June 9th Blue Jays Game

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Edward Brain

I finally got around to attending my first Blue Jays game down at the SkyDome (or Rogers Centre.)  The Texas Rangers were in town finishing a three game series that saw the Blue Jays win the first two games – 6-1 on Friday, and a 4-3 walk-off win yesterday afternoon in 18 innings.

The starting pitchers were Justin Grimm (Rangers) and Josh Johnson (Blue Jays.)

The game started well for the Blue Jays as they would take a 4-0 lead in the 3rd inning, capped off by a 3 run homerun by Adam Lind.  However, that would be the highlight for the Blue Jays.  Nelson Cruz would get a solo homrun with 2 out off Johnson in the 4th inning.  David Murphy would then walk before scoring on a double by Chris McGuinness to make the score 4-2. Continue reading →

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Stanley Cup Finals

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Edward Brain

Well, we have now made it to the Stanley Cup Finals with the Boston Bruins facing the Chicago Blackhawks, a battle of two original six teams.   Boston dominated the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning their series four games to none.  Chicago beat the defending Stanley Cup Champions the L.A. Kings.

The Stanley Cup.

The Stanley Cup.

Boston and Chicago have met six times in the postseason with Boston winning five of those match-ups.  Boston won a two game, total goals series in 1927 10 goals to five.  Boston would win a best of three series in 1942, two games to one.  They would not met again in the postseason until 1970, when Boston again won four games to none in the semifinals.  Boston would beat Chicago again in the semifinals in 1974, four games to two.  Chicago won their only series against Boston in the first round of the 1975 playoffs, two games to one.  Three years later, Boston would beat Chicago four games to none in the quarterfinals. Continue reading →

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A History of the Grey Cup

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Edward Brain

With the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) teams opening training camp, I’d like to provide a brief history of the Grey Cup.

The Grey Cup was created in 1909 by the Governor General, the 4th Earl Grey, originally meant for hockey.  However, the Allan Cup was created first, so the Grey Cup was instead given to the top football team in Canada.  The Cup has been awarded yearly since then with the exception of during and immediately following World War I (1916-1919.)

Grey Cup

The Grey Cup.

The Toronto Argonauts, the current Grey Cup Champions, have won the most Grey Cups with 16, having appeared in the championship game 22 times.  The 1995 Champions, the Baltimore Stallions, are the only non-Canadian team to win the Grey Cup, but moved back to Montreal prior to the 1996 season to become the ‘new’ Montreal Alouettes.  The last none CFL team to win the Grey Cup was the St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy team that beat the Hamilton Flying Wildcats. Continue reading →

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The Blue Jays After Two Months

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Edward Brain

After two months, the Blue Jays still look bad.  With all the hype in the preseason thanks to all the off-season acquisitions, the Blue Jays simply are not playing up to their potential.  They are in 5th place in the American League East, with a 23-32 record.

Their offense is not were it should be.  The team’s .251 batting average ranks 9th in the AL, the team is also 9th in hits with 473 of which 69 were homeruns (the bright spot, as they are tied for 2nd in this category with the Cleveland Indians.)  They have 231 RBIs, also good for 9th overall.  Blue Jays batters have struck out 415 times while walking 175 times.  The Blue Jays do sit in 5th place in steals with 35. Continue reading →

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NHL Conference Finals

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Edward Brain

We are now down to the final four teams vying to be the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions.

In the Eastern Conference, the #4 Boston Bruins look to leap frog over the #1 Pittsburgh Penguins.  Boston looked much better against the New York Rangers than they did against the Maple Leafs, winning in five games.

Pittsburgh if 3-0-0 against Boston this season.  Pittsburgh and Boston have faced each other four times in the past.  Boston won series in 1979 (four games to none) and 1980 (three games to two.)  Pittsburgh won series in 1991 (four games to two) and 1992 (four games to none.)  In 1991 and 1992, Pittsburgh went on to win the Stanley Cup and is 10-9 overal against Boston in the postseason.  As both Western Conference Semifinal series went seven games, both teams will be well rested for Game #1 in Pittsburgh. Continue reading →

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Alain Vigneault Dismissed as Canucks Coach

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Edward Brain

Alain Vigneault, the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks since the start of the 2006-2007 season has been dismissed by the team after the Canucks were swept in four games in the first round of the 2013 playoffs by the San Jose Sharks.

Let’s look at what he accomplished in Vancouver:

  • The Canucks made it to the playoffs in every year that he was head coach, except 2008 (six out of seven years.)
  • He won the Jack Adams award in 2007 as coach of the year.
  • He had a record of 313-170-57 in 540 games.  He holds the Canucks record for most wins.
  • He lead the Canucks to the Stanley Cup in 2011, losing in seven games.
  • The Canucks finished first in the Northwest Division six times, including back-to-back President’s Trophies in 2011 and 2012 as the best team in the NHL.
  • He coached the team to a team record 54 wins in 2011, after beating Pat Quinn’s record of 46 wins with 49 wins in 2007, his first season as the Canucks’ coach.

His only blemish would be back-to-back first round losses in 2012 and 2013, including being swept by San Jose this year.  This is likely the reason for his dismissal.

With all the good points mentioned above, I doubt Mr. Vigneault will be without a job as a Head Coach in the NHL anytime soon.

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Bugs Bunny at the Symphony

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Edward Brain

Last night I attended a performance of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.  The performance was entitled “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.”  Many Looney Tunes episodes deal with music, and as such an idea was started in 1990 to create a concert based on these episodes.  The night travelled through several episodes, including “Rhapsody Rabbit“, “The Rabbit of Seville“, “Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl“, “Long-Haired Hare“, and the famous “What’s Opera, Doc?”

“The Rabbit of Seville” is of course based on Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” while “What’s Opera, Doc?” is filled with the music of Wagner, including music from Der Fliegende Hollander, Tannhäuser, Rienzi, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. Continue reading →

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Unruly Directors

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Edward Brain

Gerry Hyman has another column in the Saturday May 18th 2013 edition of the Toronto Star.  Here are some of my thoughts from questions raised in his article:

Q. One of our directors made derogatory comments about other directors at a board meeting attended by all of the directors.

The board member now maintains that there should be no minutes of the meeting setting out those remarks, as the meeting was not properly constituted because the 10 days notice of the meeting was not given. Is he correct?

A. The Condominium Act provides that a director who attends a meeting shall be deemed to have waived the right to object to a failure to give the required notice, unless the director expressly objects to the failure at the meeting.

Mr. Hyman’s response is correct, with regards to notice for the meeting.  However, he does not touch on the issue of the director’s remarks.  These remarks are obviously unacceptable.  The other directors should demand that the director either apologize or resign.  Directors can have disagreements with each other (and if their meetings are run according to democratic principles, every director is entitled to his or her own opinion) this does not mean that a director can make derogatory statements. Continue reading →

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NHL Round 2

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Edward Brain

We are now set for the Conference Semi-finals of the NHL playoffs (the second of four rounds required to win the Stanley Cup.)

Of the 16 teams who competed in first roung, the following teams have advanced

Eastern Conference

#1 Pittsurgh Penguins
#4 Boston Bruins
#6 New York Rangers
#7 Ottawa Senators Continue reading →

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NHL’s New Alignment

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Edward Brain

The National Hockey League (NHL) has adjusted its conferences for the 2013-2014 Season.  The Conferences will now have two divisons each instead of the current three.  However, due to how the alignment has been made, the ‘new’ Eastern Conference will have 16 teams while the ‘new’ Western Conference will only have 14 teams.  The four divisions currently do not have any names, only letters.

The NHL Conferences will look as follows: Continue reading →

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