The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Another year goes by, another year to think about the ups & down, highs & lows that 2006 brought us.

I think 2006 will be remembered for being the year of the baby. So many of my friends churned out little people these last 12 months! Alex & Kerri, Rob & Kristina, Danny & Holly, Andrew & Christie, Jason & Gen...did I forget anyone?!

It was also a pleasure to witness Marc & Tracy tie the knot this past fall.

I'm already looking forward to this coming year. Canada Day weekend I'll be heading to Newfoundland to see my friend Steve, whom I've known since I was four years old, exchange wedding vows with Janice. And around that same time, I'll be heading to Vegas to play some World Series poker. Not much to complain about here!

All the best to you for tonight's festivities, remember to be safe so you can keep on reading the blog!

Yours in trust,

The ol' SBP!

It just seems no matter what the Senators do, they can't win. If they lose, they stink, but if they win, there was a manner in the way the won that won't appease Sens fans.

I can't read other so-called Sens "fan" blogs because they criticize at the micro-level that just makes me roll my eyes in disgust. Take the Senators 6-3 win against Philadelphia last week. Daniel Alfredsson managed to pick up two goals and an assist after coming back from being down 2-1. But there was a part of the game that Alfie did not show any "leadership" because he was called offside when his linemates where trying to get into the offensive zone. Yes, this is the first time a star player wasn't fast enough to beat the offside call. Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Rocket Richard, Toe Blake, King Clancy...never called offside once in their career. I'm sure now since they only scored three goals in their last two games, Sens fans will complain they can't score like they used to, even though last season they complained they scored too many and couldn't win tight games.

Anyway, losing Spezza and Fisher is a big blow for the team. For any team in the NHL for that matter, if you lose your #1 and #2 centremen you're not as strong as you were. Yes, the clichés are written in the papers and spoken by management that this gives the chance for the third and fourth line guys to step up, but if I'm on the powerplay, I want Spezza setting up the plays, not Dean McAmmond.

The one good thing that may come out of these two injuries is that it will force Ottawa to focus on the defensive side of the game that has been sometimes brutal this year. Wade Redden is back, and everyone on the blue line is healthy; only three goals allowed in their last three games. A lof of it is due to Ray Emery's goaltending, yes, but they seem to be trying to be more responsible in their own end. If they can get the first goal like they have in their last few games, they can play a little more conservative and not worry so much about taking chances to get back in the game.

Tonight, Ottawa has injuries, but the Leafs are limping into the ACC as well. No Peca, no Wellwood and no Tucker amongst others. With only five points separating 6th and 14th place, Ottawa needs to continue to pick up points, especially as many teams around them have a few more games to play than the Senators.

With a strong contigent of Italian workers at my office, the talk of Rocky VI brought much anticipation for them months before the eventual release. Of course, I quickly dismissed a 6th installment as being any good. I mean, as the Rocky sequels increased, the quality also decreased. Rocky V was so bad that the decision to name the latest entry Rocky Balboa was done to try to distance itself from it as much as possible.

And surprisingly, we have a movie that's actually pretty good.

Adrien has died, Rocky is lonely, old kids from the neighborhood are now grown up and having kids of their own. Sylvester Stallone plays Rocky with a nice sentimental feeling of a guy struggling to get his life back on track and trying desperately to get over the loss of his beloved wife. Thrown in for good measure is the clichéd son who doesn't have time to spend with his dad. He runs a restuarant (called Adrien's, of course) and tells old boxing stories to the delight of his customers. He's not looking for attention, but to put a smile on the face of others, basks in it as it comes to him.

When a computer simulation pits a in-his-prime Rocky against the current champion, Rocky comes out as the winner and the idea of putting on an exhibition between the two fighters is talked about in the boxing community. Rocky decides he needs to step between the ropes one last time, and, well, we got this movie.

Rocky fans adore the training sequences and boxing battles and this is where shockingly the movie falters. I say shockingly because as much as we may roll our eyes when Ivan Drago spouts, "I MUST BREAK YOU!" we still got a decent action-packed boxing match. Seeing Rocky as a retired fighter outside the ring was more focused and meaningful than the rather quick training regime and a somewhat anti-climatic fight between Rocky and the champ. The story is trying to portray the champion as someone who hasn't been pushed, hasn't been tested and hasn't battled any adversity until now. Since Stallone is also directing this movie, that message isn't conveyed as strongly as it should, and we're left with a fight that's a good first draft but needed some fine tuning.

Yet, seeing Stallone with his physical imperfections in his still-impressive 60 year-old body, playing Rocky one last time, is charming and offers great nostalgia. This is a much better way to end the Rocky franchise than the forgetful part five, although with it's startling good box-office this holiday season, maybe a part seven is coming along sooner than we know.

