Shoot the Runner

Hey yaars,

The cartoon above I'm sure will bring a slight chuckle to the politically inclined colleagues of mine. I think most of you know my feelings on the current U.S. regime, so I won't go off on too much of a tangent today. I just think 10 or 20 years from now, we'll all be thinking the same thing - how the hell did we let this all happen?

Went to St. Louis' last night (finally!) to meet up with some of the lads. It ended up being a grand ol' time, from where I came out in a great mood. I don't want to jinx it, but it seems to bode well for yours truly. Oh yeah, and the restaurant is nice, just a bit on the small side.

On to my tid-bits revolving in my head at the moment...

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David Beckham has committed himself to 'play' for the LA Galaxy of the MLS starting in August. His wages will be 500,000 British pounds a week - which converts to about $50 million per annum. That DOUBLES the next richest salaried athlete - Alex Rodriguez at $25. It's a great PR move for the MLS, like Pele was for the NASL in the 70s. The difference is, Pele in has waning years was still a dominant player. Becks hasn't even been mediocre since the 2002 World Cup. Despite this, I wouldn't mind checking out a Toronto FC/LA Galaxy match anytime soon.

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Wajid Khan crossing the floor to go Conservative. Leave it to a car salesman to grease his way from one party to another! I'm still on the fence on this one. While I think he should have stayed loyal to his party (who were the primary reason he got elected), I can see how he may have felt pressured by the Grits to step away from his post of special advisor on Middle East and South Asian affairs. The reason I've swayed against him is his rationale - "I choose country over party". That's all fine and dandy when you're going to a less-represented party, it just ain't kosher (or halal in this case) when you're using it as an weak excuse to make a power-play.

PM Harper has made a nice PR move by bringing him in, in attempts to de-mystify the idea of Conservatives as a 'white man' party. The problem with the move is that it doesn't seem to be flying with Khan's Mississauga-Streetsville constituents, who for the most party voted him in based on party, not personality. Of course this will all be settled come next election when the Liberals will put up another prominent East Indian against him, who will inevitably win (and that not bias, just common sense).

Oh, and as for his 'expertise' in Middle East and South Asian affairs, it's probably at the same level as myself. In other words, I believe his knowledge to be very common amongst the politicaly inclined of South Asian decent. Yes, he was a pilot in the Pakistani air force, in the early 70s! Things have changed just a bit since he landed here to sell his Mazdas!

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Mark McGwire didn't make the Hall of Fame, which seems to be overshadowing the pending inductions of Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. I whole-heartedly agree with Gwynn's addition, in fact he was probably under-rated during his career. Ripken I'm not so hot on.

Cal was never a great player (though a very good one). He's going in for basically showing up to work every day for 15-odd years. This semi-bothers me especially as he played so many games while unfit or injured, in order to continue the streak. I don't think that was the spirit Lou Gehrig had in mind when he went about his day-to-day job. Working sick I can commend, but playing for one inning and then hitting the showers so that you can continue your record is just not on.

As for Big Mac, I have mixed feelings. For years I've given him my support as his obvious "supplement use" was not illegal during his playing years. You cannot punish someone retro-actively for a discretion now considered illegal. It would be like sending fines to everyone who smoked in any Toronto restaurant before it became illegal. I think MLB and the press are putting the veto on McGwire's Cooperstown chances in order to re-direct and absolve themselves of any blame they had in the steroid era. And if you think they didn't know players were juiced up, you really don't know your baseball!

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That's all for now. Hope to hear from some of my friends soon enough!