This weekend

We are nearing the end of WH's latest examining trip to Closeby Province and I am very, very ready for him to come home.  After he's home, the only travel in our near future involves both of us, together, and I can't wait for that.

Fortunately, I have good friends taking care of me while he is away.  Yesterday, I went to two baseball games in which the son of our friends, J and D, was playing.  LittleJ is five and just about the cutest thing you've ever seen (trust me), and I had a wonderful time watching him play. It's amazing at that age, you know, because from the beginning of the first game to the end of the second game, I could almost SEE him learning things and then applying them.  They have a great format in Prairie Hamlet's league; they play two innings, all the kids get to bat each inning, half the kids play in the field each inning and the other half go out into the outfield and practice their batting.  The kids get four swings at pitches thrown by a machine, and then they get to hit off the tee.  So it's a great balance between ensuring that all of the kids have a positive experience while still learning the skills of the game. 

Too much fun, and it was a beautiful day, and this morning I can see all of the places where I missed the sunscreen.

Last night, I attended Prairie City's high school theatre awards and was thoroughly inspired by the quality of young talent that was on display.  Our friend D, father of the baseball pro mentioned above, is a drama teacher in Prairie Hamlet, and his students' December production of a Christmas Carol was many times nominated.  And, in the end, were the successful winners of the awards for best set design, best costumes, best featured actor (for the young man who played Jacob Marley) and best lead actor (for Scrooge).   It was a great thing to witness!

I'm having a quiet morning today, still in bed at 11am sipping my coffee with Mama Cat asleep under the covers, purring so loudly that she's actually vocalizing.  Also pushing laundry, so it's not totally lazy.  This afternoon is a Princess-themed birthday party for J and D's daughter, S, so I guess I have some wrapping to do.  And I just heard the dryer buzz, so I should move things along in that direction too.

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend!

fridayFridayFRIDAY

IT'S FRIDAY!

And I have a whole bunch of little miscellaneous bloggy thoughts to share with you today!

• I wasn't home for the game last night, so can't really blog about it in much detail. But I was happy to see that BJ Upton had a better night than he did in Game 1, going 2-4, which helped the Rays pull out the win at home. I would have started to doubt my prediction if the Phillies had won both games in TB, but I'm sticking with the Rays in 6/7.
  
• I wasn't home last night because WH and I went to see the Orphei Drangar, or the Sons of Orpheus, which is probably the best men's choir in the world. They come from Sweden, and are touring North America as a part of the farewell tour of their long-time conductor, Robert Sund. The concert was FANTASTIC. The choir has an incredible range of styles in which they are experts, singing everything from Schubert to an arrangement of Shenandoah, and all of it beautifully.
  
• I am going to be in the United States for the election. I'm travelling to City With Lots of Roses next weekend for a conference and don't fly home until the day after America votes. It will be an interesting experience to compare to our most recent federal election.
  
• Last thought about the election... when candidates say things like, "God will do the right thing for America," it turns my stomach. This means you.
  
• I look at my schedule for next week, and it makes me want to cry. And I think about going to this conference, and I don't want to go. And then I think about getting to go shopping at Macy's, and I do want to go. And then I think about the Canadian dollar, and I don't want to go again.
• I get to babysit two of the most lovely babies in the whole world tomorrow. CAN'T WAIT.
  
• WH gets his stitches out today.
  
• We are going to spend most of the weekend marking scores for the upcoming performance of Solomon. WH's hope is that if we can get all the orchestra scores marked beforehand, that will save him MAJOR time in the orchestra rehearsals. But somewhere between the publisher and Prairie City, one-third of the orchestra scores have disappeared. We have all the upper string parts, but no bass, no winds, no timpani, no harpsichord. Aie.

And that's about it for today!

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!

My favourite quotation...

... related to last night's World Series game. I took this off of Ken Tremendous's latest post on Fire Joe Morgan.

(*Warning! Swear words ahead!)

By the way, I'm currently watching Game One of the Series on like an hour TiVo delay, and Tim McCarver, after Shane Victorino almost got picked off second, said something like, "You've probably heard that you should never make the first or third out at third base, but in this case, you should never make the first out at second base."

What he could have said: "You shouldn't get picked off in a [fucking] World Series game."

I (heart) Ken Tremendous.

Blogging World Series Game 1

Let me just begin by saying... WORST. NATIONAL. ANTHEM. ARRANGEMENT. EVER.

Otherwise, looks like a big and lively crowd in Tampa Bay! This must be so exhilarating for players like Carl Crawford, who have seen so many very bad days in TB, and the teeny-tiny crowds that go with them. I bet they sell more hot dogs at Tropicana Field tonight than they ever have before.

(Cat-related interruption... Baby Cat is sitting right on top of Mama Cat. Right on top of her. Mama Cat doesn't seem to mind. They're both sleeping.)

