A Daly Occurance

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of golfing and emceeing The Ottawa Restaurant Hotel Motel Association's annual Golf Tournament again this year at Pinecrest Municipal Golf Course. Every year I'm teamed up with my old friend Bob Ziola, Phil Wasserman (owner of Biagio's and The Courtyard - now in it's 25th year) and Ian Sanzo of Biagio's.

It's always an eventful day on the course with those three. One tends to stockpile the anecdotes for blackmail opportunites down the road. This year's gem for the file is Bob running over my right foot with the golf cart. I can't get into it right now - it involves too much explanation. Ask me sometime about "grace under pressure".

It was a breezy day out on the links but we managed to reach our share of bogeys all the same. One thing about the experience that I must keep with me is the lesson of mind over matter.

I'm sure even the most seasoned golfer will agree that, when the shot is the all important one where you really concentrate and plan your fundamentals, it's the exact moment that you lose every ounce of skill and finesse.
I can count the easy putts we left out there on Tuesday. The number's far too high for this entry.

Conversely, with casual farting around, I was sinking them from all over the green and from various positions; between the legs "no look" from 8 feet, one handed left-to-right break at 15ft, the obligatory billiards poke and, my favourite, four feet from atop a Mike's Hard Lemonade bottle that Ian placed on the green to make his putt. Okay, so it was no John Daly drive off the Diet Coke can at the 2003 Royal Niagra Skins Game. But, you have to admit, it was impressive.

I was mesmerizing my group and completely astonishing myself. But, with deliberate calm and casual exterior (which goes back to the golf cart on foot story) I made it seem like I've been doing it for years. Promise not to tell the boys, will ya?

As far as the mind-over-matter thing, maybe I should start playing the flukes instead of the breaks.

Karaoke Competition Raises $10,000 For Cancer Research

The money's still trickling in from Saturday night's Pump Idol fundraiser for the Ottawa Regional Cancer and the results are incredibly positive.

After raising $8,000 in just four hours last year, organizers target ten grand for this years effort and have already counted up $10,200 for cancer care.

Special acknowledgements to organizer Laura Butterworth, Lieutenant's Pump owner John Couse and the great folks at Dog and Pony Sound. Mrs. Woody, Ottawa Citizen reporter and good friend Gary Dimmock, KISS-FM's Jenny From The Block and myself were judges for the night and were well taken care of by the awesome staff at The Pump.

Canadian Idol's Jon Dore, on 0 hours sleep, blasted into town for the event and did an awesome job hosting the show with Ottawa comic Jason Harper.

Through pledge registration, well over $4,000 was raised by Saturday afternoon and the tally hit the $5,000 mark by showtime. The balance of the funds raised came through generous donations from the Pump patrons and passers-by who stopped for a curious peek at the spectacle.

Also stepping up to help the cause was my good friend and mayoral candidate Terry Kilrea, who performed a rousing rendition of New York, New York - prompting a few of us to deliver back a few rounds of chorus line kicks! This guy really is a man of the people.




These are just a few of the shots taken Saturday night. It was not only a "blast", it was a huge success for all involved. Hats off to those that worked so hard to make it bigger and better than last year. I'm already looking forward to the 3rd annual.