Everyone is talking about Wayne Scanlan's article today in the Ottawa Citizen about the thoughts of Dany Heatley's parents and his former neighbour when it comes to the criticism of Heatley's actions earlier this month.....and from everyone that I've talked to, their thoughts being published only added to the anger of Sens fan in Ottawa.....
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Everybody+crucifying+Dany/1746009/story.html
Here's the major problem...a fan of the Senators doesn't care that Dany "gave up" a month of his time to play at the World Hockey Championships....it supposed to be a privilege for a player to represent their country and the World Championships simply represents the fact that he was part of a team that couldn't make the playoffs....
A fan of the Senators doesn't care that his teammates like him and that he attended the bachelor party for Jason Spezza....if any of those players can still like him after basically giving up on the team, then from the outside looking in, it would seem as though there's a major problem within that locker room of team mentality and an urge to get back to the top-tier of the league....
A fan who goes and pays his/her hard-earned money to watch him play hockey at Scotiabank Place will not factor in Heatley's work in the community when he's losing a one-on-one battle along the boards or failing to get back on defense because thousands of people work within the community every day....why should he get preferential treatment for it? Because he's a well-paid athlete? Don't think so....
But we finally got a little bit of confirmation from the former neighbour as to why he's leaving and it's what everyone expected.....he's simply not getting enough ice time and not getting enough opportunities to get his numbers up in power play situations under Cory Clouston.....heaven forbid sacrificing a little bit of your numbers for the overall idea of winning....
At the end of the day, everyone would love to know from Dany the exact reasons as to why he's leaving (even though everyone has basically figured it out already), but sadly, we'll never get the satisfaction and we'll always be left to wonder.....
Random Thoughts:
- Saw "The Hangover" over the weekend and it was just hilarious! Really put me in a great mood and got me excited for a trip to Vegas that I'm planning for September....
- The CFL gets their season started tomorrow.....reading the preview of all 8 teams in the league, it still amazes me how much player movement there is from year to year within the league itself....is there a rule that I don't know about where every player has to play for half the league within a 5-year period?
- I have no inside information and I'm not going to start the next hockey rumour site anytime soon, but my gut feeling is that Jay Bouwmeester will eventually sign with Calgary and the Sedin twins will re-sign in Vancouver....the only reason for the delay is that the three players just want to make sure that they don't leave some money on the table....from a financial standpoint, why sign before July 1st when you can drive the price up just that little bit more....
Have a great Canada Day!
Parents rarely make it better.....
NHL Draft - The Live Blog
Well, yours truly was the unlucky one that was stuck back at the studio to make sure that the draft party from Local Heroes and the draft itself went over the air on Team 1200.....I guess if I went on a 2 month vacation, I can't complain when someone else does as well.... :-)
Now, I'm sure I'm like a lot of you when it comes to the draft....just tell me who the Top 5 is and who my team picked and I can head to the bar content that I didn't miss anything, but since I had to be there for the whole first round, I had to keep myself entertained.....so I present the live blog....
7:00 - It's here....what is Garth Snow going to do? Is he going to make the no-brain slam dunk deicision and take Tavares or is he going to piss off the fans in the arena and the thousands at the draft party back home by picking Matt Duchene? My sadistic side wants to see Number 2 to allow for a riot inside the Nassau Coliseum....it would make for better TV....think about it, it could be an aside..... "Alright guys, let's update you on the Duchene Riot happening on Long Island...."
7:06 - Ryan Rishaug interviews Tavares/Hedman/Duchene just minutes before the Number 1 pick is to be announced....The theme of the interview is that none of them know who's going No. 1....All of them are understandably nervous...At the end of the interview, Rishaug asks all of them, "Do any of you know who's going No. 1?", only to be greeted by awkward shimmying by the teenagers.....Ooops, that one didn't quite pan for Ryan as he thought it might have....
7:09 - Gord, Pierre and Bob analyze the big Three and talk about how there's actual intrigue as to who goes Number 1 this year.....I agree, I just don't really care about who goes after number 10....
7:14 - Gary Bettman walks up to the podium to a huge chorus of boos as to be expected....then decides it would be a good idea to hammer out a couple words in awkward French, which gets a couple more boos.....
But he gets the crowd back on his side with a couple cheap pops by mentioning it's great to be in Montreal....crowd instantly cheers.....sort of like you would have seen in wrestling in the 80's when the good guy would tell the crowd that he was gonna "kick some butt here in.....Montreal!" Woooooo!
7:17 - The man of the hour, Garth Snow, is finally coming to the podium to make his selection....who is going to be? He tries his hand at some awkward french with a quick Bonjour (Awkward French Count = 2) and then picks John Tavares...the fans are going crazy at the Nassau Coliseum...at the end of the day, he had to go here even if management thought that Duchene was the better play....look at the excitement that he's already bringing to the franchise and he hasn't even played a game yet....LOL at the high-five at 4:06 from the Conan look-alike....he's wayyyy into the draft for my liking....
