1) I’m watching the vintage collection on TV and currently they are showing a lumberjack match between 2 of my favourite wrestlers, Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat and Big Van Vader (managed by Harley Race).

I’m not sure I was aware back in the WCW days just how big they got.  At ringside of this match includes; Arn Anderson, Sid Vicious, Sting, Harlem Heat (Booker T), Davey Boy Smith,  but there are also some terrible wrestlers here like Tugboat, and Kevin Sullivan’s slow brother.  Those guys were a waste of everyone’s time, but the rest were quite a compliment.  So great wrestlers, but no writers.

2) I didn’t realize that the game of basketball meant anything to Chris Bosh.  I mean he did tell the entire City of Toronto that his decision to join buddies James and Wade in South Beach was a “business decision” and not personal.  So if it was just a business decision, why the heck was Bosh crying as he stumbled back to the locker room after the Miami (C)Heat lost the championship to the Dallas Mavericks. 

He looked like such a weenie.

I will always have fond memories of when Chris was leaving the court after the game, hand over face, crying up a storm probably because he was embarrassed the Heat lost.

Here is what Toronto Raptor Sonny Weems had to say about that incident;

Promise me you won’t tell anyone? 

It’s the Toronto Rock lacrosse team.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why the team is not selling out the Air Canada Centre for each and every one of their 8 homes games and so far one playoff game.  Yes, folks, a Toronto team that makes the playoffs!!!

Sure 10,000-15,000 is a great crowd and some nights over the past 10 years, this team has out drawn the Toronto Blue Jays, but for this sport and this team I’m at a loss for words.  If you have never seem lacrosse live, and you like the toughness of hockey and the pace of basketball, well you will love lacrosse.

Lacrosse (or the cross as my son calls it) has a 30 second shot clock which keeps the action fast and furious, but is tough like hockey except lacrosse has a lot of goals, lots of hitting and with music playing throughout the game, it makes this event a must-see for everyone.  It’s great for kids too!

I love watching this team so much that I am a season ticket holder.  I have been since the team started playing at Maple Leaf Gardens.  And sadly, while I am going to miss the Champions Cup re-match tomorrow afternoon at the ACC against the Washington Stealth, I will be PVR’ing the game and watching it “live” with my boys.

We will have out white rally towels and I will be wearing my blue original Toronto Rock jersey.  The boys will have their farewell Jim “Scoop” Veltman t-shirts on.

Go Rock Go!

Bring the Cup back to Toronto.  May 15th, 2pm Air Canada Centre.  Tickets are selling fast.  If you want them, get down to the ACC box office at least 2 hours before the game or you won’t get it!

The Boston Herald proclaimed prior to the 2011 Major League Baseball season that the Boston Red Sox, 2011 edition, were the best team ever!

Such lofty praise.

So let’s look at these fantastic Red Sox after today’s game against the Cleveland Indians;

Boston Red Sox Start Season 0-6 for First Time Since 1945 after 1-0 loss to Cleveland.

Yikes!

The Red Sox home opener is tomorrow, when they start a three-game series against the New York Yankees. So they could be 0-9 by next week.

Think they miss former pitching coach John Farrell, new manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.

AL East Standings:

1. Baltimore 4 1 .800
2. NY Yankees 4 2 .667
2. Toronto 4 2 .667
4. Boston 0 6 .000
4. Tampa Bay 0 6 .000

So Boston is tied for last in the league…

Yikes again.

What can I expect to see tonight? 

I know what I would like to see tonight… Nothing like what happened when Bosh, James, and Wade returned to Cleveland to play the even worse Cavaliers.  In that game, there were hugs, handshakes, high-fives, and the Cavs allowed LBJ to return and embarrass the Cav players and insult the fans who paid money to watch the team play that night and any other night prior.

It was a black mark for the league.

In today’s NBA with some team’s having one good player and a few team having 2 or 3 of them, there is nothing left to draw fans to the games.  The rivalries are dead.  If in that game the Cavs players refused to take part in the LeBron love-fest and play the game  hard, they would have earned the respect of the fans of not only Cleveland but also the rest of the league.

Instead they sucked and went on to lose 26 in a row soon there after.

No heart!

