Colts 20, Bills 13

I am sitting here in the cottage looking out over one of my favourite scenes - which can be seen only in these last days of fall. With the lake still open, through the evening hours and overnight, we had about 8cm of snow fall with the temperature holding at minus 3. A winter wonderland but with shimmering lake. I must take a few photos when the sun comes up.

I saw the Movie "Lincoln" this past week. Daniel Day Lewis has to be the one of the best film actors ever. He chooses characters with such depth and he interprets and develops them brilliantly. He portrays Abraham Lincoln as sometimes plodding, quirky, humble and genuine but with a fierce drive for the results which the country needs, balancing complex competing interests as he works to end the civil war and pass the 13th Amendment (which abolished slavery). Today's House members could take a lesson from this film as an example of how the American legislative system needs compromise to work properly. It isn't always pretty but, in Lincoln's case, the results are what really matter. It's a Spielberg film but you wouldn't know it. Mostly people talking in smoke filled rooms. Worth seeing.

As I write, it is now just after 7am Monday. In less than 3 hours, we will know if Toronto mayor Rob Ford will be ordered to leave office for breach of the city's conflict of interest rules. I am worried. If he is removed from office, the city's business will be paralyzed first by whatever process is used to select a new interim mayor (with a highly questionable mandate) but then by Ford's re-election campaign for 2014 which will begin right away and has the potential to generate significant sympathy for him and therefore the frightening possibility that he could win another election. My hope is that the judge will find a way to avoid removing him from office while humiliating him in the strongest possible terms. Sounds like a tall order. Maybe that's why the judge has reserved his decision for so long.

I guess there was some football over the weekend. The Canadian football season concluded with 2 games at the Rogers Centre. A record crowd of more than 37,000 saw Laval win the Vanier Cup on Friday night and then last night the Argos won their 16th Grey Cup with a convincing win over Calgary. In US College football, the BCS Championship came into focus: Notre Dame completed their undefeated season with a win at USC and will play the winner of the SEC Championship Game between Alabama and Georgia.

And, lastly, the Buffalo Bills made me very angry yesterday. As Buffalo News columnist Jerry Sullivan said this morning, there is no way that the Bills fan base will be satisfied with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback next year. Despite some flashes of quality play from time to time, he is crap and clearly not good enough to lead an NFL team to the playoffs. At 4-7, this year is done. Just like the past 12 seasons before it. I am also done. My last three sets of tickets for games against Jacksonville, St. Louis and the Jets are listed on NFL TicketExchange right now. I guess we'll go the the Seattle game at the Rogers Centre but I officially don't care any more for this season.