Is The Stanley Cup Final Music To Your Ears?

Friday May 25 8 PM

Still three days away from the start of the stanley cup final...does anybody outside of Ottawa & Anaheim still care?...Has Ray Emery had to come out and play yet? I'll be convinced when he holds the Cup...just want to see good hockey with better officiating...

Anaheim in seven

Conference Finals Predictions: 1-1
Total Playoff Predictions: 13-2

CBC has added Greg Millen to the booth in an effort to save Bob Cole & Harry Neale. That's a lost cause...Make sure you listen to The Team 990 instead with Sam Rosen & Darren Pang...Not everybody liked Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football on ABC in the 70's (I did) so they used to turn the sound down and listen to the CBS radio feed with Jack Buck and Hank Stram...I often turn the sound down on pro sports events and listen to music...I have found very few people outside of Pierre McGuire who can tell me something about an event/athlete that I didn't already know. And unless someone has reached Harry Carey status, out and out cheerleading during a broadcast turns me off quicker than a visual of Rosanne Barr mud wrestling Rosie O'Donnell.

http://www.powermaxconsulting.com/HarrySounds.htm

My favorite baseball broadcasting team is Duane Kiper and Mike Krukow with the San Fransisco Giants. Both former players consistently deliver the goods: Informative, entertaining, soothing and colorful without being intrusive. And they never seem to clash... It's a delicate balancing act but these guys have pulled it off for nearly 20 years.

http://www.knbr.com/giants/krukKuip.html

I also liked The Expos english radio broadcasts from olympic Stadium during the final two years of the franchise...those guys were pretty good...

Now that the San Antonio Spurs and David Stern have helped eliminate Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns from the post season I have little interest left in the NBA playoffs...and it's not just "the Canadian factor"...I'd love to see a run 'n gun offense like the Suns win a championship, especially with so many basketball "experts" (Charles Barkley among them) who don't believe it can be done...
Stern effectively squashed any hopes of a "7 seconds or less" team winning it all when he suspended Amore Stoudamire and Boris Diaw for game five of the western semifinal for stepping onto the court...Diaw has never received a technical foul in his career, yet the all-knowing Stern assumed he was going to start throwing punches?...like George Steinbrenner, Al Davis and yes, even Harry Caray, Stern is guilty of, if nothing else, overstaying his welcome...and a once impenetrable public facade is crumbling quickly with more and more calls for his resignation...

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/davidsternmustgo.html

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Seconds-Less-Season-Phoenix/dp/074329811X

Long suffering Van Morrison fans in Montreal finally got their wish today when tickets when on sale for Van's first Montreal concert in over 20 years...I couldn't wait that long so a couple of years back I headed to Boston over St.Patrick's week to catch Van the Man at the Orphium, a small Theatre St. Denis-like venue across from Boston Common...I paid the equivalent of $400 Cdn for a 5th row center seat, the most I've ever paid to see anybody at any venue....tickets read 7:30 SHARP...I was in the washroom at 7:25 when the crowd went nuts.... stuck at a urinal while Van sang "Into The Mystic"...finally making it into my seat in time for the second tune, most of which Van spent playing his saxophone...in fact, it seemed like he played the sax more often than he sang...he was done, with no encore, by 8:55...I'm glad I finally caught him but vowed never to pay to see him again..assuming that he would keep his promise from 1986 when he vowed never to play Montreal again following some boos for his opening act Mose Allison...so now I'm kind of torn, especially after the release of his first country album, "Pay The Devil" and recent appearance on Austin City Limits which featured him in good spirits, even taking requests!...

http://www.vanmorrison.co.uk/

http://www.moseallison.net/

More Music:

The Allman Brothers Band: Hittin' The Note **** Released in 2003 I only got to it this year, stunned by how good Gregg Allman sounds with Warren Haynes' guitar coming out of the left speaker and Derek Trucks' work pouring out of the right...many songs seem to be about the then recently fired Dickie Betts

Joe Bonamassa: You & Me *** Blues based work from young virtuoso discovered by the late Tom Dowd...Jason Bonham on drums
www.jbonamassa.com

Ry Cooder: My Name Is Buddy ***1/2 Don't be fooled by the cover or text..this is not a kids album...serious american roots music by a seriously good musician and his friends
http://www.nonesuch.com/Hi_Band/index_frameset2.cfm?pointer=cooder.gif

Drive-By Truckers: A Blessing and A Curse ***1/2 My favorite American rock band...Three main songwriters all with considerable depth...four vocalists...might be the best band around since...The Band
www.drivebytruckers.com

Van Morrison: Pay The Devil *** Van as cowboy

Willie Nelson:
Countryman *** Willie as reggae master...he be groovin... about time, huh?
You Don't Know Me (The songs of Cindy Walker) ****1/2 Can't beat combo
Songbird ***1/2 Willie gets added muscle from Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
www.willienelson.com

Old Crow Medicine Show: Big Iron World *** New wave bluegrass, even better live
www.crowmedicine.com

Tom Russell: Love & Fear *** Gifted songwriter tackles love, fear and growing old
www.tomrussell.com

Steve Wynn&theMiracle3: ...tick...tick...tick *** Former Dream Syndicate frontman has been making great music with his new friends for about five years...
www.stevewynn.net

Favorite American Bands(Current):

1. Drive-By Truckers
2. White Stripes
3. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
4. Wilco
5. Kings Of Leon
6. My Morning Jacket
7. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
8. New York Dolls
9. Iggy & The Stooges
10 Raconteurs

And this just in: NBC admits to true meaning behind it's call letters...
No Body Cares