Caution: offensive content

Earlier this evening, I found another reason for my waning interest in watching hockey. Mind you, it's not a biggee, but just the same...

The Toronto Maple Leafs' Nik Antropov had just tied the game late in the third period against the Mighty Ducks (I still can't believe they adopted that name). The home crowd was going wild and the camera did a pan across the Leaf bench.

Many of the players were looking down as if there was something fascinating going on down there, and many others were looking in various directions, looking about as interested as if they were at a lawn bowling game. No offence to lawn bowlers who many I'm sure can make the Maple Leaf team.

Getting back to the camera pan, it stayed long enough on one player for the presumably millions of faithful Canadian hockey fans to witness the "horking up" of a "loogie" just shy of the size of a regulation golf ball, and its propulsion halfway across the ice surface, quite possibly landing on centre ice. If it were black, it might have instigated an invalid faceoff. However, the best was yet to come. One player, who will remain nameless, only because I was less interested in him, than he was that the camera was on him, had an index finger lodged up his nose, seemingly to the third knuckle, where it remained until it was out of camera range.

I think the ending of Taxi Driver is less offensive...maybe because it is reminiscent of old-time hockey. ;)

At the polling station

Yesterday, I went to exercise my right to cast a wasted vote in our (Canadian) federal election. As I handed over my driver's licence as identification, I quipped to the lady there "Are there any photo Id.'s that don't look horrible?" She laughed, examined my photo for a couple of seconds and then said "This one isn't bad at all." She handed it back to me along with the voting slip.

I went to the private "booth" to mark my "X", but the whole time, something wasn't sitting right with me. And then it struck me. She woman felt that the hideous creature staring out from my driver's licence is a good representation of me. Now, I'd be the first one to admit that I've never been movie star material, but it never occurred to me that I might make the short list to play Quasimodo.

I'd post the offensive image, but I don't want to risk anyone rendering their keyboard inoperable.