Tuesday, July 1:
HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! Proudly wave your flags, Canada!!!
A year ago today, I felt the pain of a pulled muscle in my back (once the hangover from the Stouffville Strawberry Festival subsided). And, blast it all, I did the same thing this past weekend. But it's far less of a muscle pull than a year ago. Which means there's no way I'll get out of cutting the lawn today. The Bride hasn't said anything about the eye-high grass and weeds but the raised eyebrow tells me she's aware -- and disapproves!
Wednesday, July 2:
The lawn has been cut. The Bride approves.
Not often we get a Canada Day with picture perfect weather, but we did yesterday. A perfect day to enjoy the great outdoors. And the weekend is also supposed to be excellent, with a major bar-b-q in Saturday's plans.
Ron, my sports-loving neighbour two doors down, looked like a kid on Christmas morning when he breathlessly announced that Cujo is back with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was then that he looked at the bemused smile on my face and remembered that I'm a Detroit fan. I'll say this -- Curtis Joseph is a definite upgrade to Andrew Raycroft.
Thursday, July 3:
I remember the 1991 baseball season, featuring two World Series teams that were dead last in their respective leagues in 1990 -- the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves. And if the second half of the current campaign is like the first, we may see another "dome" team win it all, like the Twins did that year. The Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball today, following their sweep of rival Boston -- the second time they've done that to the Red Sox in St. Petersburg this season. Everyone keeps expecting the young Rays to come back to earth -- and well they may, come the pressures of September. But they haven't yet.
The Detroit Tigers sorely needed to keep up their winning ways this week against the team immediately ahead of them. But after winning the series opener in Minnesota, they dropped two in a row, including a 7-0 whitewash yesterday afternoon. With the White Sox winning again, that leaves them seven games out. The last few weeks have been a nice tease but the dreadful start Detroit had this season has doomed them, methinks, to finish out of the playoffs.
Maybe Seattle will get a new NBA team in the near future now that the SuperSonics are being moved to Oklahoma City. Maybe pigs will fly someday, too. It's a sad day in Seattle, with the loss of the first top-tier sports franchise in the city, predating the Pilots, Seahawks and Mariners. It almost seems impossible for a 40-year team to pull up roots. This is in no way directed at the people of Oklahoma City, who showed great support for the NBA when the New Orleans Hornets needed a temporary home following hurricane Katrina. But OKC should have its own team, not someone else's.
Friday, July 4:
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! to our American friends!!! Have a great "4th!"
I had considered taking in the Argos home opener against Hamilton last night, but changed my mind when the Tiger-Cats laid an embarrassing egg in their home opener a week ago. Thought I'd wait until Toronto played a tougher opponent. Instead, Hamilton roared into the Rogers Centre and laid a whuppin' on the double-blue. Maybe they ARE much improved.
They say a computer glitch played havoc with Toronto stoplights throughout the city yesterday morning, sending traffic into chaos. Hell, they don't need a computer glitch to do that! And that would also indicate that a computer is regulating the stoplights somehow. If that's the case, it sure needs fixing.
Saturday, July 5:
A lot of people remember Peggy Fleming. And a lot recall Dorothy Hamill. World champion skaters from the United States, both of them. And in the passage of time, it's easy to think that Hamill succeeded Fleming, a natural progression from one champ to another. But there was another skater in between, perhaps the best never to win a world championship. Janet Lynn, a blond pixie with a brilliant smile from Illinois was a five-time American champ who never quite pulled it off on the global stage. Don't ask me why I would suddenly remember Janet Lynn -- who is my age -- after all of these years. But I was infatuated with her when I was a teenager. I had never seen anyone skate with such emotion. I recall being upset when she lost the world title in 1973 -- to a Canadian, Karen Magnusson. The deeply religious Lynn eventually stopped skating to raise a family in obscurity. But she should be remembered for two things. 1) She competed in the days when school figures, a boring, tedious exercise and not her strong suit, counted for a full 50% of the total marks. Outrage over the fact she was virtually eliminated before the free skate began, led to change and the eventual elimination of the figures. And 2) at the 1972 Sapporo Olympics in Japan, she fell in the free skate, ruining any chance she had of a gold medal. And as she sat on the ice, she smiled, got up, carried on and finished, seemingly without a care in the world. (Turns out she was devastated -- who wouldn't be? -- but wasn't about to let the world know). But that show of spirit made her an international heroine to the Japanese, a status that hasn't diminished to this day. I'm not figure skating's greatest fan -- its hypocritical judging leaves me cold. But I've always loved the athleticism, and Janet Lynn was the one who hooked me, all those years ago.
