Saturday November 24 3:30 PM
I hate November. Worst time of the year. A clear reminder that many more dark and dreary days are ahead before we finally see the sun again on a regular basis. It's cold but far worse for me is the fact that it's so damp. I also hate the slush. So does the bottom of my jeans. Yet we all soldier on. Further proof that Montreal is one terrific place to live.
Can you find anything good about the month of November? Oh sure, if you're a winter outdoor enthusiast like Andie Bennett it means you're on the fast track to snowboarding, skiing, tobogganing (the first time I've ever written the word-honest), skating and washing your long underwear. Whoopi.
The best word I can use to describe this month is: bleak. Such a bleakness to it. In hockey the Canadiens play the Sabres and Leafs and Senators and Bruins. Same teams they played in October. There's no longer a local baseball hot stove session to follow. And only once in the last 30 years have we been able to attend a Grey Cup parade. And that one-five years ago-was damn cold-even with all the whiskey.
It's also hard to ignore-especially for anybody over 45-that the world changed forever-and for a lot worse-on November 22, 1963.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFpPjjKdUds&feature=related
Thanks to Larry Robinson for helping some of us escape the darkness for a few hours on November 19th. Shame on Ron Corey, Francois Seigneur, Pierre Boivin and anybody else who dragged their rear ends while Larry lost his mother, father and older brother while waiting to be properly honored. Kudos to Larry and Lou Lamorellio for making the evening so memorable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9rp-ewJ8mI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKd4HJNSbQg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZmRWz_Dyk0&feature=related
Brief observations about the Habs more than one quarter through this season....anybody still need to be "sold" on Carey Price? Imagine how good he'll be when he plays more often then once a week or every 10 days...Mark Streit's bubble has burst...time to cut back on his ice time...I admire the guy but the Habs need an upgrade on Francis Boullion...How can a team coached by Guy Carbonneau, Doug Jarvis & Kirk Muller struggle so much to kill penalties?...it's not the goaltending...Michael Ryder is almost out of time...this year's Sergei Samsonov?...If he's still stuck in neutral by the 30 game mark he ought to be replaced...I'm not at all worried about Saku Koivu but I'm still waiting for another performance like the one he delivered against Briere and the Flyers; over three weeks ago...some refs clearly have it in for Alex Kovalev..then again some refs wouldn't be in the NHL if not for the two man system...brutal calls (and non-calls) seem to be a hot topic every night...to paraphrase Pierre McGuire..where can the Habs find a guy like Rick Tocchet (circa 1992)?...or Kevin Stevens for that matter?...Bob Gainey's x-mas wish list: Olli Jokinen, Marian Hossa, Mats Sundin (3-way trade?) or Shane Doan...
The greatest hockey team of all-time ( Montreal Canadiens 1955-1960) lost another Hall of Famer this week. Tom Johnson was Doug Harvey's defense partner. And Red Fisher's drinking partner. But he never called Fisher Red. Read it and weep. And laugh:
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2007/11/23/heres_looking_at_you_kid/
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Bye Bye Barry (and Cristobal); Hello (Again) A-Rod; RIP Norman
Thursday November 15, 7:45 PM
Poor Cristobal Huet. Quickly becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of the Montreal Canadiens. If NHL GM's outside of Montreal feel as strongly about the guy as some hardcore Hab fans do, then those very fans ought to rejoice. Because they'll get to see their man play a lot of hockey over the next couple of years. But they'll have to subscribe to the NHL Center Ice package to do so because Cristobal won't be here. There are many out there who believe Huet will return to Montreal with a "home town discount" but I find that far-fetched. He'll be 33 next season. He's currently making $2.75 million. He's going to return here to play 20 games-and the Habs are going to pay him about two million a year for that? I think not.
Cristobal Huet is a very good goaltender who should be creating interest among several GM's who are in search of a talented, experienced goaltender (Ray Shero?). A good team guy. And a big Bob Dylan fan. But he's on his way out as a Hab. To be remembered as the guy who forced Jose Theodore out of town (and who kept the crease warm for Carey Price).
Couldn't the Feds in the U.S. Justice Department have indicted Barry Bonds last summer? If Bonds is going to jail for lying to a grand jury then how about Bud Selig follow him into the same hole for lying to congress during the anti-trust exemption hearings which followed his announcment that MLB was going to contract the Expos and Twins. And oh, how he lied again during hearings into steroid use.
