Apparently though, the real last game of the season was Thursday night at GM Place, when the Canucks’ first line inexplicably failed to deliver even a modicum of scoring effort against the Oilers, a team which won’t see the post-season this year but which still had the fortitude to end Vancouver’s shot at the Stanley Cup only one year after they won their Division.

If the Canucks’ consummate professional Roberto Luongo wasn’t clued in to the fact that things were pretty-much wrapped up on Thursday, then, he sure figured it out Saturday morning. On Saturday, the day of the team’s last game against a fierce division rival that they utterly pummelled the Saturday before, on the day when they could at least leave the fans (and Linden) with an up-note, and on a day when their game was featured on Hockey Night In Canada nationwide for only the 8th time all season, there was an optional practice.

For the benefit of the uninitiated, professional hockey teams typically have mandatory and optional practices. Those on particularly tough game days at home are quite often of the optional variety. Practices held on days off are almost always mandatory.

The only attendee at Saturday’s optional practice was goaltender Roberto Luongo. He worked out by himself with the assistance of the training staff.

After the game Saturday, where he was pulled after three goals on nine shots as the defence fell apart all around him, Luongo said “You know what, I don’t really care… my season ended Thursday, as far as I’m concerned. I tried to bring it, but obviously I didn’t have anything in the tank.”

Of course, with one win in the last seven games of the season, one wonders whether the season didn’t actually end in the middle of March. Or at the trade deadline, when Dave Nonis’ Big Idea to solve all of the team’s scoring problems was to bring in Matt Pettinger. Yeah, I had to look him up, too.

Why did Vigneault play Luongo for this meaningless last game, when it was patently clear the players had already disconnected from any desire to win; when he’d started Luongo the previous 31 games in a row through his wife’s difficult childbirth and his new baby’s tough first weeks? Where is the coaching here?

Vancouver’s leadership is the real disappointment. From leaning too hard on their goalie all year, and thus clearly jeopardizing his emotional balance in the coming season; to not beefing up the scoring on the team in a competitive division; to continuing to place too much faith in the Sedin sisters, who will only be scoring goals in coming seasons if they widen the nets all the way to the corners; to the ineffectual wannabe-GM; to Naslund’s constant “I hate this game” grimace… the list goes on.

The players who do contribute grit and determination and creativity — Linden and Mitchell are good examples — are loathed by the coaching staff, benched throughout games, or are healthy scratches throughout the season. For minutes played this season, Linden’s 7 goals trumps Naslund’s pathetic 25. For dollars spent? Linden’s a bargain.

The Canucks are a disaster. Coaching and Management’s failure to commit to building a real team squanders the opportunity of having a REAL goaltender for the first time in more than a decade. Here’s a stat that says it all: in eight seasons, the Canucks have won only two playoff series.

Vancouver may have the best goalie in the game, until the burden of having to carry the team completely destroys him psychologically anyway, but the truth is that the Canucks have never been further from being a cup contender. And the prospects for remedying this aren’t good.

The rumour is that Burke is interested in returning to Vancouver (if Toronto doesn’t scoop him up first) … if he does, he’s got a lot of house-cleaning to do. He might want to start by burning the locker room to rid us all of the stench that was the 2007-2008 season.

Vancouver is Awarded the 2010 Winter Games Wed July 2, 2003 11:46 AM ET PRAGUE (Reuters) – Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics Wednesday after a secret vote by International Olympic Committee members.

The Canadians beat off bids from South Korea’s Pyeongchang and the Austrian city of Salzburg to win the right to stage the winter sports extravaganza after two rounds of voting.

Salzburg was eliminated after placing last of the three candidates in the first round. Vancouver beat Pyeongchang in the second ballot.

Vancouver’s “Sea to Sky” bid had been praised early on by the IOC’s evaluation commission for its clear vision for the Olympics that would leave a good post-Games legacy.

The early favorite, Vancouver stayed in front throughout to bring the Games to Canada for the first time since the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

During the concert that I went to (in 1999, in fact) he explained that he had re-arranged a bunch of new songs while riding in the bus from Calgary to Vancouver and that they were going to play those new arrangements for the first time at the show.

Pretty amazing.

-Ian.

——- http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/04/business/04PATE.html?pagewanted=print

March 4, 2002 Crooner Uses Computers to Replace Sheet Music By TERESA RIORDAN

Harry Connick Jr. is a versatile guy: crooner, composer, big-band leader, piano player, actor, comedian. And an inventor, as well.

