Archive for September, 2007

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Teachable Moment

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

In working with young people, we often have these periods in time where the opportunity to present an important life lesson presents itself. We always have a choice in this moment, do we ignore it or take the time, and effort to try and pass an important lesson on to someone else.

This weekend was homecoming for the school that I work at. As a result, there were a ton of activities to build school spirit and foster some community development (and to get some more donations). There was a new event this year that I volunteered for/got suckered into, the Car Rally. A group of parents came to the school Saturday morning and then drove around some of the back roads, made a few stops, showed off their cars and had some good bonding time.

Working at a private school, most of the kids come from affluent backgrounds, so as you could imagine the cars were pretty spectacular. There were a few Ferrarris, a couple of Lambhorghinis, a Corvette or two, a hand full of BMWs, a few custom made kit cars, and even a Rolls Royce. While I sat in awe of cars that I could never afford, I was given the task of driving one of the school’s vans with two students who were going to be photographers for the event.

So me in the mini-van go and join a convoy of muscle cars and we head up out of the city and into some great back country roads that I didn’t even know existed. The weather was great to have the windows down, crank the music up, and blast along the country roads.

I find myself lagging behind the main group, so I step on the gas a little bit harder. Apparently they didn’t design Caravans to keep pace with Ferraris, who knew? I approach this beautiful corner going down a gentle hill, it looks like it was designed for racing around.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks this, as there is a police officer waiting for me at the bottom who flags me over. I curse under my breath, and my heart begins to race. As the officer walks towards me I have two conflicting thoughts run through my head.

Earlier in the year I was busted for speeding, and I was able to play the “poor student” card and I had my fine severely reduced. I wonder if I can play the “poor teacher” doing my job card, and get this fine knocked down as well.

The officer was getting closer and closer.

On the other hand though, there are two students in the van with me. I find that one of the biggest challenges when dealing with young people is getting them to take responsibility for their actions. So many people, of any age, are quick to blame others when they do something wrong. I realize that I am sitting on one of those Teachable Moments.

The officer was getting closer and closer.

Here I am faced with a crisis, do I take a more expensive fine and potential point deduction on my licence to do the right thing, and teach these two students a valuable life lesson.

I roll down my window and say “Hello officer”.

I listen to everything that the Police Officer says about going too fast, and I state that I didn’t know that it was a 50 km/h zone, which I honestly did not, and I take my ticket for $111….yuck.

As I sit and speak to the Police Officer, a number of other cars on the rally drive past me looking right at me. They sure were not going 50.

After we leave, the students make two observations 1) The guy was a complete ass and 2) Everyone else got by going about the same speed. Both points were pretty accurate to say the least.

I take this as a further teachable moment and say that it doesn’t matter what kind of guy he was or what anyone else was doing, it doesn’t change the fact that I was wrong and got caught. While I’m gritting my teeth and agreeing with them at the most superficial of levels, deep down inside I know that I was wrong and I got caught, so I had to do the responsible thing and accept the consequences of my actions.

I was also pretty worried that I would get in trouble for speeding with students. However, those fears were alleviated when I arrived at the first check point and one of the school’s Headmasters comes up to me, puts his arm around me and starts to laugh at me….I even take the opportunity to tell him that I turned it into a teachable moment. I’m officially in the clear.

In looking back, I remember a time when I was maybe 12 or 13 and my mother got busted for speeding with my sister and I in the car right around Christmas. She could have easily played the “Single Mother at Christmas” card and got away with a stern talking to, but she later told me that she decided to accept it full on in order to teach us a lesson about responsibility…apparently it worked.

I got to spend the morning and volunteer my time and teach an important lesson to some young people and it only cost me $111…ahh well, it’s cheaper than Teacher’s College.

Until next time,

G

Posted in Teachin' and Learnin' | 1 Comment »

This Month in Fantasy Hockey – September

Friday, September 28th, 2007

Just this year, my camp friends and I, started our very own Fantasy Hockey Pool and we just completed our draft today. So to celebrate that I will be offering my thoughts on my pool and maybe some other suggestions for any would be fantasy hockey players out there.

To start with there are 11 people in our pool and everyone was given 3 each of Centres, Left Wingers, Right Wingers, and Goaltenders, with 4 Defensemen, 2 Forwards (of any positions) and 3 Bench players. It was an auto draft, so we had to rank all of the players and the league randomly decided the draft order and it just drafted the highest ranked player left.