7:24 - It's reported that Chris Pronger has been traded to the Flyers in exchange for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa and a couple of first round picks. Wow! I think the Ducks got an amazing deal here picking up another talented forward, a blossoming defenceman and big picks....Meanwhile, the capologist for the Flyers gets another challenge in trying to make this team competitive and under the cap....
7:25 - Brian Lawton makes his way to the podium to take Victor Hedman....says some nice words for Montreal only to get booed....I guess they really want Lecavalier there....
7:34 - TSN shows a clip of Brian Burke talking to Bob Gainey abou the Lecavalier rumours....Burke informs Gainey that his team has been in the news about rumours that Lecavalier might be going there....Gainey says nothing and walks away.....Burke is the man! The little mind games are just hilarious....
7:35 - Bettman comes out to announce Pronger trade only to call Joffrey Lupul, "Jeffrey Lupul"....(shaking head)
7:38 - The Colorado contingent comes to the podium and Greg Sherman, their new general manager decides to add to the awkward French total (Awkward French Total = 3), but his French is so bad that they have to applaud him purely on effort....the kind of applause you would give for the person who struggling in last place of a 5000 metre track race who is still on the track while the winner is already in the shower with their gold medal on....
They take Matt Duchene....James Duthie interviews him and we find out that Duchene could be considered the Rain Man of Hockey Sticks as he knows the exact curve of seemingly everyone in the NHL....if he pays that much attention to something so trivial, you know that he'll pay attention to every detail while he's on the ice....no wonder some scouts project him to be the better long-term play....
7:45 - Atlanta picks Number 4 and Don Waddell comes up to the podium....he'd like to thank the people at the draft party at Jillian's in Atlanta....I looked it up just to see if I could get some info online....it's actually a Dave and Busters, so once the 10 Thrashers fans in the house see the pick, they can celebrate with a little Skee-Ball....The Thrashers take Evander Kane...
7:49 - Kane talks to James Duthie and admits that he's looking to be a 50 goal scorer in this league....good for him to have the stones to say what's on his mind instead of going for the safe answer
7:56 - The L.A. Kings are up next....Leafs fan await with butterflies in their stomachs....will they take the younger Schenn? The Kings select.....Brayden Schenn....a collective "Nooooooooooooo" can be heard from Leafs Nation and the big boss isn't too happy either....
8:02 - Phoenix makes it way to the podium to pick Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but not before it squeezes in a sponsor mention....I wonder what the going rate is for a sponsor mention at the NHL Draft?
8:04 - Gord Miller proudly announces that Ekman-Larsson is the first European to go in the draft....only for Pierre and Bob to fight over who's going to correct him first about the fact that Hedman is in fact Swedish....
8:09 - Brian Burke steps up to the podium to make the pick for the Leafs and is interrupted with a large amount of boos, then the camera pans out to the one guy decked out in Leafs gear with the Leafs flag.....I've admitted many times that I'm a Leafs fan, but I'm with everyone else when it comes to "that guy" syndrome....there always seems to be that one "Leafs guy" in every social situation imaginable.....(Aside: A Great site if you wanna know if you're that guy.....http://youmightbethatguy.wordpress.com/) The Leafs take Nazem Kadri...
8:11 - It really hasn't been a good last couple of weeks for Bryan Murray and it doesn't get any better when TSN chooses to expose him talking to Brian Burke about Nazem Kadri....Burke plays the bully role and Murray becomes the victim in a 10 second exchange....
8:14 - Kadri and Burke join Duthie at the desk for an interview....Duthie asks Burke whether he's disappointed about not being able to move up with Kadri sitting right in between them....Burke of course says he's not disappointed, even though everyone clearly saw his head shake after pick 5...Kadri not off to a good start with the Leafs....
8:26 - After Dallas takes Scott Glennie at 8, it's now Ottawa's turn at 9 and they take Jared Cowan....for those who don't know much about him, here's the analysis from tsn.ca....
"He's a Memorial cup winner, has overcome his knee injury, but most importantly he has big body presence. Ottawa won't be easy to forecheck against Cowen and Erik Karlsson." - Pierre McGuire
8:34 - Duthie asks Bryan Murray about Dany Heatley....Murray says that if he can't trade him by July 1st, he fully expects Heatley to be a part of the Senators for next year....riiiigggghhhhtttt....'cause that's what the team needs, a guy who has clearly stated that he doesn't want to be there....
8:35 - Edmonton takes Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson....his dad goes for the high-five, but Junior leaves him hanging for a good 3 seconds....they settle on the hug instead....Magnus is going with the Killers look tonight and it suits him pretty well.....could be the best dressed just based on uniqueness....that's what this draft needs....where are the different outfits on these players like you would see at the NBA draft?
