Friday Facebook Fun! Finally Photos...Family is EVERYTHING!

I have posted quite a few videos lately but NO photos. The last one was on December 3rd when I was surrounded by a couple of Gretzkys.

So, as we set a new record for blog posts (120 for 2010 beats the combined 119 for 2008 and 2009), I wanted to share this Christmas photo when my family spent time at my parents. My dad (Emil) took the photo so he's not in it:)


(L-R) Jordan, Darlene, Ralph, Marianne (Mom/Oma), Ashley & Justin

Jordan snapped this one last night of my parents and myself. The clothing we are wearing is from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, LIVESTRONG, which provides support to guide people through the cancer experience, bring them together to fight cancer - and work for a world in which our fight is no longer necessary.


My dad is currently battling cancer. He has finished radiation treatments and chemotherapy is hopefully an option in the near future. He has always been a strong man and is a fighter but right now his kidney needs to get better. He beat prostate cancer a couple of years ago but it returned and spread to his bladder and now into the lymph nodes.

Please say a prayer for my parents as they go through this battle together. HOPE is a great thing to have!

Holding On Praying Endlessly

Top 10 Sidney Crosby Plays/Blog appearances

There were NO points for Sidney Crosby last night. His points streak is over at 25 games...It is ALL TSN's fault after they ran the Top 10 Crosby highlights of the year! Way to jinx 'em!

Personally speaking, here are the Top 5 Sidney Crosby appearances on Has The VOice...On and Off the Ice:

1. What a SC-ript! - featuring the Olympic gold medal overtime goal! (March 1/10)
2. Congrats to Crosby, Colbert, Craig and Scruffy the Elf... (Dec. 17/09)
3. Living Up To The HYPE! - fabulous footage leading up to the 2008 "Winter Classic" in Buffalo (Jan. 24/08)
4. Friday Facebook FUN! Featuring LeBron...again... - sharing the spotlight with Gretzky (Dec. 3/10) 
5. Happy Birthday Sidney Crosby & Herb Merriweather! (August 7/09)

That is blog post #119 for 2010 - tying the total for 2008 and 2009...

Great hockey contest! Great music video!

I introduced you to hockey whiz and music whiz, Rob Higgins, in early October. The following is my entry for an amazing goodie basket from Rob for:

• a great pair of Maple Leafs tickets to a Saturday night game in January versus the Calgary Flames
• a copy of the 2010-11 Higgins Hockey Fantasy Index
• and Dearly Beloved's most recent release, "They Will Take Up Serpents" (Canada) or "Make It Bleed" (US).  

Calgary Flames fans would like to see the team "Make It Bleed" RED - BUT the pink slip Darryl Sutter received on Tuesday proved he has failed in recent years. How ironic is it that he was replaced by Jay Feaster? He was the GM in Tampa Bay when the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in a seven-game Final by beating Sutter and the Flames in 2004. Strange too that Darryl's brother Brent remains behind the bench of the Flames. Oh, it is a tangled family web Darryl weaves...Six weeks ago, the D-man (demon?) sent his own son Brett and defenceman Ian White to the Carolina Hurricanes for defenceman Anton Babchuk and forward Tom Kostopoulos.

As Calgary prepares for a January 15, 2011 visit to Toronto, the question can be asked:

Who won the trade in late January 2010 between the two teams? 

Calgary shipped out defenceman Dion Phaneuf, forward Fredrik Sjostrom, and prospect defenceman Keith Aulie for forwards Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers and defenceman Ian White. White was traded away last month due mainly to salary cap issues with the Flames while free agent Mayers wound up in San Jose before this season started. Stajan scored 16 goals in 55 games for the Leafs last season and has scored just 5 in 58 for the Flames since. Hagman scored 20 goals in 55 games for the Leafs last year and has tickled the twine just 13 times in 64 games for the Flames. But the centerpiece of the trade, Dion Phaneuf, has been a bigger bust. Only 3 goals in 44 games over the last two seasons in Toronto while he never scored below double digits in five Flames' seasons. So far, I think Calgary wins the trade between the two teams but Phaneuf can change that early verdict by stepping up and being the leader Toronto needs him to be! That "C" on his sweater stands for Captain - not Calgary!

Remember the January 1992 trade between the Maple Leafs and Flames? It was a 10 player deal that was the largest in NHL history. Doug Gilmour was the centerpiece who came to Toronto with Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Kent Manderville and Rick Wamsley in exchange for Gary Leeman, Alexander Godynyuk, Jeff Reese, Michel Petit and Craig Berube. Doug Gilmour had 49 points in 40 games for Toronto to finish off the '91/92 season and followed that up with 127 points in '92/93 and 111 points in the season after that. Three more average Maple Leafs seasons happened after that for Gilmour but he certainly won over Toronto fans with a couple of great playoff runs in 1993 and '94.

There is still time for Dion Phaneuf to rise to the challenge. There is a lot of pressure BUT more on GM Brian Burke. His former team, the Vancouver Canucks, beat Philadelphia last night, 6-2, and are my pick to win the Stanley Cup this season!

New Orleans: Drew Brees now, Pistol Pete then

‎5 NFL teams scored 34 points on the 26th while one (Oakland) scored 26. The highest scoring team in the league are the New England Patriots (480 points) and they beat my Buffalo Bills yesterday, 34-3.

We fared better against the Patriots on this weekend's Billieve Moment on the "Thurman Thomas Show." It was a 38-14 win in the 1993 season opener against their prized rookie quarterback, Drew Bledsoe.

New Orleans quarterback, Drew Brees, is the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. He is on the current cover and he takes his team into Atlanta tonight for a great Monday night matchup. New Orleans is 10-4 while Atlanta is 12-2. The Falcons have scored 15 more points than the Saints (369 vs 354) and given up 9 fewer (261 vs 270).

