It’s not often that I single an individual out for any sort of congratulations.  But in this case, Joannie Rochette, I take my hat off to you.  In light of your personal hardship with respect to the sudden and tragic passing of your mother four days ago, you competed in the Olympics and displayed a bottomless courage in doing so.  The icing on the cake was the bronze medal, yet even if you had finished last your performance was truly inspiring.

I’ll cut right to the chase.  When things like this happens, it pisses me off to know end.  I feel my blood just boil.  When a woman lies about being raped, what should her sentence be when she is convicted?

The story of Biurny Peguero comes to mind.  She purgered herself in a rape trial that sent an innocent man, William McCaffrey, to jail for nearly four years.  This is not a case of mistaken identity, or anything else.  The woman lied, plain and simple.  This man just lost four years of his life.  He cannot get the time back and while he can possibly sue, you cannot get blood from a stone.  I’m sure this woman does not have a lot of money.  And the govermnent will not pay, as they did not make a mistake in the prosecution (though one could argue that they should have done DNA testing).

I think the only fair thing that could be done is to mete out the same punishment to this woman.  And then tack on a year or two because of the perjury charge.  Ergo, the victim served four years, and that’s where her sentence would start prior to any other sentence handed down.

The sad part is that the justice system is lined with examples such as this.

Canada had high hopes going into the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.  We wanted to Run The Podium and finish first overall in the medal standings.  While I admire ambition, or gall if you would like to call it that, I think that the dream was very unrealistic to start with.  We are a country with a small population that does not spend near enough money on our athletes to allow them to properly train to compete at the highest level.

Don’t get me wrong; as a proud Canadian I would be thrilled if we could dominate the Olympics.  Yet – we should be very proud of where we are now for the simple reason that we are there to compete – and compete we did.  If an athlete competes in an event and finishes 4th, 10th, or 20th, they should be proud as long as they gave it their best shot.  If I was in that situation, I would be pretty happy to know that I was the 20th best in the world in something!

Yet I understand the consternation…Canada has always had the stigma that we are happy being second best.  As a proud Canadian I can tell you that is not the case.  Most people that I know always strive to finish first.  In so saying that, at least with respect to the Olympics, you have to look at population density and training methods.

The United States has a population base of some three hundred and thirty million people.  Canada has one tenth of that population.  Ergo – using that metric alone – to expect us to finish with the same amount of medals at the United States is technically unrealistic.  Russia has 118 million people and Germany has 82 million people.  On the other side of the coin – Norway – which has more medals than Canada – has a population around 4 million people.  So – and good for them – they’re kicking ass right now!

The other sabermetric is how much support an athlete is given by their country.  In Canada, it is paltry.  You have to prove yourself as a top tier athlete before you even qualify for government support.  Even when you receive said support, it is not enough to supplement you and you still have to have a full time job in order to compete.  This is due to the time required to train, hire coaches, and purchase equipment.  If you look at the Russian or American teams, these costs are all covered.  In the case of Russia (or the previous Soviet Union) – they are training athletes full time from the age of six.  They also make sure that the facilities are top notch and the coaches are the absolute best that they can find.

There are a few exceptions to this, however.  The Canadian and American women’s hockey team is so dominant because they play together all year.  Every other country – this doesn’t happen.  This is a major reason why the skill level is so disparate.  Teams from Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Finland do not play together all year and play in barely semi-competitive leagues.  The Canadian team plays against men to practice, in meaningful games no less.  They can afford to do this because they have many corporate sponsors.

Donovan Bailey is another good example.  Prior to putting his career on hold to train for the World Championships and the Olympics, he was a self-made man.  He was wealthy enough to be able to afford the coaches and equipment necessary to augment his natural ability to world-record breaking skill.  He had enough money to be able to train and keep food on the table for his family.

So – without resorting to the “athlete schools” of the former Soviet Union  (boy, thoughts of Ivan Drago come to mind here…) and East Germany (boy, thoughts of the Germans turning men into women come to mind here…), how do we increase our medal count at the Olympic Games?  The answer is pretty simple to me, but to expect it to happen overnight is foolish.  The government, and business in general, has to make sure that the athletes have proper funding, the coaching is top notch, and the facilities are world class.

