Just Wishful Thinking

It was the third inning of the Toronto Blue Jay's matinee game against the Minnesota Twins. I tuned in to sportsnet and Vernon Wells was at the plate. The bases were empty and Carl Pavano was pitching. He missed on his first pitch outside with junk. Then tossed a 1-0 two-seamer over the inside half of the plate that cut towards V-Dub. It was a mistake and Vernon jumped all over the pitch smashing a 200-level moon shot that left the park instantly.

Wells was given a ludicrous contract for exactly what I had witnessed, he is suppose to jump on mistake pitches at least 30 times a season and field gold in the centre of the Jay's outfield. In the same game Edwin Encarnacion and Lyle Overbay hit 2-run bombs, and Aaron Hill added a solo shot. The Jay's went on to win 11-2.

I couldn't help but laugh that this Jay's team is the most powerful lineup in the majors. Lead by Wells, Jose Bautista, Alex Gonzalez, and John Buck.

Buck Martinez, currently my favourite Toronto sportscaster because he is not Jamie Campbell, told me that Jose Bautista has hit the most home runs in the Major's since September of last year (he hit 10 that month). Move over Mark Teixera, Evan Longoria, and Kevin Youkilis there is a new big boy on the AL east block.

I hope my tone of cynicism is clear because I cannot decide if the Toronto Blue Jay's current standing in the American League is promising or disparaging.

The offense is getting magical production from career journeyman like Gonzo, Shaun Marcum and Ricky Romero are pitching like aces, and Adam Lind and Aaron Hill, last seasons offensive saviors, are both struggling at the plate. Marc Rzepczynski and Jesse Litsch two young arms that have been successful in the past are also returning from injury.

Despite the Blue Jay's record, the fourth best in the AL (24-17), they are still 2.5 games from the wildcard spot. The emergence and dominance of the young Tampa Bay Ray's rotation is frightening, and they have a comparable lineup to the Evil Empire making them serious pennant contenders, and the probable favourites.

I sigh because the Blue Jay's good fortune will fade, and/or injuries will strike, the Jay's will spiral down, although I pray not to the depths of the Boston Red Sox (a grossly overrated team this season).

But it is so rare for the gods of sport to smile on any Toronto franchise. I know that this team is not built for success this season. The future is the return on the Halladay trade (Wallace, d'Arnaud, and Drabek have been performing promisingly in the minors), this season's draft, and the core of young arms lead by Romero, Cecil, and Morrow.

And so I am left with the line made cliche by Toronto's faithful fans, maybe next year is THE YEAR.

Media Madness: Reviewing NFL Draft Coverage

The NFL is the best North American sports league at creating a torrent of media attention.

This is evident in the exorbitant cost for commercial time during the Super Bowl (an American institution), in the celebrity status of QB's like Tom Brady and Tony Romo, and most recently in the often-ludicrous coverage of this years NFL draft.

I should preface that I am fickle towards sport media because it often marginalizes "small-market" teams like the ones I follow (Toronto-based teams or in the case of the NFL, the Buffalo Bills).

Members of the media always note that free agents do not want to play in Toronto or Buffalo because its cold, or poor, or in Canada.

Yet General Managers never say "I could not sign so-and-so because he doesn't want to live in an igloo". Players want to play where they are given the chance to win, or the most money and NOT in that order.

Additionally, the media pretend that they have some mythical wisdom that professional sports teams lack. Why would a reporter who watches a lot of basketball be more informed then the 20 year scout who played the game and is experienced in identifying mechanics?

The 2010 NFL Draft draws throngs of media mouthpieces, making it an a-typical example of how sports reporters are often jaded and overly critical of small market teams.

For instance, during the NFL draft I found numerous instances where the media criticized the Buffalo Bills draft picks for reasons that they A) could not support B) Made no sense or C) Came from Mel Kiper Jr.

Case #1 - Chavous and Davis the NFL Networks version of John McCain and Sarah Palin.

