GA Russell

I should have mentioned last night that midway through the second quarter Montreal led 13-3. They scored one pint for the rest of the game. It's hard to get too excited when one team scores only one point over the course of the final 37 minutes. ***** For the first time ever, the Grey Cup game was broadcast on a cable tv channel (TSN) instead of the over-the-air CBC. TSN's reach is about 75% that of the CBC's. Yet believe it or not, the overnight ratings for the game are up 5% over last year. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ory/GlobeSports ***** 66,000 attended the game, making it the second-largest crowd in Grey Cup history. The record of 68,000 was set in 1977, also at Olympic Stadium. And in those days the tickets cost $25.00. I have no idea what they are charging for Grey Cup tickets nowadays. When I went to the '96 Grey Cup game in Hamilton, the cheapest tickets were $100.00. ***** The league has given the provisional grantees of the proposed Ottawa franchisse until March to get the Ottawa city government to firm up a plan to provide a suitable stadium. The group has negotiated with Horn Chen (Remember him?) for the Rough Riders name and logo. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Ott...515306-sun.html ***** Here's Dan Ralphs' ratings of the two teams' performances in the Grey Cup game. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gre...7511576-cp.html

I don't know if I would rank this in my personal top ten of the year, but at Your Music's price I'd certainly recommend it.

96th Grey Cup game Calgary Stampeders 22....Montreal Alouettes 14 http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...lobeSports/home http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform...aspx?id=4193309 It was interesting because it was close, and there was always pressure on whoever had the ball. But it wasn't exciting because neither offense ever got on track. There was only one TD pass. Sandro DeAngelis kicked five field goals. I'll plan to post some of tomorrow's articles about the game.

Final score: Calgary Stampeders 22....Montreal Alouettes 14 Total points: 36 So it looks like Noj has won the contest with a pick of Calgary and 40 points. Congratulations Noj! Please PM me your address.

On the last play of the third quarter, Calgary kicked a field goal to take the lead for the first time in the game, 16-14. Cal....00....10....06........16 Mtl....03....10....01........14 Hold on. Calgary has just kicked another field goal to make the lead 19-14.

At the half, Montreal leads 13-10. Cal....00....10......10 Mtl....03....10......13 The din is non-stop. The sideline reporter said that at its peak the noise is 140 db, the same as a jet engine.

It's now six o'clock, so the contest is now closed. Good luck everyone!

Fred Williams Grey Cup preview http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform...aspx?id=4193074 ***** Here's a Sun Media synopsis of what it will take for each team to win. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Cal...506616-sun.html

Fred Williams says this in his preview, and I have to agree (except as I mentioned above, I like Calvillo more than Burris). http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform...aspx?id=4193074 "So while the Alouettes will have the home crowd behind it, the Stampeders will have a team that established itself during the regular season as the league's best. The fact this game is being played in Montreal is the only reason why it should be close."

I beat Lon to the punch, and suggested the Gary Burton RCAs.

And unlike hockey, these Canadians weigh 300 pounds!

T.D., USA Today has published the point spread each year in the past, but I haven't picked up a copy this week to see. I haven't seen any mention of the point spread in any of the articles I have read online. I have to think that Calgary is favored because they were the better team over the course of the season. But Montreal's home field advantage cannot be ignored. The game will be played at Olympic Stadium under the dome, so it should be pretty loud.

Great idea, Lon! Burton has been mentioned in the past regarding what we would like to see Mosaic issue. I'll go vote for him too.

I note that people are not picking a high scoring game. We have no picks over 70 for Montreal, and only one over 65 for Calgary.

Happy Birthday DT!

Here's an excellent outline of the many topics covered by the Commissioner in his State of the League address this morning. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** The newspaper business is so bad in Canada that many papers are not sending their reporters to the game this year. They figure that if they could spend the money on that, they wouldn't have to be laying off the people they are. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...lobeSports/home ***** Here's an article about Baltimore Stallion fans who make it up to the Grey Cup every year. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gre...7492156-cp.html

Last weekday call!

