MLB Realignment by Payroll Follow up

Earlier this year, I proposed a new system for Major League Baseball. Where they create four divisions based on the payroll of each team.

The Top Division would have 12 teams and 4 playoff spots.
The Second Division would have 6 teams and 2 playoff spots.
The Third Division would have 6 teams and 1.5 playoff spots.
The Fourth Division would have 6 teams and 0.5 playoff spots.

Now that the regular season is over, here are my standings based on this proposal.
Top Division
1. Philadelphia Phillies 97-65
2. New York Yankees 95-67
3. Minnesota Twins 94-68
4. San Francisco Giants 92-70
Spots 5-12 are OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS
5. Boston Red Sox 89-73
6. Chicago White Sox 88-74
7. Detroit Tigers 81-81
8. Anaheim Angels 80-82
9. Los Angeles Dodgers 80-82
10. New York Mets 79-83
11. Chicago Cubs 75-87
12. Seattle Mariners 61-101

Second Division
1. Atlanta Braves 91-71
2. St. Louis Cardinals 86-76
Spots 3-6 are OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS
3. Colorado Rockies 83-79
4. Milwaukee Brewers 77-85
5. Houston Astros 76-86
6. Baltimore Orioles 66-96

Third Division
1. Tampa Bay Rays 96-66
2. Cincinnati Reds 91-71
Spots 3-6 are OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS
3. Toronto Blue Jays 85-77
4. Washington Nationals 69-93
5. Cleveland Indians 69-93
6. Kansas City Royals 67-95

Fourth Division
T1. San Diego Padres 90-72
T1. Texas Rangers 90-72
Spots 3-6 are OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS
3. Oakland Athletics 81-81
4. Florida Marlins 80-82
5. Arizona Diamondbacks 65-97
6. Pittsburgh Pirates 57-105

Ok, so first off, there is a one game playoff for the top seed in the 4th division:
San Diego vs. Texas

Opening Round- Best of 3
Cincinnati (Home Field) vs. San Diego or Texas

Quarter Finals- Best of 5
Philadelphia (Home Field) vs. San Francisco
New York Yankees (Home Field) vs. Minnesota

St. Louis (Home Field) vs. Tampa Bay
Cincinnati/San Diego/Texas vs. Atlanta (Home Field)

While the Current System has the following match ups
American League
Texas vs. Tampa Bay (Home Field)
New York Yankees vs. Minnesota (Home Field)
National League
Cincinnati vs. Philadelphia (Home Field)
Atlanta vs. San Francisco (Home Field)

So it is a little bit different, which is better? That is for you too decide.

2010 NFL Predictions

The road to Dallas and Superbowl 44 begins this Thursday when Minnesota travels to take on New Orleans. Here are my predictions for the season:

AFC East:
1. J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS- this is a much improved team with a great coach, and a good defense. The only question is how Sanchez will play in the new stadium with the winds. Record: 13-3
2. Patriots- this is a very good team, but will not be able to slip by New York for the division. Record 12-4
3. Dolphins- this team is a great team, might be able to contend, but will struggle. Record 8-8
4. Bills- Chan Gailey has a good first season, but does not have a good team to coach. Record 5-11
AFC North:
1. Cincinnati- Showed brillance last year, very good team in a division with Cleveland and down Pittsburgh team. Record 13-3.
2. Baltimore- A very good defense with an average offense, should be good enough for a Record: 12-4.
3. Pittsburgh- No Big Ben for 4 games, it is too many for the team to recover from. Record 7-9
4. Cleveland- Still not enough to be considered a good or even average team. Record 1-15
AFC South:
1. Indianapolis- they are the defending AFC Champions and AFC South Champions. They have the best QB in football and will roll through again. Record 15-1.
2. Tennessee- Decent team with a solid defense, but not quite there yet. Record 9-7
3. Houston- team that is going to turn the corner soon, but not this year. Record 7-9
4. Jacksonville- a team that needs some serious work, but they will get better in two or three years. Record 4-12.
AFC West:
1. San Diego- Still the class of the West, going to be a close division, but they win the tiebreaker with Denver. Record 11-5
2. Denver- The broncos win early, lose late, same as last year, only they get a few more Ws to start. Record 11-5
3. Oakland- decent team, crazy owner. Raiders are going to be better in the years to come. Record 5-11
4. Kansas City- New England West, but they are not nearly good. Record 5-11.
NFC East
1. Dallas- don't buy into the media hype this is a competitive division, but not the best division. Dallas wins the division at 11-5 in a tiebreaker with the G-men
2. New York Giants- good, solid team, but not quite good enough to win the division. Record 11-5.
3. Washington- Dan Snyder been there 11 years, has had 7 Coaches, 11 QBs, and 9 Offensive Coordinators. Change is not always good, especially in Washington. Record 6-10.
4. Philadelphia- Eagles are rebuilding, no McNabb, no decent offense. Record 5-11.
NFC North (Norris):
1. Green Bay- this is a tremedous team with a good QB. I see big things in Northern Wisconsin. Record 14-2
2. Minnesota- The magic runs out, Favre is not as good as he was last year. Record 12-4.
3. Chicago- This is an average at best team. Record 7-9
4. Detroit- The Lions still are terrible. Record 1-15.
NFC South
1. New Orleans- The defending SB Champs look to repeat, their regular season begins well enough. Record 14-2
2. Atlanta- This is a very good team, Michael Turner Overdrive will run wild. Record 12-4
3. Tampa Bay- Surprise team of the league, with a great schedule for big wins. Record 7-9
4. Carolina- This will be a rough year in Charlotte. Record 3-13.
NFC West:
1. Arizona- The desert team is looking good enough to win. Record 9-7
2. San Francisco- The 7 squareds fell to the Crabtree curse last year, still cannot win the division. Record 7-9
3. Seattle- bad team, possibly the worst team in the NFL last year, Record 3-13.
4. St. Louis- another bad team, this team cannot finish. Record 1-15.
Playoffs
Wild Card Weekend:
AFC
(6) Baltimore over (3) New York Jets
(5) New England over (4) San Diego
NFC
(3) Dallas over (6) Atlanta
(5) Minnesota over (4) Arizona
Divisional Weekend:
AFC
(1) Indianapolis over (6) Baltimore
(2) Cincinnati over (5) New England
NFC
(1) New Orleans over (5) Minnesota
(3) Dallas over (2) Green Bay
Conference Championship Weekend
AFC: (1) Indianapolis over (2) Cincinnati
NFC: (3) Dallas over (1) New Orleans
Super Bowl XXIV in Dallas
Indianapolis over Dallas

