Bruce writes for The Globe and Mail.
He used to be on the radio, and perhaps still is, but not in these parts.
His column usually hits a couple of nails on the head. Since I'm not a hockey fan (never was and never will be....oh, if they cut the violence by 100% I could be persuaded to watch) his comments about the game are not of great interest to me.
Remarks about media, television, behaviour, Olympics, etc are interesting, and the least I do is scan his column.
He is much better in print than on air. On air, he comes across as a know-it-all smarty pants, and the content gets lost in the delivery.
Worth reading, from a sociological perspective.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
From the Man Who Promised Honour and Integrity.....
http://www.chequerepublic.ca/
Here is where you can write a cheque to your friends and family, with the dreaded Tory logo on the upper left corner.
This government, and this Prime Minister, have no shame.
Here is where you can write a cheque to your friends and family, with the dreaded Tory logo on the upper left corner.
This government, and this Prime Minister, have no shame.
Friday, October 23, 2009
A few ......
Reports early this morning that one of VANOC's keenest supporters has died.
JACK POOLE was part of the Olympic dream for Vancouver from its earliest moment.
He'll be missed by many people in the organization.
------------------
The Prime Minister, as well as not honouring Parliament's longest-serving Speaker, has told Canadians that he doesn't watch Canadian news on TV because "he doesn't want to see himself on tv."
There are a lot of things that we could say, but none of them should be in the public domain.
------------------
JACK POOLE was part of the Olympic dream for Vancouver from its earliest moment.
He'll be missed by many people in the organization.
------------------
The Prime Minister, as well as not honouring Parliament's longest-serving Speaker, has told Canadians that he doesn't watch Canadian news on TV because "he doesn't want to see himself on tv."
There are a lot of things that we could say, but none of them should be in the public domain.
------------------
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Once a small man, always a small man
Once again, Prime Minister Harper has shown what a small man he is.
Yesterday in the House, all party leaders rose to congratulate Speaker Peter Milliken on his long service to Parliamanet.
Oh, no. Mr Harper didn't.
How petty.
Yesterday in the House, all party leaders rose to congratulate Speaker Peter Milliken on his long service to Parliamanet.
Oh, no. Mr Harper didn't.
How petty.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Who does he think he is?
The Parliament of Canada starts a new session today.
The Prime Minister will be in Saint John, NB delivering some sort of "report card" on the economy.
His distain for Parliament is palpable. He is only the PM, not some sort of tin pot dictator.
The sooner we get to the polls, the better.
The Prime Minister will be in Saint John, NB delivering some sort of "report card" on the economy.
His distain for Parliament is palpable. He is only the PM, not some sort of tin pot dictator.
The sooner we get to the polls, the better.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Trudeau Stories
......a one person show about friendship between Brooke Johnson and Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
This short, warm and wonderful play is on at the Playhouse Theatre in Gananoque till Septmeber 19th.
It will warm your heart, make you think about friends, make you think about what matters, the importance of keeping in touch, and the depth of loss when a friend dies.
Lots of laughs, much warmth, and joy.
Don't miss it.
This short, warm and wonderful play is on at the Playhouse Theatre in Gananoque till Septmeber 19th.
It will warm your heart, make you think about friends, make you think about what matters, the importance of keeping in touch, and the depth of loss when a friend dies.
Lots of laughs, much warmth, and joy.
Don't miss it.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
He's smoking something that's waaaay to strong for him!
from cbc.ca on September 9, 2009 at 10.21pm.......
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes a majority government "is within reach" for the Conservative party the next time Canadians go to the polls for a federal election."
What can we say? He's deluded? He's a dreamer? He's out of touch with Canadians?
Not only all this, but he is reported to have said, last week, while in Quebec, that he is only responsible to God. This man is incredible.
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes a majority government "is within reach" for the Conservative party the next time Canadians go to the polls for a federal election."
What can we say? He's deluded? He's a dreamer? He's out of touch with Canadians?
Not only all this, but he is reported to have said, last week, while in Quebec, that he is only responsible to God. This man is incredible.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
How do we teach our children to obey the law........
.......if the Prime Minister knowlingly breaks it?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Many transgressions....
This is going to be the appointment to the Senate of Stephen Harper's best friends. And, it's happening today.
Let's get to the polls!!!
Let's get to the polls!!!
Another Transgression.....
This from the PMO no less.....misspelling of the town of IQALUIT.
The PMO thinks it's spelled IQUALUIT.
Did anyone in his office take Social Skills 101?
The PMO thinks it's spelled IQUALUIT.
Did anyone in his office take Social Skills 101?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The Greatest Achievement in 2009
Without a doubt, bar none.........the Canadian Women's Water Polo team playing for the gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Rome.
