March 2010 Archives

Last year I was having a conversation with a couple of friends, Colleen Rusholme and Kim Stockwood.  The name of a woman we worked with came up in conversation and I just happened to say...as a throw away line..."she has great eyes".  They looked at each other then looked at me like I was  from a parallel universe.  They said it was strange because most guys would say....she had great hooters or she had a great butt.  Well maybe she did but for me her eyes were her most outstanding feature.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul.  That could be right...if you believe we have soul.  I'm not sure about that but I do know the eyes can tell you a lot about what's  going on inside another person.  Not long ago I was having a conversation with a friend telling them, what I tought, sounded like a sob story.  I thought about it on the way home...emailed them and said sorry if what I told you sounded like a load of b-s.  They told me, no, they didn't think that at all because they could see the sadness in my eyes. Very perceptive. 

The first thing I notice about someone (and with the exception of Johnny Depp who I have a man cursh on we're talking about women here) are the eyes and the hair.  I knew a woman who went from a size 12 to a size 6 in a year.  When I saw her she said,,"what do you think?"  I didn't know what she was talking about because I was looking at her eyes. I had never notice her size 12 weight or her size 6 weight. 

Eyes can tell you if a person is happy...if they're sad...if they're interested in you...or if they're thinking...."damn I wish he'd shut up and leave".  The problem I have with looking into someone's eyes is...what if I'm wrong?  What if they're not thinking what I think they're thinking.  You don't want to be presumtuos....but it makes for an interesting drive home. 

I think Sienfeld is the best written and funniest sitcom I have ever seen. Of the 4 main characters the one I didn't want to identify with was George.  But there are 3 quotes either by him or about him that have stayed with me.

1:  Breaking up:  "It's  not you, it's me" 

2:  The truth:  "If you believe it, it's not a lie"

3:  Life:  (said to George by Jerry)  "If every decision you've made is wrong then the opposite must be right".

 Jim just added a few more in his comment. One I should have included:

4: Shrinkage:  "I was in the pool...I was in the pool".

During the off season the Toronto Raptors made what most basketball fans tought was a major coup. They signed high end free agent Hedo Turkoglu.  A perfect compliment to Chris Bosh.  He would be Scotty Pippen to Bosh's Michael Jordan.  Okay...that's a stretch but the idea is the same. 

I like the way Bryan Colangelo has been building the Raptors into and ethnically diverse team pulling in players from all over the world to play in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world.  Turkoglu...a Turk...was sold on that and he bit.  He was the perfect fit....off the court. On the court, not so much. He showed up for camp out of shape and he's never quite figured out the game plan. 

Now they say when you bring in a free agent there's a period of adjustment.  Well only 3 players returned to the Raptors from the year before and none of them got the 53 million dollars over 5 years to come to Toronto like Turkoglu did.  Give me 53 mill and I'll fit into a skin tight speed-o. (hide the kids...it's not a pretty sight). 

Last week Turkoglu said he had the flu...couldn't play Friday night in a 2 point loss to Denver.  Okay that's excusable.  What isn't excusable is being seen in a bar that same night knocking back drinks. 

Maybe Turkoglu took a mental health day.  Most of us have done that during our careers. And for most of us what we didn't get done today we can make up tomorrow. Turkoglu can't do that. That 2 point loss on Friday is gone, it's in the books. You can stay as late as you want but you can never make it jup. The Raptors are on the verge of slipping out of a playoff spot. Turkoglu is supposed to be one of their go to guys.  He can cruise bars...but he can't play?  You would think professional pride would force him to.  If not pride then how about the 10 mill a year he's cashing at the bank.

I'm one of those people who will go to work when I should be in intensive care. They say...stay home,..get better.  Don't infect the work place with what you're down with. But I always figured I had to be there because there's no one who can do what I can do (apparently my former employers didn't agree with that).  

I've never understood a certainly mentality in sports.  Watch Joe the Jock...it's his contract year he'll have a great season.  Larry Stringbean is coming up for free agency, he'll put up some huge numbers this year.  If these guys can do it for a contract, why can't  they do it when they get the contract?  

Turkoglu's punishment?  Benched for the next game, didn't start...but played...the game after  that.  Strange way to punish a guy who'd rather party than play.  If the Rappies had suspended him there would have been a few slices off his 53 million dollar roast.  In uniform and not starting doesn't cost him a looney. 

One of the fears of giving an athlete a fat, long term. guaranteed contract is that it might guarantee they get fat for the long term.  Is that what we're seeing with Turkoglu?  He's go 53 million reasons to prove it wrong.  So prove us wrong.

Up until this week I have never been on Facebook. I mean I've never even looked for someone's facebook.  Now, I am one.  Wasn't long ago I tried to avoid human contact once I left work.  Only 4 or 5 people had my cell phone number.  My home phone was unlisted and when it rang I rarely picked up.  I went for days without checking email.

After I left Astral a few months ago I found that I really missed being in contact with  people.  I was told by some friends I had to start social-networking...which I thought was some kind of left wing plot to take over cyber space.  First blogging and as of yesterday, Facebooking (is that what you call it?  Facebooking and is face book 2 words with a capital "F" or one word with a small "f" or vice versa?).

Now I have no idea what I'm doing and I have to thank Toronto Mike at torontomike.com for helping me out with all of this.  When I saw a list of pictures on my facebook page I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to want them as friends or if they wanted to be my friends.  I didn't know most of them so why the hell would they want to be my friends.  Some I knew.  The last time we spoke it wasn't pleasant. So why would I want to be their friends.

'Course it's all about communicating.  I've been after my mother to get a computer and use email rather than the phone.  Not for her, for me.  If the phone rings on a Saturday night just as the hockey game beings I'm still talking to her at the start of the third period.  So now I pvr everything just in case. 

Most guys I know don't "phone" well.  I never call a male friend just for a chat.  I can talk to a woman on the phone for an hour.  Not a guy.  You run out of things to say in a couple of minutes.  Then you get those uncomfortable pauses and you don't want to say...I gotta go now...because it sounds like you're blowing him off.  So now If I get stuck in a situation like that I say.....Jeez Louise...a cat just fell in the toilet...got go fish him out.  It only works once per friend though.  By the way...there are good lies and there are bad lies,  The cat in the toilet to get off the phone is a good lie.

Typical guy email.  You okay?  response:  Yep.  Anything new?  response:  Nope.  And it's done.

It's funny how things work.  Couple months ago I mostly wanted to be alone.  Last night I stayed up until midnight waiting for more friends on my facebook.  Only had 3.  Today I have 4.  I feel like Miss Favisham in Great Expectations.  Waiting for someone who's never going to show up.  But I'm learning.  It takes time.  Damn...the phones ringing.

p.s. I just checked my facebook. It's up to 10.  Tracy was no, 5.  Do I have to give a prize for that?  Do I have to get together with all my friends for a get acquainted/reunion party?  So many questions! 

I've been bouncing around different blogs and sites reading the debates about "Earth Hour" last Saturday.  Did it do any good?  Probably not. It's symbolic not a solution. 

I don't know If Al Gore and David Suzuki are right about global warming but the Southern Ontario I live in now aint the Southern Ontario I grew up in.  Few years ago I heard it mentioned by someone who worked for Environment Canada that in 30 years  they'll be growing peaches in Orillia.

Since moving north of the city..and I'm not afraid to admit this...I've become a  tree hugger.  I hate cutting down trees but if I have to I'll plant 2 more to replace it.  One thing there is no debate about...no flora, no fauna.  We need plants to survive.  They don't need us.

12 years ago I would drive north on my way home from work. 12 years ago Wonderland was in the middle of nowhere.  Highway 7 was the jumping off point to rural Ontario.  Farm fields on both side of the 400.  Now?  Those farm fields are subdivisons. King Side road is the new jump to the country.

12 years ago I'd go out to my car in the middle of the night to go to work.  On clear nights I'd just stand there for a couple of minutes and stare up at the pitch black sky from horizon to horizon and look at the stars.  I remember one morning I looked up...and said...."lord 'tunderin"...that's Orion's belt. First time I ever saw it.  I can still see Orion's belt and a lot of other stars and planets but the horizons aren't black any more.  North...I can see the lights of Barrie. West...the lights of Alliston.  Doesn't feel like the country I moved to.  Yea I know, it's progress and of course more tax dollars for local government. But for me it's like a loss of innocense. 

I have no idea if global warming is real. From what I've read we may just be going through one of the thousands...(who knows...maybe millions)...of weather cycles in the earth's history.  They know that the Saharah Desert was once alive with vegatation.  I've read that the vikings took cattle with them to Greenland because at the time the coast of Greenland really was green.  So maybe the weather is like your teenage kid, just going through a phase. 

What we can't do is continue to poison the planet.  I've seen articles that claim cancer rates have gone up 600% since 1900 which is just after the explosion of the Industrial Revolution.  Coincidence?  I think not.

I miss the city for a lot of reasons. I don't miss the noise, the congestion, the traffic and the concrete.  I never thought much about nature when I lived there.  Now I think about it every day and when you hear the phrase...we have to live in balance with nature....it's true.  I'm not suggesting that you become a tree hugger but every once in a while when you drive by a red maple or a blue spruce...give 'em a nod.