8:50 - Nashville takes Ryan Ellis and now it's up to Minnesota at 12, but they're taking some time....someone announces that they have one minute left and the fans jeer....they have little else to care about at this point....
8:53 - Minnesota trades its pick to the Islanders and take local product Calvin de Haan! It's the shocker of the night so far.....it garners the most "criticism" of the panelists as they say that it might have been a reach to pick Calvin here....unlike the NFL and NBA drafts, there are no bad picks in the NHL draft, hence the quotations on criticism....
I had a chance to meet him as he came into the studio earlier this week and he's a very nice and soft-spoken kid, but sadly, I mistakenly thought he was another intern....he's got the face of a 14 year-old as well, so he's going to be carded around the U.S. until he's 40...and it's true when someone suggested that all he needed to do to hide is find the nearest telephone pole....
All that being said, there are a lot that suggest that he has the skills to make it one day, so I wish nothing but luck in his adventures....
9:06 - Darren Dreger has been giving updates all night, but I didn't notice until now that underneath his name, they have his Twitter address instead of "NHL insider"....Twitter has officially hit Canada now.....It's only a matter of time before I start tweeting....oh the humanity!
9:09 - Buffalo has already taken Zach Kassian at 13 and Dmitry Kulikov is taken at 14 by the Panthers....Kulikov gives hugs to the family, while the crowd whistles at what appears to be Kulikov's girlfriend....You stay classy, Montreal....
9:15 - Glen Sather is shown at the Rangers draft table with a cigar hanging from his mouth....(shaking head yet again)
9:17 - Anaheim is up next and I thought we were going to have another Bobby Clarke/Claude Giroux moment as the person announcing Anaheim's pick hesitates for a second, but all dreams are dashed when he announces Peter Holland....Holland seemingly comes from the 500 level to make his way down to the stage....Do they really need to stick them up in the stands?
9:18-9:34 - Minny takes Nick Leddy and St. Louis take David Rundblad.....my patience for the draft is running very thin now....
9:35 - The fans have been waiting for this all night....it's time for the Canadiens to pick....there's a 2 minute delay as apparently the whole front office has to be on the podium for the pick....then Trevor Timmins (director of player development and recruitment) comes to the mic to make the pic.....He spits out some unbelievably awkward French (Awkward French count =4) to pick hometown hero Louis Leblanc at number 18.....why do they have someone who clearly can't speak the language on the mic to make that pick? But it doesn't matter because the fans go wild as they have their hometown boy in the fold....
9:44 - The Rangers pick at 19....their presenter decides it's his turn to abuse the French language by thanking the Montreal faithful in french for a couple of words before quickly bailing on that idea and thanking them for their great "hospitality" instead of "hospitalité" (Awkward French Count = 5)...they take Chris Kreider...
9:53 - Calgary is supposed to pick next here, but a trade is announced that Calgary has traded this pick to New Jersey for their first rounder a couple picks later and a later round pick.....this got my colleague, the Bear, to suggest right away, "How much do you think that's a little compensation for the Sutter move?"....he's got a point....
9:57 - Gary Bettman has another trade announcement, but nobody is there anymore since the Canadiens have made their pick....
Then Sarah walked into the room to meet me as we were gonna head out to the market for a drink after and I lost all focus on the draft after that....hey, what can I say? She was looking good and had on this incredible vanilla cream stuff that drew me in....that's an unstoppable combination....
Plus, the fact that she's just as big of a sports fan as I am is awesome too, so we debated about how the draft could be better-run....She made three recommendations that I agree with....
1) Instead of wasting time by having each team bring up 10 representatives and then each team thanking the city for their hospitality, just let the Commissioner announce each pick, much like David Stern and Roger Goodell do for their respective leagues.....However, after the "Jeffrey" Lupul incident, maybe that might not go over as well as I think....
2) Instead of having the first-round prospects sitting in the stands, can't they sit in a green room like the NBA and NFL drafts too? It's slightly embarassing to have to see Peter Holland go down the entire lower-level section just to get to the floor so that he could get on stage....
3) Can the panelists from TSN actually make some constructive criticism of these players? They make it sound like every player from the first round is going to be in the league for at least five years, and that is simply not the case....You see much more production value in the NBA and NFL drafts as well as to how they have to improve themselves by using game footage to show the fans their weak points....
Alright, for the full round-up, here's the list from tsn.ca....
http://tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=9157
Enjoy the weekend!
Heatley trade talk is making me crazy!
Just for reference, I'm with all of you when it comes to feeling nothing but disgust for Heatley's actions...It seemed to come out of nowhere and has shaken all Sens fans to leave them with a feeling of uneasiness, which is unfair since they finished the year off with promise under Cory Clouston...
