Bruce Dowbiggin
China Rules: Will Trudeau Give Beijing Olympics His Blessing

Q: How many Canadians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Two. One to ask permission from CCP boss Xi Jingping and one to then screw it in.
The tennis world has been roiled by the sudden absence of Chinese star Peng Shuai. Peng seemed to have gone missing for two weeks after publicly accusing a high-ranking Communist Party apparatchik of sexually assaulting her. The repercussions of her reported abduction could have wide-ranging effects—including on the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
Her sudden disappearance drew the ire of Serena Williams (“Devastated and shocked”) and the World Tennis Association. Steve Simon, the president of the WTA, says “`I remain concerned about Peng Shuai’s health and safety and that the allegation of sexual assault is being censored and swept under the rug. I have been clear about what needs to happen and our relationship with China is at a crossroads.”
Simon says the WTA is so concerned that it is willing to forgo billions from China if the case is not properly resolved. (This in stark contrast to NBA stars such as LeBron James who talk social justice about Kyle Rittenhouse in the U.S. but cravenly capitulate to Chinese authority when their running-shoe endorsements are threatened.)
The tipoff that China is concerned that Peng’s absence might hurt the Olympics came when she was made available Sunday via conference call to IOC President Thomas Bach, IOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Emma Terho, and IOC Member in China Li Lingwei.
Peng thanked the committee for its concern and explained she is “safe and well” in her home in Beijing and would like her privacy respected. But it was hard to know who controlled her words— especially as the interview was staged with IOC suits, who stand to lose a lot from any Olympic boycott.
Also lending credence to the conspiratorial nature of Peng’s condition was the news that China has temporarily blocked CNN’s feed in the country to prevent the network reporting the story (If it’s true it would be the first story CNN has reported properly in a long time.)
The Peng kerfuffle is the latest example of China’s tin ear on human rights. It comes as many are questioning whether nations should boycott the Winter Olympics, slated to start in February. Even U.S. president Joe Biden, who is hopelessly compromised on China by his son’s grifting, has said the U.S. might do a diplomatic, not athlete, boycott to protest China’s high-handed attitude lately.
There could be more. Many are now saying having the Games in a nation that sponsors concentration camps and suppresses democracy in Hong Kong is comparable to staging the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin where Hitler was allowed to whitewash his regime even as it geared up for genocide.
It also recalls the reaction of the West in boycotting the Moscow Olympics in 1980 over the Soviets invasion of Afghanistan. The IOC has been traumatized ever since about politics and— witness Peng’s sudden “appearance”—wants this snowball stopped.
Clearly the IOC— which awarded the Games to China— will make no stand itself on Peng. The collection of princes, plutocrats, klepto-rulers and time-serving criminals has never let a little human-rights violation get in the way of profit. Whether it’s rewarding China or Putin (Sochi) it has major concerns when the IOC’s alleged brotherhood hurts the bottom line.
For a struggling Biden, whose polling is tanking, the boycott issue could provide an easy win. Keep the politicians and state actors home, let the athletes have their medals, snub Xi and appear to be taking the high ground. (Better yet, send Kamala Harris and don’t bring her back.)
The question will then be what will Canada do if the Americans engineer a diplomatic boycott? After the detention of Wauwei executive Meng Wanzhou and resultant Chinese retaliation would Justin Trudeau dare tangle with them again, particularly after earlier saying, “There is a level of admiration I actually have for China, Ahh, because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime”?
Why wouldn’t Xi feel confident that no one in Canada will push back? After all, he kidnapped the two Michaels for almost two years and Canada’s prime minister acted like the men had simply gone on an extended Carnival Cruise. Better yet, Canadian voters then rewarded said PM with another term. Xi is laughing.
Plus the federal Liberals are so far up China’s butt they can see Hunter Biden’s shoes. Former PM Jean Chretien and his family connections have long sought to appease the Chinese to protect investment there. Chretien tried to interfere on behalf of the Chinese in the Meng case. As Macleans wrote in 2019, “given the respect Chretien enjoys among senior officials in China, the fact he’s advocating for the Trudeau government to interfere in the court case to make China happy will only serve to embolden Beijing.”
With so much Canadian capital riding on smooth relations with Xi— plus the need to bring China into Trudeau’s daffy climate schemes— does he dare anger the regime by insulting their Olympic propaganda coup? Canada knows this: If Trudeau shows backbone in a tough international dispute it will be the first time.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author of Cap In Hand was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
NHL: Everyone Wears The Ribbon Part Deux

In the classic 1987 Seinfeld episode The Sponge, Kramer is harassed by AIDS Walk organizers for refusing to wear a ribbon as he walks in the event
VOLUNTEER: But you have to wear an AIDS ribbon.