Picture it. Selig and Bonds in jail garb. Working together on a chain gang. Like Tony Curtis and Sydney Poitier in "The Defiant Ones". But those guys got paid to play a part. Selig and Bonds are paying the price. They deserve each other.
I was in New York when my favorite writer died. Norman Mailer, who lived in Brooklyn, spoke to me at a time when I was still searching for a literary hero. I tried reading many of the classics, mostly because the young woman I was in love with seemed so deep and she read 'em all-and I mean all of them, devouring one after the other (Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Thomas Mann, Camus, Jane Austen, Melville, Tolstoy, Chekov, Joseph Conrad...) until I started to go through her collection. I found it to be a chore. Too dark, too complicated for me. At the time, anyway.
I was always a political junkie, even as a kid. So I remember picking up Fear And Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by a guy named Hunter S. Thompson. And howled for days. Which then led me directly to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hell's Angels. And I was hooked. It was through Thompson that I discovered Mailer.
I read The Naked And The Dead in one night. I couldn't believe it was written by a 25 year old. I then managed to find, mostly through the help at Cheap Thrills, everything Mailer had written.
If he wasn't America's finest novelist (too many clunkers) in my mind he was it's finest reporter.
If anybody wants to know what the 1960's were about read The Armies of The Night. He also chronicled the space program (Of a Fire on The Moon), politics, pop culture and sports. His masterpiece, The Executioner's Song, was essentially a reporting job on murderer Gary Gilmore's right to have himself executed. The book won the Pulitzer prize for literature.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/books/11mailer.html?ex=1210309200&en=52a0dcec1e5801af&ei=5087&excamp=GGGNnormanmailer&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id=GN-S-E-GG-NA-S-norman_mailer
And here's a terrific piece by Mark Kriegel on Mailer's love for boxing:
http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/7441264
Mailer was a man who inspired me greatly. Somebody I wish I had the opportunity to interview. Or at least thank.
This week marked the 25th anniversary of the Ray Mancini-Duk Koo Kim championship fight in Las Vegas which resulted in the death of Kim. Long time boxing writer Ron Borges puts it in perspective:
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3107079
A-Rod back to the Yankees for even more money than what Tom Hicks paid him in Texas? Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have made it obvious in a hurry. Like father like son(s).
Poor Cristobal Huet. Quickly becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of the Montreal Canadiens. If NHL GM's outside of Montreal feel as strongly about the guy as some hardcore Hab fans do, then those very fans ought to rejoice. Because they'll get to see their man play a lot of hockey over the next couple of years. But they'll have to subscribe to the NHL Center Ice package to do so because Cristobal won't be here. There are many out there who believe Huet will return to Montreal with a "home town discount" but I find that far-fetched. He'll be 33 next season. He's currently making $2.75 million. He's going to return here to play 20 games-and the Habs are going to pay him about two million a year for that? I think not.
Cristobal Huet is a very good goaltender who should be creating interest among several GM's who are in search of a talented, experienced goaltender (Ray Shero?). A good team guy. And a big Bob Dylan fan. But he's on his way out as a Hab. To be remembered as the guy who forced Jose Theodore out of town (and who kept the crease warm for Carey Price).
Couldn't the Feds in the U.S. Justice Department have indicted Barry Bonds last summer? If Bonds is going to jail for lying to a grand jury then how about Bud Selig follow him into the same hole for lying to congress during the anti-trust exemption hearings which followed his announcment that MLB was going to contract the Expos and Twins. And oh, how he lied again during hearings into steroid use.
Picture it. Selig and Bonds in jail garb. Working together on a chain gang. Like Tony Curtis and Sydney Poitier in "The Defiant Ones". But those guys got paid to play a part. Selig and Bonds are paying the price. They deserve each other.
I was in New York when my favorite writer died. Norman Mailer, who lived in Brooklyn, spoke to me at a time when I was still searching for a literary hero. I tried reading many of the classics, mostly because the young woman I was in love with seemed so deep and she read 'em all-and I mean all of them, devouring one after the other (Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Thomas Mann, Camus, Jane Austen, Melville, Tolstoy, Chekov, Joseph Conrad...) until I started to go through her collection. I found it to be a chore. Too dark, too complicated for me. At the time, anyway.
I was always a political junkie, even as a kid. So I remember picking up Fear And Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by a guy named Hunter S. Thompson. And howled for days. Which then led me directly to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Hell's Angels. And I was hooked. It was through Thompson that I discovered Mailer.
