the mad sports man

quit the new years eve. started with sweden beating switzerland 5-1. then canada won a heck of a hockey game against the u.s. winning 5-3. not long after, the czech republic beat russia 4-1. and finland hung on to beat germany 2-0. so in group a, canada finishes first with 12 pts, followed by the u.s with 8, then slovakia with 6, finland with 4 and germany with 0. in group b sweden won with 12 pts, followed by czech rep and russia with 5 pts each, but with czech rep beating russia, the czechs get second. denmark and switzerland have four pts each, but denmark beat switzerland to claim 4th. so the quarter final matchups have: sweden vs finland, czech rep vs slovakia, u.s. vs russia and canada vs denmark. switzerland and germany plays in a three game relegation series. the quarter finals are fridy.

denmark pulled the biggest surprise in the world juniors as they beat switzerland 4-3 in the shootout for their first ever world junior win - this after taking russia and the czech republic to overtime before losing. they sit tied with switzerland for third with 4 pts. russia is second with 5, sweden will finish first with 9 pts and czech republic has 3. that is group b. meanwhile slovakia beat germany 5-2 in the evening game. martin rewat had a hat trick and slovakia scored three goals in over a minute in the first period. slovakia will finish third with 6 pts in group a regardless of tomorrows games. germany is still last with zero pts, finland with 1 pt, the u.s. is second with 8 and canada has 9 and leads. canada vs u.s. tomorrow at 2pm to decide group a, while finland and germany play to avoid the relegation round. in group b, sweden plays switzerland the czech rep plays russia to finish off the round robin. going to be a great new years eve.

this was quite an entertaining game and canada came away with a 4-1 win over finland. sam reinhart scored two in the win. earler the united states shut out slovakia 3-0 to stay second, now with 8 pts. canada leads with 9. slovakia has three, finland with one and germany with none. in group b, sweden knocked off russia 3-2 and will finish first in the group irregardless of wednesdays games. they have 9 pts, russia is second with 5, switzerland and the czech rep. each has three. switzerland has a game in hand and plays tomorrow. denmark rounds out the group with two points. canada's next game is wednesday against the u.s to decide who finishes where. tomorrow and wednesday will be an exciting two days.

the pittsburgh steelers won the afc north after beating the cincinnati bengals 27-17 and will take the three seed and moving cincinnati to the five seed. the wild card matchups are now set. on january 3rd it is arizona at carolina and baltimore at pittsburgh. on january 4th it is cincinnati at indianapolis and detroit at dallas. new england, denver, green bay and seattle have the byes to the divisional round.

only two games today and both one sided shutouts. the u.s. just beat germany 6-0 in group a while in group b russia blew out switzerland 7-0. canada still leads group a with 6 pts, the u.s. is now second with 5, slovakia with 3, finland with 1 and germany wth 0. in group b, sweden still leads with 6 pts, then russia with 5, switzerland with 3, denmark with 1 and czech rep with 0. canada plays finland tomorrow at 6pm edmonton time.

the seattle seahawks win the nfc west and claim the one seed and home field throughout the nfc playoffs by winning 20-6 and having arizona lose to san francisco 20-17. arizona gets the fifth seed. the green bay packers beat the detroit lions 30-20, thus winning the nfc north and getting the two seed and first round bye and putting the lions into the sixth seed. (arizona and detroit had teh same record, but arizona beat detroit in their one meeting). the packers win put the dallas cowbows into the three seed. the cowboys will face the lions in dallas. the carolina panthers won the nfc south by beating the atlanta falcons 34-3 and will claim the four seed. they get the arizona cardinals in carolina. meanwhile the denver broncos blew out the oakland raiders 47-14, thus giving them the second seed. the patriots own the one seed (new england and denver had the same record, but new england beat denver in their one meeting). the indianapolis colts have the 4th seed and teh baltimore

the baltimore ravens took the last AFC playoff spot by winning cleveland 20-10 and combined with san diego losing to kansas city 17-9, the ravens are in the last spot at the worst. many seeding spots left. that should be sorted after the afternoon games. stay tuned

canada just finished their second game of the tournament by winning 4-0 over a stubborn and competitive germany team. germany played really well. their power play killed them, having four in a row to try make it a 2-1 game. max domi made it 3-0 afterwards and one more was scored. connor mcdavid opened it and curtis lazar scored the second one - both power play goals. meanwhile slovakia beat finland 2-1 despite being outshot. canada has six points, slovakia has three, the u.s. still has two, finland with one and germany with none in group a. the u.s. plays germany tomorrow. in group b, switzerland beat the czech republic 5-2 while sweden beat denmark 5-1. sweden has six points, switzerland with three, russia with two, denmark with one and the czech rep. with none. switzerland plays russia tomorrow. canada's next game is monday against finland.

the annual boxing day tradition has begun as the world juniors opened up with games in toronto and toronto. canada's group has their games in montreal and just put the finishing touches on an 8-0 beating over slovakia. they lead group a with three points. earlier the u.s. beat finland 2-1 in a shootout. the u.s. has two points, finland has one and slovakia has zero. canada plays germany tomorrow at 6pm edmonton time. meanwhile in group b, sweden beat the czech republic 5-2 and russia barely beat denmark 3-2 in a shootout. sweden leads group be with three points, russia with two, denmark with one and czech republic with none. only swtizerland has yet to play.

the dallas cowboys won the nfc east going away after beating the indianapolis colts 42-7 this afternoon. pretty much over by halftime. with that result, the seattle seahawks also clinched a playoff spot without even stepping onto the field. they play the arizona cardinals tonight and the nfc west could be decided.

