I know, I’m an idiot for listening. It’s my own fault, I am, to a degree addicted to sports radio. I’ve said it before (get ready, you may see that a few times again) but I know it isn’t keeping sports talk fresh and interesting day in and night out. A member of my family has been banned from talking about sports because that’s all he does talk about- he has had to sit silently at meals cause he can’t talk sports. So I get that it’s hard and I respect the jobs that those in the biz do. I just wish that there were certain things that were done better. I am, I hope, the first to admit a screw up too by the way… I know I am not perfect either.

So here’s what has me peeved. Leading off tonight is the Bill Watters show. Actually, it’s Bill Watters. I’ve said it before (I warned you), but the guy is so full of bias on so many issues that he should be disallowed from talking about certain subjects(like that family member of mine!). Bill Watters can’t speak about the owners of any team in this town without spewing his bias. His arguments get more and more insane and annoying every time he goes there. Doesn’t matter if it’s MLSE- the Argos boys or Rogers. He just shouldn’t go there. He sounds like a bitter, bitter ex-employee or father of a terminated son. No one wants to hear that AND it makes the old guy so much less credible on other issues.

I’m not defending the Argos by the way, that franchise has dug such a hole and the league’s solution sounds much like filling it in with quick sand. How does anyone take anything that the team is doing seriously while the ownership issue is hanging out there? Seriously, why or how could anyone spend 2 cents on a single game ticket for this team let alone a package or season tickets? There is supposed to be a level of trust between ownership and it’s fanbase, that trust has been totally abused by the Argos.

Down the dial at the Fan things weren’t any better tonight. Kevin Allen was on Twitter around 7pm predicting that a deal with Kovalchuk was imminent. Then around 7:30 the actual deal started to circulate on Twitter. As late of 7:55 the night shift guys at the Fan590 were asking callers whether or not Canada would win Olympic gold????? IF they mentioned twitter, Kevin Allen or the trade I certainly didn’t hear it. Now, if you are going to be talking sports all day, at the very least they should be up on this type of thing. No Toronto team played tonight. It’s not like there was a bigger story tonight. I don’t understand why our only all sports station wasn’t all over this.

As Mike S. pointed out, I was wrong on my facts with the Edwards interview from the day before. I would love to blame the pain medicine, but I am not on any! In any event, take a read at this great article by the Bruins (perhaps homer) play by play guy- I think it’s great.

Sooooooo, Tampa Bay appears to be sold. Who’s next? Reports are rampant that the Dallas Stars couldn’t make payroll and the league was having do so for them. WOW- Where does it end? For more on that story read this excellent review. Does anyone know if the sale of the Lighning pays of the folks with the Detroit Pistons? Hmmmmmmm.

While on the topic of bias on the radio, did anyone listen to Richie Rich MacLean today? His chatting about a new mercedes was annoying enough but to listen to him go on about his old team??????? I kept praying for a transformer to go out at the Rogers campus.

Meanwhile, if you want to feel sorry for someone today, it should be those who are fans of the Atlanta Thrashers. Talk about an abused fan base! How many time does management allow high quality guys to walk for near nothing? Have these guys never thought about being proactive, dealing from a position of strength??????? Man oh man. There is a group of folks who have been loyal to that team and there doesn’t seem like there has been a lot of reciprocity. Check out this article- it tells it like it is.

That’s all I got….

Happy Friday…

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

A couple of quick points, first, to the fine folks at CityTv who lost their jobs today, best of luck, may you find work quickly! Especially Anne Mroczkowski, the 23 year vet. How she loses her job while the town bike keeps her job is beyond me.

This issue with violence in junior hockey- if you want to end it, start with parents and coaches of the littlest kids who play the game. You know the ones, they sign of their kids up for skating and hockey 5 days a week or more at the age of 5. If players at 17 have no respect for their opponents, start with where they learned the game. We as a society are totally nuts when it comes to teaching our kids hockey. Practices, skates, games, hockey hockey hockey. The pressure, the expectations is nuts.

I help coach my son’s team. He plays house league. HOUSE League. You know 1 day a week. The odd practice here or there. Our team is pretty relaxed, but you should hear and see the other kids/parents/coaches. You would think this was the NHL. the yelling, the screaming the PUSHING. These kids are 7!

