Grumpy Old Tother

Who is Regan Lauscher, and why should we NFL jerseys care?
Actually, Regan is an Olympian luger from Calgary who's training in Whistler, B.C. and posted a recent blog at ctvolympics.ca that has the whole country buzzing.
It seems poor Regan is upset because she doesn't feel the good citizens of Whistler have captured the Olympic spirit and that too many of them are concerned about piddly matters associated with the Games, such as environmental damage and cost overruns.
Note to Regan: Welcome to the real world.
Olympic shills come in many forms - athletes, politicians, media, etc. But too often, they come across as crackpot dictators in their insistence that the Games are good for everybody.
Maybe it's the fact that our two week Canadian summer is over and we're now braced for another icy winter.
Perhaps, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, comes the knowledge that a delicious turkey dinner also means an entire day of in-laws.
Or it could be that, suffering from a mid-life crisis, I recently had my hair dyed and I now look as if I've got a dead beaver sitting on my head.
Whatever the reason, the ol' Tother is a tad grumpy these days; a fact reflected in the following gripes.
"You vill go to zee Games.....and you vill enjoy zee Games!"
But in the interests of balance and democracy, the anti-Olympic voice needs to be heard without the fear of being branded unpatriotic if you're not that pumped about the upcoming show in Vancouver.
In Chicago, for example, a huge citizen coalition rose up to protest the city's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics; a bid, of course, that ultimately failed.

"All of that fuss and that's all the kid gets?," some of you are saying.
But the real joke was that the case made it to court in the first place; something that never would have happened if Jonathan Roy didn't happen to be the son of legendary NHL puckstopper Patrick Roy.

Look people.....this whole issue was blown way out of proportion. Take a look at the footage again and you'll see that what once was decried by hockey-haters as "horrific" is actually kind of humorous.

Sure, Roy Jr. skates down the ice and rips the other guy's mask off before pounding away. But as an ex-goalie myself, albeit a lousy one, I can tell you that nobody can rip off your mask unless you let it happen. True, the coach of Roy's punching bag apparently instructed the kid not to fight back, but with 50 pounds of equipment on his carcass there was no way he was in danger of getting hurt. In fact, the whole episode looks like a wrestling match between a couple guys in those goofy Sumo suits people wear during play fights at the local carnival.

Club somebody over the head with a hockey stick and you usually get off with a few minutes in the sin bin.

But beat up the Michelin Man, and if his dad happens to be famous, you could wind up in court.

Thanks to the explosion of fantasy sports and the anonymity provided by the Blogosphere, these guys are everywhere.
Take some of the yo-yo's who follow the Toronto Blue Jays.
If you listen to these beauties they are:
1. Better broadcasters than anybody this side of Vin Scully.
2. More capable of running a Major League dugout than Cito Gaston.
3. Totally prepared to take over as GM now that J.P. Ricciardi has hit the road.
Earth to yo-yo's:
Being a solid broadcaster involves a lot more than being able to recite Tony Fernandez's career fielding percentage.
You can't get two World Series rings by digging to the bottom of that box of Cracker Jacks your Grandpa bought you at the game.
And just because you convinced your fantasy league buddy to trade you Albert Pujols for Lyle Overbay, it doesn't mean you can swing that kind of deal in the big leagues.
In other words, you crazy yo-yo's, the land of "Know-it-all's" should strictly be reserved for sportscasters with really bad dye jobs.
It was easy for Obama and Oprah to throw their support behind the Olympic movement in the Windy City. After all, the President is the person who collects the taxes and the talk show host makes so much money that sharing the Winfrey wealth with Uncle Sam isn't a big deal. But Chicago's working class looked at decaying schools and rundown hospitals in their city and decided the I.O.C. should really take their show to Rio.
I'm sure Regan Lauscher is enjoying wiling away her Whistler afternoons laying on her back and sliding down a really big track.
But while she's having fun taking part in a sport that's nothing more than unsafe tobogganing in my books, there's a healthy Olympic debate going on that's a tad more important than somebody putting on a pout because she's not getting enough pats on the back from her new neighbours.
Wednesday, Roy pleaded guilty to beating up a fellow goalie during a junior hockey game in Quebec last year.....and was promptly given an absolute discharge so he can continue to pursue his music career in the U.S.