It's interesting how unequally the soccer audience pie is divided on College St. for Saturday morning games.

The Diplomatico is clearly the place to be, with both patio and restaurant filled to capacity.

The Riveria bakery is also packed (a much smaller venue).

Right next door to the Riviera, the College St. Bar has abundant seating (alas, no breakfast menu except for a heartsmart sausage sandwich).

Langolino, right across Clinton St. from the Dip, had about five people watching -- two of which work there.

Bar Azzurri has its usual crowd of older Italian men and younger parolees, Vecchio Frek has a handful of people, Il Gato Nero has a sprinkling, as does the Sicilian Ice Cream joint.

Of the potential audience on College Street, the Dip draws an overwhelmingly disproportionate share (people love potato puffs with their soccer, I guess. :) ) It's built some brand-name recognition for hosting these types of events.

And once you have that recognition, your competition is screwed. They'll get leftovers and that's it.

For anything other than a World Cup glamour match (eg. Brazil, Italy), that crowd isn't going to be large enough to give your place an 'event' feel. And without an event feel, people are left to watch soccer, which even at the current high level of play, isn't enough to hold the average Torontonian's attention.

In that regard, it's kinda like watching an Argos game at the Rogers Centre. :)

The Toronto Star has a big blow-out today on immigrants. It's worth checking out.

Including in that package is Forgotten in media's culture gap, about ethnic media in T.O.

Zerby has a post about an interview Prime Minister Stephen Harper conducted with The Western Standard.

Here's some excerpts from the article: (reg. req'd)

"When we first started doing this and were doing this, the majority of journalists loved it," (Harper) says. "But of course, the problem was that we were getting our message out and a small number of ideologues didn't like that. So they've now basically forbidden all of their colleagues to ask questions, which I think is a fascinating use of press freedom when a small number of journalists can tell others they can't ask questions at a press conference. But that's the position of the left-wing ideologues who are apparently running the show." ...

Actually, what the gallery opposes is the Prime Minister's Office deciding who gets to ask questions, fearing those who might be seen as critical won't be called upon. And given the way the Bush White House operates (Helen Thomas, Bush's bete noir on Iraq, went for years without being called upon to ask a question) and its obvious influence on the Harper government's thinking, one has to see that fear as valid.

Harper laughs when he talks of how much easier the gallery has made his life. "I'm free to pick my interviews when and where I want to have them," he says. "The great irony is, the result is precisely the opposite of what these doing it claim to be seeking. They say if I don't do it their way, I'll somehow gain more control over my media relations. Well, I've got more control now." ...

Call me crazy, but politicians have always been able to "pick and choose" when they give interviews with specific journalists and news organizations. This is about asking questions in an open news conference.

... While he believes most journalists are "left of centre," Harper says they're also largely free thinkers. The gallery, he believes, has become too institutionalized, and too convinced that it can control the news. "I think if we can break that up in any way," he says. "That is helpful for democracy."

The Salon blurb: In his devastating new book, Ron Suskind shows how 9/11 allowed George W. Bush and his shadowy courtier, Dick Cheney, to "create whatever reality was convenient."

U.S. Veep Dick Cheney blasted the news media Friday for revealing a program by which security officials conducted possibly hundreds of thousands of searches at the financial transaction records of Americans.