It has been awhile since I've had an opportunity to write.
Steve, Tom, and me all had fun, (I assume) at the old exhibition coliseum watching the Toronto Marlies lose a heartbreaker in a shootout to the Lake Erie Monsters after having outplayed the visitors for most of the game. It featured plenty of end to end excitement from the opening goal coming just a minute into the game to the very loud revenge hit that got a Marlie thrown out of the game in period three creating a 5 minute powerplay that the home team had to kill to advance to overtime.
Pictured: Ye olde retractable roofe.
I liked the arena both for its old school character, (the old facade can still be seen even in the exhibition halls of the Direct Energy centre as well as from the streets. As well, the small size of an arena as compared to a stadium's arena makes for better seats so long as they're not as pricey as those at the Air Canada Centre. However I think that the small seat size makes the standing room tickets probably a smarter move for anyone over 200lbs.
I remember remarking to Thomas about the music choices in the arena; that they leaned a big too aggressive considering the family orientation of the Marlies audience. (I mean; Rage Against the Machine?)
The AHL, (The minor league that the teams belong to) features a variety of more cartoon mascot favoring logos and team names; which Thomas and Stephen both liked. I appreciate them too, though I said I wouldn't rate them ahead of the NHLs... now that I think about it there is much to recommend them. Certainly there are odd NHL names like the Minnesota Wild, and their less generic than Florida Panthers. Some like the Oilers, don't really sound exciting but for the goodwill the name has built up over the years. So I guess names like Crunch can compare with Flames, names like Rivermen can compare to Canucks, and Monsters can compare to Thrashers. Though I bet if they weren't so youth focused they wouldn't have their mascots so prominent in their logos and would use something more venerable looking.
I didn't care for the Marlies' slogan:"Every Game is a try-out." That's not exactly engendering a real sense of importance to the team and its own record. It just reminds people that any successful Marlie will be replacing a struggling Maple Leaf.
The Marlies have featured weak attendance, (Though it didn't look too bad when we were there) since moving to Toronto from St. John's due to the owner's desire to keep their farm team nearby and for someone to use the coliseum that they possessed. I suspect that this team was valued more in St. John's where it was their pro-team and not just the team for the players who weren't good enough and the fans who weren't rich enough.
It's a shame though. The farm team the Toronto Marlboroughs, (Named for the duke, not the cigarettes) were a successful team in the city since 1903 before being moved to Hamilton. Actually, even the CHL teams in the city were made to move for attendance issues. It might just be that there's not really enough interest for multiple teams in a sport, or minor league teams in Toronto.
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I like fixed income investing. But I don't like that the Royal Bank seems to be charging some pretty big commissions on them. Equity trades use a flat rate, (Like $20 per trade) but the bonds seem to have a pretty brutal hidden fee schedule.
One holding I have can be sold for only 85% of what I could buy it for today. No wonder it's always down with that built into my book value. Unfortunately since the actual fees are not laid out, I can't really tell what they work out to. (% or per unit) The yield indicated is what you get; but active investing is not really a possibility with that kind of a hit and it's not as good a deal as it should be.
