Rams 15, Bills 12

Last Thursday, the six candidates running to replace Dalton McGuinty as leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario and serve, however briefly, as Premier, assembled in the TVO studios at Yonge and Eglinton for a "debate" which was moderated by Steve Paikin. I watched the entire hour and here's my take: First of all, there are three candidates who should really not be there at all as they just take away time from the other four. Charles Sousa, Harinder Takhar and Eric Hoskins, a few more of us know your names now but, honestly........ Of the four top tier candidates, Glen Murray impressed me the most. He seemed best able to speak from the perspective of the party and its need for a teamwork and a collective approach - regardless of who wins the leadership. The former Winnipeg mayor, former head of the Canadian Urban Institute and most recently the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities is a thoughtful and well-spoken urban affairs advocate and generally an impressive guy. I was trying to picture each of the four candidates up against Tim Hudak and Andrea Horwath in a televised election debate and Murray looked to me like the one who would best handle that. I like Kathleen Wynne but, as a current and long time member of the government, she will not be able to distance herself from the McGuinty legacy in a credible way. Sandra Pupatello is aggressive and confident but I"m not sure that she can handle Hudak in a campaign. Gerrard Kennedy, after losing his federal seat to Peggy Nash last year, seems to want to apply for any and all available Liberal leadership jobs. He is a decent guy but looks like someone who would end up as opposition leader after Hudak wins a majority.

Regardless of who wins, it will be extremely tough for the provincial Liberals to win yet another election unless Hudak self-implodes with some crazy policy like having prisoners pick up garbage in chain gangs along our roads. Wait, he did that last time..... This time, I suspect that he will make no such radical promise and he and his party have done a good job over the past several months in releasing a broad set of policy directive "white papers" on a range of important topics. More recently, he has re-cycled the "beer in corner stores" idea and taken shots at the LCBO and their new fancy stores built at taxpayer expense. These messages play well. He pointed out that when you leave Ontario in any direction - to Manitoba, Minnesota, Michigan, New York or Quebec, you will enter a jurisdiction where you can buy beer and wine in corner stores and grocery stores. So, why not have this in Ontario too? I'm not sure that there is a good answer. The election in the spring is going to be Hudak's to lose. He is fully capable of doing just that but I'd be surprised not to see him as Premier before the summer. And as a Toronto resident, and depending on what happens with the mayor's office, the prospect of having Stephen Harper in Ottawa, Tim Hudak at Queen's Park at Rob Ford at City Hall is about as depressing a scenario as I can imagine.

Speaking of depressing, I did watch the entire Bills game yesterday. The defence could not get off the field on third down and also, here is a newsflash: we need a quarterback. With 3 games left, it's really about draft position now. The latest draft analysis I have heard says that there are, once again, several good quarterbacks available in the draft - although maybe not as highly rated as Andrew Luck or RG3 were. I just hope that Buddy Nix can pick the guy who will not be the second coming of JP Losman.

This weekend, we have the annual "who cares bowl" as the high-flying Seattle Seahawks (who beat Arizona yesterday 58-0) come to the Rogers Centre to play the Bills. The game will serve as the undercard for the halftime performance by PSY who will play a 10 minute version of Gangnam Style (I presume). Last week, I saw Leonard Cohen and Dave Matthews Band at the ACC so having the chance now to see PSY as well as an NFL exhibition game as an opening act is just about all I could ask for.

Bills 34, Jaguars 18

An email from Mary Ito arrived last Tuesday. The subject line was :"Join us Saturday at Lula Lounge". A few Saturdays ago, I was up early as usual, working on the computer and listening to Mary host CBC radio's Fresh Air. She invited readers to submit stories about dates gone wrong. So, I took a few minutes, submitted a story and hoped that she would read it on the air. She did not and I either missed her saying or forgot that she had said that she would select 8 lucky winners to join her and other CBC staff at Lula Lounge for dinner and evening of Salsa dancing. I know more about Salsa dancing than I did before Saturday (which was virtually nothing) and I enjoyed meeting everyone but I can't see myself taking it up anytime soon. For those who do this, it's hard to imagine a better place for it that than Lula Lounge. There were couples whose dancing skills were good enough for a TV show and the band was fantastic. It was an interesting peek into a world I knew nothing about. And Mary Ito is delightful in every possible way.

