The Stanley Cup

While the NHL playoffs were going on last spring I was reading a book published by the Federal government about the first 100 years of Canada. Being one of our national sports, hockey was discussed and more importantly how the Stanley cup became the trophy given to the best NHL team each year was also mentioned.

Here’s a little history lesson: the Stanley Cup “was donated in 1892 by Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston and son of the Earl of Derby…to be presented to ‘the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada.’” This trophy was first given out to amateur hockey clubs since there was no professional league then. Once a professional league was started, the Stanley Cup was taken for the league champions, after much debate I’m sure. Somehow this league evolved into, or was taken over by another league, and became the National Hockey League (this aspect isn’t too important to my rant).

So the NHL continues to use the Stanley Cup as its annual award. Let’s look at this a little more closely now. The NHL has pretty much been taken over by the USA, at least the business side has been, and did they not also want nothing to do with England a couple hundred years ago? I am not a history expert or anything, but did the USA not battle England for their independence.
“In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans”
I’m sure these lyrics by Johnny Horton (The Battle of New Orleans) reference the war.

So the USA wants nothing to do with England, the NHL has been taken over by the USA and the Stanley Cup was given to Canada for the best Canadian hockey club by an English Lord, why does the NHL still get to use the Stanley Cup? Why does the USA still want it? Do they think every time an American based team (at least half full of Canadians) wins the Stanley Cup it is like a small victory over England?

Whatever the reason is, I say the Stanley Cup should be returned to Canada, where it belongs, and have the NHL find some other piece of metal to play for.

But as it turns out (if you check out the website referenced above) the original Stanley Cup is sitting in a vault the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada! The Stanley Cup that the NHL teams play for is just an imitation of a Canadian treasure. Ha!

Baby Update # 1

The highly anticipated update on my son is finally here. I have finally found time to scan some pictures (I haven't taken any digital pics in a couple weeks) of my boy.

He has been growing well these past two months and is now over seven (7) pounds; 7 pounds 8 ounces to be exact (or at least it was exact a week ago). Still not big enough. He is even starting to do things; he can hold his head up on his own fairly well and he has even started to smile.

It's just unfortunate he isn't always as peaceful as he looks in the first picture. Other than the occassional cranky days, my son is a good and quiet baby. I just hope it stays that way.

Beware the Plutonians

Many of you may have read or heard that a group of astronomers have decided that Pluto doesn’t deserve planetary status anymore. Pluto, along with the newly discovered Xena, has been classified as a dwarf planet.

In and of itself that would be no big deal; however, Pluto has been classified as a full fledged planet since it was discovered in 1930. The beings of Pluto must be right pissed at this; I know I wouldn’t take too kindly if some other planet decided Earth didn’t deserve planetary status. These astronomers may have just given enough fuel to the Plutonians to wage an inter-galactic war against Earth. It’s time for us “Earthlings” to unite and prepare for an attack.

All this could have been avoided if the astronomers would have just given Xena planetary status when it was discovered last year. But no, it was too hard to think of acronyms that included X so instead they chose to insult the inhabitants of another planet by downgrading that planets status. Shame on them!

Blue Jays Season is Officially Over

For all those Blue Jays fans out there who still thought a playoff spot was attainable, you can put those thoughts to bed for another year. Instead of trying to better the team at the trade deadline, J.P. did nothing. Even though the Jays were about 7 or 8 games back from the then division leading Red Sox, they still had a chance to play October baseball. I guess J.P. misses his mommy and would rather be with her than here in Toronto playing for the MLB championship come October. Whatever the reason there were no trades from him at the deadline.

So now with about 6 weeks left in the season, J.P. trades Hinske to the Red Sox for a player to be named later. Okay so Hinske isn’t a superstar or anything but he still fills a need that Boston has and by doing so he makes Boston a better team. With this trade, J.P. totally ignored the one basic rule; don’t trade within your own division, especially to a team you’re contending with to make the playoffs. The Jays received nothing in return except the assurance from the GM that there will be no playoff baseball this year.

