SABRES: GIMME FIVE!!

Buffalo is on a roll! They won their fifth straight - tonight against Washington, 3-1. Number 55, Jochen Hecht, had 2 goals and an assist. His first goal came at 10:55 in the first period. The Sabres looked sharp in sweeping Montreal Friday and Saturday night. We won at home first, 4-2, then backup goalie Jocelyn Thibault shutout Montreal in his hometown,
3-0. He played for the Habs from 1995 - 1999.

Next up for the Sabres is St. Louis, a team I have supported as a fan over the years. In fact, I wore my Blues jersey proudly over the weekend as they beat Vancouver 3-1. Jochen Hecht actually played for St. Louis between 1998 - 2001. The Blues will be tough; they have won five in a row at home - BUT unfortunately for them they will be playing in Buffalo Wednesday night. There is a number 55 on St. Louis too: Christian Backman. Buffalo fans will remember another blueliner who is there now: Jay McKee. After ten years as a Sabre he signed in St. Louis last year. Until the Canuck game he was a scratch in five straight though.

The National Hockey League was founded on this date in 1917 in Montreal after a series of disputes within the (Canadian) National Hockey Association (NHA), which would see the NHA suspend operations and the new NHL start play. Montreal fans will also remember this date in 1984 when Guy Lafleur retired after 14 years and 518 goals with the Canadiens. Relive the memories with this YouTube footage!

Another classic Habs moment happened on November 26, 1958 when Maurice "Rocket" Richard scored his 600th career goal at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The current roster of Montreal does not have a number 55 - but there is a # 54: Mikhail Grabovski. Like the Sabres' Jochan Hecht, he was born in Germany. Here in Kelowna we cheer local boy Josh Gorges on!

Ho Ho Ho!!

HOme sweet HOme for the HOlidays! And I'm not talking about Santa...it is the Thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada. South of the border it is Columbus Day on Monday. Americans might not have a Columbus Day if Christopher Columbus had not been born in Italy. Out of pride for their native son, the Italian population of New York City organized the first celebration of the discovery of America on October 12, 1866. In 1905, Colorado became the first state to observe a Columbus Day. Over the next few decades other states followed. In 1937, then- President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day. Since 1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October.

HOme sweet HOme for the Colorado Rockies. Thanks to HOme runs in each of the first two games against Philadelphia by possible season MVP Matt HOlliday and a super pitching performance by Canadian Jeff Francis in game one, the Rockies can roll into round two of the baseball playoffs with a win tomorrow at HOme against Ryan HOward (105 HOme runs the last 2 seasons!) and the Phillies.

HOckey sweet HOckey returns to Buffalo tonight! The new HDef video screens are in place at HSBC Arena as the New York Islanders pay a visit tonight. I will post my opening on MSG-TV soon I hope. Last Saturday I had the privilege of being the PA announcer for one of the area's junior hockey teams, the Westside Warriors. What a finish to the game against Powell River with the winning goal scored by Westside with just 5 seconds left! One of their radio announcers, Brett Mix, is a big Buffalo Sabres fan.
Have a great season boys!

HOops sweet HOops! My basketball league resumed last night.
Great exercise! Even better than the competitive tennis league I am a part of. HOpe YOU have a great season - whichever one life is throwing your way right now:) Keep your chin up!

Rock 'n' Roll Celebrity sighting!

Last time out I mentioned my daughter, Ashley (below, top right), was in Reno for a huge volleyball tournament. One of those days, Coach Leslie spotted Gene Simmons at the volleyball festival. She had a keen eye because he wasn't wearing sunglasses or the extreme makeup associated with his famous group, KISS. Gene was there supporting his daughter, Sophie, an avid volleyball player. OUR girls got Gene's attention BUT he wasn't interested in posing for a photo - until they yelled out they were from Canada! Well, that sealed the deal as Gene's life partner of close to 25 years, Shannon Tweed, was born in Canada.
The volleyball angle was even featured on this week's episode of the popular reality show, Gene Simmons Family Jewels:
Gene is hurt to learn that Sophie never informed him of a Father/Daughter Volleyball game, not realizing that she just didn't want to bother him and his busy schedule.

Gene Simmons was born in Haifa, Israel (last week I completed the English version voiceover for the AWACS 2.0 system for this Israeli Production company) in 1949 and is the only child of his mother, a German Nazi Concentration Camp survivor. He is a shrewd businessman. KISS continues to be the juggernaut of licensing/merchandising, with over 2,500 licenses. Unfortunately, much of that involves behavior that is:

rude, crude, lewd and screwed

Sorry Mr. Simmons. I cannot allow you to spend any more time with my daughter!

