Those Sens Sure Are Heartbreakers.

- One of the things I enjoy most about living in Ottawa is that I am not a Sens fan. It's great to watch everybody here go hysterical every year thinking this is the year the Sens finally don't shit the bed in the playoffs. So of course everyone here thinks this is "the year". After watching them blow last night's game to the Penguins it is clear they are going nowhere again. Their defense is really weak and they don't have much offensive depth. I love Ray Emery in net but he won't be able to do it all himself.

And for the record we Leaf fans think every year is "the year" too but deep down we always know it isn't.

- I love Shaq. I think he is hilarious, an unstoppable force on the court, and in a league with a lot of image problems currently, a great guy who has never been arrested for beating his wife, drugs, gun fights at a Ripper joint or anything like that. But I find his new reality show about helping kids with nutrition ironic given he shows up for training camp 30 pounds overweight every year and takes the first 4 months of the season to play his way into shape. But it is bound to be better than Kazaam.

- Another guy I actually like is Bob Rae who is getting back into federal politics. I like Bob Rae as the head of panels and task forces but don't like his politics as he essentially ran Ontario into the ground (and for you Mike Harris haters in the crowd, remember that Rae's ineptitude created the need for Harris). A good friend of mine was an Ignatieff supporter at the Grit convention in Montreal and some Rae supporters were giving him a hard time because Iggy had no track record. To which my friend said at least he doesn't have a dismal track record. Exactly.

- I'm glad Stephen Harper's only comments on the current ABM fees "controversy" (What's next on the docket? Stamp prices?) is that they annoy him. They annoy me too but I'm not about to sign a petition trying to outlaw banks from charging them. There should be a charge when you are taking money from a bank other than your own because the banks pay a fee to move the money. I also find it funny that people bitch about these fees but invest in mutual funds in Canada that pretty much all invest heavily in banks.

- Here is a sports argument so good I'm pissed off I didn't write the column myself. Who is the most hated Duke basketball player of all-time? As someone who is a rabid Duke fan and has been since about 1987 I can totally see why everyone hates them. But hands down the winner has to be Christian Laettner. Four Final Fours, two championships, Player of the Year and all the girls loved him. Plus he stomped on Aminu Timberlake's chest and hit the game winning shot in the greatest college basketball game ever played.