Friday, October 29, 2004
Yo Murphy...
...is considering retirement. Hopefully he won't, but for those of you attending the game tomorrow, be sure to give him an extra large ovation when you hear his name, just in case.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
24 days to go
For the next couple of weeks, Ottawasportsblog will be Ottawagreycupblog.
First, I've added a link to the official Grey Cup site on the sidebar.
Some other potentially useful links.
The choice in official events is staggering.
OttawaStart has a roundup of Grey Cup links and news.
The city of Ottawa site has some key info on transportation and road closures. Looks like I may end up walking back to Barrhaven from Landsdowne.
You may also have heard that they've secured a Canadian institution to play at halftime of the Canadian institution.
Slainte! Prosit! Sociable! They're also keeping the bars open 'till 3:00 (subscriber article).
More to come as I come across them. For instance, the Citizen is coming out with a Grey Cup guide/planner sometime in the next week or two. I'm sure the Sun will be doing the same.
First, I've added a link to the official Grey Cup site on the sidebar.
Some other potentially useful links.
The choice in official events is staggering.
OttawaStart has a roundup of Grey Cup links and news.
The city of Ottawa site has some key info on transportation and road closures. Looks like I may end up walking back to Barrhaven from Landsdowne.
You may also have heard that they've secured a Canadian institution to play at halftime of the Canadian institution.
Slainte! Prosit! Sociable! They're also keeping the bars open 'till 3:00 (subscriber article).
More to come as I come across them. For instance, the Citizen is coming out with a Grey Cup guide/planner sometime in the next week or two. I'm sure the Sun will be doing the same.
And so it begins...
The Red Sox have been crowned champions and baseball is over for the season. The lockout has just officially begun for me. Grey Cup on the horizon but sports prairies beyond.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Excellent news...
Official (and not so official) Renegdes award nominations
Despite how this season has gone, "happy Renegades news" is not always an oxymoron.
The Renegades recognized the bright spots in a disappointing season yesterday in choosing their nominees for the CFL's annual awards. And the nominees are...
Outstanding player: Josh Ranek (although still criminally underused at times, Ranek is leads the team in TDs with 10 and is only 29 yards from another 1,000 yard rushing season)
Outstanding Defensive player and Outstanding Canadian: Kelly Wiltshire
Oustanding Rookie and Outstanding Special Teams Player: Jason "Speed Kills" Armstead
Outstanding Lineman: George Hudson
There were also some less publicized nominations...
And...he...could...go...all...the...way award: Jason Armstead
There's a Flag Down and it May Be Coming Back award: the offensive line
Where's Waldo/Who's Pat award: Pat Woodcock (who went woefully undiscovered by the QBs until late in the season when he promptly injured himself again)
McDonald's Drive-thru award: the sound system at Frank Clair Stadium
Steinbrenner Where's My Calzone and You're Fired Martin award: Brad Watters (in honor of his post-loss outbursts to the media
Ebenezer award: CEO John Lisowski
Super Dave Osborne award: entire team
Red Sea meets Moses award: offensive line
Charlie Brown award: every Renegades kicker in history not named Lawrence Tynes
The Adam Viniteri icewater in the veins award: Sandro Sciortino and his 2 for 2 on game winners
Look Both Ways Before award: Mike Maurer
Monty Python Always Look on the Bright Side award: Joe Paopao
Jack Kerouac award: Eric Tillman
Stop Right there! Where the Hell Do You Think You're Going award: Jerome Heywood
It's Just a Flesh Wound award: Kelly Wiltshire
E.R. award: Renegades' medical staff
I'm Taking My Toys and Going Home award: fickle fans who are jumping ship at the first sign of trouble
The Renegades recognized the bright spots in a disappointing season yesterday in choosing their nominees for the CFL's annual awards. And the nominees are...
