May 30
– A rather uneventful week-end
considering I spent a chunk of it
working and the weather was not the
greatest. Having said that, I did
pick up on some interesting reading.
Don Cherry
– As a Grapes fan, and everyone in
hockey should be, the article
in the Star was a worthwhile read as
it tried some of the “look behind
the TV persona to the real man”
approach and gave a perspective on
Mr. Cherry. Other than his wardrobe,
he clearly shops at drapery fabric
stores, it paints a relatively
unassuming picture of “a guy”. At
77, he won’t be around forever and I
can not think of anyone in or out of
the game that stands out as a
candidate to inherit his mantle. Too
bad.
Hockey
Canada – has been having their
AGM and is gung ho to reduce head
shots – head injuries. As part of
that they passed a
motion to provide for penalties
and stiffer penalties for any
contact to an opponent’s head, face
or neck – accidental or otherwise as
per the wording below:
A two-minute
penalty in minor and female
hockey for any player “who
accidently contacts an opponent
in the head, face or neck with
their stick or any part of the
player’s body or equipment.” A
double minor for contacting a
player in the head
intentionally.
While the intent
is to be applauded, this will be a
challenging enforcement issue as it
essentially says that any head
contact caused in any way, shape or
form is a penalty. I have visions of
this in younger age groups where the
“herd” gets together – leaning into
the scrum to try and get the puck
and their helmet covered melons are
bumping into each other with “zero”
impact but it is contact. Do you
send the whole pack to the box for a
two minute time-out? Remember – the
motion does include “accidental” as
part of the infraction and does not
address severity in terms of
defining contact. Do not touch the
melon – I guess this means no more
face washes!
Bruins –
On the play-off front, I did get my
wish on Friday night as I sat in
front of the idiot box and watched
the Bruins put away T Bay. I though
it was a pretty good game to watch
even though it stayed 0 – 0 for a
long time as it was a great flowing
game. MAYBE BECAUSE THE ZEBRAS DID
NOT CALL ANY CHINTZY PENALTIES. The
players apparently figured that out,
no one wanted to take an obvious one
and stuff that was called in other
games was let go – both ways. I
thought it made for a better game
and it was nice to see that 5 on 5
hockey decided the game, no goofy
penalty calls and power plays.
Hanson Bros. old time hockey but it
stayed pretty clean.
Summary – at the
end of the day, Offense beat Defense
because Offense finally managed to
score and Defense did not get the
“break” – usually set up as a
function of a power play that did
not happen.
Now if only the
Bean Towners can knock off the Lotus
Land Yuppies I will be OK – not
happy because me Wings are out.
Bill Masterton
– I could not believe that on
Saturday The Star devoted almost
their entire front page (both above
and below the fold) to tooting their
horn about their investigation into
the death of Bill Masterton and
their evidence that the hit on him
in the January 15, 1968 game was not
necessarily the primary cause of his
death but that it likely exacerbated
an existing condition.
storyThey went on
to talk about their review of a copy
of the autopsy report they had
managed to obtain – etcetera.. . .
There is no doubt
that Masterton’s death was a
tragedy, as the only NHL player ever
to pass away as a direct result of
on ice injury, but is it front page
news 43 years later? I think not. I
think dragging this episode back up
and exposing it this way is simply
another way of exploiting a position
on violence in hockey that some
folks have currently identified as the
number one Canadian Sports whipping
boy.
What value does
running this have to anyone except
opening old wounds? Here is the
picture they ran as Front Page news!
This was over 40 years ago and as a
teen-ager at the time, I recall the
incident, but had a number of other
things on the go.
If you want more
info on the Masterton story – watch
the video that was done as part of
the NHL awards.
May 27– They say you
don’t have a sense of humour unless
you can laugh at yourself. Well
clearly I have a sense of humour as
I had myself in stitches last night.
That is, after I got finished with
the rest of the items on the list –
Feeling like a moron / idiot,
blaming everyone but myself and
practicing my use of the blasphemous
vernacular. If you are bored, here’s
how the story goes:
For a number of
reasons, I have been burning the
candle at both ends. Last night, I
left work late, grabbed a GO Train
(milk run) but sat in a different
car as I had made different pick-up
arrangements with Jane. When I
grabbed a seat (the train was still
busy, it was at the end of the car
with no real view out the windows
and an angle at the door. We fired
out of Union Station and I must have
vegged / zoned out / dozed off as
the next thing I heard was . . . .
