The snowman was bald, but Cameron still squashed it.

So...its snowing.

I hate snow. I really do. I lived in the Carribean for two years, and didn't miss the stuff at all. Seriously. This is the most snow I can remember since my childhood. And its teasing us. This weekend is normally when I have to go to Meadow Lake for a tournament, and most years, things are already melting. Not this year. Damn old man winter...hope he's freezing his ass off in hell!!!

Did you know:
- that practically every location in the United States has seen snowfall. Even most portions of southern Florida have seen a few snow flurries.
- its commonly believed that the snowfall to water content ratio is 10-1. Its somewhat a myth as the ratio varies from as low as 100-1, to a high of about 3-1, depending on the meteorological conditions associated with the snowfall
- fresh, uncompacted snow typically is 90-95 percent trapped air
- by strict definition, snow can be considered a mineral...you can look it up!!
- sheep can be buried under snow
- in the Western states, snow accounts for approx. 75% of all surface water supplies

My Top Five Reasons To Hate Snow...in no particular order:
1. Makes my late night walks in my Dutch Shoes more difficult
2. My snowmen always end up lonely, sad little piles of snow in a week
3. Snowball fights are fun for 3 minutes, then they are just dumb, and someone is usually crying
4. The pride of seeing pavement on the driveway is shortlived when the new snow falls
5. The way it covers everything...wish it only landed on grass...that would save us all a lot of time

Ten Things I Think I Think...
1. Cameron Diaz bugs me...can't put my finger on it...she just bugs me
2. I miss watching football...can't wait till its on again
3. Wish we had a snow day at school, that would be allll rrriiigghhhttt with me
4. Wonder if N Dakota is getting all this snow?
5. Can you strangle a snow man? I know he's not alive, but could you just go up to one and strangle him just for fun?
6. You probably shouldn't strangle a snow man, the little kids would think you were weird...which you would be if went and strangled a snow man.
7. Squash on TSN?? What...no wrestling tonight?
8. Night at the Roxbury still makes me laugh...you?
9. Bald? Even for money, I don't think I could do it. Would take someone pretty strong minded and confident to shave their head...hmmmm....someone like...
10. There's a million stories in the naked city, and if I were naked, there would be 1 million and one. Just a thought....

Okay, now go out there and walk in your own damn winterwonderland!!!!

Jason McElwain

Several years ago, I attended the wrestling provincial finals. I know very little about the sport. I do not follow high school wrestling, have never wrestled in my life, and have no interest in taking up the sport. I went for a student of mine.

The student was one of the top ranked wrestlers at the time in Canada. I taught the student, coached him in football, and knew his family. I went for him. He was going to win. He had beaten all comers all season, both provincially and on a Canadian level. The only question really that night was how he would win. I watched him wrestle. He dominated his opponents throughout the day, and ended up with gold. I went for the experience of watching this young athlete accompolish something very few people will ever do. Its why we attend these events. Its why we care about them.

In my years of coaching, I have witnessed some memorable moments. From players doing the unexpected, to players dissappointing in the clutch. There are highs and there are lows. You remember selected events throughout the years. Can I tell you our basketball record in 1994? No. Can I tell you how we ended up with silver in football in 1993 or who we lost to? No. But I can tell you about a back up quarterback throwing his first touchdown. I can tell you about a player playing for his mom and his home town, and how he teared up at the end of the game. I can tell you about three players that stopped me in a parking lot and with tears in their eyes thanked me for a season and memories. I can't tell you my overall coaching record. But I can tell you about players and moments where they rose above average, and accompolished something they will remember the rest of their lives. Its all we can ask from sport. Its all we can ask from people.

To be in the bleacher and witness something special is a treasure. To be a coach and watch a player progress throughout the year is a treasure. To be a part of a special moment in a season of dissappointment is a treasure. Its what keeps us coming back every year. Give us one thing, and we will come back for more.

If you haven't yet, I suggest you look into this. Its why we play the games we do, and why we watch the events that we do. This puts perspective on sport. This is why we do what we do.

