T.O. Talk

Discussion Topics :: Ontario Place -- What should be done?

Author: Hadley Delta
Subject: Ontario Place -- What should be done?
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:36 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 0

I don't gamble. I just don't feel that excitement of losing money, and tend to agree with the statement that it's a tax on the stupid. But in the absence of any better suggestion, I like the idea of a casino at Ontario Place, even if people in Niagara Falls don't want Toronto stealing their business (and I'm guessing Rama employees may have a similar opinion).

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/03/how-to-revive-ontario-place

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/globe-to/ontario-place-sell-it-save-it-turn-it-into-a-nudist-colony/article2326281/

http://www.bulletnewsniagara.ca/2012/02/02/niagara-falls-council-affirms-opposition-to-toronto-casino-day-before-queens-park-says-its-still-on-the-table/

I'm of the opinion that the government should be regulating and taxing casinos, but not actually operating them. And let them do sports betting. It can't be any more of a rip off than OLG.

If Rama and Niagara Falls don't like it, sorry, but that's just too damn bad for them, ain't it? I'm tired of having to hang around for several hours because of their silly bus trip rules every time I want to see the washed up remnants of some classic rock band. Niagara Falls at least has some other places to go, but Rama is in the middle of nowhere.

Other than once going to see an IMAX film at Cinesphere, the Amphitheatre is the only reason I've been to Ontario Place in the last 20 years. It would probably make sense to transform the Amphitheatre, or at least some of the part of it with seats (as opposed to the lawn area), into a music venue that could be used year-round and perhaps integrated into a casino complex, as in Rama and Fallsview.

John Tory -- who BTW seems to have gradually become a somewhat more entertaining radio personality now that he's dropped any aspirations of being elected to political office and is less afraid of offending politicians -- has been put in charge of a panel to consider ideas for the future of Ontario Place.
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Discussion Topics :: Argos homeless for 2013?

Author: Hadley Delta
Subject: Argos homeless for 2013?
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:55 am (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 1

Could the Argos be homeless at the end of this year?

Blue Jay management has acknowledged they are considering the possibility of a natural grass surface at Rogers Centre as soon as the 2013 baseball season. It is certainly technically possible, and has been done temporarily at least twice in recent years for soccer matches between visiting European clubs. Supposedly modern grass, fertilizers, portable lights, and keeping the retractable roof open on days when it's not raining would allow a grass surface to be put down in the spring and survive to the end of the baseball season in October.

But the major drawback would be that the movable lower level of seating would have to remain fixed in the baseball configuration for the entire season. That would mean no football (and probably no other non-baseball events) during that time. Coincidentally, both the Argos lease and Bills In Toronto agreements are presently set to expire at the end of 2012. The Argos and Buffalo Bills may be able to have one or two games each a year in November or December, but the Argos would definitely be looking for somewhere else to play their home games if this occurs.

If you're thinking "What about BMO Field?", it's extremely unlikely because it would involve the Argos being required to foot the bill for tens of millions of dollars worth of demolition and reconstruction to accommodate the CFL, and the present owners and operators are doing quite well with 25 to 30 soccer and rugby matches a year and are not begging for a tenant wanting to awkwardly rebuild their house for 10 CFL games a year, assuming the Argos could actually afford to do so.

Also coincidentally, I believe the Hamilton Ti-Cats may be looking for a temporary home for 2013 while their stadium is being rebuilt. The Argos and Ti-Cats could end up with little choice except to together find an available cow pasture somewhere in southern Ontario to mark out a gridiron and set up some bleachers and port-a-johns for a year or two.
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Green Room :: Edmonton beats Toronto, 47 murders to 45

Author: Special_Ed-monton
Subject: Edmonton beats Toronto, 47 murders to 45
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 2:33 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 0

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120102/edmonton-police-chief-homicide-hope-120102/20120102/?hub=EdmontonHome

Quote:

Edmonton finished the year with 47 killings, beating Toronto at 45.

Yay! Edmonton wins! Yay!
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CFL is special!
I is special!
Yay!

Green Room :: Atheists worse than rapists?!