.”doors are closing”! Knowing I
would catch H E double hockey sticks
if I missed my stop, I glanced up –
could not see out the window, tried
to look out the door and saw what I
thought was the corner of the new
exit stairwell at Clarkson. I
grabbed my bag, raced to the door,
jumping out as the door was closing
to find myself on the platform in
Port Credit! – watching the rear end
of my train leaving the station.
Knowing I had
just qualified for idiot status, I
figured, what the heck, I will just
phone Jane at Clarkson, have her
scoot over to PC to pick me up and
we would grab a bite to eat on the
way back. Out comes the Crackberry –
out goes the call – and rings, and
rings, and rings – then goes to
voicemail. Figuring that the cell
was buried in the unexplored caverns
of what qualifies as a woman’s purse
I thought – no big deal, and tried
again and again and again with an
equal lack of results. Meanwhile,
the next Westbound train barrels
through the station as an express to
Clarkson leaving Jane to wonder why
Wonder Boy did not get off the train
he was supposed to be on or the next
one as well.
IF SHE HAD HER
CELL WITH HER SHE COULD HAVE CALLED
OR GOT ONE OF MY MANY CALLS BUT SHE
LEFT IT AT HOME!!!
Finally another
train comes along, I get to
Clarkson, we all marvel at my
stupidity (I did not overly comment
on the phone at home) and all was
well. Fortunately it was a pleasant
evening to lounge on train station
benches. Doh!
Weekend
– Don’t want to look at the weather
forecast. If it is nice it will
likely “cheese” me off as I think I
am going to be back in the office.
If is is not nice, I will still
likely be PO’d as I am sick and
tired of rain. Instead of a Win /
Win, this has shades of Lose / Lose.
OMHA
– Lost another argument with the
OMHA today and had to cough up $10.
Tell me if it is fair! I have my
Level III HTCP Trainer certification
that needs to be refreshed every
three years or I lose it. The OMHA
does not offer a Level III
certification Clinic. The last three
renewal certifications I have taken
I have had to go to
HDCO (Hockey Development Centre
for Ontario to take the program. The
HDCO is not part of any governing
body and its recerts are accepted by
all. Every time I have gone, I have
indicated I am an OMHA member, have
provided my OMHA number and asked to
have my OMHA certification renewed.
Every time, probably because they
are physically located in Toronto,
they sent me a nice new GTHL
certification card – which is no
good in the OMHA. To get my recert
recognized by the OMHA, I have to
have it transferred – Fee $10.
While the $10
doesn’t break the bank, it is on top
of a healthy course fee that has
come 100% out of my pocket since I
have from day 1 paid for 100% of all
of my certifications and renewals –
NCCP CHIP, COACH, Intermediate,
Development 2, Speak Out PRS and
Trainers Level I, Level II and Level
III.
As a bit of
tongue in cheek, if there was some
type of combined “certification
score” I would probably be the
highest combined certification
individual in Oakville yet I have no
association or team role.
But I still have
to pay the stupid $10 transfer fee!
Should I have to since they don’t
offer it. I don’t think so!
Anyway, I paid
the $10, now let’s see how long it
takes them to update my Hockey
Canada data on the
EHockey database. The EHockey
setup is pretty good – at least in
my case. It has all of my quals
except for my initial Coach level
program that I think I took 1 year
before I followed up with the then
“for life” intermediate level. They
have that in file from the 1997/98
season and then everything after.
Holy Hot Damn
– Kudos to Kim and the OMHA – It is
already done!!
Lord Stanley
– Game 7 tonight of the Eastern
Conference final with Tampa and
Beantown so I’ve got hockey to
watch. While it will likely jinx
them, I would like to see Boston win
as I think they have a better chance
of beating Vancouver and I do not
want Vancouver to win. Go Bruins Go!
May 24
– the Real Victoria Day but we are
back to work anyway. Today was a
rare double first – the first day a
jacket was not required (unless you
are a lunatic) AND the first day of
short sleeves. Must be summer is
coming.
The Beast
– When Obama was first elected as
Pres., I read about his new
specially constructed vehicle “The
beast”. Built as a modified Caddy
with armour plate, bullet proof
glass, chemical weapon resistance,
special medical resources and on and
on, it was hilarious to see that it
could not even pull out of the
driveway at the US Embassy in
Dublin. It managed to get its heavy
self hung up on a “speed bump”.
Captured (as most
stuff is) for YouTube, it is a funny
situation. The kind of “unscheduled
event” that drives the Secret
Service crazy The “Beast” – American
ingenuity run amok – make sure your
sound is on to watch this so that
you hear the crunch of “The Beast”
bottoming out.
