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Radwanski's Ramblings... Let her be Paul Wells has it absolutely right: This Carolyn Parrish thing is absurd. Why on earth do so many people give this otherwise irrelevant backbencher the satisfaction of having attention paid to her? Can we really be so starved for controversy in this country that this is the best we can do? Truth is, most of the crowd bashing her loves having her around. Otherwise, they’d ignore her and she’d go away. If a wing-nut yaps and nobody responds, she doesn’t really make much of a sound. If I'm not back by Monday, send the search team to Landsdowne Off to Ottawa this morning. Blogging will be infrequent, if at all, while I’m enjoying the festivities. But by all means, drop me a note if you’re going to be there and want to catch up. In the meanwhile, a couple more quick Grey Cup notes: There’s a crazy theory going around, mostly perpetuated by the unfortunate Steve Simmons (I’m not bothering with the link to spare you a fairly terrible read), that the Argos might actually do better to lose this one. Win just as momentum is growing, the argument goes, and the momentum the team’s built up in the city might go out the window once the novelty wears off. What a load of crap.
First, winning the Grey Cup isn’t a novelty – it happened in this city three times last decade. An annual battle to be the best team doesn’t lose any of its luster no matter how many times you win it; it’s only if you follow up a Grey Cup win by going into the tank (as the Argos did in ’92) that you head into a real danger zone. Second, the Argos will have a new stadium in 2006, which will create a buzz all its own. It’s not like this weekend’s game is the end of the script; it’s only the beginning. Third, it’s been seven years since any major Toronto team competed in a championship. Who knows how long it’ll be till it happens again. Can’t we just enjoy it without trying to find some downside? Wednesday November 17, 2004 Feel the love As you may have gathered from last week’s column, I somewhat expected a torrent of nasty e-mails telling me that I’m a Toronto snob who doesn’t understand what conservatives in this country go through. But aside from a couple of those, most of the responses I got were thoughtful, well-reasoned and respectful – a nice contrast to all the bile that filled my inbox the last couple of times I dared criticize Western Canadian politicians. See? We’ve had a breakthrough. At this rate, my Grey Cup experience might even include getting served at the Spirit of Edmonton and the Calgary pancake breakfast. >> Send your comments to Adam RadwanskiTuesday November 16, 2004 Grey Cup fever As you may have guessed, the lack of blogging the past few days can be blamed on the Argos. Back from Montreal now, but only a couple of days till we set sail for Ottawa. I was headed for the Grey Cup regardless, but I’m doubly jacked now. Incidentally, I’ll be doing a fan’s diary type of thing for our sports section…I’m confident it’ll be the first thing you look for amid the game coverage in next Monday’s Post. And if you’re going to be in the capital and care to share any tips for where the best parties are at, by all means drop me a note. A few other CFL bits and pieces, with more sure to follow in the next couple of days: I hate to say this, because the football revival in Montreal has been a delight the past few years, but there was something about the crowd in the Big O on Sunday that reminded me of the types that packed the Skydome in the early ’90s to see the Jays. A few too many there because it was the place to be, not because they’re huge football fans. The Als have a great core of supporters, as evidenced by the very credible fans that turn out to Molson Stadium each week during the regular season. I just hope that, unlike the Jays, they’re laying the foundation to keep their broader base on board even when the inevitable lean years finally come. Like everyone else outside B.C., I was cheering for the ’Riders. But I have to admit I’m a little relieved they lost, because now we won’t have to endure all of Landsdowne cheering against the Argos on Sunday. I suspect the crowd will still tilt slightly in the Lions’ favour (who doesn’t love to cheer against Toronto?). But I don’t think we’ll be quite as lonely as might otherwise have been the case. It pretty well goes without saying that those idiots in Regina harassing Paul McCallum - vandalizing his home and issuing threats are a complete embarrassment. Going after millionaire athletes this way for their failings would be bad enough; targeting a middle-class CFL kicker for one bad play is just pathetic. Anyone who’s found to have been a part of this should never be let anywhere near a CFL stadium again. Looking to unload any tickets for Sunday? Let me know. We’ve got ours, but they’re at the back of the endzone and if the price is right an upgrade wouldn’t hurt. Friday November 12, 2004 Requiem for a place you’ve probably never been to My favourite Chinese restaurant is no more. For the past seven or eight years, the Garden (the place with the green sign at Bay/Dundas, for the uninitiated) saw me through good times and bad. One of the first Pundit meetings was there, and it was the last stop on more nights on the town than I care to remember (for the record, the only thing better than McDonald’s at absorbing alcohol at 3:00 a.m. was the Garden’s sizzling beef with ginger and green onion). I got friends hooked on their spicy squid, and I convinced family members of the merits of their lobster in black bean sauce. Almost everyone I took there was sold after the first bite; those who weren’t were people I probably didn’t want much to do with anyway. When I dropped by earlier in the week, the place was dark and the sign on the door promised a quick return once the “lease problem” had been resolved. Then I went back yesterday, and the eviction notice was posted for all to see. As much as any other restaurant in Toronto, that place was mine. Now, it’s starting to sink in that it’s gone. There may be millions of fish in the sea (or, in this case, hundreds of Chinese joints within a few blocks of each other), but you can never replace your first love. That said, I’m now in the market for the next best place to get a plate of barbequed pork. Any and all suggestions are welcome. >> Send your comments to Adam RadwanskiThursday November 11, 2004 Their loss is our gain Rather a fascinating story in yesterday’s Globe on an expected “gay drain” of same-sex American couples to Canada. Now, I find other liberal types muttering about fleeing the U.S. pretty silly. And one of the article’s subjects, screenwriter Craig Lucas, exaggerates matters rather grotesquely by comparing gay professionals fleeing Bush to Jewish professionals fleeing Nazi Germany. But get past his quote, and it’s hard not to see this migration as a good thing. Lawyers. Academics. Artists. Businessmen. All heading north of the border because our country is a better place to live, and making our country a better place for it. Just one more reason for Ottawa to stop playing hot potato with gay marriage and get on with legalizing