Mr. Connick, who has been described by one critic as a new and improved version of Sinatra, recently received United States patent 6,348,648 for a “system and method for coordinating music display among players in an orchestra.”

“It basically eliminates old-fashioned sheet music,” Mr. Connick said in a phone interview 10 days ago, before leaving for Salt Lake City, where he performed “Over the Rainbow” during the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

His patented idea came to him one day several years ago when his big band was playing outdoors and the sheet music was blowing around. Why not, he thought, have all 16 band members read their music off computer screens instead?

So before he started a long tour in 1999, Mr. Connick bought enough blue and white G3 Power Macs, each with a rotatable screen, that everyone ‹ from his trombonists to his drummer ‹ could read from electronic sheet music.

For technical advice, he turned to his neighbor David Pogue, who is a former Broadway conductor and a computer guru to the stars, whose clients have included Stephen Sondheim and Mia Farrow. (Mr. Pogue, who also writes the State of the Art column for the weekly Circuits section of this newspaper, has no commercial ties to Mr. Connick’s invention.)

“A lot of the guys I knew from my pit work on Broadway said that it would never work,” Mr. Pogue recalled. “They said the computer would crash or the screen wouldn’t refresh itself in time for a professional situation.”

In fact, Mr. Pogue said, the technology had progressed far enough that the electronic page could be turned faster and more reliably than a paper page.

At first, Mr. Pogue said, the members of Mr. Connick’s band were skeptical. “They circled it and sniffed it the first day,” he said. “But by the time they opened the tour they were really into it.”

Mr. Connick started the digital- score tour in a relatively low-stakes locale ‹ Ames, Iowa ‹ so that any kinks could be worked out beyond publicity’s glare.

Unlike most other pop musicians, Mr. Connick does his own musical arrangements right on his Macintosh computer, using Finale software from Coda Music Technology, a division of Net4Music (news/quote). His system allows him to make changes to a given arrangement ‹ knock out eight bars here, add eight bars there ‹ and have them entered automatically into his musicians’ copies of the music.

“Oh man, it’s made my life easier,” Mr. Connick said. “Before, I would write out a song by hand and give it to a couple of guys in the band who are copyists and they would figure out the instrumental sections. It could take days. Now I can write a new score in the morning and everyone has it on his computer screen in the afternoon. Imagine if a Duke Ellington or a Stravinsky had had a system like that.”

The system has had some unforeseen benefits, as well. In studio recordings, for example, it’s no longer necessary to digitally remove the page-turning rustling in the background. Moreover, musicians can insert page breaks wherever they want.

And doing away with sheet music also means doing away with music lights for the musicians. So when the lights dim and Mr. Connick begins to sing, Mr. Pogue said, all the audience sees of the other musicians is “this super-cool bluish glow on their faces from the computer screens.”

Mr. Connick’s patent covers more territory than electronic sheet music. He hopes that eventually the computers will have their own operating system and feature a touch screen that allows a composer to write music as he would on paper.

But he makes it clear that he is a concept man.

“I can do stuff like put RAM in a computer, but I’m not a programmer,” he said. “You start talking about the technology involved in making it, and I’m going to be completely lost. I don’t have any interest in actually building it. I just want someone to send me one in the mail when it’s done.”

In fact, Mr. Connick approached Apple Computer (news/quote) about helping him develop the system.

“I love their products and I thought for sure they would go for it,” he said. “They put up a lot of `Think Different’ posters and I sure think different. But they weren’t interested.”

On the day his patent was issued, Mr. Connick said, his wife, Jill Goodacre, a former Victoria’s Secret model, asked him if he was proud of himself.

“I said not really,” Mr. Connick recalled. “It’s not like I invented Velcro or anything.”

URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-848203.html

A huge exodus from San Francisco may be under way as high-tech companies pack their bags for cheaper North American cities and regions, according to a study.

San Francisco is the most expensive North American city for a high-tech company do to business, with an estimated average cost of $43 million a year, according to The Boyd Company, a consulting firm that advises major companies on location planning. For example, a company relocating to Baltimore from San Francisco would see a savings of about 21 percent, according to the study’s figures.