The greatest gift a parent can give their child is a dream.

This is written on the back cover of the Pete Maravich movie (The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend) I rented and plan to watch soon. The basketball Hall of Famer died far too young at the age of 40. He lit it up for the New Orleans Jazz between 1974 - 1979.

Kick returns - NOT Gift returns!

It's the 23rd of December. Here is a cool article on the number 23 and the many 23-year-olds who made it an exciting season for the BC Lions.
I am predicting those young guys will step up and lead the Lions to the Grey Cup title next year when Vancouver hosts the championship!

Today, the CFL website added the Top 10 Kick Return Touchdowns of 2010. #32, Yonus Davis, of the BC Lions made #7 on the list. The top six were all from the Eastern conference though - including three from Toronto. Enjoy the footage here!

Here is the link to the game recap of the Bills and Browns which ran last weekend on the "Thurman Thomas Show." My segment runs from the 2:34 second mark to 4:35.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and know you will enjoy:
The Buffalo Bills 12 Days of Christmas
Day 5 with Bryan Scott's voice is the best of the bunch IMHO...Ho Ho Ho!

Honey, I $hrunk The....

Bank account?
NOT me! This was the statement left by someone else at the instant teller machine at 7-11 today before I withdrew a bit of cash. What a difference a minus (-) sign makes before the account balance. Don't go into debt in December folks!

What a difference a hyphen (-) makes for VoiceOverload.com and VoiceOver-load.com. They are two unique voiceover sites. The former was recently launched on the east coast by Trish Basanyi while the latter has been around since the summer of 2009. It is a web comic by west coast voiceover artist Jeffrey Kafer. Trish's VoiceOverload.com is your source for all things voiceover. I am currently one of five blogs listed. Trish told me on the weekend the URL idea came to her one night around 3 am, so she got right up, went to GoDaddy.com and it was available - which surprised her. There is a category for Art/Comics/Talent Logos but I don't see Jeffrey Kafer there yet. There are links from all over the web to help you find anything and everything voice over related.

The best news is if you want to get listed on VoiceOverload.com, it won't cost you a single penny! Can't beat FREE, can you? The penny may not have a future anyway in North America.

Now, could you pass the popcorn? We're going to the movies...

Three Wise Men? Larry King, Don Cherry and Arnold Schwarzenegger

I didn't make the lineup on Larry King's final show on Thursday, December 16 BUT they did welcome me that morning at 100.7 Giant FM in Penticton. Here is my eleven-minute interview with Kevin Berar.

Check out the classic old and new footage of Larry King:


Ditto for Don Cherry here. *This is only the second time I have featured a rap song on this blog. The first was two months ago thanks to Steve Johnson of the Buffalo Bills.

Did you notice Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in both clips?
He gets around more than Santa Claus...

Arnold is actually #7 on this list of the 15 Worst Christmas Movies of All Time.

Friday Facebook FUN! Hockey overdose

I don't plan on running this weekly feature the next two Fridays because one will be Christmas Eve and the other will be New Year's Eve. How do you compete with that? Anyway, my Facebook status early this morning: Voicing + INvoicing = Rejoicing! "Voice, they told me. Pa ra pa pa pum..."

My Facebook status this afternoon: If there is hockey in your blood and you like to have fun - and are in Kelowna - we need someone to do giveaways in each period tonight for the Kelowna Chiefs game at 7:00 pm...Larry King declined our offer:) We'll even take a nice professional photo of you in action! TOO much fun! Who's in?
 
Wednesday night status: ‎7 of 11 games in the NHL Wednesday had a team score 3 goals while 3 games went into overtime. Congrats also to
the Canucks' Ryan Kesler for his first-ever hat trick!
 
Wednesday night I learned through Facebook: My Top Words of 2010
Here are the top words from my Facebook status messages!

1: - - used 78 times - The "dash" or "hyphen"...those sound like reindeer names:)
2: Hockey - used 38 times
3: Tonight - used 32 times
4: Kelowna - used 27 times
5: Game - used 25 times
6: Canada - used 24 times
7: Win - used 23 times
8: Night - used 23 times
9: Buffalo - used 23 times
10: NHL - used 22 times

Wednesday afternoon status: Hockey wife, Carrie Underwood (Mike Fisher's better half), in Penticton Wednesday while I'll be on the country station, 100.7 Giant FM, Thursday morning at 9:15 on "The Hockey Show." Listen live at: http://www.giantfm.ca/
 
Tuesday afternoon status: Enjoying a cheese stick for lunch...after dinner - hockey sticks! On PA as the Kelowna Chiefs host the best team in the league: Osoyoos Coyotes. Games this Friday & Saturday too at 7 pm at Rutland Arena.
 
December 13 Facebook status: Monday means the Money voice is in the studio: Banking tutorial, 75 slides left...
 
Early Sunday afternoon status: Sign of the apocalypse? Best defensive performances in the NFL so far today: Buffalo Bills & Detroit Lions! Pittsburgh Steelers in third...
 
Late Saturday afternoon (Dec. 11) status:‎ 2 former Sabres just tangled: Clarke MacArthur turned into Superman & flew after Jaroslav Spacek!
Leafs 2, Habs 0 12 minutes in...

I appreciate Thank Yous!

The Kelowna Chiefs scored some big points last night by treating staff and volunteers to a Pizza Appreciation night after a close game (unfortunately a loss) against Osoyoos.

*The Tim Hortons Christmas ornament was purchased earlier in the day by me:) 

My cup definitely runneth over!

I had a few pages of a 158-page banking tutorial to record after we wrapped up last night at Boston Pizza and my client was very appreciative of recent late night efforts and dropped me this note in the lunch hour:

Hello Ralph,

The course owner for ACSE asked that I reach out to you and deliver a very special thank you for turning this project around so quickly. Thanks to your quick turn-around she is back on track with her course and should have it done before the deadline. You are always extremely helpful and your speed has really aided us in finishing up this and other programs before the end of the year.