I got this in my email the other day. I guess someone must reply, or they'd have stopped it by now:

Subject: CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL

Dear Friend,

My name is Mr. William Asare, I am the regional manager of a Amalgamated
Bank Limited in Accra Ghana. I write you this proposal in good faith; I am
48years old married with two lovely kids. I am a devoted Christian and a
man of peace.I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you
and I, as the regional manager of the bank, it is my duty to send a
financial report to my head office in the capital city Accra at the end of
each business year.

On the course of t he last year 2005 business report, I discovered that my
branch in which, I am the manager made Twelve Million five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars ($12,500,000.00), which my head office is
not aware of and will never be aware of. I have placed this funds on what
we call escrow account with no beneficiary. As an officer of this bank I
can not be directly connected to this money, so my aim of contacting you
is to assist me transfer this funds into your foreign bank account and get
20% of the total funds as commission.

There are practically no risks involved, the transaction will be executed
under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of
the law, it will be simply a bank-to-bank transfer, and all I need from
you is to stand and claim as the original depositor of these funds who
made the deposit with my branch so that my head office can order the
transfer to your designated bank account under few working days.

If you accept to work with me I will appreciate it very much as you are
the first and the only person I am contacting for this transaction.
Send me a mail as soon as you receive this message, if you think we can
work together so that we can go over the details.

Thank you in advance and May God bless you and your family.
Yours truly,
Mr. Mr. William Asare.


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After delaying and delaying and delaying some more, I finally purchased my own digital camera today. It's not the purple Canon SD30 model my readers may recall me ranting about many moons ago, but it's still pretty fashionable looking! Got a great deal at the Sony Store, retail price was $249 but I picked it up for $188. It's fairly compact and slips into the pocket pretty easily, and it can also shoot movies. There have been too many instances where I said to myself, "Man I wish I had my own camera right now." Now that I have one, it's all good!

So that new 50" LCD television that was on the Christmas list wasn't found under the tree. Pants, shirts, underwear, socks, yup, anything made with cotton I got in spades. Ha! It's all good though. Hope Santa was nice to you this year!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and that your dreams can be wrapped up in a box and opened up tomorrow morning!

I'll be taking a couple of days off from blogging, but don't dispair SBP fans, I will be back shortly!

Peace out!

Nothing like spending some of your Christmas holidays taking out the trash.

Alex had demolitioned a good portion of his basement in preparation of installing his new bathroom, so we went to the garbage dump to get rid of all the drywall, framing and other old material he had taken out. I had this thought that we would have been greeted by a horrid stench, surrounded by seagulls and what would seem like endless garabage as far as the eye could see.

And you know what? For a dump, it was actually pretty clean!

They have a car-scale that weighs you when you enter and when you leave, then they charge you an appropriate amount based on the weight difference. You drive to what seems like a small parking lot, then you simply take the garbage out of your vehicle and dump it over the concrete railings on the side. Simple! There was no foul odour or anything. It could be due to the fact that it's just two days removed from Christmas and many people have that dump trip put on hold until later, but hey, we'll take it.

So props to the city for the well kept and efficiently run "dump"!

You think they're out of a slump, and they get right back in one.

They start getting healthy, then someone else falls to injury.

I have seen the Senators play some brutal hockey lately. The 7-2 spanking handed by the Boston Bruins just might be their worst loss of the season. Just a couple of games prior, Nashville game them a 6-0 c'est qui ton papa. I cannot recall a time in recent Sens history that they have just been so dominated on the scoresheet.

Now Jason Spezza has a fluke knee injury and he's out 4-6 weeks. Depth is an issue on this team, everyone has to be healthy for them to be any good. Mike Fisher has been moved to the top line in his absence, and Dean McAmmond will likely see more than the 87 seconds of ice team his 4th line teammates saw Tuesday night.

Muckler needs to go out and get some depth guys. The boys in Bingo aren't ready, as proven by their current position in the Eastern conference of the AHL (dead last). There are some guys who are still unsigned that I think might be worthwhile getting while the season is still salvageable.

Jason Allison is still looking for a contract. Before you laugh, this guy still put up 65 points last year. And although he is slow, he is a powerplay specialist, something Ottawa has been inconsistent with all year. If you're going to have games where Murray won't even ice his 4th line, how much worse can Allison be? He's cheap and won't hurt the cap. There's an option.

