JohnF

***** JF

One suggestion. All this talk here is just that - talk. None of us have seen you play so what we're saying is pretty much meaningless. When you go to the tryouts ask the highest level coach who cuts you whether he thinks you have a shot down the road, and what do you need to do to get there. If none of them cut you, then yer playing AAA and the sky's the limit. Have fun. JF

At first I was in favour of the new centre line rule, but I've decided I liked the game better without those different area code breakout passes. Too many cherry pickers camping on the far blue line putting extra workload on the grunts - OV and his two minute shifts comes to mind. There'd be too much work to do if he was back in the play. Of course if the size of the players continues to increase they'll soon have to add a few extra zones to the ice area so there'll be room for those 12 huge bodies to skate. Every once in a while I see somebody I know out on the ice and that puts the players' size into context for me. These guys are freakin' huge, and they've got mobility like little squirts. JF

Surely you can't mean that when it comes from a bunch of your fellow OFNers? These are guys used to being entirely honest about the fish they catch, after all. JF

That was it. JF

That doesn't say a lot about the three guys it's taking to contain him regularly. I'm pretty impressed that Detroit has enuf respect for that "Pretty Boy" to have three men on him every time he crosses the blue line. They'd be in trouble if the Pens had more depth, or perhaps they just need a few more Pretty Boys. Ya can't help being impressed with Detroit's execution. JF

I've gotten to the point where I leave the room as soon as the period ends and come back when I hear the game on again. The paint on the boards and the ice is harder to ignore but I'm getting better at it. We decided during Game I that Detroit has a better centre ice circle than most. Too bad about the Don Cherry production at the beginning of last night's game. I accidentally saw a few seconds of that bombastic ass. Oh for the good ole days. JF

It's really tough to know what to advise any more. There were guys who played minor hockey with me who went on to the NHL but the route then was fairly predictable - play minor through Midget and even Juvenile, go to Junior ? then jump to Major Junior if your were really good. From there you were drafted and sent to the minors for reconstruction and seasoning before finally getting called up to the bigs. The guys who didn't attract pro attention either went on to get a job (and perhaps play Senior) or some were lucky enough to be offered American college scholarships to play. They got an education at least. The rest just got on with their lives. Nowadays (and I really really hate the new system) if a kid isn't already on the scouts' radar by your age or a little older there's not much likelihood of making it big. The problem is that the guys who are identified young get the invitations to the high profile national teams training camps and the winningest Jr clubs, so the rich get richer while lots of late bloomers fly under the radar. I would argue that the players you see in the NHL today are not necessarily the creme de la creme, just the best of the ones who got flagged early on. We hear a few stories of late bloomers who make it as walkons to Junior teams etc and now the US college route is a good track to the NHL as well, but generally the Canadian guys who make it today have been in the spotlight since they were 14, sometimes even younger. The other problem is that despite the expanded league today, the drawing area has been expanded to include the USA and Europe where the hockey powers have long since gleaned all the best ideas from our Canadian system and streamlined it into a slick system. Here in Canada we seem to finally have figured out that hours on the pond with no structure just doesn't cut it when compared to hours of very focused coaching, conditioning and skills training. I remember being amazed at the 10 year old teams from Detroit and Chicago who'd come to play against our kids. They'd bring 3 lines, 4 d's and one goalie and even the goalie would be a power skating phenom. They passed and skated rings around our kids. We'd barely hold our own in those days. I don't say any of this to discourage you. Heaven knows we all wanted to be hockey players. For some, like me, the work ethic and commitment just wasn't there. I had too many other interests in life to drop everything to concentrate on hockey, and probably a large part of that was that I knew I wasn't going anywhere anyway. The trick for you guys today is, in my not so humble opinion, to keep things in perspective. Follow the dream for sure, but don't lose track of where your life is going on the very real chance that hockey isn't in your future. We used to have guys who lived for hockey at the expense of everything else. Someone even made a movie about it called Paperback Hero starring Keir Dullea (sp?). They blew their chance at an education and a career for small town stardom in local hockey and then discovered that hockey is a very fickle lover. One day they just realized that hockey had dumped them by the wayside and was dating some new young stud. Try to be really objective about your future chances in hockey. If there's absolutely no doubt you're one of the elite few who can be noticed for national U-17's etc, position yourself for that by placing yourself on the teams that will give you the best combination of coaching, ice time and exposure. There's no point in playing underage on a high achieving team if you're going to ride the pine all winter. Nobody sees you as a player that way and you don't get the ice time you need to grow. On the other hand there's no point in being a big frog in a little pond. Nobody notices the star player on a team that goes out before playoffs even start. Ask a few older folks about how hard Wayne Gretzky's dad worked to get him out of Brantford into the big urban system. That was all about exposure and growth. Today's regional AAA organizations and the so-called outlaw leagues all come out of the same mindset. They're filled with players who either weren't quite good enough to make the local elite team or were the stars on the local team but didn't feel they were getting enough exposure. That's the part of the new hockey that I really don't like - making kids commit to hockey at the expense of all other pleasures, placing huge practise & travel time obligations on players and parents, and imposing often unbearable expense burdens on families. That's why I say a lot of deserving players never get the attention of the NHL scouts. They couldn't afford the price in so many different ways. So, my advice is to do regular self-assessments. Ask yourself a series of questions. Have I the potential to be an upper elite level player? Am I playing at the right level to accomplish my goals? What do I do if hockey doesn't pan out for me? Am I willing to sacrifice a lot of other pleasures in life to concentrate on hockey? Those are just for starters. You can probably think of lots more. Hockey is supposed to be fun, and there's nothing wrong with a young Canadian dreaming of making it big in hockey. In fact, there's everything right about it, but keep it in perspective. It's only a game after all. YMMV JF