Thanks so much!

Katie H.

Katherine Hoover
Senior Manager of Advanced Development
The Edcomm Group

http://www.bankersacademy.com/

Examples like these are humbling and I can honestly say 2010 was the most rewarding year in my five-year voiceover career.
Thank you to old and new clients! I finished up a few lines for a new one in Tennessee today but a non-disclosure agreement means I can't share details...

Brett Favre: I Told You So

Brett Favre did NOT start tonight for the Minnesota Vikings against the New York Giants. As his website mentions, this ends a streak of 297 consecutive starts -- the longest streak of any position player in NFL history. You can thank my Buffalo Bills for knocking him out! I had also predicted this would happen in late August on Football and the "Lost" conspiracy?

Here is the link to the game recap of the Bills and Vikings which ran this past weekend on the "Thurman Thomas Show." My segment runs from the 3:12 to 5:24 mark.
 
Interesting to note that Brett Favre's streak started on Sept. 27, 1992 - when he started against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Before Minnesota beat Buffalo, we lost to Pittsburgh in overtime. Here is my link to that game recap. You will find it at the 3:09 mark.
 
My voiceover friend, Ella J. Marr, is one of the biggest Steelers fans out there! She sent me this note:

To say that we bleed "black and gold" doesn't come close to the intense loyalty Pittsburgh fans have for their teams. My family has Steeler-themed family reunions. My 97 year old grandmother spent the last year of her life in a nursing home. She wasn't happy until her Steeler doll and other Steeler items were safely positioned at her bedside. Yahoo! Sports recently reported that the most knowledgeable female sports fans are Pittsburgh fans. It's nothing to be sitting in a gynecologist's office and hear pregnant women speaking in technical terms of an offensive or defensive play.

 
I know that, because years ago, I was one of them!

That is blog post #274. It marks the fourth time I have mentioned the Steelers and the first time gynecologist has appeared. Thanks Ella...

Friday Facebook FUN! Are Billy Idol and myself related?

My Facebook status this afternoon: ‎69-64 win against Immaculata Friday puts the Kelowna Christian School Knights into the Saturday 7:15 pm Senior Boys BBall Final at Rutland Senior. We beat them Thursday and Jordan got team MVP for that game!! Woot!
**I cheer hard for this team. Has The Voice.com is a sponsor!

My status this morning: JACK Frost nipping at your nose? Over the holidays, please watch out for my Uncle Jack!!...think about that one...

Thursday morning status: Did someone say Hockey? No...Oh, Coffee! Even BETTER...

‎Wednesday night status: 5 games in the NHL Wednesday: 4 winning teams score 5 while Nashville & Detroit combine for 5 in the other...

Tuesday night Facebook status: Ooops, my on-hold message for the law firm of Sukherman & Associates was supposed to read, "For Russian PLEASE dial 8." I voiced "For Russian PEOPLE dial 8." Oops...Nyet...

Monday night status for Ralph HASS: NOT Hoss, who was on "Bonanza"; NOT Hiss, which may refer to a noise made by angry or frustrated geese, cats, swans, snakes, etc. Oh, and NOT Hess - a leading global energy company...

Sunday night status: Coming up next: Monday Night Football, Tuesday night hockey (PA for the Kelowna Chiefs), Wednesday night basketball (watching son play Senior ball) & Thursday night basketball running the court with the big boys...
 
Sunday afternoon status: NFL early games: 3 games decided by 4 points & 3 teams score 34...that is your Wikileak for now...**PM: Atlanta over Tampa Bay by 4 makes 4 games with that differential. One of the EARLY games was Thursday as Philly beat Houston, 34-24...
 
Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4) Facebook status: Great lunch meal at one of my wife's Christmas parties - although grace was said with Billy Idol's "Mony Mony" playing on the CD...guess that was better than "Rebel Yell"...
 
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
Yes, Billy had a famous sneer...or "Whiplash Smile" (the name of his 1986 album). How do you like my Billy Idol impersonation below?

Pondering Penticton and Facebook

The Kelowna Chiefs had their second straight home game go into double overtime last night. We lost to Penticton 5-4. The Chiefs will seek revenge on December 18 when Penticton is here again. I will be in Penticton on "The Hockey Show" Thursday, December 16 at 9:00 am. I had a good time when I did an interview in early 2009 on The Giant FM.
This links to my 14 minutes of fame.

Following up Roberto Luongo's stab at poetry on my last post, who can forget the slam poetry from Shane Koyczan at this year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver? He hails from Penticton and you can see Shane in action here.

I just had my highest score yet in online Scrabble! 419 points vs voiceover friend Tom Dheere in New Jersey. Tom had beaten me twice in a row
(406-368 and 360-345) so I was due:)
Vancouver Canuck Tanner Glass, who played junior hockey in Penticton, is a big Scrabble fan and he's taking up the challenge of a blogger on the coast, Harrison Mooney.

If you are a Scrabble aficionado, connect with me on Facebook. I mean, what else is Facebook good for? Thank you to another voiceover friend, Bobbin Beam, for getting the discussion rolling here.

Hockey Hilarity via Poetry

‎It was a great night for the NHL expansion cousins of 1970 last night:

• Roberto Luongo stopped 32 shots for the shutout as Vancouver beat Chicago 3-0
• Ryan Miller led Buffalo to a 5-0 win over Columbus

I saw at 6:20 PST on the NHL.com website that it was actually:
Buffalo 3, ALL 8 other NHL teams: 4

I knew Roberto Luongo had shutouts in his blood but I was very surprised at his prowess at poetry. Check out this pro and his prose:

Friday Facebook FUN! Featuring LeBron...again...

