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Non-baseball items, part II
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C. John
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Aug 28, 2025 03:25PM
It is amazing what you can find on Wikipedia. For some reason this morning I looked up Al Tomko who was both a wrestler and a promoter. He was the last person to own All-Star Wrestling, the Vancouver based promotion I started watching in Toronto, though at that time it was owned by Sandor Kovacs. After he took over for some reason he decided he should be the star of the promotion even though, as Wikipedia puts it "Despite his age, being physically past his prime and lacking wrestling skills." Sounds about write. A lot of the time he was a heel and billed himself as Master Sergeant Tomko. Interestingly both his sons, Rick Davis and The Frog, wrestled in Vancouver and both were faces.
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Bill Belichick and his girlfriend Jenifer Hudson have filed for several trademarks. One of them is "Gold Digger". Of course we all know where that comes from. However, that is a fairly common term that has been use for years. I recall that the female singers/dancers on Dean Martin's television show were referred to as The Gold Diggers. In fact they had their own summer series that was known by that name. I will be somewhat surprised if they actually get that one.
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Despite living in Canada I don't think can be of much help. I just go in an order a coffee and don't pay any attention to whatever blend is available. He is going to want a dark roast, but I am not sure what roast is used for such things as French Vanilla. The term 'double-double' only refers to the cup having two sugar and two cream in it. Lance may have a better idea of what is what in this regards.
The Quebec government is planning to bring in a law banning prayer in public places. I am wondering how this is going to affect Remembrance Day ceremonies. Also be interesting to see if certain groups (not all Canadian) take a stand on this one.
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Brina wrote: "Wonder if it will effect menorah lightings in public places. I guess I’m going to find out. Anyway Mendel was just buying coffee to brew and Horton’s was the only one he found that was kosher. I’m ..."To be honest I don't know. When the Quebec government brought in its secularism law a couple or so years ago the main point of discussion was that it prevented public servants (including teachers) from wearing religious symbols, such as crosses/crucifixes. I believe this also applied to police officers, save for the RCMP who are a national force. As it is a provincial law it only applies to civil servants employed by the province or a municipality. Federal civil servants are not covered. Thus if you want to get a passport it is quite possible the clerk serving you will be wearing a cross or something else. The Quebec government did want the Federal government to allow the law to be extended to cover federal workers but that hasn't materialized (at least not yet). The government is planning on bringing in some changes to the original act so we shall see what happens. If there is anyone who wants to get even more confused than they are already here is a link to the Wikipedia entry on the Act.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_res...
Since this whole thing could have an impact on Jewish practice I am waiting to see if anyone down south starts screaming Antisemitism
I now have proof that students in Ontario (at least in my generation) are better able to cope with some things than students in Alberta. I have seen an article the mentions several books that are being removed from Alberta school libraries. They include 1984, The Great Gatsby and Brave New World. I studied all those in high school English classes. Also what the heck is the problem with Archie, which is also on the list. The total number of books being pulled is something like 200.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...
Nottingham Forest will begin its Europa League campaign by hosting Malmo of Sweden. These two teams played each other in the 1979 European Cup final, which Forest won. Here is a clip from the match..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL03l...
The wife and I are off shoe shopping today. I need to get special (expensive) shoes which the nurses will then place some sort of orthopedic devices in. Of course those will cost money too. Hopefully I will still have enough left to order some coffee and a couple of books from Amazon. I wouldn't worry but we also did our wills recently and that cost money as well. Thank god for my income tax refund.
If anyone happens to watch a match or two in the Rugby Womens' World Cup you may something that seems odd. You will sometime see the player who is carrying the ball cross into what we call the endzone at one of the sides. They then proceed to run across the back until they hit the centre of the zone and then touch the ball to the ground. This is because the 'try' isn't scored until the ball touches the ground. The conversion then is attempted from a spot on the line directly opposite to where the ball was touched down. Obviously the closer to the center the better for the kicker. I have seen some conversions attempted from some pretty bad angles.
The transfer window in England closes on Monday night. Looks like it may be a busy weekend as there are still transfers that clubs are hoping to finalize before then. We have some situations where players want to move, some to the point of having said they will not play for their current team but something is holding things up.
The French government will fall on September 8th, barring a miracle. Whether we end up with a new government or an election is anybody's guess at this point. At least this shouldn't affect the French sports' scene.
Jonah Tong's warm up song last night was Nickleback's Burn It to the Ground. I daresay he heard that one more than once growing up.
And now what you all have been waiting for from me. Here is the link for the Pub Quiz. https://www.mirror.co.uk/play/quizzes...
