Washington (and) DC comes calling

The Washington Capitals came into Buffalo last night and won 4-2. On Boxing Day, the Caps edged us as well, 3-2, thanks to another highlight reel goal from Ovechkin. I guess that was to be expected since we referred to the "amazing Alex" in the opener on MSG-TV. That script and an article on yours truly was featured on THE Washington Capitals blog known as "On Frozen Blog." Thanks to my voiceover colleague and friend, Gary Kriebel (aka Gustafsson at OFB), for the plug! I have thrown the spotlight on Gary here a couple of times before.

I mentioned in my last post about Trevor Linden's number 16 being raised to the rafters at Vancouver's GM Place. Well, Washington retired number 11 recently and Gary was there to provide some awesome visual evidence. Mike Gartner is the player in question and he is actually my best player on my current WhatIfSports.com fantasy hockey team.

DC (David Ciccarelli) came calling yesterday in the form of an email letting me know about "The Report on the Voice Over Industry 2009." DC is the CEO and President at Voices.com. I know it will be very informative and educational to read...I'll get to it in 2009 David:)
Happy New Year everyone!

A little TLC

TLC is an abbreviation for many things. The most popular would be Tender Loving Care and The Learning Channel. How about That Lazy Cat?

This is ours, Bunzo, looking out the front window yesterday at the basketball hoop surrounded by snow. Yes, it is certainly hockey weather! Last night at GM Place in Vancouver they retired the number 16 jersey of Trevor Linden.

TLC

• Trevor Linden, Canuck
• Tremendous Leader, Captain
• Totally Loves Children

You will see what I mean for the last one 82 seconds into the Trevor Linden tribute video that played on the GM Place scoreclock prior to the jersey ceremony yesterday. Thanks a LOT for Caring Trevor!

Voiceover artist on strike..I mean, strikes a pose

This weekend, "The Day The Earth Stood Still" is the big movie release in theatres. Last weekend it was "Three Days That Ralph Stood Still" at Willow Park Church's annual "Living Nativity."
I was the milkman mannequin.
No voiceovers allowed!



Today I came across this crime north of us: Thieves break in, drink milk.

To the east of us one province over is Alberta. Further east is Saskatchewan. Medicine Hat is on the Alberta side of the border.
To the south is Montana. Little Plume Church in Medicine Hat is running this ad featuring yours truly promoting a Christmas event tomorrow.

The Medicine Hat Tigers junior hockey team is here in Kelowna on January 30 next month. I am hoping to attend that game. The Tigers
are a plus 10 in the win column right now and the Kelowna Rockets are an impressive plus 7. Tyler Myers of Kelowna was the Sabres' first pick in the NHL draft this year - 12th overall. Tyler Ennis of Medicine Hat was the Sabres' second first round pick at #26.

One of Medicine Hat's hometown heroes is Trevor Linden. He played his junior hockey there and had a great NHL career! In four short days the Vancouver Canucks will be retiring Linden's #16. Thanks for the memories Trevor - and being a great role model for the kids!

Burke-y IS a Turkey!

Hass, Bass and Sapp (not a law firm) did NOT win on "Dancing with the Stars" this week. I have an alibi: I did not get to audition:)

Congratulations to Brooke Burke, who won it all! She is not the turkey but Brian Burke, the former Duck, is. He abandoned the Anaheim NHL ship earlier this month and waddles into Toronto today as the new general manager. Burke has a six-year deal to turn things around in Toronto.

Damien Cox is a columnist for The Toronto Star and his ESPN column last week made light of the best NHL quotes through the first part of the season.

The media will love Brian Burke in TO. He always has something to say!
Here is a quote from Brian Burke at the Top 77 ice hockey quotes at Hockey Tribute.com:
”Hockey is a man's game. The team with the most real men wins.”
That made #46 on the list.

Former goalie Sean Burke placed at #20 with: ”It's too easy when you're not winning to look for excuses and point at others for reasons. ”You can say "Oh well, it's this guy's fault or they don't do this well" or you can say "I've got to play better and contribute more". You've got to find another gear and come up with big games.”

Right behind at #21 is Buffalo Sabres color commentator Harry Neale:
”Last season we couldn't win at home and we were losing on the road. My failure was that I couldn't think of any place else to play.” This went back to when Harry was coaching the Canucks during the 1981–82 season.

Harry also made the list at #24: ”Our system of forechecking is to shoot the puck and leave it there.” And he cracked the top 10 hitting #10 with: ”I know my players don't like my practises, but that's OK because I don't like their games.”

Two big wins in a row for the Sabres! 4-3 over Pittsburgh last night and 3-2 against Boston on Wednesday. Tonight we hit the road against Montreal with my "turkey opening" on MSG-TV...

Chicken ACTION on the reality shows

Here is the overview of tonight's "The Amazing Race." Believe it or not, one team member had to enter a marked chicken shack in Kazakhstan (try saying that ten times quickly voiceover colleagues!)
and search among 30, 000 chickens for one of only seven golden eggs. Meanwhile, last Tuesday on "Dancing With the Stars", Olympian Maurice Greene was eliminated. He ended nearly every dance with his catch phrase “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” Does anyone know what that means? Other questions I am wondering about:

• Why did the chicken cross the road?
• Why did the chicken cross the dance floor?
• Did the Sabres "hit the dance floor?"

Chickening out...

