Christmas Time

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

The year was 1964 and independence had finally come. December 12th, 1964 we would finally get rid of the British colonialists and have self rule. Meanwhile, south on the continent, racial discrimination would persist for another thirty years!

Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. Thursday November 29th, 2007. A snowstorm hit southern Ontario. People woke up to find a nice thick three, to four, inch blanket of snow. I remember when I had to shovel. Those days are now behind me. I can now boast that I don't mind the snow.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007. In a crowded mall in Omaha, the Westwood Mall a 19-year old boy went on a shooting spree. Ended up killing eight people, six of them Mall employees and two of them customers. He started shooting in the Von Maur department store. News that has been gathered about him since indicates that he had left his parents home, or been kicked out, had recently split with his girlfriend and also just lost his job.

Last night, December 6, 2007, going home from work on a fairly crowded bus, there was this teenager, ears plugged in, obviously listening to rap music. 50 cent to be exact. It was that song "In da club." Well, oblivious to the fact that there were people all around him he was singing the song, albeit out of tune, and making a point to emphasise the expletives. People kept looking at him and shaking their heads from side to side, but nobody said anything. And it was a white kid to boot. A white kid. Do you know how ridiculous these white kids look trying to act black? And ghetto black at that. I know he didn't feel ashamed, so I felt his shame on his behalf.

So Marion Jones has admitted to taking drugs prior to the 2000 Olympics where she obviously shone. I knew that there was something fishy about her natural abilities. And to tell us that her coach started supplementing her in 1999 with, what she thought was, flaxseed oil. You can almost convince me now that Flo-Jo also wasn't juicing on something. We can't say positively that she wasn't getting assistance of the pharmaceutical persuasion, but it's hard to be so good and make it look so easy like she did in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Triple gold medal winner. Died at the tender age of 38 of a heart seizure. So it's a good thing that Marion Jones was crying and whining about having lost our trust, but for me, she lost my trust when she was hanging out with C.J. Hunter and then Tim Montgomery (who was also caught juicing). It's funny that track and field sports are now forever tainted. The list of suspected and convicted juicers is long. Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and Linford Christie have all been tainted. Then there's the current suite of sprinters. We won't name any names, but the times that these guys are running, and continually beating, are too amazing to be true.