Top of 1 (T1): Mike Schmidt presents the Phillies line-up for Fox. Isn't it funny how baseball players always LOOK like baseball players, even long after they've retired. Schmidt refers to Chase Utley as Chase "Born to Play Baseball" Utley. That's... creative. A one-out walk to Jayson Werth, first base runner of the night. OOh! There are stingrays in a tank in center field... I bet PETA loves that. Fox tell us that the biggest crowd ever at Tropicana was 47, 150... for a New Kids on the Block Concert. Chase "BtPB" Utley hits a home run over the right field wall... 2-0 Phillies. Scott Kazmir strikes out Pat Burrell to end the half-inning. (1H, 2R, 0E)

B1: The Rays choose to use their own players to introduce themselves, but they do it in one take, with each player walking up the camera, and Carl Crawford screws it up. But at least it was his position he got wrong and not, you know, his name. Iwamura beats out a close play at first for the first Rays runner of the night. I love me some good hustle. BJ Upton erases the runner on a 4-6-3 DP. Upton does not hustle. Another ground ball ends the inning. (1H, 0R, 0E)

T2: Infield hit for Shane Victorino, who looks like he never blinks. Kazmir goes 3&0 on Pedro Feliz, giving credence to what the Fox announcers have just said about his propensity to be wild in early innings. This will likely be the only credible thing that the Fox announcers will say tonight. And there's the walk. The Rays come VERY close to picking-off Victorino at 2nd. The ump made the right call though, to my eye. Kazmir walks the bases loaded and gets a nice visit from the pitching coach. Jimmy Rollings hits a fly ball to to center field, but it's not very deep, and Victorino tags up and gets thrown out at home. (1H, 0R, 0E)

B2: Nothing very much happens this half-inning, except that Cole Hamels looks very dominant on the mound, especially with Kasmir being a bit wild. (0H, 0R, oE) I'm starting to crave popcorn.

T3: Jayson Werth starts the inning with a double for the Phils. Utley advances him to third on a ground ball. Jason Werth used to play for the Blue Jays. As a fan of the Blue Jays, I will take credit for his success. Ryan Howard strikes out. Burrell strikes out too. (1H, 0R, 0E)

(Cat-related interruption... The cats are now fighting. All good things must come to an end. Mama Cat gives up and moves to my lap.)

B3: One-out single for Ben Zobrist. A walk to Jason Bartlett. Did you know that the whole Rays starting rotation is younger than 26? That's pretty impressive. Base hit for Iwamura on a hung curve ball, bases LOADED. And now Hamels gets a nice visit from the coach. But Upton hits into his second DP (5-4-3) of the night, and the inning is over. (2H, 0R, 0E)

T4: Victorino leads off with a single, and immediately starts to bother Kazmir again, as he did in the 2nd inning. Predictably, Feliz hits a single to put two on with nobody out. Chris Coste bunts both runners over. RBI Ground-out by Ruiz, 3-0 for the Phillies. Kazmir strikes out Jimmy Rollins to end the inning. (2H, 1R, 0E)

B4: Crawford hits a home run to right field! Woo! The crowd comes alive, and the Rays are on the board. (1H, 1R, 0E)

T5: I love Joe Maddon (the Rays Manager). If he doesn't win the Manager of the Year, I'll be surprised. Kazmir issues his 4th walk of the night with two outs. The Rays have to get out of this inning quickly to try and build on the momentum created by Crawford's home run and to keep the crowd in it. The first basemen, Pena, gets handcuffed and commits an error that allows Burrell to reach first. Two on, two out. The next batter grounds out and there's no harm done. We'll see about the momentum... (0H, 0R, 1E)

B5:Navarro strikes out to start the inning. Zobrist follows it up with a ground ball out. Bartlett walks to bring up Iwamura, who is 2-2 tonight. Bartlett steals second, and Iwamura lifts a beautiful double to left field to score the run. 3-2 Phillies. This is the kind of late game excitement that the Rays are known for! Upton pops out to foul territory to end the inning. (1H, 1R, oE)

T6: Can somebody explain to me why (Feliz leads off with single) the baseball team from Tampa Bay FLORIDA is playing in a covered stadium? It is 24C in Tampa right now, at 10:30 in the evening. Ridiculous. Kazmir passes the 100-pitch mark, and we are seeing activity in the bullpen, including from a guy who throws so dramatically side-arm as to look like he's bowling. Whatever works for ya, I guess! No pitching change by inning end though. (1H, 0R, 0E)

So Taco Bell has this promotion where if anybody steals a base in the World Series, they will give a free taco... TO EVERYONE IN AMERICA. And Bartlett stole a base last inning, so... SO CLAIM YOUR TACOS, MY AMERICAN BLOGGY FRIENDS! (Tuesday, October 28th between 2 and 6pm, apparently.)

I'm getting my popcorn soon. I can smell it. He's a good husband.

