end of the decade. Throw in the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who are in the very preliminary stages of trying to get a new stadium built, and pretty soon the majority of CFL teams could be playing in brand new venues. For a league that spent the last couple of decades playing in dilapidated and neglected stadiums that could be seen, at best, as high in "character" while low in just about everything else, this could be a real turning point for the league. If the Toronto Argonauts could ever get their shit together and move out of the soul sucking cavern that is the Rogers Centre football configuration, and into an outdoor, 25-30K, CFL specific stadium, that franchise, and by-proxy the league could be on a real roll.

A big part of what made Toronto's newest franchise such a success was the character of the stadium. Torontonians wanted a change from indoor sports, and BMO Field (along with Toronto FC), offered fans that chance. I think a similar Toronto Argonauts stadium would probably have the same effect on the fanbase.

A stadium like this would save the Argos

BMO Field

Speaking of Toronto FC, the third aspect of Canada's evolving pro sports scene starts with them. People have projected for decades that soccer was "the next big thing", both in Canada, and the United States, but it seems that finally, in Canada at least, that soccer may finally, actually be “the next big thing”. After Toronto FC's initial success (at the box-office, not on the field, obviously), Major League Soccer saw potential. In conversations after that initial success commissioner Don Garber drew comparisons to the NHL. He saw that the NHL was able to not just sustain itself, but grow by being a big player in Canada (not to mention off put some of the losses of American franchises with the profits of Canadian ones). Garber saw that the Canadian market seemed to be more accepting of Major League Soccer as a professional league, and decided to act. Soon enough, both Vancouver and Montreal would be given franchises and Garber's plan to cash in on Canadian soccer fans was underway.



Big, beautiful, soccer specific-ish stadium



Not that there is anything wrong with that. As a Canadian soccer fan I am happy to be taken advantage of (to a point. I won't pay TFC's ever inflating ticket price, but I am happy to have more teams in Canada). To look back at the difference in soccer infrastructure in this country over the decade is almost unbelievable. From a nation with zero soccer specific stadiums, to a nation with three-ish (okay, two but BC Place isn't that bad) in just over 5 years time is incredibly impressive. BMO Field, while barebones when it comes to amenities is a SSS with natural grass, and a primary tenant, something Canadian soccer fans could have only dreamt of ten years ago. Throw in the great location and Canada (and specifically Toronto) has got something that could now be called a true home field for the national team. Toronto FC and Canadian soccer fans have really hit the jackpot with BMO Field. It can be hard to look past the dismal performance of the home team, but in the grand scheme of things, the progress is astounding. August nights at BMO Field, with the sights and sounds of the CNE midway as a backdrop to a Toronto or Canada home game, have become a real special atmosphere. One that Canadian sports fans ought to be proud of, and one that sports fans anywhere in the word ought to be jealous of.

Concept for renovated Stade Saputo

With new teams and new arenas sprouting up all across Canada, I think it is safe to say that professional sports in our country might be entering a golden age. It would be great if the success of the teams could match the success of the businesses, but I suppose we shouldn't expect everything all at once.


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On the Blue Jays New/Old Uniforms

Some fine looking ball players

 So the Toronto Blue Jays held an "invitation only" unveiling at the Rogers Centre recently, but with the advent of social media and instantaneous communications, anybody who wanted to be there, could be there (in a virtual sense, of course). If nothing else, the fact that these uniforms were kept under wraps and never really got leaked, that the Jays were even able to keep the secret up until their press conference, is quite an impressive feat. Yes, the logo was leaked a couple months ago, but it was anybody's guess what their plans were for the uniform.

Hopefully we never see any of these things again.

Since their release, the response has been almost overwhelmingly unanimous. The uniforms are great! The subtle adjustments to the classic "World Series-era" uniforms do a terrific job of bringing that iconic look up to modern standards.

Personally I am a huge fan of everything the team did with the re-rebranding. The sleek logo looks just enough like the old logo to be instantly recognizable, while making just subtle enough changes to it to avoid looking like the gaudy and over the top, 1997 "tweaking" of the original logo.

