When politics crosses the (goal) line

Montreal and the rest of Quebec is all a-buzz with the news of the firing of the Montreal Canadiens coach (a French dude) and the hiring of an interim coach by the name of Randy Cunneyworth. He's a unilingual anglophone -- a fancy way of saying he doesn't speak French.

Cunneyworth comes with great credentials and he was hired from within the Canadiens organization. Everyone should be happy, yes?

Of course not. Now the government is involved and suggesting the team get rid of this unilingual anglophone and instead hire someone who speaks French. They really don't care if he speaks English, as is the case with many people in Quebec, just that he speaks their language.

Separatist groups (the crazies who really do want to separate and have their own country) are insulted and calling for a boycott of Molson beer (the family owns the Canadiens). Personally, I see it as an idle threat because they probably don't drink the beer anyway.

Unfortunately, under Cunneyworth's leadership of three days, they have lost two games. The interesting element will be if he starts winning, will he be worthy? 

Our good friend Mark Kirstein emailed us today and said it best....

"Ok sell the house get back to Blackhawk country. When there is a damn near civil war over the Canadien coach not speaking French it truly has gone too far. And when that shit takes space on my sports page {Chicago Tribune} it is even worse."

Because it's the law

Nothing says "obey the language laws" like making sure a protest is bilingual.

Bonne Année

Happy New Year! A few days late. We've spent the last week or so at a rental cottage near our ski hill enjoying a wood stove, being somewhat unplugged, watching movies, playing games (the kids actually played Monopoly!) and skiing of course. Danielle and Paul spent four days in a class to become certified ski instructors. They spent the four days, seven hours a day, in ski boots. After the four days of instruction, skiing and testing, they are both Certified Canadian Ski Instructors! It's a huge accomplishment. Both will use their new skills this winter in the Special Olympics ski program and they can both earn some extra cash if they want teaching lessons down the road. Always good to have a back-up plan, eh?

Paul's new word of the year is "Peeee-vot" as in pivot which is what his French instructor kept saying about his skiing..."Peeee-vot."

In the middle of all that, we celebrated our 20th anniversary...it's been a wild ride.