Anyway, through the random selection I ended up with the last (11th) pick. Fortunately for me the rounds followed a reverse order, giving me the first pick of the 2nd round, then the last pick of the 3rd round and so on. Through the magic of the random draft here is who I ended up with. The first number is the round they were chosen in and the number in brackets is their overall rank in the draft…

The G-Unit
1. (11) Jaromir Jagr – RW
2. (12) Vincent Lecavalier – C
3. (33) Evgeni Nabokov – G
4. (34) Olli Jokinen – C
5. (55) Eric Staal – C
6. (56) Brian Rafalski – D
7. (77) Scott Gomez – C
8. (78) Mathieu Schneider – D
9. (99) Brian Campbell – D
10. (100) Wade Redden – D
11. (121) Peter Budaj – G
12. (122) Bill Guerin – RW
13. (143) Alexander Radulov – RW
14. (144) Mike Knuble – RW
15. (165) Tomas Holmstrom – LW
16. (166) Dustin Brown – LW
17. (187) Jason Chimera – LW
18. (188) Wade Dubielewicz – G
19. (209) Vaclav Prospal – C
20. (210) Nathan Horton – C
21. (231) Radim Vrbata – RW

Now I have never done an auto draft before, so I have some pretty mixed results on this one. First off, I am really happy with my top four picks. I don’t know how Jagr was still available in the 11th spot, since I think he will have another monster year, with an even better forward cast, and Lecavalier is always a strong pick. I think that the Sharks are going to rack up the wins and Nabokov is probably the best goalie that is not named Luongo, Brodeur, or Kiprusoff to take (all where taken in the first round). Lastly Jokinen is a solid player to add points and penalty minutes, and hopefully he’ll end up in the plus side of things.

After that, I’m really happy with my Defense, as I am certain that I have the best D-Men in my fantasy league. All of these guys should produce big points for me, especially Rafalski, who should be able to get a ton of points playing on Detroit this year.

Three of my picks stand out to me in particular, Scott Gomez, Peter Budaj and Vaclav Prospal. I am certain that all three of them should put up good numbers this year. Gomez will be among the league leaders in assists this year and should have a strong plus/minus playing for the offensive New York Rangers. Budaj really broke out last year and the Avalanche are going to be an even stronger team this year so he should have some pretty big numbers in the wins column. Lastly Prospal is one of those players who seems to alternate between good year and bad year, and well he had a bad year last year plus his contract is coming up so I think that he will be a solid point producer, especially playing for the offensive Lightning.

What I’m not happy with is how week my Left and Right Wingers are. I had a ton of players on those positions ranked high on my list but there were all taken first. Now if this had have been a live draft and I was so short on wingers I would have bumped one of them up even higher. Instead I’m stuck with some week Left Wingers, but I hope to be able to swing a trade to help that category out. So I guess that’s my advice to any poolies out there, pay attention to your wingers. It’s easy to keep drafting high scoring centres but you need wingers as well. If this had have been a live draft I never would have taken Staal at that spot, instead focusing on an available winger. Ahh well, live and learn I guess…

Anyway, my plan for this feature is to outline any changes I have made and pooling lessons I have learned to pass on to everyone. I hope you enjoy the ride, and until then, happy pooling.

Until next time,

G

Posted in Hockey and Other Sports | No Comments »

It Ain’t Easy Being Green – Take 2 – The Environment

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

How many of you intentionally throw your recyclables into the garbage?
How many of you leave your lights on all day and night?
How many of you drive an SUV?

Hopefully you all said no to those above questions. We are clearly in a difficult time when it comes to the environment. With rapidly rising temperatures and rapidly shrinking icecaps, there is simply no denying anymore that the world is getting warmer, and it would take a fool to think that it does not have something to do with the pollution we are producing.

This is why I hope that all of you have some concern for the environment and are making an effort to recycle, turn off your lights and choose fuel efficient methods of transportation. But what if I told you that what the vast majority of you are eating was doing worse things for our planet than any SUV or discarded pop can?

In a 2006 report, the UN concluded that livestock is doing more to accelerate global warming then all forms of transportation combined.

I’ll give you a minute to chew on that…It doesn’t matter if you decide to walk or drive a hybrid car to work, if you are eating a steak or drinking a glass of milk when you get home then you are completely undoing any of your environmental good will.