Jack Bauer can slam Sweden, but can he bobsled North Dakota?

So...guess I have to thank Jack Bauer for letting me wake up this morning. He must have someone else to kill. My turn is coming though, I know that. I only hope that when he decides to take me out, he does it in some great theatrical way. I hope that he bashes me around for a while, throws me off a wall or two, slams my head into the refridgerator or traps it in the oven door and slams it for a while.

I hope he has some great sayings for me..."You know, I could do this with my bare hands, but I just had a manicure!"...or..."I'm gonna take my time with this one. I haven't killed in about an hour and I want to make this one last."

I'm a 24 fan as well, but I don't watch it on TV. Its hard to stay away, but I like renting the whole season and watching it in one huge marathon. Sorta like watching a 24 hour movie. Man...try it sometime.

Observations lately...
- maybe the US women's hockey team should have tried running up the score, they still might be in contention then!!! hahahha...why is it the teams that are bad are always the ones badmouthing...guess cause they are bad
- you should have seen it coming, Sweden beating Canada...its not a given anymore. These international men's team work longer together and have quality players and coaches...its not a dissappointment for Canada at all. I mean, its not a cake walk...its hockey!!
- we have the best male skeletons in the world. Gold and silver. Cool. I have never ridden a sled like they do, but it sure must be a wild feeling, that close to the ice...cool.
- I read the bio of Dominique Wilkins entry for the hall of fame. One thing listed was two time slam dunk contest winner! Huh, now I for one think he should be in the Hall, but I am sorry, to list that on your resume as a reason to be in the Hall is a disgrace. Its a gimmick contest for allstar weekend at best. Its fun to watch, sure, but if thats something that will get you into the hall, then here comes Spud Webb!!
- okay, bobsled is tougher than it looks, they had a good inside scoop on CBC the other day, and its harder than just riding down the hill. We can keep it in the olympics then.
- read a great article about how NBC is blowing the coverage of the olympics, cause they are blaming it on poor performances of their olypic team. Weird. The CBC has great coverage because they will show a whole event, even without the Canadians in it. Makes the event interesting. If you show one race here, and one race in another event, all you get are clips of Americans losing. There is no drama, no suspense, you can't follow an event and start cheering for an underdog swede or Korean or whatever. When they figure that out, maybe they will do a better job.
- hmmmm...they could get Bill O'Reilly covering the games, that could heat things up a bit, maybe team him with Steve Obermann (sp) and the sparks would really fly!!
- The Daily Show is outstanding...seriously....I got to see a few this week, I think I have to start taping it to watch it in the day...makes me laugh every time.


You know, I am writing all of this without any point at all. I was going to have a good expose on the whole Bill O'Reilly thing, but I could'nt find anyone who seriously defends this guy. Am not a fan, obviously, but he has the right to say what he feels. Just couldn't find much copy that supports anything he says. Weird.

Okay, not much today, but my mind is sorta mush from having a week off.

Ten Things I Thought About When My Mind Was Mush:
1. The US have nice uniforms, I give them that. And their bobsled looks mean and aggressive. If I had a bobsled, I would make it liket that.
2. Why can't NHL hockey be as fast and interesting as Olympic hockey.
3. Its gotta be tough to strangle a giant squid...where is its neck? and just getting to one that deep would probably kill you first
4. Wonder if Jack Bauer ever just takes a day off and not kills anyone
5. Wonder if PT misses the cold in Saskatchewan over the cold in North Dakota? Does it feel different?
6. You know, Canada is actually pretty good at this whole 'Winter Olympic' thing, we are one of the top six countries in the world!!
7. Back to school tomorrow, great. February and March and like the bottomless pit of teaching. Its cold, there are no more holidays, and these months seem to last forever. April brings Easter, May has long weekends and good weather, June is finals and grad. Lets just get through these next two months, although Feb is almost over.
8. I wonder if our cabin is alright. We don't check on it in the winter. We should put in a web cam or something so we can look in on it every once in a while.
9. Nope..got nothing for this one.
10. Man, it looks like Sweden will beat the Americans too...holy cow. That Sweden is one hockey powerhouse brother!!

