Hump Day Hottie!!

Yes....I'm starting a new thing.  Every Wednesday there will be a new hottie athlete profiled in this blog, just because its fun.  So here is your first Hump Day Hottie!

Ryan Kesler         

Team Plays for:  Vancouver Canucks
Position: Centre

Number: 17

Height: 6' 2"

Weight: 202

Shoots: Right

Born: 31 Aug 1984  (Age 27)

Birthplace: Livonia, MI, United States

Drafted: VAN / 2003 NHL Entry Draft

Round: 1st (23rd overall)

Schneiderman does it again!

Last night my friend, Stefani, on facebook was selling her pair of tix for the Columbus game tonight.  She had to work unfortunately and wasn't able to make it, so I offered to take them off her hands.  Besides the fact that I've been dying to go to a Canucks game since this new season started.  So I met up with her this morning at a skytrain station and the deal went down.  We also go to catch up a bit.  It was great seeing you again Stef and thank you for the tix!!  (She reads my blog.) :)

So I met up with a friend for dinner for the pre-game meal at St. Regis downtown.  It was the fist time we had gone back since the Stanley Cup Final Game 7.  The waitress recognized me right away as I walked thru the door.  She said I could sit at any table and she even remembered my choice of drink!  Now thats great service!  I even showed her my picture with Bieksa...yes, you know which one.  Her reaction "OMG!!  He is sooooo hot!! How did you get that picture with him??" LOL.  We also talked about what happened the day of the riots.  She said as soon as they got word there were car fires in the area, they asked all the patrons to leave and they shut the place down.  I thought of them the day after when I did my little walk through of Vancouver and saw the windows boarded up.  Glad they were all safe inside. So, I waited for my friend to arrive and then we ordered dinner which came very quickly and we were able to get out of there in good time.  We walked down to the stadium and got ourselves settled.

We were seated in the Budwieser Zone at the end of the rink, Sec 330, dead centre.  It was a fun section.  The "mexican wave" was attempted at least 10 times by our end to no avail.  It died faster than it started.  At least the effort was there.  I went to use the washroom and ran into my CAT team volunteer friend, Jorge, working as the 50/50 person.  So I bought three tickets from her.  The jackpot at the end of the night was around $33,000.  Unfortunately, I didn't win and neither did my friend. 

During intermissions we watched a David Booth interview with Joey Kenward, Fin shooting the shirt gun at the crowd and a minor league hockey game which was very entertaining.

During the TV Break.  Canucks just hanging around their bench.

My friend and I managed to get ourselves onto the Big Screen towards the end of the night thanks to the kid dancing next to me!!

In the end, the Canucks won 4-1 with goals coming from D. Sedin, Booth, Kesler and Burrows.  Assists to Hammer, Bieksa, Higgins, Edler, Salo, Burrows, D.Sedin and Kesler.

We stayed behind to watch the 3 stars of the night and cheered on Kesler and Schneidz as loud as we could.  My voice is almost gone now. 

It was a great night.  Thanks for the company Leslie-Anne and thanks again for the tix, Stef!!!

I'll leave you with David Booth's tweet just moments ago about the game tonight.  It says it all. :)

Grey Cup Vancouver 2011

Who could have predicted this at the start of the year when they at Empire Stadium and going 0-5????  Every newspaper in the city and fans alike were wondering what was going on with our Lions.  We only hoped that they could turn things around once we were in their old stomping grounds at BC Place.  And boy did they not dissapoint!  Once they found their game, they didn't let up!  

As I limped my way to the East entrance of  BC Place wearing my FIFA runners cause there was no way my feet would walk in heels again after the day before, I could feel the energy of the crowd in the city.  It was amazing seeing all the rainbows of canadian jerseys everywhere.  I got into the stadium and had a coffee, some pizza and a couple of Advils to stop the thumping in my head.  I was supposed to work with Stephanie in hospitality for the Tailgating Party held inside the conference room area for family and friends of the players. However, that required alot of walking and at that point, my feet didn't really feel up to it.  So I passed on her recruitment of me, put on a headset and walked up to Gate E.  About six minutes before Gates were to open, I snuck inside the stadium to see what the field looked like.  The BC Lions were out and just stretching and doing some warm-up stuff.

