Who's Up and Who's Down

Who's Up? :)

1. The Canadian Olympic Team: It was looking tense there for the first week, but in the end, Canada had a very successful Olympic games with many fantastic story lines. If I had to identify three things I'll remember from these games, they'll be Simon Whitfield's silver medal in the triathlon (the one moment that actually caused me to yell at my television), Eric Lamaze's gold medal in show jumping, and all the Canadian athletes who broke Canadian records and set personal bests, though may not have medalled. GO CANADA!

2. Natalia Paderina and Nino Salukvadze: In my view, the most important story of the Beijing Games.

3. Vijay Singh and Sergio Garcia: The pair of them got the FedEx Cup Playoffs started in an exciting way, with matching 25-ft putts on the first sudden-death playoff hole at the Barclay's this week. Anybody who watched Sergio's gigantic grin and playful shove to his opponent after Vijay sunk his putt could tell that these two were having a little fun out there.

Who's Down? :(

1. Posted without comment:
2. The New York Yankees: Any opportunity to include them on this list... The Yankees are not looking like a playoff-bound team, and the Steinbrenner siblings can't seem to figure out how they feel about it, with one brother announcing that he's looking to next year and the other stating that the Yanks are still in it. Bums, the lot of them.

3. The LPGA: The Ladies Tour is desperate to stay alive, and didn't do itself any favours this week by releasing news that it will now require players on the tour to speak English. There are approximately 73 ways that the tour could have approached the issue of player-sponsor communication, and this was the worst of the options. That this will be a RULE, and that players will potentially be prevented from playing if they don't meet the tour's standards, reeks of discrimination, heavy-handedness, desperation and short-sightedness. Think of it this way... would the PGA ever tell Camillo Villegas that he couldn't play because his English isn't good? I don't think so...

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.

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.

Joe Torre

Let's be clear about one thing ~ I have a very very strong dislike for the New York Yankees. Some would call it hate, but I try and reserve that word for how I feel about other things - racists, child abusers, people who kick puppies, you get the picture. So I characterize what I have for the Yanks as "strong dislike."

But I like Joe Torre. There's a certain dignity and grace about him that I've always appreciated. I've wondered for the last few years whether that dignity and grace was stung by the annual post-season manic analysis of his Yankees career amid rumours of impending firing. And I was glad to see that he finally got to walk away from the team (mostly) on his own terms. The offer that the Yankees made to him may have been a joke, intended to force him out, but at least he got to say no. I think it's the best kind of exit he could have hoped for. And I think he would look dashing in a Blue Jays uniform.