Opinions that are bound to get me in trouble later

10 kilometres, 59:54!

2011-09-18T10:43:00.001-03:00

I finally ran 10 kilometres in less than 60 minutes! I have not been running much this summer, I have been spending almost every spare moment completing landscaping projects on my property, leaving little time and energy for running. Most weeks I might get out once or twice, at most.

The last ten minutes of the run were hard, almost every minute my mind was saying, "Just walk for a bit and rest," but I pushed through that nonsense and finished 10 kilometres in 59:54. I know it is only 6 seconds faster than 60 minutes, but it is still a personal victory. Now to get back into a regular running schedule and keep dropping the time, with the eventual goal of running another half-marathon!

Dartmouth Natal Day Race

2011-08-01T13:06:00.001-03:00

I had originally planned to run the 2 mile race today, just to have fun and not be too serious with it. I thought the run was at 9:00 AM or so, but when my sister Michelle called me at 7:05 AM, asking if I was still going to run, she informed me that the race started at 8:15 AM!!!

I left the house in a rush and forgot my Garmin, so this was going to be an old-school run with no clock to go by. I decided to run with Michelle, again thinking I will just go for a fun run.

With a few hundred metres to go before the finish line, I told Michelle I was going to run the 10K. She gave me her Garmin and I ran with her to the finish line of the 2 mile race. After about another kilometre, my task ahead of me finally sank in. I will have to run three 2-mile loops around downtown Dartmouth, not just one! Did you know Ochterloney Street has a hill near the harbour? It does. Did you know Crichton Avenue has a hill before Hawthorne Street? It does.

Anyway, the run went well and I finished in 62 minutes, which is pretty good for me, after rolling about of bed an hour before the race with no intention of running 10K.

Thanks to everyone for all the cheers and shouts of encouragement along the way!

Rock The Hill

2011-07-20T21:17:00.007-03:00

I had a good time at the Rock The Hill concert last Friday, July 14. Bands played from about 3PM until midnight. I got there at 6 PM to see and hear Seether, who have some really good songs, especially "Broken". After Seether was Coheed and Cambria, a band that I was not familiar with, but they were good nonetheless.

Of course, Metallica was the main draw for the 20-30 thousand people in the audience especially since they hadn't played in Halifax for 18 years, before many of the audience members were even born! They rocked the hill for 2 hours and played many of their classics as well as some songs from their latest album.

I was about 100 feet from the stage, close enough to see the band and get some good photos. The show itself was something to behold, with a huge screen, multi-level stage, flames, Metallica beachballs and even fireworks!

I was impressed to see how much fun the band members had (OK, maybe not Lars so much) and how they stayed on stage after the show to throw out literally handfuls of guitar picks and tell the crowd how much they enjoyed playing for us. My cynical side told me that they understand marketing and branding so well that they acted as if they were emotionally involved with the crowd and I'll bet they do the same thing after every concert. My optimistic side told my cynical side to shut up and enjoy the afterglow of a really fun show.

10 kilometres, 1:00:30!

2011-06-19T09:43:00.001-03:00

Father's Day 2011 - I went out for a 10 K run this morning and did it in 60 minutes and 30 seconds! So close to my goal of 60 minutes!

I did the first 5 K in 29:05, then did 10 and 1's for the second 5 K. I ran the last ten minutes by mentally counting my paces, which really improved my pace over that period, I ran the last kilometre in 5:20! I am going to try doing that earlier in the run next time. I completed 9.88 kilometres in 60:00 and finished the last 120metres in 30 seconds.

I felt good afterwards and I feel even better knowing that my 60 minutes 10 K is within reach.

Lunenburg 5 K Muffin Run

2011-06-19T09:35:00.001-03:00

I had fun on June 12 when I ran the Lunenburg 5 K "Muffin Run". The route encircled the downtown section of Lunenburg, which is such a historic place the UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site.

This was on my mother's birthday, so for her present I decided to do the 5 K run with my sister. There were other Team Myles members there: Jacki Stevenson, Sheila Doyle and Susan Graham. It was good to see them, as well as the other Heart & Sole members: my brother-in-law Gordon Crooks, as well as Sarah Austin and Paul Wesson.

I really enjoyed running with Michelle, it gave us a chance to catch up and talk for a half-hour, which we haven't done for a while.

True to the name of the run, there were hundreds of homemade muffins available after the run. Heart & Sole's trophy for this run was given to the member who ate the most muffins. Through sheer determination, I won the muffin-eating competition and I have vowed to never again eat so many muffins at one time!

10 km, 1:03:25

2011-05-29T14:48:00.001-03:00

Ran 10 kilometres on the Salt Marsh Trail after church today. I needed this run, I was missing it. Isn't that one of the first signs of addiction? Come on, I can quit anytime I want! :-)

I used my Garmin 305 today, and I kept track of my split times per kilometre. It is actually pretty easy to use and to check on stats afterwards.

My first kilometre took only 5:26 and at one point I was running at a 4:13/km pace. I did the first 5 kilometres in 29:21, which is not bad for me. I did the 5 km back to my starting point by doing 10 and 1's, with 3 walking segments. I figure this added about 90 seconds to my time, but it also gave me a bit of a rest to run at a fairly respectable pace for the second half.

My goal is still to break 60 minutes for 10 kilometres. I ran 9.45 kilometres in 60 minutes today, so my goal is definitely achievable.

6.7 Km Recovery Run Around Cole Harbour Heritage Trails

2011-05-24T20:22:00.001-03:00

I felt really good today during and after my run around the trails off Bissett Road in Cole Harbour. The Heritage Park Trails consist of loops that connect so you can make your run as long or as short as you like. They are in green on the attached map. I actually ran all of the trails in green except for the one that extends northwest from the northern parking lot, my route included a few double-backs to the main trail.

I ran the Panorama Trail to re-acquaint myself with it before our hike with the Cubs tomorrow evening. Then I ran the Jersey Jack Trail, The Brook Trail, The Poor Farm Trail (a residence for the destitute of Halifax County in the 1800's and early 1900's), as well as the Costley Farm Trail (named after the family of settlers who lived there). Interesting juxtaposition of the "Poor Farm" and "Costley Farm" being located adjacent to one another. Finally I ran to my starting point via the Salt Marsh Trail, for a total of 6.7 kilometres.

The terrain and views of Cole Harbour made the run very interesting, especially the almost-two-kilometre Costley Farm Trail is a mountain bike trail, versus the rest which are maintained trails with crusher dust and no roots or rocks all over the place. Running on the Costly Farm Trail was kind of like running while playing hopscotch for 2 kilometres. This trail in particular was a really good workout but in retrospect, I am lucky I didn't twist an ankle or slip on a rock since it was raining during my run.

I remember feeling really energetic during the run, like I felt years younger, so maybe I am making progress after all!

2011 Bluenose 10k is done! Now what?

2011-05-23T11:03:00.001-03:00

Yesterday was Team Myles's "final exam". I would say that we passed with flying sneakers! While I didn't see all of my teammates after the 5k and 10k runs, I met with most of them and everyone said they felt good and they all looked great!

Lately, we have been discussing how to keep 2011 Team Myles going, post-Bluenose. Some members want to keep running together and we have talked about a Team Myles alumni running group. I would like to participate in organized runs together, like the Lunenburg Muffin Run on Sunday, June 12.

Our 2011 Team Myles members are individuals with different schedules and needs, so I think we should be flexible in what methods we use to keep Team Myles going. Perhaps a couple or a few teammates will continue running together twice a week, maybe others can help with next year's team by running with the 2012 Team Myles during their training.

Participating in some organized runs in the future with Team Myles feels like the best fit for me. We can still get together and enjoy each other's company but it won't be such a strict time commitment. I know I had other responsibilities that kept me from some team runs, as did pretty much every other TM member. I plan to start running with Heart & Sole running club in Dartmouth, it is closer to home for me and I have family and friends in the club.

In my mind, getting together for "reunions" at organized runs -- including, of course, next year's Bluenose! -- will keep the bonds of our experience going while allowing us to grow as runners and make connections with others in the surprisingly large running community in HRM.

Thanks again to everyone involved with 2011 Team Myles: my teammates, our trainers and especially the ladies who organized us and who kept us motivated by training with us, by keeping TM events going, and most importantly by keeping us smiling and laughing with their great personalities!

Everyone worked so hard on 2011 Team Myles, you should all be so proud for your accomplishments. Congratulations and see you again soon!

T minus 22 hours and counting...

2011-05-21T11:16:00.001-03:00

I am off to volunteer with Team Myles, handing out race kits this afternoon. Afterwards, my teammates and I will be carb loading (I started early with pizza yesterday!). Tomorrow is the big day! I have not yet run the route, but I think the hill training and distance training will give me the strength to not only complete the 10 kilometres, but hopefully break the 60-minute mark.

Huge thanks to Team Myles: my teammates, the co-ordinators, and of course our trainers Kris and Devon. This has been a great experience and I look forward to continuing my running after tomorrow!

Benny Bullog 5 k Trail Run

2011-05-15T09:27:00.000-03:00

Yesterday, I ran in the Benny Bulldog 5 k Trail Run in Dartmouth's Shubie Park. The event was in support of St. Leonard's Society to help homeless men and women in HRM. I saw a number of people I knew at this run, most of whom were there because they are part of Heart & Sole Running Club in Dartmouth, but also a former SMU rugby teammate of mine as well as a fellow Sigma Chi whose company Winmar Restoration was the event's main sponsor. These chance meetings represent the serendipitous side of the running community. If not for running, I would probably never seen the SMU rugby teammate again and it had been many months since I had talked with my fellow Sigma Chi brother.

There were 116 participants this year, about double the number of runners at last year's event. Almost all of this increase was due to the hard work of my sister Michelle Kempton (with me in the photo above), her husband (and also a Sigma Chi) Gordon Crooks and their friend Tori Greff, who organized 45 Heart & Sole members who ran in the Benny Bulldog 5 k Trail Run yesterday. Great job, you guys!

I must also thank the event organizers Stacy and Tim Chesnutt, who obviously worked very hard to co-ordinate the run, as well as the numerous prizes that were donated by local companies (I won a gift certificate to Sushi Nami!).

After the run, Heart & Sole had a potluck picnic at Shubie Park, which was a nice time to meet some other club members and for me to try quinoa for the first time!

This run was a good one, but my Friday night pre-event training of going to a buddy's house to play poker, eating junk food, and getting home at 1:00 AM didn't exactly help me. I was hoping to break 30 minutes for the 5 kilometres, but ended up finishing in 30:57. Granted, trail running, with hills et cetera, is different from street running, but I was a bit disappointed. To me, this result proves the importance of rest and proper fuel for one's body -- not just for races, but every day.

I am only going to run once more before Bluenose, so I am not running tired on race day. See you at the Bluenose!

10 kilometres, 1:01:08

2011-05-08T19:56:00.001-03:00

Knocked off a whole 7 seconds from last Saturday's run, but I wasn't feeling the run today (versus last week when I was up for the run). I camped with my Cub pack last night -- yes, in the rain! -- so I was less-than-energetic today. I did the first 5 kilometres in slightly under 30:00 but the stretch from 6 km to 8 km was tough with a few uphills and I wasn't feeling the love. Still, I sprinted the last 300 metres and managed to have a 6:00 final kilometre.

This run shows that even though you don't always feel like running, you can still have a decent result. I am glad I went out today and it was a "big picture" run for me, meaning that this run was a small piece of the "big picture" of training for the Bluenose as well as getting back to better health, rather than a huge accomplishment in and of itself.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other!

10 kilometres with hill repeats, 58:20!!!!!

2011-05-05T21:39:00.000-03:00

One way to stay hydrated when running is to drink water. Another way is to run in rain showers that drench you within minutes!

I did my hill repeat training again today and amazingly, I knocked off 4 minutes from my time last week!!! The wind was not as bad as last week, but it was still blowing down the hill and there were a few very heavy showers that left me completely drenched.

Unfortunately, I found out that my Running Room Fit-Wear jacket was not waterproof. It is listed on the website as "water resistant, wind proof, breathable". It kept out the wind and I did not get too warm, so it worked well other than the rain. One bonus feature of this jacket is that the arms zip off so I can wear it in warmer weather - which I look forward to doing this summer!

My run was as follows:
1600 metres from home to bottom of hill, 5:50/km pace = 9:20
400 metres up hill (2:20 pace = 5:50/km), 400 m down hill (2:20 pace) x2, 1 minute rest = 10:20
400 metres up hill (2:20 pace), 400 metres down hill (2:20 pace) x2, 2 minutes rest = 11:20
400 metres up hill (2:20 pace), 400 metres down hill (2:20 pace) x2, 3 minutes rest = 12:20
400 metres up hill (2:20 pace), 400 metres down hill (2:20 pace) x2, 4 minutes rest = 13:20
400 metres up hill (2:20 pace), 1200 metres to my street, added another 400 metres to add up to 10,000 metres! 11:40 for final 2,000 metres (5:40/km pace for final 2 km!!!).

Total run time 58:20 for 10 kilometres!

I had lots of energy at the end and sprinted for the last 100 metres. I am really pumped for the Bluenose 10 kilometre run on May 22! I am definitely aiming for a sub-60 minute 10 km run now!

10 kilometres, 1:01:15!

2011-04-30T13:02:00.001-03:00

New personal best this morning, and for me the best part was that I took no walking breaks! I really wanted to take a break as I approached the 30 minute mark but I decided to run through it. I actually found the second half of the run to be easier, probably because I was warmed up (and no hills). 10 km in under 60 minutes is in my sights!

10 km with hill repeats, 1:02:40!

2011-04-28T22:29:00.000-03:00

I missed yesterday's Team Myles run because of my prior commitment with my Cub pack. The Team Myles run plan was to go 1 km to the MacDonald bridge and then cross the bridge 4 times, with increasing rest intervals after each crossing, finishing with a 1 km return run back to the start, for a total of 6 kilometres.

Well, now I know those distances because I measured them on RunKeeper.com, an exercise measurement tool that my brother-in-law uses to post his runs on facebook.

I didn't know the distances before my run this evening after work, so I decided to make up my own version of bridge training. We have a 400 metre hill near our home, so I ran to it (1.6 km from our place to the bottom of the hill), then I ran up and down the hill 8 times, in sets of 2 times each, with increasing rest intervals in between each pair of uphill/downhill runs: 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, as per Kris's instructions for the bridge training for yesterday.

I figured it might be close to the bridge training but maybe a bit more, figuring at the time that the MacDonald bridge is maybe 1.6 km across (it is actually 1.0 km across). Well, partway through, I did the math for my route and realized all I had to do was add another 400 metres to the end of my run and I would have completed 10 kilometres!

My run was as follows:1600 metres from home to bottom of hill, 6:15/km pace+/- = 10 minutes
400 metres up hill (2:30 pace = 6:15/km), 400 m down hill (2:30 pace) x2, 1 minute rest = 11 min
400 metres up hill (2:30 pace), 400 metres down hill (2:30 pace) x2, 2 minutes rest = 12 min
400 metres up hill (2:30 pace), 400 metres down hill (2:30 pace) x2, 3 minutes rest = 13 min
400 metres up hill (2:30 pace), 400 metres down hill (2:30 pace) x2, 4 minutes rest = 14 min
400 metres up hill (2:30 pace), 1200 metres to my street, added another 400 metres to add up to 10,000 metres! 12:40 for final 2,000 metres (6:20/km pace for final 2 km).

Total run time 1:02:40 for 10 kilometres!

I managed to keep pretty close to my target pace of 6 minutes per kilometre, once I deducted the waiting time between pairs of hill intervals. The surprising part was how much energy I had after all the hills! I felt great and still kept pretty close my target 6 min/km pace even after running back up the hill a 9th time to return home! I know I had gas left in the tank and I wonder how much further I could have run tonight.

I ran up the hill using a midfoot/ball of foot strike and downhill and on the flats to and from the hill using a traditional heel strike. I find the midfoot/ball of foot strike forces me to shorten my stride up the hill and have quicker pace with less impact on my heels. It also forces my torso forward a bit, making the climb a bit easier.

Here is a link to a blog on Chi running for more info on foot strike methods.

Hill repeat training works! I look forward to Saturday's run to hopefully see the effects in a faster/easier run.

Sermon that I delivered at church on Monday

2011-04-23T13:44:00.003-03:00

Good evening,

Tonight I would like to talk to you about "Internal Prisons", the power of a parent’s love, the power of God’s love for us, tonight's scripture reading from Acts 16:6-40, and what it means to us as Christians.

I am sure that some of you have heard of the TV show “Hoarders”. This show is about trying to help people who have turned their homes into prisons by cluttering their homes to the point of being unlivable and in some cases dangerous to be in. The houses are physical examples of the hoarders’ internal prisons that were created as defence mechanisms after suffering through major life catastrophes such as divorce or the death of a loved one.

The hoarders have accumulated so many possessions and they end up simply going through the motions of life because, in their efforts to shield themselves from against being hurt again, they build walls to shut other people out, but ultimately they only succeed in shutting themselves in.

Sadly, these people are so wrapped up in living in the past that they are no longer living in the future and they are affecting their future.

We all know someone who suffers from their internal prison. If we honestly look at ourselves, we can realize that each one of us has some form of defence mechanism that inhibits us and limits our happiness.

Addictions are a prime example of this. Not just addictions to alcohol or narcotics, but other things: food, negative thinking, harmful relationships with others, to name a few examples.

These addictions are behaviour patterns that we have fallen into that may have turned into something far greater than we could have imagined, but may be easily observed by others.

This is the tragedy of internal prisons: the person who is inside the prison cell was also their own prosecutor and judge, the architect and builder of the prison, as well as the jailer who ensures that we live out our sentence – a sentence much harsher than others would give us – the self-imposed sentence of unhappiness and isolation from others, including God.

Negative ways of thinking, holding onto past hurts, either real or imagined, self-defeating thoughts, low self-confidence; these are a few ways that we keep ourselves from being happy, from living the best and fullest life that we can live. These are all obstacles that keep us from living how God wants us to live.

God loves us much more than we love our own children, so much that we have trouble truly understanding God’s love for us, since our own love for our children is probably the strongest emotional bond that we know in our lives.

Let us appreciate God’s strength as our father, to still love us even though we may rebuke Him, turn away from Him for a time, ignore His advice, refuse or forget to talk with Him in prayer, and sometimes believe that we can successfully live our lives on our own without His help and guidance.

Anyone who is or was a parent of a teenager can relate to what I just said. Cheryl and I have 5 children: 3 older boys aged 17 to 20, and 2 younger children aged 4 and 5.

Our younger kids, with their spirit of youth and innocence, believe what Cheryl and I tell them because they have faith that what we say is the truth. They trust us completely to take care of them and they know that we love them and only want what is best for them.

Our older children have more “grown-up” attitudes and they tend to rely on themselves first; they may listen to our advice, if they ever ask for it, and quite often they ask for it after they have exhausted their own resources yet still face their dilemma. Does this sound familiar?

We have all been there, we have all made our own way, separated ourselves, at least for a time, from our parents – those who gave us life, raised us the best they could, and who only want us to have the best lives that we can. Just like God. I suggest that we should all be more like our younger children: trust in God with all your heart and all your soul.

Our weaknesses, doubts and insecurities cause us to build internal prisons. God's strength can break down our prison walls and guide us to do great things in His name.

An example of this is the case of Rick and Dick Hoyt. Rick (the son) was born in 1962. He has cerebral palsy. Dick and Judy (the parents) fought to have Rick integrated into the public school system rather than have him institutionalized, as they were advised after he was born.

In 1977, Rick told his Dad that he wanted to participate in an eight-kilometre benefit run for a lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident. Dick agreed to push his son Rick in his wheelchair. They finished the eight-kilometre run, coming in next to last. Afterwards, Rick told his Dad, "When I'm running, I don't feel handicapped."

That started a lifetime of ahievement, including over 1,000 races, 68 marathons and 6 Ironman triathlons, which consists of a 4-kilometre swim, followed by a 180-kilometre bike ride, and then a full 42-kilometre marathon run. By the way, Dick Hoyt turned 70 years old last June and he and his son Rick just ran their 29th Boston Marathon today!

This is the power of a father's unconditional love for his child.

For his own part, Rick graduated with a degree from Boston College, despite having the challenge of cerebral palsy. Rick broke free from the physical prison of his body's limitations to achieve his own goals. Not bad for someone who was supposed to have been institutionalized at birth.

Now, I would like to shift gears and talk about the Scripture reading from Acts.

Acts is an important book in the Bible because it is the link between the Gospels and the Epistles. It is the first history of the Christian church after Christ’s ascension into heaven and it focuses on the ACTS of the Apostles, how they responded to The Great Commission. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave his disciples what is now known as The Great Commission: Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The passage in Acts 16:6-40 describes one of the mission trips of Paul, Silas and Timothy and Luke. Luke, the author of Acts, changes his account from “he” in verse 10 to “we” in verse 11, so what we are reading here is a first-hand account! They tried to continue their travels in Asia Minor (what is now Turkey), but the Spirit wouldn’t let them. They were told by a vision to go to Philippi in Macedonia, in the northern part of Greece.

It was here that the first Christian church in Europe was founded. The church had such an impact that Paul wrote letter to the Philippians, when he was in prison awaiting his sentence. This letter shows the mutual love between Paul and the congregation at Philippi.

The jailer in Acts 16 was saved because of the testimony of Paul and Silas’s actions. Through their actions, the jailer stopped from killing himself and instead won eternal life in Christ. The jailer realized he was lost and needed saving, which is the necessary step for all sinners to be saved. The jailer’s actions and testimony were so compelling that everyone in his household also came to Christ. The new convert is often the best evangelizer!

As Christians, we have learned that the best testimony to Christ that we can give is by living as Christians, which we can only do with the help of the Holy Spirit.

As God loves us, so does He forgive us. Once we accept God’s forgiveness for our sins, we can forgive others and most importantly ourselves, and finally release ourselves from our internal prisons. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

We can break free/be released from our internal prisons by simply opening the door to Jesus when he knocks. (Revelation 3:20)

From 1 Peter 5:7, "give God your burdens, don’t carry that weight all by yourself", and 1 Peter 5:10 "Hardship gives us the opportunity to grow spiritually and to get closer to God."

Great opportunities to evangelize to others can come from our hardships, like Paul and Silas bringing their jailer and Lydia to Christ in Philippi.

We are shown throughout the book of Acts the importance of the local church. This is shown in the example of the jailer’s salvation as well as how Lydia, a woman and the first Christian convert in Europe, started a spiritual revolution in the Western world. We must follow their example and live the Christian life, being as Christ to one another.

Whatever your burdens are, you do not have to face them alone. God's promise to us is that he will always be with us, we simply have to believe in Him. As believers, we are all representatives of Christ.

If something is troubling you today, take the time after the service to pray with Father John or any of us in the congregation, so that you too can know the healing power of God's forgiveness that will free you from your internal prison.

Beautiful day for a run, why not add some distance?

2011-04-23T13:38:00.001-03:00

A gorgeous day, double digits and sunny! One of those spring mornings that lets you know that warmer weather is on the way.

Our route was 8.5 kilometres today, up from 7.5 kilometres last week. After the run, Kris informed us that it might have been closer to 9 kilometres. I did it in 59 minutes, so all I need to do is run the extra kilometre or so in 1 minute or less, and I will hit my target of 10 kilometres in 60 minutes.

