I have been relegated to: 'Sister to Myshka'. - Myshka is a dog.

Has anyone else's parents inched closer to insanity with retirement or is it just mine? I was met at my parents house this weekend with a cry of "Myshkaaaaa! Your sisters are here" Which would not be all that strange except for the fact that Myshka is a Black Lab/Rottweiler who has somehow usurped my sister and I as my parents favorite child.

It was a wonderful long weekend on the heels of a week rife with discussion of Hall of Fame entries and who should and should not go into the Hall. To be honest I have a hard time when we talk about the Hall of Fame because more often than not the contenders are a little before my time and I did not see them play with my own eyes. All I have to go on is usually whatever is on the record about the possible inductees, and as I have realized over the past few years is that, at times the pundits get it wrong. This I do know however; the HOF should be reserved for those that were way out in front of the rest in the era they played. Not great player, hell of a guy etc etc but the truly exceptional. Otherwise why bother. I think Mitch put it best when he said something along the lines of - "If there is a debate over whether or not they go in, you have your answer." I like the simplicity of this rationalization. It reminds me of another story making the headlines this week; What is the future of Jim Pop as head coach of the Alouettes.

All knowing (with curiously svelte legs) Herb Zurkowsky wrote in the Gazette today that Owner Robert Wetenhall has plans to meet with three offensive veterans: Ben Cahoon, Bryan Chiu and Kerry Watkins about the strengths and weaknesses of Popp, the team's general manager and head coach. I think if it gets to the point where there appears to be so many malcontents on the team that the owner needs input from the players to try and get the real story.... you already have your answer. I hate to qualify an opinion but I will say that I respect everything that Jim Pop has done as a GM with the Als and he has never been anything but friendly and forthcoming with me, however I do not think having a GM as Coach is ever really a good idea. In some cases it works but I think there is a conflict of interest there that can have a disastrous outcome on the club. That being said, we must remember the Als were dealt a few significant blows this season, not the least of which being the injury/D-listing of Tim Strickland and Anthony Calvillo making the absolute right decision by leaving to be with his sick wife. So the Als will not win the Grey Cup- but who cares? The Habs are going to win the cup!

Poor Andie and stupid journalists with a personal mandate

Hi guys! First I want to thank all the folks who took time to email me telling me that I am right and Mitch is wrong. No better way to start the day! I won't draw out this topic but I do think that my point was slightly misunderstood by Mitch and Pierre. I am the last person to focus on the negative regarding the Canadiens. I agree that Carey Price is a great goalie, future of the Habs etc.. but lets not get ahead of ourselves.. we should be just as critical of his play as we are of Cristobal Huet. Thats all.

That being said; as much as I appreciate the emails talking about how hard Mitch is on me sometimes, one of the great things about Mitch is that you can have a heated discussion/disagreement with him and nothing is ever personal. I enjoy the challenge of working with Mitch, if nothing else he keeps me on my toes and expects nothing but the best from the people he works with and tries to do the best possible show every single day. Don't feel too bad for me. I'm scrappy, I can take it.

Another topic I don't want to dwell on but I have to mention is the yearly visit from the TVA contingent showing up at practice and wasting everyones time with inane questions to Saku Koivu and Coach Carbo. First of all it would be lovely if these bozos had enough class to remain quiet after they get their xenophobic questions out of the way for the rest of Carbos press conference. I know its a lot to ask, but you just made all the reporters sit in the room while you beat a dead horse for 10 mins the least you could do is not screw up the rest of our audio with sounds of you taking down your camera, dropping tapes then conversing with your token English speaking (barely) reporter you brought along while Carbo is still talking. Second of all if it is such a cinch to learn a new language, why don't you learn some English? I love the irony of a uni-lingual French speaker telling another Bi-lingual person that they should learn French. ARRG! And they wonder why young people are leaving Quebec. Its no mystery to me. We are fed up with this. I love being Bi-lingual. It is truly an asset for anyone but its a choice. Even for the Captain of the Canadiens. He owes you nothing more than giving his all on the ice and being a good leader for his team.

Am I missing something here?

Well despite the fact that lovely listener 'lynch mob' enjoys commenting on my blog about how I should stick to 'weather and traffic' I will risk embarrassment once again and write about sports. And BTW Lynch Mob- Rod does traffic and weather. I do sports updates.

