New Template Testing

Beware falling bits of code. Also beware confusion. You should probably also be wary of the deadly brown recluse spider, although they're not usually a problem on this blog. Gaaaaaaah!! There's one now!

Muddling

Going to be playing around with the template for a bit. Expect the unexpected. Like a Greatest Hits thingy on the sidebar.

Testing Video Thingy

Go here instead for actual content!

The View From Over Here

And we're currently fucking around with TVFOH in the hopes of coming up with a stunning new backdrop for Oi! Thump. This one looks rather nice...

[Fumbles around in dark, locates box of matches, strikes one, and peers around...]Hey look! A picture of Courtney Love!! [Inhales dust, sneezes]

Anyway, this blog has been retired - I can now be found at Oi! Thump!, doing much the same things I did here. For now, though, TVFOH will be serving as a sort of lab rat for things I'm trying to do before I run them on Oi! Thump!. To start with, I'm going to try to start up a comments section...

Ahhh, the first post of November...

Horror, Hope, Wage Battle in Hearts of Edmontonians

Search for new police chief begins
Edmonton - The search for a new police chief is on, with the city starting to run local and national newspaper ads to attract candidates.

Chief Bob Wasylyshen, who has held the job for three years, has said he won't extend his contract when it expires next September. He has also decided not to run for mayor in next year's civic election.

For in-depth analysis of this decision, please see The View From Over Here from October 7th of this year. (cough)

"We're looking for a chief who subscribes to the community policing model and it is important that the chief subscribes to that and have demonstrated an understanding of that and know how to implement it through a police service," Martin Ignasiak, chairman of the police commission, said.

In other words, we're looking for someone as unlike Bob "It's fine if my own police department investigates the allegations against my kids" Wasylyshen as it is possible to be. Which is to say, someone who actually believes in community policing.

He says Wasylyshen's experience will be used in hiring his replacement.

"If you compare the Edmonton Police Service today to what it was when this chief took over, it is like night and day," Ignaskiak said. "This chief has done a remarkable job leading the service. He projects a professional image. He gives the people of Edmonton confidence in their police service."

Oh fuck off.

Oh well, at least there's hope for Bob's future employment, as it would seem that the city of Saskatoon is looking for exactly his type of cop.

Edmonton, about this time next year


Absolutely Nothing Could Possibly Go Wrong With This!

Mayor touts city cattle drive

Edmonton - An urban cattle drive would be a great way to mark the city's centennial next year and celebrate the annual Canadian Finals Rodeo, Mayor Bill Smith says.

The mayor says he's going to pursue an idea that would see a long-horn cattle drive down 118th Avenue, down Kingsway Avenue and into the Skyreach Centre. While professional wranglers would be used to keep the cattle on the right path, Edmontonians could pay to take part in the drive, Smith said.

Well, one team leaves, another one arrives - or, in this case, another two! The Aviators are going to have both a mens' and a womens' team, and season tickets will be about $200, for both. It should be good, even thought the history of pro soccer in Edmonton is full of high optimism followed by crushed hopes. One good thing about the Aviators, though - they're not owned by the Eskimos. As a final note - the team website is right here.

Simile of the week

Just started reading the trade paperback edition of The Preacher (a rather dark comic), and came across this gem (possibly not exactly verbatim, but very close): "As frightening as a psychopathic greased gerbil wearing a mining helmet and carrying a flashlight, with your bare asshole in sight..." Hee.

Lame Moments in Sports #11
Probably the lamest moment yet.

Trappers sold, heading to Texas
Canadian Press
10/23/2003

EDMONTON (CP) - The financially struggling Edmonton Trappers of the Pacific Coast League have been sold to a Texas buyer, owners announced Thursday, leaving only one triple-A baseball team still in business in Canada.

The Canadian Football League Edmonton Eskimos, which bought the Trappers in 1999, have sold the team for $10.4 million US to Round Rock Baseball Inc. The team is expected to play out the 2004 season in Edmonton before moving to Texas next fall.

Well, that does it. This, on top of the events of a few weeks ago (see Lame Moments in Sports #9) have prompted me to take the following step: As of now, the Edmonton Eskimos are officially suspended from the roster of teams I cheer for, this suspension to last until the beginning of CFL training camp next year. Until then, I will be counted among the supporters of the B.C. Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders. This I am doing not simply because of the Trappers' move, but because when Edmonton's baseball fans first heard of the sale, it was a done deal. In the article Hugh Campbell makes two claims about the reasons behind the sale and move. First of all, he says that it was done to recoup the money that the Eskimos spent on the Trappers in the first place. Secondly, he says that the PCL no longer wanted Canadian teams in the league (an entirely believable idea). Now, if the sale was done for financial reasons, why was no attempt made to find a local buyer? And if the second is true, why didn't Campbell let the baseball fans of Edmonton know what was going on, so we could attempt to convince the PCL that this is a viable baseball city. As my sister put it, this entire thing both sucks and blows.

