570News Blog: Glenn Pelletier

It’s funny how dependent I have become on my cellphone. Not only for texting, which has become an essential form of communication for me, but in my case, my mobile is also my primary phone. I don’t have a land-line.

So imagine my distress when I got back from a weekend visit to my parents’ place in Cobourg, only to discover that I left my phone charger there. Dead phone. No communication.

Ya I know I could go out and buy a new one, but the thought of buying a replacement for something that I have a perfectly good version of, even if it is 2-and-a-half hours away, just kills me. By the way, what do chargers cost, anyway?

Can’t help but cling to historical fact in hopes that the my beloved Montreal Canadiens can win the Stanley Cup this year.

When they won it in 1971, a rookie goaltender by the name of Ken Dryden led them to victory. In 1986, when they won their 23rd championship, first-year goalie Patrick Roy was between the pipes.

And as the Habs prepare to dust off the Bruins in the opening round of this year’s playoffs, rookie goalie Carey Price is in goal for the Canadiens.

A good omen? Only the hockey gods know for sure. Go Habs Go!

The curtain is set to rise on another baseball season for the Toronto Blue Jays today (March 31st). The Jays look like they could contend for a wild card spot this year, and as usual, the question mark will be starting pitching. After Roy Halladay, who was scheduled to make his sixth straight straight opening day start today, there are uncertainties.

Still, hope springs eternal on opening day, with endless possiblities. I invite you to listen to the Jays on 570 News this season. Go Jays go!

I’m hooked.

Hello. I am Glenn Pelletier, and I am a “textaholic.” After purchasing a cellphone last summer, I used it only to make and receive calls, not knowing what wondrous technology awaited me, until my daughter grabbed it and began texting her friends.

Thanks Lucy, for getting me hooked! I no longer roll my eyes when I see young people feverishly plunking away on their phones. I get it! This is the most fun I have had since “PONG” was introduced to the market in the mid-1970’s.

Coincidentally, I saw “No Country For Old Men” the day before the Oscars were handed out, and not having seen any of the other nominees for best picture, I can’t compare it to its competition. My first reaction after seeing it though, was that while it was a very good film, certainly something else would win best picture honours.

Javier Bardem is chillingly convincing as a psycopathic killer, but he had next to nothing to say in the movie!

For my money, the best movie of the year is a Golden Globe nominee called “Into The Wild.” I encourage you to pick it up when it is released on video.

What a bonus! A long weekend in February! To those of you who have Monday off, I hope you do have time to kick back and spend time with your loved ones. This holiday could not have come at a better time, considering how generally depressing February can be.

Lisa and I have the day off, which we are very grateful for, and we’ll be back on the 570 Morning News on the 19th!

Enjoy!

The Juno Award nominees have been announced, and at the risk of sounding like an out-of-touch old geezer, I have to say I have reached that inevitable point of not giving a flying fahoot about who wins and who loses. Heck, I don’t even care who is nominated.

This view is not meant as a criticism of the nominees or their respective talent, but merely serves as an indication of my detachment. Oddly, though, I will watch the awards telecast on April 6th, because I love awards shows. Besides, who knows, maybe Neil Young, or Robbie Robertson, or Gordon Lightfoot, or Joni Mitchell, or Leonard Cohen, or Bruce Cockburn will make a surprise appearance.

Where have we seen this before? In the summer of 1979, the Toronto Maple Leafs reached back for a saviour to turn things around after the club that featured Mcdonald, Thompson, Salming and Sittler had under-achieved in the playoffs. Imlach, the former coach and general manager, who stood behind-the-bench for four Stanley Cup titles in the 1960s, declared upon his re-hiring that the team had only five or six good players. Let the dismantling begin.

The Leafs went on to have not a SINGLE winning season during the entire decade of the 1980s.

And now, the Maple Leafs have fired John Ferguson Junior, replacing him on an interim basis with former Leafs’ G.M. Cliff Fletcher, who did an amazing job turning the Leafs’ fortunes around in the 1990s. The key to this move is the fact that Fletcher has been hired only as an interim general manager, brought in to offer stability to the organization and find the right man to take over on a permanent basis. This is a good decision. Expecting Fletcher to repeat his success of the nineties is unrealistic.

As for John Ferguson Junior, just watch him move on to bigger and better things.

I always receive a few books as gifts over the holidays. (I am the easiest person to buy for) Just give me a book and I am completely satisfied. What are you reading? I’d love to hear your recommendations for a good book! Please drop me a line at glenn.pelletier@570news.rogers.com

The very best to you and yours in the New Year!

You just never fully know how a particular day is going to unfold. Take for example, today.

I had just finished reading the 9:30 a.m. news, when I decide that while I’ve got a few minutes to spare, I’ll clean out my backpack. So I’m in the process of doing just that…..rummaging through assorted papers, pens and junk….when what do I see stuck to the bottom of the backpack but one of my favourite bass lures…..embedded via its three treble hooks.

You may ask at this point why there was a fishing lure in my backpack. Well, I had meant to take it out, but kept putting it off. Know what I mean?

Since fishing season, the thing had been in a little box in the bottom of my backpack, but somehow had managed to become separated from its container….and ended up firmly attached to the nylon lining. Should have grabbed a pair of pliers and carefully removed the thing…but I had to get working on the ten a.m. news and was short on time.

So I reach down and start pulling on it. And wouldn’t you know it…..in typical “America’s Funniest Videos” fashion…doesn’t the darn thing sink one if its razor-sharp barbed treble hooks deep into the flesh of my right palm. I mean deep. Such that the barb prevented it from being removed.

How do I explain this one to my colleagues in the newsroom, none of whom have handled a fishing lure at all, let alone got one embedded in their hand……at work…..in the middle of December?

“Hey Lisa!”, I extort, “I gotta go to emerg. I’ve got a fishing lure stuck deep in my palm. Can you cover for me?”

Off to the Urgent Care Clinic with my designated driver Theresa Chiavaroli, where a doctor familiar with this kind of thing (having worked at a hospital in the Kawartha Lakes area of the province) applies a local anasthetic….pokes the barbed hook through the surface of my palm, snaps off the barb with a pair of wire cutters….and yanks out the remainder of the hook.

Somedays, it’s better to stay under the covers!