Joplin
– There continue to be more stories
coming out of Joplin after the
tornado and in fact, a real concern
that they could get hit by another
twister as it is “Tornado Season”.
The photo below is an even more
graphic presentation of the swath of
destruction than the one I posted
yesterday. And to think that some
“idiots” actually try to get close
to or in the path of these things to
“study” them! No thanks.
Clean it up
– On Sept, 28, 2010, The Star
posted a follow-up article on two
team officials who were investigated
and as the article lead states:
“GTHL coaches cleared of ‘abuse’;
guilty of ‘misconduct’”.
These are two
minor hockey volunteers who continue
to have their name splashed on-line
for no good reason other than to
create personal embarrassment for
them. That story has been hanging
around the GTHL page for well over 6
months. It is nice to have all this
wonderful reporting and on-line
access to everything but how about a
bit of respect for the individual
and volunteers. Ditch this stuff. If
you can’t find more “new” news or
better news – get rid of the topic
area. There is more than enough mud
slinging going around without
continually sticking it in peoples’
faces.
May 23
- it's Monday, May 23 and time for
me to make a guest appearance on my
blog. They say that time flies when
you're having fun. I think the same
thing holds true when you're up to
your blank in alligators. While I
was expecting some quiet time over
the long weekend, turns out that
somebody had to mow a field, which
was a treat, and then rake the bales
of hay off of it. It was either that
or expect the cantankerous neighbors
to put a call into the local bylaw
enforcement officer about unsightly
conditions.
That plus a few
other things, including grocery
shopping, seem to have used up my
so-called long weekend. At least,
for the most part the weatherman
were wrong and we had pretty decent
weather throughout. Fortunately, we
are also not interrupted by the end
of the world, so I hope most people
weren't banking on that happening.
Folks in Joplin
Missouri may not share my positive
take on the weather as it is just
horrific to see the type of
destruction and death that can be
left in the path of a tornado.
Conceptually it is impossible to
visualize and I hope I never gain
firsthand experience on it. I have
some relatives that live in the
“Tornado Belt” – fortunately
unscathed, but they know folks who
have literally been wiped out by
these freaks of nature.
Welcome to 26th
street, Joplin.
Add that to
the disaster in Slave Lake and you
need to agree that "it's not nice to
fool Mother Nature".
MOHA -
it seems I may have underestimated
the schism is apparently present
within the Association. I stumbled
across a website (actually I didn't
stumble, I was pointed towards it)
that had been apparently organized
by "the coalition to make our MOHA
better". Far be it for me, to pass
up an opportunity to share
information on the local Association
with my loyal readers. Here is the
link to the site, which you can
peruse at your leisure. While the
site identifies five groups of
people (actually 4+1), I could not
fit myself into one of the first
four and would therefore suggest
there are actually six groups,
(close 5+1) as I would put myself in
a group that got turfed for standing
up for what we thought was right. I
also think the coalition is being a
little generous in the positive spin
that it has applied to group 1.
NHL - I
must admit I have not been spending
much time watching the NHL playoffs
but anyone watching the Boston Tampa
series and in fact the prior Boston
series has to be almost feeling
sorry for Kaberle. He is currently a
good stand-in as the poster boy for
the “how not to do things” videos.
Looks like the Leafs are good to be
rid of him, but, he is actually
involved in a playoff series. The
little bit I have watched them some
of the series has reinforced my view
that the NHL has allowed violent
hits to become an accepted part of
the game and not penalize the way
they should. Charging calls seem to
be a thing of the past and body
checks are no longer part possession
tactics but rather an offensive
weapon to try to take people out of
the game. You don't have to look any
farther than the recent Raffi Torres
hit on Joe Thornton (one of many) as
a classic example of this approach.
Clearly, the players are lining up
to inflict the most possible damage
on opponent as compared to using
checking as a way to gain up
control. People have to remember
that this is a professional
"game"/business, played by
high-priced athletes who are
essentially paid to win at any cost.
This is not minor hockey. While this
does not change my view on allowing
body contact in hockey, it sure does
provide a wealth of support for
people to point to and say "see,
look at that -- explain why that's
necessary"? And on that basis I
would be hard put to defend that
approach in minor hockey. Hopefully,
that's not what we're talking about.
Speaking of
body contact, rumor has it there's a
plot afoot to maintain body checking
in MOHA "House League". Either there
is a lot of false information
floating around, which is normal for
hockey, or some people have
difficulty reading and interpreting
the rules. I will save further
comment on the latest lunacy for a
later date as if I presented it now,
you would think I was making it up.
