Toronto sucks

I just paid a visited to the Toronto Sports Shop View Larger Map, a sports memorabilia store on Yonge Street just north of Dundas, and realized what a multi-dimensional fan base Toronto has. The amount of other major sports team's apparel they carried was ridiculous. And you know what? That sucks, because in no other city across North America are rival teams jerseys selling like they are here. Yviet Bakshi, one of the stores associates explains "Toronto teams sell about average, lately there's been a lot of people looking for Boston teams like the Celtics." Come on Boston, give T.O a break.

The problem is a lack of sports identity. From floor to ceiling the place is covered in the jerseys, jackets and hats of literally every major team from Canada and the U.S, which is apparently necessary as Bakshi explains, "we have to keep a wide assortment of teams, or else we won't get much business."

And the cause of the problem is simple to explain: Toronto has gone so long without success from a major franchise, teams are losing support elsewhere. With the Leafs having not made the playoffs since 2003, the Blue Jays absent from the post-season for the last 15 years and the Raptors with only five appearances in their history, Toronto is suffering.

Toronto native Tyler Codone walked through the door looking for a Philadelphia Flyers jersey. There was, of course, quite the choice in Flyers fan ware. When I asked him why the distant Flyers over the Leafs he replied, "They got a shot at making the playoffs, unlike the Leafs. They just plain suck." Ouch.

The result is a catch-22 situation for those fans loyal enough to stay at a Toronto teams side. The teams continue to boast a solid fan base, and continue to lose because in reality they're still making money. So really we're winning at something, what a refreshing perspective.

The right shoe for you

Every year around the first sign of spring, people of all ages hit the local shopping centre with one common goal in mind: to get active. The first thing they buy according to Running Room sales associate Lenard Yu, "a pair of shoes, the only problem is nobody knows how to pick the right ones."

There are many different types of shoes, from cross-trainers, runners, court shoes to walkers. Each built with a specific design to maximize the customers ability and performance. "I didn't even know there were all these different styles," says Josh Brenzel while trying a pair of runners on. "In the past I just went with what looked good." That's the problem though, people are so worried about how they look in the shoes, they throw practicality right out the door.

Mo Sharma, an assistant manager at Sportchek, has been selling shoes for years, he know them inside out. "The basic rundown, a running shoe is meant for someone who's jogging consistently. A cross-trainer for a person who's doing dry land training or is in the gym. The court shoe is designed for either tennis, badminton or squash, and then basketball. Nothing else, its bad for your feet to run or even walk distances in a court shoe because they have no arch support."

Sharma recommends shoes by Asics for running and New Balance for any cross-training. What's important is to remember that performance trumps style always and to ask for assistance when you're not sure.

Problems with privace? Perhaps Facebook is not for you

"Internet is a medium for communication, and like any other medium if the user wants, their data should be private." The thought of Assistant Prof. Ganjali of UFT'S Department of Computer Science, and a statement I'm sure many people agree with. However, even though sites like Facebook do as much possible to protect your content, people have to realize it's not a guarantee.

"The internet can not possibly be seen as a 'safe place,' meaning if you are distributing information about yourself, your house your dog etc., there's always the possibility someone will find it," explains Toronto lawyer Daniella Bertolli. Indeed Facebook is a very personal sight intentionally designed around sharing information, communications and thoughts with a network of people, so the user has to be paying attention to what they are agreeing upon.

Just recently the site has revamped its content security, really giving the user ultimate customization to what they want shared and not. So if you don't want your, say your mom, to see you hitting a bong in your buddies basement, it's entirely possible.

WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT FACEBOOK WILL BE SAFE OR SECURE. A passage from section 15 of Facebook's statement and responsibility page, explaining openly to all users (who pay attention) their policy on security and privacy. Those few who glance at the page after registering understand that Facebook is a social networking sight and can not guarantee total privacy.

Legally Facebook absolves themselves of any liability with this page, so after you check off that box to agree to the sites terms and services, you're by yourself. Therefore, if you're not comfortable with releasing private information about yourself just don't join Facebook, it's pretty fucking easy.

Newspapers are old news

It's time to accept the death of the modern day newspaper as a reality. It's a simple concept to come to terms with when thinking logically, that a newspaper simply cannot compete with something that delivers news faster, more efficiently and, you guessed it, for free!

Connor Stevens, a 2nd year media and communications student at Seneca College, breaks it down quite simply. "I can't really see anything (news) that's not done electronically surviving, only because it doesn't make any practical sense." The simple and ironic truth for the newspaper business, as Stevens summarizes it, is "it's that sort of change some people are willing to accept and others aren't. I mean for the media in general, the advancements allow for quicker coverage, but now it's a certain medium that's suffering."

Yes, a changing of the guard is taking place, so those preservists can weep all they want, it will still happen regardless. Perhaps you can choose the less cynical road and instead of approaching this change as the death of the newspaper , look at it as new life.

The big question that presents itself is, "Why would anyone pay for something they were accessing for free?" The truth is that as all publications begin to cross over and charge for content, readers wont be left with a choice of whether to pay up or not.

It's not the apocalypse boys and girls, it's a revolution.

The wild wild west

According to a study done by Macleans magazine, Saskatoon has the highest crime rate in Canada at 163 per cent above the national average. In fact, contrary to popular belief most of the crime in Canada seems to be occurring out west as opposed to the central in major cities like Toronto and Montreal.

The trend continues in cities like Winnipeg and Regina which also boast over 130 per cent above the nations average. Interestingly enough these cities also have the highest concentration of urban aboriginals, at around 10 per cent of the population.

Criminologist Neil Boyd of Simon Frasier University really just sums it up by saying, “they (aboriginals) are 10 times more likely to be victims and suspects.” Mr. Boyd knows his math.

I'm sure everyone else is just as surprised as me to find that T.O ranks no where near the top of Macleans list of bad ass cities. Toronto, out of the 100 cities, was slated at 29th! Considering not a day goes by here where the front page of a daily doesn't include a double-homicide, to come in at number 29 is definitely news. Way to go Toronto media, always making us look like a bunch of criminals.