Future of Hockey

Much debate has gone into hockey’s future. What should NHL hockey look like going forward. The athletes  are faster, stronger, and more fit. The rink is the same size. Concussions are on the rise.  The debate regarding the type of game – balance between physical play and skill play. All of this is fodder for the many hockey fans. I have been a fan all of my life. It is a flow sport that has a physicality that is unlike any other sport. I am not a hockey expert, nor do I care to engage in many of the debate mentioned. However, if I could play Commissioner for a day, I would change one rule regarding body checking.

Hockey is the only sport that allows direct contact to an opponent who does not have the puck. I know that there are rules to prevent obstruction, that is not the contact that I am referring to. How many times do you watch a player in hockey make a pass and then prepare himself for a second or two and then get hit. The old “finish your check” theory. This mentality makes very little sense within the context of the sport. I would go further to say that it is hurting the sport of hockey.

I am all for violent contact to dislodge a player from a puck. It usually means that an opponent has removed the space from the offensive player and used a hit to take possession of the puck. What I think kills the game of hockey is the contact that is allowed once a player releases possession of the puck. It allows less talented and slower players to have too great a role in the game. Especially during the playoffs. NHL hockey playoffs has become more about surviving injuries than celebrating the skill of the players. It is a bizarre component of the game. Just imagine a football quarterback making a pass and then worry about the late hits that come after the pass. Or a soccer player who make a pass and then prepares himself for a slide tack afterwards. In the other sports this is scene a serious foul. Not in hockey.

In fact, after watching how Boston bullied their way to the finals. NHL teams are loading up on aggressive hitters who are not fast enough to get to players with the puck but are allowed to finish checks on players that are no longer involved in the game.

Want to remove head shots, want to protect your elite players, want the game filled with talented players, then change your game. Make the adjustments that football and soccer have to protect the skill in the game.

If a hockey player hits another player when that player does not have possession of the puck then it should be a penalty. Simple as that. The game would change for the better. I watch football and soccer and celebrate how their sports are better today then they were in the past. Hockey needs to change.

3 Party System Rocks

Many Canadians are concerned about the recent Conservative Party victory which gave them a Majority. There are fears that the Conservatives will move Canada from a country that governs from the center to the right. Clearly a majority government will allow this shift in policy, but how hard will the shift be? It is a question that many of us in Canada ponder on a regular basis.The minority governments have pulled the reigns on Steven Harper and forced the politicians to compromise on policy, is this compromise dead? I think not.

The Conservative Party has a rare political opportunity over the next 5 years. It can govern and guarantee Conservative domination for the next 20 years or it can create a backlash that will bring the Liberal Party back to life. Here is the crux of the political environment. If the Conservative govern to far to the right, Canadians will resurrect the Liberal party in 5 years. The Harper government has a crucial political decision to ponder – what do we need to do to keep the Liberal irrelevant. The 3rd party plays a large role in how a government can operate.

If Canadians needed to make a decision between Conservative policy and NDP policy, then we would be drawn into the polarizing political arena that exist with our neighbours to the south. Don’t like to vote for extreme right or left political parties, what chose do you have. I feel for many voters in the US – Republicans or Democrat? Republicans are the rich kids who bully the poor kids into voting for a system that benefits a minority of people – that would be the rich kids. Democrats are the middle class that have all of the principled and honourable policy but lack the courage and conviction to actually do anything. Good Luck with that.

In Canada, The NDP has traditionally been the weakest of the 3 parties, but they had great influence in how the ruling party governed. Now, it is the Liberals who will have great influence in how the Conservative govern. The Conservative will be responsible for the resurrection of the Liberal party based on whether or not they govern to the center.

Hannity and Olbermann are idiots

If you are not familiar with Sean Hannity and Keith Olbermann than consider yourself saved. Saved from the biased bs that they deliver to millions of people. Whether you sit on the left or the right of the political spectrum, you must stop watching these two. The message they deliver is designed to motivate their political bases, it is not to deliver balanced perspectives. It is the ugly side of media – the side that revs up political hatred  that expands the differences amongst people.

Hannity is a moron, sort of. I have to give it to him because he has figured out a way to sell his message and profit from it. Maybe he is dumb as a fox. Pardon the pun. What is moronic is his message because he doesn’t bother to care about the truth. Yep, he will lie in order to further his political message. It sells.

Olbermann drives me crazy. His program was created as a counter to shows like Hannity and The Factor. Lets be  biased and over the top as the other guys. It sells. The left have eaten it up. But again, it divides people.

Who is to blame? We are. Why do we watch these guys. I tend to believe that they create a comfort level for the viewer that does not challenge their beliefs and viewpoints. It is comforting to listen to someone that emphasizes your political perspectives and views. It is uncomfortable for us to listen to a balanced view of the world.  I believe that abortion is wrong, watch Hannity. I believe that gays should marry – watch Olbermann.  Easy viewing, don’t bother me with a dialogue that takes in multiple views.