What is Terrorism?

Today on USA Today's website (http://www.usatoday.com/) there was this article posted: "Is arson at Tennessee mosque site a kind of terrorism? (http://content.usatoday.com/communties/Religion/post/2010/08/mosque-muslim-arson-/1) I can't believe that we are having this conversation in 2010. It is absolutley incredible that we believe that we are always right, and that anyone who is different from us is evil.



The best step is to look at what Terrorism is: dictionary.com fails to clearly define what terrorism is, but terrorism would be the result of terror. And terror is a state of mind and thus a perception. People live in fear of governments impeding their freedom and of military's coming in and shooting at all costs. If we look at the big picture everyone could be a terrorist and produce feelings of terror in different cultures. Take the events since September 10, 2001: On September 11, 19 arabs and other people of Middle Eastern descent flew 3 airplanes into both World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, while the fourth flight went down in Pennslyvannia. The Americans deemed this an act of terrorism, and since they were on the receiving end of the acts they are correct. However there are different perceptions throughout the world. In October of 2001 the USA launched a war against Afganistan which was the last known whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. The people of Afganistan could easily have deemed this an act of terrorism, while in the western world it was deemed a justifiable retalitory act. Then in March of 2003, the Bush administration launched a war against Iraq, as a part of the War on Terror.

The interesting thing is that terror and terrorism is a perception of events, not an actual state or an actual, tanigble feeling.

Now the Mosque;

The US Constitution's first amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or adbridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

This means that the building of mosques is protected under the consitution, and now the people of Tennessee are fearful that a new mosque will be a training ground for terrorists. This is incredibly stupid to even think of but alas that is the notion of thought right now. The media in the USA has been compliant in this thought throughout the last nine years doing nothing but generating hate against muslims and being fear mongers. The people of the US who mostly listen to the opinions on news shows without question have adopted this attitude based on the baseless fear mogering of the media. This has brought about a mini communist country within the USA. The attitude is you do things our way or no way.

Those are just some thoughts on this issue.

Plan 51 and New York

There has been a lot of talk about the proposed Mosque just two blocks away from Ground Zero in New York City. I am not a religious person and should not be confused as a person that knows really much about religion. However this is more about the first amendment in the USA and religious freedoms of their citizens.

The Daily Show has been reporting upon this, has CNN, FOX News and other major news outlets, but I guess my main issue is why is it a big deal?

Last week, Dr. Laura Schlessinger retired from her radio after using the N-word and when she retired she wanted to 'regain her first amendment rights in this country and avoid criticism'. Those are two competing ideas there, because everyone has the right to say what they want and some will criticize for using the N-word on a National Radio show. Anyway the main point here is that isn't this the same thing?

The Muslims in the USA and in Canada have the right to practice their religion and while it is popular belief that all Muslims are evil, it is simply not true. Of course this is coming from a population of people who believe Barack Obama is Muslim (he is not, he is a Christian). In Tennessee there are also protest about a Mosque being built, leading the rationale person to believe that is not a location problem but rather a Muslim problem that the Americans have.

While I cannot say who is right or wrong, well I can and this is my blog, so I will. But Tuesday Morning Quarterback writer Gregg Easterbrook (ESPN.com writer) notes in this week's article that there is a Mosque IN the Pentagon, not near, or a couple of blocks away, but IN. So why can the Pentagon get over it but not the citizens of New York and Tennessee.

Frankly if Americans are so up on their first amendment rights, then they need to back off and allow religious freedom to exist in their country.

Just some thoughts on a troubling topic.

