Jammin’ for some Football !!! What’s that? CFL and Players Going to Fuss?

I hope not to go through another labour dispute with pro sports and dang, first year I already have my first season tix for the CFL .. Calgary Stampeders .. So once again at least hopefully only for a short while the chat on the CFL won’t be about play, it will be about the business of sport. I do agree safety is important in football especially for head injuries. I am a big proponent of minimizing concussions in any sport. CFL players often hold day jobs off season, ever hear much of that in the NFL? Something has to be done there. But as a fan, CFL tickets are reasonably affordable, heck, for me to have one of the best seats in the stadium including pre and first post game .. Top price in the place is all in under $800. Yet you can get into the game at a fraction. I know at my level $200 more wouldn’t be unreasonable if it’s for safety and to help keep them in shape, representing, promoting the team as they do so well and have less need for off season work. But I expect what they’d want need and deserve will require than a ticket bump like that and we need bods in the seats.

 

http://www.thespec.com/sports-story/4436184-cfl-power-struggle-at-top-of-players-association/

 

 

Just playing happily along on a lovely fender Tele in a sweet Calgary Stamps tee thinking about how sweet it is I get to try this season first time with the Red and White Club, great Platinum tix .. Nothing’s going so stop a good thing from starting up in June this year.

Flames Host the Blackhawks 1-28-2014

Always love a game when the Hawks are in town. Never a dull moment. Actually its one of my favourite teams to see out of town as well, last year it was a trip to Vancouver when I saw them play and I’ll catch a Hawks / San Jose game this year. Here are a few pics from last nights game.

Harvey The Hound Cheers the Flames on as they head off the Ice after the Win

Hockey Night Song

I thought I’d add a link to the Hockey Night in Canada – CBC SongQuest tune that I submitted in December. It’s a bouncy little tune I wrote and recorded for the competition. Alas I wasn’t a finalist but I will certainly keep the tune as part of my repertoire and hopefully add it to my original tunes I will take into the studio one day.

SongQuest CBC Music
Link to Home Ice Advantage by Christina Johnson

 

 

 

Fun With Trent in the Tent and the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

If the Flames aren’t doing much to make me laugh atm, well next best thing is a professional comedian from Calgary.

Taking a break from funny Flames thoughts and let the pros do some work …. Go to it comedy workers! There was a great addition to this years Calgary Folk Music Festival with the Apache Talk Tent – some of Canada’s top Comedian performing,with portto potty action, record shopping and a few noisy musical neighbours who didn’t realize important joke making was in progress. Trent McLellan Trent’s Site this dude is from Calgary and at least asked if there were Flames fans out there .. I guess he may have a bit coming after that if he was in Edmonton lol but those of us who cling to the humorous side of the Flames are a rare breed.

After that I left for a break in my lovely festival clothes mostly meant to hide me from the sun and double as both sun, rain and generally never leave the house in these clothes gear – but I felt redeemed by a small Louis Vuitton hand bag .. Not really what I would consider acceptable Fest gear, but its traveled the world surviving many storms and sun, and was perfect size for the day, so LV it was.

Trent had an update
Trent McLellan

I wrote a little folk ditty response to this : and now since I saw Trent in the Tent I can say that I went .. Oh and so many ideas for a follow up tune like Who’s feet were on the roof of Trent’s tent before the event, and Tables on the floor so his water wouldn’t touch the boards ,,,lol next time the should call it the Comics porta potty party tent and where you can laugh so hard you tinkle a little, you’ll be ok this is the place!

After a fill of music, free water, deep fried perogies I was back to the Palliser were hubby spent the day working on an oil and gas paper he’s presenting in the Houston area in the fall. I arrived up the Palliser stairs thinking how nicely dress I was last time I was here for a luncheon with Peter Maher and Ken Dryden, now I was looking more like grubby folk Fest attendee with pine needles in my hat as I was camping the Main Stage under some natural shelter, hauling a dwarven lawn chair.

