Non-baseball items, part II Showing 451-500 of 1,340

[C. John]

Lance wrote: "Denver Nuggets fired their coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with 3 games left in the regular season and a playoff spot locked up - huge surprise, especially considering he led the Nuggets t..."

Apparently there was a possibility, the way things were going, that Denver could fall out of a playoff spot so they made the move. The article I read suggested they were planning on making a change in the off-seaso and simply advanced their timetable.

[C. John]

I am not sure but something is happening. There were a lot of elections last year. We are having one this year and Australia just recently had the writ dropped for a national election there. Been a few others I think. In fact England shoud be having some local elections soon.

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "Lance wrote: "Denver Nuggets fired their coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with 3 games left in the regular season and a playoff spot locked up - huge surprise, especially considering he led..."

Nuggets may not have to worry about that after the Timberwolves blew a 24 point lead to the Bucks in the 4th qtr last night. Only team of the five tied from 4th to 8th to lose last night. So, now in 8th.

[C. John]

Here is something you don't often see, someone taking a lion out for a walk. The walker is Valerie Singleton, who at the time was a presenter on the children's television show Blue Peter, which aried on the BBC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5UCw...

[C. John]

More on the Denver Nuggets firing the head coach and GM. Apparently the two had a very frosty relationship and ownership may have decided to jetison both and start over. Don't know why they didn't wait until after the playoffs though.

[Lance]

Still makes me think there is more to this than just bad blood or a desire to change for the playoffs - especially when Malone and their star Nikola Jokic had a good relationship. Unless something happened there, too...

[C. John]

Who would have thought back when my sisters were playing with their Barbies that eventualy little boys could own a LeBron James doll. I note the article mentions this is part of an atttempt by Mattel to diversify its product. Better not mention that to a couple of people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78...

[C. John]

Thanks to the trade war between the US and Mainland China I learned something I didn't know. Apparently the US imports over 80% of its Christmas decor from China. If the two countries don't start acting like adults it might not be a great Christmas this year. I don't know if we import as much but I daresay we do import a significant amount in Canada. But then we also aren't fighting with them, save to prevent product dumping.

[C. John]

Baseball and softball, as well as cricket will be making comebacks at the LA Olympics. The type of cricket on offer will be Twenty20 I think, which is an abbreviated form of the game.

[C. John]

For anyone who has seen The Shining (I haven't) at the end they focus on an old photograph. Jack Nicholson has been superimposed over somebody. However there has always been a bit of a mystery, who was the person in the original photo and where and when was it taken. Well know we know, and here is the story.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/...

[C. John]

Article relating to my post above about the LA Olympics.

https://www.dw.com/en/los-angeles-oly...

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "Who would have thought back when my sisters were playing with their Barbies that eventualy little boys could own a LeBron James doll. I note the article mentions this is part of an atttempt by Matt..."

I recall that when I was a kid, Mattel had astronaut “dolls” - collected all of them including a Martian figure. And Matell has had non-white dolls, Barbie line and others, for a long time.

[Lance]

NBA regular season ends on Sunday and they are doing what MLB does each year - starting games all at the same time to avoid tanking, siting star players, etc. One difference is all games between Eastern conference teams start at 1 PM EDT while all Western Conference games start at 3:30. It’s more for positions than getting in as all 10 teams in each conference are set. But the positioning, especially in the West, is far from settled.

[C. John]

World Cup goes the same thing with the final games in the group stage. The two games in each group start at the same time. Been doing this since a World Cup in Spain in the late seventies or early eighties.

[C. John]

Seen on a T-Shirt: "Most people mistake me for an adult because of my age"

[C. John]

Weatherspoons, a chain of pubs in England has said that the most popular item on its menu is tea and toast. As well the most popular draft item is Pepsi and the most popular drink is coffee.

[C. John]

And here is your weekly pub quiz courtesy of The Mirror.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/play/quizzes...

[C. John]

C. John wrote: "And here is your weekly pub quiz courtesy of The Mirror.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/play/quizzes......"

Did slightly better this week. I got 12 correct. Everyone should get at least one correct since I posted about it on this thread.

