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.

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.

I’m sure everyone has heard about this clown by now.  Potentially tossing away his career because he decided that having weapons in the United States capital was the cool thing to do.

Good job, Gilbert.  The world marvels at your stupidity.  Arenas would rather store guns in his locker rather than in his house because he has children.  But I guess – making somewhere around 14 million dollars a year – he can’t afford a gun safe.

Maybe its the culture that he grew up in, I don’t know.  But the blame falls on his shoulders and nobody elses.

Why is it that you always see NBA and NFL stars in legal trouble?  Rarely do you see the same type of infractions with respect to players in MLB and the NHL.

Years ago in my private blog, I commented on Michael Vick.  I went to reread what I wrote at the time and the hatred that I had for this man (or moreso, what he had done) bled through the monitor at me.  Dog fighting is not something that I could ever condone.  While I am not a true animal lover, I am not one who enjoys watching them suffer cruelly for our amusement either.

I am not terribly close to animals because I was always allergic to them.  As a result, we never had a family pet other than some fish and my brother’s hamster.  A few years ago, I had a rabbit, which oddly I did not have an allergy too.

Regardless, what Michael Vick did was wrong, both legally and morally.  And for his crimes, he has paid a huge price.  It has cost him his freedom, fines, his career, shame, and personal bankruptcy.  I am shedding no tears for Michael Vick, as he got what he deserved.

In so saying that, he deserves a second chance.

Today, the NFL reinstated him as an active player, allowing him to try and ressurect his career.  He is unable to play in a regular season game until at least Week 6, but can participate in practices, training sessions, and player meetings.  Hopefully he is able to catch on with a team and live up to the high expectations that people had for him when he was the NFL’s highest paid player (to clarify, by “high expectations” I mean both personally and professionally).

I hope Micheal Vick can turn his life around.  Nobody wants to see somebody fail.  I would say though, to all the PETA demonstrators hounding Vick, to go home.  You have had two years to say your peace and the man has paid his debt to society.

Thirty four games into the season and the Toronto Blue Jays sit atop baseball with the second best record.  Only the Dodgers are better.  Who would have guessed?   Toronto leads the league in hits, runs, and batting average, and their pitching is up near the top as well.

While the hitting has been surprising, it’s the pitching that has me wondering.  Besides Roy Halladay, the starting pitching has been a patchwork of veterans and rookies throwing great ball.  Nobody, be it the fans or the experts, expected this.  Cito Gaston himself said that this would be a tough year and that it would be 2010 that the Jays would be better.  Maybe its the return of Paul Beeston…hrmmm…

The Jays play in the American League East, which is home to both the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.  Both of these teams draw upon tremendous drafting and a no-ceiling budget to create contenders year after year.  Furthermore, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are exceeding all expectations as well.  On a shoestring budget they managed to make it all the way to the World Series last year.

The Blue Jays do not have a shoestring budget.  They are in the middle of the pack with respect to finances, but play in the same division as baseballs two largest fat cats.  Such is the way things are, however.  I remember way back when the American League East was known as the American League Least.  Not anymore!

Go Jays Go!

Maple Leaf Gardens was built in the middle of the Great Depression over the summer months in 1931.  Construction began on June 1st and was finished in mid-October.  To this day, it is considered a marvel of construction that this building was put together so fast.  Conn Smythe and his assistant, Frank Selke, in the middle of the Great Depression managed to get blood (money) from a stone (bankers) to build the Gardens.  How they went about doing it is an interesting story indeed.

Smythe purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 for $160,000.  He accumulated this by gambling some of his $10,000 severance pay from the New York Rangers and convincing the previous owner to leave some money in the team.  He immediately renamed the club the Toronto Maple Leafs, and introduced the blue-and-white colors sill worn today.

Both men had an eye for talent, and quickly built a contender.  However, despite their on-ice success, there was no way to turn a profit in the Mutual Street arena that they were playing in.  Smythe realized that he needed to build a new arena, but he was in a conundrum as he did not have the wealth to finance it.  At the time, Frank Selke produced a program that for the Leafs that sold for ten cents.  He had Foster Hewitt broadcast it over the air, hoping to sell a few thousand copies.  Instead, they received over 91,000 requests.  This convinced the bankers that there was interest in hockey and to loosen the purse strings.

However, there was still a snag.  When Smythe and Selke received the estimates for the building, they found that they were still several hundred thousand dollars short.  Selke, however, had an idea.  He made personal pitches to all 24 unions and offered them 20% stock options in the new building that would be christened Maple Leafs Gardens.  He convinced them that receiving 80% of their salaries in cash as opposed to waiting in the unemployment line was better in hard times such as these.  When the unions agreed, the bankers coughed up more money which allowed construction to commence.  Selke later stated that had times been good, and jobs not as scarce, the unions would never have agreed to their plan.

When the Gardens opened, it attracted a who’s-who of Toronto society.  The Leafs lost to the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 2-1, yet went on to win the Stanley Cup that year.  It was sweet revenge for Conn Smythe, who was still furious and bitter that the New York Rangers let him go.

From World War II up until its closure in 1999, the Toronto Maple Leafs sold out every home game.  Through the great teams of the ’40’s, 50’s, and ’60’s to the horrid teams of the ’80’s, the people kept coming.  Smythe, ever the entrepreneur, opened the building up to weekly professional wrestling contests and concerts.  He sold his interest in the Gardens in the late 1950’s to a consortium led by his son, Stafford. 

Spring training has started and most of the Major League Baseball players are back in the fold with their teams.  There are still some big name players that are unsigned, and baseball is blaming it on the economy?