it. >> Send your comments to Adam RadwanskiPerception is not reality As you may have seen in yesterday’s Post, Paul Cellucci used yesterday’s meeting with our editorial board to rant about pot decriminalization. Okay, not exactly. More like I asked him about comments by Republican Mark Souder (see Monday’s posting) concerning potential border slowdowns, and he politely acknowledged that he shared Souder’s concerns. Still, there was something about his response that I found particularly curious. That Cellucci is anti-decriminalization didn’t surprise me. But what did was his rationalization of his position on the basis that the proposed legislation would lead to a perception among U.S. border guards that more marijuana would be crossing into their country, and hence more slowdowns. Let me repeat that. Cellucci isn’t so much concerned, at least from what he told us, that more pot will enter the U.S.. He’s concerned that American officials will perceive that to be the case, and thus wind up costing both countries millions in cross-border trade. Now, maybe I’m missing something here, but how is it our fault if employees of the United States make the mistake of thinking that decriminalization (not legalization) of small amounts of marijuana for personal use will somehow lead to more trafficking? And shouldn’t somebody - anybody - be able to explain to them that there are more important things for them to obsess over in this day and age? >> Send your comments to Adam RadwanskiMonday November 8, 2004 Doesn't he know he's supposed to be outraged? From what I can tell from this summary of his CTV interview, we don’t have too many lessons to learn from Mark Souder. But since he’s a member of the U.S. Congress, and one who seems predisposed to a bit of Canada-bashing now and then, you’d figure he’d know plenty about all the handwringing that’s been going on in Washington over the foreign policy views of a backbench Mississauga MP. And yet, Souder is clearly out of the loop. Who does he think he’s kidding when he claims there’s “not a lot of talk” about Carolyn Parrish? Somebody needs to have a talk with Stephen Harper, or at least give this report a quick read, so he can find out that Paul Martin’s allowance of “a stream of anti-American vitriol from his party and his caucus is not something that goes unnoticed in Washington.” Update: There seems to have been considerable confusion over this item, which suggests I didn't word it quite as clearly as I should have. To clarify: My issue is with Harper, not Souder. Sarcasm evidently doesn't translate into blog form as well as I'd hoped. >> Send your comments to Adam RadwanskiSunday November 7, 2004 Hypocrisy in action I can’t count the number of times since Bush’s re-election that I’ve heard conservatives say that all the griping from New York City, L.A., and everywhere else with a liberal leaning is proof that they’re out of touch with the rest of the country. Suck it up, they say, stop acting like everyone else is an idiot just because they didn’t vote the way you wanted, and make an effort to understand where they’re coming from. Fair enough. But isn’t it a bit ironic that most of the folks making that argument on this side of the border are the same ones who, after every recent federal election, have complained that voters in Ontario and Atlantic Canada are idiots for returning the Liberals to office? Next time, maybe they should take a bit of their own advice. >> Send your comments to Adam RadwanskiCase closed, hopefully Wonderful night at the Skydome on Friday. The Argos’ defence dominates, the team wins big, and almost 38,000 are on hand to see it – the biggest crowd since the early ‘90s. Only one problem. With crowds over 30,000 at the last three games, we’re already hearing the predictable outcry about moving to a smaller stadium. Take it from one who knows: The Argos are doing the right thing. For starters, there’s no practical way they can stay in Skydome – not if they hope to make money (or even break even), since they pay exorbitant rent and get nothing off concessions. And even if the finances did work, anyone who’s been around the team through good times and bad knows that the last few weeks – wonderful though they’ve been – are an anomaly. Realistically, the Argos would be happy to average 25,000 over the course of any season. In the Dome, that leaves the stands half empty, and the place feeling like a mausoleum. At the new place, that’ll be a full house. Oh, and one more thing: Any place that forgets to sell beer in the aisles during a playoff game has no business hosting a football team. Period. >> Send your comments to Adam RadwanskiWhere there's smoke, there's angry e-mails Response to Thursday’s column has been more affecting than usual. I don’t normally waste a lot of time worrying about angry reader responses telling me I’m an idiot, so long as there are a few taking the other side. But it’s a bit harder to shrug off a message from someone whose non-smoking wife died five years ago from lung cancer courtesy of second-hand smoke. That said, I should probably make clear where I’m coming from. I don’t smoke. Neither does my girlfriend or any of my family members. I fully support the ban on smoking in restaurants, bars and workplaces. I just think that, when it comes to genuinely private clubs – and especially legion halls - you have to allow members to make their own decisions. At a certain point, if people want to jeopardize their own lives with tobacco, there’s nothing we can do about it. >> Send your comments to Adam RadwanskiRadwanski's Ramblings from October 22-November 4, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from October 8-21, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from September 24-October 7, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from September 17-23, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from September 3-16, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from August 20-September 2, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from August 6-19, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from July 23-August 5, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from July 16-22, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from July 9-15, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from June 25-July 8, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from June 18-24, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from June 11-17, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from June 4-10, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from May 28-June 3, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from May 21-27, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from May 14-20, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from May 7-13, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from April 23-May 6, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from April 16-22, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from April 9-15, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from April 2-8, 2004 Radwanski's Ramblings from March 26-April 1, 2004 All rights reserved. |