Monday Morning Meissnervations, three days late

This week's report is a bit late, because we moved over the weekend/first of the week. Not a huge move, just from one house to the one next door, but enough to disrupt the routine. So, three days late, here's what's happening.

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It has been raining like crazy in Tampa the last couple of days. It has me busy looking for hammer, nails and lumber, to start building my ark. This scene was from this morning.

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Jimmy's personality continues to develope. Now, he waves nearly every time he sees me, waves bye-bye to Mommy when she goes to work in the morning and this morning, while we were out front talking to the mailman, I swear Jimmy started waving to one of our palm trees. That's my boy!

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Cable tv/phone/internet was installed in our new house on Monday. There are issues with the digital phone service, as the modem we were given doesn't pick up the proper updates each afternoon, so we've lost phone service three or four times already. A new modem arriving this afternoon should solve that problem. Everything else works great though. And this is our first time having a DVR. This is really cool. Now we won't have to miss Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy anymore!

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The Tampa Bay Rays beat Toronto 4-1 last night, for their 7th straight win. This may be the push upward in the AL East we've all been waiting for. We'll see.

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The Canadian Football League regular season starts tonight with two games: Toronto at Hamilton and Montreal at Calgary. Toronto might hover around the .500 mark this season, while Hamilton could struggle once again. The Montreal at Calgary game should be pretty entertaining, in a first-week rematch between last season's Grey Cup finalists. If you have the CFL games available on your TV, I would suggest checking this one out. It could be a real good game.

Winnipeg is at Edmonton on Thursday and on Friday, the Saskatchewan Roughriders(Not only Canada's team, but the team at my house too...thanks for the flag Cindy!) host their most bitter rivals, the BC Lions. Kickoff on Friday is set for 9:00pm EDT on http://www.620ckrm.com with Rod Pedersen and Carm Carteri calling the action. Rod's blog, http://www.rodpedersen.blogspot.com has the best Riders coverage around. Check it out and tell him I said hi.

Happy Canada Day Rod. I'll be waiting for those Happy 4th of July wishes in return from you!

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The Super Gas two (or so) blocks from our house has held steady at $2.62 for unleaded for over a week now, while other stations around the area have actually lowered prices a few cents recently. A bit unusual heading into the 4th of July weekend. Certainly way better than last year at this time. But, I still remembering seeing the sign at the Super Gas reading $2.03 for unleaded not all that long(two months maybe?) ago.

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I umpired my first summer league baseball game last Saturday, two freshman-level teams in the Winning Inning Academy League. It was a lot of fun. Not a great game, but players worked hard and my partner was solid. It's always good to get back on the field. Now I feel safe in telling the guy who gave me some AAU games a while back to go stuff his indicator!

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I watched most of the first round of the NHL Draft last Saturday. Wow, is a draft in any pro sports league some of the most boring TV, or what? The coolest thing, was when Montreal picked Omaha Lancers forward Louis LeBlanc in the first round. It's the first time in 10 or 11 years that the Canadiens have picked a Montreal native, which sent the crowd into it's biggest frenzy of the night. And, as the cameras swept the stands where LeBlance, his family and supporters were sitting, there, with perhaps the biggest look of excitement on his face in the entire crowd, was Lancers coach Bliss Littler. I had the opportunity to work with Bliss for two years with the Billings Bulls and two years with the Tri-City Storm. He's a fine coach and as solid a person as there is in hockey. Those who know him and consider him a friend, are indeed fortunate. Congratulations Bliss. You can be proud, not only of your accomplishments in hockey, but in life as well. I'm proud to know you.

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That's it for now. There's a lot of noise coming from the other room, so I'd better go see what Jimmy is up to. Have a great day. And don't forget to listen to the Riders skin the Leos on Friday!

Riders trim roster

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have trimmed their roster in preparation for the 2009 CFL season. Get all the news from the Voice of the Riders Rod Pedersen, at http://rodpedersen.blogspot.com/

The Riders open the regular season at home against the BC Lions on Friday, July 3rd. Kickoff on http://www.620ckrm.com is set for 9:00pm EDT.

Calgary defense shines in 27-19 win over Saskatchewan

Tough defense early and timely defense late spelled defeat for the Green-and-White, as the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders 27-19, in front of 29,107 fans at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.