If you think the hits you have seen in junior have been bad lately, seriously, go to your local rink and take in a pee-wee game. The cement head, John Brophy wanna be’s coaching these teams…..that is where it starts. Parents screaming from the stands at Pee-Wees! It’s nuts. In one of our games the other teams coach literally almost leaped off the bench when the referee (who may have been 11) missed an offside- I thought the coach was going to kill the poor kid!

To me it’s really quite simple.Throw the book at these kids who play like idiots. Every time someone does something like this, throw the damn book at him. Hockey is a privilege not a right. Make that the example. Teach kids to play hard but to play clean. Parents, the odds of your kids making to the show are slim and none, just like they were when you played. I heard a parent ask an opposing coach in my son’s league if they could work on their power play a couple of days ago- We don’t even have penalties in our league!

Now, that that is over…..

Curious, if you have been listening to the radio in this town lately. I know, I was away for a the holidays then I had the knee surgery, but wow- what happened???? Where has the quality gone? It’s really nasty out there.

Now, I will grant you the fact that there is nothing to talk about with respect to the Maple Leafs. They are out of the hunt this year. They have no draft picks this year. They claim to be unwilling to trade their only tradeable asset. What is there to talk about?

Still, man is it weak out there.

In listening to the morning show on the Fan the last couple of days, there wasn’t one segment that I thought was the least bit interesting let alone thought provoking. Do the boys have the post holiday blues? Are they mailing it in until their contracts are up???? WOW

The Bullpen is what it is. It doesn’t really change all that much. I will say this in Mike Hogan’s defence, no one can do what he is doing solo. It’s just not good radio. Toth isn’t the answer, but give him someone, he needs a foil of some sort.

The two lunch time shows are also both so tired. I like Darren Dreger. If he says a team is interested in a player, or something is happening in a room, I believe it. He is not a host. Having him on with Wilbur just isn’t good radio. He doesn’t play well to Wilbur, and he isn’t a good interviewer. More importantly, he really doesn’t share an opinion. Down the dial, it’s the same shtick every single day. The names change, but the ripping on Kipper for this, talking about someone’s basement hockey jersey’s and MacLean interrupting to talk about how much money he has…..

I am warming up a little bit to the gameplan. It’s a little bit forced and only because they can’t talk NBA/Raptor basketball all day. If this was a market and they could talk hoops for the entire show it would be good. In another market it would be good. You do your hockey show, your NBA show. These guys would be fine.

The shows that I think are suffering the most are the drive homes. Here’s a bombshell for you- I miss Mccown taking calls. I do. I thought it humanized him a bit. His screeners did a good job of blocking out most of the crap for him and to be honest he didn’t kiss anybodies butt and it was good to hear his opinion.

Today was painful. I know Jim Kelley is unwell, and I wish him the best of health. McCown talked to him today for over 30 minutes. Kelley just isn’t that interesting to talk to for that long. It was, in a word, awful. AWFUL. It wasn’t interesting, it wasn’t compelling and it wasn’t funny. It was more like let me talk to my buddy down the road to kill time cause I don’t want to speak to the fans.

To top it off- Brunt is away again this week and we are graced with John Shannon. Now, clearly the guys at Rogers (probably the same ones who fired Anne Mroczkowski and not the bike) messed up the memo. Shannon, I would think would make a fine replacement for Nelson Millman, NOT Jim Kelley! Have you seen the Sportsnet promo on Shannon? Touting him as an INSIDER- it’s INSULTING. Shannon is a television executive. He is a damn good one at that. He is not a sports radio co-host. Again, he’s not funny, he’s not interesting and he’s not informative. Unless the topic relates to, sports broadcasting, television rights or camera angles.

Up the dial, with the Leafs in their predicament, Wilbur has no ammo. Is it just me or is Bill Watters the real life Cosmo Kramer? He talks about all these guys with funny names or nicknames. Today for example, he is talking about a former colleague who passed away. I thought, here is Wilbur going to show that he is human. Instead he rambled on about some other guy Cheech ( I was praying he was going to then refer to Chong- at least that would have been funny). Bill Watters isn’t every guy. The every guy can’t relate to him. Yet he rambles on as if we do.

