With the exception of the Maple Leafs, every professional sports team in Toronto has to finds ways to promote themselves to the Southern Ontario market and increase their fanbase.

(Who knows, if rumours of a second NHL franchise in Toronto turn out to be true, maybe the Leafs will have to start making more of an effort as well.)

From the average sports fans perspective, these efforts to find more support can often lead to opportunities to see the players up close and personal.

(For example, Argonauts players and cheerleaders can be found in Shoeless Joes at 276 King Street West after every home game.)

This past Sunday, locals at the St Louis Bar & Grill on Yonge and Eglinton were fortunate enough to meet members of the Toronto Triumph, who are looking for more exposure* leading up to their final game of the season on October 27th.

*I’ve resisted the urge to make any jokes referring to the girls playing in lingerie, knowing full well that if I meet any of them they could quite easily beat me to within an inch of my life.

Here are a couple of photos Triumph quarterback Marife Villagonzalo posted on her Twitter account @LFLTriumph11:

As you’d expect of any self-respecting journalist (what a contradiction that is), I felt obliged to do some more research on the girls who were at St Louis along with Marife; Andrea Critch @Critch_a, Sylvie Manaigre @Sylviemanaigre and Donna Paul @dpLFL16.

You’ll be glad to hear I’ve quickly come to the conclusion that Donna Paul is now firmly in the running to be my favourite player on the team.  Helping Donna’s case is the fact she has a mind-blowing quarterback rating of 395.2!!!!!.

However, giving that she has only thrown two passes this season, I was wondering what other factors go into calculating this rating and I think I might have part of the answer:

Yep, definitely my new favourite.

• By paul.taylor
• October 23, 2012
• Comment

Hallelujah! Gary Bettman and the owners, after previously advising they were not prepared to negotiate against themselves, have finally done something right.  Realising their initials proposals were borderline offensive, Bettman and company have at last tabled a more reasonable offer.

While information is limited at this stage (although more detailed than I can be bothered researching into*), the very basics of the offer are something that all fans can get on board with: A 50/50 revenue split and a full 82-game season.

Obviously, we don’t want to get too excited at this stage, but at least there’s finally reason for cautious optimism.  Having said that, you still wouldn’t put it past the NHL to screw things up.

Along those lines, it will be interesting to see how long the proposed deal is for.  NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr has said it is for “at least six years.”  However, with three lockouts since 1994, it would be good to see some much-needed labour harmony with a deal closer to 10 years.

Amazingly though, almost overshadowing this unexpected news is the stunning rumour that once a new CBA is agreed, deals for two new Canadian expansion teams will be announced in Quebec and Toronto.

On the surface at least, this is great news for the game, especially in Canada, with the league increasing to 32 teams and allowing for realignment to four eight-team divisions.

However, by delving a little deeper (i.e. actually thinking about it some more, admittedly a stretch for me), it doesn’t make quite so much sense.  For example, are the Maple Leafs really going to accept having a new regional neighbour to compete against?

(They were bad enough about Howard Balsillie potentially moving the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton if he had been successful in purchasing the franchise.  Although wouldn’t it be great imagining the panic as the Leafs realise they have to finally start putting a decent product on the ice.  This could actually turn out to be a win-win scenario for long-suffering Toronto hockey fans.)

Also, while 32 teams puts the NHL on a par with the NFL (figuratively speaking anyway) and offers a better symmetry, with exactly half of the teams making the playoffs, isn’t there the small matter of the numerous teams currently losing money, hence one of the major reasons we are actually in a lockout in the first place?!?!

While this potential expansion is just a rumour at the moment, if true, doesn’t it show yet another example of the NHL’s inability to do right for doing wrong?  Surely it makes more economic sense to stabilise the franchises that are currently struggling to survive, rather than add new teams.

Finally, given how uninspiring last season’s playoffs were, is it really such a good idea to further dilute the available talent?  By all means place new teams in Quebec and Toronto, but surely relocation is the better move.

Anyway, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  First things first, lets see if the NHL can actually reach an agreemment before November 2nd, to ensure a full slate of games.

* Click here to read Manny’s take on the proposal, which goes into more detail than I did, thus showing which of us is the slacker.

• By paul.taylor
• October 16, 2012
• Comment

In case you were out enjoying the beautiful summer weather in Toronto this weekend and decided to catch up at your desk Monday morning, you have a lot to read about. The Leafs and Jays were both busy filling up the transaction pages and TFC was up to their old tricks (no, not getting arrested).

LEAFS

- Drafted Morgan Reilly with the 5^th pick in the NHL entry draft. The six-foot, 190-pound defenceman missed most of the 2011-12 season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors because a torn ACL, but still collected 18 points (3-15) in 18 games. Follow the new draftee on twitter @mriles4
- Traded Luke Schenn to the Flyers for James van Riemsdyk
- Traded the rights to goaltender Jonas Gustavsson to the Winnipeg Jets for a seventh-round conditional draft pick in 2013
- Roberto Luongo is still a Vancouver Canuck for the time being

JAYS

- Recalled first baseman Adam Lind from triple-A on Sunday
- Re-instated outfielder Ben Francisco from the 15-day disabled list.
- Optioned first baseman David Cooper and utility player Mike McCoy to Triple-A Las Vegas
- Injured pitcher Sergio Santos was sent to the 60-day DL
- Travis Snider remains in Las Vegas feasting on the Pacific Coast League pitching and quality restaurants on the strip (https://twitter.com/Lunchboxhero45/status/217101919561322496#)
- Jays remain in the hunt for some starting pitching help. Rumours are still linking the Jays to the Cubs Matt Garza, Brewers Zach Greinke and the Astros Wandy Rodriguez