B6: Carlos Pena is safe at first on an error to start the seventh but is thrown out at second trying to steal. Joe Maddon is arguing (loudly) that the pitcher balked on the pitch... And then Longoria strikes out for the second out. Crawford grounds out to end the inning. (0H, 0R, 1E)

T7: JP Howell in to replace Kazmir. WH calls the Fox commentators stupid. I laugh. Werth strikes out to start the seventh, and we get to hear the conversation between Maddon and the Ump between the inning with regards to the questionable call in the previous half inning. It is an entirely decent and reasonable coversation. How nice! Utley gets a single up the middle and steals second base. FREE TACOS PEOPLE. Wild pitch, and Utley's on third with one out. Ryan Howard strikes out. Howard walks Burrell and is pulled from the game. The new pitcher is Grant Balfour, a good French Canadian name, except that he's from Australia. He strikes out Victorino to end the inning. (2H, 0R, 0E)

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME... etc. (And I don't care if they actually play God Bless America instead... this is Take Me Out to the Ballgame time. God Bless America was a moving and touching tribute after 9/11. Enough now.)

B7: The Rays do nothing with their half of the seventh. Cole Hamels is now at 100 pitches, and I think they should pull him now. With the great bullpen that the Phillies have, and a one run lead, why run the risk of giving that up because of a tiring starter? We'll see...

T8: The Phillies go in order in the eighth.

B8: I can't tell if the fact that WebMD sponsors the injury reports on Fox is genius marketing, or actually kind of creepy. Anyhoo... I would like the Rays to do something spectacular with this inning. Something home-runish, or bases loadedish... The Phillies have, in fact, changed their pitcher. (I told them to do that.) Ryan Madsen takes the ball and gets Bartlett to pop up to start things off. Iwamura flies out to right. BJ Upton is one home run away from tying the record for most postseason home runs, which is currently held by all kinds of people... Beltran, Bonds (ugh), Glaus. Wouldn't right now be a good time to hit one? Upton strikes out... and that's the eighth.

On to the ninth!

T9: Balfour is back out on the mound for the Rays, and he strikes out Rollins to start things off. Ground-rule double for Jayson Werth, and the Rays walk Utley intentionally (he was born to play baseball, after all). Balfour out, Miller in, Ryan Howard strikes out. WH asks the following excellent question: "Why does Fox have aerial coverage when the game is being played in a domed stadium?" I have no answer for that. Both runners advance with no throw but a pop-up gets the Rays out of the inning.

B9: Brad Lidge has not blown a save in 49 tries. Carlos Pena strikes out. Evan Longoria strikes out. Crawford pops it up and that's Game One in the books.

Just a few thoughts... No surprise that this game was dominated by pitching; that's my expectation for the whole series. The Rays need to continue to believe in their ability to make games exciting late. The Phillies will need bigger things from their power bats, Rollins and Howard especially, and for the Rays, BJ Upton needs to hit the ball.

And if the Jays were in the series, would Canadian tacos be free too?

For the Record

My prediction is Tampa Bay in six or seven games.

Friday Wrap-Up

Well, wasn't THAT a baseball game to remember last night?! Leave to the Bo-Sox to mount a seven-run comeback (the second longest in history) and run this series to a sixth game. Back to Tampa Bay they go!

And the National League series is all wrapped up, of course, with the Phillies taking it over the Dodgers in 5 games. The last time that the Phillies were in the World Series, they lost to the Blue Jays... sigh. Those were such happy days...

Anyhoo, this weekend is retreat weekend for Chamber Choir. We're headed out of town tonight to a cottage run by German Mennonites where we'll spend the next two days singing and singing and singing some more! The German Mennonites will do their very best to stuff us full of food during any moments when we don't happen to be singing. I'm looking forward to it... It will be tiring, but there are many, many worse things than a weekend full of good music.

Have a good weekend everybody!

A Quick Game of Bloggy Catch-Up

• I had a nice birthday. Thank you for all your kind messages!
  
• MU and EB and I accompanied the family cat on her last journey to the vet on Monday, which was a sad but peaceful kind of a process. She was a fairly terrific age and in some significant discomfort, so there was solace in seeing her at rest. You can read about her here and here.
• Baseball playoffs start in earnest today, and how excited am I for CUBS VS DODGERS!! Very excited, is the answer.
  
• We are home tonight, for once, and hoping to get the yard cleaned up and the patio stuff put away and the garden pulled. The weather in Prairie City is currently BEAUTIFUL, so it's a good week to get that work done.
  
• At some point this evening, our real estate agent is going to stop by to have a look at the house and give us his assessment of what work needs to be done in order to give us the best chance of selling the property. I like our real estate agent; he's a good man.
• Work is insanely busy right now, so I should get back to it.
  

An Update

Not much to report, really, but I thought I should throw something on the blog so that nobody would think that I'd disappeared entirely....

