Chance

Kelso is a great little area.I fished there quite a bit years ago and landed some really nice smallies.Take a look around the shoreline and about 30 feet offshore there is a sunken foundation from an old building.Lots of fish hanging around.

As mentioned earlier bizzare and strange acidents occur daily.Many times people need protection from their own stupidity.It boils down to "dont like the rules,dont play the game"I didnt see it mentioned in the article if the man could swim or not.He was impaired which means his decision making,reaction time,coordination etc etc was "impaired".

I have seen intoxicated people die from falling off a bar stool so the vehicle has little to do with it.Impaired,on the water AND without safety equipment,that is the issue.

Downsize is the key.As mentioned switch to light line,4lb test is a blast when fishing for smallies.Small grubs with no weight so they fall really slow.Then hang on and have fun !

He was impaired and without safety equipment on board.Accidents do happen all the time regardless of what you are operating.He got off easy,could of lost his life.

Hey Dan,

Let me know what you are looking for.I am going to see James at maximum tomorrow and will see what they have.

As the saying goes"when all is good all is good but when its not then what do you do?"Well maybe not a saying but just my thoughts.We have all seen the guy in the small car going 50 k over the limit,peeking between the wheel and dash,ball hat sideways,stereo a thumpin.What happens when he darts in front of you on the highway?Do you want to be walking the razors edge or do you want to be able to hit the brakes and slow down comfortably?I am a firm believer in safety overkill and your tow vehicle is your #1 piece of safety equipment.Trust me when I say I have seen the result of things going wrong too many times.

Thats great Ryan,please pass along my congratulations to her.Get her to sign the picture and write a little story about herself and how she feels being a celebrity.Trust me it is great to look back on aftyer a few years!

Quinte ??

I have seen guys pass on them being offered for free at tourneys.That should tell you something.

I drive a big truck myself.I use it to pull my boat etc...Most of the time I am either on foot or on my bike as I am lucky enough to live within miles of where I work.My truck is very well maintained and taken care of.It always amazes me when someone pulls up beside me in some "smaller" vehicle that is dripping sludge from the tailpipe and thanks me for the downfall of the enviornment.Funny how they are not around to say thanks when I am running to work !

Great games to watch.The bruins are falling apart from the top on down.When all goes to crap you look at your leader for advice.In this case julien...who is running back and forth with his hands in the air yelling.Take a look at the habs both on the ice and on the bench, no over the top emotion just a dedicated look.The bruins are thinking short term,todays win and thats it.The habs are thinking long term.With short term thinking comes undisciplined aggression and RETALIATION.Long term thinking results in discipline and controlled emotions.

The biggest showboat on the team PK has even bought into it.The kids good but he just needed to get his "HEAD" into the game.Looks like he has done just that!

Great job by the habs,hoping a Canadian team can bring the cup back where it belongs!

Just watched the vid Cudz,great stuff. Its teachers like yourself that result in great students and adults down the road.

Condolences to you and your family Dan.

I use 5 inch tubes for flippin weed clumps for largemouth.

Yes you have stated your point of view but proven it to be accurate or reinforced it with facts....no.

Your point as I see it is they are happy raking in the dough they are at this point and absolutely no incentive to improve and possibly enter the playoffs.My point is this is not so and they are trying to improve,dysfunctionaly so as they do not have alot of talent in the ranks but an attempt non the less.Brian Burke has more control than any GM in the past and this was one of his stipulations before he signed.He immediately went after one of the top scorers in the league (lets not get into the kessel sucks discussion ,whether you like it or not he is near the top when it comes to putting the puck in the net).He attempted to move up in the draft and now has one of the youngest teams in the league.He is trying to attract big name players who do not want to come for many reasons,wilson the media etc etc etc.

What exactly would they do differently if fans stopped showing up??Learn how to build a team from the ground up?Sign a big first line center,sign two players who can actually kill penalties,sign a decent PP point man,hire a dynamic coach who can adjust on the fly?Or possibly throw huge amounts of money at marquis players who would attract fans but not win you a cup, or in other words what they have been doing for years.You can stop petting your old dog but this doesn't mean he is going to learn any new tricks to get your attention back.

I believe they are heading in the right direction.It will take time and they are still making mistakes.

As far as blind devotion is concerned,which one of my previous quotes leads to that belief?