These women deserve our greatest applause for their accomplishment. Whether they win the gold or silver is less important.
We salute you!
These women deserve our greatest applause for their accomplishment. Whether they win the gold or silver is less important.
We salute you!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Good Enough for the Olympics, but .........
The piece below is an opinion column written by a former Sports Ed, and now a higher-up at The Whig. It cannot go unchallenged.
The most unfortunate part of Mr Scilley's column is that he casts aspersions on all members of the hall, in his effort to elevate Mr Leduc. Most people consider it unworthy of someone to "put down" others in order to gain ground.
Just take a look at Canadian politics. When one of our politicans puts down a politician in another party, the comments posted on the website where this happens, are scathing. We've had lots of recent examples of this.
Secondly, Mr Scilley could have written to the board or the President or an individual board member, to express his view. As far as I know, he did not do that, and I am a member of the Board. Had he done that, we could have discussed this at a board meeting.
Mark Leduc was a superior boxer. To win an Olympic medal is an extraordinary achievement, and in my view, Olympic medallists deserve to be in their local sports hall of fame.
It is indeed unfortunate that Mr Scilley appears to have written in anger. Perhaps another route would have been more appropriate, and more productive. I am reminded of an article in The Globe within the last few days, in which a writer offers ways to get a 'big corporation' to address an issue that is small to it, but large to the complainent. He says in no uncertain terms that an issue is more likely to be resolved in the person's favour if they are polite.
--------------------
Good enough for the Olympics, but not for Kingston's sports hall of fame
By CLAUDE SCILLEY
Kingston Whig Standard, July 25, 2009
It is to the utter shame of the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame that Mark Leduc died this week before being inducted into its dubiously hallowed midst.
Leduc, then a member of the Kingston Youth Boxing Club, won a silver medal for Canada at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. He died this week in Toronto at the age of 47.
For the better part of the last 10 years, Leduc's nomination has been in the hands of the selection committee. It is perennially rejected -- for no good reason whatsoever.
Leduc learned the craft from Kingston coaches Ken and Colin MacPhail. He won 130 of 153 amateur fights. He was Canada's amateur welterweight champion four times and was a member of numerous national teams that competed abroad. He was Kingston's amateur athlete of the year in 1992 and after he turned professional, he rose to become Canada's super lightweight champion.
Re-read those credentials. By the competitive standard set by Mark Leduc, half of the honoured members of the hall aren't fit to carry his gloves. Of the 124 members of the hall, there are only three Olympic athletes. Only one of them ever won a medal.
After Leduc retired as a fighter, he publicly acknowledged that he was gay. For the rest of his life, he volunteered at a Toronto AIDS centre, but that can't possibly have kept him out of the local sports hall of fame. There is no box on the nomination form for sexual orientation.
Leduc came to Kingston because he was convicted of a crime and he was sent here to serve his sentence, but that can't possibly be keeping him out of the hall, because a CPIC check isn't required of its nominees either. Besides, there's at least one convicted criminal in the hall already, and one man who was once suspended by his sport's governing body for falsifying game reports.
Leduc was a young man who did wrong, was punished and turned his life around, largely through sport. He visited schools because he knew young people needed positive, encouraging role models -- and perhaps because he never had them himself.
That's the way the world is supposed to work, isn't it? Why would you not want to reward his example? Why would you not want his story to be part of your hall's legacy?
That he was not born here is irrelevant; a high percentage of inductees come from elsewhere and made their mark after arriving, as he did. Leduc proclaimed Kingston to be his "hometown" many times; he was always Mark Leduc from Kingston, wherever he competed. He insisted his first pro fight had to be here.
In a hall rife with people whose biggest claim to fame is sandlot ball and organizing house leagues, it is beyond belief that an Olympic silver medalist could be snubbed, year after year.
Clearly there was never a good reason for Mark Leduc to be excluded from the hall. Now it's too late. A posthumous induction, after years of looking the other way, will be a hollow gesture indeed.
No one selected from this day forward should accept induction into the local hall until Mark Leduc finds his rightful place. There simply is no one more worthy.
It would be appropriate for the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame to suspend its selection committee for a year and, in an Olympic year, make Leduc its sole inductee in 2010.
It's the only way to make it right.
----------30--------------
Claude Scilley is the former sports editor of the Whig-Standard. He nominated Mark Leduc for the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
The most unfortunate part of Mr Scilley's column is that he casts aspersions on all members of the hall, in his effort to elevate Mr Leduc. Most people consider it unworthy of someone to "put down" others in order to gain ground.