I just saw it again.  A commercial on TV.  The woman takes a bite of chicken, smiles and nods her head.  Happens all the time on TV and it drives me crazy. Take a bite of sub, nod your head.  Scarf down a slice of pizza. nod your head.  Mom whips up a batch of Chef Boyardee ravioli and you've got 6 kids at the table nodding their heads."Spam for dinner tonight kids" as mom looks down at all those little noddin' noggins.

I can remember the 5 best meals I've ever had.

-duck l'orange in Lake Placid

-sea bass in Barbados

-spare ribs at the Bar-B-Barn in Montreal

-angel hair pasta in lobster sauce at Michaels Back Door in Clarkson

-linguine in a clam sauce at Michaels Back Door in Clarkson

Never once did I nod my head.  Never once did any other person at the table nod their head. I'm sure most of the people at the other tables were having marvelous meals but no noodle nodding. 

In tv commercials people take a bite of burger and nod. They're all alone. Who the hell are they telegraphing that what they just bit into may well have been the finest ground round they've ever downed.

In pet food commercials dogs do back flips over Ken-L-Ration.  Cats run through walls for  Tempations treats.  Ever seen a cat nod its head?  I don't think you have.  I have a dog. Every time swiss cheese is involved in a meal she gets a slice.  I always get a high 5 from her.  No nod.

I have people over to my house.  They try my chili that's been simmering in the crockpot for 3 days.  They'll say..."this is great"...or.."what did you put in this"...or..."will this give me gas?"...or...(later in the night).."I'll be in the bathroom for a while." Do they nod?  They do not. They may run with the runs but no nods. 

I guess the nod is supposed to let us know that what they've just ingested is some good eatin'. But the nod is a fraud. An....mmm..mmm...mmm....would suffice. 

Michelle Mandel has a disturbing story in today's Toronto Sun.  A convicted child molester is going to be let out prison and heading home to Oshawa next week.  He was convited of 10 counts of molesting 2 boys over a 10 year period.

The sentence?  6 years.  He's out after serving 2/3rds of his time. 

I understand the arguement for rehabilitation.  I'm uneasy with it but I understand it.  Turns out this pedophile had been convicted of similar charges in the early 1990's.  So much for the rehab arguement.  Durham police say they're going to keep an eye on this guy.  Seems they're not convinced he wont reoffend.  The police get it.  The law makers don't.

These are our childern.  These are our most important assets.  2/3rds of a 6 year sentence for destroying their innocence and forcing them to take their nightmares into adulthood.  Childern who didn't know what was happening to them and when they did they were too ashamed to come forward until they couldn't live with the demons any longer.  This man stole from them.  Not a bicycle or a basketball.  He stole their childhoods.  You can never replace that. Ever.

As parents we do all we can to protect our childern.  Law makers don't.  If they did this man wouldn't be on the street.  You molest a child you have to put away forever. Forever.  We can't afford to have people like this on our streets.  2/3rds of a 6 year sentence, 6 years of a 6 years sentence, 10 years, 15 years, not enough.  Forever!

Back in the 1800's Charles Dickens wrote in Oliver Twist.."the law is an ass".  2/3rd's of a 6 years sentence for molesting 2 young boys?  Dickens is still right. The law is an ass.

With so much time on my hands the past few months I sometimes wonder if I did the right thing moving an hour north of the city.  It gets a little lonely at times but I do have my cats to keep me company and it's all getting pretty weird.  Infact as I'm writing this I have one cat laying on my right arm and another laying on my left arm so I only have movement from my wrists down.

When I started taking in strays I figured I'd have to build something for them to live in.  Because I live in an old farm house I don't have a basement per se so I converted a 2 car garage into cat rooms or as I call them the "cat-a-combs".  I dressed up part of it as a rec room. The cats have free reign and they have those cat flaps so they can get outside.

These days I spend virtually all of my time with them.  I play with them, I brush them and (I hate to admit this) I talk with them.  During the evening when I'm watching sports Maynard usually sits beside me.  Goalie makes the save and I say to Maynard, did you see that?  That was robbery.  It obviously didn't impress Maynard.  He continues cleaning himself.

Kramer (who I call the Red Rocket) is a little slow.  Put a cat toy down and the other cats immediately start batting it around.  Put one in front of Kramer and he stares at it.  He thinks it's going to move by itself. I don't think Kramer understands Newton's Laws of Motion. I have to give the toy a little kick before the game is on.  I'm looking for remedial cat claasses to send him to.

Simon is the class clown, a free spirit and a delinquent.  If he was a person he'd be doing time.  Now the food and the water are communal.  About a year ago Simon would go to one of the several water dishes, take a drink, climb on board and pee in it.  Yes, I immediately wash it out and freshen it up but what pees me off is that the little bugger does it right in front of me. No Fear and no shame. 

Simon also has an interesting habit of waking me up.  He licks my nose.  Could be midnight, could be 2 am.  He can't tell time.  Which is interesting.  Every night, just before I have my dinner I give all the cats some treats.  I've never figured this out but it's like clockwork.  The treats are in the laundry room and at about 5 o'clock every afternoon they start to gather around the laundry room door.  By 10 after, if they haven't been given them yet, they start  meowing.  It's like the Vienna Boys Choir at a keg party. How the hell do they know what time it is?

Tell you about one more of the guys.  Bad Boy - Bad Boy.  He got the name because when he first showed up he was a bad boy.  Every time I saw him I'd start singing that song from the tv show "Cops"...."bad boy, bad boy what you gonna do, what you gonna do when they come for you".  Thing is when you say his name you have to sing it like they do on the show.  The folks at the vetrinary clinic thought I had lost my mind but after a while they sang his name every time I brought him in.

Oh and one last thing about cats.  If you have cats DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get a herding dog.  I did.  Herding dogs are bred to herd and that's what they do.  Cats can't be herded and that's that they don't do.  It's not a good a combination.  Fun to watch some times but really. not a good combination.

I was listening to CBC 1 today.  They  were doing a show on bullying,  They had some experts talking about how to deal with it but the really interesting part was the call ins.  Listeners talking about being bullied and being bullies.  The people who admitted to being bullies were ashamed of the way they acted when they were in school,  The consensus seemed to be once you start you can't stop.

So, an admission.  I was a bully in high school.  Nothing physical it was verbal.  I only did it once.  I knew it was wrong when I was doing it.  I felt like hell on the way home and decades later I still feel ashamed.  Sure, I got bullied but that's long forgotten.  That one episode where I was the bully is something I can't shake.

In my early 20's while bouncing from club to club I saw bullying.  I wrote it off to male testosterone run amok.  What surprised me and something I wasn't ready for was bullying in the work place.  That was something I wasn't expecting.  We're all grown up now, we're adults and we will work side by side with respect for each other.  Oh, silly, silly, silly me. 

I saw several instances of bosses as bullies.  Kind of like the coach you had when you were a kid who thought they could bully you into playing better.  Some of these people were newly promoted and should never have been bumped up the ladder, They knew their job, they knew their business but they had no concept how to be a manager.  No people skills.  I think that happens too often at work.  People get bumbed up because they're good at what they do.  Being good at what you do doesn't necessarily make you good at telling other people what to do. 

In broadcasting bullying makes for a terrible dynamic.  Mic off.  The bully in studio starts ranting and raving and berating a co-worker. When the mic goes back on 60 seconds later you keep going but it's a different room, a different conversation and a different show.

I never thought women were bullies.  Not until I saw it in the work place.  Maybe I was naive in high school and maybe it was going on. I just didn't see it. I've seen women bosses bully their staff.  Female staff  bully other staff members, male and female. 

I don't get it (there's my naivety again).  I don't see what it accomplishes.  They have to know the people they bully wont like or respect them.  Same deal for the people watching it going on. I saw a manager bully a staff member once.  At the time I thought he was dick. My feelings about him haven't changed and I doubt they ever will.

What bullies don't realize and probably never will is that the people around them don't like them, don't trust them and don't respect them.  Fear them?  Yes.  But that makes for a toxic work environment. 

I can't even remember the kids' name I bullied in high school.  I wish I could.  An apology for me being a dick is long over due.

I'm a little p-o'd at Freddie Patterson.  For a good part of the day I've been kicking around the idea of doing a bit on Anne Coulter, the ultra-right wing political commentator from the US who didn't make it into the hall at The University of Ottawa last night because protesters blocked her way.

Now Fred has created quit a "crap storm" with his blog (you should check it out) ripping on the protesters for denying her freedom of speach. 

Did the protesters have the right to protest?  Yes. Did Coulter have the right to speak? Yes.

Coulter knows exactly what she's doing.  She's from the same extreme right wing group that produced Glenn Beck and Bill O'Riley and Rush Limbaugh.  I don't agree with anything they say but I'll give them props for knowing what buttons to push.  They know where the buttons are and they know what kind of reaction they'll get and who's going to react. 

