The SoapBoxers

Our Canadian writer, Tyson Turner, returns after a hiatus.  This week he writes a sports-themed column as he fills in for Johnny Goodman, who is himself on a short hiatus (don’t worry – Johnny will be back soon).

I was pleased to see Chicago win the Stanley Cup, dumping Philly in 6. As someone from Ontario, I’ve seen both Ottawa and Toronto battle with Philly the last few years and have built up quite the hatred for that team. However, I am still in the minority in my hometown. Kenora is the hometown of Philly’s captain, Mike Richards. On top of that, nearby Dryden is the hometown to the Flyers star defenseman, Chris Pronger.

It was amusing driving through town, seeing local businesses with signs such as “Mike vs. Chicago, Friday at 7pm”. Too bad people here don’t really realize Mike Richards probably doesn’t care at all about most of them, just signs a cheque to pay for an addition to the local arena and everyone thinks he is a hero. I guess it just bothers me to some extent, knowing that a lot of his family are pretty unpleasant but people just turn the other cheek since he is a famous hockey player. Are we really that shallow?

Onto the World Cup

So now that hockey is over, what is there to watch? The Blue Jays are off to a surprisingly decent start, but baseball isn’t exactly my favourite sport to watch. So how about soccer? I played the game for many years, but it is hard to get behind it with Canada absent. I blame our climate on why our national soccer team struggles years in year out. Most of the country has about 4-5 legitimate months of playing outdoors, and that’s it. This in contrast to Mexico and the Central America, who can play all year round. How else can I justify us losing regularly to Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, etc.?

The odd statistic on top of this is the fact that there are more registered Canadian youth playing soccer than hockey; yet we are the world’s best at hockey, but are currently ranked #63 in the world for soccer. Perhaps our development program needs some work too. But in any case, I hope the tournament is a big success for South Africa, and kudos to FIFA for thinking outside the box and giving Africa a chance. And as for me, cross your fingers that Canada will be given the chance to host the tournament, because otherwise I don’t think you’ll see us there for a long time.

News Items of the Week

Toronto Maple Leafs winless in first seven games, panic ensues

It’s likely no secret that the Leafs are Canada’s most popular hockey team.  They sell out most arenas all over North America, and often times draw louder cheers than the home team.  But it has been a rough few years, no playoffs lately and no championships since 1967.  Well there was hope heading into this season that GM Brian Burke had made the moves necessary to at least get this team back into the playoffs.  Well an 0-6-1 start and last place in the league have raised many issues, and the fans who pay the most expensive prices for seats have ripped the team with jeers in the last few games.  I guess the question is, only 7 games into an 82 game season, should everyone be panicing like this?  I just don’t understand the attention.  If the team was 6-0-1, I am sure everyone would be planning the Stanley Cup parade.  I am a Leafs fan myself as I was born and raised in Ontario, but even I have to say enough already.  Give the team with a few new faces more of a chance to bond, get the top two goalies off the injured reserve, and then you can get upset…it is inevitable.

Tim Horton’s hires support for parking lot

I have gone on in the past about the popularity and craziness surrounding Tim Horton’s here in Canada.  Well a perfect example of this I think comes from a store on Portage Avenue here in Winnipeg this week.  The store there does not have a particularly big parking lot, and during the morning rush this causes some issues for the drive thru, with cars backed onto the curb lane of Portage.  Well to help with this, the restaurant has hired someone to man the parking lot in the mornings.  He helps sort the cars into two lanes, and also directs cars where to park if people want to dare go inside and fight the line.  Hey, don’t get me wrong the breakfast sandwiches definitely outdo McDonald’s, but really this is crazy.

Gary Doer begins job as ambassador to the USA

After ten years as premier of Manitoba for the New Democrat party, Gary Doer unexpectedly announces his resignation a few weeks ago.  The next day, it was announced he would become Canada’s first ever ambassador to the United States.  He began his job this week meeting up with USA’s official ambassador to Canada (what exactly does that guy do anyways?) for a train trip around the province.  Greg Selinger won the party vote and has replaced Doer, and has two more years until the next election to carve a niche for himself.  Doer I think is a good man for this job.  He was often voted as most popular/well-liked premier and politician in Canada, and just has a way with people.  In the last election two years ago, he led the NDPs to an easy win, forming another majority government.  I think he will be missed here, but he is definitely going to represent us well in his future endeavors.

