Friday, June 1:
We're not usually ones to gush over sports performances, but let's just say we're glad we had two T-V's at our disposal last night. First of all there was that hour-50 gem from Roy Halladay and Mark Buhrle in downtown Toronto, which brings to mind the question: How often are there "night" games that actually end before sundown. The sun beat the final out by just seven minutes last night, which wouldn't have happened in about three weeks' time.
But that 2-0 Blue Jays victory paled in comparison to the LeBron James show. No matter what the defensive-minded Detroit Pistons tried, James was a one-man wrecking crew, scoring his team's final 25 points in Cleveland's 109-107 double-overtime playoff victory. A performance for the ages and how we'd love to see the Cavaliers advance to the final against San Antonio.
Saturday, June 2:
After an evening on-air shift that could have delivered with more clarity by Porky Pig, we were tired, peeved and really ready to nurse a beer and a 'za outside on the patio at Markham's Boston Pizza. So we get there at 12:30 a.m. (they shut the doors at two) only to be told the patio was closed. At this point, said patio was still about half full. But the night manager and the bartender told me they were trying to "clear people out," but that I was welcome to stay and eat/drink in the sports bar. Instead, I took them at their word and cleared out, taking my business elsewhere. I guess when it comes to the staff, you're among dough-heads at Boston Pizza.
My co-workers bailed me out again. I try not to let a poorly delivered newscast get to me but after totally butchering one last night I was steaming. Back in the newsroom, when someone asked me why my head resembled a ripe, red tomato, I bellowed, "Because I can no longer speak a solitary sentence without screwing it up!" Whereupon my friend Leanne came back with, "Well that came through loud and clear!" Everyone cracked up and my anger dissolved.
I'll never write a good baseball team off the first week in June but unless the Detroit Tigers get some relief help, they'll be long gone when it comes to the pennant races. After closer Todd Jones blew a four-run lead in the ninth last night and lost in Cleveland, one disgruntled fan wrote on the Detroit News' fan forum site that the Tigers' bullpen was as "useless as a screen door on a submarine." Amen. And Jones? Even when he staggers to a save, he's a nightmare.
Sunday, June 3:
Seems we only get together once a year, and that's a shame. But it was a great night of racing at Merrittville Speedway last night with old pal Mike who is in from Vancouver with his lovely lady, Katherine. And while our friend and host E.T. couldn't join us in the stands due to his work duties at the speedway mike, we got a chance to visit him and his fabulous family beforehand and he provided us with the VIP treatment at the track. For a true gearhead, it doesn't get much better than watching the Modifieds roar into the mud. Grassroots racing at its best -- and another great night to remember.
Tuesday, June 5:
There is little doubt I'm becoming less Canadian by the day. I've watched maybe five minutes of the Stanley Cup final. It's June. Time to be outside on lovely spring evenings. Or if I'm inside, I end up clicking over to baseball. Frankly, this wasn't the NHL we were promised 18 months ago when the league brought in all of the new rules to great fanfare. The final looks suspiciously like the old boring, "dump-and-chase and hold-'em-up in the neutral zone" game we loathed. It's about as exciting as watching shadows lengthen. To paraphrase The Who: "Meet the new rules, same as the old rules. We won't get fooled again."
Thursday, June 7:
I'm told the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup last night. There was a time I would never miss the final NHL game of a season but those days are long gone. Last night I tried, I really did, but after eight (8) total shots on goal in the first period, I ran screaming from my TV set. But just to show my heart's in the right place, in honour of Orange County's first-ever Stanley Cup win, I added Jan & Dean's "The Anaheim, Azusa, & Cucamonga Sewing Circle, Book Review & Timing Association", to my iPod. It was the least I could do.
Oh, and does the NBA final (or "Finals", as they like to call it in the states -- just how many championships are being handed out here?) actually get underway some week? Seems they're taking a page out of the NHL book, as Cleveland and San Antonio have been ready to play for days and days now. Maybe the NBA didn't want to go head-to-head with the NHL in a battle for American TV viewers. (Careful -- spewing liquid through your nose like that can be painful).
