Back home in Los Angeles after my six-day skein north of the border. It rained most of my last day in Toronto with SbB Girl Wendy, so we were inside much of the day …

Not that I was complaining.

I’m now counting down the days to Saturday, as My Boy Barry has me ticketed inside the Coli, liveblogging the USC-Ohio State game. We’ll also have photos from the pregame tailgate, like our UCLA-Tennessee presentation, and some postgame ruminations.

Yeah, I hate to be saddled with all that responsible journo stuff that day, but I do feel the need to give you an unadulterated accounting of the what it’s really like to attend the game of that magnitude in Lipstick City so I’ll have to wait until the Oregon State game to really wade into the Maker’s.

You know that happens when you’re a celebrity, make a lot of money and surround yourself with only people who agree with you. And then agree to do an unsupervised interview with an accredited media member?

This happens.

Read more…

So I’ve been out on the road with SbB Girl Wendy the past few days, hanging out in Montreal and Toronto. I’m trying to fly back to L.A. today, but weather may unintentionally ground my travel plans. (Thanks Gustav!)

(SbB Girl Wendy in Toronto (I was on trash detail))

Sunday I went to the “V” music festival in Toronto, thanks to tickets from My Boy Barry. So yea, my mind wasn’t completely on my KC Chiefs yesterday, tho I did extract perverse pleasure from see the Tom Brady injury. And my team’s accompanying, obligatory (foot)ball gag.

Oasis was the headline act of the festival, and about midway through the set, a fan ran onstage and shoved down the band’s guitarist-singer Noel Gallagher from behind (which is exactly one more hit than the Bengals defense made yesterday). The AFP reports today that after the show, Gallagher “was taken to hospital afterwards to be examined for a suspected fractured rib and ligament damage.” (video of the attack after the jump) Read more…

I know I’ve already gone on n’ on about Montreal’s culinary delights, but Saturday, besides being enraptured by Frank Beckmann’s Michigan-Miami (OH) calls on my rental car Sat radio, I did what most Montrealers do on an idle, early September Samedi:

Watch tennis at Bar Le Stud while gnawing on smoked meat sandwiches and bagels - and polishing it off with some angioplasty-inducing Poutine. Oh yeah, and hang out with SbB Girl Wendy: Read more…

Last night I went to the Oasis show at Bell Centre with SbB Girl Wendy. It was my first trip to the building. (I’d previously been to the old Montreal Forum many times.)

It’s not as massive as some of the other newer arenas I’ve seen, like Staples Center and United Center, and the seating is much steeper and closer to the action. The vast majority of the seats, unlike the aformentioned facilities, are in the lower level, with the club and upper levels much smaller. Read more…

SbB Girl Wendy and I spent the day puttering around Montreal, taking in the sights. Here’s a photo of an old building, and some flags. And …

… whoa.

My own personal highlight today was making the fantastical discovery that Montreal is hosting the 2008 Le Coupe Grey (that’s Grey Cup for those of you residing in Whitehorse). Read more…