Salt on Monday

Ron and Don. The Canadian version of Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie.

Oh Joy!!!

The CBC just signed an estimated 80 Million dollar PER YEAR contract with the NHL.

The question you have to ask yourself is why.

Why a public broadcaster is spending tax dollars on professional athletes.
The CBC should have a 10 year deal with the WHL, OHL, and the QMJHL, not the NHL.

Can you imagine PBS signing a 6 year deal with the NFL for a few billion while using tradition and profitability as the reason behind the deal?

And spare me the ‘Hockey is Canada’ rant already. If Hockey is so important to you get cable – stop siphoning my tax dollars to pay Don – everything was better in the 50’s – Cherry and Ron – the reigning passive aggressive champion 10 years running – McLean.

I would much rather that the CBC uses that money to develop filmmakers, musicians, journalists, writers, and fucking ditch diggers even. What part of their mandate says that they need to keep shelling out to a professional league?

Why everyone stands by and watches the CBC subsidize a professional billion dollar sports league is the best con job since Loose Change.

(Listen up you stupid morons. Two hijacked planes took the world trade center down. Not missiles. Not explosives. Not a massive conspiracy. Thousands of people would have to be in on it and not one, NOT ONE has sold their story to E fucking Talk Daily for their 15 minutes of fame, a chance to bang Kristin Cavalieri, and MILLIONS OF DOLLARS??
Yeah.
OK.
Here’s what I want you to do. No more wake and bake. It fucks with your mind.)

Hockey is NOT Canada. It is a sport that we are passionate about. IT’S A FUCKING GAME PEOPLE!!!!!

Will we ever tire of this Pavlovian chest beating around the game of hockey?
We are the best at it.
No-one is close.
We like being the best at it.
What about those true statements means you get to reach into my pocket to pay Mats Sundin 7 million a season? And make no mistake, the NHL may be a gate driven league, but Television and the media exposure drives the gate. And that gate pays the laconic Swede millions of dollars to spend in Sweden when he retires there in a couple of years.

(BTW, if you read this months Toronto Life, you will find an article on the top paid athletes in Tron and their charity donations. Vernon Wells donated 1 million to a Toronto Charity. Chris Bosh donated 1 million to a Toronto Charity. John Avery – an Argo for fucks sake! Dude makes like minimum plus tips! – donates time and money to Toronto charities. Sundin? $50,000 to some charity. Fitty Large, dog? That’s it? Who keeps telling me that Sundin doesn’t get a free pass in Toronto?)

At least Raptor/Jays money stays on this continent. And pays Canadian strippers. Them Raptors and Jays luv the strippers…..

(Boy it would be nice to hear the reaction of someone who has inside knowledge of the CBC - and knows someone in upper management – to get the inside scoop on this deal. If only…)

I can’t wait until the military draft comes back during the coming China Wars. Then no one will be paying anyone millions of dollars to play hockey.

That’s right. I said military draft. It’s either that or wait for the Americans to come and take our water…..


(it’s getting a little salty in here…)

Ford, Claderon and Gin & Tussin!

T.J. Ford has reclaimed his role as Toronto’s starting point guard. Sam Mitchell and Brian Colangelo are hoping that will be the end of any discussion about who should be starting for Raptors. Too bad Jose Calderon is out playing Ford. Calderon is making a very convincing case for himself to be top point guard for the Raptors. He is hitting big shots, playing great defense and most importantly; he always seems to be getting the ball into the right player’s hands. I know that Ford is the franchise’s point guard for the future; but man it has got to be hard for Mitchell to keep Calderon on the bench. Last night Calderon put up 16 points to go along with 9 dimes and 5 boards compared to Fords 7 points, 7 assists and 1 rebound; Calderon also played one minute less. Right now, I feel more comfortable when Calderon is on the floor running the offense and I think that the team feels the same way. I will be watching closely to see how minutes are dished out.

I hope the Raptors blow out the Nets tonight. Without Kidd and Jefferson on the floor the Raptors should be able to key in on Carter and shut him down. I hate Carter so much!!! He simply gave up on the Raptors and there is no excuse for that. I am happy that he is proving to be an inconsistent player who can’t lead his team into the playoffs. If you want to sell tickets you get Vince Carter and if you want to win championships you get Shaq. Bosh could score 40 tonight. Richard Jefferson has been one of the few players in the East who has proven he can shut Bosh down and he won’t be playing.

The Leafs played a forgettable game last night. What an effort by Rick Dipietro! The Leafs out shot the Islanders 16-1 in the third period and couldn’t put one past the goalie. What must have made every Leafs fan upset was to see what Antropov and Ponikarovsky did in the shootout. These two oafs both decided to try and score on wrists shots?!?! No moves, no stick dangles, not even a head fake; just a wrister in to the pads of the goalie. Maybe they think they are the next comings of Mats Sundin. Sundin scored his shootout goal on an absolutely perfect shot into the top corner of the net. If those two donkeys think that they can just skate up to a NHL goalie and score without making a move then Paul Maurice needs to rethink who he selects for the shootout.

The Leafs should bring back Mogilny to teach some dangles to the next generation. Gary Roberts would have broken Ponikarovsky and Antropov’s neck if they had tried that rubbish with him on the team. If they are going to bring back players then they should also think about getting Belfour to introduce Raycroft to his secret Gin and Tussin’ recipe. Belfour would go through 3 bottles of his recipe every night and still easily stop any rookie in a shootout. Raycroft had a good night but you can’t let some rookie embarrass you like that in a shootout.

It’s hard to be fan of this team and I think most people in the city are jumping on and off the band wagon with every game. They really need to make the sensible decision and rebuild this team.