Is the CBC's Hockey Anthem Challenge Completely Legit?

Okay, you all know that my buddy Voin submitted a song to Mothercorp's Hockey Anthem contest. You can find that here. Now, Voin didn't really expect to win, altho he hoped he would. He also has at least one friend who also entered, and in fact spent some money on her recording.

With something like 20,000 entries, nobody really expects to win, but you do expect a fair shot at it.

But now there are questions being raised about the impartiality of the judging. The finalists have already been announced. One of them is named Gerry Mosby. You can hear his entry here.

Here's the thing: another friend of Voin's did some Googling and discovered that Gerry Mosby is a friend and co-worker of Bob Rock and Lou Pomanti, two key figures in the Hockey Anthem Challenge hierarchy. Voin's friend Nick found a bunch of links linking these individuals. Here they are and I think you should check them out for yourself:

http://www.wcmusic.info/files/abc/z/zappacosta04.php - This one shows Gerry Mosby as the producer and Lou Pomanti as one of the guitarists on a Zappacosta album.

http://www.canadianbands.com/Zappacosta.html - This page on Zappacosta says: Produced by Bob Rock, most notable for his work with The Payola$, it contained guest appearances by a whole slew of friends, including former Surrender members Gerry Mosby and Gerald O'Brien, Rock and The Headpins' Brian MacLeod.

http://www.playbackonline.ca/articles/magazine/19990419/25243.html -This one shows Gerry Mosby and Lou Pomanti as senior staff who work at Jungle Music Productions.

Of course, there could be more than one Gerry Mosby.

But if not, then this whole contest smells a bit off to me. And it reinforces for me the wisdom of having blind judging in contests of this nature. It's way too much of a coincidence that one of the five finalists happens to be a friend of the two top dogs.

The Mothercorp blog has this to say about it:

Now with regard to the potential conflicts of interest, in the event judges had personal or professional contacts with contestants, they were disclosed and appropriately noted through the selection process. Again, the final selection of semifinalists were made through unanimous agreement of the senior jury.

Seems a little thin to me...disclosed and appropriately noted...The blog and Facebook pages have received questions and comments about potential conflicts of interest. The actual comments don't appear on the blog. Why not? I haven't checked the Facebook page.

Finally, I have to say, I was not impressed by the way Mothercorp handled the issue of the original Hockey Night in Canaduh theme. I think it was mishandled. And the bad vibes just seem to be rolling on. I give them a 10 minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct.

It's Hockey Night In Canada

OK, my buddy Voin has made the ultimate Hockey Night In Canada theme which, as you all must surely know, Mothercorp is having a contest for its new theme cuz it was too hidebound and cheap to pay for the one it had been using for 40 years. So here's the theme:



Now here is the link to Voin's page that has his clip too. (Cuz I'm not sure whether clicking on the Mothercorp player will take you there.

You MUST vote for Voin. Play this in your sleep. Subliminal Voin voting. ("I must vote for Voin...I must vote for Voin...I must vote for Voin...)

But to do that you have to sign up as a member and go thru rigmarole and agronomics and pain-in-the-buttities. But hey! You MUST vote for Voin. He could use the money.

And as I said in comments on Voin's page: How can you not vote for a theme that sounds just as if you're actually at the game?

The Stanley Cup Provides a Dharma Lesson

May 2, 1967.

That was the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup.

Game 6 against the Montreal Canadiens.

George Armstrong, the captain of the Leafs, scored on an empty net in the final minute of the game and the Leafs won, 3-1.

And today is the 40th anniversary.

I remember watching that game. I don't remember much about the game itself.

But here's what I do remember. We were all cheering for the Leafs. Hey, I'm from Ontariario. Back in those days, the Leafs were it. (Personally, I liked the Canadiens' colours better. A Montreal toque was way better than a Toronto one...But that would make me the opposite of the kid in Roch Carrier's story, The Hockey Sweater...) Drive anywhere in southern Ontariario when the Leafs are in the playoffs and you'll see that even now, the Leafs are still it. Even though they haven't won the cup in 40 years.

But I believe I mentioned something about a Dharma teaching. Well, here it is. Naturally, we were all ecstatic when Armstrong scored that goal. The Leafs had clinched the cup! And beaten the Habs to do it, too! So there we were, all celebrating. TimHo celebrating. Bob Pulford. Johnny Bower. Frank Mahovlich. Terry Sawchuk. Armstrong. Ron Ellis. And us.

But then the camera panned across the Montreal bench. I never saw such a dejected-looking bunch of guys. Jean Beliveau especially.

I immediately felt sorry for them. Cuz they had worked their asses off. But somebody wins and somebody loses.

Now, we're taught that it's a cause of negative karma to rejoice in the misfortunes of others, or to wish them ill. It seems to me that's a fairly common practice in the world of competitive sports (and its fans.) But at that moment, I learned a dharma lesson, altho I didn't know that was what it was at the time. I could no longer rejoice over the Canadiens' loss. I could still rejoice over the Leafs' win, but now it was tempered by the knowledge that someone's joy could very well be someone else's disappointment.

And ain't that samsara all over?

(Note: the link up above is a Google video of the entire game. How cool is that? I haven't watched the whole thing, but maybe I will...I've also linked to it in Larry's Surfboard. The video is an hour and twenty-seven minutes long, but if you scroll to about one hour and nineteen, you'll see the final goal and its aftermath.)

Retiring Ken Driedup's Jersey!

Last night the Montreal Canadiens raised Ken Driedup's number 29 jersey to the rafters of the Forum (or whatever it's called now...) Good for him, I say!

Of course, we all know, especially if we read this blog now and then, that he recently ran for the leadership of the Gliberal Party of Canada.

All I can say is, as a politician he makes a helluva goalie.