However, I disagree with a lot of you on just how much value Heatley will fetch from other teams....there have been many reports from various sources talking about different offers from teams, but I shake my head at all of them because I just don't see teams lining up to bid on his services and fighting with each other to get his services....
There are still the very few of you that expect or are looking for Bryan Murray to be able to get equal value for him.....well, for those of you in this category, please let me know what I need to do to get entrance into your fantasy world....I was living in a fantasy world by going away for a couple of months, but now I'm back to reality, and the real world says equal value is not happening....
So, the trade offers that were being thrown around on the afternoon show today like Heatley for Dion Phaneuf or Heatley for Alexander Frolov and Drew Doughty is just nonsense....I'm not even going to go into the reasons that either would happen....Unless you're one of these people in this category, I give you way than enough credit for you to figure out why it won't happen....
There are the majority of people that think that they can use Heatley as a way to re-tool and pick up multiple prospects and players....and this is where I disagree with the majority....If I were an opposing GM, simply put, why would I give up mulitple players and/or picks for a player with a huge price tag and a shaky attitude?
It's not even about the price tag because the type of production that he's offered for the price tag has still been close to favourable (not worth the contract, don't get me wrong), but how does a GM know that he's not going to disrupt the chemistry of the locker room or even ask for a trade after a couple of years for another various reason?
Unfortunately for Dany, he's putting himself in a bad situation where teams now have to ask, "Is he worth the headache?" and is getting closer to the value of a Sean Avery more than a 50-goal scorer deserves....If a GM has to ask himself that question, where does that leave Bryan Murray to try and convince a fellow GM to take him off his hands?
It's too bad that Heatley will ultimately get what he wants and the team and the fans will ultimately suffer because it was the player that gave up on the team and not the other way around....the Sens will lose a top-notch player and get nothing in return....I would be shocked to see any of these offers that are being thrown about....I expect to see nothing but salary dumps and picks....does that make the team any better? Nope
More golf on a Monday morning....
Had a great time on Saturday night at Fat Tuesday's for Matty K's birthday (Matty K = Matt Kaunisviita) as a huge group of us sang to our hearts content with the dueling pianos....not sure how good my singing would have been after putting down a six-pack to myself, but at that point, who really cares? LOL....Let's just say that you know the night was good when the headache goes away in the late afternoon....
Just weird to be up at 9 a.m. on a Monday morning and have the final round of the U.S. Open to watch....it would normally just be the highlight loop on both TSN and Sportsnet....but for a number of reasons, I'm just not as pumped about watching this as I normally would....
The weather affected the tournament so much, especially in the first couple of days that it gave half the field an insurmountable advantage that the other half of the field was never going to make up.....This has allowed for the top of the leaderboard to be littered with unknowns and a couple of the top players mixed in....
Normally, if you were watching a major and Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover were on top of the leaderboard, you would at least root for the underdogs to compete well against the big boys, but I just can't shake the feeling that they don't deserve to be there because of the fortune of the draw....I know I'm wrong because they still had to post those rounds in order to put themselves into that position, but my mind just can't give them full credit....
Maybe I'm just the only one thinking this, but sadly, it's almost to the point that I wouldn't mind if the winner of the tournament had an asterix beside his name in the record books so that for future reference, it won't be forgotten how much the weather affected the outcome of the tournament....
Read the article on the Ottawa Sun website today talking about Brent Sutter coming back to Calgary to coach for older brother Darryl and how people will question the character of Brent for leaving before his contract was up.....
I think a lot of people can understand that he wants to be at home and help out his brother, but I just get the sense that everyday, working-class people are sick and tired of people in the sports business not being able to honour an agreement for very big money...To be fair, everyday people leave jobs for various reasons all the time, but the main difference again is the money....most working-class people just can't understand how someone making millions could be unhappy....but as the ol' saying goes, there's more to life than money....
Must-read of the day.....great piece by Jack Todd on ottawacitizen.com today about the sale of the Habs to the Molson group and how favourable that will be to the franchise and the city of Montreal....
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Sale+ease+suffering+Habs+faithful/1719516/story.html
Today is my first official day back at work, so I almost feel like having a temper-tantrum like this....almost, but I'll hold my feelings in....maybe this kid should have as well....
http://www.iheartchaos.com/content/kid-has-ultimate-tantrum-after-his-mom-cancels-his-wow-subscription-stupid
Watching golf on a lazy Saturday....