Then I looked up at the big screen and saw this.

I then headed outside Gate E and got ready for a big day.  There were all sorts of fans out.  Every color of the rainbow.  Normally, in hockey, you would either see one or the other's teams jersey's being represented but not in Grey Cup.  Every fan of the CFL comes out supporting their teams colors and have a big old party the whole weekend to celebrate the game!  These two in particular stood out to me.

Its amazing how many poeple from Saskatchewan actually live in BC.  They come out in droves during regular season and they didn't dissapoint this day either.  "Rider Pride" is what they call it.  But I'm not sure how much "pride" is in this Rider fan. BC Lions fans kept stopping to take pics with them...haha!

I saw a lady sitting by the big blue letter "E" for the longest time. I went over to her and asked if she was waiting for someone.  Turns out her daughter was friends with Brett Johnson's wife.  She had come up from Maine and had no idea it was Grey Cup Weekend.  Her daughter had invited her to the game.  She said she was in her hotel lobby the other day and she saw a group of men come in with face paint on, and thats when she realized it wasn't just any regular game she was going to.  So my CAT partner, Kevin, who was also with me outside the gate, sat down next to her and he got her all straightened out with Canadian CFL rules as she didn't realize it was different from NFL.  We stayed around her to make sure she was alright until her daughter showed up with her 4 week old baby named Roman.  He was so cute all bundled up strapped into those baby slings in the front.

Here are some pics from the game.

Game Regulars and saw them lots during the Festival

6 minutes left in the game

Nickelback was the halftime show.  I didn't watch inside but it was playing on all the television sets around the concourse.  Most of the fans came out for halftime to get something to eat or drink or go to the bathroom.  It was extremely hot in the concourse area so I stood by the BC Place security and hosts against the nice cold door that had a bit of draft coming in....it felt nice.  The smoke from the pyro at halftime was still trapped inside the building as the roof was closed the whole time.  The noise inside the stadium the fans made was deafening.  I had to run up a couple pieces of ID to someone in the stands in the 2nd quarter and it was crazy.  I don't think I could have stayed there the entire time.  At around the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the CAT team headed down for break.  I bought myself the Steveston Fish and Chips for dinner.  It was pretty good.

We watched the game from the inner bowels of BC Place while we eat and drank and then headed back up with 10 mins left in the 4th to make sure everyone left.  That took awhile.  The BC Lions were presented with the GREY CUP and the celebration started.  The brother of one of the players came up to me and asked how he could get down on the field with him.  He didn't have a wristband like the other family members did.  I told him to try a couple of things and if that didn't work, to go down to the lower bowl and try to flag him down to get him onto the field.

Picture by Hosea Chung of 24 Hrs.

I guess the formula works.  Canucks lose the Stanley Cup playoffs and the BC Lions will go on the win the Grey Cup!  They are the 2nd major sports team in Vancouver to win Championships this year!  First the Vancouver Canadians and now the BC Lions.  The Vancouver Canucks could learn a few things from these guys on how its done!  Congrats to the BC Lions for an incredible year.  

The BC Lions Grey Cup Party will be taking place November 30 at BC Place from 6-8pm.  You will be able to get autographs and pics taken with the players and be able to buy more Grey Cup merchandise.  Door will be open at 5pm at Gates A and H.  I'll be there. :)

