Proud uncle for the second time!

Five years ago, in May of 1999, my brother became father for the first time of a wonderful little girl named Emily. I was then asked to be her godfather which I am very proud of. She is really wonderful and so cute, it makes me want to clone her the day I decide to have kids (cloning...could be a nice debate...but not the subject here...hehe). So I became an uncle at age 23, wondering myself when I would end up having kids. At the time, I was single and did not think about the fact that eventually I would have a girlfriend with whom I would eventually have kids...

At 7:30 on Saturday morning, my niece called me and left a message on my machine (I was still sleeping...had a hard night the night before) and she was saying that he brother had "finally come out" and that her grandmother (my mom) was over at her house to get ready to go to the hospital. I thought her message was the cutest thing and you could feel the happiness in her own voice. Kids are so cute :)

So I finally got a hold of my mom on the phone. She told me that my sister in law got to the hospital at 5:20 am, and at 5:25, the baby was born! She was well into her 41st week, so already the baby was overdue (!) and she was supposed to have birth induced next friday. Finally, little Anthony decided he had enough and made us a nice surprise by finally arriving :)

Unfortunately, the doctors examined him and found that little Anthony's breath was quicker that it should be. After doing some tests, they found some water on his lungs. Docs concluded that Anthony was so impatient to come out that he may have swallowed some amniotic liquid on his way out, which may have gone through to his lungs. So he is now being kept under observation at the hospital. My sister in law is also being kept at the hospital until the baby gets better. Yesterday I was told by my mom that my sister in law barely slept since she got to the hospital the morning of the birth and she doesn't feel like seeing anyone. So I'll have to wait a bit before I can actually see either Anthony or my sister in law.

The only thing I'm hoping for is for this little baby to get better and hope that there are no long-term consequences because of this little problem he encountered during his birth.

Otherwise, this is a happy moment for our family and we have a new member among us :)

Take me out to the ball game...(or take me out of Montreal...)

What else is new in the baseball world in Montreal? Now that they have left Montreal for good (or that is until everything is finally settled in Washington DC) they go ahead and sign some good players that we will never have the chance to see play in Montreal. Yet, by looking at the MLB website transaction page, the team is still tagged "Montreal Expos". Ok , I know that they aren't already done with stuff over in DC, but couldn't they have tagged the team as Washington at least? This is like pouring salt in an open wound...For years now we have been teased and humiliated in Montreal because of the fact that our beautiful city has been seen as a small market city for baseball. Well, if it wasn't for the 1994 strike and the fact that we had the best team in baseball at the time, which led to the eventual yearly fire sale of our best players, we might have been in the playoffs a couple of times, which would have brought more money in the pockets of the team, and led to signing better players, anyways, you get the picture...

So yesterday, the "Montreal Expos" signed Vinny Castilla and Christian Guzman. Guzman is a 26 year old decent shortstop who played 145 games last season with Minnesota, hitting .274 with 8 home runs. Defensively, he only committed 12 errors in 686 chances which is pretty decent considering the position he plays.

As for Vinny Castilla, well he's known for his strong bat. In 2004 with Colorado, he managed 35 home runs and 131 RBI's while hitting .271. He previously had 3 consecutive 40 home run seasons with Colorado in the second half of the 90's. He will be a welcome addition to this team that needed to find a player to replace Vladimir Guerrero.

Speaking of which, Vlad has been named American League MVP for 2004. What else is new? We have some of the best players in the league in Montreal and then they end up getting even better somewhere else. It wasn't always like that though, but Vlad is a hell of a ball player. The best we ever had in Montreal by far. Too bad he didn't get the chance to win the same honour while he was in Montreal...but hey, it's not as frustrating to see him win it now than it was to see Pedro Martinez win the Cy Young in 1997 and then have him traded to Boston the next season...

Baseball has a nice history in Montreal. Few people actually know that Jackie Robinson (first black player in the Major Leagues) actually played in Montreal for the Montreal Royals back when he was property of the Dodgers. Although we may not have had the best stadium for baseball, I have been to many home openers in the 80's and 90's and to have experienced baseball games with 55 000 fans screaming all at once, it's a hell of a feeling. I was there in 1994 when they played the last home game before the strike. I was there for the last 8 home games they played that year. The stadium was full and people were enjoying the game more than ever...