“May Day! May Day!”...Moving day

Welcome to May!

Rick Jeanneret's famous “May Day! May Day!” call from 1993 can be listened to here.

It's actually my fault the Sabres lost Sunday in double overtime:)
I was emceeing the local kickoff to the minor baseball league season in town and did not have a chance to watch one second of the game. Sabres still lead the Rangers 2 games to 1 with Game 4 tonight in the Big Apple. I will be glued to the tube...

The first pitch was thrown out by Brent Gilchrist, who had a long NHL career and won the Cup with Detroit in '98. The current coach in Detroit, Mike Babcock, played junior hockey in Kelowna just like Brent. The Red Wings are the #1 seed in the West but currently trail San Jose 2 games to 1. One of the coaches for a young baseball team I introduced was another former NHL'er, Dixon Ward, who had his best years in Buffalo.

Our family has enjoyed 15 great years in our current home but last month we sold it and found a new one that has a better set up for my home studio. Other positives include the kids' rooms all being downstairs, a more central location, Grandma close by and we are not too far from my brother-in-law Darren and his family. Darren is turning 40 in a few days. Happy Birthday Darren!
You'll be pleased to know I'm renewing my Sports Illustrated subscription and you can borrow them any time...

Me and the Amazing Musicians!

In stores today is "Barenaked Ladies Are Men." They did a great show here in Kelowna, BC last night and I got free tickets thanks to Tour Manager extraordinary, Fin.

"Barenaked Ladies Are Me" was their last album in September '06. "Maybe You Should Drive" came out in 1994 and that's when the photo above (me in the middle) was taken on the tour bus.

ME-smerizing M-EN-tertainers! is what I said in an email moments ago to Fin. If you are fortunate enough to see them on tour in the next little while, you'll understand why M-E is played up in my review.

Barenaked Ladies and I (Me) worked for the same record company (Warner Music Canada). I was there for five years (1991-1996) and I always enjoyed my time with the group at concerts and setting up promotions like in-store autograph sessions. I had a chance to catch up with drummer Tyler Stewart in the afternoon yesterday and even gave him a copy of the TV interview I did 2 weeks ago on Shaw-TV with all that Buffalo Sabres footage. Tyler is a big sports fan like yours truly and is a regular guest on this sports show in Toronto.

Thumbs Up!

Congratulations to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts for winning Sunday's Super Bowl against Chicago 29-17! His thumb was just fine after getting banged up late in the AFC Championship game against New England, which they won 38-34.

Next to Peyton is ME and both of my thumbs in the Gary Nylander photo that accompanied this November 19, 2006 newspaper article on yours truly.

Brewin' up a storm!

Daniel Briere just had his second ever career hat trick as the Sabres stopped the Boston Bruins cold in their tracks 7-1! The opening on
MSG-TV had me read:
Two straight third period letdowns...
A losing record for the month of January...
It’s been a rough stretch...that has Lindy looking for answers.

Tonight...
Buffalo gets a top blue-liner back...
While another will get a few looks up front.

The Sabres try to snap a slump..
Part one of two against Boston....NEXT on MSG!!!

When I sent my voice file back to Feature Producer/Writer Matt Gould I included this note:
Hi Matt,
Enjoyed your footage from the All-Star game!
Hope Briere leads like an All-Star tonight…maybe Miller needs a haircut:)

Well, Ryan Miller had the night off in net...don't know if he got a haircut during the game or not..
Daniel Briere's first career hat trick was only last month (December 5) in Tampa Bay. He was the MVP last week at the All-Star game in Dallas and you can see Matt's footage and hear his narration when you go to Multimedia at http://www.sabres.com. You become an Insider simply by registering your email address.

Last week I was interviewed for a TV show called "Okanagan Today" with Shaw TV host Tim Morton. The 3:40 second segment began running last Thursday night after 6 PM in a rotation right through the weekend. It was only on January 12 that I received a copy of my MSG-TV openings through 2006 from Matt in the mail. Like Matt, Tim did an excellent job of editing game footage and great graphics with a story on me and our favorite hockey team of all-time:
the Buffalo Sabres!
I will try to get a link up shortly to the story so the Sabres become your favorite team too .

Super Bowl!