the pittsburgh steelers and green bay packers each wrapped up playoff spots by beating kansas city and tampa bay respectively. also trying to improve their seeding in the playoffs. could be more after the afternoon games, hard to say. stay tuned.

today marks the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight hours. at 4:03pm here marks the beginning of the winter solstice - or the beginning of winter. after today, the slow climb to more daylight begins. so go throw a snowball, or have a hockey game. go sledding, or do whatever.

the detroit lions are into the playoffs following the philadelphia eagles losing to the washington redskins 27-24. their first trip since 2011. the eagles loss gives the dallas cowboys a chance to win the nfc east tomorrow with a win over the indianapolis colts.

four teams are into the nfl post season, with three of them winning divisions. the denver broncos won the afc west, the new england patriots won the afc east and the indianapolis colts won the afc south. and just in - the arizona cardinals, who got in based on the dallas/philadelphia game not ending in a tie (i dont know where they got the formula). the cardinalscould still win their division as they are up a game on seattle. with two weeks left, still spots up for grabs.

the annual eskimos locker room sale was today. the season ticket holders was from 10am to noon and teh general public was noon to 2pm. it was busy. the line up was at least half an hour. got the signature jersey and had it signed by calvin mccarty, corbin sharun and curtis dublanko. kate and kylee represented the cheer team. one last chance to say bye to kylee. she is 'retiring' after today. her and i think four or five others wont be back. so thats it for that at commonwealth this year.

it was a great show sunday night. stuart started off with one of his favorites - when mary turlington decorated her house with cinnamon as the theme color and having two disasters - dave lighting all 23 candles faturing family members (her and burt, parents, kids and grandkids) and after making pudding with dave and mary each adding a shot of alcohol (forget which one) and having the pudding light on fire causing the ribbon on her hair on fire leaving her dazed and confused. he then told two new stories. can't remember the first one. the second one when dave hires his daughter stephanie at his record store for the christmas rush. chic gamine was the musical guest. they are a trio of ladies from winnipeg, manitoba. they were excellent to listen to. john sheard on piano. cant remember who was on base or the drums. i even got to shake stuart mcleans hand. when he was taking his bows, he came started un the middle section, took his bow, came to my side, took is bow, and as

it's vinyl cafe day. will be at the 7:30 show tonight. stuart also has a 2:30pm show today as well. a couple of new dave and morley stories will be told. plus some music involved. gonna be a great show. excited anticipation.

just a random kind of post. it is getting pretty christmassy around here. carols are on the radio, in west edmonton mall and even at home. christmas stuff is up already. last week Edmonton got a foot of snow and it got cold. this coming weekend it is supposed to get above 0c. that will give the roads a chance to have the remaining ice and snow melt away. stuart mclean and the vinyl cafe is in Edmonton for two shows on sunday - at 2:30 and at 7:30. i will be at the 7:30 show. excited. eskimos locker room sale on the 13th. looking forward to checking it out. thinking of someone.

the calgary stampeders who hung on to win 20-16. the stamps had a great first half leading 17-7. hamilton clawed their way back with three field goals to make it close. brandon banks had a punt return for a touchdown called back to a illegal block penalty that cost them the grey cup. bo levi mitchell had a pretty good game, once throwing 10 straight passes. congrats to the stampeders, now their 7th championship.

this was a no doubter as the calgary stampeders beat the edmonton eskimos 43-18. calgary was dominant in all phases of the game - offense, defense and special teams. john cornish may have run for 40 yards, but was instrumental in the receiving part as he had two receiving td's. the stampeders will now face the hamilton tiger-cats in the grey cup in vancouver, b.c. next sunda at 4pm mountain time.

brandon banks returned two punt returns for touchdowns and zach collaros was pretty damn good as the hamilton tiger-cats beat the montreal alouettes 40-24 and will represent the east in the grey cup one week from today. tiger cats started the year two and six, then moved into tim hortons field when the wins started coming. 7 for 7 at their new park. coming up - the west final between edmonton at calgary.

in the west the eskimos hung on to beat the saskatchewan rough riders 18-10 and will go to calgary to face the stampeders at 2:30pm on the 23rd. a kendial lawrence punt return for a touchdown was the difference. meanwhile out east, the montreal alouettes blew out the b.c. lions 50-17. it was pretty much over after the second quarter. the als will now go to hamilton to face the tiger-cats in the east final at 11am on the 23rd. even in the cold, things are heating up

to our veterans in canada, the united states, and everywhere else, thank you for our freedom.

the riders just beat edmonton 24-17 to finish third in the west and will go to edmonton to play in the west semi final at 2:30 on the 16th. the b.c. lions will go to montreal via cross over and will face teh alouettes in the east semi final at 11am on the 16th. the road to the 102nd grey cup is on.

the hamilton tiger-cats have taken the cfl east after a 29-15 win over the montreal allouettes. that put the als into second place and will host the eastern semi-final on november 16th while the tiger-cats will host the eastern final on the 23rd. next up has edmonton at saskatchewan. a meaningless game for edmonton, but saskatchewan can finish third with a win and force the lions to go to montreal in the cross over. stay tuned

it's the final weekend of the season and it's going to be exciting. with toronto beating ottawa 23-5 earlier, the have a shot at second. the east will be decided tomorrow between montreal and toronto. b.c. at calgary is on currently. a lions win gives them third and saskatchewan the crossover spot. but that is for tomorrow's post.

for the third time in five years, the san francisco giants are world series champions, winning game seven 3-2, capping quite a world series. tim hudson started, gave up two runs, jeremy affeldt came in relief for two and two thirds innings. turning point was in the third inning with joe panik starting a teriffic douple play ball (and busting his belt in the process).madison bumgartner came in the fifth and slammed the door - with two days rest. official scoring has him as winner instead of a five inning save. bumgarter ended up winning three games in the series. bumgartner is also world series mvp and picked up a 2015 chevy colorado truck. jeremy guthrie took the loss. so there is another baseball season. next pitch will be in march.