Then...greedy players went on strike, Montreal started trading away all their talented players...and it went all downhill from there...

Montreal WAS a city suited for baseball...no matter what anyone will tell me. I have seen how this city can be when the team is worth going to games for...but when you get screwed by both the owners of the team who don't give a rat's ass about the fans and MLB who couldn't careless about the first canadian franchise in the Major Leagues, fans tend to remember that kind of stuff and not care about the game anymore.

I can only hope that they don't keep the name Expos once they establish themselves in Washington for good...that would be too much for Montreal fans to bear...

Formula 1 News: Some interesting stuff

Ford had already mentioned that they were going to leave Formula 1 racing after the end of the 2004 season and many experts were thinking that it wouldn't be good for the image of the company in North America and especially in the USA where F1 made a comeback in 2000 (in Indianapolis) after leaving for many years. Ford had been providing engines for the Jaguar team which was already struggling. The merging of Jaguar-Ford for an F1 team had seen both companies establish high-hopes of making a "super-team" that would eventually become a contender in years to come. It never happened. So Ford left Jaguar and Jaguar was left with no engine and the loss of appetite for the racing game. This was leaving the F1 field with only 9 teams (18 cars racing).

Another problem was arising from Ford leaving F1. They were also providing engines for the Eddie Jordan's team (my favorite since 1998). Jordan has been struggling to find a good motorist to power his cars for a couple of years. Jordan had made it in the Top-3 of F1 with Mugen-Honda engines before Honda decided to make a return to F1 officially and powering both the BAR team and Jordan. An alliance that only lasted one season, leaving Jordan by themselves to find another engine. So, when Ford left, they were leaving not one, but TWO F1 teams withough engines and rumours were spreading as the fact that Jordan might retire from F1 since he had been losing money for a couple of years now and wasn't sure he could support the burden.

If Jordan had left, and with the loss of Jaguar, that would see F1 left with 8 teams and only 16 cars. To keep the field of cars at 20, F1 had informed team owners of the possibility of having 3 cars per team instead of 2, making it a 24 car field. But with F1 wanting the teams to lower the amount of their expenses, this was going the wrong way.

So news in the F1 world came to us yesterday in the form of all 10 teams remaining in F1 for the next season. How? Here's how: Red Bull, an energy drink company which has been sponsoring the Sauber F1 team for over 10 years now, was said to have bought the Jaguar team for 1$, with promises of 400 000 000$ (you saw right) in investments to help the team become a winner. They got the whole thing: They end up buying the whole team, the team headquarters as well as both wind tunnel facilities, all of which are stationed in the UK. With this change, Ford has decided to remain with the team which will now be known as Red Bull Racing and the Cosworth (Ford) engines will power the cars.

Ford-Cosworth will also be supplying the Minardi team. The Cosworth brand, sold about 10 days ago to Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven (co-owners of the Champ Car Series) is said to have an even brighter future in Formula 1 for years to come. Somehow, I doubt that.

As for Jordan, they are said to have signed a contract to receive engines from Toyota. I think that this is a very good upcoming for Jordan as well as Toyota. Toyota already has its own self-named F1 team in which they develop their engines but having 2 extra cars to make testing on and provide mechanical expertise will help them become a better team in the future. Although they are still a young team, they will surely rise to the heights of near-champions pretty soon. But with Jordan having a superior chassis than Toyota's, I wouldn't be surprised if Jordan was to finish higher than the Toyota team in the 2005 championship.

Finally, the current questions are:
- What of the Red Bull Sauber team? Is Peter Sauber screwed because his main sponsor left to start their own team?
- Jacques Villeneuve making a comeback to F1 in 2005 for the Sauber team
- Is Villeneuve getting kicked in the balls if Red Bull leaves Sauber?
- Does this mean it's the beginning of the end for Sauber's team even though sponsored by the Petronas company?
- Is Villeneuve doomed to crappiness for the next 2 years with Sauber?

This will be interesting to follow...

Scoop: There will be hockey in the NHL January 15!