Anyway, Edmonton Eskimos, I no longer support you, and will not again until next June.

Assholes Run Amok in Edmonton Again

Stickmen using billboards to attack mayor
Edmonton - The Stickmen are again targeting the city's mayor with a cheeky billboard campaign.

The political group, fronted by two-time mayoral candidate Mike Nickel, is taking shots at Mayor Bill Smith with a sign near city hall.

"There's nothing more pathetic than a man with sight, but no vision," the billboard reads. "Where's your vision Bill? Perhaps being a good booster is not enough."
Actually, Mike, there's nothing more pathetic than you, you greedy, treacherous, cowardly piece of shit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Bill Smith, but the Stickmen are emblematic of everything that's wrong with politics today. From their anonymous attacks (yeah, we pretty much know who they are, but that wasn't their doing) on public servants, to their sneering self-righteousness and contempt for their fellow Edmontonians, they are truly scum in every way. I'm tempted to vote for Bill next time out just to spit in their faces.

Hrmmm. I went 32-16 with my picks for the first round of the UEFA Cup, which is less than impressive. Thanks, underachieving German teams. Anyway, undaunted I press on, with an overall record of 67-22. Here's with the draw for the next round, with my picks in bold, bold print.

Dinamo Zagreb (Cro) v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukr)
Borussia Dortmund (Ger) v Sochaux (Fra)
Manchester City (Eng) v Groclin Grodzisk (Pol)
Barcelona (Spa) v Panionios (Gre)
Benfica (Por) v Molde FK (Nor)
Slavia Prague (Cze) v Levski Sofia (Bul)
Rosenborg (Nor) v Crevena Zvezda (Ser)
Valencia (Spa) v Maccabi Haifa (Isr)
Spartak Moscow (Rus) v Dinamo Bucuresti (Rom)
Gaziantepspor (Tur) v RC Lens (Fra)
Brondby (Den) v Schalke 04 (Ger)
Aris Thessaloniki (Gre) v Perugia (Ita)
FC Utrecht (Ned) v Auxerre (Fra)
Steaua Bucuresti (Rom) v Liverpool (Eng)
Valerenga (Nor) v Wisla Krakow (Pol)
PAOK Salonika (Gre) v Debreceni (Hun)
FC Copenhagen (Den) v Mallorca (Spa)
Parma (Ita) v Austria Slazburg (Aus)
FC Basle (Swi) v Newcastle United (Eng)
Hajduk Split (Cro) v AS Roma (Ita)
Genclerbirligi (Tur) v Sporting Lisbon (Por)
Torpedo Moscow (Rus) v Villarreal (Spa)
Feyenoord Rotterdam (Ned) v FK Teplice (Cze)
Bordeaux (Fra) v Heart Of Midlothian (Sco)

Millwall appoint Wise as caretaker

Millwall have confirmed that Dennis Wise will take over as player-coach on a caretaker basis following the departure of Mark McGhee.

That's probably not the bestest ever picture of Dennis Wise, at least we hope not, but Lord love him he's the new Millwall manager, at least for four games. I'm with the folks who are expecting him to get the job full time in the end. A good think? We'll have to wait and see.

"It" gets kicked old-school in Montreal
Violence flares in Montreal after concert cancelled
Last Updated Wed, 15 Oct 2003 17:11:14

MONTREAL - More than 100 police officers were needed to break up a riot in downtown Montreal after a punk rock concert was cancelled on Tuesday night.

Yeah, who the hell is this 'It' who keeps getting kicked, punched, pushed, knocked, hit, and fired up anyway?

Anyway, I was going to write today about the historic merger of the two right-wing parties in Canada, but what with a punk riot and Millwall's manager being fired, there were far more important things to deal with. The reason behind the above riot was the refusal of Customs to let members of the bands Total Chaos and The Exploited (see picture) into the country. Dang, why can't we get concerts by Total Chaos and The Exploited in Edmonton? Oh right, 'cuz they're not allowed into the country.

I will deal with the Alliance-Tory merger at another time.

Millwall sack manager McGhee

Dennis Wise is expected to be put in temporary charge of Millwall this weekend after unrest among players and supporters at the New Den brought down manager Mark McGhee.

This was probably coming. Millwall fans are not the most patient of people. Dennis Wise has been placed in charge, and, as the article above notes, will face the first-place team in his first game in charge. The new season just got a lot more interesting.

Lame Moments in Sports #10
Yet Another Racist Asshole Rears Her Appalling Head

Stephenson: Asians ruining LPGA Tour
Sports Ticker
10/10/2003

NEW YORK (Ticker) - Jan Stephenson is teeing it up with the men's 50-and-older crowd this weekend, but she might get more attention for teeing off on the LPGA Asian players in a magazine interview due out next week.

