DAYTONA HOMES MONDAY MORNING GOALIE

LAS VEGAS — The placeline of today’s column is Las Vegas, Nevada because that’s where it was written.  However we’re now home from Sin City and ready to put the pedal to the metal for the next six weeks or so until Roughrider season begins.  Or 41 more excruciating days.  We’ll try to count it down each Monday morning until the players hit the field in Saskatoon on June 1.

What a fabulous April it has been for the MMG by the way.  Beginning with the Roughriders minicamp in Florida and followed by the Harvard Broadcasting annual getaway to Las Vegas, I got to spend 14 of 16 April days in the sunshine.  Now back to reality.

Frankly I hadn’t planned on posting much of a photo-blog from our most recent trip because I thought perhaps it was getting old after all these years.  However several readers wrote in asking for some shots so I’m only too glad to oblige.  As always, you are the ones who keep this website going.  And can you believe we passed the eight year anniversary of this blog on March 19?  It came and went with no fanfare.  I always forget it.  One of these years I’ll mark it in my calendar.  Anyway, here goes:

This was homebase for the week; Planet Hollywood.  This nice young lady provided service by the pool on those sunny days.  Over her shoulder you’ll see an ad for Britney Spears, who’s appearing THIS week!  Can’t believe we missed her.

For some reason we spent a big chunk of our time here at the Venetian.  Faith Hill and Tim McGraw finished up their long run while we were here, but we did not attend.  These are pretty clear shots off of my Prairie Mobile smartphone.

The Hooters pool.  One of Las Vegas’s best-kept secrets.  You don’t have to pay for a recliner, drinks are cheap and blackjack is only $3 per hand.  Too bad I don’t gamble!  However it was paradise for an afternoon.  But it wasn’t so great that evening when they would only put one hockey game on and it wasn’t the one we wanted.  Las Vegas never was a hockey town.

A beautiful setting along the Las Vegas Strip.  Singer Ryan Maloney (you may know him from The Voice) entertains visitors at Cabo Wabo while the Bellagio water show goes off across the street.  This is the restaurant/bar where former Rider punter Eddie Johnson used to work.  More on Eddie later in the column.

If you want to watch hockey in Las Vegas, you’ve got to head to a Sports Book in one of the hotels.  This was a hockey fan’s paradise at the Bellagio, even if I was one of the few watching night #2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  These boys know how to televise sports…

Things got a little goofy on Fremont Street one day.  This is older Las Vegas where we took a detour for an afternoon.  You’d have to see it to believe it.  Mrs. SportsCage didn’t think I should post this shot but what the heck.  We’re showing you what this city’s about.

The jaw-dropping aquarium in the lobby of the Golden Nugget.  We broadcast the SportsCage from here one afternoon.

Here’s a shot for Phil Andrews and Eddie Johnson.  This is at one end of Fremont Street.  As Mrs. SportsCage said, “Your kinda place”.

This is one of the more famous sportsbars on the Strip, the Legasse Stadium in the Palazzo hotel.  It’s the largest sportsbar in America and it features this stadium-style seating.  However it never really turned my crank.

Now this place did get me excited.  This isn’t a recent photo but it’s Rider great Ray Elgaard with some friends of mine from Milestone, SK last fall.  It was taken in the Rockhouse which is pretty much the official host bar of the Rider Nation in Las Vegas.  I found myself in there by accident last week and after speaking to the manager, we deduced this photo was taken pretty much right where we were standing.  You’ll be hearing about the Rockhouse in the weeks and months ahead.  Remember the name…

Mrs. SportsCage with Bruce Willis.  Pretty cool..

In the Tri-Star Sports Memorabilia store in the Miracle Shops at Planet Hollywood, this helmet signed by the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks is one of the most-expensive items in the place.  If you look closely, you’ll see Jon Ryan’s signature right on top of the helmet.  Pro Football Hall of Famer was in attendance at Tri-Star on Friday selling autographs for $80 a pop.  I passed.  However Joe Montana and Jerry Rice will drop by later in April.  They come in once a month to soak the fans!

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POTSHOTS:

1 – IS IT REALLY ALWAYS THIS WAY?:  Every year we hear that the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is always the best round of the tournament and 2014 certainly has been no different.  A column in the Washington Post over the weekend surmised the Stanley Cup Playoffs feature “Cuban missile crisis intensity”, particularly sudden death overtime, and the writer was bang on.

Take your pick for the top storylines: the seven-point explosion in two games by Avalanche whiz-kid Nathan MacKinnon, the implosion of the L.A. Kings in Games 1 and 2 against San Jose, the downright viciousness of the Chicago-St. Louis affair, the early playoff mastery of the Montreal Canadiens … the hot topics are endless.

CBC’s Don Cherry advised Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith to “smarten up” Saturday night while TSN’s Adam Ward predicted Keith is deserving of a “fist to the face” for his antics.  The ferocity is palpable and no one is complaining about it.   Not yet anyways.

