Constantine wins WHL Coach of the Year:

Silvertips coach Kevin Constantine has been awarded the WHL coach of the year honors for taking his bunch of castoffs to the Western Conference WHL championship.

New treat: Low-carb doggie ice cream
Eskimo Pie plans to roll out diet ice cream for dogs.
April 22, 2004: 9:24 AM EDT

TORONTO (Reuters) - The maker of Eskimo Pie ice cream said on Tuesday it was launching cold treats for hot dogs who want to stay slim and cool this summer.

CoolBrands International says its Dogsters ice cream for dogs is low in sugar and carbohydrate, and is better for the average pooch than normal sweet ice cream.

"Dogs love ice cream," CoolBrands said in a statement announcing a global deal to sell the canine dessert.

It did not say what portion of the $5 billion-a-year U.S. petfood market it hoped to capture with the new product.

WHL finals, baby!
Silvertips beat Kelowna 2-1 in OT of Game 7; play Medicine Hat in championship series

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer

KELOWNA, British Columbia -- There's no question about it, this season the Everett Silvertips have been a team of destiny.

And now that destiny includes being the Western Hockey League's Western Conference champions, too.

Jeff Schmidt scored the winner in overtime -- Everett's third straight overtime victory -- and the Silvertips continued their improbable inaugural season with a 2-1 victory over the Kelowna Rockets in Game 7 of the best-of-seven series on Tuesday night.

That's right, the expansion Everett Silvertips are the conference champions.

"We talked about doing it, but to actually do it is unbelievable," said Everett goalie Jeff Harvey, who again was stellar, stopping 35 shots. "I'm so proud of everybody in that room. It's been a great ride and I just don't know what to say."

Ivan Baranka scored with 3 minutes, 46 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime, then Schmidt scored the game winner when Barry Horman's centering pass deflected off Schmidt's leg and past Kelowna goalie Kelly Guard 7:56 into overtime.

Everett plays the Eastern Conference champion Medicine Hat Tigers for the WHL championship. The series begins Friday in Medicine Hat. The winner of that series advances to the Memorial Cup.

These Silvertips put the Little Engine that Could to shame. A roster filled with players discarded by the rest of the league, Everett first breaks every WHL record for an expansion team and becomes the first first-year team to win a division title.

Then trailing Kelowna, the defending WHL champion and the team with the best record during the regular season, 3-1 in Western Conference finals, the Silvertips win three straight overtime games, receiving fortunate bounces on all three game-winning goals.

Yes indeed, there must be some magic at work in Everett.

"It seems like a team of destiny right now with the three overtime wins," Everett defenseman Mitch Love said. "I don't know when the last time that ever happened from a 3-1 deficit.

"I'm so proud of the guys in that room for not quitting on anything," Love added. "Our backs have been against the wall all year and we seem to rise to the occasion."

For the third straight game Kelowna had the advantage in both territory and shots on goal, outshooting Everett 36-21. And in overtime the Rockets even turned up the pressure, squeezing off the first five shots of the period.

But then that Everett magic struck once again. Barry Horman was in the right circle when he flipped the puck toward the crease. Schmidt was battling for position in the crease when the puck floated in, and the next thing you know the puck was in the net with Schmidt's third goal of the playoffs and the series was over.

"We lost the puck and somehow John Dahl passed it back to Barry Horman and he just threw it on goal," Schmidt said. "I was just standing right in front of Kelly Guard and it went off my leg and in the net. That's what playoff goals are all about; it's greasy goals and that was one of them. It's just unbelievable that we came back and won three in a row in overtime. It's something else."

Everett forced overtime on a shot by Baranka with 3:46 remaining in the game. Schmidt won a faceoff in the left circle, pulling the puck straight back to Baranka at the center point. Baranka wound up and fired a one-time slap shot just inside the right corner, the score at 1-1. It was Baranka's third goal of the playoffs.

Kelowna needed just 2:38 to get on the board first. On an early power play, Tyler Mosienko took a shot from the right point. Simon Ferguson, camped out in front, lifted the shot in the air. The puck sailed over Harvey's outstretched arm and into the net to stake the Rockets to an early lead. The goal was Ferguson's fifth of the playoffs.

Kelowna continued to create chances the rest of the game, but Harvey turned everything away, giving the Silvertips the opportunity for their comeback.

Kelowna's 2-1 overtime loss to Everett in Game 6 was the Rockets' third playoff loss to the Silvertips. That matched Kelowna's loss total for the entire 2003 playoffs, when the Rockets went 16-3 in rolling to the WHL championship.