Another one would be to sign Brian Leetch. While he may no longer be a #1 defenceman, he can still put in 10-15 minutes of ice time, and again can work the powerplay. He can also provide a veteran presence that Ottawa is lacking (the Senators are the 2nd youngest team in the NHL). Once again, he's cheap. This would also allow Murray the option to move Christoph Schubert back to forward, and make Brian McGrattan a healthy scratch where there are no heavyweights to worry about on the other team (more teams don't have them than do).

Anyway, something to consider. No trades can be made now while the freeze is on during Christmas. But Spezza going down to injury is a monster blow to the team. They can't sit on their hands. Muckler MUST make a move of some kind, even if it means signing two former Leafs. The boys needs help.

Ok, so we have Christie & Andrew's, Holly & Danny's, Kerri & Alex's, and Gen & Jason's babies here. I forget which baby belongs to who, hope they remembered when this get together was finished.

Everyone wants their tax cuts. Who likes to pay tax? When we look at our pay stub, sometimes we cringe at the amount taken off to pay the government.

But, perhaps naively, I don't mind paying taxes.

If Stephen Harper decides to he wants to add another $100 to my take home pay every paycheque, hey, I won't stop him! At the same time, if he did do that, what consequences would it mean for the country?

My paycheque alone won't make much difference, but if that same tax cut was made for every Canadian and it meant less doctors and underfunded schools, I don't want it. I firmly believe there is a tie-in to the amount of tax businesses & individuals pay and the social safety net we live in.

Public schools and public hospitals in the USA have the reputation of being some of the worst institutions to go to. No one says in my city, "Don't go to such-and-such hospital because it's terrible". Generally speaking, all the hospitals are well-run and have good people on staff to take care of you if you need service. It's not perfect, but it's reliable. We have a publically funded system that allocates a good portion of our taxes to ensure we have access to it. It isn't cheap, and the amount of tax we pay reflects that, but in the end I think it's worth it.

It seems those who want more tax cuts and private services are only those who can afford it. For them, they don't need to worry about getting turned down by their doctor if they need surgery or if they get seriously ill because they fell behind on their health insurance payments. What would happen to me if I needed to undergo a life-saving procedure and didn't have the dough to cover it? Because I don't have the cash, is it just that the hospital just let me die?! Absolutely not. Like that high-school student said in Bowling for Columbine, "Human rights...everyone has the right to live".

We quip day-to-day it sucks we pay 14% sales tax and a good chunk of our income gets taken off for the good people at the Canada Revenue Agency, but if that's the price to pay to ensure a strong social safety net, I'm willing to pay it.

Oscar Wilde said, "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious". I don't feel there is anything wrong about being patriotic to the country you live in, but what's dangerous is when your patriotism is so strong that you deny what is wrong with it, or that it is even capable of erring.

I feel Americans are the most guilty of this. They call the United States the best country in the world to live in. But why? It is the only industrialized nation without guaranteed health care. The crime and murder rates are through the roof. There are states without worker's compensation. Ghettos and gated communities show the huge gap between the rich & poor. It seems that these conditions are almost accepted as being a normal way to live, and while I feel America has numerous rights guaranteed in their laws for their citizens to flourish, they still have a way to go to be the #1 nation in the world to live.

Canada seems to be the opposite. The fiasco with the selection of the flag-bearer for the Winter Olympics was embarrassing. And in the previous Summer Olympics, Canada chose a silver-medal winning Judo fighter from Quebec who is an admitted separatist to carry the flag. They could have chosen the gold-medal winning wrestler from the 2000 Olympics who was in tears as the flag was raised as the anthem played. But, almost as an apology to appease Quebecers, they chose the 2nd place separatist.

The only thing I can recall in recent memory that touched on the patriotism of Canada was an ad for a Canadian beer. Can we not be proud of our accomplishments with health care, education, taking care of the poor and elderly and our general high standards of living? There's not one place in Ottawa where I fear to walk, and I can tell you the same thing cannot be said in any major city in the USA. Canada isn't perfect, but we seem to take for granted about how good we have it here.

Maybe I'm going off on tangents, but you get my meaning. I'm very proud of being Canadian, but I'm not afraid to say, "Hey, change that", either.

Your employer does not give one iota about you.

Whether you work for government or the private sector, labour is seen as a cost of doing business and nothing more. If heads of corporations had a choice, they would replace you in a flash with robots if it meant making more for their bottom line. You are a number, and not much else.

There's a reason why there is legislated minimum wage. There is a reason why things like overtime, maternity leave and holidays are put in our labour laws. If they were removed, we would be at the mercy of what companies wish to pay us. Indonesian sewers get less than a buck an hour. Why? Because there are no labour laws, no unions and no protection for the worker. Businesses have no conscience when it comes to things like the exploitation of labour. Everything is profit driven, not ethically driven. No one in the boardroom says, "Well, we can employ people in the United States and pay them well and still make $5 billion in profit, even thought $250 million in profit is lost by hiring Indian child-labourers".