Friday, June 8:
This is true, true, true: I was stuck on the Don Valley Parking Lot driving home about 6:30 last night when I looked to my left north of Don Mills where the median gets very wide. And wandering out of a sewer gate was -- a beaver. I didn't believe it at first but since I was stopped for traffic, I was able to take a very long look, and sure enough -- one live Canadian icon. I'm not sure if it was Gordon or Frank but it was a beaver. It appeared to be in no danger as it was waddling far from the vehicles -- which were barely crawling -- and heading back to the gate. Oh, to have had my camera handy!
I do cheer for Danica Patrick but she was 'way off base going after Dan Wheldon following last week's Milwaukee Mile. She was just as much at fault as Wheldon for their accident and IRL officials were quite correct in dismissing it as nothing more than a 'racing incident.' I'm starting to think the pressure of zero podium finishes in her IRL career might be getting to Patrick. With the team she's with, there'd better be one soon or else she's going to get the reputation of being all flash and no substance. Right now, she's at a similar stage of two other high-profile athletes in the early stages of their careers, with loads of promise and no results. Time will tell if she becomes racing's Andre Agassi or Anna Kournikova.
Sunday, June 10:
Danica Patrick finally nailed down her first IRL podium finish last night in Texas -- a good, solid ride. Yes, she was fortunate in that a few of the contenders went out in a late-race wreck, but that's racing luck. Sometimes it bites you, sometimes it smiles upon you. Aside from some unnecessary sniping at Dan Wheldon -- a holdover from Milwaukee when Patrick misplaced the blame (there was none) in their crash -- Patrick was as good as she's ever been. The eventual victory will come.
Monday, June 11:
This day is for my true love. Happy anniversary, baby! I'm only 24 -- because I wasn't living until the day we got married.
Wednesday, June 13:
I wasn't born (conceived yes, but not born) when Virgil "Fire" Trucks mowed down the New York Yankees 1-0 at Briggs Stadium in August of 1952 in what would be the last no-hitter in Detroit by a Tigers pitcher -- until last night. Yes, Jim Bunning threw one in Boston in 1958 and Jack Morris no-no'd the White Sox in Chicago in 1984. And visiting pitchers -- Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson come to mind -- threw no hitters in later years at Tiger Stadium. But it had been 55 years since a Tiger pitcher had turned the trick in Detroit until Justin Verlander spun his gem last night. How long is that? Ernie Harwell spent more than four decades at the Tigers' radio mic and it never happened during his tenure. I saw Verlander stifle the Indians last summer in Cleveland on another day when he had "scary good" stuff. And he's just a sophomore at the major league level. Incredible.
Good effort by the Cleveland Cavaliers last night in game three, but all for naught. San Antonio is simply too strong. A sweep of the NBA final, methinks.
Sunday, June 17:
HAPPY FATHERS DAY to Pops near and far. Whether you get garish ties or golf clubs, it's your day, guys!
So, who do I like to win the US Open today? Check the new "pic of the week" 
for a hint.
I should be updating this more often -- it is supposed to be a "daily" blog. But the weather's simply been too great to spend any time on a computer.
The NBA final is over and done in the blink of an eye. The Spurs romped -- but Cleveland's day will come. The Cavs had nothing left after beating the Pistons four straight (after dropping games one and two). But this is just the start of the LeBron James era. Stay tuned, folks!
Monday, June 18:
You know this has to be chewing at Tiger Woods' innards. Great as he is (and oh boy, he IS great), Woods has still never come from behind on a Sunday to win a major. And just like at the Masters, he was in the final group, only to have someone else ahead of him walk off with the trophy. An early double bogey hurt Tiger yesterday in the final round of the US Open, but it came down to this: Woods needed one birdie in the final three holes to force a playoff. I would have bet the farm that he'd do it, but not this time. The big winner, as is the case with most US Opens, was Oakmont. This is my usually favourite tournament because it's the toughest test in golf, but this year, it simply wasn't fair. You've got to give players a chance and they had no chance with the way the USGA set this one up.