Outstanding player: Josh Ranek (although still criminally underused at times, Ranek is leads the team in TDs with 10 and is only 29 yards from another 1,000 yard rushing season)
Outstanding Defensive player and Outstanding Canadian: Kelly Wiltshire
Oustanding Rookie and Outstanding Special Teams Player: Jason "Speed Kills" Armstead
Outstanding Lineman: George Hudson
There were also some less publicized nominations...
And...he...could...go...all...the...way award: Jason Armstead
There's a Flag Down and it May Be Coming Back award: the offensive line
Where's Waldo/Who's Pat award: Pat Woodcock (who went woefully undiscovered by the QBs until late in the season when he promptly injured himself again)
McDonald's Drive-thru award: the sound system at Frank Clair Stadium
Steinbrenner Where's My Calzone and You're Fired Martin award: Brad Watters (in honor of his post-loss outbursts to the media
Ebenezer award: CEO John Lisowski
Super Dave Osborne award: entire team
Red Sea meets Moses award: offensive line
Charlie Brown award: every Renegades kicker in history not named Lawrence Tynes
The Adam Viniteri icewater in the veins award: Sandro Sciortino and his 2 for 2 on game winners
Look Both Ways Before award: Mike Maurer
Monty Python Always Look on the Bright Side award: Joe Paopao
Jack Kerouac award: Eric Tillman
Stop Right there! Where the Hell Do You Think You're Going award: Jerome Heywood
It's Just a Flesh Wound award: Kelly Wiltshire
E.R. award: Renegades' medical staff
I'm Taking My Toys and Going Home award: fickle fans who are jumping ship at the first sign of trouble
Monday, October 25, 2004
Essential reading to pass the lockout
A couple of weeks ago, I compiled a list of hockey books that I wanted to write an article about. Since it looks like I won't be getting to that for a while, here's the list with Reader's Digest Condensed comment/description of each. I hope to provide more detailed reviews of many of them throughout the long, NHL-less winter.
The Silver 7
The must reads...
1. Tropic of Hockey - Dave Bidini
The best of the best. Ode to hockey meets travel diary. Funny, engaging read.
2. The Game of our Lives - Peter Gzowski
A season with a budding, dynasty-bound Oilers team. Especially good for Oilers fans, but a great read for anyone.
3. The Game - Ken Dryden
The classic. The most intelligent, insightful, hockey book ever written.
4. Anything by Roy MacGregor (Home Team, Home Game (with Ken Dryden), Road Games, or The Last Season (novel))
Can't go wrong with Roy MacGregor.
5. Finnie Walsh - Steven Galloway
My favourite hockey novel. Funny, touching, quick read with memorable characters.
6. The Good Body - Bill Gaston
An aging (and ailing) minor league journeyman adjusts to college and single life after hockey.
7. The Hockey Sweater - Roch Carrier
A classic.
"Wearing my Maple Leafs sweater I went to the church， where I prayed to God； I asked him to send， as quickly as possible， moths that would eat up my Toronto Maple Leafs sweater．"
Top Prospects
Have yet to read, but look promising...
1. Hockey Night in the Dominion of Canada - Eric Zweig
A fictionalized account of hockey around the turn of the century featuring the Ottawa Senators and Renfrew Millionaires. Since originally making the list, I've finished this one and although it's great at giving a sense for hockey as it was played in 1910 (and life in general during that time), there's also a superfluous conspiracy plot that the players must thwart. Worth a read, but it doesn't crack the top list.
2. Salvage King Ya!: A Herky-Jerky Picaresque - Mark Jarman
From what I've read, one of the best hockey novels written. Currently the Sidney Crosby of hockey book prospects, I'm hoping it won't turn out to be the Alex Daigle or Pat Falloon of prospects.
3. Hockey Dreams: Memories of a Man Who Couldn't Play - David Adams Richards
A hockey book (with a title that could describe many of us) from one of Canada's best writers.
4. The Physics of Hockey - Alain Hache
For us geeks, a look at the science behind the game.