I read The Naked And The Dead in one night. I couldn't believe it was written by a 25 year old. I then managed to find, mostly through the help at Cheap Thrills, everything Mailer had written.
If he wasn't America's finest novelist (too many clunkers) in my mind he was it's finest reporter.
If anybody wants to know what the 1960's were about read The Armies of The Night. He also chronicled the space program (Of a Fire on The Moon), politics, pop culture and sports. His masterpiece, The Executioner's Song, was essentially a reporting job on murderer Gary Gilmore's right to have himself executed. The book won the Pulitzer prize for literature.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/books/11mailer.html?ex=1210309200&en=52a0dcec1e5801af&ei=5087&excamp=GGGNnormanmailer&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id=GN-S-E-GG-NA-S-norman_mailer
And here's a terrific piece by Mark Kriegel on Mailer's love for boxing:
http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/7441264
Mailer was a man who inspired me greatly. Somebody I wish I had the opportunity to interview. Or at least thank.
This week marked the 25th anniversary of the Ray Mancini-Duk Koo Kim championship fight in Las Vegas which resulted in the death of Kim. Long time boxing writer Ron Borges puts it in perspective:
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3107079
A-Rod back to the Yankees for even more money than what Tom Hicks paid him in Texas? Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have made it obvious in a hurry. Like father like son(s).
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Schilling, Shula & Shots on Huet
Tuesday November 6, 7:45 PM
Red Sox in three games was an accurate call in the world series wasn't it? I mean, you knew it was over after they took a 3-0 lead, right? The Red Sox second world championship since 2004 has resulted in a parade of appearances on various variety and late night talk shows (until the writer's strike got in the way). I especially enjoyed Manny Ramirez on The Tonight Show w/Jay Leno. I stopped watching Leno years ago. Great stand up comic. Horrible host. Best thing you can say about him is that he's a better talk show host than, say, Chevy Chase. Or Pat Sajak. Or Alan Thicke. Or John McEnroe. Anyway, an example of why Bill Lee, among others, loves Manny (check NESN video, about halfway down the page, on left):
http://www.boston.com/sports/
Further proof technology is taking us places we thought we'd never go: Curt Schilling announces he's re-signing with the Red Sox before the team does, with their permission:
http://www.38pitches.com/
Cristobal Huet looked a lot like Carey Price in goal as he shutout the Buffalo Sabres monday night. In perfect position, making tough saves look not so tough. Quiet, not flopping around. Now if he can only learn how to handle the puck like Price...Michael Ryder needs a puck to bounce off his rear end and into the net and then watch, he'll pull a Brian Savage and score five or six goals over two or three games...Andrei Markov is a legit all star defenseman right now...Mike Komisarek is on his way....Anybody still think letting Sheldon Souray go was a mistake?...I keep hearing people complain that Chris Higgins doesn't have much "finish". What do people expect, a 40-45 goal season?...Higgins reminds me a lot of Rod Brindamour...Where are the poppies on the two french round table shows (110% & La Zone)?...There's a new book out about Patrick Roy, written by Roy's father Michel. Wonder if Mathieu ("He's a cancer in the room") Schneider plans to read it:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/10811-Patrick-Roys-dad-aims-to-correct-image-of-his-son-in-new-Quebec-book.html
The single season greatest team in NFL history is the 1972 Miami Dolphins. No ifs, and's, but's, or maybe's. Those Dolphins, led by a Hall of Fame coach & GM, a solid QB, a sensational running game and tremendous defense, were perfect 35 years ago. Hard to beat perfection.
If this year's New England Patriots go all the way to a Super Bowl championship without losing, they move past the Dolphins, again no if's, and's, etc. even though Don Shula would have you believe otherwise:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21655235/
http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/history/1972perfectseason/1972perfectseason.asp
The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Monterey has been re-released on cd & dvd. I have original album and cd, plus the entire Monterey Pop Festival (1967) on cd & dvd but it's Hendrix so of course I bought it. What I had forgotten was the less than enthusiastic response Jimi got for his first major concert in his homeland. Actually, there was a lot of stunned slilence before, during and after he"sacrificed" his guitar to express his "love". If you care about the history of rock and roll it's a must-have *****
http://www.hendrixatmonterey.com/
Also listening to "I'm Not There", the soundtrack to the much discussed Todd Haynes biopic on Bob Dylan. I was lucky enough to see the movie a few weeks back with my pal Terry Haig (who's in it-briefly) and can't wait to see it again later this month. I'm certain most Dylan fans will expect nothing less than a beautiful, mind-blowing experience. It was for me.