the royals put a licking on the giants as they win game six 10-0 in the second largest world series shutout (largest was by the royals in 1985 winning 11-0 in game seven of that series) seven runs in the second was the difference. the seven runs is a royals playoff record. yorlando ventura got the win, jake peavy took the loss. game time 3h 21m. starters for the final game of the series has jeremy guthrie for the royals and tim hudson for the giants.

the giants win game five 5-0 as madison bumgartner threw a complete game four hit shut out. first somplete game shutout since game six of the 2003 world series when josh beckett won the clincher. he also threw 117 pitches tonight and had the royals chasing after the first pitch. the giants lead the series three games to two and can win the series in kansas city tuesday night. yorlando ventura starts for kansas city and jake peavy starts for san francisco.

the giants blew out the royals 11-4 in game four to tie the series at two. 16 hits, i think 11 or 12 were singles. scored two in teh 4th to tie it, three to go up 7-4 in the 5th and 4 in the 6th to break it out. yusmeiro petit gets the win and brandon finnegan takes the loss. game went exactly 4h. game five is tomorrow in san francisco. james shields starts for kansas city, while madison bumgartner starts for san francisco.

the kansas city royals are up two games to one after winning game three 3-2 k.c. got one in the first. both teams scored two in the sixth. this was a well pitched and well defended jeremy guthrie got the win, kelvin herrera stopped the giants rally in the sixth (after two runs scored), tim hudson took the loss and greg holland earned the save. game took 3h 15m. game four is tomorrow in san francisco. jason vargas starts for kansas city and ryan vogelsong starts for san francisco.

the kansas city royals even up the series with a 7-2 win in game two of the world series. kelvin herrera got the royals out of a jam in the top of the 6th, allowing the royals to score 5 runs in a 32 minute bottom of 6th. hererra picked up the win while jake peavy took the loss. game time was 3h 25m. game three is friday in san francisco.

madison bumgartner pitched seven innings, hunter pence hit a two run homer, and san francisco scored often as they win 7-1 in game one of the world series over kansas city. james shields pitched 3+ innings and gave up five runs in the loss. game time 3:32. game two tomorrow has yordano ventura starting for kansas city while jake peavy pitches for san francisco.

travis ishikawa's three run homer in the bottom of the ninth has just put the san francisco giants into the world series with a 6-3 win in game 5 and the series four games to one over the st. louis cardinals. it is the first time an n.l.c.s. has ended on a home run (the a.l.c.s had it in 1976 when chris chambliss put the yankees into the world series over the royals). it is san francisco's third trip to the series in five years. this after the giants tied it in the 8th with michael morse hitting a solo homer. the giants will face the kansas city royals in the world series starting tuesday in kansas city.

the kansas city royals are heading for the world series after a 2-1 win in game 4 and swept the baltimore orioles in four games. the bull pen has shut the door in all four games. the royals are also the first team to win the first eight post season games. this has beem a remarkable run. it is thier first american league pennant since 1985, winning the world series that year. (side note, if you add the last three wins from that 1985 world series, it is an 11 game post season winning streak) congrats to the kansas city royals.

the kansas city royals are in rare company. after beating the baltimore orioles 8-6, the royals became the fourth team to start the postseason with six straight wins, joining the 2007 colorado rockies, the 1976 cincinnati reds and the 1970 baltimore orioles. the rockies and reds had seven straight, with the reds seventh being the world series clincher. so rare company indeed.

it took one errand pitch, but it was enough as the san franciso giants are heading to the national league championship series with a 3-2 win over the washingion nationals and the series three games to one. still a fairly tight series otherwise. the giants will now face the st. louis cardinals in the n.l.c.s starting saturday in st. louis.

the st.louis cardinals just knocked out the l.a. dodgers in four games after winning game 4 3-2 and the series three games to one. a three run homer was the difference. the cardinals will face either the san francisco giants or the washington nationals. that game should be on, if not starting shortly.

the kansas city royals put a no doubter into game three as they win it 8-3 and the series in three straight games over the los angeles angels. a three run double and two homers, plus a couple of great catches in the outfield. the perfect capper after winning two thrilling extra inning games to start the series. the royals will now face the baltimore orioles in the a.l.c.s starting friday in baltimore.

the baltimore orioles just eliminated the detroit tigers in three straight games after a 2-1 win today. last two games were pretty close. only game one was a blow out 12-3 and game two 7-6. the orioles will face either the angels or royals in the a.l.c.s starting october 10th.

on this 2000th post, the san francisco giants won a 18 inning marathon 2-1 over the washington nationals. the game started after 3:30 pm mountain time. this ended up being the longest post season game in mlb history, beating the old record by two innings (houston vs ny mets went 16 in the 1986 nlcs). wow. game three is monday in san fran. wow 2000 posts. note: game took 6h 23m.

trailing 24-0, the saskatchewan roughriders scored three touchdowns and three two point converts to tie it at 24. calgary ended up scoring one late to win 31-24. but there is your record. three consecutive td's and three consecutive two pointers.

the san francisco giant won a no doubter, beating the pittsburgh pirates 8-0 to advance to the n.l.d.s against the washington nationals. brandon crawford began the game with a grand slam - the first post season grand slam by a shortstop. the gians vs nationals series begins friday, as does st.louis vs los angeles dodgers.

at one point, the royals were trailing 7-3 in the 7th. they came back to tie it and force extras. it took to the 12th inning, and the royals came back from 8-7 to win 9-8 over the oakland a's. they will now go to los angeles to face the angels. that series starts on thursday, as does detroit vs baltimore.