May 17
– Another dreary rainy day. Seems
like a pretty monotonous weather
forecast. Where is the sun and warm
weather? The May 24 weekend is
rapidly approaching which used to be
my quintessential camping weekend
every year. Memory seems to post
with rose coloured glasses as I seem
to recall lots of nice May 24’s
Maybe that was just the 24s talking
as I can only remember one bad one
where our tent sort of tried to
float away. Poor positioning from
the early set-up team.
Slave Lake
– with what we are getting for
weather it is hard to imagine
anything dry enough to create the
type of fire storm that has
essentially crippled the town of
Slave Lake and wiped out one third
of the buildings including the Town
Hall and Library. One has to wonder
how a town burns down in this day
and age but it did. There are a
number of photo albums on line so
you should check it out as you will
be amazed at the destruction. It
looks like a bad war zone.
Here is a
link to shots in the goat &
Snail that may or may not work.
Season Finales
- Since I have been banished from a
number of activities and do need to
find ways of entertaining myself
that do not entail work, I have
entered the couch potato clan in
watching a number of dramatic show.
I do not and will not watch any of
the reality show crap. Hopefully the
summer will expand my horizons with
opportunities as every show that I
have been watching (sans commercials
courtesy of the PVR and fast forward
buttons) is now hitting their "final
episode" week and of course trying
to come up with their "Who shot J.R."
equivalent to lure you back next
season. People are drowning, shot,
missing or whatever and are going to
be left suffering until the new
season - if they get renewed or left
in video purgatory forever if the
show is dumped. That's why I liked
to download old shows as I could
just keep zooming through the
seasons. Have to see what I can
find.
May 16
– coming off of a dreary weekend
where some of us had little energy
to do anything. Both boys were in a
ball tournament Saturday and Sunday
and got to play and play and play in
that wonderful weather. All of that
fun for Slo-Pitch Beer Ball!
I was in such a
lethargic state, I could not even
get energized enough to even bother
watching either of the two
Conference final games. With my
Wings out, I seem to have totally
lost interest in the proceedings and
while I would sort of like to see
Boston take it all now, it is not a
burning issue with me anymore. Mid
May, I’m done, doubt if I will watch
much more this year. It is now time
for summer fun.
Golf
– The Tiger seems to be done! At
least for a while. As I have noted
before, I am a big Jack N. Fan from
years ago, and I have no interest in
seeing tiger beat his record for
major wins. It looks now like with
his spate of injuries and seeming
inability to heal and more “young
bloods” coming on that I may get my
wish.
Fun golf photo
from the TPC last weekend where a
turtle had invaded one of the traps
and a marshal was looking like a
goof trying to shoo him off. I think
they should have just ignored him as
any golfer putting one in that trap
would likely have been more than
happy to get a fortuitous bounce off
the shell and back to the green
stuff.
Thrashers
– are apparently talking to the
Winterpeg Muck E Mucks about
possibly selling out to them and
moving to the ‘Peg. This would be
the second NHL failure for Atlanta
and while I would have to check the
dates I think it would be on
Betman’s watch. Quite the deal, a
two time failure location trying to
sell out to a one time loser who was
already trying to grab a different
franchise. Now where do you park the
coyotes? Hamilton? Not ruddy likely.
Why not go south? Send them off to
Mexico – Tijuana and call them the
Tijuana Toreadors with El Toro
drinking Tequila as the logo – the
bull and a bottle over a big cactus.
They may have to cut a deal with the
former Toronto Toros folks but what
the heck. It’s not Europe but it is
International and the players could
earn astronomical salaries – in
Pesos.
MOHA Elections
– I should have supplied some voting
info in my prior post. I am not
going to even comment on who you
should vote for, partly because it
would be counterproductive and
partly because I have no idea in the
director battle who are the good
guys versus the others. Some are
pretty clear but that is my opinion.
Read the candidate profiles, if that
is what they are. The issue is not
what are you telling me you have
done for me (Un Huh) but rather,
where is the permission to believe
that you have the right ideas and
plans and mindset and energy to do
what is right for the future.
There should also
be a descriptor label for each
candidate 1. Old Guard / Clique or
2. New Broom.
The vote is: One
of the two for Pres. 1 of the 2 for
Treasurer and 7 out of the herd for
directors. Thought anyone?
Body Checking –
There is an option.