You are thinking football after seeing my headline, right? Yesterday the 2 finalists were determined: Indy and Windy. Will be a great game in 2 Sundays!

It was VERY windy at our place December 13. Can you believe the skylight was ripped off our roof after a powerful wind gust? The restoration crew will finally be here tomorrow morning to replace it. Last Thursday and Friday were out because it was snowing too much. A lovely green room, isn't it?

LOOK UP! WAY UP! THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!

"Ralph On The Roof" will not be happening anymore:) I've climbed out my bathroom window about four times to clear snow off our green tarp and reposition bricks to keep the tarp in place.

Saturday I had a super bowl when I rolled a 292 5-pin bowling - including 5 straight strikes! Beat my 13-year old by only 5 in the first game of the day before gettin' on a roll in the second game. We'll be going at it again next weekend and hopefully include some other family members.

Soup in the slow cooker is pretty awesome too so that equalled another
super bowl for dinner yesterday. Thanks dear!

Viva Italia!

This morning I had an email arrive from Italy. I did a short message (in English) for their website and we'll see if some work follows down the road. Anyway, I have an Italian flavor to this blog entry. Many of us watched TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond" over the 9 seasons it ran between 1996 - 2005. Italian-American star RAY Romano was born in Queens, New York and he turns 49 on December 21. He shares a birthday with Kiefer Sutherland, who turns 40 in 2 weeks. Romano has been married to his wife, Anna, since 1987 and they have 4 kids.
Awesome numbers! My wife, Darlene, and I are close: 1988 and 3 kids.

I also want to send out my kudos to RAYmond Oelrich, creative force behind Big Game Adventures magazine. He read the interview with me in the local daily newspaper November 19 and gave me a call to do voiceover work on the TV show he is producing: "On The Adventure Trail." The show will feature big game hunting with episodes featuring sheep, goat, elk, moose, NO Buffalo Sabres, bear and other species from around the world. 26 new episodes will air in 2007 with a variety of guest hosts while yours truly will be heard throughout the shows with narration and imaging. "On The Adventure Trail" is scheduled to air on The Sportsman Channel in the United States, as well as www.outfitters.tv worldwide beginning in early 2007.

Another Italian-American born in New York 60 years ago is Sylvester Stallone. I mention Sly because he was in Philadelphia last night on Monday Night Football plugging "Rocky Balboa." It will be number 6 in the series. The tagline is "It ain't over 'til it's over." Rocky comes out of retirement to go in the ring once again - this time with a trusty sidekick named Bullwinkle:)
That joke ties in nicely with Romano's 2004 movie "Mooseport."

Well, I hope the Italian Stallion doesn't come after me - but I could take him...I hope Sly casts me in "Rocky 7":) Or maybe we'll get him to host an episode of "On The Adventure Trail."

Perfect 10!

As I logged in to write on my blog, Blogger.com plugged some other blogs to visit. One was Intensities in Ten Cities: A construct of rants, musings & life travel info. I thought that was ironic as I had already picked my headline of Perfect 10!

• My wife, Darlene, is a Perfect 10! Despite the fact she had a challenging night at work last night as a Support Care worker, she snuck in to support me at "old guys" basketball. She said she saw me nail a 3-pointer:) She has been a huge support and encouragement in my voiceover business. In fact, she scores a 100 in my books there!
• My 11-year-old son, Jordan. Played in his first rugby game yesterday. Receiving and dishing out his first tackles were quite memorable! But after the game at home he began his homework right away while eating dinner. World Series game 4 was an attraction for me but Jordan was focussed on the job at hand: science, math & more. "A" for effort Jordan! Perfect 10!
• Buffalo Sabres beat the New York Islanders 3-0 last night. 10-0 to start the season! Only the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs got out of the gate this quickly.
• My 13-year-old son, Justin. Last Friday night he took part in his first ever Hockey Pool at his uncle's house. He was up to the challenge and didn't need my help at all. He knows his stats and is a math whiz! He drafted in lucky position #10 last week and currently sits at #12 overall. 21 guys took part! It was fun to just hang out with Justin at his brother's rugby game yesterday too.
• My 15-year-old daughter, Ashley. Volleyball is her passion and her Grade 10 team finished second in a tournament last weekend in Vernon. The week before they won it all in Revelstoke. This week she received news at one of her practices that she will be part of a region-wide elite Club volleyball team. Keep it up Ash! Watch out for her $10 million dollar smile soon when her braces come off:)