The report states:

When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases. It generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2. Most of this comes from manure.

And it accounts for respectively 37 percent of all human-induced methane (23 times as warming as CO2), which is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.

– “Livestock a Major Threat to Environment”, November, 29, 2006

In addition to being a huge contributor to Global Warming, there are many other important environmental hazards associated with the livestock industry, and the vast majority of them are directly related to the waste produced by the livestock themselves.

There is little to no regulation in the United States for the treatment and disposal of animal feces and urine, large amounts of it end up in our rivers and streams. This has been wrecking havoc on the fish population of the world. In the Gulf of Mexico, there is a “Dead Zone”, an area in which the vast majority of sea animals and plants have died. A 2006 study by Princeton concluded that run off from manure was a major contributor to this area, which is currently half the size of Maryland. Ohh and remember, if fish drink the contaminated water and you eat the contaminated fish (or eat something that has eaten that contaminated fish) then it will end up in your body, one way or another.

In places where there are regulations against polluting the water with animal manure, there is still a threat to people’s air. Many farmers spray liquid manure into the air, which in turn gets inhaled…charming thought, I know. The California State Senate recently did a study on the issue and stated: “Studies have shown that [animal waste] lagoons emit toxic airborne chemicals that can cause inflammatory, immune, irritation and neurochemical problems in humans.” If it is doing that to us, imagine what it is doing to the wildlife in the area or the environment all around us?

Additional polluters from the livestock industry come from the additional transportation and harvesting that needs to be done for the food of the livestock, but that will be the topic for the next edition of “It Ain’t Easy Being Green”, when I discuss wasted resources.

While I realize that you may not be directly harming the environment by eating meat, but every time you use your money to purchase some animal products you are financially supporting those who are damaging our environment. This makes you just as responsible.

So if you can’t afford a hybrid car anytime soon, I am sure that you can all afford to buy a salad instead of a steak. Mother nature will thank you.

Until next time,

G

Take 1 – Pacifism
Take 2 – The Environment
Take 3 – Pesticides, and Poo, and Pus, Oh My!
Take 4 – Distribution of Resources

Posted in Tree Hugging Hippie Crap, Vegan Talk | No Comments »

Iranian Follow Up…

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

The other day I posted about Iran. I don’t have a ton more to say here, I just wanted to post some videos of Ahmadinejad’s speach in Columbia.

First off, we have the introductory speach made by the President of Columbia, certainly not the most welcoming remark….

Secondly, here is a brief excerpt of Ahmadienjad’s speach, where he makes some pretty valid point about the US’s record in the Middle East supporting both Hussein and the previous leader in Iran. Certainly some interesting food for thought…

Until next time,

G

Posted in Real Politiking | No Comments »

Save_Us.222

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Wrestling fans who turned into RAW last night saw this very interesting video…

Pretty cool eh? There has been a ton of speculation of late that this could have something to do with a possible return of my personal favourite wrestler, Mr. Chris Jericho. First off, these are oddly reminiscent of the old “Countdown to the Millennium” videos that aired before Jericho debuted in the WWF back in 1999.

Also, there are apparently some odd bits of code that are hidden in that video, including “7Oct” which is the date for No Mercy, the next PPV and “cd_volume4_1.act” which could be a reference to the fact that his old theme song was the first song on the 4th WWF: The Music CD.

There are a ton more potential clues available right here at 411mania.

Anyway, maybe it has nothing to do with Jericho and my hopes are up, I guess we shall see…

Until next time,

G

Posted in Rasslin' | 2 Comments »

European Bound

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

While the majority of NHL regular season games will be starting on October 3, it begins a few days early for two teams in an odd place. The first two games of the regular season will be played between the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks in London, England.

This bold move on the NHL’s part has led many to ask if this is the first step to expanding the league’s reach and putting teams in Europe. Of course there are many logistical questions that arise, especially the prospect of a team playing in say, London travelling all the way to Vancouver for a regular season game.

Now if the league were to do this, first of all they would need to establish at least 6-8 teams in Europe to start with so that they could at least play a substantial amount of games against one another. Realistically this could only be done by moving at least 4 of those teams from North America so as to not drastically dilute the talent pool. While I would have no problem cheering for the Prague Predators, Cologne Coyotes, Paris Panthers, or London Lightning, I have a feeling that Bettman would have trouble admitting defeat and moving teams out of unsuccessful markets, since these floundering markets are all recent additions to the NHL and a point of pride for the Bettman legacy.