From today's Morning Brew newsletter.The Enhanced Games, an Olympic-style event that doesn’t drug test, filed an $800 million antitrust lawsuit claiming there’s a campaign by World Aquatics, USA Swimming, and the World Anti-Doping Agency to prevent athletes from participating. You’d have to be on drugs to think the organizers are going to pay that.
I shall refrain from commenting.
Reading an article on "The Engagement" (my term and I presume you know what I am referring to) in The Guardian's Headlines UK newsletter. The writer described Travis Kelce as 'a podcaster who also plays football'. It also mentions that a lot of conservatives are hoping that once married she becomes a tradwife, and according to one stops endorsing Biden. I think the latter will actually come to pass., but Swift becoming a tradwife, as they say, good luck with that.
Ask and thou shalt receive. I actually have scores from a Womens' World Cup that didn't involve the group England is in.Canada 42-0 Wales
Scotland 29-15 Fiji.
Those wins mean both Canada and Scotland have won two matches and have booker their places in the next round. They play each other next Saturday and that will likely determine who emerges number one from this pool.
And in pool C it was New Zealand 62-19 Japan
Australia and the US drew at the Women's Rugby World Cup. Next up for the US is Samoa while Australia take on England. Those games are next weekend. Maybe it is because my sources of information are newsletters from Britain and Australia but I am not seeing anything about the other teams.
Wishing for everyone to have a good Labour Day. Note I spelled labour correctly as well.
England (and maybe the whole UK) had its labour day earlier this year (last month I think) so today is just another day for them. This even applies to parliament as the summer recess has ended and it is back to work. This also means no holiday games in the various sports today.
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Brina wrote: "In the US it is Labor and there is baseball today. If the day had fallen out later eg if Sept 1 was tomorrow and next Monday was Sept 7, then there would be American football as well. Can’t beat th..."Not my fault Americans can't use proper spelling. As Professor Henry Higgins said about the English language, 'in American they haven't spoken it for years'. (My Fair Lady)
The wife decided that since the youngest one isn't helping his aunt and uncle today as they are away for the long weekend, and she is off today for the holiday and not going up to her mum's this was a good day to disassemble the boys old bunk bed (which is falling apart) and put together the new one. The oldest boy isn't here as he is working today so he misses out on all the fun.
In Premier League news, Liverpool and Newcastle settled their transfer involving Alexander Isak. It is a record setting amount as well. This will make Isak happy as he wanted to go to Liverpool and did not want to spend another year in Newcastle. As well Man U have seven transfers they wish to complete by the time the door shuts on transfers later this evening. I am think this is players leaving and coming as seven seems a lot.
Some television casting news. Warwick Davis will be playing Professor Flavius Flitwick in the upcoming Harry Potter television series. If the name seems familiar that is because the actor played the same character (as well as Goblin banker Griphook) in the movie.
Playlist I am listening to on Spotify just included Johnny Rivers performing the song "Hey, Joe". There has been a lot of controversy recently involving the song "Delilah" by Tom Jones. I fail to see any difference between that song and this one yet I never hear negative commenting about "Hey Joe". I have no idea why. The only difference is that the guy stabs Delilah to death for messing around on him while the guy in Hey Joe shoots his wife for the same reason.
Seattle Sounders defeated Inter-Miami to win the Leagues' Cup. This is an annual competition between the best of MLS and a Mexican league. I am betting some people will be surprised as over the last few rounds Inter-Miami has benefitted from some questionable officiating. There was talk that someone wanted Inter-Miami/Lionel Messi to win the competition.
The playlist I am listening to had Neil Sedaka's The Immigrant on it earlier and now I am listening to America by Neil Diamond. Is there a message in this for someone. Actually the Sedaka song has been popping up a lot lately. Both are on my "Like Songs" playlist.
Here is a rather unusual Football trivia question for everyone. This is from one of The Guardian's football newsletters.Luis Suárez is back with another controversial moment, with cameras catching him spitting on a Seattle Sounders staff member after Sunday’s Leagues Cup final. This, of course, is not the first time the former Barcelona, Liverpool, and Ajax striker has been in the headlines for controversial behavior. How many times has he bitten an opponent on the field?
a) Once
b) Twice
c) Three times
d) Four times
In 1979 Trevor Francis made headlines when he signed with Nottingham Forest for the huge sum of 1 Million pounds. Well it was huge at the time. In fact Francis was the first million pound man.
British heavyweight Joe Bugner has passed away at age 75. In an 83 bout career he fought Muhammad Ali (twice), Joe Frazier and Frank Bruno.
Actor Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves, Green Mile) has passed away in a Toronto hospital at age 73. He had been suffering from a lengthy illness but not details were given.
Have an appointment with the public health nurses I have been dealing with. We shall see what happens. They want me to bring in the shoes I purchased on the weekend. Should know more when I get on this thing tomorrow when I get home (appointment is at 9am).