Author: Hadley Delta
Subject: Atheists worse than rapists?!
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:35 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 0

Who would have thought that, even in supposedly liberal-minded Vancouver, people would rank atheists lower than rapists when asked who they would find to be more honest.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Cheer+Christians/5887633/story.html

When I think of George Carlin and particularly Bill Maher, it seems to have been their honesty in needling religion that angers the Republican Christian-fundamentalist types.
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Talk Radio :: Bob McCown -- staying or leaving?

Author: Hadley Delta
Subject: Bob McCown -- staying or leaving?
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:47 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 2

Has there been any news on Bob McCown's contractual situation? Supposedly his present contract with Sportsnet 590 ends this month, and the last thing I heard about it in the last couple of weeks was him joking with Brunt about not knowing who will be hosting the show in January.
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Discussion Topics :: Markham NHL arena without a team?

Author: Hadley Delta
Subject: Markham NHL arena without a team?
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2011 11:03 am (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 1

Plans are being developed for a 19,500 seat arena in Markham/Unionville, with those behind the project carefully avoiding stepping on anyone's toes, as Mr. Blackberry did, by refusing to acknowledge they want an NHL team.

Quote:

... it has already been deemed to be able to turn a profit on concerts even without an NHL tenant. The group has already had extensive talks with Live Nation Entertainment, which has about 60 percent of the lucrative concert market...

often ... the Air Canada Centre ... is booked for hockey and basketball. Another large venue would give them a chance to have more lucrative shows in a metropolitan area of five million people.

^from http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/43120-Campbell-Construction-of-NHLsized-arena-to-be-proposed-in-Southern-Ontario.html

But then why not build a concert venue of that size, something like an indoor version of the big amphitheatre at Ontario Place that could be used year-round, not just in the summer? As I just whined about in another post, hockey arenas stink as concert venues.

Whatever happens, I'm not sure an arena of that size in suburban Markham is guaranteed to succeed, particularly if it never attracts the NHL team it may need to survive. It hasn't worked well for Hamilton. And when was the last time you went to a show at the big outdoor amphitheatre at the amusement park in Maple? It was virtually wiped off the map after the Ontario Place amphitheatre was rebuilt into its present much larger configuration.
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Bullocks ! :: I hate "The Wave"

Author: Hadley Delta
Subject: I hate "The Wave"
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:26 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 1

In the second half of the most recent Bills in Toronto game, people started doing "The Wave". I was among the many who ignored it. And not just because it's no longer a trendy thing to do. I've never done it. I guess at one time when it first became popular in the U.S. -- maybe the early 1980s? -- it might have had some slight relevance to the game, such as attempting to distract the offense (or pitcher) of the visiting team. But no one in Toronto ever understood that. It's does nothing except display that, like some 4-year-old who has been dragged to the event by his parents, you are not watching the game, lack a basic understanding of what is going on and/or can't be bothered to pay attention even if you bought your own ticket.

On a related note regarding people's behaviour in a crowd at an event, a few weeks before that I went to see Pearl Jam at the ACC. I largely stopped going to these things by the time I was in my mid-20s, and I doubt I'll go back again any time soon, particularly to ones in hockey arenas where you can have a bad seat like I had. I was along the side, near the end of the arena farthest away from the stage, in Row 3. It's not quite as bad as being at the back of the seats on the floor where you see nothing but the backs of the people in front of you standing on their chairs, but it wasn't much better. From the time I arrived before the show started and most of the seats were still unoccupied, the girl in the seat beside me (with what appeared to be her grade-school-aged little brothers) was obviously going to be standing up the entire time and directly blocking my view. Eventually the people sitting on the other side of me left, probably to stand or sit somewhere else where this girl wouldn't be in their way. I moved over to the farthest empty seat in the row, where I could at least partly see around the girl. But sitting in Row 2, actually the front row here, against the rail, is a kid who looks back, and sees that I have moved to get a view around Miss-Can't-Sit-Down, and this dick kid then spends the majority of the rest of the show purposefully leaning out over the rail, extending and waving his arms and hands to block the view of the stage as much as he can. And once or twice each minute, he keeps turning around to look back in my direction to make sure he's doing as good a job as possible of getting in the way. Gee, thanks for spending your money and time so that you could not only ignore the show yourself, but deliberately do as much as you could to stop others from seeing it, asshole.
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Green Room :: Do Argos have a future in Toronto?