So there seems to be a bit of a point of tension between the desire to expand globally while not contracting locally, which in all reality are things that need to go hand and hand. Now is there a compromise out there? As a matter of fact, I have an idea which may work for everyone…

Have EVERY team play a handful of regular season games in Europe at one point or another every season. Have each division go to a designated country every year for 2 weeks or so and play a game or two against each other team in the division, you can even have some sort of trophy or prize for the team with the best record at the end of the little round robin to make the overseas fans feel like they are watching more than just some regular season games.

For example, you could have the Northeast division go to the UK every year and hell you could even attach each team to a city or two so you could have the Tottenham Maple Leafs, Arsenal Senators, Chelsea Canadiens, Manchester Sabers, and Liverpool Bruins. They play one or two games against one another (so each team is playing either 4 or 8 games in total) and if say the Arsenal Senators have the best record they get some little trophy or cash prize. Not only does this allow the NHL to showcase its game around the world, but it keeps it in a style similar to the man different Cup series that they have in European Football and it allows the different regions to start to develop bonds with their “local” teams, furthering their interest in the game. Lastly, it gives every team in the NHL a similar travel schedule, because it is hardly fair to ask the Anaheim Duck and Los Angeles Kings to fly all the way from London back to the West Coast of North America and start the rest of the regular season jet lagged. This way everyone is on the same page.

Of course the different divisions wouldn’t all be going over at the same time, then there would be no games taking place in North America. They could stagger it over the course of the beginning of the regular season, say October to December, so then teams aren’t severly jet lagged when it comes to the playoff push at the end of the regular season. Also they could try and keep sending teams to play in countries where their bigger stars are from (for example have the Southeast play in Russia so the Russian fans can watch Ovechkin), but I realize that would be difficult with player movement what it is these days.

Sure they would need to work out some logistics to it all, but I am confident that this idea could work if given enough time to develop, and it would really be a great compromise. Sure teams would loose four home games each, but I am certain that they could make up for it in the long run with the increased global awareness that playing so many games in Europe could bring them.

I’m sure it won’t happen anytime soon, but if it does, remember, you heard it here first!!

Until next time,

G

Posted in Hockey and Other Sports | No Comments »

War is Peace

Monday, September 24th, 2007
Citing two unidentified sources, Newsweek said former Cheney Middle East adviser David Wurmser told a small group several months ago that Cheney was considering asking Israel to strike the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz.

A military response by Iran could give Washington an excuse to then
launch airstrikes of its own, Newsweek said.

– Reuters, September 23, 2007

Does that scare the crap out of anyone other then me? The same people who brought you a phony made up war in Iraq are looking to extend their forces even more and go right into another Middle Eastern country, only this time with potential nuclear consequences. Thankfully the Israeli government has yet to take up the Vice President on the offer.

I guess one should take solace in the fact that the leaders of the free world are able to learn from their mistakes, the last time that they tried a pre-emptive strike it did not work out according to plan so this time they need to retaliate. So congrats Cheney, you were able to live and learn. Hopefully you also learned how not to shoot someone in the face…hopefully….

The US and EU have been saying repeatedly that they want to try the diplomatic approach with Iran, although they have been doing a lot of sabre rattling recently. Including some tough talk from previous Dove-nation France, which shows that maybe Sarkozy-Royal may have been one of the most important elections of the 21st Century.

Now if diplomacy truly is the West’s weapon of choice here, then I find it interesting that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s upcoming visit to the United Nations is being met with such protest in the United States. He plans to speak at Columbia University, where the school’s President plans to press him on issues such as Human Rights and Holocaust Denial, this opportunity for debate seems to be overshadowed by intense public backlash.

Also, he had planned to lay a wreath at Ground Zero in New York, but many politicians said that his visit would “violate sacred ground”. I find it absolutely crazy that he would not be allowed to visit the site of the attacks, and politicians saying that he should not be allowed to go totally confuses the issue. Remember, just like Hussein, Ahmadinejad had nothing to do with the September 11th attacks. So wouldn’t him laying a wreath at the site be a huge symbol for co-operation and understanding between two nations poised for war? Is that not what diplomacy is all about?

