Ahhhh... those sports talk show personalities...

What is with those sports talk show hosts and their negativity and all their, shall I say, ignorance?

Week 17 of the NFL season is upon us, and it features a pair of NFC division championship games (Chicago vs Green Bay, Dallas vs Philadelphia).... and yet just because of the holiday season the so-called big talk show personalities are "on vacation" in the days leading up to the biggest day of the season... Perhaps they should get scrutinized just like the way they rip the star athletes who fail to deliver, huh? I give kudos to former Reds reliever Rob Dibble, who was not on vacation this week. In fact, he did his regular show on Christmas night and as always gave very insightful commentary! Well done, Dibbs!

(Rob Dibble also is nice to his callers, even if he does not agree with their take, unlike other egotistical hosts I have heard on the radio before who essentially are calling their callers/listeners idiots for having the "wrong" take. Then why bother inviting people to call in if you think they are idiots for having their own takes?)

Heard today on the "Dan Patrick Show" where the substitute host says something along the lines of "Dan isn't here... I'm here.. and there's nothing you can do about it" (I'm paraphrasing, of course). Well, for your information, there is something I can do. Turn the radio off or switch to a different station where the host isn't "lazy," so to speak, and didn't show up just because of the holidays.

And this is a very common thing I always hear on the JT The Brick show. I have the radio on as I am working from home, and I hear him brag all the time about how his show is a top-rated program that is on over 200 stations, etc. (I can't remember the exact number.) Then he would call fan bases out for saying something like (again I am paraphrasing), "The fans in Detroit should be embarrassed. Your Tigers are in the ALCS and all of the phone lines are open. There is not one caller from Detroit even though we're on the radio on [name of the city's sports talk station]. This is embarrassing. Not one caller from Detroit...." etc. etc.

Well, I do not know the statistics of how many listeners tune in from any market, but doesn't it say something if NO ONE bothers to call into your show? Perhaps it means they do not find your program entertaining enough? ... Or....? Why should it be the fault of the "customer" when they do not show up? Perhaps it has to do with other factors such as the show being preempted due to local programming, or the fact the sports fans from that city are busy tuning into another program or partying because their team is in the championship series? There are so many options for the sports consumer these days that perhaps it is your show that is the problem? Ever thought about that?

And how about the moronic hosts who keep blasting Cowboys management/ownership (ie. Jerry Jones) and coaching staff about keeping the Tony Romo injury situation under wraps? There were those who were complaining on Monday that the Cowboys should have just come out and announce Romo is gone for the season instead of "lying" to fans and the media. Well, has anyone ever thought about the fact the Cowboys perhaps didn't want to give the Eagles a competitive advantage so that Philadelphia can prepare for backup Kyle Orton? Are the sports talk hosts just being like those fans who only care about fantasy football and have no concept about something called "competitive advantage"?

Anyway, just wanted to do this rant to give an example of how we could be bashing the personalities who bash the athletes. That's all! :)

Canucks write-up for vacay.ca

It's been a while since I have posted on here due to work. In fact, I was supposed to write about the Vancouver Canucks for the travel website vacay.ca, but was unable to attend a game in February because of work reasons.

Nonetheless, I did submit a piece to vacay.ca three days ago; the editor wanted to hold off on any stories until the Canucks make the playoffs. So, I will post it here for now and if my schedule permits (and if the   Canucks make the playoffs too), I might be able to re-do the story and then re-submit to vacay.ca.

(Note: This was written prior to the Canucks' 4-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on April 4th and before the Minnesota Wild dropped 4-2 and 3-0 decisions on the road to fall out of first place.)

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — If it’s the month of April in Vancouver, it means the Canucks are gearing up for a playoff run.

Hey, after all, the Canucks have won the Northwest Division title in each of the last four seasons, and five of the last six, including claiming the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s best team in back-to-back campaigns in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

This season is no different, as the Canucks (19-11-6) are currently tied for top spot in the Northwest with the Minnesota Wild (21-12-2)—though the Wild do own the tie-breaker by virtue of having two more victories—which shapes up to be a exciting finish as Vancouver tries to make it five divisional championships in a row.

