blueandgoldguy

Maher makes a helluva lot more money than Ezra ever did on television. That's true. One probably makes millions each year while the other is unemployed while posting videos proclaiming he and the Sun Network won debates on several current topics of interests and whining how unjust it is that CBC gets mandatory carriage in what should be a free market while complaining the SUN News network should have been given that same mandatory carriage..

I sat in the $9 Seven-Eleven seats as a kid in the north endzone ski slope seats. Those ranged anywhere from rows 27 all the way up to row 43 - the final row. Actually not a bad view from up there and you can see the entire ice. Not all views in the upper deck were bad. Back in the early 90s when Perth's took over as corporate sponsor who offered the discounted tickets, we often sat in rows 6 - 8 between the blueline and the face off circle. Since the upper deck hung over a good portion of lower bowl, you were actually close to the ice. Saw many highlights from the 1992-93 season up there including Teemu's record-breaking goal against Quebec and rookie record-breaking assist against the Laffs.

The high attendances in the Brier's history occurred over a relatively short span - late 90s to late 2000s. That coincides with Boomers hitting middle age and late middle age. So it's not surprising that crowds have started to dwindle. Boomers are the largest segment of the population and as they age and are less likely to attend these events, the age group replacing them will be comparatively smaller. Thus, the smaller crowds. Prior to the curling boom period, the crowds at the Brier were no better than they are now.

I mean things certainly aren't peachy keen, but comparing Manitoba to Alberta isn't exactly fair. Alberta sits on a pile of black gold, doesn't have to deal with annual floods of the caliber that we see, and in general is built on better terrain than Manitoba. With all these advantages, the conservatives have routinely screwed the pooch in Alberta, and the fact that people are even comparing the two provinces is evidence of that. I can't really fault the NDP for the debt considering the federal government is also still in deficit, and the 8% PST thing was so overblown it's not funny. The same people who advocated for a decade long property tax freeze (this is the real cause of the crumbling infrastructure) are the same people who are complaining about the PST. All that said I really think that Manitoba needs a change in leadership, which is why I was hoping Selinger would be defeated here. Pallister is just too much of a buffoon to govern and the fact that he will likely win terrifies me. It's times like these that I wish we had proportional representation so that voting for a third party was feasible. I'll vote for the Cons, but it would be nice to have a legit third option in the liberals. Last time they were relevant was the mid-90s.

The building inspectors in Calgary (and probably Alberta) are spread very thin. Friends of ours bought a brand-new expensive home in the Evergreen area of Calgary. They soon noticed that the dryer wasn"t working properly, so Bob followed the dryer vent duct all the way up to the attic. He was stunned to see that the duct was not connected to any vent, but just dumped onto the insulation, lying there pumping all the dryer moisture into the attic. Bob called the city inspector who told him to call the builder who told him to call the mechanical contractor who told him to call the new home warranty program and no one accepted responsibility or offered to fix it. The building inspector told Bob that they had 20 minutes to inspect every home, and that included travel time. Bob eventually gave up in disgust and put his own vent cap in. He went up the street and told all his neighbours- every one of the 21 other homes had the same deficiency and none were fixed by the builder. Just another example of the Alberta DISadvantage & how this province has fallen into a huge hole. Not the first time either. There have been thousands of homes built in the late 70's & early 80's in Calgary that went up so fast they weren't up to code. Builders didn't care. All they cared about was selling these places as quickly as they could for as much profit as they could possibly make & cut all kinds of corners. Built cheap but sold high to unsuspecting suckers. These unscrupulous fly by night builders went out of business in the early 80's when interest rates were at nearly 20% & owners with problems on say a 3 year home had no one to go after when problems arose. Anyone thinking of moving out here to Calgary, Edmonton or elsewhere in Alberta should think twice & stay put. It's only going to get a lot worse. Alberta is going to be a **** place to work & live. It's anyone's guess as to how long oil prices will stay low, but what is your estimate iso? I'm assuming of course this is the reason you are stating that Alberta is going to be a **** place to work, yes?

I believe the Moose averages 7500-8000 over the 7 years they spent at MTS Centre. I think the Ice Caps can draw a similar number provided the ticket prices are more or less comparable to 4 years ago when the Moose were last here. Cheaper prices also need to extend to the concessions if they really want to cater to the AHL fanbase. That means knocking a buck or two off soft drinks, beers and various food items. They can't claim to market to families and those with middle and lower incomes if the pricing for EVERYTHING doesn't reflect that.

The trick they use is to give money for "infrastructure"- roads, sewers and so forth. It is pure coincidence that these infrastructure projects happen to be in the immediate vicinity of sports venues. It also happened with the Senators' arena in Kanata- several tens of millions of dollars were granted by the federal Liberals (I believe). The funding for the new arena in Quebec consists of $200 million from the province and $200 million from the city. No fed money.

Riders get a C. That can't be right. The great Rod Peterson said the Riders were the winners in free agency this off-season when they signed Glenn.