Monday, July 7:
Champions don't relinquish their crown easily, and so it was for Roger Federer yesterday at Wimbledon. Battling back after dropping the first two sets to Rafael Nadal, he won two straight tie-breakers and extended the fifth set to a 16th game before finally succumbing. But it was a classic, arguably the best Wimbledon final since Bjorn Borg outlasted John McEnroe in 1980.
Hard to believe Bobby Ackles is gone at the age of 69 from a heart attack after stepping off his well-named boat, "The Water Buoy." The president and CEO of the B.C. Lions was, in fact, the franchise's first-ever water boy. Ackles was as much as part of the CFL as three downs, 12 men and 'no yards' penalties. He'll be greatly missed.
Tuesday, July 8:
After discovering some old 1980s-era pictures downstairs the other day, I stumbled upon some shots I took at the 2001 Indianapolis 500. The usual "Indy gang"
didn't make this trip, so I went a cappella, and -- small world -- one of the strangers camping right next to me was the manager of the car wash right here in Stouffville. They invited me to hang with them for the weekend, and we ended up buying some primo tickets -- best I've had of my 15 May visits to the Brickyard. So, I scanned the pics last night and posted them. Check the "what's new" section (click the "SP" box above to take you to the home page) and click when the date flickers red and white.
When I was a kid, I loved long, drawn-out slugfests. The 18-17 Colorado win over Houston over the weekend would have been my kind of game. There weren't many chances to go to a game when I was young, so I never wanted one to end. Today, a crisp pitching duel is what I treasure most. And I thoroughly enjoyed watching Boston's 1-0 win over Minnesota last night on TV. A dandy between two outstanding teams.
Wednesday, July 9:
It has started -- the dreaded day has come. They have begun to dismantle Tiger Stadium in Detroit, beginning with the left-centre field bleachers. The Detroit Free Press posted some online pictures today. I've known this day was coming for years. But it doesn't make the demolition any less painful for this lifelong Tiger fan who bemoans the loss of sports palaces built for the hoi polloi, not the rich.
Thursday, July 10:
The weather has been superb of late -- and would have been perfect for the annual Toronto Grand Prix race last Sunday. But -- oops! -- we don't have a race this year now that ChampCar has been folded into the Indy Racing League. Curse you, Tony George, and all that you stand for.
There was so much promise at the start of the baseball season and now it's all turned to dust. I'm not talking about my Detroit Tigers. Not even the Blue Jays (who have now won two straight after management admitted that this season was a wash). No, the fans really suffering this year are in Cleveland. A year ago, the Indians came within a game of the World Series after winning a division crown with a 96-66 record. There will be no World Series dream this year. After blowing a 6-0 lead last night in Detroit, the Tribe lost 8-6, their 10th straight defeat, falling to 37-53. (Yes, they'd have to go 59-13 the rest of the way to match last year's mark). They're 16 games out in both their division and in the wild card standings. And they've just traded their ace, C.C. Sabathia. I can't imagine what their fans are going through.
Saturday, July 12:
My friend Kris likes to use the phrase "good times." And so it was last night as we got together and shared dinner and a couple of beers at an outdoor patio on a perfect Friday evening and got caught up with our respective lives. Now, I have strange dreams (a recent one included Dean Martin -- don't ask). And last night, the dream I had involved Kris' favourite hockey player, Brendan Shanahan. He's currently a free agent and she had expressed the sentiment over dinner that she hopes he will land with a good club and have a stellar season. Last night, I dreamt that he had signed on with the Detroit Red Wings and led them to a second straight Stanley Cup championship, scoring the game-winning goal in the Cup-clincher. It was a dream we both would love. Good times!
Has anybody noticed the Tampa Bay Rays haven't won a game since I made a Tropicana Field wide shot my picture of the week last Sunday?
Sunday, July 13:
And the all-star break is at hand as soon as today's games are complete. Baseball's is the only one I ever watch, because it has always seemed to mean something to the participants. Especially lately, with home field advantage at stake for the winning league's representative. Baseball still operates under two leagues, with different rules (well, one anyway: the designated hitter). And as long as that's in place, the midsummer classic is still something worth seeing. Especially this year at Yankee Stadium, which will close its doors at season's end.
