Category: Sports

Mats who?

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Time for your sports update, you bunch of wussies.

Tonight I watched the Montreal Canadiens handle the New York Rangers 6-3. That makes them the third-best team in the eastern conference points-wise (though they’re ranked fourth, though, because division leaders get the top three seeds) behind Boston and Washington. While the Canadiens were expected to win the conference this year, no one expected Boston to be as good as they’ve been, or for the Canadiens to suffer the injuries they’ve had.

The Habs are currently missing their #1 goalie Carey Price, as well as what’s essentially their #1 (or at least #1b) line of Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay and Chris Higgins, not to mention defenceman Mathieu Dandenault, but they’ve won 5 of their last 6. I’m not sure how they’re doing it, but they are. I just hope they can hold it together until those guys get back.

OK, normal cerebrally whiny programming will resume momentarily.

Al Strachan just reported that Alex Ovechkin has stepped down as player for the Washington Capitals

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Apparently Brian Burke has stepped down as general manager of the Anaheim Ducks. This is good news for Toronto sports writers, in that it will allow them to fill their flamillions of column inches and never-ending radio shows with idle, boring speculation. It’s also good news for Leafs fans, as it will distract them from the reality that their team sucks, and will fill them hope for the Stanley Cup rings that Brian Burke is reputed to carry in his pockets.

I expect the Sun to publish the 2010 parade route in tomorrow’s edition. Mind all the (ha ha) waterfront construction, lads.

Things I've learned in the past 24 hours

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  • I’m getting sick. Not enough to make me feel like I need to stay in bed, but enough to drain me of all energy and motivation to, you know, move.
  • The Rob Zombie remake of Halloween (imdb | rotten tomatoes) started off better than I expected, in that it gave us a Michael Myers preview, but the remake part was just standard slasher fare. The only thing I liked better about it than the original was that Myers moved like a normal guy…fast sometimes, normal speed the rest of the time, instead of at a slow zombie pace.
  • Sometimes our cats will sleep quietly through the night. Other times they will stage a Bob Fosse revival on our bed at 3AM. Last night was the latter.
  • We need a new coffee table and over-sized (but not too over-sized) chair, but aren’t having much luck finding them. Lo and behold, I read this in Thursday’s issue of Now, and figure we should give it a try.
  • Even when the Canadiens are down 4-1 going into the third period, I should still finish watching the game, especially when it’s against a soft team like the Islanders. The Habs scored 4 goals in the third period and won. They’re playing .850 hockey so far this season, the best of any team in the NHL.
  • The Raptors look pretty good, having won their third in a row to remain perfect in this young season. Bosh looks better with O’Neal there to take the pressure off, Bargnani looks better coming off the bench than he does starting, Calderon looks better without the T.J. Ford of Damocles hanging over his head, and Kapono just looks better. But the defense is what seemed different last night…not all the time, but a lot of the time. Players like Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson have carved through the Raptors like butter in recent years, but last night, the Raps seemed to challenge more. Anyway, we’ll see how they fare against real competition like the Celtics or Lakers.
  • John McCain isn’t funny.

Misery loves company

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There’s been a lot of talk lately about Toronto getting a second NHL team. Many have weighed in, both pro and con. Sure, the market could support it, but it sounds more like the kind of fantastic speculation that Toronto fans and sports writers engage in when the Leafs aren’t worth watching. So, daily.

I, for one, support it based on curiosity alone. It might help to solve the mystery, or at least dispel some myths, about the Leafs fanatical fan base. Lots of sports analysts have asked whether Toronto fans love the Leafs or love hockey. I say it’s neither. First, Torontonians seem to hate the Leafs as much as love them. Second, I don’t think a strong case could be made for them simply loving hockey, or they’d have stopped watching during the Ballard years when the product on the ice barely resembled the sport. No, I’d suggest that Torontonians are infatuated with the Leafs, but infatuations are fleeting. If a second team appeared with a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup, how many Leafs fans would jump ship? I suspect more than in other hockey-crazy markets who’ve enjoyed success in recent decades like Detroit or even Montreal, even though Leafs fans typically refer to themselves as “better” fans than any others.

