In case you haven’t been paying microscopically close attention to the news at the U of WO, there’s a referendum that will decide the future of the undergraduate bus pass. I say “microscopic” attention because the USC has let this slip under the radar.
Long story short, vote YES to keep the bus pass (at the rate of $135 per year) or vote no and go it alone. The USC will consider it a decision of “no” if less than 5500 votes are cast in total or “no” gets more votes than YES.
I’ve done some maths on this and the new bus pass rate will pay for itself after 50 rides (at the LTC adult rate of $2.75 per ride). Fifty should be easy to cover for anyone that doesn’t live within a 5-minute walk of campus. Basically, voting YES is the only real sensible way to go.
But what if you wanted more reasons? Suppose you want to live within five minutes of campus but haven’t signed a lease yet so you wouldn’t need a bus pass. (I guess that means you don’t plan on going downtown or to Masonville.) I would put pen to paper soon because those places close to campus will be in much higher demand. I would imagine a smart landlord would be able to pull in more than $135 over twelve months more than he is now. You’ll buy a bus pass from the LTC, you say? At $70 per month it’s only $560 plus tax. Maybe you have a car and will drive to campus everyday. Good news, you can get a parking permit (with no guarantee that you’ll get a spot you like) for only $638.
So vote YES. Save some cash. Be environmentally friendly. Don’t freeze to death in winter. Pick whatever reason you need, just vote YES.
The NBA announced today that their development league, imaginatively called the NBA D-League, will use a new playoff format. The three division winners will qualify (as seeds #1, #2, and #3) along with the next five highest teams in the standings. The highest seeded division winner will pick its opponent from the teams from the bottom four seeds. The #2 seed will pick from the remaining teams followed by the #3 seed with the #4 seed getting the not-so-fat kid everyone is scared of.
Now, some would say that this is ground breaking but I would beg to differ. In fact, I would claim that the NBA D-League has stolen their idea and not given the originator any credit.
The idea of high seeds picking their opponent was originally proposed by Hockeycentral at Noon host Nick Kypreos. His proposal had the #1 seed in the NHL picking its opponent from all of the other 15 teams qualified for the playoffs with the next highest remaining seed picking until all eight series were made. The high seeds would also get this privilege in the second and third rounds. The only real difference between the D-League system and the Nicknundrum (as it was dubbed by Hockeycentral host Darren Millard) is that the NBA gives a bonus for winning the division and forces the choice to be from the bottom half of the rankings.
I like the idea. If only Nick would get the credit when one of the big leagues adopt it…
Is it the fact that Western Mustang’s coach Brad Campbell can’t hide how upset he is with his team’s performance on Saturday anymore or the fact that I’m excited that I was on the cover of the campus newspaper? Campbell is in the foreground doing a classic facepalm and I’m in the top-left corner (the brown-haired guy with the beard).
According to hockey rumour insider extraordinaire Eklund, of HockeyBuzz.com, the NHL will announce the details of a new United States TV deal shortly. Details after the jump. Continue reading →
With all the league championships and last chance qualifiers decided on Saturday night, the CIS have announced the rankings for this weekend’s Canadian University Basketball championships. Of course, this being sports run by a faceless committee (e.g. the BCS), fans and pundits were crying foul within minutes of the bracket being announced.
Here are the CIS Final 8 that will battle it out for national supremacy (and how they qualified): Continue reading →
It’s the weekend and I’ve got nothing better to do at the moment, so here’s some nice weekend reading while you wait for the World Baseball Classic games today.
Man tries to smuggle drugs into Spain using a cocaine cast. (BBC)
Ten Florida State teams will forfeit wins from the last two years for committing widespread academic fraud. It serves them right for getting caught. (New York Times)
In Soviet Russia, potato peels you. (Moscow Times)
The lord and master of sports blogs breaks down A-Fraud’s injury. (New York Magazine)
And while looking up an A-Fraud story on CNBC, I found a slideshow to help everyone pass the time this weekend. After all, the best selling porn DVDs have to be worth a look. (CNBC)
One last A-Fraud story: Brian Cashman wanted to send A-Rod packing when he opted out of his contract in 2007. (New York Post)
The Yankees, Mets, and Cowboys still have seats begging for asses at their new homes. (Wall Street Journal)
And because we posted some good Wrestlemania moments earlier in the week, here’s one of wrestling’s more embarrassing moments.