Now, I know that people will argue (and with a valid point) that there are other, more important things to spend that money on.  Yet, the hidden factors are there too that are likely being overlooked with statements contending otherwise.  Economically, building training facilities is an infrastructure project that creates jobs and provides communities with a top tier facility.  The naysayers usually argue that the building is only for training athletes, yet this is rarely the case. 

Thinking it through some more, all three levels of government could participate.  The municipal goverment provides the land, the provincial government covers the labour cost, and the federal government pays for the material (or building) cost.  From there, the municipal government covers the cost of property management and maintenance, yet offsets that cost by selling advertising (via corporate sponsorships) within the building.

The responsibility of hiring top notch coaches would fall to the federal government.  Whether you hire from outside of the country, or develop from within, it doesn’t matter.  Top tier athletes at the end of their prime can pass along their experience and knowledge to our up and coming athletes.  When you take a look at what Alex Baumann – a top Canadian swimmer – has done with the Australian National Team, it makes you wonder how we let him get away.

Developing our athletes is the most important cog of this equation and the responsibility for support falls to both the federal government and the Canadian corporate community.  Now – you don’t have to give an athlete millions of dollars.  They are not professionals.  They are amateurs, but they need enough money to be able to live comfortably while developing their particular skill.

Now – here’s the kicker.  Assuming that this is the plan, do not expect it to bear significant fruit for many years.  It has to be a twenty year plan.  That’s how long it will take to build the facilities, hire the coaches, and develop the athletes.  When the government switches, they must continue what the previous goverment started.  Stopping and starting funding will kill the idea dead in its tracks.

Developing top tier athletes is important because it encourages kids to get into sport and be active.  Our country is becoming lazy and I think that this would be a great way of reversing that trend.  Getting kids out there playing sports, wanting to be the next Donovan Bailey or Hayley Wickenheiser or Clara Hughes is much better than having them watching television or playing video games all day.  Physical education is important, and while it starts at a grassroots level in the schools, providing children with a potential hero or idol to look up is an intangible benefit that is often overlooked.

Prior to my usual format for review, to be very clear we are not talking about the TV Series, or any of the movies other than the latest one released last year (2009).  That would make this movie technically called Star Trek XI, though it is not named that anywhere that I can see.

Synopsis (from IMDB):  On the day of James Kirk’s birth, his father dies on his ship in a last stand against a mysterious alien vessel. He was looking for Ambassador Spock, who is a child on Vulcan at that time, disdained by his neighbors for his half-human nature. Twenty years later, Kirk has grown into a young troublemaker inspired by Capt. Christopher Pike to fulfill his potential in Starfleet even as he annoys his instructors like young Lt. Spock. Suddenly, there is an emergency at Vulcan and the newly commissioned USS Enterprise is crewed with promising cadets like Nyota Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov and even Kirk himself thanks to Leonard McCoy’s medical trickery. Together, this crew will have an adventure in the final frontier where the old legend is altered forever even as the new version of it is just beginning.

I think that this is the first time that I have watched two science fiction movies back-to-back that I thoroughly enjoyed (I watched District 9 the previous evening).  I did not have high expectations for Star Trek, as I have watched all the previous movies and have not been terribly impressed since the second movie (The Wrath of Khan) all those many years ago.

To my pleasant surprise, this movie blew me away.  Rarely would I consider assigning four stars to a movie, but this film was certainly worthy of the honour (as dubious as it may be).  The plot was fantastic and J.J. Abrams did the impossible and rebooted the franchise sucessfully.  He, or any future director for that matter, is now clear to write what they would like while preserving the history of the original franchise (and the sequels).  What made this movie really good was the attention to detail and the little things.  Stuff like remembering Kirk’s past, the fact that Spock is half human and had problems coping with that, and the re-introduction of the elder Spock.

While I think it may have been fun to have had an appearance from the elder Kirk, or maybe some of the Next Generation crew, it would not have made the film any better.  In fact - it may have distracted from the storyline too much.  This is a film that should be checked out if you are a science fiction fan.

