"Showing Their Scales" and "The Hockey Farmer"

We are pleased to introduce the works of local B.C. authors KP Wee and Farhan Devji to you:

"Showing Their Scales" contains three tales of lies, lust, and deception. These are short novels which deal with betrayal and revenge, with three main male characters and how they end up hurting the women in their lives.
**Catch an episode of BlogTalkRadio
here with KP's interview on his books, recorded Dec 29, 2008.**

"The Hockey Farmer" is a story about Logan Watt, who hails from Cochrane, Alberta, and has to decide whether to rehabilitate the legendary family farm or pursue an unlikely career in professional hockey. The story also shifts to Vancouver and contains numerous Vancouver Canucks references.

Help support a pair of B.C. authors by picking up your own copies today!
-- "The Hockey Farmer" can be purchased
here,
while "Showing Their Scales" can be bought
here. --

The Hockey Farmer / Showing Their Scales

The Hockey Farmer / Showing Their Scales

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Random Thoughts VI

Raycroft wins 2nd straight:

The Dallas Stars faced the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon, in a game that wasn't televised in my area, but I'd found out Avalanche head coach Tony Granato was starting Andrew Raycroft...for the second straight game!!

For Maple Leaf and Bruins fans, you all know about Raycroft. The guy has been on the decline since his 2004 rookie season... yikes. Yet, when he's in goal for the Avalanche, they can't lose.

Raycroft is now 2-0-0, while Peter Budaj is 0-3-0. Well, it's still early for a goaltending controversy, and for all we know, Raycroft could go 0-10-0 in his next appearances.

I recall in the New York Rangers' 1994 championship season, No. 1 goalie Mike Richter started the year 0-4-0 and backup Glenn Healy was 4-0-0. So what? Richter was the main man during the season and Stanley Cup playoff run.

And we all know about Raycroft's 2-0 start in the 2004 playoffs. Nope, the Bruins didn't win that series.

I admit I was a bit excited when I saw the score on The NHL Network ticker: Colorado 5, Dallas 5, third period. I'd known that the Avalanche had taken a 5-2 lead after two periods, and that meant Raycroft had surrendered three goals in the third. Just like his meltdowns in Toronto last season, when he would allow last-minute or very-late goals to lose games for the Leafs.

But nope... the score reverted to Colorado 5, Dallas 4 later on that ticker, and I couldn't believe it. Nope, The NHL Network didn't have a glitch the way TBS did later in the evening (not showing Game Six of the ALCS for the opening 20 minutes), but it turned out the Stars' tying goal was disallowed.

So, Raycroft hung on, and is perfect this season.

Well, it's early. I'm sure the Raycroft of the last couple seasons will show his true form soon enough.

Wayne Gretzky ad:

That TV commercial showing Wayne Gretzky and Maurice "The Rocket" Richard advertising how the best investment firms working together bring awesome results... just plain dumb. I can't stand that commercial.

There's one poll on Bleacher bio here when every writer can weigh in: Orr or Gretzky? Nope, I've never seen Orr play live, but I've seen enough documentaries and game films, and stories and interviews from the Scotty Bowmans, the Bobby Clarkes, and other Hall of Famers, to determine Orr was greater than The Great One. Sorry, but #4 > #99.

And haha! Checking my own poll question from earlier this week, it appears no one is giving Gretzky any respect either. In my unofficial poll, all five respondents have picked Wayne Gretzky thus far (as "sucking" more as a head coach than the recently fired Denis Savard)...

That's a perfect 100%!! Yes, a small sample size, but you can't argue with 100%! (Yup. I know. Some people will see this and start voting the other way... but for now, 100%!!)

Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays:


HAHA! Going to Game 7! As I said in my article, THAT wasn't supposed to be an obituary... and the Kings of Comebacks!

But truth be told, I was pretty upset about that Aaron Boone thing and was devastated when they let Kevin Brown off the hook in Game 3 in 2004 (and lost 19-8 despite hanging in there early, tied 6-6 at one point)... but honestly this year, I couldn't care less.

Hmm.. maybe I will blame the TBS coverage for this lack of interest. Brutal coverage.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Blackhawks & Quenneville...


I bashed Wayne Gretzky in this one... why would people say Denis Savard deserved to be axed in Chicago and not say the same for #99 in Phoenix?

