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Hockey Hall of Fame ghost revealed at last: The Hockey Hall of Fame moved into the historic building that had been a Bank of Montreal branch for close to 100 years. For more than 50 years a ghost known only as "Dorothy" has haunted the Hockey Hall of Fame. In the early 1990s, Toronto musician Joanna Jordan saw a female ghost looking down on her from a second-floor ceiling. Jordan, who was playing the harp at an event being held in the building's Great Hall, was unaware at the time that a ghost purportedly haunted the space. "I remember it so vividly," she says, "because it's one of those things you'll never forget." Jordan refused to go up to the second floor by herself when she played at the Hall, which opened in 1993. "It was just too spooky up there."

posted by tommytrump to culture at 12:57 PM on October 31 - 2 comments

The Fall and Rise of Theo Fleury: With a "tell-all" book hitting the shelves this week (Playing with Fire, HarperCollins Canada), Fleury goes on the record with the fifth estate and candidly discusses the dark issues that haunted him during the glory years, including the sexual abuse he experienced as a teenager at the hand of the now notorious junior hockey coach, Graham James. Behind the public bravado was a man struggling to shake off his demons. He found his release in increasingly erratic behaviour on and off the ice, fuelled by addictions to alcohol, drugs, sex. The fifth estate's Bob McKeown talks to those who know Fleury best -- both personally and professionally. We'll meet Sheldon Kennedy -- Fleury's childhood friend, Calgary Flames teammate, and a victim of the same junior hockey coach. And the fifth estate talks with Fleury's wife, Jennifer, who married Theo in September 2006, following a year of sobriety, and with whom he credits turning his life around.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 10:51 PM on October 20 - 3 comments

Dan Snyder's dream to come true in Elmira: It's been six years. Sunday, the Atlanta Thrashers honor their former player by skating at the new Dan Snyder Memorial Arena in his hometown 90 minutes west of Toronto, Graham Snyder will no doubt have a heavy heart, but he will also know that his son will be looking down with a big smile on his face.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 08:20 PM on October 18 - 1 comment

Yankees yank Ronan Tynan from lineup after anti-Semitic remark: First the Yankees told Challenger the Eagle to take a hike after almost divebombing Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi during the '03 World Series. Now the team is telling another Yankee Stadium postseason tradition that he'd be better off staying at home for Game 1 of the ALCS. ....the team has canceled the appearance of singer Ronan Tynan after the Irish tenor made an anti-Semitic remark to a Jewish doctor who was looking at an apartment in his building on Manhattan's East Side.
"The trouble started when Tynan, 49, bumped into a real estate agent showing an apartment in his East Side apartment building to a doctor from NYU Medical Center."The agent told Tynan, 'Don't worry, they are not Red Sox fans,' according to apartment-hunter Gabrielle Gold-von Simson. "I don't care about that, as long as they are not Jewish' was Tynan's reply."

posted by tommytrump to culture at 04:29 PM on October 16 - 42 comments

Axe comes down on Ricciardi : The Toronto Blue Jays fired general manager J.P. Ricciardi on Saturday, ending an eventful eight-year reign marked by frequent controversy and mediocre teams never good enough to reach the postseason. Many fans will wonder what took so long as Ricciardi, along with centre-fielder Vernon Wells, had become the lightning rod for those most frustrated with the team's playoff drought, which dates back to 1993 when the Blue Jays won their second consecutive World Series. Wells has five years remaining on his $127-million, seven-year deal, an albatross contract that will handcuff the club for many seasons to come. The team managed to escape the $60-million remaining on Rios's deal when he was claimed off waivers by the White Sox, but Ricciardi got nothing in return. Ricciardi twice caused spats by publicly wondering if former pitcher A.J. Burnett's injuries were simply in his head.

He had countless memorable quotes over the years, perhaps the definitive one coming during a radio show while taking calls from fans.

"It's not a lie if we know the truth," he said about the back injury story concocted for B.J. Ryan when the left-hander was actually having elbow issues in 2007.

posted by tommytrump to baseball at 12:48 PM on October 03 - 13 comments