Those who think the vuvuzela is cute and cultural simply refuse to believe that plastic really isn’t part of any nation’s culture.
1) The plastic horns that are “played” (how about “just blown into?”) from start to finish of every match at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa have reached the point of stupid and annoying and while I love the British announcers who call the matches with both a rich vocabulary and soothing voices, the fact they’ve been drowned out by the incessant hum of the vuvuzela has made the mute button on the TV my most precious of possessions.
Monday, we got word that FIFA is considering banning the horns. According to yahoo.com sports, a precedent has already been set. Vuvuzelas were banned – confiscated from ticket holders upon entry to the stadium – from the World Cup Kickoff Concert in Soweto last Thursday.
I, frankly, don’t care what FIFA does at this stage. The mute button has done its job.
2) This Thursday is the sixth anniversary of the Mike Richards Show at Calgary’s The FAN 960. I’m proud to say I’ve been a part of it almost the entire six years. Richards is the best young broadcaster in the country and nothing on the radio dial is funnier than the fabulous Mike Richards Show.
3) No matter where I go in Winnipeg, I get asked the same question: “Are the Jets coming back?” I believe they are and the team coming to Winnipeg will likely be the Phoenix Coyotes.
However, I’m not convinced yet that it won’t be the Atlanta Thrashers. Friends inside the NHL office in New York tell me that if a team must move, and commissioner Gary Bettman does NOT want any team to move, Bettman would accept the move of a team from the Eastern Conference to the West. That means he can move the Detroit Red Wings to the East (Bettman believes teams in the Eastern time zone, like Detroit, should probably play in the Eastern Confernce).
Sure, all signs would point to the Coyotes leaving the desert and moving back to the prairie, however there appears to be enough resolve to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix now and if Ice Edge can get its financing in order, they’ll likely buy the team and keep them there.
But there are more non-traditional markets out there and committed fan bases are small in many of hockey’s Sun Belt communities. Before this whole issue is resolved, the next Winnipeg franchise could very well come from the Eastern Conference.
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