Coulter being stopped from speaking is worth more to her than a 2 hour diatribe of her normal psycho babble.  She got what she wanted.  Everyone's attention.  I'm not sure what we're afraid of and I have a difficult time with her being stopped from speaking at a university where an exchange of ideas should be embraced. 

You listen, you form opinions.  You accept them or reject them.  I've read Mein Kempf.  It didn't turn me into a Nazi.  I've read the Commuist Manifesto.  I don't call any of my friends commrade.  But I thought it was important to read those books because of the impact they had on the 20th century.  Both books had a lot to do with how a lot of us grew up. You may hate the message, but don't suggest the books be banned. 

What scares me more than Coulter's message is people trying to stop her from speaking.  If the message is as reprehensible as the protesters believe, I can figure that out.  The only people being fooled by Coulter, Beck, Limbaugh and O'Riley are the same people who sent money to that Nigerian prince over the internet, they didn't hear back so they cover their losses by sending more money to the doctor from China who needs help getting his money to North America.   

I think the worst thing you can do is get sucked into playing their game.  Do that and they've got what they wanted.  Your attention and media attention.

Interesting comments to the last post.  I know we all have our favourite places.  I'd go Lake Placid in a heartbeat (summer not winter).  Weather it's Memphis or Nashville or New Orleans we have special cities and special memories. I recall that Les Nesman from WKRP used to vacation in Omaha Nebraska.

I like the stories about where people came from and the guts it took to make the move.  Like Deb coming in from down east with 55 dollars and suit case.

I came to Toronto in the 70's with a band.  We lived in a big old rooming house on Avenue Road.  Shared bathrooms, doubling up on bedrooms to save money, Everybody chipped in for groceries except the lead guitar player. He still owes me 25 bucks.  

The band had the third floor.  On the second floor we had a printer from the provincial government who would stage a food fight in the kitchen at least once a month, a drag queen and his boyfriend and Dixie and wife from Trinidad.  I had never met anyone from Trinidad before.  Within a few months Dixie had us converted to his kind of cooking.  Some of the best food I ever had.  Spicey as hell but damn good.

It was a monster move and a huge culture shock for a kid who grew up in St.Catharines.  Certainly not as far away as the east coast and I guess if everything had bottomed out for me mom and dad would have taken me back so it's not like I was on some Indiana Jones type of adventure.  But being young and stupid I looked at it like an adventure.  'Course it got to the point where I needed some kind of a future so I hustled a student loan and got accepted at a community college.

One day I walked into the Gas Works down on Yonge St. and I hear..."hey Hodgie"...It was Big Les, a guy I played football with in high school. He was the real deal.  6 foot 4 and 220 pounds of muscle.  He was the bouncer.  He looked at the bartender, pointed to me and said "this guy doesn't pay for nutn', it's on me".  We talked for a bit and he said "yea but atleast we go out".  Not a shot at St. Catharines but he and I both knew there wasn't going to be a whole for us to do down there.  Last I heard he had moved to Alaska.  That's stretching the adventure a little far for me.  

For a long time most of the people I worked with in broadcasting weren't born in Toronto.  When you ran into someone new you'd say, "where you from" because you knew they weren't from the GTA and I was always amazed at the number of people you'd run into from the east coast. 

I spent most of my life in Toronto living in the Mt. Pleasant, Davisville, Eglinton area.  Every time I drive through it, it still feels like home. St. Catharines is my real home town but I did more growing up during my time in Toronto than I did down on the penninsula. 

I guess we were all scared as hell when we made the move but I'd be willing to be most of us are still here.

Got an e-mail yesterday from a friend who wrote "took your advice, I'm sitting on Beale Street sipping a cool one." He's in Memphis. 

A few years back I had just started my vacation.  It was a Friday night, I was listening to some music. "Walking in Memphis" came up and I thought I'd like to see Memphis one day. I left the next morning at 9 am. 

Have you ever been somewhere you've never been before that just feels like home.  Like you've been there before but you haven't,  That's how it felt.  The game plan was to stay for a couple of days and being the history buff that I am I figured I'd wind my home through Civil War battle sites on my way home.  I booked into the hotel for 2 nights.  I stayed a week. 

The hotel was close to Beale Street where they say blues music was invented in the early 20th century by W.C. Handy who imortalized the street with the song "Beale Street Blues" which goes a little like this, "If Beale Street could talk, if Beale Street could talk married men would have to take their beds and walk. Except one or 2 who never drank that booze and the blind man on the corner with the Beale Street blues". 

It was an amazing place to be. In the evening they shut down the street and all the bars and and clubs set up out side. It turned into a party. The music was everywhere.  In the clubs, in the park, on the street.  There were groups playing on the curb that you'd pay a cover charge to hear in Toronto.  I went for lunch to a club and a couple of guys were playing Mississippi Delta blues.  They had a plastic sandpail just off the stage for donations.  They were playing for tips. I put in 10 bucks and bought their cd.

I took a boat ride on the Mississippi River, visited the site where Martin Luther King was assassinated, went to the Civil War museum but never once did I go to Graceland.  I've never been much of an Elvis fan.  I used to kid Roger Ashby (a huge Elvis fan) that all Elvis did was steal the black man's music.  Actually he was alot more than that.  Memphis is in that part of the US where you get gospel music, hillybilly music, blues and country all fusing in one place.  Elvis had all of that in him.  The Sun Studios where he cut his first recordings was an eye opener.  It wasn't all about Elvis.  Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Johnny Rivers all recorded there.  What they think is the first rock and roll record "Rocket 88" featuring Ike Turner was recoreded there.

But for me it all came back to Beale Street.  Every bar and every club had various forms of Blues music going on all night.  You could see a band then duck into the various museums to check the history of the music.  There was one thing missing. With all that music I noticed that there wasn't a record store anywhere on Beale Street.  On my drive back to Canada I convinved myself that I was going to sell my house take the money and open a record stone on Beale Street.  That little dream faded over time although I wonder now and again, what if what if I was walkin', sittin', sippin' and sellin' on Beale Street?

Several years ago, make that a lot of years ago we had just finished the morning shift and we were standing around telling our usual lies about what he had done the night before.  One of the news guys blurted out "why the hell do you sports fans put up with mediocrity, why to the people in this city keep going to games when it's all a bunch of garbage", 

That was the first time I ever heard this guy mention sports at any level.  'Course being the jocks that we were we ganged up on him, shut him up, and I never heard him mention sports again.   But........he was right.  The Blue Jays were playing lousey, the Aargonauts (they mattered back then) were in a funk and the Maple Leafs were owned by Harold Ballard (enough said).  The Raptors hadn't been hatched yet.

He was right then and he'd be right now. 

The sports muckey mucks in Toronto like to point out that the Big Smoke is the 5th largest metropolitan area in North America.  If so then why don't they act like it.  The Jays haven't even started the season and we already know they're not going to make the playoffs.  You take that that for granted in Pittsburg and Kansas City.  Small markets, small payrolls.  If Toronto is the 5th biggest market the Jays don't act like it.  We're closer to haning out with the Royals and Pirates than we are with Yankees and Red Sox,

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment finally figured out if you want be big time you have to act like it.  They brought in Bryan Colangelo to rip things down and rebuild.  Which he did.  Then he ripped it up again and built it up again until he came up with  this year's team.  It's a pretty good team.  How do we know?  He told us.  2 months ago the Rappies were knocking on Boston's back side for 4th over all in the Eastern Conference.  Today they're struggling to hang on to a playoff spot.  They've won one more game than they've lost.  That might be a passing grade at Whatsamatta U but not for the Raptors,

And then we have the Leafs.  Our dear, beloved, sacred to many, Maple Leafs.  Big Blue, Leaf Nation, The Buds.  Yes I know the team is going through a rebuilding process.  But it's a process that should have never been needed.  The Leafs are one of, maybe the, richest teams in the NHL.  But I don't think any team since the strike/lockout has been as mediocre.  Certainly not as disappointing as any other team.  How does this happen?  

This isn't about Brian Burke.  This is about an organization that puts profits ahead of winning.  Here's a bulletin, the more you win the higher your profits.  Check with the Blue Jays on that.  Win a couple of World Series we can't get a ticket.  Go in the tank we don't want a ticket. 

How can a team in the self proclaimed Hockey Captial of The World be worse than teams in Phoenix, Atlanta, Nashville and Miami where only friends and family show up to watch games?  How can small makets like Ottawa and Buffalo be better than the Buds year in and year out?  It's not lack of money.  They tell us it's not for lack of trying.  Then it's simple.  Ownership just doesn't get it. 

You know damn well if you went down to the Royal Alex once a month to see a different play and every time you went it was a bomb you'd stop going.  You haven't had a decent meal at your favourite restaurant the last 4 or 5 times you find a new restaurant.  First marriage doesn't work out, you try it again.  Second marriage doesn't work out, you try it...wait...that may not be such a good idea.  But you see what I mean.  You go to game when you can afford to it should be special.  You spend 3 hours on a Saturday night watching a game it should be special.  But's like my old workmate asked years ago...'why do we put up with mediocrity?'   I  don't have the answer.

