C'mon Leafs...give it up.

It's over, guys...quit teasing us.

Beating Carolina means nothing after laying two straight first-period eggs against Montreal (the team they had to beat twice to have a legit shot).

There is a glimmer of hope, however. I read this article and got excited: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/sports/story.html?id=88fe637a-c56e-40aa-8301-4ffce4931d2b

Here's the gist of the article: the Leafs' plan for the future is to:
1) rebuild the team by developing young talent
2) jettison some veterans
3) not let the public know that's what they're doing

So basically they're doing what I've been saying they should do...they've just been keeping it quiet, fearing backlash from ignorant fans.

Well fear not, John Ferguson and MLSE...you're doing the right thing.

No matter how bad the team is, the Leafs will sell out every home game...so revenue is not an issue.

Quotes like these makes me feel so much better about the club's future.

Ferguson, to MLSE's board of governors 18 months ago: "Guys, we've got to be building talent, we can't just buy it anymore."

Anonymous MLSE source: "Everyone said this team was no more than a .500 team. Everyone knew this was a transition year and it was going to be painful. The club is now looking to build a solid franchise, not buy a championship at the last minute."

This means that come the 2006-2007, Quinn should be gone, Belfour should be gone, Domi and other veterans should be gone, and depending on how far they wanna go with this thing, Sundin might be gone too.

Paul Maurice will almost certainly be in as head coach, and the team will put the franchise in the hands of guys like Alex Steen, Kyle Wellwood and Mikael Tellqvist.

For years, young guys like Steen and Wellwood have never gotten the opportunity to contribute to a veteran-laden Leaf squad. They come to the big club and crack under the intense pressure put on them by and have been shipped out of town for more veterans. Now guys like Steve Sullivan, Brad Boyes, Alyn McCauley are all thriving on other teams, while the past-their-prime geezers like Owen Nolan are long gone.

It sounds like this trend is about to change, and I couldn't be happier.

So to all the Leaf homers out there...suck it up, it's going to get better, and more importantly, it's going to get done right.

It all comes crashing down...Duke and Gonzaga out.

Well, that pretty much seals it. Two of my final four out in one night...bollocks.

I'm sure there's weeping and gnashing of teeth at work tonight.

Anyway, I'll still pay attention because it's damn entertaining...and I didn't lose any cash, so it's all good.

The Jays already have their first major injury scare...and it's coming from the most likely source: A.J. Burnett.

Some scar tissue broke off in his elbow, which apparently feels just like a ligament tear...which must have given a heart attack to many a Jay (including A.J.).

We'll know by the weekend whether he's OK, but they're already preparing to not have him the first week of the season...we only need a fifth starter three times in April, so there's no sense in rushing a pitcher we have for 5 years and 50+ million.

I pray to the baseball gods that he's OK...we need him big time.

12 days till Opening Day!

75% success rate = why didn't I bet on this thing?!?

Damn...I could have been sitting on quite the pile of money right now. You just know that I'll do it next year and lose big-time...that's the way this stuff works.

Anyway, I picked Northwestern to beat Iowa, which not many people did (including no one in my friendly pool...take that!) I got a couple more upsets right, including NC State over California and Bucknell over Arkansas.

Of course, I was not without blemishes...Kansas screwed me over in the Oakland bracket, which would have been perfect otherwise. I also blew two more in the Washington bracket, my worst bracket by far, with only 50% right (thanks a bunch UAB and Michigan State). However, a lot of people got screwed way worse than me by Iowa, Kansas and Michigan State...some folks had them going as far as the Final Four.

Therefore, with newfound yet relatively unearned confidence, I present to you my picks for Saturday:

Duke (already won), Syracuse (eliminated in the 1st round), UCLA, Gonzaga, Tennessee, Illinois, Florida, and Boston College (all still to come).

Let's see how the second round treats lil' ol' me.

11 out of 16 in the first round.

A 69% success rate my first go around...not too shabby. I aced the Oakland bracket (including upset Alabama over Marquette), got 3 out of 4 in the Atlanta bracket (Syracuse fucked me over for the next two rounds, had them making the Sweet 16) and split the Washington and Minneapolis brackets (thanks for nothing Utah, Seton Hall, Nevada and Oklahoma).

Gonzaga and Boston College gave me scares...having my two finalists nearly knocked out in the first round definitely makes me realize I have a long way to go with this thing.

Still, I'm satisfied so far, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how into it I am. Makes me regret not giving NCAA basketball a chance before...I won't make the same mistake again, it's great stuff.

Big big congratulations to Team Mexico for knocking the US out of the World Baseball Classic, and for pretty much ending the chances of there being another one. All you had to do was watch the games that involved Latin American or Asian teams, and then watch a USA game. The difference was striking: you could even see it on the players' faces; the Americans just didn't care. They treated these games like spring training, whereas the other nations were playing with passion and pride.