And while the Canucks this year aren’t the high-scoring outfit that they were the last couple of seasons—during their recent six-game winning streak at the end of March, the Canucks won five one-goal games including a pair of 1-0 victories and a pair of 3-2 decisions—they have been solid in goal thanks to the play of Cory Schneider, who has taken over as the main man between the pipes for Vancouver.

What makes it interesting down the stretch as well is the fact that division rivals Edmonton and Calgary will each still play the Canucks twice during the shortened season’s final month, and Vancouver also has home dates with Western Conference powerhouses Detroit, Chicago, and Anaheim  over a six-day stretch in the final week of the regular-season schedule.

So, it certainly shapes up to be a thrilling finish to the 2012-13 season for the Canucks, and if you are attending a game at Rogers Arena this month, here are some things to keep in mind:

Tickets for a Canucks Game

Because as they say in Vancouver, “We Are All Canucks,” it is best to get tickets to a Canucks game as soon as you can before they get sold out. Tickets can be ordered online at the Canucks’ official website at canucks.com/tickets.

Also, be sure to check out the Canucks’ “Ticket Promotions” page for special offers such as “Family Nights” and “Student Rush Nights” (for groups of 20 or more).

Directions to Rogers Arena

Public transit is your best bet to get to and from the game in terms of cost efficiency. Located at 800 Griffiths Way, Rogers Arena is easily accessible by SkyTrain—you just hop on the train and get off at the Stadium/Chinatown station—and it only costs $2.75 for a one-way ticket to use the train if you are commuting from Vancouver.

If you are commuting by SkyTrain from outside of the Vancouver transit “zone,” it will cost you up to $5.50 (Surrey) to use the train to get to downtown during rush hour on weekdays, but $2.75 for the return trip as it will be cheaper after 6:30 p.m. (non-peak hours).

Alternatively, if you prefer to drive, Rogers Arena is also within a 15-minute walk of over 7,000 parking spots, including the arena’s underground parkade, which is accessible off of Griffiths Way on the west side of the building.

Food Choices

If you would like to grab a bite before the game, Wiser’s Centre Ice Grill located on Level 4 inside Rogers Arena is a good place to go. “The Grill,” Vancouver’s only live sports dining restaurant, is open for dining two hours before game time, and fans can catch the action on the ice during the game. Well, “The Grill” is also open until an hour after the game ends, so if you’re hungry at the end of the night you are not out of luck.

But of course, during the game you can also check out the concession stands at Rogers Arena, with all of the traditional arena food such as burgers and fries, popcorn, nachos, pizza, and hot dogs. If you would like to try something different, though, don’t worry, as there are other options such as fresh carved deli sandwiches, veggie burgers, Teriyaki rice bowls, hand-made quesadillas, and much, much more!

Just one note, though,… the concession stands don’t take debit cards, so make sure you have cash or a credit card on you!

Pray for No Shootout

As a friend of mine—who is a die-hard Canucks fan—keeps telling me, “The Canucks suck at the shoot-out,” well, just pray for a regulation victory if you are a fan of the home team. Apparently if the Canucks do need to settle matters via the skills competition round in the event the score remains tied after three periods and the sudden-death overtime session, watch out because that is their Achilles’ heel!

All kidding aside, if the Canucks do need the shootout to decide a game, they can count on Schneider to make the key saves, and for star players such as Ryan Kessler, Alex Burrows, and the Sedin twins to try and get them the “W” and the second point. And hey, it would be a bonus for a fan if the contest goes to a shootout… win or lose, what an exciting way to end the game!