The uniform design doesn't need much exposition. The home whites and road greys are classic baseball, and the slight "sharpening up" of the iconic double stripe font for the numbers and front letters look great.

A nice effort, but ugly logo

Most importantly, the BLUE Jays will wear a BLUE jersey for the first time in several years. The tacky, trendy, black jersey is mercifully retired and the Jays new alternate shirt is the exact jersey I have been waiting for for years. The Jays had a blue jersey for a short while in the early 2000's, but combined wth the huge font and terrible logos of the time, it left much to be desired. Now, with the classic rebranding and a solid blue shirt, the Blue Jays finally have, what I would consider to be, a perfect set of uniforms.

I wouldn't mind the team making subtle tweaks going forward, maybe a new alternate on occassion, but this is a uniform set that the Jays should settle on for a long time. Their motto at the unveiling was "logo for life", and from a personal aesthetic preference, I really hope they're serious about that.

Perfection



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On Sandusky, Paterno, The Chain of Command and Diminished Responsibility

The first thing that needs to be gotten out of the way; Nobody is letting Jerry Sandusky off the hook. I have seen this argument from many Paterno defenders; that nobody is paying any attention to Sandusky and people are behaving as if Paterno had raped those young boys. Nobody is ignoring the perverse, disgusting nature of what Sandusky has been accused of. If Jerry Sandusky is indeed guilty of what he has been charged with (and lets face it, every article, radio segment and TV commentary so far has basically assumed that yes, he is absolutely guilty, so I won’t even attempt to play the “innocent until proven guilty” card), he is a despicable human being. The type of person who has his room in hell bought and paid for. God willing, Jerry Sandusky will get his punishment. Not that it will necessarily do any good for his victims, but we as a society like to know that criminals are being punished. Sandusky is a monster, and he will get what is coming to him.

The bigger question, in terms of moral culpability, in terms of room for discussion, and to put it crassly, in terms of salacious story telling, is how do Joe Paterno’s actions (or more specifically, inactions) fit into the narrative of this tragic story?

We know Joe Paterno was made aware of Sandusky’s activities by then graduate assistant and present wide receivers coach Mike McQueary. The details don’t need to be repeated, suffice to say McQueary witnessed Sandusky engaging in inappropriate contact with a young boy in the Penn State football team showers. The degree to which the “inappropriateness” of that behavior was expressly communicated to Joe Paterno is still up for debate, but I think most people would agree that if you were told about “inappropriate behavior” involving an old man, a young boy, and a shower, warning bells would start shooting off like crazy. It is hard to imagine most decent people could hear those details, as sanitized as they may be, and not feel compelled to, at the very least investigate further, if not simply dial 911 immediately.

But what Joe Paterno specifically knew really isn’t the point I want to make. There is going to be a lot more information to come to light surrounding this story, and eventually we will know much more specifics. And considering the wholesale housecleaning at Penn State (with the suspicious exception of McQueary, one of the few people there with a first hand, eye-witness account of Sandusky’s crimes), rumors that there is much more to come in this story (specifically Mark Madden’s assertion of possible “pimping” of young boys to wealthy Penn State donors), and of course, the missing district attorney, it is entirely possible that this whole scandal is much, much bigger than just Jerry Sandusky’s heinous actions and the hapless inactions of Paterno and school administrators.

Rather, the issue I want to comment on is that this whole incident is a classic example of an insulated community, a rigid chain of command, and the diminished responsibility that comes with “alerting your superiors”. We hear this story all the time. From corporations, to government bureaucrats, to police services; people become involved and engrossed in these isolated environments, and the institutionalized structure of the chain of command ceases to be an efficient method of organization, and instead becomes a rudimentary process of “report filing”, that serves mainly to protect the structure of the institution. Individual responsibility and personal morality is superceded by institutional consistency and regimented processes that serve to remove emotion and humanity from a discussion and replace them with adjudicative consistency and long term structural stability. In much smaller words, people who would otherwise “do the right thing” are allowed to take a step back and remove themselves from the situation because their immediate surroundings tell them “that’s how things are done”. When you get so entrenched into the organizational culture of something so big, so built up by friends, family, students, supporters and even politicians, it becomes almost impossible to remove yourself from that environment and say “wait a second, is this how we are really going to do this?!”.