Seriously though, I think I need to focus on my nutrition more (as opposed to now where I am generally eating whatever), to start making a difference in my weight and running pace. I figure if I put better fuel in, I will improve my performance plus I will have the added benefit of dragging less weight around.

Citadel Hill doesn't seem very steep...

2011-04-13T20:03:00.000-03:00

Until you run up it 8 times! Follow that with 2 circuits around the outside of the fort and that is a workout!

I learned a lesson today about fueling up before a run - 1 hour in advance is not enough time to process the food but just the right amount of time for the food to feel like a lead weight in your stomach.

I found that running with a mid-foot strike rather than a heel strike was quite effective while running up the hill.

Thanks to Kris from Push Fitness for the tips and words of encouragement and thanks also to Peter Harrison for your company on the run around the fort! You are looking great, keep up the great work on your weight loss!

Adidas gear - looks good and works too!

2011-03-12T12:41:00.000-04:00

I picked up my Adidas gear on Wednesday from PUSH Fitness. It is impressive: new Adidas Supernova Glide 3 running shoes, Adidas Adistar long-sleeve running shirt as well as Adidas Supernova jacket and pants to protect me from the elements.

The shirt, jacket and pants all have the Team Myles logo, so now we will really look like a team when we run, with the same uniform and everything!

I was looking forward to a team run this morning, unfortunately only two of us showed up at PUSH Fitness this morning! Caroline Taraso and I waited until 10 AM, then she went to market to wait for Lisa Olie, after which their plan was to go to 108 Yoga, one of our sponsors.

I decided to go for a run anyway, since I was psyched up for it. I knocked off 5 kilometres and surprisingly fast, too! I was just over a minute slower than my target pace for the Bluenose run despite the wind and rain, so that was a nice surprise. It just shows that I do have my work cut out for me, so I think some hills and interval speed training are needed. I think I also need to create a running playlist on my iPod, I have found that the right music can help me go faster. Any suggestions?

Sunny but colder than expected...

2011-03-05T17:53:00.000-04:00

Confession time: because of other commitments, I haven't been to a Team Myles run for over a week. I really miss the experience of running with the team and I hope to be able to run with them more as we near the race date.

However, that hasn't stopped me from training! I went on my elliptical machine a couple times and this morning ran 6 kilometres on the Salt Marsh Trail.

The trail was a mix of ice, packed snow and frozen gravel, making it passable with caution. I had to be careful of my footing, which slowed me down a bit.

It was a beautiful morning today and although the high temperature was expected to reach 3 or 4 degrees Celsius, it was still below zero when I ran.

After my run, I joined my Cub pack for a 2 hour hike in Shubie Park in Dartmouth. As tricky as the Salt Marsh Trail was, the Shubie Park trails were much worse! We walked less than 2 kilometres, picking our way along the ice about 90% of the time. We had fun though, including the time when a few lucky Cubs had chickadees eating from their hands. To quote one of the kids, "I have done that before, but it's cool every time." It sure is!

Running In Florida

2011-02-22T20:43:00.001-04:00

I know, tough stuff! I ran on both Saturdays that we were in Florida on vacation: once on the streets of Seminole and Largo (two communities in the Tampa Bay/Clearwater Beach area) and the second time I was barefoot on the sand at Clearwater Beach. I hadn't run on that beach since I had visited Florida when I was in high school. Only one minor cut on my foot from a shell fragment during the second run, which I see as a small price to re-live a memory from my younger days.

In between our times on the coast, my family and I went to Disney World. I am a logistics guy by nature and profession, so I took it upon myself to plan our days at Disney, including being the runner for Fastpasses. For those unfamiliar with Disney World, line-ups can be a real drag on your time, with wait times of over an hour for popular attractions. The Fastpass allows you to plan ahead and basically beat the line, provided you return to go on the ride at a later time that is appointed when you get the Fastpass.

Getting the Fastpasses meant that sometimes I had to go to a different part of the park to book a ride we wanted to go on, but that saved us from waiting in the heat for an hour or so per ride, which can seem like an eternity with two tired youngsters. This gave me the opportunity to sprint a few times a day while at Disney, on top of the hours of walking around that we did, too. I think there is value in some sprint training, to mix up the exercise for your body and maybe even speed up your longer runs!

Saturday Run Around Cow Bay

2011-02-05T14:36:00.000-04:00

I wasn't able to go to this morning's Team Myles run because of family commitments, but I more than made up for it by running the loop around Cow Bay. It is about 7.5 kilometres. I have run it before but the first leg was all headwind today. For some reason, it didn't feel like the tailwind on the other side of the loop helped me as much as the headwind at the start made me work harder!

I used some of the warm-up moves and stretches that Devon from Push Fitness showed us before our Team Myles runs. I have found that it's good for me to do a bit of warm-up and stretching before a run. I have heard some other people say they don't stretch before, but I will err on the side of caution. The last thing I want is to be laid up with an injury that warming-up and stretching might have prevented.

Heart in Halifax

2011-02-03T23:34:00.006-04:00

Really good concert tonight at the Metro Centre. Ann Wilson showed she still had her voice, albeit a few tones lower than 30+ years ago. She still belted out the memorable parts to Heart's classics and Nancy still rocked her guitar, mandolin, autoclave, and vocals.

Tonight's setlist (from memory and help from a setlist last summer in Nashville. There were a couple changes for Halifax, but this is basically the show):

1. Cook With Fire - off their latest album and my favourite of the 4 new songs they played. Good beat and rhythm, strong opener.
2. Heartless - classic, really fun to play on the drums.
3. What About Love - 80's fan favourite.
4. Straight On - another good song with a solid guitar hook.
5. Dog & Butterfly - slowed it down a little for this title track from the 70's.
6. Desire Walks On - title track of one of their albums that Ann admitted was not a commercial success. The chorus was very heavy and seemed like there was too much going on, especially for a Heart song where Ann and Wilson's talents should be at the forefront.
7. Hey You - new song. Ann played the autoclave. It was OK but the "na na na na" chorus seemed like they tried to write an intentional sing-along song.
8. Even It Up (with Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter intro/bridge) - great song and a clever mash-up with one of my favourite Stones songs.
9. Red Velvet Car - title track from the new album. It was just OK to me.
10. Alone - great torch song from 1987. Remember 1987? :-)
11. WTF - new song, heavy sound, second favourite of mine of the new songs they played.
12. Magic Man - great 70's song, the keyboard player did an especially good job with the sound at the end.
13. Crazy On You - one of my favourites to play on Guitar Hero.
14. Barracuda - my favourite Heart song. Here is video (sorry, only 3 minutes, to the end of the guitar solo, ran out of memory!):

First Encore
15. What Is and Should Never Be - Led Zeppelin cover that they nailed, especially Ann's vocals.
16. Love Reign On Me - The Who cover was well done, but would not have been my choice as a show closer.

Second Encore
17. Dreamboat Annie - for us Canucks since this album was first released in Canada. Nice tip of the hat to their band's Canadian roots to finish the show with this one.

It's official!

2011-01-31T17:39:00.000-04:00

I received notification that I am registered in the Blue Nose 10K, part of the Scotiabank Blue Nose Marathon on May 22, 2011!

Our blogs should be online soon, but I will keep posting on here to keep a personal copy of my progress.

Good run last Saturday, same route as the week before but we ran more of it, almost all 5 kilometres. It wasn't nearly as cold as last week, so it wasn't a dealbreaker that I forgot my gloves.

Team Myles - Running Keeps You Warm!

2011-01-22T12:13:00.001-04:00

This was my first Saturday run with Team Myles. We started at Push Fitness, walked as a group to the corner of Young and Inglis (1.6 km), then ran to the end of Young Avenue and returned to Push. The run was 3.4 km, for a total distance of 5 km.

It was sunny but very cold today, -16 with the wind chill, so I am glad I had fleece on under my outer layer. My calf injury did not flare up, so that is a good thing!

Unfortunately, I will be double-booked on Wednesday with my Cub pack, but I will do the 4.2 km run either Tuesday or Thursday.

Team Myles - First Run!

2011-01-19T22:21:00.001-04:00

Well, it was my first run with Team Myles. The inaugural team run was actually on Saturday (January 15), but I was already committed to running a camp with my Cub pack when I found out the date of the first run.

Before tonight's run, we warmed up with Devon Norris of Push Fitness (he played for the Rainmen last year, this blog has numerous Rainmen entries). Devon got us ready to go and I enjoyed doing the stretches as a group, it reminded me of my rugby-playing days!

Tonight's run was 3 laps around the Commons, 1.4 kilometres each time around, for a total of 4.2 kilometres. We had to buddy up for the run, my run buddy was Peter Harrison. We ran at a good pace, did each loop in about 10 minutes. My calf muscle that I injured last year flared up again (I tweaked it last week, so this was not a surprise). Luckily for me, it did not disable me from running, although when I lengthened my stride to speed up a bit while passing some other Team Myles members, I felt it get close to tearing again. I am going to have to be careful with this thing, I don't want to miss out on training because of a preventable injury!

After the run, we visited Lifemark Physio to have our gait analyzed and to measure our feet for the Adidas running shoes we will get with Team Myles. Sara was very knowledgeable and I guess I have the biggest feet of all the Team Myles members, what an accomplishment!

I felt really good after the run, actually invigorated. I look forward to Saturday morning's run!

New Post on Phil90X

2010-11-29T07:29:00.001-04:00

I started another round of P90X, getting ready for my trip to Florida in February. Check out my progress on phil90x.blogspot.com!

I'm back...

2010-01-31T18:37:00.002-04:00

Wow! Who knew a government employee could be so busy? The past five months have flown by, although I recognize that I haven't posted on here since May.

Just got home from a great Rainmen victory, over previously undefeated Rochester Razor Sharks. What is a Razor Shark anyway?

The Rainmen have really developed into a great team this year. They are scoring and defending well, although there are lapses in their play that sometimes allow opponents to stay in the game.

Just a quick post, will add more later!

Top 10 Tracy Jordan lines from 30 Rock

2009-05-20T09:40:00.004-03:00

Thanks to Unlikely Words for coming up with this idea and for cataloging all of Tracy's lines from Season 3 of 30 Rock. If you are one of the few who hasn't seen 30 Rock, stop what you are doing -- after you finish reading this post -- and go buy the DVD's. I know, that's so 1900's of me...

Thanks also go out to Jason & Alex at one of my new favourite websites, Huffington Post.

Tracy's lines are often non-sequiturs, which makes them strangely "had-to-be-there" moments, but most of them are just funny.

In episode chronological order:

1. “You’re going to sue me? Who do you think you are, the San Diego zoo?”

“You can’t sue me, I’m already being sued. Double indemnity!”

The first one is actually a two-fer. The first because what could have happened at the zoo so that he is being sued? Second, his trademark idiocy is just too funny. Double indemnity! Ha!

2.“Do you know who I am? Seriously, please, tell me who I am.”

This takes me back to the days (you know, like a year ago) when Tracy Morgan was in the public eye for doing some pretty wacky, messed up stuff, to the point that I wasn't sure if it was real, and Tracy was vying for Andy Dick's spot in the dead pool, or if it was a clever marketing ploy to boost 30 Rock. I am still not sure...

3. “I watched Boston Legal 9 times before I realized it wasn’t a new Star Trek.”

This is the funniest reference to Shatner in recent memory. Bill really chews up the screen and only has one acting gear: overdrive.

4. "It’s like an owl without a graduation cap. Heartbreaking!”

This one makes you think for a second to get the reference, like most of Tracy Jordan's one-liners, then you think of how ridiculous it is as a reference. Awesome!

5. “I went out with the interns. Those white boys are not kidding around. Have you ever tasted scotch? It’s terrible! And this thing they call ‘box seats at the Ranger’s game,’ it’s so cold. And what is Rohyphnal?” He is then told what Rohypnal is, “So I shouldn’t have taken 2 of them for my headache?"

Replace "interns" with "frat boys" and a lot of memories come flooding back... except for the roofies. I love the follow up line about taking 2 for his headache.

6. “Yes, I found it on my favorite website. Stopshowingoff.com.”

If this isn't a real site, it should be.

7. "I’m not an expert, but I do have a strong opinion."

Is that Tracy Jordan talking, or is it me?

8. “Um, my work has taken me there. I was supposed to be in that movie Rush Hour, but two weeks into shooting, I was replaced by Jackie Chan.”

Text doesn't give us the timing that Tracy Jordan has nailed on this line. We all think he is going to say Chris Tucker, the black comedian, but no, he goes the other way. Well played, sir!

9. “Devil’s avocado here, Larry. I think people should freak the geek out. Withdraw all your money and hide it.”

Playing the "Devil's avocado"! I love it! That is definitely going into my everyday speech.

10. In response to Jack Donaghy telling him, "That's easy for you to say," Tracy responds with, "“No it wasn’t. I struggled through that sentence."

An old joke, but Tracy Morgan nails it!

There are many more 30 Rock jokes to choose from, since Tina Fey (Liz Lemon), Alec Baldwin (Jack Donaghy) and Jack McBrayer (Kenneth Parcell) all have great lines and they all do a fantastic job with their roles, but these are my favourites from Tracy Morgan/Jordan in Season 3.

Is Halifax ready for the D-League?

2009-04-15T13:49:00.004-03:00

Some highlights from the Ridiculous Upside interview with Dan Reed, the president of the D-League:

D-League President Dan Reed: Well, if you go overseas you basically eliminate your chances of playing in the NBA that season, so if your goal is to make the NBA your odds are much better playing with us. I asked our folks to run these numbers for me, a - of the 107 players who have been called up to the NBA in a given season, 61% of them (65 players) received a guaranteed contract that season. I actually think these numbers are pretty compelling reasons to play in the NBA D-League, when you consider that: a) even one NBA 10-day contract is worth as much or more than a player can make in a month overseas, b) if you get one 10-day it’s highly likely you will double your money with at least one additional 10-day, and c) if you do get a 10-day there’s a 60% chance you’ll be with that team for the rest of the season, and d) you have a zero percent chance of being “called up” to the NBA if you play overseas.

…

DR: That’s why I think the best number to look at is the sheer number of NBA D-League alumni playing in the NBA, and by that metric, we clearly establish ourselves as the absolute best way to get to the NBA — we’ve produced five times more NBA players than any other professional basketball league in the world. We’re the most heavily scouted league in the world, and that is extremely valuable for our players. If you really want to look at odds, check out this stat: if you played in the NBA D-League last season you had a 1 in 4 chance of participating in an NBA team’s training camp the following season. I’d say those odds are pretty good. And even if after all that the NBA simply doesn’t work out for player, showing well in the NBA D-League allows you maximize your earning potential no matter where you decide to play.

…

RS: It seems to me that if each NBA team had their own D-League affiliate, and was able to call up, send down, and rehab players on their D-League teams, much like the farm system of Major League Baseball, that the NBA and the NBADL would both benefit tremendously. Are the leagues making any attempt toward moving in that direction?

DR: We took a major step towards that sort of system when we created the affiliation and assignment system back in 2005. Since then we’ve doubled the number of teams in the league, have seen 104 NBA players “sent down” and recalled to/from their NBA team, and have had 59 additional players called-up to the NBA. As a result we now have close to 80 former NBA D-League players on NBA rosters right now, which is getting close to 20% of the entire league!

…

D-League president Dan Reed’s checklist for prospective affiliates, from the RU interview:

- a great arena
- strong ownership
- a good market

- market size
- competition
- income levels
- size of corporate base
- basketball fan avidity

Can a PBL team move to the D-League? Looking at Dan Reed's checklist, I think Halifax qualifies.

- We play in a 10,000 seat arena, average about 2,800 fans this past season (1,800 in the first season in the ABA),
- population of 400,000 in the immediate area and draw from another 100,000+ within an hour of Halifax,
- we have 2 university teams in the city and another within 2 hours of Halifax that are usually nationally ranked so we are basketball fans,
- Halifax is a government town so income levels are good and steady,
- the only live pro sport competition is a major junior league hockey team that shares the arena with us.

As for the other current PBL teams, most of their markets are too small to support a D-League team, because of the $1,000,000 franchise fee, versus $10,000 or $20,000 for ABA, depending on your source. I don't know the cost of a franchise in the PBL, but I bet it is closer to $20,000 than a million.

Halifax is unique in that we are a good-size small city with a suitable arena to support a D-League team, rather than many PBL teams who play in much smaller venues. With Maine and Springfield in the NBADL, along with Erie, we could fit into a Northeast division quite easily, flying through Boston or Toronto.

"Doubt, A Parable" Movie Review

2009-04-11T18:54:00.006-03:00

The most recent in an increasingly sporadic series of movie reviews by me.

What a great movie! It makes me wish I had seen the play when it was recently presented at Neptune Theatre. There are some spoiler alerts throughout this post, so be warned if you want to see this movie, you should save reading this until after you have watched the film.

Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, two actors with great skills, play the lead characters. Amy Adams takes on a much more serious role than her typical female sidekick in a Will Ferrell movie, and Viola Davis had a brief but very moving appearance as the mother of the student who is in the centre of the story's central conflict.

The scene between Davis and Streep was more compelling to me than the climactic scene between Hoffman and Streep. There is so much going on during the few minutes between the two women, the dialogue is full of meaning and I personally found it to be the best scene of the movie.

Davis' character is one of four in the original play. She made the most of it in this scene. Oscars should be given for quality, not quantity. I agree with the nomination. Check out lists of other awards, all four actors were nominated for just about everything, as was the screenplay. In my opinion, they all did a great job.

The story has many examples of symbolism:

Bloody noses for one of the boys and one of the nuns. A bloody nose is a sign of upcoming danger or disaster. It happened to both the children and the church.

Names! Aloysius is the patron saint of students. Sister Aloysius was acting out of her concern for the welfare of the students.

Sister James, named for the first of the 12 Apostles to be martyred. Sister James represents innocence, which is the first trait to go when one leaves childhood. The central conflict of the movie would definitely make one grow up prematurely.

Veronica, the name can be broken down to vera (true) and icon (image), representing the old church that was being left behind with the wind of change of the 1960's, the winds being present throughout the movie. Veronica is the "old" church, with her blindness and age, being hindered by her habit (more than one sense of the word is applicable here).

**SPOILER ALERT** The dinner scene contrasting the priests having rare meat and wine, joking and carrying on while the nuns quietly ate their meal, showed that Father Flynn was in the old boys club, so we shouldn't have been totally surprised when he gets promoted by these same men. The scene when Flynn tells Aloysius that she was supposed to talk with the pastor, not a nun, from Flynn's former parish reinforces this message of old boys club. The point of the meat was that it was completely rare, showing once again that Flynn was all about fulfilling his physical desires.

Their titles of father and sister should tell us everything about the pecking order. All priests were called father, even new priests like Flynn (5 years) were superior to all nuns, even senior nuns like Aloysius, who was a Mother Superior. Priests were autonomous, nuns were subservient. That is what this scene shows us.

Father Flynn had long, well-kept fingernails. Long fingernails are a sign of femininity. Maybe how he showed them off to the boys in gym class was an advertisement, to see which of the boys would find them attractive? Flynn's repeating of the importance of keeping one's nails clean reminds me of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-28, when Jesus called the Pharisees and the scribes a bunch of hypocrites:

"25 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy - full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish,[a] and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs-beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness."

Flynn kept his nails "his cup" clean, when he was filthy inside. I think these verses speak volumes to the message of this movie, the hypocrisy of the church leaders who promoted Flynn and the injustice or lawlessness of that promotion.

Flynn's long and clean fingernails were one of his "vanities". Vanity is a version of pride, which is the greatest sin of all. The nuns chastised the female student (named "Horan"!) about a barrette in her hair - a simple adornment that they saw as a gateway to sexual immorality, which is later symbolically fulfilled with her proclaiming love for a boy.

Also, Flynn's smoking was another flaunting of the rules - he let his physical temptations get the better of him in a number of ways, knowing he was breaking the rules of the church and of God. His pride led to all sorts of sin, including his sins with boys at each of his parishes.

The scene where he smokes in front of Sister James, thereby bringing her in as an accomplice to his infraction of smoking as well as her belief in his innocence, was very well done by the actors and the writer.

**SPOILER ALERT** Sister Aloysius' doubts were in how the church leaders could let someone like Father Flynn be in charge of children when he was tempted by them. Her doubt may also have been to the point of questioning why God would allow such a thing to happen to other children even though she, as the bride of the church, had found him out. I figure it is a literary example of Sister Aloysius being a flawed hero: her lie to trap Father Flynn made her crusade impure, so it backfired.

Bottom line: Excellent acting performances of a very well-written (largely autobiographical) script, expertly directed by the playwright, worthy of the Pulitzer and Tony awards and many other nominations and awards it received.

Francois Violette - Part 1

2009-03-28T11:00:00.008-03:00

I am a member of the Violette Family Association, my family on my mother's side. I recently received an article that describes where the first generation of our family settled in Canada. Francois Violette was my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, making me the 10th generation to live here. Incidentally, I am also the 10th generation in Canada on my father's side too.

David Violette wrote this article and I am posting it here, in case the internet link ever goes dead.

Description: When Francois Violet left Nova Scotia he was given a land grant by the English in the southern New Brunswick area

This aerial view shows the location of Francois Violet's 1787 Lot 14 land grant in lower New Brunswick, in the Quispamsis area and along the Hammond River.
Francois Violet was born in Saintes, France on October 16, 1744. He arrived in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia in 1749 with his father Charles and mother Marie David. Though his father Charles returned to France around 1759, we do not think Francois returned with him. Francois was French, but much of the population in that area was Acadian. We next find Francois working in St John NB in 1769. He married Marie Luce Thibodeau, from an Acadian family, in 1770 and they lived in a settlement along the Hammond River. However around 1783 British Loyalists were moving out of the United States after Independence, and they forced many Acadians off their lands in New Brunswick.

On April 12, 1787, grants of land were made to 15 Acadians and 27 Loyalists. The lots were awarded such that the Acadians were dispersed among the Loyalists. Francois was awarded lot # 14 containing 210 acres.

This aerial view from further out shows the region of southern New Brunswick where Francois Violet settled around 1769.
In 1754/55, the Privy Council in England decided on a final solution to the problem of the French population in Canada. If they expelled them from their lands they might have taken refuge in Louisbourg and Quebec, reinforcing the French colonies there. Instead, the Privy Council decided to capture and deport all 18,000 Acadians living in Nova Scotia at the time. Some such as Francois' father, Charles, left Canada, but we know that Francois and some other Acadians escaped capture and made their way to the St John River area. He seems to have found some work in that area. They may have been later chased off the St John River by the raids of Monckton, Hazen and Studholme between 1758 and 1763, and settled along the Hammond River because it was off the beaten track. Not once did the raiders of the St John River mention a settlement on the Hammond River. These raids were not just minor harassments; they were meant to destroy all property - both houses and animals - and in some cases resulted in the loss of life for the settlers.

The 1763 Treaty of Paris did not resolve the problems for the Acadians because they did not have title to their lands. They were still squatters on English soil.

So we have a period from around 1759 to 1769 during which we have no record of Francois' whereabouts. His name is on 1769 payroll records in St John NB of Simonds and White, the founders of the first permanent English settlement at St John. He is now 25 years old. And we then find him in 1770 married to Marie Luce Thibodeau.

We know that Francois must have been in the St John area in 1782 because he had an account with Hazen & White, merchants of St. John.

In 1785, 35,000 British Empire Loyalists left New Engand, where they were no longer welcome. They started displacing the Acadian "squatters" along the St John River. Some displaced Acadians migrated north along the St John River and were given grants of land in the Madawaska region. As mentioned above, Loyalists Winslow and Chipman convinced the British government to make grants to some of the Acadian/French settlers along with the Loyalists in the Hammond River area, and these grants were registered in Fredericton NB on April 12, 1787.