Little League World Series and Instant Replay

Baseball purists hold on to your hats, there is a baseball competition that is using Instant Replay. Gasp! And too top it off it is working. Two years ago Little League International put in the use of replay, it was just for the dead balls and boundary calls. This year they expanded to just about everything except strikes and balls. In the first two years of replay, there were exactly 4 challenges and all of them were unsuccessful. Heading into Day 3 of the tournament there were 5 replay requests, and 3 of them were successful. Now does this mean that the umpires are booting more calls? Of course not, it means that the coaches are using the challenge system well. Now the system says that the coach can challenge as many times as they want as long as they are successful, so once they are wrong they cannot challenge anymore. The challenge comes back to them if the game goes to extra innings.

Now I was able to watch a game with a challenge and shockingly it did not delay the game. The process was simple, the coach went out to ask the umpire about the call. There was a brief conference with the other 5 umpires, they decided the ump was right. Then the coach requested the use of replay. On that play, the umpire was correct, but the whole thing took maybe 1 minute.

When a simple google search of "LLWS replay" reveals the top articles "Sending the Wrong Message" is a strong component of the themes of the articles, it just shows how much of the old school people control the thoughts of baseball fans.

ESPNs Karl Ravech discusses replay reasonably and he thinks it is a good idea. He notes the three main arguments are "I love baseball the way it is and that is how it should stay", "Takes too much time" and "Eliminates Human Error and Drama". If you talk to umpires, most want to get the call right, and that takes out the Human Error nonsense. This week has proven that replay does not take that much time, as most challenges take a total of 60 seconds including the manager coming out to ask for the replay challenge. And finally the it has always been this way argument. Seriously that is the argument, since 1990 there have been the following changes in baseball: Expansion to 30 teams, Wild Card playoffs, Steroids, All Star games that count, and players with huge salaries and bigger egos. Part of Baseball lore has been change, the only difference is that now this change threatens to move baseball into the 21st Century, something that they are not use too.

Baseball needs replay, as today the fans at home can see if the umpire is wrong or right, the players, coaches and umps will know as soon as they get to the clubhouse, why not correct the call? So Bud Selig, I am imploring you to watch the Little League World Series, and see the replay and see how it works.

That is all for now, go Canada, who are being represented by Little Mountain, BC, who ripped through the Canadian Regional Tournament going 7-0 en route to Williamsport. Also Ancaster umpire Stephen Meyer is down in Williamsport umpiring in the world series, so watch for him as well.

"I feel horrible"- Jim Joyce

This is about two things: 1. MLB needs replay, more than they know and 2. Jim Joyce and the Perfect game that wasn't.

You don't read this blog for news, or at least I hope you don't, there are better sources out there, but you read this blog for my opinion, which is only here.

I want to look at Replay in baseball, last night's Indians @ Tigers game where a perfect game was oh so close to happening. I am not saying that every play should be reviewed, but baseball needs it. I hear Bud Selig saying "Human Error" is a great thing, and "traditionalist...." it is all nonsense. It is now time for baseball to adopt a replay and challenge system. What I am talking about is opening every play open to replay except balls and strikes. The managers would be allowed ONE challenge per pitcher, and they don't get another challenge until they change their pitcher. So for example if in the 5th inning your starter is rolling and you use your challenge, successful or not, you are out of challenges. If there is a play that is close and your starter is still in, you cannot change pitchers to challenge the previous play.

This would allow baseball to have replay and protect their 'human error' crap.

Now onto the second half of the blog- Jim Joyce and the Perfect Game that wasn't: We have all seen the replays, if you haven't, I'll wait....
....
....
....
....
Good you're back. Oh so close, a bang bang play and safe at first. Last night both Joyce and Armando Galarraga were very classy about the situation and Galarraga was the picture of good sportsmanship. Jim Joyce who is a great umpire, been around for 18+ years seems torn up about the call and seems disappointed in himself. There are calls for Selig to step in and change the call and the boxscore, but does that really change anything? Galarraga seems like he can live without the perfect game, and frankly that is what is important. We as a society always talks about good sportsmanship, we criticize LeBron James when he doesn't shake hands after a playoff series, praise hockey players at the end of playoff series, and demanded in the mid 2000s that the Yankees and Red Sox shake hands after a fight, but when we see REAL sportsmanship, we want to change it all and kill the umpire. Face it we are acting like that parent at a Little League game who doesn't want to see his son lose ever.

I am an umpire, and the missed calls are tougher than the made calls to swallow, I made a mistake last week, I corrected it, but I made a mistake, now it is my goal not to make that mistake again. That is a tough thing to do, but now I have moved on, but it was awkward for a couple of moments.

I guess now, I am going to go to the other side, why couldn't Jim Joyce correct his mistake? Because it was so close that he thought he was safe.

Remember always be a fan.

Re-aligning Baseball

Alright, a common complaint in this area is that the Jays have no chance to win against the payrolls of the Yankees and Red Sox. The complainers are not wrong, in fact they are head on. There is no salary cap in baseball and the team with the most money, usually does the best, it is not fair or really in the spirit of sport but it is what it is.