A friend of mine working for one of the teams in the Quebec Junior Hockey League told me yesterday that a player agent came into the coache's office after one of their games telling them that the activities in the NHL would start up again January 15 or somewhere around there.

Apparently, the owners are ready to let go of the salary cap and would accept a deluxe tax for money spent over 40 000 000$. Players would accept to lower their salaries from something between 5% and 7% and the salary cap for rookies would also be brought down.

If you ask me, it's good that they would finally decided to sign an agreement but the players still keep winning in this situation. 5% to 7%??? COME ON!!! Over the past 10 years since the last lock-out in the NHL, the average salary went up something like 273%!!!!! So it's normal that the players wouldn't give a shit about lowering their salary by 5%. Let's see. A player making 2 000 000$ per season would now make 1 900 000$. WOW! Now THAT'S working for something! Hmm...273% up and 5% down! Someone who was making 1 000 000$ as an average 10 years ago is making 2 730 000$ now...that's almost a disgrace that they would only lower by 5 or 7%.

Anyways, if this rumour is true, I will be happy that hockey comes back to action. It's kind of boring with no hockey on TV, only one day of football per week on TV and the CFL with only one more game to go. Speaking of which, congrats to the Alouettes who manage to have a 14-4 record during the regular season and choke again in the playoffs! Toronto-BC in the Grey Cup Final...now what an interesting game that will make...NOOOOOTT!!!!!

NHL Lockout...Good! Zholtok dead...bad

The NHL announced that they are forfeiting the annual all-star game which was supposed to take place in Atlanta next January. You know what? I think it's good that the NHL is going through a lock-out. Ex-Hab Guy Lafleur said last week that the NHL should file for bankruptcy, start the league under a new name with new rules governing player contracts and salaries. That's not such a bad idea.

NHL players are utterly stupid. I wish that the lock-out lasts for the whole season. If it lasts long enough that financially struggling franchises have to eventually fold before a new season starts, players will realise that their idiotic and babyish ways will lead them to a loss of jobs. If 4 teams decided to fold because they are losing too much money, that would equal to about 100 players looking for jobs somewhere else. Not counting all the office workers for these teams. Geez, even the NHL had to layoff half of its staff when the lock-out started. That sucks.

Hockey is the best game out there and they are too damn stupid to actually sit down and figure out a way of making things work. Teams complain they are losing money? Well blame it on the damn league and all the expansions. Who in their right mind would actually think about putting a concession in Anaheim, Nashville, Columbus, Atlanta??? These cities are not interested in hockey. Instead, bring back hockey to the country it belongs to: Canada and cities like Winnipeg, Quebec, Hamilton and others. Yeah we might have small markets here, but I would rather see teams in small markets that LOVE hockey rather than small markets in the US that don't give a shit about hockey.

Another reason why teams are losing money is simple: The talent pool is too small for the number of teams, which makes the game boring as hell, the teams weaker (if you don't have enough money to sign good players) and then, half the teams miss the playoffs. I miss the good old days of the 21-team league prior to the first expansion of the 1990's. Back then, 16 teams made the playoffs, 5 didn't. Even if you didn't have a decent team, you could still make the playoffs and hope to get some extra revenue for 2, maybe 3 extra games where your arena would be packed. Now, there are 16 teams that make the playoffs but 14 DON'T! That's 3 times as many teams as 15 years ago! Before, teams had a 75% chance of making the playoffs (which is where the action is btw) and now, that ratio is down to 53%. Don't expect Columbus to be making the playoffs 3 years in a row...That'll be the day.

Long live the NHL lock-out, kill the worthless franchises and have the players lose jobs because of their foolishness...they deserve it.

On a sadder note, ex-Hab centre, Sergei Zholtok died after a hockey game this week. Apparently he'd had arythmia for a while. Just goes to show you that even if they are highly trained athletes, anyone can die without notice. I mean yeah I guess it's not all good to play hockey if you know you have heart problems, but if the docs tell you that you're ok to play, you're ok to play. Poor guy, only 31 years old. He had 2 young sons. Man, this is pathetic...dying at 31 when you're supposed to be in great shape...and it's sad for the 2 little kids.