Anyway, I think Gary Bettman would rather give Bob Goodenow a hot oil massage than allow another Toronto team, and Hamilton might well lose their collective shit and blow up the Kings Highway if their city is passed over for expansion in favour of Leafs II, so I guess my social experiment will have to wait.

Hey dean, do me a favour and pick up those jocks, will ya?

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I have no problem with athlete salaries. I know people complain about someone getting paid a magillion dollars to slap a puck or throw a ball, but it’s simple: thousands and thousands of people will pay good money to watch that player perform, or wear their jersey, or buy their sneakers, or whatever. Owners of sports franchises can do math, and will pay players an amount they think they can recoup in these ways. Sure, some teams will pay extravagant and undeserved amounts for players out of desperation (cough Jeff Finger cough), but for the most part sports franchises pay players enough to help them accomplish their goal: to entertain and turn a profit.

Universities, though, are not sports franchises. They’re supposed to be institutions of higher learning, and therefore this bothers me:

[Via Greg Mankiw]

Squeak. Thump.

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I love me some long weekends. Since we’re going away next week we didn’t really plan anything for Thanksgiving, save getting a bunch of stuff done, having a nice big turkey-less meal on Monday, relaxing and enjoying the abnormally beautiful (for mid-October) weather.

After shaking off the work week at Smokeless Joe last night and sleeping in this morning, we bought enormous amounts of produce and other groceries, dropped a bunch of stuff at Goodwill, had a beer and a bite to eat on the wonderfully sunny Volo patio, ran a few errands, bought a few things, and came home. After a quick nap Nellie was fired up to do some cleaning, and when it involves throwing stuff out I always get excited, so we did that right up until the hockey game started.

Watching the Canadiens manhandle the Leafs 6-1 (in their home rink, no less) was like watching my old cat torture mice in the yard, just swatting at them as they cowered and shook, until I went outside and killed them with a shovel. I almost felt bad for them, right up until I heard Don Cherry giving Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau shit after the game for having the gall to play his usual power play units late in the game. I watched the game. They weren’t even trying, and they still almost scored, but apparently Cherry knows some unwritten rule that used to matter 30 years ago, and this had him angry. It made me wish Montreal had scored five more goals.

More relaxation and patio-sitting to come tomorrow. Yep, I do love me some long weekends.

Dan

Lullaby Haze

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Tonight: blogging in delicious bite-sized portions.

  • The new Mates of State is very good. Maybe not Bring It Back awesome, but very good.
  • We’re going to try to do Nuit Blanche this year. That should be interesting…I’ll basically get home, sleep for most of Sunday and then go to a Leafs game. Yes, a Leafs game. Normally I wouldn’t go but it’s a work thing, so I’ll just have to try to scrub off the dirty feelings and record lots of Canadiens highlights to watch when I get home, lest all the patheticness get lodged in my brain.
  • My brother just sent me this link, which made me puke and shit a little at the same time. That’s right, it made me shuke. Behold: lobster ice cream.
  • The Economist asked people around the world who they’d choose if they could vote in the American election. The results: awfully blue.
  • Paste Magazine reviewed the 10th anniversary edition DVD set of Sports Night. I know I’ve said it eleventy million times, but really…go watch it. So good. Stick it out through the first few episodes when they forced Sorkin to use a laugh track.
  • My debate plan this evening: watch the Canadian election debate but keep the picture-in-picture tuned to the American VP debate. If Sarah Palin gets that scared fawn look in her eyes, I’m flippin’.

See? Tasty!

Now what?

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Ummm, yeah. So I’m done blogging about the MBA. And TIFF is over for another year. So what the hell do I talk about now?

Well, last night we got the remnants of a hurricane. Which was fun. And this morning the American financial system fucking melted. Happy trails, Lehman Brothers. You too Merrill Lynch. Say hello to Bear Stearns for us. Here’s hoping AIG can get up off the mat. Me, I spent the day trying to catch up at the office and wondering how the ass balls I can tame my inbox.

