PONDERABLES
Having been reduced to nothing more than Justin Trudeau’s lap dog, does NDP leader Jagmeet Singh have any self-respect left?
Why do politicians of all stripes hide behind talking points prepared by someone else rather than giving their own answers? Laziness? Lack of confidence? Ineptitude?
There should be a law requiring winning politicians to propose, within a year of being elected, legislation enacting all the promises they campaigned on.
THINGS I FIRMLY BELIEVE
Alberta premier Danielle Smith’s statement that unvaccinated people were the most discriminated group in her lifetime was remarkably stupid; and so was her later “clarification.”
THE BLUE JAYS’ SPECTACULAR FLAMEOUT
Many pundits and fans think John Schneider’s decision to remove Kevin Gausman in the sixth inning of their elimination game caused the Jays any chance of advancing in the postseason. But it was more likely attributable to a combination of the freakish outfield collision between Bo Bichette and George Springer (which allowed the Mariners to score three runs), and the team’s lack of reliable relievers. The latter is a deficiency that can be laid squarely at the feet of team president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins.
IN DEFENSE OF MY CRITICISMS OF BROADCASTERS
A number of people criticized my critiques of broadcasters in last week’s Musings, and a few questioned whether I know anything about broadcasting. I actually know quite a bit about broadcasting. I took the Radio and TV Arts course at Ryerson Institute of Technology in Toronto (as it was then known), and during my career made 3,879 radio broadcasts, appeared on TV 244 times, and was executive director of 20 TV shows.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS GOALTENDING
The Leafs’ two retread goalies, Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, have each played one game, and each have given up a soft goal. Leaf fans can be forgiven for wondering if, as Yogi Berra famously said, “It’s deja vu all over again.” The Leafs haven’t had a first-rate goalie since Curtis Joseph played for them two decades ago. (I know he played for the Leafs again in the 2008-09 season, but it was for only 841 minutes.)
CORPORATIONS DON’T PAY TAX
It’s amazing the number of people (especially NDP politicians) who think corporations pay taxes; they don’t. Corporations simply collect money from individuals on behalf of the federal and provincial governments. Every penny remitted by corporations is recovered from individuals in one of: higher prices paid by customers; lower wages earned by employees; or, lower dividends distributed to shareholders.
ONE REASON UMPIRING ISN’T EASY
Although I sometimes complain about major league umpiring, as a former umpire I feel compelled to point out one particular reason why it’s not an easy job: the official definition of the strike zone.
Generally speaking, the strike zone is the space over home plate between the batter's armpits and the top of his knees when he’s swinging at a pitch; and an umpire has to make calls whether or not the batter swings. Then consider that current MLB players’ heights range from Jose Altuve at 5’6” to Aaron Judge’s towering six-foot-seven. It’s also good to remember umpires have to react in a fraction of a second without the benefit of a digital depiction showing whether the flight of the ball touched any part of the strike zone.
My complaints are not about umpires making bad calls on very close pitches, but rather about how often they call pitches clearly well off the plate to be strikes, and ones that clearly “caught the corner” to be balls.