Here's my take on the Rob Ford saga: assuming that he is successful on Wednesday in his application for a stay of last week's order and assuming that his appeal of the same order in not successful in January (big assumptions but probably the most likely scenarios), rather than go the $7 million expense of a by-election, I firmly believe that council should exercise their right to appoint someone to hold the position on an interim basis until the regularly scheduled election in 2014. An argument could be made that it be Doug Holloday, the current Deputy Mayor and former mayor of Etobicoke. His more tempered personality and right-of-centre leaning could be considered an acceptable replacement for and extension of the Ford mandate. I have a different view as to who should be appointed and it may not be what anyone who knows me would expect. I would support the appointment of Rob Ford as "interim" Mayor. He won the election in 2010 fair and square and has the right to hold the office until 2014. Despite the existing law (which should and I expect will be changed to allow for judicial discretion), his actions and/or omissions were not serious enough, in my view, for him to be removed from office. His ideology, policies and demeanor in office are different things entirely and clearly are going to be key considerations for voters in 2 years time. Plus, appointing Ford, as I suggest, would shut the Mayor and his brother up about the "left wing witch hunt" and make them run for re-election on their record alone. Speaking of judicial discretion, it was interesting to see the reaction from Ford supporters who could not understand why the judge had no discretion in the application of the penalty of removal from office after finding that the Mayor broke the conflict of interest law. "What do we pay these judges for anyway?", they asked. These are generally the same people who support more mandatory minimum sentences for certain criminal offences. Like we have now, thanks to the Harper government.

On to some football now..........Mike from Buffalo, whose seats are next to mine in section 113 at Ralph Wilson Stadium, bought my tickets to yesterday's game. He also texted me a photo of the stadium during the game and it looked pretty bleak. Rain, wind and tens of thousands of empty seats. It looked like there were less than 25,000 actually in the stadium. I saw none of the game but had John Murphy and Mark Kelso on the radio for much of it. The Bills are now 5-7 with a mathematical but unrealistic shot and at a wildcard spot. The best news? Mario Williams has really picked it up and is beginning to play like something approaching the player they hoped he would be when they signed him in March.

Up next: the St. Louis Rams come to Orchard Park after a thrilling OT win against the 49ers yesterday. Up next for me: finding a buyer for these tickets.

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.



 

Bills 19, Dolphins 14

This is the peak of football season - especially for Canadian fans. Sunday's Grey Cup will mark the end of the Canadian football season but this week, there just couldn't be any more football and it's all important.

The Don Boscoe Eagles, coached by Toronto mayor and village idiot Rob Ford, easily handled the Northern Red Knights 31-0 in the so-called "Toronto Bowl" to earn a spot in the Metro Bowl semi-finals this week against the St. Andrews College Saints. The winner earns a trip to the Metro Bowl at the Rogers Centre on November 27th. Whether the Eagles make it to the final game or not, the Toronto high school football season is almost over and that probably means that Ford will be spending more time at City Hall. It was a good run while it lasted.

Last year's Vanier Cup was one of the best football games of the year and should be a good one again this time around as the same two teams, McMaster and Laval, earned trips to Friday night's big game at the Rogers Centre. The Vanier Cup was first awarded in 1965.

In US College football, the BCS standings were turned upside down as 2 of the top teams lost for the first time this season. The Oregon Ducks lost at home to Stanford and Kansas State fell to Baylor. Things are looking good for Notre Dame who remains undefeated and will almost certainly earn a trip to the BCS National Championship game with a win on Saturday at USC. The University of Buffalo Bulls won for the third straight week with a 29-19 win at UMass. Grand Island Native Alex Neutz lead the way with 9 catches and a touchdown.

The 100th Grey Cup is now set for the Rogers Centre on Sunday. The Toronto Argonauts managed to hang on for a 27-20 win in the Eastern Final at the Big Owe before over 51,000 fans. Alouettes receiver Brian Bratten seemed startled to have the tying touchdown pass bounce off his chest on a third down play in the dying seconds to seal the win for the Argos. Calgary won in Vancouver in the Western final to earn their trip. CFL rules require that Toronto hosts and plays in the Grey Cup game every 30 years. The 1982 game featured wet and windy weather as the Edmonton Eskimos earned revenge for their 1952 defeat at Varsity Stadium. I have already ordered my tickets for the 2042 Grey Cup game which will be played at the 90,000 seat RIM Stadium (I'm bullish on the BlackBerry 10) which the Argonauts share with Toronto's wildly successful NFL team which moved here from Buffalo following the 2016 season.

And, on the Bills big win in prime time last Thursday. We left Toronto around 2pm in fine clear weather and, despite the pesky Buffalo afternoon rush hour traffic on Route 5, arrived in good time to Drive 5 ready to tailgate in the dark. The entire parking surface area of Drive 5 has now been asphalted which makes it seem somewhat more civilized than the gravel surface it replaced. But the asphalt absorbs nothing. And it's too bad because we now know that the gravel served to absorb the considerable amount of liquid which ends up on the ground during a tailgate party and the slope of the parking lot now means that the liquid runs in long streams throughout the entire surface area. Thankfully, the liquid is all beer - in one form or another.

