Stand Up, Speak Up... part 1 by wongoz

I don't normally buy Nike stuff anymore... I'd make an exception for the R4 Shox, still the most comfortable runners I've ever had, but in general, I like to go with the home-brand, adidas. It helps that adi is pretty darn cool, and hasn't come under fire for sweatshopping before... That said, it's great to see corporations do something good, and in this case, Nike gets props for supporting the anti-racism cause spurred by several ugly incidents in Europe in the last couple months.

Unfortunately, racism is still present in today's ever-integrating European society, and that was seen most visibly in some football (aka soccer) matches earlier this season. Esteemed players like Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos and Rio Ferdinand have been booed, slurred or otherwise humiliated, on and off the pitch. One might think it limited to drunk English hooligans, but alas, the classless behaviour was also demonstrated by some boorish Spanish fans.

But they're not alone - almost all European people groups seem to show some intolerance to ethnicities other than their own. Of course, this is a very broad generalization, but it's something I've just noticed. It's not overt discrimination, more like a condescending attitude towards some foreign types.

In any case, a number of Nike-sponsored football stars have responded to the incidents by promoting a wristband with a twist - it's actually 2 wristbands, one black, one white, intertwined - to raise awareness for this serious issue. Nike got on board really quick and they're probably producing the wristbands as fast as they are selling. Apollo said that they weren't available in Canada and asked if I could get one for him. Well, after no-go's for the past 2 weeks, I happened to pick a couple of these up today:



Yeah, booooyyyyy!!!

Wanderlust... by wongoz

Well, as much as I love to travel, seeing new things, discovering new places, meeting new people, and eating new foods, it's always nice to read something nice about my hometown, Toronto, especially if it's not written in a Toronto-area publication.

So consider my socks knocked off, or my boat floated, or my crank turned, because the über-chic Wallpaper* magazine just covered the T-dot in its famous travel section for the March 2005 issue. So what if Toronto was like the 1000th city to be featured, or that (horror of horrors) Montreal or Vancouver may have been covered before us - the point is, we're cool, dammit, because Wallpaper* says so!

Usual suspects like Canoe and the Four Seasons are listed as THE places to be, but also interesting is that we're actually starting to get recognized for our style and design. Pieces like OCAD's Sharp Centre for Design, or the Frank Gehry addition to the AGO, are being hailed all the world over, just as Aachen-born (yeah, that's right) Mies van der Rohe's TD Centre was 40 years ago. I say, it's about time we stopped talking about being world-class (man, I hate that term), and just started being it.

Patriot Games... part 2 - by wongoz

So I suppose I should've posted something about last weekend's Super Bowl, but the thing is, I didn't watch it. It might be great Sunday night viewing for people in North America, but over here, on the other side of the prime meridian, it's competing against blue night specials. Not that I watch those anyways, since I don't even have a TV, but still, what I'm saying is: the timing sucks.

The game didn't start until well past midnight here, and by the time I got home from a birthday party and an Irish pub, it was almost 2am, and it was only halftime. Sorry, I miss American football, and I miss the Super Bowl, but I don't miss it that much. Compounding the issue was the fact that I had to be at work at 8:30am on Monday morning, so it was an easy decision.

About as easy as the game seemed to be, after reading about it. Apollo and I had briefly discussed the game over instant messaging, and while I was rooting for my Syracuse boy, Donovan McNabb, there's just no way I was picking the Eagles to beat a Patriots team who had thoroughly dismantled the best offensive and the best defensive teams in consecutive weeks. Say what you will about the Patriots, about their just-good-enough mediocrity or anything else you want to badmouth them on, but the fact of the matter is, they are the champs until further notice. Period.

