Big Move of May 30th

Jim Tressel resigning from THE Ohio State and by resign I really mean fired but allowed to make the announcement himself and save face. Ohio State has never had very high academic or moral standards for its players (see Maurice Clarett) and Tressel's time on campus didn't see any change in this culture. Most turned a blind eye to the low standards the Buckeyes had for it's players off the field because they compiled a 106-22 record, a national championship title, two other trips to the big game and a 9-1 record against arch rival Michigan under Tressel's watch. However, reports surfaced this offseason about five player's involvement (including overrated qb Tyrell Prior) in a scandal where memorabilia was exchanged for free tattoos from the owner of a local tatoo parlour, who I might add is also being investigated for drug trafficking. Such an exchange is against NCAA rules and the five players were suspended for the first five games of the upcoming season by Ohio State. This was an appropriate action taken by Ohio State and the matter would have likely died there but the scandal picked up legs when it was found that Jim Tressel knew about the inappropriate exchanges his players made with the tattoo parlour. Tressel previously denied knowing of such infractions but emails between him and a whistle blower would prove otherwise. What's worse is that he allowed these players to play in football games and flat out lied to the NCAA by saying he knew nothing about their transgressions. He did this in order to keep the players on the field and give the Buckeyes a chance at winning another national championship. In March of this year Tressel admitted to knowing of his player's involvement with the tatoo parlour and imposed a five game suspension on himself for the upcoming season, matching the suspension handed down to the players involved. The NCAA wouldn't let the matter die there though and are starting to dig deeper into Tressel's years at Ohio State. Other cases where he allowed ineligible players to suit up for football games are beginning to surface and it appears the tattoo parlour scheme is not an isolated incident. This all piled up and led to his firing or 'resignation' today.

So who is to blame? I would say both Tressel and Ohio State. Tressel was the head coach of an administration that continually lowered academic and moral standards in order to keep its players on the field. Ohio State meanwhile let him run the program and never really questioned what was going on as long as they kept winning. In a way you could say Tressel was Tony Soprano and Ohio State Carmella. One was allowed to go about their business and enjoy great financial gain for their shady practices (Tony/Tressel) while the other asked no questions and enjoyed the lavish lifestyle the other provided (Carmella/Ohio State). Sadly, this is the case amongst a lot of schools in the NCAA (Alabama, Auburn, USC etc) and creates an unequal playing field where it is difficult for legitimate schools like Notre Dame to succeed.

Big Move of May 29th

 

Aaron hill hitting his first home run of the season followed by E5 (Edwin Encarnacion) belting his first of the campaign as well. Last season Hill hit 26 home runs while E5 hit 21, therefore not having one home run between their 281 at bats going into Sunday's game had been a huge disappointment thus far. Even more so for E5 because he is only on the roster because of his bat (8 errors in limited action in the field). Luckily, batting practice pitcher Jon Danks was on the hill and served up two meatballs to shake the monkey off Hill and Encarnacion's backs. A big assist also goes to Ricky Ro for giving Encarnacion his bat, which produced his first home run of the season. Sadly, E5 broke it later in the game, which also laid to rest the rumour that it was the reincarnation of Wonderbat. If Hill and Encarnacion can use yesterday's game to propel them back to the power numbers they produced last year the Jays could make a serious run in the American League. Being one game over 500 so far with little production from these two is quite impressive and with the return of Adam Lind in the coming weeks the Jays have potential to be one of the most powerful hitting teams in the American League. If even one of these players can turn their bat around and gain respect from opposing pitchers Bautista will be sure to see more pitches as opposed to the free passes he has seen quite frequently this season.

 

Co BMOD also goes to Jon Danks for chirping Bautista after Bautista missed one of his meatballs to weakly pop out. Bautista slammed his bat and yelled at himself for missing such a great opportunity to make the game 10-2 and Danks did not take too kindly to the gesture. Danks told Bautista to run the bases and not act like such a clown. In response it appears Bautista told Danks to shut his mouth and asked if he would like the batting practice cage placed in front of the mound or if he wanted a calculator to see how much that out lowered his ERA on the season. Some people might agree with Danks and say that Bautista should not be pulling such antics in a 9-2 game but I quite frankly love it. After watching 12 seasons of Vernon Wells' 'woes me, nonchelant' mannerisms I think it's great to see a player with burning desire to hit a home run every time he's at the plate and not settle for mediocrity or a 'I'll get him next time' attitude. This is Bautista's team and his energy rubs off on the rest of the Jays. If he's not happy when he misses a pitch in a 9-2 game then there's going to be some accountability when guys leave runners on in their at bats or ground out weakly to end games like Aaron Hill did last Sunday after a free walk was issued to Bautista.

