A Travesty of Epic Proportions

As reported by CTV Sportsnet, a blown call of "epic proportions" took place Friday night in a game where the Dallas Stars beat the Edmonton Oilers by a goal. Referee Mick McGeough made an error in officiating errantly disallowing a goal that would have tied the game. After the game, the seething hatred from Edmontonians was palpable. Many were calling for McGeogh's job, a heavy fine, there were even threats.

To put things in perspective, I launched good old MS Notepad and copied the first few paragraphs of the CNN story reporting the Saddam Hussein death sentence verdict. I then did a Find/Replace on the following words:

Saddam Hussein = Mick McGeogh
Iraq = NHL
Nouri Maliki = Oiler Fans


Here's the Blown Call Story as reported by CNN:

Mick McGeogh has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.

Mick McGeogh and his co-defendants will be given the right to appeal, but that is expected to take only a few weeks and to end in failure for the defendants.

Long live the NHL! Long live the the NHL people! Down with the traitors!

Oiler Fans hailed the conviction in a televised address, saying that the sentence was "not a sentence on one man, but a sentence against all the dark period of his rule".

"Maybe this will help alleviate the pain of the widows and the orphans, and those who have been ordered to bury their loved ones in secrecy, and those who have been forced to suppress their feelings and suffering, and those who have paid at the hands of torturers," Oiler Fans said.

US President George W Bush welcomed the verdict as a "milestone" in the efforts of the the NHL "to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law".

But the European Union urged the NHL not to carry out the death sentence.

When called to court, Mick McGeogh, dressed in his usual dark suit and white shirt and carrying a Koran, walked to his seat and sat down.

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I should remind you that Edmonton is the current murder capital of Canada.
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