NFL Network Bills Draft Analysis

This video had former pro-bowl DB Cory Chavous debating the Bills draft picks with Charles Davis, a college analyst who played some cornerback at Tennessee.

Davis gave the Bills a C+ draft grade. He backs up his analysis with quotes like,

"Here is why I have them at C+. I love [C.J.] Spiller at the top."
"They got Ed Wang who I love."
"I love this guy [referring to Levi Brown the Bills 7th round selection]."
"I really like that guy [Marcus Easily]."

Davis must not remember how the grading scale works, because I know mom and dad wouldn't show that much love if their kid brought home a C+ average.

His criticisms of the Bills picks are that they,
1) reached on their second round selection, although it did address a need
2) Ed Wang might not pan out as a right tackle (The bills see him as a left tackle anyway)
3) that Levi Brown's arm may not be strong enough to brave the arctic temperament of Buffalo
4) they only addressed their need at tackle once.

Chavous gave the Bills an A average.

He thinks Spiller is the most explosive player in the draft and that the rest of the Bills picks addressed the teams needs, depth and lack of talent.

Then Chavous says something interesting, “I don’t look at a teams draft by the way the fans respond, they don’t even know the guys.”

Chavous' comment draws attention to the media's tendency to write towards the fans, feeding ignorance.

Charles Davis downgrades the Bills draft because many of the selections were from small school teams, so few fans have heard of them. He says he loves the majority of the picks, and yet he views the teams draft as well below average...something's not right there.

Case #2 The Myth of Mel Kiper Jr.



Who is Mel Kiper Jr.? More important is the question, why is this greasy man giving me information and spittle at an irregularly fast pace as if he has some shard of knowledge?

So a quick wiki check brought about this story.

In 1994 Kiper Jr. criticized the then-Baltimore Colts for not selecting Trent Dilfer in the first round. He labelled Dilfer a "franchise QB" (if your not laughing all ready...).

Bill Tobin, who was the Colts' director of football operations responded to the criticism by saying, "Who in the hell is Mel Kiper, anyway? To my knowledge, he's never put on a jockstrap, he's never been a player, and all of a sudden he's an expert. He's never been a scout. He's never been an administrator. Mel has no more credibility to do what he's doing than my neighbor. And my neighbor is a postman who doesn't even have season tickets."

Sadly Kiper Jr. is, along with Todd McShay ESPN's foremost NFL draft expert.

In my opinion, Kiper is also responsible for the media's craze regarding Jimmy Clausen's "tumultuous" draft day fall. McShay and Kiper have been debating Clausen's worth throughout the draft process, with Kiper saying he was a sure 1st round talent (rating him the 4th best prospect in the draft), and McShay arguing that Clausen is probably a second round pick (rating him in the 30's).

Kiper was wrong. Teams in need of QB talent (Cleveland and Buffalo) passed on Clausen twice. Simply this means that Kiper had no clue what he was talking about, the NFL did not value Clausen like he did.

Kiper like Davis gave the Bills a C+ draft grade.

My prescient view is that Kiper's C+ opinion means future success for the Bills. And that members of the media with bloated heads of false worth will realize that the opinion of teams and not lisping wacko's is what us fans would like to hear.

Life Without Chris Might Not Be So Bad

Yesterday I watched Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo, in his post-season media debrief, duck and weave questions from the Toronto media regarding Chris Bosh's feature.

In an ESPN article published on April 16, Bosh said the following,
"I just want to win basketball games, I want to play in the postseason, I want to advance. I've been playing seven years. It's time to start thinking about stuff like that."

As a Toronto sports fan I can understand Bosh's desire for W's. I often find myself wishing I could sell my fanaticism on the open market to the highest bidder. I'd probably take a pay cut and go to Boston.

But I was born at Mount Synia hospital in downtown Toronto, and my allegiance to teams of sport begins and ends there.