Just take a look at Canadian politics. When one of our politicans puts down a politician in another party, the comments posted on the website where this happens, are scathing. We've had lots of recent examples of this.
Secondly, Mr Scilley could have written to the board or the President or an individual board member, to express his view. As far as I know, he did not do that, and I am a member of the Board. Had he done that, we could have discussed this at a board meeting.
Mark Leduc was a superior boxer. To win an Olympic medal is an extraordinary achievement, and in my view, Olympic medallists deserve to be in their local sports hall of fame.
It is indeed unfortunate that Mr Scilley appears to have written in anger. Perhaps another route would have been more appropriate, and more productive. I am reminded of an article in The Globe within the last few days, in which a writer offers ways to get a 'big corporation' to address an issue that is small to it, but large to the complainent. He says in no uncertain terms that an issue is more likely to be resolved in the person's favour if they are polite.
--------------------
Good enough for the Olympics, but not for Kingston's sports hall of fame
By CLAUDE SCILLEY
Kingston Whig Standard, July 25, 2009
It is to the utter shame of the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame that Mark Leduc died this week before being inducted into its dubiously hallowed midst.
Leduc, then a member of the Kingston Youth Boxing Club, won a silver medal for Canada at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. He died this week in Toronto at the age of 47.
For the better part of the last 10 years, Leduc's nomination has been in the hands of the selection committee. It is perennially rejected -- for no good reason whatsoever.
Leduc learned the craft from Kingston coaches Ken and Colin MacPhail. He won 130 of 153 amateur fights. He was Canada's amateur welterweight champion four times and was a member of numerous national teams that competed abroad. He was Kingston's amateur athlete of the year in 1992 and after he turned professional, he rose to become Canada's super lightweight champion.
Re-read those credentials. By the competitive standard set by Mark Leduc, half of the honoured members of the hall aren't fit to carry his gloves. Of the 124 members of the hall, there are only three Olympic athletes. Only one of them ever won a medal.
After Leduc retired as a fighter, he publicly acknowledged that he was gay. For the rest of his life, he volunteered at a Toronto AIDS centre, but that can't possibly have kept him out of the local sports hall of fame. There is no box on the nomination form for sexual orientation.
Leduc came to Kingston because he was convicted of a crime and he was sent here to serve his sentence, but that can't possibly be keeping him out of the hall, because a CPIC check isn't required of its nominees either. Besides, there's at least one convicted criminal in the hall already, and one man who was once suspended by his sport's governing body for falsifying game reports.
Leduc was a young man who did wrong, was punished and turned his life around, largely through sport. He visited schools because he knew young people needed positive, encouraging role models -- and perhaps because he never had them himself.
That's the way the world is supposed to work, isn't it? Why would you not want to reward his example? Why would you not want his story to be part of your hall's legacy?
That he was not born here is irrelevant; a high percentage of inductees come from elsewhere and made their mark after arriving, as he did. Leduc proclaimed Kingston to be his "hometown" many times; he was always Mark Leduc from Kingston, wherever he competed. He insisted his first pro fight had to be here.
In a hall rife with people whose biggest claim to fame is sandlot ball and organizing house leagues, it is beyond belief that an Olympic silver medalist could be snubbed, year after year.
Clearly there was never a good reason for Mark Leduc to be excluded from the hall. Now it's too late. A posthumous induction, after years of looking the other way, will be a hollow gesture indeed.
No one selected from this day forward should accept induction into the local hall until Mark Leduc finds his rightful place. There simply is no one more worthy.
It would be appropriate for the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame to suspend its selection committee for a year and, in an Olympic year, make Leduc its sole inductee in 2010.
It's the only way to make it right.
----------30--------------
Claude Scilley is the former sports editor of the Whig-Standard. He nominated Mark Leduc for the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
A Late Start at a List of Transgressions
Oh dear....where to start!
It's late in the "transgressions" game, but at least we can go from here....it's going to be a long list of stupid mistakes made by people who are impressed with their positions......
1. Minister Raitt (one of Harper's ministers) leaves cabinet documents in a CTV studio after an interview (week of June 1, 2009)
2. Same minister is recorded saying that is's "sexy" and "cool" that there are NO isotopes being produced at Chalk River, and it will be a good election issue when she "fixes" it.
3. Minister John Baird (also in the Harper cabinet) tells Toronto that they don't know how to fill in an application for infrastructure funding (June 9, 2009), and uses what most people would call "gutter language" to describe Toronto and its Mayor. It's always been evident that he is well beyond his capability, and enjoys the limelight. No one is sure what he has done since he was elected, including his time as Environment Minister. Now THAT was a ministry in neutral.
It's late in the "transgressions" game, but at least we can go from here....it's going to be a long list of stupid mistakes made by people who are impressed with their positions......