A while back I was in the studio and on the tv monitors we had on the various morning television shows.  During a break I pointed to one of them and mentioned that the host is going to be a big star.  She's talented, the camera loves her and she's a natural.  The guy in the studio with me got hot about that.  He said "you know, she's a teacher and she has no right on tv taking a job away from a real broadcaster".  He was bent out of shape because she doing a job that he obviously wanted.

I thought about that on my drive home.  He may be right,  In sports broadcasting there are far too many non broadcasters broadcasting.  I've mentioned Mike Wilbon and Tony Kornhieser on Pardon the Interruption.  Steven Brunt on the Fan.  John Tory doing afternoon talk.  Wilbon, Kornhieser and Brunt are all from print.  They have, or had, newspaper jobs.  What the hell are they doing in radio and tv.  Well what they're doing is a better job than most broadcasters.

I think it may have to do with command of the language.  Most broadcasters are taught to keep it simple.  Writers seem to have a better grasp of how and when to use certain words and phrases.  They also have a great ability to tell stories.  Now, this isn't to say that there aren't alot of broadcasters who can't do the same.  But I could listen to Brunt and Kornhieser prattle on all day. 

Tory is the one who really gets me p-o'd. He doesn't need the job.  This is more like a hobby for him but guy moves into a talk radio and within a month or so he's one of the best in Toronto and that's just not fair. In fact he may be a better talk show host that he was a politician.  Check that, he is better talk show host than he was a politician.  He has great recall, he always knows what he's talking about and he understands the art of debate.  He knows how to argue and I mean argue as in the exchange of ideas to make a point. 

That's what Brunt, Wilbon and Kornhieser have as well.  They know how to debate.  Far too many "trained" broadcasters never had it or if they did they've lost the ability. 

One of the things that really grinds me about talk radio is people talking over each other.  On the weekend I was listening to a show and all 3 of the hosts were talking at once.  They don't get it. The listener has no idea who's saying what.  To me this is sin no. 1 in broadcasting.  If the listener can't get a grip on what you're saying there's no point saying it.  After 15 seconds of verbal anarchy I switched stations.

Wilbon and Kornhieser will trip over each other on occasion but for the most part they give each other room to argue.  Brunt and Tory do the same. 

Another non broadcaster turned broadcaster who I have great respect for is Buck Martinez.  The former Blue Jay catcher, manager and colour man is going to be the Jay's tv play by play man this season.  Here's a guy who studied broadcasting.  Here's a guy who's turned himself into one of the very best baseball broadcasters in the business.  When he was paired with Dan Shulman on Jay's games a few years back there was never a night when Martinez didn't tell me something I didn't know.  He has a great ability to explain the nuances of the game and make them understandable to the casual fan.  He can dumb it down with authority. 

How can you get mad at people like this who simply have the ability to communicate, debate and make it entertaining at the same time?  Am I mad at them for taking jobs away from real broadcasters?  I want to be but I cant be. These so called non broadcasters are better than most broadcasters. How can you be mad at them?  You can't!  But you can be jealous, 

I have had a ton of time on my hands the past few months and even though I'm embarassed to admit it I have been watching way too much television, But I've learned a few things about TV that hadn't dawned on me before this,

1:  I used to think when people said they only watched PBS they were being pretentious.  They wanted the rest of us to think they were intellectually superior.  Granted, PBS has dumbed it down over the past few years but there's more good programming to be found there than virtually anywhere else.

2:  You can get tired of Sienfield reruns.

3:  What the hell happened to The Office.  Boring!

4:  Same night same network:  "Community".  Why?

5:  Best tv pairing:  Tutuola and Munch (Law and Order SVU) aka Ice T and Richard Belzer.

6:  Best actor in a comedy:  Alec Baldwin.  Favourite actor in a comedy:  Larry David.

7:  Flight of The Concords has lost it's innocence.

8:  Televised poker is better than televised billiards.

9:  Wendy Crewson is in a lot of movies.

10:  Mariska Hargitay (Law and Order SVU) is much hotter with long hair.

11:  I still can't bring myself to watch "reality tv" of any kind.

12:  Best actor in a drama:  Anthony LaPaglia (With A Trace).

13:  Best Drama:  "Mad Men".

14:  Best sports talk pairing:  Tie:  Mike Wilbon/Tony Kornhieser, Bob McCowan/Steven Brunt.

15:  Funniest news shows in no particular order:  Glenn Beck, The Daily Show (Jon Stewart), Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, Bill O'Riley.

 (And an admission.  I'm a big fan of Coronation Street. Never miss and episode)

Don't know if you follow Toronto MIke's blog.  He's the guy that got me involved in blogging.  Now last week he did an interview with me and posted it.  Part of the interview showed up on another blog based, I believe, out of Vancouver called Airchecker.  Mike maintains Airchecker lifted the interview with out crediting him.  I'm new to the nicities of blogging.  I don't know the rules but if Mike is right, and it looks like he is, then he's got a valid beef.

These 2 have a blog war going on.  Taking shots at each other, threatening each other and it's all pretty vicious.  Really, I didn't think I was important enough to ignite this kind of reaction which seems to be. Airchecker says it deleted the interview because of lack of interest.  If I had one left, my ego would hurt.   

But here's the ironic part. The war with Airchecker is going in between a couple of really cute posts.  Before:  The disappearance of Mc Donald's shamrock shakes complete with a commercial.  After: Mike reminiscing about his grandmother with picture of the 2 of them together.  Just seems that war shouldn't come between things like that.  

Listening to The Fan Yesterday and on 3 different show (2 of them segments of Hockey Central) The talk was almost exclusively about head shots.  This time around because of another incident the night before.  It seems like it's a nightly occurance since the Marc Savard injury which mean's it's a daily discussion.  Sorry, but I'm fed up with it.  There are too many other interesting things going on in the NHL for this to be the only topic.

To his credit Doug Maclean said pretty much the same thing.  He's sick to death of it and he doesn't want to talk about it anymore.  New rules are going to be proposed to get rid of head shots but somewhere along the line one of the commentators said "the players wont go for it". Yea, they will.

When I first got my drivers lisence I told anyone who would listen that there was no way I was going to wear a seat belt.  It violated my rights.  Back then I was a...death to the military indsutrial complex...rage against the machine..don't trust anyone over 30...radical.  In high school I actually wrote an essay titled"Why Anarchy Can Work".  Society without rules or laws.  I still belive anarchy can work, if you're a hermit.  Add a second person and your anarchy turns into, well, it turns into anarchy. 

I was driving for a couple of months seat belt free and you know what happened.  I was ticketed.  Didn't bother me.  I was not going to cave into "the man".  I would not relent with my dissent.  A month later I was dinged again.

Being better at math than I was a civil disobedience I crunched the numbers and figured out that this is costing me alot of money.  I couldn't afford to be a rebel with cause anymore.  I buckled and buckled up and I've stayed that way ever since.

The latest head shot came the other night in the Anahiem-Chicago game.  The Ducks' James Wisniewski nailed the Hawks' Brent Seabrooke. Wisniewski has been dinged for an 8 game suspension.  That's 8 games without pay.  That's several hundred thousand dollars that wont be deposited into his bank account.  Explain that to the wife. 

If you hand out a 2 or a 5 minute penalty for something like this the players will never get it. Give them an 8 or 10 game suspension without pay you'll hit 'em where it hurts.  They'll get it and they'll quit it.. 

I wanted to be a rebel when I was kid.  Turned out I could afford to pay the price.  Guys like Wisniewski are going to find out pretty quickly that they can't either. 

Years back I read an article about the 4 sports events you must see in your life time.  The Monaco Grand Pree, Wimbledon, The Kentucky Derby and The Masters.  The traditon and the setting of these events are what makes them special. 

Here's my 4:  World Cup Soccer Final, Kentucky Derby, The British Open and the NCAA final 4 weekend. 

The "Tournament" got going today.  It's one of the great sports spectalces you'll ever see.  Teams you've never heard of and have no idea where they're from going straight up with the big dogs. The best part? There's always the chance of an upset.

When Canada played Russia back in 1972 it was supposed to be a walk over.  One observer had Canada down for 7 wins and tie.  Tell you what, if that's the way it had ended, if the Soviet hadn't almost pulled the upset of the ages there's no movie, no anniversary celebration every 5 years, no sainthood for Paul Henderson and instead being the overwhelming choice as Canada's greatest sports moment of the 20th century.  It probably wouldn't have surfaced in the top 50. Not an upset but pretty damn close and that's what makes it special.

That's the beauty of sport and that's what I love about sport. The unexpected.  I've been watching tournament this afternoon and here's what I've seen:

-No. 2 Villanova beats no. 15 Robert Morris by 3 points.  But it went to over time.  Villanova should have won by 20

-No. 3 Baylor beats no. 14 Sam Houston by 9 but it was tied with 2 minutes to go.

-No. 11 Old Dominion upset no. 6 Notre Dame by a point.

-No. 13 Murray State beats no. 4 Vanderbilt 66-65 with a bucket at the buzzer. Bet you didn't know that Murray was state. As an added bonus Vanderbilt has a player name Festus in the lineup.  I haven't run accross anyone named Festus since the old Gunsmoke TV show when Marshall Dillon was trying to put the moves on Miss Kitty at the Long Branch Saloon. But I digress.