5. Roger's World - Wayne Scanlan
A soon to be released bio of Hall of Famer, and former Sens coach Roger Neilson by Citizen columnist Wayne Scanlan.
Sentimental favourites
The first hockey books I remember reading...
Gordie Howe Number 9 - Jim Vipond (Permanently "borrowed" from Grandaddy's bookshelf)
Pi-Oui - Suzanne Martel (the only french book I've ever read twice!)
The Silver 7
The must reads...
1. Tropic of Hockey - Dave Bidini
The best of the best. Ode to hockey meets travel diary. Funny, engaging read.
2. The Game of our Lives - Peter Gzowski
A season with a budding, dynasty-bound Oilers team. Especially good for Oilers fans, but a great read for anyone.
3. The Game - Ken Dryden
The classic. The most intelligent, insightful, hockey book ever written.
4. Anything by Roy MacGregor (Home Team, Home Game (with Ken Dryden), Road Games, or The Last Season (novel))
Can't go wrong with Roy MacGregor.
5. Finnie Walsh - Steven Galloway
My favourite hockey novel. Funny, touching, quick read with memorable characters.
6. The Good Body - Bill Gaston
An aging (and ailing) minor league journeyman adjusts to college and single life after hockey.
7. The Hockey Sweater - Roch Carrier
A classic.
"Wearing my Maple Leafs sweater I went to the church， where I prayed to God； I asked him to send， as quickly as possible， moths that would eat up my Toronto Maple Leafs sweater．"
Top Prospects
Have yet to read, but look promising...
1. Hockey Night in the Dominion of Canada - Eric Zweig
A fictionalized account of hockey around the turn of the century featuring the Ottawa Senators and Renfrew Millionaires. Since originally making the list, I've finished this one and although it's great at giving a sense for hockey as it was played in 1910 (and life in general during that time), there's also a superfluous conspiracy plot that the players must thwart. Worth a read, but it doesn't crack the top list.
2. Salvage King Ya!: A Herky-Jerky Picaresque - Mark Jarman
From what I've read, one of the best hockey novels written. Currently the Sidney Crosby of hockey book prospects, I'm hoping it won't turn out to be the Alex Daigle or Pat Falloon of prospects.
3. Hockey Dreams: Memories of a Man Who Couldn't Play - David Adams Richards
A hockey book (with a title that could describe many of us) from one of Canada's best writers.
4. The Physics of Hockey - Alain Hache
For us geeks, a look at the science behind the game.
5. Roger's World - Wayne Scanlan
A soon to be released bio of Hall of Famer, and former Sens coach Roger Neilson by Citizen columnist Wayne Scanlan.
Sentimental favourites
The first hockey books I remember reading...
Gordie Howe Number 9 - Jim Vipond (Permanently "borrowed" from Grandaddy's bookshelf)
Pi-Oui - Suzanne Martel (the only french book I've ever read twice!)
Groundhog Gades
Writing this blog has given me a new appreciation for sportswriters trying to work up the motivation to write after yet another ugly Renegades loss. I suppose getting paid and getting free food in the press box helps. Recieiving no such monetary or culinary compensation, I lack the motivation to go into great detail anymore. Checking the archives, or the papers, for analyses of almost any of the last 12 games (although I've missed the last 2-3 with other obligations) in this Groundhog Day of a season will give you the gist.
So very briefly, in Eastwood format, the Renegades 52-21 loss to the Alouettes:
The Good: Brad Banks, passing for 2 TDs and running for another. Darnell Kennedy's injury, coupled with Banks' play, may have changed the race for #2 for next season.
The Bad: More injuries, Woodcock (again) and Bendross (again) this time. At least no one was hit by falling concrete from the Big O's roof.
The ugly: The "defence"
So very briefly, in Eastwood format, the Renegades 52-21 loss to the Alouettes:
The Good: Brad Banks, passing for 2 TDs and running for another. Darnell Kennedy's injury, coupled with Banks' play, may have changed the race for #2 for next season.
