#47 - Darryl Boyce(Nathan Perott)
#48 - Jeremy Williams
#51 - Jeff Hamilton
According to court records, the marriage ended after Brodeur admitted to having an affair with his sister-in-law.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Top All-Time Toronto Maple Leafs by Jersey Numbers
#47 - Darryl Boyce(Nathan Perott)
#48 - Jeremy WilliamsRoy Halliday remains the Blue Jay's only star
This week the New York Times did a great piece on the Jay's cyborg pitching machine. I call him that because he is technically so efficient that it's like he's not human. The reporter speaks to a number of players and the respect him has out there is quite evident.
Yankee hitter Mark Teixeira widened his eyes with respect and wonder: “All his pitches start in the same place and end in a different place.”
Raúl Ibáñez suggests “His sinker and his cutter, they’re going in completely opposite directions. Even if you guess right, it doesn’t mean you hit it, because he locates them so well. If he was in New York or Boston, fans would know more about him. But in baseball circles, he’s the best.”
The Yankees’ Johnny Damon has rapped him worse than almost any hitter — a .338 career average — but conceded, “When I get the hits, it’s with nobody on base.” Sure enough, with 27 hits in 80 at-bats against Halladay, Damon has only two runs batted in, one on a solo home run.
In his last preseason start this week, it was a typical outing for Halliday - 7.0 innings pitched, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 5 strikeouts, 0 walks. In the last 3 innings he threw 36 pitches, 24 for strikes.
My explanation of the Jonas Frogren affair
Back in July the Maple Leafs signed Jonas Frogren for $2.1 million over 2 years. The NHL immediately rejected the contract which included a $700,000 signing bonus which it is believed he used part of it to pay his Swedish Elite League club $400,000 to get out of the final year of his contract. Although he was 28 years old, the NHL believes Frogren was a rookie and subject to an entry-level contract. That would limit him to a one-year term, earning as little as $450,000.
The Leafs and Frogren's agent, Don Meehan, believe Frogren is an unrestricted free agent.
The dispute boiled down transition rules between successive collective bargaining agreements, including the interpretation of the 2005 CBA's definition of a "free agent" contrasted with Frogren's status as a "defected" player under the previous CBA. "Defected status" was his official listing, resulting from the fact he had been drafted by the Calgary Flames in 1998, but never came to the NHL.
The NHLPA grieved the NHL decision in August. Frogren was allowed to play under the terms of the rejected contract until the dispute was settled. There was an abritration hearing set in the fall but the Maple Leafs and NHL settled before the hearing. Then on April the NHL announces that Leafs must forfeit a 4th round pick and pay a $500,000 fine for illegally signing Frogren. But you don't even hear one peep out of the normally vocal Brian Burke.
That's because the penalty and fine did not come as a surprise to Toronto. That must have been part of the settlement that was negotiated back in November although no announcement was made until this week.
Suddenly that strange deal with Tampa Bay at the trade deadline makes sense. The Leafs and Bolts swapped minor leaguers, and Tampa Bay also sent the Leafs Olaf Kolzig, Jamie Heward and a 4th round pick. But since Kolzig and Heward were out with injuries for the rest of the season, Toronto actually bought a 4th round pick for about $500,000. That 4th round pick will be handed over to the NHL as part of the penalty for signing Frogren.
As I see it, Burke bought himself a pick so that the Leafs wouldn't be further in the hole on draft day. So the Frogren penalty becomes a $1 million fine and no lost picks which is fine with the Leafs. That Burke is one smart cookie.
The world's most eligible bachelor
This guy is every woman's dream...except maybe one woman. That's because a German woman has divorced her husband because she was fed up with him cleaning all the time.
German media reported the wife got through 15 years of marriage putting up with the man's penchant for doing household chores, tidying up and rearranging the furniture.
But she ran out of patience when he knocked down and rebuilt a wall at their home when it got dirty, Christian Kropp, court judge in the central town of Sondershausen, said yesterday.
On the other hand a survey found that "house-husbands" who do laundry, washing up and ironing also spend more time in bed with their female partners as a reward for their work.
Stop Madonna before she does it again
I see Madonna was in Malawi again. Fortunately they turned down her adoption request. How many children does she need to kidnap before she feels satisfied? Is it really that hard for Madonna to find an orphan to adopt who’s actually an orphan? At least they stopped her from running off with one this time. What's with all these celebrities trying to adopt an African or Asian child. Who are they trying to impress.
