the mad sports man

another epic between canada andthe u.s. on new years eve. and yet the difference was one as canada beat the u.s. 3-2. canada shut dowm the best powerplay in the tournament and zach fucale was great in net. next stop: a quarterfinal matchup (byes have been done away with). the match up will depend on the finland vs switzerland game. right now its 3-2 for switzerland early in the third. we know one match up - sweden vs slovakia. sweden won group b while slovakia finished 4th in group a. canada, the u.s and czech rep finished 1st 2nd and 3rd. stay tuned.

canada barely beat slovakia 5-3 in what was a pretty good game. canada was pretty sloppy the first half of the game. they were 5 on three shorthanded twice allowing slovakia to go up 3-1. slovakia has a pretty good powerplay that is now 7 for 13. canada started their comeback with a late goal in the second to make it three to two. they then score three in the third to pull it out. united states stil lead the pool with 9 pts, with canada at 7, slovakia and germany each have three, but germany has one extra game played, and czech republic with two. tomorrow its canada vs united states for the pool and slovakia and czech repubic will be fighting to get to the quarters.

the last day of the nfl regular season had a load of teams looking to make the playoffs. with philly jsut beating dallas, the following wild card matchups are as follows: on saturday the kansas city chiefs go to indianapolis to play the colts while the new orleans saints go to philadelphia to play the eagles. on sunday the san diego chargers travel to cincinnati to take on the bengals and the san francisco 49ers head to the frozen tundra of lambeau field of green bay to play the packers. awaiting the winners in the divisional round is teh denver broncos, new england patriots, seattle seahawks and carolina panthers. the road to super bowl XLVIII starts now.

the czech republic beats canada 5-4 in a shootout. the czechs i think was the better team today. i think they wanted the game more than canada. four different times the czechs had the lead and canada tied it. next game for canada is against slovakia on monday while the czechs also play monday against germany. after two games, the u.s. has 6 pts, canada with 4, slovakia with 3, czech rep with 2 and germany with 0.

the annual boxing day tradition has begun in malmo, sweden as canada put a 7-2 beating over germany. germany kept it close in the first period, even scoring the first goal. canada was a tad shaky for the first fifteen minutes of the game, then poured it on. anthony mantha had a hatrick in the game. next game for canada is saturday morning here against the czech republic. coverage on tsn starts at 9am. meanwhile germany plays slovakia tomorrow.

merry christmas to all readers and all friends wherever you are. and dont party too much.

winter has officially started today. i am not sure of the exact time it started or will start. and naturally it is a tad chilly here. it is -17 at the moment. just looked it up. come christmas day it is supposed to get to -7 which isn't bad. don't freeze.

it was an absolute fantastic show last night. stuart mclean was at his absolute best with his dave and morley stories - two new ones plus an old one. he even started the second half of the show with a few snipits of old christmas stories, like dave puttung up christmas lights on the roof and getting his tongue stuck on the antenna, dave cooking the turkey, dave raising another turkey, the fruitcake and polly anderson. there was some music involved as well with john sheard on piano and the good lovelies singing. the good lovelies is a three woman band. sounded pretty damn good. i cant remember who was on the base. quite the show. the two new stories provided some laughs and hysterics with dave's hijinks with a difribulator in one story and how to be at two parties at once and all the snacks and everyone ending up at polly andersons house. anyways the vinyl cafe can be heard on cbc 740 am on the radio at noon on sunday afternoons in edmonton. times maty be different elsew...

brad jacobs and his team has punched their ticket to sochi with an 8-4 win over john morris of b.c. jacobs ran the table winning all 8 of his games (seven round robin and the final didn't need to play the semi). congrats to jacobs, ryan fry, e.j. harnden, ryan harnden and alternate matt dumontelle. good luck to you and jennifer jones team in sochi. you will represent canada well.

jennifer jones of winnipeg manitoba will be represting canada at the sochi winter olympics with an 8-4 win over sherri middaugh at the canadian olympic curling trials - otherwise known as the roar of the rings. congrats to jones, kaitlyn lawes, jill officer, dawn mccewen and alternate kristen mccuish. tomorrow is the mens final between brad jacobs and john morris. the winner will be the mens curling rep at sochi.

looking forward to the weekend. sunday night is the capper as i go to see stuart mclean and the vinyl cafe - where the motto is 'were not big, but were small' his dave and morley stories are on sundays at noon on cbc radio. i think the repeats are tuesday nights at 11pm but i am not sure. stuart is on his christmas tour and began his alberta part tonight in calgary, is in banff tomorrow and edmonton for two shows on sunday - one at 2:30 and one at 7:30. the evening show i am attending. on top of that my christmas shopping is almost complete. got one more to get. but that can change. roomies are fun sometimes that way. despite the extreme wind chill warning, it should be good. there is a chance the wind chill could reach -40c. high level had that extreme already. could have been worse there i do not know. i do know someone there who would know.

holy cow what a cold start to december already. got slammed with a snow storm on monday - again. it took a couple of days to get to -20c as a high. it was -11 monday, and -13 yesterday. and highs of -24c for tomorrow and friday. it supposed to get to the mid minus teens by the weekend. might get a white christmas yet.