[Lance]

Best college sport ended last night as Western Michigan beat Boston University 6-2 to claim its first national championship in men’s hockey. I always like seeing schools like that win, especially when they defeat a blue blood hockey school. Unless the blue blood is Minnesota and I’ve seen THAT too often in the championship game - 1989 vs Harvard (that one stung the most and why I still remember it well)…2014 vs Union College…2023 vs Quinnipiac. And, interestingly enough, all three of those schools are in the conference I follow since getting back into college hockey and attending games, the ECAC

[C. John]

Story of my life sometimes. Going through my emails, a much easier taks on Saturday and Sunday than the rest of the week, and come across an article that looks interesting. Doublecheck the source. The email is from The Mirror, which has no paywall so I can read it. Click on the link and lo and behold I get not the article I want but a message telling me it can't be found. Some days it doesn't pay to bother getting up.

[C. John]

The Boat Race is today. Should be interesting as there is a lot of bad blood between the two teams. Also the tradition of dumping the winning cox in the river may not happen (too polluted, poor old Thames).

[C. John]

Just looking at a picture from the set of Doctor Who and I have one question. Why is there an old-fashioned juke box in the control room of the TARDIS. By the way, since many people have made this mistake, The name of the show is Doctor Who, the character is simply known as The Doctor.

[C. John]

A muscal interlude. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by The Heebee Jeebies. This is a Canadian group by the way, as you might be able to tell from some of the lyrics. Love the reference to Edmondton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CKg_...

[Lance]

I, and millions of other golf fans, are very happy to see Rory McIlroy finally win his first Masters and become the 6th player to achieve the career Grand Slam. I exclaimed in agony when he missed the par putt on 18 to fall into a playoff with Justin Rose…then in joy on the second shot that left him a very short birdie putt on the 1st playoff hole. And of course I am now starting a book on Rory, Rory Land: The Up-and-Down World of Golf's Global Icon

[C. John]

It's funny with golf. Right now I can rattle off Rory McIlroy's name no problem. However give it a few years and that might not be the case. I recall there was an American golfer years ago who had a pretty hard shot. I recognized the name instantly and could call it up if necessary,. Now I can't remember it.

[C. John]

Tony Stewart won the NHRA Top Fuel race at the Las Vegas Four Wide. Man has had quite the racing career.

[C. John]

Brina may recognize the name which is why I am posting this. Nobel winning Peruvain author Mario Vargas Llosa has passed away at age 89. It would appear he had his heyday in the 1960s.

[C. John]

Interesting to note there has been an uptick of the theft of luxury foods,of all things. We had a case a few years ago here in Canada where someone stole a huge amount of Maple Syrop.I believe the perpetrators where caught. That one has been made into a television series (a dark comedy).

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025...

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "Tony Stewart won the NHRA Top Fuel race at the Las Vegas Four Wide. Man has had quite the racing career."

Looking like he made a good choice to devote all his energy to drag racing. Only other one who I can think of with this kind of versatility today is Kyle Larson (yesterday’s winner at Bristol)

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "It's funny with golf. Right now I can rattle off Rory McIlroy's name no problem. However give it a few years and that might not be the case. I recall there was an American golfer years ago who had ..."

Dustin Johnson? Bubba Watson? There are quite a few…

[C. John]

Lance wrote: "C. John wrote: "It's funny with golf. Right now I can rattle off Rory McIlroy's name no problem. However give it a few years and that might not be the case. I recall there was an American golfer ye..."

Not either of those. All I can recall is that he was known for having very long tee shots.

[C. John]

Rory McIlroy made an interesting remark yesterday after winning the Masters. He wondered what everyone is going to talk about next year going into the tournament.

[Lance]

The golfer with the long tee shots - John Daly? He was (and still is) quite the character...

[C. John]

He is the one. He still active, or semi-active? Who would ever have thought I would be talking about golf.

[Lance]

He makes some appearances on the Champions (Senior) tour and he does charity events now and then, but not a regular presence

[C. John]

Thanks for the info Lance.
On a different matter, with Easter weekend coming up which days are the holidays down there?

