Conflicted viewing

As most of the world knows, FIFA's World Cup started on Friday.

Aside from a 1994 World Cup t-shirt I received as a gift, I recall that when I first remember hearing about the World Cup in 2002.  I was in Newfoundland at the time and was relatively upset to hear people who otherwise seemed to have no interest in soccer/football acting as though this was an event they cared about.  I couldn't understand how something that I basically hadn't ever heard of could be used as an excuse to cancel classes at university or motivate departments to book lecture halls for mass viewings.  Just about everything associated with the World Cup seemed implausible and upsetting.

In 2006 just as the next World Cup was getting underway my parents began hosting a Brazilian grad student for the summer.  Not surprisingly, she was interested in watching the World Cup - or at least those games in which Brazil was playing.

My recollection is that my parents didn't have cable or maybe they didn't have a functional TV - in any event, it was decided that World Cup viewing would happen at the house in which I was staying at the time (and that just happens to be adjacent to my parents' house).  As I didn't have all that much furniture we were able to arrange everything in the living room to maximize our comfort while watching Brazil's games.

Of course, it didn't take all that long for Neil and I to enjoy watching the games and start rooting for Brazil.

Somehow in this midst of this increasingly intense World Cup experience a English friend without cable called out of the blue and asked if he could bring his Canadian-born kids over to watch England play for the first time.  Within a matter of minutes they were in place for the game.

We were then drawn into the World Cup experience in a way I could never have expected even a week or two before.  All of a sudden I began to see why even people who otherwise aren't particularly soccer fans might enjoy following the event.

By the time 2010 rolled around I was living with Neil and Rebecca in Halifax and most of the games were easily streamable.  Instead of studying for then still-unscheduled comps (in my defense, I likely didn't even have a reading list by the time the event started) along with Neil (and sometimes Rebecca and Jeannette) I watched many more games than was likely healthy.  I was fully hooked on the experience and even more convinced that of all of the non-annual international sporting events it was the best.

It's so clearly the best because it happens only once every four years.  Or to put it differently, not so frequently that its appearance isn't noteworthy or that you're still burned out from all of the soccer you watched last time around.  On top of that, and very much in contrast to the Olympics (Summer or Winter), by including only one sport it is almost possible for an dedicated individual to watch every game.  And even if you don't watch every game there are few enough games that it is quite easy to keep up with the developments occurring in those games you don't watch.  Of course it's also nice that even though soccer is played world-wide only a limited number of the best teams qualify for each World Cup.  And even better is that when you live in a place like Canada that isn't likely to qualify this means that you (and also the networks covering the event) can focus on good games rather than distracting national allegiances.

Of course as enjoyable as the World Cup is as casual viewer, it's not entirely without its issues.  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did a great job of introducing a variety of these significant issues in a recent episode.



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So, eight years after Neil and I first began watching World Cup coverage Neil opted out because of dissatisfaction with the organization behind the event.  I, on the other hand, am also disappointed with the organizing body - but obviously not to the extent that I have decided to skip the event.  Instead, Jeannette have taken advantage of several cancellations this weekend to watch as much of the coverage as possible.

Big hockey weekend

So not only is there plenty of Olympic hockey this weekend (let's not forget today's monstrosity), but tonight Jeannette and I will be heading to our first Regina Pats game.

If I understand thing correctly, the Regina Pats are part of the WHL - a junior hockey league.  And if I understand junior hockey correctly, this is some kind of very minor, age-restricted professional level of hockey.

I'm sure that by the end of the night we'll know a fair bit more about the Pats and junior hockey.

Oh, and for those of you who are curious - this will be taking place in the same venue as the rodeo of a few months ago.

Cameron - 20
Neil - 0

Another problem with the Olympics

Aside from the arguably more important problems with the Olympics that concern matters political and commercial, something I've noticed recently is that one of the reasons I don't join Jeannette for more Olympics viewing is that too many of the sports are just excruciatingly boring to watch (and the worst part is that they tend to show the boring bits and not the potentially exciting bits).

Now that I've taken time to think the matter over I've realized that watching top athlete after top athlete complete the same course makes for uninspiring viewing.  Unfortunately for the Winter Olympics, this seems to characterize most of the sports (hockey, curling, cross-country skiing [and derivatives], and snowboard cross being the main outliers). There's no drama.  And, most importantly, there's no real competition.

What's worse, is that not only do they insist on showing boring downhill run after boring downhill run, but they tend to focus on the final runs rather than the qualifiers.