wow, it's the end of november already. quite the month. got a couple or three dumps of snow already and another storm coming starting sunday night. its got cold, and will get cold again come monday. had the grey cup, with saskatchewan winning. jimmie johnson became nascar champion for the sixth time. sebastian vettel is formula one champion. december is going to be fun with more hockey, more football, more snow and cold, more christmas shoppers, busy parking lots. joys of christmas time. and college football bowl games.

it is black friday. a day that started state side and moved into canada. black friday happens the day after u.s. thanksgiving. it begins the christmas shopping sales and the stores open extra early. it's catching on a bit in canada, so far civil state side though is a mad rush. everyone crams the doors just to get in. it has been known to get ugly. parking at west edmonton mall today was packed. not fun to work outside with all the cars moving in and out trying to park. the parkade crew had to stop early because of it. ick. i still think boxing day is worse. anyways, cannot believe tomorrow is th end of the month. oy.

the saskatchewan roughriders are 2013 grey cup champions with a convincing 45-23 victory over the hamilton tiger-cats. it was basically over by halftime when the riders were up 31-6. 24 points in teh second quarter did it as well. kory sheets set a rushing yards record with 196 yards. the previous record was 1956 when johhny bright set it. sheets was also named most valuable player in the grey cup and chris getzlaf was named most valueable canadian. geroy simon also scored his first two touchdowns in the grey cup. third grey cup in a row that the team that hosted the grey cup ended up winning it. congrats to rider nation.

i think saskatchewan got some of the cold and snow that alberta had. during the grey cup parade there is was -23c with a biting wind (i heard -35 wind chill). plus snow on top of that. cfl fans are hearty fans and will be at the game irregardless of how cold it is or the location of the game. i dont know the forecast for the game tomorrow. just looking forward to the game.

damian durant threw three touchdowns as the saskatchwan roughriders blew out the calgary stampeders 35-13 and have punched a ticket to the grey cup they are hosting. it was all sasktchewan today. so it will be the riders vs the hamilton tigercats in a rematch from the 1989 grey cup (saskatchewan won that thriller 43-40) one week from tonight. game starts after 4pm mountain time.

denny hamlin just won the last race of the season after a great battle with dale earnhardt jr. he had a great race, jr had a great race, matt kenseth dominated leading the most laps. congrats to denny. in the end jimmie johnson finished 7th and has won the sprint cup series, his SIXTH championship. he had a wonderful year, six wins this year and owned the chase. congrats to jimmie on another championship, now only one behind richard petty and dale earnhardt sr.

it took 27 years, but the hamilton tiger cats and toronto argonauts finaly met in the eastern final and it turned out to be a good one. toronto had a 21-10 lead at halftime, but hamilton had an excellent second half coming back and eventually winning 36-24, thus punching their ticket into the grey cup. the hamilton defence kept ricky ray off the ball and their offence used that to their advantage. their first trip to the grey cup since 1999 when they won. next up is the riders in calgary to play the stampeders. winner here goes to regina to play the tiger cats for the grey cup.

auston dillon held off sam hornish jr to win teh nationwide series. i dont know who won the race. the points must have been close. congrats to austin. this now leaves the sprint series and the ford 400. jimmie johnson has a 28 point lead and can win with a 23rd or better.

matt crafton is the 2013 truck series champion. all he needed to do was start tonights race and he did so, starting 8th. he ended up involved in a crash as they were in green-white-checkers scenario. kyle busch won the race. crafton finished 21st. congrats to matt crafton.

tonight begins championship weeks. this weekend is championship weekend in nascar beginning tonight with the truck race, tomorrow with the nationwide race and sunday with the sprint series. it ends next weekend with the 101st grey cup in regina, saskatchewan. stay tuned. it is going to be fun.

today is the day to remember the war veterans from the first world war, second world war, korea and afghanistan and other parts of the middle east today be sure to wear your poppies and have either gone to or watched the services on tv. have a good one.

the saskatchewan roughriders hung on and beat the b.c. lions 29-25 on a chilly day in regina. i think the temperature was -12c this game ended up a thriller. both sides traded leads. saskatchewan will now go to calgary to face the calgary stampeders in the west final next sunday afternoon. almost grey cup time folks.

on a windy day in guelph, the hamilton tiger cats win an overtime thriller over the montreal alouettes 19-16. the als got a field goal to open the ot to go up 16-13. hamilton got a two yard td score to win it. the tiger cats will now go to toronto to face the argonauts next sunday. coming up has the b.c. lions going to regina to face the riders. winner goes to calgary.

edmonton is hosting the canadian finals rodeo this weekend. it actually started started on wednesday. rexall place goes from ice to dirt as cowboys and cowgirls buck, bronc and ride their way to winnings, prize money and some belt buckles. i think there are a couple of go arounds today. the ladies will be racing a round a few barrels with the fastest time winning. the 40th edition ends tomorrow. with the winners going to las vegas (i think it is there) going to the national finals rodeo.

started snowing again within the last couple of hours and is supposed to go overnight. and its supposed to snow again saturday and cool off a bit. the forecast has it warming up by mid-week. hmmm going to have greasy streets for a few days. plus it is rememberance day here on monday (check out some services on monday, it will do ya some good. or watch on tv). winter is here. going to be an interesting winter, whether it will get cold as usual or be mild. i think it will get cold for a stretch. just my opinion though.

