On John Ferguson Jr.

Just turned on Hockey Night in Canada. The Leafs are playing the Senators tonight.

Before the game, Ron McLean was chatting up in the rafters with John Muckler, the Senators GM and John Ferguson, the Leafs' counterpart.

This is the first time I've seen Ferguson speaking sort of naturally.

He's always been terse and taciturn, he's always avoided speaking publicly. Now I know why. He's genuinely not comfortable speaking in public. It really shows.

I guess there's an edict or something from the league on being more available to the public. Gotta win back the public and the media after last year's blight.

on Baseball and mediocrity

Dave Winer writes about his beloved Mets and rooting for the Yankees.

A funny bit about White Sox baseball from a Cubs fan. It's something like what a Mets fan might say about the Yankees, except a Mets fan would never, ever, ever root for the Yankees. It could never happen. A fate worse than death!

Last year, the baseball world was all aflutter because the Red Sox were about to end the curse. Babe Ruth was sold to the hated Yankees in 1919 and they have never won since. After many years, even decades, after many close, close calls, they finally broke the curse. Better yet, they did it while climbing over those same hated Yankees in one of the great comebacks in sporting history.

I don't watch baseball anymore, not since the strike, but even I could not avoid the conversations that sprang up around the BoSox. I don't even live in the U.S.

That brings us to this year. And the White Sox.

Chicago has gone even longer than Boston had without winning the Series. Their last championship interrupted a string of wins by the mighty Red Sox of the teens. They last won in 1917. That's 88 years ago.

Despite that, nobody cares. Nobody cheers. The Cubbies play on the other side of the city and everybody loves them.

How does a team go one hundred years and not find anybody to cheer for them. In my whole life, I've only met one person, a month ago, who ever cheered for the White Sox.

That is something special.

Am I Not a Man & a Brother?

I'm watching a show about the Underground Railroad.

The peculiarly American (as in U.S.) viewpoint kicks in early.

Someone states, "Slavery has been around for 300 years."

Slavery predates history. Slavery has probably existed in every land on earth except Antarctica. Why does it seem to be impossible for Americans to consider the American experience in a broader context?

This is a symptom.

More on weblogs.com

As I watch the bio of Chretien, under the picture is a typical scrolling news feed. It mentions the sale of weblogs.com to AOL.

Le Petit Ger

I am watching a mini-biography of former Prime Minister, Jean Chretien.

It offers something that I do not recall ever seeing previously. President Clinton, President Mitterand and Prime Minister Tony Blair all speak about him.

Peculiar.

Another peculiarity, he was the third Jean in his family. Not merely the third in a long line but rather, the third child born to his parents named Jean. As he put it, "I guess my mom wanted a son named Jean."

His toughness showed up early. When he was fifteen, he concocted a ruse to escape boarding school — he faked appendicitis. The doctors insisted on taking it out. He let them.

weblogs.com sold

Amazing Grace

I wonder what this means.

I have been reading this site for many, many years. I think since 1997. For some reason, I actually believe it's earlier than that but I'm probably imagining.

Scripting News

This is one of the sites that gave me some insight into the way the internet works. I should say that it's Dave's words. The site is a place.

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Lion in Winter

Jacques Parizeau is retired.

After spending at least the past 25 years fighting vigourously to separate Canada, Parizeau is no longer an ogre.

Some curiousities, he is exceedingly honest, painfully so. Although he has logged many, many hours in front of the cameras, he is not comfortable there. While he is comfortable discussing public matters, budgets, nationalism, etc… it drains him to speak of himself.

One amusing aspect of it all; I can now wish him well.

The Glass Ceiling

In general, I like Kyra Phillips of CNN.

Sometimes however…

She is talking with someone about the new nominee for the Supreme Court. Kyra tells the person she's chatting with about breaking the glass ceiling.

Kyra Phillips broke the glass ceiling?

Pretty young women are having problems getting hired for TV these days?

On Supreme Court Justices

I found the link to this on Dave Winer's Scripting News. It's amusing. I don't know enough to know how valid it is but it's amusing.

And then, after all the years of waiting, the moment came. And George W. Bush looked back at you and said:

Fuck you.

Fuck you, I’m nominating my personal lawyer to the Supreme Court.

JUST WELL MIXED

This is Bush in a nutshell.

On many occasions I've read that loyalty is the most important thing to Bush. I'm not so sure. As requirements go, it's up there but…

To me, he radiates insecurity. The more I hear of him, the more I believe he feels he's in over his head. While many fans of his like to say that he's intelligent, I have yet to see any sign of it in him. Not to say that he's genuinely a sub-moron or anything, but rather that he's not particularly smart. Compound that with his lack of experience and I see someone who is very uncomfortable with making decisions or taking a stance.

This is reflected in the way that he isolates himself; that he doesn't do interviews; the way that he wouldn't testify without Cheney for the 9-1-1 Commission; the way that he talks about some of his decisions, e.g. liking the Russian after gazing into his eyes; the way he talks about and justifies his choices for various positions.

Trust.

Nothing trumps trust.

People complained when he chose his Chief Counsel to take over the Department of Justice. If I remember correctly, he may have also floated Gonzalez' name for a slot on the Supreme Court. After all, Gonzalez was tying the President's name to torture. Bush trusted Gonzalez.

People complained when he chose Rice for Secretary of State when she had no credentials for the post. But, he trusts her.

People are now questioning his choice of Miers for the Court. Well, everything that's been written about her points to his absolute trust in her.

Look at the Vice-President. Bush had no clue who to adopt for this until he worked for some time with Cheney who was ostensibly looking for someone else.

Snow is his choice for Treasury. Why?

Bush doesn't know enough to make substantial decisions on many issues. Some suggest that he should appoint the best person for the job. There are two problems with that. First, he doesn't know how to do that. Second, after doing so, he would lose control.

It's better to have someone who is mediocre (for the position) that he can work with than someone who has the potential to go rogue.

People may be loyal but what counts is whether Bush trusts them.