Grey Cup Festival Parade 2011

It was cold, wet and pouring all day long.  My day started at 6am so could be downtown to Team Lead my crew of four volunteers I was assigned to take care of the PCL Sponsors.  I got there early so I headed over to McDonalds to grab a coffee where I ran into the Managers who I work with on the CAT team.  They were helping out with media on the corner of Burrard and Dunsmuir.  After warming up with my coffee, I headed over to the Cactus Club also on the corner of Burrard and Dunsmuir and looked for the Grey Cup Supervisor to find out what exactly she needed myself and my crew to do.  She took me over to Park Plaza, right across from the Burrard Skytrain station, and explained what needed to be done.  I had tables that needed to be assembled for snacks and coffee for the PCL visitors provided by Safeway, the parade sponsor.  I also had to block off a section of the sidewalk with gates and assign some volunteers to help out with the PCL viewing area.  As it got to be 8am, my crew of 3 arrived.  Only problem was that none of them were on my list of volunteers.  Apparently my team decided not to show up so they assigned three from the Cactus Club location to help me out.  Since the area didn't need to be "active" til 9am and the parade didn't start til 10am, I sent them to go get warmed up with coffee and come back in half an hour so we could start to get set up.

When they came back, I had them set up the tables and move the gates into place once it was 9am.  We waited for the coffee and snacks to arrive by delivery and set that up.  We were expecting 200 people from PCL to be at the viewing area and thats how much food we received.  Unfortunately, with the weather being the way it was, we probably had about 50 people show up.  Which meant we had a lot of Starbucks coffee and muffins, croissants and danishes left over.  What ever we didn't use, we packed up after the parade and had it sent down to the Union Gospel to feed the hungry.

This couple pictured above dressed in red and white are so cute.  These two have been coming to every BC Lions games since I can remember and I'm sure you have seen them around too.  At the Lions games, they dress up elegantly in White and Orange.  I talked to them both the day before the parade at the VCC and told me they would be "Mr. and Mrs. Canada" at the parade on Saturday morning.  They were so happy and proud they were asked to be part of the Grey Cup Festival Parade.  If you ever see them around BC Place, go say hi.  Very sweet couple.

And here is the Grey Cup Festival Parade Marshal, Cory Monteith from Glee.  His truck would stop at some places and they would invite fans to run over and quickly take a pic with him.  Which was kind because he certainly had alot of fans in the crowd.

After it was all done, I headed over to the shopping mall to get dry again.  Then tried to find a place that would blow dry and straighten my hair again as those white jackets, as we found out, were not waterproof!!  Thank god for fleece layering.  I still had another function later that night at the "Show your Colors" Gala to work but not for another 4 hrs.  So once I got my hair re-set, I headed over to VCC and chilled out there til my shift started for the Gala.  I was Team Lead for the Coat-Check again.  It was good fun that night.  The Vancouver Canucks were also playing in San Jose and the Telus Kiosk was located directly across from my coat-check room so during the down times, my team just sat around an watched an awsome game.  The RCMPs, Volunteers and many CFL fans stood around as well to watch Schnieder get his 4th win in a row!!  There was a very loud cheer at the sound of the buzzer!!

Here's a pic from inside the Show Your Colors gala.

I saw alot of people taking off with the Football and the green turf in the middle when they came by to pick up their coats.  Not sure if they were supposed to.  Oh well, not my problem.  I managed my team of volunteers in the coat room and then went home as my feet were still soaking wet from the morning parade and I was still walking around in heels!!

By the time I got home, it was 12:30am and I had to get up again in the morning and head down to BC Place for the Grey Cup game.  Check in time for me was 11:45am.  So I tried to go to bed right away and stay off my feet as much as possible. I slept like a baby. :)

Grey Cup Team Practices

So, I woke up bright and early this morning so I could head out to BC Place to take part in Escorting the Sponsors for the team practices today.  I met up with my crew at 8:30am and headed into the Stadium with our first group of Sponsors from Canadian Western Direct.  We entered thru the East Airlock right onto the field.  Our job was to "escort" the sponsors and keep and eye on them if need be so they don't wander or do things they were not supposed to do.  The first thing we were told by the Manager there was to advise our group not to walk on the freshly painted white sidelines and logos.  So we informed them and kept an eye on them as they trampled all over the field to get the experience of a lifetime.  They passed around footballs and people took pics of the newly created Grey Cup Vancouver 2011 Logo in the centre and had some fun.

Here are some pics of that experience.

First thing I saw when I walked thru the Airlock.  Dancers/Cheerleaders rehearsing.

