December 2, 2009

- This Tiger Woods story is getting crazier by the minute. As many of you know, I am not a fan of Tiger Woods at all. I find him to be arrogant and rude and pretty much bereft of character. The allegations in this story are getting a lot worse as the week progresses, but what I’m about to say may shock some of you. Leave the guy alone. It’s none of our business what happens between him and his wife, or if he’s cheating on her. What does it matter? I’m not playing it off as acceptable, I’m just saying that it’s between them, and if no crime took place, then let them work it out on their own. The one thing I do have an issue with is his withdrawal from the tournament he was hosting this weekend on behalf of The Tiger Woods Foundation. When you have a team of volunteers that work for months on end, and players who come from around the world to try to help the cause, then you need to be there. Even if you can’t play due to your “injuries”, you show up and welcome people and make a speech about the foundation. But his willingness to cancel and just stay locked up at home to avoid the media shows what I was saying all along…Tiger Woods is just a jerk. But my assessment is based on his selfish actions, not his alleged extramarital affairs and dirty text messages. (Pat O’Brien must be LOVING this story.)
- The Canadian airings of Top Chef Las Vegas are coming to a close, and I think the American broadcasts have actually finished. I’ve stayed remarkably spoiler-free on the results all season long, so please don’t ruin it for me if you know who wins. I like all 4 of the remaining chefs, and it will be disappointing to see any of them go. Any of the 4 would be very deserving winners…they did a great job this season of having the best chefs reach the end. This week, they aired a Top Chef Reunion Dinner that featured some of the most charismatic and controversial chefs from the first five seasons, all getting together and cooking a meal for each other while they discussed the show. It was pretty entertaining, mainly due to the fact that it was hosted (in broken English) by the fantastic Fabio Viviani from last season. In his honour, let’s take a moment to look back at perhaps the greatest line in the history of Top Chef, after he broke his finger in the kitchen, and it was suggested he go to the hospital: "Hospital? I'll chop it off and sear it on the flat-top so it doesn't bleed anymore, and tomorrow, I will deal with nine finger."

- No big happenings lately at my local Tim Hortons, except that for the last two days, I’ve seen an employee from McDonald’s (in the same plaza), sitting in there drinking a coffee. McDonald’s is in the middle of this giant ad campaign trying to hype up how great their coffee is, so much so that they are giving it away free in the mornings. They tried this earlier in the year, but even getting it for free couldn’t hide the fact that it tasted like swamp water. I think there’s no better message than seeing someone from the place that is giving away the FREE coffee to everyone, and seeing them walk across the parking lot to go have a coffee somewhere else.

- I saw what may be the most ridiculous (and stupidest) thing I’ve ever seen on a hockey rink. Wait, let me amend that…it actually may be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen on any sporting field/surface. If you haven’t seen the footage of the Florida Panthers’ Keith Ballard nearly decapitating his own goalie, check out this clip. What an absurd moment, and a reminder that idiotic and infantile behaviour on the playing field should not and can not be tolerated. I hope all young hockey players (including my son) see this clip, as cringe-inducing as it is, for the sole reason that it would serve as an excellent deterrent to anything like this happening again. Thank God hockey players wear as much gear as they do, or Voukoun could have been hurt a lot more severely than he was.

- Last week, I told Lucas that we had to go out on Tuesday night to get a flu shot. He already had his the week before, but I told him that my girlfriend and I still had to get ours, and that he had to come with us. So we drove over to the Kitchener Auditorium, where I said the flu clinic was, and when we got there and saw all the cars, I said “Wow, it looks like it’s going to be a pretty long line tonight. We might be here a while.” We got inside and there were lots of people everywhere, some handing out towels and thundersticks, many of them wearing Kitchener Rangers jerseys. (I know you see it coming now)

I went to the box office and told him that was where I had to give my health card. Then I turned to him after I was done and showed him the tickets, saying “By the way, there’s no flu clinic tonight, we’re going to the Rangers-Knights hockey game.” His jaw pretty much dropped, and he was so excited. We had a great night, even though the Rangers lost…badly. We’re taking him to a Raptors game in 2 weeks, and he has no idea. We’re going to surprise him again.