Your 20 something years old and playing in the NFL. Your considered a very good player and it looks like your going to get a nice payday when your current contract runs out. Then one day, Sept 11,2001... The World Trade Towers are attacked by terrorists. Everything you believe in comes crashing down on you. You make up your mind right there and then you are going to serve your country and become an Army Ranger. You pass up a 3.6 million dollar offer to play another year for the Arizona Cardinals.

April 23, 2004...In memoriam of Pat Tillman, US Army Ranger killed in action in Afghanistan. You gave up so much for all of us! As the statement form the White House put it, "you are an inspiration both on an off the football field." God Bless you.

Former Cardinals head coach Dave McGinnis said he felt both overwhelming sorrow and tremendous pride in Tillman, who "represented all that was good in sports."

"Pat knew his purpose in life," McGinnis said. "He proudly walked away from a career in football to a greater calling."

He made the decision after returning from his honeymoon with his wife, Marie. Several of Tillman's friends also have said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks influenced his decision to enlist.

"He knew what was important to him, and he made his decision and stood by it," said quarterback Eli Manning, expected to be a top pick in Saturday's NFL draft.


Tillman's brother Kevin, a former minor league baseball prospect in the Cleveland Indians' organization, also joined the Rangers and served in the Middle East. They committed to three-year stints in the Army.

The Tillmans' goal to join the Rangers was not an easy one to achieve. Only 35 percent of all candidates get to wear the coveted black and gold Ranger Tab.

Some 110 U.S. soldiers have died -- 39 of them in combat -- during Operation Enduring Freedom, which began in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Tillman's agent, Frank Bauer, has called him a deep and clear thinker who has never valued material things.

In 2001, Tillman turned down a $9 million, five-year offer sheet from the Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams out of loyalty to the Cardinals, and by joining the Army he passed on millions more from the team.

Tillman turned aside interview requests after joining the Army. He had denied requests for media coverage of his enlistment, basic training and ultimate deployment. According to Army officials at the time, Tillman wanted no special treatment, wanted no special attention, but wanted to be considered just one of the soldiers doing his duty for his country.

In December, during a trip home, Tillman made a surprise visit to his Cardinal teammates.

"For all the respect and love that all of us have for Pat Tillman and his brother and Marie, for what they did and the sacrifices they made ... believe me, if you have a chance to sit down and talk with them, that respect and that love and admiration increase tenfold," then-Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis said at the time. "It was a really, really enriching evening."

Pat was first deployed to Iraq in March 2003, with the 75th Regiment Ranger Battalion. Following a brief break, he was posted in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have been battling pockets of al Qaeda and Taliban resistance since U.S.-led forces attacked the Central Asian nation in 2001

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Tillman was distinguished by his intelligence and appetite for rugged play. As an undersized linebacker at Arizona State, he was the Pac-10's defensive player of the year in 1997.

He set a franchise record with 224 tackles in 2000 and warmed up for last year's training camp by competing in a 70.2-mile triathlon in June.

Tillman carried a 3.84 grade point average through college and graduated with high honors in 3½ academic years with a degree in marketing.

"You don't find guys that have that combination of being as bright and as tough as him," Phil Snow, who coached Tillman as Arizona State's defensive coordinator, said in 2002. "This guy could go live in a foxhole for a year by himself with no food."

Tillman and his brother Kevin last year won the Arthur Ashe Courage award at the 11th annual ESPY Awards. Their younger brother, Richard, accepted the award while the brothers were away.
See the full story here.

Typically I'm not one who forward jokes and stuff around the internet, but I thought this one was too funny to pass up:

A mother enters her daughter's bedroom and sees a letter over the bed. With the worst premonition, she reads it, with trembling hands:
"It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm telling you that I eloped with my new boyfriend. I found real passion and he is so nice, with all his piercings and tattoos and his big motorcycle. But it's not only that mom, I'm pregnant and Ahmed said that we will be very happy in his trailer in the woods. He wants to have many more children with me and that's one of my dreams. I've learned that marihuana doesn't hurt anyone and we'll be growing it for us and his friends, who are providing us with all the cocaine and ecstasies we may want. In the meantime, we'll pray for the science to find the AIDS cure, for Ahmed to get better, he deserves it. Don't worry Mom, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Some day I'll visit for you to know your grandchildren.
Your daughter,

Judith

PS: Mom, it's not true. I'm at the neighbor's house. I just wanted to show you that there are worst things in life than the school's report card that's in my desk's drawer...I love you!

Call when it is safe for me to come home

This e-mail just came down from my corporate office. Be wary of fake e-mails & scams!