This approach is problematic for at least two reasons.  Firstly, the efforts  of hundreds or thousands of Olympians go uncovered.  Secondly, and more importantly, by focusing only on the best athletes inexperienced viewers aren't shown the full range of athletic talent at the Olympics.  The fact that the best skiers routinely land their jumps would be even more impressive if we were shown the world's 30th-60th best competitors in the sport failing.  Furthermore, for those sports where style points are in play (and lets not even get into the issue of the overall classification of these events as sports) the distinction between the first and second best skiers in the world is often almost impossible to spot, while almost anyone should be able to spot the differences between the first and sixtieth skiers.

So it seems that not only have the Olympics given us many reasons not to watch for moral and political reasons, it's also the case that they just don't put on all that great a show.

Oh, and I also really don't like watching teenagers and young adults risking serious life-long injuries or death just to entertain me on a grey winter's afternoon.

Cameron - 15
Neil - 0

Apparently I'm the only one here who doesn't like figure skating

Just like yesterday, Jeannette has been watching the Sochi Olympics today.  And just like yesterday the cats have been spending more time watching with her than I have.  Apparently, they're much more willing to sit through ice dancing than I am (especially in circumstances when gold and silver have already been determined and we're just waiting for the three worst teams to determine whose going to get bronze).

Cameron - 10
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 606

-We seem to be in the middle of a multi-day run of temperatures hovering between -14 and -22, and, strangely, the skies are a little more overcast that usual.  Though we've had a few flurries we haven't had any real accumulation in weeks.

-Jeannette's in Kelowna visiting family so I've had a relatively low-key, laundry-based weekend.  Unfortunately, our drier hasn't been drying the laundry as effectively as it should be.  I've done a fair bit of trouble-shooting and I'm still no closer to the truth.  Bummer.

-Unless my evening takes a very unexpected turn for the absurd I don't think I'll be watching this evening's Super Bowl.

-While I don't plan on watching the Super Bowl I have been thinking about the scheduling of the event.  If they determined the two participating teams weeks ago why are they only playing the game now.  Wouldn't it make more sense to play the game the week after the teams have been determined?  I guess expecting sense from a sporting event many people watch for the ads or musical performances might be a bit much.

Cameron - 3
Neil - 0

Things I've learned since I moved to Saskatchewan

1. There are people in Canada that actually follow the CFL

For most of my life I assumed that the CFL was mostly just a punchline or a trivia answer.  Turns out it is actually a going sports concern in parts of Canada.  Of course, at least as far as I can tell, those parts of the country that care about the CFL are likely found somewhere west of Winnipeg and east of Calgary (I'm pretty sure Vancouver is way too cool to be into anything in a big way).

2. Municipal snow plows are only for primary arteries

Yup, they basically don't plough residential streets in many communities in Saskatchewan.  Instead of ploughing residents just pack the snow into inches high sheets of ice that they are then expected to drive on.  Of course, over time deep ruts develop and those lower clearance vehicles may have a few problems - but that seems to be accepted as a consequence of owning anything less than a pick-up truck.

3. Saskatchewan is one of the world's primary sources for lentils

This cool fact seems to be under appreciated by most of the Saskatchewanians I've spoken to so far.  Of course, I'm still hopeful that eventually this informational nugget may form the basis of some kind of 'healthy protein' campaign, or at least as a protein heavy response to Alberta beef.

4. Saskatchewan mistakenly thinks that Shannon Tweed is a native daughter

Everybody knows that Shannon Tweed is really from Newfoundland.  Case closed.

5. 'Dry cold,' like 'dry heat,' makes all the difference

Though it's been at least -15 for the past few weeks it's not nearly as bad as -5 and the sideways-falling sleet-like precipitation that one often encounters in Newfoundland.  Of course, when you start getting really low temperatures your car may not start or you may get frostbite - but aren't these just small prices to pay for no slush?

A Few Quick Notes 582

-Despite the intense sun, today hasn't been too hot. Maybe the fact that it doesn't seem to be as humid is the big difference.

-This morning Jeannette and I rode our bikes along the Rideau Canal for about 10 kilometers to watch a few of this weekend's dragon boat races.

-Our plants continue to grow rapidly. We must now have close to 20 immature tomatoes and maybe a few dozen semi-ripe beans.

Though we keep adding new tomatoes the older tomatoes don't seem to be getting all that much larger.