The land grants comprised some 42 lots, and our ancestor Francois Violet was granted Lot 14, a lot of 210 acres in size.

The grantees had to clear three acres of land each year for every 50 acres granted, had to erect a dwelling at least 20x16 feet in size, and had to meet other requirements. Plus, they had to pay two shillings per year per hundred acres for a period of ten years.

Apparently, those Acadians and Francois among them were not happy with their situation in the Kennebeccasis area, for they petitioned in 1789 - two years later - for land grants further north in the Madawaska region. This may have been partly because their lands were intermingled with lands owned and settled by Loyalists, so the culture was mixed and difficult. That story, however, will be told in Part 2.

The two aerial maps with this story were taken from Google Maps, and show the area as it looks today.

Some of this story's content was drawn from an article in Rita's book ("The Descendents of Francois Violet", Rita Violette Lippe, 1984) and other from Rod Violette's monograph "Francois Violet Life and Times."

Will Halifax Rainmen's AJ Milien Win MVP?

2009-03-20T11:28:00.002-03:00

AJ Milien, a mid-season signing for the Rainmen, formerly of the August Groove, where he pretty much was the offence, must be in the running for Premier Basketball League MVP for the 2009 season. However, there is talk that he may not win it since he has not been the dominant power since joining the Rainmen. I say that being the MVP on a losing team does not mean you are better than a role player on a great team.

Here are the 10 most recent NBA MVP’s and their team records:
2007-08 Kobe Bryant L.A. Lakers - lost NBA finals
2006-07 Dirk Nowitzki Dallas Mavs - won division, top conf. record
2005-06 Steve Nash Phoenix Suns - West Conference runner-up
2004-05 Steve Nash Phoenix Suns - West Conference runner-up
2003-04 Kevin Garnett Minnesota T’Wolves - West Conference RU
2002-03 Tim Duncan San Antonio Spurs - NBA Champs
2001-02 Tim Duncan Spurs - won div.,2nd-best record in NBA
2000-01 Allen Iverson Philadelphia 76′ers - lost NBA Finals
1999-00 Shaquille O’Neal L.A. Lakers - NBA Champs
1998-99 Karl Malone Utah Jazz - tied for div., best league record

As you can see, players who win the MVP do it on strong teams that either win their division with the best conference or league win-loss record, or they go deep in the playoffs. Augusta would not have accomplished either of those feats. Even with AJ, they were 5-4. As of today, they are 9-9.

For the MVP, I think AJ is still in the running, depending on how much time he gets and how well he performs during the last 3 games in Halifax.

AJ leads the league in points per game - even with Halifax games included, he sinks over 60% of his 2-pointers (which is good for a scorer in this league), over 80% from the FT line, averages 10 rebounds a game, and is 4th in the league in blocks (and the only player with more than 20 ppg with over 1 block per game - BTW, Eric and Bailey are #5 & 6 on the blocks list.)

Cedric McGinnis of the Sea Dawgs has to be in the consideration for MVP and so does White Chocolate, although he is kind of the guard version of AJ - outstanding player who gets crazy minutes on a so-so team.

Rochester and Battle Creek might each have a guy, but they seem to have a bunch of Steady Eddies on those teams, with no super-dominant player, just a good bunch of starters who get the job done.

NBADL announce new playoff format

2009-03-11T16:03:00.000-03:00

The NBADL just announced their new playoff format. It is pretty wild, with the three division winners choosing their first opponent in the playoffs from the top 5 non-division-winning teams. The fourth seeded team plays the remaining unchosen team in the first round. Is this worth talking about on here?

If the Rainmen want to get into the D-League, maybe we should keep track of what that league is doing.

Here is the March 9 news release from the NBADL regarding their new playoff format:

“NEW YORK, March 9, 2009 - The NBA Development League announced today it has implemented an innovative new format for this year’s playoffs, which are set to begin as early as April 13.

For the first time, eight teams will qualify for the 2009 NBA D-League postseason, including the winners of the three divisions along with the five teams with the best regular season records, regardless of division.

New for the 2009 postseason, the three division winners will have the unique opportunity to select their first round opponent from the teams ranked five through eight. The top-seeded division winner will select its opponent first, with the second and third ranked division winners following in that order. The fourth seeded team will play the remaining team.

“One of our fundamental goals at the NBA D-League is to utilize our unique position to explore new and different ways to grow the game,” said Dan Reed, President of the NBA D-League. “We believe that these innovations will provide our fans with compelling matchups and action packed games.”

The first and second rounds of the 2009 NBA D-League playoffs will be one game each, while the Finals will be a best-of-three series. The first two rounds will be played on the higher seeds home floor, while the Finals will begin at the lower seed’s arena and finish at the higher seeds home court.

The 2008-09 NBA D-League regular seasons concludes on April 11.”

Thanks to http://www.ridiculousupside.com for the news.

My thoughts are:

- that it will most likely still fall into the top team picking #8, second team picking #7 and so on. However, if a high-ranked team knows that a lower-ranked team can beat them (like Quebec seems to be able to do at times - and us, for that matter) maybe they would choose a higher rank than the lowest remaining team to have a better chance of success.

- what about the factor of travel costs? Would you choose the lowest remaining team if it was the geographically farthest from your city (say Halifax or Wilmington), or would you pick a closer team that you may even have a rivalry with (like Vermont and Manchester)?

- speaking of rivalries, they may be even more important than rankings, since it is all about getting bums in the seats. Fans love to see the hometown team defeat their rivals. That may factor into the choice of team too: do we go for an easy win and fewer people show up, or do we take the chance and play a better team with more ticket sales?

Review of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's First Show

2009-03-04T20:32:00.002-04:00

I watched Jimmy Fallon's first show as the new host of Late Night. Overall, I thought it was pretty good, although Jimmy was visibly nervous and his rushed speaking caused him to slur some words, especially the name of the show as he went to commercial.

The monologue was passable, although Jimmy was super nervous and had obviously been studying old Johnny Carson tapes on how to carry himself. It was not nearly as good as his work on SNL's Weekend Update, although I enjoyed the "news slow jam" about the stimulus bill. The jokes nearly wrote themselves on that routine and singer of The Roots --What? An actual recording band is the show band? I sure hope they are the permanent band because they were awesome! -- did a great job with it.

Jimmy's guests were Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake, and musical guest Van Morrison. I think Bob and Justin were doing Jimmy personal favours by appearing on his first show. Van Morrison is an enigma, I guess he was simply plugging his new album, which Jimmy showed us was an actual vinyl LP record!

Jimmy did well with his interviews, although it helped greatly to have pals on the sofa, rather than say, Joaquin Phoenix.

I think most people thought De Niro was rude to Jimmy, since he barely looked Jimmy in the eye, but I think it was Bob acting that way. He is a great actor, after all! Either that, or he was so embarrassed by the short clip of Space Train, which was just an SNL skit gone wrong. I think the premise sounded a lot funnier to the writers than how it turned out. Plus, how far can you go with it: a movie about space travellers who are scared to fly so they take a train to space? Anyway, I enjoyed Bob's appearance.

The highlight was definitely Justin Timberlake. He very briefly reprised his role as Robin Gibb when the show band The Roots played the theme to the SNL skit Barry Gibb Talk Show. That skit is one of the best ever in SNL history and Justin's appearances on SNL have been memorable. Justin also did an OK impression of John Mayer and a good one of Michael MacDonald singing a jingle for Bud Light Lime.

Van Morrison played a song that no one had heard before, one that featured all 30 or so members of his band (at least it seemed like that many). The DVR didn't record the last couple of minutes - why don't they start shows on time? - but I don't think I missed anything.

Overall, it was a pretty good first effort. Jimmy has some pretty heavy hitters on as guests this week. It will be hard to keep up with that pace for the second and following weeks. Jimmy said as much in a funny but really understated skit with Conan at the start of the show. It was a scene with Conan packing up his stuff from his dressing room while Jimmy prepares for the show, in the same dressing room. Conan played it really well and the uncomfortable pauses were very The Office.

It was a good opener but I will miss Conan's timing, his quick wit as well as his wacky humour. I hope he isn't stifled too much by the Tonight Show people, who may be scared to unleash the full Conan (wasn't that a British movie? The Full Conan) on audiences in an earlier time slot. Best of luck to both of them in their new roles as late night talk show hosts on my favourite channel, NBC.

Proposed Pay-Before-You-Pump Law is unnecessary

2009-02-25T11:58:00.003-04:00

I am against instituting a pay-before-you-pump law. While I typically pay at the pump with a credit card because it is convenient, I think making it mandatory to pay for gas before you pump will bring Halifax one more step to becoming a "big" city, where gas station attendants sit in locked booths behind bullet-proof glass, and we lose a bit more of our humanity in Halifax.

There were apparently 720 gasoline thefts that were reported to HRM police in 2008. While I am sure there were more than 720 instances where people drove away without paying for their gas since probably not all thefts were reported to police, this seems like a minuscule number, versus the number of transactions at gas stations in HRM last year.

According to the Chronicle Herald online, there are 420 gas stations in Nova Scotia. Let's say half of those are in HRM. That means for 210 or so gas stations in HRM, there are an average of 3 drive-offs every year (720 drive-offs divided by 210 or so gas stations). In a Newfoundland government report, the annual average sales volume for Canadian gas stations is 2,200,000 litres. This is a figure from the 1990's but let's just say it's about the same, since low-volume stations have been closing over the past decade. Let's say the average drive-off is a 50 litre fill-up. For a gas station to lose 150 litres of gas per year on an average annual sales volume of 2,200,000 litres is inconsequential.

Even if we use the numbers that were quoted in a recent allnovascotia.com article about Wayne Pace losing $100/week from his two gas stations, that is $50/week per station. Or, about the 50 litre average drive-off figure that I used earlier. Based on the average 2,200,000 litres a year figure, this $50 loss results in about 50 litres out of over 42,000 litres sold every week. That is 0.0012% of sales volume. Granted, the 50 litres that were stolen represent about twenty times that amount in terms of sales the station has to make to pay for the stolen gas, at a 5% profit margin. That still makes this a 2.4% profit problem, which has been solved with provincial gas price regulation, which has been proven to increase gas prices about 2 cents per litre, or about 2.4% of today's $0.85/litre price.

All businesses have losses due to theft from retail customers, whether it is shoplifting, non-payment after receiving the good or service, or stopping payment on a cheque that was written in advance of receiving the good. If someone wants to steal from you, they will find a way. Punishing the literal 99.9% of gas customers who pay for their gas seems heavy-handed to reduce a problem that is common to all businesses, regardless of their industry.

If rural gas stations have less of a problem with gas theft, then the pressure for them to upgrade their pumps to take credit card payment is less than it would be for urban stations, who reportedly have a bigger gas theft problem. This reduces the argument for the legislation, since the station owners who cannot afford the pump upgrade are apparently not as significant victims of this crime.

In my opinion, there is already plenty of legislation for gas stations. Adding another law to control consumer behaviour is unnecessary. If gas stations provide the pay-at-the-pump option as a convenience to their customer and it also reduces their loss due to theft, then it is a win-win. If the station owner chooses to not provide that service, then they reap the results of that business decision.

This is not even mentioning the legislation that gasoline is sold by volume, based on 15 degrees Celsius. Check out my post on that issue from last February.

Ben & Jerry's new flavor

2009-02-22T17:54:00.004-04:00

Apparently Ben & Jerry's has invented a new ice cream flavour in honour of the new American president, it's called "Yes Pecan", a play on words of Obama's slogan "Yes We Can".

According to Keith Olbermann on MSNBC's Countdown -- one of my favourite shows on TV -- they are not considering a new flavour named after George W. Bush's tenure in the White House. I would say W.'s presidency, but let's be real: he wasn't in charge, Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld ran the show.

Here are Countdown's fictitious and hilarious Dubya-inspired ice cream flavours:

Abu Grape
Nut 'N' Accomplished
Iraqi Road
Wire Tap-ioca
Im-Peach Cobbler
Im-Peach Mint
Housing Crunch
Credit Crunch
Chunky Monkey-In-Chief (now a bit uncomfortable, given the recent New York Post cartoon and Countdown's response to the ensuing scandal)
W.M.D.-Licious
Heckuva Job Brownie
Grape Depression
I Broke the Law and Am Responsible For the Deaths of Thousands, WITH NUTS!

Thanks for a great show, Keith!

Rainmen lost a Heartbreaker to Vermont, 100-98

2009-02-21T20:55:00.000-04:00

Strick was doing a passable impression of Rob Sanders, getting under the net and drawing fouls. Unfortunately, he was only 25% from the line.

Crook and Jeanty both had double-doubles, but Eric did not have a good night for free throws.

That is the story of the game: decent performances but not enough, especially from the line. Since Vermont was giving us lots of chances for charity points, maybe we should have sent AJ, Tony and Brian (who shot 14-18, including AJ's 5-5 from the line vs. Strick and Crook who were 3-18) to the hoop more to draw fouls. Just an amateur's opinion.

I am not sure why AJ only got 14 minutes, other than we are full of 4's and kinda 5's, so coach has to make a decision about who gets the minutes. Certainly, AJ was the best player on the Groove (which goes back to my thoughts about the best player on a poor team), but he should have a place here in Halifax. AJ was scoring 31 points a game while playing and average 37 minutes in Augusta, 10 more points average than Randy Gill, with the same playing time. AJ has talent, we need to fit him into the system.

Hammack must feel like the third person on a date, since Jimmy, Tony and Zach have been filling up the backcourt since Coach Berry's arrival. Once again, lots of talent at the 1 and 2, too many guys to fill the spots.

I wish our team was more balanced (so much for Lewis as a GM). I think the old way of recruiting for the Rainmen was, "He's good, let's sign him," with not a lot of thought about the existing make-up of the team. Look at the official website (which needs updating BTW. No mention of Berry and Sanders is still on the team): We are stacked with power forwards and what we really need are a centre who will mix it up and push his way around and a second shooter behind Silverhorn.

Either we need to work with the guys who are already on the roster at those positions (Tyronne and Glen) or we need to get replacements. At this point in the season, it is probably too late, but we need to address team balance next season.

Rainmen Ticket Prices

2009-02-20T12:31:00.001-04:00

Interesting article in the March 2 issue of Canadian Business: “All Seats Must Go”. The subtitle is “Slashing ticket prices in the short term may attract more fans, but not in the long run.” The article by Andy Holloway is about the NHL, but I think it is relevant for all pro sports teams, especially in today’s economic climate. A lengthy excerpt:

“The NHL, unlike North America’s other three big sports leagues, doesn’t have a lucrative television deal. It’s still a ticket-driven business, with roughly 55% of revenue coming from getting paying bums in seats, so the temptation will be to cut prices if people stop going to the games. But while lowering prices midway through the season — or offering special deals, such as free concessions, parking or merchandise — might attract some, it could also adversely affect the team’s existing relationship with season ticket-holders or fans who bought tickets in advance. ‘You have to keep the integrity of season tickets’, says Doug MacLean, a former NHL general manager and currently an analyst on Sportsnet’s ‘Hockeycentral Tonight’.”

“Someone who has plunked down $25,000 for a pair of season tickets isn’t going to be happy when he starts to realize his seat neighbour is paying far less. The security of having tickets to the big games in advance only goes so far. Not only that, the number of annual paying customers is a key metric for improving other revenue streams. ‘The value of the ticket is very important in selling your franchise to corporate sponsors and radio and television,’ says MacLean.”

“Then again, if the number of empty seats continues to grow, concession sales suffer and corporate sponsors may start wondering why they’re spending any money at the arena at all.”

These are all points that have been brought up over the past season. Ticket price integrity is important to season ticket-holders. While the Rainmen front office has been responsive to some ideas, such as including season ticket-holders in BOGO, this article may give them some food for thought.

Goodbye Rob, Hello AJ!

2009-02-14T15:28:00.001-04:00

The Rainmen defeated the Detroit Panthers last night, 100-89. If not for us losing one of the best players in the PBL and Detroit snagging one of the other best players in the league, this would have been a 20-30 point win, not an 11-point win. As for Randy Gill (ex of the Montreal Sasquatch), this was one time where the fans actually got into his head and he started blowing it, as did his teammates. I use that term loosely, because they were yelling at each other in almost every huddle at the bench. Gill does not seem to be a happy person, maybe his sunshine-y spirit is catching and the team will spiral even further down from here. I suspect Gill will regret signing with that team. If he becomes available, please please please DO NOT SIGN GILL!

Another player who was the whole team, ex-Augusta Groove forward AJ Milien is another Patriots-inspired signing. He took us to school in the pre-season, so when he became available, we signed him. Well done, Andre!

I just hope we don’t end up with an embarrassment of riches. We are almost at that point anyway. What I mean is we have so many talented players that not all of them get the minutes they deserve and they would get the minutes if they were on a weaker team. The result can be player frustration as well as losing their edge. Coach Berry has more to teach these guys than just X’s-and-O’s.

The best Rainmen players are probably used to being the best guy on the floor with any previous team they were on, now they are part of an ensemble cast, and egos may take a bit of a beating. Unless the players take on the New England Patriot mindset that it’s all about winning a championship but not necessarily being the guy with the most minutes, then we may see some defections to other teams where they can be the star, with the hope of being discovered.

IMO, a player has a better chance of being discovered by playing on a good team than being the standout on a poor team. It’s easy to be the best player on a crap team. Who do you have more respect for: Randy Moss or Chad Ocho Cinco? Randy is on a great team (Patriots) and plays well for them. Chad is on a perennial stinker of a team (Bengals) and doesn’t play well, despite his talent, because his teammates aren’t up to the task of matching his play. Sorry for the football references, but I follow the NFL more than I do the NBA.

Thoughts on the Rainmen's Schedule and Venue

2009-02-12T12:08:00.003-04:00

Some other fans have brought up a couple ideas for the Rainmen, namely more games (3 a week) and a change of venue (Halifax Forum or Dartmouth Sportsplex). While I like the idea of more games in the same time frame, 3 games a week is too many for me as a fan. I have a life to live and a family to raise (not to mention the activities my kids are in), so there is no way I could commit to going 3 times a week, every week. Besides the time commitment, the cost of my 4 season ticket seats 3 times a week would get very expensive and I can’t see anyone buying season tickets for that intense a schedule, for this level of basketball. Not meaning the level of play is not worth the ticket price, but for our family, $300+ per week would add up pretty quick. I think you would have a lot more fan turnover, which increases the chances of fans not returning. That is why most sports franchises give discounts plus a lot of perks to their season ticket holders, because they are guaranteed sales.

Last season’s schedule was great: 18 home games over a few months gives fans a chance to schedule the Rainmen into their lives. 10 games, with breaks of a few weeks in between home stands, is too short. Just think how successful the Rainmen business could have been if we would have another 8 home games this year, with average attendance up like 50% from last season?

As for Metro Centre vs. another venue, we have already talked about this in Section 22/23. The Metro Centre has got to be the place. We are doing well attendance-wise and this will only increase, with a solid coach and more player talent than last season. If the Rainmen could handle the venue costs through the hardest part of establishing the team’s identity, it would be a mistake to now go to a smaller venue.

The Forum and Sportsplex are a big step down, as venues go, not just in size but in appearance, amenities, and overall feel. If we want the Rainmen to fail, send them to either of these places. A lot of people in Halifax will not go to Dartmouth — don’t get me started on that issue — and the Forum is so decrepit that a lot of people wouldn’t go there either, especially at current ticket prices. I know the team would save money, but at what cost? If we had started in the Forum and moved up to the Metro Centre this year, that would be one thing, but I honestly cannot see the long-term benefits of moving to a smaller location, especially if the D-League is a real goal for the Rainmen. For a city of 400,000, we should be able to put 4,000+ people in the stands every game. That is the difference between us and most other PBL teams: we have the population base to be very successful, once the public learns about the Rainmen. With Coach Berry and this year’s crop of players, we have the capability to really grow.

Rainmen Ticket Prices

2009-02-10T12:40:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday's game features $5 tickets for children, resulting in an attendance of 4,012 -- the largest since our team's inaugural game. I think it is smart to have cheap seats for kids, say age 12 and under, because it gets them in the building. Once they are inside, they spend way more than the difference in the seat price in concessions and maybe even Rainmen gear. Plus, as cigarette advertisers know, get consumers’ loyalty while they are young and you have a better chance of keeping their loyalty for years.

One other thing, season ticket holders should not be paying 24% more than someone walking in off the street. I hope the front office looks into that for the coming season. I don’t mind paying as much as a single ticket buyer if there are benefits, but this is one area that the organization is a bit behind the curve. The meet & greet with the players before the season was a good start, but there needs to be more attention paid to this.

The Rainmen should offer cheaper season tickets and more meaningful benefits to faithful fans. The benefits don’t have to cost a lot.

A few ideas:
- Include season ticket holders in the 2-for-1 nights, or give them a free ticket near their season seats for one game to invite a friend and maybe get that new person to buy season tickets next year. I brought 2 friends last year who ended up buying 3 seats this year. It works.

- 1 free piece of Rainmen gear, either T-shirt or hat, or half-price hoodie, for every season ticket seat as well as discounts on additional purchases of Rainmen gear. This is probably the best way to increase the Rainmen’s visibility, especially among kids who would wear them to school, not to mention making the stands look Rainmen blue. Watch US college or major league sports and the stands that are full of fans wearing their team’s colours make a difference. It’s all about the fan’s sense of belonging to the team and building their loyalty, not to mention the psychological power it would have on the visiting teams.

- More season-ticket-holder-only events. These don’t have to be expensive, and if there was a cost to attend, keep it under $10/person and provide value for that money. Better options would be the “Season Ticket Holder Experience” events that don’t cost anything, like an afternoon with the Rainmen where kids would have some court time with the players. How cool would that be?

- A free program! I bought programs every game last year, despite having virtually no new information in each issue. This year, I can’t even find someone who sells them. I think a free program for season ticket holders is a cheap way to keep them informed during the games.

- Your seats guaranteed, available to buy for playoffs. This goes without saying.

- Ticket exchange privileges: if you can’t make a game, you can switch tickets for extras to a game you can attend.

- A ticket donation program to get unused tickets into the hands of deserving children and charities and give the season ticket holder a tax deduction. I have not used all of my tickets and it is a shame that the seats go unused.

- Discounts on purchases from team sponsors. This is a win-win situation, increasing visibility for companies as sponsors of the Rainmen and helping their corporate citizen image.

- How about free face painting for season ticket holders before the games? Let’s get creative here!

- A sit-in session with new Coach Les Berry, in a Chalk Talk event? I know a lot of people who post on here would love to get an “insider” appreciation for Coach Berry’s strategies.

- Honorary Ball Kid. Have a lottery to choose season ticket holding children to be able to rebound balls for the Rainmen during pre-game warmups.

Most of these are essentially free or very low cost to the team and would add significantly to the “Season Ticket Holder Experience.”

It's The New Rainmen, Baby!

2009-02-09T12:50:00.004-04:00

Last night's game was the most rewarding I have seen as a Rainmen fan. Halifax finally beat their nemesis, the Vermont Frost Heaves, 108-97. After a slow start under new coach Les Berry, the Rainmen pulled ahead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead. There were are few mis-steps in the very early minutes, evidence of minimal practice time under Berry, who came in mid-week to replace outgoing coach Rick Lewis. The increased load of plays and different coaching style took a bit for the Rainmen to get used to, but once they did, Berry's leadership -- and the players' talent -- showed through.