Verizon Information Services
EMPLOYEE BULLETIN
Published Electronically by Public Affairs
____________________________________________________

DELETE BOGUS VERIZON ONLINE E-MAIL IMMEDIATELY

D/FW Airport, Texas (April 21, 2004) -- Employees should be wary of a new scam e-mail that's circulating. The e-mail sender claims to represent "Verizon Account Specialist Services" and asks recipients to update their Verizon Online billing information to avoid a processing fee.

The e-mail contains a "click here" link that directs recipients to a fake Verizon look-alike site to complete a form.

This message is a scam, and is not from an authorized Verizon entity.

Action is being taken by Verizon to promptly deal with the issue.

If you receive the bogus e-mail:

Don't reply to the e-mail.
Delete the message immediately.

Ok all you low-carb freaks, the New coca-Cola product C2 is here. That's right, A low-carb Coke! A Coca-Cola spokesman would not give specific dates for the roll-out of the new drink, but told Reuters it would appear in stores across the United States before the planned late summer launch of Pepsi Edge, PepsiCo Inc.'s low calorie cola.

Truely a sad story here: BRICK, New Jersey (AP) -- A woman gave birth in the back of a car on the way to a hospital, but the vehicle then left the road and struck a utility pole, killing her husband. The newborn boy was in critical condition Thursday, and the mother, 22-year-old Atara Sasoon, was listed as fair.

Interesting story about the issue of "color" in the inner circles of the two presidential hopefuls...it may surprise you to know that: Seizing on the nation's diversity -- the country is almost one-third non-white -- Bush has appointed African-Americans, Asians, Latinos and women to senior and non-stereotypical roles: Secretary of State, national security adviser, Transportation Secretary, White House Counsel.
Unlike Al Gore whose campaign manager, political director and finance director were African-American, the Kerry campaign, as of yet, has no one of color in the innermost circle, including Kerry's campaign manager, campaign chairperson, media adviser, policy director, foreign policy adviser, general election manager, convention planner, national finance chairman, and head of VP search team.
That's an odd position for a campaign that will probably rely on African-Americans and Hispanics for one in four of their general election votes and the crucial margin of difference in battleground states like Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.

Marysville's NASCAR dreams inch closer: Marysville and Snohomish County officials announced Tuesday that two Marysville-area sites are the front-runners in the race to land a National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing track.
Officials made the announcement after a morning meeting with representatives from International Speedway Corp., the company that owns 12 of the nation's largest auto-racing facilities. The motor sports giant is looking to expand into the Pacific Northwest and has been eyeing locations in Washington and Oregon.
International Speedway wants to start racing in the Pacific Northwest by 2008. It's an untapped market, company officials say, because Infineon Raceway, formerly known as Sears Point, in Sonoma, Calif., is the closest track that hosts NASCAR's premium Nextel Cup races.

I don't want to hear about Steroids. I don't want to hear about "performance enhancing drugs." Until there is absolute proof of wrongdoing, Barry Bonds deserves our respect. It doesn't matter if he is a nice guy. He's not paid to be a nice guy. It doesn't matter if he is "media-friendly," he's not paid to be warm and fuzzy to the media. Barry Bonds is played to hit the baseball & the fact is he does that better than anyone in my lifetime. As a Dodger fan I hate him. As a baseball fan I beleive he is the greatest player I have ever seen play the game.

In just another amazing story of the human survival instinct, A 5-year-old girl is in stable condition Wednesday, a day after she was discovered by highway workers near the scene of a car crash that killed her mother about 10 days ago, according to police and hospital officials. According to this story on cnn.com, Ruby Bustamante survived by drinking Gatorade and eating dried noodles found in the car, according to family members.

There's a lot of talk lately about misery indexes. Jim Caple on ESPN.com issues his own misery index of all the Major League Baseball teams. What it says about my beloved Dodgers is so true :( ....And he absolutely nails the Mariners.

By the way, the British man I wrote about a couple days ago who sold everything to put it all on the line on one spin of the roulette wheel...he won! He Bet it all on RED and took home $270K.

Gawd what I wouldn't give to be a sportswriter. I often wonder what would have happened had I actually got a job out of college in the field in which I earned my degree (Journalism). you think it's too late?