 

Finally, the all star game is coming up and I encourage everyone to do their civil duty and vote. The Jays don't get a lot of support outside of Toronto (sometimes even little in this city). Let's make sure Bautista starts this game and I would also like to suggest a vote for JP Arencibia who is 2nd in home runs and slugging percentage and 4th in RBI's amongst all AL catchers despite playing only 36 games (8 games less than the average amount amongst starters). All this while being a rookie. He has also played extremely well in the field throwing out the 6th most base runners amongst catchers in the AL.  Attached is the link to the website where you can vote.  http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2011/ballot.jsp 

Big Move of May 28th

A Yogi hitting his first ever pure 5 iron from 100 yards out, which carried a little farther than he thought into this beautiful Mercedes parked behind the 18th green at Flamborough Hills golf course. I actually don't know who hit this ball and cannot confirm if it was a 5 iron or if the said person in question has been confirmed as a yogi but whoever it was sure missed the mark. I can sympathize though because I too have taken a little too much club on this par 5 and launched one into the parking lot, thankfully not taking out any vehicles. The funny thing about this predicament is that it occurred at Flamborough Hills, which is a public course (quite a decent one I might add) and rarely sees cars of this calibre. This Mercedes was by far the nicest car in the parking lot and parked next to an 89 Dodge Shadow, some piece of crap cavalier and my (by my I mean my parents) modest 2009 Camry.  I'm no car expert but I'm guessing anything to do with Mercedes isn't cheap and you can't get this repaired at any Apple Autoglass like you could with the aforementioned vehicles parked next to this one. If you look close enough you can actually see the golf ball sitting on the rear dash. I do have to give the person credit though because they did acknowledge their fault from what I understand and did not run off or jump in the lake next to the green. For that I give them a little bit of respect but I'm still questioning the birdie they marked down on their scorecard.

Editor's note: Fore those not familiar with the term Yogi read further and you'll understand. Perhaps you are one?

Yogi- A golfer with substandard golf etiquette and poor playing abilities. The following are typical Yogi traits.

- Does not tuck their golf shirt in
- Has a ball retriever and spends a considerable amount of time trying to fish balls out of the water hazards or woods while holding up groups behind them
- Wears cargo pants with knee high socks
- Marks their golf ball on the green with a tee
- Considers a gimme any ball that comes to rest within 7 feet of the hole
- Puts a carry bag on a pull cart (most likely their own pull cart from home, which they bought from K Mart)
- Uses multi colour balls
- Will try to finish their round in the pitch black dark of the night and claim they pured their last shot and drop a ball by the hole or green because that's where it likely ended up
- Don't wear collared shirts
- Plays from the championship tee blocks because they want to get a true test of golf (despite their 40+ handicap and inability to hit a ball more than 100 yards in the air)
- Will wait for the group ahead to get at least 300 yards in front of them before they will hit their tee shot despite the fact a career drive is in the 220 yard range. They will also wait for the group ahead to get off the green on par 5's so they can 'go for it', even though their well struck drive on that hole travelled much shorter than the distance they are away from the green.
- Putt with the flag stick in
- Take practice swings in the bunker (displacing sand) and then ground the club behind their ball in the bunker
- Line up putts for quadruple bogeys like they were a putt to win the Masters
- Knock out a pyramid of balls on the range in 15 minutes (a pyramid has 204 balls)
- Wear metal spikes
- Consider a 5 hour round a good pace
- Walk across other golfer's lines on the green
- Have a bag full of range balls for 'water holes'
- Sole purpose on the driving range is to hit the range cart picking up golf balls
- Leaves their cigarettes on the putting green
- Roles their pull cart across the putting green

Big Move will return this weekend

Sorry for being tardy with the posts. I've been away a lot lately with no internet access and pretty busy with work. Should be back to 100 percent by this weekend. Don't worry though, big moves don't take breaks, I'm sure there will be a few more until I'm back.

