This will be as regular of a feature as I can possibly make it, since Sunday night is a great time to cool down with a glass of scotch and recap everything we got to see over the course of the weekend.
Jarome Iginla scores 1000th point, used to play for a lousy General Manager
When I was about six or seven years old, one of the books that ended up in mine and my brother's bookcase was a light read chronicling all National Hockey Players with 1000 points in their careers. Early on I gained an understanding and an appreciation for the players who held on long enough to still be effective late in their careers.
The first player I remember consciously seeing score his 1000th point was Doug Gilmour. I don't remember the play (but thank Youtube I can revisit it) but I do remember his Toronto Maple Leaf teammates stormed off the bench and mobbed him, only to have the goal disallowed for whatever reason. It was a dress rehearsal, and the real thing happened later in the game.
Showing posts with label Toronto Blue Jays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toronto Blue Jays. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The Jays trade Vernon Wells
There was a time when Vernon Wells was a fan favourite in Toronto Blue Jay colours, and he managed to parlay that reputation into one of the most bloated, unforgivable contracts in Major League Baseball history, a back-loaded 7-year, $126 million deal.
Baseball is a funny thing, and, particularly in the AL East, when so much time is spent competing against the payrolls of the Red Sox and Yankees and not necessarily the teams themselves. Former Blue Jay General Manager JP Ricciardi knew this and handicapped the team by playing with his cheque book rather than his mathematic smarts. If we learned anything from Moneyball, wherein Ricciardi plays a prominent role, it's that All-Star production is more easily replaceable than All-Star talent. By signing Wells, and by extension, Alex Rios, to large deals, Ricciardi ignored all that had a chance to make him successful.
Baseball is a funny thing, and, particularly in the AL East, when so much time is spent competing against the payrolls of the Red Sox and Yankees and not necessarily the teams themselves. Former Blue Jay General Manager JP Ricciardi knew this and handicapped the team by playing with his cheque book rather than his mathematic smarts. If we learned anything from Moneyball, wherein Ricciardi plays a prominent role, it's that All-Star production is more easily replaceable than All-Star talent. By signing Wells, and by extension, Alex Rios, to large deals, Ricciardi ignored all that had a chance to make him successful.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Blue Jays trade for Brett Lawrie
Growing up and playing baseball in the Lower Mainland, every single road game was played on a field named after a Major League ballplayer. My summer league team would play at Larry Walker Field in Ridge Meadows, Justin Morneau Park in New Westminister, and we took the ferry to play at Ryan Dempster Field in the remote logging town of Gibsons, BC, at a park where the outfield fence was covered by weeds.
(Best 0-10 season ever, by the way)
One day, Langley, BC may be one of those players. Brett Lawrie was selected 16th overall in the 2008 MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, and whaddya know, he is property of the Toronto Blue Jays; for now.
(Best 0-10 season ever, by the way)
One day, Langley, BC may be one of those players. Brett Lawrie was selected 16th overall in the 2008 MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, and whaddya know, he is property of the Toronto Blue Jays; for now.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Critical praise: Jose Bautista's go-ahead shot in the eigth
Toronto's 3-2 win over the New York Yankees Monday night wasn't a playoff game, but it could have been. Jose Bautista had one of those nights again, with two home runs, knocking in all three.
But his go-ahead home run in the eighth inning was a thing of beauty, and will go down as one of those "all-time" Blue Jays highlights for four reasons:
1 - It was against the Yankees, which meant that the Rogers Centre had a terrific turnout. 29,198 people came out to the ballpark--9,000 over average. Of course, that accounts for a number of Yankee fans who made the trip North for the series, but the crowd was decidedly pro-Blue Jays, and closer Kevin Gregg's performance in the closing moments seemed like it blew the retractable roof off the place, or it seemed that way on TV.
2 - During Bautista's last at-bat before the home run, the benches cleared after a pitch got away from Yankee starter Ivan Nova and nearly clocked Bautista in the head. After Cito Gaston and Yunel Escobar were tossed earlier in the game for arguing balls and strikes. The game became far more important as it wore on.
3 - It was his 40th home run. No Blue Jay has hit 40 home runs since Carlos Delgado in 2003, and particularly awesome because of the bat flip that came at the end.
4 - Damien Cox.
Video via MLB.com
But don't take my word for it. What do the real critics have to say?
When Jose Bautista launched his game-winning home run to left field in the eighth inning that provided the Toronto Blue Jays (65-59) with a scrappy 3-2 victory over the Yankees (77-48) Monday night at Rogers Centre, his deliberate journey around the bases had added meaning.
-Robert MacLeod, The Globe and Mail
all of the hesitancy and maintained composure that Jays fans had exhibited over the past season fell by the wayside yesterday evening. Like most heroes, all it took was the sight of Bautista overcoming adversity to accomplish what he set out to do. And to the gratefulness of all Jays fans, he set out to win the game with a single swing of the bat.
-Zoolander34, Drunk Jays Fans
This is a big moment for Bautista. Jays fans haven't been sure how to react to his success. But what happened Monday night — defying the Yankees, and a PED insinuation — will endear him to Toronto.
-David Brown, Big League Stew
Bautista's jog around the bases lasted 28 seconds and he soaked up every step as the Yankees watched. After finally planting his foot on home plate, he pumped his fist repeatedly as the crowd inside Rogers Centre roared with approval.
-Jordan Bastian, MLB.com
[Above image courtesy of Zoolander34]
Jose Bautista accused by Damien Cox of being a Toronto Blue Jay
Before Steve Simmons was making dumb statements online, there was Damien Cox.
Damien Cox... Damien Cox seems to have mastered the art of making bold statements without actually making bold statements. His latest 'Star' column is accusing Jose Bautista, who hit 2 home runs in a 3-2 Blue Jay win over the Yankees Monday night, of taking drugs.
This seems to be an implication that not just Bautista, but ever single Toronto Blue Jay in the team's history has been juicing. "Joe Carter? He played for the same organization as Troy Glaus. Think about it, guys: Pat Hentgen played in Skydome, LIKE ROGER CLEMENS DID!!!!"
The beauty with Cox is that he can get away with making his stupid, baseless arguments because he's not alleging that Jose Bautista's cap size has grown by 1000% over the last three months. He's alleging Jose Bautista to have played for an organization that has had some players with steroid problems, like every single Major League Baseball team for the last twenty years.
The post had the side-effect of inspiring a "Cox Bloc" post, where Godd Till alleges that Damien Cox is taking drugs because other writers take drugs, and the argument is virtually the same.
But one is intentionally funny, and the other is just pure stupidity.
After the game, Cox took to Twitter, where he was either distancing himself from his argument or providing further evidence.
"So adorable to watch baseball media circling the wagons. Just like they did with McGwire. . .and Sosa. . .and Clemens. . .and Zaun. . . ."
"Don't forget, it wasn't baseball media that brought down Bonds. They watched McGwire openly keep stuff in his locker, cheered him on."
"My favourite so far is the one that delivers a solemn lecture on ethics and reporting in the cyber era. Gosh, we are so impressed."
I don't get this guy. He's trying to circle the media wagons around Bautista, like they did for McGwire. But now the media are cheering McGwire on and, because we're in the cyber era we're... wait... what?
Damien Cox... Damien Cox seems to have mastered the art of making bold statements without actually making bold statements. His latest 'Star' column is accusing Jose Bautista, who hit 2 home runs in a 3-2 Blue Jay win over the Yankees Monday night, of taking drugs.