• I have a cold sore on my bottom lip. It is gross, and it hurts.
  
• Ever since CBC Radio 2 took all their good programming and threw it in the garbage in favour of... well... garbage, I've been listening to Concerts on Demand via the internet. Found a lovely Tafelmusik concert this morning!
  
• My new iPod Touch has introduced me to the wonderful world of baseball podcasts....
  
• Speaking of, how about the Jays, winners of 8 in a row!
• Chamber Choir starts tonight, and Orchestral Choir starts tomorrow. And then Pro Choir starts on Wednesday for WH. The only thing left to get going is curling for WH, which doesn't start until later in the fall.
  
• I am so happy to be singing again. It fills my heart and soul with joy.
• I have been hired to sing Ave Maria (Schubert) at a wedding in a couple of weeks. Yay!
  
• Considering how busy it is already, and how much busier it is going to get, I feel GREAT!

How are you doing?

Who's Up and Who's Down

Let's see what we've got this week...

Who's Up? :)

1. Ichiro Suzuki, who reached 3,000 hits this week, a feat he accomplished over 951 games with the Orix Blue Wave in Japan's Pacific League and 1,224 games with the Seattle Mariners. The achievement itself, and the relative rapidity with which he accomplished it, speak to his consistency, strength and longevity. And I'm relieved that the feat is being celebrated as an interesting and unique accomplishment because it occured over two leagues on two different continents, rather than being minimized because the first half of it didn't happen in the Majors. I think that North American sporting leagues are starting to realize, finally, that there is true legitimacy in many of the leagues elsewhere. (Side note: The NBA is starting to learn this lesson too.)

2. Chez Reavie. Who?? That's what I asked, anyway, when we heard that Reavie was leading the Canadian Open after 36 holes. I made the cardinal mistake of allowing the fact that I'd never heard of the guy to cloud my judgement about whether he could win or not, and I bet my husband a dollar that Reavie wouldn't be at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the weekend. Well, of course, he proved me wrong, hoisting the trophy for his first PGA win. It's ok though, I took the dollar off my husband's dresser...

3. Toronto and Edmonton, which were just announced as the only two stops on next year's Indy Racing tour. Canada has a lot of knowledgeable racing fans, so it's good to hear that those fans will continue to be rewarded with races on Canadian soil.

Who's Down? :(

1. Michelle Wie, who is skipping this week's major tournament (the British Open) on the LPGA tour to play yet another men's event, at which she has only the bare minimum of chances of making the cut. Let me be clear that I have no problems with women playing against the men, and a number of women have done it very successfully (a certain Billie-Jean comes to mind...). But I think that you should prove yourself on your own turf first. Wie has yet to win an LPGA event, and was disqualified at her last event for failing to sign her scorecard. She has, with astonishing rapidity, gone from becoming a young, exciting golf prodigy to an embarassing punchline. And I can't understand how she doesn't see it, how she doesn't see that working hard to qualify and play at the LPGA level is the only way for her to get her reputation back on track. And that it's really, really time for her parents to get out the picture, as far as her career management is concerned.

2. Anybody involved in the ugly fiasco of Brett Favre's "un-retirement," up to and including the star quarterback himself. I hate it when this happens, when a great career gets over-shadowed by stupid and selfish behaviour. My bottom line is that if he wants to play, he should show up at training camp and earn it, like everyone else. And if that means that he plays back-up, then he should embrace that opportunity, mentor Aaron Rodgers, and keep his mouth shut about it. And the Packers should really stop this ridiculous trade talk, because I don't think any good comes from Brett Favre playing in anything but Packer colours. I think we may be too far gone for either of those options to still be possible, which is so sad.

3. Baseball's mid-season trade deadline, which should really be a very exciting week, dominated by stories like the Braves' trade of Mark Teixera to the Angels. But instead, we get more of Manny Ramirez, more of Barry Bonds (no, seriously). In other words, rather than the pages being full of interesting and strategic moves intended to set teams up for the rest of the year or for next season, we get stories about disgruntled stars wanting out of their teams, or disgruntled former stars wanting on to any team... and I find it all distracting to the onset of serious playoff races, especially when those stories are the SAME stories we read last year.

"Baseball is democracy in action: In it all men are "free and equal," regardless of race, nationality or creed. Every man is given the rightful opportunity to rise to the top on his own merits... It is the fullest expression of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly in our national life."

~Francis Trevelyan Miller

A Quick Funny

I saw this today on firejoemorgan.com, and thought it was worth sharing. Nothing like mean humour at the expense of a division rival:

There are no words...

