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Don't be too hard on the Goldeyes owner. Katz may have gained from the Goldeyes association with Winnipeg, but so has Winnipeg. Winnipeg wasn't so lucky with Barry Shenkarow's NHL Jets. "Barry Shenkarow, president/part owner, the single biggest reason for the failures of the Jets both on and off the ice, as well as the biggest reason that the Winnipeg Jets no longer exist. One of the very worst owners in the history of pro sports, perhaps second in this category, the worst being Art Modell in the NFL, currently in Baltimore." (circa Jets Memorial Site) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor claims his team isn’t a money machine; You be the judge By: Paul Wiecek DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image Mayor Sam Katz claims the Goldeyes team isn't a money machine. What does it cost to field a baseball team in the Northern League? On the surface, surprisingly little. So how is it, then, that Winnipeg Go

(as reported by the BBC) Lt Gen Babaker Zebari says the "problem will start after 2011" Iraq's top army officer has criticised as premature the planned US troop withdrawal by the end of next year. Lt Gen Babaker Zebari warned that the Iraqi military might not be ready to take control for another decade. The US says it is on target to end combat operations by the end of August and meet its deadline for removing all troops by the end of 2011. It has 64,000 soldiers in Iraq. About 50,000 will remain until 2011 to train Iraqi forces and protect US interests. "The politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011... If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020."

YIKES.. my first ride to Sturgis was in 1984 and again in 1990 and 2005...the rally sure has changed!!! Pee-wee Herman adventures to SD biker rally to reconnect with fans, recreate 'Tequila dance' By: James MacPherson, The Associated Press STURGIS, S.D. - Mean machines and burly bikers didn't draw Amanda White to the world's largest motorcycle rally. She had her sights set on a bow-tied nerd in an ill-fitting grey plaid suit: Pee-wee Herman. Actor Paul Reubens is reintroducing Pee-wee — his alter ego and 1980s cult character — to fans at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, which is expected to draw more than 500,000 people this week. "I call it my Pee-wee pilgrimage," said White, a 29-year-old Minneapolis school teacher who drove 10 hours to the rally and had Reubens autograph her bicycle seat. "I'm a huge Pee-wee fan." White is not alone. Plenty of Pee-wee fans have flocked to the Buffalo Chip campground outside Sturgis to see Reubens&

It's one of the things that defines us By: David Connors What are Winnipeg's institutions? I don't mean hospitals and corporate headquarters. I mean the things that define us as a city. Would that list include the Bridge Drive Inn? The Jets? (The dream, at least, lives on... and on and on.) The Blue Bombers? (Well, let's see how they do in the Banjo Bowl before we decide on that one.) A friend recently emailed me a copy of the 1958 Winnipeg Visitors Guide. It was the big ad for Eaton's that set me off on this particular tangent. Remember Eaton's? In the same guide, an ad for the Childs Restaurant boasts, "If you visit us once, you'll return." If only we could; its menu featured steamed Lake Winnipeg goldeye (whatever happened to that Winnipeg institution?). The restaurant, alas, was torn down to make way for the Canwest building. Will that organization become a Winnipeg institution? That's anybody's guess right now. Mama Trossi's was an