Quick Hits

I'm watching what may be the final game of this year's Stanley Cup playoffs, but I'm having a hard time getting excited about either Edmonton or Carolina. Mrs. Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk, though, is much more animated about the whole affair (it's genetic--meet her grandfather). The game's tied at the moment, but Carolina's outplaying Edmonton by about every other standard. Still, if only for sentimental reasons, I'd rather see the Stanley Cup in a city where kids actually play the game in their backyards.

* Speaking of Canada, in the midst of a flurry of information about last weekend's MoCCA Art Festival at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, The Beat was pushing a conspiracy theory about Canadian cartoonists:

Authorities fear a rising tide of Canadian cartoonists coming over the porous US/Canada border to steal our women, it was learned this weekend at the MoCCA Festival in New York.

The Canadians are initially indistinguishable from Americans, but are recognizable via their polite behavior. Growing numbers are believed to be flooding into the US to steal women and drink beer.

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The Canadian men are sometimes accompanied by Canadian women. It is not yet known what they are trying to steal--jobs, women or beer.

* Stu Shea sent this link from The Nation a little while ago, but I'm only getting to it now.

In a remarkable article from Wednesday's USA Today, the Colorado Rockies went public with the news that the organization has been explicitly looking for players with "character." And according to the Tribe of Coors, "character" means accepting Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. "We're nervous, to be honest with you," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd said. "It's the first time we ever talked about these issues publicly. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone because of our beliefs." When people are nervous that they will offend you with their beliefs, it's usually because their beliefs are offensive.

. . .
O'Dowd and company bend over backward in the article to say they are "tolerant" of other views on the club, but that's contradicted by statements like this from CEO Monfort: "I don't want to offend anyone, but I think character-wise we're stronger than anyone in baseball. Christians, and what they've endured, are some of the strongest people in baseball. I believe God sends signs, and we're seeing those." Assumedly, Shawn Green (Jew), Ichiro Suzuki (Shinto) or any of the godless players from Cuba don't have the "character" Monfort is looking for.

Also, there are only two African-American players on the Rockies active roster. Is this because Monfort doesn't think black players have character? Does the organization endorse the statement of its stadium's namesake, William Coors, who told a group of black businessmen in 1984 that Africans "lack the intellectual capacity to succeed, and it's taking them down the tubes"? These are admittedly difficult questions. But these are the questions that need to be posed when the wafting odor of discrimination clouds the air.

The article also mentions that several Major League teams are sponsoring "Faith Days" in which, according to The New York Times:

local churches will get discounted tickets to family-friendly evenings of music and sports with a Christian theme. And in return, they mobilize their vast infrastructure of e-mail and phone lists, youth programs and chaperones, and of course their bus fleets, to help fill the stands.

It's not whether you win or lose, it's who you let play the game.

By the way, check out Stu's blog for a World Cup FAQ from his brother-in-law. It's split between explaining how it works and the more important point, why you should care.

* Here's a listing (scroll down) I came across for a show this weekend that might interest some readers of this blog. Here's a description of The Dead Superheroes Orchestra:

A rock ensemble with a dazzling sound, tasteful string arrangements, and a pitch-black wit, the DSO will take you on a journey from your hometown cemetary [sic] down to the depths of the Underworld, up to the cool bare face of the moon, and back again. The Orchestra and the story they tell were dreamed up by brains steeped in Batman, Mozart, Dostoevsky and Dante.

That's pretty much the Big Four. Check them out if you're so inclined.

I don't get it. I always intend these multilink posts up to be fast and easy round ups of short but interesting items, but they never fail to be among the longest posts I put together. By the way, Edmonton won with a great short-handed goal in sudden death. It wasn't the last game in the series after all.