Hey bully, take that!

OK, I know this is off topic, but I just had to say something.

I really can't control my glee at watching the Conservatives squirm. This is the most exciting politics has been in Canada in my lifetime.

It's fun to see how the bully -- who's been poking and prodding his schoolyard victims at every chance possible -- reacts when a group of them turn and punch him in the face. The meticulous strategist has made too many wrong moves.

To be honest, I think the moves by Stephane Dion and Jack Layton are potentially the biggest leadership steps either have ever taken. And as for Gilles Duceppe, if you take away the separtist aspect, he's basically on par with the NDP. They're already in the House, Quebeckers voted too, so let's have them involved.

Harper raged in the House over the past few days that this is all so "undemocratic." Puh-lease. Harper got 38 per cent of the vote and acted like he got 110 per cent of the vote. Now the guys who got 62 per cent of the vote (of the measly 60 per cent of voters who even decided it was worth their effort to cast a ballot in the election a mere 7 weeks ago) are pulling together to see if they can do it better.

After watching Harper play politics with an economic statement at a time when what Canada needs is a true leader to see us through what is going to be one of the roughest economic times in memory, I'm willing to give the other guys a shot.

In his campaign on a few short months ago, Harper didn't campaign pledging to eradicate the $1.95 voter subsidy for political parties. Or on taking away a few unions' right to strike. No, I believe he said he was the best one to lead the economy through tough times. Hasn't he been watching what's happening in the U.S.? The country's got a new sense of hope with a leader who, now that the ballots have been counted, is putting politics aside in favour of trying to do some practical things to help his people. And Harper? The first chance he got to make a statement to Canadians about how he will be the stalwart leader amid times of turmoil, he goes and pokes the opposition in the eye, again, and again, and again.

Note, Mr. Harper, you did not get a majority when you went back to the voters (although we all know he was screaming inside for one). Take that as a hint. We didn't like Harper enough to give him carte blanche to govern how he saw fit. We left the other guys with enough seats to keep you in check. Good thing.

If we had some form of proportional representation, the PCs would have even fewer seats. In our first-past-the-post system the PCs won the most seats, but in popularity more people voted against Harper than for him. He needs to remember that.

And when he had the chance to show he could put partisanship aside and do what's in the best interests of the people, he just couldn't put the politics on the backburner.

I want Michaelle Jean to turn Harper down. To tell him No. Let's see if this coalition, based on a few narrow priorities, might do a better job. Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out Dion is a better leader than Harper? I'm ready to give him a shot. I've had enough of Harper the bully and all his cronies.

Channelling Victor Davis

Where’s Victor Davis when you need him?

I think Canada’s current swim team needs to channel a little bit of Davis’ pizzazz to fire up their game at the Olympics.

Mike Brown finished fourth in the 200 metre breaststroke at the Beijing Olympics, and then comments to CBC that if he had matched his semi-final time he would have won a silver.

How do you go to the Olympics and then not do a better time every time you dive in the pool? This is everything you’ve worked for. You mean you went to the Olympic final, had a chance to win a medal and somehow couldn’t match the time you did before?

In that case, in my view, Canada’s problem is a mental one, not a physical one. Let’s get a little of the Davis “I gotta have it” attitude and infuse it into every Canadian Olympic athlete’s mind. I feel like I’m hearing a concession speech from every athlete interviewed before they’ve even competed in the prelims. After he and Arturo Miranda finished fifth in the syncho three-metre springboard, Alexandre Depatie said the pair had done much better in practice. What? Why do Canadian athletes fail to perform to their best when it comes down to the crunch? Is this a national attitude? And how do we change that?

There’s skill, there’s technique, there’s fitness, and then there’s this unquantifiable part of competing, it’s heart, it’s will, it’s determination, it’s red-hot desire. It’s when you dig down deep into yourself to find reserves you never knew were there. In racehorses, it’s called “the winning spirit.” Some horses just refuse to let others pass them, no matter what.

I don’t want the medals for Canada, I want them for the athletes I know have slaved and sweated and worked their butts off to get the Games, giving up so much -- time with family and friends, careers -- and working so hard. I want them to have the mentality that Davis had. He got all fired up and visibly pissed off if things didn’t go right. I want to hear a collective Canadian guttural yell before they compete. I want Canada’s athletes in these Games to have a fire inside that will burn a hole in an igloo and get them to reach further than ever before in their quest to be the best they can.