I think there are 3 plans to realign baseball.
1. By Payroll (locked in for 3 years)
2. Looking at moving to 4 uneven divisions in each league
3. Expansion to 32 teams and 4 even divisions in each league

1. By Payroll
The key hear is to lock teams into divisions for 3 years to avoid good teams cutting payroll to go into a lower division and then winning.
We can use the Opening Day Payrolls for the 2010 season for this and look to change a few things.

This format brings in 4 price categories, we are keeping 8 teams in the playoffs. League's are not taken into consideration for this format.

Top Division (4 Playoff Berths)
Ah the controversy begins already, the teams that spend the most will be facing the top competition and really I think it is ok that they get half of the berths. These will be the teams that will have the best players and make the most money for the league. This is a 12 team division.
1. New York Yankees ($206.333 million)
2. Boston Red Sox ($162.747 million)
3. Chicago Cubs ($146.859 million)
4. Philadelphia Phillies ($141.927 million)
5. New York Mets ($132.701 million)
6. Detroit Tigers ($122.864 million)
7. Chicago White Sox ($108.273 million)
8. Anaheim Angels ($105.013 million)
9. Seattle Mariners ($98.376 million)
10. San Francisco Giants ($97.828 million)
11. Minnesota Twins ($97.559 million)
12. Los Angeles Dodgers ($94.945 million)

Second Division (2 Playoff Berths)
This division will have 6 teams in the division
13. St. Louis Cardinals ($93.540 million)
14. Houston Astros ($92.355 million)
15. Atlanta Braves ($84.423 million)
16. Colorado Rockies ($84.227 million)
17. Baltimore Orioles ($81.612 million)
18. Milwaukee Brewers ($81.108 million)

Third Division (1-2 Playoff Berth(s))
This division also has 6 teams, but these teams do pay less, and should not be treated equally.
19. Cincinnati Reds ($72.386 million)
20. Kansas City Royals ($72.267 million)
21. Tampa Bay Rays ($71.923 million)
22. Toronto Blue Jays ($62.689 million)
23. Washington Nationals ($61.425 million)
24. Cleveland Indians ($61.203 million)

Fourth Division aka the Cheapskate Division (0-1 Playoff Berth(s))
I have decided that if these teams want to be in the playoffs their champion will have to face the third division runner up in a best of three playoff series to get into the playoffs.
25. Arizona Diamondbacks ($60.718 million)
26. Florida Marlins ($55.641 million)
27. Texas Rangers ($55.250 million)
28. Oakland Athletics ($51.654 million)
29. San Diego Padres ($37.799 million)
30. Pittsburgh Pirates ($34.943 million)

This situation particularly sucks for the Diamondbacks because they are half a million dollars from switching with Cleveland, but alas, I figure we need to reward the moderate spenders over the cheapskates.

So the playoffs?
The top division will have their own playoffs, so the #1 seed will take on the #4 seed, and the #2 seed to take on the #3 seed with the winners playing for the right to go to the World Series.
The next 4 spots are taken by the bottom three divisions, the 2nd Division 1st place will face either the 3rd division runner up or the 4th division champion, and the 3rd division champion will face off against the 2nd division runner up. The winner of these series will face each other for the right to go to the world series.

This alignment would hold until the end of the 2012 season, and than the divisions would be redrawn. As for scheduling, the teams would play 6 games against each of the other 29 teams, 3 home and 3 road that is 174 games.

2. Uneven 8 division
This is based on geography and with four teams in each division. You would have 4 division champions making the playoffs, no wild cards, but if MLB wanted too they could add 2 from each league. Scheduling? Very complicated, and I would let the MLB figure that one out.

AL East
New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays (I tried, but I cannot justify putting a team based on geography in the east)
AL North
Detroit Tigers
Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins
Cleveland Indians
AL South
Tampa Bay Rays
Kansas City Royals
Texas Rangers
AL West
Seattle Mariners
Oakland Athletics
Anaheim Angeles
NL East
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals
NL North
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Milwaukee Brewers
NL South
Atlanta Braves
Florida Marlins
Houston Astros
St. Louis Cardinals
NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants

3. Expansion to 32 teams
Two Expansion Teams: Charlotte, NC and Oklahoma City, OK
AL East
New York
Boston
Baltimore
Charlotte
AL North
Toronto
Detroit
Chicago
Cleveland
AL South
Tampa Bay
Kansas City
Texas
Oklahoma City
AL West
Seattle
Minnesota
Oakland
Anaheim
NL East
New York
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington
NL North
Chicago
Cincinnati
Colorado
Milwaukee
NL South
Atlanta
Florida
Houston
St. Louis
NL West
Arizona
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco

Well what do you think? I personally love the payroll idea, and the expansion idea as well, but I am interested in what you the readers have to say.

Game Experience at the Skydome

This is to serve notice to all Toronto Blue Jay Game Day employees and all Toronto Blue Jay front office staff.

There are three main issues that I want to address here, because frankly I was disappointed with the game day experience for the 2010 season.