Copperhead Road Steve Earle Solo Mandolink

I did get a chance to meet Steve Earle briefly, he was outside the Talk tent and signed The Low Highway for me. Last time I saw him live was at the SUB Theatre in Edmonton around 1988. Dancing after twilight t Copperhead Road was my fav moment. Ok I can’t imagine having too much more fun before hockey season, but with the Alberta Flood Relief concert at McMahon in a few days and Halo and High Water at the Jube, The Calgary Blues Festival, Comedy Festival omg go see Trent lol – then we’ll have more hockey fun … I do have my ear to the ground on that – looks like we have more humorous moments from Calgary’s electronic media than the game at the moment. More on that in a future post.

Christina Johnson @ 2013 http://www.funwithflames.com.

Steve Earle taking time at the Calgary Folk Festival to sign his cool stuff and do pics with us all in our clothes we don’t usually wear out of the house lol or only when in the bush hiking

What an awesome performance he did on Prince’s Island, though, as Guitar Town started the rules broke down and all were at our feet dancing amongst or with our stubby-legged lawn chairs LOL

had to post a vid here of the next tune from the prime days of Copperhead Road:

We were all dancing to Copperhead Road

The Chairs that were soon to become dancing partners at the Calgary Folk Music Festival.  I played the music of Steve Earle throughout my years in radio from Toronto to Houston, it was a delight to briefly meet him – its quite the journey he has had since I saw his SUB theatre performance in Edmonton in the ’80s — he’s still making great music, and well, now I’m happy to pay for them since I don’t work in radio anymore, but dang The Low Highway is mine, and signed – this man can write music on a Martin, keep those words rolling down all those roads and highways Steve they’ll be on my device in the winter on the Ctrain while I put on my Flames jersey and ride the Ctrain all season, and remember my summer afternoons of Trent in the Tent and dancing on Prince’s Island to Copperhead Road.

Yahoo ! It’s Derek Smith

Great fun at the 2013 Calgary Stampede Parade – Here’s a pic of Derek Smith as he passed by in the Parade – Curtis Glencross made the ride too again this year!

 

Calgary Flames Derek Smith riding in the 2013 Calgary Stampede

Stajan Gets 2 ! Yay Yay jump jump — err but then … well nachos and beer time.

It was a tough night at the Saddledome, but I always find ways to enjoy the game.  I let the joy of Stajan’s 2 goals linger as long as possible – but then it was time for snacks and drinks, a browse at the used game sticks, and oh what Iggy and JBo items are on sale … LOL… sure don’t want to ramp up the thoughts of ..  “what the heck  ..” “why the … ” !!! moments the Flames were just leaving us with right and left as the black thing got in the white thing at the wrong end over and over.

I guess it was just a sign when I saw the Pink guy outside the dome that … hm we’re maybe we’re in for something special tonight !  Our beloved team couldn’t have made us any prouder if they were dressed in these lovely pink outfits as well 🙂 .. except for Matt Stajan getting 2 frisky goals off the top having us hopping around high-fiving, then they all should have gone to a costume change like the pink man on the walk way into the dome to finish off the game — we would have been so proud !  Pink body suited Gio, happy prancing Cammy wouldn’t they have just made our hearts beat with pride how they all played merrily dressed in such outfits as the Oilers shuffled by them with goal after goal 🙂 Kipper perched on the happy Home-goalie stool in pink head and body outfit would have been a sweet touch – it wouldn’t have made us any less proud than the showing they actually did on the ice and would have made for a cool photo.  

Maybe this is one of the guys getting his game on for the evenings performance … oh who could it be ? 🙂

Fun With Kipper – Trade Deadline Day

I’d suggest just watch the video then read my post, I’m just yacking about it anyway LOL .. and today is sooooo fluid things change .. but I do give reasons to watch it all.