1. Minister Raitt (one of Harper's ministers) leaves cabinet documents in a CTV studio after an interview (week of June 1, 2009)
2. Same minister is recorded saying that is's "sexy" and "cool" that there are NO isotopes being produced at Chalk River, and it will be a good election issue when she "fixes" it.
3. Minister John Baird (also in the Harper cabinet) tells Toronto that they don't know how to fill in an application for infrastructure funding (June 9, 2009), and uses what most people would call "gutter language" to describe Toronto and its Mayor. It's always been evident that he is well beyond his capability, and enjoys the limelight. No one is sure what he has done since he was elected, including his time as Environment Minister. Now THAT was a ministry in neutral.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
And some of us thought he'd gone as low as possible...
PM threatens Ignatieff with old tapes
TheStar.com - Canada -
PM threatens Ignatieff with old tapes
`Every day that goes by he's more like Richard Nixon,' Liberal leader says after Harper comment
May 28, 2009 Richard J. Brennan,OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–In a move described as "Nixonian," Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested he would release potentially damaging videotapes of Michael Ignatieff after the Liberal leader called on Harper to fire Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
During question period yesterday, Harper told the Commons he had lots of videotapes featuring Ignatieff, raising the spectre of using them to discredit the opposition leader before and during the next election campaign.
"I cannot fire the Leader of the Opposition and with all the tapes I have on him, I do not want to," he said.
Ignatieff described the comment as the "most Nixonian" of Harper's many remarks to him. "Every day that goes by, he's more like Richard Nixon," Ignatieff told reporters.
While U.S. president, Nixon installed secret audio recording systems in the Oval Office, his cabinet room and at Camp David and surreptitiously recorded hundreds of conversations from February 1971 through July 1973.
"We are in the middle of the most serious economic crisis since the Second World War and the Prime Minister ... is wasting his time listening to tapes of me," Ignatieff said.
Yesterday, Ignatieff called for Flaherty to be fired after he announced Tuesday that the federal budget deficit will be more than $50 billion, up from his projection of $34 billion earlier this year.
Ignatieff is the target of Tory political attack ads focusing on comments he made before he entered politics and criticizing him for living out of the country for 34 years.
"I will not be intimidated by the Prime Minister. I've got a job to do, which is to hold him to account," Ignatieff said.
The Conservatives are reported to have hundreds of hours of video clips of Ignatieff speeches and interviews and hope to mine a lifetime of his musings from his career as a journalist, author and public intellectual.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) told the Star all Harper has left is "mudslinging" to divert the public's attention away from "the appalling economic situation he's got all of us in.
"We have really stooped to a new low in Canadian politics if that's what it comes down to in the time of economic crisis," Martin said.
"His tone implied something sinister on Ignatieff. It is the cheapest kind of mudslinging because it invokes suspicion without any real substance."
TheStar.com - Canada -
PM threatens Ignatieff with old tapes
`Every day that goes by he's more like Richard Nixon,' Liberal leader says after Harper comment
May 28, 2009 Richard J. Brennan,OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–In a move described as "Nixonian," Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested he would release potentially damaging videotapes of Michael Ignatieff after the Liberal leader called on Harper to fire Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
During question period yesterday, Harper told the Commons he had lots of videotapes featuring Ignatieff, raising the spectre of using them to discredit the opposition leader before and during the next election campaign.
"I cannot fire the Leader of the Opposition and with all the tapes I have on him, I do not want to," he said.
Ignatieff described the comment as the "most Nixonian" of Harper's many remarks to him. "Every day that goes by, he's more like Richard Nixon," Ignatieff told reporters.
While U.S. president, Nixon installed secret audio recording systems in the Oval Office, his cabinet room and at Camp David and surreptitiously recorded hundreds of conversations from February 1971 through July 1973.
"We are in the middle of the most serious economic crisis since the Second World War and the Prime Minister ... is wasting his time listening to tapes of me," Ignatieff said.
Yesterday, Ignatieff called for Flaherty to be fired after he announced Tuesday that the federal budget deficit will be more than $50 billion, up from his projection of $34 billion earlier this year.
Ignatieff is the target of Tory political attack ads focusing on comments he made before he entered politics and criticizing him for living out of the country for 34 years.
"I will not be intimidated by the Prime Minister. I've got a job to do, which is to hold him to account," Ignatieff said.
The Conservatives are reported to have hundreds of hours of video clips of Ignatieff speeches and interviews and hope to mine a lifetime of his musings from his career as a journalist, author and public intellectual.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) told the Star all Harper has left is "mudslinging" to divert the public's attention away from "the appalling economic situation he's got all of us in.
