A fit to be Tied?

Tie Domi can’t seem to avoid controversy in his retirement years. The former NHL enforcer was most recently featured in numerous stories over a less than amicable divorce. A dizzying array of stories that left no rock unturned, no nasty tidbit unreported, as the Domi divorce saga played its way through the Ontario court system.

Now he finds himself cast in the role of Hockey Parent from Hell, as stories start to bubble out of the ever competitive Toronto press, recounting Mr. Domi’s day at the rink and subsequent argument with his son’s hockey coach.

Domi it is alleged exhibited some serious rink rage on Friday night at the end of a minor peewee AAA match, which involved Domi’s 11 year old son. It is reported that Domi was unhappy with the way his son was used in the game and the amount of playing time allotted to him during the pivotal playoff match up.

Instead of respecting the normal 24 hour cooling off period that the Greater Toronto Hockey League recommends, The Toronto Sun, citing a number of eyewitnesses claims that Domi launched into a verbal attack on the head coach of his son’s team. A display that left a few of the other parents speechless, well at least until the Sun answered the phones.

“Several witnesses said that when the game ended Domi confronted his son's coach, Lucas Miller, and launched a tirade filled with profanities in front of young players and fans.” Witnesses are quoted that Domi, “acted like a caged animal” and that Toronto Police were required to bring order back to the arena.

Other witnesses however suggest that the whole thing seems to have been blown out of proportion, which surely is impossible for a place such as Toronto.

That’s the storyline that Domi is taking, in an interview on the CTV Website, he preferred not to discuss the matter, but said it had nothing to do with his son’s playing time. The website item features a story from the CTV National news on the controversy.

Giving this latest bout of parental interference, a much wider platform than most cases would receive! We patiently await the first video of the incident to pop up on YouTube, eventually someone along the wired world will upload their exclusive!

The above post first appeared on my HockeyNation blog, for more items about hockey check it out.

Of the circles of hell, surely one must consist of perpetual homework!

Six weeks into a new school year and it’s as though Satan himself has taken charge of the agenda, this nightly quest for knowledge and salvation known as homework.

In the daily space of extra work between school and sports events or social activities, is a place where ordinarily lucid, composed and relatively smart adults are rendered incompetent, babbling dunces. Normally strong and successful adults, who struggle to make sense of the latest Math textbook, or some scientific explanation long lost in the time capsule of elementary schools of a different era.

Lest you think that your struggle with the concept of Grade Six Math or Grade Seven Science is indicative of lost brain cells, dimly lit passages of knowledge that no longer lead to anywhere and fog shrouded snippets of past information that seem suddenly gone, take heart; you are not alone.

CTV News in a timely little feature on the National News Wednesday (well timely for me, after trying to figure out what it is the text book was suggesting we do with newsprint rolls and page sizes, they wouldn’t like my answer by the way) comes word that a good portion of Canadian parents feel totally incompetent and lost when it comes to homework.

The results of a joint survey between Statistics Canada and the Canadian Council on Learning aired on the CTV News, shows that when it comes to homework, the parents may need just as much help as the students! The key say the Council of Learning is not so much what you know or remember, but rather to try and foster a love of learning.

Which apparently is easier said than done. Especially when you consider the survey results and how we apparently feel.

In the telephone opinion poll of 5,266 people, it was found that two out of every three respondents believe parents don't have the knowledge they need to help their kids with their homework.

Two out of three, that’s uh, two thirds, hmm, 66% right?

The results leave the Canadian Council on Learning troubled at the state of the parent’s surveyed, leaving them to talking about a knowledge gap between parent and student

A gap brought to life by the results, which probably means that most parents are feeling more frustrated after a night of homework, than the young ones they are supposed to be helping! A situation that probably isn’t particularly conducive with that fostering of a life long love of learning!

The CTV website features complete information on the story and links to some great video stories on the subject , (though they did spell council wrong, more homework please for the research department) material that will help to comfort any parent feeling a tad out of the loop. And may also go a long way to bringing down the pressure zone of the nightly homework battles.

In this case it seems that misery loves the company! And as we grab yet another text book and try to make sense of the confusing text and methods (for us), it would appear that there’s quite a few fellow travelers ready to take the journey with us!