Miikka Kiprusoff #34 — how many of these jerseys do you see as you head to your seat, or even ride the C-Train on Game day? Well it is still early on Trade Deadline Day but as the rumor mill is churning lots of espresso today while consuming 5 hour energy and red bull, even as a few words come out, changes can be happening as the words are being electronically distributed. So just leave this with you to check out until the next latest bit that peaks my interest comes up. Miikka has been not wanting to leave, if we take him at his word the past week or so, for his family reasons. Here’s what I find a very worthy insite into a conversation with local Calgary reporter Roger Millions and the network panel at Sportsnet TV — first its the (paraphrasing) “oh Kipper is in the dressing room with Feaster, he’s going say he doesn’t want off to TO or anywhere else, stay in Calgary and retire at the end of the year” .. well could be, but any moment maybe we’ll hear exactly what he said, or could be something different. Very interesting points though later in the video with the panel discussion about Salary Cap buggering by management by letting Kipper retire with his 5+ mill contract ending at the end of this year and it plummeting into the $1m+ range next season which he is not expecting to play….. the video clarifies this and opens up a lot of questions.

Roger Millions thinks Mikkas plans are that he will stay, finish the season, retire – and bail on the next season at the end of this season – despite contract with reduced salary goes on one more year. – Interesting discussion 🙂
Fined for going around the Salary Cap

Questions I’m wondering, Glad to see him on the bench tonight against the Oilers but I realize Kipper plays best when he’s playing a lot so that will just contribute to his lackluster to say the least, playing that he has been doing recently. I wonder how much or little ice time he will be betting the next few games if he’s staying. Is Miikka basically giving the fans and the team a thumb to the nose after all this time or is he going to give us reasons to be proud, supportive and respectful of his as he winds down his legacy with the Flames however it happens now or later – can he blow that? Is he blowing that? Or will Kipper have a valiant heroic departure like Jarome received and retain immense respect.

Mikka Kiprusoff at Practice for the Calgary Flames by Tina Johnson © 2013 http://www.FunWithFlames

Jarome Iginla is Now a Bear, er no its a Penguin !

What a week it has been in Calgary, you’d think the Pope quit his job or something with the uproar .. err never mind that happened already too … Kidding aside, a lot of genuine emotions have been stirred up in hockey land with Jarome moving on. Myself like many others at the Dome and watching the Avs play the other night were more focused on social media and blogging more it seemed than the game once the health scratch was announced for Jarome on Wednesday.

Anyone other than top Brass or the man himself that says they knew really what was going to happen is either full of Bear or Penguin poop whichever you prefer to consider most appropriate. “If TSN says it, it must be true!” It reminded me of when the US Networks were announcing AL Gore as winner of the US Presidential election, before all of Florida was done …. oooops, Now its George W. …. that was one of the first times I figured out, you just REALLY don’t know until it’s official. So the Caveat always should be “unoffical reports say …” or “it’s rumored that ….”, or “it appears that .. ” seem to work fairly well but the guys who were saying “Iginla is going to Boston” … did have Penguin poop on them later that night. Let me see what I referenced, … probably something I shouldn’t have lololol …. oh here it is … Love that at least with Twitter you can go back and see what you said haha — “Iginla to Boston sounds like it will be officially announced tomorrow. Iiggy chants starting at Dome now #Flames” … well seems I indicated “sounds like” and by saying it will “officially (be) announced tomorrow “… that’s not too bad. What was kind of funny is when I was typing it on my phone as I was hearing it on the Fan960 broadcast while I was at the Saddledome, my bloody spell check corrector chose “Piggy” instead of “Iggy” in my first outgoing tweet.. I guess peeps knew what I meant but that’s happened more than once — I wish there was a way to fix it so that specific words like Piggy would always be changed to Iggy if you ever misspell them LOL.

Here is the first picture today I have seen of Jarome in a Penguin’s Jersey, he could be playing today

How do you think Jarome Iginla-is looking in his new gear as a Pittsburgh Penguin?