Oddly enough, this came just hours after I'd mocked the people featured on Rick Jessup's overanything.com link from Thursday. Not that I care about the Blackhawks anymore... but I didn't see the need to laugh at Savard. He was a great player. As a coach? It's really too early to tell.

Here's the link - my thoughts on Joel Quenneville in Chicago.

Seriously though, Quenneville has won NOTHING in the NHL as a head coach. (Yes, he won as an assistant coach before, but that's different). In fact, eight early playoff exits in eleven years (10, if you count the fact he was fired mid-season one year).

That's better than Savard, eh?

And ooohh... .Rick or Trout will love this one: I bashed Wayne Gretzky.... so are the Coyotes going to win the Cup this year?

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Red Sox Thoughts

The Boston Red Sox that I'd rooted for in my youth was a completely different team.

They had one superstar pitcher (until he became a traitor) and some decent hitters. They had guys like Joe Hesketh, Greg Harris, Danny Darwin making up the rest of the rotation, and Jeff Reardon --once baseball's all-time saves king--closing things out. I rooted for Tom Brunansky, Jody Reed, Ellis Burks and Mike Greenwell. Reed and Wade Boggs would double off the Green Monster to set the table for the Brunanskys, Burkses, and Greenwells.

Well, so in a sense, the Red Sox had one great pitcher, "and a bunch of other guys."

The Red Sox, however, fell short every year, but still, they were my team. Even when they grew into the habit of picking up former league and playoff MVPs (Canseco, Mitchell, Avery, Eckersley), ex- 18-game winners (Portugal, Schourek), and one-time no-hit pitchers (Ramon Martinez, Mercker), I still cheered them on. (Oddly enough, Tim Wakefield was almost a playoff MVP with the Pirates in 1992, but his Bucs fell to the Braves in that famous Francisco Cabrera game, depriving the knuckleballer of the hardware.)

Eventually though, the Red Sox became the little Evil Empire. Red Sox management might deny this, but come on. The Sox were at their best in the mid-2000s, battling the Yankees to try and get the biggest names. Getting Schilling. Getting A-Rod, until the players' association got involved and vetoed the deal. Winning the bidding war for Dice-K. Giving J.D. Drew a $70 million contract. And on and on.

The Red Sox were no longer the "underdog", the team that I grew to love. They were starting to be the big spenders like the Yankees. Sure, Boston had overpaid for guys like Darwin and Matt Young and Jack Clark, et al, in the 1990s, and later Steve Avery and so on, but at least--in my view--the team was loveable. Of course, others didn't view the BoSox as loveable losers like the Cubs, but as choke artists. But still, they were my team.

Before this year's league championship series started, I was on my friend's website, OA.com, making my predictions. I picked the Phillies to win in five, and the Rays to triumph in the same number of games. There was no way I wanted to see the soap opera of this "Manny goes back to Fenway in the World Series" nonsense. That's what the media would want. It's all about storylines and such that everyone wanted. But come on, do people seriously want to see villains like No. 99 come out victorious?

Nope, I'd rather see the underdogs win. (Philadelphia is kind of a dog because it seems Ramirez's Dodgers had been getting much more attention.) The Red Sox? Been there, done that. When the same team keeps winning, it gets old. Of course, with both the Dodgers and Red Sox down three games to one, I could very well be perfect in my picks.

Or, to steal a line from Yogi Berra: "It ain't over till it's over," and one or both L.A. and Boston could very well rally. But unlikely. I could see one team make it, but not both. (On a side note, in my my baseball novel "Replacement Pitcher", which comes out June 2009, I'd written--the manuscript was completed in August 2008--the Red Sox and Dodgers would square off in the Fall Classic... it's just not the matchup I want to see, though, in real life.)

So both L.A. and Boston could see their seasons potentially end in Game Five of their respective LCS. If I had to pick one of those two that would be most likely to pull off a miracle, I'd have to give the nod to the Red Sox. So nope, this article isn't meant to be an obituary. After all, the Red Sox have proven themselves with their 2004 and 2007 ALCS comebacks, and sure, you could argue, have gotten the Rays where they want them this year. Sorry to say though, for Dodgers fans, there's no way the Phillies will choke their 3-1 series lead. Not this year.

