Busy News Day in Review

Our 24/7 news cycle sometimes makes it seem like more is going on than what really is, but yesterday was one of those news days where it seemed like everything was happening at once. In case you missed anything, I decided to put together this helpful recap of the day's events because the news of the day on April 10, 2014 was breaking over itself to get broken....

Thank God That's Over

Really. If you don't live or die by hockey, or scrum together a false sense of superiority from seeing your country beat other countries at sports that only matter every four years, the last 16 days have been excruciating. That's not to demean or denounce the importance of sport, or the mean athletic feats of human beings in peak physical performance, but the degree to which we've been bombarded by news of something euphemistically, and simply, called "The Games" is insane. These Olympics more than most, even the last one's held in our own backyard, seemed particularly insufferable. And as the rest of the day's news fills with stories of people under fire, under pressure and debating issues of ongoing, and far-reaching importance, we've spent the last two weeks breaking in over what is, really, just a bunch of games.

PM's Hockey Book Ready for Release

 Toronto Mayor Rob Ford gets a lot of flack for his love of coaching football, a hobby that seems to eat up a lot of his time, including time he should be working on important city matters. Well apparently other politicians aren't immune to sports-related hobbies either, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's hockey book, a tome 10 years in the making, will finally be released on November 5th according to the Globe and Mail.

New Rule: Jim Balsillie needs to stop teasing hockey fans

Okay, so this is not about "Guelph" or "Politics" or "Guelph Politics," but I want to say something regardless. Yes, RIM owner Jim Balsillie is "on the prowl" (as described by the National Post) again for an American NHL team that he can rescue form the blistering heat of the southern US and the accumulating debt these franchises are drowning in, and bring them to Canada, where it's safe and sexy.

This time, Balsillie likes the Phoenix Coyotes for a transplant from Arizona to somewhere more hospitable like Hamilton, K-W or Toronto. It's a song we've heard before, and even the most die hard hockey fanatic must be having doubts that no matter how hyped Balsillie is about a move, the stonewalling NHL will only allow it over their dead bodies.

I believe that that's more of a hurdle there as opposed to Balsillie or anyone having to prove that Ontario can support another team. On a recent edition of The Hour, George Stroumboulopoulos asked NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman about his feelings on Balsillie, and although he denies it, you can practically hear the contempt in his voice. The clip starts about 10 minutes in.

It seems the real issue is that Balsillie doesn't play by the Old Boys Rule Book, being too much of a "cowboy" and all, and seemingly it comes across that the NHL would rather shut out a motivated seller because of personal business differences rather than on the basis of any reason that makes factual economic sense. And for this reason, I say don't hold your breath, Balsillie's going to be in the dog house for a long time to come.

And New Rule: If you can count the number of times your city gets ice and snow in a decade on one hand, then you don't get a professional hockey team. But that really should have been self-apparent already.