** Note:  I initially started this review months ago, I just did not finish it until today.

With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in full stride, rumblings have been surfacing of trying to lobby the International Olympic Committee to make mixed martial arts a trial sport at a future Olympic Games.

Given the global expansion of the sport, I fully endorse the idea.  Nothing would be better for the sports legitimacy than allowing it to run side-by-side with wrestling, judo, boxing, and the other combat sports now a part of the games.  Allowing the athletes to compete for and represent their countries would be nothing short of spectacular for them.

Initially, I do see some logistical problems.  To qualify for the Olympics would require a number of qualifing tournaments, meaning professional fighters would have to train for and fight amateur fights outside of their respective organizations.  This would not allow the organization that they are signed with to use them as much.

For example, most professional fighters fight three times a year, with an eight week training camp.  After each fight, they generally take a couple of weeks off.  For them to cycle into another training camp for the Olympic Trials, right after a fight, may be tight.  They may be forced to fight only twice a year for the organization that they are contracted to.

The other factor would be insurance.  The fighters, or their contracted organization, would have to purchase insurance in case they were injured during the Olympics or the trials leading up to them.  If the fighters are not fighting due to injury then the company that they work for is not making any money off of them.

Another factor that has both positive and negative implications is that it would also allow us to see fights that we would normally not be able to see.  Perhaps Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emilianenko?  Jake Shields vs. Georges St. Pierre?  Shogun vs. Mousasi?  As I fan, I would salivate over the potential.  As a businessman, I would never want to give these fights away for free.

The good news is that Dana White, president of the UFC, is all for it.  They have many top tier fighters and seem to be willing to make the necessary adjustments should the sport be granted an Olympic trial.  Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC and WEC, sees this as another sport-building opportunity.  It would allow for instant world wide recognition of the sport.

It has been a whirlwind couple of days for Mixed Martial Arts in Ontario.  The Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, stated yesterday that legalizing Mixed Martial Arts in Ontario is not a priority for his government.  I am not quite sure what is gained here by making such a bold statement – especially in the light that the province of Ontario is not in the best of financial shape, and all of those tourist dollars will certainly help contribute to its coffers.

Perhaps McGuinty is ignorant about the sport.  Perhaps he is just being Premier Dad – by this I mean he has banned other things that he thinks are dangerous, such as pitbulls and using cellphones in cars.  The bottom line is very simple.  The sport is safe compared to many other sports out there.

The obvious comparison is to boxing.  How many boxers have died due to trauma suffered in the ring?  Let’s look at some other sports.  Pro Wrestling.  While very few wrestlers have actually died in the ring, how many have gone on to meet their maker prematurely.  The answer is surprising – over one hundred at last count.  Professional football.  Did you know that the likelihood of players being injured at some point during their career as a professional footballer is 100%?  Yet all of these sports remain legal in Ontario.

There have only been two recorded deaths in mixed martial arts since its inception (as vale tudo in Brazil) in the 1950′s.  Both of these fighters who died has previous trauma prior to entering the arena and should not have been cleared to fight in the first place.  While I will grant that the refereeing in a mixed martial art event may be somewhat dubious at times, all referees know and understand that protecting the fighters safety is their number one priority.  If a fighter is unable to intelligently defend himself, they will stop the fight.  If a fighter taps out (which, by the way, is considered an honorable thing to do), the fight is stopped.

Mixed martial arts initially had shaky beginnings when it was introduced to the United States in the early 1990′s.  The contests were unregulated, the fighters (for the most part) were single disciplined, and the referees were new to the sport as well.  There were few, if any rules.  Truly, as Senator John McCain put it, it was “human cockfighting” and was nearly outlawed entirely.  The UFC was relegated to broadcasting shows from abroad and in backwater towns.  They were nearing bankruptcy until they were purchased by Dana White and the Fertita brothers.  They established a parent company, Zuffa LLC., and subsequently put the UFC banner under it.