Okay, thats it. Go out there and make some hay while the sun shines!!

That's not a target Sven!!!

So...speaking of the Olympics...its funny how at every Olympics the last little while, there is always the poll on CBC or some Canadian news agency...'Do you think Medals or personal performance is more important at the Olympics'...what a freakin' nice country we are. The question always comes up when some of our 'favored' athletes don't win. Jeremy Wotherspoon for example, if you have been following. Don't people remember the fact that others want to win as well? Other athletes have been training a lifetime for this as well? That's competition. That's what it does. There are winners, losers, good days and bad. Ask North Carolina State, or Villanova about good days...ask Greg Norman or Vladi Divac about bad days. Come on people, its sports...and we just don't have the drug program that other countries do!!!...oops, was that out loud?

Over the last fifeteen years or so, we have gone through a self cleansing of our amateur athletes and coaches. When Ben Johnson was caught with steriods, the fallout hit from coast to coast. We had a huge inquiry, coaches were fired, committees were disciplined, and athletes were expelled. We took it upon ourselves to clean up our own country. The other countries....meh...I read somewhere that of the racers in Ben Johnson's gold medal sprint, four of the top five finishers were found to have violated substances sometime in their career...did their countries make a stand? In fact, its has been revealed that the great [sic] Carl Lewis had been found to been taking a banned substance at the Olympic Trials leading up to Seoul, was suspended, but was overturned on appeal and covered up. He has been called the greatest Track Athlete of 90's. Maybe his doctor should win something as well.

So, when you take a poll of Canadians and ask whether its medals or performance, you know what? We will answer performance. Because we are nice. Americans would answer medals, cause they are not. Russians would answer medals, its their main claim of pride for their country. But as Canadians, we are not as demanding, unless its hockey. Even as we thumped Italy, broadcasters were asking if it was sporting. Brother, how many sides can you butter your bread?

There are companies that make fake appendages for athletes to forge a urine test. You can buy fake urine, trainers have been caught putting urine samples in toilet paper dispensers, behind toilets, even in pouches on the body of the athlete. These companies that provide these are still in business. The athletes still use them, and the steroids keep coming. We are not blind and we are not stupid. You may not be on them now, or tomorrow, but at sometime, to run under 9.9 seconds, you did something to help yourself. If every other racer who ever went under 9.9 did, what makes you so...hmmm...what's the word...exceptional? Or maybe intelligent should be the word?

Now, I will backtrack for a moment, I am not saying they are all on steroids. I am not saying that. I am saying its a proven fact that there are athletes there, that are. And if a Canadian comes up short, we shouldn't start clamoring for reform and asking what is wrong with our system. In a one race situation, things happen. You can trip on a hurdle or lose an edge on the ice, it happens people. That's why we watch, and that's why they race the races. Cause on any given day, the best in world can make history.

