I had the opportunity to watch game one of the WHL final between Seattle and Regina on Friday night and Yorkton was well represented with Zack Andrusiak and Turner Ottenbreit on the TBirds as players. Tarrington Wyonzek was one of the linesmen and former Yorkton Mauler Ethan Bear is a defenseman on Seattle. When Bear scored the game’s first goal, I had to do a double take as to who the home team was because there was an entire section of fans that were there as Bear supporters. By the end of the night, Ottenbreit was public enemy number one as he laid out Regina star player Adam Brooks in the second period with an open ice hit that was a thing of beauty. It’s going to be a great series that I intend to pay a little more attention to than usual this week.
Former Toronto Blue Jays players Duane Ward and Roberto Alomar headlined a fundraising supper in Melville over the weekend and I have to admit at being won over by the charismatic Alomar, especially after a story told by long time Melville baseball coach Garnet Keller. Garnet got up on stage and told a real cool story that dates back to 1993 when Alomar and the Jays were in Regina for an exhibition game. Apparently, the players were signing autographs out the open bus windows just before departing for the airport and as Garnet’s son Jordan was about to hand Alomar his baseball, the bus pulled away. The young boy was upset but dad decided to see if they could get a second chance at Alomar’s autograph at the airport. When the bus arrived, Alomar recognized Jordan immediately as the lad who didn’t get his baseball signed because the bus drove off. So, Alomar took Jordan’s ball and got every player on the team to sign it. Jordan went on and had a pretty good baseball career himself, locally, and also in the United States college ranks. These stories aren’t told often enough.
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby returned to the lineup less than a week after suffering a, suspected, concussion. It’s, at least, the third one Crosby has sustained in his pro career. There are outcries everywhere that Crosby came back too soon and put himself in grave danger and that the Penguins, as well as the NHL, need to be accountable. Hey, I’d love to pin the NHL into a corner as much as the next guy but I see this as Crosby’s decision. He can get all the medical advice that’s available to him and then make up his own mind as to what he wants to do. I say if he’s feeling good and wants to get back in there, so be it. He’s an adult and allowed to make those choices even if it’s against conventional wisdom. Sure, it may not be healthy but neither is smoking. Does a doctor forbid people from doing that?
A Syrian refugee family had a baby this week and named the poor fella after Justin Trudeau, in honor of how thankful they are to be in Canada. I could, likely, think of more than a hundred names for a baby that would be better than Justin Trudeau if you wanted to achieve this Canadian signature thing. Maple Leaf. Moose. Wayne Gretzky. Those three come immediately to mind. The guy is going to be ripping mad at his parents in about twenty years when he realizes Justin Trudeau is the reason why he can’t make an honest living and has to shell out most of his hard earned money in taxes to pay down this massive debt that Trudeau is amassing as he tries to save the world at Canada’s expense.
Mainstream media is refusing to run a 30 second ad that is endorsed by President Donald Trump that highlights his accomplishments through his first 100 days as US President. I’ve watched the commercial on YouTube and I’m going with the notion that Trump mentions the ‘Fake News Media’ in the ad as the reason why the likes of CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC won’t run it on their stations. This should tell you that calling them ‘fake news’ really gets under their skin because they are saying ‘no’ to significant dollars by not running the spot. Â
In New York, a school that was too poor to buy textbooks ended up sending eight staff members to Disney Land to participate in an academic conference, valued at $15,000. Likely, could have bought a few text books.
I don’t know what the ‘phobia’ term is for each of these; but the top three fears in North America are: snakes, spiders, and speaking in front of people. I can vouch for two of those. I also am very afraid of crazy exhibition fair rides. I’ve never understood the concept of spending huge dollars just to scare yourself beyond comprehension. You should be able to do that for free. And, then seek help.
Nice person mentions this week to Perry Hubbard, Kyla DeDecker, Brendan McGuire, Neil Lamberty, and Kevin Deters.