To finish it off you have the after hours on the Fan. Does anything make you hit the flip button faster than Lajoie, Faulds or Eric Thomas? Seriously, the fan finally has some younger guys that should be all over the air during these hours- hell do round-tables. On espn radio on Sundays they would have a bunch of guys talking about the games going on. Do that. Anything would be better than what I have been listening to lately- the Fan has gotten stale my friends.

Well, there’s my rant for the day- We sports fans in Toronto are getting screwed with our sports radio. We deserve better.

I feel better.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

So Toronto Blue Jays GM JP Ricciardi was on Prime Time Sports tonight with Jeff Blair guest hosting. I get the sense that Blair is one of the few guys who really likes and respects JP. He certainly isn’t bothered by the perception or fact that JP only really talks to the US media as opposed to the guys n gals who cover the team here locally. Here is a review of the interview:

*Never got close on Halladay
* On why he went public with listening to offers for Roy, Writers get the story, then they all call and ask if Roy is available. So what do you do? We told the truth- it was going to get out, rumours are part of the business. In essence, we new the word woould leak out so we decided to deal with it upfront.
* He was asked about how the management had said earlier in teh season and pre-season that the team would focus on contending in 2010, yet this doesn’t jibe with trading Roy, did ownership send new message? Was this part of the out of town corporate Rogers retreat that apparently took place a few weeks ago? JP: No one sending any message here- we try to put best team on field we can. we weren’t saying we aren’t trying to contend, if we could deal Roy and that would make our team better then we would have done it. We didn’t get that type of offer and we think we will contend with Roy and the young arms coming up behind him..There was a rogers business retreat had nothing to do with baseball. We look to be a very good team next year.
* JP was asked point blank, will he be back next season. JP: No reason to believe he won’t be here next year. I have a contract and will honor the contract. Everyone tells him they are happy with direction the club has made. Drafted and developed really well contrary to what people have written. Problem we face is the division we play in. You will see it play out with Tampa Bay. It will be very hard for them to continue to be good. In our division don’t have to be good, have to be great. If I last as long as my contract then I am really excited for next season. If I don’t then that is okay too, that is the nature of this business.
* He was then asked if he had met the new Blue Jays President. JP: Don’t believe there is a new President. Beeston is the best guy for the job. We don’t press him on that though, it’s between him and Rogers.
*Never thought of trading Roy before recently when he expressed interest in testing free agency waters. We will listen, have to be ready to change, but we are not looking to trade Roy Halladay.

There you have it folks,

Thoughts?

Here is the clip if you want to listen

jpricciardi-pts-20090803

Listen to the Chat here

Funny how things are running in parallel between two of our teams, the Jays and the Maple Leafs. Take a look at the GM’s, what they are saying publicly and of course their current dillemas. For JP, Beeston and Rogers folks it to trade or not trade the best pitcher the team has ever had. For Burke, it’s to trade or not trade the most valuable asset he has, Tomas Kaberle. The media following both stories are, to a certain degree selling the same story, without drawing the compairson.

First lets look at the Kaberle. We know, or are lead to believe he was as good as traded hours before the draft for Phil Kessel. Since that deal died we haven’t heard much on Kaberle. Burke, or Nonis now have about 19 days to decide what they are doing with #15. Burke went public last week in saying that he know very much doubts that Kaberle will get dealt.

Then there is the mess that is the Jays. J.P. Ricciardi is a walking PR circus. No one believes anything that come out of his mouth. However, as the scribes across MLB are pumping out stores on this J.P. Ricciardi, is saying that he very much doubts that Kaberle, I mean Halladay will get dealt.

Our very one Jeff Blair who is carrying the torch in the Doc stories races these days seems to think that J.P. Ricciardi’s words may not be anything more than an attempt to up the ante. Jayson Stark at ESPN says the Phillies turned down a Jays offer and in kind the Jays turned down the Phillies counter offer. Down the dial, the good folks at Foxpsports are saying the Angles, Phillies and Red Sox are in the mix with the Yankees lurking.

I love this bit from Stark:

“The Blue Jays have spent the last 24 hours trying to get the word out that they don’t have to deal their ace. In the next few days, everyone will find out whether they’re serious, or just trying to ratchet up the price.”

