The Grey Cup Game Is This Weekend!

This weekend will be the 101st edition of The Grey Cup - the pinnacle game of the Canadian Football League - whereby the Cup - perhaps the longest-running professional sports trophy in North America - is awarded to the champions of Canadian football. 

This years game is especially noteworthy because of the following….

a)  it will be payed in Regina, Saskatchewan 

b)  the Saskatchewan Roughriders actually made it to the Grey Cup final - so they'll be playing for the championship in form of their home town fans

c)  Rider fans are known to be especially rabid - the loyalty and support of this team in Saskatchewan is off the charts 

d)  the game is especially sentimental as Mosaic Stadium - an outdoor stadium - will soon be torn down in favor for a new stadium 

The weather can be a major factor this time of year on the Canadian prairie - let's just say any California natives who play in the CFL often have a hard time dealing with the cold "I've played in Notre Dame - but not in weather like this" was a quote I read after today's practice by one of the players. 

Last I checked though - game day highs may reach -1C or 30F  which would not be too bad at all!

The Riders will be playing the Hamilton Tiger-Cats ("Ti-Cats" for short) and are favored to win by 5.5 points.

May the best team win!

Enjoy the game all!

Kevin

Spotlight on Singer Linda Ronstadt

I was saddened to recently learn that Linda Ronstadt, 67, is unable to sing anymore  - she has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

I grew up with her music in the 70s - her voice always seemed so pure and innocent . 

She was essentially the master of the re-make - not sure if any of her big hits were originals - but her version of others' songs was usually very well done 

Here are my top 5 faves….starting at 5 and working up to my overall fave….

#5.    It's So Easy, 1977, #5 peak 

About as much as a rocker as Ms Ronstadt ever got - very catchy and up-tempo song 

#4.   You're No Good, 1975, #1peak 

Her only #1 song - as a 12 year old listening to it back then, I just thought this was as naughty as a song could ever got (boy, would I be proven wrong!) 

#3.   Don't Know Much (with Aaron Neville), 1989, #2 peak 

One of the best duets of the past few decades - their voices blend beautifully on this ballad 

#2.   Blue Bayou, 1977, #3 peak 

This song took me right back to the bayou that I never had growing up in small-town Ontario….the tempo of the song reminds me of a slow hula dance 

….I still love the line "if I could only see….that familiar sunrise……through sleepy eyes…..how happy I'd be" 

#1.  Blue Train,  1995, (album cut - never released as a single) 

My all-time have from Linda was never a hit single - but is performed with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the Trio album.

It's one of those deep, mystical songs….and it's a truly spectacular ballad - I can listen over and over ….a very calming song much like Blue Bayou is

Listen to Blue Train Here

Hope you enjoyed our little tribute to Linda Ronstadt - have a great week!

Kevin 

ObamaCare - Just a Train Wreck or Do We Have A Nuclear MeltDown??

ObamaCare

Reader's Note - As I write this blog - President Obama is speaking on the topic at his hour (12 noon Eastern, Thursday 11/14).

My main message was to simply say that even if you tried for weeks, I bet you couldn't find a more expensive, botched, error-ridden, launch of a major government program over the past few decades if you tried.

Of course, I'm referring to ObamaCare. 

ObamaCare's roll-out has been a COMPLETE DISASTER.

Yesterday, we learned that only 100,000 people signed up for it, yet 5 Million more LOST their coverage (that's netting 4.9 M in the hole!!) - the whole point of ObamaCare was to provide health insurance coverage to those who were uninsured.  Talk about a disaster. 

Many think that this is something too big for any government to accomplish successfully - they are saying that ObamaCare will set liberalism back 10 years at least. 

It does stand to reason - "If they can't even manage a website - how could we trust them to run the entire health care system - one-sixth of the entire economy." 

It is tragic that people are losing their health insurance coverage - no question. 

The more amusing part in all of this is to watch how Democratic Senators who are up for re-election next year, and who previously supported this, trying to distance themselves from ObamaCare (they are scurrying away like cockroaches when the light goes on). 

The President's approval rating has slipped into the "30s" - sitting right at 39%, the lowest it's ever been.

More than 55% of those polled say that he is not being honest with the American people when he said "if you like your plan, you can keep it." 

He is making some speech at this hour as I referred to earlier - what we have here is a totally desperate President no doubt trying to salvage this thing - time will tell if he succeeds. 

