Tuesday was September 11th and that's a date that will always be engraved in my memory as it was September 11, 2001 when our world changed forever as a result of the World Trade Center attacks masterminded by Osama Bin Laden. I hope as time goes by we don't forget those who lost their lives on the planes and also those who perished trying to save lives. I also hope we don't ever forget the heroes that were on United Flight 93, who tried to take over the plane from the hijackers and ended up crashing in a field in Pennsylvania. I also hope we take a minute to recognize the thousands who have lost their lives, some would say needlessly, ever since that date in the fight against terror. I have had mixed emotions about the whole fight on terror since 2001. I've gone from behind a hardcore supporter of 'get the terrorists no matter the cost' to being a guy who says 'who cares what they do over there, just let them solve it themselves' to rebounding a bit and being totally confused and being a fence sitter.
I wonder if there is a more dangerous vehicle on the road than one driven by a Student Driver following instructions from the teacher. I can't blame either one of them. The teacher is doing his/her job and the student is, merely, doing as told. But, the reality is that once that 'Student Driver' sticker comes off the back of the vehicle, there isn't a person that I know of who drives like that.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are back to .500 after sweeping their home and home series with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Riders dominated on Labour Day and then stole the decision this past Sunday when Winnipeg coach Tim Burke suffered from a brain cramp and elected to punt towards the end of the game instead of asking his kicker to boot a 43-yard field goal. Rookie quarterback Drew Willy then brought the Riders to within a 39-yard field goal for Sandro DeAngelis (who I still have trouble rooting for) to win it. This victory erases one of the blown fourth quarter leads, in my opinion.
A few weeks ago during the Rider five game losing streak, I wondered what the team would do with Willy at the helm. He did a tremendous job, considering his inexperience, although there were cases where his indecision with the football cost him some field position. In this aspect, he's no different than Darian Durant, which tells me it isn't the quarterbacks holding on to the ball needlessly, but rather receivers struggling to get open down the field. So, let's get Durant back in there and hope the receivers can figure it out. Meanwhile, we know the Riders may have the best back-up in the league in Willy.
Half of this 8-team league has a former Roughrider quarterback as a starter (Kerry Joseph, Kevin Glenn, and Henry Burris are the others).
The National Hockey League is poised to lock out its players on September 15th if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached. If fans really wanted to send the parties involved in this silliness a true message, they would keep their hard earned money in their pocket instead of using it on attending games. That's never going to happen in Canada, but the impact would be tremendous. The 1994 strike in baseball killed the Montreal Expos because the fans stayed away in droves after that labor stoppage concluded. And, in my opinion, the biggest thing holding up this league right now is the high Canadian dollar. Knock 20 points off the loonie and see if the Canadian franchises can still prop up the NHL.
I never got to vote, but a recent study shows the word 'whatever' is the most annoying word in the English language. It's been like that for the last three years running. The word I hate to hear the most, but like the use the most is 'but'. I just used it, inadvertently, in that last sentence.
Joey Chestnut, the guy who we have all seen on television eating a ridiculous number of hot dogs during the competitive eating contests, was at it again last week. He gobbled down seven pounds of chicken wings in twelve minutes. Seven pounds is equal to 191 wings. Or, 19 orders of appetizers at Boston Pizza.
Time flies. It seems like yesterday that our 11-year-old son was born in a Brandon hospital and then days later we moved to Yorkton. Monday morning I watched all three of our kids board the bus to go to school. Wow. And as if I needed a further reminder, an old friend from college sent me a quick Facebook message saying it was 20-years ago this week that we started our post secondary education.
Nice person mentions this week to Kevin Ross, Carrie Pengilly, Jason Gordon, and Susan Cochrane.
