We can’t catch a break–that will last, that is.  After the Tuesday respite, more showers will be here Wed, Fri, then some mixed lt shwrs late Fri night into Sat AM, then more showers on Monday, and maybe a mix again on Tuesday.  In between, Thursday and Sunday are looking fine.  An active pattern with no long term ridging will continue to keep us from getting an extended warm spell with less frequent precipitation.  The operational GFS has the greatest amplitude for systems, so it may be overdoing how chilly we’re going to get.  However, in varying degrees, all the operational models are showing a generally unsettled pattern for some time to come.

Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour

Maybe  its a sign of the emerging interest in the program, but I’ve heard from a few UB football fans, wondering about an oddity in the 2009 schedule.

Each year, UB plays two games against teams from the MAC’s west division.  Crossover games, they’re called.  Last year, the Bulls played Central Michigan and Western Michigan, two of the top teams in the division.  So it figured that they would get different (and easier) games this year.  But no.  The 2009 MAC schedule has the Bulls crossover games…against the same two teams.  By the way, the Chippewas and Broncos still figure to be two of the top teams in the conference.  CMU has two-time Player of the Year Dan LeFevour.  WMU has 3rd team All-MAC QB Tim Hiller.

Never before have the Bulls played the same two crossover teams in back-to-back seasons.  I asked the MAC to explain to me their schedule process.  They claim “all MAC teams had the same crossover for the second year in a row as this is year two of the a two-year, home-and-home series.”

Not exactly true.  I checked.  There is no MAC team that’s playing the same crossover games.  Miami repeats its games against Toledo and Northern Illinois, but adds a third crossover against Western Michigan. 

The league also said that the crossover format will be discussed at future league meetings.  Bulls fans might now be wishing that would have already happened.

Bulls fans..are you mad about this?

Buffalo Philharmonic musicians can say their family concert Sunday afternoon was a real beast – or at least it featured one! Conductor Robert Franz added to the musical fantasy of a concert titled: “Tubby the Tuba meets Beauty and the Beast” by dressing as The Beast!

The concert had 150 students from three local high schools – Grand Island, Amherst, and Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts – onstage singing with the BPO during the Beauty and the Beast Suite. It was the grand finale of a lively performance of a number of classic favorites including “Tubby the Tuba.” I was truly honored to be asked to narrate the story of Tubby and, boy, did all those childhood music lessons pay off! When the BPO emailed me a 74 page score to practice, I suddenly discovered this would be much harder than simply reading a children’s story while the Orchestra played.

Two days before the concert, you might have gotten a kick out of seeing Conductor Franz and me sitting in a coffee shop while he conducted with his hands and hummed the score and I read my parts. He gave me some tips and I went back to practicing at home while listening to a CD.

I had my first rehearsal with the BPO three hours before the concert and then passed the time reading backstage until the 2:30 start time. Conductor Franz likes to surprise, not only the audience, but also his musicians with his costume choices. So, the pictures and video you are seeing here were taken backstage BEFORE any of the BPO musicians had seen him. As you can imagine, he got a big, sunny reaction from everyone when he stepped onstage.

Jacquie and Robert Franz, conductor in costume!

This marked Robert Franz’ last family concert at Kleinhans. He is leaving the BPO this summer after four years to pursue conducting opportunities in other cities, including Houston. His legacy here will live on in the thousands of local children who have come to know and love fine music because of his outreach, excitement, and dedication.

As for me, I have retired my bullfrog imitation which figured so prominently in the Tubby narration. And, what a thrill for this former church organist and high school marching band flute and piccolo player to have shared a small role sitting among the accomplished and world-class musicians of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra!

Canadiens Maxim Lapierre

There will be no additional discipline for Canadiens forward Maxim Lapierre, after his hit on Patrick Kaleta Saturday.  The Sabres were not happy about the hit, with captain Craig Rivet calling it “dirty.”  Lapierre earned a two minute penalty for a blatant hit from behind.  So why not a longer penalty, or some supplemental discipline from the NHL?  You wonder if there’s two reasons why, both of which I think are ridiculous. 