The Bad: More injuries, Woodcock (again) and Bendross (again) this time. At least no one was hit by falling concrete from the Big O's roof.
The ugly: The "defence"
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Hmmm...
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Guess who's back, back again, Shadys back, tell a friend...
Aahh...the withdrawal symptoms are waning. And now, the Coles-Eastwood summary of Ottawa, and other, sports events over the last few computerless weeks:
The good:
- The Lynx will be back for another year (great, actually)
- the TEAM1200 afternoon show with The Two Dorks. Quality interviews (Gary Green especially), mixed with loads of dorky goofiness.
- the weather's still nice enough to occasionally golf
- The New York "Daddy" Yankees
The bad:
- the 67s 2-5-1 start
- another Renegades loss, 32-25 to the green Riders, wasting a nice little comeback in the 2nd half
The ugly:
- Kerry Joseph is out for the year, big trouble for a team that needs to win all its games to have even a shot at a playoff spot
- in a turn that pretty much sums up the
- still no NHL hockey, only the broken-record refrains of the two sides endlessly repeating their talking points like an unfunny version of a Miller Lite ad "Tastes great market forces vs. less filling cost certainty" Luckily, I have baseball to carry me over for another bit. Since I don't watch much hockey until after the Series anyway, I won't miss it much before then.
The good:
- The Lynx will be back for another year (great, actually)
- the TEAM1200 afternoon show with The Two Dorks. Quality interviews (Gary Green especially), mixed with loads of dorky goofiness.
- the weather's still nice enough to occasionally golf
- The New York "Daddy" Yankees
The bad:
- the 67s 2-5-1 start
- another Renegades loss, 32-25 to the green Riders, wasting a nice little comeback in the 2nd half
The ugly:
- Kerry Joseph is out for the year, big trouble for a team that needs to win all its games to have even a shot at a playoff spot
- in a turn that pretty much sums up the
- still no NHL hockey, only the broken-record refrains of the two sides endlessly repeating their talking points like an unfunny version of a Miller Lite ad "Tastes great market forces vs. less filling cost certainty" Luckily, I have baseball to carry me over for another bit. Since I don't watch much hockey until after the Series anyway, I won't miss it much before then.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Still computerless...and RIP John Cerutti
...at home. My home PC has now been sent off to HP for hopeful salvage.
Briefly checking my blog here at work (lunchtime of course!), I see that a few people have found me via searching for info on the sad passing of Jays colour man, John Cerutti. Regretfully, my reference to him was a biting one, commenting how it would be nice to have a radio feed to drown Rob Faulds and himself out. While their slight homerism was occasionally grating to this non-Jays fan, I found them much improved this year (Faulds has even learned to save his home run call for special occasions). Toward the end of the season, I found myself increasingly enjoying their game-calling. Their love for baseball (and the Jays) is infectious. I'll miss it next year.
However, their game-calling is irrelevant right now. By all accounts, Cerutti was a warm, generous man and a devoted family man. He will be deeply missed by his wife and 3 kids.
R.I.P., John Cerutti.
Briefly checking my blog here at work (lunchtime of course!), I see that a few people have found me via searching for info on the sad passing of Jays colour man, John Cerutti. Regretfully, my reference to him was a biting one, commenting how it would be nice to have a radio feed to drown Rob Faulds and himself out. While their slight homerism was occasionally grating to this non-Jays fan, I found them much improved this year (Faulds has even learned to save his home run call for special occasions). Toward the end of the season, I found myself increasingly enjoying their game-calling. Their love for baseball (and the Jays) is infectious. I'll miss it next year.
However, their game-calling is irrelevant right now. By all accounts, Cerutti was a warm, generous man and a devoted family man. He will be deeply missed by his wife and 3 kids.
R.I.P., John Cerutti.
