Sporting Madness

So, the Canucks finally knocked off the Los Angeles Kings for good. My thoughts on the game and the series are up over at Canuck Puck , along with some excellent topical videos, but if you don't want to read that, here's another video for you. What can we take from this series? Sum it up, please, Dennis. "Listen -- strange league executives lying about icy ponds and distributing video-review judgements is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical bureaucratic ceremony!" Well, Dennis comes on a little strong, but he's right about one thing. For now, it's time to say goodbye to the Kings.

The San Antonio Spurs are kind of good. They've won four NBA titles in the last 15 years and been a consistent threat over that time, but the interesting thing is that their identity has changed dramatically over that period; they started with the twin towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan , then evolved into the Big Three of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili , and now (thanks to Parker's injury) are perhaps in the throes of another transition. Parker's loss hasn't hurt them anywhere near as much as many would have expected, though, and one of the reasons why is the play of George Hill , who's the subject of my Stacheketball column this week. Hill's a fascinating guy, but not your traditional NBA star; he stands 6'2'' and weighs 180 pounds, and he went to the little-known Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis. Check out the piece for more background on him and a few thoughts on why he's a nice fit for the Spurs. Also, ther...

One of the biggest problems with the Olympics in my mind is the way they divide people into camps. At the one end of the spectrum, there are those who get so wrapped up in nationalism that they cast a blind eye to the issues around the Games. They denounce anyone who dares to question elements of the Olympics as unpatriotic and label them as traitors and un-Canadian. At the other end are many people involved in the protest movements, who overlook all the positive aspects of the Games in favour of promoting their own narrow agendas. Both sides try to outshout the other and wind up becoming even more extreme in the process, leaving little room for rational thought and debate. Where do I fall? Well, it should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with this site's mission statement that, in the words of Pogo creator Walt Kelly , "I'm for the extreme middle." There are massive problems associated with the Games, the IOC, VANOC and the Canadian media's coverage of ...