We've been pleasantly surprised to see that a few of our sweet peppers have started to develop, if somewhat slowly.

All-in-all I am hopeful that we will eventually have at least a moderately successful harvest.

-On our way back we acquired a few new board games from a store that is in the process of closing. Maybe in a few years we might have as many games as Neil, Rebecca, and I had in Halifax.

What I won't be doing tomorrow...

...is watching the Super Bowl.  What I will be doing tomorrow is looking forward to the end of Super Bowl snack adds in the the local grocery stores.

For some reason, even though I don't think my media consumption habits are all that different this year,  I feel as though I am hearing more about this weekend's impending Super Bowl.  It is almost as though I can't avoid discussion of coverage of the event.

This week, much to my surprise, two of the podcasts I listen to that normally have nothing to do with sports had extended sections on the upcoming Super.  How To Do Everything covered issues relating to the game and the viewing of the game while Planet Money covered issues relating to the expected economic spin-offs for Indianapolis.  And I'm sure I've heard about it somewhere else as well, I just can't remember where at the moment.

I guess I still don't quite get the fascination with this event, particularly in Canada.  Not only does the coverage drag on for hours, but the game being played has to be one of the more excruciating sports to watch.  And it's best of one, so if the better team is a little off for the game they may not even win.  And who likes watching a championship in which the better team is so likely to lose?

Cameron: 5
Neil: 0

Who knew the construction of a golf green was this complicated?

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I certainly didn't.

What's the difference between pro sports and the film industry?

Based on my assessment of news coverage in St. John's, the potential return of an AHL team to St. John's seems to be a pretty big story at the moment. An aspect of the story that seems to be getting the most coverage is whether or not the municipal and provincial governments would provide the team with some sort of subsidy/incentive to help the whole relocation process along.

A few days ago the city decided it wouldn't offer such an incentive and just a few moments ago I heard that the provincial government has also decided against providing such an incentive. Apparently Terry French went so far as to say that the government would be 'philosphically' opposed to such a subsidy.

And while I don't happen to be a particularly big fan of subsidies to pro sports teams I do find it funny that the same government that actively subsidizes the TV and film industry, among other industries, would go so far as to suggest professional sports are a lesser (in terms of meriting public support) form of mass entertainment or employment. I have to imagine that the number of jobs associated benefits that could be almost guaranteed by the arrival of a pro hockey team would be of greater economic significance than frequently arise due to other industrial subsidies.

If you don't want to subsidize a particular company, fine, don't subsidize it, but to suggest that you are philosophically opposed to a particular aspect of the entertainment industry seems a bit much, particularly on a day that the same government announced funding for the acquisition of lighting equipment for the TV and film industry.

Isn't this the same guy who has the power to overrule CRTC decisions?

Tony Clement's Twitter feed continues to blow my mind. Earlier today he was talking about the songs he was playing on guitar, reminiscing about attending Super Bowls past, and now he is providing Canadians with access to American Super Bowl ads that are blocked from Canadian broadcasts of the game.

In one of Clement's latest tweets he provided a link to a YouTube account that seems to have copies of the Super Bowl ads that can be viewed world-wide (or at least in Canada).

I really wonder if Clement gets the irony of this last tweet.

The same guy who just used his Twitter account to announce that he would be encouraging the reversal of a CRTC decision is now using the same account to complain about another policy in the same policy area. Given that Clement is clearly aware of the popular opinion on the matter (people want to see these ads as part of the live broadcast) and that he is a member of a government that seems to claim that they want to represent such views, maybe he might consider using his Twitter account to announce that this policy will also be subject to further review or reversal.

By the way, is this now the position of the current government on Super Bowl ads?

Score
Cameron 17
Neil 0

Celebrities in my neighbourhood

Yesterday I forgot to mention that former Jays player Roberto Alomar was at the hotel across the way from our apartment building. Jeannette, whose program was having a conference in the same hotel, suggested that he was in town some kind of fundraising lunch. I really didn't know that baseball was big enough in Halifax for someone like Alomar to be a draw, especially in the winter.

Some how I missed it, but apparently Alomar was just elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. I have to imagine that he is the spitiest player there.

I wonder if he is still in town and, if so, whether or not I will see him today?

Score
Cameron 10
Neil 0

Is this really even news?

Apparently Tiger Woods and his former wife are now officially divorced? Not surprisingly, this seems to be a big story. A recent Google News search suggested that already there are more than 750 stories on the topic, though I am not sure if this level of interest is in any way justified.

