Freddie P's Blog

Today With Jeff McArthur

February 8, 2010 @ 09:57

Channel substitution during the Super Bowl.

Comments: 6, Category: Radio

Today With Craig And Matt

February 3, 2010 @ 08:50

Suntanning, college teachers strike and the Leafs.

Comments: 0, Category:

Today With Bruce Barker

February 2, 2010 @ 08:47

The Leaf trade and chillie.

Comments: 3, Category: Radio

Today With Jeff McArthur

February 1, 2010 @ 09:01

Hands free nonsence and college teachers.

Comments: 14, Category: Radio

Not Enough

January 31, 2010 @ 12:26

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded a shit load of players today, and if you care about the Leafs I'm sure you know who they are.

But to my mind, Brian Burke missed the boat by not making the most obvious move. He didn't fire coach Ron Wilson.

It doesn't matter who the Leafs bring to town because it's obvious they won't be coached to the level they need to be.

What ails the Maple Leafs had little to do with Matt Stajan or Ian White, but it had everything to do with a lousy system and bad habits that a coach is responsible for.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with the trades because at this point, it can't hurt, but icing on the cake would have been the announcement that Wilson is gone as well.

It's a frustrating situation for Leaf fans, and Burke would never admit it, but Wilson remains with the Leafs exclusively because of his ties to Team USA. It would look bad for Burke, who hired Wilson for both the Leafs and the American National team, to fire the guy just days before the Olympics start.

How weird is that, the Toronto Maple Leafs suffer because of Team USA.

It's beyond stupid. Wilson should be outa here.

Comments: 22, Category: Sports

Catchin' Up

January 31, 2010 @ 12:25

I had promised to update this blog during my trip to Florida last week, but the hotel in Key West wouldn't allow me to upload anything. Internet access was free, but I couldn't send anything from my laptop to my web platform.
Why, I don't know but Mike Boon told me it's possible for the hotel to block something or other for security reasons.
Maybe they don't want people to make sex videos in their rooms and then send them into cyberspace. Somebody might recognize the wallpaper or something and correlate the hotel with the sex trade. Wow, how's that for a leap.

On the subject of hotel rooms, before I left I mentioned that I was chasing my tail trying to find something before I left. I was using Tripadvisor and it was crazy. Reviews of the same hotel went from spectacular to miserable. I got the feeling that a lot of it was bullshit, but still I didn't know whether to believe the good ones or the bad ones.
Eventually I went outside Tripadvisor and just googled "great hotels in the Miami area" and I came up with this. It's called "The Blue" and it's located in Doral, right beside the famous golf course, about 20 minutes from the beach.
This place was perfect for my wife and I. We're not real beach people any more; we're more interested in quality accommodations and a reasonable price and if that means a few miles off the beach, so be it.
"The Blue" was outstanding. Give it a click and see for yourself. A boutique style resort with spacious rooms, top notch décor including 46 inch flat screen TV's and as I mentioned earlier strategically located to just about everything in the Miami area.
The room equipped with a great kitchen with a full sized fridge, dishwasher, microwave oven that was also convectional, dishes and cutlery, very handy for a fella who tires quickly of restaurant food.
The room also featured one of those "rain showers." Lord liftin' Jesus talk about ecstasy.
I had two showers at day whether I needed the second one or not. The feeling of that heavy water pounding down upon my bloated body put me in a special place. But that's all the detail I will provide.
Hey, if you're ever in South Florida, and you're looking for a place to stay, close to South Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Sunrise where the Panters play, check out "The Blue."
Excellent for 149 bucks a night.

We left Miami last Monday and made our way down to Key West without having hotel reservations, but again, we really lucked out.
While driving into Key West we saw one of those "Information Centers" so I stopped in to get a little advice. Within moments they hooked me up with a great hotel right in the heart of "Old Town." Actually it was break and breakfast style hotel called "Ambrosia."
I had seen it on line but the nightly request was $269.00 dollars and that was more than I wanted to spend. But once I got to this info centre, they recommended the place and the nightly hit was $159.00. We took and we're glad we did.
It was over the top clean and conveniently located with a great hot breakfast as part of the deal. It was literally a thirty second walk to Duval St.

I won't go on and on about Key West, other than to say this. If you've never been, you should go there at least once. It's a fabulous place with a great vibe and superb restaurants, although I'm a little reluctant to pluralize restaurant because we were there four nights and ate at the same place three times.
It's called "Blue Heaven" and it features Caribbean cuisine in an inviting down to earth atmosphere. Most of the tables are outside with a sand and straw floor. While you eat, roosters and cats walk around freely. It may sound gross, but it's actually pretty cool and the food is fabulous, especially the pork tenderloin.

How about some other stuff? I'll move on from the trip, but first I have to mention this.

When we were at the Leaf game in Sunrise, a group of kids in their late teens or early 20's refused to stand for the Canadian anthem. One of them, while sitting, went out of his way to mock the anthem and then mumbled a few things which included Canada and the word stupid.
Needless to say, I wanted to lean forward and slap the dumb ass across the side of the head, or at the very least give him a piece of my mind, but I was traveling with my sweet darlin' and confrontation bothers her. I thought.
Afterwards she told me she wouldn't have minded if I'd said something. Like: "Hey goofball, do you not realize that Canada is your countries most faithful ally? Do you not realize that in most of your countries confrontations over the years, Canada has been at your side? Do you not realize that most of the players on your team, the Florida Panthers, are Canadian, so actually you're insulting them?
But I didn't. I simply wrote him off as another dumb American who doesn't know much about the world around him because in his mind, he doesn't have to.

