Snark break ... it just doesn't matter!

• Some us learned long ago that a person worthwhile can put emotion into words without a pop-culture reference every so often. Bill Simmons took the Tom Brady injury in less than heroic fashion.

  "Getting final word on the Brady injury felt like being an actor on a cop show and identifying a murder victim at the morgue: Yep, that's it. That's the 2008 Pats season. You can pull the sheet back over it. Thanks."

  Please, it's sports -- it's the toy department. Everyone, present company very included, has been known to fulminate and do the inanimate-object kicking routine after a beloved team loses, but it just doesn't matter. It's no sign of character to go around in a mope after a loss, well, at least 99% of the time.
  
  
  Pre-Game Coin Toss Makes Jacksonville Jaguars Realize Randomness Of Life
  
  It's sports. It lives in your mind, in your gut, it shapes your general view of the world, but it really is only a game.
• Rick Mercer on the difference between the U.S. and Canadian elections: "(John) McCain suffered at the hands of a hostile enemy bent on breaking his body and soul and he survived and triumphed. Stephen Harper, the story goes, suffered from onset adolescent asthma and so was often picked last for team sports. This helps explain his dislike for all people in general."
• There is a bit of disappointment in the UK that a crowd of only 7,500 turned out to see their national basketball team play last Saturday. It boggles the mind to think what Canada Basketball would have to do in this country to get that size a crowd out to see our senior men's national team.

Stuff that's kinda important

• The Hockey News has an item on the newest Kingston Frontenac, Ethan Werek, with the all-important qualifier: "... no matter what you think of ... Kingston GM-coach Larry Mavety as a developer of talent, it’s great for Werek that he bucked the hockey establishment for more than a year..." Translated: His Royal Mavness isn't junior hockey answer's to Isaac Newton because Werek decicded to report -- he's the branch that was holding the apple.
• Remember Darnellia Russell, the American point guard who was slated to play basketball at Lakehead University?
  
  Would that there could have been a happier ending, but Russell has opted to return home, explaining she couldn't bear being apart from her two daughters. In the press release, Russell said "I am really sorry for letting everyone down," but no one should have to apologize if they got homesick from being in Thunder Bay.
• Small world ... Concordia safety Bryan Charleau, who earned Quebec conference defensive player of the week in his first career start vs. Bishop's last Friday, was a standout high school player at Simcoe Composite School during a certain someone's confusing stint as sports editor of the Reformer.