If a swimmer isn’t ready to pass out or throw up after a race, they haven’t swum hard enough, in my mind. They have to hit that wall at the end knowing that they had nothing more to give. I was a competitive swimmer as a kid, and then in high school, and there was nothing I hated worse then despising myself for not trying harder -- especially when I knew I could. I was lucky to swim in an era when Canada was pretty hot in the sport, with the likes of Davis, Alex Baumann, and Anne Ottenbrite. They’re doing what they can now to help Canada’s swim team return to that level.

Maybe swimmers need to scream “Go, Go, Go,” in their head at every stroke, every kick of their race. Whatever we need to help Canada do better at the Games, it needs to start in the head.

Big Brown. Triple Crown. That sounds right.

So can Big Brown capture the Triple Crown?

I sure hope so.

Big Brown. Triple Crown. It even rhymes.

As a racing fan, I hold my breath in May and June, waiting to see if one spindly legged thoroughbred will rocket its way around the track ahead of its peers to capture the ever elusive Triple Crown.

It’s been 30 years since Affirmed battle Alydar down the stretch to sweep America’s three top races for three-year-old thoroughbreds in 1978.

I wasn’t a racing fan then, but I certainly am now.

I’ve watched with growing elation as horse after horse arrived at the Belmont Race Track with the potential to make a huge mark in history, only to be beaten by a hair, a nose, a neck.

The Belmont is the spoiler race of the Triple Crown challenge because it’s been the undoing of so many potential winners.

Since Affirmed’s Triple Crown win, there have been 10 -- count them again, 10 -- horses that have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown only to have the trophy snatched from their grasp in the final strides of the Belmont.

In 1998, Real Quiet lost by only a nose.
War Emblem tripped up in the starting gate in 2002. Funny Cide was outrun in the mud in 2003. Smarty Jones fell short by a length in 2004 (I think I shed a tear over that one). And in 2005, Afleet Alex didn’t win the Kentucky Derby but came back to sweep the Preakness and the Belmont.

Big Brown seems to have everything he needs to win. He doesn’t fret before his races. He’s got the speed to stay up near the front with the sprinters, and the powerful kick to close, leaving his rivals trailing behind in his dust.

In the Derby, he won with a commanding performance. In the Preakness, he looked like he was out for a morning gallop, toying with the field like a playful puppy waiting for someone to come out and race him.

That’s the one thing that’s been missing in this Triple Crown run. A real head-to-head battle between the winner and a strong running rival. Big Brown has tromped the field when he’s set foot on the race track. This is no Affirmed-Alydar showdown. Just check them out on YouTube and you see the thrill of each of those races. Each Triple Crown race was literally a match race between them. But still, I’ll take any winner at this point.

A New York Times writer wrote recently that even if Big Brown wins the Triple Crown, he’s no Secretariat. So, I surfed onto YouTube to check out Secretariat’s winning style. I was blown away. Now that was a running machine. He pulled ahead easily to win the Derby and Preakness, but his Belmont run is what makes him a legend. He’s not racing anyone but the wind, having left Sham behind before the final turn. And he does it in style. His jockey never has to touch the whip. He’s just along for the ride as Secretariat thunders down the track, setting a track record for the Belmont -- 2:24 -- that has yet to be broken. He also holds the record for winning the Belmont by the widest margin -- a stunning 31 lengths. Check it out for yourself.

I’d love to see Big Brown give us a race that reminds us of Secretariat’s commanding win in 1973, at least winning by a large margin. If Rick Dutrow’s endless boasting is right, Big Brown will sail to an easy victory.

But Secretariat has set the standard by which all top thoroughbreds are measured. Is Big Brown big enough to match Big Red? That’s a tough one to answer. And only Saturday’s race will tell the tale.

Big Brown is battling hoof problems, and on his shoulder rests the pressure of the racing world, which is lusting for a feel-good story to lift it out of the doldrums and lure fans back to the track. And in light of Eight Belles’ demise after the Derby, a good story would welcome -- especially a Triple Crown tale to tell for a long time to come.

I can’t say if Big Brown might put himself in the history books like Secretariat did. Chances are we won’t see a four-year-old racing season for him, since he’ll likely be in the breeding shed and not on the race track after this year, if not after he crosses the finish wire at the Belmont.

We’ll just have to wait and see what Big Brown has in store for us this Saturday. I think this calls for a trip to the local betting parlour, at least for a souvenir betting ticket. That’s worth $2.