Tough luck. Our eldest did exactly the same thing, the same way, at the same age, and had a cast that looked identical. He was in it for 6 weeks and then the doc said the xrays looked so good he was taking it off. We were leaving that day for a beach cottage and had asked if there was any chance of getting it off early. Steve was really hurting when the cast came off. His elbow had been locked in that bent position for so long it just didn't want to move. You could tell he was near tears and that doesn't come easily for a rough tough 10 year old. As soon as we hit the cottage Steve was into his bathing suit and out into the waves. He splashed around out there for about 4 hours before he came out of the water. Turned out it was therapeutic as he said the aching was gone completely. Keep it in mind for when your guy loses his cast. JF

Be patient. My wee one's 32 and I'm still looking forward to him saying "Daddy, take me fishing." Nice story Mike. Thanks JF

Dayum! Your adventures are even vicariously excellent. ***** JF

I bought a pair of the green boot foot units from CTC and found them to be very uncomfortable. Hometownhandyman is storing them for me now. Perhaps they feel better to him. I just felt that the legs were too restrictive when I had to lift my knees higher than normal walking. But then I'm a fatazz. I picked up a pair of breathable sockfoots in the States (Hodgman?) with felt sole wading boots for under $100 on sale a year or two back and they're excellent. I've worn 'em at least 50 times, so far without problems. We do a lot of climbing to get in and out of creeks so they aren't babied. I've got permanent grass stains on the knees and butt from sliding down hills (felt soles aren't great on grassy hills). Some folks like the neoprene style for our colder waters but I never liked neoprene in my drysuits and found that I could dive comfortably in near freezing temps by layering with good air holding undies. Same with the waders. Layer on the right kind of thermal stuff and I'm comfy. On warm days and warm water I wear shorts only under them and I'm quite comfortable. I'm sure if I was using them more often I'd see the value in going for the big name (big price tag) but so far economical is good. JF

I have to remember to release the little lock doohickey before I go in the water because it's hard enuf to operate with two hands, and I'm sure not gonna wrestle with it with a big ole treble buried in my hand. JF

I picked up a pair yesterday. Perhaps they aren't quite as heavy as I thought, or as big. I'll try carrying them instead of sidecutters for a while and see if I notice the difference. When every little bit of weight (on my shoulder) and every little bit of space in the bag is at such a premium, I hate carrying anything that won't be used regularly, but the likelihood of getting stabbed whilst standing hip deep in the creek is probably higher than while on a boat or the shore. It's pretty easy to make awkward moves when trying to juggle everything to keep it all dry. JF

Assumptions - perhaps a party ran on. JF

I've never used it but I think I just read on some news page that they're threatening to start charging a fee for it. JF

Sometimes the money is secondary. It's all about the accomplishment. Any of you who have built hot rods back in the day remember spending way too much on certain components just 'cuz the car wouldn't have been the same without it. I think it's a helluva project and I think the guy who did it is entitled to be pretty durned proud of it. It's easy to go out and buy the best, but has any boat manufacturer done anything quite like this, that suits this builder's purposes to a tee? That's very nifty personalized setup he's put together. JF

We were throwing topwaters for Pike on Saturday. They go for twitched stick minnows big time. We lose a lot of smallish Rapala minnows to Pike biteoffs. It occurred to me that we might have to be pretty convincing if the CO showed up. JF

I got shut out for a little while between 9 & 10 but it's okay now. Much more of this & I'm gonna demand a refund. JF

I buy a bunch of prepaid wash tickets periodically to keep at the office for the sales staff. We save about a buck per wash that way but they're good forever. It's a great system. JF

I went to CTC and checked 'em out. They aren't very big but they still weigh too much for an old bujjer like me to carry around for that many hours of wading. I'm going to pick up a pair today anyway. I'll try them but I doubt if I'll carry them all the time. JF

I really only care about the next time I have a treble buried past the barbs in my carcass. I'll worry about the following time after the next one happens. The next issue is that this tool is fine for all the boat guys but us waterwalkers work hard at keeping the load limited. Three or five hours without sitting down - casting frequently and carrying all the tools of the trade gets old, especially for us old guys. I limit myself to one ultralite rig and whatever I can carry in an old army shoulder bag, typically a plastic box with my fave hard and soft plastics, a few splitshots and spare hooks. The hemostats, clipper and braid scissors hang on a bungee around my neck. Those cutters weight more than my entire bag most days. JF

Yup, the cops are too busy investigating cases where the atavists have taken the law into their own hands. JF

Sorry. I see that a number of folks already suggested that. As for whether or not it was racially motivated - does it really matter? It's still wrong. If race was at issue then perhaps even worse. JF

Another alternative occurs to me - why not gather up a huge herd of large sized friends and take them to the same spot to fish. See who comes out - or doesn't. JF