The Twit: SIGN PEDRO Edition

Sporting thoughts are rather scattered today, so I will go to the old Twit format on this one:

- Jays lose because of a young arm not finding the plate. These things kinds of games are going to happen. Ottawa Sports Guy Hex in full effect.

- I'm concerned for David Purcey; looked great in Grapefruit action, looked decent for his first couple of starts, can't hit the side of a barn in last two starts. If Brad Arnsberg can't fix this, no one can.

- Sign Pedro.

- The Flames were eliminated by the Blackhawks, and no tears were shed in the OSG household (yes, I did just link to myself - I'm that awesome). Three reasons; the Flames beat the Habs in the '89 final and delivered the first sports tears in the young OSG's life, the Blackhawks are a much more exciting team to watch, and, well, I have trouble accepting any joy for Calgary (yes, electoral results can taint my enthusiasm for a whole swath of the country).

- Ian Mendes has an interesting idea to determine playoff opponents. I'm afraid I don't share Ian's excitement for watching a guy in a suit flip a piece of cardboard (make it Evanka Osmak and now we're talking!), but I get what he's saying. My initial reaction is HELL NO, but the idea does have merit. I'd be concerned about it becoming a circus sideshow, however. My main playoff format gripe is awarding the third seed to a division winner, no matter if their points total is inferior to another team - I'd start there if I were to change the format.

- Not that I spend my days surfing the net for pictures of Evanka Osmak, but in the interest of providing eye candy for the blog, the pic to the right is the best one of the Sportsnet anchor. For shame.

- John Carver quit as Toronto FC's coach on Saturday, and I've yet to read one report that tells us why. Come on Toronto scribes, get to the bottom of this. What's the point of boasting about being chummy with the people you're supposed to cover if you can't get the scoop? (edit: apparently I don't check the Star's soccer coverage often enough)

-The Yankees are going to lose a lot of a games this year. Rejoice.

The Twit: Jays Are Hot Edition

Ah, so this is what fingers to keyboard feel like...I had forgotten! Taking a week and a half off has not been kind to my blogging schedule, but alas here I am with another edition of The Twit.

- I've obviously got to start with the red-hot Blue Jays. While my video game counterpart isn't doing all that well in MLB '09: The Show (current record: 3-9), the real life Jays are tearing up the junior circuit. They're doing it with an incredible display of early season hitting, combined with young arms complementing the old doctor very well. It's very rare for baseball teams to fire on all cylinders at once, though, as evidenced by Alex Rios and B.J. Ryan. But hell, I'm not going to dwell on that. Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Marco Scutaro, Scott Rolen, Lyle Overbay et al. are fanning the flames of love in my heart. Haters will argue that it's a long season and a hot April doesn't mean much, but they're just jealous: when it comes right down to it the team you follow will either start the season well or it won't - no need to wonder what every person prefers.

- The Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway, and I'm casually interested. It's a fun tournament and I am a hockey fan (although as I've stated before I won't be writing about it much because the last thing we need is another Canadian writing a half-assed hockey blog). When your team isn't in the tournament, though, it becomes quite the test of endurance to watch hockey every night for 2 months. I'll watch the Jays instead, thank you very much. From what I have seen, however, the Bruins, Canucks and Blackhawks look real good. I'm still hoping the Capitals will squeeze their way past the Rangers because Alexander Ovechkin is the most exciting entity to watch on skates at the moment.

- When I woke up yesterday morning to watch my PVR'd Chinese Grand Prix and the first shots showed rain, I was excited. An F1 race in the rain is almost always an exciting time. I thought they coddled the drivers a little too much at first by having them start the race behind the safety car for the first 15 minutes. That was all forgotten once they got to racing. Sebastian Vettel was full value for the win, Red Bull Racing's first (Mark Webber finished second, also making this the first Red Bull one-two finish). Felipe Massa once again finished out of the points after his car died while the race was under caution: very embarassing for Ferrari. Brawn Racing was strong once again, finishing third and fourth. As an aside for those of you who follow F1 through this blog, the front defuser utilized by Brawn Racing was found to be legal by the court of arbitatrion last week. They therefore retain all their points and the rest of the grid can scramble to come up with their own variations of the Brawn Diffuser.

That's all I've got for now, but expect more posts soon!