I am not trying to defend the man is very clearly a megalomaniac, has a horrible record on human rights and has spouted off some of the least informed opinions on the planet. For the record that sentence was about Ahmadinejad and not Bush, I’ll forgive your confusion.

My point is that if people are going to preach diplomacy then please practice it. In searching for a compromise sometimes you have to be willing to give as well as take. That could mean giving someone an opportunity for open debate or a chance to try and heal some old wounds.

Either way it sure beats nuclear war, doesn’t it?

Until next time,

G

Posted in Real Politiking | No Comments »

The Green Pope

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

Cruising along on this wonderful thing called the Internet, I found an interesting little ditty about our current Pope, Benedict XVI. In April, there are plans for the Pope to make his first visit to the United Nations.

While this in and of itself is not particularly note worth to me, his planned topic blows my mind. Is he going to talk about the evils of gay marriage and evolution? Ohh no, he plans on talking about climate change. That’s right, the man who many people deemed too conservative to be Pope – and think about that, it’s not like the Catholic Church is the most liberal of organizations – is going to take a progressive stance on an incredibly important issue.

The higher ups in the Church claim that we are “stewards of creation” and have a responsibility to save the planet from potential catastrophe. As such he will make action against climate change a moral obligation for all billion or so Catholics out there. Not only are they talking the talk, but they are walking the walk, as the Vatican City is the first, and only, carbon neutral nation in the world. Sure they are tiny and don’t exactly have factories or a lot of cars, but it is still impressive.

May I just point out that the Pope is now more liberal, modern, and in touch with current concerns than many of the worlds leading political and economic figures. Think about that for a second, right now the head of an organization that thinks birth control, homosexuals, and Charles Darwin are the spawn of Satan is more modern than Stephen Harper and George Bush, who are still waiting for “more evidence”.

I hope that after this announcement other Catholic Churches will follow the lead of the Vatican by also going carbon neutral in their business, and maybe, just maybe, can inspire their believers to do the same. What makes this extra promising is that the majority of Catholics live in developed, and therefore polluting, nations.

Perhaps, if we are lucky still, that other churches will follow the Vatican’s lead and start addressing climate change as a serious moral concern of theirs and people of all faiths will start to actually take this thing seriously, because we don’t have a ton of time.

From the Inquisition to The Troubles, there is a lot that can be said for the actions of men in the name of God. This time, however, the pious and the agnostic can come together and support the steps Benedict XVI is making, because whether you believe God made this earth or not, we all need to believe that he is not going to help us now. We can only help ourselves.

Until next time,

G

Posted in Tree Hugging Hippie Crap | 1 Comment »

Glen and Troy Pre-Season Predictacular – Central

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

Glen says:

Welcome one and all to part 5 of the 6 part pre-season installment. Today we look at one of the least entertaining divisions in the NHL, the Western Conference’s poor child, the Central Division!!
The Central division has been a fascinating case study over the past few years. They are the ultimate example for changing up the schedule to make less games between divisional opponents. The Blue Jackets, Blackhawks and Blues (hey they all have colours in their name…and so do the Red Wings…I think that Nashville needs to change their name to the Purple Predators to match up, sorry…ADD moment over…now) have struggled in recent years which has been a huge benefit for the Predators and Red Wings, who many (including me) would argue that their records have been inflated in recent years due to an easier schedule. I think that the Wings will once again coast to the best record in the conference, the Blue Jackets will once again finish in the leagues basement, the Blackhawks will once again make some big mistakes, but I see the Blues and Predators having slightly different results. Intrigued? Well then read on my friends…

Let me start with the Predators. Certainly one of the most interesting teams to watch from a management stand point. They showed some promise in the last season before the lock-out as they made the playoffs for the first time and surprised many people by playing well against the mighty Red Winds. Right after the lock out they began to load up by getting some big names like Paul Kariya, Jason Arnott, and Peter Forsberg, plus they showed some big development with players like Kimmo Timonen, Chris Mason and David Legwand showing some major growth. They looked to be a model franchise that would be competitive for years, but then something interesting happened…nobody cared. That’s right, despite being near the top of the league in wins, they were near the bottom of the league in attendence. This has prompted a number of rumours of them moving to anywhere from Hamilton, to Kansas City, to Las Vegas. This team has taken a serious hit in the off-season losing Paul Kariya, Peter Forsberg, Thomas Vokoun, Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Tmmonen, and Vitali Vishnevski. To fill in the gaps they got…uhhh…Radek Bonk and Greg de Vries. Now that’s not going to cut it at all. I for one believe that this team is trying hard NOT to be competitive in order to get out of their lease with the city of Nashville so they can pack up and go somewhere else, more than likely Kansas City. Sorry Preds fans (both of you), but you’re going to have a long season.