These people become so entrenched in their environment that they are unable to recognize their biases and look at themselves and their institution with any level of rational perspective. One need not look any further than the reactions of Penn State students and football players to see just how far gone some of these people get. Now it is more understandable from young people (although still not excusable); they’re young, they’re stupid and they don’t know any better. So when a Penn State football player tweets about Joe Paterno’s firing being akin to “a modern day crucifixion”, you just roll your eyes and laugh about it. But the problem is that this train of thought, this state of mind doesn’t always end when these young people become adults. It is bred into the institution and into its members.

Its why the riot cop on the front line maces a handful of corralled teenage girls. Its why the Catholic priest feels sexual abuse can be best handled “internally”, and its why people like Paterno, McQueary, Curley, Schultz and whoever else may ultimately be implicated in this scandal were able to go about their days knowing a pedophile was in their midst. The institution becomes so all encompassing that it’s members become comfortable seceding their own moral compass to that of a faceless, soulless institution. One no longer has to make those kinds of strenuous moral decisions, because they are part of the bigger machine. All they need to do now is submit information they might have to the next person up the line, and they then feel that their hands are wiped clean.

It is a bit of a catch 22. Society needs structure. Society needs organization to exist and to get things done. But as we have seen, that structure that is necessary to get almost anything done, will on occasion get things done at the expense of real human victims. Because organzations (or to call them by another name, corporations), don’t have a moral compass or a conscious. Organizations do what is best for the organization. And organizations do not have feelings.

Jerry Sandusky is the true criminal in all of this. But the organization of Penn State, and all of those who contributed to it’s “functioning” in spite of these known problems bear some moral culpability. As a football coach, I doubt Joe Paterno would have ever accepted a player simply doing the bare minimum required by procedure so why did he do the bare minimum in a situation immeasurably more important that a football game?

Some correct steps were taken last night by the Penn State board of trustees but there are still more correct steps that need to be taken. And if the rumors surrounding Sandusky’s “Second Mile” children’s organization are even partially true, this whole story is only going to get immeasurably more depraved.

It makes you sad to know you live in a world where this kind of thing can happen, but it reinforces the knowledge that people need to maintain the strength of their convictions. It is a bit of a cliche at this point, but as the saying goes, "all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing", and if any good will come from this horrible situation, its that people will be reminded to speak up, and to do something when they see evil.

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Player Safety or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying

So there was another "scary" incident in the NHL recently. So lets all go through the motions.

When any one of a list of ugly incidents occurs on the ice, the media goes into full freak-out mode about rules that need to be altered, implemented or removed from the game in order to avoid such unbecoming visuals.

Something must be done!

Good clean hockey

But really, who cares? Why should anybody care about the health and safety of NHL players? They all have the option to protect themselves, either through equipment like visors, or through action like influencing rule changes. They choose not to; so we might as well just sit back and wait for the wreck.

The media discourse surrounding the game has become a never-ending cycle of hand wringing and finger pointing. “Problems” (basically the same ones over and over, just in a rotation) with the game are pointed out, dissected, and churned over; but why? What is the point?

The players don’t care. If they did care, we would see action taken on things like no-touch icing, mandatory visors, and a ban on head shots. They like the game as it is, and evidently, so do plenty of consumers. If they want to continue playing pin-ball on ice, giving and receiving brain damage, breaking legs and losing eyes than it should be their prerogative.

They know the consequences. They have seen the research and they know possible outcomes, and still, their response amounts to “we would rather just smash each others heads in”.

So that’s fine. I don’t like it in the game, but I still like a lot of what the game is, so I will watch.

What does get annoying though, is that when we see former players having troubles (and God knows with this past summer everybody is well aware of them), we then hear about the “lack of support” for former players. The lack of “support structures” for these young men who, gosh darnit, just don’t know how to live without a six to seven figure paycheck and someone telling them when and where to be for 8 months a year.