The Cuba/Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic/Venezuela games were outstanding...and at least Canada played some exciting games. The Americans were boring by comparison. If you throw away the 17-0 shellacking of South Africa, Team USA scored a measly 16 runs in 5 games...that's an average of just over 3 runs a game. That's pathetic, given their lineup. I wonder if Roger Clemens will retire now...not the way he envisioned going out I'm sure.

This tournament also confirmed that Buck Martinez is one of the worst managers in history. Seriously, this guy could coach the Harlem Globetrotters, and they would come out and lose to the Generals.

Stick with the broadcast booth, Buck...that's your bread and butter.

Catching March madness for the first time.

Hoo boy. Talk about in way over my head, outta my league and with very little idea what's going on.

Thanks to my wonderful job at The Score, I'm getting exposed to sports I knew very little about before, and US college basketball is one of them.

I'll admit I had no idea why college hoops was so popular before, but I sure do now. Man are those games competitive.

As for being knowledgeable enough to enter a pool, forget about it. I'm doing a free Yahoo thing with some friends this year to get a taste, and then maybe I'll go money next season.

As for my picks, if you want them (why you would, I don't know) are as follows: Duke, Gonzaga, UConn and Boston College in the Final Four...and just to emphasize my inexperience, I'm picking the two would-be massive underdogs Gonzaga and BC in the finals, with the Zags winning it all.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for mustached white guys and teams with cool names. Go Gonzaga!

Nintendo All-Star Fantasy Baseball Team

YES. This is great.

http://mcsweeneys.net/links/fantasybball/9nintendo.html

Miracle on Grass.

Congrats to Team Canada for beating the US in the WBC. They ended up just hanging on, but I was watching it when it was 8-0, thinking: "Jesus Christ, we are up 8-0! What the hell is happening?"

Way to go, Team USA...you just got beat by Adam Loewen and Adam Stern, two guys who likely won't be in the big leagues this season. Ouch.

What sucks for Canada, however, is that they may not even make it to the next round, thanks to the WBC's retarded tiebreaker: runs allowed. Not runs scored, but runs allowed.

So if Canada doesn't beat Mexico later today, they can only allow a couple of runs or they'll be eliminated.

Runs scored makes sense...run differential even more so...but runs allowed? That's just wacky...I've never heard of anybody using how many runs or goals or points you allow as a tiebreaker.

In about three hours, the NHL trade deadline will have come and gone. As of this posting, not many major moves have been made...mostly defencemen for draft picks.

One intriguing move was Montreal trading Jose Theodore to Colorado for David Aebischer. The Avs must be hoping he's the next Patrick Roy...there are some similarities I guess; both were having their worst years as Canadiens, both have won Vezina trophies...one big difference is that Jose Theodore is not, and never will be, Patrick Roy. Early advantage goes to Montreal, as they now have two hot goalies in Aebischer and Cristobal Huet. The Habs should sew up the 8th spot at least.

As for the Leafs? They traded Ken Klee to New Jersey...and then got Luke Richardson. So those two moves pretty much cancel each other out: one slow old D-man for another.

Oh how I wish they had lost that game to Montreal on Tuesday. Fucking Leafs...they lose games they're supposed to win, and win games they're supposed to lose.

So much for seeing a different Toronto team come next season, or even this season...now they have delusions of making the playoffs, and won't jettison the dead weight on their roster...instead they'll likely add even more dead weight, aka. "veterans" in the hopes of making a run.

I suppose there's still time for moves to be made, but I'm so off the bandwagon now that anything less than trading for the future will be a disappointment.

I bet they fire Quinn and/or Ferguson right after the season's over, start over with a new face (Paul Maurice) and then rebuild the club.

At this point, I'd be satisfied with that.

The World Baseball Classic, or "Please Lord, don't get injured..."

Watching my first WBC game as I write this...the Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela.

It's been a great game, but the Dominicans are blowing it open in the top of the 9th.

This clearly means a lot more to the Latin teams than other teams; the fans are going crazy with every play, running around in the stands and jumping on the railings.

Something tells me we won't be seeing that for Canada and Mexico, or Italy and Australia.

A lot of players will be treating this like spring training, and so a few games might be going at a 60-70% clip. Their teams are holding their breath hoping none of their stars get injured.

Even though this tournament is designed so that the Americans make it to at least the final four, it would be nice to see an upset, a la Argentina in basketball.

Unfortunately an early US exit would likely sound the death knell for the WBC after just one go-around...this tournament needs American interest to be sustainable, which is a shame.

This is truly the "World Series" of baseball...we'll see if it lasts.