started snowing here this afternoon and is supposed to keep snowing until monday morning. by the time it's all said and done between 10 and 20 cm of snow is supposed to have fallen. winter has made its appearance. not supposed to get cold thankfully. perfect weather for some football speaking of which, the cfl regular season ended today and the playoff picture is set. in the east, the montreal alouettes travel to hamilton to face the tiger-cats in the east semi final game on november 10th. the winner faces the toronto argonauts on the 17th. in the west, the b.c. lions travel to saskatchewan to face the riders in the west semi final. the winner goes to calgary to face the stampeders on the 17th.

the boston red sox are world series champions with a 6-1 win in game six and the series four games to two. john lackey pitched 7 2/3 of excellent baseball for the win. michael wacha went less than five innings in the loss. shane victorino hit a bases clearing double in the third and got a fourth rbi in the fourth. koji uehara got the final three outs in the game in a non save situation. it is bostons first world series clincher at home since 1918 (the 2004 and 2007 wins were in st.louis and colorado respectively). david ortiz was named world series mvp. 11 for 16 at the plate. dont remember how many runs he drove in. he gets a 2014 chevy silverado truck. so that's it for another baseball season. see ya in the spring.

jon lester pitched 7 2/3 innings of excellent baseball giving up only one run as the red sox wins game five 3-1 and take the series lead three games to two. adam wainwright pitched 7 innings of pretty damn good baseball in the loss. it was quite a pitchers duel. koji uehara got the four out save to preserve it. game six is in boston wednesday night.

koji uehara picked off kolton wong at first base to end the game and preserve boston's 4-2 win in st.louis. johnny gomes, who took shane victorino's place in the game, hit a key three run homer to put boston ahead. uehara got the save, felix doubrant got the win and lance lynn took the loss. game five is tomorrow in st.louis.

the cardinals win in a wild fashion after will middlebrooks tried to field a throw from the plate for out two, had the ball get by him, then having his feet get tangled up with allan craig, then alan craig getting home and being called safe there for an obstruction call by jim joyce at middlebrooks. the cardinals win 5-4 and take a two games to one lead in the series. trevor rosenthal gets the win and koji uehara gets the loss. still quite an entertaining game. game four is tomorrow in st.louis

the cardinals evened the series at one with a 4-2 win in boston. three runs in the seventh inning aided by two boston errors. michael wacha got the win, trevor rosenthal got the save and jon lackey took the loss. game three is in st. louis on saturday night.

the boston red sox draw first blood as they beat on the cardinals 8-0. jon lester pitched 7 2/3 of scoreless baseball and got the win. adam wainwright didn't get out of the third inning as the red sox scored five runs in the first two innings. mike napoli had a bases clearing double, david ortiz had a two run homer in the rout. boston is up one game to none. game two is tomorrow in boston.

the boston red sox are going to the world series with a 5-2 win in game six and a four games to two win in the series. shane victorino hit a big grand slam home run that put boston up for good. max scherzer ended up the losing pitcher. junichi tazawa got the win and koji uehara got the clinching save. it is the red sox thirteenth pennant. koji uehara was also named alcs mvp with three saves and a win. so it is the cardinals vs red sox for the world series starting wednesday in boston.

four runs in the third and five runs in the fifth were plenty for michael wacha as the rookie pitcher and the rest of the st. louis cardinals won the clinching game 9-0 and the series four games to two. wacha was named nlcs mvp. the cardinals will await the winner of the boston/detroit series. the cards are in their 19th world series and going for their 12th win. the world series starts in either boston or detroit on october 23rd.

mike napoli had a homer, triple and double as boston went up 4-0 and barely hung on to win 4-3. another close game in what has been a very tight series. jon lester got the win, anibal sanchez got the loss and koji uehara got a huge five out save. boston can wrap it up saturday night in boston for game six.

the tigers evened the series at two with a 7-3 in game four. a five run second knocked jake peavy out of the game. peavy took the loss doug fister went six innings for the win. game five is tomorrow in detroit.

the dodgers survive another game with a huge 6-4 win over the cardinals. the dodgers hit four home runs, first time they did that since 1978 against the phillies. zach greinke got the win, joe kelly got the loss. game six is friday in st.louis.

the cardinals are one win from the world series with a 4-2 win in los angeles. matt holliday hit a two run homer in a three run third. lance lynn got the win for the cards, ricky nolaico got the loss and trevor rosenthal got the save. game five is tomorrow in los angeles.

mike napoli drove in the only run of the game as the red sox beat the tigers in comerica park 1-0. justin verlander threw eight innings - even struck out six straight to tie playoff record - in the loss. john lackey went 6 2/3 for the win. koji uehara picked up the save. boston now leads the series two games to one with game four tomorrow in detroit.

the dodgers now trail the cardinals two games to one with a 3-0 win in los angeles. hyun-jin ryu threw five hitless innings and seven overall to claim the victory. adam wainwright threw seven in the cardinals loss. kenley jansen picked up the save. an alex gonzales rbi double and a yasiel puig rbi triple provided more tham plenty of offence and hanley ramirez added an insurance rbi in the 8th. as i said the cardinals still lead the series two games to one with game four in los angeles tomorrow.

