I haven't been a regular viewer of Hockey Night in Canada for a long time.
The thuggish goons, the concussion casualties, the grotesque Don Cherry, as well as the sad fact that a Canadian team hasn't won the Stanley Cup for more than twenty years, having gradually turned me off the game.
So I didn't watch the new Rogers version of the show with George Stroumboulopolos the other night.
But after reading what happened on the broadcast, I think I can safely say that I will NEVER watch Hockey Night in Canada again.
The George Stroumboulopoulos era has officially begun. Stroumboulopoulos debuted as the host of Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night, anchoring Sportsnet’s new interpretation of the venerable TV franchise in spite of the apparent displeasure of long-time host Ron MacLean and partner Don Cherry.
Because while I definitely would have enjoyed this:
At the start of Saturday’s Coach’s Corner segment Cherry asked how much time he had to get through his list of topics. “I only got five minutes, eh? This is what you call phasing a guy out, you know what I mean?” said Cherry. “At least you’re still in the phasing part,” replied MacLean. “Yeah, yeah, you’re phased out,” said Cherry.
For obvious reasons...
This would have made me VOMIT:
The highlight of the pre-game show, however, was a pre-taped interview between Stroumboulopoulos and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The pair sat on a couch at 24 Sussex, discussing Harper’s hockey fandom, how well his kids play the game and the 21-year Stanley Cup drought affecting all seven of Canada’s NHL teams.
And in fact, after watching this excerpt on Stephen Harper's tax payer funded propaganda show 24/Seven, it very nearly did...
Because if that was a "highlight" I shudder to imagine what a lowlight might look like eh?
And that excerpt didn't even include the clip where Great
“I have the advantage that in this position you can pretty well command your audience,” said Harper. “So when they were putting together Team Canada for the Sochi Olympics I had the management of the team come here and explain how they were going to make their picks.”
Because that's the absolute limit. Who does he think he is commanding an audience? Where did he ever get the idea he is a hockey expert just because he wrote a boring book?
And what new image is THIS?
The producers should have known that he is in full campaign mode. That they were only handing him another golden photo-op, or more material for his massive propaganda machine.
So he can use it to wage war on the opposition parties, and most Canadians who DESPISE him and his government. And who now hate Rogers as well, if they didn't already.
And Strombo, who I know on good authority is a really nice guy, should have known better than to give that monster such a cozy platform, after all the damage he has done to the CBC...
The battered old institution that made George a star.
Oh well. You know, I sometimes miss the time when on a Saturday night all my friends knew that I would not start partying the night away with them in the wild and wicked streets of downtown Montreal, until AFTER the Canadien's game was over.
I felt then that it was a really Canadian experience, a unifying one, that drew me closer to hockey fans all over the country, even the supporters of the despised Maple Leafs in Toronto. It was a moment we all shared.
But Canada is a different country today. After almost nine years of Stephen Harper's brutish rule, it's a meaner place, a divided nation, a place where hope goes to die.
I've been reduced to hoping that even the Leafs win the Stanley Cup, if the Canadiens can't. Any team but an American one. How desperate is THAT ???
And when I see Stephen Harper posing as an expert on hockey, or a jock, I feel like this Globe commenter does:
Harper can't even skate a lick. You will never see him on skates. He has only a rehearsed knowledge of the game pre-scripted for controlled photo ops. His foreign republican TFW advisor Frank Luntz told him to attach himself Canadian icons like hockey to appear to be one of us.
This waddling anti-Canadian freak is more involved with his lipstick, rouge and hair spray than Hockey. Stop falling for this complete and utter fraud and embarrassment and the usual suspects promoting this swindle for campaign purposes....He's playing you for a chump.
And the good news?
This beastly act is almost over...
His claim to be a hockey "expert" will be exposed like all his other fraudulent claims.
And as a bonus, a big bonus.
This ghastly cabaret act is also drawing to a close...
Play it again Don. One last time.
And since only a Canadian could laugh at that frightening spectacle, it proves that hockey still has some power to unite us.