http://www.imnotthere-movie.com/
Standout performances on the cd are Eddie Vedder on "All Along The Watchtower"; Jim James (My Morning Jacket) & Calexico on "Goin' To Acapulco"; the amazing Cat Power on "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again"; John Doe on "Pressing On"; Los Lobos on "Billy 1"; Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) on "Simple Twist Of Fate"; and Mark Lanegan on "Man In The Long Black Coat". And that's only disc one.
http://www.amazon.com/Im-Not-There-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B000VS6P9Q
Eric Lindros, we hardly knew ya.
Red Sox in three games was an accurate call in the world series wasn't it? I mean, you knew it was over after they took a 3-0 lead, right? The Red Sox second world championship since 2004 has resulted in a parade of appearances on various variety and late night talk shows (until the writer's strike got in the way). I especially enjoyed Manny Ramirez on The Tonight Show w/Jay Leno. I stopped watching Leno years ago. Great stand up comic. Horrible host. Best thing you can say about him is that he's a better talk show host than, say, Chevy Chase. Or Pat Sajak. Or Alan Thicke. Or John McEnroe. Anyway, an example of why Bill Lee, among others, loves Manny (check NESN video, about halfway down the page, on left):
http://www.boston.com/sports/
Further proof technology is taking us places we thought we'd never go: Curt Schilling announces he's re-signing with the Red Sox before the team does, with their permission:
http://www.38pitches.com/
Cristobal Huet looked a lot like Carey Price in goal as he shutout the Buffalo Sabres monday night. In perfect position, making tough saves look not so tough. Quiet, not flopping around. Now if he can only learn how to handle the puck like Price...Michael Ryder needs a puck to bounce off his rear end and into the net and then watch, he'll pull a Brian Savage and score five or six goals over two or three games...Andrei Markov is a legit all star defenseman right now...Mike Komisarek is on his way....Anybody still think letting Sheldon Souray go was a mistake?...I keep hearing people complain that Chris Higgins doesn't have much "finish". What do people expect, a 40-45 goal season?...Higgins reminds me a lot of Rod Brindamour...Where are the poppies on the two french round table shows (110% & La Zone)?...There's a new book out about Patrick Roy, written by Roy's father Michel. Wonder if Mathieu ("He's a cancer in the room") Schneider plans to read it:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/10811-Patrick-Roys-dad-aims-to-correct-image-of-his-son-in-new-Quebec-book.html
The single season greatest team in NFL history is the 1972 Miami Dolphins. No ifs, and's, but's, or maybe's. Those Dolphins, led by a Hall of Fame coach & GM, a solid QB, a sensational running game and tremendous defense, were perfect 35 years ago. Hard to beat perfection.
If this year's New England Patriots go all the way to a Super Bowl championship without losing, they move past the Dolphins, again no if's, and's, etc. even though Don Shula would have you believe otherwise:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21655235/
http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/history/1972perfectseason/1972perfectseason.asp
The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Monterey has been re-released on cd & dvd. I have original album and cd, plus the entire Monterey Pop Festival (1967) on cd & dvd but it's Hendrix so of course I bought it. What I had forgotten was the less than enthusiastic response Jimi got for his first major concert in his homeland. Actually, there was a lot of stunned slilence before, during and after he"sacrificed" his guitar to express his "love". If you care about the history of rock and roll it's a must-have *****
http://www.hendrixatmonterey.com/
Also listening to "I'm Not There", the soundtrack to the much discussed Todd Haynes biopic on Bob Dylan. I was lucky enough to see the movie a few weeks back with my pal Terry Haig (who's in it-briefly) and can't wait to see it again later this month. I'm certain most Dylan fans will expect nothing less than a beautiful, mind-blowing experience. It was for me.
http://www.imnotthere-movie.com/
Standout performances on the cd are Eddie Vedder on "All Along The Watchtower"; Jim James (My Morning Jacket) & Calexico on "Goin' To Acapulco"; the amazing Cat Power on "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again"; John Doe on "Pressing On"; Los Lobos on "Billy 1"; Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) on "Simple Twist Of Fate"; and Mark Lanegan on "Man In The Long Black Coat". And that's only disc one.
http://www.amazon.com/Im-Not-There-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B000VS6P9Q
Eric Lindros, we hardly knew ya.
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