Category: Sports

One of God's special slaves

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Quiz time: who said it, Ann Coulter or Hitler? [via Yes But No But Yes]

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I couldn’t agree with Chuck Swirsky more: “The thought of seeing Alonzo Mourning receiving an NBA title ring irritates me.” In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll summarize: Raptors trade Vince Carter for two bags of water (aka Eric Williams and Aaron Williams) and Alonzo Mourning. Mourning hadn’t played in a while and told the Raptors that his injury would prevent him from ever playing again. The Raptors buy out the remaining millions of his contract. Mourning promptly experiences a miraculous recovery and signs with Miami. Raptors are left with no superstar, no centre, two men with benches stapled to their asses and a lot less money. Suffice it to say, this was the beginning of the end for Rob Babcock, but Alonzo Mourning will forever go down in Raptors lore as a whiny little whore. Cheers, ‘Zo; you’ve always been, and always will be, Shaq’s bitch.

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There’s an article in this month’s Esquire about John Walker Lindh, the American captured in Afghanistan fiighting with the Taliban. It’s pretty eye-opening. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to be persecuted by practically every man, woman and child in your country and not be allowed to defend yourself, to explain what happened, to tell your side of the story. I thought Tom Junod did a pretty good job of telling us his story for him.

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The Much Music Video Awards are being re-broadcast right now, probably for the umpteenth time. I saw it on the guide and had to tune in so that I could put some context around Aaron Wherry’s hilarious play-by-play (found at Zoilus). However, now all I can hear from the other room is stupid kids screaming their heads off at…I dunno, Yellowcard or something. And who the hell-ass-balls is Hedley? Ugh. Gotta go turn it off.

[tags]ann coulter, hitler, chuck swirsky, alonzo mourning, john walker lindh, tom junod, mmva, popwherry, zoilus[/tags]

"My glucose levels are way down."

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Last night we watched two movies. Well…we watched one movie and I finished watching a movie that I’ve been trying to struggle through for a few weeks.

Saint Ralph (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was very good. I wanted to see it two years ago at the film festival; since then Stanzi went to see it at Cinematheque and confirmed that it was, indeed, good. Great performances all around, except for a couple of wooden child actors playing Ralph’s friends. Oh, and Gord Downie butchered a cover of “Hallelujah”.

Heaven’s Gate (imdb | rotten tomatoes), on the other hand, was a pile of crap. Cinematography that could only be described as “dusty yellow”, horrid over-acting, prolonged scenes of foreign tongues with no subtitles, a criminally underused John Hurt, an equally criminal overuse of Isabelle Huppert, and a running time that seemed to stretch on forever. I honestly can’t imagine watching the original cut that ran four hours. I’d put my head through the tv in the hopes of achieving sweet, restful peace. It’s too bad; the topic — the Johnson County War — is such an interesting one, but they went and made a stinker about it. I always wanted to know if this movie deserved the “disaster” tag stuck to it. Survey says: oui.

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You know…when Edmonton lost game 1 after Roloson got hurt I thought they were in serious trouble. When they got blown out in game 2, I thought they were done. They won game 3 in Carolina, but then they lost again to go down 3-1 and I figured that was it for sure. But hold on; they won game 5 in Carolina and just took game 6 by a 4-0 score, forcing a game 7. It would seem I wrote them off too soon. Prove me wrong, kids…prove me wrong!

[tags]saint ralph, gord downie, heaven’s gate, edmonton oilers, carolina hurricanes[/tags]

Rooooooooooooooooney!!

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Wayne Rooney finally made his comeback from a broken foot, entering the 0-0 game against Trinidad & Tobago, a game England was supposed to have dominated, in the 57th minute. The crowd had been chanting for him since early in the first half, nearing a roar when he began warming up on the sideline.

Rooney didn’t score — Peter Crouch (83′) and Steven Gerrard (90′) did — but the second he entered the game it took on a different complexion. From that point on the ball hardly left the T&T end, and the chances got nearer and nearer until Crouch headed home a great ball in from Beckham. Good sign for England, one supposes.

Too bad Rooney himself didn’t score…it would’ve made for some pretty incredible TV.

[tags]wayne rooney, david beckham, peter crouch, england, trinidad, tobago, world cup[/tags]

World-class sport, world-class shame

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I, like TimmyD, really only care about football when the World Cup or Euro are on, but when it’s on I love it. Toronto turns into a never-ending mobile party (depending on who wins), and I feel no particular anxiety because I haven’t a favourite team. It’s great entertainment.

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Three Guantanamo Bay prisoners commit suicide, and the commanding officer calls it “an act of war”. Let’s get this straight: you invade their country, take them prisoner, deny them their Geneva Convention rights and hold them for as many as four years…and by committing suicide they have committed an act of war against you?

Rear Admiral Harry Harris, you have truly jumped up your own ass.

[tags]fifa, world cup, guantanamo bay, suicide, rear admiral harry harris[/tags]

77.21%

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Catching up…

Torontoist spots an asshat parking his H2 in a handicapped parking spot. The Star says Bob Cole needs to retire from calling hockey, and I agree. He should take Harry Neale with him. Still with The Star, Ben Rayner asks if Radiohead is overrated. Not a chance, sez I. Finally, two links from Yes But No But Yes: super cuteness and super ugliness.

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Last day of the class (save tomorrow’s exam). I’m a little tired, but it’s par for the course on the Thursdays. We’re in good shape, project-wise; a few things to tie up and put together and we’re home free.