Wonder who Hamilton's backup is going to be with LeFevour going to the Als? Can't be Masoli as that guy is an awful turnover machine.

Thanks for posting that Rider article. Many laughs from this poster. Like that part about how the Riders signed everyone they wanted to while the Stamps roster was decimated.

I wonder if Goossen can be that impact Canadian starter for the team this season? Or is it too soon to expect that? Worth noting that Labatte was pretty impactful in his second season.

Eliminating Sadam in 1990 would not have guaranteed any sort of resolution in Iraq unless you have an effective plan for rebuilding the leadership of the country afterwards - one that includes a partnership with former Baathist party officials (those who have a previous understanding of the country and the inner workings of its government) and not disbanding the army to leave all the heavy lifting to the invading forces' army (what the US did in 2003). I doubt it would have turned out any different if they decided to eliminate Sadam in 1990. Still would have ended up with thousands of US soldiers killed and hundred of thousands of Iraqis killed and no noticeable appreciation in the quality of life. The UN is not always right but they were right in calling the US war on Iraq in 2003 illegal. And outside of England, every other country of consequence agreed by choosing not to get involved -a wise choice indeed.

CBC is still left wing, but certainly nowhere as far left on the political spectrum as SUN News is right. CBC also had Kevin O'Leary on the network for a very long time. SUN news did not even attempt to have a regular on their network to provide an opposing viewpoint.

Always amusing how the SUN criticized the Edmonton Oilers arena deal with Katz yet nary a peep about the $400 million in taxpayers money being used in building the new Quebec City arena. I'm sure Peladeau's potential ownership of the future Nordiques has nothing to do with that though. There is a similar situation happening with the Winnipeg Free Press, Mark Chipman and the new mayor Bowman. Bowman was championed as someone who campaigned on transparency at city hall and the Free Press seemed to go along with that idea after the shenanigans pulled by Sam Katz in his relationship with Shindico amongst other transgressions. Free Press went after Katz pretty hard and deservedly so. However, the minute that Chipman questions True North on the relationship with CentreVenture and possibly favouritism such as different terms and conditions regarding the land on the site of the former Calrton Hotel, the Free Press proceeds to write a serious of scathing articles on Bowman accusing him of endangering a True North $400 million proposal in the SHED district. The thing is, it's just a proposal at this point, nothing more, and we don't know how many millions in subsidies it would require nor do we know if it will look anything like that render and who will actually occupy all that floor space. Pretty funny though that the newspaper champions a guy who was endorsed by Chipman prior to the election on the strength of his promise for transparency and rapid transit. Now that he is questioning the dealings of True North he is getting taken to task in a series of editorials by that same newspaper. I'm sure the heavy advertising that Chipman's auto dealerships have in the Winnipeg Free Press have nothing to do with it though.

While the organization had it's share of critics, and rightfully so - Media folks losing their jobs is NEVER a good thing. http://canadalandshow.com/article/everyone-sun-news-deserved-be-fired Here's something else to remember: these young reporters launched their careers by contributing to a hate-machine that perpetuated prejudice, especially against Muslims, in a nation that's already highly suceptible to anti-Muslim sentiment. It doesn't matter how many people lost their jobs or how many young and talented journalists Sun News Network took a chance on. Everyone who accepted a cheque from the network was complicit in spewing its hatred. I'm sure it was a young and talented reporter who cobbled together this special report, "Islam's war on the world," which suggested that a religion of 1.6 billion people had declared battle on the planet's other 5.4 billion. I'm sure a gifted video and sound editor thought to punctuate "The Arab Underground" bumper with the sound and graphics of an unsheathing sword. And, surely, it took the best and brightest J-school graduates to trawl for violent disputes with which to portray Muslims as a sideshow, even if a story they came back with didn't appear to involve any Muslims at all. What complete bullshit. What's next, they were paid in blood money? I won't say I agree with the author's viewpoint, but I can certainly understand his frustration with the SUN media. Several of the SUN commentators are very divisive. All those people who lost their jobs should be able to find work elsewhere provided they are reasonably good at what they do, in traditional media or otherwise.

I think the outrage was over the sensationalism of the SUN newpaper and those associated with it like Ezra Levant and Michael Coren. Most knew where this was going...more of the same. It tried to pass itself off as an impartial news source when in reality it was a Canadian version of Russian Today. A little insulting and most Canadians realized this. If by intolerant you mean the left won't tolerate those important matters like equal rights for women, denying real science, and equal rights for gays and lesbians than your right. Such views should not influence in a political atmosphere because they are morally wrong.

With expanded seating the place will seat more - 10,000 or so by the looks of things. About the same as some of those exhibition games they played in the Maritimes (think Halifax and possibly Moncton without the temp seats) several years ago. Edit: I think Moncton blew their chances at any further games, exhibition or regular season, by not selling out the last 2 regular season games there, the latter at a reduced capacity no less.

