Random Thoughts

The eyes of the world are on London. The Summer Olympics will begin with pomp and circumstance on Friday. As always, security is tight and I hope it is throughout the course of the games. The world will be watching and something gnaws at me that these games might be known for something other than the athletic prowess we will see. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm hearing a lot of different medal targets for Canada at these Olympics. I have heard as many as 24 and as few as 10. As you can see, the poll question puts it in the middle somewhere.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are in the win column thanks to a couple of bad, bad plays by the Edmonton Eskimos at the end of each half. How can defensive back Ronnie Prude give such poor coverage to Chris Matthews at the end of the first half allowing Matthews to score a touchdown on a hail mary to keep Winnipeg in the game. If you are going to interfere, interfere so that the receiver has no chance at catching the football. That was pathetic! If I were Kavis Reed, I'd be setting an example and telling that young man to pack his bags. To me, that's inexcusable!

Perhaps though it was the Bombers night as everything went their way---the hail mary touchdown, the blocked punt that ended up in a first down for them and the egregious Steven Jyles fumble at the end when it looked like Edmonton would have a chip shot field goal for the win. What it all means is if the Riders win on Saturday, they will have the best record in the league at 4-1 and no one in this province will complain about that.

I hate harping on the crowd thing, but how is it the 0-4 Bombers can sell out their first home game while the Riders can't sell out games and they are a MUCH better football team than the Bombers. Word is Saturday's game against Hamilton is close to being a sellout. Lets hope so! We're not going to let Winnipeg have something over us are we? Well, I guess in reality they already have because they have one sellout and we don't.

The Bombers have a Simpson (Chad) and a Doe (Dustin). If only they had a Smithers or a Flanders!

A couple of news stories have really bothered me this week. One is the story of the young man who has been charged with the hit and run of a teenage girl and was "released" this week on conditions. Why? This kid was too gutless in the first place as he ran after the accident and now he is being released on conditions. Oh boy!!!! He still gets to basically live 90 percent of his life, but the girl he killed doesn't and her family, friends and relatives grieve. WTF??? The other story is the pictures CTV Regina showed of the Craven campgrounds after the Jamboree. What a mess!! Obviously the campers have no respect for the land they set foot on by leaving it in such a state. Perhaps organizers of the event should start charging more for those camping on site or have them pay some kind of deposit that they get back when their site is given the OK. That is simply embarassing.

OK, the soapbox is put away. Other random thoughts

--Word that the Hudsons Bay company is going to close all the Zellers stores that aren't being converted into Targets can't be good news for the Victoria Square Mall. If the Zellers closes its doors and there is nothing to replace it immediately, the mall might as well shut its doors because the Safeway and the Shoppers and perhaps the Dollar Store will be the only businesses seeing steady activity. Walk through Vic Square now and its empty. Its worse than the Southland without the Walmart. That mall may get a recharge with Canadian Tire, Marks and Sportchek moving in and it needs one because it too has been dying a slow death. With the Walmart, Superstore, Sobeys, the Co-op and Old Navy within shouting distance, it can't be good news for the mall.

--Alex Semin is getting 7 million dollars? If Semin is getting 7 million, what will Jordan Eberle haul in when his next contract gets signed? Ebs will have enough pocket change that he could give the Riders a couple of million to get some naming rights on the new stadium. Speaking of Ebs, you have to wonder what Edmonton will do in a few years if a team goes and signs a Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Justin Schultz or Eberle to a Shea Weber like offer sheet. Could Daryl Katz match it and would he?

--I don't know how much longer the Blue Jays can keep being a contender for the 2nd wildcard spot in the American League when Ricky Romero keeps pitching like Cesar Romero and now J-P Arencibia is out of the lineup with a broken hand. The 16-0 defeat at the hands of Oakland on Wednesday should have been a sign to be a seller, but it doesn't appear as if the team will stop kicking tires on players to see what they can do.

--Having had a good chance to watch the Athletics over the last week, they have a very good ballclub and one that if they get some pitching could make some noise in the playoffs.

--That is Blue Jays p x p man Buck Martinez doing the CN Tower Edge Walk. NO THANK YOU!!!! One can be certain that if I were in Buck's position, that I would have double Depends on. Are you kidding me!! I can't even walk on the glass floor in the observation deck in the Tower!

---Have you followed the adventures of Angus the Rider gnome on Premier Brad Wall's twitter account? Its hilarious. Its good to see that the Premier can keep his sense of humour while dealing with much bigger things on his plate. I wonder why Angus didn't make an appearance in the pressbox with Phil Andrews when "Thrill" interviewed the Premier at halftime of the last home game when they talked about the new stadium. I'm guessing its because Angus had gone up in the 200 level to buy some beers. He needs a photo op with Rod and Carm.

--Are you ready for the Queen City Ex?

--Why is it NFL games have humourous ads throughout and CFL games give us that idiot from RONA and those Nissan ads ad nauseum? Is there no creativity amongst Canadian ad agencies that do national spots? Some of these businesses need to give the Phoenix Group a call!!

--Good to see Jason Matity back at CTV. Speaking of CTV, are they going away for the next couple of weeks while the Olympics are on. I see their morning show and their noon news will be gone because of coverage from London. I'm assuming there will be a 6 and a late-night cast.

--With Rod Black in London at the Olympics, TSN will use Matt Devlin as its 2nd voice in the booth behind Chris Cuthbert. If you don't know who Devlin is, he does the Raptors games for the network and has called basketball for TNT and the Big Ten Network. I believe he has also done some Big Ten Football so he's not a novice to the game.

--I am not complaining one bit about the cool weather we have had this week. I'm not one for 30 degree heat and 40 degree humidity.

--Penn State deserves the penalties it receives, but taking away wins seems so hollow. You can't ever take away a win. Joe Paterno was celebrated when he became Division 1's all time winning football coach and you can't take that away from him even though history will show what type of a man or lack of one he really was. If the CFL took away the Alouettes 2009 Grey Cup win or the 2010 one for that matter years down the road for whatever reason, would it really matter? Nothing will erase the pain of those two days---especially the 09 one.

--While booing Andy Fantuz on the east side Saturday, make sure you send some praise Luca Congi's way while you're at it. Luca is one of the good guys in this game and while Chris Milo has been a good replacement, it was tough to see Congi's last appearance in Rider green end with him being helped off the field after that horrific knee injury.

--I have over 1500 followers on Twitter and I still don't really understand why? Then again, I have over 700 hits to this blog on a daily basis and I'm not sure I understand that either, but thanks for following and reading.

--You've noticed the blog has had a different look to it. That's thanks to Tim Purvis and his sidekick Chris Peters at Omni Studios. If you need to build a website or get a better looking one, give them a call or visit their website at www.omnistudios.com. Just don't ask Tim about APBA football or you may never get off the phone or get out of his establishment.

--Have a good Friday and a great weekend!