So after yesterdays practice that had 5 guys wearing the dismal gray jerseys we arrive today at practice to find that not only will Guillaume Latendresse sit this one out but so will Steve Begin. STEVE BEGIN??? The guy who is throwing himself in front of pucks in the pre-season? Steve Begin the guy who is sporting a chrome dome for a young fan going through chemo that he doesn't want to feel like an outcast? Steve Begin the heart of the team that leaves it all out on the ice every single time he laces them up?
I understand that Begin is not the number one point getter on the team but he has certainly not been a disappointment after 3 games of the regular season. And if there was something that Carbonneau saw that he did not like does Begin not merit a least a sit down for some constructive criticism before he rides the pine?
Begin found out he was not playing this morning by showing up at practice and noticing that his name was conspicuously absent from the wipe-off board.

After Carbonneau pointed out in the off-season that communication was one of the areas of his coaching style that needed improvement it is a bit surprising that a Canadiens workhorse would not get a personal word from the coach before hand that may have made the disappointing news a bit easier to swallow.

And here is why I love Begin. His response: 'I am going to do whatever I have to do to make sure that this never happens again.' Now that is a player you want on your team.

Where will the Habs finish

I am not going to pretend that I am enough of a hockey analyst to accurately rate how the eastern conference is going to shake out before even 1 game of the regular season is played. What I do know is that there is more to a team than a power-forward or a bona fide enforcer. For me successful teams usually have more to do with how the players jive together than individual strengths. I am calling the Canadiens to finish 7th and I feel justified in doing so because:

-The Habs missed the playoffs last year by a mere 2 points and they managed that with; the Samsanov soap opera, questionable goal-tending that got them down early far too often, a team wide flu, the Kovalev factor, Higgins injury, and a defense that let WAY too many goals make it to the goalie.

-Carbonneau will be better this year

-5 on 5 will be better (can't be much worse)

-Carey Price. Carey Price. Carey Price.

-Red Fisher called it and he knows everything.

As to where everyone else will finish I know the Flyers got way better but they lost 48 GAMES LAST SEASON! So I'll go:

1. Ottawa, have to admit Spezza, Alfredsson & Heatley pretty much kick ass
2. Carolina-can't downplay experience
3. Pittsburgh- If Crosby can pull his panties up
4. Flyers- they will be so amazed to not suck they'll finish strong
5. Sabres- I loved them last year...despite losing Briere and Drury they still have a lot of talent in Pominville, Afinogenov, Connolly etc..
6. Rangers- Avery is far too annoying to put them above 6th
7. Canadiens
8.Leafs- barf but hey it makes sense.

I have no clue about the west but I am rooting for the Red Wings cause they took Aaron Downey and he plays the game cause he loves it and is grateful for every day hes out on the ice.

Thoughts of Dodgeball from the Presidents Cup

We are on location at Royal Montreal all week and try as I might, golf just does not do it for me. It’s a beautiful day outside but we are set up in an air conditioned tent so we would never know it if there was not a huge screen in front of me showing the outdoors.
Totally Broad will feature dodge-ball this week after a friend of mine told me that he saw organized dodge ball the other day with actual spectators. Mitch snickered when I told him the show topic was dodge ball but quite frankly you would catch me with a cold beer watching some dodge ball before I donned pleated front khakis, disposed of my cell phone and came out to follow a bunch of cranky old men knock a ball around a golf course.
My brush with greatness was slightly disappointing after finally getting within a few feet of Tiger Woods- these guys are so sheltered from the media its ridiculous- he did not even look up and acknowledge any of the fans who had been waiting outside the trailer to catch a glimpse of the best golfer in the world. He didn’t even glance in my direction despite the fact that he walked right by me and I was waiting to talk to his assistant captain. At least when I walked by Gretzky in the Bell Center he smiled and said hello for gosh sakes- and that is GRETZKY- (I also heard once that when Gretzky called into a media conference call-he actually spelled his name. Does anyone else find that hilarious?)

Calvillo who?