Other Information on the Canucks

Address of Rogers Arena: 800 Griffiths Way, Vancouver, British Columbia

Official Team Website: canucks.nhl.com

Facebook: facebook.com/canucks

Twitter: @VanCanucks

Official Mascot of the Canucks: FIN

FIN’s Facebook Name: FIN Orca

FIN’s Twitter Name: @CanucksFIN

Catch my CJSF shows this week - Sarah MacDougall and more

Catch my (pre-recorded) interview with Swedish-Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah MacDougall on www.cjsf.ca tomorrow (Wednesday) during the 1pm Pacific hour (4pm Eastern). We discuss her songwriting and about her interesting YouTube video for the song "Sometimes You Lose, Sometimes You Win" - as well as her experience writing in -40 degree temperatures.

Then on Thursday, my (pre-recorded) Jumbalaya show, with a special Jazz theme this week, will be aired at 9:00 am Pacific (12 noon Eastern) on www.cjsf.ca. Also featuring music from Toronto's Roger Chong and other Canadian composers! Also, a special shout-out to Chris Ronald for his May 31st gig in New West.

Ahhh... the magic of pre-recording...

Thanks to the magic of pre-recording, we have myself on the Jumbalaya show today even though I wasn't in the studio this morning! For a mixed bag of some great music from some up-and-coming artists, check the show out.

http://www.cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2012_May_17_09_00.mp3
http://www.cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2012_May_17_09_30.mp3

Happy 100th at the ballpark!

Boston's got Fenway Park.

Detroit's got the site of the old Tiger Stadium.

Meanwhile, Toronto's got this die-hard fan, who turned 100 today! Happy birthday, Ms. Walker! Hope you enjoyed the victory today!

(Thanks to Roger C. for sharing this on Facebook and MLB.com's "Cut Four" for the info & image.)

8 Core Beliefs - Extraordinary Bosses

Every once in a while, I read an article and can only say Amen! This is one of them...

Rox at the Fairmont tonight!

Vancouver singer/songwriter Katie Rox will be playing with her band tonight in Vancouver at the Fairmont Pacific Rim at 9:00 pm! Great music and the best part - it's freeeeee!

Here's a video Katie posted on her website on Thursday, with the song "I Won't":

Championship Rings!

(Note: The picture you see here is courtesy Vancouver Canadians Head Groundskeeper Tom Archibald.)

Vancouver will always be a Canucks/hockey town, but how about those Canadians from the Northwest League?

The 2011 champions handed out championship rings to the players in Dunedin several weeks ago, and earlier this week, it was the stadium staff who received their rings.

From game-day staff to controllers to broadcasters to groundskeepers to team physicians to everybody who was a part of the 2011 staff, everyone was handed a personalized championship ring in a special ceremony this week. (When I say 'personalized,' I mean your name is engraved on the ring!) The picture you see here is what the ring looks like (with this shot taken by Head Groundskeeper Tom Archibald). It looks terrific, and everybody was just thrilled to receive one. Talking to several people during the festivities, I learned that there were those who have been in minor-league baseball for 30 years, those in the industry for 6 years, and so on, and it was their first ever championship ring. It was just fantastic listening to everybody's story about how long they've waited for this moment. T-Mac told me the awesome anecdote about how he and I--and he and I alone--will forever be linked in Canadians' lore! What a terrific story!

When it was my turn to say how I felt about the ring, well, my first response was: "I guess I'll try to be Jeter; try to win a ring every year!"

What an interesting way to use a spreadsheet....

All I can say is: Spreadsheets aren't just for budgets anymore (courtesy this story from abcnews)! Instead of columns for dollars & cents and expense items, it's time to put in phone numbers, email addresses, and even... photos! Yikes!

Also, colour codes aren't just for "expense to avoid," "necessary cost," or "need to eliminate," but rather, "monitor closely" or "monitor casually."

I guess that date on Wednesday was very likely their last one!

"Reverse Outlining" Workshop - June 23rd

If you're in the area, something worthwhile to check out on Saturday, June 23rd... It's the "Reverse Outlining" workshop hosted by Lois Peterson, who's published numerous literary short stories. She's also the author of six children's novels and is a popular storyteller and workshop presenter.