1. Ticket Service Fees and Ticket Prices
Heading into the 2010 season, the Blue Jays had a rebuilding phase program going, the team themselves were not expecting to do anything magical, now seven weeks into the season, the team is doing really well, but when the ticket prices went up this offseason it is outrageous. In 2005 with a BETTER Jays team on the field, I could buy 500 level seats for $9, it was the best deal in sports, now 5 years later with a team that has not made the playoffs since, and has only come close once or twice in those 5 years, and a rebuilding team, those same 500 level seats are $14. What the hell? No seriously, What the hell? A Worse team is charging more for the same seats? I don't quite get it. Now when I ordered these tickets I was living in St. Catharines, some two hours away from the dome, therefore I went to TicketMaster through the Jays site. Now I don't know if the Jays set these prices or if TicketMaster does, but it reflects piss poorly on both of them. The fee to order tickets online was it's usual price, but then they wanted either $5 to mail them (Standard mail, not express) or $2.50 for the privilege of printing your tickets at home. I had to pay $2.50 to use my own printer? Are you kidding me? Standard mail has been free in the past, there were only two options, either pay $5 or $2.50, what happened to customer service?

Now for 2 tickets, the total cost was $32, so I paid about $4 in convenience fees above and beyond the price of the ticket. It is discouraging to have to pay to use your own ink, and then you have print a page long ticket, that is awkward, and has lots of graphics on it, to drain your ink.

2. The Lines at the Concession Stand/Prices
Granted I was in the 500 level, and yes I realize that the experience may be different, but there were about 8 stands open for business, which was suitable, but the beer line was huge, if you wanted to spend $9.50 on beer, good luck, you will miss a third of the game. Now beyond that the lines were long, but they were moving quickly, and the service people were friendly, but the prices there are outrageous, yes I know stadium food is going to be more expensive, they have you over a barrel. But I mean there is the usual rip off, which is expected, and then there is the rip off that makes you want to bring in your own food. A bottle of Coke was almost $4, just a regular 541 ml bottle. Hotdog was like $5, and the worse part about it, the Hotdogs are not cooked in front of you in the 500 level. That is reason one not to have a Hotdog at a stadium. Reason two is they are better outside the stadium and they are cheaper.

If the Jays were not so profit driven in the concessions, people might come and buy more food there. But $14 is the minimum for two things and it is terrible. I went to a Minor League Park, and a Supreme Nacho was $4.75, and a Collector Cup Coke was $4, so that is $8.75 for the game, and plenty of profit there, and people will pay those prices.

3. Between Innings
There is nothing to do, seriously. The between inning items: Home Hardware Fastest Grounds Crew in the 5th, the 7th Inning Stretch, and Some Bruce Power animated Race, that is 3 out 18 inning breaks with nothing but commercials playing on the big screen. Before the game there is the FedEx game ball delivery, and the Move to better seats promotion, but really the rest of the time it is like watching a game on TV without the commentators or replays. Want to see that close call at first one more time, not in the Skydome. It is quite embarrassing that the Jays have managed to suck the energy out of their fans. There were 14,400 on a Friday Night in April when the Jays hosted the Angels (a playoff team last year), and really they won't be drawing huge numbers with their experience.

When I was kid, the first Jays game I went to, we were given seats right above the Jays Bullpen, front row in Left Field, what a great game, the Twins were in town, and it was just fascinating. That was in 1991, from that point until 1995 we could only get seats above the light stands in the 500 level, but the place was packed and energy was in the air so the game moved so quickly. I did not go to a Jays game regularly until probably 2003, when I started purchasing Flex Packs, and even then the service was better, concession prices were still stupidly high, but the team was worse, but that was alright because the game day experience was better.

Now the team is worse, and the experience sucks, in my eyes. Why go back? I love baseball, I love watching the best baseball, however it looks like the best fan experience is in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, where they know how to treat their fans.

Blue Jays, you have been put on notice- fix your game day experience.

Phillies @ Blue Jays in Philadelphia?

The G20 Summit is in Toronto at the end of June, and the much anticipated return of Roy Halladay to Toronto since his trade in December to the National League's Philadelphia Phillies. This decision here with the Summit and the Blue Jays really in my opinion shows what kind of respect there is for baseball in this area. I am a baseball guy, and that may influence my decision, but the Jays are averaging just over 15,000 fans a night at home, and are atrocious at home as well with a home record of 7-10 compared to a 12-5 road record. The Jays estimate that about 90,000 fans over the three game series would come to watch the Phillies take on the Blue Jays, but Toronto just lost a lot of revenue, and disgruntled a lot of their fans, by making the decision to move to Philly.

The G20 Summit is awarded at least one year in advance, as the host city needs time to prepare for increase of police, protesters, etc, so if the Blue Jays and Major League Baseball knew of this, why would they schedule a home game for Toronto on the same weekend of the summit? Initially the Summit was going to go Huntsville, but it was deemed a non sufficient site to host the G20 (too small), and got moved to Toronto. Right then and there, the Jays should have been on the phone attempting to change home dates in Interleague play. This seems kinda stupid, I mean why would MLB not make this change immediately, as to accommodate the Summit and the Jays?

