GA Russell

I may be the only one here who does not get cable or satellite TV, but if there are any others you will want to know about this. The federal government has set up its website for people to sign up to receive the coupon for the digital converter which will be required soon. Here's the link: https://www.dtv2009.gov/

Lon, I'm very sorry that your wife died. I didn't know. I'll say a prayer for her tonight.

Mo, I remember them as being funny, not about drunk driving.

Uh oh. I just received an email saying that the Evans and the Wilson shipped without the Ferguson. Good news! I received an email today saying that the Maynard was shipped yesterday.

Here's his AP obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,1209692.story British pilot took part in 'great escape' From the Associated Press February 1, 2008 Bertram "Jimmy" James, one of the few British prisoners to avoid being executed for joining in the "great escape" from a German prison during World War II, has died. He was 92. James died Jan. 18 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in Shrewsbury, England, following a brief illness. He was buried Thursday. He was a pilot on a Wellington bomber that was shot down near Rotterdam in the Netherlands on June 5, 1940, and was captured the next day. Despite numerous attempts to escape, James spent five years as a prisoner of war. Trying to escape, he once remarked, "was our contribution to the war effort." James made 13 attempts from various prisons, according to military historian Howard Tuck. James was sent to Stalag Luft III, near Zagan in Poland, in 1943. Joining in plans for a mass escape, he was put in charge of dispersing about 40 tons of sand taken from one tunnel. On the night of March 24, 1944, James was the 39th man to escape. He and a Greek companion made it to a railway station and caught a train headed toward the Czech border, but were recaptured two days later. "When you emerge into the snow and you're running away from the camp, there's a sense of exhilaration," James told the Associated Press in 2004 during celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the escape. "We were on our way, we hoped, to freedom," he said. "That wasn't quite the case." Only three of the 76 escapees made it to freedom. The rest were recaptured, and 50 were shot. The escape attempt from Stalag Luft III was one of the most celebrated incidents of the war, recounted in the film "The Great Escape," starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough. "A lot was Hollywood fantasy," James said. "There were no Americans in the escape." After being caught, James was one of eight men sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside Berlin. He escaped from that prison in 1944 but was recaptured two weeks later. The son of a tea merchant, James was born in India on April 17, 1915. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1939. He learned Russian during his imprisonment and served in the diplomatic service from 1964 to 1975. James is survived by his wife, Madge.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Ackles at the 1985 Grey Cup. He says that if the NFL puts a team in Toronto, the CFL will be unable to obtain a national television contract. Since cable channels are national, why wouldn't the CFL be able to get a contract with one of them? http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...65-f727de5fd57d ***** Dave Dickenson says that the Argos were his second choice. I didn't know that he is the league's all-time leader in pass-completion rate. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Cal...4804588-cp.html ***** The Bills' regular season games in Toronto will be in December, after the Grey Cup game. "An NFL source said as many as 25,000 tickets will be available to Toronto and Hamilton season-ticket holders. Bills season-ticket subscribers will have dibs on 10,000 and the remaining 20,000 will be sold to the public by a lottery system." http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...806070-sun.html ***** Dave Ritchie spoke last weekend with Eric Tillman about the Sask head coaching job. When Ritchie won the Grey Cup as the head coach of the Lions in 1994, Tillman was the Lions' General Manager. http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/new...f3-ee75aab96849

There's a reason we have jury trials. If I were a pastor, I'd inform the NFL that I would demand a jury trial if they chose to sue.

Uh oh. I just received an email saying that the Evans and the Wilson shipped without the Ferguson.

Just opened up Disc 4 of the Buddy DeFranco box. I've had this set since 1990. Opened up Discs 2 and 3 in '92 and '02. I was talking with sjarrel about it the other day, and our conversation reminded me I still had one to go, so today is the day I checked it out and finished the box. Years ago Cuscuna said in one of his catalogues that the DeFranco and the Shorty Rogers were his two worst-selling boxes. I bought both and enjoy them both. Maybe it's time to check out the next Rogers I haven't heard yet too!

Is that what happened? I thought it was an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

I note that that list of Sirius stars fails to mention Gary Burton, who has a show every Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm eastern. Also Nancy Sinatra, who has a show of Frank's music; Marshall Chess, who does a weekly blues show; and Bruce Lundvall, who does a show of Blue Note music every Friday.

I never saw any of his movies, so I have no opinion of his talent or the loss to acting his death will mean. But in the forty-eight hours following his death, there was a great deal on CNN and Fox News Channel about how tragic his death was, and how sorrowful the world is. Now the word has come out that this fellow was seriously messed up. He was a heroin and cocaine addict. His girl friend moved out with their child because she couldn't take his drug lifestyle any longer. Quite a number of my favorite jazz musicians of the fifties were drug addicts, so I believe in separating the art from the artist. You can love one without respecting the other. So I suppose this is just as true for movie actors as well. But I hope the word goes out to the young movie-going crowd that this guy's death was not the romantic thing it was treated as initially. He was not someone to be admired. http://www.nypost.com/seven/01312008/gossi...x/pagesix_u.htm

There has been a lot of news in the past forty-eight hours, hasn't there? Jarious Jackson has agreed to sign with the Lions for $200,000. a year, which seems low to me. He will be the Lions starting QB. Dave Dickenson is gone, and Buck Pierce is still recovering from shoulder surgery. Dave Ritchie will retire from coaching if he is not hired to be the new Sask head coach. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** Val St. Germain has retired. He was in the league fourteen years. Last year he was with the Riders, so he goes out on top as a Grey Cup champion. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** The Argos cut both John Avery and Robert Edwards today. I have to think that both of them are done because of their knee problems. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** A.J. Gass is retiring, to be an assistant coach with the Eskimos. http://tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=228627&hubname= ***** The Bombers have cut Davin Bush. I expect him to find a job somewhere at a lower salary. http://www.winnipegsun.com/Sports/Football...803278-sun.html

How big is "big"? Pats beat the Rams as 14-point dogs in 2002. Denver beat GB as 12-pt dogs in 1998. I'd say those both qualify as big!