Stop!  What!?!?!?  Have they lost their bloody minds?

Yes, the economy is in a downturn.  It has yet to impact Major League Baseball, however.  Salaries are at their highest ever, and attendance across the board is up.  Baseball is booming, do not be fooled.  The average major league salary is in the neighborhood of three million dollars per season.  That’s a lot of coinage, and the owners must be doing well to be able to afford to pay out those high salaries.

If the owners were losing money they would not be handing out these big dollar contracts.  It’s simple economics.  They make money via merchandise and ticket sales, but also television contracts and the playoffs.  The bigger money teams complain about having to revenue share with the smaller market teams, but everyone is profitable in the end.

So – don’t shed any tears when owners and players are both crying poor.

We had the UFC, the Super Bowl, and a LAN Party.  That’s a busy, fun weekend right there.

My roommate hosts LAN parties every six weeks or so.  Essentially, it’s an excuse for a bunch of guys (and the occasional female) to show up with their computers on a Friday night, stay awake non-stop until sometime Sunday morning, drink like fish, and obliterate one another over and over again within the context of their video game of choice.  Occasionally there are prizes, wings, breakfasts, pizza for dinner, and the unfortunate guy who has no choice but to worship the porcelain goddess.  Despite the fact that I very rarely play video games, I still enjoy everyone’s company.  I do not get much sleep, maybe about six hours between Friday and Sunday.  Everyone has a good time, except for the cranky neighbor, and it is good, clean fun with lots of swearing.

Most of our guests are fans of the UFC, and if can be timed we do it in conjunction with a pay-per-view.  This lan party (officially BTM 63) coincided with UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II.  Needless to say, it was a pretty good PPV, with St. Pierre taking the fight handily.  Penn could not answer the call for round five, after sustaining almost fifteen minutes of brutal ground and pound (the first round was pretty even).  As fellow Canadians, nobody would bet on Penn.

I was rooting for St. Pierre as well, not only because he is a fellow Canadian, but the fact that BJ Penn came across as very arrogant during the pre-fight interviews.  I don’t know if it was fight hype, but he was accusing St. Pierre of having a weak heart, and criticizing his trainers.  Things like that do not go over very well in MMA due to the fact that most of the fighters are very respectful of one another, even if they do not like them.  BJ running his mouth off, or shooting from the hip, it is not professional and he should know better.  Oh well…I guess somebody has to be the heel.  It’s not professional wrestling, but it sells tickets.

The only knockout of the entire event was Lyoto Machida putting Thiago Silva to sleep with one second left in the first round.  Given Machida’s elusive fighting style (this was the first knockout of his fourteen fight career), nobody would have predicted that.  UFC 94 saw the first seven fights go to a decision.  It was a very well put together card and the fights were all very close.  From what I saw, the judges got the decisions right.  Getting back to Machida, this guy deserves a title shot.  The UFC is reluctant to do so because he is such a polar fighter.  You either love him or hate him.  People who want blood and guts will not like Machida’s fighting style because he is very elusive and technical.  His background is non traditional; it is Shotokan Karate.  Because of this, he distances himself farther away than a traditional mixed martial artist, and has a counterpunching style out of the pocket.  This makes him very difficult to close in on or hit.

Another fighter that impressed me was Jon Jones.  He’s very young, only 21, and he fought a big, tough guy in Stephan Bonnar and came out on top.  His style is very aggressive, but extremely unorthodox.  Rarely do you see fighters employing a mix of wrestling and taekwondo.  Spinning back fists, back kicks, and front suplexes are all in Mr. Jones’ repetoire.  And he has nothing but time.  He needs to work on his conditioning, as he tired during round two and allowed Bonnar to make a comeback of sorts, and his submission game.

Assuming you do not live in a closet, you know that Sunday was the Super Bowel.  Arizona vs. Pittsburgh.  The Steelers won, but the game was very close.  Arizona was leading with less than three minutes to play.  I was cheering for them, not because I have a favorite team, but I like the underdogs.  It’s nice when they win one.  Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band played the halftime.  He did a good job, but I’m not into Springsteen.  I bet there are people out there who bought a Superbowl ticket just to see The Boss.

Of course, the biggest part of the Super Bowl (aside from the game) are the commercials.  Given that we are in Canada, we do not get to see the great commercials that they show in the United States, so I have to become a filthy downloader to get them.  I don’t care about the game, the entertainment is all in the ads! 

And that was the weekend that was.

The National Hockey League is holding their annual All Star game in Montreal this year. It is the centennial anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens hockey club (les habitants), thus the city selection makes sense. What does not make sense is the way the players are chosen and the fact that the game is meaningless.

Unlike the recent Winter Classics and the Stanley Cup playoffs, many people tend to shun the All-Star game due to the fact that it is a non-checking, boring, high-scoring affair. It’s understandable, because the players do not want to get injured for a meaningless game. That could cost them millions of dollars (Doesn’t look like the economic downturn will bother professional athletes too much, does it?).

The solution would be to make the game meaningful. Stanley Cup home ice goes to the team from the winning conference. This would also stop players from not wanting to participate. As it stands now, if the player does not want to play he is suspended for one regular season game. This is where management is sticking their fingers where they do not belong. Let the players police themselves. If the stakes are high the best players will want to play, and those that do not will be held accountable by their peers.

Additionally, to boost the popularity of the game, turn it into an outdoor game in a large stadium, much like the Winter Classic. Give it an all world feeling of importance. Instead of fighting with the players union, the owners should work with them to promote the game of hockey as a global sport. There is no better place to start than at the All Star Game, which is supposed to be the showcase for your best players.