Overheard

A hairy dilemma

"The Brits are viewing Justin Bieber's diss about Prince William's challenging hair problem in the same way you view an annoying fly buzzing around you. He needs to be swatted away. Wills and Prince Harry may joke about William's thinning hair, but that doesn't mean a kid like Justin can come sauntering in and join in the joke. It's like inviting someone over for dinner, and they tell you how awful your carpet is. Even if you agree, how dare they say it?"

-- British journalist Jessica Callan reacts to the Bieb's ill-mannered comment on Prince William's hair

 

Arrival

"The crowd in Times Square just chanted 'Science! Science!' I bet that's never happened here before. #marscuriosity"

-- Tweeter Wendy Felton @glossedover saw her tweet to celebrate Curiosity reaching Mars retweeted 1,448 times

 

A day of remembrance...

"We celebrate victories, but we also celebrate classics. If all those great Canadian triumphs we like to talk about -- from '72 onward -- were celebrations, this team's 4-3 loss at the Olympics was Lear on grass. It was Macbeth. It was a great tragedy."

-- Sportswriter Cathal Kelly comments on the Canadian women's soccer team's loss to the Americans.

 

Then a day of victory

"If I was a parent, in my front room with my kids, I'd be going nuts when that goal went in. The kids would be flying over the sofa and we'd all be jumping around. That's one of them great moments families have together. I can see dads and moms out in the garden kicking balls around. And this group wanted to leave that legacy."

-- Canadian Olympic women's soccer coach John Herdman

The really tough ones

"They're like ballerinas and linebackers in one body."

-- Adam van Koeverden, who won silver in 1,000-metre kayaking, acknowledged canoeing is harder than kayaking as he marvelled at the athleticism of his training partner Mark Oldershaw who won bronze in 1,000-metre canoeing.

 

Talking proud

"It's all about Southern pride... like the Olympics. But with a lot of missing teeth and a lot of butt crack showing."

-- June Thompson, the extreme couponing mother of six-year-old beauty pageant contestant and new reality TV star, Alana, a.k.a. Honey Boo Boo, whose new show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, kicked off this week.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 11, 2012 J12