The great news for Bautista is that these numbers will surely net him an enormous increase on his current $2.4 million salary when his contract expires. That would motivate any player to find a way to improve his stats.
The Blue Jays, we know, have quietly become known as a bit of a nest for alleged steroid abusers over the years. Clemens played here. Gregg Zaun has been implicated. Ditto for Troy Glaus.
And now comes Bautista. Blue Jay fans will, of course, angrily respond to the suggestion that everything isn't on the up-and-up, just as I remember getting bushels of bitter emails from baseball fans when questioning Mark McGwire's open use of androstenedione back when he was smashing Roger Maris' record.
This seems to be an implication that not just Bautista, but ever single Toronto Blue Jay in the team's history has been juicing. "Joe Carter? He played for the same organization as Troy Glaus. Think about it, guys: Pat Hentgen played in Skydome, LIKE ROGER CLEMENS DID!!!!"
The beauty with Cox is that he can get away with making his stupid, baseless arguments because he's not alleging that Jose Bautista's cap size has grown by 1000% over the last three months. He's alleging Jose Bautista to have played for an organization that has had some players with steroid problems, like every single Major League Baseball team for the last twenty years.
The post had the side-effect of inspiring a "Cox Bloc" post, where Godd Till alleges that Damien Cox is taking drugs because other writers take drugs, and the argument is virtually the same.
But one is intentionally funny, and the other is just pure stupidity.
After the game, Cox took to Twitter, where he was either distancing himself from his argument or providing further evidence.
"So adorable to watch baseball media circling the wagons. Just like they did with McGwire. . .and Sosa. . .and Clemens. . .and Zaun. . . ."
"Don't forget, it wasn't baseball media that brought down Bonds. They watched McGwire openly keep stuff in his locker, cheered him on."
"My favourite so far is the one that delivers a solemn lecture on ethics and reporting in the cyber era. Gosh, we are so impressed."
I don't get this guy. He's trying to circle the media wagons around Bautista, like they did for McGwire. But now the media are cheering McGwire on and, because we're in the cyber era we're... wait... what?
Monday, August 9, 2010
The weekend in Blue Jays
Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the trade
Toronto somehow managed to sweep the American League Wild Card leading Tampa Bay Rays this week, pulling themselves to within a not insurmountable, yet distant, eight games out of a playoff berth.
That doesn't really matter anymore. The Jays have won consecutive games on the backs of two dominant individual performances.
It started Saturday with the call-up J.P. Arencibia. It's a tough name to spell, but he had one of those debuts that would have found its way into a movie script if Apollo Creed pitched for the Rays. Arencibia went 4-for-5, with two home runs, including one on his first big-league pitch.
Arencibia didn't just explode onto the scene. As Dustin Parkes of DrunkJaysFans mentioned via Twitter on Wednesday after John Buck's injury, "Trying to imagine what Twitter would look like if the Yankees had just called up a catcher hitting .303/.360/.639/.998 with 31 bombs in AAA."
Call To The Pen has a great breakdown of where Arencibia came from, what his numbers look like and where he can go from here.
Anybody who made the trip down to Toronto to catch a couple of ball games certainly got their money's worth, because Arencibia's debut probably wasn't even the best performances of the weekend.
Brandon Morrow (also known as the guy traded for Brandon League as part of the elaborate Roy Halladay trade) came within one batter of a no-hitter on Sunday, with Joe Carter in attendance.
The Jays knocked off the Rays 1-0. It was admirable (for lack of better adjective in this instance) of manager Cito Gaston to keep Morrow in with two runners on in the ninth up by just one, to allow Morrow to finish off his first complete game, and his first complete game shutout.
More amazing than the no-hit bid were the 17 strikeouts, which is the most by a Blue Jay in history not named Roger Clemens. Many people have, thus, been talking about Morrow's trade from Seattle, in an, 'oh, you shouldn't have done that,' sort of fashion. Most notably of these, Bill Simmons.
So can we evaluate where the Blue Jays stand with 'The Doc Deal' looming less than a year behind us? No, but just for a weekend, it became cool to talk about the Blue Jays and not get all teary-eyed about Doc at the same time.
Toronto somehow managed to sweep the American League Wild Card leading Tampa Bay Rays this week, pulling themselves to within a not insurmountable, yet distant, eight games out of a playoff berth.
That doesn't really matter anymore. The Jays have won consecutive games on the backs of two dominant individual performances.
It started Saturday with the call-up J.P. Arencibia. It's a tough name to spell, but he had one of those debuts that would have found its way into a movie script if Apollo Creed pitched for the Rays. Arencibia went 4-for-5, with two home runs, including one on his first big-league pitch.
Arencibia didn't just explode onto the scene. As Dustin Parkes of DrunkJaysFans mentioned via Twitter on Wednesday after John Buck's injury, "Trying to imagine what Twitter would look like if the Yankees had just called up a catcher hitting .303/.360/.639/.998 with 31 bombs in AAA."
Call To The Pen has a great breakdown of where Arencibia came from, what his numbers look like and where he can go from here.
Anybody who made the trip down to Toronto to catch a couple of ball games certainly got their money's worth, because Arencibia's debut probably wasn't even the best performances of the weekend.
Brandon Morrow (also known as the guy traded for Brandon League as part of the elaborate Roy Halladay trade) came within one batter of a no-hitter on Sunday, with Joe Carter in attendance.
The Jays knocked off the Rays 1-0. It was admirable (for lack of better adjective in this instance) of manager Cito Gaston to keep Morrow in with two runners on in the ninth up by just one, to allow Morrow to finish off his first complete game, and his first complete game shutout.
More amazing than the no-hit bid were the 17 strikeouts, which is the most by a Blue Jay in history not named Roger Clemens. Many people have, thus, been talking about Morrow's trade from Seattle, in an, 'oh, you shouldn't have done that,' sort of fashion. Most notably of these, Bill Simmons.
So can we evaluate where the Blue Jays stand with 'The Doc Deal' looming less than a year behind us? No, but just for a weekend, it became cool to talk about the Blue Jays and not get all teary-eyed about Doc at the same time.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Thousands of Torontonians protest Roy Halladay's Philadelphia start
That's what it was about, right?
Holy moly. Why any city would want to host the thing is beyond me.
Roy Halladay, in his "return" to Toronto, threw seven innings, striking out four. The game was played in front of just over 43,000 people, which is technically the best attendance figure for a Blue Jays home game this season.
Major League Baseball, instead of simply rescheduling the damn series, moved the three games against the Phillies to Philadelphia. As if that wasn't enough to patronize the few remaining Jays fans, they dressed Toronto in white, Philly in red, and let Toronto bat last.
It just looks so stupid.
Oh, and Toronto lost 9-0. Technically their worst home loss of the season.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Neil owes $2.4 mil, idle Jays draft
Your Tuesday headlines
-Due to blogger being down yesterday, we could not bring you the headlines. Unfortunately, they were very funny, and only our esteemed editor had a chance to read them.
-First off, it appears that Ottawa Senators forward Chris Neil has been in debt for quite some time.
Luckily, the man has all kinds of talent to fall back on.
-The Blue Jays drafted Deck McGuire, a future KRIO Action 7! News team anchor, with the 11th pick in the draft. The guy sounds totally badass, and, as a Blue Jays right hander, would probably only blow 30 saves a year!
