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This Week in Sports: February 8th
NHL:
It would appear that the Habs' season is dwindling down to one that will go down as a failure, a disappointment that will hopefully be forgotten about as soon as possible. The Habs lost three of the four games they have played since the All-Star game, picking up their only victory on Super Bowl Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets. The Habs need to win close to 70% of their remaining games in order to even get a sniff of the playoffs, but it would appear that at this point selling off assets in return for young talent and draft picks might bode better for the future.
NFL:
The New York Giants are World Champions for the second time in four years.
The Giants took down the New England Patriots in what will go down as yet another epic Super Bowl, 21-17. The game went down to the final play, when Tom Brady heaved a last-second Hail Mary that nearly deflected right into tight end Rob Gronkowski's hands. Instead, it fell harmlessly to the turf, giving Eli Manning and his Giants yet another championship. While it wasn't the shootout that I predicted last week, Manning did play a huge role, leading the offense down for yet another late fourth quarter touchdown drive that put the Giants ahead with a little under a minute to play. Tom Brady cannot be blamed for this Patriots loss; his receivers let him down with dropped passes on numerous occasions, notably twice on the final drive.
All in all, a season that was once in doubt is now in the books, bookended by drama and sheer joy, joy from the NFL and its fans when the lockout ended, and joy for the Giants and (most of) the city of New York as they prepare to celebrate yet another championship.
Start the countdown to the Draft!
NBA:
The NBA seasons chugs along at breakneck speed as the condensed schedule continues to take its toll on the league's players. Many teams are signing replacements to take over for injured players, notably the New Orleans Hornets, who are expected to sign Lance Thomas to a 10-day contract to replace injured forward Carl Landry as he recovers from a knee injury. The Los Angeles Clippers have also taken it upon themselves to add some depth, adding former first overall pick Kenyon Martin to a one-year deal. Martin was playing for a professional team in China which he had signed with during the NBA's extended lockout.
MLS:
The Montreal Impact have decided to allow their first overall pick from this year's draft, Duke superstar Andrew Wenger, to stay at school to finish his education. Wenger has been training with the club but had made it known even before the MLS SuperDraft that he wished to finish his education before turning pro. Wenger is expected to join the team later in the season, around mid-May, when the collegiate soccer season is over.
-Andrew Maggio runs a dedicated Habs blog, check it out here
Canada's population up to 33.5 million
The results for Canada’s twenty-eleven census are in. And the population has jumped up to 33 and a half million people. According to the CBC there is a near six per cent surge in population.
Many of the country’s growth is west of the Ontario border.
The West has higher fertility rates than the rest of Canada, and it’s also receiving an influx of immigrants.
But the biggest growth is in and around Canada’s major cities. Large metropolitan areas have grown almost seven and a half per cent.
The areas surrounding Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver claim thirty five per cent of the country’s population.
The increased population in cities has put a strain on social programs and real estate, especially due to the growing population of seniors.
Court rules California's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional
Gay rights activists have won another battle yesterday in California.
According to the BBC, a San Francisco appeals court has judged California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
In 2008, a referendum called Proposition 8 forbade gay unions in the state. Two years later, a court overturned the proposition saying it was in violation with the rights of gays and lesbians.
Supporters of Proposition 8 had appealed the decision but yesterday the court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage. But supporters of the proposition are not done yet. They said they would take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
The court is putting same-sex weddings in California on hold until the case is closed.
Photo by: Damian Hopper (Flickr)
View from the Venue - Cancer Bats
In Montreal, Canada, Cancer Bats interview you!
On this episode of View from the Venue, I sat down with Cancer Bats at Foufounes Electriques. They were on their Bastards of Reality tour, trekking across Canada and the United States as a Black Sabbath cover band called Bat Sabbath. Liam and Jaye promptly began to interview ME. Part 1 contains lots of hating on Christmas, goth talk, Black Sabbath praise and a serious question here and there. In part 2, Cancer Bats continue to make me their butt monkey and talk about Dead Set On Living and being nice dudes in a scary band. Jaye and I also face off in a Pogo-Headbanging competition of epic proportions. CHAOS.
Check out their single "Old Blood," out now. Stay tuned for their full length, Dead Set On Living, out April 20th.
-Filmed and edited by Julia Hoelscher
February 7th, 2012
Read by: Aisha Samu
Stories by: Nikita Smith, Jordie Yeager, Niki Mohrdar and Tara Brockwell
Produced by: Carlo Spiridigliozzi
Israel hands Palestinian Authority an ultimatum for peace
According to the BBC Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that peace did not go hand in hand with a unity Palestinian government.