And here’s what’s coming up: Canadiens training camp. A Mogwai concert. A Toronto FC game next weekend. Volo’s cask days. Drinks with two friends and a cousin (all at different times…they don’t know each other) that I’ve been putting off for a while. Dinner with T-Bone. Long overdue blog template redesign. The “some day” category on my RTM task list. PVR annihilation, especially the stuff recorded back in December. Listening (finally) to the following:

  • bonnie prince billy . lie down in the light
  • coldplay . viva la vida or death and all his friends
  • frightened rabbit . sing the greys
  • kings of leon . only by the night
  • lightspeed champion . falling of the lavender bridge
  • mates of state . re-arrange us
  • mgmt . oracular spectacular
  • mogwai . the hawk is howling
  • nick + norah’s infinite playlist . original soundtrack
  • okkervil river . the stand-ins
  • spiritualized . songs in a & e
  • tv on the radio . dear science
  • walkmen . you & me
  • witch . paralyzed
  • wolf parade . at mount zoomer

Reviews:

  • I watched a few minutes of J.J. Abrams’ new show Fringe and that was enough. I liked Cloverfield and all but I want nothing to do with the dude’s shows.
  • The jury’s still out on the new HBO show True Blood. Alan Ball: good. Vampires: boring. Anna Paquin: less hot than I expected. Rutina Wesley, who plays her best friend: my new girlfriend du jour.
  • Bon Iver: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[tags]tiff, lehman brothers, merrill lynch, canadiens, mogwai, toronto fc, volo cask days, fringe, cloverfield, true blood, anna paquin, rutina wesley, bon iver[/tags]

A note on Usain Bolt

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I obviously haven’t had much to comment on the Olympics, though I have been trying to keep up. There’ve been lots of great stories — the little singing girl swap, Michael Phelps, Canada’s late burst of medal-winning, the Cuban guy kicking the referee in the face, and so on — but the one that’s really bothering me is the furor around Usain Bolt.

For those who don’t know, Bolt won the 100m dash, generally regarded as the showcase athletic event at the Olympics, without breaking a sweat. He actually cruised the last 20m or so (since no one was around him) and even pulled up a bit when he started celebrating his win. This caused a wave of indignation from…well, old people. They were angry that he didn’t “run through” the finish line, that he pulled up and started to celebrate (beating his chest, etc.), and that his celebration was a little too exuberant.

I find this patently absurd. Usain Bolt is 21 years old. He had just broken the record in the world’s premier race and become, pretty much officially, the fastest human on the planet. He’s from a country that’s fairly well known for exuberant celebrations. He’d just capped off four years of grueling work by winning in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans. With all this screaming through his mind, in the final 1.2 seconds of that 9.69 second run, you expect him to become austere? Maybe show some emotion by pumping a fist? Ridiculous.

One of my enduring mental images of the Olympics is Donovan Bailey, having just won gold in the 100m in Atlanta, decelerating after the finish line with his arms spread wide, eyes bulging, screaming triumphantly. Was that, too, classless in the eyes of the likes of Bob Costas, one of Bolt’s biggest detractors? Many have taken Costas to task for this, but I think Heather Havrilesky from Salon might have done it best:

He became the fastest man on earth by a long shot, breaking his own record, while every other contender huffed and puffed along several feet behind him. How would anyone dare to claim that he owed it to the fans to run even faster, or that he disrespected them by celebrating a little early? What in the world is Costas, space alien from Planet Honky, talking about? Why should Bolt care about class, of all provincial, bourgeois values? What the hell is class, anyway, but some arbitrary code that soulless, high-capitalist professional robots live by? You know what I like to see in the world’s greatest athletes? Exuberance, and joy, and tears. I’d like to see them rip their clothes off and run around the Bird’s Nest naked.

Side note: the words “Planet Honky” made me laugh out loud.

As much as NBC would like to proclaim Michael Phelps’ 8 gold medals the story of these Olympics, I don’t know how it can’t be Usain Bolt. There are imbalances between the number of events available to swimmers compared to other disciplines, so I think it has to come down to who utterly dominated on the biggest stage, and who became a star in the process. In my mind Usain Bolt owned his competitors, the fans and these Beijing games.

[tags]usain bolt, bob costas, heather havrilesky, beijing olympics[/tags]