Saturday, December 1:
OK, I'm so not ready for this. Winter storm warnings?! It's still autumn! And I'm only two days removed from perfect summerlike weather. A few weeks of getting used to the cold before dealing with shovelling the driveway would have been nice. Serves me right, I guess, for boasting about the weather I was blessed with on my trip.
Bye-bye Missouri, beaten again by Oklahoma. So long, West Virginia, losers at home to Pitt! So it will be Ohio State against...someone in the BCS national championship college football game. I think LSU is the best team in the states, but there's no guarantee the Tigers will get the nod tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 4:
!!! HAPPY HANUKKAH !!!
What in the world is wrong with the Detroit Lions? Were they really the lousiest 6-and-2 football team in history. Now they're 6-and-6 and the only game I can see them winning from here on in, is against Kansas City at home in a few weeks. Maybe.
LSU vs. Ohio State. The Buckeyes must be ruing the fact that both Missouri and West Virginia lost Saturday, leaving them -- in my mind at least -- significant underdogs in the championship game against the Bayou Bengals. Of course, in this crazy college football season, that's probably fine with them. Interesting that Ohio State will be going against up against Tigers' coach Les Miles, who everyone assumed would be leaving for Michigan -- his alma mater -- at season's end. Miles, a former player and coach under the late Bo Schembechler, has never hid the fact that he'd love to coach the Wolverines some day. But it won't be next year, as LSU did the smart thing and locked him up. Who Michigan gets is anyone's guess, but I'm guessing the brain trust in Ann Arbor is starting to realize that the world isn't going to beat a path to UM's door, just because of the glory and the history. College football has changed, but Michigan has not changed along with it. That's either good or bad, depending on your point of view.
Wednesday, December 5:
Just as Canadian news is hard to come by in Thailand, so is word here about celebrations there today. Apparently, the country was awash in a sea of yellow (the colour worn to show respect for the King), on this, the King's 80th birthday. You can't go anywhere in Thailand without seeing the monarch's picture and the love Thai people have for him is amazing, and heart-warming, to tell you the truth. I hope the fine people I met there last month had a party for the ages.
I still can't believe Super Bowl-winning coach Joe Gibbs called a second straight time-out to "ice" Buffalo's field goal kicker in the dying seconds of the Bills-Redskins game Sunday. There was a time when that was allowed, but not anymore. Gibbs simply forgot the rule. As a result, an iffy 51-yard game-winning field goal attempt in the rain became a 36-yard attempt following the 15-yard penalty. Rian Lindell nailed it, and Buffalo escaped Landover with an unlikely win.
Saturday, December 8:
I may be the only Detroit Tigers fan in the world who is not bothered by what transpired 20 years (!) ago when the club dealt John Smoltz to Atlanta for Doyle Alexander in the middle of the season. Alexander went unbeaten for the Tigers the rest of the way and without him, there's no way they would have won the division that season, beating out Toronto on the final day. At the time, Smoltz was a potential star on the rise. He's still around, and has been nothing short of spectacular for the Braves over the past two decades. But for the Tigers, it was a gamble worth taking at the time and it resulted in a playoff berth. For every Smoltz, there are a dozen potential stars who don't pan out. This is sort of a long way of saying that I heartily approve of what the Tigers did last week, surrendering potential stars to acquire Miguel Cabrera, a four-time All-Star and one of the best young hitters in baseball, and pitching ace Dontrelle Willis from Florida. It's a move designed to help the Tigers win now, while the window of opportunity is open. Just like it was in 1987.
Sunday, December 9:
My Alberta pal Piker, who either bleeds maize and blue as I do, or simply likes to give me grief over my allegiance to the University of Michigan, swears he's going to let the cat out of the bag today and announce to his radio audience that yours truly will be the new head football coach in Ann Arbor. Of course, he's just joking around, but the subject is starting to get me down. First Les Miles decided to stay at LSU (although, I'm still not convinced he won't move after the national championship game). Then Friday, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano turned Michigan down. In a way, it serves the UM brass right. I'm beginning to think they believed star coaching candidates would be lined up at the door just because of Michigan's (past) prestige and history. If that's what they thought, then the regents are living a few decades in the past when it comes to U.S. college athletics. In a way, that's fine -- Michigan is adamant about keeping its athletic programs clean as a whistle and the Fab Five basketball scandal was a huge embarrassment to the school. But to pretend that its football program is still the cream of the crop is just ridiculous. It isn't, and hasn't been for years.
Tuesday, December 11:
I've seen the movie so many times, I know the ending by heart: Victor and Ilsa get on the plane, leaving Rick behind; Rhett leaves Scarlett sobbing in the Georgia mist; the Detroit Lions lead a favoured opponent only to blow another football game in the final minute. This time it was a missed, chip-shot field goal by their most reliable player and the failure to simply fall on a loose ball that did them in. The Dallas Cowboys said, "Thank you!" and scored the winning touchdown with 18 seconds remaining to take it, 28-27. After 50 years, why do I still care? Beats me, but I know how Maple Leaf fans feel.