In the end, this season has been no better than last year, except they are spending more on player salaries. I think it is time to get someone who knows the game to fill the role of general manager of the Blue Jays. If I am not mistaken, next season will be the fifth year of J.P.’s five year plan so if he doesn’t get the Jays into the playoffs in 2007, I say off with his head. If I am mistaken, J.P. should get the axe immediately.

Spectator Sport?

FYI for TSN, The Score and Sportsnet:

POKER IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT....

IT ISN'T EVEN A SPORT.

Stop showing it!! It is extremely boring!!!

And for all those who disagree, hm, well?!

The Long Short Week

Another weekend is almost upon us; another week all but over and I have never wanted the weekend to come as much as I do right now. The four-day week that follows every long weekend always seems so long, longer than the usual five-day weeks and this week has been no exception.

Is it because I am in a golf tournament tomorrow, a day to be filled with good food, good friends, and hopefully even some good golf (I’m not holding my breath on that one though)? The tournament is always the highlight of my summer even though my team has finished last the past three years.

Is this drawn out feeling a trick by my subconscious mind? Does the fact that it is a short week affect the mind’s perception of time?

Or is it simply a result of my sheer boredom at work and my desire to be doing anything but come to this dungeon every day?

Whatever the reason for this feeling, in just over 4 hours from now I will be on the train heading home and the weekend will have officially started. Even the train crazies won’t seem so bad to me tonight…okay, that might be stretching it as they are usually worse on Friday afternoons. Another good reason to look forward to the weekend; two days I don’t have to deal with the train crazies.

The Four Seasons

I recently heard summer and winter classified as the main seasons and something about that statement just didn’t sit right with me. There are four seasons, and in Southern Ontario they are four very distinct seasons, each with approximately the same number of days and each with their own beauty. The spring has the fresh smell and colours of flowers; the summer has the warm days followed by amazing sunsets; the fall has the beauty of changing leaves and the crispness in the air; and the winter has the virginal white of fresh fallen snow. Each season should be given a fair shake because if it wasn’t for the cycle of the seasons there would be no contrast to compare the individual seasons with.

In the whole cycle of things, spring is seen as the beginning of life with all the flowers blooming, the weather warming and the animals mating while the fall is considered the ending of life with the flowers dying and the leaves changing colours and falling off the trees. Summer and winter is merely representative of life and death. As we all know (or at least the creators of suspense films and novels know) there is no excitement in life or death, but rather the excitement lies in the anticipation of new life or the long drawn out dying scene (spring & fall).

I am not trying to convince anyone to like spring or fall or tell people which seasons to like or dislike, all I want is for each season to be respected for what it has to offer. It is the bitter cold of winter that has us wanting summer but it is the fresh warm smell of a spring day that really gets us excited about the summer to come. Each season takes up about 25% of the year so if you are waiting for one particular season to come around again, you will have wasted three-quarters of the year waiting so get out and enjoy each season for what it has.

The Exodus Begins

As another long weekend is upon us, thousands of people who live in the GTA begin the mass exodus north. Tall buildings and the sound of emergency vehicles will be replaced by the murky blue/green water of an Ontario lake, great or small, and the sound of nature.

These people get to rush work from work tonight, hastily toss their weekend necessities into their vehicle, hoping they didn’t forget anything, grab a quick snack to satisfy them until they get to their destination, and head onto Hwy 400. As always the 400 will be jammed with everyone else heading north so the drive will take three times as long as it should. The “smart ones” have taken today off work and are already at their cottage trying to sleep on that old lumpy mattress they took from their house in the GTA. The weekend will pass and Monday night everyone will close up their cottage and head back to the GTA absolutely exhausted from their weekend away. Sitting in traffic, wishing the weekend wasn’t over or that they were at home already getting prepared for the upcoming workday.

Ah yes, this is the life. Spending a minimum of 6 hours in a vehicle, in the heat, cursing all the “idiots” on the road, adding the extra stress, all for a couple days of “solitude” hardly seems worth it. And then they have the audacity to complain about the gas prices. All the joys of a cottage can be found in Toronto, and with the money saved on gas, a one night stay at a hotel is affordable if desired.