"This is probably going to get me in trouble, but the Asians are killing our tour," Stephenson says in the November issue of Golf Magazine. "Their lack of emotion, their refusal to speak English when they can speak English. They rarely speak."

I'm gonna get on this bus early. Seeking to fill the void in the sports world left by the precipitous departure of Rush Limbaugh, Jan Stephenson, whom I may have heard of before, decided to beak off about the state of the LPGA, and, as you can probably tell from the article above, her views are distinctly 19th century. If you don't wish to go and read the entire depressing thing, I'll sum up for you - she blames Asian people and ugly women (I kid you not) for the problems with the womens' game. This, in a sport where the most recognizable player is Annika Sorenstam...

Anyway, Fulton Allem was unavailable for comment.

The lamest thing about this affair is, however, the tide of people who will rush to Stephenson's defence, claiming that her freedom of speech is under threat, and that she is being trampled by the jackboots of political correctness. If you follow the link to the article and scroll down to the bottom of it, you'll see that the very first comment is from somebody whining about "bleeding-heart liberals" and so on and so forth - this before anybody had even complained about Stephenson's comments in that particular forum! Truly, truly, lame.

And that's what's in the CD player this morning. Nothing like a little L7 to kick off an annoying Friday.

Been listening to this on a fairly regular basis since it came out, and loving it. The band have gone back a couple of albums and broken out the ska-punk thing again, which is excellent, since in my opinion And Out Come the Wolves is one of the finest punk albums ever. Anyhoo, Indestructible has several of those rolling ska songs, as well as a couple of barn-burners ("Spirit of '87" in particular). The lyrics on a number of the songs ("Indestructible," "Fall Back Down," and "Tropical London," among others) deal the recent break-up of Tim Armstrong's marriage to Brody Armstrong of The Distillers, but it's not really a "break-up album." Rancid's social conscience shows up on songs like "Ivory Coast" and "Stand Your Ground," and the old-school/hardcore mob will find its appetite sated by repeated listenings to "Out of Control." That said, my favourite cut on the entire thing has got be "Red Hot Moon" - a poignant little remembrance of a friend lost.

A friend of mine was mentioning that the album sounds smoother than previous Rancid offerings, and I agree, particularly when it's compared to the first coupld of Rancid albums. However, I don't think this is a bad thing; it merely reflects the fact that the band is getting older and more experienced. As for rumours that the band has "sold out" by turning up on MTV and hanging out with Kelly Osbourne, well that's just horseshit. Buy Indestructible and listen to it many times.

Web Posted Oct 7 2003 12:36 PM MDT

Chief not running for mayor
Edmonton - Police Chief Bob Wasylyshen has decided not to run for mayor, he announced in a news release Tuesday.


I can't say that this bit of news fills me with dismay, although it does surprise me a little bit. I've got a number of problems with with Bob Wasylyshen, beginning with the fact that he doesn't seem to really like Edmontonians very much. He has consistently resisted attempts to make the police department more accountable, in particular opposing the creation of an independent advisory group to handle complains against the force. During his tenure as chief, the police have become less friendly to deal with, adopting a far more confrontational attitude to the public. The attitude was summed up excellently by a cop I heard expressing disappointment that "there are people out here who have no fear of the police." Well, yes, I thought that was the point of being a law-abiding Canadian - you didn't have to be afraid of the police. To top it all off, I don't actually think I'm any safer in this city. Anyway, he might have turned out to be an excellent mayoral candidate, but the omens arent' good.

Lame Moments in Sports #9
How to Stop Cheering for your Home Team in 1 Easy Step
or, How I Temporarily Became A B.C. Lions Fan

I went to an Eskimos game a couple of weeks ago, against those self-same Lions, and, by the end of the third quarter, I was definitely pulling for the boys from B.C. Why, you ask? Well, it had to do with the section I was sitting in with friends. We sat right in front of the most obnoxious, unpleasant, drunken morons I have ever heard in my life. Now, I'm up for a bit of rowdiness at sporting events (I'm a Millwall fan, for heaven's sake). However, I'm much more up for it if it's not simply shouting "B.C. Sucks!" and belching for an entire game. I'm not really exaggerating here, folks. That was pretty much the extent of their clever repartee - they never even really got around to cheering for the Eskimos. I mean, the most gutter-dwelling English soccer hooligan can come up with something at least a little bit witty once in awhile. Now, I'll confess, not helping the matter was the fact that I was sitting with a girl from B.C., who'd actually bought the tickets for the game, and I don't think she had as good a time as she might have.

