Lots of catching up to do, Dee Snider, AND a new rant...

As long time TundraTalk readers you will know the legend of the Hamilton Sweater. For those of you who are new to the fold, I will enlighten you with the legend that is THE Hamilton Sweater. I had a Green Bay Gamblers game worn that was my most prized possesion. I had many good memories in that sweater. I shot a commercial, drove the Zamboni, jumped in lake Michigan on Jan first, sat ringside for a WCW saturday night show, saw my first Colorado Avalanche game, and saw many dominant performances of the Gamblers. That is the sweater in the picture above.

Now you may wonder why I speak of the Hamilton in third person. Well, it is important to recognize the dominance of the sweater. When a person, me, pulls that sweater over his head he becomes another person. A person that can strike fear in any player wearing an opposing teams colors. A person that can lift a section in a hockey rink to new heights of spirit and just outright loudness. When in the presence of the Hamilton Jersey it was truly an awe inspiring experience.

It was number 12, worn and signed by Ryan Saverine, customized for Hamilton. I wore this sweater to to an Oilers playoff game in 2001. As I was working I got warm, so I took it off and buried it under a pile of cables near my gear. I came back 10 minutes later and it was gone. Devastation. I was in mourning for weeks. When news of this hit Gambler Nation, there were public outcries, public wakes, and just the feeling of loss.

Flash forward to 2005, young Matt Greene, a Gambler alumi, sat down next to me in the press box. We began to swap Brown County Arena Stories. He told me about the crazy fans in Section A & B and how that dude with the Kocur sweater was crazy and I told him the tale of the Hamilton Sweater. He was moved, so moved that he offered to get his game Gambler Sweater out of his closet in Michigan and offer it to the hockey gods as a gift to Hamilton himself. I of course accepted his offer.

Well on Friday Matt Greene made the hockey gods very happy. He presented Hamilton with a new flag to fly. Matt Greene is truly a patriot. Have a look at the presentation below.


Matt Greene rules!!

So here is a big thank you to Matt Geene formerly of the Green Bay Gamblers and now of the Edmonton Oilers. You, my friend are truly a great person to ease the pain of Hamiltons loss.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not just pushing Hamilton era aside for the Greene era, Hamilton will always have a place in hockey legend and lore. This is just a start of a new era of hockey domination. Watch out, here we come!!! Oh and one more thing, the day I see the dude who swiped the Hamilton, I will beat the snot out of this dude, then I will get mad.

Damn I look good


NEXT: I got an email from the Nordic Man, a man who truly knows the power of the Hamilton sweater, the other day and he of course had to bring up one of the most popular topics on TundraTalk, Dee Snider...

"Dee Snider on Celebrity Duets
I don't know if you get that show from the US, Celebrity Duets? But this week they had Dee Schneider on. I could not stop laughing thinking about the infamous quote from poker night. Then you see Little Richard behind him while he was singing and LR was just staring at Dee's ass."

So I did some searching and found a link to the actual performance...

CLICK HERE TO WATCH DEE SNIDER ROCK OUT, KINDA...

NEXT: I have a bit of a rant for you today...I went to a rock show the other night. Danko Jones was the rocker in question and yes, he did rock out. That dude plays rock and roll like it is supposed to be played. Full out, no holds barred. That is not what I want to rant about but I do have a bone to pick about something that happened on the way in.

I was waiting in line out front, right there I am already on my way to grouch, lines suck. After about 15 minutes of listening to the two brain dead girls in front of me talk about a party they were having and how they needed to get someone to buy them booze for the party, we get to the front. The muscle head that was looking at the I.D.'s asked for the brain dead's I.D.'s. That is when it hit me, the girls in front of me were minors, I was excited that I was going to witness the old, "I left my I.D. in the car" routine. Nope, they had 'em with them. Sweet, now I was going to get to see them bounced for having bad I.D.'s. I glanced at the cards as they handed them over, I was then really gonna love this because the pictures looked NOTHING like the girls. Musclehead took the cards, looked at the girls, and promptly LET THEM IN!!! Man, why was it not that easy for me when I was too young? Oh yeah, I did not have breasts.