"We have really stooped to a new low in Canadian politics if that's what it comes down to in the time of economic crisis," Martin said.
"His tone implied something sinister on Ignatieff. It is the cheapest kind of mudslinging because it invokes suspicion without any real substance."
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Nearing the Finish Line
In sports jargon, Stephen Harper is nearing the finish line as head of the Conservative Party (note not the "leader", but the head)
We can see it coming, and he probably has it planned.
The most frightening thing is to contemplate his successor: Jim Flaherty?
Spare us!
We can see it coming, and he probably has it planned.
The most frightening thing is to contemplate his successor: Jim Flaherty?
Spare us!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Raging duplicity
It's been a long time since Canadians were treated to two examples of duplicity at the same time.
Watching and listening to the Oliphant Inquiry, and reading about the NHL's braintrust spinning their dealings about the Phoenix Coyotes is almost more that the average person can stomach.
There's no doubt that Mr Mulroney is a master spinner and that Mr S, his nemesis, is (shall we say, just to be charitable) a prevaricator. And the NHL's version of events, and their repeated claims that the Coyotes were not in financial trouble are both incredible.
One wonders just how long Mr Mulroney and the NHL brass think we will believe them. Few do at this point, and this only goes to show that they are so far out of touch with the people, that they'll never be believed again.
And, to add to these two shows, the Conservative Party is starting "attack ads" against the Liberal leader.
Now, as the best example of incredible behaviour, this takes the cake.
Mr Mulroney described yesterday how well shielded the PM is. Should this be true, it explains why the current PM would put attack ads on the TV. He's out of touch and badly thought of. And hasn't any way of knowing it. So much for one's most favoured advisors.
Watching and listening to the Oliphant Inquiry, and reading about the NHL's braintrust spinning their dealings about the Phoenix Coyotes is almost more that the average person can stomach.
There's no doubt that Mr Mulroney is a master spinner and that Mr S, his nemesis, is (shall we say, just to be charitable) a prevaricator. And the NHL's version of events, and their repeated claims that the Coyotes were not in financial trouble are both incredible.
One wonders just how long Mr Mulroney and the NHL brass think we will believe them. Few do at this point, and this only goes to show that they are so far out of touch with the people, that they'll never be believed again.
And, to add to these two shows, the Conservative Party is starting "attack ads" against the Liberal leader.
Now, as the best example of incredible behaviour, this takes the cake.
Mr Mulroney described yesterday how well shielded the PM is. Should this be true, it explains why the current PM would put attack ads on the TV. He's out of touch and badly thought of. And hasn't any way of knowing it. So much for one's most favoured advisors.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
2009 Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Coach locks up honour
HALL OF FAME CEREMONY: Since his parents didn't have enough money for him to play hockey, Tom Mastantuono turned to wrestling and fell in love with the sport
Posted 1 hour ago
Twenty-five years ago, when Tom Mastantuono started high school wrestling, he never imagined it would begin a path to the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame.
Mastantuono said last night at the 14th induction ceremony at the Ambassador Conference Resort that he was just combining the things he loved to do -- wrestling and coaching.
"If you told me six months ago I would be (going into the hall of fame), I would said, 'No way.' I didn't even think of this stuff," Mastantuono, one of six people inducted last night, said.
"I was doing it because I loved the kids. I loved the fact I was coaching wrestling."
Three of the newest inductees, Leonard Coyle, Bill Fitsell and Mastantuono, were recognized in the builders category.
Mary Skeggs and Sean Reade were inducted for their athletic accomplishments, while Aldo Popazzi, who played soccer and now continues to coach, entered as an athlete/builder.
"I am very honoured to be amongst some of these legends that I've seen in the past," said Mastantuono, 53, who was born in Tufo, Italy.
He said he turned to wrestling in his youth because his parents couldn't afford to enrol him in hockey.
"When I got to wrestling I said, 'Hey, this sport is for me.' I saw that the harder I worked, the more opportunities it might get to win medals," Mastantuono said.
It was that same hard-work approach Mastantuono, a teacher for 25 years at Regiopolis- Notre Dame, handed to his wrestlers. He founded the Regi wrestling team in 1984 and over the tears his athletes won 20 Eastern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association titles.
"Some of those kids who weren't big enough or maybe tall enough to play other sports really fit in well with our program," Mastantuono said.
"Some of them grew to become stronger and went on to excel in other sports."
Mastantuono founded the Kingston and Area Olympic Wrestling Club in 1985 and out of it would come Olympic wrester Paul Ragusa and Canadian university champions Cleopas Ncube and Terri McNutt.