My Comment on the NHL Facebook picture when this was released was – “It will take some getting used to, but those gloves look hot – Lol he does look a little awkward not being the one leading the routine, Go Iggy!” I am hoping if he does get to win the Cup that he swings by Calgary with it and lets us all have a look this summer 🙂 – could happen as most players seem to get to bring it home for a bit – wouldn’t that be sweet? Even so, I am still hoping a Canadian team, first, gets to host the parade this year, then I Penguins will be on my Radar for the run :).

I only saw Jarome Iginla play for the Flames the last five years as I was living away from Calgary for over a decade, but I did see him play a lot during that period, before that we were in Texas, etc.. I was here to catch games during the Stanley Cup run when they did catch it, but Lanny was the Man back then. Here is a collage of a few pics I took of Jarome. I did get to chat with him a few times, and he’s graciously signed all my items like his Heritage Classic jersey and the Heritage Classic team photo – my team jersey … I pointed out to him at the beginning of the season where I sat and said just look there just above the TV cameras and you’ll see me jumping around when a goal is scored, he said to me “I hope we get you jumping up and down a lot” and gave me that big beautiful smile he’s so well known for. I told him oh oh I had pen marks on my Flames hoodie from getting the sigs on my stuff one day and asked him to sign it for an improved fashion look, he laughed and signed it in a way it blended into and over some of the pen marks haha so that’s the little personal memories I will keep of his last season in Calgary… here’s my collage of a few pics I have taken of him:

A few of my Persona Pics of Jarome Iginla – On Ice, and at Practice

All the Best to Jarome and sure hope we get to see him on a line with Sidney Crosby at some point, that will be quite the sight 🙂 !!!!

This week may bring some more craziness to our Fun with Flames as the TradeDeadline approaches – last year it was so slow I ended up writing a song about the TradeDeadline – if you haven’t heard it before, it was just something to create while I was waiting for things to happen, and not much did — I played all the instruments which were keyboard, guitars and vocals you can hear it here : .. The Hockey Trade Deadline :

http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/a9859cba6

Typical Concourse Fun

Check the Fanatic, get beer or ice cream, 50/50 tickets, check out the signed memorabilia auction, RR break. .

Usually I take a break visit the Fanattic especially if there are some new game used sticks in stock. My favourite snacks..I grab a Vitamin water at Pizza 73 and sometimes the cheese pizza. .. Jugo Juice is amazing a bit of a hike for me but more often I have it at Hitmen since I sit closer. Sometimes I love the nachos with just cheese. .extra cheese all over and more on top and I pay extra for it. Lots to drink with that too. For Ice cream the best is the cart with the Hagen Das Toffee Almond Crunch bar. I look at the memorabilia auctions and do have a couple I have taken home on the STrain. Do you have a routine in the concourse during a game?

Curtis Glencross gets a Hat Trick on Western Night Hat Night against Nashville

What an awesome night to see Curtis Glencross get a Hat Trick, he’s a real cowboy dude, loves the rodeo and country music, great to see some white Calgary Stampede hats rain down for him at the end of the game — if you didn’t stay to the last minute you would have missed it. I was ready, had my camera going to catch the moment 🙂 Here it is !

Curtis Glencross Hatrick on Western Night in Calgary – Calgary Stampede Hats Rain Down on Calgary Flames from Christina Lynn Johnson on Vimeo.

Calgary Flames had fun on Western Night on the ice as well – with the traditional White Calgary Stampede hats handed out to many fans for evening’s theme when Curtis Glencross scored his 3rd goal on an empty net .. it was raining white Cowboy hats on the ice.

I took this video from my vantage point just above the TV Cameras. I tossed my cowboy hat that I had worn at the 100th Anniversary of the Calgary Stampede — it made it just over the camera men below and down into the Club section where it was relayed onto the ice 🙂 ! Curtis Glencross hosts a benefit Rodeo and loves Country Music, so this was a great night and tribute to him for his hat trick.