-Here's a blog post comparing Chris Pronger to Gordie Howe in a way that does not stretch as much as it could. Pronger has had two horrible games these playoffs, in which times the goalie has been pulled.
-Joey Votto went 0-for-3. Had Michael Saunders not hit a three-run homer, we'd have been doomed at the next Baseball Classic.
===
Okay, we're done. We need sleepz.
-Due to blogger being down yesterday, we could not bring you the headlines. Unfortunately, they were very funny, and only our esteemed editor had a chance to read them.
-First off, it appears that Ottawa Senators forward Chris Neil has been in debt for quite some time.
Luckily, the man has all kinds of talent to fall back on.
-The Blue Jays drafted Deck McGuire, a future KRIO Action 7! News team anchor, with the 11th pick in the draft. The guy sounds totally badass, and, as a Blue Jays right hander, would probably only blow 30 saves a year!
-Here's a blog post comparing Chris Pronger to Gordie Howe in a way that does not stretch as much as it could. Pronger has had two horrible games these playoffs, in which times the goalie has been pulled.
-Joey Votto went 0-for-3. Had Michael Saunders not hit a three-run homer, we'd have been doomed at the next Baseball Classic.
===
Okay, we're done. We need sleepz.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
QMJHL draft-day trade shuts down Montreal radio
Your Sunday morning headlines
-Montreal Canadien draft-pick and future Hall of Fame winger Louis Leblanc, the hometown hero of Habstown, had his rights traded from Chicoutimi to the Montreal Junior 'Q' team, prompting speculation that he'll drop out of Harvard to play a year of junior in his hometown, giving Habs fans a reason to riot again.
You might not speak French, but you won't really want to. In this post, we're convinced that Leblanc can just as easily continue his studies at McGill University while he plays for the Junior. Hell, Bob McKenzie, a media leader in not jumping the shark, tweeted that he'd be "shocked if [Leblanc] doesn't leave Harvard for Q."
Anything to make people in Montreal care about the 'Q' again. The picture above Leblanc at Habs development camp yesterday, a snapshot that also made the rounds.
-From universal obsession to the completely overlooked, the Blue Jays beat the Yankees on a second straight day by a 3-2 score, with Aaron Hill knocking in the winning run in the bottom of the 14th in what was actually a pretty good game. Vernon Wells and Alex Gonzalez homered, bringing the team total to 96 on the year, 18 dingers above the next highest team in baseball, the Red Sox. The team has also struck out 427 batters, good for fourth in both leagues and just three behind the Dodgers, leading the category. Pretty soon there is going to be no reason to not watch the Blue Jays. It's a scary thought.
-Across town at BMO field, there is no danger of that happening with the local Reds, or 'Toronto FC' as they call them in soccer circles. They drew 0-0 on the road to the Kansas City Wizards yesterday, prompting one F.C. blogger to take pleasure in the upcoming World Cup break, since it means he won't have to watch F.C. for a while.
-Not his strongest outing of the year, but Ryan Dempster won another game, he's now 4-5 on the year, as the Cubs beat the Astros 8-5. He gave up six hits, two homers, and walked a couple, but managed to strike out seven. Justin Morneau was given the day off in a Twinkie 4-3 win over the As (although he managed to come in for a heroic pinch-hit walk in the 9th, before heroically being pulled for J.J. Hardy, who scored the winning run) and Jason Bay should have been given the day off. He went 0-for-4 with two Ks.
===
With the Belmont Stakes today, horse racing's triple crown season is over. Next up on jockey's to-do lists: workouts with the Montreal Canadiens.
-Montreal Canadien draft-pick and future Hall of Fame winger Louis Leblanc, the hometown hero of Habstown, had his rights traded from Chicoutimi to the Montreal Junior 'Q' team, prompting speculation that he'll drop out of Harvard to play a year of junior in his hometown, giving Habs fans a reason to riot again.
You might not speak French, but you won't really want to. In this post, we're convinced that Leblanc can just as easily continue his studies at McGill University while he plays for the Junior. Hell, Bob McKenzie, a media leader in not jumping the shark, tweeted that he'd be "shocked if [Leblanc] doesn't leave Harvard for Q."
Anything to make people in Montreal care about the 'Q' again. The picture above Leblanc at Habs development camp yesterday, a snapshot that also made the rounds.
-From universal obsession to the completely overlooked, the Blue Jays beat the Yankees on a second straight day by a 3-2 score, with Aaron Hill knocking in the winning run in the bottom of the 14th in what was actually a pretty good game. Vernon Wells and Alex Gonzalez homered, bringing the team total to 96 on the year, 18 dingers above the next highest team in baseball, the Red Sox. The team has also struck out 427 batters, good for fourth in both leagues and just three behind the Dodgers, leading the category. Pretty soon there is going to be no reason to not watch the Blue Jays. It's a scary thought.
-Across town at BMO field, there is no danger of that happening with the local Reds, or 'Toronto FC' as they call them in soccer circles. They drew 0-0 on the road to the Kansas City Wizards yesterday, prompting one F.C. blogger to take pleasure in the upcoming World Cup break, since it means he won't have to watch F.C. for a while.
-Not his strongest outing of the year, but Ryan Dempster won another game, he's now 4-5 on the year, as the Cubs beat the Astros 8-5. He gave up six hits, two homers, and walked a couple, but managed to strike out seven. Justin Morneau was given the day off in a Twinkie 4-3 win over the As (although he managed to come in for a heroic pinch-hit walk in the 9th, before heroically being pulled for J.J. Hardy, who scored the winning run) and Jason Bay should have been given the day off. He went 0-for-4 with two Ks.
===
With the Belmont Stakes today, horse racing's triple crown season is over. Next up on jockey's to-do lists: workouts with the Montreal Canadiens.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Morning Briefing - Saturday June 5th
Fin big in Game 4, Jays radio host suspended
-Ville Leino scored a lucky little goal off of the back of Kris Versteeg, and his Flyers survived a late charge to win 5-3 in Game 4, tying the series at two, bringing us back to Chicago. Patrick Kane finally got an assist in this one, but Jonathan Toews is still held off the scoresheet.
Captain Obvious sez: If the Chicago top line doesn't get it together, Philadelphia win this series. Joel Quenneville is making himself look stupid by continually allowing Philly to match up Chris Pronger with Dustin Byfuglien. Put Patrick Sharp back up on that line, make the line faster and skate around the guy.
Or, just keep doing what you're doing. You're the coach.
Also to note, how great has this series been?
-Here's a dissapointing story out of Toronto (surprisingly, that doesn't even involve the Leafs). Wilner, a host for the Toronto Blue Jays radio station, Fan 950, has the weekend off due to comments made about Cito Gaston after Gaston brutally mis-managed the final two games of the Tampa Bay series. Rogers Communications own the Blue Jays, the stadium, the Fan 950 and Rogers Sportsnet, who show every Blue Jays game this year.
Convergence is a wonderful thing. Oftentimes in sports we forget how important basic beat reporters are. People who cover the team and question decisions. This is a case of the Toronto Blue Jays attempting to control their communications, which they're fine to do, but the radio network and the Jays should work at arms length from each other.
Whether it's pro sports, amateur sports, or collegiate sports, no reporter who has been granted access should ever be barred from attending, asking questions, or reporting games. Newspapers and radio stations are not free advertising space for sports organizations, though it often works out that way.
