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28 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7 HOMES THAT NEED ROOFING 7 homes in your area will be given the opportunity of having an INTERLOCK metal roofing system installed on their home at a reasonable cost. This lifetime product is capturing the interest of homeowners across the country who want to know this will be the last time they will have to reâ€"roof their home. Our product is environmentally friendly and comes with a transferable Lifetime Limited Warranty with an excellenit choice of colours to complement your home and is going to be introduced to your local market. Your home can be a show place in your neighbourhood and we will make it worth your while if we can use your home. Please call Angelo: aterloo Memorial Recreation Complex, SunLife Arena 1â€"866â€"601â€"7366 Tollâ€"Free 24 hours 7 Days a week aB\Eét(m â€" 8:00 p.m. de. Mar. 4 â€" 7:30 p.m. LGroup WANTED! Retirement & Tax Russ McEachnie y better half for the past 4 1/2 Mdecades has always accused me of being somewhat of a pessimist, in that I‘m always questionâ€" ing and challenging things that I see, read or hear about. I supposed 50 years in journalism, where I was taught and trained to study both sides of an issue, especially if it was controversial, might be partly to blame. And then there was my late mother, a former school teacher, who drummed into me at an early age that things may not really be as they appear to be and that every story or situation needed an impartial viewing before decisions were made. That early emphasis, I think, earâ€" marked me for journalism long before I wrote my first story way back in 1957. So, what has all this to do with a sports column in the Chronicle? First, some background data. I believe there is truly only one genuine â€" if that‘s the right word â€" "reality" show on the boob tube and that would be The Jerry Springer Show. Springer glories in the claim that it has been named the worst show in the history of television and makes little attempt to cover the fact that the onâ€" stage "fights" â€" encouraged by the proâ€" ducer‘s bell â€" bear little resemblance to what would be a real punchup. I believe the show gets thousands of requests every year from people who want to come to Chicago for a weekend of wining, dining and free accommodaâ€" tions. And all they have to do is come on TV for about 10 or 15 minutes with some offâ€"theâ€"wall, real or more likely madeâ€"up story. And if you‘re rooted in some trailer park in say, South Carolina, it could be your dream weekend away. _ _ your dream weekend away. Perhaps it was more to do with the just how brilfant he is in business. So along eomes Survivor quite a few _ fact that he was undisputed heavyâ€" It‘s the price I‘m willing to pay to years back and the world goes nuts. As _ weight boxing champion of the world a â€"_ Watch a television program that feaâ€" my daughter and granddaughter raved _ few years back and recorded one of my _ tures a nice guy who didn‘t finish last. about the show, I would sit and ramble, _ most cherished memories of the in my opinion, about it being mostly pugilist pursuit when he put a muchâ€" . . se+ . staged and that there was damn little cheered whipping on former champion _ Bill (Skip) Johns retired from fullâ€"time "reality" in the total product. and convicted felon Mike Tyson. sportswriting in 2002 but can be reached Of course Survivor spurred a deluge 1 have not talked with Lennox since at skipschips@golden.net. Former champ gets a dose of reality Your sister moved â€" to Paris. of reality shows â€" Idol on both sides of the border, Dancing with the Stars and so on â€"â€" but I continued to opine that although they may not have been scripted, contestants were steered in the right directien for ratings. So, other than Springer, which I take for its completely phony scenarios and the fact that I don‘t have to go there for a weekend away, I simply don‘t watch. Of course, that is, until a guy I used to write about back in the 1980s turned up as probably the highest profile "celebrity" on the painfully sickening Donald Trump reality show called The Apprentice. Or in this edition‘s case, Celebrity Apprentice. Frankly, I was a little surprised that Lennox‘s highâ€"school sports credentials would make him such an attraction. Yes, former Kitchener Cameron Heights Golden Gaels basketball and football star Lennox Lewis from the midâ€"80s is front and centre on Trump‘s steadilyâ€"winning quest to become the most pompous TV show host ever. Call worldwide for only $13.95 per month* Call 519â€"489â€"4459 or visit www.worldline.ca Includes Canada, USA & 26 countries or call Canada for only $3.95 per month! Register your home phone & cell phone Instant activation Call quality guaranteed Monthly credit card or direct debit billing Available to Record subscribers & nonâ€"subscribers Flat rate with no extra per minute charges RECORDCALIDP those highâ€"school days, when we first knew him as Junior, but I have followed and cheered his career since he moved from the former Laurel secondary school in Waterloo to Cameron and then to bigâ€"time boxing. I have written about this before but it bears repeating. As he moved up the heavyweight ladder to the title bouts, I said there was no way he could be champ of the world. It had nothing to do with his skills in the ring. 1 didn‘t think he could be champ because as I remembered him from his Golden Gaéls days, he was just too nice a young man. I didn‘t think he had the soâ€"called "killer" instinct to mix it up with the likes of nutbar Tyson or Evanâ€" der Holyfield. But he could and he did and he won. From what I hear, Lennox has looked after his boxing money well and we probably won‘t need to have a tagâ€" day down the road. This is good and the way it should be for all millionaire pro athletes and entertainers. Since Lennox has consistently been quoted as saying he has no plans to make a boxing comeback â€" unlike Tyson, Holyfield, George Foreman, etc... â€" I can only surmise he has gone on the suck up to the Donald show for the cash he‘ll getdor his favourite charity, and that‘s good too. So, yes, I‘m breaking my rule of no reality show viewing and will be watchâ€" ing again tomorrow night, cheering for the former Golden Gael and trying not to gag every time Trump lets us know just how brilliant he is in business. Britishâ€"born Lennox was in Waterloo Region a couple of weeks back for a charity fundraiser to support local box ing, so it‘s also nice to know he hasn‘t forgotten the community which shaped a major portion of his life.