I am not following the current battle in the USA where Barack Obama is putting in his health care plan.  I don’t know if and when it will actually happen.  For those who are against it (or even for it) here are some thoughts from someone who has known only universal health care.

Here is a quick summary of what is covered and what is not:

Covered:

• Hospital visits and all tests done at the hospital (CT Scans, x-rays, lumbar punctures, MRIs, etc.)
• All drugs administered at the hospital
• Visits/checkups to your general practitioner

Not Covered:

• Ambulance rides
• Prescriptions
• Doctor notes to give to your employer

I should note that for the ‘not covered’, ambulance rides and prescriptions are covered by many benefit plans through employers.  For instance at my work, ambulance rides are covered 100% and my prescriptions are covered 80%.  So even with those, you often end up not having to pay/pay a limited amount.  And if you are also covered by your spouse’s plan, their plan will usually cover the remaining 20%.  So really in the end, there is not much that requires payment.

Why do I like this so much?  Well for one, I like the fact that everyone can get health care.  It doesn’t matter your background, your income, etc. if you need surgery for an emergency you don’t first have to produce a credit card or insurance card to get what you need.  Second, I like that if I am in pain and am suffering, I don’t have to add the worry of money on top of it.  A serious illness can be so stressful and debilitating to a family, I could not imagine the financial burden on top of that.  I think back to my own recent hospital visit.  The doctor proposed to me a lumbar puncture as a way to confirm that there were no serious underlying issues going on with me.  If this test carried say, a $2500 bill attached to it, I highly doubt I would have went through with it.  But since it did not, I could go ahead with it and get confirmation that I had no serious internal stuff going on.  On top of this, as someone who makes an hourly wage (not on salary) being sick already cost me a day of wages.  That can be tough enogh for people to overcome let alone the double whammy of a big hospital bill too.

So that is a summary of the good things.  Are there negatives?  I am sure there are, just like with most things in life.  But in my opinion, the positives outweigh the negatives any day.

So it’s been a while…much too long. I give many thanks and apologies to Kosmo for his understanding and ability to fill the spot in my absence.

The main reason for my absence was the combination of a brutal migraine/sinus infection which kept me on the sidelines from pretty much everything for about three weeks. Migraines have run in the family a long time, back at least three generations. I remember the losing battles my mom had with them, often spending days laying in darkness and trying not to throw up. Well, this was my first official taste of a migraine and I really hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.

I do have to give some props though, props to our health care system. Hospital overcrowding is an issue just about everywhere, and many bad things have occurred as a result of patients waiting too long. Well on the Friday morning I decided that I needed to head to the Concordia hospital, the main reason I was not looking forward to the trip was because of the anticipated wait time. It’s bad enough my head felt like it was caving in, thinking about then having to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room for a few hours made it even worse. So one can imagine my surprise when I arrived at the hospital to find an EMPTY waiting room! I really thought I was in bad shape and that I must be hallucinating. So I gave my information, went through triage, and went right in to my own room. Within half an hour I had a consult with a doctor, blood work drawn, and plans to get a CT scan done. When that came back clear, we discussed and then executed a lumbar puncture. Meds were brought promptly, I had regular visits from nurses, you name it. Percocet was a highlight of the day. All in all, it was pretty unbelievable, especially considering a friend of mine went to the Grace hospital within the next week and waited over six hours to see an MD.

I really consider myself fortunate for the quick and effective treatment I got, and it really makes me sad that hospitals get slammed so badly when obviously most of the people there are trying their best to give patients proper and prompt care. I am also fortunate this is only the second time I’ve needed to go to the hospital for care in my life. And I am most fortunate for the fact that after this whole experience, I am not thousands of dollars in debt. I’ll talk more about that next week though!

First off, in a bit of a follow up to last week, my kudos to a contestant on Trivial Pursuit this week who correctly answered the question “What is the capital of British Columbia”? While most would have went with the obvious choice of Vancouver, she correctly responded with Victoria (a very beautiful city and year in year out voted best city to live in Canada). So, well done, restoring my faith in the geography skills of Americans.