Some may say an employer's responsibility is only to the owners, that profit must be obtained at any & all costs. I disagree. Employers have a responsibility in the community they set up shop in to make it a better place. They must give back to the society they profit from. They should have a code of ethics ensuring they do not exploit the people or surroundings they interact with.

We take for granted what we have in this country. Generally speaking, most of my friends are paid well enough to buy homes, drive cars and raise their families. They can look forward to their weekends off and having some vacation time to allot themselves as they see fit. These things did not come easily, unions and human rights advocates worked extremely hard generations before us to ensure these rights have been granted & written permanently into law.

The entire world's population should be guaranteed these things, but they're not, and I can assure you the Wal-Marts and Coca-Colas of this world aren't going to do anything about it.

Living in Canada's capital gives us the dubious honour of living in the world's coldest national capital. But you can't really tell that from looking out the window or walking about outside.

So far, there is no accumulated snow on the ground with just one week away from Christmas. The temperature is now 9C as I write this and the rest of the week is supposed to have temperatures above freezing. A lot of people like this; in fact, most point out how wonderful it is outside and how we don't have to deal with shovelling 30cm of snow or bundling up because it's so cold outside.

While there is some truth to that, to me this isn't a good sign. While the fall-like weather is easier to live with, what does this mean when the world's coldest capital isn't really all that cold? To me, what it means is every country will be underwater in a few decades if nothing is done about the rising temperatures caused by global warming.

It's just odd to me people don't stop and think about it for a moment. "Hey, isn't it great? I can wear my Hawaiian shirt!" Yeah, and it's also going to be great when in a few years your scuba gear will work as an ensemble with that shirt, as you're underwater trying to find the remnants of your flooded home.

We live in Canada. We have winter. We have snow. We have cold. It's a bit unsettling when none of these constants come around when it's time for them to arrive.

There is hardly any job we do that will really make a difference in this world.

If we look at our ways to make a living so that we can provide ourselves and our family shelter, food, clothing and once in awhile purchase material goods that we really don't need, we are not really making a huge difference in society.

There is not many jobs out there that have the fortunate ability to influence society in positive ways. Take my work, for instance: I press buttons, I push pencils. I'm no one's role model or hero. Fact is most people's employment have as much influence as mine does.

I'm lucky in a sense that my work does not dictate my life. I work my 7:30am-3:30pm shift then it's home to do my bidding. It's very rare that I bring my work home with me; that is, I do not stress about it or pile up so much overtime that there's no time for myself.

With the industrial revolution, the world had a choice. We could either: a) work the same amount of time as before, producing more products and services that the new technologies allow, b) reduce the amount of time we work and keep the production of goods & services constant or c) increase the amount of time we work to further increase the amount of goods & services the new technologies allow. So in other words, we could have worked 1/2 the amount of time and produce the same amount of goods, but since the world chose option c, we now work twice as much to produce 10x the amount of products & services.

I bring this up because, as we head to work in our cubicle fortress, as we punch in our time card to flip another burger, we may realize there is little meaning in this but we do little about it. And if that is the case, why do we put so much time & effort into this meaningless work?

Why don't we take advantage of the technology we have and instead of stressing it to 100% capacity, use it to reduce the time and stress it now places upon us? We may have to wait 1 week instead of overnight to get that order from Amazon. We may have to wait 10 minutes instead of 2 before we get that Big Mac. But if these small packets of slight inconvenience means we can take more time for ourselves, our families, our friends, and at least make our own lives richer & fuller, wouldn't it be worth it?

I'd like to see that happen in my lifetime.

So why the Santa with a Coke? Well, I guess I'm a bit thirsty.

I'm a big fan of Christmas. Although many stress at the thought of buying presents and cooking holiday meals, I like venturing in the busy malls and picking up some gifts for close ones. In fairness, there's no cooking for me to do, unless it's just for myself! As my mom put it to me a few years ago, "All you have to do Ben, is show up and eat!" Yes indeed, I am very fortunate others take care of that for me.

Tonight I'm heading to Fratelli's with a bunch of friends to eat, drink and be merry, then tomorrow is my work's Christmas party which I always enjoy. There's apparently a poker table and I'm supposed to be a dealer, but I'm unsure if that's still happening. The thought of poker & Christmas being mixed together is a fantastic idea though!