Defense was present both ways to start the game. Saskatchewan's defenders made the first big play of the night, as Eddie Davis ended Calgary's first possession, with an interception of a Henry Burris pass at the Riders' 51 yard line early in the opening quarter. The Stamps' D responded, holding the Roughriders and getting the ball back. Burris then led his team deep into Riders territory on the ensuing possession as Calgary opened up the offense. Burris completed 7 straight passes to move the ball to the Saskatchewan 5, where Joffrey Reynolds ran it in for the opening score of the night, capping a 9 play, 79 yard drive. The convert by Sandro DeAngelis put the Stampeders up 7-0, with 7:37 remaining in the first quarter.

The Calgary lead grew to 10-0 with a 28 yard field goal from DeAngelis on the first play of the second quarter. Darian Durant then came in at quarterback to relieve starter Steven Jyles, and the Riders immediately started to move the ball. An impressive, quick-strike drive, capped by a 2-yard dive over the left side by Justin Beaver and a Luca Congi convert brought Saskatchewan to within 10-7 with 10:08 left in the half. On the first play after a Calgary turnover, Durant hit Andy Fantuz with a 34-yard touchdown pass. Congi's convert put the Riders on top 14-10 with 3:23 left. The Stampeders quickly regained the lead however, as Burris found Jabari Arthur from 5 yards out. With the DeAngelis convert inside the final minute, Calgary went to the dressing room with a 17-14 halftime lead.

Defense was the story to start the second half, with a DeAngelis 10 yard field goal at the end of a long drive with 1:36 left the only points, increasing the Stampeders lead to 20-14 through three-quarter time.

Calgary had the ball at their own 18 yard line to start the final quarter, but went backwards and conceded a safety touch on a punting situation to Saskatchewan 2:02 into the fourth, drawing the Riders within 4 points, at 20-16. A Congi 32 yard field goal with 4:30 left for saskatchewan cut the Stamps' lead to 20-19, but all hopes of a Riders comeback ended just a bit less than 2 minutes later. Calgary's Burke Dales drilled a 41 yard punt, that Saskatchewan's Casey McGahee couldn't find the handle on. Juwan Simpson recovered the fumble and ran it in from 5 yards out for the major score. DeAngelis added the convert and the Stampeders held on for the 27-19 win.

Calgary had 408 yards total offense on the night, with quarterback Henry Burris leading the way. Burris completed 17 of 22 passes for 175 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Jabari Arthur (receiving) and Joffrey Reynolds (rushing) added offensive touchdowns to the late defenseive score by Simpson on the fumbled punt. Darian Durant, Steve Jyles, Dalton Bell and Juan Joseph all saw action at quarterback for Saskatchewan, combining for 191 yards on 17-of-30 passing. Andy Fantuz caught 2 passes for 48 yards and a touchdown and Hugh Charles rushed 8 times for 52 yards, while Justin Beaver scored the only rushing touchdown of the night for the Riders, who amassed 258 yards of total offense. Each team turned the ball over 3 times. Tray Blackmon and Keon Raymond led the Stamps defense with 5 tackles each, while Chris McKenzie had 5 stops for Saskatchewan.

The Riders, who finish the preseason at 0-2-0, host the BC Lions on Friday, July 3rd, to open the 2009 regular season schedule. Calgary completed their preseason with a 2-0-0 record, and open defense of their Grey Cup title on Wednesday, July 1st, as they host Montreal.

You can catch all the exciting action of the Saskatchewan Roughriders versus BC Lions CFL regular season opener on http://www.620ckrm.com/ with kickoff set for 9:00pm EDT on Friday, July 3rd, with Rod Pedersen and Carm Carteri calling the play.

CFL preseason continues tonight

Once again, there are four games on the schedule as the Canadian Football League plays it's second and final week of preseason action in preparation for the 2009 season. Winnipeg is at Montreal, Toronto is at Hamilton, Calgary is at Saskatchewan and Edmonton is at BC.

The Calgary/Saskatchewan matchup features the last two Grey Cup champions in a battle at Regina's Taylor Field. You can catch all the action with Rod Pedersen and Carm Carteri on http://www.620ckrm.com/ beginning at 9:00pm EDT.

Also, get all the news of Rider Game Day at http://www.rodpedersen.com/.

Monday Morning Meissnervations

It's another Manic Monday. Here's what's happening.