It's not too often that I would sit through four straight hours of golf, especially for a second round of a major, but when Tiger is playing, I can't help but keep it on....it's just too bad that the weather has affected and will continue to affect the tournament....ah well, we'll have a winner by Wednesday.... :-)
Speaking of which, does Johnny Miller need to attack Al Roker and his weather forecasts? It's one thing to joke around with him, but the fact is that he's gone out of his way to discredit his forecast over and over again, it's just makes for uncomfortable watching....then of course, NBC goes one step further by putting Miller and Roker side-by-side to "debate" the forecast for a couple minutes of my life I won't get back....that was even more uncomfortable to watch....but then again, you watch Al Roker enough, you would get used to uncomfortable TV....
By the way, is it too much to ask for NBC to acknowledge the fact that canadian amateur Nick Taylor shot a 65 in the second round to sit at 2 under par....I'm not looking for Tiger-like coverage, but one mention would be nice, especially if he's the number one amateur player in the world and a 65 on a US Open course is not something you see every day....but 4 hours in and nothing.....give me a break!
As you would expect, there's a lot of talk about the NHL draft coming up on Friday night, and the talk is now centering on the fact that the Islanders might possibly pass on John Tavares and pick either Victor Hedman or Matt Duchene....if that were to be the case, that would solidify the Islanders as the worst decision-making franchise in the NHL, joining their counterparts, the Detroit Lions, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Washington Nationals....
I have full faith that they won't overthink this decision and ultimately take Tavares, but I can understand the thought they might be inept enough to even screw this slam-dunk decision up....this is the same franchise that signed Alexei Yashin for 10 years/87.5 million dollars and Rick Dipietro to a 15-year deal/67.5 million dollars, so it's not out of the realm of possibility as long as Charles Wang is running the show....
Looking forward to the Klitschko/Chagaev fight at 5 this afternoon followed by the Ultimate Fighter Finale....
Klitschko should win via knockout in the later rounds (we'll go with 7th) due to his major size and power advantage...
I don't really care about the Ultimate Fighter fights to be honest, but I expect Diego Sanchez to beat Clay Guida via unanimous decision in a very energetic fight and as much as I hate the Diaz boys, Nate Diaz should beat Joe Stevenson via unanimous decision as well as Diaz will be able to dominate the fight on the ground....
One more thing.....there's always been a debate about who's a better fighter, MMA fighter v. boxer....as I've always said, the MMA guy should win everytime against a boxer in MMA and a boxer should beat an MMA guy in a pure boxing match.....well, score one for the boxers after this 12 second performance by 48 year-old former heavyweight boxing champion Ray Mercer against former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in an MMA rules fight....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1M_PIFW4wI
Enjoy your Saturday!
Final Thoughts on the List.....
First off, thank god for being back home and not having to rely on sketchy internet connections anymore...lol
Secondly, I just wanna say again, thank you to everyone who helped me on the journey....couldn't have done it without Chris, Greg and Tony Dowhan...plus it was great to share experiences with them throughout the time we were together...
Thanks to Jim Bursey and the friends at Abbotsford Moving for coming on board....I hope I didn't sully the company too much with talk of transvestites, homeless women makeout sessions and womanizing....and Bill Bowden for getting me the hookups in Detroit and Cleveland
And of course, thank you to all the listeners and e-mailers for the kind words about the blog and the updates...I received so much good feedback about it...I was more than happy to share the experiences with everyone!
Alright, my final thoughts on the list....starting at the top, I wish I could do a 1a/1b scenario because depending on the day, I could tell you that either San Fran or Chicago was the best....San Fran did such a great job with using the coastal area and the rest of the ballpark is so unique, but Wrigley combined so much history with a great game watching experience...so for those Cub fans who are steamed about it being at 2, just know that at the very worst, it's actually a 1b... :-)
I never realized that San Diego and Arizona would be that high....as East Coast people, you would never watch those teams on TV....heck, I even the baseball package and I never watched them....so, I was very surprised to see how impressive those places were...
The best place for tailgaiting is in Kansas City and the New K....a part of me just wanted to drink on the back of the pickup with the rest of them instead of going to watch a riveting Royals/Orioles game.... :-)
For the amount of money that the two New York teams put into their stadiums, I was surprised that they were only mid-pack....but it's almost like they have no soul behind them and they're more of a product of corporate thinking...sure, they're definitely nice, but the unique experience isn't really there...
I hate having Fenway down as low as I have it too, but as I said before, the biggest difference between Wrigley and Fenway is that Wrigley has managed to roll with the times while Fenway has not and for someone going in 2009, it's frustrating to have to deal with problems that were otherwise ignored in 1912...
Poor Dodger Stadium as well.....it's got history on its side, but nothing else really....it's just so tacky looking...
I had heard nothing but great things about Safeco Field, so it's really surprising that it went down to 22 on the list....maybe I'm just seeing it differently, but to me, it looked like a jumbled mess of metal around the outside and the stadium itself is in maybe the shadiest part of town...