Turns out the OHF has not
banned body contact for Local
Leagues – essentially house
leagues that play across centres –
like Orillia – Midland – Thornton
etc. So, MOHA could set up the local
league I have talked about with
Brampton, Milton and say Burlington
or even just Brampton and have those
teams still eligible to play with
body checking. Problem is it would
take some work and I don’t think
there is a local appetite or
champion to pursue it. It is easier
to sit back and say “those are the
rules”. Read the
release
– House League and House League
Select are out but no longer any
mention of Local League!
May 13
– Friday the 13th and it
is probably indicative when it was
after midnight last night / this
morning that my Wings went down to
defeat. My boys are NOT playing
anymore. They ran out of bodies,
breaks and Jimmy’s supply of
horseshoes was depleted.
No sour grapes on
the result as it was a good series
(and I had picked the Sharks
anyway) but I did have a bit of a
bone to pick on the officiating.
Generally speaking I would say it
was OK but it becomes a question of
consistency and reasonable common
sense. Especially in the third
period of a close game 7.
I think the refs
helped change the momentum or at
least “blunt” Detroit’s comeback
surge when partway through the
period there was no call on an
obvious penalty when Boyle hammered
Hedblum head first backwards into
the goal post when he clearly did
not have the puck and then moments
later call Kromwell for a slash when
all he did was essentially fall into
the Sharks player. Critical timing,
critical call / no call – bad
inconsistency.
However, by then
Detroit would have been so badly
beat up with guys dropping like
flies that they would likely have
ended up as cannon fodder for
Vancouver. I believe that San Jose
will pose a tougher opponent.
Would like to see
a Sharks – Bruins final with the
Bruins wandering off with Lord
Stanley’s mug but there are a few
roadblocks there yet.
Windsor Minor
Hockey
– President is not a fan of
outlawing Body Checking in house
League hockey and while his
rationale is not detailed in the
article which seems to leave him
hung out to dry a bit, I think part
of it is that with different Windsor
associations (like Lasalle) in total
kids / parents have a choice open to
them. He also makes the point that
there have been very limited injury
issue with their House League. I
guess this is different from a
response of “I’m fine with it” and
just blindly doing what you are
told. Sounds like at least Windsor
has the gumption to admit they were
blind sided.
Sault Ste Marie
– seems to think very few will be
affected by the ban and in that
article they post a very
interesting comment -
But Caughill said it is only the
association's lowest tier leagues
that will see body-checking
banished. And even then, he said the
SMHA may have the option of simply
renaming its house leagues to avoid
the ban.
"Rather than card our teams 'house
league,' which we have for the last
while, we could simply add letters
and card them as a 'D' team, which
would put body contact back in," he
said.
The “D” carding
“thought” is the point I made
earlier about lower tier rep teams
being able to continue with Body
Checking simply by categorization –
not anything to do with skill level!
Let’s see who tries this little
trick. The other challenge is that a
game consists of two teams so who
are you going to play against.
The article goes
on to make my point that body
checking is not the issue – it is
the cheap shots. They also cover a
number of the other considerations.
Study
– if studies rule the day, as seems
to be the case, then it looks like
the next step is banning body
checking from ALL minor hockey – Rep
or House League below the age of 16.
That’s what the new Edmonton
study says. Besides, we know
that all studies are absolute and
correct in their deductions – right?
As noted, there are lies, damn lies
and studies statistics.
Floods
– While the US is having issues with
floods, the same holds true for
Canada as well. We have a site in
Brandon, Manitoba, fortunately in
the “dry” end of Town but these
pictures were in the Globe & Mail.
Good luck to them.
May 12
– How do you like the roller
coaster ride on gas prices? On
advice of counsel – No Comment! –
Moving on. It’s Game 7 night and my
boys unbelievably are still playing.
Time to try and
find the lucky shirt and cheer on my
Wings. Do I go with the Geordie Howe
#9 road white or the plain red home
unadorned version. Think we need
Geordie for this one. Drag out the
old saws about it’s do or die
(again, again, again, again), it’s a
one game series and anyone can win
and let’s see what happens.
My guys have
shown some pretty entertaining and
skilled hockey over the last three
games.They have clearly outplayed
the Sharks in the last three and
were not far off for the first
three. It is a battle.
Is there any gas
left in those old model tanks? Can
the docs patch up all the aches and
pains and breaks? Does Jimmy have a
replenished supply of horseshoes and
some of that extra large equipment
to let us steal one? Only the
Shadows know?! The rest of us mere
mortals have to watch the game to
find out, starting at 9:00 PM!
Unless someone gets blown out early,
I have already warned folks to look
out for a bag of dirt (me) tomorrow.