[C. John]

From this morning's London Playbook I have pulled this item

ALSO OUT CAMPAIGNING TODAY … will be Nigel Farage, who is out in Morecambe this late morning and then Fleetwood in the afternoon alongside his party’s Lancashire County Council candidates.

Why it caught my eye is the reference to Morecambe and Fleetwood. Both are places in the UK but they were also the names of music acts, namely Morecambe & Wise and Fleetwood Mac. Nigel Farage is the leader of Reform UK, one of Britain's political parties. At one time he was a good friend of Trump.

[C. John]

The Vancouver Rise FC and Calgary Wild FC play each other tonight. This is the first game in the Northern Super League, which is a Canadian Women's Football (soccer) league.

[C. John]

The French language debate between the party leaders is tonight at 6.00 pm Eastern time. It was moved from whatever time it was originally scheduled for. The Canadiens game starts at 7.00 pm. As the CBC put it “so Canadian”.

[C. John]

Newsletter listed the following among the stories offered for reading: How one Just Stop Oil supporters net zero obsession tore a church apart. I was quite interested in that one for various reasons including that it was church related,. Unfortunately it was a newsletter from The Telegraph so of course there's a paywall.

[C. John]

I think everyone in this group knows I am a self-professed coffee addict. I was once asked for a Christmas thing what coffee I drank. My reply was "if it calls itself coffee I drink it." Anyway here is a cute coffee item for today's Morning Brew.


Good morning. By the authority vested in us, a newsletter called Morning Brew, we hereby declare today the beginning of iced coffee season.

Have trouble remembering when the season starts? It’s the same day every year: the Wednesday after Beans the Coffee Gargoyle lets out his first mating call (the sound of a frappuccino blender) of the spring harvest.

[C. John]

Wink Martindale has passed away at age 91.

[C. John]

I cannot believe that the New York Post acutally had a news alert about a case heard in the UK Supreme Court. Although given the nature of the case maybe I shouldn't be surprised. No reactions given from anyone and I am sure Keir Starmer, the PM, will prefer not to talk about it.

[C. John]

Article in one of newletters, I think the one from the Chicago Tribune has me asking the following question. What is a nickel cornerback?

[C. John]

Music time. Here is a The Powder Blues Band performing Doin' It Right. This is a live version from the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) but I am not when. What inspired me to choose this song is there is a version (with different lyrics) entitled Doin it Right (On the Jays Side of Town).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EQda...

Here's a second clip. Not as much fun to watch as the other one but the lyrics are easier to understand. This one is from their 35th anniversay tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkEmm...

[C. John]

Lance may remember this but back in the eighties Nick Bockwinkel, who had been a long-term heel in the AWA had turned face. The only problem was that the television show it occurred on didn't air in the Winnipeg market. Thus for some upcoming events to make sense they had to do a face turn for the Winnipeg market. This was that turn. It is in two parts

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDXeD...
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAbdG...

The bit at then end of the second part is how the turn was handled on the regular AWA show.

[Lance]

I remember seeing it in the Twin Cities. No way would we ever miss anything about Nick Bockwinkel - I think I’ve shared the story about him donating blood in Minneapolis and always asking for m mom to draw his blood. So of course my mom always wanted to see him when my brother and I watched our Saturday wrestling show.

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "Article in one of newletters, I think the one from the Chicago Tribune has me asking the following question. What is a nickel cornerback?"

Usually the defensive backfield will have 4 players - two safeties and two cornerbacks. When a fifth player comes in as a cornerback he’s a nickel cornerback. If it’s a safety, he’s a nickel safety - because there are now 5 in the backfield

[Lance]

Had Good Friday off - one advantage of working for a Catholic health system - so I pulled out the golf clubs for the first time this season. My swing and shots weren’t so rusty. Made a tee time for Easter Sunday afternoon.

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "Thanks for the info Lance.
On a different matter, with Easter weekend coming up which days are the holidays down there?"

Sorry, just noticed - there are no federal holidays for Easter, but schools are usually closed, at least here in New York, for the week leading up to Easter, plus the following Monday