Toronto FC

Red Patch Boys

Red Patch Boys

The British tabloids are speculating that a Canadian sports empire, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, is lining up a half billion dollar bid for London's Tottenham Hotspur. Oh dear me oh my my. They also own the hugely profitable Toronto Maple Leafs Ice Hockey team who have not won a championship since Elvis was born, or some such far off epoch of time immemorial. Come to think of it neither have Spurs (sorry Andrew, jab on behalf of Neil and Moira). MLSE also own Toronto FC whose game I attended Saturday. I have never seen the likes of an opposition player, pictured, being drowned in streamers to the point of being unable to function. Toronto won their third straight, beating the Kansas City Wizards, in part owing to the projected contributions from the Red Patch Boys. I have not yet been inducted.

Puppy Yet Again

China Willing to Take a Black Eye

Have you been wondering as I have why spokespersons as high as Premier Wen Jiabao have been so adamant about the Dalai Lama's culpability in the recent tumults in Tibet? China might even be risking a boycott of the Olympic Games. Well part of the reasoning goes like this. China knows it will be condemned internationally. However domestic opinion trumps all other concerns. Invoking an image of a China yet again harassed and humiliated by outsiders i.e. foreign press, plays well at home and also in the Chinese diaspora around the world. At home the central communist power in Beijing must be seen to not tolerate or be soft on its own minorities and their independence movements eg Tibet, Xinjiang muslims and Taiwan. Otherwise it risks letting the genie out of the bottle and the government's own insecurity faced with internal upheavals means it must be seen to be unforgiving. CBC Radio, The Current, Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008.

Time Magazine Person of The Year - Colin Old

With all the reading you need to catch up on you will be forgiven if you missed it. I have been declared Time magazine's Person of the Year! I join the elite company of the likes of Richard Nixon, Billie Jean King and Stalin (but not Monica Lewinsky)! I am a joint winner of course and would estimate several million others in Canada alone accompany me to the dias for the presentation. I might be late for the ceremony too since it was for 2006. Seems "You" with reference to people behind user-generated content on the Internet was the magazine's choice. So bloggers, YouTube contributors and Indy media people amongst a greater throng all qualify to celebrate. Belated congratulations everyone.