R.I.P Kirby Puckett

He will be missed...one of the last true franchise players.

Lost in the shuffle of Torino: softball.

The IOC has eliminated softball in 2012. You probably didn't hear about it because they announced it during these Winter Games; the story garnered one line on our ticker. The reasoning behind the move seems to be that the Americans have dominated the sport, and there is no competition.

I'll agree that the timing of the announcement to axe softball was carefully placed, so as to avoid media coverage.

But the argument for axing softball because the Americans keep winning is a fair one. Take women's hockey. Many people are saying that women's hockey shouldn't have been at the Olympics until 2010. Why? For the same reasons they're axing softball: a lack of competitive balance.

Watch women's hockey. I mean, really watch it. It is, for lack of a better word, brutal. The US-Sweden semifinals game was easily the worst display of hockey I have ever seen. More than half of the attempted passes never made it to their intended targets. It's not from a lack of effort, it's from a lack of ability. The Americans lost for two reasons: they played maybe the worst game they've played all year, and they ran into a hot goaltender. They have a lot in common with the Canadian men's team, now that I think about it.

Al Strachan at the Sun thinks a team of 15 year old boys could beat the Canadian women's Olympic team. I disagree with that particular matchup, as Canada's team is clearly the class of the sport. As for the other national teams (save the United States), those 15 year olds would beat their brains out. These nations need the time to develop their programs and field competitive squads. I don't pretend to be an expert on women's softball, but if the American dominance is as pronounced as people say, then I must infer the situation for other nations is similar.

And keep in mind that it took decades for the rest of the world to catch up in men's hockey. Canada, the United States, and Russia won every gold medal save one from 1924 to 1994.

The fact is that the rest of the world has simply not caught up to the Canadians and Americans in women's hockey. Women's hockey and softball will get better, no question about it; but putting a sport where only two teams are competitive into the Olympics is simply unreasonable.

And that's why softball is getting thrown out at the plate.

Well, we lost.

Given the way they played, I can't say I'm surprised.

They didn't adapt to the international style of play, and continued to play spaced out and take stupid penalties. The bigger rink and defensive-minded European squads was too much.

Don Cherry did some post-game stuff, his usual schtick (which is usually right)...and then Brian Williams asked Cherry who he thought would win between the Finns and Russians, and the Czechs and Swedes.

Cherry looked at him square in the eyes and said: "I don't care," with a shrug.

Williams then asked, "Well, are you going to care by Friday?" Because apparently Cherry is supposed to do first-intermission and post-game stuff for the semis, I assume since Canada was supposed to be in them.

Cherry looked at Williams again, turned to the camera and softly said, "Nope."

Gotta love that Cherry.

Bill Simmons

If you haven't heard of this dude before, make yourself acquainted. He is the wittiest sportswriter in the business (besides me, of course).

Here's his recap of the NBA All-Star Weekend...it's brilliant.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060220

Olympicness.

Congrats to the women's hockey team for getting the job done. The men's team faces Russia later today...if they play they way they're capable of, they'll win. But with guys like Kovalchuk, Ovechkin and Malkin, Russia will make them pay for any mistakes or uninspired play. Should be a good game.

Is there anything less interesting than hearing curlers discuss their strategy? Whose brilliant idea was it to mic these guys up? It's totally unintelligable...viewers need a Curling-to-English dictionary.

I'm thinking that the second the Olympics are over, I will catch full-blown baseball fever.

It will infect me, and I will embrace the sickness.

Wow...that was a great slam-dunk competition.

I haven't watched it since Vince's last one, but I happened to be at work.

Gotta love little Nate Robinson...modestly listed at 5'9", he jumped over fellow little guy and former dunk champ Spud Webb...that was incredible.

Andre Iguodala deserved to win, though...his behind the backboard dunk was unreal...and the behind-the-back was also stellar.

Definitely the best one since Vince.

People are shocked about Canada losing to the Swiss...this proves is that in a short tournament, a hot goalie can carry you far. Kudos to the Swiss...stop freaking out everybody, we'll still be there at the end.

And Jose Theodore's worst year ever continues...he slipped on frozen stairs at home and broke a bone in his heel...out 6-8 weeks. Jeez...I can't think of a worse year for a goalie to have.

Heh...well shut my mouth.

Eight medals since my rant there...looks like I lit a fire under Team Canada's ass.

We're about halfway through the competition now...with two hockey medals in the bag, and a few other good chances in bobsled, skiing, speed skating and elsewhere, this might be a good Olympics for Canada after all.

Though I stick by what I said...it won't matter the day after they're over.

The Olympics are good for something, though...and that's watching enemy players go down...Hasek = hurt, Ottawa = fucked...thank you very much!