So the big deal this week in Canadian sports was the unveiling of Canada’s hockey team’s jerseys for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The jersey is actually fairly boring to look at on the surface, just standard red and white with a big maple leaf. However within the maple leaf contains some images of past Olympic successes. The jerseys are selling for about $130 Canadian. I really think if the country won gold in men’s hockey but didn’t win another medal the games would still be a success. Prognosticators are predicting this could be Canada’s best medal haul ever, with hockey, curling, speed skating and snowboarding being at the top of the list where Canada has some legitimate contenders. Given the lack of success our athletes had in Calgary in 1988 (no gold medals), the pressure is definitely on.

Otherwise, I found some fascinating Canadian trivia this week which I felt just had to be passed on. This includes:

• The Trans-Canada highway is the longest national highway in the world, measuring in at 7821 kilometres.
• Canada has some famous roadside attractions, including world’s largest coke can, world’s largest beaver, and world’s largest tin soldier.
• Quebec City is North America’s only walled city.
• Toronto’s CN Tower is the world’s largest free-standing structure. I have stood on the glass floor before, and it is quite the experience.
• The highest waterfall in Canada is actually not Niagara Falls. It is Della Falls in British Columbia, with a height of 440 metres.
• The legal drinking age in Canada is actually 19 in all provinces and territories except for Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta, where it is just 18! So you young Americans who want to experience the bar for the first time (legally) should make the trip up!

I am currently out at Lake of the Woods for the last time this summer. We finally have some nice weather, so I am going back out to enjoy it. Next Saturday I am off to Grand Forks for the day, so I will report back with details of my latest American experience!

So three things caught my attention this week that I feel are worth sharing. They range from comical to serious, so enjoy!

The Pursuit of Knowledge

So it often works out that when I am eating lunch, my television is tuned to Trivial Pursuit: America Plays hosted by Christopher Knight. I have always enjoyed Trivial Pursuit, so I find watching it on television to still be entertaining but also educational. I have seen before on other shows such as Jeopardy questions asked of Americans about basic Canadian facts only to see them completely mess up the answer. Well today’s question was “What province is Halifax the capital of?” Well only one of the participants had the bravery to provide an answer. His answer was “Ontarrrio”. Notice that his answer wasn’t Ontario (pronounced On-tear-e-o) but On-tar-e-o. Of course this is incorrect. I was actually surprised he chose this province, as the capital of Ontario is Canada’s biggest and most famous city, Toronto. I know it’s funny, but at the same time I do admit that I do not know all of the State capitals, so perhaps I should shut my mouth. I did end up feeling smarter than the contestants of the show though, as I knew the state capital of Ohio was Columbus while both of them did not (first guess Cleveland, second guess Cincinnati). Oh and by the way, Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia.

Michael Vick Soars Again

Many people have heard of Michael Vick, whether they are a fan of the NFL or not. Well Michael is now officially back in the NFL, having signed a two year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. When it comes to strictly improving your football team, this is a good move. He will have to shake off a fair bit of rust, but can slide comfortably into the backup role behind Donovan McNabb while he gets back into game shape. The only question is how this will affect the team in terms of its image. As a pet owner, I was as disgusted as anyone for what he did. While he did serve his time and pay his debt to society, I still really find myself despising him. I work with people with intellectual disabilities and even they know better than Vick when it came to what he did with those dogs. I personally hope his career is over and that he is heckled thoroughly everywhere he goes. This is one I just can’t get my head past.

Tim Horton’s

I don’t know what there is in the States to match this franchise. Dunkin Donuts perhaps? Tim Horton’s is a symbol of Canada like no other. It is our favourite place to have a coffee and donut. The franchise has actually expanding into a few northern States as well. Every morning drive-thru lines are packed, and lineups go out the doors as people will do anything to “get their Timmies”. Many people have bumper stickers to this effect. This week though, Tim’s got some publicity it didn’t want, as it was apparently a sponsor of a big anti-gay festival in Rhode Island. After news of this got out, they pulled out their support, claiming it was just one specific franchise owner in the area. This was definitely the right move, as many Canadians are open to gay marriage and full gay rights and the backlash up here would have been strong. I give kudos to the franchise for acting quickly to get this mess straightened out. On another note, I don’t see myself visiting Providence anytime soon.  