Click here for more information about this workshop - but hurry, because there's a limited number of seats available.

Thanks to Julie Ferguson of "The Beacon Blog for Writers" for sharing the details of this event.

Feature: Singer/Songwriter Kenya Kondo

Here's a vintage video from last year of Edmonton singer/songwriter Kenya Kondo, discussing the release of his album "Wait" (uploaded by Kenya himself on YouTube). He also shares the story of how he got into music, which is just a fantastic story.

Earlier this year, Kenya was kind enough to spend some time to chat with me for a radio program I was doing for CJSF 90.1 FM. You can listen to the interview here. I absolutely enjoy his album "Wait" and look forward to more upcoming albums from him!

You can keep up with Kenya's latest happenings on his website, which is http://www.kenyakondo.com/. He is also on Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/KenyaKondo.

Survey says: "That name is inappropriate!"

Well, what do they say in those marketing textbooks again about picking an appropriate brand name?

*Must be short and simple
*Must be easy to spell
*Must not be offensive...

Ah ha! I guess these guys failed the last one.

The World's First Lickable Cookie Elevator??

Is this story even for real? How unsanitary! I'll take the stairs, please...

It sounds like a stupid idea. Who came up with this? Yuck!

Vote for Katie!

Vancouver-based singer/songwriter Katie Rox, a good friend of my program "Smitten by the Written" on CJSF 90.1 FM, needs your help!

Katie is in the CBC Radio 3 competition "Tracks on Tracks: The Ultimate Canadian Rock 'n' Rail Adventure - Top 50 Artists!" She made it into the second round and is in the top 50, but needs your votes for this next round of voting, in order to make it to the next round!

For more information, go to this CBC Radio 3 / Tracks on Tracks page for more details and vote for Katie!

If you have never heard any of Katie's music, here is one of her latest music videos, "Hard to Find," courtesy YouTube:

(PS: According to Katie's website, this music video was filmed in Osaka and Tokyo.)

Coming up: "Lunch Poems @ SFU" series

If you're in the Vancouver, BC area and enjoy poetry, check out the new "Lunch Poems @ SFU" series! The SFU Harbour Centre in downtown Vancouver will be hosting lunchtime readings every month featuring well-known as well as up-and-coming poets.

The April "Lunch Poems @ SFU" reading features Wayde Compton and guest poet Rahat Kurd, and will be taking place on Wednesday, April 18th, between noon and 1pm, in the Teck Gallery at Harbour Centre.

The inaugural event of the series in March featured Vancouver's Poet Laureate Evelyn Lau and guest poet Daniela Elza. Apologies for the audio quality, but here are parts one and two of the recording of that event, which I covered for CJSF 90.1 FM.

Also, there is no video footage, but here's a vintage clip of Evelyn Lau discussing narrative point of view for short story and novel writing, courtesy a YouTube video uploaded by OpeningLearningTRU:

Feature: Singer/Songwriter Chris Ronald

Several weeks ago during spring break, Vancouver-based singer/songwriter Chris Ronald, who is also a school teacher, was kind enough to spend a few minutes to chat about his life and songwriting.

Here is the interview.

Here is the photo that Chris was referring to during the interview! You can tell he was certainly into music even at a young age!

Chris also performs live in the Vancouver area throughout the year. For more details about his upcoming gigs, click here to find out and be there to listen to his great music*.

Several of his performances will be at The Naam on West 4th, which he described to me off the air as a terrific and cozy place for a night of live music, so don't miss out! All the details, such as dates, locations, and maps, are available on there, so check it out!

*PS: Chris had a gig on Friday, April 13th, the same night as the Canucks' Game Two tilt against the Los Angeles Kings. I wasn't at Chris's gig at Cuppa Joy Coffee House that night, but I'm certain he gave a much better performance than the local hockey team did! :)

Here is also one of the several YouTube videos of him inside the CJSF studio that I was referring to in the interview! This video features the song "Best Place on Earth" from his album "Turning Tides." Terrific stuff by Chris Ronald. Looking forward to his new album coming out in 2013.