This week's "pic of the week" is of Memorial Stadium at the University of California. It's a classic old football edifice, which is fascinating enough. But the Hayward fault line runs right through it, from goal line to goal line. Steps are being taken to improve and reinforce the 85-year-old structure, but studies do suggest that if a "big one" ever hits Berkeley when the Cal Golden Bears are at home -- well, I don't even want to think about it.
Tuesday, July 15:
Ah, back to work after a three-day weekend. I wish I could say I spent it doing lots of chores or digging into a project. But I didn't. I spent as much time as possible doing nothing at all. It's something I'm very good at.
July 15th is my annual summer "wish" day. For instance, during a raging winter blizzard, I'll often say, "I wish it was July 15th." It seems to be to be about the perfect midpoint of summer (it's actually early August). And they're calling for perfect weather today -- sunny with a high of 28 degrees Celsius. Of course, as mentioned, it's back to work for me.
I've been gently pushing The Bride for an answer as to what she wants to do on our two-week vacation next month, suggesting that many attractions and hotels might be booked if we waited much longer. So, we've decided to take something of a second honeymoon to the U.S. South. We'll fly to Atlanta, rent a convertible, drive to New Orleans for a weekend in the French Quarter, then drive on to Dallas, and we will fly home from there. I got her to agree to take in a ballgame with me (her beloved Red Sox aren't playing, but my Tigers are, in Texas).
Wednesday, July 16:
THAT'S what I'M talkin' about! When was the last time you saw this kind of drama in any other sport's all-star game? The American League prevailed again last night (and this morning) 4-3, but they wasted chance after chance after chance and you kept getting the feeling the Nationals would eventually push across a run and steal it. But it didn't happen and it's fitting the home team won the final all-star game in old Yankee Stadium, even if the place was half empty at 1:35 in the morning following 15 innings of baseball. And once again, the American League representative will have home field advantage in the World Series.
When I was a kid, the American League actually had the lead in all-star game decisions over the years. Then came a stretch of 19 wins in 20 games for the Nationals, who then led the series 38-to-19 with one tie. Yet, in time, I may actually see the Americans take over again. Maybe. Right now, the N.L. still leads 40-to-37 with two ties. But the senior circuit hasn't won since 1996, in a ballpark (Veterans Stadium) that no longer exists. The A.L. still has a ways to go, but I never thought I'd see it this close again.
Thursday, July 17:
Gotta feel for Florida's Dan Uggla. It was a thoroughly uggly all-star game the other night for the Marlins second baseman, setting an unenviable record of three errors (the final one on a terrible hop) in an all-star game. Things were just as bad at the plate. Three strikeouts in four at-bats with the other appearance resulting in an inning-ending double play, stranding the potential winning run at third base. He'd been struggling over the past 10 games, with a .193 average and I'm sure he won't have many fond memories of Tuesday night. Or of Yankee Stadium. His only other chance to play in the outgoing baseball cathedral was two years ago when the Marlins played a three-game interleague set in the Bronx. But Uggla, a rookie, tweaked his hamstring a few days earlier in Baltimore and missed the series. So his one and only game in the famed "House that Ruth Built" (unless you believe the Marlins and Yankees are destined to meet in the World Series) was his all-star nightmare the other night. Uggla may play in the Bronx again down the road, but it will be in the new Yankee Stadium being built across the road. Too bad he has to live with this -- he's a fine ballplayer.
As for my personal baseball cathedral, the demolition of Tiger Stadium is well underway with much of the left field bleachers now left to my memory banks. Part of me wants to to visit the construction site and take pictures; part of me wants to just remember the place the way it was.
Saturday, July 19:
How completely and utterly STUPID can some people be? Once again, a baby was left unattended inside a locked and closed-window vehicle on a steamy hot day, this time in Port Perry. Thank God, the child was rescued -- this time -- but there have been far too many cases where this idiocy turns into tragedy. How many times does this have to happen before it sinks in that this sort of behaviour is fatal to both baby children and animals? Please, people -- THINK!!!
I'm looking to get away on a baseball road trip next week, but where is the question? I love going to Baltimore and the Blue Jays are there -- and one of the games features a "turn-back-the-clock" night with early '80s uniforms. That would be cool to see. But I'm also keen to see a night game in St. Louis, and they play the Brewers in a match-up of two clubs that -- with the Cubs -- could provide a dandy of a pennant race in the N.L. Central. I'll sleep on it.
Sunday, July 20:
It didn't take long. Before the sandman arrived last night, I'd decided on St. Louis. It's a longer drive, but I've seen three Blue Jays-Orioles games in Baltimore over the past few years. Neither club is going anywhere this season and the Brewers and/or Cardinals might.
