I thought about posting this in the Sports section, but it's more of a general rant against the Air Canada Centre Arena than anything else.
Tonight I had the good fortune to go to the Canada / Russia hockey game. Great game by the way - a nice demonstration of the way hockey should be played.
On the way in to the arena, there was a guy in my line who had the hand-held metal detector which he was waving over people just liek in the airports. Meanwhile, the other 6 - 8 lines were just filtering in normally. I could have switched lines, but I was curious to see what would happen and by the time I noticed Mr. Wand I was only about 4th in line anyway.
So I get to the front and I assume The Position (awaits sarcastic comments). Naturally I set it off - right pocket had the wallet and some loose change, left pocket had my Swiss Army knife. Mr. Wand actually had the nerve to pat my left pocket and asked "Cell phone?" I just looked at him and he motioned me to enter the building along with everyone else.
1) My cell phone was actually in my shirt pocket. But I could have easily had any kind of weapon in my pocket. My knife did set it off and his reaction was ... nothing.
2) If an incompetent fool is being employed to "search" people, then why bother at all?
3) In the arena itself there were tons of camera flashes going off. I didn't check the ticket, but I'm farily certain it says something along the lines of recording devices & cameras being prohibited. Now if folks want a personal photo I couldn't care less so long the taking of that photo doesn't interfere with the game. But why didn't Mr. Wand find those verbooten cameras? Probably something related to his general incompetence ...
It's entirely possible that one horrible day, some fruitcake will take a gun or worse into an arena and cause injury and terrible loss of life. But do we live our lives in fear of this possibility or do we choose to go on about our lives? Personally I say f*ck the terrorists - let's get on with things.
But if the Air Canada Centre or any other venue wants to implement security, then I say that they should bite the farking bullet and pay through the nose to implement proper protocol. This would include a thorough search (& seizure) of all patrons and employees, as well as all deliveries to and from the stadium. Undoubtedly this will cause great disruption and inconvenience thousands of people, but if they don't want to do the job properly, then why do it at all?
Tonight I had the good fortune to go to the Canada / Russia hockey game. Great game by the way - a nice demonstration of the way hockey should be played.
On the way in to the arena, there was a guy in my line who had the hand-held metal detector which he was waving over people just liek in the airports. Meanwhile, the other 6 - 8 lines were just filtering in normally. I could have switched lines, but I was curious to see what would happen and by the time I noticed Mr. Wand I was only about 4th in line anyway.
So I get to the front and I assume The Position (awaits sarcastic comments). Naturally I set it off - right pocket had the wallet and some loose change, left pocket had my Swiss Army knife. Mr. Wand actually had the nerve to pat my left pocket and asked "Cell phone?" I just looked at him and he motioned me to enter the building along with everyone else.
1) My cell phone was actually in my shirt pocket. But I could have easily had any kind of weapon in my pocket. My knife did set it off and his reaction was ... nothing.
2) If an incompetent fool is being employed to "search" people, then why bother at all?
3) In the arena itself there were tons of camera flashes going off. I didn't check the ticket, but I'm farily certain it says something along the lines of recording devices & cameras being prohibited. Now if folks want a personal photo I couldn't care less so long the taking of that photo doesn't interfere with the game. But why didn't Mr. Wand find those verbooten cameras? Probably something related to his general incompetence ...
It's entirely possible that one horrible day, some fruitcake will take a gun or worse into an arena and cause injury and terrible loss of life. But do we live our lives in fear of this possibility or do we choose to go on about our lives? Personally I say f*ck the terrorists - let's get on with things.
But if the Air Canada Centre or any other venue wants to implement security, then I say that they should bite the farking bullet and pay through the nose to implement proper protocol. This would include a thorough search (& seizure) of all patrons and employees, as well as all deliveries to and from the stadium. Undoubtedly this will cause great disruption and inconvenience thousands of people, but if they don't want to do the job properly, then why do it at all?