Silvertips Take Out Giants in Second Round:
I've been writing a bunch about my new favorite team, the WHL's Everett Silvertips. This is the expansion team from nowhere who has risen to every challenge and is now in the third round of the playoffs playing for the Western Conference Championship. The team now gets to face the defending champs - Kelowna Rockets - in what promises to be a defensive battle. The two teams ended the year 1-2 in goals against average. They both have superior goalies 7 they both play tough, aggressive defense. The one thing the Rockets have the Silvertips don;t is offensive firepower. This will truly be a tough round for the 'Tips & I honestly can;t see a way they can win, but everyone has said that about this group of cast-offs and misfits all year. The one thing the 'Tips do have going for them is head coach Kevin Constantine (Yes, the former NHL coach). He has grouped this team together and convinced them they are an elite squad capable of playing with the best the WHL has to offer. As champs of the U.S. Division, winners on a sweep four games to none of Spokane in Rd 1 of the playoffs & winners of Round two without home ice advantage in round three over Vancouver, how can we argue? This website gives a running pictorial of the Silvertips season thus far.

Make your voice heard. To defend the definition of marriage & defend the family structure. At least that's the message in this "MayDay For Marriage" flyer sent to me this past weekend. flyer_color.pdf

As if she really needed it: Jennifer Lopez's mom won 2.4 million dollars on a $3 bet at a slot machine in Atlantic City at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Guadalupe Lopez, 58, hit it big off a $3 bet on a "Wheel of Fortune" slot machine

Putting it all on the line. A British man has sold all his possessions, including his clothes, to come up with about 138K to bet on one spin of the roulette wheel. He plans to bet either Red or Black so he comes out with truely, Double or Nothing!

Here's an interesting website that lists a lot of the "Hoax" web sites on the net: Black market babies, Dog Island (which has to be one of the funniest web sites I've ever seen) & Clones r Us, just to name a few.

I tried this and it really works. It is such a good deal for baseball fans, I just can't beleive it. I first heard about it from reading a post by an old friend of mine David at the USS Mariner Blog. I'm going to post his article here:
It isn't every day that a deal comes along that is such an easy choice that you feel compelled to make the purchase just based on the ridiculous value you're getting for the money. Today is one of those days, so as a service to our readers, here is something I discovered this morning while shopping through MLB.com's subscription packages.

Since I reside in North Carolina, I was considering dropping the $80 to buy access to MLB.tv, which would allow me to see some live Mariner baseball this year. $80 is a bit steep for watching through questionable connections on my computer, however, so I was surfing for alternatives. I was hoping to find some package that would also give me the condensed games, so I could watch the west coast games (which begin as I'm heading to bed) the next morning. While going through the subscription options, I found this page. It presents three options:

1. Purchase MLB.tv, which allows you to watch a large majority of games live, but no condensed games or optional footage, for $15 per month or $80 for the season.

2. Purchase MLB All Access, which includes MLB.tv, plus gameday audio, condensed games, video highlights, and some other fluff that I probably won't use. This is $20 per month, or $110 for the season.

3. Sign up for MSN Premium, which, near as I can tell, is a bundle of free programs that Microsoft is selling as a subscription model for $10/month. Newsflash, folks: Pop-up blockers, spam filters, and email accounts are free. Don't pay for them. But wait, MSN Premium includes MLB All Access. Hey, thats promising. And its $10 per month, rather than the $20 per month if you buy directly from MLB.com? Already sounds like a good deal. Hey, why not just throw in the first 3 months for free, just for the heck of it? Wait, they do.

So, you can pay $80 for 6 months of MLB.tv, $110 for 6 months of MLB All Access, or $30 (3 months free, 3 months paid) for 6 months of MSN Premium, which includes MLB All Access. You don't have to be a math major to figure this one out.

Seriously, $30 for what MLB All Access is offering is a steal. Go sign up now.

The only thing I would add is that this is a good deal for those who are outside the regular broadcast area. For instance I am a Dodger fan is Seattle. The games of your local teams are blacked out, so you can;t see the Mariners in Seattle, etc... Oh, and don't forget to cancel your subscription in six months.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Everett Silvertips...The expansion WHL hockey team I have season tickets to. Well, they made it through the first round of the playoffs, sweeping the Spokane Chiefs. They begam the first expansion team in the WHL to ever win a playoff series in this year of many firsts and mosts. the team begins it's second round in Canada...home of the Vancouver Giants. According to the Vancouver Sun:

Silvertips aim to ‘bore Vancouver to death’

Everett, under former NHL coach Kevin Constantine, plays a disciplined, tight-checking, lock-it-down system