I haven't seen a point spread for a few days. The last time I saw it, it was 13 I think. I believe that the New York City area has far more gamblers than any other metro. I have read that many of these gamblers will bet on the Giants regardless of what the point spread is. So when the Giants are the underdog, the point spread is lower than it otherwise would be. The smaller spread will then attract more bets against the Giants so that the bookmakers can balance the bets. That said, barring injury, I see the Patriots winning pretty big here. The Giants are on a streak all right, but as a team they were only good enough to be a wild card. I don't see them having the firepower to pull off the big upset. Has there ever been a big upset in the Super Bowl since the two AFL victories in III and IV? I can't think of one.

I too am having trouble with the site. Yesterday hepcat's link took me to the site, but the wish link button took me to a problem page. Today hepcat's link takes me to the same problem page yesterday's wish link button took me to.

John, didn't the Ottawa Senators have difficulty finding a new owner after they went bankrupt? And let's not forget that the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets were sold to Americans.

Dave Dickenson is returning to the Stampeders. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** Milt Stegall has changed his mind, and will not retire. At this point he is the greatest player to have never won the Grey Cup, so I guess he wants one more chance. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Maybe this discussion is best left to the guys with the discography books. But since I'm just guessing... Weren't all of Sonny Clark's albums for Blue Note? edit to add: Both of Manfred Mann's jazz group Chapter III's albums were for Vertigo. Both of Dreams' albums were for Columbia.

Kerry Joseph took a big cut in salary last year. Well now that he is the Most Outstanding Player and the Grey Cup champion, he wants a big raise to get up to what all the other QBs are making. He will have a tryout with the Saints this week. One problem: He already has five years in the NFL with the Seahawks (as a DB), so his minimum salary with the Saints (or anyone else) would be $600,000. He is 34 years old. NFL teams might not want to pay that much for a 34 year old who hasn't proven himself as an NFL QB. On the other hand, I have never heard of an NFL team not signing a player because the minimum salary was too rich. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** The NFL has approved the Buffalo Bills' petition to play in Toronto five regular season games (one per year) and three pre-season games over the next five years. Argos and Ticats season ticket holders will be given the first opportunity to buy, but must purchase all eight tickets at once. This will certainly help the Argos' and Ticats' season ticket sales for this year! I don't know if any Canadian businessman would take a chance on owning the Argos in Toronto if the Bills move there permanently one day, but my personal opinion is that the people who want to buy NFL tickets and merchandise do not currently buy Argos and Ticats tickets and merchandise. I think that the NFL fans and the CFL fans are two distinct markets. So if there is an NFL team in Toronto, the Argos would lose prestige by being put further back in the sports pages, but I don't think they would lose any revenue. As I see it, Canada has a problem - There is a shortage of Canadian millionaires who want to own a pro sports team. So having an NFL team in Toronto may kill the Argos because no one will operate them. I can see the good ship Argonaut going down without a fight. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

I never heard of this before. Sounds like something everyone should know. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22900119/

Here's a surprise. The Riders have released Corey Holmes. They did not project him to be a starter, and he was making too much money to be a backup. I have to think that he will land a job without too much difficulty. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Sas...4800738-cp.html

My general recollection is that the games with only one week preparation have been the better games. Maybe the fact that injuries haven't healed 100% has enabled the underdogs to make a game of it.

I thought you would be interested to see all of the broadcasts of the Super Bowl that Sirius will be carrying Sunday. I received this email from them the other day: When the pre-game hype and hoopla is over and it's time to play football — SIRIUS delivers! Choose from 12 live broadcasts in eight languages on Sunday, February 3. Check back for exact broadcast times. Broadcast New England Patriots announcers Ch. 126 New York Giants announcers Ch. 123 National (Westwood One Radio) Ch. 124 BBC Radio Ch. 125 Spanish-Latin America (Westwood One) Ch. 181 Spanish-Spain (CANAL+ Spain) Ch. 110 French (France 2) Ch. 143 Japanese (NHK Japan) Ch. 140 German (ARD) Ch. 130 Flemish (Telenet) Ch. 119 Russian (NTV Plus broadcast) Ch. 122 Mandarin Chinese (SMG) Ch. 121 Maybe one of you Europeans can explain why there is a Flemish broadcast!

Whoa! I read this thread a couple of days ago when it was only one page. Then tonight I see that it was up to 14 pages so I click on it to see what I have been missing, and between the new members and the soap opera (!) and the haircuts, I can see that I missed a lot in just a couple of days. So welcome clave and Bev, Sandi and WorldB3, hepcat and all of you other people whose names I don't remember anymore! I want to point out to you newbies that this board has an ignore function. If someone gets on your nerves, you can go to your personal controls page and have him listed as "ignored". That really makes this place very pleasant for me! Be sure to check out the 2008 CFL Hot Stove League thread. It probably won't interest you, but it's what I live for!