Baby Food Confusion

Misunderstandings happen all the time. This is the story of something that happened to a friend of mine. We were on a flight to Germany when we saw that a mother turned down the airline baby food for her child because she had her own food for the baby girl. My friend mentioned how she wouldn’t mind taking the baby food if the flight attendants were just going to throw it out since it was unwanted. This occurrence led to her telling me a hilarious story about what happened to her in the grocery not too long before, a story about buying baby food. Again, this is my recollection of her story, so any inconsistencies or exaggerations are entirely of my own fault. Here is her story - let’s call her M.

Song of the Week - Alison Krauss

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Paper Airplane
Album: Paper Airplane

At the age of 40, Alison Krauss already has the  most Grammy's wins of any female artist with 26. That puts her well ahead of Aretha Franklin (20 Grammy's) and 3rd on the all-time list. Only Qunicy Jones, with 27 Grammy wins, and Georg Solti, with 31 wins, are in her path to becoming the most decorated Grammy-winning singer in history. Considering her last album, Raising Sand, won her five Grammy's, it is really only a matter of time before she makes history, again.

Boxing: Where Everyone Can Be a Champion

Professional boxing is the one major sport without an established league. Household acronyms need no introduction to what sports leagues they represent: NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB, UFC. There’s no confusion over who the best is in each sport because we have one champion in each. Then there’s boxing – WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF, IBO. How can boxing have 5 different champions (or more if we count titles from individual countries or continents) at any weight division? It’s because there is no single recognized league for boxing fans or fighters to look to as the one true league. And with the millions of dollars at stake with licensing fees, no league is willing to amalgamate for the sake of boxing if it costs them even the tiniest cut of financial income. At this point, it’s up to Ring Magazine to be the voice of who the recognized champion should be. However, one has to take these rankings with a critical eye, as the magazine’s owner, boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya, is also a major player in promoting boxers with Golden Boy Promotions. Though he has promised not to influence the editorial content, there clearly is a conflict of interest between ownership and journalistic independence.

Povetkin (left) is the WBA Heavyweight Champion, while Klistschko (right) is the WBA 'Super'-Champion

The major leagues aren’t doing themselves any favours either. It is widely recognized that Wladimir Klitschko is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. He has defeated every major challenger - with relative ease. When David Haye won the WBA Heavyweight Championship over Nicolai Valuev, everyone knew he wasn’t the real top heavyweight. When Haye finally stepped up to the challenge of Klitschko, he was embarrassed and ridiculed for his scared tactics. While Klistschko added the WBA belt to his already full wardrobe less than two months ago, it wasn’t long that we found out Ruslan Chagaev (who was brutally beaten up by Klitschko not so long ago) and Alexander Povetkin (who had signed to fight Klitschko but backed out of the fight at his trainer’s discretion, fearing Povetkin was not ready to fight the champion) were fighting for the same WBA Championship belt this past weekend. How is this possible? The WBA decided to elevate Klitschko’s status to ‘Super-Champion’, while Povetkin’s victory earned him the distinction of WBA Heavyweight Champion. The reason it sounds so silly is because it is.

The 100m Mistake

Sprinting is all about milliseconds, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to records or podium finishes. This past weekend in Korea at the World Track and Field Championship, Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man and biggest draw in track, was disqualified in the 100m finals after just one false start where he jumped out of the blocks a fraction before the gun. One mistake is all it takes to get disqualified under the new rules of the 100-meter sprint, and Bolt’s error cost those who spent hundreds of dollars to be in the stadium, as well as the countless people watching at home, a chance to witness greatness - all for the sake of television programming.

Usain Bolt exits early from the 100m finals

The idea for the ‘zero-tolerance’ with starts is partially due to the fact that TV executives didn’t like excessive false starts forcing their program to go over the allotted network time slot. Each false start forces the run-time to take an extra few minutes for the runners to get set back in the starting blocks. Imagine three or four false starts from different runners, and the program might run over the TV schedule by 10-15 minutes. The new rule forced the runners to be completely disciplined in their blocks for the penalty of disqualification is too great. After this weekend, we know see clearly that the penalty is too much.

Song of the Week - Dashboard (again!)

Dashboard Confessional - If I Needed You
(written by: Townes Van Zant)
Album: The Wire Tapes Vol. 1

The Wire Tapes Vol. 1 is the least known of Dashboard Confessional's discography. It was released only on his 2007 acoustic tour and then very briefly on his website. Featuring covers from notable artists such as Weezer, Counting Crows and Regina Spektor, one must ask why he didn't release this album to the broader market as there would clearly be an interest. My only hope is that there is a re-release at his next live performance, as the past two times I've seen him there was nothing happening.

Get it together Mr. Carrabba. I want this CD.

The News Never Stops

“The news doesn’t stop on Mondays. Neither should your paper.”

This new advert from the Globe and Mail found on newsstands is a little jab at their national competitor, the National Post. The Post has decided again to opt out of printing Monday papers for the summer months to help out with their budgeting. I agree with the Globe that news doesn’t stop Mondays and newspapers should be in print every day to inform the public. I do, however, find it ironic that the Globe and Mail would make such a tongue-in-cheek remark when they themselves do not have a Sunday paper. And no, the “Weekend Edition” delivered on Saturdays does not accommodate all the Saturday news that would be fit to print on Sundays. Shouldn’t the advertising sector realize that the news doesn’t stop on Sundays either? Neither should their paper.

Song of the Week - Bromantic

New Found Glory - Saints and Sailors
(written by: Dashboard Confessional)
Album: Swiss Army Bro-mance

On their recent tour together, New Found Glory and Dashboard Confessional co-released a Vinyl record featuring just four songs. New Found Glory covered two of Dashboard Confessionals tracks, and vice-versa. The result was the Swiss Army Bro-mance, a play on words from Dashboard's most popular album, Swiss Army Romance.

New Found Glory are not newcomers to punk remakes of other band's songs; they have two full length cove albums: From the Screen to Your Stereo (Parts I and II). These songs would be a welcome addition to Part III.