RED - but not quite READY

I notice the last four images that I have posted on my blog all have the color red in them...
I just picked my son up after his first long shift at Wendy's. That company is known for it's popular red logo. You can see it (along with many other restaurants that use red to their advantage) by clicking here. It's the client list of Trimen Food Service, for whom I narrated a corporate video today. Trimen is a leading food service equipment manufacturer located in North York, Ontario.

My friend, Guy Kawasaki, has a birthday today and he blogged three days ago about The Power of Red. You will also want to check out Guy's list of the five most important lessons he has learned as an entrepreneur. Happy Birthday Guy!

Same wish to you Liz de Nesnera!
I am sorry I didn't get you tickets to the US Open...
Liz was in a giving mood on her birthday with her first blog post
in almost two months:
Question of the Week: How Do You Define Yourself?
Liz's last post tied in tennis with voiceover. Good stuff Liz!
I love TV (short for tennis & voiceover)...I am actually in a fall tennis league here in Kelowna but after meeting with my doctor today to go over my back x-rays, he feels a minimum of five more visits to the chiropractor are needed before I can start playing again...

Buffalo Sabres 24, Buffalo Bills 20

No, that is not a football score. It is the length of two audio clips I am linking to in this post. The first was recorded for the NHL Sabres last week as we get ready to put out a "Winter Classic DVD." You'll notice it references the famous football stadium in Buffalo. When the finished product comes out, you will hear my parts total 2:24 seconds.
Here is my post shortly after the "Winter Classic."

Are you ready for some football? Ralph (Hass - and Wilson) is ready for some football! I heard last night from the NFL's Buffalo Bills that I was chosen to provide energetic game recaps during "The Thurman Thomas Show" on US affiliates for ABC-TV and CBS-TV along with Citytv in Toronto. Here is a sample from my audition. My favorite NFL team was the Seattle Seahawks. But I will be cheering harder for the Bills as they open their season September 7 at Ralph Wilson Stadium against the Hawks...I predict a 24-20 win for the Bills...

Quenching your thirst for COMEDY and GRETZKY

The ¡Three Amigos! was a pretty funny movie that came out in late 1986. Enjoy the clip above featuring one of our family favorites, Steve Martin, cast as the character Lucky Day. In my last blog post I shared a recent radio aircheck. I remember on my very first radio shift in 1981 that I played Steve Martin's "King Tut."

Twenty years ago today, the historic trade of Wayne Gretzky from the champion Edmonton Oilers to the LA Kings took place. The NHL’s Communications Department has put together an excellent overview here examining this amazing event. Gretzky's famous number 99

was retired league-wide at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game.

Now an LA Dodger, Manny Ramirez finally settled on number 99 after numbers 24 (Walter Alston) and 34 (Fernando Valenzuela) were denied

by Dodgers' brass. As the new Sports Illustrated says:
What makes Manny unique is that he does not seem to know

the meaning of the word failure - or, most likely, Gretzky.

Quenching your thirst?

I have NOT had one slush or slushie or slurpee this summer. Pretty hard to avoid though with all the great flavors available - like "live bait." Salmon slush anyone?

I took the picture above at a nearby gas station on Friday. The attendant said it was okay if I did - even though I got just $20 dollars worth of gas and turned down her request to buy a lottery ticket:) Nobody matched all 6 numbers on Saturday for $36 million dollars so the Lotto 6/49 jackpot will be an estimated $43 million dollars this Wednesday. Yes, that would be a wonderful anniversary present for my wife next Wednesday as we celebrate anniversary #20 on the 13th! I worked on my summer "pro tan" two weeks ago at the family cabin. I came away with a red lobster chest...ouch!..for you fans of the Boston Red Sox, let's just say I was "Coco Crisp"....

Many more Canadians are now on the Red Sox bandwagon after the $20 million dollar man, Manny Ramirez, was traded to the LA Dodgers while Trail, BC's Jason Bay came over from Pittsburgh.

