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Winnipeg's sports blog Idol Chatter on Superfans.ca |
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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 |
Welcome to Winnipeg's Sports Blog Idol Chatter
on Superfans.ca!
Listen to Idol Chatter,with Host Greg Mackling,Saturday Nights 9pm to Midnight
on CJOB 68 Manitoba's Information Superstation
Click to listen to Winnipeg's CJOB now!
Click to visit Greg Mackling on facebook!
Jan.16 / 2010
Remember it's only a game
With all the devastating news coming out of Hiati, and the graphic images which only begin to tell the story, remember that the NFL Playoffs, or the Stanley Cup playoffs are not REALLY "life or death/do or die" endevours.
 Listen to this broadcast using the CJOB archives feature on cjob.com, date of broadcast Saturday, January 16, 2010, 9pm to midnight.
Tonight on CJOB 680 AM, in Winnpeg,or at www.cjob.com, please join us as Winnipeg Blue Bomber, Yvenson Bernard, will join us, as he shares his emotions over the past several days, as he waited impatiently to find out about his little brothers, and many other relatives health and status following the earthquake in Haiti. You can email me YOUR messages to Yvenson at my email
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.
Please show your compassion through giving if you can...
Haiti Relief Fund at this web-site www.helpisakids.com or at this address in Oregon: 325 Valley Football Center, Corvallis, OR, 97330.
This should put it in perspective for all of us. hugs your kids a little tighter tonight!
Jan.12 / 2010
I was there...and I want my MONEY BACK!!!!
 I was there, and I have the T-Shirt, the souvenir program, and ball to prove it... and now, I want my money BACK!!!
In the late spring of 1998 I decided I was going to finally embark on at least part of my journey to visit all the major league baseball stadiums. I had only visited the "Homer Dome" in Minneapolis, and the big "A" in Anaheim, as I had been determined for at least a decade, to see all of the cathedrals of Major League Baseball.
So, with all the skill of a seasoned travel agent, I worked dates to see games in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, both Chicago venues, (with Wrigley Field being the highlight of our ten day baseball odyssey), St Louis, and Kansas City, before returning north to Winnipeg.
When I ordered our three tickets for the September 8th game at St Louis' Busch Stadium, I even asked the girl on the phone," where does McGwire hit most of his home runs?"... She directed me to right center field... three seats at $6.00 a piece, plus agency fees, for a total of roughly $35.00 Canadian dollars. The BONUS, the Cards were hosting my beloved Cubs! A similar amount was spent for three seats in the famous bleachers in the "Friendly Confines", for a Wednesday afternoon game.
 As the weeks passed, my brother Kevin, best friend Jonnie and I, could only imagine what it would be like to see Sammy Sosa versus Mark McGwire as the two battled for the home-run championship which had gripped the imaginations of America's baseball faithful. This was in stark contrast to the dark days of 1994 when the World Series was wiped-out by an owners’ lockout. The Montreal Expos had the best record in baseball, when the curtain fell on that fateful season ( a story in itself, as the Toronto Blue Jays were the TWO-TIME defending World Series Champions, a conspiracy against CANADA???)... I digress. Fans all across MLB were slow to return, but the battle of the long ball hitters had captured the imaginations of baseball fans across North America. Baseball was BACK as America's past-time, and MLB had McGwire and Sosa to thank.
As our departure date approached, it was clear that the game at Wrigley would be the highlight of our trip, and that folks with tickets to games in late September would see history, as both Sosa and McGwire took aim at Roger Maris' 37 year record, of 61 home runs in a single season, set in 1961.
Well, a funny thing happened on the way to Chicago, and subsequently St Louis.... McGwire hit four home runs in two games in Florida, and smacked homers in home games against the Cubs on the Labour Day weekend... more on that in a moment.
Our visit to Wrigley, complete with a commute on Chicago's "EL"evated train, and a heart-stopping view of historic Wrigley, as the train approaches "Wrigleyville"; a dynamic North Chicago neighbourhood which comes alive unlike any mixed residential/commercial district I have yet to experience since... the streets bustle with street performers, mostly very talented young men drumming on nothing more than a 10 gallon bucket... yes THOSE guys. The streets are lined with t-shirt vendors, hawking their Cubbie wears, bars selling beer and libations at a frantic pace, to sun soaked, jobskipping/unemployed patrons, in equal amounts. And don't forget those row houses with the bleachers perched four stories high, with their bird’s eye view of Wrigley. If you have never been.... GO!!!!
Five days in Chicago could not have gone better... all the fun you could have without being arrested or dying, and the friendliest people on earth as your tour guides!
As we departed Chicago for the six hour drive to St Louis, on Labour Day Monday, we discovered the only way to receive an AM signal was for Jonnie to hold his finger where the now broken antenna used to sit attached to the roof his 1993 red Honda Civic, hatchback "Meg". So that's what Jonnie did.
 We enjoyed the alcohol soaked play-by-play (with the odd war story thrown in for good measure) of the late Jack Buck on St Louis radio... as we crossed the Mighty Mississippi, the big river the "old lady" (think Chevy Chase in "National Lampoon's Vacation") McGwire finished the day with 61 home-runs... he had tied Maris' legendary mark, and there was NO DOUBT, that the next night we would indeed witness history, in the FLESH!!!
That night both Jonnie and I had dreamt of catching the record breaking baseball, which was certain to fetch close to a million dollars... in the meantime my brother had realized there was no way he was going to be able to join us, as an airline strike was going prohibit an easy escape from Vancouver to St Louis.
As game time approached, and the anticipation grew, we were able to sell our "extra” (Sorry Kev) seat for $400.00 US... sorry to that dude from Pittsburgh, too.
As if on queue, McGwire belted the record breaking home run...
In his second at bat, McGwire took a ball to the shortest part of Busch Stadium barely clearing the left field fence, and landing in the Cards bullpen. Nobody caught the ball... but the Stadium erupted as though cards had just added to their World Series totals. The Maris family was there, the Stadium was decorated with red, white, and blue bunting, reserved for opening day, and the playoffs. At that point in time it was the greatest moment in baseball history... and it was all a SHAM!!!
When it was all over Sosa had belted 66 and McGwire 70 homers. Just yesterday McGwire admits to using steroids in an effort to stay "healthy". It was there for everyone to see that McGwire had been using "andro" a now banned muscle building substance... it was in his locker and visible many of his post game locker room interviews. For those of us romantics, it was difficult to argue that McGwire wasn't "cheating" even though he was using a non-regulated/prohibited substance. I wouldn't trade the memories and the excitement we enjoyed at the time. We loved the home run, we were loving baseball, again ... at the time there were those who suggested the balls were juiced; and so too, it seems, were the players.
MLB, Bud Selig, Mr Sosa, and Mr McGwire... I want my MONEY BACK!!!
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