Does it really matter to anyone other than family members of those concerned that they are actually divorced?

The only way in which I can see that this story might matter to the broader public is that it helps teach the public that just because a celebrity says they are going to try and work out differences with their wife that such differences may not actually be reconciled or reconcilable.

Update: When run about 20 minutes later, the aforementioned Google News search returned close to a thousand stories on the topic. Apparently this is a big story.

Michigan +11

Since we arrived in Michigan a almost two weeks ago I have wanted to visit an IHOP (International House of Pancakes). I was finally able to satisfy this urge yesterday when my father, brother, sister, and I all visited such a restaurant for lunch yesterday. As expected, it was a very pleasant and satisfying experience. The only problem with the experience was that I ended up eating a little too much and felt somewhat uncomfortable afterwards.

Later in the day those of us who visited the restaurant also visited a driving range to hit a bucket of balls.



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I would say that most of us were a little worse at this than we might have hoped.

Our final major event of the evening was a party/BBQ at an uncle's house. It was great to get another chance to socialize with my cousins and aunts and uncles.

In the very near future we will be heading out to our hotel for the evening. Then at about 4:00 we will attend the wedding. The reception will follow almost immediately thereafter.

Brier Attire

Since my last post I have been wondering what I should wear to an event like the Brier.

As it is artificially chilled and I will be sitting for period of time I imagine pants, rather than shorts, will be what I want to wear from the waist down.

More complicated is the torso/upper body. While the sun will set as I am out I will probably need to bring a somewhat warm jacket. Though I wonder if it will be cold enough for me to wear this the entire time? Or will I want to take it off and wear a sweater with a shirt? Will this make me to warm on the walk there?

The other thing that I have been thinking about is whether I should wear something that might indicate my association with Newfoundland. Unfortunately, most of the items of clothing that I have that would demonstrate such an association are tee shirts (which might be a little hard to publicly display in a chilled stadium). A further problem is that most of the tee shirts that I have that might indicate 'Newfoundland' to some people would likely only have such connotations for people very familiar with Newfoundland. Presumably most people wouldn't really know that my Dominion Ale or 'I [club] baby seals' shirts would be intended to be statements of support for a particular team.

My thought at the moment is that I might try to wear one of these shirts, but in association with a cardigan and my winter jacket. If it is warm enough I would then be able to open my sweater and display my obscure reference to Newfoundland to those in attendance.

I can't believe that I have spent so much time thinking about this, and then that I took the time to outline my thoughts in writing. One might get the impression that I don't have hundreds of pages of reading to do in the coming weeks.

Reading week kick-off

So we have now rolled into another reading week, a week long mid-term break that occurs in the Spring semester at Dalhousie. My general sense of things is that, at least for the most part, all three of us plan on using the week to catch up on various types of school-related work, though with maybe a little more relaxation than is the norm.

I know that I have a fair bit of reading to do in association with a few papers that will be due at the end of the term. I also have some research work to do, as well as TA related work. So I certainly have enough things to keep me busy without taking too much time away for social activities.

Of course we did end up starting things off with a rather unproductive evening on Friday night. As I wasn't feeling particularly full of energy on Friday night I decided to stay in rather than attend a political science grad student event that was to involve a compressed period of alcohol consumption (something that I really didn't feel up for) I decided to stay at home with Neil and Rebecca. We ended up watching two movies, In the Loop, a very funny take on modern politics and the Iraq war, and Sunshine Cleaning. All three of us were pretty pleased with both of these movies (which is a pretty unusual success rate). It should be noted, before anyone complains or raises this issue, both of these movies were rented with free rental coupons, so they weren't things on which we spent all kinds of money.

After the movie watching, we continued to lounge around by watching some of the Olympics coverage. If I recall correctly we watched some of the curling. As some of you might have sensed, Neil and Rebecca, by constantly streaming Olympics coverage, have caused me to watch more of the Olympics than I originally wanted.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 32

Another follow-up

It seems that my previous two posts were likely coming from positions based on limited or mis-information.

Not only have some of the major media outlets, even those who are providing national coverage, covered a number of the problems that have been faced by the games thus far, they have even dedicated stories specifically to such coverage (though one might question whether the level of criticism leveled is equal to what we might expect had they not paid to cover the event).

