Re-Hacktionary Report

Monday, July 31, 2006

Untimely Meditations

A lot of changes lately. Last night I went to Roman's going-away party. I've known Roman for about 6 years, since he applied to be a judge for Glasgow Worlds and I was head of the selection committee (actually, I was the only person on the selection committee but Kirsten thought that I should have an important title). At any rate, Roman and I have had a number of adventures throughout both undergrad and law school. Here's wishing him good luck in Africa in helping the world and not dying. I'm not sure what the conversion rate for a Delasi is, but hopefully it's somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20 Baht.

To add to the changes, on arriving at Keegan's after the party I was informed that it would be closing, to be replaced with a Chinese Restaurant. This, along with the closing of Scholar's, means that a a couple of places where I spent a great deal of my weekends are no more. It sort of underlines the nature of change that this summer represents. Keegan's was always a great place to go after a night out on Whyte. While the food may not have been necessarily great, it was a good place to sum up the events of the evening and to put off the end of a night that you weren't quite ready to end. Whether it was for the Tummy Teasers or 3 Fluffy Pancakes Keegan's was always a great place to end the night.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Blitz

And here I wanted to talk about the parade. Maybe tommorrow...

That was a very poorly played game all around. While the ending was exciting, I don't think it's a stretch to say it was a bad game. And I would have said this before the last 8 seconds too.

I'm also a little concerned with the play calling. Had this been a playoff game, we would be hearing about Danny Maciocia's "resignation" within the week. I'm not advocating anything drastic at this stage, but I think there were definitely some "questionable" calls this game and I'm very interested in hearing what answers emerge on Monday.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

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.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

When It Rains It Pours

For me, it has been a rather rough go of it in the sporting world as of late. I would have liked a bit more in the Pronger deal, however given the circumstances I suppose it's not too bad. I think it's better than the rumoured Kaberle deal, at any rate.

I think that a lot of the personnel errors that the Eskimos made early in the season (and before the season) have come home to roost. The re-signing of Montford is a recognition that the pass rush hasn't been up to snuff thus far. I understand they had no control over losing Jeanty, and the salary reasons behind letting Montford go the first time. That being said, Collier seems to have caught on well in Hamilton, and he would have provided a bit more of a proven commodity with the pass rush.

I'm a little more concerned with the secondary. They've looked poor all season, and there must be something we don't know about with the release of Donny (sorry, Donald) Brady. I'm definitely concerned with them having to face B.C. this week, though apparently Dickinson may not be 100% so that may provide a bit of a reprieve.

As far as the offence goes, I think that a lot of it comes down to play selection. We aren't seriously committing to a running game, and for some reason Danny Maciocia seems to be wedded to the idea of always using the quarterback sneak in short yardage situations (observers may recall that this cost Mike Pringle sole possession of the career touchdown record back in 2004). I don't have anything against the QB sneak, but you need to mix it up once in a while to keep the defence off balance. Likewise, the short dump passes out into the flat, 3-4 yards short of what is required for a first down, only work when you have a Terry Vaughn who can break about 3 tackles and rack up the yards after the catch. We haven't had Terry Vaughn for two years now, and those plays have predictably had limited success.

All of that being said, and in spite of how bad they looked last week, I am hopeful for this week.

Finally, as an additional kick (no pun intended) there was the World Cup. More capable people than me have pored over what went wrong, but suffice to say it was certainly disheartening (and I don't usually follow this brand of football as closely as other forms). One thing I haven't noticed brought up in the to-ing and fro-ing over who is to blame for the send-off is the possibility that if you're Wayne Rooney, you're not going to get the marginal calls. At any rate, I suppose England has waited 40 years, they can wait another 4 (Tam and I were discussing the parallels between England's international performance and that of Canada in the Olympics prior to 2002. The Maple Leafs are another potential parallel, but I don't particularly like that one since I don't particularly like the Leafs). At any rate, for those hoping for England, this should help cheer you up. So catchy.

For those wanting to know, I am now backing France for the World Cup. These are desperate times indeed.