Friday, August 1:
So Manny Ramirez goes Hollywood. For the underachieving Los Angeles Dodgers, the three-team trade with Boston and Pittsburgh yesterday makes sense on two fronts. First of all, the present Dodger outfield might have been bringing flyswatters to the plate for all the power they've displayed this season. Manny will change that. The National League West is still up for grabs to a) any team that can play .500 ball or better, or b) any legitimate write-in candidate, like maybe the Main St. Maulers from Anytown, USA/Canada. Secondly, the Dodgers are no longer the only team in town, the way the Lakers are in relationship to the Clippers. Marquee value is huge is la-la land. But the guy I'm happiest for is Jason Bay, the Canadian who is en route from Pittsburgh to Boston. He gets his first crack at a pennant race and can be a valuable addition to the Bosox. As for Pirates fans, they get four minor league prospects. At least their ballpark provides the best "beyond-the-fence" view in the majors.
If you live 'round these parts and listen to radio, you become familiar with the voices and characters on the never-ending ads. Christine Magee with Sleep Country Canada. Jack Berkovitz of Omni Jewelcrafters. Before he entered politics and became an MP, Wajid Khan of Dufferin Mazda. And, last but certainly not least, Saaaaaaul Korman of Korry's Clothiers. So, there I am, punching in radio pre-set buttons on my way home yesterday, when I hit The Band's "The Weight" right in mid-note on the lyric, "saw Carmen and the Devil walkin' side-by-side." And in my post-work, rush-hour, addled state, I was certain I heard, "Saul Korman and the Devil, walkin' side-by-side." You had to be there. But maybe my mind wanted to hear that after once walking into his store years ago and being treated by the staff (Beau Brummell-y, I'm not) with a air of distinct disdain. I quickly walked out.
Saturday, August 2:
I love my satellite radio. Especially on Fridays when the 60s channel "adopts" a swingin' station from that decade and puts together a five-hour show from that era filled with old "as they were" air checks, commercials, songs with "60s on Six" jock Terry Young filling in the blanks. Yesterday's featured station was CKLW, the sound-track station of my youth. You'd need a calculator to figure out how many hours I listened to The Big 8 during that decade. In the 60s, transistor radios were the iPods and cellphones of the day. You never went anywhere without one. Every conversation at the cottage, on the beach, walking to the general store, was accompanied by a top-40 symphony (or top-30 in CKLW's case) and the Big 8 was the station of choice -- perhaps because it was a Canadian station or maybe because the transmission towers were just a few miles away. Whatever the reason, even if your radio was out of batteries, you'd never miss a note along the two-minute walk to the beach. (Unless it was an important Tigers game, whereupon many radios switched over to WJR, and you'd never miss a pitch). At any rate, yesterday's drive home was a marvelous trip back down Memory Lane!
What a contrast: Canadian Jason Bay triples, scores the winning run and makes a couple defensive gems in the field for Boston in his Red Sox debut. Manny Ramirez hits into a double play in the ninth for the Dodgers in his, as they lose 2-1 to first-place Arizona at home.
Monday, August 4:
If you had any further doubts this Detroit Tigers season is in absolute ruin, yesterday should make up your mind. Hours after the skipper lambasted the club and promised changes if things didn't improve, the new reliever coughs up a two-run eighth inning lead on a pair of gopher balls and the new closer blows his fourth save opportunity in five chances, walking in the winning run in an ugly 10th that featured three bases-on-balls, two hit batters and just one base hit. The final eight weeks of the season should feature bench players and call-ups, just to see if they have any more fire and brimstone than the overpaid regulars on this ballclub.
My friend Charlene over at the all-news radio station calls getting up at an ungodly hour for the early shift, "waking up at the crack of stupid." So it is for me today and tomorrow. But that's OK. Today's a holiday shift, which isn't bad and when Wednesday at 6:04 p.m. rolls around, I'm on vacation. I get to start it 30 hours early, thanks to my colleague Paul, who agreed to switch shifts with me this week. I owe him one, that's for sure!