Guest Author: Mystery Novelist Frank Say

Today, it's a pleasure to feature Frank Say, author of "Nine Lives." He is currently working on the second book in "The Lake Pontchartrain Mysteries" series (with "Nine Lives" being the first book in that series). Here is some information about Frank, and the story behind how he became a writer:

Frank Say has spent most of his life in South Western Pennsylvania. Some years ago, Frank had a strange but exciting idea for a story and would tell his future wife about his idea on occasion. After hearing the story several times, she finally said, "Well, why don't you do something about it?" With no formal training in journalism or writing and no one else interested in the idea other than him, Frank began compiling an outline. The outline quickly grew into three handwritten marble composition notebooks with scenes, characters and chapters. That was back in 2001.

The name of that story was "Nine Lives" and after completion of that process, Frank came to a wonderful conclusion: He absolutely loved writing!

"Nine Lives" was published in 2008. Not slowing down, Frank began work on his second novel, "The Thirteenth Sign," which will be the second book of the series, "The Lake Pontchartrain Mysteries." Overindulging in late-night horror movies as a child, Frank has a love of all things supernatural and paranormal and that is where you will find his writings.

Recently listed in the 2010 edition of "50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading" produced by The Author's Show, Frank is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and currently lives in South Western Pennsylvania with his wife and cat.

"Nine Lives" is available via Amazon Kindle here.

To keep up with Frank's latest happenings, please visit his website: http://www.franksay.com/. There should be more information coming soon regarding his second book, "The Thirteenth Sign," as well.

Click here for an interview UCW Magazine conducted with Frank recently.

What happened to getting it right?

An interesting story found on Yahoo! News' Daily Brew, about the Bunny/Cop traffic sting. We can presume from the context of the story that it happened during the Easter weekend, but you couldn't tell from the Yahoo! story itself because it wasn't reported. It did mention "9:30 a.m." and the total number of tickets issued, but nowhere did it mention anywhere about when it happened. You don't know for sure unless you click on the original source itself, where it states when it happened.

But why can't the Yahoo! News site get that right?

Then in the story about KFC Thailand, Yahoo! News' Daily Buzz reported that the company used Twitter to post an inappropriate message, whereas other media outlets were reporting that KFC Thailand had used Facebook. Hmm. Yes, I know it's still social media, but don't they check their facts on Yahoo!? Also, multiple sources indicate that the earthquake magnitude was 8.6. Yahoo! News had it as something else.

Whatever happened to getting it right?

Easter Bunny a part of the police operations!

Kudos to the Nanaimo police for recently coming up with a creative way to catch drivers using their cell phones. According to news reports, they were using an Easter Bunny for their traffic sting!

Yeah, apparently, on Good Friday, they had a sergeant dressed up as a giant Easter Bunny and standing at several intersections known for having a lot of accidents. His job was to spot violations and radio ahead to officers waiting down the road! You might think people were upset about the way the police went about it, but apparently, quite a few drivers waved, honked their horns, and even approached the Bunny for photos once they realized it was part of a police undercover assignment!

A pretty creative method for an undercover sting, so kudos to the Nanaimo police for that.

PS - Guess what the "Bunny" got as a reward afterward?

Feature: Toronto composer/guitarist Roger Chong

One of my favourite composers, Toronto's Roger Chong, recently made Tandem Magazine's "Music Feature of the Week." Roger's a terrific person and a wonderful composer, so I'm super happy for him. Check out the interview here!

I already have a copy of his new CD, "Send a Little Love," which is scheduled to be released in May! It's a fantastic CD, and you can check out a few samples here.

Roger was kind enough to spend a few minutes chatting with me earlier this year. It was a big thrill speaking with him as he shared some interesting stories about his life and song titles. Click here for the interview.