The Bills defence showed up in a big way in the first half and, despite red zone difficulties, CJ Spiller and the offence played well enough to get the win. Jairus Byrd, the "ball hawk", made a fantastic interception late in the fourth quarter by sprinting full speed toward the sideline and making the catch fully extended and right in front of our seats. They would need one more pick to seal the win. I walked in the door at 3am.

Next up for the Bills: a trip to Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis on Grey Cup Sunday. Luck isn't going to win the game for the Bills but they will have to find a way to deal with him if they are to make a run at a wildcard spot. If they can win this one, 2 easily winnable home games against Jacksonville and St. Louis follow.

Enjoy this week football fans. It doesn't get any better than this.

 

Patriots 37, Bills 31

Saturday night was the Ronin Dragonboat end of season party and this one was a little more tame than others before it have been. Got home at 1.20am - hardly out of control but late enough and certainly enough red wine to make things a little rough yesterday. Especially that last bottle of Trius Red which Kevin and I shared as we walked along Bloor Street chatting about football, Conrad Black and other things I'm sure. Thanks to Amanda and Willie for welcoming us into their home.

So I got up Sunday morning, wrapped up the Monday Morning News and decided to drive to Muskoka to watch some football, have a hard bike ride and a sauna to sweat out the impurities of the previous night. As I settled into the 1pm time slot, I was certain that I would end up watching mostly the Argo playoff game after the Bills were on their way to being blown out of Gillette Stadium, a place where they have never won since it opened in 2002. The early stages of the game featured a Bills defence which could not stop Tom Brady and an inept offence which was repeatedly penalized as they dug themselves an early 17-3 hole. Only a few more minutes before I would be free to switch to the CFL playoffs, I thought to myself and, in this the year of the 100th Grey Cup, that seemed like the right way for it to be.

But the Bills hung around and started to match the Patriots in offensive production as the game still looked competitive. When Ryan Fitzpatrick lead the team to 5-1 start last season and signed a $59 million contract extension, Bills fans began calling him Fitzmagic. But since they won in Toronto against the Redskins in October of last season, he has rightfully earned the names Shitzpatrick and/or Fitzputrid.  Opponents realized that he can not accurately and consistently throw the ball down the field which leaves the offence limited to short passes, running plays, draws and screens. But yesterday, Ryan Fitzpatrick played one of his best games in a Buffalo uniform as he threw for 337 yards, completing 27 of 40 attempted passes. Thanks to his leadership and quality play yesterday, the Bills earned a team record 35 first downs and almost won the game. They would have if rookie TJ Graham had run his slant pattern in the endzone in front of Patriots safety Devon McCourty rather than behind him but he didn't, McCourty intercepted the pass and the game was over. The Argos won big before the usual small crowd which was "announced" at 25,792. A win in Montreal next week puts them in the big game.

Last Tuesday, after Ohio was called for Obama (even after Carl Rove was satisfied), the glow of victory lasted less than a day as the reality of the fiscal cliff came into focus. John Boehner was quick to reiterate his preposterous position on income tax rates for high income earners (or as Fox News calls them, the "job creators"). The battle lines are drawn and the House Republicans remain dug in - at least for now. The following day, speculation began about the 2016 Iowa Caucuses. My prediction: Jeb Bush will lose the 2016 election to Hilary Clinton and Bill will get to move back in to the White House where he belongs.

This week, we go to Buffalo for a Thursday night game against Miami. It will likely be a later night for me than Saturday was so we will need to rest up, be thorough in our preparation and just go out and do the best we can in the late night cold conditions.

Texans 21, Bills 9

In the days leading up to the 2000 US Presidential election, the Buffalo Bills were well into the third season of a quarterback controversy which pitted Rob Johnson, the tall, NFL prototype Californian with the big arm, against Doug Flutie, the diminutive former Boston College and CFL star known for his leadership, intelligence and his ability to scramble and improvise. Bills fans were conflicted between the two, each of whom had enjoyed their own degree of success in the previous 2 seasons, as the Bills made the playoffs in both. It almost looked liked each of them was running for vice-president as fans carried signs featuring and incorporating all 4 names: Gore, Bush, Johnson and Flutie, confusingly and randomly mixed and matched .

This year, as the election looms, the state of US politics is about as depressing as the state of the Bills quarterbacking and most of the rest of the team. The "Citizens United" Supreme Court decision, which created essentially unlimited political spending by interest groups through Political Action Committees (PACs) and "Super PACs", has resulted in unprecedented spending on political advertising, mainly in about 7 key swing states. Thanks to the Electoral College state by state "winner take all" system, the campaigns and their Super PACs generally ignore states which consistently vote one way or the other and focus on the swing states. If you live in Sacramento, CA, Binghampton, NY or Austin, TX, you have been spared from most of the Super PAC TV ads but you will also have had virtually no chance to see either of the presidential candidates in your area. But, if you live in Cleveland, OH or Tampa, FL, you could have seen them on almost a daily basis for the past 2 months.