The Twit: Weekend Plans Edition

Quick thoughts on what I plan to watch this weekend:

F1 - Malaysian GP:

I'll be PVR-ing qualifying and the race, and will probably watch both on Sunday morning. Williams was fastest again in practice today. Should be interesting to see if Brawn GP can keep the momentum going forward. Will Ferrari and McLaren get any points this weekend?

ALMS - Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg:

The luster dulls a bit after Sebring this year, as Audi and Peugeot retreat to Europe to prepare for the 24 Hours of LeMans. Usually Audi have been regulars in this series, but they've blamed the economy to explain their absence this year. P1 will be Acura's playground, P2 will be a fight between an Acura and the Mazdas and GT1 is Corvette-only. Come to think of it, the only compelling class in ALMS this year is GT2. I hope that's how the sporscast treats it (ABC, 1:30 pm Eastern). I'll be watching to see what BMW did to improve on their dismal first race and if Panoz can continue running with the big boys.

MLS - Toronto FC v. Seattle Sounders:

Toronto FC's home opener should be a treat to watch. They went undefeated in their first two road games and the crowd will be as wild as ever at BMO Field. Haven't had a chance to catch either of their first two games, so this will be my first look at Canada's 2009 entry in MLS. I'll be checking for weaknesses that the Impact can exploit in the Voyageurs Cup! Interesting side note is that the Sounders' best striker, Fredy Montero, is staying behind to recover from what the team is calling "the flu". According to this report, that is quite the nasty flu.


MLB: Atlanta v. Philadelphia

Baseball is back, baby! Sunday night I'll be watching the World Series Champions take on the up and coming Atlanta Braves. It's been a long winter and the WBC disappointed, so my baseball taste buds need satiating! I normally would never watch the Braves play the Phillies in a regular season game, but it's opening night. John Miller will have the call, and we'll be treated to Citizens Bank Park in glorious high-definition. A Philadelphia night in early April can't be too warm, I imagine, but it can't be worse than game 6, err game 5, err game 5 and a half (?) of the World Series!

The Twit: Sick As A Dog Edition

Alright, considering it's been over a week since my last true post, I'll bring you up to date, Twitter style, on the subjects that caught my attention during that time, in 140 characters or less (I promise to break that last rule a few times).

• The viewing of the 12 Hours of Sebring was a success, even though the race was surprisingly boring. Too few battles, only 3 cautions (which allowed the field to get very spread out). Father-in-law said he loved it, though, so it was a success in that sense.
  
• Hats off to Curt Schilling, who retired after a remarkable career. I don't care whether or not the bloody sock was a put-on: it worked and added to a magical World Series run in 2004. Another favourite Schilling moment: draping a towel over his head every time Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams pitched in the 1993 World Series, unable to watch. His gut feeling was right, it turns out ("Touch 'em all, Joe!!").
• Lots of back and forth about Montreal Canadiens ownership issues. I'm not convinced Gillett is serious about selling his sports assets. Just a gut feeling, but I think he might be genuine when he says it's simply an evaluation of assets and has no intention selling his stakes in Canadiens, NASCAR and Liverpool FC.
• Great post over at Out of Left Field about the Rapidz suing the Can-Am league and the City of Ottawa. The only thing I'll say in defence of the Zipperheads is that they were hard done by the City for quadrupling stadium fees from $250,000 to $1,000,000 for the upcoming season, making the whole venture unsustainable. It's no secret as a baseball fan and player that the City of Ottawa is waging a war against the sport to squeeze it out of the landscape.
• WBC crown stays with Japan for another four years. For some reason the magic that surrounded the original WBC failed to materialize this time around. Haven't put my finger on the cause, but expect a full WBC post-mortem on these pages in the coming weeks.
  
• Toronto FC starts the season undefeated! Great win in Kansas City and a plucky effort for the draw in Columbus, where 1,500 TFC fans made the trip. When's the last time 1,500 fans of a Canadian professional sports team travelled to the rival city to cheer on their team? Probably last season, again when TFC played in Columbus. Come on soccer less-than-enthusiasts, GET ON THE BUS!
• Dale Mitchell was fired as Canadian Men's National team head coach. Another indicator of the Canadian Soccer Association's incompetence: the man had driven the team into the ground during World Cup qualification despite our most talented team ever taking the pitch. The last game of that effort was in November. The team hasn't played since. It took them four months to determine he hadn't done a good job? Pathetic. Shameful. Ladies and gentlemen, the Canadian Soccer Association.

And there you have it. Did I miss anything (keeping in mind that I will have a full post on both Tiger's comeback and the Austalian GP)?