Second bit of lameness with the night - I can't count the number of times over the years that I've heard someone talk about soccer hooliganism, and close with the line "They don't even go to watch the game. They just go fight." Well, at the Esks-Lions game, I saw four fights involving multiple people in our section of the stadium alone. By the beginning of the fourth quarter, the police had pretty much moved into our little corner permanently to deal the idiots. I didn't know it at the time, but elsewhere in the stadium, my sister was having beer spilled all over her by a similar pair of inebriated guerriers. All this a week before the Millwall - West Ham derby played out with exactly two arrests, one of them for scalping tickets.

Anyway, I'm an Eskimos fan again, but it was close for a little while.

For a few minutes, it looked like that the fairy tale was going to continue, thanks to that shot. However, it wasn't to be. Full credit to the Canadian team for coming as far as it has. Anyway, here's the full story.

Report: Courtney Love hospitalized for possible overdose
Friday, October 3, 2003 Posted: 0938 GMT ( 5:38 PM HKT)

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Musician and singer Courtney Love was hospitalized for a possible drug overdose following her arrest after allegedly breaking windows at a friend's house, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday, citing police.

Courtney Love had a very bad day yesterday. You know, I've always had a great deal of respect for Courtney Love. I think she's never gotten the credit she deserved for Hole's music, with their success credited to Kurt Cobain and Billy Corgan, among others. When she went back to acting (people forget that she actually began her entertainment career as an actress - she was in Sid & Nancy among other films way back when), and did well at it, people accused her of selling out. I'm not even going to dignify the accusations that she murdered her husband... She's probably not the easiest person to be around, but the degree to which she is reviled by the public and the media is disgraceful.

I remember seeing Hole a few years ago, before Melissa Auf Der Mar left for the Smashing Pumpkins. They came through as part of a summer festival thing that was touring Canada. Anyway, they were awesome. Musically tight, and Love knew how to get the crowd eating out of her hand. From her opening banter to the audience ("Louder, you little fucks, or I won't play," if I recall correctly), to the band's fairly riotous closing number, Courtney Love was mesmerizing. Definitely one of the musical highlights of my life.

So, here's wishing Courtney Love a speedy recovery. If nothing else, she can console herself with the knowledge that, bad as it was, she probably didn't have as shitty a day as Roy Horn did.

A great, great, evening, with hopefully more like it to come. It was hard to watch the last, oh, 83 minutes of the match, as China came at the Canadians looking for the equalizer, but Taryn Swiatek played about as close to a perfect game as you can in goal. She wasn't often spectacular, but sometimes that's the mark of 'keeper having a great game.

Someone, I think it was Nick Hornby, said that supporting a soccer team is not a fun exercise in and of itself, and he's right. Of course, the reward comes in those few minutes of ecstasy after a goal or the days of ecstasy after the final whistle of an important win (see above), which makes it all worthwhile. However, if you take those away, the actual act of supporting your team is pretty much heavy anxiety mixed with anger and disappointment. It's good to have games like last night's to remind us of why we go through it all.

Bring on the Swedes!

Ok, waaaaay back when (July 15, if you're interested), we trotted out Number 6 in our series of Lame Moments in Sports. This, you will recall, was ESPN's hiring of Mr. Rush Limbaugh to babble about football on its NFL broadcasts. The View From Over Here was not in favour of this, and if you need to ask why, you haven't been paying attention. In that posting, however, I predicted that ESPN would would enjoy a brief ratings boost (it was, in fact, about 10% over last year), and that "after about week 3" Rush's true colours would be revealed for all to see. You know what? It's fun being right.

Thursday, October 2
Limbaugh resigns from ESPN's NFL pregame show
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESPN.com news services


PHILADELPHIA -- Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh said Thursday he resigned from ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" pregame show to protect network employees from the uproar over critical comments he made about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Limbaugh quit late Wednesday, three days after saying on the show that McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.

Holy Shit! Do I ever have to inject some life into this puppy. Either that, or hit it over the head with a shovel and bury it in the backyard. Well, I guess I'll do the injecting with life thing. Or try to. So what have I been up to for the past month just about? Well...

1. Being a witness at my brother's wedding. It went really well - no fights or anything like that. The wedding itself was a small ceremony, actually performed during the Sunday mass at my mother's church. She celebrated, and my Dad came out from Ontario for it, so all was well and good. There were various parties and festivities surrounding the event. It was a bit odd to see the church on Sunday with a large number of the shaved-tattooed-pierced brigade in attendance in addition to the regular congragation. Anyway, that was thing one.

2. I sort of patched things back together with my soccer head coach, so I will be behind the bench for the coming season. I'll give him credit - he is at least trying to do the right thing. However, I'm not really looking forward to this season. I don't know if it's because of what happened this summer, or because I'm already swamped, time-wise, or what. We'll see how it shapes up when we actually get on the pitch, but I'm feeling like this may be the swan-song for me in terms of coaching, at least for a while. My Friend From Prince George has an injured knee this season, so there's a chance that she'll be assuming some of the coaching duties, which will be great.