Congratulations to the voice of the Seattle Mariners, Dave Niehaus. It was"Dave Niehaus Day" yesterday at Safeco Field. He has been with the Mariners since their inception in 1977. Just eight days ago he entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. as the winner of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence. Here are many more links to explore for this legendary storyteller.

Finally, here I am "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" Well, actually it was "Live from Kelowna Saturday Afternoon!" on July 5, 2008. Click here for my radio aircheck. It starts off with the crazy details of that famous hot dog eating contest in New York, bad local drivers and the US state which is the fattest.

Baseball Canadian style!

Justin Morneau of New Westminster, BC won the Home Run Derby two nights ago at Yankee Stadium! Here is an interview after Justin's big win. But you'll notice they spelled my last name wrong on the billboard sign behind him:)

Morneau played hockey growing up, and attended a training camp with the Portland Winter Hawks as a goaltender on the team's 50-man Protected Player List. Morneau chose his jersey number (33) for legendary NHL goalie Patrick Roy. He has been swinging a hot bat lately! Last Thursday, Justin Morneau tied a career high with 5 hits in a game as his visiting Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 7-6 in 11-innings. He hit what went on to be the game winning home run to finish the day 5 for 5 with a walk. Justin scored the winning run for the American League last night in the MLB All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. It went 15 innings, the longest All-Star Game in history.

Just in...Just out...of the park! 15-year-old Justin Hass (above) of Kelowna, BC had the best game of his baseball career last Sunday!

He smashed two home runs over the center field fence 260 feet away and

the Kelowna Cubs beat Ladner to finish third in the Valley of Champions bantam tournament.

Toronto, Ontario saw home run history made last Saturday as Alex Rodriguez hit home run number 537 as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays,

9-4. A-Rod moved past another Yankee legend, Mickey Mantle, for sole possession of 13th place on the all-time list. 13 is also a good number for Justin. He was born on June 13 and it was July 13 he had the game of his life!

By the way, after Justin's birthday last month, our three kids now have a cumulative age greater than mine...so you can consider me a younger man now...and shorter...you see, Justin recently passed me (5 ft 10 1/2 in) in height.

$$wedish Meatball?

Yesterday I did some on-hold messaging for a company in Sweden. Some might say Mats Sundin is a Swedish "meatball" for not accepting the Vancouver Canucks' $20-million, two-year deal this week. If he does return to the NHL, I think he would opt for a team that has a real chance at the Stanley Cup - like the Detroit Red Wings, who got the "steal of a deal" by signing Marian Hossa to a one-year deal worth $7.4 million dollars. Sundin's countryman, Markus Naslund, has left the Canucks for the New York Rangers so I don't think that move will sway Sundin to the west coast - even though super Swedes like Daniel and Henrik Sedin (click here for their hilarious commercial), Mattias Ohlund and former Kelowna Rocket Alexander Edler are still in the fold.

The Canucks traded for Buffalo winger, Steve Bernier, today while Buffalo got a solid defenseman from San Jose, Craig Rivet.
Buffalo has some solid Swedes in their future plans:
defenseman Dennis Persson and goalie Jhonas Enroth.
As far back as 1984 and 1985, Buffalo picked Swedish-born players in the first round of the draft. You can see all the draft results here.

Young hockey players (17 and under) will be taking to the streets of Buffalo next month. Click here for details on HockeyFest.

Canada Day $$elebration!

The big winner on the opening day of the NHL Free Agent season was former Buffalo Sabre Brian Campbell. The Strathroy, Ontario native has joined the up and coming Chicago Blackhawks, where he signed an eight-year deal worth $56.8 million dollars!

Buffalo native and the NHL Rookie of the Year, Patrick Kane, is one of the young guns Campbell will be passing to a lot. Here are my voiceovers for the before and after MSG-TV footage of Patrick Kane leaving a memorable mark in Buffalo last season. Former Kelowna Rocket, Duncan Keith, had a great season on defense for Chicago and even made the All-Star game roster in January - just like Brian Campbell. After the season (which he finished with San Jose), Campbell made the NHL's 2007-08 Second All-Star Team. There is another Kelowna connection to Chicago: Kyle Beach. He was picked in the first round, 11th overall, in last month's NHL Entry Draft. His Uncle Gregg is helping coach my son Justin's summer baseball all-star team. We are known as the Kelowna Cubs. This year the Chicago Cubs are playing very well and might win their first World Series in 100 years!

