Members of the Winnipeg media competed alongside University of Manitoba Bison football athletes Wednesday in the 8th annual Media Wing Off contest.

The yearly tradition at Smitty’s is held to end the Bisons’ regular season and look ahead to the fall. Competitors had five minutes to eat as many chicken wings as they could to be declared victorious.

Over the years there have been a handful of techniques that participants have tried, including dipping the wings in water to cool them off. Others choose to take their time and leisurely eat the chicken off the bone.

This year’s top three spots were claimed by the Global Winnipeg team, with Morning News co-host Derek Taylor holding down 43 wings. Taylor’s win now makes him a three-time champion.

Results:

1. Derek Taylor — Global Winnipeg — 43 wings
2. Mitch Rosset — Global Winnipeg — 40
3. Russ Hobson — Global Winnipeg — 35
4. Jay Richardson — TSN Radio 1290 — 34
5. Michael Elves (last year’s champion) – 101.5 UMFM — 32
6. Lloyd the Intern — Hot 103 — 19
7. Chris Laubenstein — Bison Football — 18
8. Marc Lagace — The Manitoban — 13
9. Chris Newby — Bison Football — 11
10. Hustler — TSN Radio 1290 — 6

ChrisD.ca video

Most Winnipeg Jets fans are likely well seasoned at yelling out, “Go Jets Go!” at home games by now. In fact, many probably exercised their vocal chords quite well on May 31 in Winnipeg streets after the team’s return was announced.

For those that need a little practice, however, a vocal teacher at the University of Manitoba has some pointers.

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Mel Braun says the key to projecting a loud chant is to open up your throat wide like you do when drinking a beverage. Another tip he has is to perform Kegel exercises — contracting and relaxing your pelvic muscles.

Crews were hard at work Tuesday demolishing what’s left of the historic Grain Exchange Curling Club.

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The once-hopping rink at 75 Fort Street hosted the 123rd MCA Bonspiel in January this year — the last major tournament to play on the ice. The club, originally built in 1928, officially closed its doors in April.

Many longtime members have since joined the Granite Curling Club.

Once the site is cleaned up, it will serve as Upper Fort Garry’s new $19 million interpretive centre.

ChrisD.ca video/WpgCameraMan

A handful of activists with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) staged a demonstration Thursday in a Winnipeg industrial park.

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Wrapped in cellophane and wearing next to no clothing, the demonstrators laid on the ground to represent packaged meat covered in blood outside of Dunn-Rite Food Products.

The campaign has been staged in other cities to draw attention to the slaughtering of animals.

The peaceful demonstration drew many stares from passersby, as PETA communicated its messages, “If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls … Go Vegan!” and “Meat Is Murder.”

ChrisD.ca video/WpgCameraMan

A longer than normal amber light in the city’s downtown is raising a few eyebrows this week.

On Monday, our camera caught a nearly nine second amber light at the intersection of Fort Street and York Avenue heading northbound.

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A City of Winnipeg spokesperson couldn’t immediately say if the light was in fact malfunctioning or not, but did note amber lights should be held for no more than four seconds.

Earlier this year, the group Wise Up Winnipeg presented a report to the Executive Policy Committee on adding an extra second — not five — to amber lights to increase safety. The group claimed the added duration would also save motorists from getting dinged by the city’s multiple red light cameras unnecessarily.

The intersection in question where this amber light is wrongly timed includes a red light camera, but facing east on York.

Todd Dube of Wise Up Winnipeg says that intersection isn’t the only one in the city where this problem has occurred.

“What you filmed is simply that the mechanical timing-disk is getting jammed in the controller,” Dube said. “The ones at Sargent at Balmoral and Kennedy at St. Mary’s have problems with that too.”

Dube says if the malfunction had been occurring in the direction the red light camera faces, it would have already been fixed.

“Their (City of Winnipeg) contractor ACS would have reported a signal problem that was resulting in zero violations. What you really filmed was the safest intersection in Winnipeg — for however long it’s been malfunctioning. Most of those short 50 km/h intersections are adequate at 4.0 seconds however they should be 4.5 or 5.0 in winter conditions.”

ChrisD.ca video/WpgCameraMan

Three of Winnipeg’s premier radio stations are adjusting nicely to their spectacular state-of-the-art digital studios in St. James.

Corus Entertainment — housing CJOB, Power 97 and Groove FM — recently moved into the former CTV Winnipeg building at Polo Park and invited ChrisD.ca along for a tour on Tuesday.

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The building at 1440 Jack Blick Avenue is a major upgrade from the stations’ previous digs at 930 Portage Avenue, where CJOB had its headquarters since the 1960s.

Corus has been operating out of the remodeled building since March and held its official grand opening party with special guests last night.

Earlier this year, the city renamed the former Rapelje Avenue to Jack Blick Avenue, in honour of CJOB 68 founder J.O. Blick. Blick founded the station on March 11, 1946 and was a Second World War Veteran.

ChrisD.ca video/WpgCameraMan

While in Fargo over the weekend covering the flood, our photog came across a group of wild turkeys outside City Hall.

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There were reportedly 26 of them in total, as they inspected the dike to make sure it was holding up. OK, they were likely looking for something to eat given their fields are under several feet of water.

ChrisD.ca video/WpgCameraMan