First steps and the All-Concussion Line

Today's blog will be divided between family and sports. I don't write too much about the family stuff so I'll start with the "out of the norm" stuff before diving back into the familiar.

To kick things off I thought I should write a little about the excitement that's been going on around the Benallick house for the past week or so. Our daughter, Jenna (the cutest little girl EVER), started walking this week. Just a couple weeks short of 14 months old which would put her at about the same pace as our son, Carter, was when he started walking.

In the past week we've seen her figure out how to stand up without using the furniture or toys for help and then all of a sudden one day she started taking steps. Really up until that point she's shown no interest in walking. She crawls so stinkin' fast that we figured she had no reason to want to walk. But now she's well on her way and all I can say is look out world!

Jenna possesses an adventurous personality that rivals the great Indiana Jones. She has a desire (and an impressive ability) to get into things that we'd never thought possible. She is the reason that childproof locks and toilet seat clamps were invented.

As tough as it is to always be looking over your shoulder to see what kind of trouble she's getting into, in no way, shape or form do we ever want to crush that spirit or dissuade her from being so inquisitive. I look at her know, all of 14 months old, and I envision a world-travelling reporter, agressively seeking out ground-breaking story after ground-breaking story. It's no wonder her favorite thing on TV is Dora The Explorer- Jenna is the real-life version of Dora (minus the ability to speak Spanish or the talking Monkey for a best-friend- how cool would that be?).

Whatever she grows up to be I sometimes wonder if I'll ever live to see it because at this pace, she's bound to give me a heart attack well before her adult years come along:).
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Moving on from the family arena to the sports arena, I had a good chuckle today when I read the story on TSN.ca about the Leaf's signing the "Big E", Eric Lindros, to a one-year contract.

I'll admit that this could be a real sleeper pick-up for the buds, if- actually, make that IF- Lindros can keep his head up and not suffer any more concussions.

All the Leaf's need to do now is sign Adam Deadmarsh and they will have the All-Concussion line. They'll have to hire runway workers from Pearson Int'l to stand at center ice with glow sticks and direct the trio in the right direction.

I know it's not nice to make fun of other's misfortunes but really, what are these guys doing still playing hockey? Lindros has suffered so many serious concussions that I'm sure his head is like a bowl of jello. It makes me think of Cousin Eddie from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"- "I had that metal plate removed Clark. Everytime Catherine would turn on the microwave I'd piss my pants and forget who I was for a half-hour."That's the Big E in a few years from now.

Really, Lindros should be sporting the Don Beebee of hockey helmets and wearing something gigantic and padded. Just because the NHL has been off for 15 months doesn't mean the list of guys waiting to deliver the final check on Eric has become any smaller. Going to a hated team like the Leaf's isn't going to shrink that target anymore I'm afraid.

For Eric's sake, and perhaps even for the NHL's sake, I hope he can return to form and perhaps become a dominant player again. Say what you want about ego and what not, the fact remains that the NHL needs its stars and Eric was one of its brightest not so long ago.
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Staying in the sports arena I wanted to comment on Rafael Palmeiro. I won't spend much time because I don't believe the topic is worth much time but here it goes:

1) On whether Raffi should be considered for the Hall.
NO WAY. If Palmeiro gets into the Hall of Fame then I should get into the Hall of Fame because as far as I'm concerned my career stats are the same as his- zero's across the board. The guy's a juicer and therefore everything he's "accomplished" up until this point should be attributed to the juice and not to his God-given talent. The same should go for Giambi and any other steroid user in baseball. Giambi's career stats should start with this season- probably his first season as a "clean ballplayer". If you've ever been to Cooperstown, NY to visit the hall of fame you've felt what a pure and awe-inspiring place it is. Cheaters like Palmeiro don't deserve to be enshrined in there with the baseball icons who played the game hard and played the game clean.
2) The Viagra endorsements make a lot more sense now.

That's all for today.