I dislike Rogers Communications, and part of it comes from the way they have a monopoly on pro baseball in Canada. TSN and CBC no longer have the odd weekend games to show.
-Meanwhile, the Jays managed to hold onto a 9th inning lead for a change, winning 6-1 over the Yankees. Jose Bautista had two more home runs, and at one point was a trending topic on Twitter. Brett Cecil went eight strong, allowing just five hits.
I'm scared to write anything negative about the game, since the Jays might cut off my access to the team.
-Gibdan Hamdan, apparently a former NFL quarterback, retired from football at Argos camp today apparently after looking at himself in the mirror and decided he couldn't offer "100% dedication to the team."
Following his lead, the rest of the Argos left, citing the same problem. Like you would want to dress in powder blue on national TV and lose 15 games a year.
The development just means that we are ever so close to Glen Suitor publicly fellating Danny Brannagan when he throws a completion.
-Finally, Toronto's Laura Newcombe tied for 5th at the Scripps Spelling Bee after missing 'confiserie'. I can't really complain about her performance, because it took me three times to type the word with a cheet sheet on my other tab. There's a joke about the Canada's performances at international sporting events (specifically, the Olympics) somewhere in here, but I haven't found it yet.
At 11, the youngest speller in the final, it seems as if we have a child prodigy on our hands.
===
This is the Eh Factor, the 100% green-efficient sports blog. Suck it, BP.
-Ville Leino scored a lucky little goal off of the back of Kris Versteeg, and his Flyers survived a late charge to win 5-3 in Game 4, tying the series at two, bringing us back to Chicago. Patrick Kane finally got an assist in this one, but Jonathan Toews is still held off the scoresheet.
Captain Obvious sez: If the Chicago top line doesn't get it together, Philadelphia win this series. Joel Quenneville is making himself look stupid by continually allowing Philly to match up Chris Pronger with Dustin Byfuglien. Put Patrick Sharp back up on that line, make the line faster and skate around the guy.
Or, just keep doing what you're doing. You're the coach.
Also to note, how great has this series been?
-Here's a dissapointing story out of Toronto (surprisingly, that doesn't even involve the Leafs). Wilner, a host for the Toronto Blue Jays radio station, Fan 950, has the weekend off due to comments made about Cito Gaston after Gaston brutally mis-managed the final two games of the Tampa Bay series. Rogers Communications own the Blue Jays, the stadium, the Fan 950 and Rogers Sportsnet, who show every Blue Jays game this year.
Convergence is a wonderful thing. Oftentimes in sports we forget how important basic beat reporters are. People who cover the team and question decisions. This is a case of the Toronto Blue Jays attempting to control their communications, which they're fine to do, but the radio network and the Jays should work at arms length from each other.
Whether it's pro sports, amateur sports, or collegiate sports, no reporter who has been granted access should ever be barred from attending, asking questions, or reporting games. Newspapers and radio stations are not free advertising space for sports organizations, though it often works out that way.
I dislike Rogers Communications, and part of it comes from the way they have a monopoly on pro baseball in Canada. TSN and CBC no longer have the odd weekend games to show.
-Meanwhile, the Jays managed to hold onto a 9th inning lead for a change, winning 6-1 over the Yankees. Jose Bautista had two more home runs, and at one point was a trending topic on Twitter. Brett Cecil went eight strong, allowing just five hits.
I'm scared to write anything negative about the game, since the Jays might cut off my access to the team.
-Gibdan Hamdan, apparently a former NFL quarterback, retired from football at Argos camp today apparently after looking at himself in the mirror and decided he couldn't offer "100% dedication to the team."
Following his lead, the rest of the Argos left, citing the same problem. Like you would want to dress in powder blue on national TV and lose 15 games a year.
The development just means that we are ever so close to Glen Suitor publicly fellating Danny Brannagan when he throws a completion.
-Finally, Toronto's Laura Newcombe tied for 5th at the Scripps Spelling Bee after missing 'confiserie'. I can't really complain about her performance, because it took me three times to type the word with a cheet sheet on my other tab. There's a joke about the Canada's performances at international sporting events (specifically, the Olympics) somewhere in here, but I haven't found it yet.
At 11, the youngest speller in the final, it seems as if we have a child prodigy on our hands.
===
This is the Eh Factor, the 100% green-efficient sports blog. Suck it, BP.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Wednesday June 2nd - Morning Briefing
Pronger... and Angel Hernandez goes ape shit
-Philadelphia has had trouble with discipline in the Cup Finals. Chicago can't get its first line going. Neither team has played very well, and Chicago find themselves up 2-0. So what's the biggest story? Naturally, Chris Pronger picking up a puck and upsetting Ben Eager.
Down Goes Brown, everybody's favourite, has the latest on the absurdity, chronicling other "jerk" things Chris Pronger has done, prior to him stealing game pucks from the Cup Finals. [Down Goes Brown]
-What's the deal with Steve Nash's legacy? Tim Micallef uses sound bits from Charles Barkley to convince the world that Nash is a surefire Hall of Famer the minute he retires: [The Score]
Now... my friends and I had a debate over a glass of wine/rum/beer tonight, how many more years does Nash have left in him? My completely unfounded guess is six, based on the rate he's improved over the years. With Goran Dragic developing into a capable backup point guard, Nash will only need to play 30 minutes to give the Suns a good chance.
-If you happened to catch the Blue Jays yesterday, you hit the jackpot. Toronto played great until the 9th, when Kevin Gregg went all Little League on Tampa's hitters and threw five walks to allow the Rays to erase a 2-run Toronto lead and take one of their own. This came after Carlos Peña was not granted a timeout at bat, struck out, and forced Joe Maddon to come out and yell at home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Maddon was subsequently tossed, then went after Joe West for good measure.
The way Maddon acted was enough to make Joe West seem downright reasonable. He is the crew chief, but this is the same umpire who tossed Ozzie Guillen and Mark Buerhle for showing up to the ballpark last week. He is a major league umpire with his own publicist and country record, but Joe Maddon made him seem reasonable.
Either way, Gregg got tossed after Cito Gaston took him out of the game four batters too late, and the Jays came close to tieing the game in the bottom of the 9th, with Vernon Wells coming within a foot to the top of the wall to making it a 7-7 ball game. He settled for the RBI double, Jays drop a close, important one to Tampa.
Tomorrow is David Price (7-2) against Shawn Marcum (5-1). I advise you not to miss this one.
-Also starting tomorrow, Vancouver's Jeff Francis for Colorado against the Giants. More Canadians tonight, Justin Morneau homered, but the Twins lost 7-1 to Seattle. Joey Votto homered too for Cincinatti, but he also went 4-for-5 and his Reds beat the Cardinals 9-8. He also score three runs and took the lead in the National League batting race, two points ahead of Christian Guzman with .326, or .326 above the 'Aaron Hill Line.'
-CFL camps open tomorrow. Very excited for pigskin up here.
==
That's pretty well it. If I missed something, like a Brian Tallet perfect game, I'll be sure to pay full lip service tomorrow in a post directing you to somebody else's work. Have a great hump day.
-Philadelphia has had trouble with discipline in the Cup Finals. Chicago can't get its first line going. Neither team has played very well, and Chicago find themselves up 2-0. So what's the biggest story? Naturally, Chris Pronger picking up a puck and upsetting Ben Eager.
