Toronto: Where People Meet
Toronto (not Tonto's native town) was apparently baptized by the Native Aboriginal peoples: just like ''Canada'' is supposed to be the aboriginal word for ''village'' or something (never mind the time-honored evidence that I have had for decades now that the true origin of that bastard country's name came from a sign left behind by Portuguese navigators who were appalled by the harshness of the winters there and simply wrote that ''nesta terra'' (on this land) ''nem cana dà!'' (not even common grass grows!) yet, somehow, now, lo many centuries later, ''Canada'' has become a ''mosaic'' that welcomes many cultures, many races, the whole world's supply of refugees, rejects and other remnants in an highly unlikely and definitely uneasy side-by-sidedness that never really made any sense at all and hardly makes up for the weak birth rate throughout the frigid land there...!) Still, immigrants keep on flocking - if only a drop at a time... Great going, Canada...!
And why not - since Toronto is reputed to mean ''where people meet'' - eh? All of these elements can meet there on a regular basis and a shootout to end all shootouts can ensue - it won't be their mayor who will give a hoot, really: that crooked old coot! But all that is another sordid and intricately-complicated, clearly) sad story - not at all what we were aiming to talk about here, at first...
Rather, let's go back to SPORTS: and the Tigers - and the Yankees, their favorite dinner! LMBO
The Tigers! Who would have picked them to demolish the Yanks two years in a row - and make it even more lopsided the second go-round? HA - A-Rod, Jerker and the rest of them Damn Yankees NEVER HAD A SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL...!!! And then who was it that bit the dust again - the proverbial losers from TEXAS? These Rangers guys will NEVER achieve their purported to be potential, now will they? (Just like their namesakes in the NHL, eh - but that's another story!) But who will even care about any of this, in the coming months, as winter comes, planets align themselves, wars upon wars take over the headline news and the ''Boys of Summer,'' for their part, just go into hibernation, suspended animation à-la-Captain-America (or is it à-la-Yvon-of-the-Yukon?) or pure and simple common fandom forgetfulness... Huh? After all, if it wasn't your team winning, the common fanboy simply tends to forget all-together who won, who lost, who even made it to the ''great'' World Series - the year before, much moreso the year before that or five years ago! (Not ME! I'm better than that! I remember! Selectively, sure, but I sure do remember! But this isn't about me here... duh! So, let's move on...)
Further more forgetful for all: the Cards - those losers that hail from St-Louis and play either baseball or football; nobody knows anymore, nobody cares - lost to the Giants in game 7 of the NLCS. It was a joy to behold, personally, though: since them Cards were one of the last two opponents thoroughly dominated by the Boston Red Sox, one of those last two times the Sox made it to the World Series - and took it all! It wasn't even a CONTEST! Once you retain the faculty to remember, you can enjoy such things, you see? You enjoy them with added perspective - extra gusto! But, again, who gives a damn about all this, now? It's all ancient history - in the public's wandering eye! And all the teams involved are only as good as their most recent game played - and lost, in all cases involved too! The Cardinals are just pale crimson shadows of their former selves: if you think further back, to the 1940s and 1950s - or something...! But then that's even more ancient history everyone forgot...!
But speaking of birds, if you think of the Cardinals, you have to think of the Orioles as well! The lamentable O's who got to believe what their skipper, that old Damn Yankee himself, Buck Showalter was telling them: you know, all that hogwash about being a contender on par with the Yanks, Rays and Red Sox, the team they hated the most for some reason...? Must have been a side-effect of his days as a Yankee... The O's got into the post-season, somehow - in place of those Rays and Red Sox, superior clubs though that they are and always will be - and then they promptly fizzled before the damn Yankee mystique. How convenient was THAT! The Rays wouldn't have just keeled over dead like that - and you can be damn sure the Red Sox wouldn't have either! The O's remind me (if your fanboy mentality will allow a switch to another sport now) of the Isles of the 90s - they looked so hot in the first couple of rounds of the playoffs one year, surprising everyone by playing way beyond expectations from their very own management, coaching staff and fanbase, ousting the then-champion Pitt Pens in the process...! And then what happened: they meet a bunch of losers with a CH on their chests (and it sure doesn't stand for champions - let me confirm you that!) and the inept Isles promptly shift back to being ''the old Islanders'' - and they lose. And who was the best player on the Isles team at that time? A French-Canadian time forgot - Pierre Something! Now, how convenient was THAT...?!?