Can’t the same thing be said about Burke and the Leafs? No I didn’t get water on the brain this weekend (well, I probably did, but it didn’t effect my logic). Kaberle is no Halladay. No one, not even a blue jay live blogger on the score would say that TK is one of the best if not the best D in the league as Doc is in MLB. Take TK away from the Leafs and they aren’t nearly as lost as the Jays are without Roy.

If it’s possible, if not logical that the Jays are denying a deal with Doc is likely, than why too can’t Burke be doing the same thing with TK? Personally I think they are both selling it and working it at the same time. The real question I have is, does it really matter? I mean if you are an an NHL GM are you buying what Burke is telling the Toronto Star? If you are a Baseball GM are you less inclined to deal for the best pitcher in the game because the Globe and Mail quotes the GM as saying he doesn’t have to deal him??

Hell no in both cases. It’s all about symantics. The truth is both guys have to do what they can do maximize returns on key assets. Neither can afford to lose their guy for nothing. So while the best of scribes put dealing Roy at 40% today, and a NHL writer has TK at 50-50, i am not buying either until the clock strikes passed the real deadline on both occasions.

By the way, there was not a whole lot to write about in any of the Sunday papers today, however I did like it that Simmons and I agree on one thing, hit the brakes on trading Justin Pogge. I mean you just hired the guy you claim is the best in the business and then you go “giveaway” a goaltending prospect??? WHY???? Unless Burke comes out and says that the coach says Pogge is a complete and utter dud, why not wait it out?????

Have enough rain this weekend? Don’t worry, it should help keep Mayor Miller’s Rats at bay. I will say it again, let the strikers stay out forever. I don’t miss them or the lousy service one bit!

TSM

No, not peace in the middle east, but Rogers and TSN have settled their dispute. Tv watchers on Rogers (which is the entire GTA unless you are on Expressvu) will get TSN2 if they pay $60 a month or are VIP package subscribers. As an act of (cough) good faith it will be free for the rest of the month.

So those Jays games that we wanted to see will know be available (for a price) and the Raptors games that were missed will be available next season.

Who cares about the past. It’s over. Let’s move on and be thankful that it got done. The reality is, the only ones who got screwed in this is we the people. As is always the case.

TSM

 Editors note- Another interesting column from our new writer Lilly

Canada has hockey, the United States has football.

In my opinion,the NFL doesn’t have a chance of surviving in Canada. First of all we have our own league, the Canadian Football League. Why mess with that? The whole fiasco around the Buffalo Bills and having eight regular season games over the next five years is so far, a waste of time.

When the Miami Dolphins were here to play the Bills last season, Toronto tried to put on “a tailgate party”. It didn’t work. It’s not part of our culture. It’s just not the same here as in the United States. I’ve walked by a so called tailgate party for the Argo’s and thought to myself, what is that supposed to be? Oh it’s a tailgate party. Five cars with a few people standing around drinking. It wasn’t like what the Americans do at all. It seems like such a silly little detail but it’s a huge part of experiencing an NFL game in the States.

The crowd was a sad excuse for a crowd. No noise, no craziness and where were all the people? What’s a game without the crowd? Boring!.

The Buffalo Bills aren’t Toronto’s team. So I think there was some confusion as to whom we were supposed to cheer for as the “home team”. There are fans for different NFL teams here in Toronto. NFL fans in Canada, we have the choice of which team to cheer for, for different reasons. Everyone has their own team. There is always a story behind the choice. It was their dad’s team, or it was the first game they ever went to. Stuff like that.

The entire experience was like tempting a squirrel to eat from your hand. In this case, the NFL and Rogers Communications was the giant hand trying to feed us, the fans. Do we like them or not? How are we supposed to act? Fans in general seemed to be very hesitant and confused as to why they are giving us this so called” treat”. Who was getting the benefit, us the fans or them, the coroporate citizens? Perhaps like so many other things, it was just too good to be true.

Canadians are not and never will be Americans. We share a continent, but that’s about it when it comes to sports. We are just fine the way we are when it comes to football.

For this particular experiment our “Canadiana” was showing.