It is sad to watch all of this. So, I will stop watching Hannity, Olbermann, and any other show that does not make an effort to be fair and balance.

Oxymorons: Fox News and MSNBC News.

Bush Farewell Ironic

Many days I ponder the strange life we all lead with ironic twists of fate or comical double standards or just the fact that the sun can actually shine in Vancouver . Today is definitely one those days – the sun is still not shining though. Tonight was George Bush’s farewell speech to the country. The last  “this is what I have done” and “why I have done it” because “you will write about how much of a screw up I have been” talk to the nation. It is his final tv plea to historians or maybe – if the stars are aligned – his plea to a judge in a court of law. So what happens on his final speech night? A plane crashes in New York – oh irony how I have missed you.

Plane crashes in New York will be the next movie title of George Bush’s legacy. Each crash changed the way I looked at life and leadership.

As I watched the first plane hit the tower I remember wondering what the hell was wrong with that pilot? I was not processing that  an assassin had plotted this terror on innocent civilians.  I remember when George Bush hit the national scene as a president. I did not process that he would mastermind a diabolic war that assassinated over 100,00 Iraqis and 4,000 Americans. Maybe I should have understood that a man who allows his political team to spread vicious rumors of his political enemies – McCain (illegitimate black baby), Kerry (Swift Boat) etc … – would turn out to be no better than the enemies that attacked on that horrible day.

The second plane struck the tower and then we all knew.We knew that there are people in this world that are pure evil. An evil that is masked by twisting the true word of God. An evil that has a father send his son to be a suicide bomber. An evil that has no honour. It was the second plane that provide George Bush with the leverage to go to Iraq – without a doubt the stupidest strategic decision since hmm… I can’t think of the name of that country somewhere in Asia that has created so many movies of stoned kids fighting for no good reason hmm… I am sure it will come to me.

Can you believe that a third plane goes down in New York the day he give his farewell speech. Writers all over the world are going to have a field day with this one.  I almost started laughing out loud – only after I found out everyone was alright. It made me believe that everything is going to be okay. Bush is out. A plane crashes and no one dies in New York. We are headed for better days and someone is sure sending us a clear message.

Wondering what i thought about when I saw the third plane crash? I thought about the hero. The pilot who in a terrifying moment used all of his knowledge and experience to take on a challenge that looked fatal and lead the people to safety. A true hero. I think back to Sept 11th and how the president took his plane and hid and then proceeded to Iraq (We can all agree that Bush did well going into Afghanistan). I am hoping that the pilot’s heroism will foreshadow the Obama administration. Let us hope that this will be last of plane crashes and George Bush.

Canadian Coup!

The government of Canada may get the boot not through an  election but rather a democratic parliamentary system. Huh? At first glance one would thing that a democratic parliamentary system sounds democratic, so why does the current political turmoil insert an annoying ringing tone in my ears? It may be because a high school law teacher once taught me that some laws are not just. Canada voted for a Conservative government. They were the elected choice as a minority government. Three other political parties made up the rest of the government – Liberals, NDP, and BLOC.  So, after a controversial move in Parliament by the Conservatives the three parties have decided that they were going to join forces and take over government. This is of course completely  legal in our system in Canada, but is it just. This conflict should start a national conversation on the merits of our political system. Any process that takes away from the power an individuals vote should be denied.

Beyond the stink of government take over, one has to ask what the hell is the Liberal Party thinking? I believe that the Liberal party should fire all of their political strategists. Here are my three reasons:

1) The BLOC is a separatist party. Joining forces with a party that wants to destroy the concept of Canada is political suicide. A separatist (or as PM Harper stated in French “Sovereignist”) party will sit on the government of the country that they want to separate from. Now I know why our national anthem starts with “Oh Canada”

2) The leader of the Coalition, Stephane Dion, is getting fired from the Liberal party. What does he get as severance, how about Prime Minister of Canada. Great. If the coalition was a hockey team, it means that the General Manager would fire the coach and then hire him as the President.

3) Most importantly. Why would they want to own the current economic crisis? If the Liberal party had some leadership or intelligence, they would let the Conservatives take on this challenge because it was the Conservatives that started this problem. Taking power now would allow people to attach the downturn in the economy to the new coalition.

So, here is what I predict. If the Liberal Party go ahead with this Coalition, they will not receive a majority for a long long time.

Finally, all of the parties are equally responsible for putting into motion the destruction of Canada. The Conservatives has alienated Quebec pushing them into a corner. The Liberals, in an attempt to appeal to Ontario, will alienate the west. Canada will become the west versus Ontario versus Quebec versus the Maritimes. The political parties are wedging this country apart. It is a serous time. I almost would prefer a military coup instead of this parliamentary coup.