Chargers 37, Bills 10

A large White Ash tree came down at the top of our driveway a few weeks ago and my cousin and I bucked it up and carted the chunks down to the woodshed two weeks ago. I have spent the past two Sunday afternoons splitting and stacking the wood while listening to John Murphy and Mark Kelso on the Bills radio network. The Tennessee game was blacked out but yesterday's game in San Diego was just not available on our Shaw Direct service so I chopped and listened as the Bills turned in another sad effort and lost their sixth straight game. I got the fire in the sauna going just before 6pm and gave up on the Bills when the score was 30-10. Just before 7pm, I went into the sauna. Just before that, as I was putting on my water sandals, the Denver/Chicago game was on. It was 10-0 Bears with three minutes left. I watched for a minute as Tebow led the Broncos to a touchdown with a bit more than 2 minutes left. With no timeouts, Denver then tried an onside kick which almost succeeded but didn't. Game over. I went out to the sauna. I obviously gave up too early as Denver pulled out another miraculous win with a 59 yard field goal to tie and and a 51 yarder to win in overtime. The potential value of my Christmas Eve tickets may be rising. I have listed them on NFL TicketExchange so we'll see.

My 13 year old twin nieces are lobbying their parents full time for cell phones. They have the use of one from time to time but they seem to think that this Christmas will finally bring them each their very own phones. I was chatting with them about this on Saturday morning and one of them asked me how old I was when I got my first cell phone. "39" I said. Due to the fact that I continually test their ability to identify things which are not true by saying things which are not true, they thought that this statement was another of these tests. "I got my first cell phone in April, 2002 when I was 39", I reiterated. "Why didn't you get one when you were our age?", one of them asked. "Cell phones didn't exist when I was your age" I replied. It took another few emphatic statements before they realized that this was not another of my false statement tests. Made me feel old. As with many children, they will have to wait until Christmas morning to see if they get their phones.

After the MLSE deal was announced and the press conferences and interviews were winding down, someone on CBC pointed out that both Nadir Mohammed and George Cope focused more on the potential for fans to watch live HD video of the Leafs and Raptors on their smart phones than on their commitment to bring a Stanley Cup or an NBA Championship to Toronto. The content play, from the perspective of Bell and Rogers, is why they did this deal. As a fan, if I had the choice of watching these teams play live on my Blackberry or watching either of them play for a championship, it's an easy choice. In fairness, the fact that the Teachers Pension Plan, with their embedded fiduciary duty to maximize returns, has found a buyer for their position is probably good for fans.These telecom companies have similar responsibilities to their shareholders but, if they can bring success on the ice and the court and the soccer pitch to Toronto, they probably can justify additional spending in the name of building their brands. The Leafs spend pretty much to the salary cap anyway so maybe it's the basketball team which could benefit the most from these new owners. I really try not to say things like this but I just don't get the appeal of watching anything on a three inch screen - especially live sports. I like watching sports on my big plasma screen. My Blackberry screen is fine for reading emails but I can not imagine a time when I would watch a live Leaf game on it. It sounds like Bell and Rogers are going to make sure that I have plenty of opportunity to do so whether I want to or not.

Despite the MLSE deal, the Durban climate agreement, the ongoing tragedy in Atiwapiskat, the European debt debacle and the continuing shameful right wing ways of our federal government, the most remarkable story from this past week, for me, was the emergence of the details of the behaviour of two RIM executives on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Bejing. They were drunk when they boarded the plane and continued drinking until they became so unruly that the Captain ordered that they be restrained and then landed the plane in Vancouver. The part that I just can not believe is that, after being restrained with tape and electrical cords, they chewed through those restraints. Chewed. Like animals. Amazing. Now, if the footage existed, that is something that I would watch on a three inch screen - preferably a Blackberry.