"He's not that kind of player"

 When a Canadian sports network talks about how the game is being played, and they throw to a panel made up of Nick Kypreos and Marty McSorley, not much really needs to be said. We know their position. Its how they made their living. But it would be slightly less annoying if all parties (and not just those previously mentioned) would drop the act where they pretend to be concerned about player safety.

As I wrote this and was browsing articles on the topic I came across this bit by Dave Shoalts. Its from an article he wrote about visors in 2004. The story is just as applicable now as it was then, so he quite efficiently just quoted himself; and I will do the same...

This is not a public-safety issue. The public is not at risk, just a small group of willful boneheads, 65 per cent of those 700 players.

The stupidity here is nothing short of astounding.

These guys spend tens of thousands of dollars on personal trainers to get in the best physical condition possible in order to extend their careers and collect those million-dollar salaries for as long as they can. Yet they will not spend less than $100 to protect something vital to their careers, something that could be lost in, yes, the blink of an eye.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/globe-on-hockey/the-nhls-annual-visor-brouhaha/article2214364/


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Why the Jets' Return Means So Much to all of Canada

The NHL's return to Winnipeg has been the biggest positive story of this off season. A midst all the tragedy this past summer, Winnipeg's return to professional hockey remained a beacon of optimism for hockey fans in Canada. With their debut now out of the way, and with the deluge of good will and support from hockey fans across the country we can start to reflect on what happened, how it happened, and why it was received like it was. Why did the return of the NHL to Winnipeg, or more succinctly, the return of the Winnipeg Jets, create such a swell of emotion from people who otherwise, have never been Jets fans?

The overwhelming love for these new Jets comes less from the reality of the current situation, and more from the climate in which the original Jets left.

I know it was ugly, but I still wanted to win it.

I was an eleven year old kid when the Jets left (so I suspect I was ten when the Nordiques left). Not at the age where you have become "smart" by any means, but at the age where you have become "aware" of what is going around you. I had liked hockey since I was about 5 years old, but was obviously too young to understand the inner-workings of, not necessarily the game, but the league.

When the Jets left, there was a very strong narrative surrounding professional sports in Canada; Things were bad, and they weren't getting any better. Two of our hockey teams had fled, not just to the US, but to the sunbelt. The CFL was embarking on its ill-fated American experiment. The Expos and Blue Jays had just been robbed of a potential World Series meeting. And to cap that summer off, in the World Cup of Hockey, Canada lost two out of three, and had to watch the United States celebrate on the ice in Montreal. Follow that up with a horrible run at the World Junior Hockey Championship (bookended by dynasties as they were), and things looked bleak for Canadian sports fan. The Jets (and the Nordiques) became more than just individual teams. They were symbols of the fleeting Canadian sports scene.

Another awful 90's moment I just remembered

The rivalry that has emerged between US and Canadian hockey is a symptom of that mid to late 90's, almost "moral panic", about the game in our country. Obviously there are other reasons contributing to the US supplanting Russia as our number one hockey rival, but this feeling that emerged then, that "the big bad Americans" were coming for us, that was a big spark to what is certainly the best current rivalry in international hockey. The stars of today are about my age and everyone I knew growing up and know now look at the Americans as our primary hockey rival. The Russian rivalry is quaint and nostalgic, but the American rivalry is mean and aggressive.

Fifteen years on, and the nation wide jubilation at the return of the Winnipeg Jets is emblematic of a feeling that Canada is "taking back" a sport that "those greedy Americans" tried to steal from us.

Kind of a big deal

Now obviously, that was never the case. Canada wasn't losing "its" sport and the US wasn't "stealing" anything. The economic realities of the time (both general and specific to those organizations) forced a sort of restructuring of North American professional sports landscape, and that restructuring is a part of why the Winnipeg Jets were able to return.