Tuesday, August 5:
I didn't realize that we'd lost Skip Caray until I saw a small obit piece on the wire yesterday morning when I was settling in at work. I spoke of my admiration for this guy a couple of months ago and I think what I liked most was the fact that he didn't try to copy his famous dad. If you listened to (or even looked at) Harry Caray, Skip Caray and Chip Caray, you'd have no idea they were related. Each carved out a separate style of broadcasting, which is why I've always debunked the notion that the only reason the son and grandson were calling major league ballgames was because Harry got them there. He may have helped open the door but the younger Carays stayed in the bigs due to their own talent. Skip Caray will be missed dearly throughout Georgia and around the baseball world. Me, I'll miss the sarcastic wit that cracked me up many times over the years.
There are advantages to "getting up at the crack of stupid." Yesterday morning was so clear, I could see the milky way from my driveway. I didn't want to get in the car and drive to work. But summer is sure on the wane. It was dark throughout the 35-minute drive to work. When I'm on the early shift in June, the sun is almost up by the time I get in.
Wednesday, August 6:
At 6:04 p.m. this evening, I'll be putting the "gone fishin'" sign on the door at work and starting my summer vacation. The Bride has to work Thursday and Friday but she'll do so at home and Friday evening we'll be at a bar-b-q with friends up Newmarket way to kick it all off. Then next week, it's off to the U.S. South for what will be a second honeymoon of sorts. Can't wait!
I've been working on a bit of a facelift for this tired old (and very amateur) site. If you click the button next to the "Preview" banner on the home page, then you'll get an idea of what this will eventually look like. It features the San Francisco 49ers and how their pages would look. Scroll over the thumbnails until they show up in colour and then click for a close-up. Click again to return the page to its previous state. This isn't set in stone, mind you -- just an idea. If you like it/hate it, drop me a line. Even if your suggestion is to simply blow it to smithereens and give up or start again!
Thursday, August 7:
I don't know who Pat Proulx of Almonte is but, he/she has just received my vote for letter of the year. The subject was a Toronto-based gun petition in an attempt to ban private ownership of handguns across Canada, but it could have been anything. Pat's stance, in a missive to the Toronto Star, was that it will be a cold day in Hades before people from the Greater Hogtown Region dictate how the rest of Canada lives, and oh, please think about separating from the rest of of the country. Amen, brother/sister! The folks who operate Toronto (and the trained seals who support them) drive me batty! Their slogan should be, "Toronto: There's one born every minute and they all moved here." The day I retire is the day I move out.
Friday, August 8:
Feeling lucky? According to some, today -- August 8, 2008 (08/08/08) -- is supposed to be one of the lucky days in your life. For me, that will mean the on-again, off-again rain that's been falling all day won't wreck our friends' big bar-b-q party tonight.
For the longest time, I kept wondering why Barack Obama wouldn't jump at the chance to make John Edwards his running mate. Now we know why. Edwards has admitted to having an affair while his wife was battling cancer. Nice. Calls it a "serious error in judgement." No kidding. And he had hoped to be elected president both this year and back in 2004? So much for that dream. Prep another political coffin.
Sunday, August 10:
You would think, having covered four Olympics in person and having anchored coverage of four more, that I'd be glued to my TV this week and next. Nope. I haven't watched a second of the Summer Games, save for the equestrian events that always somehow happen to be on whenever The Bride sits down to watch some television. It's not a protest against China or anything like that -- I'm on vacation and simply not that interested. I much prefer the Winter Games -- odd, because I hate winter. But Canadians do far better in those, so my interest is piqued. Next week, we're visiting the U.S. South, so we'll have NO idea how Canadians are doing in China.
We picked a fine time to do some American travelling. Our dollar has been taking a butt-kicking the past week. Ah well, it's better than in past years, when it was worth about 65 cents U.S.
I did some cross-border shopping yesterday in the Buffalo area. Driving back along the QEW, I could see a major thunderstorm roll in, and sure enough, as soon as I swung around the west end of Lake Ontario, there it was waiting for me. Motoring down from the top of the Burlington Skyway, I proceeded to sail into the darkest daytime storm I've driven in, in years. Once the rain started, the wipers were on turbo from the start of the 407 right to Markham. But everyone played it cool and drove safely.