And the best news of all? Canada is STILL a beautiful country.
As this picture of fall in the Muskokas which was put out yesterday by the Hudson's Bay company to celebrate Thanksgiving Day only proves again...
Even if that iconic Canadian company is now owned by the Americans.
But what we can say for sure is that this country will be even MORE beautiful after we defeat Stephen Harper and foul Con regime. After we check, slash, and elbow them from power, and give them a concussion that will hopefully last for YEARS.
So let's give thanks for that eh?
And let me take the opportunity to thank you my readers for following my humble but hopeful journey towards that blessed day, when we will be free again.
And for supporting me so much. You're the BEST.
We will get there together.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody !!!!!
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People incapable of seeing harper for the corrupt, murderous, anti-democratic monster that he is, have effectively advertised their unfitness as public commentators.
ReplyDeletehi thwap...I agree, I simply can't understand why so many in the MSM are still making excuses for Harper and his gang, when they have committed enough crimes to be evicted from power, or even jailed.
DeleteI would really like to know who thought up the idea of featuring Harper in the pre-game show. Did the new/nouveau HNIC approach Lord Harp, or as in the case of the War in Iraq did his minions go begging?
Thank you for all of your hard work in many of the insightful articles you write. And a happy thanksgiving to you!
ReplyDeletehi Pamela...thanks a lot. I can't deny that I yearn for the day when I don't need to write about the depraved actions of the Con regime, and can write about the many other things that interest me, and make more videos. But the support I get from readers is amazing, and it does encourage me to keep crawling towards our day of Liberation... :)
DeleteStrombo might be a 'nice guy' but he bores the crap out of me, is always sycophantic to his 'guests' and frankly, what he and Cherry have in common is their obvious need to remain in the spotlight at any cost..the whole thing is nauseating, and, as a diehard Habsaholic, have to say that I too will probably never again watch a hockey game..beyond sad, but, as you say, it cannot detract from our beautiful country..and Harper's lunatic act won't make a blind bit of difference if we all get out the vote next time...it grows more critical every day....
ReplyDeletehi mizdarlin...well I'm not a fan of his, I could never support anyone who wears pants as narrow and tight as he does. ;) But what I meant by "nice" is that he apparently treats his younger staffers with respect, which from what I hear is not the way other "stars" at the CBC treat the people who work for them. But you're right that opening act was absolutely appalling, and there is nothing more important than getting out the vote. If we do we will certainly win, if we don't we could still lose...
DeleteNormally I tend to not side with thwap because he is more shall we say absolutist/harsh this way than I, but on this I do. At this point anyone that claims to be informed on Canadian political history, culture, environment, etc who does not recognize that Harper is as close to a true dictator of the old fascist style we have ever seen in this nation has shown they have either no real competency in their claims, or their are too cowed to tell the truth about what we have sitting in 24 Sussex Drive. Either way they discredit themselves. Mind you, I suspect some of the mainstream media figures do get this but their bosses have made clear to them that they will be disavowed and destroyed if they dare reveal the reality. Not that this excuses them from their duty to the nation in my view, but it does explain why some who are fairly competent commentators have been so curiously limited in their illustrating what is a stark and clear reality to anyone that pays serious attention to Canadian politics, and especially anyone that has a grounding in how Canadian traditional politics has worked from the pre-Harper era.
ReplyDeleteHarper did a fair bit of serious damage in the minorities, but it is only once he got that majority that he truly was able to wreak a wide swath of destruction. I've taken to referring to him as Harper the Destroyer and Salter of the Scorched Earth because that is EXACTLY what he has been doing throughout this majority. He is not only destroying all oversight, all arms length institutions in our governing systems, all support systems that allow the citizens the ability to challenge the government against it and corporation/nations it favours, but he then after using these scorched earth methods to raze everything down he does his best to salt the earth afterwards, aka doing whatever he can to make the restoration of these things as close to impossible once he is driven from power. It is exactly what I said he would do all along, that the danger in Harper was not merely the destruction of progressive policies, but also his intention to destroy the mechanisms to make recreating them as difficult as possible afterwards, let alone leaving the powers in place for new national programs like say national child care, to give one example.