Big Move of May 19th

Word leaking that the Atlanta Thrashers are all but sold to True North sports and the team headed to Winnipeg. It looks like the Peg is finally getting its wish to get their beloved Jets back, although I've actually heard the team might not be able to use that name. I'm happy to see another team head North of the border and think it's great to see the NHL and Gary Bettman finally admit failure in a U.S. market. However, I can't help but question why the NHL is going back to Winnipeg instead of a more profitable market such as the Greater Toronto Area. The population of the GTA is over 5.5 million compared to 1.2 million in the entire province of Manitoba. Average annual income per capita is also significantly higher. This market is completely under served and could support two more teams at the very least, which would generate way more revenue for the league than a team in Winnipeg ever will. If I were Jim Balsillie I'd be making a big offer to Atlanta Spirit (owner of the Thrashers) that trumps that of True North sports. The Thrashers are clearly being sold and allowed to relocate, if an offer significantly larger than True North sports was made then there would be some pressure by Atlanta Spirit to have the NHL accept such a deal. I guess we've been down this road before but in previous situations Balsillie tried to purchase teams the NHL had not given up on. Anyways, this isn't going to happen but I think it's worth a shot and might hold more weight this time around.

Big Move of May 18th

Ben being a little too eager to play Wednesday night, which led to four minor penalties and two Vancouver goals. If you didn't pick up on it already, Ron Maclean is the guest writer for BMOD today. I don't know who should be blamed more for Eager's negative impact on the game for the San Jose Sharks, himself or his coach Todd Mclleland? It's pretty bad when a fourth liner costs your team a game in the regular season let alone the playoffs. The one person who can completely mitigate such a player from changing the outcome of the game is the head coach so I'll put the blame on Mclleland for this loss. I just can't see why he would trot this guy out after his first penalty and he really doesn't have any place on the ice except to get in the odd meaningless fight with the opposing team's equally worthless player. So why have him out in the third period at all? His hit on Sedin was unbelievably dirty and changed the momentum in the game as the Canucks answered back with a power play goal and stormed to 4 more unanswered. I still can't believe Eager only got two minutes for that hit and was not suspended, which only further highlights the NHL's double standard between regular season games and playoff games. If that were game 45 of the regular season Eager would get at least four games for that hit but somehow got nothing. No matter, I can't see him playing much more if Mclelland has any brains. I'm sure Eager will lobby his coach to let him in game 3 though and point to his outstanding meaningless goal in the third. He'd be best served to highlight that statistic instead of the 34 penalty minutes he's compiled over his last 30 minutes of ice time in the last two series combined. By the way, how ridiculous was Eager's trash talking over Luongo after he cut the Canucks' lead to four goals with five minutes left in the third period?!?!? Even his teammates appeared to be disinterested by his antics with a look on their faces that said 'here we go again...where did we find this guy again?'. In a way it reminded me of the scene in Super Troopers where Thorny rolls his eyes when he has to go fish his idiot partner Farva out of a meaningless fight with a teenage cashier at a fast food restaurant.

Big Move of May 17th

Word leaks about Arnold Schwarzenegger's affair with a housekeeper from 2000, which led to the birth of his son John Conner. Arnold and Maria Shriver ended their 25 year marriage last week but no one really knew why and it came as quite a shock considering how good a couple they appeared to be. Well, turns out Arnold couldn't quite keep his ego from the 'pumping iron' days in check and went back to his womanizing ways. If he even ever let go of that of course. But really, is all of this that surprising? To be honest it probably legitimizes his term as governor since marital affairs typically go hand in hand with the job. Being Arnold just made it a given. This has also set his next movie up quite nicely and will be sure to rake in a ton of money. Word is it will be a sequel to True Lies.

Big Move of May 16th

Vin Mazzaro giving up 14 earned runs on 11 hits in 2 1/3 innings against the Cleveland Indians Monday night. This was the worst performance by a pitcher since Rick Vaughan was taken out of the first inning in major league two, which prompted this classic line from his doorman "Mr. Vaughan, didn't you pitch tonight? Oh, I only turned the game on in the second inning.'' In all seriousness though, this was the worst performance by a relief pitcher since world war II and further highlights the reason why kids don't grow up with dreams of becoming the long reliever on a major league team. This position is generally reserved for minor league players with no potential that can come in and hopefully eat up some innings and stop the bleeding in a lost cause game. The only reason they're in the majors is for this reason and because anyone with potential or talent is a starter or a late inning specialist such as the closer or set up man. If you're on the cusp of cracking one of those positions or seen as a prospect you'll be in the minors working on mechanics or gaining experience to enter the major leagues at some point. The long reliever on the other hand doesn't fit any of these labels and has just enough velocity and accuracy to pitch three innings from time to time and hopefully hold the opposing team to 4 or 5 runs during their outing. Essentially the long reliever is cannon fodder in order to save the better relievers on the team for more meaningful games. This doesn't sound like a fun job and often managers have no compassion for such relievers (Ned Yost last night) but in exchange for this the long reliever does get to earn a major league salary. Therefore, it's not all that bad and lots of meddling minor leaguers would kill for this opportunity. Mazzaro had been doing a decent job of this before last night but after this performance the Royals might have to look towards a more proven long reliever such as Brian Tallet. You might be asking why the Royals would bother making a move since it's a meaningless position but managers can't turn the game into a complete mockery and have any Joe Blow tossing 10 run innings. The main reason being that in blowouts most teams just want to get out of the ballpark early and not be there any longer than they have to be. It's kind of like when you walk into a multiple choice exam and realize you didn't study enough. You know you're going to get a terrible mark so instead of grinding it out you'll likely pencil in 'C' for every question and leave early to prepare for other exams you might have a chance of doing well in. The odd time 'C' might just be the correct answer though and you can laugh about pulling a horseshoe out of your ass much similar to the way a manager smirks when the long reliever gets a victory during a wild comeback.

