| The "new" NHL looks like it might have stumbled onto something worthwhile.
New rules and a concerted effort to enforce existing rules have helped pro hockey regain its moniker as the fastest game on ice. Regular-season games, which always seemed to drag on for nearly three hours before these changes were implemented, now finish 30 minutes sooner.
While these improvements have proven great for regular-season viewing, the real test will come during the playoffs. It is the post-season that will reveal whether or not the much-ballyhooed changes "designed for the fans" will stick.
In the past, referees, by choice or instruction, have kept their whistles in their pockets, refusing to call infractions in the playoffs that would be surefire visits to the sin bin during the regular season. The "new" NHL is supposed to encourage wide-open, fast, free-flowing games. We know from history that teams play much tighter defensively in the post-season. The extra pressure to win in the playoffs leads to higher incidences of clutching and grabbing, holding, obstruction and closer checking in the neutral zone. None of this makes for exciting hockey. If the NHL has truly listened to the fans, the men in stripes will call the games in the playoffs exactly as they have so far in the regular season.
And if the league could only find a way to deal with all the assholes who smoke post-game in the cattle-herd-like lineup between the Saddledome and LRT, things with the NHL would be damn near perfect – whether or not the Flames win the Stanley Cup.
YOUR PARENTS LIED TO YOU
A story floating through the media earlier this year landed squarely in the "no shit Sherlock" pile. Some reporter asked an Edmonton doctor to dispel a sporting urban legend. The good doc happily obliged.
Now, before I reveal the truth behind this legend, you’d best sit down. Chances are it will prove one, or both, of your parents lied to you when you were young.
According to the capital city physician, you do not need to wait 30 minutes or an hour after eating before going swimming. There is absolutely no truth to the rumour that if you don’t wait, your body will run out of the oxygen required to digest food and make your muscles work.
Furthermore, from personal experience, you will not get a stomach ache or cramps from splashing in the aqua immediately after diving into a sandwich or two.
Now, if you eat enough for two and swim like you’re trying to win an Olympic medal, you may not feel so well afterward. But the same could be said if you ate a large amount and then went out to run, ski, cycle, play basketball, etc.
Now we know that the real reason your folks didn’t want you going in the water after eating is they weren’t finished their beer.
A MEASURE OF HEALTH
Good advice comes from the medical practitioners behind the U.K.’s National Obesity Forum (NOF), who have come up with a tangible measure of health. The group says weight around the middle signifies a high risk for diabetes and heart disease.
A non-Asian man is at high risk if his belly measures over 102 cm (40 inches). A non-Asian woman is at high risk if her belly measures over 88 cm (35 inches).
According to NOF, Asians are genetically more at risk. For Asians, a high risk occurs in males if their belly measures 90 cm (35 inches) and in females if their belly measures 80 cm (32 inches).
Now go grab a tape measure and wrap it around you just below your belly button. And good luck. |
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