Me and Zero Request You in the Mercedes

This is the really nifty Christmas gift that just keeps on giving.

My daughters give me a DVD of my favourite Canadian rock band, The Kings (check blog post dated Thursday, February 5, 2009) featuring my favourite rock song, "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" (the ring tone on my cell phone), and I am just delighted. Then they tell me to look inside, where I find a picture of guitarist/singer Mister Zero and a personalized note from him to me. I am elated. Neither my daughters nor I had any idea that if you ordered a DVD from The Kings online, that Mister Zero, of the Oakville, Ontario band, would deliver it in person in Oakville, where my daughters live. Boy, did they surprise me!

I had been hinting that someone could buy me this DVD for the past couple of years, and finally someone did, after I actually dropped it from my Christmas list, having given up hope. As it turned out, my wife and I went to Oakville for the Christmas holidays with our daughters this year, since it was more convenient for us to travel. After the terrific Christmas surprise, my daughter suggested to me that I email Zero at The Kings online email address and thank him for the personal delivery and autograph. That is when the gift kept on giving.

Mister Zero answered my email promptly, and was touched by my reference to listening to "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" many years ago on the tractor, when I was farming in southern Saskatchewan, and singing along loudly. Zero eventually discovered that I was still in Oakville, and then graciously invited me to meet him for a couple of drinks at a local pub that night. It was wonderful getting to spend a few moments with a rock hero of mine, and to get to know him a little bit.

It is not every rock star that will make time to talk to a fan, but The Kings really appreciate their fans, as is evident on their website and their Facebook page. I was thrilled to get the photo and autograph in the first place, then doubly thrilled to get to talk to Zero about the band, about life and about where The Kings are going from here. He was also gracious enough to arrange for another personal delivery of some Kings merchandise to me at my daughters' apartment before I had to fly back to Calgary.

The next morning my phone rings with the usual "This Beat Goes On" opening riff and "Hey Judy, Get Trudy...", and when I answer it, to my great delight, it is one of The Kings on the other end. "Hey Marvin"..."Yeah"..."This is the King." I am always somewhat amused when my phone rings while I am visiting in Oakville, and suddenly a famous Oakville band is performing for me. On this particular occasion, I was caught up in the wonderful irony of my phone ringing "This Beat Goes On", and Mister Zero immediately speaking to me.

Zero arrived right on schedule with The Kings goods, and agreed to pose for pictures with my family and me and the girls' dogs. He spread some cheer to me and my significant others, and then he was off, to help his mother with an errand, I think. He is a warm, wonderful person; greeting everyone in the local pub and introducing me to them like I was a long, lost friend; making deliveries of merchandise to fans and playing with their little dogs.

I told Zero that it is a good day for me if I get to watch the superb video for "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" on my computer and to crank up the volume. On days when I haven't been able to sleep, and have no energy for anything else, just getting to watch that lively video really picks me up and makes my day. Now, having met Zero in person, it will be even so much more meaningful to me. I just love The Kings and their music. I really appreciate the kindness and generosity of Mister Zero. He truly is a King.

"BETHANY!!!! .... BRETT FAVRE'S DEAD!!!! ....

... I shouted to my daughter, who was in the other room, while I watched the Monday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings on December 20, 2010. Brett Favre wasn't even supposed to be playing this game, having recently sprained a body part that no one has ever heard of, and which resulted in the fingers on his throwing hand having little or no feeling. However, at the last minute, Favre heroically (or stupidly?) tells the Vikings brass that he is ready to play in their final home game of the 2010 season; a home game being played outdoors in a college football stadium because a recent blizzard tore a hole in the roof of the Metrodome where the Vikings usually play in 70 degree comfort.

Favre is on his game early in the contest, throwing a touchdown pass to put his team ahead of the Bears 7-0. But, a few series later, a fierce Chicago pass rush results in Favre being grabbed and thrown to the ground so violently, that his head bounces off the frozen turf. As Favre lies there motionless, my first thought is that the 41 year old quarterback has played his final play in the NFL. I recall Grandpa Simpson announcing to the Simpson family: "Oh, the dog's dead," when I shout to my indifferent daughter that it appears that Favre's career, and possibly his life, is over. Alas, the young grandfather is the victim of a concussion, but will live to tell his descendants of his exploits on the gridiron. Fortunately, Brett Favre isn't dead, but quite likely Brett Favre, the active NFL quarterback, finally is.