Down Goes Brown, everybody's favourite, has the latest on the absurdity, chronicling other "jerk" things Chris Pronger has done, prior to him stealing game pucks from the Cup Finals. [Down Goes Brown]
-What's the deal with Steve Nash's legacy? Tim Micallef uses sound bits from Charles Barkley to convince the world that Nash is a surefire Hall of Famer the minute he retires: [The Score]
Now... my friends and I had a debate over a glass of wine/rum/beer tonight, how many more years does Nash have left in him? My completely unfounded guess is six, based on the rate he's improved over the years. With Goran Dragic developing into a capable backup point guard, Nash will only need to play 30 minutes to give the Suns a good chance.
-If you happened to catch the Blue Jays yesterday, you hit the jackpot. Toronto played great until the 9th, when Kevin Gregg went all Little League on Tampa's hitters and threw five walks to allow the Rays to erase a 2-run Toronto lead and take one of their own. This came after Carlos Peña was not granted a timeout at bat, struck out, and forced Joe Maddon to come out and yell at home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Maddon was subsequently tossed, then went after Joe West for good measure.
The way Maddon acted was enough to make Joe West seem downright reasonable. He is the crew chief, but this is the same umpire who tossed Ozzie Guillen and Mark Buerhle for showing up to the ballpark last week. He is a major league umpire with his own publicist and country record, but Joe Maddon made him seem reasonable.
Either way, Gregg got tossed after Cito Gaston took him out of the game four batters too late, and the Jays came close to tieing the game in the bottom of the 9th, with Vernon Wells coming within a foot to the top of the wall to making it a 7-7 ball game. He settled for the RBI double, Jays drop a close, important one to Tampa.
Tomorrow is David Price (7-2) against Shawn Marcum (5-1). I advise you not to miss this one.
-Also starting tomorrow, Vancouver's Jeff Francis for Colorado against the Giants. More Canadians tonight, Justin Morneau homered, but the Twins lost 7-1 to Seattle. Joey Votto homered too for Cincinatti, but he also went 4-for-5 and his Reds beat the Cardinals 9-8. He also score three runs and took the lead in the National League batting race, two points ahead of Christian Guzman with .326, or .326 above the 'Aaron Hill Line.'
-CFL camps open tomorrow. Very excited for pigskin up here.
==
That's pretty well it. If I missed something, like a Brian Tallet perfect game, I'll be sure to pay full lip service tomorrow in a post directing you to somebody else's work. Have a great hump day.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tuesday June 1st - Morning Briefing
Pronger causes trouble, Jays continue to roll
-We've all played pickup sports with that kid who would pick up the ball and go home if a game didn't go his way. It turns out Chris Pronger is one of those guys.
If you don't have the luxury of the Sportscentre morning loop with Onrait and O'Toole, you may have not noticed that Pronger picked up the puck after the game (you can see it in his left glove at the 0:27 mark) and then flicked a towel at Ben Eager.
Of course, Philadelphia had lost their second straight one-goal game 2-1 this time, and Craig Simpson on CBC speculated that Pronger wanted to keep the puck away from the Blackhawks as a part of team history. Pronger will go down in history as a great defenseman, and also somewhat of a prick. The man might be better served getting his team ready for Game 3 in Philly rather than attempting to play jedi mind-tricks with Ben Eager. "You are not a goal scorer."
"I am not a goal scorer."
"This is not the puck you're looking for."
"This is not the puck we're looking for."
Pronger later said he didn't know what language Eager was speaking. Eager apparently came all the way across the ice to tell him "you can keep the puck."
Either way, this is sure to broil down to a bigger controversy than Greedo shooting first. It may be wise to avoid Nick Kypreos' opinion on this one.
-His numbers weren't spectacular and his form wasn't particularly impressive, but Brendan Morrow put together a solid outing and gave the Jays a huge win in their first of three against the Rays to improve to 4-4 on the year. The Jays knocked Tampa started Matt Garza (5-4) pretty well, but only had three runs to show for their 11 hits. Adam Lind hit an opposite-field shot in the first inning, Vernon Wells had two more hits and Aaron Hill went 3-for-4 to increase his batting average to a paltry .179.
-In more Jays news, the team will honour Roy Halladay with a jumbotron tribute sometime this week. In the comments of that story, commenter JoeKnowsIt points out that the Leafs did the same thing with Mats Sundin when he returned to Toronto as a Canuck. I guess the state of Toronto sports is that bad, where you've run out of players on your own teams to honour. I can't wait to see what kind of montage the Raptors have prepared for Hedo Turkgolu.
-Justin Morneau went 3-for-4 as the Twins beat the Mariners 5-4. Jason Bay went 0-fer with two strikeouts and the Mets got gulled by San Diego 16-8.
-CFL camps start this week, with the BC Lions practicing just down the road from The 'Eh' Factor's head offices in Kamloops. This means that chances are high that Casey Printers will overthrow a receiver during a drill and the ball will carry into my yard.
-Toronto FC's Dwayne De Rosario was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week with a two-goal performance against San Jose. This is the kind of momentum that's nice to see from Canadian players as we prepare for the World Cup.
===
I'm really anticipating the start of football season. I think I might spend that time avoiding getting called out in the letters page of community newspapers by anonymous gym teachers. That's a pretty tight burden. Jays are on later, and if you're feeling particularly groovy, you can stay up late and watch the Twins on the Pacific channel, 100 per cent Buck Martinez free.
-We've all played pickup sports with that kid who would pick up the ball and go home if a game didn't go his way. It turns out Chris Pronger is one of those guys.
If you don't have the luxury of the Sportscentre morning loop with Onrait and O'Toole, you may have not noticed that Pronger picked up the puck after the game (you can see it in his left glove at the 0:27 mark) and then flicked a towel at Ben Eager.
Of course, Philadelphia had lost their second straight one-goal game 2-1 this time, and Craig Simpson on CBC speculated that Pronger wanted to keep the puck away from the Blackhawks as a part of team history. Pronger will go down in history as a great defenseman, and also somewhat of a prick. The man might be better served getting his team ready for Game 3 in Philly rather than attempting to play jedi mind-tricks with Ben Eager. "You are not a goal scorer."
"I am not a goal scorer."
"This is not the puck you're looking for."
"This is not the puck we're looking for."
Pronger later said he didn't know what language Eager was speaking. Eager apparently came all the way across the ice to tell him "you can keep the puck."
Either way, this is sure to broil down to a bigger controversy than Greedo shooting first. It may be wise to avoid Nick Kypreos' opinion on this one.
-His numbers weren't spectacular and his form wasn't particularly impressive, but Brendan Morrow put together a solid outing and gave the Jays a huge win in their first of three against the Rays to improve to 4-4 on the year. The Jays knocked Tampa started Matt Garza (5-4) pretty well, but only had three runs to show for their 11 hits. Adam Lind hit an opposite-field shot in the first inning, Vernon Wells had two more hits and Aaron Hill went 3-for-4 to increase his batting average to a paltry .179.
-In more Jays news, the team will honour Roy Halladay with a jumbotron tribute sometime this week. In the comments of that story, commenter JoeKnowsIt points out that the Leafs did the same thing with Mats Sundin when he returned to Toronto as a Canuck. I guess the state of Toronto sports is that bad, where you've run out of players on your own teams to honour. I can't wait to see what kind of montage the Raptors have prepared for Hedo Turkgolu.