[tags]h2, asshat, bob cole, harry neale, ben rayner, radiohead, kittens+puppies, inhofe, mba[/tags]

30.55%

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Well, unless there’s a miracle, Edmonton has pretty much lost the Stanley Cup finals already. Dwayne Roloson’s out for the series and his backup, Ty Conklin, gave the puck away for the game-winning goal with 30 seconds left. That’s harsh. Maybe Conklin (or Jussi Markannen) can come up with a spectacular & unexpected performance; I hope so, ’cause I want Glen Wesley to lose to the Edmonton Oilers in the finals again after 16 years. Stupid Bruin.

[tags]nhl, stanley cup finals, edmonton oilers, carolina hurricanes, dwayne roloson, ty conklin, glen wesley[/tags]

28.04%

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Managed to squeeze in a little basketball after dinner. Just shooting around, all alone in the gym. No better way to relax.

Now, to do some work before heading over to the bar for the 3rd period of the hockey game. Go Oilers!!

[tags]mba, basketball, stanley cup finals, oilers, hurricanes[/tags]

Lemons & accents

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You know what’s good? The new Asobi Seksu album Citrus. That’s good.

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You know what’s funny? BBC announcers covering the NHL playoffs. That’s funny.

They say things like “…scoring three goals in the third quarter…” and pronounce the name “Rod Brind’Amour” as if he were from Reims and not Ottawa.

[tags]asobi seksu, bbc, nhl, rod brind’amour[/tags]

Hooray for bullshit

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Two good bits of news from Spacing today: the City of Toronto finally plans to go ahead with the Bloor Street revitalization they’ve been talking about for years (while we’ll have moved downtown by the time it’s completed, I still work up here), and they’re also (finally) going ahead with the Union Station overhaul. Hopefully this means no more being crushed when you take the escalator down to the platform at rush hour. Actually, being 6’2″ / 220 I’m less concerned with being crushed than I am with crushing some tiny Korean lady.

Regarding the Bloor Street sidewalk work, I echo what Torontoist is saying: hopefully the lack of a bike lane is just an oversight. Take Make The Tooker.

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And now, two bits of news from the Toronto Star: the (c)Raptors lucked out and won the #1 pick in the NBA draft lottery last night (though there’s no clear #1 this year), and Alexa Ray Joel lucked out and got her mother’s looks. Actually, on second look, she does kind of look like her father…but I guess there’s enough Christie Brinkley in there to make it work. Thank god. Not a big fan of the music, but at least it doesn’t sound like the usual American Idol excretions.

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I’d love to see the Freakonomics guys take a run at bullshit claims like this:

“Smokers’ rights advocates say 1,000 businesses will go bankrupt and thousands of people will lose their jobs as a result of Ontario’s new anti-smoking legislation, set to take effect in a week. ‘At least 4,000 businesses will be impacted,’ Edgar Mitchell, of the Pub and Bar Coalition of Canada, said at a news conference in Toronto Wednesday. ‘Possibly 2,000 will have severe difficulties and as many as 1,000 will be forced out of business. Yes, some pubs and bars can adapt, but it’s a damned hard road.'” [via CTV]

Setting aside for a second that — on the very day that Heather Crowe died of lung cancer from the second-hand smoke she inhaled working in a bar — this asshat wants us to put the business interests of 1,000 bars (a venture with a high failure rate under any circumstances) ahead of the health of the tens of thousands of citizens who’d pass through them…where the hell did he get that nice, round number? What’s he basing the figures on? What research shows this? Has he found another market that underwent these changes and matches Ontario’s? Has he extrapolated it from the earlier municipal bans and restrictions imposed in Ontario? And if so, I’d love to see his numbers; there’ve been considerable research findings to the contrary.

Paging Steven Levitt…

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I find this little doodad fascinating, addictive and frustrating all at once. Blame boing boing.

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I got a 90% on my marketing assignment. I was convinced that an entire paper of bullshit didn’t merit anything better than a C-, but I guess this mark makes sense. Talking out of one’s ass never get anyone fired from a marketing job.

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I worked through some of my music “inbox” today, checking off the new Concretes (yech…except for “You Can’t Hurry Love”), the new Magneta Lane (killer, as expected) and the new Final Fantasy (only two good songs: “This Lamb Sells Condos”, which is a Toronto in-joke, and “Many Lives -> 49mp”, which he played last year the Arcade Fire concert and freaked us all out, what with the shouting into the violin and all). I started into the new Pilate disc, which seems ok, if a little bland.

[tags]bloor street, union station, tooker, raptors, alexa ray joel, american idol, freakonomics, ontario smoking ban, marketing, concretes, magneta lane, final fantasy, pilate[/tags]

Jesus Christ. And so on.

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From Ireland Online: Da Vinci Code provokes protests ahead of premiere.

Christian groups as far away as South Korea, Thailand and India protested against the movie The Da Vinci Code ahead of tomorrow’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. They were planning boycotts, a hunger strike and attempts to block or shorten screenings.

I suggest the protestors read the following:

fic·tion: A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.

You know. Like the bible.

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Skype drops a big one: it will be free for outbound calls to any phone number in Canada and the US until the end of the year. That smell you smell is the telcos and Vonage shitting themselves.

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From the BBC: Apple rival ‘tries to ban iPods’.

Digital music player maker Creative Technology has asked a US court to ban Apple from selling or marketing its iconic iPods in the US. Creative claims that the navigational menu used for finding and playing music on the iPod, violates its patent for its own Zen MP3 player.

I feel like my underdog home team just threw up a hail mary.

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From TSN: Hurricanes GM – Habs were toughest test.

“No disrespect to Philadelphia, Ottawa and New Jersey, they’re all good teams, but some teams are a little better than others and I think Montreal is one of those teams,” Rutherford said from Raleigh, N.C.

Well…that’s some small consolation, I guess.