with a 4-0 win over texas, the oakland a's have wrapped up the last wild card spot, now making the seattle game against the angels meaningless. the playoff matchups have: in the american league, the kansas city royals host the oakland a's in the one game playoff and the winner faces the los angeles angels in the a.l.d.s. the other a.l.d.s has the baltimore orioles facing the detroit tigers. in the national league the pittsburgh pirates faces the san francisco giants in the one game wild card playoff. the winner goes and faces the washington nationals in the n.l.d.s., while the los angeles dodgers faces the st.louis cardinals in the other n.l.d.s. matchup. dates to be determined later today.

first in the a.l., the detroit tigers won the central with a 3-1 win over the minnesota twins. that gives the kansas city royals the wild card. the royals are trailing the white sox 4-2 in the 5th. for the other wild card oakland leads texas early. meanwhile in the n.l., the st. louis cardinals won the central after the pittaburgh pirates lost to cincinnati 4-1. that now has decided everything in the national league. it is now a matter of who plays who. it will be pittsburgh vs san francisco in the wild card game. stay tuned for more

jordan zimmerman threw the washington national's first no hitter as the nationals beat the miami marlins 1-0 to close out the regualr season. he walked one and struck out 10 in the win. congrats.

by beating the chicago white sox, the kansas city royals are making their first post season appearance since their 1985 world series win. and they are one game behind the detroit tigers for the central division. one more playoff spot left in the american league. two days to decide the a.l. and n.l central and one wild card. getting fun now.

last night the l.a. dodgers capured the national league west with a convincing 9-1 win over the san francisco giants. the giants still got in after the brewers lost to the reds 5-3 this afternoon. all playoff spots in the national league are tied up. only the central is to be decided between st. louis and pittsburgh.

the detroit tigers are in the playoffs with a 6-1 win over the white sox and have a two game lead over kansas city for the central. the royals, i think, are not that far behind for a playoff spot. the royals and oakland a's are tied for the wild card spots. so this will be fun.

by beating atlanta, the pittsburgh pirates are in the playoffs for the second year in a row. it will be either a wild card or the n.l. central. st.louis has a game and a half lead. with 5 days to go in the season. that is four of the five spots in the national league. meanwhile still three left in the american league. the central division is close as detroit is up one game on kansas city. gonna get tense quick. stay tuned.

at 8:29 pm here is the beginning of autumn - the vernal equinox. on that last day of summer/beginning of fall felt like a summer day. 29c here while in a few places in alberta got over 30c. yikes. supposed to cool off the rest of the week, which is okay for me. dont need it too hot.

two nights ago the angels clinched their division. tonight, the l.a. dodgers clinched a playoff berth with a beating over the chicago cubs. the dodgers and gians will be fighting for the n.l. west between now and the end of the season.

tonight, both the american league and national league eastern division flags were claimed as the baltimore orioles beat the toronto blue jays to win the a.l. east for the first time since 1997, while the washington nationals beat the atlanta braves to win the national league. meanwhile last night the l.a. angels claimed teh first playoff spot. i forget who they beat to get there. stretch drive is on. four more divisions and four wild card spots are left (and the jays could still get that)

on a rainy - and for awhile storm delayed - game in ottawa. the b.c. lions beat the redblacks 7-5 in what was a rather ugly weather day. lightning delayed the game for about 20 minutes in the 4th quarter. lowest scoring game since august 23, 1979 when calgary beat saskatchewan 6-5. just wow. rain a factor in this game.

cole hamels, jake diekman, ken giles and jonathon papelbon combine for the seasons fourth no hitter as the philadelphia phillies beat the atlanta braves 7-0 in atlanta. it is the 11th combo no hitter in mlb history. congrats to all.

there must be something in the air in tasmania. Shaun the sheep was found hiding on a farm and in need of a trim. more like a shave. after the shave, 23.5 kg, or 51.7 pounds of wool was shaved off. the sheep can see where it is going now, and probably can run quick now that there is a lot less wool on it. nearly a record amount of wool shaven off. the previous record was 27 kg or 59.4 pounds by a sheep named Shrek.

the fifa u-20 womens world cup is done and germany won it after beatin nigeria 1-0 in extra time. germany's third title. congrats to germany. meanwhile france beat north korea 3-2 to win third place. so there is your top four. the women's world cup is next year and again canada is hosting that one. meanwhile the fringe, from the sound of the fireworks going off (cannot believe i can hear them going off), has officialy ended, thus bringing the end to the summer of festivals for another year. the works, street performers, k-days, heritage festival and fringe in that order. even though there is still a week to go for summer. even if the calendar says the first day of fall is sept. 23, in my mind the real first day of fall is the day after labour day. thats when the kiddies go back to school. a good summer to say the least.

it has cooled off nicely. got to 16c here. felt a bit like fall. almost had a fall 'look' to it. not long before we start seeing some fall pennant races in baseball. but first, labour day is only over a week away. like a week from monday. kiddies will be back in school - at least those who do not have year round school. of course the CFL labour day weekend game. has the usual rivalries. winnipeg vs saskatchewan in a home and home, edmonton vs calgary in a home and home, and toronto is at hamilton on labour day. the labour day weekend is always considered teh 'real start' to the season, only because it starts the run to the post season. and the end of summer.

the fifa u-20 womens tournament is in canada and the quarter finals are already set. one game has canada vs germany at commonwealth stadium. i heard 16,000 tickets were sold andare expectin 20,000. game is at 6pm. this is also the prelude to the womens world cup, also hosted by canada in 2015. edmonton also has a few games in that tournament. good luck to canada. meanwhile it has been pretty toasty here. been pretty close to 30c for the last little while. it has been above 25 for a few weeks. i think there was one or two days where it was pretty cool. the forecast has it cooling off by next weekend. lets hope.