More Elections
- I
see the nominations are out for the
MOHA elections . The battle (or
several and overlapping battles so I
hear) is on
there as well. Can the zebras be
dragged out again to beat the system
(no proxies this time) or will
people actually come out and vote
for what they want? Here is the
slate as tucked away on the MOHA
site.
President
Treasurer
VP - HL
Director
Mark Bentley
Clyde Seymour
Louis Ouellette
Mike Aloe
Robert Planck
John Vezina
Mark Bentley
Graham Burton
Doug Cunningham
Helen Ford
Fraser Grant
Dana Harvey
Aaron Jarc
Dave Langill
Chuck MacGregor
Mark Moro
Marshall Snowball
Looks like Louis
is acclaimed.
Maybe more later
but for now I need to get psyched.
May 10
– So tonight my Wings force Game 7
or book golf vacations. I must
confess that I jumped off the wagon
in the third period when they were
down 3 – 1. If they had not scored
that quick comeback goal to get to
3-2 I would have been in my PJs and
off to bed but as it was I stayed up
and they did pull it off.
Unfortunately, I am still sticking
with my Shark call but at least it
is now respectable. I think my guys
are too beat up with injuries to key
guys to make it. Also, while I have
to give Howard credit for a stellar
performance in Game 5, I still don’t
think he can back stop them to a
Cup, especially if he has to depend
on horseshoes every game.
Body Checking
– I have made my point clear in that
I do not favour the nature of the
current selective banishment of body
checking in “recreational” hockey –
ie, everything but rep, but that
seems to be an unpopular view. How a
good top tier HL or LL or Select
team is any less important or
deserving of an opportunity than a
BB centre or AE is beyond me as they
are not going to the NHL either. If
it is an elitist argument save it
for AAA only and move on but –ah –
never mind – no one cares so why
waste my time. In a democracy (if
minor hockey was one – which it is
not), the majority rules. Maybe what
someone (??) needs to do is start a
Select Outlaw League with body
checking? Have two age groups Peewee
(combined) and Bantam (combined).
Good clean hockey, no morons allowed
– coached or players, Let the
“participants” determine what they
want instead of the &%$%#@*&%!
Truths – speaking
of adults and truth (I wasn’t but
let’s pretend I was), and since I
don’t have a lot of time for content
today, keep these thoughts in mind:
ADULT TRUTHS
I think part
of a best friend's job should be
to immediately clear your
computer history if you die.
Nothing sucks
more than that moment during an
argument when you realize you're
wrong.
I totally
take back all those times I
didn't want to nap when I was
younger.
There is
great need for a sarcasm font.
How the hell
are you supposed to fold a
fitted sheet?
Was learning
cursive really necessary?
Map Quest
really needs to start their
directions on # 5. I'm pretty
sure I know how to get out of my
neighbourhood.
Obituaries
would be a lot more interesting
if they told you how the person
died.
I can't
remember the last time I wasn't
at least kind of tired.
Bad decisions
make good stories.
You never
know when it will strike, but
there comes a moment at work
when you know that you just
aren't going to do anything
productive for the rest of the
day.
Can we all
just agree to ignore whatever
comes after Blue Ray? I don't
want to have to restart my
collection...again.
I'm always
slightly terrified when I exit
out of Word and it asks me if I
want to save any changes to my
ten-page technical report that I
swear I did not make any changes
to.
I keep some
people's phone numbers in my
phone just so I know not to
answer when they call.
I think the freezer deserves a
light as well.
I disagree
with Kay Jewelers. I would bet
on any given Friday or Saturday
night more kisses begin with
Miller Lite than Kay.
I wish Google
Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto"
routing option.
I have a hard
time deciphering the fine line
between boredom and hunger.
How many
times is it appropriate to say
"What?" before you just nod and
smile because you still didn't
hear or understand a word they
said?
I love the
sense of camaraderie when an
entire line of cars team up to
prevent a jerk from cutting in
at the front. Stay strong,
brothers and sisters!
Shirts get
dirty. Underwear gets dirty.
Pants? Pants never get dirty,
and you can wear them forever.
Sometimes I'll look down at my
watch 3 consecutive times and
still not know what time it is.
Even under
ideal conditions people have
trouble locating their car keys
in a pocket, finding their cell
phone, and Pinning the Tail on
the Donkey - but I'd bet
everyone can find and push the
snooze button from 3 feet away,
in about 1.7 seconds, eyes
closed, first time, every time.