Back on July 9, LeBron got his fifteen minutes of fame on this blog. His return to Cleveland last night = a SLAM DUNK for LeBron and the Miami Heat! The DAMN SKUNK (if you ask any Cleveland fan) had 38 points and was fired up by the boos.
See the before and after footage here.

There was a hockey equivalent in Ottawa with Dany Heatley's return.
Two videos here. The second one has Ottawa fans throwing their
Heatley jerseys on the ice! It wasn't because he got a hat trick either...
BUT Sydney Crosby had a natural hat trick (his first ever) last night
- his second three-goal game in a three-game span.

You may burn LeBron or Heatley jerseys BUT respect these please:

My Facebook status late yesterday afternoon: Hockey Night in Canada is showing Montreal vs Toronto in 3D on Dec. 11. Since the Leafs won a Cup in '67, they have lost in black and white, color, high def - and soon 3D:)

Late Wednesday status: Declared it Basketball Thursday with LeBron returning to Cleveland; my son, Jordan, playing his first game on the Senior Boys team; and myself on the court at 9:15 pm...Just Do It!

Wednesday afternoon status: Huge honkin' Wednesday Capital News paper put in the mailbox...should have been stuffed down the chimney with care...

Late Tuesday Facebook status (last day of November): 
Decided to make December Dy-no-mite!! Here is my motivation.

Tuesday morning status: The SHOW must go on...and the SNOW must go on...

Have a great weekend! I hope it goes nice and SLOW...

Leslie Nielsen will (Shirley) be missed!

Sadly, Leslie Nielsen has died at the age of 84. He had what actor Michael McKean called “one of the greatest second acts in movie history,” after stealing several scenes in the comedy blockbuster, “Airplane!”

Nielsen died yesterday at a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, where he was being treated for pneumonia.
A nice tribute on the national news here in Canada.

"In a career spanning more than six decades, the Regina-born Nielsen
was an accomplished actor on stage and screen, in both dramas and comedies.... We can be grateful that his most famous performances
are preserved on film and will delight audiences for years to come."
~ Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Rest in Peace Leslie Nielsen...

Going Green & getting a Gretzky jersey!

I happened to catch this live last night on the tube - former Kelowna Rocket Jamie Benn scoring on a spectacular effort shorthanded:


Canada's football championship goes tomorrow and I say, "Go Green!" That would be throwing my support behind the Saskatchewan Roughriders against Montreal! Some sweet hands here by Weston Dressler with the 2010 CFL Play of the Year. Dressler wasn't able to play in last year's Grey Cup featuring the same teams because he'd broken his leg and sprained his ankle simultaneously October 10. He ended up watching his team's agonizing 28-27 loss to the Alouettes from the sidelines.

The Grey Cup game tomorrow is in Edmonton, while tonight two Edmonton Oilers' jerseys autographed by Wayne Gretzky will be auctioned off at the Kelowna Chiefs game! I will be your PA announcer.

Wayne Gretzky is the uncle of the Chiefs' Bobby Brown (above). Five members of Bobby's immediate family (his mother, father, grandmother,
an aunt and uncle) have all been diagnosed with one form of cancer or another. Read Bobby's story of courage here.

Other Wayne Gretzky posts you may enjoy from my blog archives:
-- Gretzky at the Olympics / My Gretzky flashback (February 14, 2010)
-- Quenching your thirst for COMEDY and GRETZKY (August 9, 2008)
-- Getting Animated with Stephanie Ciccarelli (July 15, 2010) 

The return of Friday Facebook FUN!

I introduced Friday Facebook FUN in late June and we had three more editions of it by the end of July. Four months later, it is finally back on Black Friday!

My status late last night: NNN-FL is right! Winners on US Thanksgiving: New ENglaNd, New OrleaNs & the New York Jets...DDDefeat for DDetroit, DDallas & Cincinnati...2/3 ain't bad according to Meatloaf...
 
Thursday morning link: Join us this Saturday at the Kelowna Chiefs' game. You could win one of 2 autographed Wayne Gretzky jerseys!
Hockey fundraiser for cancer.
 
Wednesday morning quote via Karen Commins: "Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
Tuesday morning status: workin' on my PhD...Pizza Hut delivery...
 
Saturday afternoon status (November 20): College football NAMEday!
1) Marvin McNutt, Iowa Hawkeye receiver; 2) Vaingamalie Tafuna, RB
at Weber State; 3) Essray Taliaferro, RB at Marshall...

Saturday afternoon link: Yesterday was International Men's Day. Guys, did you grab your TV remote to mark the occasion? Voice talent Paul Strikwerda got his "new" TV for only $14.95 dollars! His latest blog post is all about money management. Great read! Call Off Black Friday.

DWTS = Dine With Turkey and Stuffing?!

I recorded my Buffalo Bills' segments for the upcoming "Thurman Thomas Show" late last night. Most of it got done before the "Dancing With The Stars" finale with the rest after Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough won it all! Yes, I predicted they would earlier this month on: DQ on DWTS? Also on that blog post, a nice picture of Josh Hamilton, who played for the Cincinnati Reds in 2007, but won the AL MVP award yesterday with the Texas Rangers! Lots of football players have done well on DWTS - including:
- Cincinnati's Chad Ochocinco
- Kurt Warner on the most recent edition (season 11)
- NFL Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith winning it all in 2006
- Warren Sapp
- NFL Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice placed second in season two

With US Thanksgiving tomorrow + my recent fascination with Cincinnati + my great memories from radio:

Let's roll this clip:

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends!
May you DWTS! (ie. Dine With Turkey and Stuffing)

Celebrating in Cincinnati/Canada!

