Forget it, Owen,,, in your case it's already too late,,,taking a severe "left turn", that is

...a couple more should have me back on track.   

I dunno just what HB was like "before," but I seem to recall some sports commentator [low-level expert ??] bringing it up.   In my case it could be as appealing as going into a long-term care home.

Long time Trawnna sports reporter Dick Beddoes wrote and spoke a lot about Ballard. He was a sometime chum of the old grouch.

...from a 2002  Globe & Mail  article: 

"..... Until 1969, when his wife Dorothy died of cancer, he lived a relatively ordinary life. He was a successful businessman and part owner of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. Harold and Dorothy lived in a large, comfortable home in Etobicoke. They had three children, Mary Elizabeth, Bill and Harold Jr.

But after Dorothy's death, Ballard's life came unglued. In 1972, he was convicted of fraud and theft related to Gardens assets and spent a year in prison. His best friend and business partner, Stafford Smythe, had died of cancer a year earlier.

About that time, Ballard closed down the family home and moved into an apartment on the second floor of the Gardens. His relationship with his children deteriorated. ....."

quote:

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Originally posted by Owen

quote:

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Originally posted by Paul R

  BTW, I had one of those Pittsburg sweaters - purchased at Maple Cheese Gardens.

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.... and look what happened to K.S.  .... don't say you haven't been warned!   

Edit: Didn't Ballard kinda take a sharp left turn after the death of his [first] wife?   Periodically, I wonder if something like could happen to me [i.e. mentally/psychologically that is] ?!?!?!?

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I don't have that sweater (hockey players wear sweaters, not jerseys) any more. I'm not sure what happened, maybe put out for Goodwill.

The teacher in the classroom next to mine was the late Pat Keon, sister to Dave. When Ballard died, I heard it on the radio as I happened to be in the office. When I told Pat, she said, "Now the real fighting starts." She was quite well tuned in. She was correct, too.

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Long time Trawnna sports reporter Dick Beddoes wrote and spoke a lot about Ballard. He was a sometime chum of the old grouch.

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Dick Bedclothes was one of those types that morphed from a reporter to a "personality", signature hat and all.

I remember Bedclothes burning up the airwaves out of CHCH Hamilton towards the end. I also recall Pal Hal saying his kids would get nothing when he kicked off cuz theyd already gotten a lot of his loot. Then his “companion” Yolanda arrived on the scene. I heard a lot of his money went to Scott Mission on Spadina.

Sittler, McDonald, Boschman, and Hammerstrom remember the old guy well,,,,for all the wrong reasons. When he found out Boschman was a Christian he said those types are too soft and sent him packing to the wilds of Owen-country. 
& when Billy Graham had one of his crusades at the Gardens he said "I'd like to get a piece of his action - they don't have to pay taxes!"  

...geez!! youse guys.... here I am tryin' to make a case for the importance of his wife Dorothy in his life, but I'm not getting much support.   

Did the $$ that went to Scott Mission pass thru Yolanda?   Regardless, I give him a  for that.... a fine Christian gesture..... even if his view of L.B. wasn't.

P.S. Maybe he's just further evidence that "poor people are crazy...rich people are eccentric."

Well, I read “Bedclothes” book years ago but can’t remember what he said about Dorothy and her passing. I always heard Ballard and Stafford Smythe were drinking buddies and the business shenanigans had started long before 1969. I think King Clancy kept Pal Hal from really going off the rails for a while. I remember the two of’em soused sitting in a convertible as part of the Grey Cup parade when his Tiger-Cats won.
(my foggy memory might be a bit skewed,,,,but you know what “they” say - “Never let the truth ruin a good story!”

Yolanda was an entertaining diversion. She even called herself Ballard even though they weren't married. She was unceremoniously shown the door when Harold passed.

Ballard attended Upper Canada College. A friend read a book about the place and told me that a lot of ne'er do wells - read: cheapskates - came out of there. People who wouldn't give you the time of day.

