SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2010

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Time heals griefs and quarrels for we change and are no longer the same persons. Neither the offender nor the offended are any more themselves."

- Blaise Pascal


I hope you are enjoying the weekend ... and as you are well aware, next weekend is a long one in Canada.

On a personal note, this is quite a time for me. Friday was my last day at my long-time job as a researcher at a newspaper ibrary. I took a voluntary buyout and I am moving on. It's a big change and a new life.


SPORTS

The Blue Jays have won the first two games of their series against the Texas Rangers. Way to go! Ricky Romero pitched a great game yesterday. He's looking like a real gem. I was also impressed by Casey Jansen on Friday. By the way, I was at at the dome on Friday night. It wasn't exactly the greatest night for pitchers. However, it was a fun game. Unfortunately, at least from my pespective, the roof was open. Now, don't get me wrong. I much prefer watching baseball in the open air - when the weather is warm enough. I would not want a dome stadium that did not have a retractable roof. Friday night, howeever, was just too cool and windy to open the roof. I realize you can't please all the fans, but I think thay made the wrong call on Friday. It may have been fine to open it during the afternoon, but the strong wind made it quite chilly once the sun went down.

So, we are down to the third round of the NHL playoffs. The stage is set. Montreal plays Philadelphia and Chicago takes on San Jose. I do not like the Philadelphia Flyers because I was never a fan of the Broad Steet Bullies. Furthermore, I always associate Bobby Clarke with the Flyers. He was such a dirty player. I remember Clarke's infamous slash on Russian superstar Valeri Kharlamov during the 1972 Canada-Soviet summit series. In 2002, during the 30th anniversary of the super series, Paul Henderson, the hero of the series, criticized Clarke. Henderson described Clarke's slash, which broke Kharlamov's ankle, as "the lowpoint of the series". Bobby Clarke became upset with him and asked him why he didn't say something about it 30 years ago. That's a valid question, but it is beside the point. The point is that Paul was right on the money in his assessment of Bobby Clarke's slash of Kharlamov, and he remained firm in that assessment. Although Henderson said that the last thing he wanted to do was to trash Clarke, hs emphasized that he stood by his opinion "that, in terms of sportsmanship, I don't think there's any place for it then and I don't think there is any place for it there."


As for the San Jose Sharks, I have nothing against them. It's just that San Jose is not exactly a hockey mad city. I want the Stanley Cup to go to a city where hockey matters. That's why I would like to see a Montreal - Chicago final.

- Joanne