Monday, August 11:
It still works, even for those of us on shift work at places that operate 24/7. There's nothing quite like The First Sunday Night of a vacation. Not so much physically, or what you may be doing. But mentally, knowing that the setting of the alarm clock can be ignored amongst our pre-bed chores, is a wonderful thing. We stayed up late last night, had a late adult beverage and maintained that Friday-night feeling. For me, it's first time that you really realize and appreciate that, yes, you are indeed on vacation.
And so today we get on up and get away. Hopefully we'll rediscover summer over the next eight days. The low the last two nights here was twelve (12) degrees Celsius. That's October weather!
Tuesday, August 12:
ATLANTA -- "It's a raaainy night in Georgia." And everywhere else we've been recently. The minute we drove across the border in Buffalo yesterday, it started raining. All through dinner at Anchor Bar it was raining. When we retired for the night, it was raining. The minute we climbed into our rental car today at Hartsfield, it started raining. We walked to our restaurant (Malone's -- highly recommended) in a light rain, walked home in a steady rain, and it's raining as I write this. The Braves' home game against the Chicago Cubs was postponed (and they didn't wait long, either, knowing the rain wasn't going to end anytime soon). We're heroes here -- they've had a summer-long drought. But it may just rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Anyone know of any arc builders in the U.S. South?
Wednesday, August 13:
ATLANTA -- Many of the women I know -- including The Bride -- are huge fans of that 1939 flick "Gone With the Breeze", or something. I kid, I kid. In fact, I'm a fan of GWTW myself. And you can't get far in this city without noticing something related to Gone With the Wind. So today was our Scarlett and Rhett tourist day, from the Margaret Mitchell house and museum, to the Road to Tara Museum in Jonesboro to having dinner at Pittipat's Porch (the fried chicken and peach cobbler were delicious). Tomorrow, we'll hit some of the other Atlanta tourism hotspots -- CNN and the World of Coca-Cola -- before heading southwest toward New Orleans. And the weather is now fine -- and scheduled to get even better!
We have had a chance to see some of the Olympics on TV -- Cuba's comeback win in women's volleyball over China was particularly sensational -- and people here are Olympics-mad, having hosted the Games a dozen years ago. There's no Canadian team coverage of course, but 0 gold, 0 silver and 0 bronze five days in?! Yikes!
Thursday, August 14:
TUSCALOOSA, AL -- Thank heavens for motels/hotels that keep their pool open past sundown. There's virtually no dusk down here, and it was refreshing to take a dip under the stars and a nearly full moon.
This is Crimson Tide country and on our way here we stopped at legendary Legion Field in one of Birmingham's poorer neighbourhoods. Outside the gate is a plague dedicated to Paul "Bear" Bryant, the longtime football coach at Alabama. It's been tough for anyone to try and fill those shoes since Bryant died, but current coach Nick Saban is certainly worthy. Alabama does not play at Legion Field anymore but the stadium hosted some of the great games in college football's storied history.
We dined this evening at the Olive Garden in this college town. Man, I miss those in Ontario.
Friday, August 15:
NEW ORLEANS -- Imagine taking a modern, four-bedroom house, dunking it in Lake Ontario for two days -- no, check that, dunking it in a huge vat of black water from a lake freighter -- and then replace it on its foundation, to sit and bake under near-tropical sun for three days, and you'll get an indication of what the suburbs of New Orleans are like in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Three years later, the sight of abandoned homes with broken or boarded windows, misshapen and twisted roofs and the stench of mold, assault the senses. And these are the better-off neighbourhoods that still await insurance and federal funding. The poor people of the Ninth District -- the city's hardest hit area of the storm - will be waiting for years yet.
Saturday, August 16:
NEW ORLEANS -- We completely overindulged last night -- but not on Bourbon Street. We ate at a real Italian restaurant -- Carmelo's, at the corner of Toulouse and Decatur in the French Quarter -- and ate ourselves into bloated oblivion. By the time we hit the clubs, we could barely drain a couple of beers before calling it a night. .
We did a plantation tour today -- Oak Alley, west of the city. You'd swear it was used (it wasn't) as the inspiration for Twelve Oaks in Gone With the Wind. But several movies were filmed there, including Interview With the Vampire. A thoroughly beautiful site.