-Justin Morneau went 3-for-4 as the Twins beat the Mariners 5-4. Jason Bay went 0-fer with two strikeouts and the Mets got gulled by San Diego 16-8.
-CFL camps start this week, with the BC Lions practicing just down the road from The 'Eh' Factor's head offices in Kamloops. This means that chances are high that Casey Printers will overthrow a receiver during a drill and the ball will carry into my yard.
-Toronto FC's Dwayne De Rosario was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week with a two-goal performance against San Jose. This is the kind of momentum that's nice to see from Canadian players as we prepare for the World Cup.
===
I'm really anticipating the start of football season. I think I might spend that time avoiding getting called out in the letters page of community newspapers by anonymous gym teachers. That's a pretty tight burden. Jays are on later, and if you're feeling particularly groovy, you can stay up late and watch the Twins on the Pacific channel, 100 per cent Buck Martinez free.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 31st - Morning Briefing
Jays, Twins sweep. Dirk to Phoenix?
-Current ESPN know-it-all and future Vancouver Pacers General Manager Bill Simmons destroyed the internet in Arizona today with this tweet that suggested the possibility of a Steve Nash/Dirk Nowitzki reunion in Phoenix. Rumours have apparently been floating around for a while now. To me the situation is pretty far-fetched, seeing as both Nash and Nowitzki would be migrant workers taking the jobs of hard-working Americans, something that Arizona was supposed to run out of the state.
-In more basketball news, it was pretty much confirmed yesterday that Hedo Turkgolu wanted out of Toronto.
-Justin Morneau went 1-for-4 as the Twins doubled up on the Rangers 6-3, completing the sweep. The game's highlight came as Dernard Span caught the final out running in from centre (that's right, it's a Canadian blog) field and Orlando Hudson, apparantly not hearing Span call for the ball, clipped his shin. Hudson, the former gold glover with the Jays, stayed down for a while as the fans cheered the Twins win. I haven't seen a second baseman get up that slowly since the morning after Stubby Klapp earned his name.
-It was funny hat day atSkydome Rogers Centre:
That didn't seem to faze the Jays, who easily completed the sweep of the Orioles with a 6-1 win. Ricky Romero pitched a complete game, giving up the only run in the first inning and was just six hits and two walks shy of the second perfect game on as many days.
-Gibson, British Columbia's Ryan Dempster threw 6.2 innings before being chased by the Cardinals. He gave up nine hits and six earned runs with three walks to seven strikeouts and he drops to 3-5 on the year. St. Louis won 9-1, off of two homeruns by Albert Pujols. I can only imagine how many fruit flies were attracted by the Dempster/Pujols pitcher-to-batter combination in this game.
-Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimo... Zimongi... Zinmoji... Zimonjic made it to the men's quarter finals at the French Open in Doubles, defeating the host French pairing of Guillaume Ruffin and Alexandre Sidorenko 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3. They will play in the semifinals on Tuesday (Mardi in France) against two guys you've never heard of.
-The lead story on both Sportscentre and Sportsnet Connected was that a goalie who is 6-1 in the playoffs with a 1.96 GAA and a .930 save percentage will start in Game 2. Although considering Philly's revolving door of goalies ever since Ron Hextall left, perhaps it is headline news that the Flyers are starting the same goaltender on consecutive nights. Hell, Ray Emery never made it to the rink sober in consecutive weeks.
===
Today is going to be busy. Stanley Cup Finals, maybe some tennis action, and a couple of baseball games later. Toronto has a pretty important three-game series with the Tampa BayDevil Rays. For those in Sportsnet's Pacific Region (or have the channel) you can watch Justin Morneau play against the Seattle Mariners for the nightcap.
-Current ESPN know-it-all and future Vancouver Pacers General Manager Bill Simmons destroyed the internet in Arizona today with this tweet that suggested the possibility of a Steve Nash/Dirk Nowitzki reunion in Phoenix. Rumours have apparently been floating around for a while now. To me the situation is pretty far-fetched, seeing as both Nash and Nowitzki would be migrant workers taking the jobs of hard-working Americans, something that Arizona was supposed to run out of the state.
-In more basketball news, it was pretty much confirmed yesterday that Hedo Turkgolu wanted out of Toronto.
-Justin Morneau went 1-for-4 as the Twins doubled up on the Rangers 6-3, completing the sweep. The game's highlight came as Dernard Span caught the final out running in from centre (that's right, it's a Canadian blog) field and Orlando Hudson, apparantly not hearing Span call for the ball, clipped his shin. Hudson, the former gold glover with the Jays, stayed down for a while as the fans cheered the Twins win. I haven't seen a second baseman get up that slowly since the morning after Stubby Klapp earned his name.
-It was funny hat day at
That didn't seem to faze the Jays, who easily completed the sweep of the Orioles with a 6-1 win. Ricky Romero pitched a complete game, giving up the only run in the first inning and was just six hits and two walks shy of the second perfect game on as many days.
-Gibson, British Columbia's Ryan Dempster threw 6.2 innings before being chased by the Cardinals. He gave up nine hits and six earned runs with three walks to seven strikeouts and he drops to 3-5 on the year. St. Louis won 9-1, off of two homeruns by Albert Pujols. I can only imagine how many fruit flies were attracted by the Dempster/Pujols pitcher-to-batter combination in this game.
-Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimo... Zimongi... Zinmoji... Zimonjic made it to the men's quarter finals at the French Open in Doubles, defeating the host French pairing of Guillaume Ruffin and Alexandre Sidorenko 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3. They will play in the semifinals on Tuesday (Mardi in France) against two guys you've never heard of.
-The lead story on both Sportscentre and Sportsnet Connected was that a goalie who is 6-1 in the playoffs with a 1.96 GAA and a .930 save percentage will start in Game 2. Although considering Philly's revolving door of goalies ever since Ron Hextall left, perhaps it is headline news that the Flyers are starting the same goaltender on consecutive nights. Hell, Ray Emery never made it to the rink sober in consecutive weeks.
===
Today is going to be busy. Stanley Cup Finals, maybe some tennis action, and a couple of baseball games later. Toronto has a pretty important three-game series with the Tampa Bay
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday May 30: Morning Briefing
Halladay perfect, Nash out
-Roy Halladay... remember when he used to pitch for Toronto? Well, it turns out he's doing well in Philadelphia too. He was 6-3 and third in ERA in the National League coming into last night's game against Florida.
Oh. Hm. I guess that's pretty damn good. What could have been, eh Jays fans?
-What do you think will be on the front page of the Philadelphia Bugle Sports Section this morning? The story of some guy the Phillies got in a trade with a team from far up north? Of course not! Philadelphia lost Game 1 to the Blackhawks 6-5 in a game described to me as one "with terrible goaltending and even worse defense." Not without controversy! CBC showed footage of a puck hitting Tomas Kopecky on the bench, and minutes later, he jumped onto the ice and scored!
Okay, it's not quite up there with the non-call on the Gretzky high-stick, partly because Kopecky being hit by the puck had nothing to do with the fact that Brian Boucher refused to move his right leg, instead flailing at it with his stick à la Goldberg the Goalie from the first scene of The Mighty Ducks (when the team wasn't good).
