Ponderables
How long will it be before some over-zealous, idiotic, politically-correct faction starts lobbying for the rules of all card games to be changed so that a king no longer beats a queen?
Why would anyone risk months of rehab later rather than do a few hours a week of exercise now?
Things I firmly Believe
Goalies should be judged by the shots they let in, not the ones they stop.
Wisdom should always include a sense of humour.
Follow-up
I wrote last week about the inappropriateness of the “let them play” philosophy of hockey referring, the euphemism for not calling a penalty when an infraction has clearly occurred, and a wrong-headed attitude that is particularly prevalent during the playoffs. The lame excuse for this aberration is that a call shouldn’t affect the outcome of a game. My point last week was that a non-call is just as apt to affect the outcome of a game as is a call. In last Saturday’s Leafs/Bruins game, referees Trevor Hanson and Brad Meier, in raising non-calls to an unprecedented art form, showcased another reason why this approach is warped.
There were at least five flagrant infractions by Jake Debrusk (two of them on Khadri) that were not called before Khadri lost his head and inflicted his own punishment with an ugly cross-check on DeBrusk. This is not meant to be a justification for Khadri’s action (see below), but rather an explanation for it and an absolute indictment of an incomprehensible element of hockey officiating that has to end.
Khadri’s Suspension
Khadri’s suspension of three to five games (depending on the length of the series) is laughably light. This is his fifth suspension for illegal hits, and he has had two other league suspensions; one for diving and one for inappropriate gestures. He was also suspended once by the Leafs, primarily for stupidity. He should have gotten at least six or seven games for his hit on DeBrusk; maybe ten. Khadri is a perfect example of what the late, great Celtic singer John Allan Cameron was fond of calling “a contumacious recidivist.”
Khadri’s relative slap-on-the-wrist raises two issues. Why does Commissioner Gary Bettman insist on staffing the NHL’s so-called department of player safety with ex-goons?(Currently, George Parros and Stephane Quintal — and they were preceded by Chris Pronger, probably the dirtiest player to ever wear an NHL uniform) And, although it’s rumoured that Hanson and Meier were disciplined in some way for their abominable performances, that these two are still working playoff games is inexplicable.
Furthermore, I will never buy the argument that three to five games in the playoffs is the equivalent to six to ten games in the regular season. If that’s the case, then why aren’t misconduct penalties reduced to five minutes, majors to two-and-a-half minutes, and minors to one minute during the playoffs?
A Justin Trudeau Hat Trick
With a few lines carefully hidden away in the 2019 Liberal omnibus budget bill, Justin Trudeau, in one fell swoop, broke three of his 2015 election promises. He promised no “Stephen Harper” omnibus bills, he promised Liberal MPs would be free to vote their consciences, and he pledged a more sympathetic treatment of refugees.
The Liberals have again introduced an omnibus bill. Those few hidden lines, if enacted, and they will be, will seriously hamper immigrants trying to claim refugee status. Because it’s a budget bill, which is always a vote of confidence in the government, Liberal MPs, regardless of how they feel, will not be allowed to vote against it. Many legal experts say the provision is probably unconstitutional; but then there’s ample ample evidence that this prime minister has regard for such legal niceties.
Breaking three election promises at once is very likely a Canadian parliamentary record; maybe even a world record for democracies. But then my guess is that if someone took the time to research and tally Trudeau’s broken election promises he would qualify as the Wayne Gretzky of political deception. Now that I think about it, has he kept any major election promise other than the legalization of marijuana? And the juries (pun intended) are still out on that one.