If I were Luke Scott, I'd stay loose at the plate today in Baltimore's home game against Detroit. Scott put the finishing touches on the Orioles' impressive 11-10 comeback victory last night with his walk-off, 420-foot home run in the bottom of the 10th. Whereupon he rounded third and slid into home plate! In baseball, that is a major sign of disrespect. If I was Justin Verlander (today's Tiger starter), I'd stick one in his ear the first time Scott comes to the plate.
Bad blood #2: Tampa Bay's Dioner Navarro was hit by a pitch from Toronto's Brandon League with one out in the eighth in last night's 6-4 Rays win. Navarro's crime? He reached on a bunt single in his previous at-bat, three batters after Evan Longoria's grand-slam homer gave the Rays a five-run advantage. Bunting with a 5-0 lead is also considered bush league (at least it was in the past, when a 5-0 lead meant a game was in the bag). League (who was ejected) claimed the pitch was a sinker that got away from him. Hossy excrement. He knew what he was doing. You can also expect some fireworks between those teams either today or the next time they meet.
Big leads are nothing in baseball these days. The offended Blue Jays ended up scoring four runs in the ninth, falling just two runs short. In the Detroit-Baltimore game, the Orioles were down 6-0 before they even came to bat and still trailed 10-9 in the ninth and were the beneficiaries of a brutal call in the top of the 10th when umpire Brian Runge called Detroit's Placido Polonco out on a not-very-close play at the plate. (As one disgruntled writer in a Tigers' fan forum put it after the game, "Just how safe do you have to be?") Nevertheless, the Tigers can't blame the umpire -- it was their own lack of pitching that sent this one into the loss column.
Strange day in baseball. The Yankees beat the Athletics 4-3 in extras on a hit batter with the bases loaded!
Tuesday, July 22:
INDIANAPOLIS -- I was here a year ago and saw the hulking construction of Lucas Oil Stadium, the new home of the Indianapolis Colts. It is virtually completed now and the sheer size of the place from the outside is astounding. It dwarfs both Ford Field in Detroit and University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, two of the newest facilities in the NFL. I can't wait to see a game here, just to see what it looks like inside. Of course, seeing the Colts is pretty attractive too. If the stadium being built for the Cowboys in Arlington, Texas is larger than this place, than it might have its own area code.
Every time I visit Indy, I'm amazed at how much the city has changed in three decades. When I saw my first Indianapolis 500 (live) thirty years ago, Indianapolis was a smallish midwestern city -- just a stop-gap on the interstate from point-A to point-B; a rust-belt victim with a blighted downtown area. Today, its growth rate is steady if not strong, a growing city with a modern, thriving downtown area.
Wednesday, July 23:
ST. LOUIS -- Over the past 31 years, I've been here four times now for probably a total of 16 hours -- just enough time to take in three Cardinals' games and a Blues' game. But today, I crammed in a trip to the top of the Gateway Arch -- something I've promised myself for a long time. Going up (and down) is not for the claustrophobic, and even the viewing area at the top is narrow, with tiny windows and is generally crammed with people. But the views of St. Louis to the west and Illinois and the Mississippi to the east are worth the discomfort.
Do you think the Milwaukee Brewers are happy with their acquisition of C.C. Sabathia from Cleveland? He had the Cardinals eating out of his hand tonight with a complete-game three-hit shutout. St. Louis didn't get its first hit until two were out in the bottom of the sixth. Sabathia is 4-and-0 with three complete games with Milwaukee and evidently worth every penny he's making.
Friday, July 25:
After a long drive back, the posting of pictures form this road trip will have to wait. An appointment with the bed is first and foremost.
Man, I hate the many gas stations in the states that require you to punch in a zip code number to validate your credit card! It means you have to take the card inside to an often-skeptical attendant, who assumes you're there to rip him or her off. Visa and MasterCard are worldwide companies, but the guy who looked at my card on the outskirts of Indy was certain it wouldn't be accepted and was somewhat shocked when it was. The whole exercise is a pain.
You know you're in the bible belt of American when you come across a giant -- and I mean giant -- cross that is erected at Effingham, Illinois, an hour and a half east of St. Louis. It's 198 feet high, right off the intersection of Interstates 70 and 54 and impossible to miss.
Milwaukee completed a four-game sweep of the Cardinals last night. Monday, they won 6-3 with three runs in the 10th. Tuesday, they scored two in the 8th and one in the 9th to prevail 4-3. Wednesday was C.C. Sabathia's 3-0 gem and last night, they scored two in the 9th to take the series finale, 4-3. A team to be reckoned with.