Another thing I love about this tournament is that there no "we'll get 'em tomorrow".  It's one and you're done.  Lose one and there is no tomorrow.

All this and as I'm writing we're only through the first half of the first day.  A lot of it has to do with college kids and for virtually all of these guys, especially on the lower seeded teams. this is their Super Bowl.  There wont be any pro contracts.  But in a few years when they're married, selling insurance for a living and coaching their kids play ground team they'll always have that memory beating a 3 seed in the "tournament". 

I've been hearing radio spots for Larry King coming to Casino Niagara for a night of entertainment.  Didn't pay much attention to it at first but then I got to thinking how the hell is Larry King going to entertain me for 2 hours, live, on stage? 

Larry King is passed off as America's top interviewer.  He's not.  Any interviewer who brags about interviewing authors and never reading their books is not a great interviewer.  Now I don't know if John Stewart reads every book that crosses his desk or if his staff does the prep work.  What I do know is that when John Stewart interviews an author he knows what the book is about, he can cite passages and agree or disagree he generally has a well thought out intelligent conversation.

My first taste of Larry King came on my drive in to work when he was doing overnight talk radio.  I would actuially yell at the radio because he would piss me off on a nightly basis.  It wasn't his opinions it was the way he treated the callers.  If they disagreed with him he blew them off and rarely was there ever a conversation.  'Course he's not the only one guilty of that.  If you're going to do call in radio then the caller is your co-star.  It's supposed to be an exchange of ideas and in most cases the callers ideas are as valid as the hosts.  They may not be as eloquent but they have a point to make.  It should be a discussion. 

I was told early on in my career that when you do an interview go in with 3 questions.  The trick is the listen carefully to what's being said and come up with follow up questions.  I've heard way too many interviews where the guest will drop a bomb like "the United States will invade Canada within 6 months because they've found out that the Prime Minister and his cabinet are actually alien reptiles plotting to take over the world".  To which in interview replies, "interesting and how long have you been teaching at Harvard". 

I would occasionally tune in Larry King just see who his guests were.  The one that broke it for me was the Steven Colbert interview.  Colbert went in as the character from the Colbert Reports and not as Steven Colbert comic actor.  King didn't get.  Colbert stayed in character and it got to the point where I actually felt sorry for King.  Either he didn't do his homework and had no idea what Colbert was.  If he did it was obvious that he just couldn't joust with the guy.  It was not contest.

I have no idea what a night with Larry King at Casino Niagara is all about.  I have no idea how he plans on entertaining the audience.  I think I'll do what he does on this one and not bother doing any research. 

They say on St. Patrick's day everyone has a touch of the Irish in them.  That goes for me too although actually I do have an Irish background.  My father is Irish.  Not Irish Catholic but Irish protestant.  He grew up in farm country in south western Ontario.  No school buses back then and he told that most days he was chased home from school because he was Irish.  Religion didn't matter.  Where you came from did.

Now I always thought the family came over in the 1840's during the famine in Ireland but he says Hodge's have been here much longer than that.  I saw a documentary the other day about the Irish coming to Canada in the 1840.  Not a pretty sight.  A lot of them landed in Toronto and they talked about cases where more than half the people in the city left because they were afraid of disease and riots that the Irish would bring with them.

If you've seen Ken Burn's series on New York or seen the movie Gangs of New York you get a good idea of how the Irish were treated.  The term "paddy wagon" comes from those days when police used take their wagons out on Friday nights to gather up the drunken Irishmen or as they called them "paddys" and put the in the paddy wagon to cart them off to jail. I recall a documentary on the Kenndy family from a month or so ago.  No matter how rich the patriarch Joe Kennedy became, no matter how big he built his mansion, no matter what he accomplished in politics he was never welcomed into Boston society.

I'm not a big flag waver and I don't think of myself as Irish-Canadian, just Canadian but I do have a soft spot for the Irish.  The history fascinates me, books like "Trinity" by Leon Uris fascinates and so does Irish folklore and the Irish fight for independance. And when he plays my favourite golfer is Padrig Harrington. 

The Irish are the last of the Celts.  They've given me my 2 favourite actors,  Daniel Day Lewis and Gabriel Byrne. The Irish gave us George Bernard Shaw and supposedly the greatest author of the 20th century, James Joyce which I might agree with If I could understand anything he wrote.

With all those potatos the Irish are famous for you'd think they would have figured out vodka. Nope, they gave us Irish whiskey instead. They also gave us green beer.  I might have an Irish whiskey today to celebrate but I don't think I'll ever be Irish enough to drink green beer.

Tiger Woods has confirmed that he's coming back.  His first tournament will be the Masters.  High pressure, especially under his circumstances.  But of all the tournaments the Masters is the least likely to turn into a circuis.  Tickets are limited, the media is limited and exposure to Woods will be limited.

Now, I'm not much for golf on television.  The Masters and the British Open are my only 2 must sees.  Well, those 2 and any tournament where Woods is within 6 shots of the lead on the final round.  I guess I don't really appreciate golf.  Never learned how to play,  We didn't have little league golf where I grew up and I seperated relatively young from my first wife.  On the weekends I had a choice.  Go out with the guys and learn the game or spend time with my kids.  It wasn't a contest.

Woods' kiss tell,,,and...kiss and tell...and...kiss and tell...and...kiss and tell.,...etc..etc..(i've lost count) episodes have caused a lot of people to lose respect for him.  I've lost a little.  One of the things that bothers me about sports these days is the medias obsession with what athletes are doing away from their sports.  Do I need to know.  If Tiger had done what he did and we had never found out we'd be hanging on his every drive and every putt no questions asked. 

Babe Ruth has been pictured as this larger than life figure who promised a sick kid in the hospital he'd hit a home run for him.  The Babe, leaving Yankee stadium after a game with a gaggle of kids following him. He'd talk with them, joke with them and sign autographs because the Babe was all about kids.  What wasn't talked about was that it was a pretty good bet as soon as those kids disappeared the Babe would head for speakeasy to down illegal booze.  Alot of people knew about, no one spoke about it.

Over the years I've seen things and learned things about athletes that would have hurt their public image.  But those things didn't have any impact on their game, their team or their teammates.  What's the point of going public with it?

If an athlete gets busted or gets caught cheating at their sport then they're fair game. Otherwise I don't need to know and I really don't care.  What happened between Tiger and his wife is between Tiger and his wife.  It doesn't change my life or the enjoyment I get when I watch him. 

Tiger's return at the Masters is going to produce some of the highest TV ratings numbers ever in sports. I'll be watching.  Infact with Tiger back I'll be watching a lot more golf,

Ashley Madison.com.  Looking for an affair?  That's where you go to get set up.  Ashley Madison is famous for the line "life is short, have an affair". 

She's had close to 2 million married people sign up and from that she's come up with the professions where you'll find the most cheaters.  Let's run them down,'

Men:

1: Doctors

2:  Police Officers

3:  Lawyers

4:  Real Estate Agents

5:  Engineers

Women:

1:  Teachers

2:  Stay at home Moms

3:  Nurses

4:  Administrative Assistants

5:  Real Estate Agents

Now, I can't speak for women but the I find the men's list puzzling.  Doctors?  Guess they're examining more than the x-rays.  Most doctors I know make a lot of money which means they've got a lot to lose.  That's gutsey.  Guess 7 years of university doesn't mean you're smart. 

Police officers no. 2?  I have no idea why and I wont ask.

Lawyers in the no. 3 spot.  You would think if any one should know better it would be someone in the legal profession.  See above entry on doctors.

Real Estate Agents:  Location, location, location.

Engineers.  This surprises me. Most engineers I know are quiet, unassuming family men.  Who knew?

As for the women's list......

Teachers:  continuing education?

Stay at home moms:  it better not be my mom.

Nurses:  Those damn doctors!

Administrative Assistants:  Those damn bosses.

Real Estate Agents.Real Estate Agents are the only ones to show up on both lists.  This could be a problem especially if the Real Estate Agent is married to a Real Estate Agent.

You'll notice that the broadcast industry didn't make either list.  That's because everyone I've ever met in broadcasting is as faithful as the family dog. 

If you've been following Toronto Mike's blog you can't help but know about the controversy going on about P K Subban.  He's a Montreal Canadien's minor leaguer who was up for a cup of coffee with the Habs.  Subban is one of a growing number of black players in the NHL.

Last week a couple of fans showed up for a game in Montreal figuring they'd show their support for Subban.  Make a sign? Nope,  Wear his jersey? Nope. They showed up with huge afro wigs and in black face.  You can't pretty this up.  It was more than bad taste it was racist. 

Now forget the 2 guys for a second here.  What I don't get is how they were allowed into the building looking like that and I don't get why the tv broadcast spent so much time giving them face time during the game. What the hell were they thinking?

