Sunday morning homily VIII

This will be really short, I promise, as I'm on vacation and family obligations await:

~ Though I'm not a big fan of commercials, I like the ones that have been running for the "TimBits" hockey program in Canada. My favorite, though I haven't seen it in a couple days during CBC telecasts on the NHL Center Ice network, shows younger players pulling an age-old trick on Bobby Orr. And, of course, Sidney Crosby is featured in a couple, both of which are designed to tug at a nation's collective heart strings. That desired effect crosses the border, too.

~ Because I like to "rest my eyes" from time to time, it doesn't mean that I totally tune out hockey games on the tube. All I need to hear are such phrases as "a double stack pad save," "end-to-end rush" or "gave him a facewash" and I snap to attention. What other sport can make that claim?

~ All I can do is chuckle at attempts over the past few days to absolve Dallas' Patrik Stefan from his open-net blunder against Edmonton. One knucklehead has even gone so far as to suggest that the announcer Ray "Chicken Parm" Ferraro, a former NHL veteran, owes the former No. 1 overall pick an apology. Apologists aside, Stefan is lucky he still has his job. If there is some good to come out of it, that video will serve as a perfect example that players, when given that kind of opportunity, should have one objective -- shoot the puck as quickly as possible.