What's more embarrassing than instituting a wide-ranging search for a missing wallet, only to realize that it was in the hotel room after all? Not much.
Tuesday, August 19:
DALLAS -- I had warned The Bride that last night's game between Detroit and Texas might be a high-scoring affair. So she gave me an odd look when the middle of the fifth rolled by with the Rangers up 1-0. Just wait until the bullpens take over, I said. Sure enough, the bats came alive with 12 of the game's 15 runs coming in the final three innings, with the Tigers pulling it out, 8-7. I bet her a beer that Texas would score again after falling behind 8-3 in the eighth and bet her another that the Rangers would come back and win the game. So, it was a wash.
Just one day of touring left before we return home. And it's supposed to be a soggy one, which was how we started this whole excursion. Can't believe a week has gone by so quickly.
Wednesday, August 20:
DALLAS -- Every once in awhile someone will present the question, "Do you remember what were doing when you heard about ______?" And for us in the 50-and-older set, the filled blank is often the question of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I was 10 years old on the Friday of November 22, 1963 and we first heard the news that the U.S. President had been shot from a classmate during our 2:30-2:45 p.m. recess. We didn't believe it. Then another classmate -- Mike Short -- whose dad was a weekend TV anchor on our local station, told us. We still didn't believe. Finally Mr. Telfer, our teacher, confirmed it and sent us home early to watch it on TV. I mention this because no trip to Dallas is complete without a visit to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza, inside the building that Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired the shots that took Kennedy's life. Trying to describe the full museum experience here would not do it justice. We spent three and a half hours there yesterday in a time frame that felt like 10 minutes. If you're ever in Big-D, and have any interest in the JFK assassination, please don't miss this.
After dinner at a Texas steakhouse following what turned out to be a dry day, we managed to get in an evening swim at the hotel before a large thunderstorm arrived. And we could hear people frolicking in the water as the thunder rumbled closer and lightning flashed. Not the wisest stunt, but they eventually skedaddled safely.
Thursday, August 21:
We had a very happy reunion with Mandy the Wonder Pooch today after our day-long excursion from Dallas. I get back to find that the mayor of Toronto didn't have the decency and common courtesy to cut short his British Columbia vacation and return home for the funeral of a firefighter killed in the line of duty a week ago. I cannot believe David Miller and yet Torontonians have voted him to high office twice. Little wonder I choose to live elsewhere.
Sunday, August 24:
Usually by late August, there are signs that autumn is just around the corner -- a slight yellowing of leaves, brownish lawns, a chill in the air. But the only sign yesterday was the sun disappearing by 8 p.m. The leaves are as green as they were in June and yesterday afternoon was as warm and humid as a mid-July day. Maybe September will be a warm and dry month (that's the promise from the weather-guessers). And with all of the moisture in the ground from the summer's record rainfall, maybe we'll get some spectacular October colours in the woods and the forests.
Vacation is over. Seems as if it just started.
Tuesday, August 26:
Had a treat last night: I was an invited guest on Don Andrews and Craig Smith's SOWNY radio show, a weekly look at any and all things radio. Not only is it a profession for me but a hobby, a passion, and a lifelong love. Radio is the most powerful medium around because listeners have to paint the pictures in their minds. Good radio makes it easy to do, bad radio makes it impossible. Don is a radio pro who has forgotten more about on-air presentation than the rest of us will ever know. Craig is a self-professed radio geek who has applied his love of the medium to moderation of the big yellow board that gives fans and workers alike a place to share ideas. By doing that, he's as much a part of radio as anyone who has ever been paid for speaking into a microphone. The hour-long show zipped by in no time flat, and I was honoured to be part of it.
Wednesday, August 27:
A couple of odds and ends: I mentioned at the start of the Olympics that I wasn't really interested. But then we arrived in the states, where you couldn't help but get caught up in the Michael Phelps saga. I was 19 when Mark Spitz went 7-for-7 at the 1972 Summer Games. But 8-for-8?! It defies logic. Phelps faced every challenge head-on and won them all. Great stuff. And great stuff by Canadian athletes, coming from seemingly nowhere to finish with 18 medals, including a silver from Stouffville's own Karen Cockburn in trampoline and two medals in equestrian events. The Bride hasn't stopped smiling.
