One Ring

I was reading an article today in Sports Illustrated by Rick Reilly. It talked about how when you want to trash talk your friends about the ineptitude of a team they follow, to save on long distance bills you just phone them and let the phone ring once. I'm not sure what I think of this. I'd personally find it a little unsatisfying. After spending the past 3 years lobbing verbal grenades back and forth with my Calgary classmates, I think that moving towards one-ring phonecalls would be a decided step down. Admittedly, it's harder to trash talk when your interlocutors are in different cities. As well, it's easier to dial a phone during a game (after a key play) than compose a snarky e-mail which may not be read until after the fact (though, with the prevalence of Blackberries...). Nevertheless, it also doesn't take into account the fact that said individual may not have their phone on (because they want to enjoy the game, perhaps). With that, letting the phone ring once (and just having your number appear in caller ID) finishes a distant second to leaving snarky voicemail messages. While I admit this undermines the whole "cost-savings" aspect, I'd think you'd want to save the trash-talking for rare occasions. For instance, I only phoned to gloat over the Oilers once they'd advanced to the finals (come to think of it, that may have been karmically unwise). At any rate, I'm not sold on this whole "one ring" business.

In other news, I think Thursday's game will be key for both Edmonton and Winnipeg. The Esks still seem to have a number of injuries, in spite coming off the bye week. As well, Mitchell was their best player against the Bombers last time out, so his absence will hurt. As for Winnipeg, I remember in 2004 Ottawa got off to a 3-0 start, then never recovered after getting pasted by Montreal in a match up of undefeated teams in week 4. Winnipeg wasn't undefeated, but getting blasted like that (at home no less) has to have an impact on team psyche. This week should see if the Bombers are able to bounce back.

I see that Mike Peca has decided to leave, but I never much expected him to stay anyways. On the bright side, given that he's going to Toronto I don't have to worry about him winning a Stanley Cup anytime soon.