got home from my vacation a couple of hours ago. it was good to get home, yet it was sad to leave Campbell River. it was a wonderful - and needed - vacation. took a couple of days to get adjusted to being at sea level. got lots of hiking done, gone to Courtney, Comox, Coombs, Cathedral Grove, took the ferry to Quadra Island, went to Moose Falls, Elk Falls, Nymph Falls, three or four rivers (can't remember their names at the moment.), seen some deer, a couple of eagles and loads of salmon jumping. i definitely want to go back. not sure when.

can't believe its august already. what happened to july? it flew away. july had the end of the world cup of soccer (yay germany), truck load of baseball - including the all star game, the cfl season in full swing with a new ottawa team - the redblacks and their new stadium at lansdowne park. hamiltom will be in theirs pretty soon. construction delays pushed their first game there. oh yeah, my vacation in Campbell River, B.C. loving the vacation. sadly it ends sunday. and nascar. tomorrow is my birthday. august has the beginning of the nfl preseason, more cfl, baseball and nascar. more later

second day in Campbell River, B.C and so far pretty good. i am thinking i came at the right time. tday is the pink salmon festival and the art festival. Campbell River is the salmon capital. you can see the salmon jumping in and out of the Discovery Passage. a lot of fishing boats as well. B.C ferries runs to quadra island, cortes island and back to vancouver island. left edmonton yesterday morning it was raining. the takeoff was good. got a little bumpy the higher we got, but seetled quite nice. landed in vancouver, hopped on another flight with central mountain air and flew over the Strait of Georgiato campbell river. you can see a lot of the mountains as well. hopefully more to come.

i am heading out on vacation on friday. can't wait. heading for b.c. for a few days. gonna be a good couple of days with a football game tomorrow night. the 50/50 jackpot begins at over 71,000 bucks. noone claimed the ticket from the last eskimos home game. should be a huge jackpot by the end of it. with calgary in town it should be a good crowd despite the rain in the forecast. gonna get good.

mario gotze is the hero as germany wins 1-0 in extra time and WINS the world cup. first title since 1990, when they also beat argentina by the same score. first time a south american host did not produce a south american winner (uruguay hosted and won in 1930, uruguay won in brazil in in 1950, brazil won in chile in 1962, and argentina hosted and won in 1978). so many chances by both sides, even a disallowed goal by argentina (player was offside). congrats to germany (WOOOOOHHOOOOOO), now a four time champion. next tournament is in russia in 2018.

the netherlands finishes the world cup in third place after a 3-0 win over host brazil. the opened the scoring in the third minute and finished it in the 90th minute +2 of additional time. the third was in the 17th minute. brazil will end up fourth in the tournament. disappointment for the host team who was doing well until the last two games. the netherlands also did well, even though their only loss was to argentina in penalty kicks. tomorrow it's the championship game between germany and argentina. game time is 1pm edmonton time.

the netherlands and argentina went through the 90 minutes and the extra 30 minutes scoreless, leading to another shootout. argentina wins it 4-2 in the penalty kicks and will face germany for the championship on sunday the 13th while the netherlands play brazil for third place on saturday. wow we are nearing the end of the world cup.

first semi final is done and it was an absolute ass kicking as germany will be playing for the world cup championship after a 7-1 beating over host brazil. miroslav klose also put himself in the history books with his 16th career world cup goal. wow. tomorrow is netherlands vs argentina. winner plays germany for the world cup while the loser plays brazil for third.

would you believe this went to penalty kicks? netherlands and costa rica go through the 90 minutes and som great chances and ended scoreless. extra time had great chances and still nothing. netherlands scored on their first four penalty kicks, while costa rica scored three on their five chances. netherlands move on to the semi finals against argentina on july 9th, while brazil plays germany on july 8th. side note - first time the netherlands have won on penalty kicks.

argentina just knocked out belgium 1-0 and will go to the semi finals against either the netherlands or costa rica. that game is at 2pm edmonton time. the semi final game is july 9th.

we have one semi final matchup. in the first game germany beat france 1-0 and will face brazil in the semi finals after brazil beat columbia 2-1. they will play on tuesday. winner plays for the championship while the loser goes to the third place game. tomorrow has argentina vs belgium and the netherlands faces costa rica in the other. the winners face each other in the other semi final game. and no milos raonic did not beat roger federer. federer won in straight sets. oh well. raonic put on a run.

yesterday, canada's eugenie bouchard and milos raonic made it to the semi finals. first time two canadians have made it this far. today, bouchard became the first canadian woman to make it to the finals of wimbledon. i believe she plays a czech on saturday. hopefully, raonic can beat roger federer to get to the finals on the mens side. here is hoping.

this verse, same as the first verse today. scoreless in the 90 minutes in which belgium carried the shots on goal and yet the u.s. hung in there. they go into extra time. the first half, belgium scored early and late to go up 2-0. the second half the u.s. scored early. the remainder got real tense. the u.s. had chances to tie it. in the end belgium hangs on to win 2-1 in extra time and faces argentina in the quarter finals. belgium vs argentina and netherlands vs costa rica play on july 5th while france vs germany and brazil vs columbia is july 4th. gonna get fun now.

this turned out to be a tense finish. the first half was tight. the second half argentina carried the play yet the 90 minutes stayed scoreless. then came extra time. there were chances galore. argentina finally opened the scorin in the 117th minute. switzerland came within a goalpost and a rebound fron evening it in the last minute. the ball hit the post, bounced out and hit the shooter and just went wide of the net. wooow. anyways, argentina wins 1-0 and moves on to the quarter finals against belgium or the united states. that game is at 2pm edmonton time.

