Le Magnifique...by Apollo

Most of the working classes of the world look forward to retirement and the day when they no longer will need to answer to someone else's rules, schedule, or demands. Indeed, we spend the vast majority of our lives working and earning a living in the hope of one day retiring so we won't have to work anymore. As with most things, the world of professional sports is different. Retirement is met with wistful nostalgia and often quite a few tears. Such was the case today, when Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux announced his retirement from hockey.

Lemieux has retired before, and staged an inspiring comeback recently which culminated in serving as captain for the winning Team Canada Men's Hockey Team at both the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. In his prime, when he was leading the Penguins to two Stanley Cup championships in the early 1990's, Lemieux was simply unstoppable. The puck seemed glued to his stick like in some early Nintendo hockey game, and his combination of size and speed allowed him to move past even the best of defencemen and make goaltenders look like pylons. If not for a bout with cancer that forced him to miss several years and ultimately retire for the first time, Lemieux would have given a serious run to the lofty records of Wayne Gretzky. Many hockey fans, including the 2 Wise Men, can still wax poetic about the incredible 1987 Canada Cup where Lemieux wired a top corner championship winning goal off of an exquisite drop pass from Gretzky to defeat the Russians.

In recent years, Lemieux has fallen from his throne as being the most talented player in hockey. Age, and lack of speed, have made him look positively ordinary from time to time, particularly playing alongside phenom Sidney Crosby this season. Lemieux admitted that the new NHL is geared more towards speed and youth, two traits that have unfortunately declined in him to the point he felt he could no longer compete at his lofty standards. If he wanted to, Lemieux could very easily continue his career for another two seasons exclusively as a power play specialist. Despite the lack of speed, the lightning quick hands and incredible vision remain. Ask the Toronto Maple Leafs or Montreal Canadiens, or any number of struggling NHL franchises if they could make room on their roster for the Magnificent One and the answer would be a resounding yes. However, as when most of the greats retire, it has been extremely difficult for Lemieux to leave the game, and in the end it was not because he could no longer play, but rather because he could no longer play like Mario Lemieux. A salute then, to easily one of the top 4 players in the history of the sport, and set the TiVo's and PVR's for all the Lemieux retrospective highlights that are sure to be shown in the next few days.

Celebrating a dream...by Apollo

Today, January 16, 2005, the third Monday in January, marks the annual American national holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The national holiday for the American civil rights icon is finally celebrated in all 50 American states, after Arizona, New Hampshire, and Utah recently enacted legislation to recognize the holiday in both name and effect. While no holiday exists in Canada for Dr. King, the impact of the American civil rights movement on African-Canadians is profound, to the point that many Canadians will be celebrating today in some way as well.

One day per year is hardly enough to truly understand or appreciate the struggle that Dr. King and others in the Civil Rights Movement had to endure. However, there is no lack of resources avaiable that can be enjoyed throughout the year. One such academic institution is The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University in California. Check out the papers of Dr. King and other resources and information on the Civil Rights Movement and broaden your own wisdom.

Wisdom comes with time...by Apollo

Happy New Year to all. The 2 Wise Men have been off for a few months, and apparently the world seems to be still moving along without any major catastrophes - although the results of the upcoming Canadian Federal Election may change my view on that. Before this resurrection post continues, a special shout out to The Traveling Chef and his Asian exploits. The mid-mid-life crisis...nice...we should all be so lucky, or foolish? haha...nah, we'll stick to lucky.

While Wongoz is continuing with his quest to better himself academically (and perhaps redeem his past efforts in academia), here's some upcoming events in 2006 that we're looking forward to:

1) The Election: We try and refrain from appearing overtly biased when we discuss topics in this forum, so rather than endorse any particular party or candidate, we'll be paying attention to the voter participation numbers instead. As we have already discussed in the last federal election, voter participation has been slightly rising as of late, and with a rather close vote and a potential minority government in the balance, it will be interesting to see how many Canadians decide to exercise their constitutional rights on January 23.

2) The 2006 Winter Olympics: The "citizens of the world" shall assemble once again beginning February 10, 2006 in Torino, Italy for the Winter Games. The Winter Games, being smaller and more manageable than the summer version, usually comes off less like a massive corporate sponsored event, and more like an athletic competition. This small Italian city, home of Juventus, will host the supposedly strongest Canadian team ever assembled. In anticipation of hosting the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010, Canada has set a lofty goal of finishing in the top 3 in the overall medal standings. This ambitious goal, which has never been accomplished in the lifetimes of the 2 Wise Men, would hopefully harness the rare Canadian patriotism on display during the Olympics and lead to an even better performance in 2010. We shall see, however hopefully there will be more provocative stories to discuss than whether or not Bryan McCabe should have been named to the Team Canada Olympic Hockey Roster or not.

3) The 2006 FIFA World Cup: As in 2002, an Olympic Year also includes the largest, most-watched sporting event in the world - soccer's World Cup. When fans (and with some luck, the 2 Wise Men) arrive in Germany in June, the debate will rage on as to which nations will join heavy favourite Brazil in the knockout stages for soccer's most prestigious trophy. Hopefully by June, there will be far more analysis on this page than in the past 6 months as well.

A lot to look forward to, and in turn, a lot to talk about. We shall see if we can shake off our recent bout of laziness to share our thoughts more often.