Anthony Calvillo won the Outstanding Player Award tonight. "The other award winners Thursday included Edmonton Eskimos slotback Kamau Peterson (top Canadian), Montreal guard Scott Flory (lineman), B.C. Lions defensive end Cameron Wake (defensive player), Toronto Argonauts returner Dominique Dorsey (special-teams) and Saskatchewan Roughriders slotback Weston Dressler (rookie)." I think it's really amazing that this late in his career Peterson was named the best Canadian. It wasn't that long ago that he was known as Kamau Incompleterson! http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform...aspx?id=4192429

Have the Horace Silver "Silver 'N'..." albums from the early 70s ever been released on CD? I have a strong recollection of the very late 60s, that my friends and I thought that what Blue Note was putting out then was pretty mediocre. Unfortunately, I don't recall any titles. I just recall that James Spaulding was always on flute. To my knowledge those titles haven't been released on CD, but I wouldn't be interested in them if they were.

Jake Ireland will be the ref for Sunday's game. http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=s...aspx?id=4192105 http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...7469141-cp.html ***** Jeff Garcia plans to watch the game on tv after the Bucs game against the Lions. He'll be rooting for the Stamps, natch. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Gre...474316-sun.html

Congratulations John! That's great!

Greg and VB, in '94 their name was the Baltimore CFL Colts. The NFL sued, saying that the Indianapolis Colts owned the name. So they dropped the "Colts" midway through the season and were officially known as the Baltimore CFLs. Sportscasters in Canada referred to them as the CFLers. I saw them that year host the Calgary Stampeders with Doug Flutie. In the offseason, as a settlement of the NFL's lawsuit, they purchased from the NFL the name Stallions, and it was with that name that they won the Grey Cup in '95. That was the year that Damon Allen and Reggie Pleasant came to my Grey Cup party in Atlanta. edit for typo

All of the American written material that I am aware of (i.e., the Consumer Reports guides) classes and compares vehicles by their size and type. Toyota and other foreign companies make better vehicles than the Big Three do, but the Big Three vehicles are at lower price points. It's easy to say that a Toyota midsize is a better vehicle than a Chevrolet midsize, but maybe not so easy to say that a $15,000. Toyota is better than a $15,000. Chevrolet. The Big Three (both management and labor) never got it into their heads that the American customer wants quality when paying big bucks for something. I remember in the 70s when Honda cars were first sold in the American market, the standard Detroit refrain was that the Japanese cars were less expensive than American cars. But everyone I knew who had a Honda would tell me how pleased he was with the quality of the car, never about what its price was.

I can't help but notice that the letter does not contain a spelling or grammatical error except the one word which was scratched out. I suspect that Sonny's education was far superior to what many Americans receive today.

I have a dvd player hooked up to my stereo system instead of a cd player, so I have been listening to the In Vienne dvd quite a bit for the past week. (Vienne, by the way, is not to be confused with Vienna. Vienne is a town in France.) I've enjoyed it quite a bit. I like the band, which is made up of Clifton Anderson on trombone, Bobby Broom on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on electric bass, Victor Lewis on drums and Kimati Dinizulu on percussion. Unlike Road Shows, whose selections prominently feature Sonny soloing, In Vienne gives a great deal of time over to the sidemen. There is a nice balance of ballads and flag wavers (as Art Pepper used to say). I've got to scratch my head over the thinking of the operation of Sonny's label Doxy Records. With the first release, Sonny, Please, they first made it available for months only via download before it was available for hardcopy purchase. Then they waited two years. Now they simultaneously release two great albums! If you only have the money for one of the new items at the present, I would say that I like Road Shows better because it has more Sonny on it. But every Sonny Rollins fan should consider getting In Vienne as well. And I suppose that as a concert dvd it is a historical document as well as a collection of great music.