THE MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

BASHING BIEBS, FLASHING BABES AND ARGOS' RING BLING

Football fans in Toronto send a not-so-subtle message
to the NHL and NHLPA prior to Sunday's 100th Grey Cup.

Welcome to Monday Morning Quarterback, a new feature here that will start your day and week with some of the stuff expected to pop up in conversations, if people actually talk or listen to you!

So, with first of many coffees in hand, humming along to the Boomtown Rats' classic I Don't Like Mondays, here we go. Soft drum roll, please:

A.) We build hockey rinks, parks, rec centres, you name it because we supposedly want to keep kids out of trouble and away from drugs, gangs, booze, etc. So when a kid, like Justin Bieber, makes good, we boo him in Canada? WTF? Then again, people booed Wayne Gretzky, Celion Dion and Team Canada in 1972, too.

While the target audience for Sunday's halftime show was aimed at a lot younger crowd than those actually tuned in to see football, it was amazing how many older peeps (and crusty journalists showing their ripe age and short memories) were quick to bash Biebs, Carly Rae Jepsen and Marianas Trench for their Glee-like performances.

NHLer Jordin Tootoo cried "Uncle" and called the CFL's halftime show painful in reference to Bieber. Considering the source, and non-entertaining state of the NHL these days, Sunday's show was more interesting than watching the less-than-thrilling Tootoo Train play (out of position) most nights in the No Hockey League.
While it made no artistic sense putting Gordon Lightfoot and The Biebs on the same bill, or trying to jam four acts into a halftime, it says a lot for the actual game when the day after all the talk is about halftime and not football. Believe, indeed!

B.) TSN did its usual superb job of covering the Grey Cup, but at least one cameraman had the interesting job of focusing on cheerleader tushes, girls gone wild in the crowd, and tight-fitting clothes worn by females.
Not complaining, of course, but I'm sure that target audience was just a bit older than those waiting to hear Boyfriend and Beauty and the Beat.

C.) The Calgary Stampeders got their butts booted big time, and considering how they ran off at the mouth, and on Twitter, after eliminating the Lions and Roughriders earlier in the playoffs, it was awesome to witness.

The Stamps, who complained they got no respect outside of Cowtown en route to the CFL's Big Dance, went home without bling for their ring fingers after forgetting how to compete. And for that they deserve no respect. The game was over at halftime. At least Bieber and Lightfoot came to play! And all-star singer Johnny Reid, who played university football in Quebec, fired it up during the kick-off show with a brilliant performance. The guy is awesome. He could have done halftime by himself and got a standing O.

D.) I love Burton Cummings' music and we all know the Canadian music star and Order of Canada recipient has his own way to rock while standing tall, but that lounge rendition of O Canada with drum machine track, was very Milli Vanilli-Wedding Singer-ish. Only thing missing was the monkey with the tip jar. (Hello Nik Lewis!) Then again, it's not like the Winnipeg native has been getting a lot of practice singing for winners in Manitoba lately!

Hmmm, how do I break it to them gently? Next time the CFL needs a national anthem performed with different words than the original, they can call Burton, maybe.

E.) Finally, kudos to younger brother Ward Kurenoff whose first venture into blogging this football season was legendary. Bro was on fire for most of the CFL campaign and at one time was dubbed Mr. Perfect (by himself, of course). Like the Stamps, he finished second in his prediction for Sunday's final. He reasoned: "Even a broken watch is right two times a day!"

While yours truly picked the Argos, I expected a much closer game. Guess the Stamps wasted all their energy trying to force their horse, Marty, into a downtown hotel. Just like the players from Calgary, you can lead it to the Grey Cup, but you can't make him drink from it!