AND THE LEAFS ARE OUT...

I think i've made it quite evident in my previous posts that I'm an ardent supporter of the Montreal Canadiens. Along with this loyalty comes a perennial hatred towards all things Maple Leaf. (The hockey club of course..) i've been asked time and time again why I "hate" the leafs so much. Let's put it this way, i don't hate the players or coaching staff of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now that that's out of the way, let me explain to those who question my lack of love for "Canada's team".

Simply put, because for the 5 million people in the GTA, the country Canada begins and ends in the city of Toronto. There's a saying that i've heard in Canada that americans are narrow minded and that they do not see beyond their borders. To a lesser extent, this is true of a number of Torontonians. Not to generalize, but this has been my personal experience. I don't know if these people have been massively brainwashed by the media, or if they truly believe that failure shud be rewarded. I speak this purely from a sports perspective. More specifically with regards to the attitude of Torontonians towards the Maple Leafs not their attitude in general.

Thanks to the media in Toronto, the leafs have been overhyped as "Canada's team". That in the last 10 years, the Ottawa Senators have made the playoffs 9 times means nothing to Leaf Nation. Yes it's the nation's capital but no they're not "Canada's team". The Montreal Canadiens are arguable the best professional sports team in North America with 24 Stanley Cups in the leagues 90 years. That's almost a 25% success percentage yet they are also not "Canada's Team".. The Edmonton Oilers who housed without doubt the greatest hockey player to ever play the game, Wayne Gretzky, had their glory years in the 80's with multiple stanley cups. Yet, they are not "Canada's Team".. but the media chooses to portray the team that has missed the playoffs 3 years in a row, that has not appeared in a stanley cup final, let alone win, in 41 years..

Now, if you were to look at the two major sports networks in Canada, CBC ( Broadcasting Corporation) and TSN (The / Toronto Sports Network).. Both these networks are national broadcasters, yet they broadcast nationwide, only leafs games. I understand market dynamics making them want to attract a large audience, which is available only in the GTA. Is it so far fetched to promote a team that is successful in Canada to be Canada's team. If the idea is to broadcast leafs games, why shove it down the throat of every market in Canada. People often wonder why all the other city fans hate the leafs organization. This is precisely the reason. They are being forced to follow a losing team, a team that they did NOT grow up watching, a team whose style of hockey they do not appreciate.

I was listening to the leafs broadcast last night right before they were eliminated. With about a minute left in the game, it was evident they were not going to make it. The commentators exact words were.. "It's rough on a team. The Leafs had a tough schedule early on where they had to play their first 10 games at home. That put too much pressure on them. They could never rebound from it.." I hear this and the first thought in my mind is "What BULLSHIT.." they call it home-ice advantage, not disadvantage. It's supposed to relieve pressure playing at home not add pressure. The New Jersey Devils started their season with 10 games on the road, if anything that's adding pressure because you're playing away from your home and you're exposed to travelling pressures, time differences, scheduling conflicts etc. The Devils are battling for 1st place in the conference along with Pittsburgh and Montreal. Playing at home is meant to be more relaxing, yet the media was trying to find excuses for their failure.. I couldn't help blow up laughing at the comment. For those of you that don't understand why Leaf Nation is doomed for years to come, simply look at the Leaf Management over the last 40 years from Frank Ballard, Punch Imlach leading up to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment's purchase of the leafs. It will be quite evident why the leafs never cared about winning and why they never WILL care about winning. Not unless the fans wake up from their slumber.

It's just more proof that no matter how poorly the team performs, they will continue to sell tickets to brainwashed leafs fans, and they will continue to fail, and continue to promote "Canada's team".. yet many torontonians have the audacity to call French Canadians arrogant for being vocal in expressing their support against Leaf Nation.. ironic is it not??

My first Rahman Post

I came across this article today and had to do my part in making it public.. That's right 21 filmfare awards more than any recipient before him. For those of you that don't know, filmfare awards are considered to be the "oscars" of bollywood. It's sad that all the awards that Rahman has bagged have been only for his hindi movies. Had filmfare been truly nationwide, that number could easily be twice as high. Look later tonight for my analysis of Jodha-Akbar songs.