Mike put a broadcast of the Team 990 on his blog.  Give it a listen.  This is not a Leafs vs Habs thing.  It's not Toronto vs Montreal.  This is stupidity vs common sense.  One of the hosts pointed out that these 2 don't know the history of black face.  And if they don't know that then they don't understand the history of slavery or the history of blacks in the western hemisphere. It's ignorance, a lack of knowledge.

Something that's bothered me for years is the Washington Redskins.  The name, quite simply, is racist.  You wouldn't walk down Yonge Street, run into a Native Canadian and yell "hey redskin".  It's demeaning.  I never used the term on the air.

A side bar to the all of this is huge reaction Mike got on his blog.  The disturbing part is the number of people who went to bat for the 2. People who came up with excuses that they seem to actually believe and the vitriol they directed at anyone who disagreed.

Maybe these 2 were ignorant.  Maybe they didn't know their history but as I've been told more than once by my parents, my teachers and my bosses ignorance is not an excuse. That also goes for the people who let them into the arena and the tv people who turned this into a national embarassment.

There's an acid test for people like this. Walk a mile in my shoes.  If you were him would you look at black face and afro wigs as support or would you look at it as a demeaning,

One of the great quotes in history is "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Sounds pretty simple. It is that simple. 

I was at a function the other night with one of those full sit down dinners,  I got up to talk to some people and when I got back the main course was on the table,  A large slice of roast beef covered in gravy,  I stared at it for a moment and it just about turned my tummy.

I don't eat meat anymore.  Stopped about 2 years ago.  Now, I'll still have seafood once in a while although I'm trying to stop that too.  Couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with some old friends in Brampton.  I just couldn't resist.  It's been along time since I've had linguine in a clam sauce.  I'm not a vegan but I have managed to get chicken, beef and pork out of my diet.

Part of it is healfh reasons.  But there's more too it.  I live in a rural area with a lot farms.  Every day I'll drive by them and see goats and sheep.  Llamas and pigs and cattle. As I was driving by a herd of cows one day I said, you guys are going to be on somebody's dinner plate in a couple of days and I got a full body shiver.  It really bothered me.

I think this has to do with all the damn cats I have.  Over the years I've grown to appreciate how animals have their own quirks, mannerisms and personalities just like people do.  I watch the squirrels and the chipmunks.  Every one does things slightly different than the others,  So for me these are more than just dumb animals.  There's something going on that humans don't understand.

When I was with 'EZ Rock I found out pretty quickly that as nice as they were Humble Howard, Colleen Rusholme and Kim Stockwood were, in reality, food bullies.  Every Friday a chef would come in to prepare a meal from one of his recipes.  It smelled great and I'm sure it tasted great but I'll never know because I never tasted it.  The 3 of them would tease me, putting a sparerib under my nose...waving a fork full of chicken in my face...or picking up a piece of steak and blowing the aroma so I'd get the message on what I was missing.  I wanted to, but I didn't break.

I actually feel better without meat in my diet.  Even when I get the urge for a hamburger I'll have a soy burger instead.  But everytime I walk by a Mc Donald's and get a wiff I want it, I need it and I get a way from it as quickly as possible before I have to put myself into red meat rehab. 

The other day there was a picture in the paper of Tiger Woods giving his wife Elin a kiss.  Kind of strange that they're not still estranged but I guess the healing process has begun for the 2 of them.  Then we find out, through Arnold Palmer no less, that Tiger is just about set to make his comeback.  No question he desperately wants to play in this years Masters.

Now since the scandal broke about Tiger messing around on the missus he has take a huge hit in popularity and with his endorsements.  He's lost untold millions in dollars and in fans.  Bill Lankof points out in the Toronto Sun that Tiger's Q score (populairty) has had the biggest drop since Kobe Bryant was up on rape charges several years ago.  Funny how these guys recover.  I was in the grocery store the other day and saw Kobe on the cover of GQ Magazine.

I've thought a lot about Tiger since this all came up.  I'm conviced if he'd been an actor or a musician the extent of the scandal would be alot less.  I'm also convinced that he handled this totally wrong.  If you're going to fall on your sword do it right away ala David Letterman and Hugh Grant.

Something that strikes me odd about this whole thing is how Americans view promiscuity.  John Kenndy was a legandary womanizer but now he has close to God status.  Teddy Kenndy who recently passed away was being called the greatest legislator in American history.  His scandals turned into side bars.  And Bill Clinton still amazes me.  He's in demand as a public speaker and he's still highly regarded in politics.  What I never understook about this guy is why he couldn't control himself.  You're the most powerful person in the world.  Keep your pants zipped for 8 years!

I know people like Tiger Woods.  Not Tiger Woods the golfer but Tiger Woods the womanizer. 5 o'clock rolls around, they head to their favourite bar.  2 drink in and the game is on.  They're checking out every woman in the place.  You leave. see them next morning and get that wall wall knowing smile.  Yep, scored again.   Which is what this seems to be all about.  Keeping score.  How many and how often.  I didn't buy into Tiger going in for sex rehab.  I'm not saying this can't be a problem for some people but for many others it's a cop out. I have a sinkness, I need help.  Yea, now that I've been caught I need help.  If I hadn't been caught I'd still be doing it.

For the most part Tiger got what he deserved.  Present your self as the clean cut all American family man to the public then live the part.  That clean cut all American family image was used to sell me things.  But not just me.  It was used to sell things to my kids.    And that's what bothers me the most.  It's the TV evangalist who has hookers on the side.  The politician who gets elected on family values and fools around on his wife.  If you'e not going to live it don't sell it to me.

Tiger seems to think this is between him and his family.  It's not. We bought the package he was selling and he didn't live up the guarantee. We don't have as much at stake as his wife and kids but a lot of people have an emotional and a financial investment in him. 

Do I want to see Tiger golf again?  Yes.  Do I feel sorry for him?  No.   

This is actually for William, a 15 year old who wanted to know how to get into radio and what it was like working with Roger Ashby.

When Roger first moved over the FM side I was a little leery.  As he moved in the format was also being changed by the program director Ross Davies.  Chum FM had always had a bit of the rebel in it. Playing non hits and artists that weren't getting any play on AM stations.  It wasn't the undergound station it was when I first go there but it was edgy.  The kind of station your parents weren't going to listen too.  Then it all started to change.  The music became more poppy and main stream.  FM was becoming AM.

I've told Roger this, I resrented the format change because they were taking my radio station away from me.  But it didn't take long to figure out that if the station was gong to prosper, going main stream was the right way go and Roger's background in top 40 radio was the right move.

It was the right time, he was the right guy. Add Marilyn to the mix and it worked.  I don't think we had any idea that it would be as successful as it was but Ross new what he was doing.

Now, for William and others thinking about getting into radio, don't do it, it will break your heart.  Just kidding.  The route to go still seem to be through Ryerson or the community colleges like Fanshawe, Seneca, Humber and others that I'm sure I'm missing.  Something I wish I had done and something I tell students to do is get into the theater program in high school.  Working on stage, learning how to use your voice, getting comfortable infront of the camera can be a huge plus.  Take acting lessons.  Even though you don't need the big booming voice that radio once demanded taking voice lessons is a good idea too.  Anything to get an edge. 

The industry seems to be shrinking job wise. Companies seem to be doing more with less.  So learn how to multi task.  Your first job may not be on air but if you can get your foot in the door as a producer then take it.  It seems to be there are alot of former producers who worked at the Fan who have on air gigs on radio and tv. 

And don't be afraid to move and take a job in a small market.  It's amazing what you can learn.  Small budgets and small staffs mean you're going to be responsible for more than one job.  That can be crucial as you move into larger markets. Hope I've been of some help William.

Big night tonight for my old pal Roger Ashby.  He's being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.  Really?  He can't sing, I've heard him.  He can't dance, I've seen him try.  So, what's a guy with no rythm and and who's tone deaf doing going into a music hall of fame.

Well, Roger is all about music.  His oldies shows are legandary and he's made a point of keeping up with anything new in the industry.  He's a student of music and a walking encyclopedia. 

I've know Roger for a lot of years.  His friends call him Reggie because he looks a little like Reggie from the Archie comics.  In my years at Chum I worked with 3, what I would consider great disc jockeys.  First there was Pete Griffin who had great patience with me while I got my feet wet in the industry.  One of the problems with radio morning shows is that everyone wants to get in the last line.  Pete wasn't like that.  It was the laugh that counted not who got it. 

The seconed was John Rode, quite possibly the smartest jock I've ever worked with.  Infact he may be one of the smartest people I've ever worked with.  We did a morning soap opera called "They Came From Magnetawan" and John was responsible for the script which of course he never had written.  30 seconds to air time he he'd look at us and say "follow me". We had no choice.  We did and it worked. 

And then there's Roger.  The best traffic cop I've ever worked with.  He knows how to bring people into the coversation and how to take advantage of the skill of his sidekicks.  I always felt comfortable with Roger running the show.  Like Pete Griffin it was all about the show not about him.

Roger worked both side of the fence at Chum.  The AM side for alot of years and then he flipped over to FM.  I was thinking about this the other day.  Outside of Allan Waters the founder of Chum, Roger is Chum.  I have memories of him from his AM days and his FM days.  He really is one of the true giants of the industry.  I know he had several opprotunities to leave but he stayed put.  I respect him for that. 