In what should be the first of a series of “promoting” some Canadian tourist destinations, I figured I’d start with one that is a challenge: my current city of residence, Winnipeg. Winnipeg is often the butt of jokes from Canadians (an air miles commercial comes to mind where the guy took the wrong flight and instead of Hawaii he ended up going to Winnipeg and was very unhappy) mainly for its weather. In winter, it can reach as low as -50 celsius and in summer as high as +35 celsius. The city is about a 20 minute drive west of the centre point of Canada. I view this as a bonus, as it makes it easier to access the different cities in the country. Anyways, here are some of the specifics which I think make Winnipeg stand out:

MTS Centre: One of the 10 busiest venues in North America each year since it opened, it has helped attract some big names in terms or performances and concerts. I have enjoyed Cirque do Soleil, Oasis, numerous hockey games, Disney on Ice, etc. The building will turn five years old this fall, but remains a bright spot in the city’s downtown area. With plenty of parking surrounding it, the arena has helped revitalized the downtown core.

The Forks: An area of the city on the Red River packed with history, is also the future home of the Canadian Human Rights Museum which is slated to open in spring of 2012. There are plenty of old stores, restaurants, the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball stadium, and a long walkway along the river for anyone’s enjoyment. I sort of fashion it to the Navy Pier in Chicago.

Cultural Events: Every summer there is an exciting and diverse list of festivals that every Winnipegger can look forward to. There is the two week long Fringe Festival, packed full of small plays and shows in many small venues that cost only $5-10 to attend. This festival brings acts from all over North America. Currently going on is the two week Folklorama, which showcases over 40 pavilions with countries such as Greece, Italy, Portugal, El Salvador, Cuba, Mexico and many others. Each pavilion provides entertainment, history, food and more which give the visitor a real taste of that country. Folk Fest runs for five days in July at Bird’s Hill Park and gives people a chance to tent out and enjoy their favourite musicians. Elvis Costello and Ani DiFranco were notable performers this year. Countryfest, which is a yearly set of concerts in Dauphin (a short drive west of Winnipeg) also brings some big names up north for country music fans. This event always sells out and sells out early, and featured names this year such as Tim McGraw, The Roadhammers, Charlie Major, and many more.

Proximity to Stuff: Want to visit our neighbours to the south to feel what life in the States is like? Grand Forks is a mere two hour drive south. Want to see Mall of America and all of the major sports leagues? Minneapolis is just a 6 hour drive southeast. Want to spend time at the lake, go to a beach? Well then you are talking about 30-120 minutes worth of driving, in basically every direction. Heck even Chicago, Edmonton and Calgary can be done in a 12 hour drive. If you like road trips, there are lots of great things to see and do in only a day’s drive.

I guess what motivated me to write this is a story in the news this week about how tourism in the city is down a fair bit this year. Now obviously the weather has something to do with this (8 months in a row of below average temperatures) but also the new law put into place in June where you must have a passport to cross the US/Canada border by car. With many Americans not having bothered to obtain a passport, this has hit hard up here. I encourage Americans (and Canadians for that matter) to go and get this, and experience the many great places that are not really that far from home.

I have to hold true to the word I gave the customer service rep from JCPenney and tell this story to the general public. I figure the bad press I can give counts for something.

My first impressions of JCPenney were very good. My mom in her travels to the States had decided to get a JCPenney credit card as she liked the things there, including the variety. Well I hadn’t really spent much time there myself, I decided to check it out when I went to Grand Forks last December for some Christmas shopping. Well, I was just about blown away. They had great sales, but even better, interesting gifts! I especially loved the thermos you could plug into your car to keep the contents extra hot (it also had a thermometer on the outside). On top of that, they had this massive kitchen set in a box for only 100$ which contained everything from cookie sheets to frying fans to a knife set. What a deal! I left there promising to be back next December to find more gifts to impress my Canadian family and friends. I will admit right now I will be breaking that promise.