When my sister visited us from Cowtown in '89, she brought a nice stuffed toy animal for our daughter. It was a duck, which we promptly named Harold Mallard.

Upper Canada College was an elite high school for boys of the upper crust,,,moneyed folks. There was Ridley College in St. Catharines which was of the same ilk,,, started by the Anglican Church of Canada in days of yore. And yes - a bunch of snobs.

UCC had a scandal involving a teacher in the Eighties or Nineties.

My nephews went to Trinity in Port Hope - the Eastern Ontario snob school. (I should talk - I went to Loyola High School in Montreal, private, run by Jesuits. The only scandal we had was some students getting drunk one night and raising a ruckus at St. Joseph's Oratory.) Nephew Jeff played on the Trinity football team and we saw a Trinity-UCC game at UCC. Much ado about nothing, as an old dead guy once wrote.

Montreal had LCC - Lower Canada College. One of the earliest high school football games I saw was Loyola vs. LCC. We made up a cheer for them:
"Crumpets and tea,
crumpets and tea,
we are the boys from LCC.
We're not rough and we're not tough,
but boy are we determined!"

They must have been. It was '58 and they wore the old leather helmets.

Current bid is a paltry $380,000 USD....and worth every penny, I'm sure:    https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/sothebys-goldin-auctions-present-a-century-of-champions/1979-80-wayne-gretzky-edmonton-oilers-game-used   

.... and fwiw, Chuck and Paul, it says it's a "jersey."  

...and another good guy [so far as I know] skates off into the sunset:   RIP   https://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/fred-sasakamoose-hockey-pioneer-dies-of-covid-19-at-age-86/wcm/e53c113d-8332-46b8-89a5-44db2998777b?video_autoplay=true

His hockeydb.com stats: https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=4770

RIP,, Fred Saskamoose , former Chicago Blackhawk.
theglobeandmail.com/sports/hoc...33409416/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/article-fred-sasakamoose-indigenous-nhler-dies-at-86/

That's a really powerful piece of writing. He lived quite a life, and shows that there can be a rewarding, fulfilling life after hockey. Very inspiring.

I remember those old, old school, Chicago uniforms. Chicago was the first team to "modernize" their sweaters, a design that still holds up today.

Uhoh,, he’s surfaced again...
dailyhive.com/vancouver/aquili...em-singer

....well, I've heard that "you can't keep a good man down."    

“Wear a poppy,, don’t wear a mask. I’m all about the military and fighting,,, all you people that are pinko lefties can wear’em, they're for pansies anyway..."

I have one of the buttons printed after MD "spoke" at Rob Ford's swearing in as Toronto mayor. It's a pink button that says "Pinko Cyclist". I'd wanted to get a bunch of people to wear pink t-shirts and cycle past his place on Wolfe Island. Never got around to it, and now the place is sold.

Anyway, we have a whack-job MPP nearby whose son got tasered.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/hillier-brothers-mask-dispute-opp-perth-1.5831742

A description of Hillier :
“Hillier's ability to attract media notice through the use of attention-grabbing rhetoric and tactics prompted one television commentator to describe him as "Don Cherry in plaid and rubber boots." “

  Okay, you experts  .... given their respective spheres of influence*, which does more harm/good.... DC/MD or this?.....  

* = or previous sphere(s) of influence, as the case may be.

Is that Claude Julian,, the all-‘round good guy?

(just to irk you, Owen, I'm gonna skirt*  yer question)

*MD & Pal Hal's favourite term for guys like Hammerstrom & Boschman**, i e, "they belong in skirts the way they play!"

**truth is, I recall LB droppin' the gloves now & then [onward Christian soldiers, and all that rot]

The  gives you a pass .... but not blanket amnesty!!   

Our fastball coach would "encourage" us as we repeated drills: "C'mon you panty waists, we're gonna do this 'til you do it right."  I thought it was funny at the time, and I still do..... my wife doesn't see it that way.... fortunately  hers is vehement and not violent disagreement.