No disrespect to Anthony Calvillo or Robert Edwards but both players were an afterthought in the Als stunner over the Lions at McGill stadium yesterday. With Marcus Brady showing that he has not been twiddling his thumbs sitting on the bench for a year and a half and Jarrett Payton taking punishment to bring the Als 3 touchdowns the Als were able to rekindle the hope of winning the Grey Cup.
It was the first Alouettes game I have attended this year and it was pretty much the best game I have watched all year. Think the team was happy to have Tim Strickland back?
My one gripe is the borderline-bad-porn-storyline on which the cheerleaders seem to have based their halftime show. Is the naughty school girl thing just a wee bit played out by now. Britney Spears pretty much put that to rest did she not? What with the bad camera work, French dubbing over School of Rock roll-call and ghastly makeup choices I was ready to cover the eyes of the children sitting in from of me for fear of what was coming next.
I guess the reason I feel free to criticize the Alouettes cheerleaders choreography is that I spent my Saturday as a rookie addition to 'The Flying Wallendas'. Yes that is right, I Andie Bennett flew on a trapeze and I have to say it is one of the scariest things I have done since trying Calamari for the first time. (sidenote: I hate eating things that look like they could crawl off your plate.)
First of all, they don't exactly ease you into the whole trapezing thing. I thought hey, first timer, we will perhaps swing back and forth on the bar a few times. Ohhh no! First time up you try a knee hang which means; you climb up a really tall ladder about half a foot wide, onto a platform where another trapezer is waiting and he hooks you in, (we were harnessed in something that quite frankly as a climber I was a little wary of) then holds the belt while you reach out for the bar-at this point I have the uncontrollable shakes and my palms are sweating so much I am beginning to think this was a horrible mistake. So after about 5 mins of instructions we are expected to swing out on the bar HOOK YOUR KNEES THROUGH YOUR ARMS AND OVER THE BAR THE LET GO WITH YOUR HANDS AND REACH OUT BEHIND YOU WHILE ARCHING YOUR BACK. Then you simply reach back up bring your legs down slowly and "legs front-back-front and let go as you back flip off the bar onto the net." Easy-Peasy. My Totally Broad sidekick Debbie Mahoney looked like a pro and made it all the way through with no problems. Me, not so much but I did do everything except the back flip. We finished the 2 hour class by completing a catch and despite the fact that the fear was still there, it was the most amazing feeling to be swinging upside down and reach back and actually have someone catch you off the bar. It was a true sense of accomplishment that is impossible to explain. Go try for yourself at Trapezium.

http://www.trapezium.qc.ca/

Check out Totally Broad this Thursday at 11:00pm on The Team 990 for more Trapeze info and a full review of our experience!

"It's not really tubing until somebody splits a lip."

For some reason I have always been attracted to sports or activities where there was a chance of serious injury. I knew I was hooked on water-skiing after my first true bail that resulted in a complete sinus cleansing and consumption of a dangerous amount of lake water. "ohhhh you let go of the tow rope when you fall. Right."

Since it is my first day back from vacation I thought I would give you a little taste of what recreational time is like in the Bennett camp. For about 10 years of my childhood every summer was spent at a lake in Maine water skiing and trying to survive a tube ride with my uncle Steve driving the boat. This summer was no different. We have revived the Bennett summer get-together and since everyone else in my family seems to have become old and boring I brought along my new favorite toy and had to convince the cousins that severe bodily harm on a wake board was a small price to pay for family wide entertainment.

Wake boarding was a great discovery for me because as many of you know, water skiing once a year uses muscles you don't normally recruit meaning 3 mins of fun equals at least a few days of severe pain. Wake boarding on the other hand is much less taxing on the body. You pop right out of the water and since the boat doesn't need to go as fast there is less stress on the muscles. That is unless you face plant right off the start in which case you may not want to give it another go. Also its pretty much like snowboarding on the water. I convinced my cousins to try it out without considering that it may not feel quite as natural if you have never been on a snowboard. Oops. Hopefully they will forgive me. I managed to escape the wake boarding and water skiing with no serious injury so it was indeed time to break out the tube. One we cleaned out the broken glass inside the tube (It had doubled as a beer caddy to the floating dock.....) we were ready to go. The title of this blog is pretty much the family mantra when it comes to tubing so it was no surprise that after kart wheeling off the tube at high speed on my very first dumping I lay in the water for a second thinking..."yup...my neck is definitely broken.." Thankfully feeling returned to my limbs and I was able to shake it off in time to enjoy more family fun.

So back to the 'real' sports as I put aside wake boarding and water skiing for another year-HOWEVER stay tuned on Totally Broad, (every Thursday night at 11pm-my show where we talk about sports outside the mainstream) we will cover both events, street luge and long board, coming up at Top Challenge on the mountain the weekend of August 25th.