the red sox made a monumental comeback and evened the a.l.c.s. at one with a 6-5 win in game two. after going down 0-5, the sox scored one in the seventh. they then tied it in the eigth with a david ortiz grand slam homer. to start the ninth, jason gomes got a base hit, then moved to second on a throwing error. with jarrod saltomachia batting, a past ball moved gomes to third. saltomachhia then drove home gomes to win it. koji uehara got the win and rick porcillo got the loss. game three is tuesday in detroit.

anibal sanchez and four relievers combined for a one hitter as the tigers open the a.l.c.s. with a 1-0 win in boston. the red sox picked up their hit with one out in the ninth inning. anibal sanchez struck out four in one inning (one strike out where the catcher had the ball get by him letting the batter run for first base). sanchez got the win, joaquin benoit got the save and jon lester got the loss. game two is tomorrow in boston.

the cardinals are now up two games to none with a 1-0 win in game two. michael wacha pitched 6.2 innings and got the win. clayton kershaw pitched 6 innings in the loss. both pitchers threw fantastic. ttrever rosenthal got the save. cardinals ony got two hits. they got their run on a jon jay sac fly. dodgers only got 5 hits. game three is monday in los angeles.

the cardinals draw first blood as they defeat the dodgers 3-2. carlos beltran drove in the game winner in the 13th inning. lance lynn gets the win while chris withrow gets the loss. game two is tomorrow in st.louis.

the detroit tigers are heading to the american league championship series with a 3-0 win in game five and a three games to two series win over the oakland a's. justin verlander struck out 10 in the win, miguel cabrera hit a key home run and joaquin benoit got the save for the tigers. sonny gray got the loss for oakland. the tigers go to boston to start their a.l.c.s. game one is saturday night at fenway park.

the st. louis cardinals beat the pittsburgh pirates 6-1 to win game 5 and the series three games to two. david freese and matt adams each hit a two run homer. adam wainwright got the win and gerrit cole got the loss. the cardinals will face the l.a. dodgers in the n.l.c.s starting friday in st.louis.

the red sox are in the american league championship series with a 3-1 win over tampa bay. a wild pitch and an infield hit put boston up two to one and stayed ahead. got one more in the ninth to seal it. craig dreslow got the win, jake mcgee got the loss and koji uehara got the series clinching save. game one of the a.l.c.s is october 12 in boston.

austin jackson drove in the go ahead run as the detroit tigers force a fifth and deciding game winning game four 8-6. max scherzer came in relief and got the victory while sean dooittle took the loss. game five is thursday in oakland.

juan uribe put the dodgers ahead to stay with a two run homer as they beat the braves 4-3 in game four and the series three games to one. they will face either pittsburgh or st.louis in the national league championship series starting friday night. brian wilson got the victory, david carpenter got the loss and kenley jansen got the save for the dodgers.

the rays saved their season by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to win 5-4. they battled back in this game after being down 0-3 and 3-4. fernando rodney gets the win and koji uehara gets the loss. boston still leads the series, this time two games to one. game four is tomorrow in tampa bay.

michael wacha had a no-hitter going into the eigth inning until giving up a solo home run, but st.louis still hung on to win 2-1 and evened the series at two. wacha got the winm trevor rosenthal got the save and charlei norton took the loss. game five is wednesday in st.louis. meanwhile in detroit, the a's are one game away from the a.l.c.s with a 6-3 win over the tigers. jarrod parker got the win, anibol sanches got the loss and grant balfour got the save. game four is tomorrow in detroit.

the dodgers controlled game three, winning 13-6. two four-run innings provided the damage for the dodgers as they take a two game to one lead in the series. chris capuano with the win, julio teheran with the loss. game four is tomorrow in los angeles.

the pirates continue their winning at home over the cardinals with a 5-3 win in game three and a two to one series lead. the pirates broke a three all tie with two runs in the eigth inning. jason grilli came in to save the game for the pirates. mark melancon got the win while corlos martinez got the loss. game four is tomorrow in pittsburgh.

steven vogt singled in the winning - and only run in the game as the oakland a's beat the tigers 1-0. justin verlander struck out 11 in seven innings pitched while sonny gray struck out eight in seven innings pitched. al albuquerque took the loss for detroit while grant balfour got the win. game three is monday in detroit.

boston just won game two 7-4. five runs in the first four started it and hung on for the rest of the way. boston now leads the best of five a.l.d.s two games to none and can wrap it up in tampa bay on monday. john lackey got the win and david price took the loss.

detroit got all of their runs in the first inning, but it was enough as they beat oakland 3-2. max scherzer struck out 11 batters in seven innings pitched. bartolo colon got the loss and joaquin benoit got the save. game two is in oakland tomorrow

jason heyward drove in what proved to be the winning run as the braves hung on to beat the dodgers 4-3. the dodgers scored two in the top of the ninth, but could not tie it. mike minor got the win, zack greinke took the loss and craig kimbrell got the save. game three is sunday in los angeles.

the boston red sox opened their series with a 12-2 rout of the tampa bay rays. a five run 4th, 3 run 5th and 4 run 8th added to it. jon lester got the win while matt moore took the loss. game two is tomorrow in boston. meanwhile pittsburgh evened their series with st. louis with a 7-1 win. gerrit cole gets the win and lance lynn gets the loss. game three is sunday in pittsburgh.

