Canadian Thinker by Freddie P. | July 2008 Archives

July 2008 Archives

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Who Is This Guy

July 2, 2008 @ 09:03

If the Jersey Devils had done it, if the Detroit Red Wings had done it, or even if the Carolina Hurricanes had done it, you might be impressed.

If a team with a history of good, solid management had signed somebody like Jeff Finger to a four-year contract worth over 14 million dollars, you’d assume they’d done their due diligence and the reason for giving such an unknown player so much money would make sense eventually.

But when the Leafs do it, the flags go up and the alarms go off.

Jeff Finger is 28 years old and he’s played less than 100 games in the NHL. Last year in the playoffs he was a healthy scratch in five of the Colorado Avalanche’s ten playoff games.

First of all, you have to wonder how the offer got so high, because it’s hard to image any other team even considering giving him so much money. Who were the Leafs bidding against?

But more pressing is this question. How could anyone, including new head coach Ron Wilson be that impressed with somebody who’s played so little, that they’d give him a 700 percent raise over last year.

Wilson and Cliff Fletcher can say all they want, they can pump this guy up to be the second coming of Bobby Orr, but as Leaf fans we’re reduced to scratching our heads again.

Again, if it were the Red Wings or Devils who made a signing like this, you might actually be impressed.

Because it’s the Leafs, you know its just the beginning of another disaster.

What I can’t understand is the Brian Burke angle. Last week I was convinced he was sitting in the weeds calling the shots for the Leafs, now I’m not so sure.

Category: Sports

Too Much For Too Little

July 2, 2008 @ 09:02

As crazy as the Finger signing is, there's something else that could happen in the NHL in the next few days that could be considered even more ridiculous.

The Vancouver Canucks have offered Mats Sundin twenty million dollars over two years.

I've got to say, if this happens, from my perspective it will be the biggest waste of money in NHL history.

Ten million dollars a season for a 38 year old player who's not sure he really wants to play anymore.

Even in his prime, Mats Sundin never really accomplished much in Toronto, so an offer of twenty million dollars over two years, actually makes the Finger signing look better.

Category: Sports

Thanks For Nothing

July 2, 2008 @ 09:01

I’d like to thank the asshole or asshole’s who couldn’t go to a house party in Brampton on Monday night without taking a gun.

You’ve made even more people feel a little shittier about where they live.

The mentality really blows me away.

Can you imagine being invited to a barbeque at somebody’s house and part of your preparation is packing a gun? Who are these mental midgets?

One hundred people show up to a party, presumably to have a fun time and some good food, but somebody ends up dead in the backyard from a bullet wound to the head.

What kind of a world do you live in that this is the consequence for a dispute. That you pull a gun amongst a crowd of innocent people and fire away with no conscience.

It happens too often and it really isn’t fair.

It isn’t fair to those are law abiding citizens, it isn’t fair to other people who live on the street and shouldn’t have to worry about bullets flying through their neighborhood, and it isn’t fair to the majority of a certain culture who aren’t responsible for this crap.

And there’s other fallout.

How could you blame anyone for being intimidated by certain gatherings on their street, given the frequency of these shootings?

Category: Stuff

The Trailer - Canada Day Weekend

July 2, 2008 @ 09:00

We had another fine Canada Day weekend at the trailer. The party took place on Saturday night, and I’m happy to report nobody brought a gun. Imagine that?

We combined the countries birthday with the 50th birthdays of our good friends Jerry Richard, Dan Duran and Jill Ramsay.

We gave er’

Other than that, we did what most people did; we danced around the weird weather.

Right up until Tuesday, the weather in Kawartha changed every ten minutes. From beautiful sunshine and warmth, to grey ugly unsettled skies that brought frequent bouts of rain.

But we made the most of it and yesterday I finally got to uncover my boat for the first time in a couple of weeks and it was nice to get the little skiff out on the water and have some fun.

I should also mention a flu bug I had over the weekend. Apparently, it’s going around, so beware.

No runs, no vomiting, just a nauseous feeling with achy joints. I took Gravol which seemed to help a bit, but it wasn’t until I popped a couple of Advil Liqui-Gels that things were brought under control.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with wonderful friends celebrating a wonderful country.

Life is good.