No More Crying On The Lawn - The Sequel (Please refer to blog entry on June 7, 2007)

Three years ago the Anaheim Ducks really eased my pain. This year the Ducks missed the playoffs, but it didn't really matter, since they won the Stanley Cup in 2007, and I have the souvenir shirt that my talented engraving daughter gave me back then, to remind me.

Today, miracle of miracles, June 9, 2010, the Chicago Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup as the best team in the National Hockey League. A member of the "original six" teams prior to a major league expansion that doubled the league's size in 1967, the Black Hawks had not won the Cup since 1961, a time when I was six years old and could not remember.

In the mid 1960s I grew to love the Hawks, particularly their glamour boy left winger, Bobby Hull, AKA, Robert Marvin Hull. Hull was possibly the most exciting hockey player on the planet at the time, and his middle name was the same as my first name. He had already reached the magical 50 goal plateau and would end up surpassing that total three times during the decade, with season totals of 54, 58 and 52. The Hawks had some other exciting stars too, but they couldn't seem to duplicate their 1961 success again during the 1960s.

It was tough enough beating the Montreal Canadiens, but on seasons when the Hawks managed to beat or avoid the Flying Frenchmen, then they could not get by either the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Detroit Red Wings. Sadly, in 1968 Chicago's fortunes reached an all time low when they finished sixth among the original six, and out of the playoffs. A magazine article at the time, analyzing the "mighty" Hawks firepower, queried: "How Could They Ever Finish Last?"

However, the next season, some miracles happened. Tony Esposito arrived from Montreal, recorded 15 shutouts in goal, and won rookie of the year honours. The team rallied from their deplorable previous year's finish and put 45 wins and 99 points on the board. They were tied for first with the newly mighty Boston Bruins, but took first place on a tie breaker. Detroit finished third with 95 points, and the New York Rangers and Montreal were battling it out for fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference on the final day of the regular season. It would prove to be a bizarre turn of events that day.

The Rangers entered their final game against the Red Wings two points behind Montreal. The league office decreed that if there was a tie in the standings, the first tie breaker would be goals scored. The Rangers were 5 goals behind Montreal prior to the game, so needed to beat Detroit by a lot. As it turned out, New York took an early lead in the game and were well on their way to winning over a Red Wings team that had already clinched third place when, early in the third period the Rangers pulled their goalie for a sixth attacker. New York went on to pot a few extra goals and finally won the game 9-5. This meant that they were up 4 goals on Montreal in a tie breaker, if the Canadiens lost to Chicago that same Sunday, later in the evening.

I listened to the Hawks-Habs game on radio that night. Montreal managed to score a pair of goals in the first two periods, but Chicago held a commanding 5-2 lead early in the third period, and were dominating the play. Montreal's chances of victory were now slim, so they had no choice but to pull their goalie and try to score some more goals in an attempt to beat the Rangers in a tie breaker. Montreal needed 2 goals to tie New York and three to win the last playoff spot, and any further goals by Chicago were irrelevant to them.

Alas, things only got worse for Montreal. The Black Hawks scored five more times, all into the empty net, while Montreal scored none, and lost the game 10-2, missing the playoffs for the first time in decades. I was pumped up for the first place Hawks who went on to dispose of Detroit in 4 straight games by identical scores of 4-2, then I was demoralized when the Bruins eliminated my Hawks in the semifinals. It just wasn't supposed to end this way. My only consolation was that Montreal didn't win the Stanley Cup again.

In 1971 the Hawks were off to the Western Conference where they managed to knock off the Rangers during the crossover semifinal series. The rest of the final series with its untimely end is summarized in the June 7, 2007 blog entry.

Now, 39 years later, the Chicago Black Hawks have not been my favourite team for a very long time. However, when I sensed that this might be their night, those sorrowful feelings from long ago came back to mind and I could feel the excitement returning. When Patrick Kane scored the surprise winner in overtime, I felt a sense of release from those feelings of pain 4 decades ago when the Hawks came so close to fulfilling my dream, but just came up short.

I didn't watch all of game 6 tonight. I had no control over the TV remote, as I was visiting at my wife's aunt and uncle's house, with their daughter and nephew, and with my wife and my daughter. Most, if not all, of us somewhat interested hockey fans were cheering for the Hawks, although a couple of us were indifferent to the game and the outcome. One was cheering against the Philadelphia Flyers because of the way they treated Darryl Sittler, back in the early 1980s, by trading the veteran player to Detroit after only a few weeks with the Flyers. I honestly couldn't figure out how that was in any way relevant to the present team some 3 decades later.