This is for my baseball-loving friend, Towanda:

Who's Up and Who's Down

After a one-week hiatus, we're back with more ups and downs in the world of sports.
Who's Up? :)

1. Dany Heatley, who is playing great hockey for Team Canada at the World Hockey Championships in Halifax. Through three games in the first round, Heatley has 6 goals and 4 assists, and scored a crucial last-minute goal yesterday afternoon to defeat the team from the United States. That all being well and good, if I was Brian Murray, coach and general manager of the Ottawa Senators, I would be wondering what changed between the end of the NHL season, for which the Sens offense disappeared, and this tournament?

2. Marty Turco and Evgeni Nabokov, the goalies for the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks, respectively, who combined for an unbelievable pair of performances in Dallas's quadruple overtime win in game 6 of the 2nd round of the NHL Playoffs. Hunt the highlights down on YouTube if you can; they are worth seeing.

3. Sportsmanship, which was in ample display at a women's softball game between Central Washington and Western Oregon last week. You can read about it here, and thanks to Towanda for drawing my attention to this fantastic story.

Who's Down? :(

1. The Chicago White Sox: Swept by the Blue Jays to extend a dreadful losing streak. A profanity-laced tirade from the manager, whining about lack of respect. A clubhouse display built of blow-up dolls and questionably placed... um... bats. I COULD NOT MAKE THIS STUFF UP IF I TRIED!!

2. Hot off the presses, Paul Maurice, who has been fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs. I've always liked Maurice, and I've always thought that he was doing the best he could with what he had, but realistically, the team is a mess, and needs a fresh approach. I would be surprised if he doesn't get picked up by someone else soon though.

3. Roger Clemens. I just wish he would shut up and go away.

Who's Up and Who's Down

Who's Up? :)

1. Game Seven Winners: The teams that brought their lunchboxes, gave 110%, just wanted it more, had their back agains the wall etc. in decisive games in the NHL playoffs' first round: The Montreal Canadians, Philadelphia Flyers and San Jose Sharks.

2. Danica Patrick: With her win this weekend in Japan, became the first woman to win an Indy Car Race, officially dissipating any comparisons anybody might have thought about making between Ms. Patrick and a certain Russian tennis player of old. And honorable mentions to all the women who came before her, in all racing leagues!

3. John Smoltz: Last night, became the latest to be added to a very short list of MLB pitchers to reach an impressive 3000 strikeouts in his career. The more sordid and ugly sports headlines are these days, the nicer it is to see a story about a hard-working guy just playing good baseball for a long, long time.

Who's Down? :(

1. Game Seven Losers: The teams that were out-played, out-matched, stunk up the joint, gave it away, beat themselves, lacked playoff experience, etc. in decisive games in the NHL playoffs' first round: The Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals and Calgary Flames.

2. Hank Steinbrenner is following closely in his father's footsteps by meddling in the day-to-day on-field operations of the New York Yankees, remarking this week that changes needed to be made in the starting rotation. He even made a veiled and distant reference to his new manager as an Idiot. Welcome to the Yanks, Joe Girardi! These kinds of incidents make those of who hate the Yankees laugh and laugh and laugh.

3. Frank Thomas gets my idiot of the week designation this week, although I'm reluctant about it. Look, I have a lot of respect for Frank and for the great things he has done in a long career in the majors. I hope he gets elected to the Hall of Fame. But last week, he got benched, and instead of remarking on his pallid .167 average, on the need to hit better with runners in scoring position, on any of the elements of his poor performance to that date, Frank immediately tore into the Blue Jays, accusing them of trying deliberately to keep him from getting the number of at-bats he needed this year to secure a $10M bonus next season. So the next day, the Jays released him. I just wish that he had kept his mouth shut, and recognized that he needed to play better, that maybe, just maybe, he needed to EARN the $10M, you know, by playing baseball well, and stuff.

4. Poor, poor, poor John Arne Riise.

Who's Up and Who's Down

This may turn out to be a regular feature here in my little bloggy kingdom, and may take on a variety of subject matter, but for right now, here's my look at who's up and who's down this week in Sports.

Who's Up! :)

1. College Basketball: I hear that March Madness is over now for both men's and women's basketball, and that the games were very exciting, and the tournament is viewed as having been an exciting success.

I don't watch, follow, or care about college basketball, partly because I find basketball hard to sit through, but also because fundamentally, I think that March Madness places stress and attention on very young athletes, and it's pressure that they are often ill-equipped to handle. See the interesting story of Joakim Noah's first year in the NBA.

But I think I would be remiss in not recognizing what appears to have been a great tournament, on behalf of bloggy friends for whom I know that college basketball is a passion.

And by the way, I did fill out a bracket, but I did so by flipping a coin. My bracket said Duke would win. I gather that they didn't.

2. Lorena Ochoa: I believe that we are seeing only the very beginning of what should be the greatest career in the history of women's golf. Another major win for her last weekend.

3. Trevor Linden: All signs point to his retirement after a great 19-year career in the NHL. The fans in Vancouver, where he has arguably been the most popular hockey player in their history, gave him the kind of send-off a classy player like this deserves.

