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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Ovie TV and other stuff
If you've ever read any of the blog entries that accompany this ugly mug over the past few years you know this:
I love to rant, praise, ridicule and analyze TV commercials. The ones that make me laugh, those I think are brilliant and others which have no business being on the tube.
We came across a new one, courtesy James Mirtle at The Globe and Mail, featuring Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals pushing the Mr. Big Candy bar.
Now, say what you will about Ovechkin -- and, please, check out the other spots included here -- but at least the man doesn't take himself too seriously.
Here is one of the Mr. Big spots, followed by a handful of others we'll call The Good, The Bad and The Just Plain Lame of Alex Ovechkin:
YouTube: Mr. Big Deal
YouTube: Eastern Motors
Youtube: Slapshot
YouTube: Locker Room
YouTube: CCM U
YouTube: NHL
* * *
REFRESHER COURSE: If you've been in hibernation this summer and are looking for a quick read to get up to speed with NHL training camps opening in less than a month, check out this piece at senshot.com.
THE LEFTOVERS: A look at some of the remaining unrestricted free agents and where they might find work, courtesy the always-entertaining Down Goes Brown.
TODAY'S GOOD READ: Old friend Ed Willes of The Province in Vancouver for his thoughts on the passing of Rick Rypien.
AND, FINALLY...
Got this press release this morning from the folks at WinnipegWhiteOut.com. Sounds pretty cool.
For Immediate Release
JET FUEL -- documentary cleared for take-off, set to capture fan passion across North America this October
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (August 23, 2011) -- WinnipegWhiteOut.com is proud to announce production of a documentary on the passion of Winnipeg Jets fans entitled JET FUEL -- a movie for the fans, about the fans, by the fans.
JET FUEL is the working title for the latest documentary covering the passion of Winnipeg Jets fans and the return of the NHL to Winnipeg. During the WhiteOut Road Trip, cameras will record the excitement and passion of fans, with scheduled stops in Calgary, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Chicago, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Opportunity to appear on camera can be prearranged through the jetfuelmovie.com website. Additionally online contributions for movie end credits, music contributions and production ideas can also be submitted on the website.
"JET FUEL is a movie about the fans. The passion of Winnipeg Jets fans across the country, continent and world," Marshall Stevenson, co-founder of WinnipegWhiteOut.com stated. "We're taking a different approach to crowd sourcing and expanding it to include the movie industry. You can see yourself in a movie. Are you shy? Get your name in a movie from just $1. We're not the first to do it, and it has seen huge success in other applications."
In keeping with their goal, WinnipegWhiteOut.com co-founders will be donating a portion of proceeds from the film to charity.
Twitter: @WFPEdTait
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About Ed Tait
Read into this what you will, but Ed Tait’s career in the newspaper business officially began on April Fool’s Day, 1987.
Call it fate, call it luck, call it whatever... but it was in the spring of ’87 when Tait - then a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River - got wind that someone from the Winnipeg Sun sports department was leaving. Cutting class, Tait headed home, pounded out a resume on an old Underwood typewriter and asked for a meeting with the managing editor.
The next day he was offered a two-week trial gig and on April 1 was hired.
Tait spent eight years at the Sun, including six years as the beat writer covering the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, before being hired as the columnist at the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix in 1995. Almost one year later the Sun came calling asking him to return as a columnist and, eager to get back to his hometown, he agreed.
In the spring of 1999 - on the same day he attended Cactus Jack Wells’ funeral - Tait was asked to join the Free Press as a football writer and he’s been documenting the ups and downs of the Blue Bombers since.
A past president of the Football Reporters of Canada, a member of the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Media Roll of Honour and the 2010 Gibson’s Finest Canadian Football Reporter of the Year - as voted by his peers - Tait has covered every Grey Cup since 1990, two Super Bowls, three World Junior Hockey Championships, two Stanley Cup playoffs, the infamous Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight in which Iron Mike gnawed on his opponent’s ear and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.
And he’s absolutely loved every nanosecond of it all.
Born in Winnipeg, Tait has also lived in Minneapolis, Stellarton, N.S., Halifax, Split Lake, MB and attended high school at Nellie McClung Collegiate in Manitou, MB. He has a BA in Political Science from the University of Manitoba, is married to Kathi and has two sons, Wyatt and Finley.
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