This Friday will be the 45th anniversary of the first major league baseball game I ever saw live (Friday, June 22, 1962 -- Tiger Stadium, Detroit -- Detroit Tigers 7, New York Yankees 5 - WP-Hank Aguirre, LP-Bill Stafford) The first major league home run I saw was crunched by Detroit's Chico Fernandez that night, one of 20 he would hit that season, half of the 40 he would hit in his eight-year career. I also saw Aguirre, a career .085 hitter, stroke one of his lifetime 33 hits, driving in one of his career 21 RBI's. Pretty good memory (with help from the Baseball Almanac!) for a guy who was just nine years old at the time. Too bad the Tigers are on the road Friday and Tiger Stadium now mothballed. Maybe I'll take in a Blue Jays home game after all -- but probably during the week when the Dodgers are here, as opposed to the Colorado Rockies on Friday.
Tuesday, June 19:
With apologies to The Coasters, and their 1959 hit:
"The Tigers were up by a bunch of runs, the ballgame was in the bag...
But although the Nats kept chippin' away, no way would the Bengals gag.
'Twas the bottom of the ninth, Detroit by four, and the fat lass was getting set,
But just as she opened her mouth to sing, the lady began to fret.
Eh-eh!
...'cause then, along came Jones.
Sad, sack Jones
Non-fearing Jones,
(Base-clearing Jones.)
Along came, blown-game, lame ol' Jones."
Actually, the Tigers did prevail last night in Washington, 9-8, despite another ninth inning from their nightmarish closer, Todd Jones. After giving up three runs and having two on and nobody out, he retired three in a row to end it. Eventually though, this Detroit bullpen (of which Jones is only one member) is going to be the ruination of the 2007 season in Motown.
The message has been clear from the 1956 movie "Hot Rod Girl" through to "Dead Man's Curve" to today. Want to drag? Take it to the track. Six are dead in Tennessee because organizers never thought to ask what would happen if a dragster doing burnouts failed to shut it down and lost control on a guardrail-free highway lined with fans. A truck driver is dead near Barrie after a couple of racers decided to turn highway 400 into the local quarter-mile. When will they ever learn?
Thursday, June 21:
"It's summer-time, summer-time, sum-sum-summertime." I think that hit by The Jamies is my favourite summer song. Perfect for today, the first day of summer. And it was co-written by Sherm Feller, who spent decades as the Boston Red Sox' public address announcer at Fenway Park.
(Note the segue into baseball): Yeah, I know I said I would never darken the door at the Rogers Centre this season, but a rare visit by the Dodgers on a perfect baseball night was too good to pass up. Met a couple of guys from Maine (die-hard Boston fans, as you might imagine) making their first trip to Toronto. Wasn't much of a game for them. Roy Halladay had the Dodgers eating out of his hand and the Blue Jays had their hitting shoes on, crushing Los Angeles,12-1. Nice to see a big game from the Big Hurt. Frank Thomas led off the second inning with a double, scored the first run of the game and then later in the same frame, cracked a grand slam for career homer 497. The Blue Jays are still lurking right around the .500 mark and considering their injuries, that's a great accomplishment,
Friday, June 22:
There have probably been just a handful times when my dad saw me as a child with eyes like saucers and mouth agape in joy. Christmas mornings, obviously. But one of those (as mentioned in this space a couple of days ago) was 45 years ago tonight when dad took his nine-year-old boy to his first major league ballgame. I suspect he got just as big a bang out of it as I did, just by looking at me in glee all night. I was reminded of that the other night when I checked out the Blue Jays and Dodgers. The same scene was playing out a couple of rows behind me (although I'm sure the boy was younger than I was in 1962). He kept hollering for Frank Thomas to get a hit in the second inning and at one point in the at-bat, turned to his dad and said, "if Frank gets a hit, I know he'll have heard me!" Whereupon Thomas turned on a slider and drove it into the second deck in left for a grand slam. No doubt it's a story the boy will someday tell to his son in about 25 years or so.