-NBA playoffs. The Suns found themselves down 14 at the half and didn't have another miracle comeback in them (only to be sabotaged by Ron Artest. DRAAAGOOOOO!) and lost to the Lakers 111-103, meaning that the Lakers and Celtics will meet in the NBA finals for the 437th time. Steve Nash's ceremonious exit (21 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds) means that we can finally go back to concentrating on hockey. The fact that the two most destestable teams in the NBA meet in the finals have nothing to do with the fact that hockey will take precedence over basketball for the rest of the year.
Charles Barkley did say that Steve Nash represents all that is good about basketball. That has to count for something. It's also worth noting Nash is pretty much Barkley's exact opposite on the court.
-Did you know that the upcoming A-Team movie had some scenes filmed in Kamloops, British Columbia? Probably not. But B.A. Baracus, also known as Quentin "Rampage" Jackson, also fights people for a living. Foreshadowing the upcoming film's critical reception, he lost to Rashad Evans in a unanimous decision, the teammate of Montreal's Georges St. Pierre, who 'guest-Tweeted' the fight @ufc.
Considering GSP can't speak in English for 140 characters, I'm amazed he got two words in in all four tweets.
No Canadians were on the card, but the next UFC card, two weeks from now, is in Vancouver!
-The Blue Jays took the second game of the three game set with the Orioles, thanks in part to eight strong innings by Brett Cecil (5-3) and two dingers by Lyle Overbay. The Jays have won the second most games in the American League but are tied for third in the AL East. Justin Morneau went 1-for-3 with an RBI in a Minnesota 8-3 win over the Rangers, and Jason Bay went 2-for-5 in a losing cause against the Brewers. Bay left 4 runners on base.
-And, right at the bottom of the page, is your Major League Soccer update! Dwayne De Rosario scored two goals to lead Toronto FC over the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1. The Reds hold onto second place in the Eastern Division, and play next January 5th against Kansas City at BMO Field. I don't think I even need to STRESS how important that early season, inter-conference game is for the Canadian Nutri-Lite Champions.
===
It's Sunday, and unless you like baseball or cars driving around a circle, chances are you won't be watching sports. My afternoon project will consist of trying to kill that damn fly that's been buzzing around my kitchen screen window for the past two days.
-Roy Halladay... remember when he used to pitch for Toronto? Well, it turns out he's doing well in Philadelphia too. He was 6-3 and third in ERA in the National League coming into last night's game against Florida.
Oh. Hm. I guess that's pretty damn good. What could have been, eh Jays fans?
-What do you think will be on the front page of the Philadelphia Bugle Sports Section this morning? The story of some guy the Phillies got in a trade with a team from far up north? Of course not! Philadelphia lost Game 1 to the Blackhawks 6-5 in a game described to me as one "with terrible goaltending and even worse defense." Not without controversy! CBC showed footage of a puck hitting Tomas Kopecky on the bench, and minutes later, he jumped onto the ice and scored!
Okay, it's not quite up there with the non-call on the Gretzky high-stick, partly because Kopecky being hit by the puck had nothing to do with the fact that Brian Boucher refused to move his right leg, instead flailing at it with his stick à la Goldberg the Goalie from the first scene of The Mighty Ducks (when the team wasn't good).
-NBA playoffs. The Suns found themselves down 14 at the half and didn't have another miracle comeback in them (only to be sabotaged by Ron Artest. DRAAAGOOOOO!) and lost to the Lakers 111-103, meaning that the Lakers and Celtics will meet in the NBA finals for the 437th time. Steve Nash's ceremonious exit (21 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds) means that we can finally go back to concentrating on hockey. The fact that the two most destestable teams in the NBA meet in the finals have nothing to do with the fact that hockey will take precedence over basketball for the rest of the year.
Charles Barkley did say that Steve Nash represents all that is good about basketball. That has to count for something. It's also worth noting Nash is pretty much Barkley's exact opposite on the court.
-Did you know that the upcoming A-Team movie had some scenes filmed in Kamloops, British Columbia? Probably not. But B.A. Baracus, also known as Quentin "Rampage" Jackson, also fights people for a living. Foreshadowing the upcoming film's critical reception, he lost to Rashad Evans in a unanimous decision, the teammate of Montreal's Georges St. Pierre, who 'guest-Tweeted' the fight @ufc.
Considering GSP can't speak in English for 140 characters, I'm amazed he got two words in in all four tweets.
No Canadians were on the card, but the next UFC card, two weeks from now, is in Vancouver!
-The Blue Jays took the second game of the three game set with the Orioles, thanks in part to eight strong innings by Brett Cecil (5-3) and two dingers by Lyle Overbay. The Jays have won the second most games in the American League but are tied for third in the AL East. Justin Morneau went 1-for-3 with an RBI in a Minnesota 8-3 win over the Rangers, and Jason Bay went 2-for-5 in a losing cause against the Brewers. Bay left 4 runners on base.
-And, right at the bottom of the page, is your Major League Soccer update! Dwayne De Rosario scored two goals to lead Toronto FC over the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1. The Reds hold onto second place in the Eastern Division, and play next January 5th against Kansas City at BMO Field. I don't think I even need to STRESS how important that early season, inter-conference game is for the Canadian Nutri-Lite Champions.
===
It's Sunday, and unless you like baseball or cars driving around a circle, chances are you won't be watching sports. My afternoon project will consist of trying to kill that damn fly that's been buzzing around my kitchen screen window for the past two days.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday May 29th - Morning Briefing
Suns host Lakers in Game 6, Bettman sounds off
-Phoenix fights for for their playoff lives against the Lakers in Game 6 of the series, tonight at 8:30 PM on TSN. The way Nash has played these playoffs, if you miss this game, it's probably because you have to work. In other basketball news, Nate Robinson dominated the 2nd quarter with 13 points in the frame to put the game out of reach as the Celtics won 96-84 over the Magic. Fitting a small black guy would play that well on the day that Gary Coleman died.
-Meanwhile, at 8 PM, Chicago and Philly start their series. Refer to my previous post to decide who you want to cheer for. Both teams riding long Cup droughts, and both teams have horizontal stripes. Hard to cheer against either, unless you have a long standing personal vendetta against a player. And boy, oh boy, does my hatred for Blair Betts go far. (kidding)
-This is Gary Bettman finally being annoying on our side.
-UFC 114 plays tonight in Las Vegas. No Canadians on the card, but that won't stop us from watching. Rashad Evans and Quentin Jackson are the main event, with a feud dating back to last year's filming of 'The Ultimate Fighter' TV series. Jackson quit the UFC for his acting career, so he may have some ring-rust. Evans is coming off a controversial win over Thiago Silva, in which he won a boring fight but may have been knocked out briefly in the third round. The winner of this one gets to take on Shogun Rua, who recently took the light heavyweight belt from Lyoto Machida in Montreal.
-At the French Open, Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, QC, lost to Elena Dementieva in three sets. One of these days, Wozniak will have an opponent who's name I can pronounce.
-Toronto FC play the San Jose Earthquakes tonight, in what will assuredly be not in the top three most-watched sporting events in Canada. Just a heads-up.
-Taylor Hall didn't work out at the NHL draft combine. Tyler Seguin was above average on all the workouts (no shit). Taylor Hall will still go first, proving that the combine is pretty well meaningless and pretty much just an excuse for TSN to promote the World Juniors a little bit more.