I can't say I particularly like the Pats either - something about cool-as-ice Tom Brady sticks in my craw, and the whole we-are-still-underdogs thing that Apollo mentioned is pretty annoying, especially from a team featuring 6 Pro Bowlers. It is nice to see Corey Dillon get his props though, after spending 7 years in the wasteland known as the Cincinnati Bengals and being described as a selfish malcontent. Apollo can back me up on this, but I've been a Dillon fan for a long time, ever since I happened to pick him up in a fantasy pool one year and he busted loose for 275 yards or something like that in one game. How can you not like a guy like that, with no record like Jamal Lewis? hahaha...

Anyways, it was also nice to see someone aside from motormouth Freddie Mitchell and the aforementioned babe magnet Brady win the MVP. By all accounts, Deion Branch seems like a nice guy and deserving of the award. Good on ya.

Focus now turns to the draft, only a few months away... and wild speculation that my favourite team, the Minnesota Vikings, will trade the best receiver in the league, Randy Moss, for a bag of baseballs and some pine tar. No? Ok, a bag of footballs and some stick-um. Whichever way you slice it, a singular talent like his comes along only every so often, and if you don't have Bill Belichick at the helm (and Mike Tice is certainly no Belichick), then you need star players like Moss. Mark my words, the Vikings will regret trading Moss, should they decide to do so.

As for the other football (European, that is), big ups to Canadian international Julian de Guzman on his impending season's-end move to Deportivo La Coruña in the Spanish Liga Primera. Prominent Canadians in the world's most popular sport include Paul Stalteri of Werder Bremen and Tomasz Radzinski of Everton. Keep it going, lads, and Canada just might break into the top 80 in the world one of the these days.

Patriot Games...Part 1 - by Apollo

How rare is it that the 2 Wise Men actually get a request for a topic? Well, it's so rare that it's never happened, until now. Here, with unprecedented timeliness, is our 2005 Super Bowl recap. As is our penchant (or at least mine anyway), the actual outcome of the game isn't nearly as important as the particular things we found interesting about the game itself. So, for all of you who didn't know, the New England Patriots defended their title with a 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Now on to more important matters...

Heading into the game, both Wongoz and I were picking the Patriots, even though we both have a soft spot for Eagles star quarterback, Syracuse graduate, and Reebok pitch man, Donovan McNabb. We love him. How can you not? When selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, McNabb was greeted by...boos...boos from some of the worst fans in pro sports. The same fans who cheered at the sight of Michael Irvin when he was nearly paralyzed against Philadelphia several years ago, but I digress. McNabb was bitter, and why wouldn't he be? But he used it as motivation, as fuel that has propelled him at the tender age of 28 years old to one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. But despite McNabb's brilliance, the Patriots have already shown they can handle star quarterbacks and explosive offences with deadly efficiency, and it seemed a foregone conclusion that they would win their third title in four years.

The game itself seemed to start according to script. McNabb practically fumbled the ball on the opening series and but for a brilliant replay challenge by Eagles coach Andy Reid, the Patriots would have had the ball deep in Eagles territory in the opening minutes. Back and forth they went, and neither team was able to establish a rhythm. Although McNabb and the Eagles were performing much better offensively than the next Joe Montana, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, the score was 7-7 after one half, and 14-14 after three quarters. The game wasn't particularly exciting, although purists surely appreciated the brilliant play calling and excellent defence from both teams. There were very few big plays. In short, the game was going exactly the way New England likes it. Throughout their amazing run, Patriots coach Bill Belichick has won all three Super Bowls by a field goal or less. Take away games against the Indianapolis Colts and the Patriots have won 5 of the 7 playoff games during their three championship seasons all by a field goal or less. The Patriots thrive in close, defensive, and sometimes boring, struggles. And this game was shaping up to be that way.