"Tonight, I'm thinking about a lot of those kids. This honour has given me an opportunity to pause and reflect (on) the 25 years I spent with some of these great kids,'' he said.
"There were kids too that maybe weren't great athletes, but just great kids. Those are the kids I admire very much."
Reade, a high school track and football star at Sydenham High School 20 years ago, returned for his induction from Houston, where he now works in the gas and oil industry.
Reade, 35, was in awe walking around reading the stories of the athletes and builders already in the Kingston Sports Hall of Fame.
"To go around the room and see all those inductees, it really is an hour to be amongst them," Reade said.
"There are a lot of individual memories that are coming back. I remember the high school football championships and the 1994 championship (Vanier Cup) with Western.
Hockey historian W. J. (Bill) Fitsell said coming to Kingston in 1953 from his native Lindsay and working as a reporter forThe Kingston Whig-Standardallowed him to seek and unravel the roots of hockey.
"A scribe going into the hall with real athletes and builders," said Fitsell, who made a pitch for some forgotten Kingston athletes to be included in the hall in the near future.
The historian also showed his knowledge of current events when he pointed out two proud hall members who were key builders for the Kingston Kimco Voyageurs, Scotty Martin and Bill Reason.
With the Vees headed off to the RBC Cup Canadian junior A championship in Victoria, Fitsell led more than 300 people in attendance in a special shout-out.
Instead of the signature thumbs up of Don Cherry, another hall of fame member, Fitsell asked for a 'double Vee' salute from peoples' hands.
"Go Vees Go," he said, adding, "that's to prove historians aren't always in the past."
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
-30-
Article in the May 2, 2009 Whig Standard, written by Doug Graham
HALL OF FAME CEREMONY: Since his parents didn't have enough money for him to play hockey, Tom Mastantuono turned to wrestling and fell in love with the sport
Posted 1 hour ago
Twenty-five years ago, when Tom Mastantuono started high school wrestling, he never imagined it would begin a path to the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame.
Mastantuono said last night at the 14th induction ceremony at the Ambassador Conference Resort that he was just combining the things he loved to do -- wrestling and coaching.
"If you told me six months ago I would be (going into the hall of fame), I would said, 'No way.' I didn't even think of this stuff," Mastantuono, one of six people inducted last night, said.
"I was doing it because I loved the kids. I loved the fact I was coaching wrestling."
Three of the newest inductees, Leonard Coyle, Bill Fitsell and Mastantuono, were recognized in the builders category.
Mary Skeggs and Sean Reade were inducted for their athletic accomplishments, while Aldo Popazzi, who played soccer and now continues to coach, entered as an athlete/builder.
"I am very honoured to be amongst some of these legends that I've seen in the past," said Mastantuono, 53, who was born in Tufo, Italy.
He said he turned to wrestling in his youth because his parents couldn't afford to enrol him in hockey.
"When I got to wrestling I said, 'Hey, this sport is for me.' I saw that the harder I worked, the more opportunities it might get to win medals," Mastantuono said.
It was that same hard-work approach Mastantuono, a teacher for 25 years at Regiopolis- Notre Dame, handed to his wrestlers. He founded the Regi wrestling team in 1984 and over the tears his athletes won 20 Eastern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association titles.
"Some of those kids who weren't big enough or maybe tall enough to play other sports really fit in well with our program," Mastantuono said.
"Some of them grew to become stronger and went on to excel in other sports."
Mastantuono founded the Kingston and Area Olympic Wrestling Club in 1985 and out of it would come Olympic wrester Paul Ragusa and Canadian university champions Cleopas Ncube and Terri McNutt.
"Tonight, I'm thinking about a lot of those kids. This honour has given me an opportunity to pause and reflect (on) the 25 years I spent with some of these great kids,'' he said.
"There were kids too that maybe weren't great athletes, but just great kids. Those are the kids I admire very much."
Reade, a high school track and football star at Sydenham High School 20 years ago, returned for his induction from Houston, where he now works in the gas and oil industry.
Reade, 35, was in awe walking around reading the stories of the athletes and builders already in the Kingston Sports Hall of Fame.
"To go around the room and see all those inductees, it really is an hour to be amongst them," Reade said.
"There are a lot of individual memories that are coming back. I remember the high school football championships and the 1994 championship (Vanier Cup) with Western.
Hockey historian W. J. (Bill) Fitsell said coming to Kingston in 1953 from his native Lindsay and working as a reporter forThe Kingston Whig-Standardallowed him to seek and unravel the roots of hockey.
"A scribe going into the hall with real athletes and builders," said Fitsell, who made a pitch for some forgotten Kingston athletes to be included in the hall in the near future.
