Sunday 16 September 2012

For Whom the Bell Tolls

' it tolls for thee ' NHL. Appparently, the NHL owners have a game plan. Its my arena and I say ' how much moola, you get '. The players say ' I'm the product, the fans don't come to watch you sit in your gray ' power ' suit or suite.
I'm sure there will be fans and places in the U.S. that will suffer as Canada will during the strike / lockout. Here in the GWN, its disaster city.
To wit, the Maple Leafs sell out every game.
The broadcast audience is a consistent 3 - 4 million viewers ( Canada's population is 33 million ). Networks will not run shows against the Leaf game.
Red blooded Canucks live and die hockey. Growing up, Saturday night was a lock. The Leaf game was on at eight o'clock. We missed the first period, to force you to buy tix to the game ( to see the whole game ).
M was astounded when she discovered a) he doesn't watch hockey b) he watches football but mainly college and mainly in Dec - Jan

When M's cousins were visiting, the son ran into the kitchen yelling " he's going to watch these cars go around 200 times " ( NASCAR ). M says that I'll watch them race anything sleds , trucks , ostriches.

Hockey is a way of life up here. Next door puts his son in a league. $ 3 thousand for season fees and maybe $4 thou for travel ( the whole family goes ) . Across the road, they have 4 boys, two in elite hockey. They're saved b/c one lad who inherited smart genes says, house league is fine ( at hundreds a season ).

The Leafs last won a Stanley Cup in 1967. I decided ' oh, heck, they'll win another one in two years '. Yeah , I pick teams like I pick stocks .

We grew up Montreal Canadiens fans. We were an oddity in my Mom's clan. There were bigger rivalries in hockey but this one was different. It was province vs province, language vs language and culture vs culture.
Les Canadiens received the first 3 picks of the French Canadian draft prospects before the regular draft.
Beehive corn syrup ( yellow bottle and blue label ) never left the table . Look, 3 labels and a stamp, you got a picture ( signed ) of a NHL player or Montreal Canadien, in our house. To this day, toast, butter and corn syrup is comfort food 101. Since I started typing this AM, I've been to the kitchen twice. Coffee once and toast w/ corn syrup right now.

At parties in the winter, Leafs are the topic w/ politics second not second but second we are serious about hockey.

I do watch fishing shows and soccer but it is not a religion.

Thoughts turn to fishing though on Sunday b/c our ' week-end ' in this house starts to-morrow. The 'bee is calling.

You cannot use the word ' electric ' to describe life in this house Sundays. 'Electric' wouldn't fit any morning in this house. Sunday, ' drag-a-licious ' ,is a good fit.
There was the time the skylight leaked, trust me that was some word, such as ' Chinese-fire-drill-ish ' I know very stereotypical anti-Asian etc but.... Got the picture, eh ?
I heard that expression from a colour commentator describing the pass coverage of one team's secondary during a NFL broadcast.

Somehow,' Scottish fire drill ', just doesn't do it, you know the image in your mind.

Movie review, ' the Spiderwick Chronicles  '.
A young family sans father arrives at an ancestral home of the mom. Mom is the leggy, babe herself, Mary Louise Parker. The three children of various dispositions try to settle in or out as they are want.
The house and grounds are haunted / home to ' others ' ogres, globlins, sprites .. can you see it, or ' can you see it ' is the theme.
Overall, this SWC is quick paced not too sentimentally sloppy and satisfying. Do not go out and buy this retail, second hand is good - free is better. I got this free from next door via the Chinese 'pirate' kiosk.

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