LLG

Well, it worked for the Maple Leafs, why not the Blue Jays? I can give you one big fat reason. MONEY and the lack of it. You see when Cliff Fletcher and Ron Wilson say the team isn’t going to be very good, Maple Leafs fans are relived that for the first time in a long time we aren’t being fed a pile of bullshit. Cliff and Ron could say it and back it up because there are no financial consequences. There has been no negative impact of essentially writing off this season as being non champion competitive. Not one less ticket will be bought, not one less advertising dollar earned. The Leafs viewership or audience on tv and radio won’t slip either.

However, when Cito Gaston comes out in December and waives the white flag on the upcoming season, it will have ripple effects through all of those areas. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. No the Jays radio deal or tv deals aren’t going to shrink this year (and a Roger’s entity owns major players in the areas anyway) but it will effect what advertisers may be wiling to spend when the manager has written off the team before Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with Cito saying at best we are going to be a thorn in other teams sides, but wait till the year after. He is saying what most people feel. That my friends, will not sell season tickets, or luxury suites, or advertisements. The Jays aren’t the Leafs when it comes to business. If the Jays lost as much money as the guru’s claim they did in the past, wait till what a down economy and a written off team does to sales. The good news from that perspective is that the payroll is being cut. If the cut is as dramatic as expected, from around 100m to 80m that will help shave the losses. Who, however is going to shell out the almighty tight buck to see the wait till next season team?

Let me throw this out there for discussion. I am willing to bet that the true Jays fans would be a lot more supportive if the Jays weren’t trying to be half pregnant. I mean if they were throwing bodies overboard and getting prospects back and admitted they were going to rebuild then I would be willing to pay for tickets and go see them a few times. The Jays aren’t doing that, or at least aren’t saying that they are going to do that. They appear to be trying to be half pregnant. We aren’t going to spend money to improve, instead we are going to spend less, but we are going to do that by not resigning some players. This is just a theory of mine and I am not sure if I am right. The question is, will you support a Jays team that is asking you to just wait for next season when this season isn’t nowhere close to beginning. Or, in the alternative, would you prefer to support a team full of younger kids and prospects who were laying a foundation for something fantastic.

Sorry for yesterday’s post…. I am back to being riled up.

“Yes, this Buffalo Bills game in Toronto today has not exactly worked out as planned but even so, the economics have to be daunting for the Canadian Football League. Today’s game will bring in more ticket revenue — about $8 million — than the Argonauts manage for an entire season. The Argos range from $6 million to $7 million a year in ticket sales”

“But the first National Football League game to be played in Canada ended up accomplishing what nobody really envisioned. It angered people in Buffalo. It angered people in Toronto. It cost Rogers Communications all kinds of money. And it entertained almost no one.”

Ahhhh yes, Mr. Simmons. To whom the glass is always entirely empty. Funny how only yesterday the CFL should be worried that one games revenue equaled more then an entire season and today everyone is “angry”.

Ok sports fans, I will bite… Raise your hand if you are angry about yesterday’s game at the Ted. Forget the outcome as well, anybody can be angry on any given Sunday. Seriously, I want to know the person who was “angered in Toronto”. Except those who couldn’t drive around near the Dome yesterday due to road closures, raise your hand if the game made you “angry”. That is what I thought. There is nothing to be angry about. His entire article is full of contradictions. I spoke to 25 people who went to the game yesterday. Each of them and their respective groups were thoroughly entertained. Every one of them said the same thing “We had a great time”. So, there you have it, I can’t believe my peeps were the only ones entertained…

The game brought in 8 million in ticket revenue alone. That doesn’t count all the other crap. Was it a HUGE success ? No, was it a COLOSSAL failure, no. Let’s recall all those stories about the amounts of money the Rogers Community has lost on the Blue Jays or other entities. Certain things corporations do for total profit (like charging 1.99 for directory assistance on a cell call) and others they do for profit, pr, marketing etc.

Yesterday, I had the good fortune of being outside for about 20 minutes at a local cemetery. Never a fun event, but I can tell you it was certainly in the top 5 coldest 20 minutes of my life. So, for the Bills fans who are so angry, get your pals and companies to buy more tickets so that your owner wouldn’t have to move a few games to where he can subsidize his take locally. That, or get in the car and drive. As much as people say they would have preferred to be outside yesterday, be the least be honest. Here in Toronto, which is Florida compared to Buffalo weather, it was unbearable outside yesterday. I can only imagine what it was like in Buffalo. Those Bills fans who went to the game (of which half of my 25 were) all were thrilled it was in doors.