So, in keeping with the spirit, Ten Things I Think About The Olympics:
1. I think I agree with PT, judged sports don't belong in the Olympics. I watched the moguls the other night. Blows me away that as hard as they work to get down the moguls, someone is still judging them on how well they did it. Is it not enough that they got down them in twenty six seconds, but someone decides how well you looked doing it??? Wow.
2. Biathlon?? Huh? I think biathlon, althoug gruelling and tough and all that, I give you that, but it seems pretty barbaric. Where did this originate???
3. I think you could combine four man bobsled with bialthlon, you could have the three guys in the back have to hit targets on their way down the track!! Would be pretty interesting for the spectators!! "Oh my, the russian brakeman just hit a spectator, I guess he mistook the Japanese flag the fan was holding for a target...was a nice shot though. The judges should be impressed by that!"
4. I think that the announcers for the women's hockey are terrible!! Oh my gosh, I would rather have the CBC on strike with no announcers for these games!!
5. I think figure skating is pretty tough to watch. We pretty much have to just take the commentators word for it. Who knows these skaters?? Who knows what a good salchow looks like (I just learned how to spell that tonight!!) I do know they are way better than Skating With The Stars!!
6. I think the CBC is way better at broadcasting the Olympics. I am happy to live in a country that gives tremendous coverage to all countries. Not anyone in particular. Nope, not saying there is a network anywhere that just focuses on one country, and not saying I wouldn't want to live there. Not saying that at all. Nope...not me.
7. I think luge would be scary. Heck, watching luge would be scary...you gotta think they could fly right out of there!!
8. I think the events should be something we can relate to. That's why bobsled should be gone. I like it, I like watching it, and I know a guy who drives one, but come one, who own's a bobsled in Canada???
9. I think my time on Sega's Winter Olympics for the 1500m speed skating is still holding up, by a full three seconds. And I haven't taken a steroid in my life, heck, I've never speed skated!!!
10. I think Olympics should be every year. Makes some good TV watching when the Bachelor ain't on.

Oh, and just for interest sake, my Top 5 Olympic Moments (Winter Edition):
1. Ben Johnson beating Carl Lewis. Oh yeah, he was caught on roids, but beating Carl Lewis...priceless. I know, it was summer, but I don't have a top winter moment.
2. Canada winning gold at the last winter olympics. Both women and men. Nice.
3. uhm....hmmmm...get's tougher after two. Weird. Let's go with LeMay winning in speed skating...just for the uniform...hehe
4. oh gosh....uhm....okay, its late and I am going to make it only three olympic moments
5. What are reading this for, I told you I am only doing three

Ok, now go out there and show some team spirit!!

I'll take care of 'em boss....

So...been watching some movies lately, well, not lately, but some over the last month. Some things bug me. I can deal with fantasy style movies, like The Island. I know they are fantasy, sci-fi they call it, so I suspsend my belief in what is going on. But when they present some movie lines in an arena that we are suppossed to believe could have possibly happened, well...

1) Why do they think we believe that a gun will shoot continually no matter how many shots a person fires? Come on, in a lifetime of policework, the average policeofficer will not fire his weapon once. Seriously, you can check on that. Let alone empty his revolver, or let alone empty it by firing 100 rounds!!

2) Why are villians bad shots. Seriously, they can't hit anything. You would think that there would be some training school for henchmen where they learn to fire a weapon. You keep seeing the scenes where they fire machine guns, and the bullets trace a path towards the good guy, but he jumps out of the way just in time. You wonder what exactly the henchman was aiming at!!! Jeez louise...if I ever become an evil overlord, marksmanship will be high on my list during my henchmen hiring days!!

3) Why are cops such bad drivers?? Let's see, they go to cop school, take marksmanship, hand to hand combat, and...gasp....driving skills!!! They do!! You can check it!! So why...oh please tell me why....are they shown as idiots behind a wheel when the good 'evil' guy is trying to get away!! They will drive into bogs, and up construction ramps, and drive into each other at intersections...do you think we are idiots!!!!????!!!!

4) Uhm...people have to eat and go to the bathroom!!! Just wanted to remind filmakers of that!! I know its not entertaining, but sheesh, at least let us see them drinking some water to stay hydrated!!!

5) There has never been an underground coven of vampires found anywhere!!! Just wanted to remind you of that!!

6) Security guards will notice you sneaking into the backentrance of a wharehous!! Its their job...they don't sleep....they will notice you....and its a cop out if thats how you plan to get your character into the wharehouse!!

7) Not sure if you know this, but trained guard dogs are trained not to eat anything that is not in their feeding dish!!! Yes, its true...you can check on it!!

8) A car, driving up the back of a semi that has a trailer of cars with the ramp on the back, will crash into the semi...not fly up the ramp and jump the semi...the problem lies in the fact that the ramp does not reach to the ground. Sorry to dissappoint you, but semi drivers found all the sparks annoying when they drive with the ramp SCRAPPING the ground!!!

