Martin wins in Morris

Victory music didn't blast from overhanging speakers nor did balloons and confetti fall from the sky.

An hour after the polls closed in a byelection for the provincial legislative seat in the Morris constituency, Shannon Martin sauntered up to the podium and said, "I think we are ready to call it."

In his victory speech at the Kingswood Golf & Country Club, Martin said that he was as "stressed out today as he was on his wedding day" but he didn't show it or needed to be.

It came as little surprise to anyone following the election that Martin, a Conservative candidate, won in Morris. The constituency has been represented by a PC member since 1954.

As soon as the first polls began reporting shortly after 7 p.m., it was evident that Martin would capture the seat.

The final vote tally for Martin was 2,642. That dwarfed the number posted by the second place finisher, NDP candidate Dean Harder, who captured 488. In fact, it more than doubled the 1,133 votes that the other four candidates collected on election day.

Martin's win, along with fellow PC member Doyle Piwniuk victory the same night in an Arthur-Virden byelection, gives the provincial Conservatives 19 seats. While they still trail the NDP, which holds control with 37 seats (Liberals have one), the wins have given some party members hope for the next election.

"We are getting tired of finishing in second place," said Morden-Winkler MLA Cameron Friesen afterwards. "It's about us as a party introducing ourselves to Manitobans and letting them know we have a different vision for the future of Manitoba."

A general election is expected to be held in Manitoba in October 2015. It will be then we will find out if voters across the province share that same vision.

Twitter Storm

Twitter can be a powerful tool in today's world.

It can also be an ugly weapon.

The latter was the case when Richard Sherman turned pro wrestling heel after last night's Seahawks-49ers NFC title game.

Deadspin  did a good job of accumulating the racist, offensive, and downright disgusting things tweeted at Sherman following his fired up interview on FOX. (Here's a sampling).

It's unbelievable that anyone would take to a public forum and say things such as those in the link.

I know for myself, I have became extra careful with what I tweet, although on a much lesser scale (I would never tweet something in THAT light). A tweet that is meant to be an inside joke amongst my friends could be construed as something totally different to everyone else.

Twitter has connected every user to a larger platform, for better and worse. For people who chose to use it properly, it can be a great device to connect yourself with the world outside of your circles.

For people who use it to tweet hate, it will not protect you.

And, it's sports people.

Right Ilya?

Selling Change

When Dan Le Batard announced he was the Hall of Fame voting baseball writer that sold his vote to the readership at Deadspin, you knew it would hit the fan.

People had wondered for a while how ridiculous the BBWAA, the group of sportswriters given the task of voting players into the Hall of Fame, would react once they found out which of their members had sold their vote.

To quote the Joker from The Dark Knight, “They did not disappoint.”

Le Batard was stripped of his Hall of Fame vote and barred from attending any baseball game as a media member for a year.

In a statement released by the BBWAA, the organization said that it “...regards Hall of Fame voting as the ultimate privilege, and any abuse of that privilege is unacceptable.”

Of course, as reporter Richard Justice points out, Le Batard isn't the first person to crowd source his ballot (just not on this size of scale).

And apparently, the BBWAA doesn't consider voting for Jack Morris and Jack Morris only while deciding to leave Greg Maddux off his ballot an “abuse of that privilege.”

The problem with the voting process is it has become an exercise for vote-carrying reporters to feel extremely important about themselves.

In part, Le Batard explained the reason for selling his vote:

“I feel like my vote has gotten pretty worthless in the avalanche of sanctimony that has swallowed it...

Baseball is always reticent to change, but our flawed voting process needs remodeling in a new media world. Besides, every year the power is abused the way I'm going to be alleged to abuse it here. There's never been a unanimous first-ballot guy? Seriously? If Ruth and Mays and Schmidt aren't that, then what is? This year, someone is going to leave one of the five best pitchers ever off the ballot. Suck it, Greg Maddux.

...in a climate without reform, my next 20 years of votes will be counted but not actually heard. At least this gets it heard, for better or for worse.”

He is not the only one who feels the system is broke and with each passing year, more and more ridiculous. The only ones who don't feel way are the voters who feel important while holding the keys to baseball's Pearly Gates.

So while Le Batard will no longer vote and have to eat hot dogs in the section adjacent to the press box this year, hopefully his doing will result in change to the way Hall of Fame voting is done.

Last First Day

Let me be the last person in my class to say excitedly that today was the last first day of school in my life.

This is the final stretch for me as a student. I'm this close to completing my educational career and step into the real world with jobs, bills, and other fun/crap adult stuff.

And I'm ready for it. I feel that way because of the education I have gotten in the last 18 months. 2 years ago, would I have been ready? Not a chance. 4 years ago? I would have told you yes but I'd have been way, way wrong.