to be concluded...
hi Scotian... thwap and you are both excellent progressives, the only difference is that he is extremely concise, and you are a bit more...um....wordier. ;) But I love both your styles, and you're both right about the damage Harper and his thuggish regime are doing to Canada. And what I hold against the progressive parties is that they are not doing a good enough job of defining him. They can't seem to see the forest for the trees, and they need to sum up the threat in a way that cuts through the noise and the information clutter of the times we live in. This is especially important if we are to get more younger Canadians to vote, which is essential if we are going to ensure that we have the numbers to crush the Cons. As I have mentioned before I picked up a few ideas that could be useful in Scotland this summer. And I hope to flesh them out a bit in the next few few months...
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving day, Simon! Hope you have a lovely time! It was hard to look and listen to that video with Stephen Harper. I did it out of curiosity!
ReplyDeletehi anon...thanks a lot and happy Thanksgiving to you too !!! I'm sorry about that video, but I did use Tube Chop to cut it down to size, which since it takes a little finessing forced me to watch that video at least FIVE times, which left my head hanging about one inch over the keyboard. But the good news is that since those videos are made with our money, we can use them to make ads to attack the Harperite cult. Waste not want not... ;)
DeleteHi Simon I can excuse most deficiencies in people, but a Habs fan, Say it it ain't so
ReplyDeleteA Habs fan here too, but I pretty much gave up on NHL hockey after the whole Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore incident. After that extreme ugliness, instead of seizing the moment and clamping down on goonish behaviour, the league embraced it. For me the beautiful skilled game of ice hockey is a thing of the past. It's UFC on skates. Thanks, Gary Bettman!
Deletehi Kev...oh great, here I am living just a couple of blocks from the Air Canada Centre, where on a game day I am virtually surrounded by Leaf fans, even in a supermarket. And where after most games I have to go around picking them off the sidewalks, and offering to light a candle to St Johnny (Bower)in their name. Or even cheer for them to win the Stanley Cup if the Canadiens can't make it. And THAT is the thanks I get. No more reconciliation. Take no prisoners. Go Habs GO !!!! ;)
Deletehi Omar...Yup, the Bertuzzi/Moore incident was about as low as the NHL can go. And every game you see dangerous plays that could cause serious injuries, and go relatively unpunished. I don't know of any other game in the world where fighting is encouraged, with the possible exception of a roller derby, and I find it sickening. Especially since it encourages kids to follow that bad example, and more and more of them are coming in to emergency rooms everywhere, suffering from traumatic brain injuries. Hockey can be a beautiful game, when played with friends on a large enough rink, but the NHL version has degenerated into a UFC on skates. Another sad fact to ponder is that the UFC itself is extraordinarily popular in Canada. Even though I personally believe it should be banned...
DeleteSimon I am a huge hockey fan and I did not buy Harper as a peer.
ReplyDeletehi Steve...just because you are a huge hockey fan doesn't mean you are not a secret Harper supporter. But I am going to have to give you a lie detector test just to make sure... ;)
DeletePolitics and Sports only have one thing ......oops 2......things in common these days..........Money and Power!
ReplyDeleteIF the Younger citizens of Canada do Not vote in the next Federal election.........then you all know what will happen!
hi Kathleen...I like amateur sports a lot, and hockey is still a great game when played on a frozen pond with friends, so nobody can high stick anybody, and hope to get away with it.
DeleteAs for young voters, don't worry about that. I learned a lot of interesting things about how to motivate them in Scotland this summer. And I will personally deliver the ones I know to the polls if I have to use a cattle prod. .. ;)
harper is sounding more and more like putin. the two of them ought to get a room together. great couple.
ReplyDeletehi e.a.f...I once wrote a post with the headline: Is Don Cherry Canada's Sarah Palin, which was almost as popular as the the one with the headline "Is Sarah Palin the Antichrist? So I have to believe that Harper is a bit of both... ;)
Delete