Roger and I don't have alot in common except our aversion to water.  One day when we were in Barbados we were sitting by the pool and I said to him "you know in all the years we've been here I have never been in the water"  he said "me either".  'Course we were well into our afternoon Banks beer, we looked at each other and said...."ya wanna?"  We did.  Now between his legs and my stomach we managed to drive away every one else in the pool.  We had it all to ourselves although we didn't what to do with it. 

Like I said, he can't sing a note and he can't dance a stop but Roger deserves a spot in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.  I'm just glad I'm here to see it happen.   

Rick C in Oakville was asking me to occasionally write about my days at Chum.  Let me start at the start.  When I was in school I used to sit at the breakfast table with my parents who always had 1050 on.  My mom loved Jay Nelson, my dad would argue out loud with Dick Smyth and I would eat up every word from Dave Wright doing sports.

A few years later I was working with these 3.  It was amazine walking into the building and seeing people you had only heard.  Smythe, Nelson and Wright in the morning.  Then John Gilbert and 2 hours of talks.  Terry Steele, Tom Rivers and Scott Carpenter followed.  All of them larger than life to me.

Dave actually hired me.  To this day I think he's the finest sportscaster I have ever heard. Trouble was he couldn't remember anyones name so you became either Boomer or Shooter.  I'd go out with him to press conferences and he'd tell someone I'd like you to meet my new assistant...ah,..ah...Shooter.  Meet Shooter.  One time he couldn't remember the name of the person he was introducing me to so he just said "Boomer meet Shooter".

Now the news department took itself pretty seriously but Dave told me one day that as far as sports goes we're in the entertainment business. Treat it like that. It's something I never forgot.  One of the things I always found odd about radio was the massive egos.  The FM side at the the time was different.  FM wasn't making any money and neither were the jocks.  David Marsden, Pete Griffin and David Pritchard were quirky but they had a pretty good grip on their egos.

Management never thought I was good enough to cut it on 1050 but the FM program director, Duff Roman, figured that rock music and sports went together.  Men who like the Rolling Stones probably followed the Maple Leafs.  He put the on the air and that was my start. 

But 1050 was where the action was.  It was fun to watch.  Nelson liked to bait Smyth trying to get him to explode.  Wright would actually run a pool every morning to see how long it took for Smyth to lose it.  Oh, and occasionally I got to work on the weekends with some guy named Roger Ashby.  Little did I know at the time.

Toronto Mike also posted a blog about the old 1050 Chum morning show from 1987,  If you have a look at the guy in the back it's Brian Henderson.  I shared an office with Henny for more than 20 years and it turned out to be the adventure of a life time.

Henderson is one of those larger than life characters you run into now and again.  I had the good fortune, although some would say misfortune of spending as much time with him as I did with my family. He's the only person I've met who you could have a drinking with after work at 5 pm and then get a phone call for him at 3 am the next morning saying "Hodgie, can you cover for me this morning, I'm in Florida.  Don't think I'll make it back". 

Henny's strongest asset was his story telling ability.  He didn't always get the details correct but it always sounded good.  If you've ever listended to Tony Kornhieser do radio you know what I mean.  Kornhieser has that ability to paint pictures.  Henderson could do it too. 

It was sad to see the erosion of 1050.  Henny stuck it out almost to the end.  Sports caster, newsman, commentator, morning show host and he even took a spin at sports talk when 1050 morphed into The Team. 

He fought a lot of personal demons and surived some serious illness.  I could never figure out why no one, especially talk radio, picked him up after he recovered.  He was a natural.  One of the best broadcasters I have ever met and certainly of the most unique people I have ever come across.     

Toronto Mike had a couple of postings the other day that brought back alot of memories.  The first was a Star Week magazine cover about the battle of the box office between The Maple Leafs and the old Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association.  Mike says he's too young to remember the Toros.  Not me. 

There never was a battle of the box office.  When the Toros moved in to Maple Leaf Gardens there was never any question they were second rate.  But boy were they fun.  There was an element of Slapshot to the team and to the league.  The Leafs of that time always struck me as having a massive burr planted firmly up their collective butts that needed to be surgically removed.  The Toros were the direct opposite.

The Toros most exciting line was a trio of kids.  Pat Hickey, Wayne Dillon and Tom Simpson known as Dilly and Hitch and Shotgun Tom.  It was an adventure going into the dressing room after games.  The young guys using blow driers and fluffing up their hair in front of the mirrors while the older guys, mostly 1960 era NHL and AHL'ers giving them the death stare like they were from another universe.

The Toro's had a couple of goaltenders named Gilles Gratton and Les Binkley.  Gratton was the rising star, Binkley the old war horse.  There's a great story about a game where Gratton got the start but injured his glove hand.  Binkley went in to replace him. Everybody assumed that Gillie was in the dressing room but when they went to find him he was gone.  He loved music.  Saw himself as a bit of a musician and they say he turned up, whilt the game was still on, in a bar down the street while the game was still on. Leaving the Toros with one back stop.

2 of the neatest things I've seen is sport happened at Toro games.  Both Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull standing outside the visitors dressing room signing autographs, mostly for kids, still in uniform, still in their skates and not quitting until everyone was taken care off.  It gave me an appreciation of how much these 2 icons cared about the fans.

Hull played with the Winnipeg Jets on a line with Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson.  Some thought it was the best line, not just in the WHA but the NHL too.  Don't know about that but it's still one of the fastest skating lines I've ever seen. 

4 teams survived and moved into the NHL.  The New England Whalers (now Carolina), The Quebec Nordique (now Colorado), The Jets (now Phoenix) and Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers.  By the way a trivia question you might want to try out.  What was Gretzky's first professional hockey team?  Not the Oilers.  The WHA's Indianapolis Racers.

NHL general managers are in Florida to kick around a few things this week.  The hot button item?  Hits to the head.  What happened to the Bruins Marc Savard last night against Pittsburg couldn't have come at a better time to get something done about this or a worse time for Savard.  He was laid out by the Pengies Matt Cooke.  Savard wasn't coming up for air. He was taken off the ice on stretcher and there's no telling how long he could be out for. No penalty!

Now the NHL will hand out a penalty when a player flips the puck over the boards.  But Cooke doesn't get dinged for a thing although chances are, on further review, he'll be suspended. 

Shots to the head are the NHL's flavour of the week.  A year or so ago it was fighting.  Fighting wont go away and for the most part it's gunslinger against or slinger or goon against goon and no one much cares anymore. Fighting has turned into a side show.  But shots to the head are a different ticket.

A few years ago both my boys talked about getting into boxing.  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  I've seen and met too many ex-boxers who took too many shots to the head.  They just aren't right anymore.  They're what we used to call punch drunk.

We're talking about your brain.  Unless you know a lab assistant named Igor it's not something you're going to replace once it gets scrambled.  The NFL gets it.  Do not give quarterbacks concussions.  They passed rules to protect the most important players on the field.  No players sell the game like passers do.  Lose you're high ends guys and the fans lose interest.

I don't often agree with Don Cherry but on Saturday night he was barking about no touch icing and he showed a series of hits with players going head first into the boards trying to run down the puck before the other guy did.  No touch icing?  Yes.  Get rid of head shots?  Yes.

Here's what I don't understand about the NHL.  Head shot injuries impact on so many levels. The teams should demand protection.  Players like Savard are an investment.  The Bruins are a boarderline playoff team.  Without him they probably wont make it which means no playoff money for Boston.  The players association should be screaming about this. It's supposed to be there for the good of players.  Chances are if or when Cooke is suspended the association will go to bat for him and not Savard.

Most of all it impacts Savard.  How many players have had their careers cut short because of  "legal" head shots?  How many players suffer from brain damage after they retire?  What's it going to take major head injuries to Sidney Crosby or Jarome Iginla or Alex Ovechkin to get these neanderthals to get off their fat fannies and do something.

Pardon the pun but it's a no brainer. 

Couple of days ago I was listening to the radio and heard 2 stories that seemed unrelated.  First, The KHL (the Russian super hockey league) was thinking about expanding into western Europe.  Second, The Nashville Predators are in big fiancial trouble again.  Different stories, different shows.  But they are linked.

I have been barking for years about the NHL putting teams into markets in the southern US where if the ice you're talking about isn't floating in your drink they don't give a tinkers damn abougt it. Yea, I know the party line, the NHL is going to "grow" the game down in Dixie.  It hasn't happened and it never will.  Now there's a line of thought that the Americans played so well and got so close to winning a gold medal at the Olympics that US fans are going to catch shinny feaver.

They said that in 1980 with Miracle on Ice. They said it when Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles.  They said it when the Rangers finally won a Stanley cup.  Those things raised the games profile and helped the expansion glut we've been left with.  But it didn't last.   Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Carolina and Nashville are not and will not ever be hockey markets.  The game down there is no more than curiosity. 

What the NHL had an opprotunity to do was make a bold move and expand into Europe.  A team in Sweden, one in Germany, another in Switzerland, northern Italy and the Czech Republic.  Originally I had Moscow pencilled into that group but the KHL pretty well killed that.

