The Times Advocate, 2006-09-13, Page 44
Exeter Times—Advocate
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
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TIMES ADVOCATE
Editorial Opinion
PUBLICATIONS MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511
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Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs.
Canada Jim Beckett — Publisher
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Peter Winkler -General Manager, Southwestern Ontario Division
EDITORIAL
What have
we learned?
Ars tributes and memorial services recog-
nizing the fifth anniversary of the ter-
orist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 filled
our newspapers and television screens
Monday, it's a good time to take stock and
wonder if we're safer than we were before the
attacks.
The so-called 'War on Terror' is a multi -
pronged battle, one that sees Canadian troops
fighting and dying in Afghanistan as coalition
soldiers continue their attempts to rid the
country of the Taliban. That war becomes
more controversial here at home as the death
toll of Canadian soldiers rises. NDP leader Jack
Layton raised the ire of many Canadians
recently when he officially called for Canada's
withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
"Canadians are not warmongers," he said.
Layton's right about that, but Canadian sol-
diers also don't give up when the going gets
tough. Fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan is a
legitimate mission in the goal of stamping out
terrorism.
More controversial is the United States' con-
tinued war in Iraq, which seems like an end-
less mission, one whose goal seems ambigu-
ous.
Five years after 9/11, Osama Bin Laden is still
on the loose, terrorism hasn't stopped and
there's no end in sight for the 'War on Terror.'
Most Canadians still live in ignorant bliss
when it comes to terrorism, although things hit
closer to home with the arrest of 17 suspects
in an alleged terrorist plot in Canada in June.
Five years later, what have we learned?
We've learned we're a long way from `mission
accomplished,' a statement U.S. President
George W. Bush boldly made in May 2003 on a
U.S. aircraft carrier, a statement he probably
regrets.
� SItcE THEY
GAVE UP ON
SCHEDULED
FLIGHTS,
1FIEY NAD
TO cH,gNGE
THEIR NAME•
Saving the game of hockey
It's too soon yet to tell whether it will be a
new golden era for hockey but the signs are
pointing in the right direction, even in, (one
foot on the bandwagon) Toronto.
After decades of listening to Roger Neilson
clones bore the opposition to death with a
strategy of defence wins games, a fresh wind is
blowing through every league in Canada.
At every level, coaches are embracing the
idea of `letting the skilled players play,' and
talking about playing Edmonton Oilers
style hockey, presumably not the part
about putting the puck in their own net.
But while the game is being saved on
the ice, there are a few changes needed
off the ice as well.
The arena names used to be as
unique as the teams that lived in them
whether it was the (unfortunately)
nothing -less -than -the -Stanley Cup atti-
tude at the Forum or the heart and grit
that symbolized the Gardens on
Carlton. The arenas of old came with a person-
ality whether it was the rats of Boston Garden,
the circus (literally) atmosphere of Madison
Square Garden or the pipes at Chicago Stadium
that shook the opposition to the core even if not
much else did.
But today there doesn't seem to be much dif-
ference between Arrowhead Pond, Philips
Arena, TD Banknorth Garden, RBC Center
Nationwide Arena, Bank Atlantic Center or
Scotiabank Place which used to be the Corel
Centre which before that was an empty field,
which is roughly analogous to the Senators'
playoffs dreams.
Then there is Glendale Arena, HP Pavilion,
Savvis Center, the Verizon Center and the list
goes on of the stadiums that have
become as faceless as todays players
that merely visit for a couple of hours,
rather than the Orrs and Lafleurs who
lived in the arena on game day.
It's difficult to imagine a player today
picking up a case of the HP Pavilion flu,
or dreaming of hosting the cup at the
Verizon Centre.
Some of the names remain such as the
Saddledome and the 'Joe' but soon they
will be gone like the personalties of the
players.
So my request to save the game? Send every
Russian back where he came from for five
years, rebuild the Spectrum, make it Jan. 11,
1976 again and wait for Bob's call. `Going
home' indeed.
PAT B
BACK 40
VIEW
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