“People paid mortgage payments for a pair of tickets to watch J.P. Losman play quarterback. That doesn’t seem fair to anybody. He is Buffalo’s Michael Bishop — and before Saskatchewan let him go, you could watch for him about 25 bucks.”

Now, remember that line folks, and compare it to:

“The good people at Rogers — bless them — announced attendance at 52,134. Some of them apparently paid. Those who attended the Metro Bowl high school championships last week were given freebies. Those who work for Rogers or the Blue Jays were informed they could have free tickets.

Outside, you could have had scalpers’ seats for less than $50. That makes this event dubious as a way of impressing the NFL.

So, you want it both ways? Metro Bowlers (couldn’t resist) and Roger Community Members were allowed in for free and scalping would land you a seat for $50. Raise your hand if your mortgage payment is $50. I know the argument, people shelled out good money early at face price for seats. I know a couple of people who had to fly home last minute from Florida last week. The bought their tickets on westjet.com the day before the flight, they paid under $200 for their tickets tax in. They sat with another friend who just happened to be on their flight but bought her ticket several weeks ago. She paid over $450 for her ticket. Life isn’t fair. What can I tell you.

“What also was evident was that the emotional draw that makes sport special — being here for your team, caring, being passionate — loses its appeal in what ostensibly seemed like a neutral-site game. When I asked a friend in the stands to rate the atmosphere, he called it a D-.”

Clearly your friends aren’t my friends.

“This had a corporate Super Bowl feel to it. A lot of people paid a lot of money to be here and then weren’t sure what to do.”

What were people expecting? This is not a surprise to anyone with a brain who knows the Toronto market. Look at the facts. The majority of people who grew up in this city loved one of several NFL teams, the cowboys (America’s team), the Dolphins (I am not sure why), the bills (proximity) and the (steelers- Bradshaw and the boys). No offense to anyone who lives and dies for another team. Growing up in Toronto, everyone I know roots for one of those teams in strong majorities. Toronto is not entirely a Bills town. This was a neutral site game. It is not different then games in Europe, Mexico or anywhere else. To complain that it had a corporate feel is stupid. Love it,or hate it, this is Toronto. If you don’t like it, unfortunately, you are wishing away your teams. People may bemoan the corporate feel to the ACC, but guess what Leaf Nation it is sold out every night. If you want the team to be able to spend to the cap, and you want it go get big name GM’s and coaches, that barn has to be full. Wait until you see what the Blue Jays look like this year if the rumored trimming takes place.

“All our lives we’ve been waiting for the National Football League. Today we have to take a moment and wonder why. After the most talked-about, most promoted, most hyped football game played in Toronto, all there was left at the end was a sense of ambivalence.”

Who hyped it? Who has been waiting for an NFL Bills Dolphins Game all their lives? If that is you, I am truly sorry for you. Give Toronto a game where it is the home team, the Toronto Whatevers against either the Bills or the Dolphins then we can talk. The hype? Media created. Yes Rogers held a press conference, the press covered it. How many times did the folks at the Fan590 have the bills guys on the air. Say what you want, and I know who owns the fan, but the hype here is on the press. The naysayers poo-pooed this from the get go. There is no surprise at the result. What did people expect?

Say whatever you want. The NFL should be the easiest sale of the year. Each HOME team only hosts 8 regular season games and 2 pre-season games. No matter what you charge for a season ticket, the multiplier is 10….10!!!!! Not 41, or 81, 10!. If you don’t sell the game out they Bill Wirtz you. That’s right the game doesn’t go on local tv. 5 times this year, a HOME team hasn’t been able to sell enough tickets to lift the blackout. Here we had a neutral game and they were able to lift it. 5 times, the folks in their respective home towns couldn’t care enough to go to a game. In those towns there is a HOME team. In those towns (Oakland and Detroit) the teams suck, but hey so do the Cubs and the Maple Leafs. We all know of cities that have lots teams. It happens too often and will happen again. (personally I don’t think it’s that unimaginable that the Jays aren’t here in 8-10 years, but that is a blog post for another day). Here in Toronto the game sold out. I don’t care the ‘nitty girtty’, the NFL wouldn’t lift the blackout if they weren’t satisfied that their standards in doing so weren’t met. This wasn’t a home game, this was an event. At 5 different home stadiums where weather wasn’t an issue (one is a dome, one is in CA) they couldn’t sell enough tickets to show the game on tv.

