1/24/06: Canadian Elections, Athletes
Fitting how I start this blogging thing on the most miserable day of the year. Great omen.
• So Canada just elected a conservative government. Woo-hoo. Time to oppress some minorities. (Besides those Eskimos that club seals, does Canada have any minorities?) With this new government to be shortly installed, I guess that means in a few years Canada’s public sector will rise exponentially in ways the most wide-eyed liberal could only have dreamed of, yet they will piss and moan the entire time about how not enough money is being spent. I remember when the U.S. Congress turned conservative in ’94 and all the “limited government” that took place then. God only knows what’s going to happen north of the border. Besides, it’s not like I’ve read this new guy is going to “limit” government, only make it "cleaner," whatever the hell that means.
I don’t know (or care) much about Canadian politics. From what I gathered, the eastern part is made up of socialists and America-haters (aka French people), while the populace is a little more traditional out west. This election and power change will probably not make much of a difference; I don’t see Canada ditching that universal health care system, reducing taxes or increasing gun ownership freedoms anytime soon. In fact, the only thing that remotely interested me is a story about a certain filmmaker and his opinion of the Canadian elections – and the headline wasn’t even written by the Washington Times or New York Post (Michael Moore weighs in on Canada's election). Good job. Perhaps Mikey should have done a film about how Canadian conservatives suck, and then the election wins would have been greater. You should really punish Canada, Mikey, and outsource the jobs you provide up there and give them to hard-working Americans instead.
• Mario Lemieux called it quits from his NHL playing career today, citing an irregular heartbeat, among other things. Having lived in Shittsburgh during the Lemieux Era, I can say firsthand that he is one of the biggest sports icons in the area, next to Roberto Clemente and Steelers like Mean Joe Greene and Jack Lambert. While many say Wayne Gretzky was the greatest NHL player of all time, I always thought Lemieux, if given the supporting cast and health, would have been better. But both players have more money than I’ll ever see, not to mention multiple Stanley Cup titles, so arguing about who was better in situations like this is a waste of time.
The one Mario moment that sticks out for me was the year the Pens won their first Cup. At the time they had a fast, exciting team but seemed to miss a piece or two to take that next step. They found those pieces in a mid-season trade which brought over center Ron Francis and defensemen Ulf Samuelsson. Thanks in part to these two acquisitions, the Pens won the Patrick Division (I miss those old division/conference titles) and eventually defeated the Minnesota North Stars, who had a hell of a playoff run themselves by beating the league's top two teams in points for that season in the first two rounds (Chicago/St. Louis) en route to reaching the Cup Finals.
When the Pens won that first Cup, Mario truly brought hockey to Shittsburgh. Well, to its suburbs, anyway. Instead of playing backyard football in the mud, we were now running around on asphalt swinging sticks at each other; a much better idea. Sadly I was one of those little punks, although I wasn’t the kid who had the fancy aluminum stick that cost $80+ and still sucked, nor was I the kid who had the "official" goalie pads and would still allow that bright orange ball to trickle through the five-hole.
Thanks for the memories, Mario, and for the good times you inspired us to have by playing street hockey when we could have been studying to get into better colleges or volunteering our time in soup kitchens or assisted-living communities.
• So the WB and UPN will be merging? I guess it’s better to have one network nobody watches than two.
• I was driving home today from work through the commie part of Shittsburgh (or should I say the “more commie” part where all the college students and yuppies live) and saw a bumper sticker which read “Draft Republicans.” Clever. Too bad it’s a volunteer military, jackass. I've always been more partial to the "Mission (nothing) Accomplished" one myself.
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