Double whammy for Rahman

February 25, 2008, 4:17:01 PM

It was A.R. Rahman all the way at the 53rd Annual Filmfare Award. The music maestro, nominated in three categories – Best Music, Best Background Score and Best Singer, walked away with two statues of the black lady (Best Music, Best Background Score) losing out the third one by a whisker.

It should be noted that the world renowned composer had just one release in 2007, director Mani Ratnam’s Guru which released at the very beginning of 2007. However, the film’s songs are still a rage with the masses, a proof of Rahman’s musical prowess.

As he received the award for Best Background Score, Rahman (who was presented the award by Bollywood’s famed director duo Abbas-Mustan) said, “The Filmfare Award is like an ornament for a lady; the more you have, it enhances the charm.”

Later on, he was back on stage once again, this time receiving the Best Music award for Guru from Bappi Lahiri and Poonam Dhillon. The award, his 21st, makes the Mozart of Madras the recipient with the most number of Filmfare awards. We, at Galatta.com, wish the ‘Isai Puyal’ on his glorious triumph.

Hockey is getting interesting.

So, there's 10 games left in the regular season before the playoffs starts, and the NHL is proving to be quite the thriller. Living in portland, I don't get to see too many games, let alone any insightful post-game analysis, but let it be said that I've been drawn in by this year's installment of the final stretch. My habs are on the run for top spot in the eastern conference and they're fighting with a worthy adversary in the neighbouring Ottawa Senators. Add to this the fact that the leafs are likely to miss the playoffs, can a habs fan ask for anything better?? I highly doubt it.

At this point, I guess i'm drawing out a lot of scenarios in my head for the post season matchups and here's something that would be ideal. We all know that the top 6 spots in the east are all but locked up for the Ottawa Senators, New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Rangers. The Boston Bruins and Philadelphia flyers seem to be in shape to get in, but with the last 10 games, if Toronto gets very lucky can manage to squeeze in. I am as anti-leaf as the next habs fan, but I'd still rather have toronto in the playoffs than an american team so for the time being.. Go Leafs Go. I must also admit that i do fear the leafs in the playoffs, especially if they're facing the habs. As horrible a team as they are, they somehow manage to perform well against the Canadiens every time. It seems that they only perform against the senators and the Canadiens, as though their only goal is to bring down their fellow canadian teams. It would be a bitter pill to swallow to see them barely make into the playoffs and eliminate the teams that have worked so hard throughout the year.

I guess the ideal scenario would be if Ottawa finished 1st in the conference and are forced to play the leafs in the 1st round. (highly unlikely.. more likely the Flyers).. New Jersey should be able to streamroll through 7th place Boston. and 3rd place Carolina are going to be destroyed by 6th place Montreal. That's right.. I said 6th place montreal.. you're probably wondering that I'm insane for saying that montreal drop to 6th place in the standings. that's because i see pittsburgh and newyork rangers to take 4th and 5th place respectively.. and face each other.. This leaves montreal to play the lowly hurricanes in the 1st round. It's just the kind of confidence building a young team needs early in the playoffs. Habs beat carolina in 5 and get through to the second round.

Going into the second round, we have, Ottawa Vs. Pittsburgh/NewYork and Montreal vs. New Jersey.. Knowing the Habs record vs. the devils this year, this should favour the habs.. and any one of ottawa, newyork or pittsburgh can get through on the other side. The reason i said any one of the three is because all three are very capable teams that are offensively powerful, and can be considered powerhouses.

Look ahead to the conference finals. The dream finals would be Ottawa vs. Montreal (although i dread it considering montreal's miserable showing in tonight's game). I see New York pulling through to face the habs. Habs take the series in 7 thanks to some stellar goaltending by the young Price. wishful thinking i know. The habs are still a good season away from becoming the contenders they're touted to be.

Out in the west, i'm betting that the sharks will make it through. The acquisition of Campbell to strengthen their defense was definitely the move of the deadline.

I know i'm being extremely hopeful here but you can't stop a guy from dreaming. You can't tell me that an all canadian conference final doesn't excite you. Let's get this show on the road and show the world what we're made of..