3. I survived another rush week at the Bookstore. No more need be said about that...

More to follow!!

Too much whining, not enough driving
TSN.ca Staff
9/8/2003

So what’s with all the childish behavior by race car drivers recently?

We’ll set aside the profoundly stupid act of Jimmy Spencer popping Kurt Busch following a recent NASCAR event at Michigan…Mongo admitted he was way out of line, but the provocation by Busch, taunting him with words, the gesture at a previous event to kiss his behind is the type of thing I’m talking about…it’s totally uncalled for.

A good column by Mr. Lewis, whom I've been rather hard on. Credit where credit is due, etc.

The UEFA cup qualifying round ended yesterday, and yours truly went 35-6 in terms of his picks. Note that I gave myself credit for picking the three Danish representatives to go through, despite the fact that they were different Danish teams than I thought they were. The draw for the first round proper is here, with my picks in bold:

AIK Solna (Swe) v Valencia CF (Esp)
Dinamo Buchurest (ROM) v Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr)
Maccabi Haifa (Isr) v Publikum (Slo)
Torpedo Moscow (Rus) v CSKA Sofia (Bul)
Dundee (Sco) v Perugia (Ita)
Cementarnica (Mkd) v RC Lens (Fra)
Newcastle United (Eng) v NAC Breda (Hol)
Benfica (Por) v La Louviere (Bel)
Panionios (Gre) v FC Nordsjaelland (Den)
Heart of Midlothian (Sco) v NK Zeljeznicar (Bhz)
Udinese (Ita) v Austria Saltzberg (Aut)
Genclerbirligi (Tur) v Blackburn Rovers (Eng)
SKM Puchov (Svk) v Barcelona (Esp)
NK Dinamo Zagreb (Cro) v MTK Hungaria (Hun)
Hapoel Ramat-Gan (Isr) v Levski Sofia (BUL)
FC Kaiserslautern (Ger) v FK Teplice (Cze)
FK Sartid (SCG) v Slavia Prague (Cze)
Villarreal (Esp) v Trabzonspor (Tur)
Grasshopper-Zurich (Swi) v Hajduk Split (Cro)
Hertha Berlin (Ger) v Groclin Grodzisk (Pol)
Liverpool (Eng) v NK Olimpija Ljubljana (Slo)
Valerenga IF (Nor) v Grazer AK (Aut)
CSF Zimbru Chisinau (Mol) v Aris Thessaloniki (Gre)
FC Copenhagen (Den) v Ferncevaros (Hun)
NK Varteks (Cro) v Debrecen (Hun)
SV Hamburg (Ger) v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukr)
Bordeaux (Fra) v FC Artmedia Petrzalka (Svk)
AS Roma (Ita) v FK Vardar (Mkd)
Manchester City (Eng) v KSC Lokeren (Bel)
Spartak Moscow (Rus) v Esbjerg (Den)
Wisla Krakow (Pol) v NEC Nijmegen (Hol)
UD Leiria (Por) v Molde FK (Nor)
FK Austria Vienna (Aut) v Borussia Dortmund (Ger)
Auxerre (Fra) v Neuchatel Xamax FC (Swi)
FK Ventspils (Lat) v Rosenborg (Nor)
Gaziantepspor (Tur) v Hapoel Tel-Aviv (Isr)
Odense (Den) v Red Star Belgrade (Scg)
Sporting Lisbon (Por) v Malmo FF (Swe)
FC Utrecht (Hol) v MSK Zilina (Svk)
FC Metalurh Donetsk (Ukr) v Parma (Ita)
MyPa 47 (Fin) v Sochaux (Fra)
Schalke 04 (Ger) v NK Kamen Ingrad (Cro)
Real Mallorca (Esp) v APOEL Nicosia (Cyp)
Southampton (Eng) v Steaua Buchurest (ROM)
Feyenoord (Hol) v FC Karnten (Aut)
FC PAOK (Gre) v SFK Lyn (Nor)
Malatyaspor (Tur) v FC Basle (Swi)
Brondby (Den) v FK Viktoria Zizkov (Cze)

Ok, an amazing 13-3 for the last qualifying round of the Champions' Cup, for an overall record of 31-9. Here we go with the group stages!


Group A
Celtic (Sco)
Olympique Lyon (Fra)
Anderlecht (Bel)
Bayern Munich (Ger)

Yeah, I'm picking with my heart going with Celtic here, although their strong showing in the UEFA Cup last year could stand them in good stead. If Celtic falter, it'll be Olympique Lyon joining Bayern in the next round.