So now I must contemplate a Raptors season without the face of the franchise, who for his unmistakable resemblance to the teams mascot, seemed to fit perfectly.

I will remember how easily Chris could score the ball, and his trademark ferocious yelling, punching, screaming madness whenever he made a signature play.

But also that it took 7 years in the association, and a contract season for him to realize he should hit the gym.

What fans of the Raptors should realize when they watch the cities most successful star athlete scurry back to America is that CB4 is one of the NBA's best scorers and rebounders but he isn't, nor was he ever, a complete player.

Chris is Pau Gasol with a punch. He needs to play with another superstar to be successful, because he cannot pass and does the brunt of his scoring in isolation post plays.

He is soft defensively and is below average at getting blocks for a player of his size and athletic ability. When coupled with Andrea Bargnani's soft play the Raps 'bigs' should start a traveling band called "Free Ride to The Basket." Then the fans could enjoy a score while the opposing team wreaks havoc on the Raptor's rim.

The reason the Raps haven't been capable of getting to the playoffs the last two seasons is largely due to their very soft big-men.

Compound their soft interior with slow cover wings like Hedo Turkoglu, Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono, Jose Calderon, and Joey Graham and opposing offenses loved playing against the Raptors. If the only resistance Lebron is going to face is getting around the stiff and slow Turk, the Raps are going to allow 60 point halfs, and 30 point quarters regularly (ahhemm the entire second half of the season).

With or without Bosh the Raps can score the basketball. Andrea is a unique and highly skilled forward, Jack is a solid PG and with Calderon the Raps have a good 1/2 punch. Weems and DeRo have high ceilings as wing players and good work ethics to boot. Turk cannot be worse then he was this season, using conventional wisdom.

The Raps can move forward with a young nucleus, the lottery pick in this years draft, their return from a Bosh sign and trade, and a free agent from this godly class. They can address the problem that has plagued them since drafting Bargnani. And move on without their star, because they couldn't win with him.

Bosh will find success elsewhere, when he is the second option on a team. And the Raps will be better for it down the road.

The Leafs: Dysfunctional, but not dishonourable

posted by Mitch Goldenberg:

Last night all the Montreal Canadiens needed to do to clinch a playoff spot was take the Leafs into overtime to pick up that important 89^th point.

Leafs Coach Ron Wilson said he opted not to pull his goalie during the tie game in the third period and attempt to knock out the Habs for the sake of the game’s integrity.

After a disappointing season, at least the Leafs can say they have class.

But this is not the first display of honour the Leafs have shown in the past couple of years. As a matter of fact, this post will show it is just another instance where the Leafs have shown to set aside their own well-being for various reasons.

• The Leafs have refrained from winning the Stanley Cup since 1967 to allow other teams and dynasties the chance to formulate. You are welcome Islanders, Oilers, Red Wings et all.
• The Leafs have intentionally missed the playoffs since 2005 to allow the game to grow in America so teams like the Wild, Thrashers, Predators and Coyotes could get their chance.
• On March 18, 2008, Leafs goaltender Vesa Toskala refused to let Islanders Defenceman Rob Davison finish the season goal-less. So, he let Davison fire a short handed tally past him from 197-feet away.
• The Leafs delay the start of the game for at least 20 minutes every Saturday night to allow various pre-game ceremonies to take place. As a result, the Leafs usually come out flat, which is totally because of the pre-game stuff.
• The Leafs continue to jack up ticket prices despite their poor performances as of late to allow other teams to claim, “at least we don’t charge as much as the Leafs.”
• Pay Jeff Finger 3.5 million dollars a year to be a healthy scratch and play less than half the season, and pay Eddie Belfour, Darcy Tucker and other Leaf buy-outs for doing naught. I guess the Leafs really want hockey families to live large.
• Trade away all our players from the playoff contender pre-lockout days. Actually, this is probably the best way we could have repaid them for their services.
• Let Brian Burke speak to the media every day to tell the league exactly what we are doing. Wouldn’t want the element of surprise to catch the other teams off guard.
• And Finally, instead of doing evil like Kevin Lowe and giving up less, the Leafs give up Taylor Hall AND next year’s first round pick to remedy the loss of Phill Kessel. Now that’s class.