Who's Down! :(

1. The Detroit Tigers:
Bajillions of dollars spent in the offseason.
Two superstar players signed.
Oodles of optimism during the pre-season.
First week's record = no wins, 7 losses.

And yes, there are 162 games in the season, so in the grand scheme of things, 7 games shouldn't matter. But one of the interesting things about baseball is that 7 games do matter, very much so. I remember a couple of years ago that the Jays started the season with considerable optimism and were swept in their first series. Never recovered. Les Tigres are in trouble.

2. Jose Canseco: Idiot.

3. The American Women's 4x100 m relay team from the Sydney Olympic Games: All set to have their medals revoked because of Marion Jones' cheating. A difficult pill to swallow, I imagine, for those on the team who trained hard and ran clean.

Blogging Baseball

Good morning all!! It's a quiet Saturday here at Chez Chorus, so I thought I would do something that I've wanted to do since I started this blog, and that is to blog through a Blue Jays game.

Today is the perfect day for this task because it is SNOWING outside, and that's kinda sad.

So, today's game features the Beloved Blue Jays against the Boston Red Sox at the Rogers Centre (formerly and affectionately SkyDome) in Toronto. Starting pitchers are, for the Jays, Jesse Litsch, who looks about twelve years old, and for the Bo-Sox, Clay Buchholz, pronounced LOO-ZER.

While we're waiting for the first pitch, a quick comment on last night's home opener, the first of what will be a weekly Flashback Friday game, at which the Jays will wear their old powder blue awesomeness, in the original polyester!! I think they look like PJs...

Jays won that game though, so whatever works! And inducted Roberto Alomar onto the level of excellence, which made it a feel-good happy evening for all Jays fans, new and old. Over 50,000 people in attendance too - let's hope that good will and good attendance sticks around!

LET'S PLAY BALL!

Top of the first inning: First pitch... a ball to Julio Lugo. (And for any who might be panicking that I'm intending to blog every pitch... don't worry; I'm not.) Lugo strikes out swinging, and looks ridiculous in the process. The Boston Manager looks stern.

The Red Sox have travleled 24, 828 kms since the middle of March... wow... that's a long way. Fort Myers to Tokyo to Los Angeles to Oakland to Toronto.

The Blue Jays manager looks stern too. Maybe they learn that in manager school.Great catch by third baseman Marco Scutaro! You've earned your allowance today, Scoot. (I don't know if that's his actual nickname, but if not, it should be.) Blue Jays play the shift for David Ortiz, who is a big big big man. Probably explains why his nickname is Big Papi. Litsch walks him. This seems like a good idea to me. And speaking of looking ridiculous, it's Manny Ramirez! WH makes the obligatory, "he needs a hair cut," comment, with which I agree. Ramirez gets a double and drives in Papi, who runs very slowly and now looks like he needs some oxygen. Lowell grounds out, inning over. Boston gets one hit, one run, one runner left on base.

Bottom of the first: Itty bitty David Eckstein leads off the inning for the Jays, hits a harmless grounder and winds up safe on first on an error by the 2nd basement. Mama cat has joined us downstairs and his sitting on WH and purring like a motor. She likes David Eckstein. They weigh roughly the same. Matt Stairs strikes out. Alex Rios is up, a day after signing a 6 year 64 million dollar contract. I look at WH and wonder why he quit Little League so many years ago. He tells me that it was because he couldn't throw or catch. Or hit. Fair enough. Buchholz throws over to first for the 47th time, drawing boos from the crowd. Strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play. Jays get no hits, no runs, one runner lob.

Top of the Second: We are told that Litsch is struggling with his release point, leading to the dreaded inconsistency. We see a slow-motion shot of his motion, which causes me to ask the question I always ask, which is how on earth pitchers' arms don't come flying off more regularly. Strike out of J.D.Drew. Jason Varitek has a head like a potato, but he wears nice high socks, which I like. He walks. Double-play ends the inning. No hits, no runs, no lob.

Bottom of 2: Vernon Wells leads off. We would all like to see Vernon play better this year than he did last year. The commentator attributes the bad year to a "barking shoulder." Woof, woof! Wells walks. (ooh! alliteration!) Frank Thomas hits a bloop single, Wells runs like a speed-demon, all the way around to third. Single for Overbay, Wells scores, tie game. Frank Thomas somehow manages to get his gigantic frame around to third on the play. Aaron Hill strikes out. Scoot strikes out too. Zaun pops up and has a bat-throwing fuss about it. 2h, 1r, 2lob

Top 3: Coco Crisp leads off. Coco Crisp is a baseball player, and not a breakfast cereal. Ground out. Litsch hits Lugo in the tricep with his first pitch. OW. Pedroia gets a base hit, setting up the kind of scenario that Bo-Sox fans love - two on, one out, Big Papi at the plate. Jays shift again, which works delightfully, as Paps grounds out to first. Runners move up though. Intentional walk for Ramirez and his dreadlocks to set up a force at every base. Lowell is out on a good catch by the first baseman. 1h, 0r, 3 lob.