the l.a. dodgers win game one of the n.l.d.s 6-1 over the braves in atlanta. 5 runs in the first four innings provided the offence while clayton kershaw went seven innings to help with the win. kris medlen takes the loss for atlanta. game two is tomorrow in atlanta.

the st. louis cardinals put the boots to the pittsburgh pirates, winning game one 9-1. a seven run fourth (i think) inning clinched it. carlos beltran had a three run home run in tha inning. adam wainwright got the win, while a.j. burnett took the loss. game two is tomorrow in st.louis.

the tampa bay rays beat the cleveland indians 4-0 behind alex cobb's 6.2 innings of good pitching. fernando rodney gets the save. the rays will go to boston to face the red sox in one american league division series. the series starts friday.

the pittsburgh pirates just beat the cincinnati reds in the wild card game 6-2 in pittsburgh. their first playoff win since 1992 when they were last in the playoffs. the bucs will now face the st. louis cardinals in the nationa league division series starting thursday night in st.louis.

the first of october is here and the nhl season opens tonight with three games - toronto at montreal, washington at chicago and winnipeg at edmonton. i think chicago raises their stanley cup banner tonight and winnipeg makes their first visit to edmonton since 1996 - before the original jets moved to phoenix. edmonton has been to winnipeg twice since the altanta thrashers moved there two years ago. also the major league baseball post season begins tonight with cincinnati at pittsburgh. with nascar and football happening, its a great month already. enjoy.

the tampa bay rays are heading to cleveland to pay the wild card game after beating the texas rangers 5-2. david price got the win. the playoffs begin in earnest tomorrow when the cincinnati reds go to pittsburgh to play the pirates.

the texas rangers has forced a one game playoff with the tampa bay rays as they beat the los angeles angels 6-2 in arlington. the rays and rangers will play tomorrow in arlington to face the indians in the wild card game. i guess the post season begins tomorrow with the one game playoff.

the cleveland indians have claimed the firs wild card spot with a 5-1 win in minnesota. they also claimed home field for the wild card game against either tampa bay or texas. tampa bay beat toronto 7-6 to put pressure on texas who is leading the angels in the seventh. if texas wins there wil lbe a one game playoff for the second wild card spot. stay tuned.

henderson alvarez of the miami marlins pitched a no-hitter in a 1-0 win over the detroit tigers. the marlins won it in the bottom of the ninth with a wild pitch, giving alvarez the no-hitter. congrats.

it was fan appreciation night at commonwealth tonight as the eskimos lost to the toronto argonauts 34-22 in front of over 29,500 people. the sad part is edmonton had a 22-1 lead and bombed. offence did nothing in the second half and toronto's offence took over and killed the edmonton defence. roomie had a couple of tickets from his week job at the sawmill tailgating area behind the north end zone. different perspective watching at field level compared to in the stands. the cheer team was selling their 2014 calendars (got mine at the last home game) and i got some of them to sign mine. meanwhile in mlb, the red sox, a's and tigers will end up finishing with the first, second and third best records in the a.l. detroit will play oakland in one of the division series, while boston will play the wild card playoff, whoever that may be. cleveland has a onegame lead over tampa bay and texas in the wild card race. that will be a fun finish tomorrow. in the n.l. pittsburgh has...

the st.louis cardinals just wrapped up the n.l. central with a 7-0 win over the chicago cubs in front of 40,000+ people in st.louis. great win tonight. that leaves pittsburgh and cincinnati to decide who gets the wild card game at home. a pittsburgh win over cincy tomorrow and that will be that.

the detroit tigers are a.l. central champs with a 1-0 win in minnesota over the twins. max scherzer gets the win. that leaves the wild card to be decided as tampa bay and cleveland hold down the two spots with texas hot on their heels and kansas city almost out of it. the yankees loss to tampa bay put them out of playoff contention. meanwhile with a 1-0 loss to the mets the cincinnati reds wont win the n.l. central, but are still a wild card team. they will face either st.louis or pittsburgh. one will be centrat champs, the other faces cincy.

the national league has its post season teams. with pittsburgh and cincinnati winning and washington losing, the pirates and reds join the st. louis cardinals, atlanta braves and los angeles dodgers in the post season. the reds, pirates and cardinals are also battling for the n.l. central division, as the braves and dodgers have the east and west divisions. added are the boston red sox and oakland a's who won the american league east and west dvisions. the detroit tigers almost have the central division, while six teams are battling for the two wild card spots - the tampa bay rays, the cleveland indians, the texas rangers, the new york yankees, the kansas city royals and baltimore orioles. the next few days will provide some good games and excitement. the regular season ends this coming sunday, while the post season begins october 1st.

come 2:44pm mountain time marks the beginning of fall. starting to look like it with the leaves turning color already. even the mornings are cool. later this week the days will be like the mornings. enjoy the days, the summer weather wont stick around.

i was at an eskimos game earlier tonight and the esks beat winnipeg 25-7 for their first win at home and second win of the year. winnipeg is also at two wins and nine losses. 29,499 people were there (that includes me) at the end of the third quarter bryan hall marked joey moss' 50th birthday (his birthday is in 10 days). he was presented with a birthday cake. joey has downe syndrome and is the locker room attendant for the esks and oilers. it was wayne gretzky who got him the job with the oilers in 1985 after talking with dwayne mandrusiak and sparky kulchisky. all the fans, the players and the cheer team sang happy birthday to him. so a great night.

it has been a hot one today. got to 30.3c today that broke a record from 1944. three other places in alberta also broke records. it was extremely hot down east a few days ago. that ended up producing some nasty storms and tornado warnings. it's supposed to be a warm weekend. by tuesday it is forecast to be rainy and cooler. i wont mind the cooler weather. enjoy the weather - winter will be here yet.