One of my co-workers, Jennifer, was grocery shopping and saw a box of chocolates wrapped to make them look like poker chips. Awesome! Jen brought them into work for me and said, "Ben, I saw these, and immediately thought of you, so I had to get them!" What a nice little surprise for the ol' SBP. That sort of thing rarely happens outside of the holiday season.

Have you tried the new (well, new to me) Coke Blak? It is absolutely disgusting. Drawn to the Coca-Cola label, it read "carbonated fusion beverage" which made me think it was a sweet energy drink a la Red Bull or something to that effect. READ THE INGREDIENTS FIRST SBP! It is a cola/coffee concoction (more on the coffee side) with a creamy taste to it, that tastes like a cold cup of double/double with fizzy water added. After two sips I felt sick to my stomach and couldn't drink anymore.

Nowhere on the main label does the word "coffee" appear, until you read the ingredients in fine print that reveal there is coffee extract inside. Everyone who knows me also knows I loathe coffee, so it was a bust proposition as soon as I dropped $2.25 for the 237 ml bottle.

Now why won't the Coke people get my Lift drink released in this country? Instead, we get this crap. Boo. BOOOOOOOO!

No one bothered to take any pictures until the end which is a shame, but here you go:



What's it's all about: The sweet cashola and the bracelet that goes with it. If you click on the above pic, you can read the engraving on the bracelet!



The final hand. Dan raised pre-flop with Q-2 of hearts. With the blinds very high, he was pretty much pot-commited when I then went all-in with pocket 5s, any pocket pair being a big hand heads-up. Dan initially flopped two pair, putting me on the ropes, but I caught one of the remaining two fives in the deck on the river to make trips to capture the title of ol' SBP champion!



Dan and myself pose with our winnings.



Still friends after the contest. Note my hair defying the laws of gravity...my hand passed through my locks several times after contemplating many difficult decisions. Luckily, I own an ample supply of hair gel which corrected it later!



Thanks again to Kim for hosting, and Alex, Kerri, Jason, Holly, Dan B, Dan P, Susan and Marc for coming out. Marc especially; you calling my all-in when I made a boat (Kings over Jacks) was pretty sweet! :)

My buddy Rick & I contemplated ordering tonight's Senators vs Red Wings tilt on Pay-Per-View as Ottawa ventures into new ways of getting a few more bucks out of the fans. We want all the games for free, but it's not going to happen. You want to sort of balance it so the numbers are just enough to merit having just five PPV games a year, but as a fan I don't want too many people ordering it so they can justify reducing the number of free games and increasing the number of PPV ones. In other words, have my cake and eat it, too.

So we decided to go the Coliseum to take in the game.

Funny thing is, it costs $10.95 to order from home and you can have as many people over as you want, but going to the theatre costs $10.95 for just one ticket. But we wanted to see what the atmosphere would be like, and of course watching it on the big screen would be fun so we justified it that way.

The crowd was pretty quiet for most of the game, mainly because Detroit brutally outplayed Ottawa for the first period and third periods and there wasn't much to cheer about. The Sens regrouped early in the 2nd and came out hard with three straight goals, the patrons in the theatre cheering and high-fiving each other after each goal. But overall, they were pretty tame and a local pub is probably more lively.

The PPV broadcast offered no commercials and more information segments, some hit but most of them missed. They forgot little things, like updating the crowd on the scores around the league. They also would answer emails while the puck was in play, most of the questions not terribly interesting but somehow the answer would drag on and distract from what was happening on the ice. Some of the crowd chanted "boring" during the segments showing the training room, dressing room, how the players prepare, etc, but I thought they were interesting, although someone other than Roy Mlakar should of hosted those parts.

Back to the game: Ray Emery was amazing. A personal best 43 save performance with a highlight-reel glove save in the 2nd period was a small, personal victory over his mentor Dominik Hasek. Ottawa had no business winning, but once in a while your goaltender steals a game for your team to perhaps make up for the ones they should have come out ahead. With Alfredsson and Redden out, this was the perfect time to do it, and hopefully the boys can pay Ray back with a strong effort Thursday against a tough Nashville team.

The year is coming to a close, and with it comes top 10 lists of films from various critics and newspapers, as well as smaller award presentations that can be a precursor to what will and will not happen at the Academy Awards. So with not much fanfare, United 93 picked up the Best Picture award from the New York Film Critics Circle. You may not see it as much of a big deal, but it is. First not too many films released in the Spring (in this case, April) carry much momentum during the current award season. And because a lot of the general public and some media felt it was too early to deliver a movie about 9/11, many have not even seen it. But because the film is just plain excellent and struck a chord with those who watched it, maybe it'll get the props it deserves come Oscar time.