When Kane shot a low, slow one from the right near circle that somehow scooted past goalie Leighton on the short side, and Kane skated around the net and past his bench, accelerating wildly, I looked and looked, then exploded off the couch and leapt three times across the living room, pumping my fist. No one else in the room had really been watching closely since it was still relatively early in overtime. It was a special time. Black Hawks sweaters embracing. A scene not seen in nearly a half century.

For me it was especially sweet. What a difference for that sad 16 year old boy brought to tears by his disappointment in 1971. Instead of viciously kicking the old white footstool in frustration at the final horn, and heading out onto the grass, I watch Patrick Kane shoot from an impossible angle, raise his arms as he circles the Philadelphia net, then skate past his bench as a flood of white jerseys pours onto the ice. There is a beautiful lawn outside, but my eyes are glued to the television screen, as I do my own flying acts in celebration.

The Chicago Black Hawks finally capture that elusive 4th Stanley Cup. Oh joy! The pain is finally gone. No more crying on the lawn.

My Review of Reebok New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Best Day Ever T-Shirt

Originally submitted at NFL

Reebok New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Best Day Ever T-Shirt

At Least You Had One Good Day

By saintsfanatic from Calgary, AB on 4/12/2010

 

5out of 5

Sizing: Feels true to size

Pros: Stylish, Quality Construction, Authentic Look, Shows Off Team Pride

Best Uses: Watching The Game on TV, Around Town, Anytime

Describe Yourself: Die Hard Sports Fan

I wore the shirt for the first time to a concert where MUSE and Silversun Pickups were performing. The caption on the shirt got to double in meaning, as the concert experience was almost like the best day of my life, in addition to the day the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. When a security person at the rock concert saw my shirt, he responded to the caption with: "At least you had one good day."

(legalese)

My Review of Reebok New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Locker Room Hat

Originally submitted at NFL

Support this year's winning team by wearing the Reebok® New Orleans Saints Super Bowl® XLIV Champions Locker Room hat. It's decorated with a team logo appliqué on the front and Super Bowl® Champions embroidery on the side. A Super Bowl® XLIV logo is displayed on the...

Reebok New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Locker Room Hat

My swollen head

By saintsfanatic from Calgary, AB on 4/12/2010

 

3out of 5

Sizing: Feels too small

Pros: Shows Off Team Pride, Stylish, Authentic Look, Quality Construction, Shades from Sun

Cons: Uncomfortable

Best Uses: Around Town

Describe Yourself: Die Hard Sports Fan

The one size fits all just doesn't work for my enlarged cranium. I have to kind of set the cap on top of my head, rather than pull it down snugly; otherwise, it gives me a headache. However, I had to buy one, to share with the world my joy of the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl triumph.

(legalese)

My Review of Wincraft New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Wastebasket

Originally submitted at NFL

It was a long, rough season, but on February 7, 2010, all the hard work paid off when the New Orleans Saints captured the NFL® championship. Pay tribute to the squad's victory with this wastebasket from WinCraft™. It features a heavy-gauge metal construction and is decorated with team...

Wincraft New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Wastebasket

The best garbage can since the pink IKEA

By saintsfanatic from Calgary, AB on 4/12/2010

 

5out of 5

Pros: Quality Construction, Fun, Shows Off Team Pride, Useful

Best Uses: Home, Showing Team Pride, Office, Decoration

Describe Yourself: Die Hard Sports Fan

My new basket stays right by my bed where it is honoured to accept my waste. It is a treasured item, as it is a permanent record of the roster of the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints!

One morning when I stepped out of bed, I accidentally kicked the garbage can. I wanted to write on my Facebook status that I had kicked the bucket that day, but then I thought that would be a more appropriate way for my significant others to announce my death someday.

(legalese)

My Review of USAopoly New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Monopoly

Originally submitted at NFL

On February 7, 2010, the New Orleans Saints proved that they were true winners when they captured the NFL® championship. Celebrate the squad's victory every time you play this Super Bowl® XLIV Champions edition of MONOPOLY®. Buy, sell, and trade players so you can build the ultim...

