On Monday he was cleared to discard the shield, which he did, adhering to N.H.L. tough-guy convention that shuns wearing too much facial protection.
For 25 years, young reporters from Children's Express, in their trademark yellow and red T-shirts, have been a fixture of political conventions, asking tough questions and breaking stories for the grown-up media to follow.
Cézanne's stroke-by-stroke reassembly of the visible world didn't just inspire Cubism and lead to abstract art; it stood for a tough-minded retooling of conventions in any creative field.
"I always felt this was the toughest part, the convention phase," Mr. Cook said.
But Mr. Bloomberg -- a lifelong Democrat who became a Republican to run for office -- finds himself in an uncomfortable political position, one that promises to get tougher as the convention nears.
Taking a whack at the media is a well-thumbed page in the convention playbook — and with 15,000 of us on hand at both conventions, it's tough to resist.
Not only did candidates from multitown districts need the 15percenttheyhey were also forced to get delegates at conventions, a much tougher hurdle.
But just as yesterday's revolutionary proclamations turn into tomorrow's formulas, the private-eye sorties have for years been foiled by their own central convention, notably the tough, sentimental, deep-down-decent hero with his snappy cracks.
2 Guns has its moments, but it is filled with cliches, particularly the time-honoured convention that supercool tough guys never look behind them at the deafening explosion that they themselves have ignited as they amble away.
With bitter battles and possibly a large-scale revolt now looming over the final text, the chairman of the European convention insisted that tough choices lay ahead if the EU was to advance.
