Champion of Breakfast

Hard to believe, but I've started watching hockey again. The elimination of the two-line pass call, stricter refereeing (more power plays), and high-speed crashes into those magnetically anchored nets have all made for a more exciting game. But after the Canadian franchises are eliminated from the playoffs, like many Canucks I'll probably change the channel to watch Victoria-raised Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns charge for the NBA championship.

(I'm not alone in this. Canada's sports channel TSN usually gets about 50,000 viewers when it televises an NBA game. When Nash is playing, three times that number tune in.)

Today it was announced that Nash won the league's Most Valuable Player award for the second year in a row, an honour matched only by such other legends as Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, and Magic Johnson. What may be an even greater achievement, however, is that Nash will soon adorn boxes of Wheaties, the second Canadian to do so after Wayne Gretzky.

Sadly, Wheaties aren't available in Canada, so local Nash fans will have to take the Coho ferry over to the charming town of Port Angeles to pick up a souvenir box. On the other hand, the States don't have Shreddies, a cereal that goes great with milk and mountains of refined sugar, and doubles as the saltiest element of Tuffy's Nuts 'n Bolts. Like Nash, who played superb soccer, baseball, and chess when he was a kid, Shreddies are a Canadian all-rounder.

OK, back to the sofa. One more thing I've wondered: Nash said the controversial "No War, Shoot for Peace" T-shirt he wore at the 2003 NBA All-Star Game was created by a former high-school classmate of his in Victoria. Anybody know who?