Barring Right to Play from Olympic venues an insult to Canadians
It is, to say the least, mind-bending. Friday evening in Vancouver, with the world watching, Clara Hughes will lead Canada’s delegation into the Opening Ceremonies.
All around her, the Most High Mucky-Mucks of VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee) and the IOC will be patting themselves on the back.
Meanwhile, Right to Play, the charity Hughes represents, the worthy cause to which she has given her all (including $10,000 after winning gold in Turin)?
Right to Play is not welcome. Barred. Persona non grata. Right to Play cannot set up a booth in the Olympic Village. They can’t have any presence whatsoever at any official Olympic venue. They are, in short, about as welcome in Vancouver as the Dalai Lama in Beijing.
Why? Because corporate brown-nosers like John Furlong at VANOC and Jacques Rogge of the IOC – the craven, pusillanimous, shameless, pea-hearted crawlers after cash who are running this show – don’t like the fact that Japanese automaker Mitsubishi supports Right to Play.
A clash of sponsors, don’t you know. Can’t have that. The problem? General Motors Canada – a branch of that fine company that brought you the Hummer, a good portion of global warming, generations of rotten cars and a massive U.S. taxpayer-financed bailout to keep their sorry, bankrupt butts afloat – they’re an official sponsor of the Vancouver Olympics.
Hey, maybe we’re naive. Why think General Motors could care about poor kids in Africa? To GM, it’s always been money first. Nothing else matters. Even Lance Armstrong supports Right to Play – but get the Olympic bosses onside? Even Armstrong can’t turn that trick.
Never mind that Right to Play helps children in the world’s poorest nations. Nevermind it’s the charity of Canada’s greatest Olympic athlete, that Olympic icon
Johann Olav Koss, hero of the ’94 Olympics in Lillehammer, founded Right to Play, or that this is as worthy a charity as you can find, or that the Olympic movement is supposed to stand for the right of athletes, rich and poor, simply to play the sports they play.
If you want to express your disapproval over VANOC’s action and its horrid misrepresentation of the generous people of Canada, do everything in your power. Phone, write emails, boo every VANOC official you see.
Even better, never buy a General Motors vehicle. Instead, send your dollars to Right to Play and hit these greed-heads where it hurts: right in the cash.
The best player in the NHL, bar none: Whoa! What can you say after Alexander Ovechkin spots Sidney Crosby two goals (and the Penguins leads of 2-0 and 4-1) and comes storming back with three goals and an assist of his own?
Sid the Kid is scoring goals as he never has before and still he has 39 in 58 games, Ovechkin 42 in 51 games. Ovechkin is also a plus-41, Crosby a plus-7 on the season. And Ovechkin, who isn’t known for dishing it out, also has 44 assists to Crosby’s 35.
The Olympics? The Russians have more offensive talent in their top two lines, perhaps, but Canada is far deeper. If there’s a cause for worry on the Canadian side, it’s that the Devils appear to be overusing Martin Brodeur again. Brodeur has struggled of late, and so have Roberto Luongo and Marc-André Fleury.
Still, is there any way Canada could lose the gold in Vancouver? Nah – we hope.
Who’s No. 1? The CBC crew was telling us yesterday that the Canadiens still don’t know who their No. 1 goaltender is – and even that was a climb-down from Greg Millen’s position that Jaroslav Halak would absolutely, definitely be gone by the trade deadline, no question about it.
Well, if Habs management still hasn’t figured it out, here’s a little help. Even after a somewhat rocky weekend and a tough loss to Boston yesterday, Halak is 17-9-2 for a total of 36 points in 28 starts. Taken over a full season, that works out to 105 points and a secure spot in the playoffs, possibly even first in the Northeast Division.
Carey Price, meanwhile, is 11-17-4 in 32 starts for 26 points. Over a full season, that works out to 67 points and a tee time in early April. Yes, there are other factors, but those numbers are pretty stark. If that doesn’t add up to No. 1 and No. 2, I don’t know what does.
One sweet story: Hockey stories just don’t get much better than what is happening with Mathieu Darche right now. A Montrealer to his toes, scion of a famed sports family in this town and in general, an all-round good guy, Darche is finally getting his shot with the hometown club and making the most of it. Here’s hoping he sticks, all the way to the playoffs.
&&& finally, a moment of silence: Brian Burke and I probably couldn’t agree on the colour of the sky – but Burke’s finest hour came when he supported his son, Brendan, after the younger Burke found the courage to come out and declare his homosexuality publicly.
Brian Burke’s hardest moment, then, had to come when he found out that young Brendan had been killed in a car crash over the weekend, caused by the storm that swept through the Atlantic Coast. It just doesn’t get much tougher than that.
Heroes: Right to Play, Clara Hughes, Johann Olav Koss, Jaroslav Halak, Tomas Plekanec, Mathieu Darche, Alexander Ovechkin and young Brendan Burke, who had more courage than a boatload of NHL teams.
Zeros: VANOC president John Furlong, IOC president Jacques Rogge, General Motors Canada and all those who have embarrassed Canada, embarrassed Vancouver and embarrassed the Olympic movement by barring Right to Play.
jacktodd46@hotmail.com