Canadian Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds is now a baseball MVP while the Buffalo Bills won in Cincinnati Sunday, 49-31.

Home teams barely won out on Sunday in the NFL:
8 wins for the home teams and 6 for the road warriors. Only one team, Tampa Bay, scored 21 points on the 21st as they shut out San Francisco. Little stranger to see the unique number of 19 scored by three road teams:

• Washington 19, Tennessee 16
• Seattle 19, New Orleans 34
• Detroit 19, Dallas 35

Joey Votto's numbers:

• Second in the NL in batting average at .324
• Third in homers (37) and RBIs (113) 
• Led the NL in slugging percentage (.600) 
• Led the major leagues in on-base percentage (.424)

Votto received 31 of 32 first-place MVP votes and 443 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America yesterday. Yes, Christmas has come early for the Canadian kid...

Christmas Eve 2005 in Cincinnati was the setting for this weekend's "Thurman Thomas Show" Billieve Moment:

Rest in Peace, Pat Burns

Visiting teams won 9 of 11 games on Saturday night in the NHL. But the games (the NHL hit 50, 000 of them yesterday) did NOT matter as much as celebrating the life lessons the late Pat Burns taught us as an NHL coach and as someone who battled cancer courageously.

• Pat Burns taught us how to live by Scott Morrison
• The pre-game tribute to the late Pat Burns at Montreal's Bell Centre with music by the Beatles:
• Don Cherry's "Coach's Corner" starts off with a tribute to Pat Burns. Music by the Good Brothers.

C'mon Canada! Be a Hockey Power!

It is International Men's Day! Grab your TV remote!
It is also World Toilet Day - NOT really a joking matter actually...BUT play this song if you have to...

Four years ago today, Steve MacNaull wrote a very nice article for the Kelowna Daily Courier on my voiceover business. You can check out that cool print publicity via this old blog post: Thumbs Up!
 
In the NHL last night, Toronto beat New Jersey, 3-1. Montreal lost to Nashville, 3-0. Those results are better than Wednesday, when all four Canadian teams lost to US teams. Wednesday in Washington, the Buffalo Sabres lost to the Capitals, 4-2. Can't blame Ovechkin as he didn't even get a point! Maybe we should give credit to the Canadian spinning tunes for Washington? I have a great guy doing music besides me on PA for the Kelowna Chiefs. Corey Bell-Esau is his name and he is launching a recording studio so we'll be working together there too. We'll see you tonight at 7:00 pm for our home game against Princeton!

Canada's best junior hockey players just lost the Subway Super Series to Russia...
Going into this year, the Western Hockey League had won 13 of the 14 games it had played against the Russians in this series. But Russia beat the WHL all-stars in Prince George last night and Kamloops the previous night. The next WHL game on Shaw-TV? I can fill you in on that right now...cue the announcer:

For all you non-Canadians, Brandon is in Manitoba - where the band I linked to above is from as well. BUT, BTO is from Winnipeg, Manitoba - not Brandon.

That wraps up post #100 this year and #263 overall...Thank you for dropping by!

TSN's James Duthie ink & JamesDugan Inc. commercial

If you follow hockey in Canada, one of the broadcasters "in the know" is James Duthie for TSN. His impressive bio is here along with some fun facts (e.g. Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders fan growing up). Duthie has a popular new book out with an attention grabbing title:

Sign of a good book?

This reviewer had a hard time wrestling it away from his girlfriend.

=========================

JamesDugan Inc. is a full-service marketing, advertising and business strategy firm located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. While most of my time today will be spent voicing the December promos for Shaw-TV's WHL hockey games next month, yesterday's time in the studio revolved around several commercials for Inwood Furniture in Inwood, Iowa. I have been voicing commercials for them since early 2006 - thanks to JamesDugan Inc.!

Coaching Marvels and Milestones

Chan Gailey won his first game as the Buffalo Bills' head coach yesterday! Buffalo 14, Detroit 12.
He won 18 and lost 14 in his last head coaching gig in the NFL - with the Dallas Cowboys in 1998 and 1999. Their interim coach, Jason Garrett, got his first win yesterday! Dallas 33, New York Giants 20. Don't doubt Tom Coughlin as the Giants' coach though! He has been driven by his core values of how the game must be played with honor and inflexible on how individuals must sacrifice to become a team.
More in this FanHouse article.

So, congratulations to Thomas Chandler "Chan" Gailey, Jr.! This weekend on the "Thurman Thomas Show", we featured Marv Levy's 100th win as an NFL coach with the Bills on November 16, 1992. "Monday in Miami" is the title of this Billieve Moment:


Another coaching milestone in Buffalo saw the Sabres' Lindy Ruff coach his 1, 000th game last Wednesday. That tied him with his mentor, the late Roger Neilson, for 17th place on the NHL’s all-time list. It was Neilson who first suggested that Ruff should get into coaching when Ruff played for Neilson and was winding down his NHL playing career with those Rangers in 1990.

Taking on the Sabres tonight in Buffalo are the Vancouver Canucks. Their head coach, Alain Vigneault, won his 300th NHL game in Ottawa last Thursday. 191 have been with the Canucks - the second most in franchise history behind Marc Crawford, who has 246 wins.

Back to football: Nine days ago, 84-year-old Joe Paterno became the first major-college football coach to hit 400 wins as Penn State came back from a three-touchdown deficit to beat Northwestern University 35-21. “People ask me why I’ve stayed here so long, and you know what?” Paterno asked the fans  at Beaver Stadium after the November 6th game. “Look around, look around. Now that the celebration’s over, let’s go beat Ohio State.”
That did not happen this weekend against the Buckeyes. Penn State was up 14-10 in the second half but Ohio State scored 28 straight to hand Paterno his 133rd loss.

Finally, one odd thing about the Buffalo Bills' coaching staff.
Chan Gailey has 18 assistants and three are named George...