They realized, that in order to salvage the company and begin to make money, they had to become regulated by the various athletic commissions within the individual states.  Doing so would require the drafting of a unified set of rules.  While a lot of people like to bash the UFC regularly (and sometimes, some of that criticism is well deserved), the fact is that Zuffa spent millions lobbying and becoming certified in New Jersey and Nevada.  There was a point in time that they considered folding the company.

Once the athletic commissions were on board and regulating the fights, the sport started to slowly grow and become more and more accepted.  Zuffa, to their credit, began to market the sport aggressively and finally turned the corner in the Spring of 2005 with the launch of The Ultimate Fighter TV Series.  That show – and the final fight between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin – thrust mixed martial arts into the eyes of the mainstream public for the first time.  Less than five years later, it is expanding at a geometric rate.

Now – here are the facts as the sport relates to Canada, and Ontario specifically.  The man who gets bashed the most in Ontario is the athletic commissioner, Ken Hayashi.  He is a lightening rod of criticism for those people who want mixed martial arts legalized in this province.  Safety issues aside – which we have already debunked for the most part – the simple fact is that the federal criminal code prohibits prizefighting.  Below is the text from the Criminal Code of Canada:

Engaging in prize fight
83. (1) Every one who
(a) engages as a principal in a prize fight,
(b) advises, encourages or promotes a prize fight, or
(c) is present at a prize fight as an aid, second, surgeon, umpire, backer or reporter,
is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Definition of “prize fight”

(2) In this section, “prize fight” means an encounter or fight with fists or hands between two persons who have met for that purpose by previous arrangement made by or for them, but a boxing contest between amateur sportsmen, where the contestants wear boxing gloves of not less than one hundred and forty grams each in mass, or any boxing contest held with the permission or under the authority of an athletic board or commission or similar body established by or under the authority of the legislature of a province for the control of sport within the province, shall be deemed not to be a prize fight.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 83; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 186.

This law dates back to the mid-1800′s, a time when the only combat sport around was boxing!  The strict interpretation of the law would indicate that Mr. Hayashi is right, and that participation in mixed martial arts events in the country of Canada is illegal.  Regardless of any municipal or provincial laws, federal laws superceed them.  However, in so saying that, it is my opinion that Mr. Hayashi has chosen to ignore the spirit of the law.  This is, however, his choice.

As it stands, Ontario is the only province that has outlawed mixed martial arts.  Every other province has chosen to adhere to the spirit of the law, rather than its strict interpretation.  These events are safe, have a proven track record, and are regulated.  Furthermore, they bring in millions of tourist dollars to the province.  The provinces reap the rewards from the monies spent, but they also make money off of the gate (in some cases, as much as 4%), and it means that there will be more jobs for contractors and commission employees.

The UFC held its first event in Canada in April of 2008.  The Bell Centre sold out in less than two hours.  The gate was in excess of five million dollars with over twenty thousand seats sold.  The event was regulated by the Quebec Athletic Commission.  They assigned the referees and the judges, and were responsible for any pre and post fight drug tests.  Ontarians, it is estimated, spent 1.4 million dollars in the province of Quebec that weekend.  The second event, in April of 2009, generated just as much revenue.  These numbers do not include the many smaller events and promotions that take place monthly around the province.

The City of Vancouver recently licensed MMA competition and their first event will be held in June.  Tickets are not on sale as of yet, but it will be interesting to see the demographics and how fast they sell out.  On a personal note, as I have been to every UFC in Canada, I wonder if I can catch a cheap flight out to British Columbia?

As for solutions, I think that the UFC is correct in lobbying the federal government to update the criminal code.  This removes any impediment that the Ontario government may have in legislating MMA in this province.  The UFC is smart; they do not want to stage unregulated shows on Indian reservations.  They want to do it right, by the book.  They want regulation for the sport, because without it mixed martial arts cannot grow safely.  They also are willing to spend the money to get this done because they know how much money and interest will be generated by an event in this province.  Mark my words – when the sport is legal in Ontario – the UFC will have no problems holding an event in the Rogers Center.  75,000 people cheering on their favourite fighters.  It will be crazy.  It will be insane.  It will be fun.  It will be very profitable, for both the province and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The pre-sale for tickets to UFC 113 in Montreal (on May 8th) did not go very well initially.  People who were in the virtual waiting room for hours on end suddenly were booted out for no reason, and then when they finally got in the pre-sale code they had did not work.