Then we get to the domes and convertibles stadiums at the bottom....sure, they're multi-purpose, but baseball isn't built for multi-purpose stadiums....every place is supposed to be unique...there's a reason why I wanted to do a tour of baseball stadiums and not a tour of hockey arenas....arenas are basically all the same...
The only stadium not domed or convertible that was at the bottom was Washington...just a perfect example of corporate thinking combined with a lack of time created a big pile of concrete garbage.... :-)
Look for blogs throughout the weekend as we make the transistion from stadium talk to overall sports talk....
It's over! It's over, ladies and gentlemen!
3) Petco Park - San Diego
4) Miller Park - Milwaukee
5) Chase Field - Arizona
6) Minute Maid Park - Houston
7) Camden Yards - Baltimore
8) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
10) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
11) Comerica Park - Detroit
12) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
13) Fenway Park - Boston
14) Yankee Stadium
15) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
16) Angels Stadium - Anaheim
17) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles
19) Progressive Field - Cleveland
20) US Cellular Field - Chicago White Sox
22) Safeco Field - Seattle
25) The Metrodome - Minnesota
26) Turner Field - Atlanta
27) Tropicana Field - Tampa
28) Nationals Park - Washington
29) Oakland-Alameda Coliseum - Oakland
30) Dolphins Stadium - Miami
Soooo many miles in so little time.....
So, as I said a couple of days ago, I was curious as to how many cities and how many miles that I logged over the last 64 days.....let's take a look:
Ottawa - Montreal: 124 miles or 200 km
Montreal - Boston: 309 miles or 497 km
Boston - New York City: 215 miles or 338 km
New York - Atlantic City: 127 miles or 204 km
Atlantic City - Philadelphia: 62 miles or 100 km
Philadelphia - Baltimore: 100 miles or 161 km
Baltimore - Washington: 40 miles or 64 km
Washington - Pittsburgh: 250 miles or 403 km
Pittsburgh - Atlanta: 680 miles or 1096 km
Atlanta - Tampa Bay: 482 miles or 776 km
Tampa Bay - Miami: 257 miles or 414 km
Miami - Orlando: 230 miles or 370 km
Orlando - New Orleans: 650 miles or 1048 km
New Orleans - Houston: 350 miles or 648 km
Houston - Dallas: 250 miles or 403 km
Dallas - Branson: 432 miles or 695 km
Branson - St. Louis: 253 miles or 407 km
St. Louis - Kansas City: 260 miles or 419 km
Kansas City - Portland: 1820 miles or 2935 km
Portland - Seattle: 170 miles or 274 km
Seattle - San Diego: 1260 miles or 2032 km
San Diego - Los Angeles: 130 miles or 209 km
Los Angeles - Anaheim: 26 miles or 42 km
Anaheim - Oakland: 397 miles or 639 km
Oakland - San Francisco: 12 miles or 19 km
San Francisco - Phoenix: 760 miles or 1225 km
Phoenix - Denver: 810 miles or 1306 km
Denver - Minneapolis: 920 miles or 1483 km
Minneapolis - Toronto: 930 miles or 1497 km
Toronto - Windsor: 231 miles or 372 km
Windsor - Chicago: 280 miles or 451 km
Chicago - Milwaukee: 90 miles or 145 km
Milwaukee - Chicago: 90 miles or 145 km
Chicago - Cleveland: 350 miles or 564 km
Cleveland - Cincinnati: 254 miles or 409 km
Cincinnati - Ottawa: 761 miles or 1225 km
Total Number of Cities: 34 new cities explored
Total Number of Miles/Kilometres: 14,362 miles or 23,113 km
That is just sick! Final stadium entry tomorrow.... :-)
So much negativity....
2) Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs
9) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
20) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
22) Coors Field - Colorado
23) Rogers Centre - Toronto
Cleveland Rocks! Yeah....I know, a 0 for originality....
Apologies for the lateness of the entry, but I'm a little worried that I'm coming down with something as we get towards the end of the trip, so I tried to rest as much as possible....Just hanging out now in Covington, Kentucky....only about a 5 minute drive outside of Cincinnati....the city of Cincinnati just happens to be right on the state border with Kentucky and The Great American Ball Park is right across the bridge....
I'm actually surprised that except for the two days I felt like absolute garbage in Houston and Dallas, I've been lucky enough to stay clear of any sort of health problems.....this despite all the travel that I've done....I don't even know how many cities I've been to anymore....that should be another blog entry just to figure it all out....I'm sort of curious now....
Had a place in downtown Cleveland, so I was in the middle of everything there is to offer here....after getting in just about 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, I slept in 'til about noon yesterday and then just couldn't wake up all day....