Football and Art collide!

The Buffalo Bills had their annual game in Toronto this past Sunday and lost another close one to Chicago, 22-19. The star of the "Thurman Thomas Show" got some nice exposure in a different way:

Oh My Guitar...gently weeps...

Here is my buddy Thurman lighting it up against the Kansas City Chiefs in a recent segment from the "Thurman Thomas Show":


There is a football artist here in Kelowna who was inspired by Dick Butkus of the Chicago Bears. Check out Bob Mueller's story here.

Oh My Gridiron! Cats playing football

Four NFL teams are named after cats. In alphabetical order:

• Carolina Panthers
• Cincinnati Bengals (on the Monday night game versus Pittsburgh)
• Detroit Lions (the Bills' next opponent)
• Jacksonville Jaguars 

Only the Jags have a half decent record at 4-4. Cincinnati is 2-5; Detroit is 2-6 despite having scoring 15 more points than they have given up; and Carolina is 1-7. Me-OUCH!

No NFL teams scored 31 points last Sunday (31st, Halloween) while two NFL teams scored 7 points on the 7th.  Dallas painfully lost their seventh of the season to Green Bay, 45-7, while the New York Giants manhandled Seattle, 41-7. Dallas plays the New York Giants next. Fortunately for football fans in Big D, the game is in the Big Apple.

=================

In the Canadian (Cat) Football League on Saturday, the BC Lions defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 23-21, to advance to the playoffs next Sunday in Saskatchewan. The CFL is an exciting brand of football!
Have a look here.

Oh My Gord!

BC Premier Gordon Campbell took our province by surprise this week announcing he is stepping down!

It's Gordie Howe Night tonight in Vancouver when the Kelowna Rockets pay a visit to play the Giants!

Kelowna's Gord Hotchkiss IS one of the most knowledgeable guys in North America when it comes to the search marketing industry. Last week, Gord's company, Enquiro, became part of Mediative, a Yellow Pages Group company. More on that on Gord's blog: Out of My Gord. Gord and his company were responsible for getting the Kelowna Rockets on the web years ago. His partner all these years has been Bill Barnes. I used to work with them both in radio. Bill has been the longtime PA voice of the Rockets. I mentioned that on a blog post last year:
A picture worth a thousand words? Thousands of calories...

I did not go trick or treating on Halloween. I spent time at Walmart scanning a bunch of family photos and music memorabilia including this one from a famous Gord:

Here is some classic Hip. It appears here that Gord is a Boston Bruins fan too...

Tina Fey mentions Dairy Queen on "Letterman!"

Tina Fey got animated talking about Sarah Palin tonight on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and the punchline involved Dairy Queen!

Some classic stumbling and bumbling by Letterman for six seconds too at the 1:25 second mark:


Tina Fey is the animated voice of Roxanne Ritchi in "Megamind" opening on Friday. The voices of Will Ferrell and Brad Pitt are also featured.

DQ on DWTS?

DisQualified on DWTS on the same night as Edmonton and Vancouver played in their 200th all-time NHL meeting? Surprisingly, Rick Fox! The retired pro basketballer was born in Toronto 41 years ago. By the way, Vancouver won the game, 4-3, and now trail the all-time series with the Oilers, 77-96-27.

I am hoping Jennifer Grey wins it all against the other four teams on "Dancing With The Stars" because she is a cancer survivor!

I had the famous Dairy Queen sign in a blog post two months ago, but snapped this today with the beautiful blue sky and mountains in Kelowna as a backdrop. The word bacon three times on the sign made John Bigl's day I think. John is a voice talent in New Hampshire who loves bacon and hockey big time! I shared the latter before on Welcome this amazing Goalie!

Tomorrow, our teams collide. Boston is riding high with Tim Thomas sizzling in the net. He was just named the NHL's Second Star for October thanks to a 6-0 record with three shutouts, a 0.50 goals-against average and a .984 save percentage. Buffalo's Ryan Miller is just 3-5-2 with a 2.71 GAA and .903 save percentage and will likely miss the game with a lower-body injury.

My top pick in my Hockey Pool is out for three months! I introduced you to Zach Parise and the rest of my team here. Today, Zach (of the New Jersey Devils) underwent exploratory arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and had a torn meniscus repaired. So I guess he'll be back when baseball spring training starts...

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for winning the World Series yesterday!

These magazine covers came out about a month apart in the summer of 2008.

Treat yourself to DWTS and the WS

My wife and I do enjoy watching "Dancing With The Stars" and tonight is episode #200! Congratulations! This is blog post #255 if you are keeping count...

I left a comment today on Dave Courvoisier's post:
Oh, The Humility (or lack of it).
It includes a lot of wise words from Bob Bergen. I started off by giving a plug to Voices.com and their Who Got The Gig component on their blog. I had noticed that Stephanie had not had an entry there since the spring BUT lo and behold she published one today and I left a comment. It has been a real busy time with my voiceover work! I am very thankful for some great clients. Check out the link and share your successes too!

World Series game 5 in Texas shortly. I did not watch any of the action yesterday but let's hope Texas wins so a game six can be played in San Francisco...

TASKER a Treat to watch on Halloween

The CBS game crew for Sunday's broadcast of Buffalo in Kansas City
is Gus Johnson with Steve Tasker. It is a déjà vu for Tasker, who hosts Bills All Access. Here is Steve's interview in KC.

Here is my Game Recap this weekend on the "Thurman Thomas Show." Close but no cigar for the Bills last Sunday against Baltimore:

I wonder how many teams will score 31 points on the 31st?