As I said last night, this is The New Rainmen! Maybe PR should latch onto that, to wipe away the stain of the past little while.

If Berry takes a technical every game, I wouldn't mind, just don't get tossed.

Berry seemed to bring an assistant coach with him. I hope the Rainmen keep a place for Shannon Hansen, he is a super nice guy and he was very diplomatic when we were chatting after the game. He has said in an interview that he wants to be in Hali for a while, I hope he has a place at the New Rainmen table.

There is a new lineup that seems to be taking place, with almost no time for Lewis favourite Glenn Dandridge, Kevin Hammack or fan favourite John Strickland. Berry has favourites, and they appear to be David Bailey, Rob Sanders, Tony Bennett, and Brian Silverhorn. In my opinion, these guys deserve the increased time they got last night. Veterans like Eric Crookshank and Jimmy Twyman also played well, but their roles are being changed to fit into the new coach's system. I hope they recognize that team comes first, I am sure they will, since they have stuck with the Rainmen since last season.

Berry was losing his mind at the showoff plays that seem to be minor league ball's trademark: length-of-court Hail Mary passes for a break, no-look cross-court passes, and other flashy stuff that is great when it works and deflating when it doesn't. Unfortunately, the Rainmen's adrenaline seemed to be running a bit high and a few of their showy plays did not go well. I think Berry probably had a stern talk with them post-game. There is no need to give up possessions on stray no-look passes, especially against Vermont, who are no slouches.

Remember, gents, we are not the Globetrotters; more importantly, our opponents are not the Washington Generals who are paid to lose every time. While I enjoy huge dunks and no-looks as much as the next fan (which is obvious, since apparently, I am sitting close to the webcast microphone!), I would much rather see a W with good play and some showy stuff than an L with too much flash.

A note to congratulate the Heaves on having the most dedicated fans ever. It was good to see them, and impressive that they drove 19 hours straight from Buffalo, New York to watch their team. They logged a total of 41 hours of driving time to watch 96 minutes of basketball. That is commitment.

The BBC (Bailey's Brew Crew) will be meeting at the Elephant & Castle before Friday's game and after Sunday's game for some team spirit time. The E & C will have food and drink specials on for both those times, so it will be an affordable chance to get together with other fans and maybe even some players after Sunday's game. Wear your Rainmen gear!

Plus, the incomparable Dunc13 will be in Hali for these games, so fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the show from Section 23!

The King Is Dead, Long Live The King!

2009-02-04T12:03:00.003-04:00

Some pretty incredible news in the past couple days. Andre Levingston has fired coach Rick Lewis and is on the hunt for a coach who will prepare the team "to contend for a championship". Shannon Hanson, the Rainmen Assistant Coach since Day 1, is the interim head coach. After one and a half seasons as the Assistant Coach, I think Shannon deserves a chance. His patience at being Lewis’ subordinate for that long should be repaid. Best of luck Shannon, I look forward to seeing what you can do!

Andre made it plain that he wants a coach who will lead the Rainmen to a championship. Way to go, Andre!

Metro newspaper asks whether Eric Crookshank will be brought back into the active roster, now that Rick Lewis is gone. Eric should be brought back immediately. If, as Chad Lucas says, we need to finish 7-2 for a realistic chance at the playoffs, then why wouldn’t we plug EC in right away?

In other news, Rodney Mayes was let go from the team. I think the writing was on the wall for Mayes when he was given the #20 jersey. I feel bad for him that the notice about his release was tacked on the end of the story about Lewis being fired.

So will Andre take over as GM? Coach and GM are two different jobs and Lewis had both of them. If Andre can find a talented individual, could that guy wear both hats? Given the shortness of the season, he probably could.

One last thing: Part of me feels like this is an Obama Taking Office moment. Just as the TV pundits (Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, etc.) are scrambling for content after Bush left, with a new coach, what will this blog be like with no one to complain about?

A Letter to Andre Levingston, Rainmen team owner

2009-02-02T12:34:00.002-04:00

Dear Andre,

It pains me to have to write this letter to you. After reading about Cordell Jeanty's benching in the newspaper today, I have to wonder: How can the Rainmen front office continue to stick their heads in the sand? Andre, you are a successful businessman, aren't you? How can you not see that Lewis is messing up so much that this team, as a business, may not last long enough to make it to next season?

With only a handful of home games left, what the Rainmen need is a total transformation from a team with talent that can't win the tough games into a talented team that has a chance to win it all. The real answer is THE COACH HAS TO GO.

Andre, other professional sports teams fire their coaches all the time. When the talent on the field exceeds the talent on the sideline but the team still falters, it is obvious what part of the equation has to change.

Andre, do what is best for the business. Emotions are not part of it, look how negative emotions hurt the business with Lewis punishing talented players for daring to question his authority. The players are punished but it is the team, the fans, and ultimately your bottom line that will suffer.

As a player and coach myself, I used to give Lewis the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes players have to be reminded who is the coach and who is the player. However, in his parting comments to the newspaper, SirVal merely expressed what all of us fans have been saying for a long time now, in conversations with each other and on Section 23, Chris Parson's blog (which is the main source of news and opinion about the Rainmen). Lewis is the obstacle to the Rainmen's success. With all of the recent negative press about the Rainmen, people who are just learning about the Rainmen are getting a lot of reasons to decide against buying tickets, let alone buying any merchandise.

I personally had two friends buy season tickets this year, based on my bringing them to a couple games last year with my season tickets (which I renewed). One of these friends, a regular commenter on the Section 23 blog, has seriously wondered aloud to me about getting a refund. If he is thinking like that -- and he is a basketball fan, an athlete, and a coach -- imagine what a casual observer must think about the Rainmen and whether to even attend a single game or not. This all adds up to losses for the Rainmen and I am not just talking about the score at the end of each game.

How about next year? With Crookshank and Jeanty -- two talented and experienced players -- being benched over coaching disputes with Lewis, if the coach is still with the team next year, how many new recruits will you get?

Halifax has the potential to be the most successful team in the league. We have the population, the venue, and the talent on the court. What we don't have is the coach to bring success to the team. It would deeply sadden me as well as a lot of other fans in Halifax to see the Rainmen fail because of Rick Lewis.

Andre, if it has to be about the dollars and cents, then so be it. Lewis must go.

Thank you for bringing the Rainmen to Halifax. I sincerely hope you make the necessary decision to further the team's success and its future in Halifax.

Best regards,

Phil Kempton

Rainmen Fall in Manchester and to Third in Division

2009-02-02T11:37:00.006-04:00

Metro newspaper has a story about the game in which, once again, Lewis blames the recent losses to Vermont and Manchester on the players having “lapses”.

Here is Merriam-Webster’s definition of lapse, with my comments thrown in for free:
1 a: a slight error typically due to forgetfulness or inattention (Lewis' inattention during games is what is making them lose)
b: a temporary deviation or fall especially from a higher to a lower state (like from first in our division to third in two games?)
2: a becoming less : decline (we have certainly seen a decline since EC was benched)
3 a (1): the termination of a right or privilege through neglect to exercise it within some limit of time (Lewis has neglected to properly use the talent he has been given, time to terminate his rights and privileges as coach)
(2): termination of coverage for nonpayment of premiums b: interruption , discontinuance (benching two of your best players and giving the team to a mid-season replacement is a good was to INSURE that your players resent and mistrust you as a coach)
4: an abandonment of religious faith (there are definitely some fans who have lost their faith in the Rainmen, and some players too, so I hear)
5: a passage of time ; also : interval (everyone outside the Rainmen front office agree that Lewis' time has passed. Time for some new blood in coach and GM!)

Benching 2 of your strongest players and not really coaching during the games are the real reasons the Rainmen lose these types of matches.

At this point, I am waiting for players to start leaving of their own free will. We will see how attendance is for the rest of the home games. My guess is that semi-interested fans will give up on the Rainmen, if they read these news stories at all.

Hey Lewis, when you have a problem with everyone around you, it is probably not the others who are the problem.

Rainmen drop a winnable game to Vermont, 122-110

2009-02-01T08:14:00.002-04:00

Given Vermont inconsistency this year and despite our inconsistency (!), we could have beaten Vermont. From what I gather the officiating was so bad that the webcast announcers were commenting on it, the fact remains that Coach Rick Lewis cannot get the job done. Vermont's coach Will Voigt proved again that he is the superior coach, which isn't too hard. Rick Lewis has decided that the saviour of the team is a guy who flew in on Thursday. He is already Lewis' go-to guy in the crunch, despite having virtually no practice time with the Rainmen. With decent PGs like Hammack and Ramey already on the team, why do we have a new guy who is like Patrice O’Neal from our first season: hogging the ball and taking too many shots himself when all we need is a few more seconds to develop the play? Of course, that strategy only works when we have more than one play.

I gave Lewis the benefit of the doubt last year as a rookie coach with a first-year team, but with the talent on this year’s squad, his shortcomings as a coach are even more embarrassing, not to mention his miscues as a GM, tripling up on a certain position (PG) and leaving others (a true centre) woefully inadequate.

It’s almost like he is not yet finished reading the Basketball Coaching For Dummies book. I think he stopped at the page on PT where it says to make the players run up and down the court and to practice their verts. He needs to skip to the end of the book where it says how to win against teams that are as good as yours or better in order to actually make the playoffs. And eat humble pie and re-instate Eric Crookshank.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome John Strickland!

2009-01-26T12:48:00.002-04:00

With the addition of the 36-year-old former Harlem Globetrotter, the Rainmen now have a new play: the Strick and Roll.

John Strickland is definitely an asset to the Rainmen.
1) His showmanship: his no-look passes (including making binoculars out of his hands on the way back down the court), his speech to the fans after the game, and how he reacted to our cheering for him by cheering himself on with a pat on his behind;
2 His outspokenness: during one shift, he didn’t stop talking on his way past the timekeeper table, to the referee, to the opposing coach, and finally to himself in mid-court — he talked to more people during the game than Lewis did;
3) His apparent spirituality (he crosses himself twice every time he is defending);
4) His obvious high basketball IQ and leadership on the floor, directing players to where they should be to score — and they did last night, thanks to his coaching during the game.

Welcome to Halifax, Strick!

In other news:
I saw a couple of possible reasons why SirVal has moved around so much during his career: (at least one) airball 3-point attempt that was an unnecessary shot and an instance where he lost his cool, complete with shouting expletives, at being called for a foul in the paint. Greed and Anger are two sins that no athlete can show on the playing field and survive. SirVal, please use your head and just show us your talent, not your temper.

EC Suspension Watch:
I stuck around for a bit after the game to see the start of the high school game. By the way, the Rainmen should really have promoted that there was a local high school game immediately after theirs last night. More people might have stuck around. Anyway, I observed Eric greet Lewis with a big brohug and there were smiles all around. They chatted for a couple of minutes, then Eric moved on to greet some Rainmen. It struck me as a bit odd to see them so chummy, considering Lewis ended Eric’s season and must have hurt Eric’s reputation around basketball circles. Anyway, just thought I would post it.

Free Big Mac? Yeah right!:
McDonald’s will never have to make good on their 15 three-pointer Big Mac offer. Never. We were 4 for 26 last night. At that rate, the Rainmen will have to attempt 98three-pointers to score 15 of them! McDonald’s is getting great free advertising from this one. As Chris902 said last night, maybe if the Rainmen score 15 three-pointers, each of the fans should get a car.

The truth finally comes out

2009-01-23T15:37:00.004-04:00

From Chris Parsons' Section 23 blog:

"Apparently there was no physical confrontation between Eric and anyone else. It was 100% verbal. Eric was benched because he told Lewis during a timeout that he feels that they should be running the high pick and roll with Sanders, not him. Lewis blew up on him and told him to sit on the bench.

After the game in the locker room Crookshank said he thinks that they need to get their best guys on the floor and Lewis snapped on him. This goes along with what a lot of people have told me - no one feels like they can actually talk openly about the team in the locker room, on the bench, or in practice. Lewis has a feeling that he has to control everything and any discussion undermines his authority."

That certainly sounds more believable than the most recent story of Eric taking a swing at teammate Brian Silverhorn. Honestly, I had trouble thinking Eric would throw punches, especially at a second-year teammate.

If this is the case, I think the honourable thing for Lewis to do would be resign and let Shannon take over coaching the team. If Lewis doesn't resign, then Levingston must make the executive decision that is best for the organization and fire Lewis. If it eases front office feelings, make it a soft sell (leaving for personal commitments, whatever you want to say) to preserve Lewis' reputation (?!?) and try to salvage the remainder of the season.

IMO, Lewis doesn't deserve to stay with the Rainmen, after privately over-reacting and then publicly throwing Eric under the bus, but Andre has always come across as a gentleman and he would probably have a hard time openly humiliating the coach/GM.

If they act now, we can still do well this season, maybe even make the playoffs. And as anyone who has been watching this year's NFL playoffs will attest, any team can win in the playoffs. That is what is best for the players, best for the fans and best for the Rainmen organization.

Halifax Rainmen lose in Vermont 106-99

2009-01-17T13:10:00.002-04:00

A few highlights: The Rainmen were within a few points for much of the game, especially at the end, but still lost; Eric Crookshank's #20 was worn by Rodney Mayes (uh oh); Dandridge continued his poor performance, with 40 minutes playing time, despite only shooting 33% and giving up 11 turnovers!

It looked to me like just about every game the Rainmen played last year - on the verge of winning, just keeping up, and then losing in the last minute despite being within a bucket or two. Sure sign of a coach who doesn’t know how to use the talent on the court.

Is Dandridge this season’s Booyer (except he is active) - a coach favourite but not living up to the hype?

I think re-assigning Eric’s number is a) in poor taste, since the suspension just happened, b) short-sighted, since the Rainmen want #20 to go to schools and talk to kids, c) a pretty good sign that Eric is toast with the Rainmen, d) stupid PR move since fans may still want to wear the jerseys they bought to show loyalty to Eric but still be Rainmen fans - those are not mutually exclusive, e) all of the above.

The correct answer is: e) all of the above.

Thanks for the great play-by-play Chris. Good for those of us who didn’t listen to the game.

"Like sands through the hourglass...

2009-01-15T21:58:00.004-04:00

So go the players of our team." Apologies to Days of Our Lives. We are back on the roller coaster roster of last season.

So now that Eric Crookshank is suspended with no one from the Rainmen saying why, there has been furious speculation on Section 23 as to the real reasons behind the furor.

It seems like the real reason leaked out, through the many, many fan posts on Section 23. Eric had words (probably very strong words) with the coach and Boom Goes The Dynamite, he's suspended for the remaining 80% OF THE SEASON!

Wow, not bad! Less than a day and a half from Chris’ post to a fan solving the crime! By the way, I thought it was Rick Lewis in the Conservatory with the Lead Pipe.

Veteran fans will remember that The Lewis has favourites and there was a mole in the house last year. I don’t know what The Lewis has on Andre to stay on here at the expense of the team, but it had better be good.

On Section 23, Chris posted some true comedy:

"How on earth is he going to talk to kids about decision making and consequences if he can’t say what he did?

Eric: *after 20 minutes of talking* And that children is why no matter how well things are going for you, you always have to be accountable for your actions. Does anyone have any questions?
Child: ummm… but what did you do that you had to be accountable for?
Eric: That is an internal matter and will be dealt with inside the organization."

Satire -- I love it.

IMO, a baseball coach and PT expert does not a basketball coach make, no matter how close he is to the owner. So I guess that is my thought on what has to change to fix the Rainmen.

In terms of sacrifices of pay and time lost, Eric is still getting paid. The season is only 3 months long anyway, and Eric loves Hali. I believe he has called it his second home. Eric could very likely want to stay here for personal reasons, read girlfriend.

Either the real reason for the suspension is huge and the Rainmen are sheltering Eric as well as his reputation and career and Eric is standing up and being repentant for his mistake, in which case, hooray for everyone; OR Eric is taking one for the team, after standing up to an outclassed tyrant and he is toeing the party line for a longer-term deal with the team to stay in Hali, ’cause we’re so lovable. I don’t know who to cheer for in that scenario.

The hero in all of this is Rainmen PR head Nancy Sheppard, who has obviously coached the three men involved (Eric, The Lewis and Andre) in how to circle the wagons.

Unfortunately for the Rainmen, this blog (’cause it is truly so awesome) has perpetuated significant fan speculation. That cannot be good for the Rainmen. Somehow I think they are trying to save face (whose face, I am not sure as of yet) and in doing so, they remain inscrutable to the point of hurting the organization. At least, that is how I see it right now. I am sure that when the facts come to light — if they haven’t already on Section 23, thanks to Lila — everyone will wish it had been handled differently.

To replace Eric at centre, the Rainmen have signed 37 year old John Strickland, a journeyman if ever there was one. At 6'8" and 275 pounds, Strick will be a lot of man to move under the net. Let's just hope he has the fitness to keep up. That means that young Tyronne McNeal is gone. McNeal only played a handful of minutes and was never given much of a chance to get used to playing for the Rainmen.

So much for Lewis being able to develop young players. Remember that was the selling point for choosing him as coach before last season? Ask Derico Wigginton how well his player development went last year. Better yet, don't ask him, he probably wants to forget the whole thing ever happened.

Despite the touting of Lewis as a PT specialist who can develop young players, history has shown that if a player cannot fall into the Lewis program immediately, he rides the pines and/or is booted. To me, this is code for Lewis is bossy and doesn't take any argument from his players. It's his way or the highway. Older, more experienced players would do well to shut up, keep their heads down and hope for some scout to see them and whisk them away to a better-coached team. Eric finally had enough and look what it got him.

Latest developments with the Rainmen

2009-01-14T13:46:00.005-04:00

The Rainmen have started their season at 3-1, with the one loss happening last Sunday. All of the games have been close, with single digit differences in the final scores each time. The Rainmen's loss to Montreal was a direct result of Eric Crookshank, one of the Rainmen's leading players, being benched for about half the game.

On Monday, the Metro newspaper reported what seemed to be a disagreement between Coach Rick Lewis and Crookshank. It is hard to believe the team would want to air out its dirty laundry in public. Anyway, it seemed like a blip until today, when the same paper reported that Eric Crookshank is now suspended for the season, with pay! What?!?

Oh man. What a PR nightmare the Crookshank suspension will be. He is the face of the team, he is announced at the games as “Halifax’s own”, and he is a personable guy to boot.

If #20 isn’t on the court, expect new fans of this season to stay home in droves, especially kids.

Without Crookshank, I can see the Rainmen repeating last year’s record of 0.375, especially since Brian Silverhorn, the Rainmen's outside shooter, is out with a bad knee. Ugh.

Why do I feel like a Chicago Cubs fan all of a sudden?

Patriots 2008 Season Post-Mortem

2009-01-10T20:08:00.007-04:00

Going 11-5 and not making the playoffs because of Brett Favre makes me ill. Long story short, the Pats did very well this year and could have won the division, if Favre and the Jets had beaten the Dolphins in the final week of the season, but Favre's 38-year-old arm was not up to the task. Matt Cassell ensured his multi-millionaire status with a near Brady-esque performance all season. The Pats are likely to put the franchise tag on him to make sure either a) they can keep him if Brady's off-season rehab doesn't go as well as expected, or b) they can actually get something for him if another team wants Cassell bad enough.

Injuries made it an uphill battle this year for the Pats, even after the devastating first-quarter-of-first-game end of the season for QB Tom Brady. Other notable injuries during the season included Rodney Harrison and Adalius Thomas on defence and Laurence Maroney on offence, although the backfield was plenty full with Kevin Faulk, Sammy Morris, and LaMont Jordan sharing the ground attack duties. Even Junior Seau came out of retirement, along with late-season replacement (and former Patriot) Roosevelt Colvin, to fill out the defence. Speaking of defence, rookie Jerod Mayo won the Defensive Rookie of the Year honours. Mayo was a bright spot on an ageing defence, that needs new life next year if they are going to keep up with opponents' offensive lines.

My man Wes Welker -- one of two Patriots who were selected for the 2009 Pro Bowl, along with kicker Stephen Gostkowski -- almost broke his receptions record from last year, falling short (no pun intended) by only one catch. If not for the 2008 Snow Bowl against Arizona and the Wind Bowl against the Bills, he certainly would have broken the Patriots receptions record that he set last season.

Speaking of weather, Bill Belichick weathered the critics who believed his success was due to Brady's greatness. True, Belichick has enjoyed coaching in the Brady era, including being named the NFL Coach of the Year for last season's 16-0 record, but I think this year showed that Bill has improved since his time with the Cleveland Browns, when his team went 36-44 over 5 seasons, with only one winning season in that period. In his 9 years at New England, Belichick has a record of 102-42, or 0.708 winning record, with a post-season record of 14-3, or 0.824, including 3 Super Bowl championships. His 11-5 record this season is 0.688, or just below his average with the Pats. Although there is talk of some of his coaching staff leaving for other opportunities, Belichick will withstand these changes and will continue to prove that he is one of the best coaches in NFL history.

It will be difficult to watch the playoffs without the Patriots, but it is still football and every game is a must-win, so it should make for some exciting games.

Rainmen beat Kebs in Home Opener, 124-112

2009-01-10T20:00:00.006-04:00

It’s good to see the Rainmen dominate Quebec, who had our number last season. The fact that we beat the Kebs in almost every area of the game augers well for the coming year.

The PBL box score is fantastic! I liked the play-by-play and the stats on turnover, second chance and bench points. So that’s what a real league is like…

Good chemistry between most of the Rainmen, it seems like some of them are actually friends. Having a double-digit lead for much of the game also helps boost team spirit.

Eric: the most obvious game changer and team leader. When Coach put Eric back on to re-capture the energy on the floor, the game changed back to the Rainmen’s favour. After the game, Eric announced that they want to bring a championship to Halifax. I think they might do just that!

Rob Sanders/”Shoulders”: just about knocked a guy out driving to the net; once he lowers that shoulder, count on him scoring.

Jimmy: the most consistent point guard we have, who also happened to score 15 points.

Dandridge: not his best game, hopefully he gets back to his former three-point draining self for Sunday.

Silverhorn: was not in his usual shooter position, but mixed it up under the net and scored from the FT line. With Dandridge as an alternate shooter, I thought this role went alright for Brian.

SirVal: OK, maybe he isn’t the second-highest scoring athlete in NCAA anymore, but I was impressed with his athleticism, in particular the grab he made of a pass that was behind him as he crossed the floor. Let’s give him some space and see how he performs before we write him off.

Hammack: up and down game for him, impressive at times but 2 flubbed passes took the air out of our sails for a bit.

Cordell “Ce n’est pas” Jeanty: like Dandridge, seemed a bit off for this game.

David Bailey: probably going to be the player to be voted Most Like KD. He makes things happen, but isn’t the superstar. Also, he is a nice guy in person.

McNeal: who knew our 7-footer could sink the long shot? However, would like to see him mix it up more around the net and use his size to back other guys off.

Ramey and Mayes: didn’t see enough of them to make an impression, sorry.

Coaching: Certainly improved from last year. Subbed in the bench when we had the game in hand but were not afraid to replace them with starters to ensure the win.

Quebec Coach: Apparently selling Benz’s didn’t work out, he was sporting a Honda shirt. The Fit is Go! hahahaha

P.S. the Quebec assistant coach looked like an extra from the Godfather movies; nice tie, buddy!

Officials: Will the officials ever give a technical for coaches being on the court will play is on? Sure doesn’t seem like they will.