Anyone who is grumpy about the price of tickets or concessions needs to give their head a shake. If scalpers were selling tickets as cheaply as being reported then you could have gone for next to nothing. As for concessions, take your kids, or your significant other to a movie and buy a popcorn and a pop. Go to the Jays game and see what you pay. Newsflash, we live in an expensive city. Have you been to a local McDonald’s lately?? Seriously, I don’t take my kids because the food is lousy AND it’s not cheap… I could live with crappy burgers if they were cheap.

The game was exactly what it should have been. For those who said it didn’t feel like a normal NFL game, newsflash, it wasn’t. Every other NFL game has a home team. Those who went and said I don’t get the hype, then you weren’t paying attention to the nuances of the game and your expectations weren’t properly set. Go to Washington DC and take in a Redskins game. Go early, find your way to a tailgate party. Do the same in Chicago, San Diego, Miami….

Lastly, as for the game itself. Which, in all sporting EVENTS is usually secondary, was pretty much what was expected. The Dolphins who were 1-15 last year are a team on the incline. The Bills despite their start are clearly a team on the decline. The game pretty much matched that. If you read the Buffalo paper today and compare it with the Miami papers and look at the game analysis you will see just that. How many Super Bowls have been great games. Events as opposed to games are rarely worth watching.

Simmons’ column is the usual BS. Noise created by a badly dressed spinster.

I feel so much better now….

It’s one thing to have the hate on for a team and express your feelings. It’s an entirely different ball of wax when your hate is based entirely on bias. For example, Every time CNN or some other major news outlet runs a story that involves a company that shares a common owner as that media outlet, they disclaim it. That way, any interpretation of the story can involve the fact that there may be a bias. So if CTV were to run a story on TSN, CTV would very likely disclaim the fact that they share a common owner.

That is the professional thing to do. Bill Watters, is anything but professional. He has his hate on constantly for the Maple Leafs. He should disclaim that he was fired by the Maple Leafs and explain that no matter what they do, he will always be a bitter. It doesn’t take listening to the guy (I won’t call him a man) very long to sense his hatred. He spews hatred about MLSE, the leafs, raptors Toronto FC and anything that fits under the empire whenever he opens his trap. It has been a tad bit ironic to see The Hut have to tone it down a tad now that his old boss is the GM again. Even still, every time the HUT gets a chance to take a shot he does. We expect it and to be honest I don’t even hear it anymore. He has lost credibility because of it.

Jabba’s latest target is the Buffalo Bills playing in Toronto. Now, The Hut was never fired from Rogers. I mean in order to be fired by someone you have to have been employed by them. Now, MLSE chair Lary Tanenbaum is part of the Bills in Toronto Series so therefore by association I could see some degree of hatred. However it’s pretty far fetched. So it was a surprising to hear Jabba go so far this afternoon in his hatred of this event and those behind it. Of, course, there is a deeper reason for the hatred, Little Willie, Brad, is the Chief Operating Officer of the Toronto Argonauts.

So we are clear, prior to joining the Argos Willie Jr. was in charge of the most recent Grey Cup that was in Toronto. Prior to that he ran the Toronto Rock, a Lacrosse team and the last Ottawa franchises that was in the CFL. The Hut had a financial interest in both franchises when Jr. was running them. So, it is not surprising then, when the biggest jewel in the sporting world comes to town(the NFL), there is at least a perceived threat to the CFL nationally (why I don’t know) and the Argos that Daddy goes on the defensive. Now, I have no problem with a father being defensive about his son. It is expected. However to go as far over the top as The Hut did today on his afternoon show and not disclaim his bias is totally unprofessional.