So you see, these altruistic Leafs aren’t anything new. Actually, they could be around for a long time. But even though we aren’t triumphant, take pride Leafs fans, as you support one of the most moral teams around.

LBJ has Lobotomy Signs with Knicks

The image above is currently on the front page of ESPN.com. I saw the picture, read the caption "The Chosen One has a big decision to make this summer. In Ian O'Connor's eyes, New York is the obvious choice." and laughed.

Apparently Ian O'Connor is trapped in the 1970's when the Knicks won both of their championships. Maybe O'Connor believes that Lebron James, the most gifted basketball player (and human) EVER prefers media attention to his teammates attention. Prefers the Big Apple, to the apple of his eye, an NBA ring.

But what O'Connor fails to realize is that LBJ has only one thing motivating him, WINNING. It isn't money, or cars, or fame because he already has those. If Lebron wanted more attention he wouldn't average 8.5 assists a game, he'd take an extra 8.5 shots a game.

Lebron was born in Akron Ohio, he's playing for the team he grew up watching. The real threat to Cleveland's hold on LBJ isn't the glamour of New York but the talent other teams possess. If Cleveland can't win the title this year what will change their fortunes in the future?

They do not have a budding young star (J.J. Hickson is the closest thing, good prospect but not star calibre). They're centre's are aging, their wing players are one dimensional shooters. Even the latest piece Antawn Jamison struggles to create offense by himself. To compound the problem the Cav's have no cap space, and are too successful to earn a good draft pick.

The problem with Cleveland is talent. If you put Lebron James on 10 other teams they would probably win the finals. But in Cleveland its a question mark.

General Manager Danny Ferry is responsible for not finding a ying to Lebron's yang. Lebron entered the NBA six years ago, and has never had a premier scorer in the paint. Over the same period Kobe has had Gasol/Bynum/Malone/(younger)Shaq/Odom. Lebron has never played with someone who could consistently score without him. He's never had another slasher to shoulder the load, and create open shots for him, letting him save energy, and focus on the defensive side of the floor.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers get ousted by the Atlanta Hawks or Orlando Magic this post-season Lebron will understand that if he stays with Cleveland he may never win a ring.

It's funny, I always believed the Cav's shouldn't have traded for Shaq or signed Mo Williams or Anthony Parker. They should have shed cap room and prepared for the 2010 free agent class like everyone else. Imagine Lebron as recruiter. Who could turn down the pitch?

"Joe Johnson, would you like to win a championship? Just sign here."

I'm Lovin' It over Raps Win

Last night I chose not to watch the Toronto Raptors beat the L.A. Clippers. As a faithful Raptors fan I felt like a protest was in order. I figured the Raps high-power (“Power” should be replaced by jump shot, or soft – et al.) offense would be too much for the Caveman, and Co.

Thus, it seemed like a tease. Why should I watch the Raptors “take care of business” against the god-forsaken Clips? So I can be thankful that there are softer and worse teams in the Association?

The only gain from that would be a bloated confidence that would be crushed like a deflated basketball, when the Raps are stomped by any team with the desire to attack the Bumbling Bee’s (horribly known by Matt “I Miss You Chuck” Devlin as the Killer Bee’s).

So, I chose to watch Brandon Knight hit the game winning jump shot in the Macdonald’s All-American game. I got to dream on the length of Harrison Barnes who ran the floor like a Mac truck with no break pads. And I watched the future of Canadian basketball, as Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph held there own against the best the U.S. has to offer.

I heard that 75% of players in the Macdonald’s high school game would make the NBA, and for a peaceful evening I ignored the aggravating play of the Toronto Raptors, and looked past the truth, that CB4’s time in Toronto is most likely coming to an end.