So he takes my card and does not even look at it then informs me of the mandatory coat check. Which I guess is not so bad, but then I see the sign above that says "Mandatory Coat Check. Two Dollars" WHAT? First you make me stand in line, then you make me give you my coat, and charge me for it. Uh uh. I ask said musclead why I needed to give them my coat. He said because management says so. So I asked him why? He repeated the management BS again, three times. I of course loving a good arguement, pushed again. Why? He said it was for my own safety. What, so I can be safe from my own jacket?

If you are going to pull the 'safety' card I am okay with that, but don't charge me two bucks to do it. I of course went on to inform him that his management were not at all concerned with our safety but with lining his own pocket with money for nothing. What a total rip job. I wanted to go to the show, so I gave them my money, AND my coat, and went inside.

After I relayed this story to Donna later she said, "Man you are getting old." Okay, she is right, but I would have argued about that BS even back when I was 21. I suck. I am old.

The show was awesome though, and I was this close earlier in the day to getting him for the podcast. I just got to the radio station too late. Oiler practice took to long.

NEXT: I would also like to mention that when I was parking for the show I had to parallel park. Which reminded me that I am the greatest parallel parker in the world. NO ONE could touch me in my senior class, no one can touch me now. In fact I would issue the challenge that if anyone would like to take me on, bring it. That includes anyone from my senior class Hazen High 1986. As Garner Andrews, a good friend of TundraTalk would say, I am the Wayne Gretzky of parallel parking. How does that taste. NO ONE CAN TOUCH ME.



Opening night at the rink. It is still hard to believe that the NHL has started again already. It seems like just yesterday that we were in Anaheim. The Oilers won and my live hit went off with out a hitch.

Yes that is a new mic monkey, long story that I do not want to go into right now. Her name is Christy Chorley and she used to work at City TV in Edmonton. You might also recognize her name from something else, and that is a long story that I will not even touch. Except to say it is not true.

Have a nice day and a good weekend.

Bonus Podcast, just for you...

Little Timmy Micallef

So you may be asking yourself, after looking at the picture above..."Who the hell is that dude?", and or, "Since when did sweater vests come back in style?" or "Nice head." Either way the dude in the picture is Tim Micallef, of the Ontario Micallef's. He is a big time sports anchor from the Score Television Network in Toronto. He was in town the last few nights doing the radio broadcast for the Hamilton Tiger Cats CFL team. Timmy was happy to sit down with yours truly and anwer the questions that Ba Ba Wa Wa is afraid to ask.


CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO TIMMY ON TUNDRATALK

Other than that. Have a nice day.

The Great One speaks and the first episode of the new season of TundraTalk...

Last night the Phoenix Coyotes were in town for a preseason hockey game. Of course I was there to work for the Score. Before the game number 99, Wayne Gretzky, was wandering around the the visitors area. We usually set up our work station right there so I decided to talk to him. I asked him if I could show him a picture on my computer. Now, I am not sure what he thought I was going to show him, but I showed him this pic...



I told him that a friend of mine from Sask sent me this jersey and told me that if I was going to be Canadian I better wear Gretzky's jersey and I wore it to my citizenship ceremony last month. He asked me if I was American and then shook my hand and told me congratulations.

He also commented that the picture was a "great shot". Wes Rosa took this one, so Wes, the Great One thinks this picture is a 'great one'. Nice job Wes.

Hed then asked me what kind of questions were on the test and then thanked me for showing him the picture. I told him it was a proud moment and that I was honored to wear his sweater.

That was awesome. Later a contact of mine on the staff, took the sweater to him and got him to sign it. I really can't do it myself cause it is not the right thing to do. The guy who did it for me said that a sweater that is important like this one needs to have his signature on it so he took care of it.

Great night at the rink...


Jarret Stoll

Oh, and I almost forgot. I also did a podcast with Jarret Stoll last night. He is number 16 on the Oilers. It is a great kick off to the new season of TundraTalk. Jarret speaks about his mom, his injuries, his roommates, and most importantly his supermodel girlfriend. This one is a must listen.


CLICK HERE TO PARTAKE IN GREATNESS

That is all Have a great week...

Training Camp, Day Two...

Oilers team Blue vs Team White

Training camp day two starts way too early. Especially after an evening where Cory extended the legend of Cory even further. After spending all day of day one claiming that he will never drink again, he went, of course, drinking again last night. After another night of revelry, Cory decided that he needed to come to my room at 3am and 'help me edit'. Earlier in the evening I left Earl's to return to my room and edit a story. After banging on my door for what seemed to be about 30 minutes he gave up and went to his room. I needless to say did not get up to see what the hell he wanted, I just rolled over and went back to sleep.