...... the city of Tokyo, Japan. they beat out Istanbul in the second round of voting 60-36. the first round had tokyo go through to the second round while istanbul and madrid were tied. istanbul took out madrid in a run off vote. congrats to Tokyo.

the last day of the last long weekend of the summer brings: 1. edmonton at calgary. toronto vs hamilton is usually played on labour day as well, but this year the schedule changed. hamilton was in b.c. on friday and b.c. won and toronto is at home to montreal tomorrow, with the blue jays having the weekend series against kansas city the field needs to be changed from baseball to football. it would be nice to have hamiton and toronto play on labour day again. 2. end of summer. even though the first day of fall is later this month. 3. kids go back to school tomorrow. nuff said.

hockey is in the air. with the canadian orientation camp in calgary for the mens olympic team. selection for the team is later this year. meanwhile teh edmonton oil kings started training camp for the upcoming whl season. there are some changes already in management and some of the players from the two time whl finalists will be heading for nhl camps next month. fall is also in the air. the mornings have felt cooler and some of the trees have already started changing color. this morning it was pretty foggy which was pretty unreal and crazy cool. i had already got to work before it got really foggy in the west end. mmmmm fall. october baseball is getting close now.

it is the final weekend of 'to fringe with love' the title is james bond themed. there are still some plays going on and some outdoor entertainment as well. hard to believe the end of festival season is here and next weekend is the last long weekend of summer. the labour day weekend brings: 1. the end of summer 2. the cfl labour day games - featuring edmonton at calgary and winnipeg vs saskatchewan. toronto is hosting a game on the tuesday. and 3. kids go back to school although some schools that are year round have gone back already. where did the summer go?

alfonso soriano had six runs batted in tonight, this after he had six rbi's last night. he became the first yankee to do so. not even babe ruth, lou gehrig, joe dimaggio or even mickey mantle pulled it off. wow. that is run production.

in seattle's 5-4 win over tampa bay, tampa bay's ben zobrist and seattle's brad miller led of their teams respective first innings with a home run. they both added a home run each in the fifth inning to become the first lead off players to have two homers with the first homer leading off the first inning since june 5, 1994 when minnesota's chuck knoblauch and detroit's tony phillips led off with homering and adding another. they both became the third lead off pair to have a two homer game, with the first coming july 8 1965 when houstons joe morgan and milwaukee braves felipe alou having two homers, along with the 1994 game. wow. history indeed.

even though he lost 2-6, 2-6 to rafael nadal in the final, canadian milos raonic put on quite the run at the rogers cup in montreal. he became the first canadian to get to the final since 1958 when robert bedard won what was known as teh canadian open. raonic will be moving up to 10th in the world ranking, the highest by a canadian, and at 22, will be the youngest in the top 10.

i had what turned out to be a great birthday. had to do a couple things this morning, put together a shelving unit for my mini nfl football helmets. got half the league up. needed a couple of extra shelves to get the other half done. and i got back from an eskimos game about 45 minutes ago. got pretty close at the end, but hamilton beat edmonton 30-29. ended up meeting kerry koch's dad after the game. also met koch's mom and wife after the game. almost met simeon rottier. met a couple members of his family after the game as well. i should do that more often. go to a couple more games and hang around afterwards. all in all, a great night. and it was military appreciation night as well.

turned out to be a real nice day. few clouds hanging around. other than that the sun has been out. got to 24c here. feels warmer than that. i think its just me there. i think the warmer weather has finally returned compared to the cooler weather we had (not complaning about that either). nice start to what will be my four day weekend yaaaaaaay.

the end of july is here. wow i think it went by pretty quick. doesn't seem that long ago it was canada day, which happened to be a long weekend. this coming weekend here is a long weekend. that and i also took friday off for my birthday and i have a four day weekend woohoo. with loads of baseball, the cfl starting, nfl training camps in full swing, the street performers in early july, k-days that just ended this past weekend and the taste of edmonton also ending, it was quite the month. august has the fringe, my birthday, heritage days at hawrelak park. i think there is something else i cannot remember. eh what can you do. halfway through summer.

it is the last weekend of july already. today is my sister's birthday, and i already wished her a happy birthday. it is also the last weekend of k-days and the taste of edmonton. judging by the forecast, it's supposed to be a rainy weekend on tap. oy. end of the month is wednesday and my birthday is this coming friday. the weekend of my birthday is also a long weekend. i am planning friday off so i get a four day weekend. got the paperwork done for it. just got to wait for the foreman and the boss to say yes and sign the paper. i think the long weekend is the heritage days festival at hawrelak park as well. all is fair in birthdays and festivals.