Group B
Dynamo Kiev (Ukr)
Lokomotiv Moscow (Rus)
Arsenal (Eng)
Inter Milan (Ita)

Fairly straightforward. I think the days of Dynamo Kiev causing upsets are pretty much over for now, and Lokomotiv Moscow are lucky to have reached the group stage. Plus, Arsenal and Inter are both appallingly strong teams.

Group C
PSV Eindhoven (Hol)
AEK Athens (Gre)
Monaco (Fra)
Deportivo Coruna (Spa)

This group's a mess. There's no real favourite, except maybe Deportivo, and definitely no underdog. This will be fun to watch.

Group D
Galatasaray (Tur)
Olympiakos (Gre)
Real Sociedad (Spa)
Juventus (Ita)

I don't think Turkish teams get the respect they deserve. Gala won 3-0 in the last round home and away, and I think they will get in ahead of Sociedad. However, if I'm wrong, look for there to be two Reals in the next round.

Group E
Panathinaikos (Gre)
Rangers (Sco)
VfB Stuttgart (Ger)
Manchester United (Eng)

After Man. U., this is a tough one. Stuttgart have had a relatively bright start to the Bundesliga season, but Scottish soccer doesn't suck anymore. Rangers then, to take second narrowly, with Stuttgart poised if they stumble.

Group F
FC Porto (Por)
Olympique Marseille (Fra)
Partizan Belgrade (Serb)
Real Madrid (Spa)

It's nice to see a Serbian side doing well in Europe again, but I don't think Partizan have the legs to get through this group. Porto have a decent chance of going through, but I've actually watched Marseille a bit this season, and been fairly impressed. Odd to think that not that long ago, they were Champions' Cup finalists, and equally odd to think that they lost that match to another Belgrade team.

Group G
Chelsea (Eng)
Sparta Prague (Cze)
Besiktas (Tur)
Lazio (Ita)

Another fairly clearcut group, although Besiktas may get involved. However, Chelsea appear to have built a side with Europe in mind, and Lazio, despite their financial woes, are still pretty good.

Group H
Celta Viga (Spa)
Ajax Amsterdam (Hol)
Club Bruges (Bel)
AC Milan (Ita)

I so desperately wanted to pick Ajax to go through here, and I'll be delighted if they do. However, Celta have been under-rated in recent years, and I don't think the Dutch revival in Europe has quite reached the stage where Ajax progressing will be anything but an upset.

Grandmother's treehouse ordered torn down

Sylvan Lake - A Sylvan Lake grandmother has been told by town council to tear down her grandchildren's treehouse because she didn't have the necessary building permit.

I'll be very tentative about this, since we don't know the full story, and more to the point I haven't actually seen any pictures of the treehouse, but it sounds to me like Grandma's getting a raw deal here. One anonymous complaint about the structure - it would appear that there's a pissant in the neighbourhood. I mean, couldn't they have issued the building permit retroactively? We'll see how things turn out.

So I sat there for a half hour waiting for one of the receiving programs to start up, and the first thing it did was boot me out. Sigh - Ah well, we'll make lemonade here, and put something up on the ol' blog. Millwall suffered their first setback of the season, a 1-1 draw with Crewe, who've always been a bit of a bogey team for us. Still undefeated though!

So, coaching problems... Yes, I told my head coach that I intended to keep on doing the little goalkeeping tutorial I had been doing, he was unimpressed, and we are consequently not speaking to each other. It actually was a bit more heated than that - gestures were made, short words were used, and so on and so forth. Ugliness. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

Yes, I do still exist! Anyway, Millwall are now 2-0 on the new season, and have signed a Belgian international and a guy from Juventus. On the other hand, we've been dumped from the League Cup by, wait for it, Oxford United. At the Den, no less. Anyway, in other exciting news, well, there's a possibility that I'll be actually playing soccer again this winter, 'cause it really doesn't look like I'll be coaching it! This is related to the littel kerfuffle that I alluded some weeks ago, but I'll provide the entire gory story (whew, a rhyme) later on, if I feel up to it. Anyway, back to work.

Well, the boys are away - Millwall won their first match of the new season 2-0 over Wigan, our nemesis back in the 2nd division. Wise and Cahill got the goals in front of 11,000 at the Den. Sadly, Mr. Ray Harford, one of the main reasons for the recent Millwall semi-renaissance, passed away before the match after a long battle with cancer.

Ooo, an impressive 11-3 for the Second Qualifying Round of the Champions' League, making 18-6 for far overall. Anyway, here's the draw for the Third, and final, Qualifying Round, with my choices in bold type.