My mom watches her finances closely. She isn’t someone who is short of money. So I knew when complained to me about JCPenney charging her a $35 late fee for the credit card we shared something was wrong. Well, she phoned and got it resolved…or did she? Turns out that once she received her bill, her payment was due the very next day. So she express posted a payment to them, incurring an extra $12 expense to try and get it there on time. Well the payment ended up being one day late, and she was met with this fee. So she phoned in, and JCPenney took it off. But the same issue was awaiting my mom the next month, and every month after. So what, she is stuck paying a total of an extra 47 dollars just to have this card? Well the CSRs for JCPenney weren’t so nice anymore. They told her it was as simple as a “mail issue” and there was nothing else they could do. Now I have worked as a CSR before (actually for Comcast) and I know that there is always something you can do.

So I finally had enough. Mom and I decided to cut up the cards, and she would mail one final payment. But this wasn’t enough for me. I decided it was time for me to phone and hear this for myself. To know me in person is to know I am not someone who flies off the handle at small things. I generally treat people with dignity and respect, and always make the extra effort with CSRs having done that job and knowing the crap they deal with. But in the end, I couldn’t take it with this woman. I let her have it, and went up and down a couple times. I appreciate she tried the famous “What would you like me to do to solve this for you” but when I told her, she said she couldn’t do it (Hint: don’t ask that kind of question if a reasonable answer is given but you still can’t/won’t do it). The obvious problem in the end here is that more time is needed between the billing date and the payment due date. But since that would break the contract we signed with them, that would not happen. I asked her “If the situation was reserved, what would you do”? She said “I’d re-think my usage of the card”. I told her we had re-thought our usage, and since this was the lame attempt to keep our business when there were so many other options out there, that our usage was done.

So word to the wise especially to all my fellow Canadians and international shoppers out there: Don’t get suckered into acquiring this card if you want to deal with all of these extra charges. And, when it comes to be December, go on strike against JCPenney with me.

This week to mix it up, thought I’d present a few of the noteworthy news stories that have taken place in this wonderful and sometimes odd country.

The Lotto Loser

Barry Shell of Brampton, Ontario must have thought he had all the luck when he found out he had won a cool 4.4 million dollars in a national lottery recently.  However, Barry’s enjoyment of his winnings was short lasted, as he was almost immediately carted off to jail. The skeletons came tumbling out of Shell’s closet on account of the simplest of reasons – he failed to provide the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation with proper ID during the routine processing of his winning ticket. An arrest warrant had been issued in 2003 after he didn’t show up for a court date.  Now granted the warrant was for something minor (theft under $500) but still, I would bet he didn’t anticipate that result.

Sweet and Sour Mouse Sauce

The owners of an Edmonton, Alberta restaurant were fined $23,230 yesterday for “horrible and disgusting” conditions that included having mice skeletons and beetle larvae.  The restaurant of note is the Wonderful Garden Restaurant in Edmonton’s downtown area.  Turns out this is not the first time the restaurant has had reprimands from the local health inspector.  They have been hit with numerous violations before, and were actually shut down for two weeks back in March.  Another highlight of the most recent inspection was the sight of staff washing hands overtop of meat that was thawing in the sink.  I think that given Edmonton’s size and diverse selection of restaurants, why would anyone continue to eat there?

Scary Swamp

In a story more that affected some people close to me, Valerie Cain was found safe after being missing for 6 days in the bush near Red Lake, Ontario.  Cain, an x-ray technician, was working in Red Lake for the weekend and on the way home pulled over on an old road to go to the bathroom and somehow got disoriented and ended up lost.  She survived mainly on a bit of cherries and crackers she had with her, and drank disgusting swamp water to try and avoid dehydration.  Miraculously, she escaped only with a lot of mosquito bites and some dehydration.  She was discovered a day after her vehicle was found.  She credited being in great physical shape as the reason why she survived.  It seems like these disappearance stories end too often with tragedy, so it was great to see a happy ending here.

