Let's get silly again this week, dear diary. What the heck, it's summer. Nobody wants to engage in serious stuff, we want puff and fluff, don't we? Well, for starters, at least one pretty important subject to touch on. Then we'' do the puff and fluff. We heard that Canada has propped up its financial commitment to the Haitian relief efforts since practically no progress has been made in helping that rather helpless nation get back to some sense of normalcy. We have now committed over $500 million in federal funds for Haiti, but as noted, they have no real leadership. They have a nominal president who doesn't seem to know how to organize a two-float parade and then they have Bill Clinton who pops in on occasion to organize the American efforts. Apparently we'll be sending Michaelle Jean there in September or October, as soon as she completes her Governor General gig, so that should help organize the Canadian contributions. But the overall picture in Haiti doesn't look that promising. It was a devastated country prior to the earthquake, and it's even more so now. Without leadership, all they have is a bunch of half-baked rehearsals. This is a country immersed in a swirling vortex of corruption, poverty and pain. They need a lot more than money. Hey, weren't you pleased that LeBron James moved over from Cleveland to Miami to strut his hoop talents? That whole orchestrated affair, including Wade deciding to stay in Miami, Bosh deserting Toronto for Miami and then LeBron, surprise, surprise, choosing Miami, had a huge odour surrounding it. Also conducting a one-hour televised event to make the announcement was utterly idiotic. But one sports network succumbed to the opportunity. I guess their alternative programming was British darts or a 1989 Strongman competition night or was it in the daytime? I don't know because my interest in where LeBron James is going to break every rule in the game of basketball is pretty well nil. I'm just glad I was able to confirm another reason as to why the NBA remains very, very low on my interest scale, right next to soccer, I'm afraid. Speaking of soccer, I'm sorry my friends,d I tried hard to watch World Cup stuff. The first time, I fell asleep while Argentina apparently beat somebody else with a stifling defence. The second time, I left after 11 minutes, choosing instead to sweep the patio. The third time, I was looking for those 30 Dutch girls in mini-dresses, but they had already been kicked out of the stadium. Apparently they were a distraction. So Spain won I heard. Good for them. Now how many of those noisy soccer horns are going to show up in Taylor Field at Mosaic Stadium? Painted green of course. The game was a rough one I hear. No fewer than 14 yellow cards flashed and one red card. That, apparently, is considered rough. Nobody lost any teeth though. That's NHL rough. The game lasted 116 minutes and a few seconds. Don't ask me how that happens because they don't play overtime, unless the referee says they have to, or something like that. Soccer fanatics say they love the almost constant motion involved with the game. Maybe that's a selling feature, but if that constant motion gives me four shots on goal in 116 minutes of play, wake me up after it's over. So, how about that Tour de France thing? Some Canadian guy caught a little bit of attention by finishing fourth one day in one section of the race. He was more than 12 minutes back and about 125th on Monday, but what the heck, he's seeing a beautiful part of France on top of bicycle and getting paid for it. Why would I criticize that?In fact, we should have our own Tour de Estevan to boost our tourist attraction packages. We could send the best of the bicycle riders up and down both of our hills, around our 1,234 potholes, across the tracks (with or without trains to add spice to the timing elements of the competition) then over to the 45-year-old temporary truck route where they can dodge dirty semi's, then on to that other city down the road, and back again, on Highway 39. Survivors get a gold medal and a Lance Armstrong bobblehead doll, plus 200 Estevan promotion dollars.Maybe next year. If you'd like to tell me about how much you love LeBron, Kobe, Haiti, soccer or bicycle races, I'm at [email protected]