He had a decent carreer, playing in 588 games, scored 111 goals, assisted on 147 and drew 166 penalty minutes. He had a career-best 26 goals for the Canadiens in 1999-2000. He also played for Boston, Edmonton, Nashville, Ottawa and Minnesota.

Hopefully, he made enough money playing in the NHL for his family to go through life for a while...I hope he was bright enough to save...I mean, when you make more than 1 000 000$ per season playing hockey, you have to be able to live and save for things like that...Else, what good would be the NHL CBA if the players make a ton of money but don't save some...

Anyways, just some thoughts on hockey. Stay tuned because there most probably will be a lot of that on here!

Metallica...gotta love 'em!

October 3rd and 4th I was at the Bell Centre in Montreal attending 2 Metallica concerts. I had seen them at Summer Sanitarium in July 2003 and I was more than eager to see them again...and twice in 2 nights. Actually, it was 3 times in 5 days as I saw them in Ottawa on October 7th as well...hehe (yeah...I'm a big fan...!).

To make a long story short, the Montreal concerts were the greatest gigs I have ever attended. Loud music and insane crowds (way better than Ottawa concert-goers...sorry guys). Metallica had been selling the audio version of every concert since they started touring in 2004 on livemetallica.com and I was looking forward to downloading the Montreal gigs in order to have the coolest possible souvenir from these concerts...aside from the pics I usually take at concerts (http://www.anhs.qc.ca/metallica). So anyways, coming back home after the second concert, the livemetallica.com website mentioned that the Montreal concerts were not going to be available because of the high fees requested by the stagehands in Montreal in order for Metallica to record and publish their own shows on their website. Eventually, after much nagging to GEG (the promoter), IATSE (the stagehand union in Montreal) and some media help (Alexandre Vigneault, La Presse) we were able to find out that it was for a matter of 6000$ that the concerts were not made available.

Apparently, Metallica records the shows on 4 track systems through their soundboards. The stagehand union in Montreal includes the possibility for any artist to record their own show on 2 track or VHS. This is included in the contracts that the artists sign when they come to the Bell Centre. Meanwhile, Metallica apparently forgot to tell the union that they record on 4 tracks, thus going against the agreement they have. Unfortunately, both parties were unable to come to another agreement before the Oct. 3 show, so they were not allowed to publish the concerts on livemetallica.com

Earlier this afternoon, I was chatting with a friend I met through the Metallica message board a couple of weeks before the Oct 3 concert and he just told me out of the blue that he had a very good audio recording from the audience from the Oct 3 concert! OMG!!!!! Imagine my surprise and how excited I was when he told me that. So at the time I am writing these lines, we are still exchanging files over MSN and I am listening to this wonderful concert that I attended, that I will burn on CD a little later and keep as a souvenir from this night. I will only be missing an audio or video recording from the Oct 4th show and I will have either format for all the Metallica concerts I have attended since 1997.

I have:
VHS Bootleg from March 28, 1997 (Molson Centre, Montreal)
VHS Bootleg from July 20, 2003 (Parc Jean Drapeau, Montreal)
Audio Bootleg from October 3, 2004 (Bell Centre, Montreal)
Audio from October 7, 2004 (Corel Centre, Ottawa -- from livemetallica.com)

So that's 4 out of 5 which is good! I can't think of a good way to thank my buddy for sending me this incredible concert audio from Oct 3...I'm going nuts just listening back to it for the first time...I can almost feel as if I was there!

Here's a pic from Oct 3 2004:

First post...gotta start somewhere

Well, after seeing some internet friends get into this kind of blog thing, I decided to start one of my own that I will add to my eventual elaborate website that I started over a year ago. The link to my website can be found in my profile. Eventually I will have a bigger website with this blog thingy in it and a gallery of all the pictures I have taken with my digicam since I have it. I have about 1000 pictures in all, but keep in mind that I have about 600 from concerts I attended (including about 160 from Oct 3-4 when Metallica was in town).

Also, I will try to post on here as often as possible. Actually, I would post more than often about sports and such since I plan on becoming a sportswriter in the future (if I ever end up completing my darn certificate in journalism)...

So anyways, hope you will enjoy what I have to say here...if not, well too bad, I'm sure someone will eventually take interest in what I have to say...!

Enjoy your time here!