---------------------------------------- Think of that much-overused (and sometimes incorrect) line, "It's not personal. It's business." Well, the...

Roger Ebert was an honest critic. He was there for the movies. How many others can say the same? At the end, he became as big as the actors and directors he profiled. He was the Trailer before all the trailers. He was the Internet before the web. He was TV when it was still television. Something about him was more familiar and more popular than his co-hosts. Something about his opinion mattered to you. So, I'll say it again, because I really mean it...RIP Roger Ebert. Nobody was better.

------------------------------------------------------------ I believe in discovery and technology and innovation and science. My profession -- wh...

We get it, hockey people (myself included). We know you like to act tough. But, please, please, please... Everybody in the NHL, for the love of whatever imaginary friend in the sky you believe in WEAR A VISOR! Fact is, visors don't save you from everything. They're not supposed to. But, they can still save your career. They can save you from something far worse.

It doesn't really matter what happens or how the standings change. For the foreseeable future, the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks are semi-p...

Not everything is a racial issue. Just because a hockey player's black doesn't mean that's why he's been criticized. But hockey is inherently a white sport, and a white Canadian one, at that. Let's face it: hockey is an extension of us, and we all still have a lot of work to do.

Let's stop pretending that we're so offended by our All-Stars cheating over an entire career and over an entire life. Steroids are to sports what sex is to the White House. The MLB is the biggest cheater in baseball. They're just better at hiding the syringes.

On Tuesday in New York, the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) is meeting with players to "facilitate dialogue." The entire union is irrelevant, if this works. The players and owners are finally bringing it on home, and the PC'ness that we've been thrown and tossed is out the window.

Somewhere, somehow -- in some corner of the baseball universe or the baseball-watching universe -- there is somebody who does not understand why everyone loves the Oakland Athletics. Moneyball is not the reason. It's not their salary or their ongoing rivalry with the concept of capitalism. That's too easy.

Of all four NHL lockouts in the past 21 years, this one seems the laziest. This just seems like it's been a long summer and your kid doesn't want to wake up before 8 a.m. for the first time in two months. This lockout is the snooze button on a season that was coming too fast, especially since it's clear negotiations didn't "start" until the 11th hour, or not at all.

Janne Makkonen, a YouTube maestro and editing wunderkind, who splices together the best of CBC's montages and Sportsnet's not-used-enough in-game footage, has released his newest tour de force, titled "NHL - Together We Can". Congratulations, Janne Makkonen, and thank you for finally taking side with the one thing we all really care about: hockey.

For whatever, reason, Canadians and hockey fans have tended to direct their glare at the players. They misguidedly view their occasional idiocy and always-present lack of financial knowledge with blame. With all due respect to Canadians, our values of socialism and unity are flawed. At least, in this case.

It's been called the Games for everybody. But, this is not true. Women are not equal to men in the Olympics, and it needs to be fixed. It can't be lied about, or glorified for what it isn't. The Olympics are not equal, and to insist they are is insulting to equality and women. We've made strides, but not enough. If it's only a good start, then it should only be reported as a good start.

Monday's Canada vs. the States soccer game was so good it made you forget you were watching women's soccer, or care (if you did). Too often, female athletes have to fight for airtime, and for recognition. It shouldn't be like that, but sports are sexist in nature. We're all guilty of slighting female athletes. So, thank God for Monday, because we can't now. Compared to this, Usain Bolt's thrilling 9.63 seconds was like a warmup to something better.

As you undoubtedly know, the summer Olympics are gearing up in London for 2012. Surely you've seen massive amounts of coverage so far -- and the Opening Ceremonies haven't even begun! But just in case you want to slog through the rest and get to the best, here's your unofficial guide to "everything" that's "important" for the 2010 Summer Olympics in London, England.

How do we, as couch potatoes and armchair quarterbacks, know what a $60 million hit does to Penn State, or what a four-year Bowl ban will do to them, long term? Yes, the penalties are severe. Yes, they are harsh. Sure, Penn State may never recover on the field, but... would it have, anyway?

Wanna know what I think about The Newsroom? It's a good show -- a very good first start. It's presumptuous and preachy, and it reeks of imploding self...

When black Dutch players received their Jim Crow-inspired welcome in Krakow last week, we were shocked, stunned, and depressed -- but hardly surprised. This stuff ain't new in that part of the world. Meanwhile a portion of the 10,000 Russian fans who have bought tickets will be holding a march from central Warsaw to the stadium. Poles view it as "provocative." Can you really blame them?

Darryl Sutter, for all intents and purposes, is the best coach in the National Hockey League. His hand is ever-steady. He controls his players through some kind of impenetrable Jedi mind trick. But Sutter doesn't even seem to care. His acceptance of the Kings' coaching job a few months ago seemed like charity work. Yet, here we are again, with the Kings leading a series 3-0 and showing no signs of letting up.

New Jersey seems to be heading down the same road as the L.A. King. Not with a bang, but a whimper. So how do you come back? You fight back. You claw back. You beat them because you know you can, and you know you should.

No team is this much fun to watch lose. No team is this much fun to watch win. I'm talking of course, about the Washington Capitals.

A two-year sentence for a man as putrid as Graham James is as close as you can come to condoning the actions of other sexual predators in Canada who are living, working, and continuing to commit their heinous acts.

Are there patterns to The Madness? Not really. It is The Madness, after all. But you will need a guideline for survival. For the couch, at least.