MISC MUSINGS

MISC. MUSINGS, May 21, 2008

This past Sunday, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital after suffering a seizure while on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. Earlier today, his doctors announced that the Senator has a cancerous brain tumor. Senator Kennedy's doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said he had a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, a region of the brain that helps govern sensation, movement and language. According to doctors, there is an expected 1 to 3 year life expectancy with this diagnosis. Most of Washington, DC expressed their concern for the Senator. No matter what party you are, you have to respect the accomplishments of Senator Kennedy. While you may not agree with everything he believes, he has earned the admiration of many of us who live in the DC area. We can only hope that he overcomes this latest diagnosis and continues to serve not only the residents of the State of Massachusetts and the United States.

Today brings another two primary contests in Kentucky and Oregon. It is widely believed that Senator Clinton will win Kentucky by a wide margin and Senator Obama will win Oregon. Will these results bring us any closer to a Democratic nominee? With only a few contests left, we are getting close to the end of the primary campaign. But does the end of the primary campaign mean the end of the race between Obama and Clinton? I am not sure it does. If the race continues for the next few weeks or even months, once a decision is made, the losing side might feel discouraged with the final results. The votes between the two candidates are very close, the number of confirmed delegates is also very close. The only thing basically left is the “super delegates.” These delegates have been slowly breaking towards Obama over the past few weeks. Is either candidate going to have the total 2,026 delegates needed to confirm the nomination? It does not look like it. Both campaigns are coming up with different rationales for why they should be the eventual nominee. And as long as this continues, the biggest winner is Senator John McCain and the Republicans. In a year where it looks like Republicans should be in real trouble, the Democratic mess might allow the Republicans to keep the White House.

Last night the Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 to make another appearance in the Stanley cup finals. The Wings will play the Pittsburgh Penguins starting Saturday night. This series is the “dream series” in the minds of the NHL. You have Detroit’s “Hockeytown” vs. the Penguins young guns. In a series where you will see stars such as Henrick Zetterberg, Pavel Datsuyk, Nick Lidstrom on the Wings and Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, and Marian Hossa for the Penguins. The Wings have won three of the last ten Stanley Cups and seem to have an experience advantage while the Penguins have the upcoming stars in Crosby and Malkin. For the NHL’s sake, you have to hope that the series is as good as projected. An increase in viewers on tv under a great series between two spectacular teams, can hopefully raise the profile of the league throughout the US. For way too long, the NHL has been a distant fourth in prominence amongst the top sports leagues. It is a tough game to watch on tv due to the problems following the puck, but in person there is no sport better. One can only hope that a great series will translate into increased fan support for the great sport that hockey really is. Of course the NHL made another huge mistake by having the Stanley Cup finals start on Saturday night. Why is this a problem? Because the NBA Eastern Conference finals between the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics is also playing that night in Detroit and the two series will compete head to head on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. While this may seem like only a problem in Detroit, the City of Detroit is one of the most important cities for the NHL. It is called Hockeytown for a reason. I know that Hockey Night in Canada runs every Saturday night on CBC (I used to watch it most Saturday nights) and CBC has the priority, but it might have been smart to schedule the Stanley Cup Finals around other major sporting events.