I was one of millions who watched the Blue Jays pull their collective chestnuts out of the fire tonight.
Like, what was going on there? Is Gibbons playing serious head-games, or is he just making shit up? Warming up Price and then not using him?
See what I mean? The Jays avoid elimination, thereby guaranteeing at least one more sold-out stadium, and we act like it matters?
This is a special time of the year for sports fans. You've got your NFL, CFL, NHL, NBA all getting started or well underway, while MLB is just peaking. NASCAR is on the home stretch, as is F1 and the PGA. Every single one of those acronyms represents an outfit that's in the business of profiting from our deification of professional athletes.
Seems that faux pas by Harold Reynolds is almost getting more attention than the Jay's win. Reynolds made an offhand remark in the course of the broadcast that "Canadian's don't play a lot of baseball" or something. Ironically, it was just yesterday that I was revelling in my baseball played.
So how is it that this game I played in the school-yard fifty years ago can fill stadiums and make us feel it matters who wins?
Showing posts with label Blue Jays baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Jays baseball. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2015
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Let's go Blue Jays; let's play ball!
Have to admit the magic of baseball pretty much eluded me from the get go.
Ya, back in my Elora Public School days we used to rush out to the playground at recess and play something called "scrub."
A little later in life I was the pitcher for my slo-pitch team in Saint John New Brunswick. We were sponsored by the brewery up the road. Man, did I ever pitch extra slow just for them!
I remember that shit like it happened yesterday!
We have a happy summer of beer and baseball... well, slo-pitch.
We get in the playoffs!
Holy shit! That means we'll probably get more beer from our sponsor!
And at this point you'll actually get a few friends and family members, so on a typical game-day it looks like there's at least a couple dozen folks in the stands.
And suddenly the guy who has been throwing the ball all year just fucking chokes!
Ya, that was me.
How you can fuck up pitching in a slo-pitch game is something I cannot understand to this day.
But I did it!
So it can happen to anybody...
Ya, back in my Elora Public School days we used to rush out to the playground at recess and play something called "scrub."
A little later in life I was the pitcher for my slo-pitch team in Saint John New Brunswick. We were sponsored by the brewery up the road. Man, did I ever pitch extra slow just for them!
I remember that shit like it happened yesterday!
We have a happy summer of beer and baseball... well, slo-pitch.
We get in the playoffs!
Holy shit! That means we'll probably get more beer from our sponsor!
And at this point you'll actually get a few friends and family members, so on a typical game-day it looks like there's at least a couple dozen folks in the stands.
And suddenly the guy who has been throwing the ball all year just fucking chokes!
Ya, that was me.
How you can fuck up pitching in a slo-pitch game is something I cannot understand to this day.
But I did it!
So it can happen to anybody...
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Israeli mayor drops n-bomb
Motti Sasson, mayor of Tel Aviv suburb Holon, caused a bit of a stir the other day when he referred to foreign b'ballers who play in Israel's Super League as "niggers".
Sasson may be forgiven his confusion; League rules permit four foreign players per team, so playing in Israel is a viable option for US kids who don't quite have NBA mojo but are still among the best of the best anywhere.
Sasson was quick to apologize when called on his faux pas, but the story reminds me of an episode with my pal Kipling's mom a few years ago...
Quite a few. Cable TV was a relatively new thing, and the old girl had signed up with Rogers for cable service. One of the staples of the Rogers stable at the time was the equally new Blue Jays baseball team. This was way before Rogers owned the team, but they needed stuff to put on cable and so subscribers got lots of baseball whether they wanted it or not.
I'm never going to judge Kipling's mom. She was a tough old broad and had come through quite a lot in her time. In the dirty thirties she'd been sold by her family as farm labour to a nearby farmer. That's how tough things were in rural Ontario in the day.
Due to her numerous attempts to get away from that gig, she ended up in the Galt Training School for Girls, from which escape was only possible upon reaching one's majority or upon getting married, which was the main reason she found herself married at age 17 to a man well over twice her age.
But that's another story, or perhaps a book, but suffice it to say that she'd had a rough enough life. I knew her reasonably well in her later years and I swear she did not have a racist bone in her body.
Nor did she have a politically correct one. Not being a baseball aficionado, she was a bit miffed at the saturation baseball coverage included in her cable TV subscription. She expressed her displeasure with a short note to Rogers CEO Ted Rogers;
"Please cancel my subscription immediately. I am NOT paying $8 a month to watch niggers spit."
Sasson may be forgiven his confusion; League rules permit four foreign players per team, so playing in Israel is a viable option for US kids who don't quite have NBA mojo but are still among the best of the best anywhere.
Sasson was quick to apologize when called on his faux pas, but the story reminds me of an episode with my pal Kipling's mom a few years ago...
Quite a few. Cable TV was a relatively new thing, and the old girl had signed up with Rogers for cable service. One of the staples of the Rogers stable at the time was the equally new Blue Jays baseball team. This was way before Rogers owned the team, but they needed stuff to put on cable and so subscribers got lots of baseball whether they wanted it or not.
I'm never going to judge Kipling's mom. She was a tough old broad and had come through quite a lot in her time. In the dirty thirties she'd been sold by her family as farm labour to a nearby farmer. That's how tough things were in rural Ontario in the day.
Due to her numerous attempts to get away from that gig, she ended up in the Galt Training School for Girls, from which escape was only possible upon reaching one's majority or upon getting married, which was the main reason she found herself married at age 17 to a man well over twice her age.
But that's another story, or perhaps a book, but suffice it to say that she'd had a rough enough life. I knew her reasonably well in her later years and I swear she did not have a racist bone in her body.
Nor did she have a politically correct one. Not being a baseball aficionado, she was a bit miffed at the saturation baseball coverage included in her cable TV subscription. She expressed her displeasure with a short note to Rogers CEO Ted Rogers;
"Please cancel my subscription immediately. I am NOT paying $8 a month to watch niggers spit."
Friday, April 6, 2012
Alex Anthopoulos shows why a General Manager matters
As the Toronto Maple Leafs were winding down a sad-sack season under GM Brian Burke, who has led the team to four straight playoff misses, the Blue Jays were racking up their best pre-season ever under GM Alex Anthopoulos.
Burkie is a hockey old boy. He's an insider with a lot of connections to other insiders. He has a lot of old ideas. He's had four years to rebuild the Leafs.
After four years of rebuilding the Leafs he's got a team that's in need of a total ground-up rebuild.
Anthopoulos on the other hand has presided over a team that just put in its best preseason ever. He too was faced with the challenge of rebuilding a pro sports team.
Anthopoulos was not an insider. Anthopoulos was a kid who loved baseball but didn't have the chops to make it as a player. He was determined from an early age to make it in the front office.
And he has. As the Blue Jays embark on the regular season they promise to deliver what Burke's Leafs haven't.
Something to be proud of.
Burkie is a hockey old boy. He's an insider with a lot of connections to other insiders. He has a lot of old ideas. He's had four years to rebuild the Leafs.
After four years of rebuilding the Leafs he's got a team that's in need of a total ground-up rebuild.
Anthopoulos on the other hand has presided over a team that just put in its best preseason ever. He too was faced with the challenge of rebuilding a pro sports team.
Anthopoulos was not an insider. Anthopoulos was a kid who loved baseball but didn't have the chops to make it as a player. He was determined from an early age to make it in the front office.
And he has. As the Blue Jays embark on the regular season they promise to deliver what Burke's Leafs haven't.
Something to be proud of.
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