I really believe that if the Leafs were already scheduled at home the Summit might be moved, or the Leafs would find a way to be on the road during that time.

Baseball in Canada is a great thing, and the Jays are nice to watch, but 15,000 a night will not pay the bills, moves like this will frustrate the fans, and anger season ticket holders. It is time for the Blue Jays to assert their importance in this community, and for them realize how important Roy Halladay truly is.

Up next, I have a couple of options- I want to realign baseball, but I also want to address the fan experience at the Rogers Centre this year, one of those two on the weekend for sure.

MLB Preview

Well it is Opening Night in Major League Baseball, and that means spring is in the air and there is hope for 12 or so teams to make the playoffs. It is now time for the my predictions: Remember all predictions wrong or your money back.

Let`s begin where everyone else ends, the National League West:
This is really a two team division as San Francisco, San Diego and Arizona are not yet ready to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies. I think the Dodgers pick up the division and the Rockies are left to battle it out for the Wild Card. The Dodgers should return based on their strong pitching and hitting, as Mannywood comes out again.
Prediction: Los Angeles Dodgers by 4 games

National League Central:
This is possibly the weakest division in baseball filled with the Pirates, Reds, and Astros at the bottom with the Brewers as a possible contender. But really the Cubs cannot compete with the Cards. The St. Louis Cardinals should win this division behind Albert Pujols and a solid team behind him. Although the Cubs got rid of Milton Bradley, the bottom line is still the most sane person in the clubhouse in Wriggly Town is Lou Pinnella, until that changes, the Cubs should go nowhere.
Prediction: St. Louis Cardinals by 8 games

National League East:
Nationals, Mets and Marlins are toast, I mean really, the Nats are so bad that they should be paying YOU to watch their games. The Marlins are still gathering resources before they can buy their team for a one and done championship, and the Mets while not as banged up, they still need to be healthy, and that is a tough thing to guarantee in baseball. That leaves the reigning two time National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves. The Phils should win the title, but the Braves are a good team, and want to have a special season for Bobby Cox in his last year.
Prediction: Philadelphia Philles by 3 games

National League Wild Card:
The Braves are the best of the rest, they have a dangerous pitching staff and really the only other team to contend with them are the Rockies, and it will be a great race for the final playoff spot, but....
Prediction: Atlanta Braves by 2 games (1st Wild Card Championship ever)

American League West:
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim should run away with the division.
No other reason is needed.
Prediction: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by 15 games

American League Central:
The Minnesota Twins head outdoors for the first time in nearly 30 years and still have a great team. The Indians are not there yet, and really the Chi Sox are going to be close. The Royals will need a lot of help and let`s face it the Tigers are two years away from being a contender. The Twins return to the postseason.
Prediction: Minnesota Twins by 3 games

American League East:
The Blue Jays and Orioles will battle for the basement, as the Rays will struggle to keep up with the Yankees and Red Sox. It is the same story as before. Can we just give the Yankees the East Championship now and let them start playing in September.
Prediction: New York Yankees by 6 games

American League Wild Card:
The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays will battle this one out as really there will be no other big contenders in the hunt from the American league. But in the end the Sox are just better.
Prediction: Boston Red Sox by 4 games

Playoffs
American League Divisional Series
Yankees over Twins 3-1
Red Sox over Angels 3-2
National League Divisional Series
Phillies over Cardinals 3-0
Braves over Dodgers 3-2

League Championship Series
AL: Yankees over Red Sox 4-2
NL: Braves over Phillies 4-3

World Series
Yankees over Braves 4-1

That is all, it should be a fun season, but a predictable one.

Also Duke returns to the National Championship Game on Monday Night against upstart Butler in the NCAA Basketball Championships. It should be a great game. Go Duke! Tip time is 9:21 pm on CBS!

O Canada!

To some it may be a little late, even tired, to comment on the Olympics, and their impact on Canada and Canadians. However it seems that now, after two weeks of reflection we can carefully analyze the games.

As Stephen Brunt put it in his Closing Ceremony Video Essay "Let's be honest- the games did not start off the way we expected them too", and oh how he was right. A tragedy on day one, and a malfunction with the torch lighting set an awful tone for these Olympics. The European media had a field day--Vancouver's Games were being referred too as the 'Glitch Games', and our hopes of a great games were melting away as fast as the snow on Cypres Mountain. But it seemed so suddenly the games changed momentum in 23 seconds when Alexandre Bilodeau won gold with his brother Frederick cheering him. Oh the First Gold by a Canadian on Canadian Soil, after 34 Olympic days without one. We as Canadian became more prideful, everywhere in Canada (or so it seemed) people were cheering for our athletes like they were their own, and on social networking sites, status' changed and profile pics became hockey jersey's showing Canadian pride. In that first week we struggled to 'Own the Podium' and some of the critism came from me 'We own the podium- there is no denying that, it is OUR podium, we built it. We are just being Canadian about it and letting everyone else on it.' As it turns out we didn't care about the lower portion of the podium, only the top step, standing on it a record 14 times.