""Poor coaching,lack of talent,poor scouting sure I buy into it all" or was it "the machine is broken" or possibly when I said they had a "dysfunctional infrastructure"?

You are totally missing my point, but that is not shocking. My point has been made and reinforced. We have a difference of opinion. I would just like you to think about how the owners of the leafs would react if the ACC did not sell out every day, or if merchandise sales fell off. I'd be willing to wager that they might change their direction.

I also must say that I am highly suspicious of people who are blindly devoted to a cause. I find that their judgement becomes suspect. Chance, I think you may be experiencing this.

Chance - I would like to see the actual numbers too, but obviously that isn't going to happen for either of us. Sadly, I don't sense that the owners are interested in either investing in building the farm system, or throwing significantly more money at the pro-level club. They seem perfectly happy with maintaining the present situation, and that's what I find most frustrating.

I think,more so hope this is changing.This team "seems" to be heading in the right direction.It is alot younger than in years past and does have some good prospects on the way up.Hopefully they can pull it together and at least be competitive next year.If the last part of the season was an indicator they should be okay if they make a few changes.

Yes, playoff games would earn the team a lot of money, and yes, a Stanley Cup win would represent enormous business in merchandise alone. No one argues that.

 

But one thing you learn in Business 101 is that there are two sides to any profit opportunity. Investing to develop a winning team also represents a certain level of risk, and one that the owners do not appear to be willing to take. It isn't just the cost of signing some marquis players and maybe paying a salary cap penalty. You're looking at the cost of investing in the farm system, investing in better coaching at the minor league levels, investing in scouting, and building depth throughout the franchise over a span of five, six, maybe eight years. You're talking tens of millions of dollars with absolutely no guarantee that the team will go on to actually win anything.

 

It's a gamble, and investors don't like to gamble. They prefer to maximize the return on their investment while minimizing risk.

 

Leaf owners are already making very nice profits as it is. Their attitude is, why risk a fortune when you don't have to?

 

I agree with FishGreg - nothing will change as long as people continue to buy jerseys and hats and keep shoveling money into the organization, basically rewarding them for doing nothing.

what you speak of is a disfunctonal infrastructure which I will agree with.Pre cap days the leafs did not worry about scouting,developement or anything less.They purchased other teams top players as they had the money to do such.Now with the cap in place these things are important and you cannot buy anything without penalties in place.The machine is broken ,no doubt about it but not for lack of interest in making money.

I think you might be stretching the "tens of millions" risk factor.They sit fifth in AHL payroll,not last,not first but not last.Check on the salaries of eakins and their scouts.They do invest money but once again lack of talent comes into play.

Disfunctional yes but not willing to take a financial risk in the minor leagues...well lets just say i would love to see those numbers.

Which represents are greater financial risk.Spending building a solid foundation in the minors or throwing millions at the final product in hopes it works??

My point exactly.Richards has said no to the Leafs so a boycott will make him change his mind,I think not?

It is really business 101, you are claiming the Leafs organization cares about absolutely nothing but making money yet then claim they pass up on the biggest money maker available,the playoffs.This myth has been around for years and its just that a myth.

Exactly what points to a lack of interest in making the playoffs?Does the brass come into the room when they are in ninth place and say"hey boys time to toss up a dog we are not interested in making the playoffs"? "if one of you buggers scores the winning goal that puts us in those playoffs yor gone the next day! "If there is no incentive to win and as you say fans come in droves why not ice a bunch of ECHL players and sit 20 million below the cap every year?Nope the Leafs currently are approxiomately 5 million below cap.They sign a goalie for 6+Mil a year instead of "buddy whatshisname" form the ECHL for 10 G's and a case of beer. Why sign Brian Burke stay with ferguson,he's cheaper,heck you could probably sign a GM from junior for 50k a year.

Try living the life of a pro.Breathe eat sleep hockey and all that it encompasses since you were a kid.Think of nothing but scoring the winning goal in the stanley cup final.Then once your in reach of your goal just magically change your whole outlook on life and stop competing.

Poor coachiong,lack of talent,poor scouting sure I buy into it all,but no incentive to win,not a chance.Blaming the Leafs or any teams lack of success on attendance is to say the least humourous.

