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TheStar.com | Hockey | Leafs should start chopping from the top
Ideally, the Maple Leafs would have the pick of the litter, the very best hockey minds in the world clamouring to work for them. But that's just not the way it is.Moreover, to get one of the really big names - Brian Burke, Lou Lamoriello - they'd have to wait until June or July, and this thing's going downhill faster than that.There are quality hockey people out there, available today. Even Pat Quinn, as utterly laughable as that may sound. Then again, this is an organization that brought back Punch Imlach, Carl Brewer, Mike Pelyk, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour for second go-rounds, so it's not like the stupidity of bringing back Quinn would be out of the MLSE strike zone.So who would you get? As a new GM, or president, or coach?Click here for a closer look with Damien Cox in his blog, The Spin.
Generation distraction
The Upper Arlington teenager spends most evenings glued to her family's laptop computer -- sending instant messages; checking e-mail; and logging into Facebook, a popular social-networking Web site. At the same time, her iPod is shuffling through MP3 playlists, the television is providing white noise and her cell phone is buzzing with incoming calls and text messages. Keeping up with the multiple mediums takes work -- and time. "It's crazy," Kelsey said. "It'll be an hour, and I haven't even touched my homework." Besides providing an excuse to procrastinate, however, such multitasking -- increasingly routine among today's tech-savvy young people -- could be setting the stage for bigger problems. A growing body of research suggests that juggling various tasks at once might be driving kids to distraction that can hinder their psychological development.
The Wire: Omar targets the money
I started this blog talking about the Omar-Marlo conflict, but there were actually a lot of strong threads and you realize the strength of writing on the gritty HBO series. Carcetti and city hall. McNulty digs a deeper hole by kidnapping a homeless man to make it seem like he is a victim of the serial killer . A frustrated Freamon trys to catch Marlo using a wiretap. Templeton's star continues to rise as he milks the phantom serial killer story for all it's worth. The quotes, the stories, the interview subjects are just too perfect for real life. I'm sure this nags at Augustus, a veteran newspaper man, but he has nothing solid right now. I can't wait for this "bright and shiny" star to fall. What was your take on this episode? What were the best scenes and lines? Permalink | Comments (17) | Post your comment | .
Celebrating 2007 with the überlist
So many people keep saying 2007 was a bad year for sports. They keep harping on Michael Vick and the Mitchell report and Pacman and Tank. Their negativity knows no bounds. They forget to celebrate the joys of sport, the limitless pursuit of excellence and the indefatigability of the human spirit. Like A-Rod. He brings us the opt out, then he opts back in, opting out of his relationship with superagent Scott Boras to opt in with the Yankees. Sweet story. Then he goes on "60 Minutes" to say he never took steroids, even though no one but Jose Canseco and Diane Sawyer asked that question. Or, seriously, Kevin Everett. With the help of some of the best and most innovative medical care in the world, the Bills tight end recovered from a potentially paralyzing and life-threatening injury to walk again.
Steroids testing debated
Texas looks to begin testing athletes next month, the result of a two-year, $6 million program approved by the state's legislature last May.New Jersey and Florida already do. So why not Oklahoma?Area coaches favor such testing, but they have one overriding concern — the cost."The problem is that it's so expensive," Muskogee football coach Matt Hennesy said. "Where would the funding come from, I don't know."Hennesy remembers when he was an assistant coach at Jenks and he said it cost $100 per test for steroids."If you figure 100 football players, you're talking about $10,000," he said. "(The cost) may have changed since then. I think it's great (to have testing). I don't see how anyone can afford it."According to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, the cost per test in Texas will be $175.
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