I feel prepared and confident in what I'm doing. Although I still act like an idiot child at points in the day, I've done a lot of growing up in the last year and a half, both at and away from school.

When I reflected on my past year while battling symptoms of the previous night on the first of January, I was proud of all I had done. I accomplished things that before I didn't think were possible for me to do.

I would like to say it's been all due to hard work but that would probably be an outright lie. I've walked the proverbial tightrope at points; sometimes getting to bed at the end of the day wondering how in the hell I managed to get through that day.

But at no point have I ever told myself I didn't want to get up the next day and do it all over again because while I might say that exact thing out of frustration, deep down I enjoy what I do and look forward to new challenges.

And now I'm ready to move on from school and face new ones.

It doesn't mean the learning will stop. Of course it doesn't.

But I'm ready to continue to do it beyond the walls of a classroom.

Gotta love what you do

This was my Friday. This was my Saturday.

It was a long weekend of work. I did eight game stories on basketball and volleyball, trying to make each sound exciting and different then the rest although they all blurred together in my head.

In three of those, I had to provide commentary on the streaming webcast online. It was an on the spot offer: "I need you to commentate volleyball." It was a new challenge. I mean, I don't really know volleyball. But it was a fun, spontaneous experience.

Commentary, run down, get quotes, write story, send, run up, commentary, repeat.

At the end of each day, I felt exhausted. I also found out I love what I do.

Anytime I feel like complaining about working any of my numerous jobs over the past year, I stop myself and realize how dumb that would sound. I am being paid to write, watch, and talk about sports.

If you would have told me two years ago when I was spinning my wheels in university, trying to get somewhere I didn't know how to get to, that this is what I would be doing, I would not have believed you.

I am thankful for all the opportunities that have been given to me throughout my schooling and I look forward to many more.

Because I like what I do.

Which is good because this will again be my Friday and my Saturday once again in the not-so distant future.

Not Incognito

Surfing through the rounds of NFL pregame shows yesterday morning, I landed upon FOX where the station had landed an exclusive interview with suspended Miami Dolphins lineman Richie Incognito.

Incognito has been suspended by the team while the league investigates claims that he bullied fellow offensive lineman Jonathan Martin to the point where Martin snapped and left the team. Evidence of texts and voicemails from Incognito to Martin have surfaced and the ensuing news story has gotten plenty of hot takes (ugh) from the sports world.

Incognito had not spoken publicly on the events since his suspension. He sat down with Jay Glazer yesterday for an interview.

The heavily edited, six minute interview featured Glazer asking predictable questions for rehearsed answers from Incognito. Disclosed beforehand was Glazer's relationship with Incognito. It raises a few question. How am I as a viewer suppose to know that Glazer handed this interview objectively? Why is FOX OK with a reporter holding this kind of a relationship with someone he's reporting on?

Today, there has been backlash stemming from the interview. The Atlantic Wire says that though the network disclosed the relationship between the two "...that should not excuse the player or journalist. In a lot of newsrooms, Glazer would have been disqualified from ever speaking with Incognito on camera."

Meanwhile, Dave Zirin from The Nation took the interview behind the woodshed. In his column, Zirin called the interview "sports journalism at its worst" and a "big steaming pile of propaganda". I would encourage you to read Zirin's piece since it sums up my thoughts on this issue in a much more colorful and articulate manner.

Winnipeg's Great War

During World War I, 261 Fort Street was home to a major milestone for the city of Winnipeg.

It was home to a factory owned by John Hadden, who by receiving an order for 6,000 tunics and pants, was the first Winnipeg-based firm to win a war-time contract.

To the right is 261 Fort Street today. 

Not a trace of that history remains on that site to the eye.

Winnipeg's Great War: A City Comes to Age touches on many historical themes in the book. One that is weaved throughout is the evolution of Winnipeg through the war. The Winnipeg that existed before World War I was completely changed by the end of the conflict.

261 Fort Street is an example of how that change continues today.

The book, written and researched by Jim Blanchard, is packed full of interesting facts, details, and anecdotes about Winnipeg during the First World War. Blanchard said the book took him three years start to finish and it shows in the detailed text.

One of the strengths of this book was Blanchard's ability to recreate event as if he was a bystander. Whether it was a riot or the torture of conscientious objectors, Blanchard does an amazing job in taking accounts from a variety of sources and describing the events as if they were happening right in front of his face.

The amount of detail in every paragraph did make it a harder read at points, especially with chapters that reached at times 70 pages. With no natural breaks, the information bogged me down at times and I felt like I wasn't completely digesting the entire story at times due to the length. However, that would be my small criticism of this otherwise terrific book.

Having an opportunity to talk with Blanchard today was very insightful in seeing what methods he used to research and write this work. As someone who someday wishes to write a historically-based work, I enjoyed listening to him speak about how he went about finding and tackling the information he needed to write the book.