The bombings at the Boston Marathon really fired me up last week and I made some comments on Facebook that didn't sit well with some of my 'friends'. You know me. I'm not the most politically correct person in the world and, sometimes, I maybe go a little too far with my views. But, I stand by my opinion that law enforcement officers should be able to use any means necessary to keep us all safe, even if all they have to go on is a 'gut feeling'. I have no problem being searched and opponents have said that's easy for me to say because I won't ever likely be searched for anything. Well, when I was younger and dressed like a metalhead, I was scrutinized by people in authority rather close. I didn't like it, but turns out now that I'm older and can be honest with myself, those people in authority had every right to pay extra close attention to me and, in a few instances, their hunches would have been correct. Sometimes I was up to no good.
I used the Tom Brady-Tony Romo/Ben Roethlisberger example last week when I said that sometimes you can just go by 'look' when deciding who is a more upstanding citizen. Romo, for example, always wears his hat backwards on the sidelines. And, what is the knock on Romo or Roethlisberger? It's that they are a little immature and give off a bit of a 'disregard for authority'. I don't think Romo has ever done anything really wrong (Roethlisberger has), but it's perception. Brady, meanwhile, is the All-American Boy you want to take home to mom. Looks do account for something whether we like it or not. I'm not saying every backwards hat wearing man is a bad person, but if you are giving off a perception, you can't be upset if people form an opinion about you. It's not fool proof, but I don't think there is anything wrong with a police officer taking a closer look at someone who appears as though he/she should be watched a little closer than others.
I read a very interesting article on the airline El Al, which is Israel's main airline carrier. They racially profile people and are very open about it. Security is very strict, and they do look at Muslims a lot closer than Jews. In our part of the world, that's wrong. Their feeling is that all Muslims are subjected to extra scrutiny based on the sins of their brothers. I wonder how many of us would be open to closer searches, etc. if it meant a 'safer' place. Some say you should just live your life and take your chances and hope what happened to the poor people in Boston never happens to you. It's an incredible debate regardless of what side you are on.
The alleged Boston Marathon bombers have an aunt in Toronto and she was all over the news on Friday night proclaiming her nephews innocence despite having not talked to them in years. This is the type of thing that should, highly, alert Canadian anti-terrorism officials. I'd watch her so close to the point that I'd know what she puts in her coffee.
Meanwhile, the older brother (who was killed in the firefight with police Thursday night) was looked into by authorities based on a concern from another country a couple of years ago, but nothing untoward was discovered. His quote of 'I don't have a single American friend; I don't understand them' should send off alarm bells. Hopefully, citizens can help law enforcement by reporting such nonsense to authorities. We've come too far to shrug off such comments. Even if meant as a joke or something not to be taken serious, it is now a serious opinion, to me.
I expect the Yorkton Terriers to have a successful week at the Western Canada Cup in Nanaimo. I'm not just saying that because they are our home team, but based on how they play. They are an incredibly difficult team to play against because of their puck moving defence and I think that translates really well into a tournament setting where it's a one game-only scenario as opposed to a best of seven where good coaches and teams are able to make adjustments over the course of a series.
Saskatchewan won't host the Western Canada Cup until 2016 and I pressed Bill Chow during the Canalta Cup finals to see if there is any one league centre that has stepped up to start organizing a host committee and it doesn't sound like there is at this point. Estevan is an obvious favorite based on the gorgeous new Spectra Place. Bill says it takes more than a nice building, however. Melville needs to make improvements as far as being able to accommodate dignitaries (they get an F for press box) in order to put in a bid to host. Yorkton has been a good guinea pig in years past for things like the Top Prospects Game and the World Junior 'A' Challenge, so don't be surprised if Yorkton puts something together for this event too. Warman will be in the SJHL by 2016 and with Saskatoon so close, it wouldn't shock me to see them step up too.
Nice person mentions this week to Ron Inkster, Cora Devos, Adam Wog, Parker Rice, and Brady Harland.