Which is exactly why tonight I want to see no hugs, no hi-fives, no helping anyone up after a foul.  I want to see Canadian basketball… Play the Heat hard, treat this game like it matters for the fans of Toronto AND the fans of Cleveland.  I want to see someone on the Dinos step up and knock one of these Heat on their ass and take no prisoners.

I know doing this may result in a lopsided score but at least it tells Bosh – he is not going to be welcomed back with open arms tonight and it will tell that blowhard James to keep his mouth shut and not to comment on anything to do with Toronto.  I’ve commented on how LBJ feels he is entitled to comment on things Toronto and things NBA because he is one of the best players, but deep down inside he’s just another kid with a high-school education who can play a game very well.  He should leave the talking to those who know something.

But all of this is just a dream.

There is no Charles Oakley, or even Rafael Arroujo who are going to destroy Bosh as he swoops in for a dunk, not is a player like the very tattooed Ed David going to step in to one of the Heat.

Instead, they will hug at the beginning of the game, at the end of the game and during the game the Raptor players will watch the Heat destroy them and Bosh, LBJ, Wade and Co will leave Toronto with a perceived notch in their belts having taught the Raptors a lesson like they did to the Cavaliers.

Boo on the NBA for allowing all this “love” before a game.  It cheapens the event and sets the tone the game is going to played by a bunch of rich dudes just collecting their pay checks.

I’m not saying allow fighting like they do it other sports – ahem – NHL, but man, could some Raptor leave tonight as the hero to the City, the Country and even to fans of NBA teams upset by the hijinks of the Miami Heat.  These guys made a mockery of the leagues free agent process, they want the spotlight on their egos all the time and the trash-talk and put down Toronto management – saying the team didn’t want to win.

If I was playing tonight, I would pour water into the chalk LBJ tosses into the air, or crazy glue… Something to stop the “King LeBron” show before it starts.  Do I come to see this man, excuse me, boys act?  Nope.   I want to see a game.  

But it won’t happen… Not tonight.

 It’s going to be too painful to watch for me.  When I play sports I take pride in my team and I play to win – within the rules – but hard each and every second I’m out there.  I do it for free.  These guys are getting paid BIG bucks to do it.  They should do it for the team, for the City and most importantly for themselves. 

After tonight Raptors management will know for sure who wants to be here and who is just collecting a paycheck.

Cavs management must have been horrified after their experience.

I fear we are going to experience the same.

He gets Phil Kessel for two-first round picks and a second round pick and fans hate that move because Kessel – probably better suited as a solid 2nd line winger – is slumping.

Then, yesterday he ships out Kris Versteeg – a 24 year old winger he picked up from the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks for 3 spare parts in the summer – for a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick from the Flyers.

Fans… Still not happy because the Flyers are a top team in the league.

But let’s put this all in perspective. I’ve been a Leafs fan since the late 70′s – yes I’m that old – and back then they sucked worse and had no future because of Harold Ballard. Now, they have pressure from everywhere.

Versteeg – I watched him play last week against the Thrashers – was not a good hockey player. Watching him skate around made me realize that because a player is on a championship team does not make him a top-notch player. He is replaced by Jeoffrey Lupal. Lupal came to Toronto with a prospect for a very over-priced give-away prone defenseman named Beauchemin.

Net result, is the Leafs have to get better so as to not give the Bruins a lottery pick this year. They have filled out the second line now with MacArthur, Kulemin and Grabovski. Their first line is Lupol and Kessel (insert a centre that can move the puck here not named Bozak) and in the off season urke will load up a real first line with some free agent talent as the team will have a ton of cap room once Komisarek and Kaberle are gone.

I’m sad for the Leafs.

The sounds I heard most in the ACC were those of apathy.

I just don’t want to give the B’s any more quality players, as Rask and Seguin are enough.

As for the deal just completed today which saw the Leafs pick up Aaron Voros from the (who else) Ducks for a 7th round pick. Sure Voros was available last week on waivers and yes, he was assigned straight to the Marlies, but why give up that pick? Voros, no goals and 43 PIM in the farm this year… Yikes.

Because pitchers and catchers started reporting for spring training on Sunday February 13th.

Hurrah!

