Luongo Hurt

...and all I hear about is Oiler fans celebrating.

I've never understood sports fans that celebrate in another player's injury. As has been said countless times, sports is largely cheering for laundry. And a player you are celebrating being injured one minute can be on your favourite team in the very next.

It just strikes me as weird to celebrate an injury to another human being in the sports arena period.

Follow The Leader

I'm not a fan of the Parti Quebecois, but I AM a newfound fan of their new leader, Pauline Marois.

Why?

Here's why:

MONTREAL -- They may never write stories about her health again.
Bleary-eyed and freezing, a group of journalists was forced to follow Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois for her regular morning walk under a dark pre-dawn sky.
Marois had been frustrated by stories that she was too tired to run a decent
campaign, and that she had cut back on evening events to deal with her fatigue.

So she challenged her tormentors to join her for her daily walk -- and they
were compelled to oblige.

The 59-year-old politician was followed by a group of reporters and camerapeople as she began her march up Montreal's Mount Royal at 5:45 a.m., with only the moon piercing the near-total darkness.

It was a surreal scene.

Marois put on her iPod and listened to tunes while several panting members of the media struggled to keep up with her brisk pace. She occasionally tossed a taunt their way during the half-hour walk. "I'm still here!" she shouted back at one point.
When someone asked why she was doing this to them Marois replied: "Because all of you thought I was sick."

At the end of the walk, she told the assembled throng that she hoped their little field
trip would turn the page on any questions about her health.

Brilliant! C'est incroyable!

Remembrance Day Thoughts

Several things were on my mind yesterday, as the world observed a day of remembrance for the tragedies of war.



1) Remembrance Day should be a statutory holiday. I remember the argument a number of years ago that children would be able to remember better in school than having a freebie day off, but when we celebrate Civic Holiday, Labour Day and now Family Day with statutory holidays, it seems somewhat embarrassing that we don't afford Remembrance Day the same respect. I have a view of the cenetaph from my office and I suspect the crowd that gathered would have been significantly larger if not so many people were working. This needs to be revisited again.



2) Just because you dislike war (as we all do) doesn't mean that you can't respect the sacrifices that people made to defend freedom.

There were a lot of good people who have died in wars over the years to help protect innocent people from tyranny. Remembrance Day is a day to honour those men and women. It is not a day for anti-war protests. There are 364 other days a year for that.

Lest We Forget

NHL Expansion: London Knights

Although I happen to feel that the current edition of the Knights could probably beat the New York Islanders in a best of 7 today, I was intrigued recently about the idea of current London Knight alumni in the NHL, and what type of lineup they would ice. Here's my best guess at how they would shake down.

Forwards:
R. Nash, S. Gagner, C. Perry
P. Kane, C.Kelly, B. Shanahan
R. Schremp, D. Bolland, S. Kostitsyn
T. Kostopoulos, B. Prust, D. Fritsche
Extras: K. Barch, D. Larman, D. Bois

Not a bad group. I included Shanahan (currently unsigned, but likely to play somewhere this year), and Schremp (still oddly unable to get an NHL chance). 3 of those players are likely to go to the All-Star game this year (Nash, Perry, Kane). I think there's probably quite a few NHL teams that would trade their current forward lineup for this one.

Defencemen:
D. Wideman, D. Girardi
A. Henry, K. Quincey
M. Methot, J. Erksine
Extras: D. Syvret, D. Jancevski

A solid group with options. Wideman and Girardi are probably two of the better young defencemen out there, and both should (if they keep playing the way they are) be at the 2009 NHL All-Star Game. The other 4 are solid depth defencemen. Again, I would guess that there are a fair number of NHL clubs that would take this group.

Goaltenders:
S. Mason
Extras: ?

One of the better goalie prospects in hockey, but also the weakest position due to absolutely no depth at all. New Knight T. Cann will probably join this list in the next couple of years, but it's clearly the weakest spot on the 2009 NHL Knights roster.

I think if this team could find a backup goalie out of retirement or Europe, they would likely be a solid threat to make the playoffs.

What Exactly Obama Will Do

As I have been called to task, I will now have to put my extremely limited knowledge of the US Presidential campaign to the test and try to predict what President Obama will actually do.

1) Pull out of Iraq.

Might not be tomorrow, might not be Saturday, but I have a very strong feeling there will be a pullout of Iraq by the end of 2010, at the latest. Gradual, not an immediate pullout, but a pullout nonetheless.

2) The Attorney General won't be William Ayers.

I realize it's a negative, but it won't be him. Sorry MC.

3) Raising taxes.

He's got to. He shouldn't but he's got to. Don't ask me what taxes, but certain ones must be raised.

4) Improve of US relations.

At least temporarily. This will not be as drastic as many people think, partially due to the fact that Bush was far less unpopular worldwide than he was in the minds of many demoliberals. But at least initially, perception of the USA has dramatically improved (something that would not have happened should McCain have won).

5) Chicago will win the 2016 Olympics.

How can they not now? It will be the last year of Obama's term, and for them to host the Olympics in the first American black President's hometown will be too much for the IOC to resist.

6) 2012 Election Prediction: Obama over whomever.

It won't be with 300+ EC votes this time. But he's going to win in 2012 as well. The Republicans should be looking 8 years down the road.

Horrific Sports Journalism, Part 1

"Mason Jars First Win."

I really hope it won't be up there long, but surely, SURELY they could have come up with something wittier, and less cringe-worthy.

Smiles and Cries

"Ya gotta control your smiles and cries."

Points to whomever gets that reference first.

Anyways, I've been hearing an awful lot from a lot of people that the sky is caving in, now that we are about to have President Obama (or as his buddies call him, President Barack). Alternatively, I've heard that PO is going to solve world hunger, end all wars, and fix the economy all before yesterday's breakfast.

My take is that Obama won't be nearly as bad as his opponents are afraid of, and won't be nearly as good as his proponents are sure of.

All that said, it truly is an incredible day for the democratic process. And when it is all said and done, Obama's 2008 election campaign will go down as one of the greatest political performances in history.

Official Prediction: USA Votes 08

Obama in a landslide, probably with more than 300 Electoral College delegates.

The Democrats should also take the House and Senate as well, although not as handily as Obama does.

Prepare for 4 years of...well, I guess we don't really know...

Movie Review: Dan In Real Life

Yes, I realize this came out eons ago, but it was good enough to bother posting on well after the fact.

Steve Carell has many talents - and now apparently romantic comedy is one of them as well. One of the better family movies I've seen in a long time - eminently relatable, and very enjoyable. Nice to see him do something different from the usual slapstick humour that he seems to constantly fall for.

One of the more recommendable PG-13 movies out there, and it's a real question as to why it even garnered that rating.