At times the inner workings of the FAN960 or any radio station may seem a little made up or staged, but lets just say it was with great excitement that we were able to announce the signing of Peter Maher and Mike Rogers to long term deals to match the long term deal that we have with the Flames to carry the games on the radio. I don’t know anything about the deals that the two signed nor should I, nor do I know how the process worked to sign Pete and Mike that’s their private business, but it was a relief to find out the deals were done. Honestly I don’t think they were going anywhere, nor do I think either wanted to go anywhere, but in this day and age you don’t take anything for granted. Pete and Mike are not only the best in the business, they are really good friends and mentors of mine and it’s nice to know that we will have stability for the next 5 years.
Speaking of milestones, nobody was but I will bring it up anyway, Boomer was officially recognized by Rogers for being employed for one whole year. That means that Dean has had 4 different full time gigs over the last 4 years. Keep reaching for those stars pal and with any kind of luck you will be here 12 months from now, again you can’t take anything for granted.
Had a lot of feed back from listeners yesterday and today about the time we spent with Chris Reitsma on Wednesday. An overwhelming positive response to Chris and the time he spent with us, if you didn’t hear the interview go to FAN960.com and check out the conversation in the audio on demand. The former major leaguer is one of the nicest guys I have run into in a long time, he has a real passion for baseball and Calgary and wants to mix the two and see if he can’t get some Calgary kids into the majors in the next decade.
Football fans are a funny bunch, you rarely hear from them but when you do 9 out of 10 times they are pissed and have no trouble writing a scathing e-mail to underscore the fact. I grant you for the past 6 years the Stampeders have had a ton of lows and a few highs and I suppose that may explain the anger. I do find though when a football fan is angry more often then not they are adamant that they know exactly what the problem is. This observation isn’t contained to Stamps fans or Calgary football fans it is a universal observation. I wonder if the limited number of games in a season heightens the scrutiny for the die hards.
Speaking of football there is no better guest that we can have on then Jim Barker, every time the coach comes on you learn something, more often then not it is a glimpse inside the inner workings of the Stamps and the league as a whole. Interesting to hear Jim talk about everything that goes to getting a player onto the practice roster or adding a player mid season, I for one use to take for granted bring a player in. After listening to Jim talk about it today you really do have tip your hat to all of the GM’s in the league for working as hard as they do and jumping through all of the hoops to get players to come here.
With all of that said I have serious concerns about the Stamps heading into Commonwealth Stadium on Friday, Ricky Ray is firing on all cylinders while Henry Burris is not even close to 100%. Calgary is going to have to find a way for Henry Burris to be successful as a pocket passer; I just don’t see how Hank is going to be able to move the pocket around like he normally does. On the other side of the ball the defence has to do something to disrupt Ray, but as the old saying goes you aren’t going to stop Ricky Ray you can only hope to contain him.
A couple of hockey notes, Dion Phaneuf is one of 15 NHL Superstars who are in New York right now as part of media tour to promote the upcoming season. Dion is going to be out in front of a lot of cameras this year, not only is he one of the new faces of the league he is the cover boy for the new NHL 09. The game comes out next week so I anticipate you will be seeing a lot of number 3 in the next couple of weeks. Here is hoping Dion finds a way to loosen up in front of the camera, he is quite a character away from the glare of the spotlight.
If you are wondering who might be suiting up for the Flames at the rookie tournament in Camrose in 10 days here are the guidelines for the players who can play. No more then 30 NHL games and no more then 100 AHL games will make you eligible to play in the tournament. Expect to see a lot of Backlund, Irving, and Negrin in this event.
If you are wondering if I have just given up on the arena issues facing our city, I haven’t. I am hoping to hold a 3rd Arena summit in early October to update and discuss the arena shortage in Calgary and area. I know that there will be some good news but there have been some setbacks to discuss as well, if you have any interest in this subject at all please make plans to join us and be part of the discussion. I will hopefully have a date to announce in the next week.
Glad to hear about the done deal. I’ve been a fan of Peter since this whole thing started. He really is the best and I hope he’s gettin’ the big bucks he deserves. As for Mike, he’s developing into a solid two-way player- something which those of us who remember him as a player thought we might never see…
- DeanCongrats to both, and Lucky Us for having them bring us the best radio entertainment.
I’m living in Izmir, Turkey and because of the time difference I always listen to the games after they’re over. I’ll always be a fan of the broadcast and a Flames fan. Thanks to all.