While everyone will remember tradegy to begin the games, and Crosby's Golden Goal to end the games, it was in between that was truly special. John Montgomery's famous walk through Vancouver and Joannie Rochette's inspiring performance bring about great memories for Canadians, but probably the best moment of the games was not seen on the competitive fields or by our athletes, but rather in the stands. We as people embraced being Canadian, for two weeks there were no Irish-Canadians, or English-Canadians, they were just Canadians, and in the weeks since it still exists. While Canada began as an immigrant nation home to mostly Europeans looking for a way out of their Country and to start a new, we have embraced being just Canadian.

And now we can define what a Canadian is- we could look to our results- we are now Gold Medalists and successful in 'Owning the Podium', but we are also passionate, proud, patriotic, caring, and loving, but so much more. More than one can list, and now after the Olympics we are Canadian.

This pride was not always on display, but in a little more than 5 years from now Toronto and Southern Ontario get to host the Pan-Am Games, and then the party can start again.

Tomorrow or Tonight- a look at the greatest tournament in sports- the NCAA Men's Division 1 Championship.

NCAA to 96 teams!?!?

One of my favourite sporting events is the NCAA Division 1 Basketball Championships, otherwise known as March Madness. Recently the NCAA has gone into Madness by wanting to expand the tournament by 31 teams to 96. 96 teams. I thought I would go over a reasonable list of Pros and Cons for this:

Pros-
1. "If Less is More, just think how much more, more will be."- Frasier Crane
More is not necessarily better, just think about it like this- instead of bringing in more flavour (bad teams) into the tournament, we would get sub .500 big conference teams. I hate North Carolina, but I can be reasonable too- right now they are out of the 65 team bracket, but could be in on the 96 team bracket and they don't deserve to be a tournament team this year. If the committee would bring in more mid-major teams and allow games like that to happen, then the tournament could be good.

2. One more Weekend of Basketball-
I love College Basketball- the drama, the energy, the fun, the tournaments, the fan sections-and anything that means more, I can't disagree with.

Cons
1. Bracket can't fit on one page
This seems like a weak con to lead off, but think about it like this- if I gave you a two or three or four page bracket to fill out- would you? If I gave you a one page bracket to fill out- would you? I think 95% of people would rather fill out the one page bracket. It is easy to follow, easy to carry around, and more importantly easy to fill out.

2. Selection Sunday- First Games are Tuesday and Wednesday
That is a huge con- for one thing, it means that you have only 40 hours or so to fill out your bracket and submit it in. Although the Tuesday and Wednesday addition would be considered a Pro, I cannot take 4 days off of work to watch it, and chances are the best drama would be on the Tuesday and Wednesday. So why not have the schedule like this:
Selection Sunday
1st Round- Saturday and Sunday
2nd Round- Thursday and Friday
3rd Round- Saturday and Sunday
Regionals- Thursday-Sunday
National Finals- Saturday-Monday

Well logistics are a nightmare- first off that is 10 days without a game for 32 teams, then the teams that win on Saturday and Sunday would either have to be at the site until Thursday or Friday OR go home for a couple of days and come back. Either way costs would go up.

The Tuesday-Sunday regional plan is the most logical, but the fans could not watch 4 days of afternoon basketball, the bosses of the world would simply not allow it.

3. Big Conference- Conference Tournaments Go Down-
Granted you could argue that these tournaments don't matter now, but there are some great examples in recent history. Syracuse won 4 games in 4 days by a combined total of 9 points in 2006 to get in, Maryland in 2003 upset Duke in OT for the ACC title to get in. Georgia in 2008 won the SEC title to get in as a 12 seed and they were 16-18 on the season. Sometimes they matter, but if you expand by 31 teams, the tournaments will not matter in the Big Conferences because most of the teams will be in for the tournament. It would ruin the best week in College Basketball- Championship Week, and the best tournament of all- the ACC Tournament.

So please NCAA- keep the field at 65, in fact lower it to 64.

Stop Storming the Court!

In College Basketball nothing indicates a huge victory other than the students storming the court and celebrating with their teammates. Being a Duke fan, I am used to the fact that beating Duke is a big deal, but really storming the court has gone overboard!

Here are some principles to storming the court:

1. Must be an underdog playing at home, by at least 10 points in the spread.
2. Must be a team that does not have any signature wins this year.
3. The team they beat can have no more than 2 losses in November, or 4 losses in December, or 5 losses in January, 7 losses in February or 10 losses in March.
4. There needs to be some history between the two teams (ie. Utah should not be charging the court after beating North Carolina), but that doesn't mean that there needs to be more history than a first meeting.

Supplementary Rules:
(Can take precedent over the principles in these circumstances)
1. Have a long history of losing (either have not won in 10 years (at least 7 meetings) or in more than 15 meetings)
2. A Mid-Major over a Power Conference team.
3. Any Ohio team over Ohio State (play your in-state rivals Thad Motta!)

Absolutle Nots for Storming the Court (can be ignored if the team falls into one of the above rules)
1. a Top 25 team- if you are ranked, you cannot storm the court, period, even if you are #25 beating #1.
2. a team that has less than 5 losses on the season at any time cannot storm the court, unless it is in the first 5 games.