Author: Hadley Delta
Subject: Do Argos have a future in Toronto?
Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:20 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 0

Unless you happen to be near the stadium on the day of a game (and despite the attendance that gets announced, there often appears to be crowds numbering under five figures), do you see anyone walking around wearing Argos or CFL clothing? Someone asked me this two years ago, and since then I've seen exactly two guys between the ages of 13 and 65 wearing an Argos shirt, and one Saskatchewan car flag.
Do you overhear anyone taking about the CFL, or see CFL games on TV screens in bars or restaurants? I don't.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/magazine/2011/11/02/brunt_fumbling_the_ball/

Quote:

In sports ... there is nothing worse, nothing more corrosive, than indifference...

... the Argos appear to have reached the point where nothing -- not winning, not clever commercials or reality shows, not even threats to survival -- can put them on the front burner.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/bruce-dowbiggin/tsn-refusing-to-push-cfl-envelope/article2227260/

Quote:

... when we asked, the CFL and TSN both politely declined to reveal the season's TV ratings ...

That can't be good.
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Green Room :: Toronto FC at Rogers Centre in March?

Author: Hadley Delta
Subject: Toronto FC at Rogers Centre in March?
Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 10:26 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 3

Toronto FC has advanced to the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League. This means a home game sometime between March 6th and 8th, against a Mexican club or the L.A. Galaxy. This creates a problem for MLSE. BMO Field was not built to be used in winter, even though the field itself has heating and could be ready. An early March game would almost certainly create problems with plumbing for washrooms, not to mention the possibility of a snowstorm. MLSE is apparently looking into working out a deal with Rogers to use the building formerly known as SkyDome for this one occasion, much to the annoyance of some hardcore TFC supporters, who cringe at the thought of the half-empty multi-purpose round stadium with it's poor sightlines, artificial turf, and depressing airplane-hangar-like gray ceiling.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2011/11/02/sp-mls-tfc-concacaf-rogers-centre.html
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Discussion Topics :: Eglinton Crosstown, Sheppard stubway, reviving Transit City?

Author: Lex Smythe
Subject: Eglinton Crosstown, Sheppard stubway, reviving Transit City?
Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 3:51 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 1

I had to post comments on an online NOW article, not only because the original article made me anxious, but because the folks posting comments seemed polarized and somewhat out-of-touch.

Here's a link to the original article.

And here are my comments:

Quote:

I drive as well as ride public transit. The Sheppard extension to Scarborough Centre would make it VERY practical to me and many others who today have to travel out of their way only to get back up to North York or beyond.

The Scarborough Crosstown will also be useful as long as the trains are fast enough. Bombardier said they'd adjust the design to satisfy an underground right-of-way but the final design has not been announced yet. And will small-ish RT trains satisfy the ridership ? That also remains to be seen. My fear is that we're building a cute mini-subway line when what we really need is another standard 6-car Toronto subway system across the city.

And stopping at Black Creek Drive in the west seems like a foolish budgetary decision. Just west of there is a major traffic nightmare, at Eglinton and Renforth. Why not end the line there until someone with the political courage extends it to the Airport, where it logically should start in the West, unless, that is, Witch Hazel finally kicks the bucket and a progressive Mississauga mayor looks for a TTC connection to Mississauga's City Centre.

As for "buses are fine for everyone" that could only come from someone who doesn't ride them much. Buses are not at all a civil way to travel, particularly with the condition of Toronto roads these days. Streetcars (aka Light Rail "LRT" or "RT") are far better than buses to be sure, but they have their place and that is downtown and in the West End where there are highway options for drivers. Gridlocking the suburbs with RT right-of-ways through already anxious intersections is not an answer. Scarborough never got its Expressway and driving conditions there are already stressful enough.

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Lex Smythe
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