Antropov? That doesn't bode well

I think Canadians would be absolutely satisfied if the Jets were the last team to move to Canada. I think Canadians are happy with seven representatives in the top flight of professional hockey. Not that they wouldn't take more, and maybe time will change, but as it stands, I think Canadians feel somewhat vindicated that the NHL returned to Winnipeg. It was sort of like a nation wide "told ya so!" to the NHL.

So congrats Winnipeg. We are all pulling for you. And so long as you never cost my team points or a playoff spot, that will never change.









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Mascot Musical Chairs

The Jets announced they will be using the former Moose mascot, Mick-E Moose as their new mascot, and as someone who likes all things meaningless and superfluous to the actual games, I think this is a great idea.

Why you heff to be mad?

Mascots are stupid. They arent supposed to be too logical. Why would a Moose be the mascot for a team called the Jets? Why not? The Maple Leafs have a polar bear, as if that makes any sense; the Flames have a hound dog; the Senators have a lion; and the Canadiens have a furry orange butt-plug.

The truth is, the best mascots are ones that are not a literal interpretation of the team name. Mascots are something so trivial that it only makes sense to reach into the past and use something familiar, yet quirky.

In 30 years (God willing), when a young kid asks why the Jets mascot is a moose, there will be a real good answer.

My only gripe is that he looks kind of angry (if not downright sadistic). Mascots are for kids (and losers like me who like to analyze their useless nonsense). They should have nothing but a big dopey grin on their face.

Bears are Godless killing machines

Re-purposing mascots is always a good idea.

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Does Baseball Need More Playoff Teams?

The ugliest trophy in all of sport.

 The discussion over Major League Baseball's playoff format has long been a favourite topic of pundits (especially in Toronto). It is the league with the longest regular season (in terms of games played), and the fewest teams progressing to the post-season, so the question is regularly asked, should MLB have more teams in the playoffs?

When discussing this topic, it is important to specify from which direction you are approaching it from. Are you talking about what is good for baseball, or are you talking about what is good for the Blue Jays?

If you are a Blue Jays fan, and I am one, the question doesn't even need to be asked. Of course we need more teams in the playoffs. The Blue Jays, Orioles and Devil Rays are in an almost impossible situation (obviously the Rays success throws a bit of a kink into the argument, but who cares about the Rays anyway?). While teams in all five other divisions enjoy an ebb and flow of opportunity, success and failure, the Blue Jays are left to try and compete with big spenders 1 and 1A every single season.

So yes, if you are a Blue Jays fan, obviously you want post-season expansion. Obviously post-season expansion is going to help create drama and importance for you, but is that necessarily any good for Major League Baseball?

Is this good for anyone?

Some posit that it is a simple equation; more playoff teams, equals more playoff contenders, equals tighter playoff races, equals more excitement for everyone.I however  don't really think that it is such a logical assumption. I think it is more likely that adding playoff teams simply, shifts the excitement down a rung. So instead of having an amazing, last night finish for the wild card spot, the new wild card spot becomes that action packed, last night drama, while the first wild-card spot is settled early, ike the division titles usually are.

"I Love This Game"

That said, I am still of the opinion that Major League Baseball should add more playoff teams, but only because they have already made themselves "half-pregnant". That baseball has playoffs at all (even more egregiously, a best 3 out of 5 round) already sullies the sanctity of the regular season, so why not go one step further?

If any North American sport ought to be run like a European football league, it is baseball. Baseball is a numbers game. A game of aggregates. It is 162 games of monotony designed to weed out the pretenders from the contenders. A pitcher can't fluke his way to 20 wins, a batter can't fluke his way to 40 home runs, and a team can't fluke it's way into the playoffs.

So nice, the Prem trophy has its own hat.

 A team can however fluke it's way through the playoffs. For a game that spends such a long period of time to arrive at it's conclusion, it seems crazy to then decide the ultimate winners and losers via a playoff system that rewards immediacy and fortuitous timing.

If any sport should award a "League Title" to the regular season champion, based purely on that regular season, it should be baseball. The original World Series format followed this formula perfectly. The two league winners would win their pennant (a huge deal back in those days), and then play what was ostensibly a "Cup Tournament", known as the World Series.