TORONTO FC

- Hosted the New England Revolution at BMO Field on Saturday and received an inspired performance from Ashtone Morgan who set up both goals and gave TFC a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately it was ground hog day for TFC as they gave up two late goals similar to the mid-week contest against Houston Dynamo and ended up with a 2-2 draw much to the dismay of the faithful

ARGOS

- After ending the pre-season with a 25-20 win over the Montreal Alouettes, the Argos start the regular season on June 30 at Edmonton

RAPTORS

- General Manager Bryan Colangelo is using all of his cell phone minutes this month. The Raptors have made no secret of the fact that they are open to trading the 8^th pick in the draft
- NBA insiders say that the Houston Rockets would package their two picks (14 and 16) and PG Kyle Lowry in a trade to the Raptors for the 8^th pick. This would allow the Rockets to make an offer for Dwight Howard and give the Raptors a starting PG and two first round picks to help build their young team
- Free Agent to be Steve Nash, has apparently narrowed his list of destinations to Toronto, Portland or returning to Phoenix. He also mentioned in a recent interview that he would listen to an offer from New York Knicks if they called

• By ben.trattner
• June 25, 2012
• Comment

Looks like GM Alex Anthonopoulos didn’t any drama concerning the Vladimir Guerrero conjugal issues. The Toronto Blue Jays released the Dominican player.

Despite hitting for .303 in 8 games for Las Vegas in the AAA level, Guerrero was freed from his contract today.

ESPN reports that Guerrero had a deadline concerning a call up in the majors, and once that deadline passed, he immediately packed his bags and moved back to California, where he resides.

Even if no comments by the Jays were released about his 8 kids with 5 different women, it is possible that the Jays’ management didn’t want to get into the whole debacle that might insue in the next few days

• By Manny Frag
• June 12, 2012
• Comment

After  Canadian welterweight Rory MacDonald called out BJ Penn on the MMA hour, it appears as though the fight will happen at UFC 152, in Toronto, on September 22nd.

First, here is what Rory had to say on the show.

“Right now I feel there’s a guy that I want to fight before he leaves the sport and that’s B.J. Penn… He’s a legend and I think it’d be a really good matchup for me to have that fight in Toronto.”

Here is what BJ Penn replied yesterday via his Twitter account.

BJ Penn: “Rory, I accept your challenge!!”

Showdown Joe of Sportsnet, later tweeted that a verbal agreement was in the process.

This will give every Canadian UFC fan a great chance to cheer for a local boy, and another opportunity to root against BJ Penn

• By Manny Frag
• June 6, 2012
• Comment

We are now in June, and the A.L. East could not be tighter. Only 3 games separate the top team from the bottom team. Every division game is very important, and the Blue Jays will have to win most of these intra-division series, in order to play in the postseason.

Tonight, they open a 3-game series against the emerging Boston Red Sox. After another very tough start, Boston is back over the .500 mark, with a 26-25 record. David Ortiz, Will Middlebrooks, and Ryan Sweeney are all hitting over .300 and Pedroia has an average of .295.

Tonight, the Jays will fave Clay Buchholz, who in spite of a 4-2 record, has a 7.19 ERA. The Jays’ canons will have to pounce on him to give young Henderson Alvarez a cushion. Alvarez has some really interesting stats with a 3.56 ERA in 10 starts, but he hasn’t receive the help of his offence lately, which explains his 3-4 record.

Toronto will be looking for a 4th straight win, after sweeping the Orioles, who are leading the A.L. East. The Jays now sit 2 games back of them, and they are one game ahead of the Red Sox, which explains the importance of that series.

• By Manny Frag
• June 1, 2012
• Comment

Local boy PK Subban, who plays for the Montreal Canadiens, was in Toronto last weekend. He grabbed a few drinks at F-Stop Bar-Nightclub-Whatever and he took the time to take a picture with the Dj. Great denim shirt PK, but com’on, a Yankees cap? Yuk! PK wears a Blue Jays cap all the time when he’s in Montreal…

• By ed
• May 28, 2012
• Comment

Bachelor Canada: Citytv announced today that 28-year-old CFL wide receiver Brad Smith is now the country’s most eligible bachelor, and will star as ‘the bachelor’ on The Bachelor Canada. Smith, who grew up in small-town Hudson, QC, graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, ON, and went on to enjoy a successful career as a wide receiver with the Montreal Alouettes (2007), Toronto Argonauts (2007-2009), and Edmonton Eskimos (2010-2011). Currently a free agent, Smith is taking time off from sports to find true love.

The Canadian looks like he loves the camera and should give a great show if he lets his true personality come out. He’s a very funny guy and I doubt he will be able to hide his feelings for a long period of time. Some girls will find out he is a very direct guy, and that should give us great television.

Even if his CFL career wasn’t exactly stellar, Smith had a great University career with Queen’s. He is one of the rare Canadian born player to make it as a receiver in the CFL, which is an accomplishment on its own.

• By ed
• May 1, 2012
• Comment

Doesn’t mean that players on the field are juiced up on steroids than fans are allowed to smoke some herb in the stand.

• By ed
• April 26, 2012
• Comment

Tonight in Kansas City, the Toronto Blue Jays will try to register their first sweep of the season, when they will face the Royals.

The Jays will send Brendon Morrow on the mound, him who struggled in his last outing. By completing the 4 game sweep, the Jays would already have more win versus the Royals than the entire 2011 season. This is obviously great news, because Toronto will need to pounce on those teams that will have a losing record, if they hope to participate in the postseason.

Last year, the Jays had problems winning against teams like the Royals and the Mariners who barely got 70 wins in the season. Since they play in a very strong division, it is necessary to defeat these bottom third teams more often.

• By Manny Frag
• April 23, 2012
• Comment