Not looking forward to the Three Stooges movie
The Farrelly Brothers are making their long-cherished Three Stooges biopic, which will now star Sean Penn as Larry Fine, Benicio del Toro as Moe Howard, and Jim Carrey as Curly Howard. I can’t think of a movie I would want to see less than this. Why are they making this film? I don't get it.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Dave Devall retires from CFTO
A week after CFTO went on air, Dave Devall was hired to be their weatherman. That was over 48 years ago. But this week marks the end of that remarkable run as Devall retires. How many people stay in one job that long? He will be missed.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
It might be unhealthy
Snack Pizza Bomb
Pizza topped with french fries, sliced corn dogs, popcorn chicken and Doritos.
Lenin's butt is blown off
No Vladimir Lenin didn't have a bad case of the farts. One of Russia's most famous statues of Lenin has been bombed, leaving the Bolshevik revolutionary with a gaping hole in his rear.
The bronze statue, in the city of St Petersburg, was badly damaged before dawn on Wednesday, when the blast blew a hole in Lenin's coat.
No one was hurt in the attack, the motive for which was unknown.
Meet the new Israeli coalition
The Israeli coalition is now set and the government sworn in. In the end Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu was successful in convincing the Labour Party to join the coalition government. As a result, Netanyahu chose to drop two smaller right wing religious parties from the coalition. So instead of a 65-member coalition that was populated with mostly ultra-right and religious parties, he now has a 74-member coalition that spans the far right to left of centre.
That does not mean that this coalition will be any more manageable than previous coalitions. There are lots of areas for disagreement within the coalition. There is no consensus on peace negotiations, Palestinian statehood, welfare and civil marriages. Netanyahu had to surrender major portfolios to other parties. So he has to also deal with unhappy Likud members who did not get the type of portfolios they were expecting. The Cabinet is as bloated as you could possibly get. There are 30 Ministers and 8 Deputy Ministers which means that half of members in the coalition get a portfolio of some type. This can still change but the breakdown of portfolios by party are below:
| Party | Knesset Seats | Ministers | Deputy Ministers |
| Likud | 27 | 13 | 3 |
| Yisreal Beiteinu | 15 | 5 | 1 |
| Labour Party | 13 | 4 | 2 |
| Shas | 11 | 4 | 1 |
| United Torah Judaism | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Jewish Home | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Was Canada right to bar entry to George Galloway?
There is an interesting and healthy debate that has developed in
The Canada Border Services Agency advised Galloway, in a letter dated March 20, that he had been deemed inadmissible to
For me the issues are whether the government is infringing on free speech? Obviously the Canadian government does not share Mr. Galloway’s views on Hamas but then neither does the British government. My other concern is whether the same standards should apply to Ezra Levant? Mr. Levant is a right wing journalist and blogger who founded the Western Standard magazine. A human rights complaint was filed against the Western Standard and
Without considering whether I agree with the position of either of these two controversial figures, I don’t think their cases are that analogous.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Woman locked in car calls 911
Authorities in Florida said a woman dialed 911 to report that she had locked herself in her car and the electrical system wasn't working.
The Kissimmee, Fla., woman told the dispatcher that the locks wouldn't work due to the electrical trouble but apologized after she was instructed to lift the manual lock with her hand, WESH-TV, Orlando, Fla., reported Wednesday.
"Um, I'm sorry," the embarrassed woman said after unlocking the door.
Officials stressed that the incident was a serious call and not an early April Fools' Day joke.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
A Real Family Affair: Dad, Son, Grandpa Arrested
Three generations of the same family ended up in jail over the weekend after a family fracas.
The Maryland State Police went to a home in Marysville when a man said his father, 42-year-old Michael Shoemaker, and his 17-year-old brother broke in and stole his dog.
The brother, who was not named because he is under age, was charged with burglary and theft.
Michael Shoemaker (on the left) said he would come back and burn the house down. He was charged with making a threat of arson. He is free on $10,000 bail.
While troopers were investigating, the occupant's grandfather, 66-year-old Robert S. Shoemaker (on the right) became belligerent. He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, and also hauled off to jail.
What a classy family!
So which hockey incident is more humiliating?
Nude drunk(?) guy falling down?
Anthem singer falling down?
Anthem singer falling down?