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Yesterday was Fathers Day. Technically it was my second, but since Jimmy was only three weeks old for the first one, yesterday was my first "official" Fathers Day. The Boys, Jimmy, Snoopy and Smoke(with Mommy's help, of course!), got me a copy of Paul Blart Mall Cop. We watched it last night and laughed a lot! Check it out if you can. It's really funny and really good.











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The CFL pre-season opened last Wednesday. The Edmonton Eskimos broken open a close game and won over the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-12. The Riders, who trailed just 14-10 at the half, got their only second half points on a safety touch(For you American football fans, that's like a player running out of, or kneeling down in the endzone. It's designed to give the team which had the ball some breathing room on the change of possession). Edmonton played their experienced players quite a bit, while the Riders played their kids. The Eskimos put the game away by scoring 17 points in the third quarter and 14 more in the fourth. Coach Richie Hall, who spent nearly 20 years with Saskatchewan as a player and a coach, had to be pretty pleased with the win over his old team. But I'll bet he was pretty happy with the play of rookie quarterback Jared Zabransky, the pride of Hermiston, Oregon(Where I had my first full-time radio job a couple of hundred years ago). Zabransky, famous for leading Boise State over Oklahoma a couple of years back, showed poise all night long, completing 10 of 14 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. The Edmonton defense was pretty solid all night long. Look for the green-and-gold to make a push for top spot in the West this season.

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Reading the blog of Rider play-by-play guy Rod Pedersen(http://www.rodpedersen.com/), it seems some fans are ready to push the panic button already. But, as Rod says, what did the Detroit Lions do last year, after going 4-0 in the pre-season? The Saskatchewan Roughriders will be a good team this season. Once Darian Durant gets his feet under him as the #1 qb and Wes Cates returns from injury to run the ball, the Riders, who won the Grey Cup in 2007 and went 12-6 last year, will be in the thich of the East pennant chase. Saskatchewan hosts the Calgary Stampeders(last season's Grey Cup champs) tomorrow night in the second and final pre-season game of 2009. Kickoff is set for 9:00pm EDT on http://www.620ckrm.com/ with Rod Pedersen and Carm Carteri calling the action. And if you haven't heard these guys call a game, tune in. They're as good as it gets!

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Now, people keep telling me how hot and humid it gets in Florida every summer, and that the hot stretch we are in now is a bit unusual for this time of year. I can't remember the last day we had below 90, with high humidity to boot. (And there's seemingly no end in sight.) I did experience the hot/humid back in the summers of '05 and '06 when we lived in Orlando. But, one is really thankful for good working air conditioning in this type of heat wave.

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Jimmy and I just came in from checking the mail. Nothing good. Rats.

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NASA won one and lost one last week. The rescheduled launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour was scrubbed last Wednesday for a second time because of hydrogen leaks. The rescheduled launch date in July 11th. NASA did successfully launch the LRO(Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) last Thursday, as America returns to the moon. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is set to enter the moon's orbit early Tuesday. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite will perform a flyby, and is set to impact the moon in October.


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Talk in Kearney, Nebraska these days centers around what Kirk Brooks is doing to resurrect the Tri-City Storm hockey team not only in the community, but in the USHL as well. As I continue to hear about how much money he is spending(throwing around?) and the promises he is making(Getting game broadcasts back on over-the-air radio is NOT going to be the slam dunk he or others think it is), it reminds me of the story of another hockey team I was with several years ago. New ownership came in and starting spending money like it grew on trees. Things looked good on the surface, but got so bad behind the scenes, that the owner who not only was the team's General manager but also the public face of the franchise, had to be removed, or the team likely would not have survived past the Christmas Break. I have little doubt that if things got bad in any of it's markets, that the USHL would do what they could to insure that team got through the remainder of the season. But here's hoping that Mr. Brooks can continue to not only do what is immediately necessary to help restore the stability of the Storm, but to insure it's long term viability as well. Despite my stay there ending on something less than a positive note, I want nothing for the best to happen there. Kearney is a decent place to live and hockey improves the community as well. Good luck Mr. Brooks.

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My wife Kim returned to work today, after being out sick last week. Have a good day sweetie. I am very proud of you!

And it's because of her efforts that my Fathers Day was such a good one yesterday. I married WAAAAAAAAY over my head!

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Well, Jimmy's taking a nap and there's something actually good on TV, so that's it for now. Have a good week everyone!

Happy Fathers Day!

Being a father has been the greatest joy of my life. May all fathers experience the joy and happiness of the experience of fatherhood each and every day!