Work in Progress

tough gig: on being a Saviour

National Post columnist Bruce Arthur's piece on the growth of Carey Price in the past year is a prime example of sportswriting at its best... Not merely good, it's great.

Oh, we can be a demanding bunch, we Habs fans, and pleasing us is no easy task.

Fixing us may be near impossible, but still, some hardy types try:

It is a hell of a thing to want, really. There may be no more difficult or pressure-filled job in team sports — some quarterback, maybe, or the closer for the Yankees, or some such thing. But being the goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens is for icons. You will be measured against Jacques Plante and Ken Dryden and Roy. You won’t be measured against Cristobal Huet.

And when Montreal drafted the B.C. native with the fifth-overall pick in the 2005 draft, the aim was clear. Nobody spends their highest pick in 20 years on someone like Huet. Price is only expected to be great.

“Carey’s been outstanding for us this season — he’s given us a chance to win every night,” Canadiens coach Jacques Martin said. “We expect the same thing in the playoffs.”

When Price was booed in that pre-season game it was a reminder that Canadians can take their hockey too seriously, and that Montreal fans take it the most seriously of all. It was a reminder that being the goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens is a religious position, and it is not hard to get crucified. But those afternoons at Brossard showed a kid who just wanted to play hockey, to feel the ice under his skates. You have to love the game to want to be a saviour.

“Yeah, that’s a job that he handles really well,” Montreal defenceman Hal Gill said. “It’s a tough spot that he’s put in a lot of nights, and we try to support him as much as we can, but it’s tough. The media and the city, they ask a lot of him.”

They ask everything. And now, Carey Price has another chance to give it to them.

Seriously, do yourself a favour and read the rest here.

Believe me, it has nothing at all to do with hockey and everything to do with fame, expectations and pressure. Bruce Arthur is a very good writer.

Just Breathe

Sports arouse our passions.

Something about our teams appeals to the tribal instincts we've honed as bipeds over the past million years or so. Sporting events can be wonderful occasions to bring people together in shared experience. But there is an unseemly side to any tribalism.

Often, too often, these passions are allowed to bubble into the absurd. When the Habs Max Pacioretty was checked into the stanchion by Zdeno Chara, all hell broke lose.

Where most unbiased observers saw an unfortunate hockey play, in Montreal, the sport's most passionate fans raged at what they saw a blatant attempt to injure. Some went to the edge of reason and called 911 to report what they believed to be a criminal act.

Please.

At worst, one could ascribe the play as worthy of a short suspension due to Chara's recklessness but calling the police?

Again, please.

Thia is what passion can do.

Since that time, Habs fans have taken some well-deserved ribbing in relation to this overreactionn but apparently, Boston fans are not immune to such over-the-edge behaviour when their sports teams are involved.

Exhibit A: The Red Sox.

Following a successful off-season, the Bosox entered 2011 as the favourites to win their division, and they still may. Less than two weeks into this young season, however, the team is floundering with the worst record in baseball and the fans are not, um, taking it well.

Here is a portion of an editorial in yesterday's Boston Globe:

So far, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

A 162-game baseball season bears a certain resemblance, however, to the ebb and flow of history. At the start of the year, who would have guessed that Hosni Mubarak would be talking to prosecutors about the sources of his family’s wealth, or that the Arab League would invite NATO planes to fire missiles at Moammar Khadafy’s mercenaries?

This is a time for Sox fans to recollect their despair after the Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the 2004 playoffs. It wasn’t a miracle when the wheel of fortune started spinning in a different direction. It was more like a triumph of long-term reality over short-term appearances.

And what happened before can happen again.

Read the rest here.

When a serious newspaper feels compelled to publish an editorial calling for calm among the populace because a local team is struggling, we can assume everyone needs to take a breath and regain some perspective.

When a serious newspaper attempts to make any comparison between NATO bombing missions in Libya and a baseball team, we can assume everyone needs to take a breath and regain some perspective.

However, as I cannot credibly criticize others for allowing their passions to become enflamed, I will merely suggest to Red Sox nation, of which I am a proud member, that we should all give Tito and the boys time to turn things around.

I will otherwise reserve further opinion because I have been known to, on occasion, become somewhat agitated by the vagaries of certain sporting events.

That said, chill, Red Sox Nation, doesn't everyone know it's too early to even care about baseball yet?  