On a side note...If I were working the front desk of a hotel and someone called me at 3am and asked for room 421, I do not think I would put him through. Anyone calling anyone at 3am is up to no good.


Cory thinks I whine too much, Dan Barnes agrees

So as I was relaying this story to whomever wanted to hear it today, Cory believes I am whining. Oh well, Cory again says today he will never drink again. I will beleive it when I see it.



On a completely different note, Yours truly, the host of TundraTalk and the executive producer, Cory, managed to make the Oilers video podcast. The Oilers, constantly trying to be cool like us, has glommed on to the popularity of TundraTalk. They know a good thing when they see it. CLICK HERE then click on where it says 'To directly access Oilers podcasts in iTunes, click here for audio or click here for video.' Day one video has a killer shot of me an Cory. It is definitely worth a look.



Camp has gone well, and we return to Edmonton tomorrow. The first home preseason game is on monday. It all seems to be starting way too soon. Kinda like the snow. Wow, winter is here.


Kevin Lowe and Mac T sign autographs

The people of Grande Prairie have been great. Everyone is really nice and the camp has been run very smoothly. Really nice muffins and bread for us to eat in the morning. That is VERY important. The city of GP is really boomtown. The economy is on fire. Which means everything is expensive. I have had to watch my per diem closely this time. Spent most of it at Earl's.

Oh yeah, Roloson, the goalie for the Oilers, as we have mentioned in the past is a Packerfan. Which of course makes him very cool in my book. To do the math, there is now three Packerfans on the Oilers, Roli, Winchester, and Joffrey Lupul. That's right, the Phenom from Edmonton loves the Pack. Little known trivia, Lupul's rights for junior hockey in the states were owned by the Green Bay Gamblers. He instead decided to play in Canada. Anyway, Roli asked me to guarantee a Packer win this sunday. I have the tape right here for you to watch. A TundraTalk exclusive...Enjoy!!!



Roli is a Packerfan on Vimeo

Just to see who is here, here is shots of some of the crews here to cover the Oilers in Grande Prairie...


Team Global, Kevin and Sticks


Team Sportsnet, Gene and Cory, and Team CHED


Team CFRN, Mitch and Cam

Training Camp, Day One...

Cory study

Okay, so day one of training camp is in the books and I am already bored. No not really, just lets get on with the regular season already so we can get in a routine. Much fun was had by all last night at the hotel bar and Hammerheads. Cory had so much fun that he has vowed to give up drinking forever. No, really. He said that when he realized he needed to change was when he was sitting in the hall of the hotel eating pizza with people he did not know. Okay, we will see how long this really lasts.


Cory is always to blame

I also have some video for you to look at. Kinda funny. Gonna go watch the football game now so I will probably be asleep before the second quarter. Winnipeg, yawn.



cory is a goof on Vimeo

I will leave you today with this picture...kinda sums it all up. Have a great weekend...

Oilers Training Camp and the return of old man Winter...

Hwy 43 to Grande Prairie

It is that time of year again, a time when grown men put on their hockey gear, sad men take their parkas out of storage, and I wonder where the hell fall went? That's right, Oilers Training camp is taking place in Grande Prairie Alberta (look it up on a map) and as we were heading north 4 hours, we had our summer officially ended. Snow, that's right, snow on Septemeber 14th. Summer is over. Thanks for coming out.



Of course when the boys hit the road, so does our livers. Much fun and tasty beverages were had last night. We went to dinner at about 6pm, ordered our food at about 7pm and did not get our food until about 8:30om. There is a huge shortage of workers here in GP (look it up on the map) and most places don't have the people to get the job done. On duty at Kelsey's last night, two waitresses, and one of them started 3 days ago. A person can make about 15 bones an hour waiting tables here in GP.



Speaking of GP Gene Principe thinks that GP stands for Gene Principe. Mic Monkeys are sooooo funny. Gene is such a diva. We have had to endure all kinds of I did this, I did that, and I once was the mayor of GP stories. Man, I wish he would just SHUT UP!!!

I will leave you today with a picture of Dave Mitchell, of the CTV's Mitchell's, with Cam (Cameraguy) and Dave's brother.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!