Well, truth be told, I don't think it will, simply because I don't think the members of the Academy will give it the attention and thus votes it needs, but this award from the New York film critics is a big victory for a movie that seemed doomed to fail from the start, mainly because of the timing and opposition it faced before filming even started. If it was just an average piece, it would have been quickly dismissed, but it is superb and will continue to get the recognition it deserves once more people are comfortable watching the subject matter.

There are too many movies I haven't seen yet like The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima and The Good Shepherd to be making any top 10 lists for this year, but United 93, An Inconvenient Truth, Borat, Little Miss Sunshine and World Trade Center are definitely up there.

It's been awhile, but I missed my daily blog post yesterday, aaarrrrgh! One poker game last night became two, and it was past 1am before I got home so there wasn't much chance of a post happening. Anyway, I didn't do too well playing cards last night, but after winning three and coming 2nd in my previous four outings, I was likely due to lose.

I won't be doing daily Sens posts now. There's enough material already for the hockeybuzz people to read, and I have a feeling they've already made their selections, especially with Eklund's recent posts of having new bloggers added to his page. I'll talk about the Sens from time to time as usual, though.

I spent my Saturday afternoon doing something I should have done almost two years ago. My mom picked up a nice photo album for me to put my Australia trip photos as the two albums I had were cheap and yellowing around the pics. I didn't get around until yesterday to finally put the pictures in, and it was nice to see them again. The picture you see above is my "International Scuba Diver" certification, as I took a one week course to learn how to scuba dive, and it was awesome. There were so many people I met and unfortunately I never took the time to write people's names down or anything. The face and place is remembered, but that's it.

It's been 8 years this past September since I originally left for my 7-month trek. I'd love to do something like that again.

The difference professional athletes can make in the lives of the young is quite astounding. I'm not talking about young, skilled future NHLers who aspire to be like their idols they see on Hockey Night in Canada, but rather about those who cannot even leave their hospital beds to lace on a pair of skates. The kids at CHEO were treated to the Senators annual Christmas visit today, with the players bringing a few hours of joy and happiness to the sick and disabled children. Players often shun the label of "role-model", citing that their parents should lead the way and how they conduct themselves off the ice is of no concern but their own. There is definite truth to the former, but in my opinion, not the latter. Kids have dreams, their imaginations knowing no limits & bounds and they see these guys as the heroes they want to be one day. The amazing positives these athletes can bring to the young is astonishing. You don't think a young boy after spending an afternoon with a guy like Dany Heatley says to himself, "One day, I'm going to be like him, I'm going to play for Ottawa & score lots of goals, and I'm going to visit sick kids, too"? It motivates these kids and gives them hope. So when the Senators take the time to do these charitable events, you can honestly say they are great role models for these young children. It was very touching to see Dean McAmmond in particular getting interviewed by the A-Channel about the visit, obviously overwhelmed at the emotion of being at the hospital, just barely able to put together a sentence when asked questions.

The Ottawa Senators organization has an image in the league of being one of the most charitable to their community, and every player on the team knows as much to take part in the various fundraisers & activities in the city. Jason Spezza visits classrooms to teach kids about reading, and often brings his X-box to CHEO during his time off just to play some video games with the kids. Wade Redden is celebrity chair of 65 Roses, an organization that raises money to fight cystic fibrosis. The team itself was the #1 fundraiser to build Roger's House. And the list goes on.

Did I mention Ottawa plays the New York Rangers tomorrow afternoon? Not nearly as important as today's visit, but with the players knowing the kids they saw today will be watching, they'll be playing hard for them.

With Wade Redden out indefinitely, and Daniel Alfredsson expected to be out at least 7-10 days until his MRI results are released tomorrow, think about this for a moment.

Wade Redden makes $6.5 million. Alfredsson makes about $4.6 million. The Ottawa Senators entire team payroll is about $40 million. So with their best defenceman and team captain watching from the sidelines, just over 25% of their entire team payroll isn't playing. And even without these two players, the Sens can still put out a decent competitive product.

A contrast to this is the Chicago Blackhawks. As soon as Martin Havlat went down to injury, they were done. Their hot start has been negated with their current 12th place position in the Western Conference. Give credit to Sens management for spending their dollars wisely, despite the $3.7 million gaffe of Martin Gerber. Then again, he's won his last two games, so maybe we'll praise it later.