happy 147th birthday canada. there will be canada day celebrations everywhere. from parliament in ottawa every city in canada there wil lbe some sort of festivities. plus fireworks to finish it off. the high lever bridge will literally be lit up with thousands of LED lights across it. it will be turned on officially tonight. it had a couple of trial runs and it looked pretty good. so to all canadians anywhere and everywhere, happy canada day.

this one edned up a real tight one. it stayed scoreless through the 90 minuts. two minutes into the extra time germany opens the scoring. in the 120th minute germany scored again. algeria scored in stoppage time, but it was not enough as germany wins in extra time 2-1 and will go to the quarter finals against france on friday. it was definitely a nerve wrecker. tomorrow has argentina vs switzerland and belgium vs united states. that will end the round of 16.

it took to the 79th minute to get the first goal, and that first goal went to france. the got a second when their corner kick was inadvertantly deflected in by joseph yogo (he gets credit for an own goal). it was enough of a touch. france moves on to the quarter finals and will await the winner of the germany vs algeria match at 2pm edmonton time.

wow. just wow. after a dull first half, costa rica opened the scoring in the second half. just when it was looking over, greece tied it very late in the second half. no scoring in the extra time. went to penalty kicks and costa rica advances after winning the penalty kicks 5-3. wow. costa rica will now face the netherlands in the quarter finals on july 5th

wow this one had a heck of a finish. mexico scored in the 48th minute. netherlands tied it in the 88th minuted then won it in the 90th minute and 4th minute of stoppage time. on a penalty kick as well after one of the dutch players got knocked over in the goalie area. final score was 2-1. they are now in the quarter final and will play either costa rica or greece on on july 5th.

watched the first half of columbia vs uruguay and caught the last 20 minutes of the second half at the coors light eskimos watch party. columbia is in the quarter finals with a 2-0 win over uruguay and will face brazil on friday july 4th. while i was at watch party, out came the columbians honking and waving their flags while celebrating. the eskimos watch party was at central social hall on 109 st and jasper ave in edmonton and watched the eskimos win in b.c. 27-20. it was a lot of fun. tomorrow has day two of the round of 16 featuring netherlands vs mexico and costa rico vs greece.

wow what a game this ended up being. brazil scored first in the 18th minute, then chile evens it in the 32nd minute. they went through the rest of the 90 minutes with some chances. they get to extra time and both sides had some great chances yet it remained tied. wouldn't you know it it goes to penalty kicks. it went down to the last kick - belonging to chile. brazil was up 3-2 in penalty kicks and the chilean player had a chance to even it. he hit the goal post and brazil wins the game and moves on to the quarter finals. coming up in 45 minutes - its columbia vs uruguay.

in group g, germany beat the united states 1-0 while portugal beat ghana 2-1. germany finishes first with 7 pts, followed by the u.s and portugal with 4 and ghana fourth with 1 point. the u.s. claims second based on goals differential (u.s. was even while portugal was -3) germany and the u.s. moves on. in group H, belgium beat south korea 1-0 while russia and algeria tied at 0-0. belgium finished first with 9 pts, algeria second with 5 pts, russia with 2 and south korea with one. belgium and algeria moves on. germany faces algeria on monday while the u.s. faces belgium on tuesday.

in group E action, switzerland beat honduras 3-0 and ecuador and france played to a 0-0 tie. france finishes group E first with seven points, followed by switzerland with six, then ecuador with four and honduras with none. this has france and switzerland moving on. in group F, argentina beat nigeria 3-2 while bosnia and herzigovina beat iran 3-1. argentina finisehs first with 9 points, nigeria with four, bosnia and herzigoveni three and iran one. this has argentina and nigeria moving on. this also has france playing nigeria on monday and argentina on tuesday in the round of 16. group G and H round out the round robin tomorrow.

in group C, greece bean the ivory coast 2-1 while columbia beat japan 4-1. meaning columbia finishes first with 9 points, followed by greece with 4, then ivory coast with three and japan with one. columbia and greece move on to the round of 16 here. in group D, uruguay knocked out italy 1-0, marred by luis suarez biting an italian player (had the bite marks to prove it) and costa rica and england played to a scoreless draw. costa rica finishes first with seven points, then uruguay with 6, then italy with three and england with one. costa rica and uruguay move on here. the round of 16 matchups from here has columbia vs uruguay on saturday and costa rica plays greece on sunday. tomorrow has group E and F rounding out their round robin.

in group A action, brazil beat cameroon 4-1 while mexico beat croatia 3-1 to finish off their round robin brazil and mexico finished first and second with 7 points, with brazil taking first on goal difference (+5 to +3). croatia finished third with three points and cameroon last with zero. in group B the netherlands beat chile 2-0 and spain beat australia 3-0. the netherlands finished first with 9 points, chile second with 6, spain with three and australia with zero. the crossover matchups have brazil playing chile on saturday, while the netherlands play mexico on sunday. tomorrow groups C and D finish their round robin and decide thier round of 16 matchups.

at 4:51 am edmonton time summer began. wow 17+ hours of daylight. gotta enjoy it. of course with football and the world cup on, and the commonwealth games coming up in glasgow, summer is fun. speaking of world cup, the end of the group games is nearing an end. come thursday we will know who is into the round of 16 and who is out. those already in has costa rica, columbia, netherlands and chile. those alread out has england, cameroon, australia and defending champ spain (that one is huge). gonna be a good stretch. update: add argentina to those who are into the round of 16 and add bosnia and hercigovina to those who are eliminated.