I heard supremo weather guesser Dave Phillips on the radio yesterday admitting they messed up big-time with their summer predictions. Warner and drier than usual somehow became cooler and (much) wetter than usual. I'd love to believe his forecast of a dry and mild fall. But I don't have a whole lot of confidence right now in the Environment Canada folks. Of course, they did get last winter right -- unfortunately!
How do the New York Mets come back from this one? Up 7-0 at Philadelphia, they allow the Phillies to pull even with two out in the ninth and see Philly win it 8-7 in 13 innings, surrendering first place to their rivals in the process. Don't forget the Mets coughed up a huge lead down the stretch last season and lost the division to the Phillies on the final day. That must have been one silent clubhouse after last night's game.
Friday, August 29:
It has started -- my favourite season. U-S college football kicked off last night with the handful of games, and the evening wrapped with a great finish in the Pac-10 game between Oregon State and Stanford at Palo Alto. Down by 16, the visiting Beavers scored, nailed a two-point convert, got the ball back and drove right back down to the Stanford goal line. That's when Oregon State's running back, reaching out with the football for the corner pylon on a sweep, fumbled it into the end zone for a touchback allowing the Cardinal to escape, 36-28.
As always, I'll live and die with the Michigan Wolverines, who are in a rebuilding mode with a new coach and a new system. The major media, tired of being burned by underachieving Michigan teams, are full of 3-and-9 and 4-and-8 predictions. The local media is more in the 8-and-4 and 7-and-5 range. I don't expect much in Rick Rodriguez' first year, but I do expect a saw-off. Michigan has not had a losing season since 1967 and only once since have they failed to record a winning season. That was in 1984 when they went 6-and-6. And that's where I think they'll finish this year.
I'm half-tempted to drive down to London this evening if the weather's fine. The London Majors -- my hometown's Intercounty baseball team -- is hosting game seven of the league final tonight against the Brantford Red Sox. It's been 33 years since London last won the crown and I spent my one and only season as an official scorer for that 1975 outfit. I was 22. Prior to that, as a kid, I was a ballboy and scoreboard operator at Labatt Park and in the late '70s, I was their public address announcer. If I head down for the game, it will sure bring back a flood of memories!
Saturday, August 30:
I don't bring much luck to my hometown when it comes to game sevens. Four years ago, I went to London, only to see the Knights lose at home to Guelph in the deciding game of their OHL conference final. Last night, the London Majors, shy of a championship for 33 years, had a chance to break the game open in the first inning, only to leave the bases loaded without scoring. The Brantford Red Sox then took over, romping 8-2 for the IBL championship. It was a fun visit (especially in regards to getting on the plate umpire, whose strike zone was a mystery), but the outcome put a big damper on the visit.
We met some wonderful people in New Orleans two weeks ago. And I worry about them right now, now that hurricane Gustav has reached Category 4 status and is on course to batter the Louisiana shoreline. Hopefully the storm will weaken, or veer off course and hit an area with far less potential for disaster.
Sunday, August 31:
It might be a long and painful autumn in Ann Arbor. Michigan's 25-23 loss to Utah in game one of the Rich Rodriguez era looked close. It was not -- the Utes were clearly superior. There were times the Wolverines looked like a confused high school team. The greatest mystery was Michigan's defence, which at least had some experience coming into the season. It looked just as lost as the offence in the first half, although it played well in the final 30 minutes. But I don't see any way Michigan finishes with anything but a losing record, unless they improve -- and fast.
Some other observations -- Ohio State appears to be as good as advertised. Same with Southern Cal. I didn't see any of number-one Georgia's game, although they also won handily. Virginia Tech was the day's first major upset victim, losing at East Carolina. Texas A&M can't feel too good about losing to Arkansas State -- at home, no less. And the optimism we saw on our recent stay in Tuscaloosa appears to be justified. Alabama opened with a very impressive win on the road at Clemson -- a Top-10 team.
The Detroit Lions finished the pre-season with a 4-and-0 record -- which means exactly the freezing point of water on the Celsius scale -- i.e., nothing. I can't imagine anyone getting excited over an undefeated exhibition mark. Especially fans of this franchise.