I finally made my way over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and had a great time just checking the place out.....it has a little bit of special meaning for me as well from my days back in college....Iain Barrie was a professor of mine in radio broadcasting and one of the classes we had was based around the history of music....we learned all about the different styles of music and how each genre of music took from other styles that proceeded it, but he would always mention the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so I just messaged him and let him know that I was thinking of him when I walked around yesterday....
You would never know it if you're not on the inside of the radio business, but a number of the personalities on Ottawa radio were trained by Iain Barrie and Don Crockford at Algonquin College and I owe a lot of my early success to them, so this is my public way of acknowledging how much they helped me in the two years I was there.... :-)
You have certain ideas of how a city is going to be and I heard nothing but bad things about Cleveland, but I was pleasantly surprised....it reminds me of a lot of the metroplitan cities in the midwest....a small downtown area with a lot of suburbs, so seeing all that there is to offer in the downtown was very easy....I may have missed the bad areas, but the areas that I walked around had nothing wrong and I would go back to Cleveland anytime....
The city also has a great mix of modern-day architecture with old-school buildings from the early part of the century....reminds me quite a bit of downtown Philadelphia, but not as many important older buildings obviously....
Alright, I'll update you on Progressive Field in the next entry and then a full itinerary of my trip for the entry after that.....It still hasn't hit me yet that I'm at the last stop..... :-)
How many times I've seen each team....
People always ask me how many times I've seen this team or that team....I've been meaning to do this for the longest time, but here's the breakdown of many times I'll see each team on the trip...
5 times
Los Angeles Angels
Atlanta Braves
4 times
Baltimore Orioles
3 times
Washington Nationals
San Diego Padres
Seattle Mariners
Milwaukee Brewers
2 times
Oakland Athletics
New York Mets
St. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds
Kansas City Royals
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Colorado Rockies
Cleveland Indians
Minnesota Twins
Detroit Tigers
1 time
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Tampa Bay Rays
Florida Marlins
Houston Astros
Texas Rangers
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
Toronto Blue Jays
Wrigley Field....what a magical place!
3) Petco Park - San Diego
4) Miller Park - Milwaukee
5) Chase Field - Arizona
6) Minute Maid Park - Houston
7) Camden Yards - Baltimore
8) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
9) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
10) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
11) Comerica Park - Detroit
12) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
13) Fenway Park - Boston
14) Yankee Stadium
15) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
16) Angels Stadium - Anaheim
17) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles
18) US Cellular Field - Chicago White Sox
20) Safeco Field - Seattle
23) The Metrodome - Minnesota
24) Turner Field - Atlanta
25) Tropicana Field - Tampa
26) Nationals Park - Washington
27) Oakland-Alameda Coliseum - Oakland
28) Dolphins Stadium - Miami
e game in Cincinnati....
It's Miller Time!
18) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
20) Coors Field - Colorado
21) Rogers Centre - Toronto
I'm into S&M, are you?
Alright, before I get to that story, I think this might be the only time that I'll ever have to put a disclaimer on something I post....lol....here it goes....
"The following post contains sexual references and mature subject matter and may not be suitable for younger readers....discretion is advised."
Alright, I don't know how "legal" that disclaimer is, but that's as good as I'm gonna do....lol
This is nothing to do with baseball, but it was just such a funny hour or so of the trip that I had to share it with everyone...it's funny because the boys were talking about slumpbusters and the fact that I didn't put up the pictures of the girls I've met while on the trip.....the timing of the story is just so perfect that I can't pass it up.....
So, yesterday afternoon, I took a bus from Chicago to Milwaukee...I was in line for the bus to Milwaukee when this girl came up to me for the first time....at this point, I'll put a picture that I found online that closely resembles what she looks like, but this is not her...
She was travelling to Milwaukee as well and she started a conversation with me....I didn't think anything of it and we just had small talk about where we were from and what we were gonna do in Milwaukee....The bus ended up being delayed, so we kept talking, but the questions started to get a little more personal from her, like if I had a girlfriend, etc.
As the bus was starting to board people, she politely asked if I could help her with one of her bags since she was carrying three big bags....I had no problem with that, so we boarded the bus, but at this point, I was hoping to just drop her bag off and sit on my own so I could sneak in a nap...
So I drop off the bag...
Me: Alright, good to talk to you, have fun on your trip....
Girl: Well, is someone sitting with you?
Me: No, I'm travelling alone, so I can't say that the seat is taken
Girl: Alright, well, I'll sit with you then
At this point, she picked up the chatter with pointless blather questions....the two best were, "So, do you have the Canadian pound as opposed to our US dollar?" and "How much Canadian bacon do you eat back home?"
I just shook my head at both and was just started to get annoyed at this point....and this was only 5 minutes into a 2 hour ride....so I tried to deflect by taking out my Men's Health magazine...that seemed to work for a couple minutes until I hit an article that highlighted 12 sexual tips that women want men to know....