Thursday, December 13:
So, how is the local six making out? Not bad. Stouffville is locked in right in the middle of a very tough nine-team conference, and fifth place is likely where they'll stay. That's despite being about seven games over .500, thanks to tonight's 5-1 drubbing of rival Newmarket. Like the four teams it looks up to, the Spirit are darned near unbeatable at home. Unlike those four -- Huntsville, Newmarket, Aurora and Couchiching -- Stouffville is not darned near unbeatable on the road. That's often a problem for young teams, and the Spirit is a game under the break-even point away from home.
Friday, December 14:
We address judges with "Your honour," but I'm inclined to believe that there should be no honour in any address to the Kitchener judge who ordered a police officer to remove a poppy from his clothing in court. We wear poppies to remember people who died for the rights and freedoms we enjoy today. Those rights and freedoms are the basis for the justice system that's in place in this country; the very system this judge is sworn to uphold. But how can anyone trust the judgement of anyone who ordered the removal of a poppy from a Canadian's attire? There should be no place, no building, no single room in this country where a poppy is not just accepted, but welcomed.
The other day, I heard a weather expert list Toronto's chances of a white Christmas at 50-50. Up here, north of the great divide (Highway 7), we'd need a week's worth of July heat to avoid one. And that's today, well ahead of the major winter storm that's being promised for tomorrow night and Sunday. I've only been back for two weeks and it's already wearing on me, especially since the start of winter is still more than a week away. I know, snow at Christmas is nice and all, but the thought of it sticking around until April is making me pine for baseball, Mitchell Report, steroids and all.
Saturday, December 15:
I used to kid Pat Park, the public relations director of the Toronto Maple Leafs, that I was the franchise's good luck charm. Back in my sports director days, it seemed as if they won whenever I showed up in the press box to pitch in with our game coverage. I'd pop in in all kinds of places and situations -- game sevens, games in California -- and Park always started to grin when he saw me. Ah, Mayberry's here -- it's in the bag. Now that I'm in the news department, they seem to miss the playoffs a lot more than before. But I think the influence still exists. When I was on the other side of the world, the Leafs went 2-and-7. Since I returned from Asia, they're 6-and-1. Coincidence? I think not!
The snow has started and isn't expected to stop until April (well, midday tomorrow actually). Between multiple shovelling trips tomorrow, I'll try to catch some of the Buffalo-Cleveland football game. It's huge for both teams and will probably be played in a lakeshore blizzard.
Sunday, December 16:
San Diego 51, Detroit 14. The Lions you know and love.
So the Buffalo-Cleveland affair was just what you might imagine for a football game played on a natural turf field in a raging blizzard. Two field goals and a safety, all from the Browns, in an 8-0 win. The game wasn't much to look at but watching the weather was fun, especially after tackling the driveway and removing about 30 centimetres of snow.
HUGE win for Manchester United today at Liverpool in a place that's usually a dungeon for visiting teams. But United has played well at Anfield over the past decade or two. Some help from Chelsea would have been great, but they fell 1-0 at Arsenal.
Monday, December 17:
There's no truth to the rumour that Ann Arbor is changing its name to Morgantown West. But Michigan athletic director Bill Martin snared basketball coach John Beilein from West Virginia last year and now he's done the same for the football program. Rich Rodriguez is an inspired choice to replace the retiring Lloyd Carr. So long, smashmouth football, hello spread offence. Any why not? It's the style that's winning. And lately, Michigan's been the one of the receiving end of smashmouth ball -- both Wisconsin and Ohio State were stronger and tougher than the Wolverines in their November matchups. The biggest change may be at quarterback and you wonder if Ryan Mallett -- a 6-foot-7 pro style pocket passer in the traditional Michigan mold -- might be thinking of transferring. Dual threat quarterbacks are needed to run the spread and that's what Rodriguez is know for with the Moutaineers. Let the recruiting begin! Oh, and as for becoming West West Virginia, Michigan could do worse. Probably the greatest football coach Michigan ever had was Fielding H. Yost. His home state? Yep, West Virginia.
Wednesday, December 19:
Sometimes you'll read something that just slugs you, right between the eyes. And so it was yesterday when I was browsing a few of my favourite online forums and discovered that Don Chevrier had passed away suddenly at age 69. I didn't know Chevy well, but any time I saw him, he was always up for a friendly chat. Understand that he was a well-decorated television broadcaster and I was, at the time, a local radio sports guy. Didn't matter. He was always accommodating to anyone in the business, regardless of their "rank." When the Blue Jays were born, they hired Chevy and Tony Kubek for their television broadcasts, giving them instant credibility in a very important area. Chevrier was a Canadian TV icon, Kubek a former Yankees star who was also well known from the Saturday "Game of the Week" TV broadcasts. A couple of outstanding hires (as was Tom Cheek and later, Jerry Howarth, on the radio side). One of the biggest weekend series in Blue Jays history occurred in September of 1985 against the Yankees in New York, when Toronto won three of four on their way to the franchise's first division title. On the Saturday afternoon of that trip (the teams played Saturday night in the Bronx), Chevy was in his usual place in the ABC studios in Manhattan, anchoring the network radio sports reports. He had invited a few of us to drop in and see the setup and it was a day I'll never forget. Watching him juggle about a dozen live reports from various college football games, baseball games and other events across the country during his updates was akin to watching a genius at work. RIP Chevy.