I remember reading (probably on WrestleCrap) that maybe Hogan isn’t the crazy one for seeing Warrior in the mirror. After all, not only did Hogan see Warrior but so did the commentators and everyone at home. The crazy one must have been Bischoff because he is the only person in the world who didn’t see Warrior in the mirror. And people still wonder how WCW died…
I’m not entirely sure that my bosses or the OUA would want me to say this, but this Saturday’s basketball game is entirely meaningless. After all, by winning the OUA West division title, the Western Mustangs have already clinched a spot in the CIS National Championships. Meanwhile, the #1 ranked Carleton Ravens are hosting the nationals so they were in even if they didn’t rout the OUA East division en route to their eighth crown in ten years. Still, while this is just a glorified exhibition game, we could be looking at a national championship preview.
Actually, I shouldn’t say that my bosses don’t want me saying the above because one of them pointed this fact out to me. In fact, if the game wasn’t in London at Alumni Hall or it conflicted with the hockey game later that night, we wouldn’t be broadcasting it at all. The fact remains that we are, so here’s a preview of tomorrow’s big OUA Men’s Basketball Final.
#1 Carleton Ravens
The Ravens come into action on Saturday as the heavy favourites. They have decimated the whole of the OUA field this season. After losing their first game of the year to Windsor, the Ravens have run up a streak of 23 straight wins which includes a 79-74 win against the Mustangs at Alumni Hall.
The key to the game for Carleton is to use their perfection on offense. The Ravens are the strongest offensive team in the OUA averaging 8 more points per game than any other team in Ontario. Western’s emphasis on rebounding and solid defending in the paint will only get them so far. It will be the ability of Carleton to drown them the Mustangs with offense that could allow them to lift the Wilson Trophy at game’s end. The man leading that attack will be the East division player of the year Stuart Turnbull and first team all-star Aaron Doornekamp.
#4 Western Mustangs
The Mustangs find themselves heading to the national championships after a surprise appearance last season. This year, the Mustangs started and finished the season ahead of the pack in the OUA West. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, they haven’t beaten the Ravens since 2001.
The Mustangs need to win the battles along the glass to pick up the W at the end of the day. Keenan Jeppesen and Brad Smith are two of the OUA’s most dominant big men and can control a game when “el fuego.” OUA West defensive player of the year is going to play an important part of the Mustangs defensive scheme when he tries to shut down Turnbull and will have to be as good on the offensive end of the floor as Wednesday when he was 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Of course, you can listen to this game live on 94.9FM CHRW (in London) and at CHRWradio.com starting at about 1:55 PM on Saturday. And you can spend the following hour-and-a-half wondering who thought it was a good idea to let me be a basketball commentator.
I can’t believe that I missed it. Early this morning was the first game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Now I know I’m not a baseball guy but I can’t help but ask why the hell there needs to be a baseball world championship. Continue reading →
When The Wrestler took off in popularity, the media lit up with stories on who the lead character, Randy “The Ram” Robinson, was based on. It was almost as if wrestling jumped back into mainstream pop culture like it did in the mid- to late-90s. But with all the controversy surrounding pro wrestling, the media isn’t looking for all feel good stories. They were looking for stories like “The Ram” where the business used them up and spit them out. But with pro wrestling back in the legitimate news, there has been some pretty good stories written. Here’s some of the best ones out there:
Tito Santana
Santana is one of the few feel good stories to come out of professional wrestling (or so the media would have you believe). The two-time WWE Intercontinental and two-time WWE Tag Team champion still wrestles on the independant wrestling circuits while teaching Spanish in middle school. In short, his life has turned out the exact opposite of The Ram’s.
(Full Story: New York Times)
Jon Rechart (A.K.A. Balls Mahoney)
For every story like Tito’s, there’s plenty more about guys still scraping by, beaten from pillar to post by the sport they love. But as the three-time ECW tag-team champion says the roar of the crowd is infectious. While he did make some good money in wrestling, he occasionally did it at the expense of his dignity as evidenced by his WWF run as Xanta Klaus.