In the UK a chap by the name of Darren Jones was recently appointed Chief Secretary to the PM. He is also being referred to as the Minister for Getting Sh*t Done.
Here is a pleasant list from BBC Music Magazine, which is a classical music magazine. It is of the 15 best movie musicals. https://www.classical-music.com/featu...
it was on this date in 1995 that eBay, then called AuctionWeb, went live. The first item sold was a broken laser pointer. Which begs the question, why would you buy a broken laser pointer.
The top part of The Guardian's Cricket newsletter, called The Spin, is devoted to Scorecards and scoring cricket matches. Admittedly a different game but a lot of what is said about scoring is applicable to baseball as well, though I cannot for the life of me make head nor tails of the sample scorecard included. When someone remarks 'It's so special seeing fans in the crowd keeping score' it could be said of Baseball as well as Cricket.https://www.theguardian.com/sport/202...
It seems I have a new abbreviation (or whatever the proper term is) to use if necessary IDGAF. I suspect everyone can figure out what it means. Not necessarily language I would us, at least not the last word. This one comes courtesy of my Brussels Playbook newsletter. They suggest it as Putin's reply if Trump makes any threats about Ukraine.
History, at least as far as Football goes, will be made this weekend. England has a couple of qualifiers coming up and one of the players who has been called up for these games is named Djed Spence and he is Muslim. So he will be on the team for these two qualifiers, though it is not guaranteed he will play. He plays his club Football for Tottenham Hotspur. It will be interesting to see if any politicians bring this up (here's looking at you, Nigel Farage of Reform UK). Pity the news didn't break until today, as it might have made for some discussion at PMQ's yesterday.
Today's album of the day from Rhino is Fleetwood Mac's album Fleetwood Mac. This is what Rhino had to say about it. Loved the description of the group as well.A rhythm section that had honed their skills on British blues. A keyboardist who was also a talented singer-songwriter. A California couple steeped in folk-rock. Perhaps it was their disparate backgrounds that made it all work, but when these five musicians converged, the results were magic. This week in 1976, Fleetwood Mac went to No.1 on the U.S. chart with their self-titled album, which went on to sell more than five million copies in America. One look at the track listing will explain the success; “Rhiannon,” “Over My Head,” “Say You Love Me,” “Landslide,” and “Monday Morning” were all perfect for pop radio. While they would scale even greater heights with their follow-up, the superb FLEETWOOD MAC deserves a place in every music collection.
In the Qualifying Final Collingwood defeated Adelaide by a score of 11.13.79 to 8.7.55. Collingwood now goes on to one of the two Preliminary Finals in two weeks time while next week Adelaide will have to play the winner of one of the two Elimination Finals. The two Qualifying finals and the two Elimination Finals are played the same week. As for the scores the first number is the number of goals while the second number is the number behinds. You multiply goals by 6 and add in the number of behinds to get the third number. Quite simple actually. This is Australian Rules Football we are discussing by the way.
A look at a few of the World Cup Qualifying matches coming up during the current international break.https://www.theguardian.com/football/...
C. John wrote: "Today's album of the day from Rhino is Fleetwood Mac's album Fleetwood Mac. This is what Rhino had to say about it. Loved the description of the group as well.A rhythm section that had honed thei..."
In August 1975, one year before that album was released, I saw Fleetwood Mac at Balboa Stadium , San Diego. This was one of their first live performances featuring Buckingham & Stevie Nicks. We actually went to see Rod Stewart and some other bands. Fantastic day of music. Those of us who listened to late night FM music had heard earlier Fleetwood Mac when Peter Green was their lead guitarist and they were known for blues not pop music. Love both versions of Fleetwood Mac.
Trivia about Peter Green. Most people think that Santana wrote Black Magic Woman but it was written by Peter Green and on one of Fleetwood Macs early live albums from the 60's.
Argentina defeated Venezuela 3 - 0 in World Cup Qualifying. Apparently this was Messi's last home international qualifying match.Also Slovakia defeated Germany 2-0. Germany doesn't lose these away matches usually but they did this time.
Mark Volman, singer and co-founder of The Turtles has passed away at age 78. He also performed with The Mothers of Invention and was one half of Flo and Eddy. He was the singer on the song "Happy Together".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRCe5...
The group certainly looks like they are enjoying themselves in that clip. I always thought Volman was the guy with the brass instrument though. Mind you I could be wrong.
There is a rumour floating around that Taylor Swift will be headlining the half-time at the Super Bowl next year (2026).
Angel Reese has been suspended for the first half of Chicago's game on Sunday. Has anyone ever been suspended for only half a game in any sport?
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