The Maple Leafs had a 2-0 lead in Carolina with 90 seconds remaining and lost in overtime?! Ouch!
Saturday, December 22:
There's one thing that bothers me -- and it's a minor thing -- about Rich Rodriguez being named the new head coach at Michigan. He's foreign to the school's great traditions and likely couldn't sing "The Victors" even if you spotted him half a dozen "Hails".
As I say, it's a minor thing because a complete change at Michigan was needed. The last time they looked off-campus for a coach, they landed a man from Ohio back at the start of 1969. The difference was that Bo Schembechler knew everything there was to know about Michigan and always wanted to coach there despite being from "that state to the south." Rodriguez, a West Virginia native, always looked at coaching the Mountaineers as HIS dream job. The fact he's leaving it to move to Michigan says something, I guess.
Sunday, December 23:
Almost done! Just a couple of stocking-stuffer items to grab today at the drug store and that's it. I'll wrap gifts tonight, and "Christmas Shopping - 2007" will be history.
Maybe it's because there was snow on the ground by the end of November and it would have made for a slippery (or "slippy", as The Bride's family likes to say) job. Maybe everyone is going green and trying to conserve energy. Whatever the reason, there are a lot less Christmas light displays in our town this year. Especially on our street, where we all traditionally string up lights. I'm guilty, too. I didn't even put up the big artificial indoor tree this year. Probably because I was on the other side of the world throughout November, but the holiday season really tiptoed up on me this year. I mean, I haven't even heard Bing Crosby sing "White Christmas" yet.
Monday, December 24:
Yesterday's heavy rain was followed by a quick and instant deep freeze overnight. So much so that I couldn't open the driver's side of my vehicle at 4:30 this morning for the drive in to work. I had to enter through the passenger door and crawl my way over the console into the driver's seat. Now, I'm not exactly svelt. Thank heavens I didn't have an audience or else I'd never hear the end of it in the 'hood.
I seriously considered driving to Detroit yesterday to see the Kansas City Chiefs (losers of eight in a row) play the Detroit Lions (losers of seven in a row). Then I woke up from the nightmare. They tell me the Lions won.
Tuesday, December 25:
!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!
Wednesday, December 26:
It was a year ago today that I was blogging away about the loss of soul music giant James Brown. Today, it's sadness at the passing of jazz legend Oscar Peterson. I have a funny relationship with jazz. It's not my favourite music but there are times when I'm in the mood for absolutely nothing else. And when I am in the mood for jazz, it is Peterson I usually turn to.
And speaking of music, I had an "elite eight" of favourite artists at this time a year ago (James Armstrong, Brook Benton, Chuck Berry, Beverly Bivens, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Jackie Wilson and Patsy Cline). During the year, I remembered to add Judith Durham of the Seekers but forgot another fave until I started playing a few Manhattan Transfer tracks over the holidays. The Transfer's Janis Siegel makes a "terrific ten."
Saturday, December 29:
I'm not the world's greatest gambler but when New England opened as 14-and-a-half point favourites to beat the Giants tonight, it opened my eyes. Yes, they're going for a perfect season, but on the road at night against a pretty fair Giants outfit (although New York seems to play better away from home) sounds like a tall order when you're talking about a more-than-two-touchdown rout. I know the number fell, but still...
It had to end sometime, and it did today for Canada's juniors, 4-3 losers to Sweden. But a 20-game winning streak at the world championship is extremely impressive. Now they just have to regroup.
Just as Manchester United finally climbs into the Premiership lead, they go and (deservedly, too) lose to West Ham in east London. Just as United seems to own Aston Villa, they always seem to produce a stinker against the Hammers. Go figure.
More on Janis Siegel and a quote from her website that's oh, so true: She says she believes people will always respond to emotion and to great songs sung well. Amen. And it's why I love her singing, both solo and with Manhattan Transfer, whether it's pop music or jazz.
Sunday, December 30:
No, I didn't place the bet. It would have been a nice Christmas present and to be honest, the game unfolded the way I thought it would: New England coming from behind to win, just as they did last month at Indianapolis. But the Giants covered the spread. Here's another one I can't see: Tennesse favoured tonight at Indianapolis. Yes, I know the Titans have everything to play for and the playoff-bound Colts have nothing on the line, but I can't see the defending champs laying down for anyone.
Monday, December 31:
This is why I don't bet. I didn't think there was any way Tennessee would beat Indianapolis last night. They did, of course and are playoff-bound, ruining the dreams of the Cleveland Browns. And then there are my Detroit Lions with a 1-and-7 second half after a 6-and-2 start. Frauds, for a 50th consecutive year.
Safety first please, this New Year's Eve. Taxis, buses and friends are the way to go home if you've been tipping back the champers. We're going to enjoy the mid-evening fireworks in Stouffville and then head home in plenty of time for the big countdown.