Production: At half-time, the electrical cord that rose to the rafters in front of my seat was moved, thank you to whoever made that happen in my absence.

Seemed like everyone was still feeling their way, production-wise and the Weather Girls (only one veteran from last year) were pretty disappointing. They need to either be a presence or be disbanded. Why are they not shaking their pompoms under the net when the opponents are shooting? I still think they should be leading some cheers and otherwise engaging with the audience, rather than simply walking in a group everywhere like the popular girls in high school.

There were 19 people sitting at the courtside tables (PR, game officials, media types), versus about half that number last year. It looked like they were having an economic summit to try and solve the credit crisis, or something. Just seemed like a lot of people.

Paul Palmeter is no Mavs Gillis.

Barack Obama makes history

2008-11-05T09:46:00.004-04:00

Last night at 1:15 AM Atlantic Standard Time is one of those times of my life that I will probably remember for a long time, one of those "Where were you when it happened?" moments. That was the time of Barack Obama's speech in front of hundreds of thousands of people in Chicago.

Obama became the first black man to be elected president of the United States. I think this really marks a turning point in US history, given that nation's record of slavery and systemic racism against minorities.

Obama's victory makes the old adage that "anyone can become President" ring truer than ever. I think Obama's status as a black man who was not descended from people who were taken in the slave trade made it possible for him to ascend to America's highest office. He was not a direct product of colonial slavery even though he has lived with its after-effects his whole life.

My greatest fear of this election before last night was that the "shadowy men" who have run the US for the past 8 years would somehow rig this election as they have the last two, with voter fraud in 2000 and blatant fear-mongering in 2004. What last night's assembly in Chicago showed me and the rest of the world was that Obama's message resonates with Americans and his quest for the White House would not be denied.

As most people probably feel this morning, I am hopeful for the next 4 years. With Democrats in control of the executive and legislative branches of the government, they can make real progress toward repairing the debauchery of Bush Jr.'s reign.

From Jon Hamm's appearance on SNL

2008-11-03T19:55:00.002-04:00

Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women

• Step 1:
When in doubt, remain absolutely silent.

• Step 2:
When asked about your past, give vague, open ended answers.

• Step 3:
Have a great name.

• Step 4:
Look fantastic in a suit.

Look fantastic in casual wear.

Look fantastic in anything.

Sound good.

Smell good.

Kiss good.

Strut around with supreme confidence.

Be uncannily successful at your job.

Blow people away everytime you say anything.

Take six hour lunches.

Disappear for weeks at a time.

Lie to everyone about everything.

Drink and smoke constantly.

…basically, be Don Draper.

Mad Men is the best show on TV. If you haven't seen it yet, try to catch up. Season 2 just ended. Unfortunately, we will probably have to wait until next summer for Season 3.

2008 NFL Season is over

2008-09-08T08:55:00.003-03:00

for the Patriots, unless they can hire a new QB, pronto. Tom Brady's knee injury in the first quarter of yesterday's season opener was the latest in a string of injuries to key players (Giants' Osi Umenyiora, Colts' Jeff Saturday, maybe Titans' Vince Young, and just a matter of time for Chargers' Shawne Merriman), that will put this season's NFL predictions on the garbage heap, along with recently-retired Daunte Culpepper.

Culpepper's retirement letter made me think that he is gunning for the NFLPA's Executive Director's job, recently vacated by Gene Upshaw's death. Culpepper represented himself for the past two years, with pitiful results. Even though Culpepper said in his letter that representing himself was "an invaluable experience", I think it was more of a de-valuing experience. Culpepper's stock went down big-time after his 2005 knee injury. It should be mentioned that Culpepper was a go-big-or-go-home QB, with tremendous stats and athletic ability but also 94 interceptions and an amazing 93 fumbles in 92 career games. That, plus his recurring knee problem as well as his decision-making problems (interceptions and he ended his 2007 season with a hamstring injury that he incurred after challenging a teammate to a footrace during a practice midway through the season), have finished his career in the NFL.

Enough about Culpepper. Brady's absence on the field will be huge, galactic even. The pros and amateur pundits alike were thinking the Pats would go all the way this year, not 19-0 mind you, but that they would win it all in February. And why not? Almost all of their best players are back again this year, and the Kirk-Spock duo of Brady and Moss would tally another couple dozen TD's on their way to dominating the AFC East and their conference before beating whatever team the NFC could throw at them (let's say the Cowboys).

Pending Brady's MRI results, all the speculation of what could have been is blowin' in the wind. If Brady is out for the season, our predicted 13-3 season will be 10-6 at best and maybe worse than that. Brett Favre may actually bring the Jets to within striking distance of the division title, if the Bills don't have anything to say about it. As for the Dolphins, even with Pennington at QB and Parcells running the show, they are still last year's Dolphins. 'Nuff said about the Fish.

While Matt Cassel had the game of his (second-banana) career and proved himself competent enough to hold off the Chiefs, his success said more for the supporting cast than for his own ability. His bomb to Randy Moss from inside his own end zone was a good play, but watch the tape and you will see Moss slow down for at least 10 yards to make the catch. Ditto for the TD pass to Moss at the back of the Chiefs' end zone. Anyone but the 6'4" Moss with his golden hands would not have been able to pull down that pass to score.

The next scoring drive showed that Sammy Morris still has what it takes and that Laurence Maroney is one of the best jukers out there. I was surprised that Maroney's normally-effective straight arm, even applied twice to the Chiefs' Safety Jarrad Page, failed to get him to the end zone.

The defensive stand at the end of the game, when Belichick actually called plays from the sideline to save the game showed that Bill is not just a pretty face.

Moss, Maroney, and Morris, along with Wes Welker and the aging defensive and offensive lines, will have to step up enormously to salvage the Pats' season, especially with such a big question mark in the QB spot.

Doctor Hot Tub

2008-09-04T21:36:00.002-03:00

So I was sitting at the Mic Mac Bar & Grill with my friend Dave, relaxing after working on the house that I am renovating. Dave was telling me about this recent experience when he was sitting in a hot tub in Calgary. Two young women get into the hot tub and one starts complaining about her boyfriend. After a while, Dave offers some advice. The women thank him, and then a married woman gets into the hot tub (how big is this thing, anyway?). She gives the young woman the same advice as Dave did. I thought this would be a great idea for a show, "Doctor Hot Tub", like Dr. Phil, but in a hot tub. I am publishing this now, in case someone else wants to take this idea. You read it here first!

Not getting older, just getting better?

2008-07-17T19:19:00.004-03:00

Philson graduated from high school and is planning his departure to SMU residence. I totally support his decision to move into residence to get the full experience of university. I am sure he will come back home on weekends to fuel up with food and to do laundry. Oh, and maybe to see us!

The fact that I have a child who is now a man makes me think of my own mortality. I have to face the fact that I am actually middle-aged, something my body has been telling me for a few years, but my mind refuses to acknowledge.

Meeting my Grade 10 science teacher the other day made me think about my place in my life. He informed me that I am the same age as he was when he was my teacher. Huh. That really put things into perspective for me. I didn't think he was really old back then, but I remember that I considered all of my high school teachers to be quite aged at the time. The fact that there are probably just as many still working as there are retired should tell me something: they weren't as old as I thought they were.

I guess I still have some viable years left. However, watching one child -- and next year another -- fly the coop is making me take stock of my life. Am I where I want to be? Am I as happy as I can be? What are my regrets and can I do anything to make sure I minimize any future regrets? These are questions a man asks himself as he stares the age of 39 down the barrel.

Rainmen join PBL but will we see any familiar faces?

2008-06-25T09:53:00.002-03:00

The Rainmen have made some announcements lately regarding their league status as well as the whereabouts of some of the marquee players from last season.

As expected, we are now part of the Premier Basketball League (PBL). Unfortunately, none of the stars from last year will be returning.

Getting paid is a real issue with these guys. They really aren't paid a lot and they have bills just like the rest of us. Expecting someone to drop everything for a 3-month, 20-game season may prove difficult. At least with the 36-game season, there was a longer time frame to drop your life and move to Halifax.

I guess we should remember that minor leagues are stepping stones for athletes. Our team was in a league that is just like many other leagues around the world and I get the feeling that players tend to bounce around, depending on the schedules of the various leagues. They are just trying to make a living and have to go where the jobs are.

I would be surprised if we see anyone come back from last year's team and until we get into the D League (and maybe not even then), we probably won't have many returning players who aren't Maritimers.

Unfortunately, Lewis has proven that he cannot develop young players, so local talent may decide to go elsewhere rather than waste time sitting on the bench.

In my opinion, we need a local coach who has ties to the universities that will draw recent grads to our team. Once we get our version of "Coach K" who is a draw for athletes to play for him, then we might be able to count on having some consistency to the roster.

The Great Scientific Experiment To Prove God Exists

2008-05-26T12:48:00.003-03:00

The scientific experiment to prove God.

The experiment is to abdicate your internal throne.

The result is when one either enters Heaven or doesn’t enter Heaven.

The time frame of the experiment is our life, until the point of death when our soul goes to enter Heaven or not.

Abdicating your internal throne is truly giving up, not asking what alternatives one can take to resolve a problem.

By merely asking about alternatives, one assumes that one keeps reign over one’s internal throne. How can I get results to this problem while not giving up power over my self?

Not giving up power over one’s self is a very thinly defined state.

We can deceive ourselves by thinking we are giving up, but we really aren’t. God knows our hearts and minds, even if we don’t.

Our motivation is the key. We can feel good about ourselves when we do good for others – altruism. Like a balloon (or virginity), one prick and it’s gone. Again, God knows our hearts and minds. He knows our motivation for our actions as well as our feelings. Why do we do things for others? Why do we do good works? Is it for the glory of God our Father in Heaven? The minute we think that we are better than someone else because of our good works, we have wasted the eternal gift that God has given us. Our faith is not true, because our works are for our personal good feelings about ourselves, and not given in thanks to God.

Scientific experiment: Giving up and giving to God, i.e. Dropping a drinking glass.

Dropping a drinking glass is when we accept Jesus. By living a “good” life, we still drop the glass. Whether the glass drops and hits the table or continues further equates to going to Heaven or continuing lower to Hell. Until the glass stops falling, both experiments appear (to our narrow view, both in width and depth of time due to our finite wisdom, scope of vision and lifespan) to having the same result: the glass is dropping, much like the law of gravity. Both a person who has given up their life to Christ and a person who leads a “good” life can have an enjoyable life here on earth while they are alive.

It is only when we die, i.e. the glass lands, that we discover the result of the experiment. If we truly abdicated our internal throne, the glass lands on the table (Heaven). If we did not truly give up our life, the glass does not land on the table and our soul does not enter Heaven.

Is God provable by science? The scientific experiment is our life. We cannot know the result before we die. As we cannot know what happens after someone else dies, we cannot know their result of their experiment. Science is proven by repeatable and quantifiable results from testing. The test is our internal life, not our external works. The external works are the glass falling, which can be the same for someone who has truly abdicated control over their life or someone who has not and who judges themselves as “no worse” than the other guy.

When we judge ourselves relative to other humans, we are erroneous, since all humans are fallible and all fall short of perfection.

The Beatitudes tell us of a typical person who abdicates their internal throne. People who are humble and meek, etc. do not typically receive rewards on this earth. Jesus said they will receive their reward in heaven.

Is Heaven full of “vagrants”? Maybe. Those who have nothing may be less prideful of themselves, rather than those who have many possessions or who have achieved many “things” in this life. The recognition that we receive from other people can cloud our judgment of ourselves and may cause us to re-take our internal thrones.

Pride is the sin.

Remember the young prince who asked Jesus how he may follow Him and was given the response to give away all his worldly possessions and follow Jesus. The love of money and possessions was greater than his love for Jesus, and so he did not abdicate his internal throne. His pride of his possessions and achievements got in the way of giving up his throne.

We may not think we are prideful, but it is that last little bit of internal pride and judging oneself against other imperfect humans that is the example of pride. One may have self-esteem, but like the Pharisee thinking he is better than the tax collector, we can fall victim to our own pride. The tax collector’s view of himself as a sinner who is not worthy is the correct example of abdication of one’s internal throne.

The vast majority of the time, we find God when we are plumbing the depths of despair. This is when we have used up our resources and our personal power and we do not get the results we want or expect. This is when many of us ask for help or guidance from God our Father. This is equivalent to worldly children who seek assistance from their worldly parents. As parents, we give our children life and we teach them rules to live by. Then we set them off to live their lives, with their free will. We hope that our children make the right choices and honour their parents and themselves. At some point, the children fail, usually spectacularly, and then they ask for help from the parents. Any advice or answers that we may give as parents may be either accepted, denied, ignored or misunderstood. These 4 responses are what we as God’s children give to God when we pray to Him and ask Him for help.

We may hear and understand His message to us and then choose to ignore the advice. We may hear and understand and choose to heed His words to us. Thirdly, we ignore his message because it doesn't fit in with what we want. Finally, we may not understand His answer to our pleas or we may not hear what He is saying to us because we don’t take the proper amount of time to listen.

If we do not hear or listen to God, we may still choose a path that leads to the same result during the experiment, i.e. the glass still falls during our lifetime, the same as it would if we obeyed His commands, but when the glass hits, it will not hit the table (Heaven). Our result of the scientific experiment is a failure, but we don’t know it until the experiment (our life) is over. People living a “good” life may not exhibit any worse results, either in material wealth or outward appearances, during their life than someone who has given their life to Christ, but the final result of the experiment is drastically different.

If we do not abdicate our internal throne, then we are not truly conducting the experiment in the proper manner and we cannot expect the final result to be duplicated from someone who has given their life to Christ. Remember, the experiment lasts from when we are given the chance to surrender our life to Jesus until the moment our souls arrive at the Pearly Gates and we stand before St. Peter to see if our name is on the eternal roll of names.

All-Star game and possible league merger

2008-03-27T21:44:00.002-03:00

Here is a good article on the All-Star game. While Eric didn't get the MVP that he was hoping for, it sounds like he played very well. Good job Eric!

The end of the above article mentions a few possibilities for next year, including a PBL/CBA merger and the handful of Northeast teams who may join it, including Vermont, Manchester, Montreal and the Rainmen. I guess this is assuming the attempt to join the D-League doesn't work out for us right away. I am somewhat surprised that Quebec wasn't part of the list of teams that may go to the merged league. Maybe the author forgot about them.

Good luck to Eric and a potential Moncton rival team?

2008-03-20T15:10:00.002-03:00

Congrats to Eric for still having the opportunity to show his stuff at the ABA All-Star game, even after the Rainmen have officially left the ABA. I am happy that he is going to see some of his family. They are really supportive of him, as evidenced by the fact that his extended family actually commented on the Herald website a few months ago when it had a story about Eric. I thought it was pretty cool that Eric's family keeps track of his career here in Halifax. Have fun Eric, I hope you get selected as the game MVP!

In other ABA News, Joe Newman is looking at the silver lining around the cloud of the Rainmen leaving the league.

In this news story, Newman is quoted as saying that this "opens the door for an ABA team in Moncton."

While I agree that Moncton is probably the right-size market for an ABA team, I shudder to think that another Maritime entrepreneur might get involved with the ABA. If our D-League hoop dreams don't work out, maybe a Moncton PBL franchise would work well for us, as a ready-made rival for Halifax. You heard it here first!

Short post about the Rainmen

2008-03-20T07:21:00.002-03:00

I like Mr. Levingston’s plan to approach the D-League to see if we can join, with the fallback position of joining another league if it doesn’t work out with NBADL. In my previous post, I laid out a SWOT analysis of the Rainmen joining the D-league.

I read somewhere on OSC that PBL and CBA are merging and that the ABA team from Texas has already been playing as Dallas in the CBA, so it sounds like the scenario of the Rainmen joining another league other than the D-League is quite likely. However, I agree with the ambitious plan of talking with the D-League, because you don't get anything if you don't ask.

The NBADL will be impressed with Mr. Levingston and his organization, but if the league doesn't have plans to expand to the Northeast and if there are no other teams in the area that are ready and/or willing to join the D-League for next season, then we will probably join the new PBL/CBA merged league. The bottom line is the Rainmen need other teams in the Northeast to be part of whatever league we eventually join, to make it viable in the long-term.

Wow! Big news for the Rainmen!

2008-03-19T20:02:00.006-03:00

In his press release, Mr. Andre Levingston announced that the Rainmen have left the ABA effective immediately and are not participating in the playoffs. This was great news and the timing was a bit of a surprise, although not really when one thinks about the expense that travelling to Quebec for the playoffs would have been, especially when it was pretty much written on the wall that the ABA had let the Rainmen down so many times that it would be almost absurd for us to stick around.

Furthermore, Mr. Levingston informed the press that the Rainmen would be looking into joining the NBA D-League. You don't have to go too far into my blog to see that I have been hoping for this for some time.

I really think the Rainmen will be a good fit in the D-League, despite some potential obstacles. Why? Here is a quick SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis:

- Erie, Pennsylvania was just announced as the latest D-League expansion team for the 2008-09 season. The Erie metro area has a population of 281,000. The Halifax metro area has a population of about 385,000. I think we can support a D-League team if the owners in Erie think they can make a go of it, in a much smaller city than Halifax. Ron Sertz, the director of basketball ops in Erie, seems to be the man behind minor-league sports in Erie. From what I can tell, Mr. Levingston seems to be making connections with guys who are the Ron Sertz’s here in Halifax that are obviously crucial to a professional team’s success in a small market like ours. STRENGTH. The Rainmen front office has learned a lot from this year’s experience and the population of Halifax can and will support a brand name like the NBA.

- To get a sense of what ticket prices may be like in the D-League, here is a link to the Erie franchise.

The prices look to be about 50% higher than what our tickets were in Halifax this season. Erie will have eight different seating packages available, from “Hollywood Seats” and “Courtside Suites” to “Endzone” and “Corner” seats. I think slicing up the arena in so many categories is a smart way to provide the opportunity for fans of all economic means to enjoy the game. OPPORTUNITY. Here is a chance to really fill up the Metro Centre, with a variety of price points which create demand for premium seating and give more people a chance to afford bringing their whole family to a game with the lower-cost seating choices.

- I really like the Season Ticket Holder Privileges part of the Erie ticket price program and I really hope the Rainmen have something along those lines next year. OPPORTUNITY. There is so much that can be done in terms of promotion next season. While ticket prices may be higher than when we were in the ABA, the product will be better.

- I just realized that the Rainmen intro montage with the piano music and shots of the Rainmen is the same music and concept that the NBA used in their Where Amazing Happens campaign. Coincidence? Can’t be. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. STRENGTH. The NBA will have to be impressed with the Rainmen organization.

- In terms of players returning next year, that will likely depend on a few factors such as which league we will be in, who the coaching staff will be, how many roots the players have made here i.e. girlfriends, and of course pay levels. We can’t expect the players to put the rest of their lives on hold if the pay is not commensurate with the commitment to come to Halifax to work. THREAT, assuming we want at least some of our players to return. I think we know who we want back!

- NBA Commissioner David Stern stated in 2005 that he planned to expand the league to 15 teams and to develop it into an NBA farm system, with each D-League team would have 2 NBA affiliate teams. Recently announced expansion teams in Reno, Nevada and Erie, Pennsylvania make it 14 teams. WEAKNESS. If the NBA is not receptive to opening up the Northeast, we can’t make them. The NBA already closed down 2 of its teams in the southeast when they decided to expand the league westward. Does the Northeast fit into their plans?

I figure the NBA will not expand too quickly, they have a very valuable product and diluting it too much by expanding the D-League without strict control over who gets a team is risky for them. This ain’t Joe Newman’s ABA! A total of 11 D-League teams have either folded or moved in the league’s 7 seasons. Considering the nature of minor league sports teams, this is a pretty respectable retention rate. By comparison, here is the Wikipedia entry for the ABA.

Check out how many teams are in the league this year and how many are defunct or have left for other leagues. Interestingly, the Rainmen are already off the list of this year’s teams.

- I will repeat my concern over the lack of D-League teams in the Northeast US. Erie is only 93 miles from Cleveland, who appears to be their NBA affiliate. Erie will be the closest D-League team to Halifax and it’s over 500 miles away from Boston, let alone Nova Scotia. Unless the D-League expands into the Northeast in a meaningful way, our team’s travel costs will be exorbitant and so will our competition’s.
WEAKNESS. This may or may not be a problem, depending how many other Northeast teams are able to make the jump to the D-League. However, the answer to that question may be that no other teams can or will do it.

- A lack of nearby teams and therefore higher costs will translate into higher ticket prices. What is the magic price point for Halifax fans? I don’t know, but I’ll bet that a price any more than $20-25 for an average seat will be perceived as too expensive. THREAT. If prices are too high, the fans won’t come.

Hmmm, pretty even SWOT so far, with 2 of each category. The Strengths and Opportunities seem to be fairly well-identified items that relate to the Rainmen’s existing organization, while the Weaknesses and Threats arise from unknown factors such as what will happen with ticket prices, who will be our competition and can we afford to travel beyond the US Northeast to play? If details on these latter issues become known, then this analysis can be firmed up to show whether or not the D-League is viable for the Rainmen.

The Rainmen Belong in the NBA D-League.

2008-03-17T23:39:00.003-03:00

Chris Parsons recently posted on his blog Section 23 that the Rainmen's average attendance in this inaugual season was just over 1,800 fans per home game.

A couple of months ago, I speculated on the finances of the Rainmen as well as the possibilities that lie before us in terms of other leagues for next season.

I am certain that joining the D-League would propel the Rainmen to another level altogether. We would easily have a minimum of 1,000 more fans at games just from the association with the NBA. Haligonians need a brand name before they commit to anything and the NBA name would do the trick.

As for scheduling, I’ll bet the NBA wouldn’t take any mess from WTCC in terms of getting weekend games, which would probably make it a realistic goal to have an attendance average of 4,000+ fans.

By the way, I am still willing to join in any fractional ownership that is offered to the public, as my finances allow. I think it would be amazing to own a small fraction of a pro basketball team, especially one that is obviously so well-run as the Rainmen. However, Mr. Levingston is an entrepreneur (as I am) so I figure he would likely rather reap the benefits of his risk-taking and hard work, and I can appreciate and respect that.

By the way Chris, I can believe both of Mr. Levingston’s quotes that you mention. At the start of the season, the break-even may have been 2,000 fans. By the time we lost the Daily News and started flying in replacement players from California and Atlanta, I am sure those costs increased substantially.

Here the official website that summarizes the D-League Team Affiliation System.

The D-League teams are affiliated with one to three NBA teams. Most have 2 NBA teams who are “permitted to assign players in their first or second seasons to the D-League.”

From the NBADL official site, there are 65 players in the D-League who have NBA playing experience and there were 18 call-ups this season.

It seems like this league is a good chance for players to get to the big show and a chance for fans to see developing players before they go on to superstardom.

As I mentioned some time ago on this blog, a natural NBA affiliate team for us would be the Toronto Raptors, considering Mr. Levingston’s past association with someone from that organization as well as being the only Canadian team in the NBA. Since the NBADL typically has more than one NBA affiliate per team, I suggest our other affiliate team should be the Celtics.

Nova Scotia has long had a connection with New England, with generations of people moving back and forth over the past couple hundred years between here and “the Boston states”. Most hockey fans in Halifax who are more than 20 years old are either Montreal fans, Toronto fans or Boston fans. Boston’s proximity to Halifax makes it a good second choice as an NBA affiliate team, especially since we get a lot of our TV cable channels from Boston.