And I have to mention this. Pearson Airport.

What a joke. When Delyse and I left on Friday the 22nd, we got to the airport two hours and 15 minutes before the flight, but didn't have enough time to pop into Starbuck's before boarding the plane.
Not only was the line at U.S. customs slow, but the security system was worse. I realize it's a new frontier with airport security and there is no room for risk or chance, but at the same time I've gotta believe it could be more efficient. Several things happened that left me shaking my head, and it had nothing to do with the inexplicable high pitched tone that was swirled through the terminal, literally driving most of us nuts.
Interesting, that on flying back, Miami International was much more efficient and speedy.

Comments: 6, Category: Stuff

More Stuff

January 31, 2010 @ 12:24

I predicted before I left that there would be predictable response from the union regarding the sleeping TTC ticket taker. Don't you love it, the union boss actually blamed riders from not making sure the ticket taker was OK.
How insulting. I'm sure if there was indication the guy was doing anything but catching a few winks, they would have responded appropriately.

The threatened strike by teachers at Ontario's 24 community colleges once again raises the point of essential services. To me, teachers are near the top of the list, especially University and College teachers, because of the impact they have on so many lives.
If the college teachers walk out in mid-February, the lives of thousands of kids will be thrown into chaos. So many of them depend on summer jobs to make money to pay tuition and student loans, and if there school year is interrupted it could actually mean the end of school. Summer jobs could be lost if the school year in pushed back and if its lost, it could mean other expenses that a lot of kids can't absorb.
Teachers should not be allowed to strike by law; however short of that, you'd like to think they'd have enough class to consider students before their own exorbitant demands.

Comments: 11, Category: Stuff

Today With Craig And Matt

January 27, 2010 @ 12:41

Hotels and Hockey.

Comments: 0, Category: Radio

Today With Jeff McArthur

January 25, 2010 @ 09:50

Americans won't stand for Canadian athem and other Florida stuff.

Comments: 1, Category: Radio

Twenty Bucks Wasted

January 24, 2010 @ 10:30

Sunrise, FLA - What can I say; last night was probably the lowest point ever for me as a Leaf fan.

I paid twenty bucks for two tickets for the Leaf game in Florida last night, and it was twenty bucks too much.

Like hundreds of other loser Leaf fans I sort of planned my vacation around a Leaf road game and was somewhat looking forward to it.

We drove up to Sunrise in the afternoon, I endured a couple of hours at the Sawgrass Mall, we had a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then we headed across the parking lot to the BankAmerica Center to look for tickets.

I got two twenty dollar seats for ten bucks each, and then we went back to the car and did what you're apparently supposed to do when following your team on the road.

We put on Leaf jerseys.

What a miserable game. The Leafs sucked the big one and sitting there, it made me contemplate that this may be the worst Leaf team I've ever experienced

I know, I know. I lived through the 70's and 80's when the Leafs were horrendous, and it's been pretty slim since they last made a run in 2002, but this current team is sickening and most of the blame has to rest on the shoulders of the coach.

And that's the crazy thing; I still believe this team could be a lot better than it is. They've showed signs of promise a few times during the season, but it seems their coach, a guy whose way too cocky and condescending for someone who has no results to point to, doesn't know what he's doing.

It's fine to watch games on television but sometimes you actually have to be there to appreciate some things and that's what happened to me last night.

Isn't it the coach's job to tell his players to shoot more on the power-play? Isn't the coach's job to do something about the worst penalty kill in the league? Isn't it the coach's job to tell his players to finish their checks? Isn't it the coach's job to instill team discipline that prevents defensive break downs that minor atoms shouldn't make?

Let's go back to the game against Tampa Bay on Thursday night. Shouldn't the coach shoulder some of the blame for the ridiculous melt-down that Alexie Ponikarovsky had?

Where's the team discipline?

Shouldn't the coach be held responsible for a "too many men on the ice" penalty during overtime?

No discipline.

Isolated, these things happen. But with the Leafs they happen way too often and meanwhile the team is showing absolutely no progress. If anything, they're going in the other direction, and to my mind, a lot of it has to do with coaching.

And while we're at it, what about the General Manager? It might be OK if he quietly went about his business, but he too is awfully cocky for a guy who was going to bring chance to the organization and then turned around and traded away two first round draft choices for an average player.

He's got no right to act like he does, like he's smarter than everyone else. Shit, me and six of my best friends would have known not to trade first round draft choices.

Brian Burke has no been reduced to a nervous wreck whose terrifed that Boston may end up with the first pick over-all.

Same with the coach, he talks a big game before and afterwards, but during the game his team looks like a freakin' mess, a disorganized, undisciplined collection of under-achievers.

Again, I realize this team is far from good, but they should be doing better than they are.

The only saving grace in all of this is that Ron Wilson will coach Team USA at the Olympics. We can only hope he maintains the same standard.

It's fascinating. I looked around the arena last night and it was heavily dotted with Leaf jerseys. People like me who worked a game into their vacation. Dedicated Leaf fans who stick with their team through thick and thin, but what do they get in return?

Nothing.

And I know what's happening right now. There are Hab fans reading this and laughing at my prediction that the Leafs would finish ahead Montreal this year. Go ahead and laugh, you deserve it.

But don't get too ahead of yourself. That team of yours ain't so hot either, and there's a collapse coming just like last year.

As for your joy in the mess that is the Toronto Maple Leafs, thank Ron Wilson.

Comments: 12, Category: Sports