As it stands now Richards has flat out said that said that he will not sign with the leafs. I doubt whether Crosby would want to play for Toronto as well. While most teams need to make the playoffs consistently in order to make money, the leafs are not in that situation. I think that sheep comment was a bit too close to home for you. The fact is that the maple leafs as an organization have less incentive to win because they can count on leaf nation turning out in droves to support the team win, lose or draw. If you want to blame anyone for the mismanagement of the leafs it is the fans.

Having said that the leafs finally look like they are on the rebound. It's just a shame that it took so long.

Coaches request a bench staff GM's assign a bench staff.How do you think woody has lasted as long as he has in Toronto.

Dont get me wrong I am no fan of wilsons but when you have all hammers and no screwdeivers then its tough to get the job done.They have made subtle adjustments all year long,they just were not good enough.The PP went to a pressure down low attack with one high and that did not produce as well as it should have.The Pk has gone from the traditional 2-2 to a 1-2-1 to a 1-1-2 and back again....no luck at all.I know if I were a coach and saw Brent and Boyce as my top PK unit I would run for the hills.

Sure wilson is a poor excuse for a coach but not having much to work with does have its effect.

Agreed but it isnt ususally the job of the head coach to work the PP or the PK.That job has always fallen on the shoulders of the assistants.

Lunatic is right if you listened to Don Cherry tonight. "Reimer saved Wilson's ass with his play since the all-star break" (Don Cherry). He tore a strip off of Wilson for not abandoning Giguere before Christmas and for not keeping Kadri from the get-go. Kadri outscore all kinds of other outstanding rookies on other teams during the exhibition season, yet Wilson sent him back to the AHL.

 

I agree with Cherry (not usually) when he says the penalty kill unit hasn't been coached and that's why they place 29th in PK each year. It's not a skill like the PP, it's a coached unit. Wilson doesn't know how to coach specialty units. It would help if they had a centre that could win a draw on either specialty team.

 

Dan O.

Don't blame the teachers union. Blame to die hard sheep who support the team no matter what the result. I'm not saying that a single owner that wanted to win above all would not make a difference, but for 1.3 billion who is going to do that. The facts are that the team makes boat loads of money whether they win or lose. If Leaf fans were more lake Hab fans (who almost boycott the team when they suck) than there would be more incentive to win. Basically all die hard Leaf fans only have themselves to blame for the pathetic results of their team. That is a tough pill to swallow.

Speaking of sheep ,how about the people who use the same argument over and over again yet it makes absolutely no sense at all.Soooo the leafs brass do not care about winning just the money?We all know playoff revenue is next to nothing right...well isn't it?

If they DID win the cup can you imagine how that would bring in the money?

If making money was the goal would not a few rounds of playoff hockey be an incentive???

So without support the leafs are going to magically come up with better players??Yes sir boycott the Leafs and Brad Richards will say"hey now theres a place I want to play".You just might have Crosby thinking about asking for a trade.

I would not put anything on the back less than a 200,you will be dissapointed with a 150.With that said ask what happened to the old motor it could be an indicator how the rig was treated in general.Dont be afraid of ANYTHING be it car,boat or truck because of its age.I owned a 20 year old bass boat for years and it was in mint condition.It is how they are maintained and driven.I have fished along side two year old boats that were a disgrace.I have owned many bass boats over the years and still do.They absolutely do not all get stress cracks in the gel coat sooner or later so dont fall for that line.

Personally I would not buy an Astro but thats just me.Ranger,Basscat,Champion and Stratos are tops for me.Driving the boat is a must as you might not like the way it handles.Look up Chine walking and you will get the idea.

A marine surveyor is a good idea along with having someone who knows bass boats go with you to look it over.As mentioned previously there is alot ot consider on bass boat other than hull and motor.Take those into consideration when deciding on your purchase.

Where are you located? If the boat is close enough I can go with you to look at it if you like.

I am hoping philly gets their act together soon to make a go of it.They look awful lately...Pronger anyone??

With Miller in net Buffalo can make it interesting.I would love to see Buffalo advance as you are dam near Canadian anyway I would like to see a Canadian team bring it home but I just dont see it happening for Montreal.Vancouvers hopes lay in the hands of Luongo and the Sedins.If Bobby Lou does not implode and stands on his head then maybe.

Ya gotta REALLY enjoy mussels to take that kind of a risk !!

Anyone interested in mussel hunting...

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