A look a cases of court storming:

Georgia Tech storms the court vs. Duke- at the time Duke was #5, and Georgia Tech was #17- this falls under the Absolute Not rules- GT was a Top 25 team.

Clemson storms the court vs. North Carolina- at the time Clemson was unranked and UNC was #10 I believe-approved because UNC had beaten Clemson 25 of the last 27 times

North Carolina State storms the court vs. Duke- at the time Duke was ranked #7 and NC State was unranked- approved because NC State was a huge underdog and had only beaten Duke 3 times in their last 20 meetings.

College Basketball Fans- look to the fine school of Tennessee as a #16 team and at home against #1 Kansas on CBS- they won and DID NOT storm the court- kudos Tennesse Volunteer fans!

Fixing Major League Baseball

America's pastime Major League Baseball (MLB) is in trouble- how you say? They are losing younger fans and alienating their current fans. The World Series begins routinely at 8 pm and often goes beyond midnight, and the fastest game this year was 3 hours and 25 minutes, and that was considered a GOOD pace?!?!?! There has not been a meaningful positive story in the media with staying power since quite possibily Jon Lester's return and fight with cancer. No seriously- the most positive stories since then have been Bhurele's perfect game, the world champions, both don't have staying power. Umpires have been called out for terrible calls that could be fixed by replay, this happened twice in the postseason, and then had a third news story about having good umpires only. Frankly it is embarrassing, as an umpire and as a fan. Here is my solution to fix baseball and make it more fun for the fans:

1. Bring in Replay:

not full replay, but replay for everything except strikes and balls. Here is how it would work, each coach would get one challenge for every pitcher they bring into the game. To avoid abuse, once a pitch is thrown that pitcher is one with the challenge. Example would be, if I had Roy Halladay on the mound, and had used my challenge, when Halladay makes a pitch, the resulting play is a close play at first with two outs and allows a run to score on the safe call, I cannot challenge the play, even if I take Roy out of the game before the next pitch.

2. Allow a 2nd Wildcard team into the playoffs

As a Braves fan, I have seen the Wildcard screw a division champ, here is how: In 2004 I think, Houston won the wildcard, and Atlanta had wrapped up it's division in mid September and got set their rotation. Houston won the wildcard on the last day of the year, and had to use their aces to get their, so instead of starting with their #3 pitcher, as they would have had too with a Tuesday start, the series started on Wednesday and Houston brought in their ace on short rest and won. There was no advantage for the division winning Braves.

So I would employ either of these two systems: Rank all teams 1-5, have 4 vs. 5 in a best of 3 play in series, then the winner plays #1 while #2 vs. #3 in a best of 7, winners advance as normal. The other system, rank the division champions 1-3, then have the wildcards face each other in a best of 3 play in series, with the winner playing division champ #1, while the other two champs play each other in a best of 7, winners advance as normal.

3. Speed up the game

Enforce time rules for pitches, or put an actual pitch clock starting at 10 seconds and if the pitcher causes a delay, call a ball, if the batter causes a delay, call a strike. The clock can start when the pitcher comes in contact with the pitchers plate.

Take off one minute for every inning break, that still allows 90 seconds between each inning and takes off 18 minutes from the game.

Force Andy Pettite to retire............no seriously

4. Fix the National TV Broadcasts

ESPN and FOX currently hold the MLB Broadcasting rights, ESPN does a great job during the week, but Sunday Night Baseball could use a bump up to 7:30 pm starts, and FOX has afternoon games on Saturdays which just seem to drag on. FOX could use some new broadcasters, goodbye Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, and they could use some new teams to break into their schedule. TBS has a Sunday Afternoon package, which is not available in Canada...no comment.

How would I fix it? Get some good broadcasters bring back Bob Costas on a National scene and bring in all 30 teams to the mix and allow networks to flex their schedule to get meaningful games in the late season.

5. Shoten the Season and Balance the Schedule

If we remove interleague from the schedule, the MLB season will be 144 games, and could finish by Labour Day, and the playoffs could be wrapped up before November. Balance the schedule, when you have the wildcards, the division means a lot, if you are in a tough division it is harder to get wins and it affects the playoff race.

6. Bring back Doubleheaders

Saturdays should be doubleheader day and that would shorten the schedule as well, and bring back value to the fans.

7. Bring back World Series Day Games

Odd concept but on Saturday, have an afternoon start, maybe even sunday, or at least a 4:30 pm start. Could be tough with FOX as the broadcaster and the NFL, but it would be a great feast for the fans of both the NFL and MLB.

8. Pay players less

One of the big problems is an image problem because of the multi million dollar salaries, which are HUGE, I mean A-Rod makes $25 million a year, it is too much and sheds a bad light on baseball. At the very least, don't disclose it.

9. Treat all teams like winners

The tv schedule promotes about 10 teams, show all the teams, make the fans happy.

10. Treat the All Star like an exhibition

It is an exhibition, treat it as such, no more of this World Series homefield nonsense, save that for the team with the BEST record.

There is more, but I will save that for another day, have a great day.