All World Hockey by T. Michael Travers

The City that's frozen in time. POMPEII was a vibrant city of 20,000 residents when the volcanic mountain, Vesuvius, from 5 miles away, erupted and dumped 13 to 20 feet of ash on the unsuspecting residents of the seaside town in 79 AD. We first visited the ruins of Pompeii about 15 years ago. Even though the site attracts 2.5 million paying visitors each year,  it needed better caretakers.  During our first visit, the place was covered in overgrown weeds and buildings that looked beyond repair. They didn't understand that visitors like me needed better visuals to have an understanding of how people lived there. That's all changed.  You gotta go. The 2024 version of the ruins at Pompeii doesn't resemble what we saw years ago. In fact, our 3-hour tour showed us a totally different place. A town of real homes with real 2,000-year-old frescos adorning the walls of everyday people's homes located on one-way streets. Grocery stores and delicatessens and public baths and b

20 years ago, we visited Florence, Italy, the home of David. You know  David.   He's from the  Old Testament  ...  David and Goliath. The Bible states that the young, Jewish, shepherd challenged the evil giant, Goliath and won. His image of victory was the subject of the most famous sculpture in history by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni in 1504. You may know the artist as, simply,  Michelangelo because he also painted a few things.  It took him 3 years to put the finishing touches on his masterpiece that was originally destined to be placed on top of the Florence cathedral. The Art Council of Florence along with advice from Michelangelo's creative competition, Da Vinci and Botticelli changed its mind when they saw the final product and ordered to have the masterpiece placed at the Palazzo della Signoria where visitors could get a better look.  Michelangelo's unsigned, 17' tall statue was his calling card to announce that he was the most gifted artist/sculp

  Frank Selke Jr. and I drove to Port Colborne, Ontario  to visit the greatest Maple Leaf ever. Frank Selke Jr. You may remember ... Frank was a 1950 - 60s Montreal Canadien publicity manager and senior Hab executive when his father was the team’s, General Manager. Frank was very quotable, especially in hockey matters. "We had a rookie with the Canadiens ... at training camp, he was fabulous, skated like the wind, stickhandled like a magician. But, when the game started, he had the heart of a mouse".  Frank Selke Jr. hated the "Junior" reference so, of course,  the Hab's captain, "Rocket" Richard and Jean Beliveau, only ever called him "Junior".  Frank in a post-playoff game interview with Johnny Bower and Gordie Howe Following his time with the Habs, "Junior" moved to Toronto and the  Canadian Sports Network and the Hockey Night in Canada - English telecasts. He created the style and quality of player interviews on HNIC that even