the san antonio spurs put the touches on a five game series win over the miami heat, winning it four games to one and winning game 5 104-87. the spurs basically owned the heat the whole series. it is their fifth championship in 15 years, the previous four was 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007. coach greg popovich and tim duncan has been on all five championships. tim duncan is retiring after this one. kawhi leonard won the bill russell trophy as playoff mvp. congrats to the spurs.

the biggest soccer (football outside north america) tournament is on as 32 teams battle it out for the world cup trophy. this time the world cup is in brazil and it bean this past thursday with brazin beating croatia 3-1. just finished watching switzerland beat ecuador 2-1. two more games today, featuring france playing honduras at 1pm and argentina playing bosnia and hercigovena at 4pm. yesterday had a couple of surprises, with costa rica beating uruguay 3-1 and cote d'ivoire beating japan 2-1. friday had the rematch of the 2010 final with the netherlands avenging the loss with a 5-1 win over spain. wow. its been good so far. the world cup ends on july 13 with the final at maracana stadium in rio de janeiro.

alex martinez was the hero in double overtime as the los angeles kings win game 5 3-2 and win the stanley cup four games to one. three games went into overtime and the kings won them all. justin williams was named conn smythe trophy winner as playoff mvp. congrats to the kings.

totalist has won the 146th running of the belmont stakes in a very close finish. beat out commisioner at the line by a nose. joel vicario won his first belmont stakes as a jockey. california chrome ended up dead heating for fourth with wicked strong. was stuck in fourth the whole race. winning time was 2:28.52. so, again, no triple crown winner.

alec martinez scored the series winner in overtime as the los angeles kings dethrone the chicago blackhawks 5-4 in game seven and the series four games to three. kings almost blew this series as they had a 3-1 lead in the series. the first three rounds the kings have played have gone the full seven games. wow 21 games already. next up the stanley cup final against the new york rangers starting wednesday in los angeles.

the new york rangers are in the stanley cup final with a 1-0 win in game six and a four games to two series win. it was a tight series throughout, other than game one. even game five was a thriller, going montreal's way. it was quite a run for montreal, but alas their season ends tonite. the rangers will be starting on the road in either chicago or los angeles for the stanley cup. the final starts june 4th.

josh beckett of the l.a. dodgers threw his FIRST career no-hitter, the first no-hitter of 2014 and the dodgers 11th no-hitter as the dodgers beat the philadelphia phillies 6-0 in philly. he walked three, struck out 6 and threw 128 pitches - 80 of them strikes. congrats to josh.

ryan hunter-reay just won the indianapolis 500. the last 5 laps him and helio castroneves traded the lead twice or three times. hunter-reay mad the final pass as the white flag flew. castroneves was second. marco andretti was third. of course the jug of milk to drink in victory lane. margin of victory was 6/100ths of a second - the second closest finish. congrats to ryan hunter-reay - first time indy 500 winner.

good grief california chrome has done it again. just like the kentucky derby they were making the last turn for home nad california chrome was moving up. and just like the kentucky derby, california chrome took the lead on the home stretch, and just like the kentucky derby, california chrome has won the preakness. ride on curler tried to make a run for it and finished second. winning time was 1:54.84. next up - the belmont on june 7th. will there be a triple crown winner? tune in.

game 7 here was a no doubter as the los angeles kings owned the anaheim ducks 6-2 in game 7 and the series four games to three. kings started the series continuing teh momentum from the san jose series going up two games, then going quiet in games 3, 4 and 5. yet they didn't panic and won the last two. they will now face teh chicago blackhawks in teh western conference finals starting sunday. rest of teh sked to be announced shortly.

the montreal canadiens have knocked out the boston bruins in game 7 with a 3-1 win and the series four games to three. this turned out to be a heck of a series. the habs will now face the new york rangers (third original 6 series. bos vs mtl and bos vs det were other two) in the eastern conference finals. last meeting was 1996 which the rangers won.

the chicago blackhawks just knocked out the minnesota wild in overtime, winning game 6 2-1 and the series four games to two. the only game won by the road team. the wild gave the hawks a pretty good series. the hawks will face either the anaheim ducks or the los angeles kings in the western conference final.

the new york rangers capped the second comeback of the playoffs with a 2-1 win in game seven and the series four games to three over the pittsburgh penguins. the rangers were down three games to one before the comeback. they outscored the penguins 10-3 the last three games. the rangers will start the eastern conference finals on the road as they await the boston/montreal series. that 7th game is tomorrow.

california chrome just won the 140th edition of the kentucky derby, taking the lead at the top of the homestretch and ran away with it. first california bred horse to win it since 1962. victor espinosa is the winning jockey, his second kentucky derby win. espinosa and california chrome are five for five together this year. the owners paid $8,000 to get him when he was a mare. winning time 2:03.66. congrats. next race is the preakness in two weeks.

this is the fourth time it has ever happened. coming back from three games to none down to win a series. and the l.a. kings capped it off with a convincing 5-1 win in game seven and win the series four games to three. their four wins were pretty convincing out scoring san jose 18-5. wow. just wow. monumental collapse by the sharks. the previous three comebacks were the 1942 toronto maple leafs, the 1975 new york islanders and the 2010 philadelphia flyers. the kings will face the anaheim ducks in the pacific division final starting soon.

would you believe an overtime in game seven? it happened and for the first time in the series a road team won it. the minnesota wild are going to the central division final with a 5-4 win in overtime and four games to three in the series. four of the six games went into overtime, but minnesota won the last overtime in the series. minnesota will face the chicago blackhawks in the central division final. start of the series to be decided shortly.

in a back and forth series, the rangers beat the flyers 2-1 in game 7 and the series four games to three. the rangers wonthe odd numbered games while the flyers won the even numbered games. intense series as well (which apparantly included a fight in the stands in philly last night) the rangers will face the penguins for the metropolitan division final. schedule will be released at some point tonight.