Might have been better if the troops would have been able to stay a little longer but Obama campaigned on the promise to bring the soldiers home. A lot of pressure from the public to end the war in Iraq. Al-Queda was minor threat by 2010 and 2011. More of a nuisance really. I think if Maliki had been more inclusive of the Sunnis when it came to the politics of Iraq then Al-Queda would have continued to be nothing more than a nuisance. Of course, the situation in Syria doesn't help either.

Pretty funny that SUN media criticized the CBC for not letting the market determine their true demand by being excluded from a basic cable package, but yet they go crying to the CRTC demanding mandatory carriage.

While the organization had it's share of critics, and rightfully so - Media folks losing their jobs is NEVER a good thing. http://canadalandshow.com/article/everyone-sun-news-deserved-be-fired Here's something else to remember: these young reporters launched their careers by contributing to a hate-machine that perpetuated prejudice, especially against Muslims, in a nation that's already highly suceptible to anti-Muslim sentiment. It doesn't matter how many people lost their jobs or how many young and talented journalists Sun News Network took a chance on. Everyone who accepted a cheque from the network was complicit in spewing its hatred. I'm sure it was a young and talented reporter who cobbled together this special report, "Islam's war on the world," which suggested that a religion of 1.6 billion people had declared battle on the planet's other 5.4 billion. I'm sure a gifted video and sound editor thought to punctuate "The Arab Underground" bumper with the sound and graphics of an unsheathing sword. And, surely, it took the best and brightest J-school graduates to trawl for violent disputes with which to portray Muslims as a sideshow, even if a story they came back with didn't appear to involve any Muslims at all.

Argos play 6 times in the last 5 weeks of the season with 5 of the games at home. No reason for the Bombers not to have a better record than them this season to get a potential crossover spot. They have so much stacked against them - worst schedule in the league, crappy practice facilities, indifferent fanbase and probably the lowest budget in the league. Bombers just have to make sure they can beat out one of the Riders or BC.

This is, without any doubt at all, the stupidest thing that's been done, in any way, in any sport, in my life. I agree. Of all places, why Fort McMurray? Probably sell more tickets there then Toronto, sadly. Nowhere else is available in Toronto at that time either as venues are being prepared for the Pan Am games. Fort Mac may be getting three games. Sask-Edm preseason game, Toronto-Edm regular season game and the possibility of a BC-Edmonton preseason game as BC PLace may not be available due to the Women's World Cup. That game could also be played in Victoria though, but nothing confirmed yet.

As of today, the SUN News network has officially shutdown. The network barely lasted 4 years. In that entire time, they barely averaged over 5,000 viewers so it's no surprise the plug was pulled. Also contributing to the network's demise were sensationalism, ambush attacks on guests, ethical violations, lack of actual news with too much emphasis on editorial segments. low production values and a lack of true star power (media personalities like Coren and Levant don't have a wide circle of followers outside a small group of conservatives). Considering the low viewership numbers very few people in Canada will miss them.

6 summer games. Only 1 late October game and no early November games. Both October games are at 3:00 Pm on a Saturday which mitigates against potential cold weather. Great schedule for the most part. Only complaints are the three times the Bombers will only have 4 days rest between games although with the uneven number of teams in the league that is unavoidable. The 6:00 PM start at home on Fri, July 10 is puzzling. Could see the stadium over half empty when that one starts as many people will have just gotten off work. Probably the first game of a doubleheader. Wonder why they decided to have the Banjo Bowl on a Saturday instead? I noticed that AC/DC released their stadium tour schedule on Ticketmaster and was disappointed that Winnipeg was not included. However, I noticed there is a ten day gap between their show in Toronto and their show in Edmonton - Sept 10 - 20. The Banjo Bowl will be on Sept 12 instead of the Sept 13 so maybe that extra day will allow them to schedule a show here. One can hope anyways.

Nouri-al-Maliki shares a large portion of the blame for the formation of ISIS. Shortly after the US left Iraq, Maliki took it upon himself to arrest and isolate any politicians of Sunni descent. Sunnis had no role or voice for that matter in the governance of Iraq. Combine some of those marginalized Sunnis with some of the Baathist party members of the former Sadam regime who were refused any roles in the new government and the scattered remnants of Al-Queda and you end up with ISIS. If Maliki had been more inclusive of the Sunni population ISIS would not exist. There would just be a few hundred battle-hardened Al-Queda left to deal with. Maliki exacerbated the situation by having several hundred Sunni protesters killed as well. Countries like the US and Canada are doing more than the minimum by bombing strategic locations like the artillery depots controlled by ISIS. Anything involving boots on ground needs to be initiated by countries like Jordan and Turkey. They are the neighbouring countries in the middle east that need to take the lead on this, not countries like Canada and the US that are half a world away. Fortunately, the US government has so far refused any requests for US troops to enter the battlezone on foot. Don't need to go there again after the disaster that was Iraq..both in lives lost and displaced and financially. Thankfully Republican warmongers like McCain, who seems to make it his everyday goal to request US involvement in some new overseas conflict, are not in charge. At the moment it appears cooler head are prevailing.