• NFL wrap: One team scored 24 on the 24th
• NFL wrap: 3 teams scored 17 on the 17th
• Arrowhead Stadium is the Chiefs' home. They are 3-0 with the home field advantage this season. BUT the Buffalo Bills have won there two years in a row. Hopefully the third time is a charm!
• The Arrows - classic Canadian rock song I loved back in 1984: "Meet Me in the Middle." Great saxophone! Crank this up! Enjoy your football and Halloween too!

Why is Buffalo THERE again?

The Sabres are in Atlanta tonight. They were just there nine days ago and won 4-1. Only 8, 820 fans showed up that night in Atlanta. I do NOT endorse NHL hockey in Atlanta - BUT I do endorse the FaffCon2 Voice Over Event on the weekend of February 25-27, 2011. Alberta, instead of Atlanta, would have been a better fit for yours truly - even though the Atlanta Thrashers host Florida and Toronto during the Unconference.

The Buffalo Bills are in Kansas City this Sunday. They beat them there in December last year, 16-10. I am expecting a much higher scoring game this year! Like when Buffalo was in KC on November 23, 2008 and we won 54-31! Here is my Game Recap from last year:

Artwork from yours truly

This is Greg Perry's cartoon - published across Canada in newspapers two days ago. He got his start doodling on the walls at Canadian Tire, where he worked with my wife way back when. Yes, I posted it on Facebook first...

Here is my Art folder from my grad year and an ad I concocted for Sony:

Black felt on the outside with pencil detail inside.

I am not sure if these guys were relatives or teachers at OKM...
Done with pencil crayons!

Did you hear the Sony Walkman died yesterday at the age of 31?

The Japanese giant sold 30,000 Walkmans in the first two months after its launch, and 50 million within a decade. The Sony scoop is here.

We are ALL artists to some extent...

Give yourself a pat on the back!

This point was illustrated very well by Voice 123's Steven Lowell yesterday:

We Are All Artists by Dr.Felicia Ruff

NFL wrap: One team scored 24 on the 24th

26 teams took to the football field today, October 24th. Only one team scored 24 and that was in the nightcap between Minnesota (24) and Green Bay (28).

• Three teams scored 23 on this Sunday - just like last Sunday. 
• The least anticipated game of the day had Carolina win their first against San Francisco, 23-20.

Two of Buffalo's division rivals, New England and Miami, were involved in the other 23 pointers.
The Patriots beat the San Diego Chargers, 23-20, while the Dolphins lost to Pittsburgh, 23-22, even though Chad Henne completed 23 passes for the second straight week.

• The Buffalo Bills lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Baltimore, 37-34.

The NBA launches a new season in two nights with three games. That means there will be 12 quarters of action. And I bet there will be at least a couple of quarters where one of the teams scores exactly 24 points.
Check the box scores in two nights and see if I'm right...
And remember, Kobe Bryant is #24 of the two-time defending champion LA Lakers!
Are you happy I said that Herb?

Food for Thought: Double Dipping & Kelowna Rockets

I haven't posted since Sunday - when I actually blogged twice, or double dipped, for the first time in the four year history of this blog.

That saying became very popular thanks to this "Seinfeld" clip involving chips and George.

Here is another classic "Seinfeld" clip with George and a long john:


In my opinion, the best long johns here in Kelowna are from the Specialty Bakery.

A former Kelowna Rocket double dipped tonight in the NHL. Two goals for Mikael Backlund! Unfortunately, he was the only Flame to score as Calgary lost to Detroit, 4-2.
Former Rocket, Jamie Benn, had three assists as Dallas won against Florida, 4-1.
In progress, another Rocket alum, Kyle Cumiskey, has scored as Colorado trails San Jose, 3-1, in the second.

NFL wrap: 3 teams scored 17 on the 17th

San Francisco beat Oakland 17-9. Quarterback Alex Smith almost completed 17 passes. He was 16/33.

San Diego scored 17 BUT St. Louis finished with 20. Quarterback Sam Bradford almost completed 17 passes. He was 18/31 for the Rams.

Finally, Philadelphia 31, Atlanta 17. Both Kevin Kolb and Matt Ryan completed 23 passes.

So many close games in the NFL today! There were three 23-20 scores:

• Seattle over Chicago
• New England beating Baltimore in overtime
• Miami over Green Bay in overtime

Two other games saw winners by three points today:
Indianapolis 27, Washington 24
Minnesota 24, Dallas 21 (Game of the day!)

(W)rapping up the week

Below is this week's Billieve Moment from the "Thurman Thomas Show."
In 1989, Buffalo left Houston in week three with a 47-41 overtime victory! The show will repeat next weekend as the Bills have a bye this weekend. Seems appropriate that Warren Moon is featured as next Saturday is a full moon...


Current Bills receiver, Steve Johnson, has four touchdowns in the first five games and leads the team in receptions with seventeen. Johnson also likes to freestyle rap. His song "Byrd Flyin' High" is about teammate Jairus Byrd. Here is the link!

Maybe your favorite TV show is mentioned in this rap that is approaching three million views on YouTube. No better time than Sunday to share this by Tamara Lowe.

KENYA believe it?!

Former Buffalo Bill and future Hall of Famer, Terrell Owens, will probably get in trouble for a Tweet he sent out before the Cincinnati/Tampa Bay football game. It was for a good cause though: his work with a charity that helps children in Kenya. T-O is executive producing "In The Nest" -  a gripping portrait of Kenyan street children.

I had a chance to narrate a preview video for a missions trip in Kenya last year by ICCL. Some breathtaking shots here by my friend with the Buffalo Sabres, Matt Gould, before my voiceover kicks in at the :51 second mark:


Here is a great Kelowna/Kenya  connection story involving 18 grade seven kids from Ann Mclymont Elementary school:

The full story is here on the HuStream blog.

