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...