Plus, how exciting/potentially profitable would it be to have NBA exhibition games here in Halifax to kick off our season, like we currently have with the NHL hockey games? Just some food for thought.

Of course, all of this is predicated on the idea that we may someday join the NBADL.

Disappointing end to the Rainmen's regular season

2008-03-16T21:58:00.002-03:00

Well, we lost to the Atlanta Vision, 131-126. We joined the ranks of the Georgia Gwizzlies and the Bahama Pro Show as the only teams that Atlanta has beaten this season.

Last night’s game reminded me of how our team played at the start of the season: letting themselves get boxed out when a few simple drives to the hoop would shut that mess down fast. It was almost as if a different team played this game, compared to Friday’s game as well as the last few games.

Coach Lewis must have found the single-offensive-play coach’s manual that he used before March. I wish whoever hid it on him would have burned it, instead.

Leaving the 2 ABA All-Stars on the bench for the final part of the game is senseless. Giving the ball to the player with a 21.9% 3-point ratio — the lowest on the team except for Dipp, but I won’t drag him into this — when you are down by 10 and need three-pointers is ridiculous. How about Brian, who is on fire the last couple of games and is 39.4% on the season for 3-pointers? How about Akeem the Dream? He is only shooting 55.6% from beyond the 3-point line, so I can see why we wouldn’t feed him the ball. Come on!

Speaking of Dipp, I feel sorry for the opportunity that was wasted in having a young local player being left to rot on the bench, even behind the 13th player in some games. The humiliation of that is still sour in my mouth, I can’t imagine how Dipp and his parents feel. I suggest we look back in the news story archives from last autumn, when Dipp was signed. The photos and stories were filled with so much hope for the future. Now I suspect Dipp has more regret than hoop dreams because of this season. It is really too bad that he wasn’t given the game time to learn how to play at this level, especially when we were playing games that weren’t close, either winning or losing. That is when you give your learning players their playing time, not 60 or 90-second shifts at the end of the game. I would be surprised if Dipp returns next year. It would be really sad to see Dipp on another team who plays against us next year, as a reminder of what could have been. Maybe Dipp won’t make it to the NBA, but his potential was not touched this year.

If it is true that some key players won’t return if Rick Lewis is the coach next year, I think the decision of who to keep is a fairly easy one. There are plenty of ex-players in Halifax who could easily coach this team. I mean, we only have some of the best university teams in the country here in Nova Scotia. We saw some of the opposition’s player-coaches out-coach Rick Lewis in home games this year. There aren’t any university alumni who could use their actual playing experience on a high-level basketball team to help the Rainmen next year? How about Shannon and Daniel? I wish I knew how much input they had this year. I’ll bet it wasn’t as much as it could or maybe should have been.

Anyway, enough venting. Let’s give the Rainmen a standing “O” for the season and the efforts of the team as well as the front office. Best of luck in Quebec, I wish I could be there to cheer you on.

Rainmen burn Atlanta 134-118

2008-03-15T11:51:00.004-03:00

Actually, the game was closer than that score indicates, until the Rainmen opened it up in the fourth quarter.

I am pretty impressed that Atlanta made the trip up here. I wasn't sure how good they would be, considering they have only played a couple of handfuls of games, and most of those against the weak sisters of the South division - Georgia and Bahamas.

Even though Atlanta's bags got lost in the flight, the players still showed up, wearing Team Canada hockey T-shirts with makeshift numbers made from masking tape on their backs. Before long, the tape starting peeling off, until we had to take the referee's word on which number player had fouled later in the game since only one or two players still had their numbers by half-time.

The Atlanta coach was very professional, introducing himself to the front table before the game and being the best-dressed coach we have seen in the ABA (sorry, Rick; you came a close second in coach’s wardrobe last night). So thanks Atlanta Vision, you helped the Rainmen finish their season and raised yourselves in my books, too.

Our team is firing on all pistons and at the right time too: as playoffs approach. Whatever the coaching staff have changed with the new lineup is working, especially for Brian. He is getting a lot more chances to put up uncontested threes and we are seeing his talent shine at last. While it helps that we are playing weaker teams lately, I think we have a good chance in Quebec, even against teams that have previously given us trouble on the court.

However, my pessimistic side is already thinking about how many/few players will be back next year. Just when we get the team we have been waiting for all season, it will be 9 months before we see them in action again. Given the pay levels for the players, I will not be surprised if a lot of them do not return next year, as life continues in the off-season and other opportunities — basketball-related or not — arise for our veterans.

I just want to say to the Rainmen, whoever reads this: thanks for a great season, you are all gentlemen and it was nice to meet you and cheer you on from the front row, behind RS Smooth. I hope to see you all again next season and in particular, I will keep putting up KD boxes for Kadiri’s blocks as long as he is in Halifax.

Best of luck tonight and in Quebec!

ABA stands for Asinine Basketball Association

2008-03-13T10:34:00.002-03:00

So now the excuse for why the Rainmen have to go to Quebec to see if they can go to Quebec is that the Halifax Metro Centre is not available on the required date. Is this the fault of the ABA or the Rainmen?

This is totally the league’s fault. The idea of a league is that there is is some central organizing body that handles little things like PLAYOFFS!

Surely, the teams who are still around were viable months ago when the playoff schedule should have been set up. A playoff schedule could have been made earlier than the same month as the playoffs are to be held.

As I have said before, if there was some minimum number of games that must be played to be eligible for the playoffs, like say 50% or 67% of a 36-game schedule (or whatever the schedule would work out to be, depending on the number of teams in each division and the overall league), then teams who do not meet that minimum don’t play after the regular season. This would get rid of the teams with a 10-1 or 1-7 record getting the chance to maybe beat teams that have played a full (or fuller) slate of games.

At the very least, the method of getting to the playoffs should be consistent. I suggest that there should be 2 conferences in the ABA: East and West. The top 4 teams from each conference who have played at least the minimum number of games go to the playoffs. Voila! The playoffs are set up!

Instead, the ABA makes each division up at the last minute (remember Boston was originally in the North division, not the Northeast?) because their original divisional plan collapsed with so many teams going under during the season. Then they devise a Machiavellian method of multiple-level preliminaries for each different division and include such powerhouses as 4-23 Maywood and 1-7 Georgia.

The ABA is nothing more than what the people on OSC say it is: a money grab for Joe Newman, who makes up the rules as situations arise. That is no way to run a league, or a business. A pox on the ABA!

Tribute theme to Rainmen owner Andre Levingston

2008-03-12T10:39:00.003-03:00

We need Isaac Hayes to record these lyrics to the "Theme From Shaft"! If Isaac isn't available, how about a great local band like The Metric System or The Mellotones?

Who's the dapper man
That rocks a fedora at all the games?
(Andre!)
You're damn right.

Who is the man
That would risk his neck for his team The Rainmen?
(Andre!)
Can ya dig it?

Who's the cat that won't cop out
With ABA madness all about?
(Andre!)
Right on!

They say this cat Andre is a bad mother--
(Shut your mouth)
But I'm talkin' about Andre!
(Then we can dig it)

He's a complicated man
But no one understands him but his woman
(Andre Levingston)

Curiouser and curiouser

2008-03-12T10:17:00.004-03:00

I am feeling a bit literary today. The above quote from Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" seems appropriate to the ABA Playoff SNAFU. Apparently, Joe Newman didn’t want the NCAA to have the most March Madness. I have personally set up playoffs that weren’t this complicated or ridiculous.

At least the Rainmen get to go to Quebec, at least for one game. I am sure they would have rather hosted that game for the revenue and not have the travel costs for a game that may be their only one in the playoffs.

I truly wonder who gets paid to make these decisions. Perhaps Maywood’s owner paid someone a bit extra to get his playoff game. Another literary quote, from George Orwell's "Animal Farm", “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

P.S. Congrats to Eric Crookshank for being named to the league All-Star team. Only the ABA would play an All-Star game the week before the playoffs, risking injury to their self-described All-Stars.

Sometimes I just have to shake my head

2008-03-12T09:54:00.002-03:00

So the Rainmen will not get to host a playoff game en route to Quebec. Chris Parsons and I agree in the speculation that the New York area teams (Jersey and Westchester, who both cancelled games against Halifax) refused to travel to Canada if they won their preliminary games. If Montreal wins to face the Rainmen, maybe we should host the game anyway? The way I see it, the ABA should grow some and tell the teams that refuse to travel that they will forfeit the game, in regular season as well as the playoffs.

The playoff format, as reported by the ABA, was that the higher-seeded team would be the home team. The fact that 4 teams must play off to match up against the Rainmen tells me that we are the highest-ranked team of these 5, otherwise we would not get a bye in this preliminary round.

While the iconoclast in me says, “Yeah! Leave the ABA!”, the realist in me says, “If there are no other viable leagues that will have teams within a day’s travel by road, then it doesn’t make sense to cut off one’s nose to spite the face.” The PBL only has future expansion teams (Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo) that are anywhere near Halifax. The CBA’s nearest team is in upstate New York. The IBL has no teams east of Michigan. The USBL has a couple of New York teams, but the others are south and west of there.

Unless a group of Northeast teams makes a move, I don’t see how the Rainmen could make a go of it.

Other than the playoffs being a complete SNAFU and a couple teams cancelling away games on us, I don’t see how the ABA is ruining our enjoyment of the Rainmen. The haters will always find some reason to no attend the games, the ABA is the obvious scapegoat (and rightly so). Mr. Levingston and his team have gone above and beyond all expectations to bring a full slate of home games to Halifax, for which I am grateful, as possibly the first retail season ticket holder. Just look at the travesties that are some of the other teams in the league (those that are still existing). We Halifax fans are truly fortunate to have a committed organization like the Rainmen who have provided 18 entertaining games, along with the teams who filled in for lesser organizations who either folded during the season or refused to travel to Halifax.

While I sincerely hope that the Rainmen find a better league (fingers crossed for NBA-D League), I wonder if the problems of the ABA are symptomatic of minor professional leagues, like PBL, CBA, IBL, USBL, etc. The teams in these leagues play in small markets that cannot support a more expensive franchise. Quite often, the city population of these minor league teams is insufficient to really support a team, or the management skills of the team front offices is lacking. Neither of these seem to be a problem for the Rainmen.

The movie Semi-Pro is funnier because it is based on the facts of minor-league teams:
1. The team owner often has delusions of grandeur, e.g. the Corning Bulldogs and Georgia Gwizzlies
2. The owner does not has enough money to see the team through the difficult times, usually the first few years

In short, they are poor businessmen who don’t realize that professional sport is a business. Again, neither of these situations appear to be the case with Mr. Levingston. By all accounts, he is a self-made man who wants to help make a difference wherever he can.

I will continue to support the Rainmen and root for them, despite that they are in an abusive league. I hope they can get out of this relationship, because it hurts me to see them hurt. OK, that metaphor has gone far enough. Anyway, let’s show the Bahama Pro Show what a stadium full of fans looks like, while our guys proceed to dunk, lay-up and rain 3-pointers on the way to two victories to end the regular season.

ABA 2008 Playoffs

2008-03-07T13:46:00.003-04:00

Latest news on the playoffs from ABAlive.com

5 out of 8 teams will receive byes!?! OK... Anyway, the teams getting byes are Vermont, Manchester, San Diego, Texas Tycoons and the host team, Quebec.

Beijing has 5 players trying out for the Olympics, so they are not participating.

Unfortunately, the other 12 teams still in contention will have to battle for only 3 regional spots. No one said the ABA made sense.

Below are the respective press releases for each division playoff and my thoughts on them:

South Division

Three teams in the South division: West Texas Whirlwind, Georgia Gwizzlies, and Atlanta Vision. West Texas (3-6) will play Georgia (1-7) -- what a clash of the Titans!

The winner will go on to lose to Atlanta (6-2), who is pretty much guaranteed a spot, even though they have only played 8 games, beating such notable teams as the aforementioned Gwizzlies and the incomparable Bahama Pro Show (1-5, to be 1-7 after next week in Halifax).

I reiterate my protest that a team like Atlanta, who has so far played only 8 games of an 18-game season does not deserve to be in the playoffs against teams like Halifax, who have laboured to play as many games as possible.

West Division

Four West division teams:San Fran (5-10), OC (14-12), Maywood (3-23) and Long Beach (10-7) will play off to send their representative to Quebec.

My guess is that the doormats of the league -- Maywood, as if I had to say their name, which should be Maywouldn't -- and San Fran will fall to OC and Long Beach, who appear to be fairly good teams. Both OC and Long Beach have recently beaten higher-ranked teams, so they are both feeling good. Their matchup should be a good one.

Long Beach pretty much owns OC, winning all five of their matches this season, although the margins have been getting closer over the past few games. I'm going to say Long Beach goes to Quebec.

Northeast Division

Five teams from our Northeast division will play for the chance to play in Quebec. Jersey (7-10) will play Boston (8-16) and Montreal (8-17) will play Westchester (8-6). The winners of those games play off to see who will go against Halifax for the Northeast spot in the Awesome 8, or whatever they call it.

You may not remember Jersey or Westchester. They both cancelled games with us (which should have been forfeits for the record books, but I am not the league statistician).

Jersey appears to have a defensive game, with most of their opponents scoring an average of only 108 points per game. Unfortunately, Jersey has an average score of 103 points. They lost big to Vermont (but who hasn't?) and luckily they had First State to beat up on, to help Jersey's record with 4 of Jersey's 7 wins coming against the Fusion.

Westchester has beaten Jersey 4 out of their 5 matches of the season, with close scoring margins in 4 of the games (between 1 and 9 points), so Jersey is probably a weaker team than their record shows.

This is a bit of a toss-up, given the lack of exposure to Westchester or Jersey, but my guess is Jersey will win over Boston (Jersey did beat the Kebs, after all) and Montreal should beat Westchester. Montreal whupped the Phantoms in their only match-up this season, 130-96.

In the play-off, I think Montreal will win over Jersey, based on Montreal's record versus Jersey's record against common opponents, as well as Montreal's experience against a variety of teams, rather than Jersey's history of only playing a few teams who happen to be within an hour's drive, except for getting trounced in Vermont and Beijing. Come to think of it, maybe that's why Jersey doesn't travel much, they get destroyed away from home.

Our game against Montreal should be a good one. Even though they won the season series 3-2 against us, our team is by far the strongest it has ever been and we are riding a high of wins (assuming the Bahama Pro Show don't stack their team with Vermont players). If Montreal plays their scheduled end-of-season games in Beijing, I think they will lose to us in the playoffs, either because we will play better than them, or they will still be suffering from jetlag or depression after probably losing both games in China. Getting past Westchester will likely empty Montreal's gas tank, just in time for our well-rested players to run up and down the court against them on the way to victory.

So there you have it: we have a playoff game, probably at home, since the other teams are playing off to get to us, and probably against Montreal.

Looks good for us going to Quebec!

Rainmen and AUS Final 6

2008-03-07T09:14:00.002-04:00

Good article by Chris Cochrane of the Herald about Mr. Levingston and the Rainmen’s contributions to the basketball community.

Although I can’t make it this weekend, I recommend everyone go to the tournament at the Metro Centre this weekend. It is a chance to see good local teams vying to be our regional rep at nationals.

Schedule:

March 7 Quarterfinal games: 6 PM and 8:15 PM
March 8 Semifinal games: 6 PM and 8:15 PM
March 9 Final game: 2 PM

The prices are ridiculously low: $48 for adults, $30 for students/seniors & $15/youth FOR ALL 5 GAMES! Prices for each day are $18, $12 & $6. This gets you both games on either Friday or Saturday, or the final on Sunday.

Here is the AUS website for full details:

Rainmen Have Little Trouble Handling Quebec, 130-120

2008-03-07T09:13:00.002-04:00

Really good game for the Rainmen, I think the recently-added players round out the team that needed more size and forwards. This momentum will serve us well in the playoffs, which are fast approaching.

Maybe someone should smack Brian on the nose before every game; he was the man against Quebec, draining 7 of 8 three-pointers. I like when he goes to the hoop too, because he usually draws a foul, which is like giving him 2 extra points.

Coach Lewis is improving with this new line-up, with good subbing all through the game, versus the 5-on, 5-off routine. Having more than a couple plays helps the team play better and is much more interesting for fans to watch. Plus, the guys win more games because they are not so predictable to defend.

Good passing, although a few got away. I truly think Jimmy’s experience as a Globetrotter is rubbing off on his teammates, with that great set-up bounce off the glass for Eric to absolutely crush into the net. Nice no-look passes and fast passing too, even though a couple errant attempts led to turn-overs.

Considering Quebec is a strong team, we seem to have little trouble with them, as shown by last night’s performance. Let’s hope we play them in Quebec City!

In other news, I was really disappointed by the DND turnout at the game. Considering the tickets were half-price or so, there should have been 1,000 more people there. Maybe it wasn’t promoted soon enough?

The entertainment is the weakest part of the evening, with between three (THREE!?!) and eight WG’s still performing their handful of routines and the lamest game I have ever seen of Keep-Away. That game has got to stop. I felt bad for the contestants, bad for the crowd and bad for me because I could have gone for a walk or something. I say bring back the Dizzy Bats and Oversize Trikes!

I will say it again: the WG’s need to start leading some cheers and distracting the opposition’s free throw attempts. Use those pom-poms, ladies!

The Agony of Defeat

2008-03-05T08:43:00.003-04:00

That old clip that started off The Wide World of Sports has a new challenger. Be sure to listen to the audio, especially the commentator.

This Just In: The Owner of The Georgia Gwizzlies is Cwazy!

2008-02-29T01:53:00.002-04:00

I think the Gwizzlies owner is delusional. Check out this news item on ABALive.com:

GEORGIA GWIZZLIES PROMISE BETTER EFFORT NEXT TIME

26-Feb-2008
Macon, GA — The Georgia Gwizzlies were soundly and fairly defeated on Sunday by the Atlanta Vision at the Gwinnett Center by a wide margin.

“We commend the Atlanta team’s effort, their leadership and management. They are very good,” stated team owner Embry Malone. “But we will do better next time and we will be prepared when the playoffs begin. We have quite a few games left to turn it around and we will. We want to get to the Championship Playoffs in Quebec.”

Playoffs?!? You are 1-7!!! Either Malone knows something we don’t (like well-placed funds to a certain CEO ensure a playoff spot), he is trying to get fans to come to the last three games, or he is just nuts. If anyone from the Blue Conf. - South Div. is going to the playoffs, it would be the team that just beat you by 51 points. You know: the 6-2 Atlanta Vision (whom I railed against a few days ago as being unworthy for the playoffs because of the tiny amount of games they have played, when I saw a fan-generated playoff bracket online). Atlanta is 7th in the Power Rankings, Halifax is this list on by the skin of our teeth at #15. Georgia is not even mentioned on this list, nor has it ever been on the Power Rankings list this season.

The Gwizzlies have three games left! I think the owner mistakenly inserted the words “quite a” before the more accurate “few” in his statement. All three games are against the West Texas Whirlwinds, who don’t seem to be much of a threat, with a 3-6 record. Of course, to a 1-7 team like Georgia, they may be too much to handle. Head for the cyclone shelter, Auntie Em!

Two in a row for the Rainmen, 124-95 over the Maywood Buzz

2008-02-29T00:00:00.002-04:00

Nice to see everyone getting lots of time on the floor again tonight. Eric was a beast with 18 boards. Rebounds are so crucial and they seemed easy to get against Maywood. Two of our highest-scoring games and surprise, surprise! We have a ton of rebounds in both matches.

I wasn’t as impressed this evening as I was last night; it seemed like we started the game with the same old routine of sending Eric in low to muscle his way around. After we got warmed up, though, it was a game similar to last night. I liked how the guys who came off the bench actually opened up the point spread. Way to go!

Unfortunately, these two games were such runaways that the crowd was practically silent for most of the game, eerily so for a moment. Mavs Gillis the announcer started a few cheers; I think it is good that he starts them every once in a while, it saves my voice. The canned “De-fense” recording does bother me, though. That seems like forcing a cheer.

Speaking of cheers, we need names for the new guys. I heard Chris yell out “JT” for James Tyler. I was thinking Sweet Baby James, a play on his name being so close to James Taylor as well as the whole Baby Shaq thing. We could cheer “Sweet” when he does well. By the way James, if you read this, don’t be so hard on yourself if you miss a free throw. Just keep focused and try your best again next time.

Akeem “The Dream” is obvious. I like the concept of “his brother Jon”. The Clark Brothers. OK, that’s just too silly after all.

Jimmy Twynan. Being an ex-Harlem Globetrotter and a video game character should give us lots to work with, but I am at a loss. I tried “Dyn-O-Mite!” tonight (Jimmy Walker - “Good Times”), but it didn’t sound nearly as good when I said it as it had sounded inside my head. Back to the drawing board. Maybe I should just do what I did at the start of the season for the other players and just go ask them what they would like to be called.

One thing I love about my seats is the close proximity to the action. I am so glad I didn’t buy floor seats. We have a small community going on our side of the court, with other loyal fans as well as actual contact with the DJ, the press and even Rainmen front office folks.

Any word why Brian and Dennie did not play tonight?

Finally: I think the Weather Girls should shake their pom-poms (their actual pom-poms, guys) behind the net when the opposition is taking free throws. You see all sorts of fans in other leagues do that kind of thing. That has to be much more distracting than a few people booing. This would mean the WG’s would have to switch ends every quarter, just like the players, and not just kneel down on the floor behind the net.

Furthermore, I think the fans would be more likely to cheer if the WG’s led some cheers. Not all of the cheers, but every once in a while. If the WG’s had more than just a handful of moves, then fine, we can accept they are dancers and they are entertaining us. However, since they appear so infrequently and yet they are at the game all night, why not lead some cheers? At least stay on the sidelines to make your presence known? And why are there only 5 WG’s left? Is there some internal strife or are the girls just moving on from this gig?

This home stand is great for fan morale! I am disappointed that there are only three games left in the season. We are seriously considering a road trip to Quebec for the playoffs. Who else is in?

That's What I'm Talkin' About!

2008-02-28T12:40:00.001-04:00

The Rainmen played the first game of a double header against the Maywood Buzz last night. The Rainmen took away any sting the Buzz may have inflicted, with a 145-97 victory. The first quarter of the game was unbelievable. We were finally living up to our name, by "raining threes". We put up some monster numbers, including shooting over 50% from the field, over 40% for threes, and an incredible 79 boards, which is almost double the per-game average so far this year. While Kadiri was his usual defensive giant self, I was pleasantly surprised by Jon Clark's double-double performance. One more point for Kadiri and he would have joined Jon and Eric in that club for the night.

I liked how the rebounds were spread out fairly evenly among a number of Rainmen, showing that our team is playing well defensively under the net while still getting the chances to score big points.

It looks like this is the team we have been waiting for all season. Hats off to the front office for putting together a good mix of players and talents along with some size that we needed all along.

Sending Brian in to the hoop was a nice change from always making Eric do it. Brian was able to pull some fouls, which is almost like adding the points automatically. There were relatively few penalties called (especially against the Buzz, it seemed), which made the game go faster. Liberally subbing in our guys tired the Buzz players very quickly, which is always a nice advantage for us to have for home games.

It was great to see Kadiri get some blocks, a few baskets, as well as a three pointer. While the box score shows that he had only 3 blocks, he sure made a huge difference in the game, mostly for his strong rebounding skill. We put up the KD boxes for Kadiri's blocks last night. I guess we were also counting his defensive moves that caused the shot to be short or off-target. And to be completely honest, I put a box up for Kadiri's three-pointer, too. Here's hoping I get the chance to put a whole bunch more of them up again tonight.