In the end, the Eagles and McNabb made far too many mistakes and their final drive stalled with a Rodney Harrison interception. I'm not sure that New England was the better team, which invariably leads to too much praise being heaped on the winner, and too much blame being heaped on the loser, but that's pro sports. What did stand out to me was the absolutely incredible performance of Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens who had a beautiful 122 yard performance while playing on an ankle that had been broken mere weeks before the game. While Owens had 9 catches and previously maligned Todd Pinkston also had a big game, it was again not enough to cancel out a coming out party for Deion Branch and another steady if not spectacular performance by Brady. Owens gets a lot of deserved criticism for his on-field antics and his sometimes ridiculous off-field comments. However, unlike the equally talented Randy Moss, Owens has the work ethic to back up his bravado.

Speaking of bravado, I've been trying to figure out why I don't like the Patriots. They're a blue collar team with a lot of great role players who have bought into a system and go about their business with little fanfare. They're the modern day equivalent of the New York Giants under Bill Parcells, which makes sense since Belichick was Parcells' student back in those days, whether either of them cares to admit it or not. But it's something else. It's linebacker Mike Vrabel, Branch, and Harrison flapping their arms mockingly following big plays. It's the arrogance and cockiness of Belichick and his coaching staff. The Patriots play and act as if they're still the underdog and now that they've won, they're going to shove it back at the world. It's an attitude that the Boston Red Sox shared to a certain degree during their improbable World Series run this past season. It's an attitude that a lot of Boston-area fans share, and I don't like it. Sure, New York is digustingly arrogant, Los Angeles is far too snobby and stuck up, and Toronto is somewhere in between. Those cities, and the teams that play there, (except for the Raptors), try to be bullies, and everyone hates them for it. What's more annoying than a bully though is the little kid who finally wins and then runs around telling the neighbourhood all about it all summer. I should like the Patriots. There's a lot to like about them. But I just don't. I don't like the Green Bay Packers fans who ridiculed Moss for losing in the playoffs after Minnesota beat Green Bay. I don't like Red Sox fans who made fun of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter after eliminating the Yankees. So, I don't like the way the Patriots are handling themselves as champions. It's nitpicking to a certain degree, particularly since I find a lot of what Owens and others do rather hilarious, but I just don't get the feeling that this is a classy team or a classy organization...which is unfortunate, because that's probably selling them short. In the end, it's probably just jealousy. Brady has three Super Bowls and he's dating Bridget Moynahan. That's just so unfair.

It will be interesting to see whether the parity that the NFL likes to boast about will render both Philadelphia and New England to the ranks of the contenders or pretenders next year. The NFL has a way of bringing champions back to the pack, or in the case of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to behind the pack completely. New England's vaunted coaching staff is being torn apart, with quarterbacks coach Charlie Weis, and defensive guru Romeo Crenell going to Notre Dame and Cleveland, respectively. The Eagles will have a ton of salary cap space and McNabb and Owens back next season, so the future looks bright.

Bust a cap in it...Part 1 - by Apollo

Well there isn't any real plausible explanation for the nearly month long hiatus, but don't worry, the 2 Wise Men are back strong like Vince Carter's suddenly rejuvenated inside game. In what will hopefully be the last of the VC references for a while, what's with all the haters saying Vince doesn't deserve to be in the All-Star Game? Last I checked he was averaging All Star numbers for his new team and was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second time this year. Ah well, enough about Vince...

To close out the basketball talk for now, the Toronto Raptors welcomed back disgruntled point guard Rafer Alston this week following the team imposed 2-game suspension for his "conduct detrimental to the team". Alston was wisely contrite and apologetic and faced the media upon his return to practice. A discouraging trend that has come out from Toronto basketball media in recent days is this penchant for emphasizing Alston's past incidents of poor behaviour and the not too subtle suggestions that he is somehow a problem child who is more trouble than he's worth. Now, while I agree that Alston is rather overpaid at $5 million a season and more, anyone who thinks that Milt Palacio or Morris Peterson at point guard is a better solution for the Raptors, both in the short term and long term, is seriously misguided. More importantly, the suggestions that Alston is only well behaved if his contract and job are on the line is ignorantly cliched.

