Tag: the maestro

CFL Beat: East Division Preview

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Hi folks! Just a quick update on some CFL pick 'em options... the CFL's official league runs a pick' em contest with numerous prizes including two tickets to this year's Grey Cup; however, it's unfortunately only open to Canadian residents. Not to be deterred, I've started up a pick 'em

CFL Beat: Your 2017 Season Overview

The Maestro -
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Hi everyone! Your resident CFL writer is back to start in on your re-introduction to one of the weirdest sports leagues in the whole world. June 22nd kicks off the 2017 regular season, and here's a quick overview of what to expect from a bunch of Canadian flap-jaws. WELCOME (BACK) TO

Historical Badasses: Jean-Pierre Hallet

The Maestro -
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Have you ever fought Nazis? No, probably not. What about crocodiles, lions or leopards? Probably not those either. Have you ever blown yourself up with TNT and lived to tell the tale? What about delivering over 500 babies? What about learning 19 different languages? Yup, Jean-Pierre Hallet did all of

Historical Badasses: Tomyris

The Maestro -
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I'm taking a nine-hour drive north to a buddy's place this weekend to go golfing and scout some youth football; it's also a long weekend, and he's throwing a party for his friends and neighbors in a newly renovated house. I'm looking forward to it! I think it's gonna be

Historical Badasses: Saparmurat Niyazov

The Maestro -
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Modern-day politics doesn't feature many cults of personality anymore (though Lord knows that Supreme Leader Trump is trying his damnedest to make it happen in America...); outside of North Korea, which is probably the best-known example today, there's few countries left that are specifically designed to solely worship their leader

Historical Badasses: Naresuan the Great

The Maestro -
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Think of the craziest fight you've ever been in. Bare knuckles? Sure. Sticks? Probably as a kid, I guess. Baseball bats? If you're unlucky. Knives and guns? Man, I really hope not. Elephants? Probably not. However, if you're a 16th-century king of Thailand, not only is there an elephant present, but two of

Historical Badasses: Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck

The Maestro -
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I've done a lot of reading on the First World War as of late; one of the more recent discoveries from my Wikipedia rabbit-holes is that there was, as it turns out, a pretty significant amount of fighting between the Germans and the British in Africa starting in 1914. With

Historical Badasses: Mariya Oktyabrskaya

The Maestro -
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We're gonna talk about tanks this week. I don't know about you, but for whatever reason, I had the weird thought the other day about how despite having an interest in military history of many stripes for much of my life, I realized I really know next to nothing about

Historical Badasses: Klondike Joe Boyle

The Maestro -
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As a Canadian, I spent a lot of time learning about the Gold Rush in middle school history class; as a sports fan, I read about the early days of professional hockey as a young child. Little did I know that one of the men responsible for bringing one of

Historical Badasses: Diogenes of Sinope

The Maestro -
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It takes a very special kind of person to live their entire life without giving a single shit about anything at all - being a cynic can end up being extremely hard work indeed. Many of us know this first-hand. As the online home of some of the most cynical

Historical Badasses: Harald Wartooth

The Maestro -
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A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about Peter Freuchen, Danish explorer, author, and political activist; this week, we're featuring one of the men whose legends perhaps inspired Freuchen to be the incredible man he turned out to be. This week's badass may or may not have actually existed,