sportsly illiterate

I guess I have to eat my words. Last post I jumped on the 'bash the Maple Leafs' bandwagon and made an allusion that they don't win very many games. I admit, it was a cheap shot at a sitting-duck target, but it feels good to fantasize briefly that I actually know something about a sport, any sport. My 14 year-old son Phillip has intelligent conversations with his buddies (who are also faithful-to-the-bitter-end Leafs fans) about hockey strategy and Toscala and the Capitals and Kessel, while I stand in the shadows and pretend unconvincingly that I know what they are talking about. So I thought it would be cool to write something safely nasty about one thing that everyone seems to agree on . . . that the Leafs aren't very good.

But it turns out they are rising from the dead, if for no other reason than to drive the last nail in the coffin of my sports illiteracy. They won against Ottawa tonight, and beat the Capitals (one of the best teams in the league, or so Phillip tells me) a couple days ago. Go figure. Even a safe cheap shot isn't safe when you know next to nothing about a subject.

I do read blogs by people that actually know something about sports. Gerry Arnold from Oakville is celebrating his fourth year blogging. If you want an intelligent opinion about hockey, and a little humour to go along with it, Gerry's Oakville Blog is the place to go. Congratulations on four years Gerry.

Pittgirl is another blogger that has a lot of things to say about sports, this time mostly football (which I know even less about . . .). I read her blog, not because I'm in love with Pittsburgh or the Steelers, but because it's fun to read.

For now though, I'd better stick to what I do know about which is, well, let's see, um, okay, yes, as I was saying . . .