Today, I’m going to just rant on a bunch of things, so if you don’t like rants, be forewarned.

First off, I’ll tackle the “Same Sex Marriage” quagmire that’s dominating our government like no other issue has since Free Trade. At first, I was totally against it, and then someone explained to me that it wasn’t mandatory to marry a gay or lesbian, and then I was ok with it. The country is quite divided on the subject, with lots of people having very strong opinions on the matter. Polls show things are pretty split. The very top poll is quite telling though - first, support for same sex marriage rights is high amongst those younger than 55, and very low amongst those older than 55. More interesting still is that support is higher amongst women than men. I know that at least some of you disagree with my stance on this, and that’s your right. It’s also your right to find homosexuality immoral, or evil, or whatever you want to call it. That doesn’t mean that you should have the right to dictate your morals on everyone else. There’s supposed to be a separation of church and state, and I’d like to keep it that way. If the Catholic Church (or whatever other denomination) wants to ban gay marriage, that’s their prerogative, and I don’t think they should be forced into it. However, recognize that there are other denominations that will gladly perform the ceremonies, and there is always a JP willing to take people’s money too. The key in my mind though, is that by advocating extending marriage rights to same sex couples, we aren’t taking anything away from heterosexual couples. Nothing. All that’s happening is that the same rights are extended to more people. I’d be arguing for women’s right to vote too, for what it’s worth.

When something costs me nothing, and gives benefit to others, I’m ok with it.

Now on to more serious topics - the NHL lockout. I haven’t mentioned much about hockey lately, mainly because there isn’t much to talk about. I will talk more generally about what I think is wrong with the game, and the league though. No CBA is going to solve the problem - at least that’s my opinion.

First, the way the league was realigned and expanded has led to the killing off of traditional rivalries. When you see Oilers fans cheering for the Flames, something is wrong with the league. With 30 teams, the schedule becomes fragmented with long road trips to visit the other conference, and the flow of the season is hurt by the fact that teams don’t play each other often enough. It’s not as evident in the regular season, but come playoff time, things have changed dramatically. Back in the days of the Adams, Norris, Smythe and Patrick divisions, teams would wind up facing each other in the playoffs year in and year out. When you’ve only got 20 teams, and 16 of them make the playoffs, basically everyone makes it in. Combine that with a divisional playoff structure, and you’re going to see Montreal play Boston in the playoffs a lot of years in a row. That creates rivalry. That creates great stories. That creates entertainment.

That’s not to be though. The league will never collapse 1/3 of it’s teams willingly.

The other aspect that’s broken is the never ending quest for larger TV markets. What business does a hockey league have in Raleigh North Carolina, when there is a 2000 mile stretch from Calgary to Toronto without a team? Sure, there are more people in that area than you’ll find in Saskatoon, or Regina, or whatever, but there are more hockey fans in Canada than there are in the South. An analogy (cause I like them) would be to stop publishing your English newspaper in North America, and start publishing it in China instead, because there are more people there. Sure, there are more people, and I guess they might learn English at some point, but you would be foolish to close up your North American printing operations while you chase a market that doesn’t exist yet. And yet, that’s exactly what the NHL has done. If — IF the NHL ever became a big time sport in the South, then sure, close up shop in Winnipeg and Quebec City. Move those franchises from up North to bigger cities in the South. They jumped the gun though, and it could wind up costing the league an awful lot. Chasing the big markets led to chasing the big dollar owners which led to prematurely escalating salaries, which led to insane ticket prices which leads to teams not being able to survive in Winnipeg. There are success stories though - Dallas is one. They draw a lot of fans out, and they have good fan support. Ok, now give the Stars 5-10 years of “rebuilding” and see how many people are still packing in to see them play. Everybody loves a winner, and that’s great, but in a league where “there can be only one” at the end of the day, that means that 29 other teams are on the outside looking in. For a sports league to be successful, you have to have most of your franchises in places where a 5-10 year downturn in scoreboard results doesn’t cripple ticket/merchandise sales. I could start listing off cities that I don’t think will survive a “less successful” period very well, but that doesn’t serve anything. At this point, all the teams are winless, and I predict they will stay that way for the rest of this year. Of course, hindsight is 20-20 and all that

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Dear Mr. President, There are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three. I am not a crackpot.” - Grandpa Simpson