The historian also showed his knowledge of current events when he pointed out two proud hall members who were key builders for the Kingston Kimco Voyageurs, Scotty Martin and Bill Reason.
With the Vees headed off to the RBC Cup Canadian junior A championship in Victoria, Fitsell led more than 300 people in attendance in a special shout-out.
Instead of the signature thumbs up of Don Cherry, another hall of fame member, Fitsell asked for a 'double Vee' salute from peoples' hands.
"Go Vees Go," he said, adding, "that's to prove historians aren't always in the past."
Copyright © 2009 The Whig Standard
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Article in the May 2, 2009 Whig Standard, written by Doug Graham
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Another Sports Icon Dies
CBC website, April 30, 2009, 7.30am
If there's a group Jim Hughson would like to hang around with in Canada's sports past, it's those old-time broadcasters and writers who seemed to follow the big events around the world in a single pack.
Another of those iconic figures died Tuesday — Ted Reynolds — a man who made a long career of turning general assignment into an art form behind the sports microphone.
Reynolds, 84, spent more than 50 years calling the action for at least 23 sports and at 10 Olympic Games. He did 35 of those years at the CBC and kept working right up to his 80s.
He was, fans and fellow journalists agree, part of an impressive group of sports pioneers now passed that has included Don Chevrier and Don Whitman, writers Milt Dunnell, Jim Hunt and Jim Proudfoot, and a handful of others.
They all brought the same skill — the ability to do everything.
"It would have been pretty neat to have been around in the days where there weren't that many people working in the industry and they all travelled together and worked the same events together," said Hughson, a Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster who grew up in northern British Columbia when there was only one station — the CBC.
"And it was the same 10 guys who were the national writers and the national broadcasters who were at every big event everywhere in the world."
Reynolds, born in Grand Forks, B.C., was a West Vancouver resident who leaves behind his second wife, Joan, of 34 years (his first wife passed away in the early 1970s), four children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
He worked for three different media outlets in B.C., starting from his first job at a radio station in Kamloops right after the Second World War.
In a chat with Fred Walker, another Canadian sports journalism icon, on the occasion of winning a prestigious award in 2003 from Sports Media Canada, Reynolds remembered migrating to CFHC in Victoria in 1949.
"I met one of my mentors, the great Lester Patrick, who had returned to Victoria from New York to introduce the Victoria Cougars to the Western Hockey League," he said.
Patrick wanted him to do play-by-play for the Cougars, and that spot lasted eight years.
It acted as a springboard to a varied career that included Grey Cups, the Vancouver Canucks (he called the club's first game in 1970), equestrian, figure-skating and dozens of Olympic events including Nancy Greene's Olympic gold medal in skiing at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France.
What Reynolds will likely be most remembered for, however, is his work poolside, where he called so many historic events, including Elaine Tanner's two silver medals in 1968 in Mexico, Mark Spitz's seven wins in Munich in 1972 and, above all, a special week at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
Baumann was special
Ted "always told the story without a bias," said swimming commentator and former Olympian Byron McDonald, who worked next to Reynolds for many years.
"But deep down inside, when he was able to call Alex Baumann's gold medals in 1984, it was extra special for him."
That was because Reynolds knew and understood the sport so well, having himself been a competitive swimmer in his youth before joining the air force in the Second World War, and because he had called so many of the country's pool performances up to that point, McDonald says.
Watching Baumann win in world record time in both the 200 metre free and 400 metre individual medley (the latter was Canada's first swimming gold since 1912) was a crowning moment. Especially when added to Victor Davis's gold in the 200 metre breast stroke and one from Anne Ottenbrite in the same event on the women's side.
Most of all, McDonald says, the broadcaster was a professional, able to handle with aplomb whatever was thrown at him — such as the time the pair were doing a live introduction and had been told it could be a minute, or three.
"And all of a sudden someone came into our headsets and said '10 seconds — gotta throw to a commercial,' and I'm listening to this thinking, 'There's no way he's going to get out of this,' " McDonald remembers.
"We're on a story and Ted's relating it and all of a sudden he brings it back down to say, 'Of course this pool was named for the Queen,' and he was out, right on cue."
Big shoes to fill
As Hughson points out, there aren't too many broadcasters in this age of specialization who even have the chance to call a lot of different events. One of those, the CBC's Scott Russell, feels the responsibility of following in such footsteps.
"Ted was an inspiration to me as I embarked on my career in broadcasting," Russell said. "He was very helpful and kind when I first encountered him at the Canada Games in Cape Breton in 1987.
"It is an honour to call the play-by-play of the sports he made into staples in every Canadian household, namely show jumping and figure-skating."
CBC Sports head Scott Moore summed up Reynolds's career thus: "To describe Ted Reynolds's style is to try and put a finger on the intangible quality of elegance."