One last thing: President Roy Mlakar, who doesn't like to be asked any hard questions about the Sens and can be overtly defensive, doesn't mind that salary cap will likely go up with increased revenues projected for this year. This means the cap will be around $45-6 million or so. Wasn't the cry of the small market team that they cannot compete with big market, free-spending clubs? How can they afford a $45 million payroll now but not three years ago? "We have 18,000+ in our building," says Mlakar. Yeah...but the Senators never really had a problem selling tickets. Ottawa has always ranked at least in the top 10 in attendance, and top 5 in walk-up ticket sales.

Sure, the Canadian dollar has been stronger, but I still don't get it. But hey, at least we no longer hear any news of the Senators moving to Portland anytime soon.

I don't really buy the excuse that a team may be too tired to play the second game on back-to-back nights. You're professional athletes, you're paid top dollar, you should be in tip-top shape day in and day out and a quick flight between games isn't really a valid excuse. TSN's commentators Glenn Healy and Chris Cuthbert mentioned this a few times during the 6-2 Washington whipping of Ottawa tonight, but it doesn't fly with me. They were horrible and deserved to lose. Poor Ray Emery was left out to dry for most of the game, and taking senseless penalties certainly didn't help things, especially when the game was still within reach. Peter Schaefer thought he might have been funny putting a white towel on his stick from the bench, waving it in surrender to the penalty calls. But the way the game was called was consistent with both teams: EVERYTHING was going to result in a penalty. Regardless, the Sens were probably due to lose after winning four straight and winning 8 out of their last 10. This game should be forgotten quickly as they now look to Saturday playing a tough NY Rangers team on home ice.

One thing did stand out for me, and it had nothing to do with the play on the ice. The TV cameras caught Capitals' forward Alexander Ovechkin taking a few sips of a frosty beverage before hitting the ice. Was it Gatorade? Powerade? Red Bull? Perhaps good ol' fashion H20? Not at all...turns out during a game, Ovechkin counts on Coca-Cola to give him the boost he needs.

Coke is indeed it.

After watching Daniel Alfredsson limp to the bench, Anton Volchenkov lean over the net in obvious pain and Joe Corvo sporting a visor from a taking a puck in the face, it is obvious a new kind of Senators team is emerging. The Senators' teams of the past had high skill and pretty plays, but no one could really say the opposing teams, in victory or defeat, really paid the price after facing them.

You still see their high talent level come through, such as that nice back door goal scored by Corvo neatly set up by Alfredsson on the power play tonight, but the nuts & bolts of the game are being paid close attention by the team. Seeing guys like Volchenkov leading the league in blocked shots, or Chris Neil & Mike Fisher being in the top five in hits have really demonstrated the team is at its grittiest I've seen in years. With a slight reduction in talent level the team suffered in trades and free agency, combined with the slowest start they've endured since their inaugural seasons, Ottawa now has an edge to them. They might not finish in the top of their conference or even division by the time the year's out, but I can guarantee you not one team will want to face them in the 1st round. They're a dangerous club right now, and they just might be more playoff ready than they've ever been.

Which reminds me...check out the standings. That's Ottawa you see in a playoff position with their 4-2 win tonight over the New York Islanders. With their 8-2 record in the last 10 games, it's safe to say the slump is over and the winning Ottawa Senators team is back.

Never, ever, put me through that again, boys!

A few people have asked me why I am writing so many blog entries on the Senators lately. Well, I'm trying to become a "team blogger" for the website www.hockeybuzz.com. That website features the anonymous blogger "Eklund" who has contacts around the NHL that feed him trade rumours, upcoming hirings/firings and so on. It would require you to write an article on your team every day, so I put my name in the hat and hope to be selected. Eklund posted an entry saying he has about 2,700 potential bloggers for the Senators alone. With that many in the field, it's a long shot, but I'm trying. So there you have it! Hopefully the fact that I already maintain a daily blog will show them I have the commitment to do it; the thought that about 250,000 potential readers can read my blog entries is definitely exciting!

Now, to my Sens! Funny how Don Cherry spoke about the resurgence of the Ottawa Senators on Saturday and how he praised coach Bryan Murray for keeping the team together and not giving up. He also mentioned how it was ridiculous many fans thought the team needed a big overhaul when the answers came from within. But in the same breath, still thinks Ottawa should trade Daniel Alfredsson. Sorry Don, but that counts as a pretty big shakeup. Alfie has no desire to leave Ottawa and wants to stay, and we should keep him. However, I will give Cherry props for also talking about how the adversity Ottawa has faced this year will make them better and tougher to play in the post-season. Usually I don't agree with his opinions, but I do here. Hey, the Senators aren't a favourite to win it al, but so be it. Just make it to the dance and anything can happen.