The Bills are in New England tomorrow to take on Bill BeliCHICKen and the Patriots in a battle for first place. The Bills haven't won against the Patriots in Foxborough since 2000. On December 7, the Bills are playing a home game in Toronto against the Miami Dolphins. Here are the details on a chicken promotion around the game.

This is a pretty funny chicken flavored commercial from Rice Honeywell and the crew at Spinnaker Sound. He didn't intentionally send me something that included mafia and electricity elements after I had mentioned that on my Halloween post about recent Buffalo Bills scripts.

Congratulations to Kelowna's Acro Media on their tenth anniversary!
To mark the occasion they did something special involving chickens.

Finally, the most famous chicken in the sports world is here.
And, he even has a blog...

America has a new VOICE!

Two nights ago Barack Obama was elected as the next President of the United States. He is certainly a gifted speaker! Last night my Buffalo Bills' Game Recap for the "Thurman Thomas Show" had a political theme and I got to say the President-elect's name to start off this weekend's show. Sportscaster Mike Toth (a great hybrid mix of humor, hockey and hair!) had an excellent column today about Obama's big win. Click on that link and find out which retired football star has already been dubbed "Canada's Obama"
by one Toronto newspaper.

Meanwhile, you can listen to the Obama song here in this link for Obama City, Japan. Maybe one day Obama will come to Oyama?
It is a small community just north of where I live. I believe that WON'T happen - but I believe I will meet Mike Toth one day...probably not in Oyama though...

Trick or Treat?? I'm a LAWYER!

Yesterday, Sabres Executive Producer Matt Gould had me update one of our sponsor reads. Have a listen and see if you can tell which one is the "real deal" and which is Halloween hijinks. Matt writes my openers on MSG-TV for the Buffalo Sabres. My partner in crime for the Buffalo Bills is Senior Producer Kevin McCabe. The scripts for my Game Recaps for the "Thurman Thomas Show" have had some cool themes the last two weeks. This weekend it's a "Sopranos"/mafia theme while last weekend it was an electricity theme. We will get some footage up in the near future...stay tuned!

Big and Orange?

That might describe a Halloween pumpkin at your place...we don't have ours out yet. Or the Syracuse Orange - just like the movie photo in my last post. Our local junior football team (the Okanagan Sun) is big and orange - just like our provincial pro team: the BC Lions. The NFL team that resembles Syracuse are the Cleveland Browns. They will be in the national spotlight on Monday Night Football on November 17 when they will lose in Buffalo! The Bills are currently 5-1 while the hockey Sabres are just as good with six wins and one shootout loss to start the season. Last night, the Sabres beat the previously unbeaten Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a shootout. My prediction was 4-2 and was included with my opening voice file on MSG-TV to the guys behind the scenes:

THE PIGEON HAS FOUND A NEW COOP (click here for the story)...

BUT IT'S OWNER IS STILL A GUY BETWEEN THE PIPES!

RYAN MILLER KEPT THE BOYS IN BLUE IN THE GAME...

AS BUFFALO PULLED OUT ANOTHER DRAMATIC WIN AT HOME.

TONIGHT...THE FIRST OF TWO IN THE WILD, WILD WEST...

WHERE MINNESOTA IS A PERFECT 4-AND-O.

A BATTLE OF TWO OF THE LEAGUE'S BEST...NEXT ON MSG!

I have also predicted the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The series is currently tied at one. The hockey teams from those cities are off to very slow starts. The Philly Flyers are not big and orange right now. They are ranked 15th out of 15 Eastern Conference teams with only three points after six games. And Sabres fans will be happy to know that Danny Briere has an injury that could keep him out of the lineup for at least three weeks.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is ranked 13th with five points.

Big and orange at football stadiums? Gatorade!

My wife, Darlene, and I were part of a great team of volunteers - NOT at a Buffalo Bills tailgate party - but at the Okanagan International Marathon on October 12th. We handed out water and Gatorade. The guy with the Canucks hat (some nerve!) is Al Gillespie. He ran the half marathon.
Good job Al! Hope to see more of your blog too...

Hockey Hibernation is over!

H2O for short:) Yes, water has turned to ICE as the Buffalo Sabres got the second short-handed goal of the season from Thomas Vanek tonight as they beat the previously unbeaten New York Rangers 3-1. Buffalo now has a perfect 3-0 record while the Rangers fall to 5 wins and 1 loss. Congratulations to coach Lindy Ruff who became the 23rd bench
boss to reach 400 career victories!

Next up for the Sabres in two days is my second favorite team - the Vancouver Canucks. My second-ever blog post mentioned how both these teams entered the NHL at the same time in 1970. I also talked
about a client in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in that post - and I just noticed Thomas Vanek played some of his early hockey for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the United States Hockey League.

I am disappointed the Sabres are NOT in Vancouver to play on Friday.
That would have been a real possibility to attend. Instead, the game is
in Buffalo, where the Sabres won early last year (January 19/07) in a shootout, 4-3. Here is my opener from that game on MSG-TV. Bit of a blooper if you ask me...watch to the end to see what I mean. The Hockey News Yearbook predicted both Buffalo and Vancouver to finish 11th out of 15 teams in the Eastern and Western conferences respectively. Based on what I have seen so far this season (and an undefeated pre-season for the Canucks), I am betting both these teams will finish top 8. That means playoff spots - just like the Buffalo Bills are aspiring to. They are currently
4-1. A great football movie has hit theatres now. Go see this: