In the last few weeks, the Canadian newsworld has been abuzz with the excitement surrounding the political shenanagins going on in Ottawa. For our American friends, or those IC Canadian fans out there who only get your news from Illegal Curve (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), the brief (and nowhere near complete) synopsis is this: A coalition of the New Democrats (socialists), Liberals (left of Democrats), and Bloc Quebecois (separatists) joined together and tried to overthrow the Conservative (so right wing they’re over the glass and on the other side of the boards) government. A lot of people (with the exception of IC’s Andrew M) got mad at the fact that the Liberals and NDP had joined together with the French guys who are voted for by people who don’t even believe in Canada.
Alas, it turns out that the Canadian government isn’t the only place where French Canadians are wreaking havoc at the voting booth. As the New York Times pointed out over the weekend, there is mounting outrage over the vote-stuffing of Montreal Canadiens fans. Thanks to them, Habs players were leading – by huge margins – in all six starting positions on the Eastern Conference squad. Now I know, the Habs are good. I get it. But unless someone out there can tell me with a straight face that Alex Tanguay is having a better year than Crosby, Malkin, and Ovechkin, and that Mike Kommisarek is a better D-man than Big Z in Boston, this is a total joke, and the outrage is probably justified.
The problem is that the reaction to Hab-stuffing seems to be a coordinated effort by Pittsburgh fans to respond by using computer programs to help them flood the voting site with votes for Sid and Gino, which has now led the Pens to overtake the Habs in two of the forward positions. And while the ends (Crosby starting) are justified, the means (more ballot stuffing) are disappointing.
Which all begs the question:
WHO/HOW SHOULD THE ALL STAR LINEUPS BE DETERMINED?
IC readers, please let us know your thoughts!
Personally, I think the combined problems of ballot stuffing and the fact that voting commences WAY too early in the season (players are put on the ballot within the first month of the regular season) means that we need some sort of check on the current system.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Joey Swithmick
Vive le Quebec Libre!