USAopoly New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Monopoly

I would buy this product again and again

By saintsfanatic from Calgary, AB on 4/12/2010

 

5out of 5

Pros: Quality Construction, Authentic Look, Shows Off Team Pride, Stylish Design

Best Uses: Anytime

Describe Yourself: Die Hard Sports Fan

I haven't actually cracked open the game box, but just looking at the bottom of the box to see the contents gives me goosebumps, as I relive the Super Bowl victory by the New Orleans Saints again and again!

(legalese)

My Review of Reebok New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Cumberland Full Zip Jacket

Originally submitted at NFL

Bundle up with the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl® XLIV Champions men's Cumberland full-zip jacket from Reebok®. It displays embroidered Super Bowl® XLIV Champions graphics and a team logo on the upper left chest; a drawstring hood and front pockets offer extra warmth on those chi...

Reebok New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV Champions Cumberland Full Zip Jacket

Don't judge a book by its cover

By saintsfanatic from Calgary, AB on 4/12/2010

 

3out of 5

Sizing: Feels too large

Pros: Shows Off Team Pride, Warm, Quality Construction, Authentic Look

Best Uses: Around Town

Describe Yourself: Die Hard Sports Fan

It is much heavier than I would have expected for a jacket. However, it will make a great winter coat. It was difficult to order the right size; I ordered it too big, but it will still be alright for winter use.

(legalese)

What To Do When The Towel Rack Falls Down On Super Bowl Sunday (and your favourite team is playing, and you have already missed most of pregame show)

... because you spent so much time preparing not one, not two, but three different fowl for your annual Super Bowl turducken ritual.

Fortunately, my dear wife was a true sport today, on this day of days for this hopelessly incurable NFL fan, by assisting in poultry preparation. For you see, turducken (with this writer's recipe) requires complete and utter deboning. Which normally leads to complete and utter exhaustion and depletion of resources for me. However, my live-in BFF came to my emotional rescue and did about half of the deboning for me. This saved me lots of time and energy, and after shoving the birds into the oven, I headed for the shower with lots of pregame still remaining.

Alas, when I was toweling off following my shower, in my great haste I managed to give the towel rack a solid elbow to the chin (Gordie Howe style). In rapid succession, the holder fell off the wall, the horizontal pole fell vertical, and the remaining towels slid down to the floor, to my great horror. "Oh no! Why did this have to happen on Super Bowl Sunday?"

Partly because we share our suite with a friend, and partly because of my own obsessiveness not to leave a big mess in the bathroom, I set about to fix the disaster, while attempting to keep my grumbling to a minimum. Despite my anxiety over missing all the hype prior to the big game with my favourite team playing against my third favourite team, I managed to pound plastic anchors into the large holes in the drywall, and reattached the towel rack holder. I also managed to have the presence of mind to find the new set of tiny screwdrivers with which I could tighten the set screws to make the entire towel rack assembly solid enough to hold three towels again. Then, I quickly hung up the towels, put my tools away, and dashed off to the television set.

I don't know how much pregame I missed doing my repair job. I usually don't watch much pregame discussions anyway, because the talking heads really don't know what's going to happen on any given day, let alone in the game we are about to watch. You would think I would have the typical satisfaction of having conquered a problem, having fixed something that is broken, and made it better than it was before. But, I still couldn't get over the whole ordeal, and kept asking myself the same question: Why did the towel rack have to fall down on Super Bowl Sunday?

Some things never change

It was the 13th of January, 1973, a Saturday. I was 17 and spent the afternoon at the movies with my sister. We were both oblivious to what was happening outside the theatre. Unusual for a midwinter day in Saskatchewan, it was raining. What we didn't realize was that we wouldn't make it home that night.

We drove off from the city in the early darkness to our farm home some forty miles away. Our parents awaited our arrival in the family car at the house nestled in the hills. The only problem was that the freezing rain would not allow us to climb the hills on the highway. We were not alone in our plight.

After seeing a long line of cars ahead of us, marooned at the base of a huge hill, we were fortunate to meet a friend who was driving the opposite direction, back to the city. We were both afraid to drive anymore, having slid into the ditch once already, so were parked our car on an approach to a field and hooked a ride with my friend to our grandmother's house in the city for the night.

The next morning, the sun came out bright and hot and we knew that it would be safe to get back to our car and drive home. When my grandma asked me if I wanted to go to church in the city, I instantly declined, stating that I really needed to get home. The reason that I needed to get home was that I had my own personal schedule to watch the Super Bowl that day.

