http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs Fearless. Thoughtful. Witty. Canadian. And Opinionated. Wed, 14 May 2008 01:49:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en KRUGER NATIONAL PARK—Hemingway, furious, would have shot me in the head. Orwell would have offered dignified applause, acknowledging my restraint and humanity. Here we were, nine of us—including two of us brandishing powerful .458 calibre hunting rifles—tracking a herd of elephants on the southern edge of South Africa’s immense Kruger ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/05/09/point-and-shoot/ PRETORIA—There's a drink here in South Africa that they call "creme soda." It’s probably like the cream soda you’re familiar with, only it's a bright, shocking, emerald green. Mostly, creme soda is used as a mixer for a drink they like to call a John Deere, usually taken as a double ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/25/ruckin/ JOHANNESBURG—I get a lot of fantastic fanmail here at camp Sportstrotter. Devoted readers wondering how I get to file dispatches from Vancouver Island, Toronto, Montreal, Paris, and now, Johannesburg. “I can’t believe The Walrus sends you to all those amazing places!” they write. “How do they afford it?” Well, I can ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/18/over-and-over/ PARIS—In sports, as in many other important aspects of life, there are good days and bad days. There are also really good days and really bad days. But it’s not just the level of goodness or level of badness that’s variable—you can have good seconds, bad minutes, good hours, ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/11/when-youre-hot-youre-hot/ PARIS—Whoever proclaimed this a city of cool, hip, even-tempered sophisticates (um, that was probably me) obviously had yet to attend a football match alongside the inflamed ultras of Paris Saint-Germain. Well, I’m a PSG virgin no longer, and will wholeheartedly concede that the rowdy fans of the local sports team ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/04/paris-saint-germain/ PARIS—Is that old saying that "the more things change, the more they stay the same" still current? Because if you ask me, it’s as true in sports today as it’s been in years. In my younger days—back when men were men and the Stegosaurus was the true king of the jungle—I ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/03/28/take-me-out-mlb-season-preview/ PARIS—Has the sportswriter's trope of "I don't want to bore you with the details of my fantasy team, but…" jumped the shark? (And if you don’t know what “fantasy sports” are, it will probably take me too long to explain it to you, other than it’s when grown men get together ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/03/21/sweet-sweet-fantasy-baby/ PARIS—Besides my father’s lifelong habit of driving like a maniac every time we leave the house for the airport, it’s been many years since I paid much attention to fast cars. I followed Indy Car racing in the early '90s when Canucks Jacques Villeneuve and Paul Tracy, a.k.a. The Thrill ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/03/14/shake-it-up-f1-season-preview/ PARIS—Beware the doldrums of March. We haven't quite yet emerged from North America's sporting dead zone, that period after the Super Bowl, where hockey and basketball teams are involved in meaningless midseason games, baseball’s spring training is revving up, and golf’s first major is more than a month away. In fact, ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/03/07/heroes-and-villains-favrezidane-edition/ PARIS—Lucky for the Sportstrotter, my new compatriots, the French, like their sports. What's more, they really like their sports. And nowhere is this widely held love of competition more apparent than in the identity of the country’s highest-circulation national daily newspaper: nope, it’s not Le Monde or Le Figaro, but ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/02/29/team-zizou-edition-lequipe/