KRAMER: I have to?
VOLUNTEER: Yes.
KRAMER: Yeah, see, that’s why I don’t want to.
VOLUNTEER: But everyone wears the ribbon. You must wear the ribbon!
KRAMER: You know what you are? You’re a ribbon bully (walks away).
Kramer supports AIDS research, but he doesn’t support meaningless symbols. So some aggressive AIDS walkers eventually track him down and beat him in an alley for not going along with the mob. Comedian and curmudgeon George Carlin summed up Kramer’s resistance: “Religion is like a pair of shoes…..Find one that fits for you, but don’t make me wear your shoes.” But these days you must wear the shoes of the cool kids or suffer the consequences.
Naturally, progressives pushing their myriad causes fail to see the irony— even as they laugh at the skit. Since when was it a cultural crime that 100 percent of people don’t agree on any position? You don’t demand everyone eat meat, worship God or write with your left hand. Why do we demand unanimity on Woke catechism? But white- guilt liberals now look for any excuse for indignation.
The last group you’d have expected to adopt the You Must Wear A Ribbon tactic is the NHL. But no, the league that forgot Don Cherry is once again forcing its sanctity on players who dare to say “No, thanks” to wearing LGBTQ+2 sweaters as part of inclusivity promotions. This time San Jose goalie James Reimer said his Christian religious beliefs preclude him from taking part in their costume drama.
Needless to say the cascade of “homophobia” and “intolerance” cries from the AIDS walkers… er, the LGBTQ+2 media lobby… came down on Reimer’s head. His team and the league huffed and puffed about their virtue, but, thankfully, declined the calls for Reimer to be perp-walked to centre ice. Social media was another story, insisting he wear the ribbon.
Here’s what we wrote in January, the last time the NHL virtue soldiers jammed their holiness down other people’s throats over a Philadelphia Flyer who said, “Nyet”. “As Canada’s Justice Minister in the 1960s, Pierre Trudeau articulated the essence of liberal tolerance with his “government has no place in the bedrooms of the nation”. Sixty years later, PET’s son Justin would like to amend that to “the government has no place in the bedrooms of the nation— unless those people are saying nasty things about me.”
What once was a proud definition of liberty has transformed into a confidence game run for the Woke elite and its friends in the Media Party. Example this week: The Philadelphia Flyers— in keeping with their conversion to ESG colossus— staged a Gay Pride night. As part of the promotion they wore rainbow-coloured jerseys in warmup.
All except Ivan Provorov, who is Russian Orthodox. His religion is not slack-jawed with Progressive awe at same-sex marriage. So (while he wished no one ill), he refused to join the parade. Cue the Church ladies of the sporting press. “Adam Proteau: Ivan Provorov has the right to any opinion he chooses. And we have the right to have any opinion on Ivan Provorov that we choose. Like this: he’s a shameful human being whose homophobia is only going to get more shameful over the years.”
Fine. Then answer this: If an NHL team held a Christian night, and players were forced to wear jerseys with a crucifix, would you defend a player who opted out because of his conscience? Or would you go full Proteau and say he’s a “shameful human being whose religious intolerance is only going to get more shameful over the years”?
No one in the chattering class wants to take that on, of course. They don’t see that rights that work for them also must work for people they consider heretics… Meanwhile, the unwashed mass… responded with their wallets. Provorov jerseys sold out on the NHL Shop and Fanatic.”
But your elites want everyone to wear the ribbon. Or take a vaccine. Or wear a mask. Or, in the case of this December column, the NHL announcing it’s now a non-binary league. “… the NHL’s sudden conversion to trans orthodoxy is also highly instructive on how deep the tentacles of this ideology have attached themselves in ordinary culture. The NHL? Men-as-women playing against biological women? Until this radical chic agitprop thrust itself to the fore the last few years this was unthinkable for the NHL or its fans. Laughable. Fantastical.
But now you have a league HQ embedded in the heart of Manhattan— where the global media, business and arts community have already succumbed to the intimidation of cultural blackmail. The NHL’s sponsors, suppliers, broadcast partners and just plain neighbours have also taken the Trans Kool Aid. At some point the NHL’s surrender must have seemed inevitable— even for a league that asks its employees to never back down to bullies.
Seeing Bettman— who has epitomized stubborn resistance in his denial of the science of CTE brain trauma— crumble before the forces of approved speech is instructive to those who think this leaky scow can still be turned around quickly. Or that the forces of objective media might raise a whimper about being.”