Dave, Daves brother, Cam

Podcast and NFL is back!!!!

Well we kind of have been on hiatus this summer with the podcasts. I apologize if you are a bit miffed that there has been nothing for you to dump into your iPod. Yeah, right, like you are really missing listening to me annoy pseudo celebrities. Anyway, we have a podcast for you to ponder. Nothing major, just Cory interviewing me about my citizenship. Worth a listen. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

I have big ideas for this season of TundraTalk. I plan on eventually putting it up on iTunes. That is right, I am planning to make it available to anyone who has an iPod and wants to download it. Taking it worldwide. I just need to tweak a few things. One of those things being a real intro song and voice. Where to I get that? Marty Frey, of the Hollywood Frey's, is working on that. He sent me an update last week....

Chris,

This is the percussion bed for the :30 open that I'm producing for you.. I went to Vegas this past weekend and worked with the world famous percussionist, Michito Sanchez. (I'll send you some pictures from the session) I plan on having all the music on this laid down by real musicians playing real instruments and then putting it together in Pro-tools. Let me know what you think.. It runs about :30..

I'll have a bass line laid on this in about a week - it will be a jazz sort of baseline, think along the lines of the "Seinfeld" theme without too much string slapping..

Then I'll lay a rhythm guitar track on top of all this sounding something like the rhythm guitar at the beginning of "Every day is a winding road" from Sheryl Crowe..

Then - the announce...

Marty

Sounds good to me. Marty Frey is the man.

I also plan to step up the guests on the show. That is right, I will no longer be just talking to the guy sitting next to me. I plan on trying for 'real' psuedo celebrities. People like, well, I don't want to jinx it, so I will just tell you that I have a connection and he will be doing his best to get me in the presence of rock musicians. TundraTalk, the podcast that does not suck.


Nice Seats

NEXT/ The NFL is back and boy, it is going to be a long season. The Pack did not look good on Sunday. It was truly hard to watch. I can only imagine what it would have been like to be at Lambeau. Wait, I know someone who was there. Trevor Doroshenko, of the Edmonton Doroshenkos, had the honor of sitting in Vince Lombardi's house and watch that debacle. How did he swing that might I ask? Well, the legend of Gillet, the Nordic Man, Darrel Lucht, hooked a brutha up. Nordic Man rules!!!


Marty knows this place

Trev had a great time at the game, besides the outcome, and managed to weasel his way into a tailgate party that took place in front of a landmark in Green Bay. The curling club. This is the site of the infamous 'sattelite stealing press confrerence' that Chris from Green Bay staged for the show Sports Sound Off. SSO is a show based out of Des Moines Iowa hosted by that punk Keith Murphy. I owned that show when it was mine. Anyway, the curling club rules.


The Bears Still Suck

Trev even participated in the time honored tradition of making Bears fans look stupid. Like they need any help doing that. Bearsfan are only slightly less stupid than a vikingfan.

Nice Job Trev.



Tailgating in Green Bay is an experience that must be attended at least once in your lifetime. It truly is a religious thing. Those mensa members at city hall here in Edmonton are right by not allowing it to happen at an Esk game. They really are morons.

Anyway, have a great day at work, and stop wasting the company time reading crap on the internet. I leave you with this....

Here it is. Video and a podcast...

Citizenship on Vimeo



I crossed the border to Canada on November 1, 1999. I really wasn't sure what I was getting into, especially when I stopped for dinner in Estevan. The waitress offered me gravy with my fries so I gave it a go. Not impressed with the gravy. Really not a great start to my Canadain adventure. Oh well, it is just gravy. I can change Canada into a 'ranch with your fries' loving country, maybe.

Man I had no idea what I was getting into. I am a guy who is into the little things. Don't get me wrong, I love my 50 inch Samsung, but as far as the things I miss not being in the USA it is things that you may find insignificant. For instance, at KFC here in Canada they do not serve those amazing mashed potatoes or the melt in your mouth corn bread. The first time I went to KFC and asked for corn bread the guy looked at me like I was on crack. I almost cried. Now I know you may say, 'Come on Chris, that is just KFC. Get over it.' I am sorry but I can't. When I was in San Jose for the NHL playoffs this year Blashill and me went to KFC and I had corn bread. Again I almost cried. This time for a good reason.

