A Fitting Conclusion

Canada 3 - USA 2 in overtime for the Gold Medal. A great game to conclude a great tournament. It was fitting that Canada win this at "home", and how great that the game winner comes from Sydney Crosby.

Great game!

Important Fish Fry Update

Marilyn received a very important phone call this afternoon from the St. Alexis Parish office advising that she was the winner of the 50/50 raffle at this past Friday night's Fish Fry. It was worth a cool $110.

That should finance all Fish Fry expeditions and future 50/50 tickets for the remainder of Lent!!

One Last Time - A Curling Commentary

All hail Skip Kevin Martin and the Canadian Men for nailing down the Curling Gold Medal tonight in a 6-3 win over Norway. I started out writing these posts on curling with tongue in cheek, but after these two weeks, and especially watching the two Gold Medal matches, I need to give a Hats Off to the curlers. I actually enjoyed watching these matches. I was disappointed to see the Canadian Women lose last night, and was happy for Kevin Martin and his mates when they won tonight.

One thing that the Olympics can show you is that "sports" is not just baseball, football, and basketball. If you watched the curling match tonight and heard the crowd begin to sing "O, Canada" near the end of the match as it became apparent that the Canadians would win, well, that, to use a cliche, is what sports are all about!

And a shout out also goes out to American Skip John Schuster who was interviewed at halftime of the final match. He laughed about the notoriety that he has received over the last two weeks and said that if that brings attention to curling, then that's fine with him. He said that he loves curling and if this can get others into the sport, then that's a great thing.

I take back all my John Schuster/Ralph Branca analogies.

No doubt this will be my last thoughts on curling until 2014, but when they fire up the torch in Sochi, I will be tuned in to the curling event.

The Obligatory Curling and Fish Fry Entry

I had hoped to post this picture of Canuck Curler Cheryl Bernard to celebrate the Canadian Women's Gold Medal, but, unfortunately, Ms.Bernard - a good lookin' tomato by anyone's standards - coughed it up in the both the 1oth and the extra 11th ends with a John Shuster-like performance in the Skip position. Curling is a major sport in Canada, and I wonder if the Canadian curling fan base is calling for Ms. Bernard's lovely red head on a platter this morning? It is up to the Canadian men to salvage gold and national curling honor this afternoon.

On a more pleasant topic, Mrs. Grandstander and I ventured out in the snow to sample the Friday Fish Fry at St. Alexis in Wexford last night. We give this one a big thumbs up. Well organized and efficient, and the fish sandwich is served on a nice hoagie roll rather than a hamburger bun. No instant bingo tickets were being sold but there was a 50/50 raffle, which we apparently did not win.

Canadian Celebration

Just heard word that the Lady Canadian hockey players returned to the ice after the medal ceremony and got a little rowdy in their celebrations. Word is that the IOC Stuffed Shirts are investigating the matter. Huh?!?!?!

Perhaps the team should sent their spokeswoman, pictured at left, to explain the youthful exuberance to the Lords of the Rings.

O, Canada

Just spent time watching a big night for Canada at the Olympics. The big event was, of course, the Canadian Women's 2-0 win over the USA for the hockey Gold Medal. A terrific game, and amazing play between the pipes for the goalkeeper, whose name I will to attempt to spell here. A game effort by the Americans, but they just couldn't get past the hot goalie.

I have to say that I was disappointed by the American team during the medal ceremony. Yes, the disappointment after losing such a tough game is something that I am sure that I will never be able to grasp, but, c'mon, ladies, you were being awarded an Olympic Silver Medal! Did you have to look like you were being lined up to be shot at sunrise? I was happy to see Robert Morris University's Brianne McLauglin smile and wave to the crowd and be happy when she received her medal.

Elsewhere, both the Canadian men's and women's curling teams won their semi-final matches and will throw the rocks for gold medals on Saturday. And after watching the beatdown that the men's hockey team laid on the Ruskies last night, it is looking like the host nation is set up for a sweep in the two national sports north of the border.

One final comment, is there a better play-by-play guy in any sport than Doc Emerick? That guy is really amazing calling a hockey game.

Music Thoughts

In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that I was never a big Michael Jackson fan. I acknowledged the talent, but the guy was just too weird to take to. All that said, we rented the "This Is It" DVD last night, and I have to say that watching the guy rehearse for what would have been his big comeback tour last year was amazing. You never would have guessed that the guy you were watching was about to die in a few weeks. Sad to see such a talent wasted by a life of drugs and God knows what else.

On another musical note, and I once again thank my SABR and Facebook friend Dan Bonk for this, check out this YouTube clip of a classic American song, being performed by an artist that might surprise you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V2yTD1FV4Y