Vardar Skopje (Macedonia) v Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)

MTK Budapest (Hungary) v Celtic (Scotland)

Rangers (Scotland) v FC Copenhagen (Denmark)

Austria Vienna (Austria) v Olympique Marseille (France)

Club Bruges (Belgium) v Borussia Dortmund (Germany)

Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) v Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia)

Lazio (Italy) v Benfica (Portugal)

Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) v Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)

Rosenborg Trondheim (Norway) v Deportivo La Coruna (Spain)

Grasshoppers (Switzerland) v AEK Athens (Greece)

Zilina (Slovakia) v Chelsea (England)

Celta Vigo (Spain) v Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)

Partizan Belgrade (Serb & Mont) v Newcastle United (England)

Galatasaray (Turkey) v CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)

Anderlecht (Belgium) v Wisla Krakow (Poland)

Graz AK (Austria) v Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Well, there you have it. I can't see any of the big boys taking a real tumble at this stage, and although it will be excellent if lightening strikes twice for Vardar Skopje, I just can't see it happening. I think both the Old Firm teams will make it through, but they will have to watch themselves, both of them. Newcastle have a tough test against Partizan Belgrade, but I don't think they'll lose it in the end. The Shakhtar-Lokomotiv tie should be fun, and I'm predicting the woes of Russian football to continue. And, if I'm correct in my choice of winner in the Battle of the Teams Named Dynamo (or Dinamo), there could be two Ukrainian sides in the group stage. This whole thing starts up next week.

Lame Moments in Sports #8

Dundee fans shouldn't pick team - SPFA

Team selection should always be the job of the manager or head coach - not the club's supporters.

That is the view of the Scottish Professional Footballers Association following new Dundee director Giovanni di Stefano's revelation that he wants fans to pick the team.

He wants to see a 'Pop Idol'-style poll introduced so that supporters can select the starting 11 from a pool of 18 players chosen by manager Jim Duffy each month.

Worst... idea... ever.

Well, it's going to be a messy messy week in soccer, as the Champions' League transfer deadline looms on Thursday, followed by the English leagues' kickoff on Saturday. So, through this week I'll be putting up a lot about soccer, and not too much about other stuff (betcha the worldwide right is breathing a huge sigh of relief right now!).

To begin with though, a couple of the European leagues did get going this weekend, and I was able to catch the match between Olympique Marseille and En Avant Guingamp on one of the high-end cable channels. It was a fairly entertaining match, with several hair-raising saves by the the Guingamp 'keeper. At one point, he dove over a fairly well-struck volley, but got enough of the ball that it deflected off him straight down, hitting the turf with enough force to send it bouncing over the bar. Later, he made a good close-range save, but could only watch as a lurking Marseille striker somehow managed to put the rebound over from about 3 yards out. However, it was all for naught, and it was ironically a poor goal that won it for Marseille - a bad-angle shot that deflect off the near post and wandered across the line in injury time of the second half. Marseille, who are expected to be title contenders this year, probably just about deserved to win in the end.

Gosh, a full week since I last put anything up here. In the meantime I have had reinforced why I like to deal with little tiny self-distributing publishing companies as opposed to the monsters. For one thing, the little guys always talk to you like you're people, perhaps because they're not on the phone 24-7. For another, since they're small publishing companies, they actually have a stake in dealing with your complaints, and tend to do so promptly. I remember once phoning a little company in Calgary that publishes a couple of cookbooks. We'd ordered 10 of each, and received 20 of one of the titles. This was not a big deal, and as a matter of fact I was merely phoning to let them know that we'd keep the 20 but wanted to order 10 of the other book. Anyway, the lady I got on the phone (who was probably the publisher, author, and cook) was mortified that she had made that mistake. I had to reassure her a number of times that we weren't angry about it, and that we were still quite happy to carry her books. You don't get that when you phone up Megabooks inc., to deal with a fucked up order. Anyway, the incident with the cookbooks was several years ago, but the company that I dealt with this week, that prompted this little spiel, was the very lovely Gaspereau Books, of Kentville, Nova Scotia. Kudos to them.

9/11 could have been prevented: report
Last Updated Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:11:54

WASHINGTON - The attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001 could have been thwarted months or years in advance, according to a damning report by the U.S. Congress.

File under "No Shit, Sherlock." The only questions are a) whether there's enough evidence in this report to impeach the bastards, and if so b) whether the Democrats have the guts to go for it.

Well, I went 7 and 3 for the Champions' Cup First qualifying Round. Here's the second round, with my picks in bold as usual.