There’s not much to this Q&A with the ECW heavyweight and TNA X-division champion. But he resemblence between he and The Ram is scary.
(Full Story: Metromix Chicago)
Michael Taris
While these three stars have all been on major television programs, pay-per-views, and made some decent money, not every wrestler has made the big leagues. Case in point, Taris was charged with insurance fraud and attempted theft after staging a fall to make a $50,000 damages claim. This goes to show that the business can be tougher on you if you can’t make the big leagues.
(Full Story: Philly.com)
Ted DiBiase
I’m ending on this one because this is a redemption story. The media would have you believe that the sex, drugs, rock & roll lifestyle that wrestlers live leads to a downward spiral to an early grave. Ted was caught up in that lifestyle before finding his salvation in God. Now he’s using the lessons of his past to help people as a minister.
(Full Story: The Sun)
And one last bit of fun. Mental Floss has created another epic quiz. This one, appropriately, is about Wrestlemania’s past. Give it a shot and see if you can match my 14/14. Click here for the quiz.
One month from today, for the 25th time in history, the stars of the WWE will step between the ropes and enter the showcase of the immortals. The 25th edition of Wrestlemania brings to mind some of the great moments that Vince McMahon has given us. For all the crap that Vince takes, he’s given us Hogan/Andre, Rock/Austin, Warrior/Hogan, Savage/Steamboat, and I could go on and I’ll get to those moments closer to when the WWE takes to the grandest stage of them all.
Today, though, we build up to Wrestlemania. Almost as fun as the matches themselves is the feuds leading up to Wrestlemania unfolding. So to celebrate 25 Wrestlemanias, here’s some of the best video packages for Wrestlemania matches.
Wrestlemania 6 – Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior
This match was unprecedented for a number of reasons. The two combatants were champions going into the ring (Hogan holding the Heavyweight title and Warrior the Intercontinental) but one would leave empty handed. The match was also the first Wrestlemania main event where two babyface (good guy) wrestlers met which forced the crowd into making a choice to back Hogan or Warrior. And it led to some of the weirdest interviews ever like this one Warrior did.
Wrestlemania 14 – Shawn Michaels vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
This match was the one that ushered in the Attitude Era of the WWE. The man who led the WWE into and through that era was beer drinking, hell raising, son of a bitch by the name of Steve Austin. But to get there Austin had to go through Shawn Michaels and this match’s special enforcer and HBK’s D-X comrade Mike Tyson.
Wrestlemania 17 – The Rock vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
The Rock and Steve Austin was one of the great rivalries of the Attitude Era WWE. This match here though was their most iconic. The end of the match may have been the most shocking in the history of pro wrestling when Vince McMahon and Stone Cold joined forces. But what you knew heading into it was going to be a special match was given an equally as amazing video package to build it up.
Wrestlemania 18 – Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock
We’ll never see Bonds vs. Ruth. We’ll never see Ali vs. Tyson. We’ll never see Gretzky vs. Orr. But one night in Toronto, we saw the one of the biggest stars of the 80s take on one of the biggest stars of the 90s in a match for the ages. This match, like Hogan’s 15 years earlier with Andre the Giant, was the passing of the torch that launched The Rock into superstardom. On paper, this could have been one of the biggest train wrecks in history, it turned out to be an instant classic.
Wreslemania 24 – Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels
This could be one of the greatest pre-match video montages ever in the history of the world. Because Flair/Michaels could have been (and was) Ric’s last match, there was so much emotional investment in this match that everything about from the build-up to the video package to the match itself would seem to be the greatest of all time. And every wrestling fan has to admit that he (or she) gets a little choked up seeing the WWE highlight Flair’s career.
Wrestlemania 17 – Gimmick Battle Royal
Alright, this isn’t part of any feud nor is there a video package. Think of this as a bonus. This is all about old fashioned WWF (and I use that deliberately) fun. Okerlund and Heenan calling the action with some legends between the ropes as well isn’t an amazing Wrestlemania moment but is worth the watch for nostalgia’s sake.
The Lowdown 