Man is DUI on motorized bar stool
A man faces charges after police said he crashed a motorized bar stool while under the influence of alcohol. This is a story is a warning that you need to register your motorized bar stools if you intend on driving them on city streets.
The crash occurred on March 4 in downtown Newark. Police responded and discovered that a motorized bar stool had been wrecked along the road. An investigation revealed that an intoxicated 28-year-old was operating the bar stool when he crashed.
Kile Wygle (no it wasn't Norm Peterson or Cliff Clavin) admitted to drinking about 15 beers before hopping on the bar stool and driving down the street. Now I give this guy some credit because I couldn't possible sit on a stool after 15 beers let alone drive in on a roadway.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Top All-Time Toronto Maple Leafs by Jersey Numbers
#43 - Nathan Dempsey(Jay Harrison, Ken Belanger)
#44 - Brian Bradley
(Ryan Hollweg, John McIntyre)
(Ryan Hollweg, John McIntyre)
#45 - Carlo Colaiacovo(Zdenek Nedved)
Google Street View catches cheating husband
People strolling past homes, stores and even strip joints across Canada will soon be captured and frozen in time by Google's camera, to appear in high-resolution street-level images on the internet.
Google has been collecting images in Canada but is letting residents know about it as part of an effort to address privacy concerns that were brought up by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada after the service first launched in the U.S. in 2007. in Canada there will be special features including the automatic blurring of faces and licence plates to avoid identifying people or cars and an easy method to request to have images removed.
And a good thing based on this story just coming out. In London a woman spotted her husband's Range Rover outside a woman's home using Street View. She is now suing for divorce. Below is a man sheepishly leaving a sex shop. It seems the technology is creating serious privacy issues.
So be careful sun tanning in the buff in your backyard. Never know who might be watching.
Google has been collecting images in Canada but is letting residents know about it as part of an effort to address privacy concerns that were brought up by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada after the service first launched in the U.S. in 2007. in Canada there will be special features including the automatic blurring of faces and licence plates to avoid identifying people or cars and an easy method to request to have images removed.
And a good thing based on this story just coming out. In London a woman spotted her husband's Range Rover outside a woman's home using Street View. She is now suing for divorce. Below is a man sheepishly leaving a sex shop. It seems the technology is creating serious privacy issues.
So be careful sun tanning in the buff in your backyard. Never know who might be watching.
Hairy situation in New Jersey
In hard times such as these, government officials everywhere are at pains to appear indispensable.
Enter the New Jersey Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling, which is considering a crackdown on a popular kind of hair removal.
Having collected complaints from no fewer than two women claiming injuries as a result of a so-called Brazilian bikini wax, the board put some of the state's indispensable bureaucrats on the case.
Believe it or not, the state's also very busy lawmakers and regulators had at some point found the time to specify which areas of a New Jerseyan's body may be legally waxed. They are, for the record, the face, neck, arms, legs, and abdomen. Since the area in question was not among them, the cosmetology board began considering an explicit prohibition of "genital waxing."
Fortunately, after an outcry among salon owners and customers - one described a "state of panic" - New Jersey's consumer affairs director waxed wise and cut the proposal short.
Thank goodness the Jersey shore will be spared a possible hairy situation.
The Port Authority is taking the "Freedom" out of the Freedom Tower
Although the 1,776- foot tower hasn't been fully built, funded or leased - and won't be occupied until 2014 - the agency decreed Thursday it will no longer be called the Freedom Tower. It will simply be known as 1 World Trade Center.
The name change for the 102story, $3.1 billion skyscraper, unveiled after a PA board meeting, drew a sharp rebuke from formerGov. George Pataki, whose April 24, 2003, speech gave the building its brand.
Most New Yorkers, tourists and families of victims - gripped by the massacre of nearly 3,000 innocents at the site - quickly disagreed with the name change.
The concept for the Freedom Tower building dates to the months after Sept. 11, when master planners vowed that a massive downtown-defining skyscraper would take the place of the twin towers.
Two years later, Pataki came up with the name. It was initially derided by critics, who found it gimmicky and too self-consciously patriotic, but later embraced by most New Yorkers, who saw it as a symbol of a resurgent America on the mend from the horrors of 9/11.
Recession a boon for online dating services
Not many industries are doing well in the recession. But along with discount retailers and pawnbrokers, online-dating sites have seen business look up. There are several theories to explain why. It may be that people have more time to devote to their private lives as the economy slows; that uncertain times increase the desire for companionship; or that living alone is expensive, whereas couples can split many of their costs.