10/10/10 = Brett Favre's birthday

As mentioned in passing (something Brett Favre is VERY good at!) on my late August post, Football and the "Lost" conspiracy?, Brett Favre shares a birthday with my dad this Sunday, which happens to be 10/10/10 on the calendar.

Brett got an early birthday present this week as Randy Moss was traded back to Minnesota from New England. Today at NFL.com, Favre and Moss show up prominently on a list of the top five most impressive individual records.

Moss didn't catch a pass this past Monday night against Miami but the week before he lit up the Buffalo Bills. Here is my voiceover for that game from the "Thurman Thomas Show":

You can see Randy Moss in action again next week on "Monday Night Football" as he and Favre take on one of Brett's former teams, the New York Jets. I'll take Minnesota in that one because Minnesota's baseball team is down 2-0 in their playoff series against the New York Yankees.

Introducing HFI and Mark Messier

A couple of weeks ago I heard Rob Higgins interviewed on Dan Russell's "Sportstalk." Like me with HTV.com, Rob could be identified with these three letters: HFI.com. That is short for HockeyFantasyIndex.com.

Like Rob, I get to combine my passions of writing, hockey and music on this blog. However, he is a real musician! Rob's band is Dearly Beloved. Rob recently blogged about Buffalo Sabre Tim Connolly. Good fantasy hockey picks are guys in the final years of their contracts trying to prove their worth$$
Here is the link to the Sabres, while you can click on your favorite team up top.

Rob Higgins' Fantasy Hockey Philosophy recently appeared on PuckDaddy.com. Maybe it can help you as the season starts in two days. He has also written the book, Higgins Hockey Fantasy Index: 2010-2011. Get a copy here.

Allow me to introduce my team drafted in the annual London Drugs Hockey Pool with sixteen others (including my brothers-in-law and son Justin) a week ago:

1. Zach Parise (New Jersey)
2. Paul Stastny (Colorado)
3. Erik Johnson (St. Louis) - 1 of 2 mandatory d-men. I had Johnson last year too along with my 7th round pick below.
4. Patrick Elias (New Jersey)
5. Jason Pominville (BUFFALO!)
6. Jussi Jokinen (Carolina)
7. Kristian Huselius (Columbus)
8. Ray Whitney (Phoenix)
9. Jakub Voracek (Columbus)
10. Kevin Bieksa, D (Vancouver)

Spares I could sub in at the all-star break:
John-Michael Liles, D (Colorado) and Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto)

That is the team taking me to the promised land!

Let the chips (ice or potato) fall where they may...

Don Cherry starts hockey season Thursday

Don Cherry "is the face, spirit and personality" of Hockey Night In Canada according to this Globe and Mail article. Former HNIC producer Ralph Mellanby figures Cherry may have another ten years left in the tank. He is 76 now!

You can watch "Coach's Corner" for the first time this season on Thursday as two NHL season openers will be on CBC-TV: Montreal at Toronto followed by Calgary at Edmonton. I am sure Don Cherry will talk about the retirement of former Maple Leaf, Darcy Tucker, the other day. Because Tucker was known as a hockey pest and trash talker, that should score points in Cherry's book.  However, on this "Coach's Corner" clip, Don Cherry took a shot at Tucker and other hockey players for not having enough of a mean streak BUT talking about steak and dinner plans.

My fondest Darcy Tucker moment goes back to him playing junior hockey with the stacked Kamloops Blazers in 1995 with Jarome Iginla, Shane Doan, Nolan Baumgartner, Brad Lukowich, Tyson Nash and Ryan Huska (currently coaching the Kelowna Rockets). They won the Memorial Cup that year and also in 1994 and 1992.

The future will see Darcy Tucker as a player agent. Based on the clip below, I don't think acting is up his alley:

The Buck(cherry) Stops here for Baseball!

Sportsnet ran the "Jays Connected" show before their Minnesota game today and they had the best highlights of the year accompanied by this rockin' song, which I also thought would be perfect for the weekend!

Yes, eat (or sing) your heart out Lionel Richie!

Baseball BUCKS leaving their mark on the Blue Jays this season:

• TV announcer Buck Martinez
• Catcher John Buck, who has had a career year with twenty home runs and a .279 average. Those homers are a franchise record!

Before this year, John Buck spent his first six big league seasons in Kansas City. That is where Buck Martinez (also a catcher) started his career in 1969. He spent his first eight seasons in KC and then wrapped up his career by playing six seasons with the Blue Jays, finishing in 1986. Martinez hit 35 home runs as a Blue Jay.

Fifty years for "The Flintstones!"

"The Flintstones" turned 50 today! I was glad to meet them in my formative years and remember watching them at this time after school...even with my kids I think:)

My friend, Stu Gray, asked on his blog yesterday: What are the best activities you do with your son?
It was fun for me to remember. They grow up so quickly...

My commercial voiceover for New Era Cap recently hit the big 5-0!
50, 000 views and counting!


Flashing back to other nifty fifty posts on this blog:
50 posts & 50-yard line = Canada Day football! (from this summer)
50 years of fabulous announcing! (Dick Enberg and David Mainse from this spring)

Raise a Toast to Bloggers!

The first Bloggin’ Okanagan mini conference took place on Sunday and it was fun to attend! I had the chance to meet fellow bloggers and Facebook friends. Here is the recap from the Kelowna Art Gallery, which includes a list of blogs from this area.

When I arrived at the event I was first greeted by one of the panelists, Cherie Hanson. She is a retired high school teacher who now concentrates on artistic endeavours, from computer enhanced digital photography to writing. Among the various continuing education classes Cherie teaches at UBC Okanagan is one on weblogging, and she also keeps a blog on her life and travels as a multimedia artist at http://www.cheriehanson.com/. There you will be greeted with the header:

expressions

Never put a sock in a toaster.

 

I raise a toast to you Cherie! Keep up the fabulous work!