OK, so while I sit in this doctor's office, I figure I would pass the time waiting with a little freely provided Net access. Oh, and watching the fish swim in their DUAL 250-gallon salt water tanks. Dang!!
Anyhow, to the updates.
(*&^(^)(*& Toronto Sports Teams -
Baseball, Blue Jays. Where there is hope and promise, there is crash, burn disappointment. The season has barely begun but once again we are stuck with overpaid underachievers, high expectation non-producers and plagued with injuries. And people who forget how to hit the round ball with the round stick. And people who forget that the plate is not for eating. Anyhow, while some series show the work management made to make the team better, other series (like when Boston hung our ass on the line and beat it for fun) not so much. The season is young but I predict we are right back where we were last year.
Football, Argonauts. I love Damon Allen. Next to Coach Clemons, he is the face of the team and why I love going to games. However, he made some major missteps last year and I am not sure we should try to win it all with him in the starting role this year. Training camp shoot be an all out rumble in the bronx for the top spot so that we have the best chance to bring the cup home AT home; yes, we are hosting both the Amatuer and Professional football classics in one year in one stadium. The best show we could put on for the city and the country is to win it all right here.
Futball (soccer for the rest of you), FC. May as well stand for F**K Canada because if you intend to truly make this franchise viable, then you have to field the best possible team you can. As the uncle of someone who can run rings around some of those on the roster, I can tell you that they do not. There is so much politics in this sport at EVERY level of the game I just don't know how they continue to function and be as popular all over the world; well, I do as it is the only sport that can be played by just about anyone that has two legs, and something round to kick between two stationary posts representing a goal. But, to win at the game, you need skilled players, skilled coaching and management that cares. I know this is our inaugural season but if this is what the future holds, kiss another experiment goodbye. BTW, my nephew will hopefully be learning a new language in the near future as someone is trying to get him a solid shot at making a team in Singapore; decent money, decent playing time, I am sure still a lot of the BS, but no one trying to hold them back as they want to win by any means necessary. Unfortunately, we still do not get that here. I hope he does well and comes back to buss dey ass!!! Best of luck , Hammy!
Basketball, Raptors. Sigh. Vince Carter. Again. Right? Wrong. Carter had some flashes but he is not the reason we lost. We lost because in the dying seconds of a game we should have won, young players made young mistakes and GAVE New Jersey the win and the series. If TJ Ford was in, there is no way that pass was made. If Chris Bosh was more epxerienced, there is no way he does not go to the hole, in the paint, and draw the necessary foul and/or score what would have surely been the winning basket to seal a game seven meeting back home in the T-dot. Instead, we are left to wonder what if and ponder what would have happened if we met King James and the Cavaliers in the final. I truly believe, having beaten them handily in the regular season, we had a great chance to fight for the conference title and possibly a chance to win it all. Instead, we are left to wonder what if and if onlys for another year. I hope the whole team is back next year as it was super fun. My family will there. BTW, congratulations to Bosh for making his first All-NBA Second Team, to GM Colangelo for being named NBA Executive of the Year and for Coach Mitchell on a well-deserved Coach of the Year honours. That last honour is especially nice since it is his peers that vote on who receives that award.
Lacrosse, Rock. Uhm, sadly, we have yet to make a game to see these guys play. Part of that has to do with the insane season pass prices they want for what amounts to two weeks of baseball games. We will probably go see one game and maybe get hooked but don't count on it unless there are deals. What do you guys think you play? Hockey?
Hockey, Maple Leafs. SIGH!! Not to float stereotypes but as a young, black youth one simply was not pushed to play the white man's sport. We played basketball, baseball, soccer, cricket, all sorts of things and yes even a little street hockey. But, we did not see black players promoted in the NHL. We did not hear of heroes in the game that we could relate to. So, how does one gain that interest with so few opportunities? Simple, join Scouts. I was a Cub Scout when one of our field trips was to watch a Maple Leaf game in the hallowed hockey shrine that was Maple Leaf Gardens. Next to Montreal's Forum, no other hockey building held as many championship teams and as fierce a competitive spirit. I was hooked and have been a "Leafer" since the mid-seventies because of the one trip. Fast forward to today and it disgusts me that year after year, we exude futility and nothing gets done about it. We pass on Gretzky, Messier, Roberts, Pronger and others but we throw money at a whole slew of names that were not worth it or should have retired before they signed with us. As a former top executive put it, "They don't NEED to win; especially not when they are clearing THREE million a game." Don't NEED to win. that is it in a nutshell. From the embaraasing days of Harold Ballard to the current embarrassing days of overpaid underachievers, the stands of the Gardens and now the Air Canada Centre have almost always been filled to the rafters with rabid fans eager to cough up ridiculous prices to see losing effort after losing effort, year after losing year. What other franchise would have survived this long a bout with futility without having to make drastic changes and pay cuts? NONE. But this is not a franchise, it is an institution. It is a way of life. It is a reason to get up in the winter for some. It is the life's blood of this city. It is a crying shame because as we continue to back this team and this organization no matter what crap they do and put on the ice, they continue to make fistsfull of money and never feel the pinch that tells the owners we need to do something. Leaf fans will always be there so we just need to keep the feeling of hope alive, for with it they will come. I tried to boycott hockey very recently. I lasted until the first game I hear in a Boston Pizza prompted me to look at the screen on a Sturday night. The boycott was over and I was scrambling to get tickets from a friend kind enough to let me have some at cost because he knows I am a true fan. I am a Leafer. And every year I help kill the hopes that Lord Stanley's Cup will ever return to this fair city. Sorry. :(