the NHL, IIHF (international ice hockey federation)and the IOC (international olympic committee)reached an agreement that will send NHL players to play at the sochi winter olympics in february. the nhl schedule has a two week break from feb 9-26 for the participation of the players. at the same time, the nhl schedule was released and the season starts october 1st with three games. also the schedule was released for olympic hockey. the women begin their tournament feb 8th and concludes feb 20th. the men start feb 12th and end feb 23rd. im getting more excited for the games now. even with the time difference.

it's already half way through july. the street performers festival is done and k-days start friday with the parade beginning at 10am through downtown. also the taste of edmonton begins on friday. and with fireworks going off at 11pm from the 19th to 28th, i will be able to hear them, seeing as how i live north of there. july has already been interesting and not so boring. that to go with the hot weather and a couple of downpours, the entertainment value is up there. then there is the heritage festival and the fringe. but those are for august.

wow quite a change in the air compared to yesterday. yesterday was a muggy day, capped off by a doozie of a storm. there was hail as well. it looked like cherry sized hail in my area. oy. today it got to 19 and its been windy as well. far better than yesterday. supposed to get to 20c tomorrow. i will take that any day.

by beating novak djokovic, andy murray became the first brit to win in wimbledon since 1936 when fred perry won it.  he won in three straight sets, taking 3h 9m to play.  congrats to andy.

jimmie johnson leads 93 of 160 laps and wins the coke zero 400, and to go with his daytona 500 win, became the first driver to sweep both races since 1982 when bobby allison to do the trick.  congrats to jimmie, now with four races won this year.

wow what a difference 24 hours makes.  this time yesterday it got to 33c.  throw in the humidex (the summer equivilent to wind chill), the humid air made the ambient air feel like 43c.  ouch.  ugh.  and i wanna go to australia?  um.  i wonder.  on top of that, edmonton had a storm blow through, which cooled things off considerably.  made for a better day.  a nice breeze going, and it is 23c right now.  comfy.  and i wanna go to australia?

happy 146th birthday canada.  loads of festivities everywhere.  barbecues, outdoor swimming pools open, campsites galore.  lots of stuff happening everywhere.  fireworks to end the festivities.  here tehy should be about 15 minutes long.  happy canada day eh.

a long hot canada day weekend the first long weekend of the summer with canada day on monday, and its already heated up.  by monday it's supposed to get to 30c.  it's already warm out there now.  was outside earlier and i could feel it.  the forecast has it between 28c and 31c up to at least thursday.  gonna be fun working in it after the weekend.

chicago blackhawks stanley cup champions what a finish to game six.  chicago was trailing 2-1 to boston late in the third, and ended up scoring two goals in 17 seconds to win game six 3-2 and the series four games to two.  chicago ended up the better team this year.  patrick kane won the conn smythe trophy as playoff m.v.p.  congrats to the blackhawks.

vinyl cafe if you ever want a good show, listen to the vinyl cafe.  go to www.cbc.ca  and click on the radio tab.  then go to the schedules and programs tab.  click on the tab and it should get you to the program schedule.  you can look there or under the find a program tab.  you should find the vinyl cafe there.  it has podcasts of previous episodes.   the vinyl cafe features the adventures of dave, morley, stephanie and sam.  the storyteller is stuart mclean.

heat burn spurs the miami heat have repeated as nba champions with a 95-88 win in game seven and won the series four games to three.  quite a close series for most of it, despite two games being blowout wins - one for san antonio and one for miami.   that is it for another basketball season - at least until the fall.

hawks k.o. kings in overtime 11:40 into the second overtime and patrick kane ends the game and the series on a one-time shot that beat jonathon quick high.  a pretty entertaining overtime.  kane got all three goals in a 3-2 win and the hawks win the series four games to one.  the hawks will face the bruins in an original six matchup for the staney cup finals starting wednesday night in chicago.

belmont stakes the third and final race of the triple crown, and it produced the third different winner as 13-1 odds palace malace beats oxbow and orb to win the belmont stakes.  it was a two horse race between palace malace and oxbow until palace malace started to pull away.  orb was at the back and started to come back, but at the end did not have enough.  so maybe next year will have a triple crown winner.

bruins sweep penguins aside, goes to finals the boston bruins just put the touches on an exciting 1-0 win over the pittsvurgh penguins and swept them in four straight games.  the bruins shut  down crosby and malkin and other top pittsburgh stars, and also outscoring pittsburgh 12-2 in the series.  the bruins will get some rest as they await the winner of the chicago vs los angeles series for the stanley cup.

a new month means.... ..... its june.  nba finals are close, nhl conference finals begins tonight and the stanley cup finals are in a couple of weeks.   loads of baseball, the cfl season is near as training camps have already begun with the season starting june 27th.  the belmont stakes are next week to end the triple crown of horse racing (and no triple crown winner this year).  summer begins on the 21st.  oh yeah more nascar.

chicago stuns wings in overtime, face kings next brent seabrook put the chicago blackhawks into the western conference final they beat the detroit red wings in overtime 2-1.  the hawks was at one point down three games to one in the series, came back and won the series four games to three.  the hawks will now play the kings in the conference finals starting saturday in chicago, while pittsburgh and boston start their eastern conference finals also starting saturday.

kings crown sharks the l.a. kings win a close game seven 2-1 and win the series over the san jose sharks four games to three.  they will face either detroit or chicago, who will be playing game seven tomorrow night.  pretty even series.  san jose made a series of it after going down  three to one in the series.  by this time  tomorrow night, we will have our western conference final match up.