Bottom 3: Ecks out at first on a close play. The Rogers Centre has a comfort zone, featuring big couches right at field level. I think that's AWESOME. 40 year old Canadian Matt Stairs is up to bat. I don't think that he ever comes up to the plate without the commentators mentioning that he's 40 and/or Canadian. He strikes out. Must be his age. Or his Canadian-ness. Double into the corner for Rios. Both of today's pitchers seem to have a fondness for necklaces. Buchholz is wearing four of them. Wells out on a grounder. 1h, 0r, 1 lob.

Chorus rushes off to sort laundry.

T4: I'm back, and the Sox have a runner on third with one out. Sean Casey is up to bat, and was apparently voted Nicest Player in the Majors last year. I wonder if he got a plaque. He gets a single off the first baseman's glove, and drives in the run. I watch for signs of his niceness, and see none. Breakfast Cereal is safe at first on a fielder's choice; Mr. Nice Guy out at second. Lugo out pitcher to first base. 2h, 1r, 1lob

B4: Thomas flies out deep to right field. The ground shakes as he jogs back to the dugout. Lyle Overbay gets a single. Aaron Hill gets an absolutely perfectly surprising bunt down the third base line. Hill is WH's favourite player. A walk for Scoot; bases loaded! And the pitching coach comes out!! By reading lips, I can see the coach clearly telling the pitcher that four necklaces is too many. Shuffling in the Boston bullpen begins. Greg Zaun reaches base on an error by the first baseman; two runs score. Little Davey Eckstein comes up and hits a single, Scoot around to score. Crowd goes wild. The 40-year old Canadian strikes out again. Rios tagged out on his way to first to end the inning, but a good inning nonetheless for the Jays. Chorus does love some nice manufactured runs. 3h, 3r, 1lob

T5: Another good crowd at the game today. Not quite what they had last night, but entirely respectable. Great pitching match tomorrow for the last game of this series - Halladay vs. Beckett. Ground-out to start the inning. Shift on Ortiz works again, as he grounds out to second too. The shift involves moving the infielders over because a specific batter always hits the ball through one side of the infield. Papi always hits the ball through the right-side, so the Jays stack the infield there. So far, this has worked very well today. Manny flies out to Vernon Wells. 0h, 0r, 0lob.

B5: The commentators offer Happy 92nd Birthday wishes to a gentleman who has kept scoresheets of every Jays game since 1977. Impressive! Wells out on a grounder. Thomas out on a grounder. Overbay strikes out. 0h, 0r, 0lob

T6: Mike Lowell starts the inning off with a single and that will be all today for Mr. Litsch. He gets a nice ovation has he leave the field. Brian Tallet in to pitch. He is also wearing multiple necklaces. Mama Cat gets up, turns around three times, and lies back down again. Life is rough. Big fly ball safely caught by Rios. Varitek pops up to the first baseman, a good catch in foul territory for Overbay. Casey out on a little dribbler right in front of the plate called fair, a call with which he vehemently disagrees. Lots of jawing at the ump, followed by the manager coming out and jawing at the ump. 1h, 0r, 1lob

B6: New pitcher for the Bo-Sox, one Kyle Snyder. No necklaces for Kyle, thank goodness. He walks Aaron Hill on 4 pitches. Hill advances to 2nd base on a wild pitch. Maybe a necklace would have been a good idea after all. Snyder is 6'8" and weighs 230 lbs, so maybe they don't make necklaces in his size. Scoot walks too, which lights a fire under the bottom of the Boston pitching coach because he leaps out of the dugout very quickly. Greg Zaun lays down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to move the two runners up. Snyder's out of the game and Bryan Corey is in. No necklace. Eckstein drives in both runners on a single. Yay! Stairs flies out to center field. Alex Rios gets a double to left field and Eckstein alertly runs all the way home, sliding in just under the tag. Vernon Wells drives the ball up the middle, and Rios scores. If you've lost count, the Jays are now up 8-2. The fans begin the wave. Frank Thomas hits a massive home run to center field. 10-2. Overbay flies out off new pitcher Julian Tavarez to end the inning. 4h, 6r, 0lob

T7: Coco Pops grounds out to start the inning off of new pitcher Brian Wolf, who's necklace status is unclear. Lugo singles. Pedroia moves him over to third with a double. Big Papi strikes out. Ramirez grounds out to end the threat. 2h, 0r, 2 lob

And now, everybody SING!

B7: Hill flies out, Scoot grounds out, but Zaun moves his large catcher butt down the line in a good way and beats out a single. They show some footage of the new Jays clubhouse and it is STUNNING. Leather chairs, big-screen TVs... beautiful! Explains why all the Jays looks so happy and comfortable. Eckstein grounds out. 1h, 0r, 1 lob

Chorus rushes off to use the bathroom.