A fond farewell today to the NFL's all-time rushing leader, Emmitt Smith, who appropriately announced his retirement as a member of the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. Smith, who broke the late Walter Payton's rushing record several years ago, is the last of the vaunted "triplets" - including Quarterback Troy Aikman, and wide receiver Michael Irvin - who dominated football in the mid 1990's and led Dallas to three Super Bowl championships. While Dallas is a shadow of the organization it used to be, owner Jerry Jones has never been one to pass over an opportunity to wake up the vestiges of the past, signing Smith to a one-day contract much the same way he did with Aikman's retirement. As a long time Cowboys fan, I always admired Smith. He was never the fastest back, or the strongest, and he wasn't even close to being the biggest, but with a powerhouse offensive line and the ability to break tackles and read the holes, Smith is a guaranteed Hall of Famer.


Now...the main point...A lot has been going on lately in the current NHL labour negotiations and most of it has been irrelevant or overreported or both. However, a side note that has been dramatized far beyond measure is the recent decisions by certain players, including Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, and Kris Draper to play in the minor leagues while the NHL lockout continues. The predictable media and fan outcry has risen up in opposition to the idea that somehow, NHL superstars playing in Europe and in the minor leagues is morally "bad" - that players are taking away jobs from hard working, less talented players in these other leagues. How dare they do that? What nerve these players have! They oppose a salary cap in the NHL and then they go and happily play for less money in another league!

This attitude has always perplexed me, and for lack of a better term I'll call it "rich athlete discrimination". It's the idea that somehow, because a player makes a lot of money, he is supposed to be a better citizen than the average person or somehow have better values than any of the rest of us. Suppose Wongoz and I decided we wanted to quit our day jobs and go play in the German professional hockey league, or whatever it's called - the Bundesliga of hockey. Suppose we worked really hard (just indulge me here) and won roster spots on the Koln pro team (if one actually exists). What would we be? We would be regular players who took away the jobs of other regular players who could not compete with us for whatever reason. More importantly, there would be nothing wrong with it and no one would complain about two Asian guys beating out everyone else for spots on a hockey team. Now suddenly because a vastly superior, and vastly better paid NHL player decides to do the same thing, it's suddenly wrong? Let's all keep in mind the fact that we're dealing with a lockout here...the NHL players can't play in the NHL. Are we suggesting somehow that because they can't play in their own "rich league" that they aren't allowed to play hockey in any other league? It isn't as if the NHL players deliberately shut down their own league so they could take off on a modern day pillaging mission to oppress other pro hockey players in leagues across the world.

Is the point that if you have enough money to support yourself without working or playing hockey, that you should be prevented from playing and taking away someone else's paycheque? I doubt that highly. I'm sure if we conducted a breakdown of every athlete's personal finances, we would see many non-NHL players who should not be allowed to play ahead of another guy who's living paycheque to paycheque. The point is, personal wealth is and should be irrelevant.

Furthermore, I fail to see how it is at all hypocritical for NHL players to play in leagues that have salary caps. I'm sure if you took a poll of every professional hockey player in every league and asked them if they would rather play in a league with a salary cap or a league without one, the overwhelming majority would prefer NOT to put a ceiling on what they may earn. If the NHL players passed up the opportunity to play in a non-capped league in order to play in Europe, then I could see a problem. But, oh wait that's right...there is NO OTHER LEAGUE without a salary cap except the NHL! I'm sure I'm missing something here but I can't for the life of me understand what that is.

NHL hockey will return one day, although probably not this calendar year, and there will be other irrelevant issues to argue at that time. Both owners and players deserve an immense amount of blame for failing to negotiate a deal and forcing the cancellation of NHL games to this point. But, in the interim, please spare me the moral proselytizing that all NHL players and all rich athletes in general, should be somehow better than the rest of us, or that they are all somehow worse than us because they want to play hockey this year, regardless of the quality and stature of the league.