Strike Out

Canada’s national passenger train company, Via Rail, has set a strike deadline for Friday at noon.  As a result, passengers en route to different vacations across the country have been stranded or forced to take alternative modes of transportation.  This was particularly an issue for a young man from Halifax, Nova Scotia who was stuck here in Winnipeg today.  He ended up taking a Greyhound bus to his destination.  Of course that is not a popular choice of travel in these parts, given that it was only 80 kilometres west of Winnipeg where Tim McLean was beheaded in a greyhound bus just over a year ago.

Oh, Canadians

The funniest story of the week comes from Hatfield Point, New Brunswick.  A man was found guilty of uttering threats to a school principal who had planned to scale back the singing of Oh Canada every morning.  The man threatened to “beat the principal senseless” outside of his office.  The principal, Erik Millett, is now considering libel suits against the man and others who threatened him with violence.  The whole controversy was put to rest when New Brunswick government gave in to public pressure and made it mandatory for the anthem to be sung in all schools across the province.

You might be wondering what the CFL stands for. It is the Canadian Football League, our low budget version of the NFL. I am definitely a sports guy but sports won’t be the topic of my choice too often. I do think though that the CFL is underrated in terms of talent and quality. Here are some of the need to knows:

Teams: There are currently 8 teams, 4 in the west division and 4 in the east division. In the west, you have the B.C. Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, and Saskatchewan Roughriders. In the east, the teams are the Montreal Alouettes, Hamilton Tigercats, Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The league has twice ventured into Ottawa, but has had limited success maintaining a successful franchise there for some reason. A new ownership group has been given the rights to a new team, but they won’t be rejoining the league likely for a couple more years anyways.

The CFL actually ventured into the States back in the 90s, but attendance and interest were major issues, and the foray lasted only a few years. The CFL tried out cities such as Birmingham, Shreveport, Memphis, Sacramento and even Las Vegas (where the team lasted only a year, attracting a pathetic 3,000 fan average a game) but could only find success in Baltimore (pre NFL days) where the team was pretty popular and even captured the league championship one year. Perhaps the most interesting failure came in San Antonio. The team lasted only one year, despite having some pretty well known NFL names running the show. Jason Garrett was the starting quarterback, Mike Riley the head coach, and Tom Landry the GM!

Rules: The biggest difference is that the CFL plays with only 3 downs. This increases the pressure to have solid yardage on first down. This is why a lot of Canadians find the NFL pretty slow paced. The extra down allows NFL teams to run more tedious, 2 yard rushing plays. The CFL field is 110 yards long, and end zones are 20 yards long. One of the more controversial rules allows for teams to score one point from missed field goals which sail through the end zone. Everyone up here is just waiting for the championship game, tied at 27, to come down to a last second field goal and have the kicker miss but still win the game by one point thanks to this ridiculous rule. Otherwise, there are more similarities than differences between the two leagues.

Attendance: You’ll never see the pure numbers of fans at games like you do in the NFL. For instance, maximum capacity of the stadium in Winnipeg and Regina (Saskatchewan) is right around the 30,000 mark. Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium is the biggest in the league, with a capacity of 60,081. One of the oddest attendance issues comes every season in Toronto. Despite the fact Toronto is by far the biggest market in the league, the team is always in the bottom half of league attendance. This even occurred when the team was a perennial contender, with Doug Flutie quarterbacking the team to championships in the late 90s.

State of the League: After the disastrous 90s, where the league needed a loan from the NFL to stay afloat, the league is in pretty strong health right now. Attendance league wide is fairly decent (minus Hamilton, where the team has been brutal for about 6 years in a row now) and almost every team turned a profit last year. Here in Winnipeg the team has erased a debt of over 5 million dollars over the last 5 years. The quality of play is very strong too, and the league has several marketable stars. It has been interesting to note how some ex NFL stars have struggled up here. Players such as Onterrio Smith, Andre Rison, and even Ricky Williams were not nearly as successful as they were in the NFL. Canadian fans always cheer for ex-CFLers to make it big in the NFL. One of the biggest success stories was QB Jeff Garcia, but of course there have been many others. The biggest salaries you’ll see up here are about 400,000-500,000 (Canadian) for starting quarterbacks; hence there financially there is plenty of motivation to try and catch on with an NFL team.

I still am a big fan of the NFL, but the CFL game will always be my favourite. I suggest giving it a chance if you ever have the opportunity. You might be pleasantly surprised.