The list of endorsements for President Obama has grown in the past week and include The Economist, New York mayor Bloomberg and The Globe and Mail. Mitt Romney's math has been correctly called into question as has his party's position on social issues like abortion and same sex marriage. But as New York Times columnist David Brooks has been pointing out for months, the President's campaign has been sorely lacking in the presentation of a real vision for his second term. The Democrats have instead chosen to focus their entire campaign on attacking the Republicans. While the first term is always cut short by focusing on re-election, most 2 term presidents use their second term to think big and accomplish the key policy initiatives which will define their presidency and form their legacy. If Obama wins tomorrow, he may well be able to do that but it will require him to break the Congressional deadlock which has ground the legislative branch to a halt for the past 2 years, and move forward with some support from House Republicans. He has been unable to make any headway on this in his first term and the Republicans probably deserve most of the blame for that (especially the Tea Party members who pledged to never compromise with the Democrats). The responsibility, however, lies with the President to create the political momentum to move forward with bi-partisan support. This will be his biggest challenge and if he succeeds in getting the US Congress working the way it is designed to and the way it always has, that will define his presidency.

Titans 35, Bills 34

It's just before 9pm on Saturday evening. The finishing touches on my weekly newsletter for MCAP are done. The folding table, bar-b-que, charcoal, lighter fluid and seat cushions are in the car. The gas tank is full. The hot Italian sausages, sauerkraut, mustard, veggie tray and beer are packed together in the fridge, ready to be loaded into the cooler in the morning. I'm going to chill for an hour or so and see if Miami can hold off the heavily favoured Florida State before I turn in. I then get a text message from my friend in Greg in Ottawa who is scheduled to be on a 6am flight to Pearson where I will pick him up before we drive to Orchard Park. He has taken a puck in the face at one of his son's hockey games and he's in the emergency room. It could be a broken jaw. It's not looking good for tomorrow.

At that late hour, I knew the chances of finding someone to go with me are slim. I made a few calls but there were no takers. What to do? I decide that I'm going anyway. I have never failed to meet friendly and energetic fellow football fans at the tailgate and I have gotten to know most of the fine people from Buffalo who sit in my area of section 113, so why not go? I decide that I might be able to sell my second ticket to someone before the game.

After a much better drive than last time, I arrive in Drive 5, on the north side of the stadium, right around 10am. I pull in between two spaces, one occupied by two young women and the other occupied by three young guys. I would spend the next two and half hours with these 5 - and others. The guys, it turned out, all play football for the University of Buffalo Bulls which is a Division 1 football school, although not a highly ranked one. Scott Pettigrew is a linebacker from Tennessee who admitted that he is much more of a hockey fan than a football fan. He was wearing a Nashville Predators jersey. Alex Neutz is a 6'4" wide receiver from Grand Island, NY and Fred Lee is a 6'2" wide receiver from South Carolina. He knows Bills cornerback Stephon Gilmore. I have a million questions for them. They opened the season playing at the University of Georgia, which was ranked 7th in the country at the time, before over 92,000 fans. The Bulls were blown out but the experience was quite a thrill for them. They were nursing their bruised bodies, having lost at home the previous day to the University of Pittsburgh, Dan Marino's alma mater. Next week, they are home to Mid-American Conference rival, University of Toledo. I will be checking the stats to see how each of them does. The 2 young women were pounding beer bongs and freely offering - and strongly encouraging - beer bongs and free face painting to everyone. I pass on the beer bong but agree to have a small Bills logo painted on my cheek. I was offered 10 bucks for my spare ticket by a scalper. I pass, hoping for a better offer but none came.

Once inside the stadium, a few things became clear: The Titans defence is terrible but the Bills defence is somehow worse, even with all of the high priced talent they acquired. The Bills defence was able to make Matt Hasselback look like Tom Brady - not an easy thing to do. Ryan Fitzpatrick had what looked like his best game of the season, connecting on a couple of very nice touchdown passes to Donald Jones and Stevie Johnson. For those hoping to see him benched sometime soon, he redeemed himself near the end of the game with an interception on a very poorly thrown ball which gave Tennessee the ball on the Bills side of the 50 and a chance to overcome a 6 point deficit and win the game. They did that by way of a Matt Hasselbeck pass to Nate Washington in the endzone on a 4th down and 9 from the Bills 15 yard line. Game over.

At 3-4, the Bills now enter their bye week. They will need the extra time as the next 2 games after the bye see them travelling to Houston and then to New England before coming home on a Thursday night against the Dolphins. I'm looking forward to following my tailgating buddies on the Buffalo Bulls, my new favourite Division 1 college football team. Go Bulls!