Well, the City That Fun Forgot is getting light-rail transit. Perhaps this will solve Ottawa's Toronto-esque 4 p.m. traffic snarls, but as All Things Ottawa noticed, almost every LRT route is slower than the bus. The only rational take on this is that yes, Ottawa, needs this desperately, but you can't really trust the people who are leading us into this decision.
For instance, when have the two rookie Tory legislators whose constituents are affected by this, 27-year-old MP Pierre Poilievre and 30-year-old MPP Lisa MacLeod, ever given any indication that they pack the intellectual gear to understand what's at stake here?
Bottom line: Ottawa taxpayers should live in fear. This has boondoggle written all over it, although you could argue that helping the environment and reducing traffic congestion might be cheap at twice the price in the long run. Wouldn't suggest taking that line with a 55-year-old taxpayer, though.
After all, as you know, the Baby Boomers really have been paying more than their fair share all these years. But that's another rant entirely.
(Just to clarify: this isn't a Tory-Liberal thing; paraphrasing J.S. Mill, MacLeod and Poilievre are political neophytes with little between the ears who happen to be Tories. And there's nothing wrong with people close to my own age holding office in and of itself -- it's the type of people close to my own age who are holding office that is the problem.)
Incidentally, back in the early '90s, the Bill Hicks (God rest his soul) used to do a bit about watching CNN. Bear with me, this is going somewhere...
"Every 20 minutes, it's war-famine-recession! War-famine-recession! I look out the window and wonder, 'Where is all this stuff happening?' Ted Turner is making this shit up, man! Jane Fonda won't sleep with him, so he runs to a typewriter. 'By 1992 we will all die of AIDS. Read that on the air! I don't get laid, no one gets laid.'
"Just this once I want to see a well-laid Ted Turner newscast: 'Hey, it's all gonna work out. Here's sports!'"
Just this once, wouldn't you like to see a well-laid Out of Left Field post? There wouldn't be any rants about the ciphers we elect in this country, or the fact Nick Kypreos is gainfully employed, or the stupidies committed to print by small-town newspapers (cough, Brantford Expositor), that's for sure.
With that in mind as it applies to my own personal situation of being one of the mutants at Table 9 -- my sweet Lord, was that a reference to an Adam Sandler movie? -- here's sports:
- Ricky Williams has had a policy not to talk to the U.S. media during his stint with the Toronto Argonauts -- can't imagine what would make him feel that way -- but lifted his ban to chat with Sports Illustrated's Michael Silver. If S.I. could have pieces like this more than once every three months, it might still be relevant.
- James Mirtle calls BS on the Ottawa Senators being forced to deal Martin Havlat, arguing that "there's no way (Sens GM John) Muckler could have kept this club together — old system or new." Maybe so, maybe not, but it still looks a lot like the beginning of the end for The Dynasty That Never Was. Who knows? Maybe seeing their beloved heroes slide back to seventh or eighth in the Eastern Conference will help Senators fans get past the denial stage.
- Girlfriend-Friendly Sports Movies, as recommended by a single guy. You're welcome, again.
- And then there only two Ontario Hockey League teams to ignore in the GTA: Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has purchased the OHL's Mississauga IceDogs with the express purpose of flipping the team to an owner who will move it elsewhere so the junior team Melnyk already owns, the Toronto-St. Michael's Majors, can play at the Hershey Centre. (For an update on what Melnyk might be up to, click here.)
Just throwing this out there, but could this be a smokescreen for installing an OHL team at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place? There's a lot of hearsay and conjecture -- and as Lionel Hutz on The Simpsons once pointed out, those are kinds of evidence -- that point to Melnyk trying to corner the market on Ottawa sports properties. - Incidentally, the Toronto Star article refers to St. Michael's College Arena as the "most antiquated building in the league." Has that reporter ever been to the Kingston Memorial Centre?
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3 comments:
There's a rink older than St. Mike's? That thing seats 400 and the media section is a little crow's nest in the corner.
Well, James, I wouldn't say the Mem Centre is older (I think it was built just after the Second World War), but the Kingston team had an owner in the late 80s who called it the worst major junior arena in Canada.
Then again, that was before St. Mike's rejoined the league in '97.
BTW, did you ever cover a Tier 2 game where there was no media section?
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