Major League Baseball is right around the corner.

Hopefully the Toronto Blue Jays will begin the season where they left off last year and can compete for a playoff spot throughout the season.

Go Jays Go.

They tested a bunch of other morning show host – all pretty bland – while listeners like myself turned the dial to to AM640.

Then one day I switched back to the FAN and there was a trash-talking morning show host called Andrew Krystal.  apparently AK was a morning show guy in Toronto for some other station(s) prior to his stint in Halifax. 

I found Krystal to be loud and opinionated – which I’m okay with, but what drove me crazy was that he talked over everyone on the station.  He had a lot of puns and quips that would make CBC host Ron Maclean proud – but I found his humour to be potty humour that would make my kids giggle.  So while it took me a good few months to get his humour and be able to listen to longer parts of his show without losing patience, I never found myself turning on the FAN first wanting to hear his show - and I guess I was not the only one as Friday morning, the FAN had removed AK and replaced him with Greg Brady who they stole from AM640 and stuck at lunch time. 

I like Brady. I liked him on 640.  He laughs at his own jokes a lot, but he’s funny and knows his stuff.  I’m not saying AK didn’t but at least Brady let’s people talk.

I’ll be tuning in to the FAN more often the morning, especially when Oakley from AM640 has a lame topic because I find Brady way less irritating than Krystal.

Now you can too…

It all started to go downhill, when Toronto Maple Leaf forward Phil Kessel – of the 2 first round picks and a second round pick to Boston – was chosen last among all players at this year’s all-star game in Raleigh, North Carolina. Instead of getting mad and shining at the game, Kessel did what he does most nights as the Leafs’ marquee player… he was invisible. His final line for the event read like this; 3 shots on goal.

What would I have done in his shoes!? I would have done exactly what former NHL superstar Jeremy Roenick said on the FAN this morning; that if it had happened to him, he would run everyone in sight each and every shift. While Kessel smiled and said nothing, content to have taken his beating from his peers and then go on to prove them right, Roenick would go to prove them wrong… All of them.

Then came a survey from the NHL Players Association (NHLPA), a survey of 318 players who listed Toronto’s Ron Wilson as the coach they would least like to play for. He garnered 24% of the vote. Granted Mike Keenan who has not coached in the NHL in over 2 years received 9% of the vote, but the NHL’s 4th most winningest coach is perceived to be very much unliked by players. Great.

The other bad news for MLSE and Leaf-nation is the fact that Toronto, the city, ranked 4th last in this poll as a destination to play. See what all the losing has done to this franchise!

Crappy team, crappy coach, no future… Yikes!

MLSE… Wake up!!! Do something! Anything! Be mad as hell and say we’re not going to take it anymore. Please.

Here is the link to Slam Sports article on the survey results;

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Toronto/2011/01/30/17091976.html

The self-appointed “King” who has tarnished his crown by moving to the Heat is thinking like a selfish rich boy when he stated that the NBA would be better off if there were less teams.

Less teams means less of an opportunity to see you, LBJ, how else can your legend grow because outside of Miami, you’re not the most loved overpaid athlete in the world…

Are you thinking that your team of “all-stars” would be able to beat other teams of all-stars and that you could be the man if this were to happen? Hey James, news flash… I watched you in the playoffs, in high-pressure games and you, umm, didn’t deliver.

But step back, LBJ and look at what you need to be a team. You need all the guys working together in the same system helping each other succeed. Oh, that’s a new concept to you. It’s okay. You’ll learn. So tell supporting contraction you are essentially okay if 30, 60 or 120 of your brothers lose their jobs. Who needs teams in Minnesota, or New Jersey, heck or in Toronto. It’s all about what will make you look good.

For probably the 5th or 6th time on this blog, I’m going to have to say it again. LeBron… Your gift is being able to play basketball. That’s all. Please shut up and play. Don’t tell anyone how to run a billion dollar industry. If you wanted to do that, then you should have stayed in school, got your MBA or LLB and worked on the corporate side. It’s not so easy to say, let’s contract. It’s actually selfish and self-centered… Oh… I get it.

My bad.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/lebron_says_contraction_would_be_Zn5W0uyFnTp0pI50ERsp6K