Selected right behind Kyle Beach at #12 in the draft by the Buffalo Sabres was Kelowna Rockets' defenseman Tyler Myers. His teammate on the Rockets, Luke Schenn, was picked at #5 by Toronto. Here is a local write-up on the "three musketeers." Best of luck at the next level boys...men...

CELticsEBRATION! Red Wins!

NBA MVP Kobe Bryant had 22 points for the LA Lakers last night but even if he doubled that, they wouldn't have won. The Lakers were trounced by the Boston Celtics 131-92 as Boston won their 17th NBA Title on June 17. Finals MVP, Paul Pierce, had 17 points in the decisive game 6.

It took six games to determine the NHL Stanley Cup champion and my prediction in my last blog post was correct! Detroit beat Pittsburgh 4 games to 2. Tiger Woods ticked off a lot of hockey players I'm sure when he didn't really care who would win the series. To get even, I would encourage all hockey players to not play golf this summer:) Coming up soon here in Kelowna is the Sandman Harvest Celebrity Golf Classic. It's a great fundraiser for charity and Chuck Kobasew of the Boston Bruins is lending his name to the event for a third straight year.

So, the Red Wings were winners and Tiger and his family were decked out in red as he won the US Open this past Monday! Tiger Woods played through the pain but announced today he will miss the rest of the 2008 golf season to undergo more knee surgery. Here's to a speedy recovery Tiger!

It's the 24th!

May 24...
NBA MVP Kobe Bryant (#24 on your scorecard) had 22 points for the
LA Lakers last night (and was a plus 24) as the Lakers walloped San Antonio 101-71. Kobe's crew is up 2-0 in the Western Final. Only 14 of the 222 teams to fall behind 2-0 in best-of-seven NBA playoff series have come back to win, including the Spurs in their second-round matchup with the New Orleans Hornets. So, don't count out the defending champs!

Kobe turns 30 in three months on August 23. The next day, August 24, my wife has a birthday! We also celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary on August 13! In two months, July 24 - 27, the BC Summer Games come to Kelowna with more than 2, 700 young athletes participating in our province’s largest multisport competition for developing athletes.

Tonight, game one of the Stanley Cup Final takes place between Detroit and Pittsburgh. I am picking Detroit to win it all 4 games to 2. Both teams have a #24 in the lineup. The Red Wings' Chris Chelios has played more NHL playoff games in history than anyone with 260 while Pittsburgh's Kris Beech only played 25 games in the regular season divided among three teams. He has yet to skate in the postseason.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock lost in the Finals five years ago with Anaheim to New Jersey. Way back when he played for the Kelowna Wings in the Western Hockey League in 1982–83. That team from our city eventually moved to Spokane, Washington where Mike coached them for six seasons between 1994 - 2000. Tomorrow, the Spokane Chiefs are in the final of the Memorial Cup. It is in Kitchener, Ontario as they take on the hometown Rangers. Below is a WHL playoff promo I voiced for
Shaw-TV and here is a link to how the WHL playoffs went. By the way, the Kelowna Rockets started here in 1995 after moving from Tacoma, Washington. We were the 2004 Memorial Cup champions!
To my friends and colleagues in the US, I would like to wish you a nice and meaningful Memorial Day on Monday, May 26.

Do NOT believe everything you read!

Seeing is believing - and so is hearing in many cases. I was reading my Buffalo buddy Peter O'Connell's blog today and the article “if only i could take back what i said.” I clicked on the link, Sue Simmons’
f-bomb on a live newscast promo, and was glad there was no audio link - just a visual link from the New York Times. While reading the latter, I noticed the New York Times' link to their Fashion and Style section and the article Where Ralph Buys Blouses.

Please rest assured that article has nothing to do with yours truly...I have never even worn a kilt:) But I bet Peter O'Connell has. He has Irish blood...and a real f sense...that stands for fashion...and friend...