Monthly Archives: June 2011

Random Thursday

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*Congratulations to the Farming Bros.  They witnessed back to back wins by the Minnesota Twins and a double by Joe Mauer.  Historic.

*Two movies that are coming out soon are on my radar:  Bad Bosses and Larry Crowne.  It is my hope that one of the two will turn out to be funny.  If both do it’s a win-win.  Bad Bosses is my sleeper pick for the summer.

*Reggie Tales shout out to Jill at Union Lake.

*Speaking of the Twins, I’ll be taking in a game next week.

*And while we are on the topic of next week, now might be a good time to let everyone know that I’m taking the week off.  From everything.  It’s important to note that it’s well-deserved time off.

*And best wishes to my aunt and uncle in Michigan as they undergo some medical procedures.  Our prayers are with you two!

Raise Up Minot

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Here at WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks we are excited to announce our participation in an exciting project to raise donations for relief efforts in the Minot area due to flooding.  Grand Forks Airport Director Patrick Dame came up with the idea for Raise Up Minot. Patrick lived in Minot for three years before moving to Grand Forks with his wife Jen, who used to be part of the news team here at WDAZ.  It sounded like such a good idea to help the people of the Souris Valley region that we asked if we could jump on board.

To check out the list of participating businesses in which to drop off donations and to see a list of the types of things to donate, go to wdaz.com or check out our WDAZ Facebook page.

I hope we can make a difference.  It’s the least we can do.

Monday Photo

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Since it’s still raining in Grand Forks and I’m only half done building my ark, I’m leaving the heavy lifting for today’s blog to Bro#1.  He came across this photo on a recent trip to Scottsdale, Arizona.  Apparently there is a pretty strong tie-in to a person of note in the nickname drama and to the above license plate.

Random Thursday

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*The sights and sounds from the Minot flood take me back to the 1997 flood in Grand Forks in a heartbeat.  It’s hard to watch.  Hang in there Minot.

*If you get a chance to watch some of the KXMC coverage of the flood, it’s very good.

*For sale:  2002 Mercury Mountaineer.

*Reggie Tales shout out to Ryan in Stephen.

*For those of you wondering, I tamed the Stephen Golf Course on Saturday.  Tamed.

Lakota and Turkey and Pork

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A belated word about the good people of Lakota, North Dakota.  Three of us from the WDAZ Newsroom had the great pleasure of attending the Lakota Barbecue Turkey Festival last Friday night.  And let’s just say that the smell in the air was pretty much what you would imagine when 54 turkeys are turning slowly over a charcoal filled pit.

Not pictured is the 320 pounds of pork that was also prepared by the townsfolk.  To say that the turkey and the pork were juicy would be the understatement of 2011.

Next year is the 50th annual Lakota Turkey Barbeque.  Count me in.

A Pretty Big Bar Tab

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Ouch.

A couple of nights after the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup Playoffs, six team members went to the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut for some fun.  $157,000 later, I’d say they accomplished it.  In what has to be one of the epic bar tabs of all time, the hockey players partied like rock stars.  Which begs the question, will the phrase now become “…partying like hockey players?”

 

It’s important to note that $100,000 of the bill was spent on a single bottle of champagne called “Ace of Spades.”  So, that really “only” leaves $57,000 divided amongst the six, which included Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara.  To get a better look at the tab, click on photo.

If I had been part of that group when the tab came, I would have slipped off to the bathroom.

Random Thursday

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*I think the Geico Caveman commercials have run their course.  They should be “retired.”

*If a hockey player is 6 feet, 9 inches tall, how tall is he on skates?

*Speaking of commercials, the cell phone commercial where the woman is SCREAMING at the top of her lungs because she sees a scary spider on a phone screen?  You know the one?  That is one very aggressive television commercial.  It also happens to be the phone I have.

*Reggie Tales shout out to Pam in Fargo.

*I have a weird feeling that Joe Mauer is going to come back with a vengeance.

*Lebron James is taking his talents to the NHL.  He heard they only play three periods.

*I’m here all week.

*Bonus shout out to all the fathers out there.  Happy Father’s Day!

Vancouver

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Our usual installment of “Random Thursday” will run tomorrow in this space.  Try to deal with it.

This blog got its roots in a trip to Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics.  I spent a week there and fell in love with the city almost immediately.  The natural beauty of the mountains and the ocean are a must see.  And during the daytime, I felt very safe in this city of more than two million people.  During my stay I rented an apartment right smack dab in the middle of the downtown.  By the time I left, I felt like I had seen all two million people.

When I returned from Vancouver, a lot of people asked me what I thought of it.  I gave it glowing reviews…but always added that at night, some of the hockey fans were very, very aggressive.  I left the city just before the Gold Medal game between Canada and the USA.  I told anyone who would listen that if Canada lost that game, that city was in trouble.  And I wasn’t kidding.

So as I watched Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night, I kept thinking that if Boston won the game there was going to be trouble.  Unfortunately I was right.  I’d like to think that these people involved in this riotous behavior aren’t actual hockey fans, but rather hoodlums looking for an excuse to cause trouble.

 

PIZZA RANCH…NICE

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And the hits just keep on coming.  The announcement that Pizza Ranch will be hitting the Grand Forks food scene was welcome news here at The Tales.  Long time and grizzled readers of this space will recall my affinity for this mostly Midwestern chain.

Lately, PR has started to add bigger cities to its business plan.  Back in the day, you had to be heading through a town of less than 5,000 if you wanted to come across a PR.  Not so anymore.  Fargo has its very own and the GF location should be open by the fall.  My first experience with Pizza Ranch was in Cooperstown, North Dakota.  Way back in 2000.  From that day forward, I schemed of ways to get back to Cooperstown.  That was until Roseau got a Pizza Ranch.  Then Devils Lake.  Then Jamestown.  Then…well, you get the picture.

Is it too early to get in line?

My Pizza Ranch Top 5

1.  Roseau

2.  Jamestown

3.  Cooperstown

4.  Devils Lake

5.  Carrington


Well Hello…Molly

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Sadly, my new job as WDAZ-TV News Director has taken away some of the time devoted to my other job at the offices of The Tales.  And with the departure to the East Coast of TV’s Cassie Walder, a large portion of that time has been devoted to finding her replacement.  I’m not sure of Cassie’s shoe size, but in a figurative sense, they were quite large to fill.  And time consuming.  But we wanted to get it right.

Well, the search has ended.  And I think we did a pretty good job.  Our new weekday 6 and 10 Co-Anchor is Molly Thorvilson.  Molly is from Plymouth, Minnesota, on the Twin Cities’ northwest edge.  She’s been working in southern Iowa and went to college at the University of Iowa.  She brings a ton of talent and enthusiasm to our newsroom and her pairing with veteran newsman Charley Johnson is very exciting.

Charley Johnson and Molly Thorvilson

Molly’s first day on the air is Monday, June 20th.  We hope you watch.