Fatherland (9/10) Remember those TVO Canadian history docs where they had c-list Canadian actors dressed in costume and reading the letters of dead Canadians and Americans to recreate history? Well, that’s what Fatherland is, only it is much, much, much better. Beginning with the Argentinian national anthem over filmstock of protesters and rebels being beaten …
Bollywood
Last night I went to a house warming party and drank a bit too much red wine. (Which is hilarious given that I haven’t gotten drunk off wine in what feels like years.) Given the time of year the subject of TIFF naturally came up and we eventually got on to Slumdog, a film I …
RIP Gerald E. Tucker
Though Professor Gerald Tucker initially confounded me, as he did many first year students, he became one of my favourite professors at Bishop’s University while I was there – perhaps my favourite. He never finished the curriculum for any class I took with him – I’m not sure we ever made it 2/3rds of the …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Matt Lashoff for Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati
Leafs acquire Matt Lashoff for Alex Berry and Stefano Giliati
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Clarke MacAthur
As I said last year, signing MacArthur was a great risk. The contract was low, because MacArthur had just won an arbitration award which was then declined. He had everything to prove as he had come in to the NHL after a pretty great WJC but then amounted to not all the much with the …
WIMF: the Wolfe Island Music Festival 2011
My friend recently noted that the acronym is confusing, making one think of the IMF, so I decided to spell it out. Just putting that out there. This was the 13th edition of the festival but my first. I must say I was unfamiliar with most of the bands, though I knew many of them …
Statistical patterns based upon past behavior cannot predict individual choices OR: Why we have PINs
I spent all my money on beer and food the first two days of the Wolfe Island Music Festival. That’s okay, I had a good time. But I should have brought more with me. I know that now. Next time. I wanted to eat something on Sunday before we got on the ferry. We would …
Lie to Me by Jonny Lang (1997 A&M)
I have no issues with Lang’s playing. He manages to sound like multiple players at different times, which is generally a good thing, since he doesn’t remind me of any one guitarist too much to seem derivative. He is a pretty good blues guitarist, and very good for his then age.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: July 2011 Free Agency – to date
Failed to re-sign Irwin: No opinion.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: July 2010 Free Agency
On July 1st of last year, Burke let the following players leave the organization: Deveaux, Exelby, Frogren, Matt Jones, Lundmark, Ondrus, Oreskovicc, Primeau, Rogers, Van Ryn, Wallin and Walser. I have no problem with any of that. Additionally, for some unknown reason, both Mitchell and Brent were left to go unrestricted but then resigned later.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2009 Free Agency
Ignoring the players he let go…
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Tim Connolly
First, a note. I have been on vacation for a week and before that I had a busy June so I haven’t been keeping up with these Leafs posts. Rest assured I will get to them in time. For the moment, I am skipping ahead to the Connolly signing and I will discuss the other …
Media Bias in the 2011 NBA Finals
So maybe I’m just a homer, and I can’t be objective about my second favourite basketball team (I certainly couldn’t be in 2006), but it seemed like everything was “Miami is doing this well” / “Miami isn’t doing this well” and very little was about Dallas. Worse, it seemed like Jackson had already decided Miami …
Why the Heat Should be Worried they Squandered This Opportunity
Though it may seem obvious to some the Heat will have another chance at a title, I’m not sure it’s so certain. For a variety of reasons. Wade’s fragile body: LeBron has been quite healthy since he came into the league. And Bosh has been reasonably healthy. But Wade – their best player if the …
NHL Realignment
Provided the Thrashers are indeed moving to Winnipeg (and I have no reason to doubt this story because it originated in a paper owned by one of the Partners of True North) and provided no other teams move this off-season, the NHL will have to realign its divisions. How do they do that?