Students ask drunk teacher to pull her pants up
Student at a Pasco County, Florida school had to ask their teacher to pull her pants up after the teacher turned up drunk to class.
42 year old teacher Kylene Nelson recorded a blood alcohol level of 0.26 and later ran from the school to a nearby community center where she was found passed out by a pool.
Students took pictures and video of the drunk teacher, although were ordered by the school to delete the footage. One student didn’t, and naturally turned to the local television station to share what she had. The video shows among other things, the teacher grabbing students and demanding they dance, in between falling over.
Here’s the local TV report. On the bright side, at least she wasn’t sleeping with any of the students.
It's not the first time the teacher has been in trouble. Two years ago, she was found drunk in another school parking lot. However, she says she has learned her lesson.
Nelson has resigned from her position since the incident occurred.
Vintage cigarette commercials
..."your mouth feels clean, your throat refreshed"...
..."more doctors smoke Camels than another cigarette"...
..."this Christmas make it Camel time"...
..."proof that smoking Chesterfields are safe"...
..."Salem softness freshens your taste"...
..."a thinking man's filter, a smoking man's taste"...
...lastly a kid smoking in a commercial...
..."more doctors smoke Camels than another cigarette"...
..."this Christmas make it Camel time"...
..."proof that smoking Chesterfields are safe"...
..."Salem softness freshens your taste"...
..."a thinking man's filter, a smoking man's taste"...
...lastly a kid smoking in a commercial...
Norah Jones turns 30 today
Norah Jones was a star at 23 when her debut album Come Away With Me rocketed to the top of the charts. She won 5 Grammy awards including best new artist. I think big things were expected of the young artist with a sensual, jazzy sound and famous ancestry (her father was Ravi Shankar).
Her career has indeed been successful but to date she has not been able repeat her early success. Her first album sold 25 million copies world wide. Her second album Feels Like Home released in 2004 was definitely a success as well but sold just 13 million copies. What her third album Not Too Late released in 2007 sold just 5 million copies.
Her career has indeed been successful but to date she has not been able repeat her early success. Her first album sold 25 million copies world wide. Her second album Feels Like Home released in 2004 was definitely a success as well but sold just 13 million copies. What her third album Not Too Late released in 2007 sold just 5 million copies.
Looking for a sponsor...try running through Paris naked
As the global economic downturn begins to impact on the world of sport, one French athlete has come up with an unusual way to try to secure a new sponsorship deal. Pole-vaulting champion Romain Mesnil, whose contract with Nike was not renewed when it expired last year, has run naked with his pole through the streets of Paris and posted a video online.
The 31-year-old is seen loping through the streets with his pole as if preparing for a vault at tourist spots like Montmartre and the Pont des Arts across the river Seine.
Mesnil, who won a silver medal at the 2007 World Championships, in Osaka, wrote on his website of Nike's decision not to renew his contract: "It was probably for budgetary and strategic reasons. It's the crisis."
The 31-year-old is seen loping through the streets with his pole as if preparing for a vault at tourist spots like Montmartre and the Pont des Arts across the river Seine.
Mesnil, who won a silver medal at the 2007 World Championships, in Osaka, wrote on his website of Nike's decision not to renew his contract: "It was probably for budgetary and strategic reasons. It's the crisis."
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Dumbest criminal ever!
Retired police chief John Comparetto was attending the meeting of 300 officers when he was allegedly held up at gunpoint in the men's toilets.
He handed over money and a phone but then he and some colleagues gave chase as the suspect tried to flee in a taxi.
They arrested a 19-year-old man over the incident near Harrisburg.
Martin Brodeur loses big to ex-wife
Martin Brodeur made big news last week when he broke the NHL record for wins by a goalie. The new this week wasn't so good as Brodeur was hammered in a New Jersey appeals court over alimony payments.
The court ruled that Brodeur must pay his ex-wife $500,000 a year until 2020.
Brodeur appealed, asking that he be required to pay alimony only until he retires, which he estimated would be in 2012. Brodeur's ex-wife, Melanie DuBois, had asked for alimony payments until 2024, when their youngest child is anticipated to graduate from college.
A lower court originally awarded DuBois permanent alimony. In addition to alimony, DuBois was awarded $132,000 in annual child support and more than $9 million in other assets.
Marty may have to play beyond 2012 with those alimony payments.
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