Once I arrived home, I sequestered myself in the small, dark study room with a little black and white television and watched the Miami Dolphins complete their perfect season with a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins. The game itself wasn't all that exciting, as Miami's defense dominated the Redskins all afternoon. The offense managed to score a pair of touchdowns on two long drives and led 14-0 until a miracle play near the end gave Washington a touchdown when Miami's kicker, Garo Yepremian, a Cypriot (famous for saying "I keek a touchdown") picked up his blocked field goal attempt and tried to throw a pass that went the wrong way.

But, I was pleased. I had seen the big game and the experience is still etched in my memory, decades later. Today, the Super Bowl is a much bigger deal, watched by millions and millions of people. I even considered attending the game in person this year, as my favourite team, the New Orleans Saints, actually made it to the big game for the first time in their history. I couldn't have gone in 1973, but I could have made the arrangements to attend this year. How times have changed. However, some things never change.

Although I am a retired father of three, and married to my sweetheart English graduate student, I will feel like that 17 year old boy again this Sunday as I cheer on my Saints in Super Bowl XLIV. I don't need to see it in person; I don't need to go to a bar with multiple big screens. I can still watch the game in my little house on my narrow little television, and still thoroughly enjoy the experience. I loved football way back then, and my love of the game has grown immensely from those days. If the Saints win, I will be like a happy little boy, and if the Indianapolis Colts win, I will still be happy, as they are my third favourite NFL team. Football is a great diversion that continues to thrill me. I am really glad that some things never change.

Replaying Super Bowl III

Wow! How exciting to see a rematch of possibly the most significant game in the history of professional football. This Sunday January 24, 2010 the New York Jets again are underdogs to the highly regarded Colts, who, this time, are based in Indianapolis instead of Baltimore. Back in early January 1969, the brash young Jets from the upstart American Football League upset the heavily favoured Colts, who had run up a 13-1 regular season record and had thrashed the Cleveland Browns 34-0 in the National Football League final. Long haired Joe Namath beat crew cut veteran John Unitas. The upset brought credibility to the young AFL, formed in 1960, and currently celebrating its 50th anniversary this season. How appropriate that the two teams meet again during this anniversary year, for the right to represent the American Football Conference, the descendant of the old AFL, in the Super Bowl. Only this time, I have just got to cheer for the Colts, as I am a hopeless Peyton Manning fan.

Celebrating the AFL in the NFC

It is interesting that this coming weekend's National Football Conference Divisional Playoff games involve four teams that all have close connections to the formation of the American Football League (AFL), whose 50th anniversary is being celebrated this year. First, the Sunday match up between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings features the two expansion teams from 1960 and 1961, respectively, whose existence resulted directly from the creation of the AFL in 1959. The NFL had no plans to expand when Lamar Hunt originally asked for an NFL expansion franchise in 1958, but changed its mind when Hunt's brainchild, the AFL, got off the ground a year later.

The other game this weekend features the Arizona Cardinals against the New Orleans Saints, who also both figured in AFL history. Back in 1958-1959, when the NFL first told Lamar Hunt there would be no expansion, Hunt then met with the ownership of the Chicago Cardinals, who were threatening to leave Chicago where they were losing the battle of the Windy City to the crosstown Bears. The Cardinals owners told Hunt they were not interested in selling, and that he was one of several people who had expressed an interest in purchasing the Cardinals. After this, Hunt realized that if so many people were interested in owning a professional football team, why not start his own league? Hence, the creation of the AFL.

The Saints figured into the AFL equation a bit later in the 1960s. After the AFL became firmly established by the mid 1960s and a bidding war for both college and pro stars ensued with the NFL, the two leagues realized that they had to reach a peace or they would price each other out of existence. The AFL and NFL agreed on a merger, but to implement this they needed an exemption from Congress from the anti-trust legislation. The solution lay in obtaining the support of a Congressman from Louisiana who would make the exemption happen in return for an NFL franchise. Hence, the birth of the New Orleans Saints.

So, as we watch the Saints and Cardinals shoot it out on Saturday and the Cowboys and Vikings battle in the Metrodome, remember to celebrate the existence of the other conference, the AFC, who is tracing its lineage back 50 years to the formation of the AFL. Without the Cardinals, there probably wouldn't have been an AFL in 1960 and without the AFL there probably wouldn't have been the Cowboys in 1960 and the Vikings in 1961. And without the AFL, there probably wouldn't have been the New Orleans Saints in 1967. Conversely, without the Saints in 1967, there probably wouldn't have been a successful merger of the two leagues into the great NFL as we know it today.