James Tyler performed well with the second-most defensive rebounds (behind Kadiri) and even a few tip-ins. It was interesting to see him pass the ball out to the perimeter in the first half, but then start going for his own points in the second half. This shows some depth in the coaching strategy (yes, I said it), that we aren't just running the same few plays every time.

The Rainmen must have passed the ball around the perimeter more in the first half of this game than in most other complete games. The result was a lot of uncontested three-pointers, with a higher-than-average success rate. It was very exciting for me as a fan to watch fluid motion plays rather than the static Play #1 pick-and-roll. I was shocked to hear Coach Lewis call out "Four! Four!" I didn't know we had a fourth play! Anyway, excellent performance all around.

Congrats for putting the second stringers in for some meaningful time in this game. They showed us fans that they belong on the team. I just wish we had subbed them in for more time in earlier games, to give them experience, although to be fair most of the guys now on the bench weren't on the time a couple months ago.

I have to say that I finally understood what some people have against the 13th man rule. Tonight it was embarrassing to see the Buzz completely stop so the 13th man could take three shots at a layup. I was glad they had a monster dunk after that. Another disappointment was the number of fans there. I hope we get a better shot at weekend games next year.

Let's have a strong finish to the season on the way to Quebec! Go Rainmen!

Volume Corrected To 15° Celsius

2008-02-25T19:20:00.004-04:00

Here is a letter that I sent today to Peter Duffy, a columnist for Halifax's Chronicle-Herald. Let's see if anything comes of this.

Mr. Duffy,

I realize that this letter is about a subject that is somewhat tangential to the point of your article, "I fear our hearts have hardened," but would you write an article about the scam that is "volume corrected to 15 degress Celsius"?

No one ever complains about this,although it seems that any time the price at the pump goes up by more than a few cents, there is a flurry of e-mails trying to call for an organized day of not buying gas as a protest. Of course, anyone who doesn't buy on that specified date probably fills up either the day before or the day after, so no real change is made in the gas companies's sales figures, but that is another matter.

This CBC Marketplace report told the story in 1999:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/cars/gasprice/index.html

For some reason, even though this issue received national press with that CBC Marketplace story, it is forgotten in this time of the U.S. of going to war to keep the supply of oil coming from the Middle East and Canadian soldiers dying in Afghanistan, ostensibly for peace and democracy, but originally we went there to get Osama (remember?).

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/10/06/Afghanistan/

That is another issue for another letter, and certainly a very important one compared to the relative minutae of this letter. However, the effect of volume corrected gasoline amounts to Canadians paying $655,000,000 ANNUALLY for gas they never receive.

The central question is why is gas corrected to 15 degrees Celsius? It is to standardize volume when retailers sell it to unsuspecting consumers. However, the standard of 15 degrees Celsius is beneficial to the retailers, while Canadians are paying for gas that never makes it into their vehicles.

Here is a link that shows Halifax's average temperature.

http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.pl?ref=N44W063+1202+0017800G2

As you can see, at 6.6 degrees, our annual average is nowhere near 15 degrees Celsius. Other than in July and August, our monthly average temperature doesn't even pass 15 degrees.

Well, one may ask, what about Toronto, with its hot summers? Surely, they must have a much higher average annual temperature that would make the 15°C standard a reasonable one? Nope. The average annual temperature in Toronto is one full degree higher than Halifax, at 7.6°C. Even the Big Smoke has only 4 months that average higher than 15 degrees.

So what does this mean to the average consumer?

This website shows the effect of temperature on gasoline:

http://www.users.qwest.net/~taaaz/AZgas.html#HOW%20GASOLINE%20IS%20SOLD%20IN%20CANADA

A quote from that website: "Gasoline volume changes approximately 0.125% for every 1°C change in temperature"

Therefore, a 60 litre weekly fill-up at Halifax's average monthly temperature of -4.9°C in February costs the consumer an extra $1.77 per fill-up, at today's price of $1.179 per litre.

Calculations:

15°C standard minus -4.9°C average = 19.9°C difference

19.9°C times 0.00125 per °C change in gas volume = 0.024875, or about 2.5%

60 litres per fill-up times $1.179 per litre = $70.74 cost of fill-up

$70.74 times 2.5% = $1.77 extra because of volume correction to 15°C

Given our 6.6°C average annual temperature and assuming we drive the same every month for the whole year, the rip-off for a consumer who fills up with 60 litres every week amounts to $38.62 per year.

This takes into account the 2 months of the year that our average monthly temperature is above 15°C.

While this doesn't seem like much, it is flat out theft. We are paying for gas that we never receive!

Transport Canada says there are "About 13.2 million automobiles accounted for 78 per cent of all vehicles in 1995. Some 3.4 million trucks of all types made up 20 per cent of the total. The remaining two per cent of vehicles consisted of 319,000 motorcycles and mopeds and 64,000 buses."

http://www.tc.gc.ca/pol/en/Report/anre1996/tc96_chapter_10.htm

Assuming there has been no growth in these figures and assuming each vehicle uses 60 litres per week (trucks use more, small cars use less), the total larceny adds up to $655,883,460! (Total of 16,983,000 vehicles @$38.62/year)

Could you write a story about this government standard that rips off Canadian consumers? Everyone I talked to about this fact didn't even know that it made a difference in how much money they spend at the pumps. It is a story that gets swept under the rug because the government is the biggest single benefactor, since they earn about half of what we pay for gas in the form of taxes.

This Industry Canada website,

http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/mc-mc.nsf/en/lm01094e.html

shows the government's complicity, explaining it away because other countries use 15 degrees as their standard and we have used it for natural gas and propane for decades. Well, we used to think the earth was flat too! Just because a standard has been used for a long time doesn't mean it is right to do so.

Strangely enough, this Ontario Ministry of Revenue website,

http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/bulletins/gt/gas1_2003.html

says in plain language that volume corrected gas is different from non-volume corrected gas. The reference is about 3/4 of the way down the page, under the heading "Ambient Temperature Allowance". Apparently, when the government talks about tax revenue, it makes sure it collects all the money it feels is due.

Thanks for reading this message. I hope you write an article about this issue. $655,000,000 is a lot of money. Canadians shouldn't have to give it to oil companies and the government with no say in the matter.

Best regards,

Phil Kempton

UPDATE: Mr. Duffy responded to me message to him with an e-mail of his own. I won't publish it here, because I didn't ask him if I could, but he seemed to take interest in the isue I had brought up, and said he would keep the information for potential future use. Maybe it was a form response to a reader submission, but I would like to think that Mr. Duffy was sufficiently intrigued to pursue the story on his own.

Unsung Hero - Kadiri Richard

2008-02-25T17:38:00.001-04:00

I am a big fan of Kadiri Richard. I bought Kadiri's jersey (and waited for it to arrive since there weren't any in stock when the jerseys were first sold). Two games ago, I brought boxes of Kraft Dinner (KD) to string up in front of my seats for each block he made, only to see him have no blocks for that game against Quebec. I found that the Rainmen played zone defense for at least the first half, and then an ineffective man coverage in the second half when Quebec capitalized on drawing defenders away from the net and then scoring. This doesn't give one a lot of chances for big blocks.

In my haste to get to the game against Vermont, I forgot the boxes, but I will bring them to the rest of the games. I didn't miss much of a chance to string them up, since KD only blocked 2 shots. Most of our defense in that game was in the form of grabbing the ball after the shot, hence the 34 defensive boards for the team.

It seems like Kadiri has never really been used to his full potential, with Eric being chosen as the man to take the ball in to the hoop. Watching Kadiri's highlight reel shows that he is certainly capable of driving hard and I have never really understood why he has been relegated to a largely defensive role with almost no opportunity given to him to score unless the opposition's defense breaks down. Maybe it is the Rainmen's small offensive play list that leaves Kadiri out in the cold. He has too much talent to simply be a 15-to-20-minutes-per-game player. Looking at his stats, he has rarely played more than half a game and his stats prove that the more time he has on the court, the more effective he becomes, with rebounds and blocks.

Having said that, his attitude -- both on the court and the bench -- is excellent. No one has a bigger smile when the Rainmen are winning (remember those days?), when a teammate scores an impressive basket Kadiri is right there congratulating him, and no one is more imposing when KD gets his scowl on to intimidate an opposing player. As the Rainman who starts chants nearly as much as Chris, Dunc and I do, Kadiri is almost as valuable to the team on the bench as he is on the court. I simply think he has more to contribute than he has been given the chance to show us.

A flurry of thoughts on the Rainmen

2008-02-22T09:03:00.007-04:00

Here are some posts that I put on Chris Parsons's fansite about the Rainmen, with some minor edits and additions for context.

On Rick Lewis's coaching ability:

If a game is lost with 12 minutes to go, try subbing in the guys who wish they could play enough so they might actually make a difference. Being down 20 points going into the fourth, against Vermont no less, means that this leaves 12 minutes for our bench warmers to get some real time, not the garbage 90 seconds that Lewis deigns to give them.

Rick Lewis seems like a nice enough fellow and gives good interview on the Q, but proper player utilization, gametime decision making and clock management are not his fortes. Maybe he could be the PR talking head for the team, but please can we have a different head coach? How about the 2 assistant coaches? Give them a crack at running a game or two. Why not? At least they know the players and their respective strengths and weaknesses. We may have next year’s coach already on the payroll and I don’t mean Rick Lewis.

On Halifax vs. Vermont:

Looking at the box score of this game, it seems like it was the Lantrice and Eric show. Fine, they are supposed to be our best scorers, but 2 guys can’t match up against 5. Looking at the amount of time the starters played makes me cringe. Of course we ran out of gas! Eric played all 48 minutes of the game! Lantrice, Brian and Ferg got a combined 15 minutes off! Lewis treats his backups like they were made out of glass and he doesn’t want to risk breaking them by taking them out of the wrapper and actually playing them.

On the rest of the season:

I was looking forward to watching the Rainmen whup the Maywood Buzz (3-21), but now I think we’ll be lucky to split the games with them.

I highly doubt the Bahama Pro Show will come all the way to Halifax, considering they only have 6 games under their belts, according to the ABA website (if that site can be trusted). The Bahama website is current as of November 2007, so no help there.

I admire Mr. Levingston for trying to finish the season off without missing any home games, but it seems that just as the Rainmen are getting some PR traction in Halifax, our team is collapsing on the court. I hope we can finish off the season in a strong way, to bring our record closer to .500. Luckily, we have a home stand of games with only Vermont being a clear favourite against us. I would love to see us take at least 4 of the 6 games to end the season.

On the Rainmen's recent additions to the team:

I am glad they sell programs at the games, it’s hard to keep track of our players. Is this common for ABA teams or is Mr. Levingston trying to find the right mix, even as the end of the season approaches? The two new additions sound promising, we certainly can’t do much worse.

James Tyler is listed on a basketball recruiting website as 7′1″ and 360 pounds!!! That’s heavier than Shaq, although he is also 16 years younger than the Diesel. In fact, his nickname was/is “Baby Shaq”.

I hope his weight doesn’t make him too slow. If he has some speed, he will definitely make his presence known on the court. Another website shows his strengths as: “Low Block Scorer” and “Rebounding”, while he needs to improve as a “Finisher” and his “Intensity/Passion”. This site also mentioned that Tyler “got serious about basketball and shed some weight, thus opening up his low post game.” Some other sites list Tyler at 310, 320 and 330 pounds, respectively.

As for Akeem Clark, a few years ago he was praised as being one of the U.S. best 3 point shooters. Interestingly, Booyer and Clark were on the same USBL team Gary Steelheads and were activated at the same time last year. In addition to being teammates on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis team for a year, they were also together on the Black Hawk East Junior College team in 2002. Either they were separated at birth and are karmically connected, or James is one heck of a salesman at getting Akeem on his team. Hopefully Akeem can stay healthy and contribute to the Rainmen this year, unlike Booyer, who was released again due to a chronic leg injury after playing only 5 games for the Rainmen.

On the 2008 ABA playoffs:

I just found this 2008 playoff tree, reportedly from the Manchester Millrats.

Apparently we will be playing the Atlanta Vision, in Georgia. The top 4 teams (Vermont, Beijing, Manchester and Texas) get byes, as does the host team Quebec. 4 California teams as well as Atlanta and Halifax make up the rest of the roster. For some reason, there is no 10th seed.

I don’t think a team (Atlanta Vision) that has played only 8 games should be in the playoffs. The Atlanta Vision have beaten the Gwizzlies 4 times, the Bahama Pro Show twice and lost to Beijing twice. That’s it. That is their whole season so far, with 15 games cancelled. The Vision will play the Gwizzlies 3 more times and Bahama once more. So we get to play a team that has played a total of 3 other teams, while Mr. Levingston and the rest of the Northeast division, who have worked to provide as complete a schedule as possible, are penalized by not advancing to the playoffs.

edit: Apparently the link above was a bracket that another fan had made up, as his projection of how the playoffs will go. It is not an official playoff bracket. Read the entry below to see that this fan playoff bracket is the best info that we have so far on the playoffs, since no one, not even the CEO of the league, is giving the answer of exactly how the playoffs will be seeded or played.

Here is correspondence between a Rainmen fan and Joe Newman, the CEO of the ABA.

This just shows that Newman has no idea how the playoffs will go. In a real league, the format would be set well in advance, with teams — and fans — knowing ahead of the end of the season whether or not they will be in the playoffs.

Having most of the teams fold or play incomplete seasons messes up the seeding, but there should be a rule that teams must play at least 50% of their scheduled games (50% is the absolute lowest, it should probably be higher, like 67% or 75%) to qualify for the playoffs. Otherwise, a team like the 6-2 Atlanta Vision who are only successful at beating up on the Gwizzlies (1-7) and the Bahama Pro Show (1-5) would get in while a team that actually plays different teams, including ones that are better than they are, gets the shaft.

The fact that the league CEO doesn’t directly respond to a fan’s e-mail is disappointing. The fact that there is no apparent clear-cut rule on which teams will make the playoffs is disturbing. I smell a rat in the state of Denmark, to mix my metaphors.

On the Rainmen's end-of-season home stand and another blast at Halifax's newest free tabloid, Metro:

I think the new guys may be the key to rounding out our formerly guard-heavy team with some big offense. Will Lewis’s program fit them in to actually make a difference? That remains to be seen, but we will have a half-dozen chances to see it, over the next 3 weeks.

I read this Metro article on the Rainmen. Chris and I consistently write longer passages on rainmenblog.wordpress.com than that 178-word footnote. Other than talking to Mr. Levingston for a couple of sound bites, the reporter did less research than Chris (or I) do for most of our posts. While I am pleasantly surprised that there is even local news in the paper, the length of the piece shows what I said about the tabloid’s editorial slant towards stories that can be read in 30 seconds or less.

R.I.P. The Daily News

2008-02-15T16:14:00.003-04:00

The Daily News was closed on Monday. While the suddenness of the event was shocking, with no final edition printed, it was plain to see why it happened, once the circulation stats were reported. The News only had 16,000 subscribers, versus over 100,000 for the Herald. To be fair, the News is mainly a Halifax paper, while the Herald has both metro and provincial editions. Anyway, the paper was losing millions of dollars, so what better way to solve that problem than to start putting out a free paper!?!

The company that owned the News has started producing a new tabloid, called Metro. There are a number of other cities in Canada that already have this paper, so the owners must think it will succeed here too, although a not-free paper that actually had local news stories and real reporters had failed.

I picked up the first Metro paper yesterday, just to see it. Wow, it is great for the vision-impaired! The font is the largest I have seen in a newspaper, with all sorts of white space between lines, wide margins, etc. I guess they have to somehow fill up the pages that aren’t full-page ads. I really dislike the sans-serif headline font.

The stories take about 30 seconds or less to read, which makes me feel like I am watching TV, instead of reading a “newspaper”. I was surprised to actually see current news stories as well as a few local items, but as I foretold, the paper was heavy with ads and downloaded fluff from national news providers. This will probably be the only copy of Metro that I ever pick up, unless one of my kids has a papier-mache project for school.

The Rainmen haven't made much progress this season.

2008-02-15T16:11:00.002-04:00

The Rainmen lost 120-102 to the Quebec Kebekwa on Wednesday night. It was the worst game I have seen them play. There are a few new players on the team, replacing some guys who were among the first to join the Rainmen, and it doesn't look like Coach Lewis has worked them into his "program".

We lost the game because of our lousy defence and poor free throw shooting.

Re: percentage from the line. Eric had the majority of the foul shots and his percentage is the worst on the team, at 0.381. He didn't even do that well in this game, sinking only 5 of 14 (0.357).

I was surprised to actually hear Coach Lewis remind Eric to shoot off his fingertips. I thought that it would be unnecessary to remind him of this technique, considering Eric's experience and obvious talent on the court, but unfortunately he needs help. The angled spin that Eric puts on the ball is the ugliest free throw move I have ever seen, along with the almost non-existant arc that sometimes happens. I wish Eric would stop doing that. Quite often the sideways spin makes the ball rim out, when a straight backwards spin would cause it to go downward through the net. These are just observations from a non-professional. I have a lot of respect for Eric as a player and a person.

Re: Defence. Watching your opponent go uncontested for lay-ups time after time is ridiculous. Not getting rebounds (Except for Eric, who had a good game except for the FT%) is crazy. I see that the main difference between us being 8-16 instead of 16-8 is the lack of rebounding, both offensively and defensively. We can go-head-to-head with any team in this league, even the mighty Frost Heaves, but for some reason, Coach Lewis has drilled into the Rainmen's heads that all 5 players MUST be in defensive positions as soon as possible, regardless of the potential for boards.

Why not leave one guy under the net, or 2, if the opposition has strong defenders, to get that !#%$@ ball? With the exception of Eric's performance, our offensive boards are almost extinct. As others have said on this blog, we need more than one guy to consistently take it to the hoop and stay with it until that ball goes in. Defensively, we aren't too bad on some nights in keeping the opponents from scoring for the first few tries, but then the opposition draws our guys clear of the net, making that move that Chris referred to in his post , which leaves one guy open, who goes in uncontested. That happened way too many times in this game.

I am going to say it again, for like the fourth time: How about having someone in under the net to pick up the errant 3-point shots? If we had great shooters who consistently drain it, then fine, let it go and get ready on D, but our guys seem to have good nights and bad nights. I think it is imperative that the coaching staff actually coach each game as it unfolds and make changes as necessary. I know that seems to fly in the face of what is currently happening, but give it a try! Please!

I cannot believe that this lack of rebounding has not been observed by the owner Mr. Levingston, the coaching staff, or the players. Why do they let this keep happening? Guess what: if we score more points because of rebounds, we don't have to concentrate so much on having so many defenders in place, waiting for the opponents.

OK. Time to take my soapbox and go home. Good luck to the Rainmen in Boston and Vermont. We'll see you next week.

What Do Teachers Really Make? Taylor Mali Explains...

2008-02-11T17:40:00.001-04:00

Powerful example of Slam Poetry.

Blast From The Past

2008-01-21T14:34:00.000-04:00

Here are my first attempts at blogging, on my Yahoo page a couple of years ago. I came across my old page and thought I would repeat the blog entries here, for posterity and a few laughs.

My up-to-date update is after the old blog entries:

"Entry for November 08, 2005
No rest for me! Running a business, co-ordinating construction of 2 houses, being a dad/stepdad to 4 boys, Scouting, choir, leading a Bible study... I need to find some time for myself.

Entry for November 09, 2005
Things are going well at the houses, although the drywalling at our house is taking longer than I anticipated. Just painting, flooring, cabinets, light and plumbing fixtures and trim to go!
Alistair's house is being framed now and it looks good to get it roof-tight for his next visit in 3 weeks. Everyone who asks if we will be in the house for Christmas isn't joking anymore - yikes! We will be in before Christmas: that is my goal. Of course, my original goal was to be in by Labour Day!

Entry for November 10, 2005
So the insulator's truck is in the shop, so he can't blow in the insulation in my attic. This means that when the guys walk on the roof trusses in the attic when they put in the insulation, they may crack the drywall compound that has been installed and my drywaller is warning me that this will be extra work for them to repair. The wind blew the gate into the drywaller's truck and broke off the passenger side mirror. He said don't worry about it, they will replace it with a part from the junkyard for $5 or 10.
Alistair's house progressed well yesterday, with half of the roof trusses put up. No work on it today (I think) because of windy, cold, rainy weather.
Long weekend tomorrow. We will be marching in the parade to the cenotaph with the Cubs and Scouts. Then we have the rest of the weekend off, just in time for me to paint the front door and install a new lockset, as well as replace the basement light fixtures to dress up the house a bit more.

Entry for December 22, 2005
Wow! Hard to believe it's almost Christmas! We aren't in the house - delay with the hardwood installer, so it will have to be in January. We dug out the Christmas ornaments from the rental storage room. Looks like I won't have time to empty it before the month is up - another $80 down the drain.
Alistair's house is coming along quickly. He will be done not long after us, I figure.
Anyway, here at the office late to finish up work before year-end. See ya in 2006!

Entry for April 03, 2006
So we are finally in the house! Keeping busy with finishing touches. I heard somewhere that it takes a year to build a house and another year to finish it. I can see why. We still have interior trim to paint, landscaping to do, and the back deck and balcony to build."

UP-TO-DATE UPDATE:

Still running the business. We have had some ups and downs, but last fiscal year was quite good. I guess that is what can happen when I am not at a construction site every morning!

Construction is complete, including my parent's house next door and my sister and her family on the other side of our parents. It is great to have everyone so close and yet we still have our privacy and our own lives.

Now I am Dad/Stepdad to 4 boys and 1 girl! Natalie was born on June 8, 2006!!! Philson moved in with us full-time on March 30, 2007!!!

I am still involved with Scouting, although only as a Trainer now. Cheryl is now our group's Registrar. We will probably go back as leaders when David and Natalie are old enough to join Beavers. I know our friend Margaret is waiting for us to come back as her replacement!

I am still in the choir at St. Peter's. We have been struggling a bit with the choir size, with a number of people over the past year or two, with fewer people coming in to replace them. I enjoy it and I enjoy singing praises to God, but I feel like we are only surviving as a choir and I am not sure what we can do to improve the situation.

I am not running the Bible study any more. Life just got too busy when Natalie was born, so I opted to not continue it for that year, which became this year too. I miss it, I know I need to get back into the Bible and while I know that leading a study is not the only way for me to do that, I also recognize that it was an easy way for me to take the time to do it. I need to put forth the effort to study the Bible for my own sake, other people will benefit from my doing so, when I have more balance in my life.

While I have found some time for myself lately, it has been fleeting and I feel guilty about doing it. Cheryl and I are slowly working our lives back to an acceptable balance, with our time together as a couple having been driven down to virtually nil over the past couple of years. We are on the same page and we both want the same satisfaction with our lives as a family and as a couple. It is nice to get back to spending some time together, just the two of us, even if it is only for brief moments at a time right now.

We have been in the house for almost 23 months. Since we moved in the house at the end of February 2006 (what happened to Labour Day 2005!?!), we had the back deck and balcony built. Still working on the interior trim painting, Cheryl has most of the main floor done. I slogged away at getting the yard ready for sods this summer and fall, but I ran out of seasonable weather. Looks like the spring for that project. I knew that if we moved in before painting the trim, it would be the kiss of death for getting that chore done. I guess I was right, after all. Oh well, onward and upward!