-30-
And to this I say......The Golden Age of CBC Sports Olympic coverage: Don Wittman & Geoff Gowan, and Ted Reynolds & Byron MacDonald. They were unforgettable teams. We learned so much, and enjoyed the Games because of them . So many memories.
If there's a group Jim Hughson would like to hang around with in Canada's sports past, it's those old-time broadcasters and writers who seemed to follow the big events around the world in a single pack.
Another of those iconic figures died Tuesday — Ted Reynolds — a man who made a long career of turning general assignment into an art form behind the sports microphone.
Reynolds, 84, spent more than 50 years calling the action for at least 23 sports and at 10 Olympic Games. He did 35 of those years at the CBC and kept working right up to his 80s.
He was, fans and fellow journalists agree, part of an impressive group of sports pioneers now passed that has included Don Chevrier and Don Whitman, writers Milt Dunnell, Jim Hunt and Jim Proudfoot, and a handful of others.
They all brought the same skill — the ability to do everything.
"It would have been pretty neat to have been around in the days where there weren't that many people working in the industry and they all travelled together and worked the same events together," said Hughson, a Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster who grew up in northern British Columbia when there was only one station — the CBC.
"And it was the same 10 guys who were the national writers and the national broadcasters who were at every big event everywhere in the world."
Reynolds, born in Grand Forks, B.C., was a West Vancouver resident who leaves behind his second wife, Joan, of 34 years (his first wife passed away in the early 1970s), four children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
He worked for three different media outlets in B.C., starting from his first job at a radio station in Kamloops right after the Second World War.
In a chat with Fred Walker, another Canadian sports journalism icon, on the occasion of winning a prestigious award in 2003 from Sports Media Canada, Reynolds remembered migrating to CFHC in Victoria in 1949.
"I met one of my mentors, the great Lester Patrick, who had returned to Victoria from New York to introduce the Victoria Cougars to the Western Hockey League," he said.
Patrick wanted him to do play-by-play for the Cougars, and that spot lasted eight years.
It acted as a springboard to a varied career that included Grey Cups, the Vancouver Canucks (he called the club's first game in 1970), equestrian, figure-skating and dozens of Olympic events including Nancy Greene's Olympic gold medal in skiing at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France.
What Reynolds will likely be most remembered for, however, is his work poolside, where he called so many historic events, including Elaine Tanner's two silver medals in 1968 in Mexico, Mark Spitz's seven wins in Munich in 1972 and, above all, a special week at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
Baumann was special
Ted "always told the story without a bias," said swimming commentator and former Olympian Byron McDonald, who worked next to Reynolds for many years.
"But deep down inside, when he was able to call Alex Baumann's gold medals in 1984, it was extra special for him."
That was because Reynolds knew and understood the sport so well, having himself been a competitive swimmer in his youth before joining the air force in the Second World War, and because he had called so many of the country's pool performances up to that point, McDonald says.
Watching Baumann win in world record time in both the 200 metre free and 400 metre individual medley (the latter was Canada's first swimming gold since 1912) was a crowning moment. Especially when added to Victor Davis's gold in the 200 metre breast stroke and one from Anne Ottenbrite in the same event on the women's side.
Most of all, McDonald says, the broadcaster was a professional, able to handle with aplomb whatever was thrown at him — such as the time the pair were doing a live introduction and had been told it could be a minute, or three.
"And all of a sudden someone came into our headsets and said '10 seconds — gotta throw to a commercial,' and I'm listening to this thinking, 'There's no way he's going to get out of this,' " McDonald remembers.
"We're on a story and Ted's relating it and all of a sudden he brings it back down to say, 'Of course this pool was named for the Queen,' and he was out, right on cue."
Big shoes to fill
As Hughson points out, there aren't too many broadcasters in this age of specialization who even have the chance to call a lot of different events. One of those, the CBC's Scott Russell, feels the responsibility of following in such footsteps.
"Ted was an inspiration to me as I embarked on my career in broadcasting," Russell said. "He was very helpful and kind when I first encountered him at the Canada Games in Cape Breton in 1987.
"It is an honour to call the play-by-play of the sports he made into staples in every Canadian household, namely show jumping and figure-skating."
CBC Sports head Scott Moore summed up Reynolds's career thus: "To describe Ted Reynolds's style is to try and put a finger on the intangible quality of elegance."
-30-
And to this I say......The Golden Age of CBC Sports Olympic coverage: Don Wittman & Geoff Gowan, and Ted Reynolds & Byron MacDonald. They were unforgettable teams. We learned so much, and enjoyed the Games because of them . So many memories.
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