If you build it they will come may have worked in "Field Of Dreams" but not in the NHL.  Instead of having and failing to create a market in cities that know the names of every member of Jimmy Johnson's pit crew but shrug when you say Sid the Kid the league had a ready made, knowledgeable and eager audience.  They could have taken the Predators, the Panthers, the Thrasers, the Hurricanes and the Lightning and moved them into a European divison.  Sure you have to dance around the scheduling and the travel would be brutal.  I'm sure an 18 year old kid coming out Medicine Hat might not want to head to Prague to start his NHL career but soccer players from all over the world end up playing in Europe.

If the arena's aren't NHL ready then build new ones.  There's too much money to make at the gate and from television rights for this not to work.  The NHL has for years had the opprotunity to be the first of the big 4 leagues in North America to go truely international.  To tap into virgin markets that don't need Peter Puck to explain the game to them.  If the KHL gets the jump and expands into Europe first that opprotunity could be gone for good and so could the Thrashers, the Boltz, the 'Canes, the Panthers and the Preds.

Maple Leafs and Boston.  Every time they play, everytime they're mentioned in the same sentence it gets back to "what were you thinking Brian Burke?" 

It's pretty well documented what he was thinking.  He was thinking that no way, no how the Buds could possible turn out to be as bad as they are.  The got a 21 year old in Phil Kessel.  The guy can score, when he has someone to get him the puck.  That's the part of the equation that's missing.  A big time scorer needs a big time passer to get him the puck. Kuri had Gretzky, Hull had Oates, Bossy had Trottier.  Kessel has, well that's been well documented too.

Heading into the Bruin game, Burke, boss of all things blue, says "I would do it again and again and again if I had to".  Gotta love a guy who stands by his decisions.

Let me do a little damage control for Burke.  He gave up 2 first round picks.  But he also picked up 2 first round blue chippers.  Kessel 5th over all in '06, Dion Phaneuf 9th over all in '03 and if you want stretch the argument Burke also picked up J S Guigere this season.  He went 13th over all in '95.  So really Burke may have given up 2 firsts and a second but in the same year he picked up 3 first rounders.

You gonna buy that?  Actually you might if the Leafs were dabbling with 9th or 10th place.  The problem of course is that they'll finish 29th over all.  Maybe 30th.  The Bruins are pretty much guaranteed of coming out of the 2010 draft with either Windsor's Taylor Hall, a left winger or Plymouth center Tyler Seguin.  Neither one will be Crosby or Ovechkin but if they get close to being a Steve Stamkos or even a John Tavares the Leafs are never going to live this down.

I'm a big believer in building through the draft.  Penguins, Caps, Black Hawks, Kings. They all got very bad before they all got pretty good.  Finish low, draft high. Draft high, draft right and you have a future.  I never would have made that Kessel trade.  Burke made it.  I disagree with it but I understand his thinking.  Knowing what he knows now what I don't understand is why he maintains he'd do it again and again and again.  Really? Again?

Can't believe I did it again.  I spent virtually all day Wednesday watching NHL trade deadline .  I flipped back and forth between TSN and Sportsnet.  TSN seemed to have way too many analysts.  Sportsnet not enough. 

It went on for hours and I watched it all.  This is what happens when you don't have much to do, you live in rural Ontario north of highway 89 with a bunch of cats. 

Nothing much happened trade wise.  Teams plugging a hole here.  Getting rid of a contract there. 

After absorbing all of this it dawned on me that real winners and losers were the players not the teams.  At the top of the list for the Learfs had to be Alex Ponikarovsky.  He was traded to Pittsburg yesterday.  He goes from 29th overall to the Stanley Cup champs,  He goes from a team with centers like Grabovsky, Mitchell and Bozak to the Penguins with centers named Crosby, Malkin and Jordan Staal.  That's a win, win, win for Poni.

Lee Stempniak was traded to Phoenix.  The Buds didn't want him and didn'[t need him. The Coyotes grabbed him.  Phoenix was in bankruptcy court last summer and a standing joke.  Check the standings.  The Dogs are 5th over all out west with as many points as New Jersey, second in the east.  That's not all. Stempniak gets to swap March in Toronto for March in Phoenix. This is a win, win for him.

Martin Skoula.  Ah the memories.  He pulled into town from Pittsburg in the Ponikarovsky trade.  Less than 24 hours later he was moved to New Jersey, a legitamate contender. That's a win.

And let's not forget Matt Stajan.  Moved to Calgary before the Olympics, he cut a 4 year deal with the Flames for 14 million dollars.  That's a 14 million more than the Leafs would have offered him.  Make that a win, win, win, win, win, etc...etc..etc. for Stajan.

Now, I thought the quotes from Leaf coach Ron Wilson about Martin Brodeur were kind of funny.  Wilson said, "The biggest surprise to me were all the people who threw Marty Brodeur, the greatest goalie in the history of the game, under the bus and ran over him backward, forward and backward".  If that's what Wilson believes then maybe his understands how alot of his players feel when he does it to them.

That's another win for Ponikarovsky, Stempniak, Skoula and Stajan.

As I mentioned I watched it all today but about 2 hours in I realized I do have multitasking skills. I got the laundry done, washed the floor, changed the kitty litter about 8 times, surfed the net and wrote some emails.  So, it was a win, win day for me too.

Could our Maple Leafs have come up with a worse show than they did last night?

They were embarassed by the third worst team in the NHL, one of the very very few team that was worse than the Buds for most of the season, against their former coach and on the eve of the trade deadline.

If these guys want to stay in Toronto they sure didn't play like it.  But maybe that's the point.

"Hey guys, let's tank this one and maybe they'll trade us before the deadline."  Phaneuf and Giguere must be wondering what the hell they got themselves into.  Kessel has a silver medal that was close to being a gold tucked in his skivvies.  He must be saying to himself "I came back from Vancouver for this?"

20 games to play.  This aint the last of it.

Got up at 5 this morning turned on my computer and checked email.  Nothing there.

Hotmail wnated me to set up a new account.  Didn't want to that.  I like my old account.

After an hour of trying to activate it I called a techie friend of my from CHUM.  After an hour on the phone with him we hadn't rounded off the corners on square one.  I went to Staples. They had a look and finally figured out that they thought sympatico wasn't available to me anymore and I should hook up to Hotmail.

Why not call Bell and get the straight goods?  After being put on hold for 3 to 15 minutes with each of the 4 Bell reps I spoke with  they finally flipped me to sympatico.  More lonely time on hold which I spent vacuuming, cleaning kitty litter and doing a laundry.  When I explained the situation to rep no. 3 and told him all I wanted to do was save my old emails he sai "oh"."  But it wasn't just an "oh", it was one those "ooooooohs".The kind you really don't want to hear.  He passed me on to what I have to assume is the company hatchet man, bringer of bad news, their third horseman of the apocalypse.   In a very low tone he said, sir, I'm sorry they're gone forever.  We can't get them back. They don't exist. 

All my email gone to the great cyberspace heaven up there somewhere.  How could that happen?  Here's how.  I live in a dead zone so I have to have a turbo stick to connect with the internet.  Got it, plugged it in 3 months ago and it's been working tickety boo ever since.

Until this morning when they stuck it to me with the stick.  Turns out the turbo stick doesn't use sympatico which the young lad at the store didn't tell me.  He didn't tell me that 90 days after I shut down my old land line account sympatico would be gone for good.  The guy on the phone told me I should have had a new server. 

At that point I thought I was going to lose it, but then I thought the sympatico rep would call Mike Boon and he'd nail me on his blog again.  So I got in the car and took a drive in the country. 

I don't think I've ever felt so helpless.  Every contact I had was on my email.  I hardly ever use the phone.  I email.  Lawyers, contracts, contacts, friends, enemies, parents, sibblings, kids. All of it gone.  I never wrote anything down.  It was in my emails.  Didn't bother getting anyones phone number.  Just email them.  So I've spent the last couple of hours playing 6 degrees of seperation with email addresses.  I remembered 2. Wrote them asking them for emails I needed which will get me 2 more which will get me 2 more etc..etc...etc.

If they gave away a Darwin Award to people who do stupid things but don't actully get killed in the process I'm at the top of the hit list.

My top 5 Olympic moments:

1:  Sidney's goal.

2:  Joannie Rochette holding it together and winning a bronze medal less than a week after the death her mother.

3: Yonge Street at 6 o'clock last night.

4:  Mellisa Hollingsworth appologizing to Canadians for finishing 5th in the women's skeleton.

It was heart breaking to watch but I wont forget it.

5:  Fans breaking into an impromptu rendition of Oh Canada as Kevin Martin was beating

Norway for the curling gold.

And then there's those 14 gold medals.  Most Olympics I've either watched or covered have been considered failures by alot of Canadians and the folks who run our Olympic program.

What happened?  What's wrong?  How do we fix it?

14 gold.  No country has ever won 14 gold medals at any Winter Olympics,  Doesn't seem like there's a whole lot to fix does there?  This has been the single greatest Olympics in the history of Canadian sport.  Let's enjoy before we start disect it.