One teams loss is another teams gain. I see no team that could benefit more from the destruction of the Predators than the St. Louis Blues. First off they make a direct gain by signing Paul Kariya from the Preds, but they are the most likely team to fill in the power vacuum left in the Central Division. Last season, this team had a 27-18-9 record after hiring Andy Murray as their head coach and that is nothing to be embarrassed about. They have once again assembled a veteran cast with Keith Tkachuk and Doug Weight joining Kariya and a host of some very good young players, including Eric Johnson, who has to be an early Calder Trophy favourite. They do have some questions between the pipes, as Manny Legace has proven inconsistent over his career, but I think that the benefit of playing the Blackhawks, Blue Jackets and Purple Predators 8 times each could make this team a dark horse to claim that 8th spot in the west.

Next up we look at a team that has been floundering for many years, the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks may end up being their own worst enemy as the core of their team is pretty overrated and often injured. Sure a top line of Robert Lang, Martin Havlat and Sergei Samsonov sounds dynamic, but do you really think that all three of them will show up on any given night? But what is interesting about this team is their core group of young players. They have some very good players who have a ton of potential to really step up this year including Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Jonathan Skillie. I think that the Hawks will make some progress from last year, but still have a long way to go before they truly are able to make enough progress in the wild, wild west.

Speaking of teams with a long way to go, we have the Columbus Blue Jackets. They are officially the only franchise in the NHL to have never made the playoffs, and I don’t see that streak changing any time soon. They do have a great group of young players who could be very good someday. Unfortunetly for them, someday is not today. Michael Peca should help their development, but he is not nearly enough for them to make the jump that they are looking for. Also, I have my doubts as to the choice of Ken Hitchcock as a coach. I think that Hitchcock is great behind the bench, but I feel that he is a great choice to get a good team over the hump, and not to build a franchise. I would be shocked if the Jackets are any higher than 14th in the conference.

I guess that ends with perennial Cup contenders, the Detroit Red Wings. This is a team that amazes me with its ability to withstand time and continually reinvent themselves. I thought this team would fall apart after they lost Yzerman and Shanahan, but somehow they managed to not only pull through, but make it all the way to the conference finals last year. I also think that they may have made the best free agent signing of the summer when they snagged Brian Rafalski from the Devils. I could see Rafalski playing huge minutes alongside Chris Chelios and being a top shut down man in the league. I see the Wings not only having the best record in the central, but the best record in the West.

So my predicted standings are:

1. Detroit Red Wings
2. St. Louis Blues
3. Nashville (Purple) Predators
4. Chicago Blackhawks
5. Columbus Blue Jackets

Troy says:

Oh the Central Division. Such a joke. Detroit must love playing in this division. The only competition to them has been the Predators allowing them to coast every year to an undeserved division title. This year will be no different as Detroit has remained mostly status quo while Nashville has definitely been taken down a peg or two. The other three teams, St. Louis, Chicago, and Columbus have improved slightly, but still suck.

This is a team that lead the Western Conference for a while last season and only lost the lead at the end due to some injuries but this off season was horrible for the Preds. Nashville lost of a lot of talent up front with the likes of Kimmo Timmonen, Scott Hartnell and Paul Kariya all on the way out and Peter Forsberg has yet to resign and is a long shot at best to return to Nashville. A few holes were filled by acquiring Radek Bonk and Martin Gelinas who is always a solid contributor but there is no doubt this team took a few steps backwards in the off season. If Nashville can stick to their solid defensive play they may be able to play some competitive hockey but I would be very surprised to see them at the top of the conference this year.

In the last few years the Blues have been a bit of a laughing stock but this off season was a positive step towards this team becoming consistently competitive. This is now a team loaded with high end veteran leadership with the likes of Doug Weight, Keith Tkachuk and the new addition, Paul Kariya who can still put the puck in the net. Andy Murray is an underrated coach and with this being his first full season in St. Louis his team will be ready to play every night. Last season goaltending was an issue but if Manny Legace can stay healthy he should be able to keep his team in the game more often than not. Look for this to be a turn around year for the Blues.