Go Habs.

 

 

Roger Ebert: Courage

 

This was the highlight of TED for me this year. I changed my return flight home and took the red-eye to make sure I would not miss this man's talk. And he did not disappoint.

My favourite moment, though, occurred when he was reprimanded by his wife, halfway through the talk.

Have a look and be prepared to be amazed by this remarkable example of Courage.

words matter

 

Funny how a video featuring a blind protagonist can show us perspective.

This clip shows how easily we can be awoken from our usual state of walking slumber, when the right combination of words is chosen to break through our blinders. The words we choose matter so much, it is a pity we pay so little attention.

h/t to Boris.

Tough call for an atheist: to niqab or not to niqab?

From the NY Times:

PARIS — A French ban outlawing full-face veils in public, the first to be enacted in Europe, came into force on Monday and faced immediate, if low-key, challenges.

The police detained two fully veiled women at a small protest outside the Notre Dame cathedral in central Paris, where demonstrators were easily outnumbered by police officers and journalists. But it was not clear whether the women had been held under laws forbidding unauthorized demonstrations.

The new law, approved last year, has been controversial from the start, raising questions about France’s relationship with its Muslim minority of five to six million — Western Europe’s largest — at a time when right-wing and anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise.

Just days ago France‘s governing party pressed ahead with a contentious public debate on the nature of its secularist philosophy and the challenges of Islam. The discussion drew criticism across a broad front including government officials, religious leaders, the Socialist opposition and the far-right National Front.

According to the French authorities, fewer than 2,000 women in France wear the full-face veil, known as a niqab, but the ban has touched nerves, prompting accusations that it stigmatizes one gender among one religious minority in a land that prides itself on the values enshrined in its national motto of liberty, equality and fraternity.

The ban also applies to foreigners visiting France. The law forbids clothing intended to hide the face in public spaces such as streets, markets, private business, government buildings and public transportation. Violators may be punished with a fine of 150 euros, equivalent to $215. But people forcing others to cover their faces are subject to much stiffer punishments, including a maximum 12 months in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros, equivalent to more than $42,000, or twice that amount if the person forced to cover their face is a minor.

Read the rest here.

Wow. I have such mixed feelings about this!

On the one hand, I believe all religions to be evil & the sooner we are rid of these, the better humanity will be. Also, in terms of morality, an interesting topic that is often raised among theists toward atheists, the notion of women spending their lives inside a canvas bag is pretty abhorrent to me and should be discouraged as much as possible, by any right-thinking society.

On the other hand, western democracies have been built on the principles of freedom and independence for the individual and as long no one is being forced or coerced into wearing a niqab (or yamulke or St. Christopher's medal), what folks want to do is up to them, no? Separation of church and state goes both ways: I don't want the state promoting religion, or one religion over another, but doesn't that also mean the state should leave well-intentioned people of faith alone to choose?

Seems like there is a reasonable argument to be made on both sides of this issue and I'm amazed the French government feels there is such a consensus that a national law could be passed.

What do you think?

meh. It's a living.

How ya like me now?

 

This is awesome.

Happiness runs

 

I have never done anything this hard. Or this clever. In my whole life.

Julia Morley spent three days building a Lego ship inside a wine jug, filming the entire process (which took a week of planning) and then speeding up the footage to produce this clip.

I admire the ingenuity and dedication of this. And I even loved the Donovan tune as a soundtrack.

Enjoy.

 

 

Riley (2)

Last fall, we got a dog.

Didn't go well.

We promised to try again.

Today, Riley (2) comes home.

I cannot tell you how much the idea of a dog in the house fills me with dread.

I hate the idea this much less than I love the kids.

So they win.

But this is it.

If he she turns out to be as mean as the first little asshole, I'm done.

TED talk: Hans Rosling has massive props to the Maytag repair man

 

His talk on the huge societal importance of the washing machine ties into the fact that empowering women, whether by technology or education, helps to raise a culture's standard of living in a very profound way.

In his book Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson made the point that teaching a little girl to read almost guarantees that her children will learn to read while the same is not always true of men. In his talk, Rosling makes the point that improving a woman's efficiency in some perhaps apparently menial way will also improve her family's life because she will invest the time she saves right back into her children.

Great talk. Enjoy.