Two games in two days start tomorrow, as the boys face the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals. Gerber is starting against the Isles and I imagine Emery will get the Washington game, in any case, Gerber still needs to get some more games in and I expect he will be alright coming off the confidence-boosting win against Carolina last week (I should also mention Don Cherry thinks Gerber WILL play like his old self once again). The Eastern Conference is tight, with only two points separating the Islanders (who are in third as I write this) and Ottawa who sit in ninth place. A win will put them in a playoff position with many games remaining, but mentally getting there will be a big boost for the club and I expect them to play hard against a rejuvenated Islanders team. Should be a good contest.

Bleech. The 5-2 score doesn't tell the true story of Ottawa's victory. It's a good thing Tampa Bay goalie Johan Holmqvist couldn't make a timely stop (which was pretty much the exact opposite of his performance last Sunday) in the first 10 minutes of last night's contest, otherwise we'd likely be discussing how much the Sens looked like the October version of their team, how they were lazy and were just plain outplayed.

Well actually, maybe you can still talk about that, because the last 50 minues of the hockey game were pretty uninspired and Tampa Bay might have deserved a different fate. I guess it may be difficult to play hard when you manage a 4 goal lead after one period, but still, Ottawa played like they were supposed to against the Panthers Thursday night under similar circumstances: Despite the big lead, they didn't take their foot off the gas pedal and played hard.

Once in a while during the long 82-game season, you get wins you don't deserve and you also lose games you should have won. We'll chalk this one up to the former, and it will serve as a reminder of how not to play when you have the big lead.

In any event, Ray Emery was solid in net again, and he's looking more and more confident as each game passes. He ensured the Lighning threat was contained making 34 saves on 36 shots. But outside of this, one of the few highlights of last night's contest was Antoine Vermette's 1st goal of the night where he got the puck behind the net, dragged it to the side of the crease by pulling the puck with his stick between his legs, then roofing it over Holmqvist's shoulder while said stick was still between his jambes. He may never score a prettier one than that.

What looked like a routine check by D Jay Boumeester of Florida Thursday night turned into another headache for the Senators' star defenceman Wade Redden. He suffered a shoulder/chest strain and is expected to miss at least the next two games. This after Redden was battling groin injuries since training camp but now seemed to be 100% healthy. He tried coming back too early from his groin problems and made it worse, and it's no coincidence while the Senators were struggling, Redden was not in the lineup. There's no sense in rushing him back with 2/3 of the season left to play, but here's hoping for a quick recovery. The boys have some confidence and are on a roll (7 wins in their last 8 games) so hopefully this won't be as big a blow to them as it has been previously.

Other thoughts: The Senators starting selling tickets to their annual skills competition yesterday to be held on February 4th. Regular season tickets are expensive, but this is a great chance to see all the players for only $7.50 ($10.00 at the door). That reminds me: If you buy the tickets off of the capitaltickets.ca website, the surcharges added on come out to $10.00 anyway, but still, at least you don't have to wait in line to get your tickets. I've been to the last 3 or so and it's always a good time.

If you were considering buying a new Senators jersey (or any other team for that matter), think again. The NHL will be introducing new "streamlined" NHL jerseys at the all-star game in January, and the players will start wearing them next season. I'm assuming the design will be similar to the jerseys worn by Canada and others at the past Olympics, in any case, if you've been staring at your Mike Peluso jersey and think it's time for an upgrade, waiting one more year won't kill you.

I guess it's the nature of pro sports, but I really hate bandwagon know-it-alls who pull out the latest stats and use it as the basis of their pleasure or displeasure of certain players.

Did you know that Dany Heatley scored 50 Goals last year? Do you know he's currently ranked 4th in scoring in the NHL? Well, apparently half the city doesn't care about that and want Marian Hossa back, because the stats show he's currently ahead of Heatley by six points.

Part of managing an NHL team efficiently involves a combination of acquiring good players in your trades & signings with a good price. I think the majority of GM John Muckler's trades haven't been good (the Tyler Arnason deal in particular sticks out in my mind right away) but this is a deal that Muckler came out ahead slightly, because of the salaries involved. Trading Hossa saved about $1.5 million a year in cap space while Heatley is under contract. That almost covers the salaries of Ray Emery and Tom Preissing.

Aside from that, who has more passion? Who has more heart? Who would you count on at the dying minutes of a hockey game and your team's gotta score? My answer to all three questions is Dany Heatley. Ottawa is very lucky to have a Canadian superstar to call their own, and he's a threat to take the Art Ross, Rocket Richard and Hart Trophies every season he plays. Marian Hossa is playing the best hockey of his life, no question, but I'm not letting that 6 point differential change my opinion on #15.

I'm glad Dany Heatley is an Ottawa Senator.