Til next time,

Kevin 

Cheers for Mark; Jeers for Tom

Tom Cruise recently compared the life of an actor in an action movie as being the same as being in the military on a tour of Afghanistan.   Jeers 

Mark Wahlberg came out today and issued a statement (not known if it was intended to be a response to what Cruise said) - NOT THE SAME THING AT ALL!  Cheers!

Wahlberg went on to say this….

"I don't care if you (expletive) busted your (expletive) behind - you get to go home at the end of the day and sleep in a (expletive) nice bed in a nice (expletive) hotel and order your nice (expletive) steak or (expletive) chicken - you can see your family on (expletive) weekends - it's not the (expletive) same thing at all as being in the military serving in the middle east!!"

I can't imagine why Tom Cruise would say something like this - but then again, he's said some very controversial things before!

I'm with Mark W on this one!

How about you? 

Retail-Me-NOT! The Not So Great US Thanksgiving Day Shopping Rush

Recently, Wal-Mart joined a growing list of retailers who said that they would open their doors for shopping on Thanksgiving Day at 6 pm - that's two hours earlier than last year.  Amazing, isn't it?… this is right smack dab in the middle of dinner!  

We've seen Black Friday creep from stores who open early on Black Friday, (remember when 7 am was a shocker?) to very early (5 am) to midnight after Thanksgiving dinner (gasp!) then to 8 pm on Thursday evening and now to 6 pm on Thursday….Out of control!

Target, BestBuy, Macy's and others have joined the fray.  

But the worst "offender" has got to be Kmart - who is proudly opening stores at 6 am on Thanksgiving morning and staying open for 41 hours straight into Black Friday!!

Retailers defend these crazy hours, calling this time the 'Super Bowl of Retail" and basically saying that they must compete with each other. 

But I wonder about that - I wonder - what if any major chain came forth and issued a statement like this…

"We at Store X feel that the Thanksgiving Holiday is an important time to spend with family and friends, and we want all of our employees and customers to enjoy the holiday (and maybe even give thanks!), therefore we will be CLOSED on Thanksgiving Day and we will open for business on Black Friday at our USUAL and CUSTOMARY business hours.  Thanks for your patronage." 

I, for one, would respect this company so much I'd go out of my way to shop there!

What about you? 

Til next time, 

Kevin 

THE FRIDAY ENTERTAINMENT BLOG - "ROYALS" Creating Quite A Stir (and I don't mean Kate and William)

Hello all,

How'd you like to be 16 years old and have one of the biggest hits in pop music history?

That's what happening right now on the music charts. 

A 16 year old high school girl from New Zealand, who goes by the name "Lorde",  has a hit song, "Royals" which is spending is 6th week atop the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart this week.  

(Anytime you hit #1 is a major accomplishment, to spend 6 weeks in a row there is something very very few songs can muster).

The song itself is a slow, moody number that seems to be about a rebellion against the materialism of the world (in general terms).

Some critics have said (reading way too much into the lyrics) that there are racist overtones here - but I think that is quite a stretch.

We don't know too much about Lorde - except she seems a little camera shy with all this new found fame - she said she would be perfectly fine if "only one photo of me" is ever made public.

Have a listen in case you've avoided radio for the past few months… and enjoy "Royals."

Listen to Royals Here

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Kevin 

You gotta be smoking crack if you think you can smoke crack and still be mayor!!!

Hi everyone, 

What are we gonna do with our politicians across the US and Canada? 

We have President Obama lying about healthcare (and now he's lying about lying - check today's news - maybe this will be the blog tomorrow?).

We have Canadian senators trying to fleece the taxpayers on their expense account.

And now, we have the Toronto Mayor Rob Ford finally admitting to smoking crack (but only after allegedly caught on video doing it)… yet he won't step down as mayor!!

The funny thing about the mayor's apology - was HOW he apologized... "yes, I smoked crack… but it was when I was in one of my drunken stupors at the time!!!"

(Oh, well, in that case, that must be okay!!!) 

Mayor Ford's Press Conference

Mr. Ford seems to have a connection with the people of Toronto - however, his approval rating just went up 5 points to 44 after his apology.

I would argue that this is not the type of guy that any city should have as mayor - we really should hold our elected officials to a higher standard. 

Toronto now joins Detroit and Washington DC in the "embarrassing mayors club"… as Jay Leno quipped last night "at least this time it's not an American!" 

Comments welcome!