You know, every year that I help out with the operatic society, it always happens; I'll be talking with Poli, a male cast member will come up in the conversation, I'll say something hopelessly oblivious and she'll look at me and go, "Hellllo, he's *gay*, stupid." (Well, actually, she puts it more nicely than that.) Every year! My gaydar is definitely *not* up to snuff.

I suppose it's better, though, than the new guy at work who *still* hasn't clued in that one member of our team is gay, and makes rather homophobic remarks on top of it. The other morning, in front of said team member, he told us how the other night his buddies told him he "was gay" for leaving the hockey game early. Former-And-Current Coworker (who helped get me this job) and I cringed at each other, and not for the first time, as this guy has said a few weird things in this vein.

So yeah, I could be worse, I guess. Low gaydar compounded by a slightly homophobic attitude -- all bad.

In other news, I've concluded that American Idol viewers are retarded. (Uh, so what does that make me?) They just voted off one of the best singers on the show, maybe *the* best singer, in favour of some warbling, off-key teenagers with cute smiles. Gag.

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Tonight I take the kids to the Expos' home opener. I haven't been to an Expos game in years, and as most Montrealers know, the only home game anyone bothers to go see anymore is the opener. It's the only time Olympic Stadium is fun, because it's full. The rest of the year, it's a cavernous tomb for a dying franchise.

It's sad how evil, corporate and corrupt Major League Baseball has sabotaged baseball in this city and is getting off scot-free. They've raped this team in so many ways, from forcing it to play half its home games in Puerto Rico(!), to limiting its player budget, to not allowing the call-up of minor league help late in the season -- a tradition all other teams get to enjoy.

It's probably not well known that the former group of local co-owners is trying to sue Major League Baseball for the scam that occurred here when the former American owner tried to kill the franchise -- by making a cash call he knew the local owners couldn't make, and by killing a new stadium project -- so he could justify moving to the States. When the co-owners stood in the way of him appropriating the franchise, MLB *gave* him the Florida Marlins (who won the championship last year) along with most of the 'Spos organizational infrastructure, and then *bought* the 'Spos. How messed up is that?

Anyway, I know it's not cool to like baseball in this town, but people said the same thing about football just a few years ago, and thanks to smart PR and fan consideration, football at times is threatening to upstage hockey as Montreal's main obsession. (However, given the recent mania surrounding our hockey team, combined with its own recent efforts to reach a younger fan-base, I doubt there's any danger of hockey dropping from number 1 status here.)

OK, that's enough sports ranting for now.

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