Television in Canada is still another thing that I have some issues with. When Donna told me to call Shaw and order cable shortly after we moved in. I love ordering TV. I called Shaw and spoke with a rep. I told her I want whatever package that gets me ESPN and HBO. She told me that a person cannot order HBO or ESPN in Canada, but she could give me Showcase and TSN. I told her that I did not want them I wanted HBO and ESPN, I do not stutter. She again informed me that it is not available. How do I get them then? You can't. At that point, I almost cried. I called Donna and told her to stop unpacking boxes, we are going back. I just could not fathom how to live with out ESPN highlights in the morning.

The other things that I miss are Dakota Kid seeds, Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, Leinenkeugals Beer, Schlotzky's, All of Wisconsin, Mountain Dew with Caffiene, infomercials on the weekends, TNT, College Football, Arena football, and a few other things I can't think of right now.

Don't get me wrong, I am not miserable up here. I like Canada. I have experienced a lot of living up here that I may not have been able to do living in the states. We had both our children here in Canada and that gave Donna the first year to stay home with them. That ain't happening in the States. Health care is great. Living in the States I never went to the doctor because it was way too expensive. Here I went and the doc found a thyroid problem that he said if I had not caught would have done me in. Oh and I did not have to pay for the visit. Unless you consider the taxes I pay a way of paying. Then yes I paid for it but I am okay with that.


Trev, Mike, Me, Kirk, Phil, Jordi, Wes, Adrian

I have met some of the best people here in Canada. Some lifelong friends. Some of which were at the ceremony last Friday. Kirk Heuser drove all the way from Calgary to be there. That was awesome. Kirk signed as a witness on my ballot in the election that George stole from Gore. He is quite proud of that. I worked with Kirk at the now defunkt A-Channell. I get quite proud when I say that. That is another thing about being in Canada. I experienced 8 months of the best and the worst during the A-Channell strike. During that time I experienced the some of the best and worst behaviour in people. I also learned alot about myself and where I stand in life. I wouldn't change any of that. Plus we kicked the crap out of that station. Really proud of that. Adrian, Wes, Phil, Mike, and Jordi all were there for that. I feel a special bond with everyone that I spent time with on the picket line.


Trev taking a pic

Trev I also worked with at the A. He helped me through one of the toughest days I have ever spent at work. The day after September 11th, as the ND was coming up with all these stupid ways to 'tie in' the tragedy to Edmonton, Trev and I were sent on a roadie to some small town about a story that did not even matter. We listened to Packer songs on the CD player, and just tried to forget what happened the day before. I will never forget that day and what he did. Trev is a great 'uncle' to my McKenna and a great friend. The boys from Regina on the BallHawgs are okay, when they are not tearing down my house. James Williams provided the Gretzky Jersey that I wore at the ceremony. He needs to get over the 5-2 thing, I have. Blair and Carey are great friends that are always there when we need them.

I have a great job here in Canada as a sports photographer for a national network. Not sure if I could have landed that in the States. I work for a great company out of Calgary that really cares for it's employees and just doesn't give lip service to that. Through that job I have seen a Stanley Cup Final, the World Baseball Classic, an NBA MVP announcement, a Brier, and cover pro teams on a daily basis.



I have also made a great friend in Mr. Blashill who works for Sportsnet. He has taught me a lot, kept me calm in crisis situations, and is a major pain in my ass on daily. Which I need. AND he came out on his day off and shot my ceremony. I know what it is like to shoot on your day off and I know a guy usually does not like doing it. So thanks Cory for doing me a solid. Plus your editing is okay for a Canadian, wait, oh never mind.


Thumbs up for Canada

In summary, my stay here in Canada has been great. During the Stanley Cup playoffs when the anthem guy pointed his mic toward the roof of Rexall and every person in the place belted out the Star Spangled Banner and then tore up Oh Canada it gave me a great sense of pride. The fact that all these Canadians would sing 'my song' like that made me very proud. I would have never gone near the citizenship thing had I not felt I owed it to the country for allowing me to be around all these great people. Including my wife. I also did it for her because I wanted to show her I am committed to being here in Canada with her as long as we need to be. I know I have said in the past that the main reason why I got the citizenship was to vote Harper out of power, but in reality it is my simple way to pay respect to the country and it's great people. Now when I say 'my song' it means I have two. Thank you Canada.