But since baseball has gotten away from that purity, than why not open it up just that little bit more? To refuse to do so is really just another example of a professional sports league selectively sticking it's head in the sand. It isn't as if an added wild card spot would hurt the MLB's darling Yanks-Sox post-season presence. All this change would do would be to fix the problem that clearly exists throughout the league, wherein 20-24 teams know that their final month of games are all but meaningless.

At this point, with 3 rounds of playoff baseball, there is no principle to be upheld. The sanctity of the playoffs and World Series have already been compromised. Open up the playoffs MLB!


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Top 5 Songs for Right Now

I am going to occasionally do this, mainly just because I am bored and haven't really got anybody to talk music with, so I will speak into the ether of the internet. These aren't even necessarily five songs that I am in love with at this moment, it's just five songs that I have come to love unconditionally. These are five great songs, and if you disagree, your ears must be broken.

1. "Dirty Dishes" by Deer Tick

A terriffic band from Rhode Island (that will be playing Toronto in November), Deer Tick is essentially the creation of the front man who is the lead singer/songwriter. Anyway, this is just a great, simple little ditty. Presumably it is a love song, but who knows. I think my favourite part is the last verse. Not that it is anything new, or particularly poignant (it's all been sung before anyway), but the line "things could be so much worse" always leaves me feeling a little bit better about life when the song ends.

2. "Death by Fire" by Land of Talk
Now some Can-Con. Land of Talk is another band similar to Deer Tick in that the spine of it is singer-songwriter Liz Powell. Her three (full length) albums display some tremendous songwriting ability. It isn't all simple, catchy hooks like Deer Tick (not that there is anything wrong with simple and catchy). Liz Powell writes some complicated, meandering songs that usually have very stark changes throughout them. Death by Fire is one of those meandering songs. The lead hook with it's grungy guitar always puts the thought of a long road trip in a shitty car into my head and I don't know why.

3. "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison
Not that I didn't know of Van Morrison until recently (my parents LOVE him), I just never get around to listening to him very much. I knew he had become Yusuf Islam, so I thought he might be a bit of a flake, so that didn't entice me to listen. Thankfully, "Old Guy Radio" on The Tony Kornheiser show is a terrific vehicle for finding great, classic music. This was a song where Tony just said "everybody shut up and let's listen", and I am glad he did.

4. "Munich Air Disaster 1958" By Morrissey
This is a song I love, and I song that was one of the first things in my mind when I heard of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash this past summer. Maybe it is crass that this was the first place I went, but I can't help but relate everything in life to music, and specifically, music I love. I have meant to write about the tragedy, and even began a post about, but I couldn't figure out a good way to express my thoughts on it. In a selfish, personal sense, I think the most of the former Maple Leaf players who died. Igor Korolev and Alex Karpovstev (along with the death of Wade Belak) are probably the first players whose Maple Leaf careers I vividly remember, to die. Its a feeling of "getting older" that undoubtedly everyone in society feels. This was just one of the first times for that feeling to really hit me. Anyway, here is a great tribute to one of the other sports teams to suffer a similar tragedy. Of note, the New York Dolls cover that leads into the song. The songs and lyrics go great together.

"Just War" by Sparklehorse

This song hasn't got nearly the significance of the last one. I suppose it is about war, and as such would be every bit as somber, but it's not referencing anybody specific, and it is just too great of a simply pop song to feel down about. With an album filled with artist cameos (and people I really like, like Julian Casablancas), this song, featuring a singer (?) I have never heard of is the track that really jumped out at me. I am a big fan of certain crescendos in music, and I think the chorus do those crescendos really well in this song.

Anyway, there are five songs that I cant recommend enough. And another half hour is successfully killed.

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The Stubbornly Stupid Racist Hockey Fans

Political Correctness run a-proper

Now I only make this post out of frustration with what I have seen on hockey message boards and in news articles over the past couple of days. Frankly, I thought this was something that was long since resolved. I thought this was an issue that didn't really require discussion. I thought there was just a reasoned conclusion that we had all arrived at by living in this world and growing up in our communities (especially ones like mine).