MTK Budapest (Hungary) v HJK Helsinki (Finland)

Pyunik (Armenia) v CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)

Kaunas (Lithuania) v Celtic (Scotland)

Leotar (Bosnia) v Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)

Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) v Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

Zilina (Slovakia) v Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)

Bohemians (Ireland) v Rosenborg Trondheim (Norway)

Maribor (Slovenia) v Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)

CSKA Moscow (Russia) v Vardar Skopje (Macedonia)

Rapid Bucharest (Romania) v Anderlecht (Belgium)

Partizan Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro) v Djurgarden (Sweden)

Wisla Krakow (Poland) v Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus)

FC Copenhagen (Denmark) v Skonto Riga (Latvia)

SK Tirana (Albania) v Graz AK (Austria)

There are some interesting ties here. The toughest one may just be Rapid-Anderlecht, as both those teams can play. FC Copenhagen, Partizan, Graz, and Shakhtar, although I've picked them all to go through, really need to watch themselves or they're going to get a nasty shock. Although I've got Maccabi Tel Aviv favoured, I really have no idea who's going to win their tie with Zilina. And I'm still looking at HJK Helsinki as having the best chance of any of the first-rounders of advancing all the way to the group stage. These ties begin July 30th.

Dropkick Murphys to tour with Sex Pistols & Reverend Horton Heat!
Monday, July 14, 2003

Following the extremely successful release of their latest album “Blackout,” the Dropkick Murphys are taking to the road with some pretty damn good company! Beginning on August 29th, the band will be out on the road with The Sex Pistols and The Reverend Horton Heat! The Dropkicks will continue on this bill until September 9th when they will finally take some well-deserved time off.

This has the potential to be an amazing show in many ways, almost all of them positive. However, it is unlikely that Bazz will be able to find out one way or the other, since the only Canadian show is Toronto. Maybe if Bazz promises not to refer to himself in the third person for an entire year, they'll suddenly schedule an Edmonton gig?!? Nah, probably not. And so, Bazz will continue periodically to indulge in this unbelievably annoying form of NBA-superstar-esque behaviour. And there will be much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Tracy and Tobacco
7/17/2003

Paul Tracy won the Molson Indy Toronto for the second time on the weekend, and in his wire to wire victory you saw as dominating a performance as you’ll ever witness on any race track.

There is extra motivation in the entire Players camp as we push through the second half Champ Car World Series. Beginning in October, Federal regulations will force Players to drop out of Racing Sponsorship after forty two years of support with teams, events and the driver development program.

A couple of months ago I made a couple of comments about one of Todd Lewis's early racing columns for TSN (you can find said comments back in the archive somewhere). At the time, I was mortally unimpressed with Mr. Lewis, but still willing to cut him some slack. However, that slack is rapidly being used up, as he's once again gone and written a totally moronic column about CART racing. He starts off well enough, going on about Tracy's win at Toronto, and his comments, if obvious, at least reflect reality. Then, however...

This leads to the topic of the forced withdrawal of sponsorship by Players.

And now we're in deep deep waters. I haven't actually scribed any mighty words of wisdom in these pages about the demise of Players racing because I'm still of two minds about it myself. Mr. Lewis, however, bravely steps up to the plate, and actually does pretty well, although once again he's not saying anything new. And then, all of a sudden, it all goes to shit...

So why will you not be allowed to promote a particular brand of smokes, when that’s all you’ve been able to do for years, yet you can hand out condoms by the box load as a way of promoting your product?

What? What? Do you think it might be related to the fact that condoms save lives, while cigarettes tend to take them? Maybe just? Oi...

Cigarettes and sex are both sensitive subjects, especially for young people. Huffing and puffing through either can be hazardous to your health, not to mention life-altering. Yet there are not the same regulatory restrictions for condoms as there are cigarettes. Why not?

I realize that condoms can help prevent disease and illness, but to make use of the product you still have to indulge in the potentially hazardous act. Using a condom does not eliminate all risks involved, there will still be some that contract disease or begin a pregnancy. And there will always be a segment of the population that chooses to indulge, regardless of any amount of abstinence advertising.

And on that surreal note... Why the bizarre rant about condoms? I mean, the last few paragraphs of this column make NO sense at all. We go from a stupid, and god-I-hope rhetorical, question (asked twice) to some bizarre conflation of cigarettes and condoms, accompanied by a descent into grammar Hell (Yes, I know who's talking). Was Lewis drinking while he worked on this column? Anyway, strike two against TSN's racing columnist.

Another friendly win for Lions... Slightly tougher opposition this time, and 2-1 final. Cahill scored both Millwall goals.

Lame Moments in Sports #7

CBL suspending operations
WebPosted Fri Jul 18 00:38:36 2003

CBC SPORTS ONLINE - The fledgling Canadian Baseball League has struck out.

Citing financial hardship, the CBL confirmed Thursday it will suspend operations following the July 23 all-star game at Burns Stadium in Calgary.

This is just too bad. People don't realize how rich the history of baseball in this country is (here's a very good site on the subject, at least as it pertains to Western Canada), and it's distressing to see the new league fall apart so quickly. However, if only 50 people are showing up to watch games, there's not much one can do I suppose. The article does point out that the league is just suspending operations, not folding, so it may be back next year, but I'm not holding my breath.