Sunday, June 24:
Speaking of baseball anniversaries, it was 45 years ago today the Yankees beat the Tigers 9-7 in 22 innings at Detroit's Tiger Stadium on a two-run homer from New York's Jack Reed -- the only home run he would hit in the major leagues. That made a winner out of Jim Bouton, of "Ball Four" fame and a loser of Phil "The Vulture" Regan. Terry Fox pitched eight innings of shutout relief for Detroit before Regan came on in the 22nd. Bouton pitched seven innings for the win. Detroit starter Frank Lary, usually a Yankee-killer, lasted just two innings, giving up seven runs, six in the 1st. Lary was 28-and-13 against the Yanks in his career (and 7-and-0 in 1958). Legend has it that Yanks' announcer Phil Rizutto sneaked out of the broadcast booth after his last scheduled inning of work (the 7th), leaving colleagues Mel Allen and Red Barber to handle the 8th and 9th. Word is, Rizutto caught a plane back to New York and was shocked to hear the weary team of Allen and Barber on a cabbie's radio as he was heading home from LaGuardia.
Looks as if Frank Thomas has finally found his hitter's eye. It took him awhile to warm up last year with Oakland and even longer this year, but he's been tearing the cover off the ball for the Blue Jays the past week or so. Now, if they can get Vernon Wells in gear.
Usually, my Formula One viewing habits go like this: Watch the start, see who's leading at the first turn and shut the TV off. Not this year. Rookie Lewis Hamilton is the best thing to hit auto racing in many a year. Not only has he been on the podium of every race this season, he's won two in a row, at Montreal and Indianapolis. Danica Patrick was a nice rookie-makes-good story in the IRL two years ago, but she has yet to visit Victory Lane. This guy is unbelievable!
Wednesday, June 27:
It's kinda fun watching the goings-on here in town this week. Kids get out of school for the summer (and by the way, a pox on the houses of the nincompoops who want to extend the school year throughout July and August. Obviously they have no recollection of what it was like to be a kid). Forty years ago this month, a bunch of us were leaving University Heights Public School in London, Ontario for the final time as students. A great many of us were there for all eight years, growing up together. I remember we had all drawn calendars on our desks and were crossing off the days, one by one, until we were free. It was also the June that we devised a best-of-three intra-neighbourhood baseball series (the mighty Coombs Ave. Nationals vs. the evil Trott Dr. Dodgers -- the results of which are still debated to this day). All through the 'hood, kids were bringing in white T-shirts to be magic-marked in the colours of whichever team they were on, while three or four of us grads played uniform-maker. Then it was off for a nine-week summer, only to re-appear in September as high school frosh. A great time to be alive.
Saturday, June 30:
Ahh, the weather's just been too good for daily updates. We'll try to do better next week. And I've also become a Facebook junkie. What can I say?
It's the combination Canada Day, Fourth of July holiday season and miracle of miracles, I have five straight days off to enjoy it. Wave your flags proudly and stay safe! Today is the day Stouffville shuts down and parties with the annual Strawberry Festival. We've been known to overindulge in past years!
I touched on this the other day and heard a radio report yesterday commenting on the three public schools in the Toronto area that operate year-round. The claim is that teachers, parents and students all love it. Riiight. If I'm a kid, I'd just be just thrilled to be spending summer days in a classroom, while other kids a few blocks away are enjoying two months off. When I was young, summer school was something to be avoided at all costs. Now, I've got nothing against providing the best education possible but it seems to me North America did fine for decades without taking summer away from our children. There's more to an education than the three "R's." Like camp, forging summer friendships that last a lifetime and letting kids be kids. The adult years will arrive soon enough.