Anyway, what I guess I am say is that I am glad to see that some of the problem associated with the Vancouver Olympics thus far have been covered, but that I am somewhat hesitant to accept that they are getting as much as they might given alternate circumstances. That we have heard little about the removals of the homeless seems to suggest that some of my concerns are at least marginally merited.

I guess we have another two weeks to really get a much better sense of the coverage of these Olympic games. Assuming that I am unable to avoid such coverage in the coming days it seems likely that I may have additional comments as more trends become apparent (or as randomness increases).

Blog-off Score

Neil:0
Cameron: 25

A Few Quick Notes 394

-For some reason unknown to me it is much warmer today than it has been for the past few days. At one point today it was as warm as -1, which is about 15 degrees warmer than good chunks of yesterday. Apparently tomorrow temperatures may even reach above 0 for portions of tomorrow.

-This morning, for breakfast, I made some butterscotch pinwheels. This are basically biscuit dough wrapped around a butter and brown sugar paste. Not surprisingly, these are pretty tasty, though maybe not the world's healthiest breakfast food (maybe I will have to have some vegetables or go for a walk this evening to try to offset this meal). Fortunately I was able to get my roommates to eat a few of the pinwheels, otherwise I am pretty sure that I could have ploughed through most of them in a 24 hour period.

-Today, for the second day in a row, I made use of my new coffee maker. The built-in grinder and timer make it a pleasure to use. I can't tell you how pleasant it is to wake up to freshly brewed coffee. It is certainly much more pleasant than getting up and washing the percolator that is still dirty because of the previous day's coffee related activities.

-In the coming days or weeks I really need to get my gardening plans in order so that I can acquire the appropriate seeds. In particular, I need to figure out which types of tomato plants I want to grow so that I can give them a few weeks of prep growth before I transfer them to the balcony for the summer.

-Our Ultimate team managed another win yesterday. While there were periods of disorganization among the members of our team, we somehow managed to maintain the lead for basically the entire game. While I can't say that I contributed too much to our team's efforts I can say that I don't think that I screwed up too much and I did make a few rather impressive catches.

-In one of my courses I have to submit a discussion paper every Sunday evening (the material covered in the paper will then be discussed on the following Tuesday). While these aren't at all a bad idea, they do kill the better part of my Sunday afternoons. Fortunately I just finished this week's paper, so I should be able to put a few hours of work in on other areas before turning in for the night.

-I have my re-scheduled interview tomorrow morning. I guess I should put a little time in re-examining some of the material I gathered on Thursday evening (as well as examining the new media reports that have come out this weekend).

-Word on the street is that today is Super Bowl Sunday, though had it not been for a commitment of Neil's I would have had no idea that this sporting event was ongoing today. Now that I do know that it is ongoing tonight I can't even pretend that I am going to watch it as we don't have a TV with a functional antenna. I guess that this is further evidence that I am out of touch with the common wo/man.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 17

Well, that didn't go quite as expected

I don't tend to follow Olympic coverage much as I am not a particularly big fan of the event, but I did get sucked into a recent story in the Globe and Mail about the process for determining the location for the 2016 summer games. According to the article, and image below, Chicago seemed to be the leading contender.

2016 Olympic Contenders

Imagine my surprise when I learned this morning that not only did Chicago not get the games, but that they were the first to be eliminated. It seems that Rio was the winning bid.

Halifax Highland Games

A few days ago, though I don't remember how, I learned that the Halifax Highland Games and Scottish Festival would be taking place today on the Dartmouth Commons. Given my ancestry and upbringing I was quite interested in attending this event, even if it was to be in Dartmouth. Ancestry or not, who can really wants to miss an opportunity to see a good caber toss if they have the chance?

It seems that as Neil and Rebecca feel that they have filled their Scottish cultural quota, so they weren't interested in joining me this year. How the caber toss argument didn't win them over I will never know. Fortunately, I mentioned my interest in attending to a friend and she immediately agreed to go with me.

As much as both us are interested in piping and drumming, neither of us was interested in trying to make it for 9:00 AM, which is when the solo competitions started. Instead, we both thought that it might be a little better to try to go a little later so that we could catch the athletic and band type events (and also snag a little of the highland dancing).

If you check out the embedded video I think you will see that we were successful.



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One of the more intriguing aspects of our visit to the event was the little kid who was particularly intrigued with the process of me putting on sunscreen. It was as though the kid, who seemed to be about four, had never seen such a thing and was both surprised and disgusted with the whole affair. Hopefully I didn't freak him out too much.