The Islanders are also in the news lately, incidentally - as they are reporting a move from Long Island to... Brooklyn, of all places. The morons! They cannot be called islanders anymore, then! They should call themselves what they really are now (or what most laymen out there think they are, when they think of hockey, the NHL and anything that isn't figure skating on ice!) and that is... brawlers! The Brooklyn Brawlers! So what - they would have to pay a tribute and a portion of the profits to that no-name wrestler and (mostly) his employer (the accursed VKM, of Titan, so-called sports, not the moon of Saturn now - although it would be so nice to expedite him and a 1001 other creeps just like him -or worse- to that moon, so we never again have to suffer their presence amongst us ever again! Wait - did I just type 1001 creeps - only 1001? Make that 1, 000, 001 creeps! Heck, 1, 000,000,001 - and I know exactly who that last creepier-than-creepy one in there is supposed to be! Can you hear me, Gourrrrrrrrgennnnnnn? BANG - ZOOM - to the moon; SATURN's MOON! Ahh - it felt good to get all that out of my system just now... But, ultimately, what does any of it matter, hmm? So, sorry for the sidetrack, folks!) And so... Where were we? Ah yes! Brooklyn - of all infested places! Worse than Toronto: that is for damn sure! But let's NOT go back THERE now...
Let's go back to Red Sox Nation instead, now...
Bobby V had to go - so much had been clear from day one, practically. A Boston manager who would go to New York every week-end in order to appear on some cable TV crappy show there, expressing his opinion on whatever subject related to baseball: now wasn't THAT a situation highly unordinary, unacceptable and even totally, like, repugnant! Plus, it is a conflict of interest! He could have slipped vital insider information from the Boston locker-room onto enemy territory; and he most probably did, throughout the damnable 2012 season, a lamentable campaign as it turned out to be for the Red Sox...
So it is high time to say it: out with Bobby V! However, with so many guys being interviewed for the prestigious position, it is quite a surprise to see who was chosen in the end to replace him...
And in choosing John Farrell, the Boston Red Sox are forced to give up talent as compensation - talent that goes straight to their northern-most divisional enemy, those other damn birds, in TORONTO! It wasn't bad enough that they were already reinforcing themselves as of late, after another dismal season of their own (they did finish last, right? Or was it Boston? None of that matters right now - I told you that! The fact is, though, that the Jays have been bettering themselves with unthinkable trades, for them especially; although trades prove nothing, really. Players have to gel as a team afterwards; and that doesn't always happen: just look at the Lakers! Bwah-ha-ha! Still... the potential is there.With proper guidance, it can be attained. And the Jays sought the right manager all right, even going out and daringly rehiring their dream manager from the past; sort of à-la-damnable-Yankees, sort of...) and on top of that the Red Sox now have to compensate them with ''future prospects'' in order to attenuate the circumstances that saw the Sox sign Toronto's manager as Boston's manager for 2013...!
Ironically enough, both managers return to where they came from - whatsisname who is coming back to Toronto and John Farrell, who used to be in Boston in another capacity, is in fact returning to the Red Sox organisation - and everyone hopes it is the return of the king here! Despite the fact that Farrell bears considerably more than a passing resemblance to namesake John Cleese of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame: and that isn't a good sign at all, if you ask moi... First we lose Theo to the Lost Cause in Chicago (kudos to Epstein though, for daring to take on two curses in his general-managerial lifetime...!) then we get stuck with Booby V... And now - it would be a jokester?!? One who's spoiled by all that Toronto gregariousness, polluted air and bad food included!
Let's all try to find comfort and positiveness in the official report now, Red Sox Nation...!
Take it away, Jimmy...!
Boston had been talking to the Blue Jays about compensation for Farrell, who had one year remaining in his Toronto contract. He was 154-170 in two seasons with the Blue Jays following four years as Boston's pitching coach.
The Red Sox fired Valentine the day after finishing in last place in the AL East with a 69-93 record that was the franchise's worst since 1965.
- The Golem Has Spoken! Er... Not Golen, no! So we know it's true...?
- Oddly enough, this bit of news was ticking alongside this one right here: Texas state fair icon goes up in flames ?!? We all hope it really is not (another) bad omen here...! (The worst record since 1965 - it is a whole lot of work to turn a team around from that, y'know...!)
Me - I'm still flipping over the Tigers' mastery over the Damn Yankees! ROTFLMAO!!!