The start of the season last year looked promising until Martin Havlat went down with an ankle injury and everything crumbled after that. This team has some talent and if head coach Denis Savard can find the way to best utilize that talent then Chicago may just be a fun team to watch this year. This off season the Blackhawks acquired face off phenom Yanic Perrault and the creative Robert Lang. If Nickolai Khabibulin continues his improvement from last year then Chicago could make life difficult for some other teams. Depth will be an issue this year and if this team gets hit with the injury bug it may be a long season in the windy city.

It’s kinda gotta suck being the only team out of 30 never to have been in the playoffs. And it’s really gotta suck knowing that that’s probably not going to change any time soon. This team did not make very many moves in the off season but one notable move however was signing Michael Peca. Peca makes any team better but he alone will not be enough to bring this team to the next level. If Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev can live up to their potential then this team will be fun to watch but the playoffs are most likely not in the cards this season.

I’ve never liked the Red Wings and I will try my best to remain objective but no promises. Unfortunately this team remains pretty much stacked. The loss of Schneider was offset by the addition of Brian Rafalski. Detroit’s defense this year will again be very mobile and fast led by the 302 time Norris Trophy winning defenceman Nik Lidstrom. (Ok…maybe he hasn’t won it 302 times….) The offense, led by youngsters Datsyuk and Zetterberg, and the surprisingly revitalized Dan Cleary (woohoo Belleville shout-out!!) will be insanely good again this year. Worst of all Dominik Hasek will be in goal again so goaltending will not be an issue. The only perceivable knock in this team is age. There will be just as many colostomy bags on the bench as Gatorade bottles but these old fogies have all proven they can play and Detroit will run away with this division yet again.

1. Detroit Red Wings
2. St. Louis
3. Nashville Predators
4. Chicago Blackhawks
5. Columbus Blue Jackets

Glen says:

And Troy copies me once more. I’m going to walk down to the Caribbean and kick his ass…I guess that means I had best go now…

Until next time,

G

Posted in Hockey and Other Sports, NostroGlenus, Remixes and Collaborations | 2 Comments »

True Parity Love

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

We did it!!! We finally did it!!!!

That’s right, this week for the first time in 31 years the Canadian Dollar traded at par with its American counterpart. After spending the late 90s and early 00s trading around 70 or 80 cents US, we are finally on an even currency field with our neighbours to the south. It seems that every major media outlet has been constantly reporting our exchange rate over the past few weeks as we inched closer and closer to that magic $1.00US mark.

On Thursday, the day we broke even (henceforth referred to as P-Day), the excitement was almost palpable as many Canadians were excited about our currency reaching that magic number. Sure there may be all sorts of frightening side effects of our currency rise such as a lessening of tourists coming north of the border and exports going south, but economic uncertainty doesn’t matter because we are even with the Americans!

The Canadian psyche is such an interesting one to look at sometimes. While we have a wonderful country, and are a leading middle power (does that term even make sense?) in the world, we are very clearly the Jan Brady of the G-8. Like all good middle children, we seek and revel in any opportunity we have to look better than our older siblings.

Don’t believe me? Well how much sweeter did our 2002 Gold Medal taste because we beat the States in the finals? How patriotic did you feel when the Blue Jays won the World Series? How many times do you point out that a famous actor/musician/inventor is Canadian? How many times do we try to point out the “stupidity” of Americans with such shows as Talking to Americans?

We celebrated when our hockey team won the gold, but the Americans still took home more medals than any other country during those Olympic Games. We proudly sang the national anthem as a Canadian team won the championship at the Americans National Past Time, but our “Canadian” team had no Canadian players. We proudly talk up Mike Myers, The Bare Naked Ladies, or Alexander Graham Bell, but they still did most of their best work south of the 49. We laugh at Americans for thinking that Canada is covered in snow all year, but we further our own prejudices by thinking that they are all stupid.

Our country clearly has some deep seeded insecurities when it comes to our older sibling. We always long to feel better then them at something and this is no different. We celebrate our rising dollar, but a typical American is still 20% wealthier than a typical Canadian. Once more, we celebrate a small victory but continue to loose the forest for the trees.

This story is already blowing over and unless our currency skyrockets even more, things will once more be about “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia”, and we will be left looking for some other way to get our parents attention.

Until next time,

G

Posted in Rants | No Comments »

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