Okay, now that's just priceless. A year to the day I opened this place up, the Leafs take out the Senators AGAIN!!!! I just couldn't resist a recycled title, so there it is. And now, to the gloating. One year... Isn't that spiffy? Yep, we've laughed, we've cried, we've bitched, and we've had some fun. Or we've done none of that. I don't suppose it's particularly relevant what we've done, nor is there much point in bragging about the year. Well, yeah there is, actually. This place has gone through four re-designs since then, and I have to say it looks the best it ever has. True, the flow of updates has slowed to a bit of a trickle in the past four months, but I still manage to keep the place up to date to some extent. Anyhow, thanks to everyone who's showed up from the beginning, and I'll keep this up until it gets horribly boring... And even then, I'll probably keep going anyway, since I really don't have much of anything better to do. With this semi-sentimentality out of the way, let's get to the fun.... or more specifically, the making fun of, since that's in order right about now. Come on... the title says it all....
Not that I'm not happy already, of course. It's great to see all the annoying pundits have to choke back their solemn predictions of utter failure by Toronto. In their preview, in fact, the Toronto Sun, that ultimate piece of journalistic integrity, called for the Leafs to be eliminated in five, six, six, six, six, and seven games, respectively. Ah, how nice to see each of those predictions nullified. Personally, I was leaning towards Ottawa in six, but after game 1, I was pretty much sold on the Leafs winning(although having followed the team for about ten years I was careful not to express this, given their unfortunate tendency to fall apart horribly as a result of superstition.)
Another fun thing to note as the series progressed was the play-by-play provided by Bob Cole and Harry Neale of CBC, who were doing their level best to attempt to persuade everyone that they weren't in fact staunch supporters of the Maple Leafs. Sadly, their heavy-handed attempts were fairly transparent; unbiased coverage does not preclude going on sagely about how Ottawa might just score in virtually any situation conceivable, which is exactly what they attempted to impress upon everyone. It was funny to see, because when Ottawa finally did score a couple of goals, the two of them went fake-crazy, gushing with expressions of how Ottawa was back in it and everything was going wonderfully- only to hear Coley say "Scooooooooooooooooooooooooooore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" at his loudest when Cory Cross, easily one of my least favorite Leafs, ring one off the back of the net to win the game in overtime. Well, now that Ottawa's been safely disposed of- again- there won't be any worries, unless Toronto through some fluke ends up playing against Edmonton or Vancouver in the finals. Until then, let's see some bias!!
Yeah... anyway, the best part of the whole series: not once did they get to play that fucking foghorn at the Corel Center, easily the most annoying cheering enhancement device anywhere. So, in conclusion, I can only say Muahhahhahahaha... and wait, and hope the Leafs don't collapse horribly against New Jersey.
With this tedious justification in mind, let's all give a big hand to Gord Ash so that he can eat it. But wait! A recent trend has him in full body shots again, so I guess all these fat jokes will have to stop until we get back to wacky head angle shots again.
Or at least shoulders.
Or at least... Bah. It's just too much of a fixture for me not to. Proceed with the lame fat jokes!
... Hey! I didn't say to stop giving me hands!
That's right, folks, there's an evil Mongolian dust storm which, after picking up some steam in China, made its way to the Midwest, where it's happily depositing evil Chinese and Mongolian dirt all over the place! This outrageous act of weather sabotage means that people as far north as Calgary have to deal with a strange white mist in the sky which just happens to be Asian dirt. The effrontry!
..Can you tell I'm running out of steam here? Oh, here's a good one. In Quebec, where the trade conference on Multinational trade and so on and so forth is taking place, the Parti Quebecois, since they don't get official representation, have taken the liberty of renting out a big sign in the street outside the hotel to flash a whole week's worth of Sovereigntist propaganda. Isn't that just ducky? See, if they didn't care enough to give you a freaking spot at the conference, chances are they're not gonna pay too much heed to your stupid bulletin board. I just can't fathom why sovereigntists just can't take a hint: Nobody takes them seriously. Even if they separate, nobody will take them seriously... It's just dumb to waste taxpayer's money on propaganda that's probably going to be ignored. Anyhow, protesters have been held back, although twleve special observers will be allowed to cross police lines and document police injustice AND protestor violence. Yeehaw for democracy, and pity to the multinationals with nearby headquarters that'll probably get trashed... Stupid professional protesters...