9) Football players do not Line Dance in a dressing room. I am a coach for twenty years, a player for ten or so, in both football and basketball...I have never once, witnessed or heard of a team that suddenly burst into a group dance, let alone singing 'I will Survive'....come on!!!

10) Did you ever think that the opposing coach is giving a pep talk to??? No?? Heck, maybe they want to win one for the gipper too!!! That's why I like Friday Night Lights...they at least had the guts to let the team lose (I know its a true story...change your comment!!)


Okay, I left the whole Kill Bill thing alone, cause I know its part fantasy and all that. And I can let myself go when I watch sci fi and all, just when they want us to believe that this could happen in any city in the world, I hate that. I wish someone would present a cop movie that was based in reality...something true!! Without embellishmet!! I know, it would probably be boring, cause the car chase would end up in the bad guy hitting a tree, and not with him jumping two semi's and flying through a skyscraper....at least let us watch the cop writing up the ticket!!

Okay...nuff of that...my rye is getting warm.

Ten Things I Think...

1. Raymore is a brutal basketball team.
2. We are not as bad as Raymore!!!
3. They Olympics are on, and we have a medal...gold actually!!! Cool, wish I had a gold medal. Wait, I do....for football...well, its not gold...and not olympic...and not really worth speaking of here....sorry....
4. Why do they make vampire movies when vampires have never been found anywhere!!
5. I think a grizzly bear would be hard to strangle...it would be tough getting close enough to do any serious stranglin'!!
6. I think this winter has been kind...no really...we haven't had the big deepfreeze temperatures that we usually get, and March is just around the corner, and you know what that means....Summer is comin'!!
7. Man, I still hate the Bachelor!!!
8. I am craving something cheesy....like real cheesy
9. I think that I should sleep in tomorrow, after all, I have no school for a week!!!
10. I think the whole cartoon thing is strange...you don't see a whole bunch of people demonstrating against Andy Capp do ya???

Okay...thats it...gotta get more rye....now go out there and represent your country!!!

So, as I was saying...

So...I find it strange that a person can watch televised No Limit Texas Hold Em', for millions of dollars on television, but could get fined if I decide to host a game. Its illegal in most of North America except for established gambling houses, but we can watch it all we want. Sort of like showing us what we are missing, but telling us that we can't participate. We can gamble online, from offshore casinos, or go to a casino locally to play a little, but to host a game or start playing one locally...illegal. Don't really get it. And now Wayne Gretzky and his wife are involved in a scandal....seems more information is out and he knew of something...strange to think that when you have millions, you are betting heavily to make more. Doesn't quite make sense. Seems most people gamble to make millions, but I guess when you have millions, you still gamble. I won't ever know that side of it, I am still gambling to make millions.

Cartoons??? Cartoons???? Are you kidding me??? I guess you can burn all the flags you want and claim atrocities never happened, but depict our religious idols in cartoons and we will kill you??? I don't get it. Guess we now have the fifth sign of the Apocolypse....

My online soccer team is in first place by the way....just thought you might want to know....

My real basketball team is in last place....(not counting the real bad teams in our league)...just thought you might want to know....

Guess I am better at running an imaginery team than a real one...weird....

Ten Things I Think
1. I think its been a long time since I last blogged
2. I think I can't stand watching the Bachelor...its the longest hour of my life every week!!!!
3. I think the Olympics is great fun to watch...on CBC...don't even try following anything on NBC
4. I think I might like the Office, am watching it tonight
5. I think that its been a while since I gave a ten things I think list
6. I think that this winter has been kind...guess Spring will be a killer!!!
7. I think I miss sitting on the deck at the lake, talking late into the night...yep, I do
8. I think this basketball season is coming to an end for us....girls just don't seem motivated
9. I think that I am tired tonight
10. I think that I shall post more, when I get the time

Hey PT...how's it going

Okay, guess thats it...now go out there and watch what you say!!!