2 – PLEASE, SPARE US:  These Monday and Friday columns were designed for me to get things off my chest so here’s one; it’s aggravating to hear American NHL play-by-play men “teach” the game to their audience while calling the action.  It’s one thing for the colour commentators to do it – that’s their job – but the playcallers are describing the action right out of the rule book in order to “dumb it down” for the American viewers.

Don Cherry said it best a few years ago.  “They’ve had hockey in the States for 100 years,” Cherry chirped.  “If they don’t get it by now, they’re not gonna.”

You don’t hear NBA play-by-play men doing this!  Not even in Canada.  They figure the viewers know the sport they’re watching and there’s no need for a tutorial, even come playoff time.

On another note, that Washington Post columnist opined that there’s no entertaining panels on U.S. NHL broadcasts like the NBA features with TNT’s Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith (who routinely make fun of teams, players and coaches).  The column scorned NBC’s Jeremy Roenick and Mike Milbury however it applauded ESPN’s Barry Melrose.  The two most famous mullets in the States belong to Melrose and Billy Ray Cyrus but somehow Barry has managed to make his work.

3 – MELROSE PLACE:  Kelvington, Saskatchewan’s Barry Melrose truly is American’s foremost expert on the NHL and, despite a brief tour of duty as Tampa Bay Lightning head coach, has carved out an excellent career as ESPN’s number one hockey analyst over the past 20 years.  It’s truly a shame we don’t get his commentary in Canada, but I’m sure he’s okay with it.  Over the weekend Melrose signalled out Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf for his gutsy effort in Games 1 and 2 against Dallas.  “That’s a hockey player,” Melrose advised.  “Good job Ryan”.

4 – ONE MORE ON THE NBA:  Can someone please advise what decade this is?  The Charlotte Bobcats, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Portland Trailblazers and Golden State Warriors are all in the postseason tournament?  How did this happen?

5 – NICE JOB RIDS:  Broadcaster/bus driver Bob Ridley has been calling Medicine Hat Tigers games on 1270 CHAT for 44 years and reached a milestone on Sunday when he called the Tigers’ 3-1 playoff loss at Edmonton.  It was Bob’s 3,452nd broadcast which pulled him even with Hall of Fame Edmonton Oilers voice Rod Phillips for games-called with one franchise.  To quote former WHL referee Dennis Pottage, “That’s a lotta hockey”.

6 – NHL PLAYOFF TV COMMERCIALS:  Regina’s Flaman Fitness must shoot the whole wad of their advertising budget during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  I think I counted five spots alone during Saturday’s Pittsburgh-Columbus game.  And they’re not cheesy ads either.  Meanwhile you may notice the latest “Just For Men” commercials during the NHL playoff broadcasts.  If you look closely, the ads feature former Saskatchewan Roughrider punter Eddie Johnson (pictured).  Eddie’s one of those guys who drifts through life but will always do just fine for himself.  I’m glad to call him a friend.

7 – CATCHING UP ON THE CFL:  What were the big topics in the CFL over the past eight days?  Likely the Montreal Alouettes’ signing of NFL bad boy Chad Johnson and the Roughriders’ contract extension for Darian Durant.  One CFL fan said to me over the weekend regarding Johnson, “Do we really need to try this again?”  The colourful history of the CFL is dotted with all kinds of stories of wayward NFLers trying to resurrect their careers north of the border.  Andre Rison, Curtis Marsh and Ricky Williams immediately come to mind along with that renegade defensive lineman for Ottawa in the 1990s whose name escapes me at the moment.  An article in the States suggested Johnson’s signing brings needed publicity to the CFL.  While I wouldn’t go that far, I am excited to see Chad with the Als this season.

As for Durant’s extension, he’s the perfect face for the franchise.  Many Grey Cups are ahead.

8 – IT’S ALL ABOUT FOOTBALL:  They even joked about it on ESPN’s daily coverage of the NFL last week, “There is no off-season”.  The finest program on television right now is Jon Gruden’s QB Camp on ESPN.  For the past couple of years the former NFL coach and current Monday Night Football analyst sits down with a top end college quarterback and they watch video together for the show before hitting the field for drills.  Last week the program featured Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel who’s causing quite a headache for the Houston Texans who own the #1 pick in the draft.  Manziel’s a Texas product with an eye-popping resume but also comes with a penchant for getting into trouble.  Gruden advised Houston to take “Johnny Manziel” at number one saying, “You want that club in your bag.”

9 – NO INK FOR THIS KID:  While in Las Vegas I flirted with the notion of getting a tattoo featuring the initials of my wife and kids down my forearm.  The idea was flawed from the get-go since their initials are, in order, “C A C A”.  However over a staff supper, CKRM’s Perry Nyhus snuffed out the scheme saying, “You’re a country boy through-and-through.  It’s not you”.

And with that, the plan was out the window.  He’s right.

10 – QUOTE OF THE WEEK:  This one came from Perry Nyhus as well, the former host of the Nyhus Country Drive on 620 CKRM radio.  I congratulated Perry on 30 years with Harvard Broadcasting to which he quipped, “Even Thatcher got out after 25!”

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THAT’S ALL! SEE YOU IN THE CAGE MONDAY AT 4 PM
RP
@sportscage