| If people surveyed by Fast Forward before soccer’s World Cup were betting folks, cash flowed from their pockets like Italian fans onto Calgary’s streets Sunday afternoon.
The team that grows soccer players like the Irish do potatoes, Brazil, earned most nominations as pre-tournament victors from those in the not-close-to-scientific Fast Forward survey.
England, Denmark and Germany were also predicted winners. (Curiously, the number of England car flags flying in the city increased dramatically once the NHL playoffs ended). Not one person, however, selected eventual champion Italy, runner-up France or fourth-place Portugal to take the crown (losers to Germany in the third-place – fourth-place game).
Nor did one person surveyed pick Sweden to win. Sweden? Yes. If this club used its "Ikea defence" to full effectiveness, any opposition player who purposely or inadvertently wandered into the zone would have spent hours and hours trying to get out. Even if the Swedes never saw the ball again, they would have at least had a chance in penalty kicks.
Regardless of who won the title, or who lost all their cash, it’s good to see true soccer fans upset about the tremendous amount of diving on the pitch, the "dis" France’s star Zinedine Zidane put in his usually graceful game after head-butting an opponent in the final, and the high visibility of the officials’ poor calls. Perhaps this anger could lead to a backlash, a change in the game and the officiating. A well-refereed game means you don’t know the officials exist.
With any luck, great goals and superb performances will dominate conversations during and after the 2010 world cup in South Africa.
WEAR ART THOU?
Wearing a life jacket while floating down the Bow River is the law in Calgary. Many people know this, except, it seems, the majority of people who take to the waterway.
Having seen at least 100 different vessels – mostly dinghies and tire tubes – floating down the river during the recent hot snap, at most, 10 per cent of people were wearing personal flotation devices.
The Calgary fire department and police patrol this waterway regularly, presumably dishing out water education and ticketing or warning those unable to fathom the dangers of being on the water.
The penalties for not wearing a life jacket are not insignificant. According to an "uncertified" copy of the bylaw posted on the City of Calgary website: "A person convicted of a contravention of this bylaw by a court of competent jurisdiction is liable to a fine of five hundred dollars ($500.00) and costs in default of the payment of any fine and costs imposed hereunder to reasonable imprisonment with or without hard labour for a period not exceeding thirty (30) days or until the fine and costs including costs of committal are sooner paid."
There were at least three rescue incidents on the Bow between June 17 and July 5. Each media release states it is wise to wear a life jacket, and unlawful not to wear one. Unfortunately, that message needs more emphasis and more distribution.
Or, how about granting emergency services personnel the authority to dish out tickets under a new discretionary bylaw for "utter stupidity?" This way, in addition to some life jacket-less moron having to cough up $500, said person would also have to make a financial contribution to the public purse for putting emergency services folks’ lives in danger.
It’s one thing to ignore your own safety. But, by doing so, you automatically put the lives of fire fighters and police officers at risk. By law, they have to respond to any reported case of trouble on the water. They have no choice.
You, however, can make the wise choice to wear a life jacket. |
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