This Just In

The Leafs didn't make the playoffs. They were essentially out of the running for 2 months before the season ended. You still droned on about their chances during that time. The season is over now. Stop fucking talking about them and give some more respect to the teams that did make it. Even if you only give attention to the Canadian teams. What happens with your Swedish meatball and your 10 million dollar D-line can wait til the other teams are on their offseason as well. And to the assclown that tried to say that the Leafs are as good as any team from 5-8 in either conference; how do you even wake up and dress yourself in the morning, let alone be allowed to spout such nonsense on a national sports program. They finished 11 points back, in 12th place, in the East.

But hey, its your kind of thinking that will be infectious to all the rest who bleed blue, and will prevent the kind of wholesale changes that the club really needs in the offseason. And anything that causes the Leafs to miss the playoffs is alright with me, but seriously take it off the TV and give some time to the teams who do matter.

Pro Bore

The NFL's version of the all star game is the most useless one in all of pro sports. I understand that in football with the players playing through injury as they do, playing an exhibition game mid-season is more of a penalty than anything, but why bother even playing the Pro Bowl? Does anyone actually care? Why not just make it like John Madden's Horse Trailer, give the players the distinction they deserve, whether they are injured and unable to play or not.

Its not that the other pro sports offer a substantially better all-star 'game', though they at least do offer better showcases in the home run derby or the slam dunk competition. And baseball even took the step, after that awful tied game in Milwaukee, to make the actual game mean something, giving home field advantage to the winning league in the World Series.

Hockey did its best, with mixed results, to make its talent exhibition better this year. I actually didn't see a second of the breakaway competition, but even the game itself tends to be filled with some dazzling plays.

The Pro Bowl misses the boat on all these things, and comes across like an afterthought the week after the Superbowl; something to placate the Sunday football hangover for some, for others, ruining chances to see the local pro basketball team play an actual meaningful game.

EDIT: Also, in the sports vein, I've set up a Fantasy Baseball league for this season. If you can commit to actually managing your team til the end of the season, feel free to join.

ID: 41506
Pass: void
Draft: Live draft; March 22, 12:00pm EST

Rock & Roll Review

So almost a week later, I guess I could write something about the Matthew Good show. It was, as expected, a fantastic show, replete with humourous banter, and Ted Nugent appreciation. The highlights for me were Prime Time Deliverance, Silent Army in the Trees, a 5 minute tangent about the miraculous healing powers of ingested Vick's VapoRub and the acoustic re-working of Suburbia, which I hope to be laid down at some point in a studio setting.

It was so good infact that I attempted to get last minute tickets for the Hamilton show, but by the time I was able to find someone that wanted to go with me, a trip to pick up tickets in Mississauga from the seller on eBay, and then backtrack to Hamilton would have put us 45 minutes into Matt's set.

The time since has been filled with little to no work to do, an e-mail to potential Masters supervisors for the winter, and the first 3 seasons of the Office since Monday night. I caught what I assumed to be a re-run about 2 months ago and finally remembered to download some last week. Those who have seen it know by now why I haven't been able to stop watching since, those who haven't, this is what torrents are for. Absolute hilarity, though Steve Carell's character does get to be a bit much at times. I'm sure in the normal half hour prescribed doses, there's no issue, but that's what a slightly addictive personality will do.

This post would have been a lot better if my camera wasn't a piece of shit in low any light.

Lost in the Fog

I'm not dead, despite the best combined efforts of my thesis, course load and procrastination. The days seem to dissolve into one another and another week sneaks up almost completely unnoticed. The unfortunate part of it all is that none of the blur has been due to anything particularly exciting, just the mundane and monotonous assignments and reading, and requests for more and more lab work.

The mindless rushing around late this week lead to me tripping over my own books and putting a hand through a window pane in supporting my weight. Yet another item on the home reno 'to-do' list. That same list, combined with the sad state of my van, and lack of much of a bankroll right now has me thinking of resigning myself to a week long camping trip within a 5 hour drive, instead of a month long road trip out west in the spring. Its about time to start thinking about putting away money to buy out the house and get in some renters to help pay it off.

I've really nothing more productive to say. If you are/were ever a Police fan, I'll offer a reminder that they're reuniting for tonight's Grammys, and that you might want to watch that. If not, football's over and there should be some great TV on competing with said Grammys, so it should be a great night for channel surfing.