Rainmen cut Williams, bring back Booyer

2008-01-16T07:37:00.001-04:00

The Rainmen recently announced that Devino Williams, the teenage talent with the Rainmen's best 3-pointer stats, was released from the team, apparently for not displaying "the level of maturity to play professional basketball.", according to Coach Lewis on the Rainmen website. James Booyer, a 6'9" forward will be re-joining the team after spending the first few weeks of the season holding down one end of the bench because of an injured leg.

I wonder if there is some kind of internal deal with the players to keep a maximum of 10 players on the team? We definitely need more forwards and fewer guards, so hopefully this is a step in the right direction. While Devino is talented, we have other shooting guards who have more facets to their game. It also seems like Coach Lewis has favourites, and apparently Devino wasn’t one of them. From the first round of Booyer’s stay with the Rainmen, he allegedly is one of Coach’s favourites. How will this play with the rest of the team?

Having the players live in one house may be good for bonding as a team, but having the wrong guy in a house can act as a poison for morale. Was Williams that wrong guy? Was Booyer (in his original stint with the team)? One thing is for sure, the revolving door cannot be helping morale. Not knowing if you will still be with a team that has moved you to Halifax for a few weeks and then cuts you (Hardy, Gladden, and now Williams) must weigh on the players’s minds.

On the other hand, all of this speculation is just that - speculation. We fans don’t live in the house and we don’t really know how the dynamics run in that household. I just hope the core players are able to overcome this apparent obstacle of player turnover and finish the season strong. The wins will come if the players are happy.

Rainmen need help

2008-01-14T13:59:00.000-04:00

Along with other people who watched this game, I was puzzled as to why our mainstay players were not playing in their proven positions. I think Coach Lewis should leave the experimenting to when the Rainmen are ahead by 20-30 points, not when we are playing the strongest team that we have faced. When fans can recognize the individual players’s strengths, why can’t the coach? Our team should have established roles by this point in the season, not still seemingly trying out players in positions to see what happens. Having said that, we desperately need another forward who can drive to the net, not another low percentage shooter.

As we saw over the past couple of games, rebounds really matter. The game that the Rainmen won by 30 points had probably their highest number of boards, especially defensive, for the year. It was too bad that the Rainmen gave up on the rebounds so much against Vermont, especially since the Frost Heaves are not a team that gives up on a ball underneath the net.

Why do we completely abandon the chance for a tip-in on errant three pointers? If our guys were shooting better on the long shots, I would see the wisdom on getting back early for defence, but 33% (according to the Rainmen site) on three-pointers does not seem to me to be a high enough number to just let it go and hope for the best. I think Eric should be under the basket to add even more points to his total, he seems to be the best at finishing off shots already.

While this game was fun to watch, although ultimately disappointing in its result, I would say the brightest points of the double header were meeting the Vermont fans - who were very nice and were trying to convince us to come down to Vermont - and Darrell Dexter’s turn as the 13th man.

2008-01-10T13:59:00.000-04:00

I just read that Halifax is #1 in fan attendance in the league! Wow! And we thought there weren’t many people showing up. Having said that, we can always do better.

Looking at the ABA Power Rankings of the Top 15 teams, it appears that only the lowly Maywood Buzz (1-15) are not on this list. The ABA says it will have 16 teams in the playoffs. Considering there are only 16 teams left, I think it’s safe to say that we are in the playoffs.

How bad do the Buzz players feel (other than because they are 1-15)? They are the only team in the league that is not listed on the Power Rankings. You would think the ABA would just list all 16 remaining teams now. What happens if more teams fold? Will they have a Top 14 list? Top 13 list?

Looking at last year’s playoff tree, I think we want to stay around the middle of the rankings to last longer in the playoffs. It looks like a typical #1 plays #16, #2 plays #15, etc. playoff.

If there are an odd number of teams, I think Halifax, as the #1 in attendance figures, should get any available first round bye as a reward (if there are an odd number of teams).

The Rainmen Have Value

2008-01-10T13:58:00.000-04:00

After this season, I think Mr. Levingston should seriously consider taking on some local investors and pony up the $1,000,000 to join the NBA Development League. That means 20 people at $50,000. That is chicken feed, to be part of the NBA Organization. As reference, the Raptors have a franchise value of $373,000,000 on revenues of $124,000,000 and operating income of $29,000,000 last season. This page on the Forbes website has more information. I like the Wins-to-player cost ratio at the bottom of the page, it gives us an idea if the payroll expense is really worth it, since wins and losses (and championships) are how we judge sports teams.

I don't know the Rainmen's revenues, but let's just say they only get their home game ticket sales and merchandise. If they average 2,000 people per game for 18 home games at $15/ticket, allowing for discounted tickets but also the floor seats, that is $540,000. Let's say they sell 2,000 mechandise items this season, at an average of $25 each, including replica jerseys. That is another $50,000.

I don't know how much sponsorship they have, or if it is even included in revenues. Most of the sponsorship appears to be in kind, like the Printing House, Daily News, Q104, Reebok, Physioclinic, The Westin. As a guess, let's say the total sponsorship is $300,000. I assume the Metro Centre keeps the concession revenues, to keep things simple. Based on the Raptor's value to revenue ratio, this makes the Rainmen franchise worth about $2,700,000, from $890,000 in revenues.

These figures are all just guesses on my part, I have no actual information on the Rainmen finances. I also assume that there is no economy of scale; in other words, a bigger company like the Raptors would probably have better profit margins than a new company that operates on a smaller scale, like the Rainmen. This is because fixed costs such as travel, salaries, venue rental, etc. are probably all a much bigger percentage of revenue for the Rainmen than for the Raptors.

If the Rainmen don't make as much as 24% income on their revenue (the revenue figures being complete conjecture on my part), then the franchise value would not be as high as the above figure. If their costs are $20,000 per game ($8,000 for venue rental in Halifax, say the same for travel costs for away games, $12,000 per game in salaries of players, coaches, staff), that means they have costs of $720,000 for a 36 game season. That leaves about $170,000 of around 19% of revenue, as income. Based on the Raptor's figures, that makes the Rainmen worth about $2,200,000.

I am guessing these figures are on the low side, but my point from this exercise is to show that the franchise has a value that could easily be supported with a local consortium with the current owners retaining 50% of the team to reward their risk-taking on starting the team, to enter the NBA Development League. Once the Rainmen join the NBADL, attendance will go up and that increased revenue will go toward the bottom line, although I figure player salaries will probably also rise, but probably not as much as the increased revenues from attendance and merchandise.

How about the Green Bay Packers model of local people owning shares, maybe for a part of the team ownership to raise money (it essentially acts as a bond to raise money)? Sell 2,000 shares at $500 each. I would definitely buy one of those, and I am sure most other season ticket holders would, too. Heck, I paid more than that for my 5 season tickets. What do you think, Mr. Levingston?

The Rainmen need to look elsewhere

2008-01-09T16:44:00.000-04:00

The ABA is no place for a good team. This is evident by how many former ABA teams have been leaving the league to join other groups.

The more I learn about the ABA and what I observe as this season progresses, I hope Mr. Levingston is able to take steps to join another league next year. He and the other viable teams in the Northeast and North divisions should approach the NBA Development League, the Premier Basketball League, or the Continental Basketball Association.

Of these, the NBA D-League is the most attractive choice, and not only for the obvious brand recognition reason. The D-League has no teams in the Northeast area of America or any Canadian Teams. If the 6 teams in the Northeast and North divisions of the ABA could form a new division for the D-League, it could benefit both groups. The D-League would have viable teams who would relish the opportunity to be linked to an NBA team (or two) and they would also expand into a new geographical area. The teams would benefit from increased popularity from association with such a widely recognized brand of basketball as well as the stability that comes along with the NBA. I think a natural NBA team that the Rainmen could be the farm team for would be the Raptors.

If the NBA is not receptive, then there are at least 2 other options: The PBL and the CBA.

The Premier Basketball League is a new group of 8 former ABA teams that started playing their first season last week. I think the jury is still out on whether this would be an improvement over the ABA, if only because of the PBL’s newness. I think their growing pains would have to be done before considering a move there. Having said that, if the ABA provides no support to its teams and its reputation is actually hurting financially viable teams (like Halifax, Vermont, etc.), then this might be the only way to survive.

The Continental Basketball Association is also made up of mostly former ABA teams. This league seems to be very spread out geographically, but again, they have no representation in New England/Atlantic Canada. This year, there was a team in upstate New York and one in Pittsburgh, so even if only some of the ABA teams in question decided to join the CBA, there would be some competitors fairly close by.

Other professional leagues of note are:
- the United States Basketball League, which just announced the suspension of its entire 2008 season, because of so many teams folding. So much for that as an option.

- The new National Professional Basketball League, which starts this spring. This league is apparently based in the northeast United States, with teams in New York state, New Jersey, Connecticut, MAryland, Delaware and Virginia. As a spring league, the schedule for games would probably not interfere so much with Mooseheads games, meaning we could possibly have more weekend games. As we have seen so far this season, the weekend is when people come to the game. The NPBL season is going to be from March 1 to early June. This looks like an interesting alternative.

P.S. The former ABA Corning Bulldogs — now called the Elmira Bulldogs — will be part of this league. By the way, Corning is a town of 10,000 in upstate New York. It was the smallest town with an ABA franchise. It would be like Truro having a franchise, to put things into perspective. No wonder they only drew 80 people to a home game.

Rainmen are looking for a few good men

2008-01-09T16:41:00.000-04:00

The Rainmen are going through some growing pains, signing and releasing players in an effort to strengthen their team's weak spots (such as a power forward other than Eric Crookshanks).

With so many of the other teams in the ABA folding, there must be some castaway talent from these defunct ABA teams. Having said that, I saw ex-SMU player Brian Thompson in line to get some food at the game last night. Although he is older than Benoite, he was the man back in the day: on the AUAA all-star team, AUAA MVP and CIAU all star team over a 4 year period. If Vinny Testeverde can play for over 20 years, why can’t we get some local university alumni to jump in and play relief for the Rainmen?

Rainmen draw 2741 in their win over Montreal, January 6, 2008

2008-01-09T16:35:00.000-04:00

2700+ is probably a reasonable expectation for spectators at a weekend game. Hopefully next season, the Rainmen can negotiate to have more weekend games. The Moose aren’t here every Saturday!

This game had its bright and its dim spots. Great show on the rebounding (I haven’t looked at the stats, but their boards, offense and especially defense, must have been much higher than average) but the Rainmen handled the ball sloppily way too many times, especially under the net.

It was great to see the 13th man actually dressed for the game, participate in the team talks and even play the final minute or so! I believe it was Barry Barnet, our provincial health minister. He certainly did not embarrass himself. Barnet even went up and down the court, kind of covering his opponent, although I think the Montreal player was mostly concerned about hurting him. This was a refreshing start in the right direction of actually using the 13th player rule. Keep it up!

Squid played a very entertaining half-time show and Bruce Guthro sang O Canada, which was cool. We have so much talent in Halifax, there should be no problem getting singers for the anthems. Having recording artists perform the anthems is an added draw that may impress some people. Every little bit helps.

Coach Lewis was actually fairly impressive in his vocality with the refs. At one point, he remiinded them about the rules about calling timeouts after a Montreal player tried to call timeout as he jumped out of bounds trying to save the ball. Even though the refs agreed with Lewis, they made up some story about “inadvertant whistle” so that Montreal retained the ball on the throw-in, then they made some bogus travelling call on Montreal to give the ball to Halifax.

While I don’t agree with the strategy of playing one line for a whole quarter at a time, I think the coach is growing in experience and the players are getting tighter as a team on the court. This is evident in their improving season record. I guess we have to remember that this is not the NBA, all the people in the game — refs, coaches, and players — are not at that top level. However, it seems like the officiating is fairly odious. The officials kept Montreal in the game by calling fouls anytime more than one Rainman was near a Royal in the key. It was pretty disgusting.

I am looking forward to seeing the Rainmen play Vermont, I hope they can at least split the two games. The scheduling for this part of the season is fairly haphazard, with all three January games occurring in a span of 4 days and a similar timetable for February. I would rather see one game a week, like the first part of the season. I guess with opposing teams folding or “suspending operations”, we are lucky to get games played at all. Go Rainmen!

ABA's 13th Man Rule

2008-01-09T16:30:00.000-04:00

The ABA has a rule that teams can dress and play(!) a 13th player on their roster. It is seen as a public relations scheme to increase fan interest. It seems to draw its friends and foes, but I like it.

Unfortunately, the Rainmen have not really been using it to their advantage. Past 13th players have been Jordan Croucher, a local R&B artist (probably a good choice since a lot of people cheered his introduction), Cindy Day, the local weather personality (maybe for the "rain" connection? Uninspired selection in my opinion), and mostrecently Barry Barnet our provincial Minister of Health. Only Barnet actually played, even though it was only for the final minute of so of a game that the Rainmen had well in hand.

I would like to see some local b-ballers get the nod for 13th player and actually see them play. It is one of the rules in this league, designed to put more people in the seats. How about the university player of the week be named the 13th man? There are probably some issues with eligibility, even if high school players were used, but there must be some contractual way around that. Why not make it a charity fund-raiser? The 13th player rule can be a positive thing, if it is used in the right way. Even though it is a gimmick. it doesn’t have to bring down the level of play in the game.

2008-01-09T16:21:00.000-04:00

From Chris Parsons's blog:

BelarusRikk Says:

January 6, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Imagine if the Frost Heaves, Gwizzlies and San Francisco Rumble ALL showed up in Halifax on January 9th? In any other league miscommunication of this magnitude would be impossible, but in this one…don’t say it can’t happen

BigDaddyPhil Says:

January 7, 2008 at 10:29 am
Rikk, if all four teams showed up (including the Rainmen), I think there should be a 10-on-10 Battle Royale. Each team puts 5 guys on the court (say Vermont and Halifax versus Georgia and San Fran) and everyone tries to score points for their combined team. At haliftime, the winning team combo splits up into their original teams, then they play the second half 5-on-5 to determine the game winner.

That might actually be really cool to watch! If Joe Newman ever reads this, it might become a new rule next year! You read it here first - I want royalties on this idea.

Here is a hilarious link for the oddly named ABA team Georgia Gwizzlies that were supposed to have played the Rainmen but couldn't get passports?!? They were originally from Gwinnett County in Georgia, but they moved and must have decided to keep the Gwizzlies name for brand recognition (ok......).

New Nickname for Rainmen's Kadiri Richard?

2008-01-09T16:04:00.000-04:00

My favourite player on the Rainmen is Kadiri Richard (#5). He is athletically talented, he makes huge swat-blocks that look cool (about one every 4 minutes or so that he is on the court), he has a great attitude, he has taught special needs students, he gives his team-mates their props after they score, and when he is playing, his facial expression alternates between a huge grin or the most intense scowl that I have ever seen. He is even growing a beard to support his fellow Rainman Jermaine Stewart, who is trying to qualify for the Olympics on Canada' national team.

I ordered a Rainmen jersey with his number on it, I am looking forward to wearing it to games!

Chad Lucas, a reporter for the Herald, mentions here that he thinks Kadiri needs a better nickname than "KD". I suspect that Chad is sick of hearing me shout it whenever Kadiri scores or makes a huge block. I sit right behind his media seat at the games. hehehe

I asked Kadiri if he had a nickname, back at the start of the season. He replied with “KD”. That’s good enough for me. We have to remember that a good sports nickname has to be easy to chant and to be understood when yelling it.

Some alternatives: Sultan of Swat, The Swahili Shield (Kadiri is a Swahili word/name meaning a type of tree). These may be offensive to some, so they are probably out.

How about Rocket Richard? I know he pronounces his surname differently than Maurice Richard did, but I think yelling “Rocket” might be fun.

My latest try is The Fortress of Swat-itude. Hmmm. Needs some paprika.

P.S. I think the announcer should give a nightly shout out to DJ Ronnie, who spins the tunes during the games. It is an easy thing to do and it adds to the connection we can have with the team, by giving the fans some knowledge about the people involved with the team.

Can't get enough of Guitar Hero?

2008-01-09T15:52:00.000-04:00

How about this new game?

Here is the point of reference from the SNL skit

This is the best delivery of a funny line in one of SNL's funniest skits ever. Chris Walken may be a cartoon character of himself now, but he can do comedy!

NBA Development League may be the Rainmen's ticket to survival

2008-01-09T15:41:00.000-04:00

It looks like the D League needs a Eastern Division (there are no teams east of the Mississippi). I agree with Chris that the NBA name would give Halifax fans a reason to come out to the games. It seems like Halifax needs a big-time name to convince people that the product is worth consuming. Imagine if we had some NBA games to start the season like we have with hockey?

I remember the Halifax Voyageurs — yes, I am that old! They were a big part of why I became a Canadiens fan, because I knew that someday there would be players that I was watching in Halifax who would eventually play in the NHL. As it turned out, quite a few Vees played in the NHL after their time with us. Guy Carbonneau was my favourite player then. I think he has some role with Montreal now

The Rainmen need to promote themselves more, get their message out and build public awareness as to their mere existence. How about live radio broadcasts? I am sure they could use webcasts effectively too. Try taking a page from the Vermont Frost Heaves. They have webcasts and 4 of their fans drove 13 hours to see them play in Halifax! That’s commitment!

I would hate to see the Rainmen go the way of the Windjammers: a good team with solid fan support that gets brought down by a shaky league (or two).

By the way, I really enjoy the games although the officiating is suspect at times. Maybe it’s tougher to see fouls on the floor rather than from the stands.

Lastly, I don’t know about the other fans, but I think the bottom parts of Section 22 and 23 have the loudest, best fans in the arena.

Go Rainmen!

Halifax Rainmen!

2008-01-09T15:19:00.001-04:00

I have been overdue in posting about Halifax's professional basketball team: the Rainmen. I bought front-row season tickets on the day they became available because I remember going to AHL hockey games with my Dad and I wanted to give a similar experience to our kids. So far, the Rainmen are 7-9, after a poor 1-7 start. They are playing catch up, but the good news is that they are one a small number of financially viable teams in the apparently shady league, so by virtue of still being around at the end of the season, they may be guaranteed a playoff berth! The next few posts will be my comments on another fan's blog. I have a lot to say on that website, so I figure I may as well put my content on my on blog too.

Where are Dave's heart pills?

2007-12-04T08:56:00.001-04:00

Dave and I watched last night's Patriots game amid the snow, sleet, and driving rain that was hammering against my house in our first real snow storm of the winter.

Despite the natural phenomena occurring outdoors, we were both glued to my TV, as the Patriots finished their closest game yet, against the Baltimore Ravens.

Here is Sports Illustrated's boxscore and recap of the game.

It was a game of catch-up for the Pats, something they are not used to this season, with an average winning margin over over 25 points per game in their so-far flawless year.

One observation I made last night was about the Pats' defensive line. With potential -- and almost all likely -- future Hall of Famers like Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Mike Vrabel, Adalius Thomas and Roosevelt Colvin (who did not play last night due to injury), their combined 58 years of NFL experience showed in that they are all over 30 years old. I wondered aloud if not having any injuries (except for Colvin last week) means that the D-line is just getting worn down. Still healthy enough to play, but not at their peak.

Pats' fans may recall that in recent years, injuries have provided backup players a chance to shine and they have not disappointed, providing a few of the best and most successful seasons in the franchise history. For better or worse, these backups are not getting the opportunity to make their presence felt on the field because the starters are just so darn healthy!

Now, I am not saying I hope the Pats start getting injuries -- far from it. The starters are in those positions for a reason: they are really, really good. But when I watched the tired D-line march down the field at the end of the third quarter, as opposed to the Ravens' O-line pump fists in the air and call for the crowd to cheer them on, I realized that although these men are elite athletes, they are still men.

The last 10 minutes of the game were real nail-biters, especially for Dave who has adopted the Pats as his team. Dave hasn't watched much football before, so he was unaware of Tom Brady's history of 20 fourth-quarter come from behind game-winning drives. Last night made it 21. It was great to see Dave's enthusiasm (he will never be known as a wallflower), jumping up, yelling, cheering, high fiving, sighing, and generally enjoying the game, while Tom did his thing and got the Patriots up the field to score the game-winning points.

The craziest part of the game was the end to this drive, in which the Pats survived 3 fourth down attempts, two of which were stuffed by the strong Ravens' defence. In fact, if the Ravens' coach hadn't excitedly called time in an effort to "ice" the Patriots first attempt at fourth-and-short, the game literally would have been over. The Ravens stopped the Patriots short of converting their fourth down. If not for the call of timeout by the Ravens sideline, Baltimore would have received the ball and could have taken a knee to let the clock run out, giving the Ravens the victory and ruining New England's dream of a perfect season.

The second attempt at fourth-and-short was called back due to a penalty against the Ravens. New England is too good to let a reprieve like that go to waste. The Tom and Randy show came through and put the Pats ahead.

The game wasn't over because there were still 44 seconds left on the clock and Baltimore was receiving a kick-off. Many games have been decided in less time than that. Unfortunately for Baltimore, lack of discipline led to two unsportsmanlike conducts penalties as well as an offside penalty on the TD conversion. This led to New England kicking off on Baltimore's 35-yard-line!!! I have never seen that before and it was unreal. Usually kickoffs after scoring are from the scoring team's 30-yard-line. The three Baltimore penalties of 15, 15, and 5 yards put the New England kicker in a position that he merely booted it through the Ravens' end zone to force them to start at their own 20-yard-line.

The game still wasn't over, as Kyle Boller played one of his best clutch performances and actually completed a Hail Mary pass which was caught on the Patriots' 3-yard-line. Thankfully, there were three Pats' defenders who were immediately on the receiver and they forced him to the ground as the clock ran out.

It was quite possibly the most exciting game ending I have seen for a while. This is what happens when the Patriots' opponent puts all of their effort into winning, trying to be the ones who knock off the kings' crowns. I expect to see more of the same from Pittsburgh, who are the next team for New England on this Sunday. More on that after the game.

Now that we have that out of the way

2007-11-05T12:42:00.000-04:00

The Patriots will go undefeated. I was hopeful of this before last night's game. Since they withstood some of the most one-sided officiating known to the NFL and came back from the edge of defeat to gut out a win, I think they really can go all the way.

Wes Welker is now my favourite Patriot. How the Dolphins traded this guy who led their team in most offensive statistics last season to their division nemesis is beyond me. Welker showed the multi-dimensional rushing, returning and receiving skills at key times in yesterday's game, as he has a number of times already this season. It should be noted that Troy Brown (even though he isn't playing right now), Tom Brady and Randy Moss round out the top 4 of my favourite Patriots. That's just on the offence! Then there's Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel... OK, OK, they have a lot of good players, we get it.

The Patriots built their team with the best combination of acquisitions ever, with Moss, Welker and Donte Stallworth and Adalius Thomas rounding out the talent that the Pats needed and didn't have for the past few years.

I still hope that Brady gets the TD passing record and league MVP, he is well on the way with 33 so far and 7 games to go. That is on pace to complete 59 TDs which would obliterate Peyton Manning's 2004 record of 49 passing TDs. Randy Moss has 12 TD receptions this season. This is slightly below the pace he needs to break Jerry Rice's 22 TD reception record, but I figure the Pat's second half of the season will provide more than 10 TDs for Randy. This will go well with Randy's rookie TD reception record from 1998 of 17 scores. Those milestones will really complement the Super Bowl rings that I expect these gents will have, come next February. Not to mention the 19-0 season and playoff record that they will produce.

How will I get through the next 2 weeks with no Patriot games?!?