Saturday, July 26:
It’s never easy to lose colleagues in this radio bid’ness, but when they go at a young age, it’s doubly tough. I didn’t know Tim Kilpatrick well but I did follow his career as he stepped in many of the same footsteps that I trod. Same college, same station in London, Ontario, and his last stop was Ottawa where I spent four terrific years. Tim died yesterday of a lung infection at the far-too-young age of 41. A good broadcaster and a good guy. So very unfair.
Every child who has ever climbed onto a pitcher’s mound -- even Charlie Freakin’ Brown -- knows you don’t groove an 0-and-2 pitch in a key situation. But that’s exactly what Detroit’s Todd Jones did last night with nobody on and two out in the top of the ninth of a 5-4 game the Tigers needed to win. Jones’ cripple became a base hit and he followed it by giving up a two-run homer, allowing the White Sox to escape 6-5. A game so typical of the Tigers -- their offence goes to sleep in the late innings and the bullpen coughs up a furball.
Pictures from Wednesday night's Brewers-Cardinals game are now up.
Sunday, July 27:
It's senseless that Paul Tracy doesn't have a regular ride in the Indy Racing League. No, he's not the youngest driver in the world. Yes, he's made a career of squandering his immense talent with dumb moves on the track. But if there's any question of whether he's still "got it," yesterday's race in Edmonton should be proof. He started 16th and finished fourth, just missing the podium, despite losing radio contact with his team in the pits. Hopefully that performance will bring in some sponsorship money and allow Tracy to get a few more starts.
Monday, July 28:
The very first time I saw a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Al Unser (Senior) won the famed 500 for the third time. He won it on Goodyear tires. In fact, all 33 drivers ran on Goodyear tires in that race 30 years ago. And the coolest hat to buy at the Speedway was the blue cap with the white rectangle that carried the Goodyear script and logo that all the winning drivers were photographed in. I bring this up because while the days of Goodyear at the 500 are long gone -- Firestone provides the rubber for the IRL -- Goodyear was front and centre at NASCAR's Brickyard 400 yesterday at IMS, for all the wrong reasons. You'd think Goodyear had never seen the place before. Yes, stock cars and open wheel cars are night vs. day, but the tire company was woefully unprepared to go racing yesterday. Goodyear's tires could only last about 10 laps at a time forcing NASCAR to implement mandatory caution periods out of safety concerns. The longest green-light racing time frame was dozen laps. Drivers, aware of the consequences of a blown lap at a tight track like IMS, tip-toed around the place all day at about three-quarter speed. It was a pathetic display. My man Jimmie Johnson won the race and spun the obligatory doughnut after it was over. And blew a tire.
Pictures from visits to Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana are now up. Hopefully, the Indy pics show just how immense new Lucas Oil Stadium is from the outside.
Wednesday, July 30:
I don't much care if athletes take enough steroids to make them look like Mr. Stay Puft from Ghostbusters. Generally, what goes around, comes around. But mess with the integrity of a game and I'm upset. I have always (naively) believed officials and referees were above "the take." Now, who knows? Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy has just been sentenced to 15 months for betting on games and passing along inside information. The next logical question is whether games were manipulated by officials. There are already suggestions that a Kings-Lakers playoff game a number of years ago was a little odd. Commissioner David Stern insists that the Donaghy case is an isolated case. The league should be turned upside down and scrubbed from head to toe to make sure he's right.
Thursday, July 31:
I have to admit to some mixed feelings about the Detroit Tigers' trade of catcher Ivan Rodriguez to the New York Yankees for pitcher Kyle Farnsworth. First of all, I never thought the Yankees would employ a catcher nicknamed "Pudge." (That stems back to the '70s when the Yankees-Red Sox wars featured two battling catchers -- the late Thurman Munson for New York and Carlton "Pudge" Fisk for Boston). But this trade works for both clubs. With Jorge Posada out for the year, the Yanks were in need of a proven every-day catcher, even one on the downside of a superb career. Farnsworth? Fine. If he can throw strikes, he could run for mayor and win in a landslide. Max Patkin, the rubber-faced baseball clown, would be an improvement over the stiffs the Tigers currently have in their bullpen. But I'm sad to see Rodriguez go. He made it fashionable to be a Tiger fan again by signing with Detroit one year after his World Series triumph with Florida. Free agents wouldn't touch Motown with a 10-foot pole before he made that move. You'll be missed in this corner, Pudge.