And seeing the reports from Spring Training in Dunedin is driving me crazy...I did my fantasy rankings just to do something baseball related. I'm psyched already.

Medal count is at a whopping...three. Way to go Canada.

One of each colour...yippee. As usual, our overhyped athletes choke.

It's unfortunate that no one realizes how little the Olympics matter until they're over. All that money that goes to amateur athletes benefits...um, amateur athletes. Whereas our tax dollars are (supposed to, at least) benefit all of us.

Just because I'm a sports fan doesn't mean I can't identify what a solid investment is. Athletes bitch and whine about how little support they receive...well, rarely do they deliver on the expected medal haul, so that shouldn't be a surprise.

The bottom line is if a Canadian athlete wins a gold medal in moguls, or a silver in skiing, or a bronze in speed skating, it doesn't affect me at all. Nationalism or patriotism aside, it's just a poor investment.

Now you might say, hold on a second...by that logic, if the Blue Jays win the World Series this year, that shouldn't affect me either. You'd be wrong. There's incentive for me to spend money to help the Jays. First off, I get to actually watch them play...not many people can afford to travel to Torino or whereever to follow the athletes. It also stimulates the city's economy, during a time of the year when no other major sports are going on. And maybe most importantly, money spent at the ballpark increases their revenues, which in turn results in a better on field product.

At this point, you're probably furious. If you spend more money on Olympic athletes, wouldn't that result in a better product from them? Not necessarily, and that's the key difference between amateur and professional athletes.

Generally, if you spend millions of dollars on a professional athlete, you pretty much know what you're going to get: at the very least, a serviceable player that can help your team win a game. But with an amateur athlete, you're expecting nothing less than a medal, fairly or unfairly. And because of the level of competition, that's highly unlikely, no matter how skilled the ahtlete may or may not be. How many of our athletes were "projected" to have won a medal by now? Certainly more than three. And why spend money on an athlete with absolutely no chance of winning a medal? So that he or she can have a personal best? Big whoop. There's no incentive there. At the end of the day, it's all about winning, and if you aren't going to win, you ain't getting squat.

Call me unpatriotic if you want, but know this: when I buy Blue Jays tickets, I know that my money is going towards making the team better in some capacity. If I buy a lottery ticket with the proceeds going to Canadian amateur athletes, I may get absolutely nothing in return.

And that's the definition of a bad investment.

Tocchet and Gretzky and Theodore, oh my!

Shit's getting crazy!

First Rick Tocchet gets implicated in this gambling ring thing, then Wayne fucking Gretzky!

Wow. Wiretapped conversations and everything...Jesus.

There's a lot of stuff being said without being proven, so I'm waiting for this to all shake down. Still, another black eye that hockey really doesn't need at this point.

And how about Jose Theodore testing positive for a banned substance? As if it couldn't get any worse for him...damn.

Crazy times in the world of hockey...and the Olympics start tomorrow...um, go Canada?!

Move over, Gregg Zaun.

The Jays have a new catcher in town: Bengie Molina.

Another solid bat for a pretty sweet looking offense...he'll slide in nicely at the 7 spot.

Bengie also lights up left-handed pitching to the tune of .395, the best in the AL last year. Zaun struggled against lefties big-time...I doubt they'll platoon, but this move definitely improves our squad. We have depth on our team for the first time in a while. Real depth, not Frank Menechino depth.

I feel bad for Zaun (especially since we just did an interview with him about how excited he was for 2006 and that he was ready to be better than ever) but he's a team guy and I'm sure things will work out.

More excited than ever for the start o' the season...and FYI, my fantasy baseball team name this year is...

The Garth Iorgasms.

If you get it, good for you...you are a true Jays fan.

Working Super Bowl Sunday.

Not a huge deal really...the game was pretty good, I just wasn't all that interested.

Congrats to the Steelers...good to see some classy guys get a ring...Jerome Bettis, Bill Cowher, Hines Ward...yay.

Football is over, and with the Leafs and Raptors tanking, you know what that means...time to start getting ready for BASEBALL!!!

Must avoid the temptation to start fantasy leagues before spring training starts...we'll see how that goes.

Wow...Carolina is scary good.

The Canes just picked up Doug Weight, giving them three top centers along with Staal and Brind'Amour.

They're already tops in the whole NHL, and getting a guy of Weight's, um, weight, makes them a Cup favourite.

I almost don't want the Leafs to sneak in at the eighth spot, just to avoid the embarrassment of being destroyed by these guys. They ain't the same team we should have beat in 2002.

And in the "Holy Shit" category, Darryl Sydor needed SEVENTY stitches to close a severe facial laceration near his kisser from Saturday's game.

I hope he has a wife, and a pre-nup, because he is going to be one ugly motherfucker for a while...not to mention a little loopy from a likely concussion.