97th running of the indianapolis 500 tony kanaa has won his first career indy 500 in what was a record setting race.  he won it under caution after dario franchittl crashed with two to go.  there was 68 lead changes and i think 14 different drivers led the race.  this was also the fastest race, with the averages speed of 187.433 mph.  the crowd was cheering for him when he won it.  tony got the borg warner wreath, the borg warner trophy and the bottle of milk to drink.  he will have his face on the main trophy and will have a smaller replica to keep.   congrats to tony, well deserved.  carlos munoz was second.  this was munoz first ever race.

bruins maul rangers, face penguins in eastern conference final the boston bruins put the finishing touches on a 3-1 win in game five and a four games to one win over the new york rangers.  it was a close series despite the short series.  the bruins will now face the pittsburgh penguins in the eastern conference finals.  that series should be a good one.  it may go seven.

penguins 'fly' past senators, in conference finals the pittsburgh penguins eliminated the ottawa senators with a 6-2 win in game five and a four games to one win in the series.  ottawa didnt have much of a chance in the series.  pittsburgh will face either boston or new york in the eastern conference finals.  game five in that series is tomorrow.

historic gold medal game at world championships with  sweden winning 5-1 over swtizerland 1)  they win thier first championship since 2006 2) became the first home nation since the soviet union in 1986 to win gold 3)  switzerland wins a medal at the worlds since 1953 when they won a bronze.  yes 60 years.   this after spending several years in the lower divisions.  switzerland made the return to the worlds in 1992, went up and down from top division to first division for aboujt three or four years and hass been up since 1996 or 97 and has been getting better.  definitely switzerland is a team to look out for.

138th preakness stakes oxbow led wire to wire and won the 138th running of the preakness.  first time since 1982 that a horse led wire to wire and won the preakness.  and again there will be no triple crown winner as the kentucky winner orb finished fourth.  orb started on the rail and was not comfortable with other horses around.  d. wayne lukas has another win as an owner getting his 14th breeders cup win as an owner.  next up is the belmont stakes on june 8th.

rangers deliver capital punishment the rangers put the cap on adominating 5-0 performance in washington and also winning the series four games to three.  they willl face the boston bruins in the eastern conference semi finals, while pittsburgh faces ottawa.  the west has chicago vs detroit and los angels vs san jose.

bruins make leafs fall in overtime the boston bruins knocked out toronto in over time 5-4 and the series four games to three.  petrice bergeron scored the overtime winner.  they get either washington or rangers.

late night wing clipping last night in anaheim the detroit red wings put out the anaheim ducks 3-2 in game seven and the series four games to three.  this sets up the conference semi finals that has detroit playing chicago and los angeles playing san jose.  tonight has two game sevens - washington vs n.y. rangers and boston vs toronto.  updates later.

pens sink islanders, faces ottawa next the penguins knoced out the new york islanders in overtime 4-3 and won the series four games to two.  the islanders gave pittsburgh a battle.  the penguins will face the ottawa senators in round two.  i think it will be a good one there.

back on after move got my internet hooked up today.  got moved in last saturday.  back into my happy place and into the zone.  with the nhl playoffs into full swing (blues, canadiens, wild and canucks are out) and the iihf world championships going, its a good month of may.  lets not forget the nba playoffs, loads of nascar and baseball as well.  looking forward to some fun

busy last couple of weeks it has been busy the last couple of weeks.  mostly dealing with the move on may 1st.  got most of the packing done already.  just waiting to actually move.   restless torment.  more later.

louisville cardinals champs the louisville cardinals won a pretty damn good championship game winning 82-76 over the michigan wolverines.  they trailed by twelve points midway in the first half and came back.  the rest of the game was back and forth and pretty exciting.  it is the schools third ncaa title.  congrats to louisville.

semi fianl saturday part two the michigan wolverines survived a syracuse orange rally, haning on to win 61-56 over the orange.  despite not making free throws, michigan made the plays when needed.  they will face louisville on monday night for the championship.  tip off around 7:15 mountain time.

semi final saturday part one the louisville cardinals will be playing for the championship on monday night with a 72-68 win over the wichita state shockers.  louisville was down by 12 in the second half.  after back to back three pointers, the comeback started.  they will face either michigan or syracuse.  that game is coming up in a bit,

louisville blowout the louisville cardinals just blew out the duke blue devils 85-63 to advance to the final four and will face wichita state.  it was a pretty tight game until the second half then louisville blew it open.  they were also playing inspired after kevin ware, as he was landing while tryng to block a shot, broke his leg. was pretty gruesome to watch.  he will be feeling better after this win.  here is hoping for a speedy recovery.  louisville vs wichita state and michigan vs syracuse is saturday night. and the championship game on the eighth

wolverine attacks gator the michigan woverines are in the final four with a convincing 79-59 win over the florida gators.  it was michigan all the way in this one.  they started the game on a 13-0 run and led as much as 24 points.  michigan will now face syracuse in one national semi final game.  coming up is louisville vs duke.  winner faces wichita state.