Jabba called the event the biggest travesty in sports history, claimed that bringing the game to Toronto was a blatant attempt to kill the Argos….PLUUUUZZEEE…What a joke. His sidekick Brady then drowned on and on about what a disaster it was. Boo-hooo—hooo the tickets were too expensive. Wait, Greg, didn’t you just say that 20,000 people went in for free? Umm, if people were going for free ( so the stadium wouldn’t look empty) why are we crying over ticket prices? You can’t suck and blow at the same time. I listened to ESPN and Foxsports radio today (I love XM) and both gave nice reviews to the game. There was not one negative comment about tickets, the fans or the city.

I mean why is it newsworthy that ticket brokers took it on the chin? Who cares. People were around the dome and getting tickets for less then 50% off, or free and this is a bad thing????? The people who could be upset are those who paid for them and went. That is like getting upset when you are on an airplane and the guy next to you used priceline or something….It happens every day in our lives. Same argument when you say that Rogers can’t lower prices for the next game. Why not? I don’t know about you all, but I have never knocked on the door of the hotel room next to mine and asked my “neighbor” what they are paying for their room and then demand a refund when i found out they got a better rate…..

I know in sports its DIFFERENT right…. WRONG…. go to a leafs game and count the number of kids sitting in the platinum seats. How many parents you know can afford 1 let alone 2 tickets to a leaf game? Most of the patrons at a leaf game didn’t personally pay for their tickets. They are either corporate seats or a gift from a friend etc. If i pay a broker for a ticket, do i have a right to a refund if he sells a similar ticket to someone else for less money???

Folks, this was an exhibition game. It wasn’t the game that decided home field for the playoffs. Either Chris Schultz or Mike Hogan said that they didn’t watch this in the same way they wouldn’t have watched a CFL exhibition game over a regular season NFL game. Everyone I talked to today said the same thing. It was way better then I expected. The media beat this thing down so often we all expected the worst.

Hats off to Richard Griffin of the Star:

“It was a late-arriving crowd for the Bills-Steelers game last night at the Rogers Centre. By kickoff it was obvious organizers had done a good job rounding up bodies to fill most of the unsold seats. While the visual of a stadium jammed with 48,434 people was a good one for the NFL, revenues were likely not what had been hoped for. ”

Ok fair enough, I have no problem with that.

“Wandering outside the Rogers Centre in the late afternoon soaking in festivities at the various tailgate parties north and south of the stadium, it hit home that perhaps the difference between the two pro football leagues was similar to the differences between these tailgate events. The NFL is a gala. The CFL is a party. Take your choice and enjoy.”

Exactly, one doesn’t have to be better, it can be different right?

“There was the smaller Steam Whistle tailgate party going on side-by-side with the humongous Budweiser ultra-tailgate complete with live music and food tents as far as the eye could see. Each was well attended and provided basically the same product, given the respective space. Fans at both seemed to be having a good time.”

Thank you! Fans at both WERE having a good time. Was this the same as hanging out in a parking lot, tossing a ball and hovering over your own BBQ and beer? No it wasn’t, it was different, but people had a great time!

“In the meantime, let it be known that, down to the third string for both teams, these NFL guys can really play. It may or may not be a more entertaining product than the CFL. That is always up to individual taste.”

That in a nutshell is the truth. Richard you are so right.

Why all this drama, this negativity about everything in our city. Its enough already. Its not a good sales tool, its not funny, it’s depressing. I don’t need to hear how great everything is. The Leafs haven’t made it to the finals IN MY LIFETIME. That includes the years The Hut was working for them. So criticize all you want Wille, you never won a thing- nothing! The Jays haven’t had a real winning season in YEARS…. In my opinion the last game the argo’s played that was worth watching had a guy named Flutie at the helm. The Raptors have NEVER been very good. WE KNOW IT. WE DON’T need our noses rubbed in it every day on every issue. Sooner or later we will tune out and you will all be out of jobs.

If you are going to stand up for your kid, or bash MLSE cause you can’t get over the fact that you were fired admit it, say it publicly. We would have so much more respect for you. Wait, that would mean we have any respect for you right now. Lots of people have been fired by a team and returned to the airwaves in that city without being bitter to the point of exhaustion. It’s called maturity. You want to bash them when they do something stupid…we will be right behind you. When you do it every freaking day its called boring, unbalanced, biased and not credible.