And as if that’s not incentive enough for companies to relocate, an increase in government spending on defense, centered in the metro Washington, D.C., area, and the lure of cheaper operating costs north of the U.S. border, are about to siphon more business out of Northern California.

“I have never seen a decline so rapid,” said John H. Boyd, talking about the conditions that precipitated the study.

The numbers for the study were based on the average cost of operating a 500-employee facility.

Boyd, who has done location planning for 27 years as president of The Boyd Company, said he has watched with amazement as the unemployment rate in San Francisco has risen from 1.7 percent in January 2001 to 7.5 percent in January 2002. That figure doesn’t compare favorably with the national average of 5.6 percent in January, Boyd said.

Things may get worse, he said, as companies head east and north, following the two biggest money trails of the post-Sept. 11 economy.

Venture capitalists “are saying, ‘Show me the money,’ and companies are concluding they have to be competitive on a global scale,” Boyd said. In an economy where it is close to impossible to cut costs, cost reductions have a new importance, and site selection has become more critical.

“Canada is emerging as an alternative location for U.S. high-tech investments in the recessionary economy,” Boyd said, citing a lower exchange rate, the elimination of tariffs under NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the absence of corporate health care costs in a country with a national health care system. Several companies have already caught on to the trend: Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit and Houston-based Compaq have both listed their Calgary, Alberta, facilities as among their most profitable, Boyd said.

“Many companies in the (San Francisco) Bay Area are also looking to Washington because of the vast government spending for the war on terrorism,” Boyd said. John Hopkins University, which has locations throughout the Baltimore-Washington area, “is the center for bio-terrorism research, and the NSA (National Security Agency) is becoming the catalyst for billions and billions of dollars in electronic surveillance and Internet security spending by the federal government,” he added.

“It’s like Silicon Valley is returning to its roots; it was founded in the defense industry in the 60s,” Boyd said.

Of the individual cities being considered, Baltimore; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Calgary are considered some of the most attractive. Baltimore was the cheapest U.S. location included in the study, at $34.4 million a year. Vancouver was the highest-priced Canadian city, at $35 million, and Calgary was the lowest, at $27.7 million.

Santa Clara County, Calif., which includes San Jose, Calif., and most of Silicon Valley, came in second to San Francisco with costs of $41.7 million. New York was next, at $40.9 million and then Boston, at $39 million.

Of course, not every city in North America was considered. The study takes factors such as pre-existing technology centers, ease of travel, and other nuances into consideration. The Boyd Company has spent the last nine months doing everything from number crunching to interviewing mayors to come up with the survey cities, which are likely to become targets for expansion or relocation by the consulting firm’s clients.

Though Boyd would not disclose which companies are considering relocation, he listed Compaq Computer, Chase Manhattan Bank, Pitney Bowes and Time Inc. as clients.

“These cities included in the study were not chosen at random; you will see them on the short lists of corporate-site seekers over the next 12 months,” he said.

Anyway, what’s afoot right now is a major hellstorm of flame email targeted at this moron. He made a big mistake when he took a piss on Canada. His email is WoodyPaige [at] aol [dot] com . Make it hurt. Pass it on.

-Ian.

—- http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,111%7E20077,00.html

By Woody Paige Denver Post Sports Columnist

Thursday, April 12, 2001 – Woe is Canada.

I feel sorry for Canadians.

“Canada is a country where nothing ever seems to happen,” wrote author Carol Shields. “A country you wouldn’t ask to dance a second waltz.” A country that rarely has a team in the second waltz of the playoffs.

Other than arguing over which language to speak, hockey is the national pastime.

Yet, a Canadian hockey team hasn’t won an NHL championship since all the people spoke Iroquoisese, eh?

And that streak won’t end this year.

Three of the four Canadian clubs in the playoffs will be eliminated in the first round, and the only reason there won’t be a four-gone conclusion is that Toronto is playing Ottawa. One must advance – and will be dumped in the second round.

Take the Vancouver Caknuckleheads. Please. They open the postseason tonight at The Can against the Colorado Avalanche.

Vancouver’s Marc Crawford, who used to coach a talented team, is reduced to rolling out goons, buffoons and Princess Dyes. Three Vancouver forwards – and the all-important assistant equipment manager – have dyed their hair blond before the first game. The Avs must be scared out of their sweaters. The Caknuckleheads are going to try to dazzle ’em with their ‘dos.