Media so embedded in its own vanity it hurts. “Sticks and stones may hurt journalists’ bones but names are first-degree murder. So save a prayer for poor Mr. Bettman. He held out longer than some before accepting the white guilt hemlock. Having known his desire to be the longest-serving commissioner in history he’s probably now wishing he’d quit his job three seasons ago. Because he’ll never wash away his cisgender privilege now.”
It’s telling that the thought police have made organized religion an underdog. James Reimer wanted nothing more than to be left alone with his Christian beliefs. In 2023 that is enough to get you cancelled.
Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes/ cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent. https://share.hsforms.com/16edbhhC3TTKg6jAaRyP7rActsj5
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the fifth-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org. His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
Referee Complaint Department: You Can’t Say That

Hear us with Peter Mansbridge on The Bridge at SiriusXM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Here’s the link.
Received a call from my old colleague Peter Mansbridge who has been noticing that refereeing criticism has raised its head as the NHL and NBA seasons come to their conclusions. He’d seen the intemperate rant from Raptor Fred Vanvleet about the swagger of certain referees not adding to the credibility of their work.
“I thought Ben Taylor was f—ing terrible tonight,” he riffed. “I thought that, on most nights, out of the three [officials], there’s one or two that just f— the game up. It’s been like that a couple of games in a row.” Vanvleet admitted he was willing to take the fine that came from ripping NBA refs. Sure enough, the league reciprocated by docking him $30 K for his musings. It was as predictable as it was entertaining.
Peter was wondering if the Raptors star had a legitimate beef with a league that has had gambling scandals with referees (hello Tim Donaghy). He’d also noted, as a season ticket holder in Toronto, that the NHL’s referees sometimes act as if they believe they are the reason the fans tune in. This sentiment gained credibility in 2021 when soon-to-be-former referee Tim Peel was caught on mic saying that, to balance a game, he wanted to give a penalty to Nashville regardless of no infraction.
We were unable to reassure Peter that this tension would resolve, as the influence of legal gambling has put results and the men who call them under ever-greater scrutiny. With the new massive revenues coming from casinos and online gambling advertising the leagues have an added imperative to guarantee the integrity of results by creating a surveillance state on refs and players.
The late pass-interference call against Philadelphia in the Super Bowl that swung tens (maybe) hundreds of millions in bets is indicative of the tightrope they now face. You take house money, you had better keep the house happy. Made worse when these calls are handled by part-time NFL referees or NHL refs who never face the media over their calls.
Lamenting the officials’ work is an age-old issue. In an earlier age, the vagaries were put down to “puck luck” or “bad breaks”. With little recourse, coaches, GMs and players bit a lip and hoped next time they’d be the beneficiaries. The gripes increased as leagues began using referees to create more scoring or prevent injuries, manipulating results. Fans noticed, and did not like it.
In December of 2018 we wrote, “It is a cliché in city planning that, adding roads to prevent congestion, in fact ends up in more cars and more congestion. IDLM was reminded of this seeming contradiction while watching another episode of Law & Order: NFL Crappy Refereeing. In this week’s episode, what was considered pass interference on Thursday is Saturday’s “let ‘em play”… Attempts to clarify what constitutes a catch open new vistas for opaqueness. Not a good look.
The reason for much of this confusion lies with the league’s attempt to prevent injuries by adding a new rules to their rule book. As this (manipulation) has done to city streets, the additional nuance and subtext has only produced greater congestion in games. Endless referee conferences. Players dumbfounded. TV announcers criticizing.
And still the bodies are broken, the injury lists groan with victims and the fans simmer in disappointment. As they like to say, Epic Fail… The NFL has long been lauded for its ability to gerrymander the rules of its sport to encourage scoring and more dynamic plays. The result, however, is a rule book that more resembles the IRS tax code than any sporting competition.
“As Al Michaels laments, the flow of games is constantly interrupted by a scrum of referees huddling to divine which of the million NFL bylaws been breached. The (now Vegas) Raiders recently chalked up a record 23 (!) penalties accepted in a single game. As a result, games are unwatchable tedious.
“On most occasions there is some foul detected. But the proliferation of penalties says that the game might be too difficult to play by the Spanish Inquisition standards of the rule book. Any game that has more than five flags per team is a problem the league needs to address. And don’t get us started about consistency from one officiating crew to the next.”
And that was 2018. Multiply the additional rules and complexities inflicted upon referees by leagues. Add in the visibility created by gamblers parsing every minute trend for an advantage. Increase the number of cameras covering a game by ten. Then season with analytics. It’s a recipe for conspiracy theories.
So, yes, Peter, the issues with refereeing have never been more prominent. But blame the leagues, not their employees, for making them worse.
Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes/ cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent. https://share.hsforms.com/16edbhhC3TTKg6jAaRyP7rActsj5
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
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