The Bargain of a Lifetime
For only 39.6% of the popular vote, you get… Tax cuts and increased government spending on things you don’t need! Jet planes! Assault vehicles! Riot cops in the country’s most populous city! But wait! There’s more! For calling while the population believed that elections were expensive relative to the annual government budget and while politicians …
Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Lee’s Palace 04/24/11
This is the new punctuation of the band’s name, so I hear. Speaking of hearing, I can’t any more.
Raptors 2010-2011 Review
So the dismal season is finally over. It was an interesting one. Before it began, I was worried they would win 20 games.
2010-11 NHL Awards
Part 1: Automatic Awards Rocket Richard: Corey Perry Adam Oates (my award for most assists): Henrik Sundin Art Ross: Daniel Sedin Plus-Minus: Zdeno Chara Paul Coffey (my award for most goals by a defenseman): Byfuglien Bobby Orr (my award for most points by a defenseman): Visnovsky Jennings: Tim Thomas Crozier: Tim Thomas
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2010-2011 Leafs Season
There has been a recent upswell of support – from fans, from the media, and from hockey fans not normally partial to the Maple Leafs – for Burke’s “plan” in recent weeks, following the team’s remarkable post-all-star-break performance this season. Despite missing the playoffs, the majority opinion seems to be that the Leafs are very …
“Real” Per Game Hockey Stats
Hockey has been very slow to pay attention to per game numbers as a means of evaluating players compared to, say, a sport like basketball, where they are virtually everything. This has been especially true with the Hall of Fame, where longevity and championships (i.e. luck) are favoured above a player’s ability to perform (with …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: End of the 2010-11 Season
Maybe I’m overly cynical. Maybe the Dryden / Quinn / Ferguson years so soured me that I lost all hope – that I cannot even begin to believe that a Leafs team could really contend for the cup. Maybe I’ve lost all perspective. Maybe my claims to big picture thinking are really just rationalizing disguises for …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Tyler Bozak
The case of Bozak is a really interesting one. It illustrates, for me, both what works and what doesn’t work about Burke’s “plan”. (Sometimes I think calling this a plan or a rebuild is a discredit to these otherwise noble words).
It’s time to start calling Iggy future hall of famer Jarome Iginla
Last night Iginla reached 1000 points for his career. This might not seem like all that much, especially given the large number of people who have achieved this mark since the 1980s. It puts him 77th all-time. He achieved this in more than 1103 games, making him slightly less than a point-a-game player, 103rd best …
Plus Minus Shares
I’m not sure if this will make any sense, as I’m really not well enough versed in statistics, but here goes…
Point Forwards and Shooting Forwards
The concept of the point forward was introduced some time ago – in the ’80s I think – but it is still resisted in many quarters. There are a few people on the TSN boards who constantly get upset when anyone uses the term “point forward,” especially back when Turkoglu was on the Raptors. The …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Media Complicity in Maintaining Fan Delusions
On Blue and White Tonight this evening Gord Stellick said something to the effect of “We can’t figure out how many games the Leafs have to win, they just have to win games. Whether it’s 11-2, or 9-4, or whatever, they have to win a lot of games.”
RIP Rick Martin
For the second time in as many years the Hall of Fame has been exposed for not honouring someone in time. This time the death obviously wasn’t expected, but that doesn’t make it any better. First, they ignored or avoided the opportunity to put Burns in during his lifetime. I really don’t pay attention to …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Deadline Day 2009
Two years ago was Burke’s first deadline day with the Leafs. He made a number of minor deals: traded Antropov for 2nd rounder (Kenny Ryan) and a 2010 conditional fourth rounder (the conditions were either not met or not exercised) traded Moore for a 2nd rounder (Jesse Blacker) claimed Eric Reitz off waivers the weird …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: 2010 Trade Deadline
Around this time last year the Leafs traded Ponikarovsky for Luca Caputi and Martin Skoula then traded Skoula to Jersey for a fifth round pick (Sam Carrick) traded Joey McDonald for a seventh round pick this year traded a sixth round pick (Joe Rogalski) for Chris Peluso traded Stempniak for Matt Jones, a fourth round …