The Grey Cup Logo just painted and drying.

Using the drill to take out screws in the ground holding the cardboard in place to reveal the new logo.

Buck Pierce waiting to catch a throw from a playmate

 As the Winnipeg Blue Bombers started to head onto the field, we were instructed to get the sponsors off to the sidelines or endzones.  Buck and another playmate here were on the field and interacting with us and the sponsors.  They were great.

As more team members started coming on, we hearded our group thru the West Airlock, down the hall, up the elevator to the lower bowl level where they were able to sit and watch some of the practices.  It was quiet at first while they were doing their stretches but then they started making some noise.  Then all of the sudden they all ran onto the freshly painted and dried Grey Cup logo and did a team cheer.  Here's a pic.

Sorry its kinda blurry but you get the idea.

Then all of the sudden music started blaring thru the speakers with Flo'Rider and Eminem and they did some practices in between some dance moves.  It was quite entertaining to watch. Not long after we had to escort our sponsors out to the Terry Fox Plaza as it was time for them to leave.

 We breaked for lunch and came back to the East Airlock to receive our next group around 11:45am.  This group consisted mainly of kids.  The Blake's After Party were the sponsors.  We did the exact same thing with them only this time, it was the BC Lions turn for their practice.  As the kids were playing football on one side of the field by the endzone, players were starting to come out and get warmed up.  Wally Buono also came out and met the kids and all of us.  He's all class.

We then hearded the group up to the lower bowl as the group before and watched them practice.  I was silently waiting for the music to turn so I could find out what they liked to listen to.  It wasn't as hardcore as Winnipeg.  It was still Rap though.  Here are some pics from that.

Team Stretch

Before we escorted this group out of the building, all the kids got together in their seats and started chanting for the BC Lions. "2, 4, 6, 8, Who do we appreciate? Your the Best from all the Rest! Your the Best from all the Rest! Go Lions!" x 6 times.  This got the Lions players attention...they were very appreciative.

I was supposed to head on over to the Vanier Cup game tonight as well, as was my intention but I didn't feel very well a couple hrs before start time so headed on home after killing a couple hrs at the Fan Festival at the Jack Poole Plaza.  I have another jam packed day tomorrow also starting bright and early at the Parade.  I will be hosting a private viewing area of the parade for the VIP's at the corner of W.Georgia and Burrard while my Manager, Stephanie, will be doing the same at the Cactus Club location also on Burrard.  Another early rise for me...then once that is done, I'm heading over to the VCC to Team Lead the Coat Check team again for the "Show Your Colors Dinner" Gala.  Should be another night of great entertainment.  I'll post again tomorrow night. :)

Grey Cup Weekend is Finally Here!!!

Two years in the planning for my crew and its finally here!!!  I'm a Team Leader for events in Hospitality so I get to do some fun things this weekend.  My First Grey Cup Weekend activity as TL was yesterday.  The CFL Gibson's Finest Player Awards were held last night followed by the Blake's After Party to kick things off.  I manned my team for coat check.  We had almost 500 coats so we were busy and my team was amazing.  All things went well and a good time was had by all.  Met lots of coaches, players, fans and Grey Cup organizing committee members and they all had great things to say so far about Vancouver and the wide array of things to do for the Festival.  We also hosted the Saskatchewan Riderville Party in the Vancouver Convention Centre so that made things interesting.  You could find people dressed up in their favorite team logos, in elegant evening attire or even dressed as Elvis.  Here are some pics from last night's award location.

This is the room where the Gibson's Finest Player Awards was held.

Blake's After Party where they had drinks and were served really yummy food. $150 a ticket.  I had 3 spare ones that no one wanted. :(

My Coat Check Room where my team was amazing to work with.

Here are a few things in the Interactive Fan Zones.

You'll see these Footballs coming out thru the ground all around the VCC that you can take your pic with.

I was relieved at the end of the night of my duties by my Manager, Kathy so I could get home at a decent hour so I could get some sleep before I had to wake up at 6:30am the next morning to go to my next Activity, Team Practices, which you'll read about in my next post. :)