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Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest both made it to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Today sees Preston take on Aston Villa and Bournemouth hosting Manchester City. Given the way City's season has been going I won't be surprised to see Bournemouth in the semis as well

Actor Richard Chamberlain (Dr. Kildare on television but not in the movies) has passed away at age 90. He actually had a hit with his rendition of the theme from the television show.

Lance wrote: "Cornell’s run is over - lost to Boston U 3-2 in OT. Great game as was the second game won by Western Michigan by a 2-1 score over UMass. Two of the Frozen Four participants, last two decided today...."

Blackhawks signed their two guys from the Gophers and they are making their NHL debuts today.

If you know the Canadian and/or Toronto music scene, especially from the 80's, then you will likely recognize the name Rough Trade. Kevan Staples, who co-founded the band along with Carol Pope, passed away over the weekend. Below you will find a clip of them performing one of their biggest hits, "High School Condidential". This is an edited version by the way. In the original in one line talking about a principal and a female student in between the words "is he with her" it says "sleeping with". There may be more changes but that one I noticed. I did try to find a video for their song "Dyke by Default" but no luck.

Well, well, well. Man City actually defeated Bournemouth today and now advance to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Personally I hope that is where it ends for them, as they will be playing Nottingham Forest who happen to be the Premier League team I root for. And have since I first started to watch Football. Of course at that time it was known as the First Division.

Reading some emails and a thought about our current election came to me. Don't worry this isn't partisan at all, more of a reflection on reality. People want to know what the Bloc Quebecois would do. Not a bad idea actually save for the fact that the Bloc only runs candidates in Quebec so there is no way it can form a government, not enough seats even if it swept the province. It can form the official opposition, and in fact has (once). Of course policies are necessary in case it can exert influence on whatever party is in power, in a minority government for instance.

Happy April Fool's Day everyone. By the way the first April Fool's prank involved a French aristocrat escaping jail by disguising himself as a peasent. Amazing what we learned in school years ago.

If anyone has been paying attention to the international news Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally in France has been barred from elections for the next five years as a result of being found guilty of embezzlement. She says she is innoncent of course. The headline this morning in a Guardian newsletter was "The Slip of Le Pen". Not the greatest of puns methinks.

The followinfg is an articl from the DW newsletter from Germany (don't worry it's in English) about how the press once upon a time participated in Apri Fool's Day. It even includes the BBC's 1957 pictures of the Spaghetti Harvest.

Actor Val Kilmer has passed away at age 65. He had suffered from throat cancer and was using AI to talk apparently.

Got another great line out of an article on one of Trumps advisers. Apparently this one is beginning to exasperate everyone. When one person was asked about him his response was "It's like being a mosquito in a nudist colony. Where do you start?" I am goimg to have to remember that one. I have known people like that.

From today's Daily Soccer this suggests you might have a quieter Summer than you were expecting.

Around 150 Manchester City and Chelsea fans who have a history of violent conduct will be will be forced to surrender their passports between 9 June and 13 July to prevent them travelling to the Club World Cup in the USA USA USA this summer.

Hopefully some other countries will do the same.

Listening to a concert by Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Jukes. It was recorded back in 1977 at the Agora Theatre in Cleveland. I believe the band hailed out of New Jersey.

Sorry everyone but I just want to point out that included in Trump's list of countries getting the lowest rate of tarrifs (10%) are the Heard and McDonald Islands. I am sure the pengquins that are the only inhabitants of the islands were happy to hear that.

Listening to a believe that is sixties and probably fifties rock music. It led off with a medley by Donna Loren from those old Funicello/Avalon surf movies. Looking at the title this one is a work in progress (I have a few of those).

Got a look at a picture from the movie "Screamboat". Mickey sure don't look like Mickey in this one. Reminds me more of a rat than a mouse. I can safely say I will be giving this one a miss, just as I gave "Blood and Honey" a miss. Amazing what comes out when certain IP end up in Public Domain. Not sure but I believe Superman (the earliest version) may end up in that position in a few of years.

The following was on the playlist I am listening to and has to be heard to be believed. I have heard of The Rutles but have never seen them.

C. John wrote: "The following was on the playlist I am listening to and has to be heard to be believed. I have heard of The Rutles but have never seen them.

"

Wow, thats a blast from the past. lol! Eric Idle from Monty Python created The Rutles as a spoof of The Beatles. The movie was "All You Need is Cash". Think there might have been lawsuits with the company that owned the rights to Beatles songs. George Harrison was a close friend of Idle and he & John Lennon loved the movie. Paul & Ringo not so much.

If the movie was meant as a spoof or parody then they were probably safe. Likely would have been classified as fair use. i recall when I was doing my BA the theme for Gilligan's Island was set to the tune of a Led Zepplin song, though right now I can't recall which one.

Had to Google the Gilligans island theme/Led Zepplin song as had no recollection of it. Per Google in 1970's the band Little Roger and the Goosebumps did the song "Gilligan's Island (Stairway)". In an interview in 2004 on National Public Radio Robert Plant of Led Zepplin said it was his favorite cover of Stairway to Heaven! Think I will pass on listening to this as I'm not a fan of Gilligans Island and Stairway to Heaven is my least favorite Zepplin song :)

There have so far been one bid for each of the 2031 and 2035 Womens' Football World Cup. The 2031 bid is from the USA and possibly some other CONCACAF nations. The 2035 is from Europe, specifically the Houme Countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). It is possible the Republic of Ireland is a part of this bid also. It looks to me as for both the Men's and Women's World Cups these multi-nation bids are going to become more and more common.

Kayne West has split from his wife, Bianca Censori (she of nearly nude outfit fame). He claims she tried to have him committed after his rants. Pity she didn't succeed.