BY GARY KINGSTON VANCOUVER SUN

Break out the No-Doze. The Vancouver Giants are about to go into a second-round playoff matchup with the WHL’s answer for insomniacs everywhere.
“Hopefully, Everett doesn’t bore Vancouver to death,” said Kamloops head coach Dean Clark when asked for his thoughts on a Giants-Silvertips matchup after his Blazers were eliminated by Vancouver on the weekend.
The Silvertips, U.S. Division champions in the regular season, set WHL records for wins (35) and points (80) for an expansion team with a disciplined, tight-checking, lock-itdown system under former NHL head coach Kevin Constantine. Everett’s 157 goals were the third-fewest in the league; their 153 goals against the second-best mark.
Still, it was somewhat of a surprise when they swept the Spokane Chiefs, who had finished just five points back in fourth place, in four games in the first round.
“I don’t think one guy in the room thought we’d sweep,” said Everett goaltender Jeff Harvey after the clincher. “We’re a confident group right now.”
The Silvertips twice won 3-0 with empty-net goals in both games. But they also gave up 47 and 34 shots in two games in Spokane.
“You’ve got to patient,” Clark said. “You can’t get frustrated. It’s real important to play with the lead against them because they’re a better team when they have a lead.”
The Giants went 4-2 against the Silvertips in the regularseason, outscoring them 17-11 while winning twice on homeice and in Everett.
While Clark preached patience, Giants’ head coach Dean Evason says his club may have to force the issue.
“They’re not going to give us a lot and in order for us to get opportunities we’re going to have to take some chances offensively to take them out of their comfort zone.”
Of course, getting opportunities is one thing, converting them is another.
Harvey, 20, had those two shutouts — the other two games, the ’Tips won in overtime — and leads the WHL with a scintillating .962 save percentage in the playoffs.
“They’re obviously going to be really well prepared, they’re that type of team,” said Giants’ GM Scott Bonner of a Silvertips’ club that was easily the least-penalized team in the league. “Things got a little ugly at the end [of the teams’ last game, with a couple of fights]. There’ll be no love lost by the end.”
Bonner said he expects fans of both teams to make the trip up and down the I-5 for games.
“Their fans down there are ruthless. We’ve got to make sure we’re disciplined in their building because they’ll have no problem jumping all over us.”

The new, 8,500-seat Everett Events Center is one of the loudest buildings in the WHL, in part because the sharp banking of seats puts the crowd right on top of the action.

"We have the best fans in the WHL, bar none," says G Jeff Harvey. "They're ruthless, they cheer loud and that's what a hockey rink is supposed to be like. It's not supposed to be a library like the Pacific Coliseum has been every time we've been there."

"The difference," fired back Giants' GM Scott Bonner, "is our fans are a lot more knowledgeable than Everett fans about hockey."

Harvey will likely a find a different atmosphere in the Coliseum in Games 1 and 2 Friday and Saturday. In three regular-season Everett-Vancouver games, average attendance was just 4,103. But the Giants drew 7,816 for its Game 5 clincher over Kamloops.

BORING TO WHOM?: Everett didn't take kindly to Kamloops' coach Dean Clark's comment that he hopes the tight-checking, defensive-minded 'Tips don't "bore Vancouver to death."

"Tell Dean Clark and that Kamloops team it's a lot more exciting when you're still in the playoffs," said Harvey. "Is winning boring hockey? Winning is what's exciting."

This should be fun!

Research at the University of California, San Diego indicates that when people pick a dog, they look for one that, at some level, bears some resemblance to them. And when they get a purebred dog, they get what they want.

Forty-five dogs and their owners chosen at random were photographed separately at three San Diego dog parks. The judges, some 28 undergraduates taking psychology classes at UC San Diego, were shown pictures of the owners and two dogs and asked to match the correct dog with the owner.

Out of the 25 purebreds, there were 16 correct matches and nine misses. For 20 mutts in the study, there were seven matches, four ties and nine misses.

How can the smart be so stupid? A harvard prefessor, who swindled friends and collegues out of $600,000, fell for the SPAM e-mail about the nigerian bank con and lost all the money he had taken. Sometimes, there is justice!

At some point you just have to question the morality left in America. A man in San Diego pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and will spend a year in jail because he broke into the wrong house. You see, he was supposed to break into the house of a woman he met online in a "rape fantasy" chat room. He was acting on the information he was provided when he broke into the wrong house. How did he realize he was in the wrong place? The woman didn't own a computer!

So what to do with $239 million. One month after the drawing of the winning numbers, a retired truck driver has come forward to claim sole-possession of the prize. This begs the question...What were you doing for the past month? According to the truck driver of the payout "It didn't excite me all that much. It's no big thing to me." Well heck, since it is no big deal....I'll take it off your hands! The winner would be allowed to take the $239 million in 26 annual payments of $9.19 million before taxes or a lump sum of $141.5 million before taxes. GULP!