1.  Kaleta was not seriously hurt. 

2.  Kaleta is a pest, an agitator. Does someone think he deserved it?

This is where the NHL drives me nuts.  A guy luckily isn’t hurt on an illegal hit, so they don’t penalize the player.  What?  If Kaleta was unlucky and was hurt, would Lapierre have been suspended?  Why should that matter.  A dangerous hit should be ruled on just that alone.

If Lapierre had boarded Connolly, Roy or Pominville, would the penalty have been worse?  Why should it matter?  Do the NHL officials really believe that some form of payback, even if potentially dangerous, is OK within a game?  Because Kaleta is a pest and agitator who riles up opponents, does he deserve to take that kind of hit?  Apparently, the NHL says yes.  What do you think?

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – On June 12 WIVB-TV will turn off our analog signal and broadcast exclusively in digital.

Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller seemed to go to great lengths this week to say that he’s not a savior, as he returns to the Buffalo lineup after five weeks out.  You can hardly blame him for trying to lower expectations for his return, with the hockey team in such dire straits.  Miller has missed five weeks, 13 games, with his high ankle sprain, and he’s probably not quite 100-percent ready to return.

But what’s wrong with asking him to save the Sabres playoff chances?  Why not?

Tonight’s game against Toronto, and the eight games that follow, are the reasons the Sabres coughed up $31.25-million last July to keep Miller on the roster.  It’s great to shut out the L-A Kings in December, but this is why Miller is being paid.  He’s making the money elite goaltender make in the NHL, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the hockey club leaning on him now, in crunch time.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Miller responds to the pressure of holding the team’s playoff hopes in his hands.  He’s been a very good goaltender for several years, but now I’m looking for him to take his career up another notch.

Does that mean he has to “save’ the Sabres season?   Yeah.  Why not?

What do you think?  Does Miller have what it takes to be the savior of Buffalo’s flickering playoff hopes?

Here’s something to consider if you’ve been putting off that converter purchase:

From Reuters

Despite industry assurances to the contrary, federal regulators are expressing concern about whether there will be enough set-top digital-converter boxes for viewers who will need them after the transition to all-digital TV signals in mid-June. “I do share the concern about whether inventory levels will be sufficient to get us through June 12 and also after June 12,” said Anna Gomez, the acting head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

The complete story is here: http://tinyurl.com/dlnhbp

dm

From Broadcasting and Cable:

Four million pending requests for DTV converter box coupons are expected to be filled by the end of next week, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration announced Tuesday. The agency also is ready to receive new applications for recipients whose coupons had expired.

Good news if you have an expired coupon. You can now reapply.

Find the full story by clicking here.

-dm

The weather pattern over much of the ern half of the country will be rather active again by Thursday into next week.  The fairly typical disarray among models still leaves us with a likelihood of precipitation for portions of both days, even though details are “fuzzy”.  The differing path possibilities of a low moving out of the S Central US are still wide, with some models bringing favorable conditions for convection by late Saturday into Saturday night (approach of the storm’s warm sector with good jet dynamics), while other models and members of models in the ensembles take the storm further east, which would leave us out of the active warm sector.  A chillier regime will take hold during Sunday into Sunday night,  & another active change from warm to cold may reoccur late next week.  In any case, the pattern will not be as quiet as it’s been. The extended range in models tend to become even less reliable as we enter into the warm weather months–for a variety of reasons we’ll discuss another time.

Niagara Falls native and Syracuse star Jonny Flynn gets one of the covers of this week’s Sports Illustrated.  There are six regional covers, but Flynn’s picture will grace those sold and mailed to fans in the East.  The issue hits newstands on Wednesday.

Over the weekend, Flynn told the Syracuse Post-Standard that he will definitely be back for his junior year at S.U.  But that may be an attempt to deflect the questions Flynn has started to receive since starring in the Big East Tournament.  I don’t think that decisions has been made yet by Flynn and his family.  With the positive reviews he’s received for his play, it would be foolish for Jonny not to find out how high he would be drafted by an NBA team.