Thumbs Up To Monday Night Hockey

A rarity in Regina on Monday night. The Pats will play a home game against the Saskatoon Blades. Not many games are played at the Brandt Centre on a Monday night and if Monday Night Football was on, there would be no way I would be going. However, there is a void that gets created without Monday Night Football and a little WHL hockey will most certainly fill that void. I hope you feel the same way and you go catch this team as they look to clinch a playoff spot. You'd go out to the Four Seasons, the Press Box, Boston Pizza, etc. etc to watch Monday Night Football so go out and watch the Pats. If they can get a good crowd, I would suggest to Brent Parker or whoever does the scheduling to give us some more Monday home games in February or March.
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The big news of the weekend obviously came from the entertainment world as Whitney Houston's death shocked and surprised many. You may not like her music, but you knew who Whitney Houston was and she was an icon in the music world---just another one whose life disentegrated because of substance abuse. I don't know if I've ever heard someone sing "The Star Spangled Banner" the way she did at Super Bowl 25. It was amazing and when you hear some people botch the song the way they do now, it makes me wonder why they just don't put Whitney's version on the big screen before the game. It would be a lot better. By the way, I did not watch any of the tributes or any of the Grammies on Sunday. I have nuch better things to do than watch that or other award shows. WINNING!!
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On Saturday night, the Leafs honored the career of Mats Sundin with a special pre-game ceremony. That was fine. However, the Leafs then put Sundin and his entourage in seats. Seats? Could the Leafs not have sprung for a private box for Mats and company to watch the game. In the opinion of this blogger, that was insulting. The family of Chris Phillips got a box Saturday afternoon to watch Phillips play after he was recognized for playing 1000 NHL games. He gets one and Sundin doesn't. That's just brutal! What wasn't brutal was the wives of Phillips and Sundin. Hockey players do have the best wives and girlfriends. There is no contest.
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I wonder how many phone calls Andy Fantuz is getting from Rider teammates these days telling him to stay in green. Will it work? We'll find out soon.
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I am hearing the first Rider game of 2012 will be a home game against Hamilton. Has anyone else heard this? Henry Burris and maybe Fantuz come back to Mosaic to kick the season off. I'd be OK with that. I am also hearing the first Friday night game of the year will be a Grey Cup rematch with Winnipeg in BC.
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I don't care who is given jersey number 20 at Rider training camp this year. It just won't look right seeing that numbers belongs to someone other than Wes Cates.
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I have a question for those who say eating at Five Guys is like eating at Fuddruckers. Have you eaten at Fuddruckers? Its completely different to me.
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The days of Tiger Woods wreaking fear into the rest of the field on a Sunday when he was lurking is over. That was proven at Pebble Beach as no one wilted under his presence. They just continued to play and in the case of Phil Mickleson, he looked right down Tiger's barrel and shot an 8 under 64. Tiger will win more tournaments before he is done, but he is just a mere mortal now. Golf will be better because of this.
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Without any football to watch on Sunday (SIGHHHH), I watched the Lakers-Raptors game. Give Kobe Bryant his due, but we will never know how this one might have ended had it not been for the officials screwing the Raptors over at the end. That was a brutal call to make and it was shown to be wrong. When I see blatant mistakes like that made, I can only wonder if there are more Tim Donaghy's out there in the NBA world. That's a harsh statement to make, but we've seen it happen once.
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Neither Kevin Martin or Jeff Stoughton will be at the Brier in Saskatoon this year, but Glenn Howard will be. Kevin Koe will represent Alberta so I'm guessing as is usually the case, Alberta and Ontario will be favoured to win.
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Amber Holland and Michelle Englot will play one another on the final day of the round-robin at the Scotties in Red Deer. Here's hoping that's a game to decide first place and its the first of three battles between the two Regina rinks at the event.
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I think if you don't follow the 10 items or less rule, The Count from Sesame Street should come beat your ass.
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Have a great Monday!