One portion talked about what sexual positions are popular and unpopular with women....she perked up, sidled up closer so that her breasts were now resting right on my arm and asked....
Girl: What position do you prefer?
Me: Depends on my mood, I guess....
Girl: I'm into S&M, are you?
Me: (laughing and shaking head) No no no no no
Girl: (getting even closer and now rubbing my arms) I love the idea of someone inflicting pain on me....
Me: (frozen in fear)
Girl: I love big, long cucumbers....
Me: (leaning up against the side of the bus as much as possible)
Girl: I hear that Canadian guys love that kind of stuff....I really hope you're someone that's into it too 'cause I haven't found a man lately.....
Me: (just about in tears) I'm not into that.....
Oh my god! All I wanted to do is curl up in the fetal position and start crying....how is it that the day before, I was able to somewhat fight back against a guy who wanted to take my money, but now, I'm deathly afraid of what's going to come out of her mouth next.....Luckily, she might have sensed that and finally stopped.....great, all this happening and it was 15 minutes into the bus ride....only an hour and 45 minutes to go....
5 minutes passed by and she decides that she wants to go to sleep.....thank god!
Girl: I'm gonna take a nap....
Me: Good for you.....it's only about two hours, so a good time for a nap....
Girl: Can I rest my head on your strong shoulder?
Me: (frozen again)
At this point, another guy who was my age sitting across from me looked over.....I looked at him with complete shock and fear and he looked at me with a wry smile....There was no words exchanged, but we understood exactly what each other said....My face said, "Help, get me out of here!" and his face said, "You're on your own....have fun with that...."
I finally said, "Sorry, but I'm thinking of having a nap myself....." After all that, there was no way that I was going to sleep, but she went to sleep and luckily she slept for the rest of the ride....
Once the bus docked in Milwaukee, I got my bag and ran and I was at the hotel within 5 minutes...
Alright, Brewers game this afternoon as we hit Day 57 today with only a week to go...... :-)
Only 55 days before I get held-up for money.....what took so long? :-)
2) Petco Park - San Diego
3) Chase Field - Arizona
4) Minute Maid Park - Houston
5) Camden Yards - Baltimore
6) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
7) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
8) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
9) Comerica Park - Detroit
10) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
11) Fenway Park - Boston
12) Yankee Stadium
13) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
14) Angels Stadium - Anaheim
15) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles
16) US Cellular Field - Chicago White Sox
18) Safeco Field - Seattle
21) The Metrodome - Minnesota
22) Turner Field - Atlanta
23) Tropicana Field - Tampa
24) Nationals Park - Washington
25) Oakland-Alameda Coliseum - Oakland
26) Dolphins Stadium - Miami
On the south side of Chicago....
The only day that was colder was Marathon Monday in Boston on April 20th when I was just freezing watching the Red Sox and Orioles....but that was almost two months ago! We're into June now, but it's just an absoultely dreary day today....I'm assuming that I'm gonna be sitting through at least one rain delay today before the game is over....
Now that I think about it, it's pretty incredible to think where I've been and what I've done in the short time between today and that first game in Boston....just walking around the Grant Park area here in Chicago today, I couldn't help but think about where I was making those same kind of walks over the last few weeks....
I was hoping that I could see the White Sox game tomorrow night because Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals goes tonight as does Game 3 of the NBA Finals, but I'm way more excited about the hockey as you would expect....as I wrote a couple days ago, I'm assuming that the Wings are going to finish off the Penguins tonight and they'll be skating around with the cup in Pittsburgh for a second straight year....
I just love watching the Cup being paraded around the rink at the end of the series for so many reasons....First off, the raw emotion from the winners chokes up just about everyone that watches....The fact that they went through 82 games of a regular season followed by two more months of cut-throat hockey....the sacrifices that they made to get to the ultimate prize all goes away for those players when they skate around with the cup for the 30 seconds they get....
Also, for fans of the Wings, it's culminates in a season of ups and downs....from going to bed smiling after a last-minute winner or screaming in disgust after a bad penalty call costs the team a loss....it's a time for them to celebrate as well.....for fans of every other team, it means the end of a long season and the official first time that you can actually think of what could be next year....
It also represents the official start to summer for most Canadians....In a way, we'll be glad to get away from the game to just give ourselves a mental break, but give it only a couple of days before we start talking about the draft in Montreal at the end of the month....
So, only 9 days to go.....White Sox game tonight, then I think I'll head to Milwaukee tomorrow for the Brewers game on Thursday afternoon, then back to Chicago for the Cubs game on Saturday afternoon.....I'm staying on the south side for now, but when I get back, I'll stay on the Magnificent Mile so I get as good of a Cubs experience as I can get....
Only 5 stadiums to go!
18) Coors Field - Colorado
19) Rogers Centre - Toronto
A lazy Saturday.....