Sports Night - First Impression

So after numerous attempts, I managed to get a hold of the full 2 seasons of Sports Night. For those of you that don't know, Sports Night is considered by many to be the "father" show of the the West Wing. Aaron Sorkin's original creation for the small screen, but was unfortunately cancelled after just 2 seasons. It was soon followed by the record number of emmy award winning West Wing. Very similar to sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Sports Night revolves around a late night sports news show production. One difference being Sports Night was dubbed a sitcom and hence each episode is only 30 minutes long with some annoying laughter overlays in the middle of scenes. (not very sorkinese) The show does not lack its share of punchy dialogues either. So far I must say I'm impressed with the quality, although it is of no comparison to sorkin's master work. It still attacks those key issues that we run into in society and it still has numerous moments of intellectual wit.

I figured I'd start with the first episode that really blew me away, that also attacked something I hadn't already seen in the west wing. Robert Guillaume plays Isaac Jaffe, the station manager and felicity huffman plays Dana the producer. This episode revolves around Jeremy, played by Joshua Malina. (Will Bailey in West Wing) Jeremy is sent to cover a hunting segment for the show and despite his qualms with the assignment, Jeremy doesn't say a word about it and continues on with the assignment. He is then hospitalized and returns to work 2 days after the hunting assignment and has this conversation with Isaac, when Issac questions him as to what had happened.

Jeremy Goodwin: We shot a deer. In the woods near Lake Mattatuck on the second day. There was a special vest they had me wear so that they could distinguish me from things they wanted to shoot, and I was pretty grateful for that. Almost the whole day had gone by, and we hadn't gotten anything. Eddie was getting frustrated and Bob Shoemaker was getting embarrassed. My camera guy needed to re-load so I told everybody to take a ten minute break. There was a stream nearby and I walked over with this care-package Natalie made me. I sat down and when I looked up I saw three of them; small, bigger, biggest. Recognizable to any species on the face of the planet as a child, a mother and a father. Now, the trick in shooting deer is you gotta get 'em out in the open. And it's tough with deer, 'cause these are clever, cagey animals with an intuitive sense of danger. You know what you have to do to get a deer out in the open? You hold out a twinkie. That animal clopped up to me like we were at a party. She seemed to be pretty interested in the twinkie, so I gave it to her. Looking back, she'd have been better off if I'd given her the damn vest. And Bob kind of screamed at me in whisper, "Move away!" The camera had been re-loaded and it looked like the day wasn't gonna be a washout after all. So I backed away, a couple of steps at a time, and I closed my eyes when I heard the shot. Look, I know these are animals, and they don't play bridge and go to the prom, but you can't tell me that the little one didn't know who his mother was. That's gotta mean something. And later, at the hospital, Bob Shoemaker was telling me about the nobility and tradition of hunting and how it related to the native American Indians. And I nodded and I said that was interesting while I was thinking about what a load of crap it was. Hunting was part of Indian culture. It was food and it was clothes and it was shelter. They sang and danced and offered prayers to the gods for a successful hunt so that they could survive just one more unimaginably brutal winter. The things they had to kill held the highest place of respect for them, and to kill for fun was a sin. And they knew the gods wouldn't be so generous next time. What we did wasn't food and it wasn't shelter and it sure wasn't sports! It was just mean!

Isaac: Jeremy, why didn't you tell us how you felt about hunting when we gave you this?

Jeremy Goodwin: With all due respect Mr. Jaffe, I have 80,000 dollars in college loans to pay back. My instincts told me to shut the hell up and do what I'm told.

Isaac: Your instincts were wrong

Jeremy Goodwin: Not fitting in is how qualified people lose jobs

Isaac: Yeah but a lof of the time, that's how they end up working here. Now you had an obligation to tell us how you felt. Partly because i don't like getting a phone call saying I put one of my people in the hospital. But mostly because if you feel that strongly about something, you have a responsibility to try and change my mind. Did you think I'd fire you simply because you made a convincing argument. It's taken me a lot of years, but I've come around to this. If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you. I'm an awfully smart man and Mark Sabbath is an idiot. He had you and he blew it. You fit in on your own time, but when you come to work for me, you show up to play. I'm going home.

I'm continually amazed at Sorkin's ability to write the most provocative dialogue on television. It's very unfortunate that Sports Night was another show of his that was cancelled after only 2 seasons. I really hope that he continues to write in the future so we can squeeze out everything this creative mind has to offer. I will continue to post some interesting dialogues and storylines that I encounter from time to time.