Abbas has been in talks with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to form a unity Palestinian government come election time this spring. Netanyahu accuses Hamas of being a terrorist organization that supports the destruction of Israel.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the two tracks of Palestinian reconciliation and negotiations with Israel should not be seen as contradictory.
Netanyahu and Abbas last discussed peace in January. Talks have been at a standstill ever since.
Flickr Photo by: Truthout.org
Westmount gets green light for new sports complex
It's all systems go for the new Westmount sports complex.
In a report by CBC, the $38.5 million dollar project was given permission to proceed at a Monday night city council meeting.
Replacing the existing arena, the new centre will have two underground skating rinks, three outside tennis courts, and an eight lane, 25-metre outdoor swimming pool with an area for divers and nearby kiddie pool.
Westmount Mayor Peter Trent said that the arena will be one-of-a-kind as well as being environmentally friendly. The city of Westmount is putting an extra $1.5 million dollars to make sure the building saves energy and is constructed with sustainable materials.
However, not everyone supports the project.
Some residents fear the consequences the centre will have for Westmount, bringing with it extra garbage pick-ups, exhaust smells, and...french fries.
Supporters of the complex hope that having two rinks will allow for hockey teams in Westmount to practice more and compete against other cities.
Employees of 119 Quebec daycares strike for contract negotiations
Workers of 119 Quebec daycares walked out of work yesterday for a day long strike.
According to CTV, the 2,600 strikers want the provincial government to negotiate their contracts. The daycare employees are members of the CSN union.
According to CTV and the CSN, employees working without contracts at 360 daycares will strike if an agreement hasn’t been reached by Friday.
Families Minister Yolande James told CTV that she's "confident" they "can work out a deal."
Flickr: jacquestricot
Wolf Parade - Rostraver Ice Garden 10-8-2004
Montreal’s greatest dual-vocalist rock group of all-time, Wolf Parade, found international success during their short but explosive run. Their Sub Pop debut, Apologies to The Queen Mary, was a critically acclaimed album that put Montreal on the map as a prominent indie scene. Recently, a site called WolfParade.nonstuff.com has put up a free bootleg for download titled "Rostraver Ice Garden 10-8-2004" which is a live set that was recorded while the band was on tour supporting Modest Mouse and The Walkmen. Although the website holds no official ties to the band, you can find numerous bootlegs, pictures, playlists and an abundance of material from Wolf Parade affiliates such as Sunset Rubdown, Handsome Furs and Moonface.
In terms of a bootleg, the quality of "Rostraver Ice Garden" is amazing. Not only can you hear the fans ramble on in to conversations with guitarist Dan Boeckner (who mentions more than once that he is beyond drunk), but the sound of the band’s music is crisp and clear as day. If there is anything a Wolf Parade fan knows, it is that when you see the band live it is always an unpredictable experience (besides the fact that they always have technical problems with their creative instruments). Spencer Krug and former member Hadji Bakara specialize in improvisation, adding sounds and electronic parts to the songs that aren’t apparent on record. This also happens on this live album, many times.
The performance includes excellent renditions of forgotten Wolf Parade classics such as “Disco Sheets” and “Killing Armies”, tracks that were not performed live during the latter years of the band’s existence. The album opens with an energy-fuelled “Day In The Life”, a cover from Boeckner’s former band, Atlas Strategic. Some exceptional numbers from Apologies To The Queen Mary are highly enjoyable, including the single “Shine A Light” and the highly contagious “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts”. You can tell by the performance that the band really got into their groove quickly and that was something quite special about these early Wolf Parade shows. There was no sound-check for this performance and these early Wolf Parade shows were primarily based on fun rather than trying to impress under pressure. This live album is exactly that: a whole lot of fun. It reminds Wolf Parade fans that the shows were about positive energy and there was no pressure that the band needed to live up to. It did not matter if the band sounded a little off or the vocals sounded strange; it was part of the act.
The most depressing part about this free offering is that we may not see this band reunite for quite a while. Take this as a gift, think about what Wolf Parade meant to you (because they meant a lot to yours truly) and have fun remembering it.
-Alex Giardini
Unrest remains in Syria
According to the Montreal Gazette, the city of Homs was hit with shells and mortar bombs by the Syrian army. 42 lives were taken and a hospital was also struck. This was an offensive against President Bashar al-Assad’s enemies. This conflict began almost a year ago.
Rebels from the Free Syrian Army were targeted first, at 6am local time. Every hour, shells and mortar bombs were falling and insurgents could not react except a small arms fire.
A spokesman in the Homs stated that he could not count all the bodies from the streets and the collapsed buildings.
Phone lines, landlines and mobile lines had been cut from 8:30am to 1pm.
It is expected by the Syrian regime that the Western and Arab opponents will respond to this at the defeat at the UN. It is also expected that some countries will assist Mr. Assad.
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