Apparently back in 2020 after a rally some Proud Boys destroyed a Black Lives Matter sign that belonged to a church. The church sued and was granted a 2.8 million dollar settlement. Today the church was awarded the use of the Proud Boys' name and symbols. This should prove interesting.

Yesterday was St. Totteringham's Day. This is the date on which it becomes impossible for Tottingham Hotspurs (or just Spurs) to overtake their bitter rivals Arsenal in the standings. It is not celebrated in years when both teams are not in the same division or years when Spurs are somehow above their rivals and likely to remain there.

The Grand National will be run today in England,. It attracts a huge number of punters who only bet on this race and for some reason these people are partial to horses whose colour is gray. There are seven such horses in the fiield this year, which is something like 20% of the field. This is a hunt race by the way so there will be lots of jumping over ditches and such.

Here is the link for the pub quiz.

Well I see that Duke, who I believe was the team everyone was expecting to win, has been bounced by Houston from March Madness. Oh well. As they say the best laid plans...

No loss to me…although the Final Four I care about is next week - the Frozen Four for NCAA men’s hockey. I want Penn State in that one, and Houston tomorrow night

My daughter loves UConn. Not ok by me b/c I prefer Tennessee. But somehow I got my 16 year old out of bed in time to watch today’s game. I think the women get a bad rap being on at 3 in the afternoon instead of in prime time. I remember the game used to be in prime time so I wonder when that changed.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was at least one person out there who had aperfet bracket going until Duke got beat.

Brina wrote: "My daughter loves UConn. Not ok by me b/c I prefer Tennessee. But somehow I got my 16 year old out of bed in time to watch today’s game. I think the women get a bad rap being on at 3 in the afterno..."

Because ESPN still has 1 more year of Sunday Night Baseball? IMO, they should put it on ABC on prime time tonight. Tonight, I want South Carolina. I remember watching Dawn Staley as a player at Virginia.

I remember her from the basketball is basketball, athletes are athletes commercials.

So Alex Ovechkin broke the record today for the most goals. John may remember the World Hockey Association from the 1970’s when they were the second professional league. Always felt those records should be included and if they were, you’d have to add 46 to Gretzky’s total, 175 to Gordie Howe and 303 for Bobby Hull, the first star player to sign with the WHA and he played all 7 years the league existed.

That was a major discussion point when the two leagues were merging. Harold Ballard was absolutely opposed to it. In his opinion the WHA had tried to destroy the NHL and thus its records should not be recognized. Just Harold being Harold.

Dennis the Menace (the American version) has passed away. Well actually it is Jay North who played him in the television series, who has passed away. I remember that series. Not sure if I watched it when it first aired or later in syndication, probably both.

The Rugby match between Toulouse and Sale had to be delayed. The parachutist who was supposed to deliver the match ball crashed into the stadium roof instead. I have seen a picture of him hanging there from the roof. All I can say is Ouch!

In Football news Aaron Ramsdale has been relegated to the Cnampionship. This is the third time he has been relegated from the Premier League to The Championship, and each time with a different team. It's not the record however. That dubious honour is held by one Hermann Hreidarsson who managed the feat five times.

Finally (for now). Yesterday's game between Manchester United and Manchester City was so bad that one of the commentators, Gary Neville, apologized on air to the fans.

It had to happen. Someone finally brought up Liz Truss and that head of lettuce. And that is all I have to say on the matter. Not too good at surrealism, though I did enjoy Toopee and Binoo.

Former British PM Boris Johnson apparently was bitten by an ostrich through his car window. I suppose it's okay as long as the bird was radioactive. (I hope someone gets the reference, well at least one of them).

Got a video of that parachutist I mentioned above, thanks to the BBC.

Well this is one way to become a Football fan, get on the wrong boat.

Jorge Bolano, a World Cup star for Colombia, has passed away at the age of 47. He suffered a heart attack after attending a birthday celebration with his family.

As you know we are having a federal election later in the month (the 28th). Pierre Poilievre (the Conservative leader) is facing a lot of challengers in his riding. There are almost 80 names on the ballot. This is due to the efforts of a group who want the government, whoever it is, to set up a people's assembly of some sort that would come up with a more equitable way of voting to replace the first pass the post system we use right now. Not that I think what they want is ever going to happen.

I have six new messages in my inbox. Five of them are telling me Florida defeated Houston.
Sor far I have had The New York Post, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Houston Chronicle and NBC News. Probably more to come.

In a recent match Leicester played a 15 year old in the first team match against Newcastle. Leicester's sponsor is BC Game, a betting company. Because of his age the youngster couldn't wear a shirt with the sponsor's name or logo on it. I find that amusing.

Somebody was actually having fun with tariffs. In one of my newsletters there was an item suggesting that Trump had put a tarrif on Indulgences which are sold by the Roman Catholic church, and which supposedly get one out of Purgatory. Once I got reading though the article clearly said it was satire. Why not, with the markets tanking we need something to make us laugh.

I find the following article to be interesting. I recall with the NASL it wasn't unusual for players to play in both a European League and in the NASL. Trevor Francis, at the conclusion of the Football League season boarded a plane to Detroit where he would play for the Express and at the conclusion of the season fly back to rejoin whichever team he was playing for at the time. I daresay he played more games for the Express then Man U will be playing on this tour.

If there are any Blue Rodeo fans down south The Canadian Post Office has released a postage stamp honouring the band.

Denver Nuggets fired their coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with 3 games left in the regular season and a playoff spot locked up - huge surprise, especially considering he led the Nuggets to the title just two years ago and they’ve been consistently good the past 7. I did see something on X that Malone and Booth supposedly have some type of sexual assault allegations, but nothing I could find on reputable sites to confirm that. That would be about the only reason that would make sense for this. Follows another playoff team, Memphis, firing their coach Taylor Jenkins a couple weeks ago.