PONDERABLES
How come most “Exit” signs are red, the colour most associated with stopping?
Unless they have to, why does anyone ever sit in the front seat of a taxi?
Why do the Jeopardy producers insist on fancy (and frequently incomprehensible) job titles for their contestants when there’s no disgrace in being, say, a clerk or a janitor?
Will Justin Trudeau ever answer the question he was asked during parliament’s so-called question period?
THINGS I FIRMLY BELIEVE
Federal, provincial, and municipal governments can enact all the gun control legislation they want, but criminals are not going to pay any attention to it.
There’s too much emphasis in all media on being the first to report news, being right is far more important.
Dale Carnegie was bang on when he said, “It always amazes me how infinitesimal are the things I have to do, yet how utterly important it is that I do them.”
Starting a card game with a brand new deck is always a joy.
ANOTHER TYPICAL COUNTRY SONG TITLE
It’s A Cheating Situation
A TIMELY FEEL-GOOD STORY
It’s hard to imagine what was going through his mind when part-time Zamboni driver and full-time beer league goalie, 42-year-old David Ayers, stepped on the ice at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena last Saturday night to face his buddies the Toronto Maple Leafs, with whom he often practises, after both Carolina goalies were felled by injuries. But it’s doubtful that winning the game, being named the first star, and the fame that followed were among them.
Ayers is a very likeable person who earned his three or four days of international fame (forget the fifteen-minute variety). And at a time when our country is in disarray this feel-good story was, albeit temporary, still a welcome distraction.
BUT….
With about a dozen Major Junior and Junior B teams, plus a handful of university teams, in the Greater Toronto Area, the Leaf organization should have had a more skilled and agile stand-by goalie available. I suspect the issue will be addressed by the NHL
AND….
The third period of Saturday’s game had to be the most embarrassing twenty minutes in Toronto Maple Leaf history; and given the horrors of the Harold Ballard era, that’s saying something. It’ll be a mystery for the ages why they didn’t shoot the puck every time they crossed the Carolina blue line. The players’ body language during a bench lecture by coach Sheldon Keefe was particularly revealing.
Keefe seemed to be imploring his charges to shoot the #@#%$* puck. Most of them looked like they didn’t care. The most egregious was Auston Matthews, leaning on the boards, oozing boredom, staring off in the distance, and obviously not paying any attention whatsoever to his coach. The only player who seemed interested was, not surprisingly, Zach Hyman.
This is not a condemnation of the coach, it’s a condemnation of the players. All they had to do was observe how Carolina rallied around David Ayers to learn the hard lesson that talent alone is never enough. (But perhaps it did eventually sink in because they’ve now played two good games in a row.)
TSN AND SPORTSNET DO IT AGAIN
Sportsnet and TSN once again wasted a full day of talent, money, and time with their boring and repetitious wall-to-wall coverage of minor trades and trades that never happened during the NHL trade deadline day. 99.9% of the time nothing of note was going on, and what little of importance that did occur could have been appropriately handled with regular programming inserts. Neither network enhances its journalistic reputation with this mindless annual competition.
JUSTIN SURPASSES PIERRE
As improbable as it seemed, Justin Trudeau has managed to surpass his father in two areas. Unfortunately, they are the alienation of Alberta and damage to the Canadian economy. His narrow-minded climate change tunnel vision seriously impairs his judgement.
The problem is compounded by the fact that his Liberal colleagues either share these characteristics or, more likely, don’t have the courage of their convictions. And most, if not all, NDP MPs are cut from the same cloth as Trudeau on climate change. It’s time for concerned citizens to start hounding Liberal and NDP MPs to give their heads a shake before our economy is irredeemably compromised.