Anyway, I had the thrill of hoisting up the Ed Cheynoweth trophy on Friday night when the Hitmen defeated the Tri-City Americans in five games at the Saddledome to become WHL champions. It was 11 years to the very day that I held the same cup with the 1999 Hitmen and it's been a long, tough road to be back on top once again. Congrats to the entire staff and team. It was a great season and I had a strong feeling at the very beginning of the season that this would be their year. Congratulations to coach Mike Williamson, Kelly Kisio, Joel Otto, and all the hardworking players for such a great effort all year long. Next, it'll be the Memorial Cup in Brandon. I see a fantastic head-on collision with the Windsor Spitfires; there should be some great junior hockey next week. Go Hitmen go!

Prior to that, I was in Toronto on behalf of March of Dimes and Stroke Awareness to throw out the first pitch between the Blue Jays and the Oakland A's. After seeing fellow Calgarian, Dany Heatley of the San Jose Sharks, burn a pitch way left and in the dirt at a San Francisco Giants game the night before and, of course, a last minute dump of Calgary snow, I had no chance to practice or loosen my arm up. Luckily, Jays pitcher Shaun Marcum was good enough to let me toss a couple in the stadium hallway before I threw a perfect strike in front of the live crowd.

And even prior to that, I was in Richmond, Virginia doing Raw and watching Hart history being made as the Hart Dynasty won the Unified Tag Team titles against ShowMiz after beating them the night before in Baltimore, Maryland at the Extreme Rules PPV; seeing how truly proud they all were to live out a lifelong dream right there in front of their uncle and a crowd going nuts. Sometimes I can barely remember this stuff. Being stuck in Europe, the volcanic ash, Joe Legend, Monday Night Raw in London, touring both Smackdown and Raw, and before that, WrestleMania 26. Did all that stuff really happen? What an adventure. Life is good. My son, Blade just told me I've got a US title shot next week in Toronto. News to me. The Hartbeat goes on. -Bret