T8: New pitcher Jason Frasor for the Jays. 1 out already by the time I get back. Single for J.D. Drew. Kevin Cash strikes out. Baby Cat makes herself at home on my lap, making blogging much more difficult. Sportsnet is having some technical problems, but I gather that Sean Casey just threw his bat into the crowd and then he flied out to center field. 1h, 0r, 1 lob.

B8: This should be the last at-bat for the Jays, barring a disaster in the ninth inning. Coats flies out. Rios flies out too, and says "firetruck" loudly enough for the mics to pick it up. Vernon Wells walks. Thomas grounds out. 0h, 0r, 1lob

T9: The Jays will bring in Randy Wells now to pitch the ninth. This will mark Mr. Wells' first major league game, and he looks just a teeny tiny bit excited. And someone has given him a necklace, so that's good. Crisp grounds out. Julio flies out to right field. Pedrioa walks. Big Papi grounds out, so it's a pretty good first game for Randy Wells. Congrats to him!!

And that's the ball game!!

Have a great day everybody!

In which Chorus SINGS!

(Introduction - played on Hammond Organ)

TAKE me out to the baaaaaaall gaaaaame,
TAKE me out with the crooooooooowd.
Buy me some peanuts and craaaacker jacks,
I don't care if I never get back.

'Cause it's root, root, root for the hooooooome team,
If they don't win it's a SHAAAAAAAAAAME,
For it's ONE, TWO, THREE strikes, YOU'RE OUT,
AT THE OOOOOOOOOOOOOLD BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's Opening Day!

Updates, Various

• I went running yesterday morning for the first time since about, oh, grade eight. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a little bit sore today, but I'm glad to finally be getting my butt in gear. I'm going again today, and Thursday - three times a week sounds about right to me. There are two fun-runs coming up that I'm thinking about trying: a 3km race in the middle of April (that comes with a buffet!) and a 5km race on June 1st. Yesterday, I ran 600m before I got too winded to continue, so I have some ways to go.
• WH and I will be doing this at the beginning of July. We never really took a proper honeymoon, so this will serve as both honeymoon and first anniversary celebration. In the week before we do the tour, we'll be in San Francisco, and today I bought our tickets for a Giants-Cubs game. (Pause while Chorus faints with excitement.) I'm going to save my pennies to buy a gigantic foam finger...
• WH and I have recently discovered Google Calendar. I tell ya, for the busy couple on the go, this is a GREAT way to keep track of each other's schedules. And it will sync with WH's outlook, so he only has to update in one place.
• Last night, a member of Chamber Choir who suffered some awful injuries in a recent car wreck - collapsed lung, cracked ribs, cracked pelvis - turned up at rehearsal. And stood. And sang. And grinned from ear to ear.

Sadness.

Michael Vick.
Marion Jones.
Barry Bonds.
The 60-80 players rumoured to be named in today's Mitchell Report, on steroids in baseball, including Roger Clemens..

Sigh. This is awful. I have so many questions (far more than I do answers) about the general blanket of misbehaviour, criminality, lack of morality, ethics, character in professional sports. And I know that people in other professions do bad things too. Doctors do bad things. Lawyers do bad things. University administrators do bad things. And I know that there are athletes out there that do great things. So it's not fair to make sweeping generalizations. But why does it feel like there are so many more athletes out there doing bad things than there are good?

And as a sports fan, what do I do about it?

I love sports. Baseball is the clear favourite, but there are very few that I don't have some appreciation for. I love hockey; I enjoy watching football (both CFL and NFL); I don't watch much basketball but I keep an eye on the highlights and on the progress of the Raptors; I think that soccer is a beautiful sport with incredible global importance; I enjoy watching tennis and golf (and am learning to play the latter); I can watch the Olympics forever; I even keep an eye on racing, stock car and open-wheel.

And I want to keep doing all of that. I can't bring myself to be one of those people that turns their back on the sports they love, just because players (and coaches) are behaving badly. To me, the solution is to be a better, more active fan, not a less active one. Go to more games. Cheer louder for the athletes who are playing hard. Boo louder for the athletes who aren't. Go to minor-league games, if you can't stand the pro leagues. Support ethics and good-sportsmanship in young athletes. For God's sake, don't shout nasty things at your kids' coaches and don't punch other kids' parents. Instill in your children a sense of pride in honest accomplishment and a sense of satisfaction in positive attitudes.

If you love the game, support the game.

The game is beautiful.

Even when the participants are not.

Shock of all Shocks

REALLY?!?! Alex Rodriguez is back negotiating with the Yankees!? I am SHOCKED, I tell you. ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED! This is just the most shocking thing!! Who could have seen this coming?? It's JUST SO SHOCKING.

Oh wait, no, no it isn't.