The first
testicular guard, the "Cup," was
used in Hockey in 1874 and the
first helmet was used in 1974.
That means it only took 100
years for men to realize that
their brain is also important.
Sport Oakville
meeting tonight and home for the
hockey game so – “That’s all folks”.
May 8
- since my last post was last
Sunday, May 1, it looks like this
may be turning into a weekly instead
of daily exercise. As the weather
improves, and more things pile up to
do,(guess who spent all day
yesterday in the office?) blogging
sinks lower and lower on the
priority list. However, we will try
to continue to provide some
contributions on a more or less
regular basis.
OHF
deals knock-out blow to body
checking!
Scorched
Earth -- would probably be my
description of the approach taken by
the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF)
relative to their Minor Hockey
Council motion recently to remove
body checking from all levels of
"recreational hockey" effective with
the 2011/12 season. I am
surprised that this has not been met
with a lot of controversy in the
press, or with local buzz, but
perhaps part of that invisibility is
based on very judicious timing on
the OHF’s part and a bunch of other
things that have been going on in
the world.
I disagree
with the approach that the OHF has
taken. It sounds like a bit of
a knee-jerk reaction to commentary
on the game that has focused on what
is going on in the NHL. The high
velocity, high profile hits at that
level display a total disrespect for
individual safety and represent
gratuitoud violence by highly
skilled professions who are being
paid big money to “win at all
costs”. That is not what the OHF has
blanketed as “recreational hockey”
which is another totally
disrespectful term in and of itself
to use in referring to levels of
select hockey or House League play.
While this
commentary is probably not a well
thought out argument for or against
body checking, I have on occasion
indicated that I have a concern with
the way the game is being played,
officiated, and managed at all
levels. As a dinosaur, my own
perspective is that body contact is
and should be part of the game and
should be allowed in minor hockey at
all levels. I have no issue with,
and support having noncontact
opportunities available for anyone
who wishes to play that and that is
no slight against them. I also don't
believe that body checking is an
excuse for young people to go
roaming the ice "headhunting"
because their coaches think that is
the way the game should be played. I
think we all know one classic
example of that approach in
Oakville, it is now thankfully gone.
Body checking
or body contact is simply another
tool or skill to be learned by a
player with the objective of
learning how to separate an opponent
from the puck and gain possession
advantage. It is not a combat skill
to be aimed at physically
incapacitating an opponent and
unfortunately there are a lot of
people both inside and outside the
game who do not have a clue about
that distinction.
While the OHF's
approach may encourage a few
additional players to participate, I
think the way they have structured
the blanket elimination will
actually discourage a number a lot
of players from progressive
development and overall play. It
clearly also will impact the
transition path for players in many
centres who move from house league
play to travel play having learned
the basic offensive skills and
defensive protection capabilities in
a contact select or house league
program..
Organizations
like Oakville, with a large
participant base, have the luxury of
being able to provide both a body
contact and noncontact league. I
think that is a good system. I
believe I had also suggested that if
one felt that house league play
should be noncontact then the
opportunity existed to create select
level play for those individuals who
wish to continue in that caliber of
hockey (with contact, by choice and
by selection) versus those wishing
to play noncontact. The select teams
could have been focused in internal
move or could have had interlocking
play with other centers like
Brampton, Burlington or Milton.
The OHF in
their infinite wisdom has
effectively branded anything other
than rep or travel hockey as
"recreational" and is disallowing
body contact from not just house
league but also local league and
select levels of play.
Simplistically,
using Oakville as an example, the
OHF has removed the opportunity to
play contact hockey from roughly 50
teams or 800 young athletes in
Oakville alone. Many of them
absolutely want to play in a contact
environment and with a limited
number of travel teams available the
top tier house league program was a
good option. Many local players
tried out for several years before
(if ever) cracking a spot on a
travel team even with the addition
of the AE squads. For those folks
concerned about injury think about
the young man at say bantam age who
has never played contact in his life
making a travel team and going up
against players who have been
checking for years. Or, think about
how you manage an AP (call-up)
system where one night it is OK (and
encouraged / required) to hit and
the next not. Hence my “select”
argument.
I think it is
time that people realize that the
perspective of most of these ivory
tower association and governing body
brain trust members are working off
of a rep hockey mindset and do not
clearly understand or appreciate the
80 - 90% of the participants who
make up their constituents.
One could make
a very good case that says there is
no need for body checking in ANY
level of minor hockey including rep
and that body is a skill that can be
taught at the junior level if that
is where the game changes to the pro
money grab and violence 101 game
requirements. Legislating checking
out of “recreational” hockey as they
have defined it and the way they
have done it is wrong.