-Finally, in baseball, the Blue Jays shut out the Orioles 5-0 thanks to a strong performance from Ricky Romero who went 6 strong, striking out 7 and not allowing a run. Aaron Hill went 2-4 with a homer to raise his average to .164 (still somehow below the Mendoza Line). Jason Bay was 1-4 as the Mets got shutout 2-0 by Milwaukee, and Justin Morneau was 0-2 but walked twice in a 2-0 win by the Twins over the Rangers. In other major league news, it turns out that a girl we hang out with is the cousin of Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster. Crazy.
---
It's Saturday, and there is lots going on. Some of you will be stuck at work all day, like me. For those that aren't, don't hang out at the beach. Do what I'd do. Sit inside and watch people bounce balls, play with sticks and beat each other up.
-Phoenix fights for for their playoff lives against the Lakers in Game 6 of the series, tonight at 8:30 PM on TSN. The way Nash has played these playoffs, if you miss this game, it's probably because you have to work. In other basketball news, Nate Robinson dominated the 2nd quarter with 13 points in the frame to put the game out of reach as the Celtics won 96-84 over the Magic. Fitting a small black guy would play that well on the day that Gary Coleman died.
-Meanwhile, at 8 PM, Chicago and Philly start their series. Refer to my previous post to decide who you want to cheer for. Both teams riding long Cup droughts, and both teams have horizontal stripes. Hard to cheer against either, unless you have a long standing personal vendetta against a player. And boy, oh boy, does my hatred for Blair Betts go far. (kidding)
-This is Gary Bettman finally being annoying on our side.
-UFC 114 plays tonight in Las Vegas. No Canadians on the card, but that won't stop us from watching. Rashad Evans and Quentin Jackson are the main event, with a feud dating back to last year's filming of 'The Ultimate Fighter' TV series. Jackson quit the UFC for his acting career, so he may have some ring-rust. Evans is coming off a controversial win over Thiago Silva, in which he won a boring fight but may have been knocked out briefly in the third round. The winner of this one gets to take on Shogun Rua, who recently took the light heavyweight belt from Lyoto Machida in Montreal.
-At the French Open, Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, QC, lost to Elena Dementieva in three sets. One of these days, Wozniak will have an opponent who's name I can pronounce.
-Toronto FC play the San Jose Earthquakes tonight, in what will assuredly be not in the top three most-watched sporting events in Canada. Just a heads-up.
-Taylor Hall didn't work out at the NHL draft combine. Tyler Seguin was above average on all the workouts (no shit). Taylor Hall will still go first, proving that the combine is pretty well meaningless and pretty much just an excuse for TSN to promote the World Juniors a little bit more.
-Finally, in baseball, the Blue Jays shut out the Orioles 5-0 thanks to a strong performance from Ricky Romero who went 6 strong, striking out 7 and not allowing a run. Aaron Hill went 2-4 with a homer to raise his average to .164 (still somehow below the Mendoza Line). Jason Bay was 1-4 as the Mets got shutout 2-0 by Milwaukee, and Justin Morneau was 0-2 but walked twice in a 2-0 win by the Twins over the Rangers. In other major league news, it turns out that a girl we hang out with is the cousin of Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster. Crazy.
---
It's Saturday, and there is lots going on. Some of you will be stuck at work all day, like me. For those that aren't, don't hang out at the beach. Do what I'd do. Sit inside and watch people bounce balls, play with sticks and beat each other up.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Morning Briefing: Friday May 27th
Suns drop heartbreaker, Twins avoid Yankee sweep
-The Suns loss has settled in, full TSN highlights can be found here. Sweet redemption for Ron Artest, who had two big misses in the waning minutes. Victoria's Steve Nash had a team-high 29 points and 11 assists and was 12-of-20 from the field. This was one of the greatest basketball games I've ever seen, which is saying something because I used to take in about 30 Vancouver Grizzlies games a year.
-New Westminster's Justin Morneau went 2-for-2 and the Minnesota Twins beat the Yankees 8-2 to avoid a sweep, and maintain a game-and-a-half lead in the American League Central. The idle Blue Jays are mired in the middle of a statistical anamoly. Their 27 wins is tied for 5th in all of baseball, yet somehow they lie in 4th place in the American League East. That will change, with a three-game set coming up against the Baltimore Orioles. Check your local listings. The scheduled pitchers for the Orioles are Kevin Millwood, Chris Tillman and Jeremy Guthrie, who have combined for three wins this year.
-The City of Ottawa has introduced plans to renovate Landsdowne Park with a new stadium. This is an artists rendering of the new building, complete with Renegades fans packing the house:
-In junior hockey news, Travis Hamonic of the Brandon Wheat Kings, and former Canadian Junior Team member, has signed with the New York Islanders to an entry-level deal. Just for kicks, let's watch that video of him knocking the piss out of Taylor Hall:
Hamonic will qualify as an overager next season, so there's a possibility to see him on NHL ice next year, although with the condition of Nassau Coliseum these days, that will only happen during away games.
-Twitter and Live Blogging didn't exist back in 1993, but that doesn't mean that we can't pretend Game 6 of the '93 Western Conference Finals between Toronto and Los Angeles wasn't extensively covered. Brilliance from Down Goes Brown.
-Finally, Blainville's Aleksandra Wozniak advanced to the third round of the French Open with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kateryna Bondarenko. Why do Eastern European countries have women's tennis players with hotter names?
---
It's Friday. That means the start of my weekend shift at work. Don't miss the Celtics/Magic game tonight, if only because there's a chance that Boston sports teams could potentially choke away two 3-0 series leads in the same season.
-The Suns loss has settled in, full TSN highlights can be found here. Sweet redemption for Ron Artest, who had two big misses in the waning minutes. Victoria's Steve Nash had a team-high 29 points and 11 assists and was 12-of-20 from the field. This was one of the greatest basketball games I've ever seen, which is saying something because I used to take in about 30 Vancouver Grizzlies games a year.
-New Westminster's Justin Morneau went 2-for-2 and the Minnesota Twins beat the Yankees 8-2 to avoid a sweep, and maintain a game-and-a-half lead in the American League Central. The idle Blue Jays are mired in the middle of a statistical anamoly. Their 27 wins is tied for 5th in all of baseball, yet somehow they lie in 4th place in the American League East. That will change, with a three-game set coming up against the Baltimore Orioles. Check your local listings. The scheduled pitchers for the Orioles are Kevin Millwood, Chris Tillman and Jeremy Guthrie, who have combined for three wins this year.
-The City of Ottawa has introduced plans to renovate Landsdowne Park with a new stadium. This is an artists rendering of the new building, complete with Renegades fans packing the house:
-In junior hockey news, Travis Hamonic of the Brandon Wheat Kings, and former Canadian Junior Team member, has signed with the New York Islanders to an entry-level deal. Just for kicks, let's watch that video of him knocking the piss out of Taylor Hall:
Hamonic will qualify as an overager next season, so there's a possibility to see him on NHL ice next year, although with the condition of Nassau Coliseum these days, that will only happen during away games.
-Twitter and Live Blogging didn't exist back in 1993, but that doesn't mean that we can't pretend Game 6 of the '93 Western Conference Finals between Toronto and Los Angeles wasn't extensively covered. Brilliance from Down Goes Brown.
-Finally, Blainville's Aleksandra Wozniak advanced to the third round of the French Open with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kateryna Bondarenko. Why do Eastern European countries have women's tennis players with hotter names?
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It's Friday. That means the start of my weekend shift at work. Don't miss the Celtics/Magic game tonight, if only because there's a chance that Boston sports teams could potentially choke away two 3-0 series leads in the same season.
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