Archive for October, 2008

I finally got around to watching on YouTube the infamous ATV interview with Stephane Dion conducted during the election campaign. It is a journalistic travesty. There are so many things wrong from a reportorial and human standpoint, it’s hard to know where to start. But let’s begin by acknowledging that Dion was tired. Steve Murphy launched a lengthy first question on the economy. The wording contains snippets from Dion’s speech earlier that day and finally gets around to the nugget when Murphy asks: “If you were prime minister now, what would you have done that Mr. Harper has not done?”

Dion begins to answer, flounders, wonders what timing Murphy has in mind, then asks to restart the interview. OK, so far. Restarts are commonplace in taped interviews. But Murphy does not rephrase the question to make it clearer, he goes through the whole laborious wording again.

Again Dion stumbles, an aide interjects an off-camera explanation, and there’s another restart. The third attempt ends quickly when both Murphy and Dion dissolve into laughter. The fourth works and Dion does fine.

As everyone was leaving, a Dion aide commented to the field producer something to the effect of surely you’re not going to put everything on air. “Don’t worry,” said the producer. But back at the station, they have second thoughts. They ask the higher-ups at CTV who review the tape and declare everything will air.

Despite the promise made.

Despite the fact that they humiliated Dion.

As someone who has worked hard to learn a second language and struggled to maintain it at some level of functionality, I can tell you that verb tenses are tough. I think the question that gave Dion so much trouble in English - his second language - was posed in the past pluperfect subjunctive. Little wonder he had trouble.

I was also reminded of my own former boss, Robert Stanfield, and his struggle to learn French, which was not bad. But it always helped if the interviewer stuck to the past, present and future tenses. They were hard enough. Hypotheticals in the past pluperfect subjunctive are ridiculous.

I think ATV fell into the trap of trying to prove the conventional wisdom that Stephane Dion wasn’t up to the job. In this case, maybe it was the journalists who came up short.

It was August when I became a temporary member of the Red Sox Nation, sitting in the Pavilion Club section, between home plate and third base at historic Fenway Park, munching on a frank and drinking a beer. The weather couldn’t have been better on that fine summer’s eve. Jon Lester was on the mound for the Red Sox, the home team jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and went on to post an 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers.

Equally important was the mood of the place. Entire streets were closed off for the festivities; there was fan appreciation in every pitch and play. The next day, wherever I went in Boston, the game was dissected right down to that two-seam fastball Mike Timlin threw in relief.

Last night, the Red Sox bowed out and the newbies go on. I hope Tampa Bay’s success does not give Blue Jay management any ideas. The Rays dropped the Devil part of their name this year and went from worst to first. The Jay have already changed their logo so many times they look ridiculous.

And I worry about seeing Paul Beeston as Acting CEO. With Cito Gaston signed up, what’s next? Will Pat Gillick rejoin, too?

Whatever route they take, here’s the outcome I’d like. I want to be able to go into a corner store in Toronto the day after a Jays game and talk about plays in detail with strangers the same way I did in Boston that week. After more than 30 years with a Toronto team in the show, I’ve never had that pleasure.

Someone was telling me recently about what he called an “out of body experience” that occurred while he was in Fiesole, the village that dates to Etruscan times and sits high on the Tuscan hills overlooking Florence. He was staying at Villa San Michele, one of the top hotels in the area, and was drawn to music coming from a large ballroom. Inside the room was a blonde opera singer, standing beside a pianist, rehearsing a performance.

My friend sat in a corner, the only other person present, smoking his cigar for twenty-five minutes while she sang popular arias from such works as Carmen and Madama Butterfly. Her voice was so lustrous, the occasion so special, it has become one of the most treasured moments of his life.

Tuscany is known for its beauty, art, and food, but for me it is just such serendipitous encounters that sets it apart from other travel destinations. My all-time favorite occasion came about when I happened to meet a Benedictine monk at San Miniato al Monte, a church on a hill on the other side of Florence from Fiesole. Nicholas was slight of build and must have been eighty, but his face was unlined. The small room in which we stood together was not just quiet, it was as if time had slowed down to match his measured pace. He was beyond serene; there was a stillness about him that was palpable. His shaved head gave added prominence to piercing eyes that seemed to say, “Look within me and see what I have.”

There was time for only one question. “What is it,” I asked, “that you enjoy about your life?”

There was no hesitation; his response was as rhythmic as the Gregorian chants performed there daily: “I am happy. I have my vocation. We live together and help each other. I live in peace and joy.”

Neither better poetry nor finer philosophy have I ever heard.

Like most poltical junkies, I switched back and forth between the two debates last night, but I finally gave up on the fivesome. Steve Paikin did a fine job as moderator, but there were simply too many voices for anyone to be properly heard. I must admit I’m fed up with the Bloc, with no seats outside Quebec and no plans to run candidates in the rest of Canada, appearing with national leaders. As for Elizabeth May, much and all as I admire her policies, she was like the second cousin who comes to the family reunion and holds court a little too long.

The format for Biden-Palin was better, even though moderator Gwen Ifill had mixed success getting Sarah Palin to answer some of the questions asked. (I’ve always believed that was the secret of appearing on TV. Forget about the question and give the answer you want.) Joe Biden was smooth, almost too smooth for my taste. He wisely stayed away from attacks on Palin, but did score some direct hits on John McCain. As everyone milled about at the end, I winced and said to myself, “Don’t hug her.” He didn’t.

Both Biden and Palin exceeded expectations and she mended her reputation after a few poor outings of late. I awarded the match to Palin on points. But it all somehow seems so irrelevant, given the current financial debacle. No one can stop that juggernaut; no one even knows how much worse it will get. Least of all the candidates in either country.