Given the brute style of hockey the Caknuckleheads prefer to play, Avalanche coach Bob Hartley would be wise not to to risk injury by scratching Ray Bourque, Rob Blake, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy (none of whom has gotten a roots tint) and let the Hershey Bears win four in a row.

The Caknuckleheads, making a playoff appearance for the first time in five seasons, are missing Markus Naslund and Andrew Cassels and don’t know whether to start Bob Essena or Dan Cloutier in goal. Doesn’t matter. The Avs won’t take pity on either. The only edge Vancouver has is that Crawford’s hair is more stylish than Hartley’s. The Avalanche management doesn’t even have to short-sheet Crow’s bench. The only exciting matchup in the series is Crawford vs. Pierre Lacroix.

Can’t we get this over with and get on with a good United States opponent?

North Dakota calls itself “The Peace Garden State” because there is a peace garden (which reportedly blooms one weekend in July) on the border with Canada, as if we have to worry about peace with our northern neighbors, who still bow to a queen who lives on a distant island. Canada may be the world’s second-largest country in land mass, but a U.S. invasion and takeover would be finished by brunch.

Like this series – which will be over after three games and six minutes into the fourth.

Once again, by the conference finals, Canadians will be innocent bystanders, cheering only for Don Cherry’s outfits and outbursts.

The NHL is too wound up about expanding the playoffs when, instead, the league should be aiding and abetting Canada.

If it weren’t for Canada, where would so many of us have hidden out during the Vietnam War?

There should be realignment to give the Canadians, including the Canadiens (and their new Colorado owner), hope in the postseason.

Canada should an occasional prospect for reclaiming the Stanley Container.

As always, I’m here with a solution.

Divide the league into four conferences – North, South, Midwest/West and Canada.

North: Buffalo, Boston, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

South: Washington, Carolina, Nashville, St. Louis, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Florida.

Midwest/West: Minnesota, Chicago, Colorado, Phoenix, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Columbus.

Canada: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.

The top four teams from each conference – a total of 16, same as now – would move onto the playoffs, with Nos. 1 and 4 and 2 and 3 meeting in the opening round.

For instance, the conference champion, Colorado, would play Phoenix, and San Jose would play Los Angeles.

After two intraconference series, the winners would reach the conference finals.

What’s different? Canada annually would be guaranteed of sending four teams to the playoffs and would be assured of having one in the conference finals, with a 50 percent chance of being represented in the Stanley Cup Finals. As an example, this year it could have been the Avalanche from the Midwest/West, Dallas from the South, Detroit from the North and Ottawa from the Canada conferences.

Canada would alternate in the conference finals against the other three.

There.

Otherwise, Canadians are forced to watch ice fishing and curling in May and June.

12:31 PM ET 08/24/99

Onex Wants To Buy Canada Airlines

Onex Wants To Buy Canada Airlines MONTREAL (AP) _ Onex Corp., a Toronto-based conglomerate, is offering $3.8 billion to buy and combine Air Canada and Canadian Airlines. A single airline, which would retain the Air Canada name, would be more efficient and financially stronger than the separate operations, said Gerald Schwartz, the president and chief executive of Onex. The buyout and merger would involve the loss of 5,000 jobs, Schwartz told a news conference. The cuts would be handled mostly through retirements and normal attrition, he said. The plan has already been approved by the board of Calgary-based Canadian Airlines, he said. Canadian Airlines, with 14,000 employees, has been seeking new investors to keep flying. It has said it needs up to $500 million to allow it to restructure and move away from what has been a chronic cash crisis over the past decade. “This is a good deal for Canada and for all Canadians,” said Schwartz, a takeover specialist. Last week, Air Canada asked the Canadian government to approve a takeover of Canadian’s international business while the smaller airline focused on domestic routes. But Canadian Airlines rejected the proposal, saying its international routes were the most profitable part of its operations. Montreal-based Air Canada, with 23,000 employees, would not disclose financial terms. The government has relaxed antitrust laws for 90 days so the two airlines and any other interested investors could share sensitive financial data to keep Canadian flying. “We all know the Canadian airline industry cannot maintain the status quo,” said Schwartz. “This is the time for a bold step.” Schwartz, who is also a prominent Liberal Party fundraiser, has already submitted the plan to federal Transport Minister David Collenette. In Ottawa, federal Industry Minister John Manley said the government would ask the federal Competition Bureau “what a restructured industry might look like.”