Change ‘em up?

Recently, the first major personnel changes to next year’s Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) telecasts were announced.  In these announcements, George Stroumboulopoulos was named the new anchor of HNIC, replacing Ron MacLean who has held the position for the past 28 years.  Now, what’s up with this?

Back in November of 2013, Rogers acquired the Canadian NHL broadcasting rights in a blockbuster 12-year, $5.2-billion deal.  As a result, starting next year, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) no longer has these rights.

To Canadian hockey fans, this is a huge deal and a huge change.  If you’re not a hockey fan, follow other sports, and/or live in the United States, this move is akin to replacing Chris Berman from ESPN and ABC Sports.  With this comparison in mind, I hope now you can get the gravity of the situation.

On the plus side, the president of Sportsnet and NHL properties for Rogers spoke positively of the CBC, suggesting that the CBC has been “where the tradition of broadcasting hockey began.”   However, in the same breath, he added that it is his hope to bring a “fresh face” to the game.  To the latter comment, I think the message that MacLean passed on was right on point: "George…don’t screw this up, it’s a big show.”

For me, the story behind all of this change is simple: You have a big conglomerate that swoops in to take over, pushing aside a much smaller and vulnerable entity that can’t do anything about it.  Then, in the process, those who are taking over believe that they know what is best for everyone and, in turn, do as they please.  And is this move best for HNIC?  We’ll surely see!  All I can say is: Don, watch your comments on the earrings!

Anyway, the point I’m trying to get at is change for the sake of change is not the best of approaches.  In this disaster in the making, I lay responsibility for everything that happens squarely on the shoulders of the decision-makers who’ve fouled things up for everyone.  And if the conglomerate behind all of this won’t listen to this forewarning, the only thing left to do is this: Blame it on fast foods!


So, some are saying that this “new blood” will serve to “shake things up” and is a good thing for HNIC.  On the other hand, there are many others who say that you should “never mess with a good thing” and believe that what MacLean had was definitely a “good thing.”  What do you think of the whole situation?  Read about it here and comment below!


- B. J. T. Pepin

Clueless

Although I chose to title this post “Clueless,” I might as well have called it any of: self-absorbed, ill-mannered, selfish, lazy, provoking, or outright stupid; in other words, if we were to examine the particular circumstances when individuals demonstrate such traits, one quickly realizes that there is a common thread.  Recognizing that some knowingly act in these ways, many, if not most people are clueless as to the impact that their actions or inactions have on others.  Let’s take a closer look…

No matter what level of study, when you are in school, there's always several people who are tapping things, chewing gum with their mouths open, speaking with others, and so on, and they don't even realize that it disturbs/annoys everyone else.  The same principle applies with: playing loud music in public areas; texting/not looking while you're walking; talking in groups in the middle of major walkways or purposely/ignorantly walking in the middle of those same walkways; standing in the middle of escalators instead of moving to the side so people can walk up instead of stand and wait; and so on.

The same things happen when you’re out on the roadways; as you’re going down the highway, you often come up on drivers who are driving well below the speed limit in the left and center lanes (or right and center if you’re in the UK and the like).  Then, you get to experience the traffic accordion effect.  So much fun!

If you stop and think about it, it’s not the speeders that are at fault for accidents; it’s the people who think that they own the roads, blocking the paths for everyone else, who are the cause of most accidents.  I agree that everyone should follow the speed limits, but people should also be using their rearview mirrors and moving to the appropriate lane if someone is approaching them from the rear.  If you are scared to drive on the highways, stay off of them!  People are just so damn clueless!

As you can see, the above scenarios show us how people are so self-absorbed, ill-mannered, selfish, and lazy, and purposely or ignorantly do things to provoke others.  Whatever happened to the principles of decency, respect, courtesy, and sharing?!  So many folk focus on and only look out for themselves!  Their message is clear: To heck with everyone else!  I think that these people could stand to reap the benefits of an enema!  This might help to “loosen things up,” if you know what I mean.  And if that doesn’t help, there’s one thing left for us to do: Blame it on fast foods.

- B. J. T. Pepin

Prima Donna

The idea for this post came to me when I witnessed what I considered selfish and lazy play on the part of some of my teammates during a hockey game.  Although we are far from being professional athletes, I believe that there is such a thing as putting forth a minimal amount of effort and that no one is above anyone else; that is, the expectations should not be less for a select few relative to the rest of the team under any circumstance, good or bad.

I am sure that the majority of you have seen this type of thing.  Remember that professional baseball player who attempted a catch at the wall, but after it hit his glove and remained in play, he proceeded to throw his glove down and stomp around, leaving a teammate to pick it up and throw the ball to one of the infielders?  Because of this bonehead play, the hitter was able to make his way closer to home plate than he otherwise would have.

A similar thing happened last night during an NHL game.  One of the so-called elite players went down the ice on a breakaway and, after the goalie stopped the scoring attempt, the player skated past the net, turned slowly, and glided back toward his defensive zone, simply watching the play go down the ice and not putting in any effort to back-check.  And what was the result?  A goal against.

And how about the NFL player who, as he was about to cross the goal-line, was so cocky that he threw the ball backwards, not realizing that he actually produced a fumble instead of a touchdown, allowing the other team to recover the ball?  Great play man!  Nice no-touchdown!

With these examples in mind, I thought it a propos to entitle this post “prima donna.”  If you don’t know the term, it has a negative connotation and is often used to describe an egotistical, undisciplined, vain, obnoxious, and/or temperamental person whose role is essential to the success of a team but often behaves in a detrimental way.  

Where does this type of attitude come from?  I believe that over the course of their lives, these people have been praised so much that they’ve developed an inflated view of themselves, their talent, and their importance, in turn leading them to believe that they are above others and should be treated differently.  The result is that these people become selfish and lazy, only putting in an effort in circumstances when they are guaranteed to receive praise from the people around them.  Then, when the going gets tough, these individuals let up or give up entirely!  To that, I say: “Back to the minors, all of you!”  And if sending them there doesn’t serve to put them back in their place, the only thing left to do is: Blame it on fast foods.

- B. J. T. Pepin

Opinions

When I set out to write this, I reflected upon the many sayings I’ve come across over the years.  Of course, none of them are my creations, but I thought you might enjoy me sharing a few with you.  Here are the ones I think are most applicable to this post…

“Opinions are like farts—so hard to hold ‘em in, and when one slips, everyone's gonna know it and at least one person is gonna leave the room.”

“Opinions are like armpits—everyone has at least two, and they probably both stink.”

“An opinion is like an asshole—everybody’s got one, but everyone thinks that everyone else’s stinks.”
  
Like you, I couldn’t help but notice a common theme: Opinions just plain stink!  “Why,” you ask?  It’s simple…

Many people think they know everything about everything and love to give advice to others.  What makes things worse is that these same folk do so even when they're completely wrong.  And don’t try to reason with these people—it’s a fruitless endeavor!   Although we all would like to shoot or do other unmentionable things to this kind of people to resolve the issue, these options are not very realistic.  We all know that if we did such things, we’d end up paying the price for their idiocy…

Anyway, my slant is that when they were young, they must have fallen on their respective little heads.  That or they ingested some sort of poison that ate away at their brains; maybe this is all a result of a terrible diet—that must be it!  So, rather than waste your time listening to or trying to reason with these types of people, do what I do: Blame it on fast foods.

- B. J. T. Pepin