Last year, I told people I wasn't worried the Red Sox were down 3-1 against Cleveland, especially when Josh Beckett would pitch Game Five and then they'd go back home for the last two. Just as in 2004, after they beat the Yankees in Game Four, they had Pedro and Schilling going in the next two, and if they could pull it out, anything could happen in a seventh game.

Last year, I wasn't worried.

This year, I couldn't care less.

But nope. This year, wouldn't count the BoSox out. After all, they are the Kings of Comebacks. Yes, the 2004 ALCS when they overcame that 3-0 series deficit. Last year, when they blew out the Indians 30-5 in the final three games.

Indeed, the Red Sox have become the Kings of Comebacks in the last 20-plus years. Before 2004 though, no one really cared because they didn't have a World Series... while upstarts like the Mets (2), Blue Jays (2), Marlins (2), D-Backs (1), and Royals (1) had won it before. In Florida's case, TWO championships in its first 11 years of existence? Holy smokes. (That makes the Marlins' accomplishment much more impressive than the Braves' lone title in 14 consecutive trips to the postsesaon.)

Still, you couldn't deny the Red Sox and their propensity to come back when you least expected it. 1986, when they were rescued by Dave Henderson's homer while down to their last strike and trailing 3-1 in the ALCS against California. 1988, when they rode new manager Joe Morgan and a long winning streak at Fenway to win the division. 1991, when they trailed the Blue Jays by 11 1/2 games before being down just just a half-game with two weeks left in the season (before ultimately slumping at the end). 1993, when both Roger Clemens and Frank Viola were struggling, they rode the arms of Darwin and Aaron Seleto a first-place tie in July (but again ultimately fading). 1995, when they won the AL East over the Yankees, Orioles, and Blue Jays, all of whom were expected to be far superior. Yes, all those were great, but then the real comebacks began.

1999, down 0-2 to the mighty Indians in the Division Series, rallying to win three straight, including Game Five at Jacobs Field thanks to Pedro in relief and Troy O'Leary's home runs. 2003, down 0-2 to the Athletics in the ALDS (and having lost 10 straight to them in postseason play) before ultimately winning Game Five in Oakland.

Then 2004 and 2007. So, sure, perhaps another comeback is in the cards.

Even if they don't, that's fine. I think most Red Sox fans said before 2004, they'd want to see Boston win a World Series in their lifetimes. One. Fait accompli. But of course, people are naturally greedy. So I would guess they want that second one, and then a dynasty.

I'd much rather see a true underdog win this year than the new, second version of the Yankees.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Random Thoughts V

So, I'm trailing House and Rick big time in the Sports Net Hockey Pool... but I'm on par in both LCS picks!!

I'd said on OA.com that the Phillies would win in five, and the Rays too in five. I do not want a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series... and after Monday's action (in which the Rays pounded the Sox 9-1 and the Phils rallied past the Dodgers 7-5) both series could finish 4-1!!!

(There's been a lot of negative feedback about Chip Caray and the TBS coverage of the ALCS... I can't remember who it was, whether it was Caray or Joe Buck way back in 1996, but I'm going to steal a line from whoever said this during that year's division series against the Braves... Let's "wave bye-bye to the Dodgers." HAHA!!)

By the way, Philadelphia's big four-run eighth was capped by (ex-Jay) Matt Stairs' two-run, game-winning, pinch homer. Welcome back to the spotlight, Stairs!

Speaking of ex-Jays... welcome back to the Majors.... (see link below)

Today (and this past week)'s KP Links:
Canucks' magic #: 10
Penguins outshot 49-15
Dodgers NLCS thoughts

Today's Random Links
New jerseys with retired players' names: Good or bad idea?
John Gibbons is back in the bigs!

Brief Resume Highlights

Writing Experience
- Bleacher Report: contribute articles on the Vancouver Canucks, Boston sports, hockey, and baseball at least three times a week (2007-Present); edit sports-related articles from other posters (2008-Present)
- UCL: developed Career Planning curriculum (2007); consulted on for other curricula issues (2005-Present)
- Consumer Research: submitted unsolicited proposals for improvements on company operations (2005)
- B.U.D. College: developed Grammar curriculum consisting of five levels (2004); edited curricula for other courses (2004)
- KGIC: developed Career Planning curriculum proposal for Surrey campus (2004)
Writing Accomplishments
- Named Bleacher Report Bruins Community Leader (2008)