The other part
of this that I consider
inappropriate, is that the best of
my knowledge this decision was made
without any reasonable input from
those most affected. Or, if input
was sought, there was no message to
any of the membership that this
indeed was being considered and as
it stands will now be in effect for
the upcoming season.
Many people
will sit back and say that this is a
great thing that it's going to cut
down on hockey injuries, that it'll
make the game safer for all the
players, and that it should just be
for fun anyway. While there is some
element of truth in all of those
statements, this change represents a
sweeping shift for hockey as a minor
sport.
With all due
respect to the people making the
decision, I would suggest that there
has been a disproportionate
percentage of injuries within the
rep or travel environment versus
house league or select, and that
removing body contact from the lower
levels of play is not an answer to
what's wrong with the game today.
If people
consider that taking body checking
out of minor hockey is a "must do"
in order to protect the participants
in today's world, then I would also
suggest that there should be either
major rule changes, or an outright
ban on other sports, like minor
boxing, youth football, rugby,
lacrosse and others where there are
just as many if not more "head
shots" that are often seen as
perfectly legal, expected, and okay.
Say goodbye to
the game we know because this will
change it and I do not think for the
better.
Here is the
link to the nicely crafted OHF
PR Puff Piece. It is also referenced
on the OMHA site but not on the
Splash page, you have to go looking
for it.
Sorry folks – I
don’t buy it, but then I am just a
dinosaur!
May 1- In
keeping with tradition, I would just
like to remind everyone that 1/3 of
2011 is now done. If you have not
accomplished anything yet you better
get at it.
Today's post is
simply an excuse to update my
monthly file and archives while I
had a few minutes while waiting for
my VPN to connect and some remote
jobs to run. A case of
multi-tasking. It also let me pull
April off of my active blog page as
it was a pretty pathetic month for
content. No guarantee that May will
be any better but we will have to
wait and see on that.
Schedules
- both hockey and baseball.
Hockey -
while I enjoy the game, I am not
going to sit up into the wee hours
of the morning to watch playoff
games, even if my beloved Wings are
involved. With the left coast
conference the home games for the
coast teams are just not conducive
to the "eastern" market where
I suspect the majority of the fan
base (and TV market money) are
located. Even a 6:00 PM local game
starts at 9:00 PM here and with the
seeming propensity for overtime and
double overtime, old guys like me
just can't stay up for it and then
be up and ready for the next day.
They should either move up the start
(4:00 PM local works for me) or have
all western games on weekends. They
seem to string these out as long as
they can anyway. Yeah I know - won't
happen!
Baseball
- I am going to have to call Bud at
MLB and the Mayor of Chicago and
tell them to get their act together.
For a number of reasons, too boring
to go into here, Gerald (dad) and
the boys did not head off to the
southern reaches this year for our
usual Spring Training trip - and I
must admit I missed it. So, we
decided to look into Wayne (dad) and
the boys taking one the the extended
week-end tour trips with the
extensive windshield time, to go see
some "real" games in the drivable
parks. There are a number of trips
that can be laid out with sort of
the minimum expectation of hitting
at least three stadiums. The New
York swing is one, The Pittsburgh /
Philly is another and the Detroit /
Chicago is a third. I've done them
all - some a couple of times but
this looked to be a "generation
transition" opportunity. Given that
next year is 100 years for Fenway,
we figured we would leave that until
next year (that is in the New York /
Baltimore / Boston orbit). The most
practical for foray 1 seemed to be
the Tigers / Cubs / White Sox tour
with a Friday Detroit, Saturday /
Sunday Chicago double and head home
Monday. The point of all this is
that in looking at the Chicago
schedules there is only one weekend
all summer where both Chicago teams
are in town. - Mid August. Bummer -
not sure that will work. May have to
go to plan "B".
Election
- as promised I have essentially
ignored this topic but as we head to
the polls tomorrow, I must admit I
am now curious to see how it will
play out.
Will Iggy
get any votes or be crushed as
the pundits seem to think?
Will Jack
survive the bawdy house attack
or will people suddenly wake up
and remember that he is NDP?
Will Harper
get his hair mussed and miss out
on the majority he so
desperately wants?
Are the
Green Guys still running?
Will Max
convince people he lives at home
and beat that other guy?
These and more
questions make watching the results
almost a must so there likely will
be no post tomorrow.
Remember - GET
OUT AND VOTE - otherwise don't bitch
about the results!