The argument I see being made, is what I can only assume is some kind of reactionary, "Us? Racists? Come on!" response. I have seen a significant number of people ask "how do we even know the person who threw the banana meant it to be a racial taunt?". The first time I saw this question asked I thought, "well of course, this is the internet, and this person is a troll". But then I saw more of it. And a large contingent of people agreeing with the sentiment. It seemed alot like cops surrounding a crash scene whilst saying "move along folks; Nothing to see here".

The argument was being made by people (who I can only assume are under the age of 12) that they had no idea what the connection was, or why people would be offended by something like that. And then of course, following close behind them were the, "why even draw the connection? Ignoring it will make it go away" people. Their rallying cry for this cause is that this is just another example of "political correctness run amok".

Of course it is not political correctness run amok. We have all seen political correctness run amok and I certainly don't think that telling people to refrain from throwing bananas at black people would qualify as such.

Political correctness run amok...

Of course all of that is just absolute nonsense that I suspect only people who have no first hand experience with racism would even think it. A lot of small town Canada is not like Toronto, and a lot of small town Canada simply doesn't have black people. From my experience at University, meeting young people from outside the GTA for really the first time, I ran into quite a bit of, not necessarily mean, but just plain stupid racism. Now full disclosure, I am not black. But one of my best friends that first year on campus was black, and I saw first hand the kind of stupid "first time talking to a black guy" kind of racism. Especially from drunk people. Every female thought he was a basketball player and every male thought he was a gangbanger who could only be communicated with via "yo"s and "wassup G"s. In comparison to my friend, I have never dealt with anything, but just seeing it on those few occasions helped me understand a little what it is like to be a visible minority. Frankly, I was impressed by my friends restraint because on more than one occasion I would have thought him perfectly within his rights to get confrontational with some people.

I feel like ignorance of stuff like the aforementioned story is a reason why we have such a backlash against the backlash against the banana thrower. A large amount of the hockey consuming audience has no time, or no thoughts for racism. It isn't relevant in their lives, so they make no hesitation in summarily dismissing its presence. People are trying to equate this with the octopus in Detroit, or even the waffles in Toronto, and in my view, those people are flat out wrong. They are wrong in principle (Octopi and Waffles were directed at the teams as a whole), and they are wrong in tact (I think being on the side of a banana thrower should tell you all you need to about your tact).

The fact that there is any response to this other than universal disgust and condemnation I find shocking, and really, really disappointing. For as stupid as I thought hockey fans were, I didn't think they were this stupid.

Telling people not to throw bananas at black people shouldn't be that onerous a request. Yet look at any message board and you will find people attempting to argue that "maybe somebody just brought fruit to the game".

Hell, it really doesn't matter what the throwers intent was! The only message that matters is the one that the observer/recipient infers, not the one that deliverer intended.

This whole issue strikes me as being similar to the white people who think it is a "double standard" that is isn't socially acceptable for them to say "nigger".

If you throw a banana at, or near a black person, chances are there will be people near there, who will think it is a racially motivated taunt. It will be wonderful when our society gets to the day where nobody would ever understand the significance of a banana thrown at a black person, but we sure as shit aint there yet, and just because some people are too sheltered or too naive to understand the connection, doesn't mean the action should not be condemned.

The argument being made that we should ignore it, treat it like it were nothing and it will go away, is nothing but a desperate attempt to try and ignore the issue. People in Canada like to pretend like racism is not an issue here, but just like denial does nothing for addicts and alcoholics, it won't do anything to make our society better.

When I was in first grade I had no idea what the connotations of a swastika were. I just thought it looked cool; so I drew a bunch of them all over my workbook. Had my parents not told me to erase them, I doubt it would have done anything make people forget about the Nazis. And people wouldn't have cared that I did not know what it meant. They would have just figured I was a Nazi.

Its like that kid on this past season of Curb Your Enthusiasm who stitched the swastika on Susie's pillow cover. He didn't know it was wrong, but you can't let him run around sewing swastika emblazoned linens for everyone.



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