I’m not sure where the blame lies, be it with the UFC or the Bell Centre.  But – I do know a lot of people were very irritated that they had to waste ninety minutes while the problem was fixed.  It is a little bit nerve racking, because you don’t know if the problem is on their end or yours.  Add to the fact that because the events in Montreal sell out so fast, it is very likely that you will not be able to get a ticket.  However, in so saying that, me and my buddies got our tickets, so from our perspective in the end it doesn’t really matter.  We have great seats and did not pay an exorbitant amount of money for them.

Unlike the first two years that I have been, this time I’m taking my camera and taking a lot of photos.  I have met a few fighters in my travels each year to Montreal and hopefully this year is no different.  To a man, every fighter that I have met has been receptive to the fans and classy.

There are lots of people in the world that enjoy smoking marijuana.  I know some, and by far and away most are pretty decent folk.  This is their fix of choice, yet it also happens to be illegal up here in Canada.  While the sentence for being caught (if it is even enforced) is nothing more than a slap on the wrist, the fact that it is a conviction under the criminal code does not sit well with me.  For the record, I do not partake personally.  I do not care for the smell, and although I have never reaped the benefits of the drugs’ euphoric sensations, I do not find myself craving the urge.

However, for those people of high moral fibre that wish to partake, but do not want to contravene the Criminal Code, there is a new drug quietly making the rounds in the United States and Canada.  It is called K2 – Summit and is sold in stores as incense.  It is also known as “Spice,” “Genie,” and “Zohai.”  It mimics marijuana’s effect on the brain, and it is completely legal.

K2 is produced in China and Korea.  It is a mixture of herbs and spices that is sprayed with a chemical compound that is similar to the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC.  The user can use it to roll a joint, or smoke it in a pipe, whatever tickles their fancy.  People have compared the effect as very similar to medical marijuana, yet noted that the buzz does not last as long.

While K2 may be legal – and for how long nobody knows – I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.  The first reason is, obviously, that I do not care for any type of said drugs in my system.  The second reason is, do you really trust anything coming out of China?  These are the same people that substitute antifreeze for gylcerine because it is cheaper.  The same place where all the lead contamination comes from.  Given their shoddy control of things – putting drugs that came from China in my body just is not going to happen (as an aside, more and more legitimate pharmaceutical drugs are now being manufactured in China, which scares the living shit out of me).  Furthermore, this drug has not been tested on humans and God only knows what the potential side effects are.  In mice, K2 leads to partial paralysis, a temporary inablility to feel pain, and a lower body temperature.

In most of Europe, K2 is outlawed.  I think that within a year or two this drug will most certainly be banned in the United States.  Canada is typically slow to follow, so give us a few more years.

Did you know that Valentine’s Day was established in A.D. 496 by Pope Gelasius I to celebrate love and affection between intimate couples?  As you can see, it was initially a holiday that was not based in any sort of commercialism; that did not occur until the nineteenth century with the sending of cards.  The 1960′s brought on the sending of flowers, and the holiday is the second busiest of the year for the flower industry, second only to Mother’s Day.

Sometimes, the fact that you are “supposed” to get flowers or some sort of loving gift for your beloved bothers me.  Why should it be on this day that you have to profess your love for your significant other, and then follow it up with a gift of some sort?  Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy giving – but I don’t think that it should be on this particular day.  Make it a day that is significant to the both of you, or better yet – how about a random day?  Just show up with flowers, a box of chocolate, or anything else that might tickle your fancy.

In any event, that’s my rant pretty much any year.  Now – onto better news.

This year, my Valentine’s Day was the best one yet.  The details are private – but I had a great time with a bunch of people who are close to me.  We did the usual Valentine’s stuff, but we also had a great time shopping in Buffalo, and dining out at Quaker Steak and Famous Dave’s.