the pittsburgh penguins have knocked out the columbus blue jackets with a 4-3 win in game six and a four games to two series win. the jackets gave pittsburgh quite a run. both their wins were in overtime. pittsburgh will now face either new york or philadelphia in the metropolitan division final.

nick bonino scored the series winner in overtime as the anaheim ducks beat the dallas stars 5-4 in game six and won the series four game to two. the ducks were down 4-2 in the third period and then scored two within three minutes late to tie it. they will get either los angeles or san jose in the pacific division final.

with a 5-1 win in game six, the chicago blackhawks eliminate the st. louis blues and will be in the central division final. the hawks will face either colorado or minnesota in the division final chicago was down 0-2 in the series then won four. three of the six games went into overtime with chicago winning two of them. congrats to them.

the boston bruins just finished off the detroit red wings with a 4-2 win in game 5 and the series four games to one. it was all boston after losing game one. tuuka rask gave up only six goals in the series. the bruins will now face the montreal canadiens for the 34th time in playoff history. that will be a good series.

with a 4-3 win, the montreal canadiens sweep the tampa bay lightning out of the playoffs. although the games were close, the habs kept finishing the game out. the habs will either face the boston bruins or the detroit red wings in the atlantic division final.

the final day of the nhl regular season is in the books, and after 1230 games, 16 teams in the playoffs. this year the playoff format is almost reminiscint of the 1980s format. the difference is this year the top three in each division get in and two wild card teams in each conference. the division winners get the wild card teams. division playoffs still apply. in the metropolitan division, pittsburgh faces columbus and philadelphia plays the new york rangers. in the atlantic, boston faces detroit and tampa bay squares off with montreal. out west, in the pacific, anaheim plays dallas and san jose plays los angeles. in the central it is colorado vs minnesota while st. louis faces chicago. these division semi final match-ups should be good. playoffs start on wednesday night.

the conneticut huskies are 2014 ncaa tournament champions with a 60-54 win over the kentucky wild cats. i think it was quite a very good and entertaining game. it is their 4th title, in their 4th title game and their 5th final four. they are the lowest seed, at #7 to win a championship since villanova, who was an 8th seed in 1985 when they beat georgetown. congrats to the conneticut huskies.

aaron harrison scored the biggest three pointer ever as the kentucky wildcats beat the wisconsin badgers 74-73 in what was a heck of a game. harrison hit the three pointer with 5.7 seconds ended up sealing it. this game went pretty much back and forth. kentucky will face conneticut on monday night at 7:10 pm mt for the national championship.

i just realized i have been doing this blog for 10 YEARS. holy crap. my how time has flown. i have had put nearly everything on here from sports to odd things - like how to lose several pounds on a sheep by shaving all the wool off. that story april from 2004. also anything from mass snow storms to pleasant evenings to anything sports related. and a few pictures. here is to 10 more years. and may posts.

the conneticut huskies are in the championship game with a rather convincing 63-53 win over the florida gators. they were down 16-4 and was not getting anything going. then two quick three pointers turned it around and played excellent baskeball. conneticut will either face wisconsin or kentucy for the championship. wisconsin/kentucky will be coming up in about 25 to 30 minutes.

the end of march has finally arrived. a rather chilly month and a bit of snow. edmonton has had it easy though. winnipeg got hit hard. eastern canada got walloped a couple or three times. i am thinking they want to see some green grass. lets what else: loads of hockey, the ncaa tournament, the start of baseball happened in australia for two games between teh dodgers and diamondbacks on the 22nd and 23rd, opening night last night and opening day today, car racing, the start of the aussie rules footy and i think that is about it. can't remember anything else. hopefully april is good.

the final regional final game was a pretty good one. the kentucky wildcats are in the final four with a 75-72 win over the michigan wolverines and will face the wisconsin badgers in the national semi final game saturday. the final four is close. kentucky and wisconsin, i think, will be the second game on saturday while the florida vs conneticut game will be the first. start times soon. update: florida vs conneticut at 4:09pm mt and wisconsin vs kentucky at 6:49pm mt

the conneticut huskies are in the final four with a 60-54 win over the michigan state spartans, in a fairly close game. conneticut will now face the florida gators in the first national semi fianl matchup on saturday. coming up in about half an hour has kentucky facing michigan. winner gets wisconsin.

in a very good game, the wisconsin badgers beat out the arizona wildcats 64-63 in a thriller of an overtime game to win the west regional final. wisconsin will now face either kentucky or michigan in the final four. that game is tomorrow afternoon at about 3:05. with arizona losing, that just leaves florida as the last #1 seed left in the tournament. until tomorrow, stay tuned.

the florida gators are the first team into the final four with a 62-52 win over the dayton flyers. florida has the play in the first half. the second half was pretty even. florida will play conneticut or michigan state. that is tomorrow. coming up in about 25 minutes has arizona wildcats playing wisconsim badgers.

couple of great games to end the night. kentucky just knocked out defending champion louisville 74-69. at one point kentucky was down 13 points to get even tehn was down by 7 with four minutes left in the game. they will be playing michigan in the midwest regional finat at about 3:05 pm mt sunday afternoon. michigan began teh evening winning a thriller of their own, beating tennessee 73-71. they had a decent sized lead with two minutes to go in the game and almost blew it. in the east region, michigan state capped off the evening in new york with a close win over virginia, 61-59 they will be playing conneticut in teh east region final on sunday. uconn beat iowa state 81-76 to get there. uconn vs michigan state is sunday afternoon. tipoff is 12:20pm mt. tomorrow has florida vs dayton at 4:09 mt and arizona vs wisconsin at 6:49 pm mt (approx). getting close to crunch time.