Big Move of May 15th

Joey Bats going deep three times against the Minnesota Twins. Was it even a question what the BMOD would be today? Three home runs in one game is an incredible feat and when you're the top mover on the blog you're going to get face time for sacrifice flies let alone belting three taters. Bautista is on pace for another huge season proving he is not a one year wonder and Alex Anthopolous is a genious for signing him to a long term deal with manageable dollar figures. I would argue that Bautista is the best hitter in baseball right now and as feared a player as Barry Bonds was in his prime. Teams tried to pitch around Bonds with no success and the same is being done with Bautista who leads the league in walks. Despite this Bautista is still averaging a home run every 8.7 at bats and on pace for 65. Everyone seems to be waiting for him to finally come back to the player he was before last season but I don't think that will be happening anytime soon. My only worry is what will happen to him after he enters the home run derby at the all star game this season. That event sure has cursed a few players in the past.

Big move of May 14th

Jorge Posada refusing to play when informed he would bat 9th in the Yankees' lineup. Pretty big move to tell your boss you're not going to work because you don't like the assignment he's given you for the day. In any other job you'd probably be given a box to collect your personal belongings after pulling a stunt like this. However, this is baseball and the union is pretty strong and would have Jorge's back on this one. Actually, speaking of backs he claims he tweaked his latissimus dorsi and that's why he wouldn't play.  Joe Girardi and GM Brian Cashman refuted that report though so I'm calling bullshit on that excuse too. Generally, managers and GM's will stick up for you if it's a case of an injury keeping you out of the lineup no matter how sketchy it might be (the Yankees are pretty used to this from the David Wells years and his propensity to have headaches and nausea on mornings before his starts). But in this case no one was taking Posada's side. What this all boils down to is a guy with a big ego too proud to bat ninth. He probably pointed out his career numbers with the Yankees and what he's done for the organization, blah blah blah. Of course a 39 year old batting 165 should bat higher based on his past. Who cares about winning today? This move has tainted a respectable career and shown that Posada is a typical spoiled baseball player. Instead of crying about batting ninth he should be on his knees thanking the Yankees for giving him a token 13 million dollar contract for this season. It's disgusting what he makes and unbelievable that it's more than baseball's best player Jose Bautista! For that kind of money I think you could get millions of people doing a lot worse things than strike out four times a game. Hell, I've heard of a guy jumping into the Thames River outside The University of Western Ontario's campus in January for less than 20 bucks (I think, it might have even just been for pride). So to end this rant, go pound sand Posada! You're a joke and will always be remembered that way.

Big Move of Friday the 13th

Rickey Romero doing his best Jason Voohrees impersonation by carving up Twins players all night long. Romero took notice of his two spot drop on the top 25 movers list this past week and made amends for it by pitching an 8 and 2/3 inning gem Friday night. Romero struck out eight Twins' batters and was virtually unhittable all night. This is the kind of performance that fans should expect out of Romero, who is arguably the best left handed starter in the AL East and a top ten pitcher in all of baseball. Even more fitting was that Romero pitched this masterpiece on the day legendary Jays' pitching coach Mel Queen passed away. Queen was in the Jays' organization from 1986 to 2000 and was a big part of Toronto's glory years in the early 90's. He became the team's pitching coach in 1996 and turned Pat Hentgen into a Cy Young winner that same year. He also oversaw Roger Clemens back to back Cy Young years for the Jays and Roy Halladay credits him for turning his career around and launching him into the pitcher he is today. I trust the Jays will find some way to honour him at the Skydome in the near future because he sure deserves it.

Big Move of May 12th

Kyle Lohse impersonating his manager Tony La Rusa. With the real Tony La Rusa out with a bad case of shingles Kyle Lohse donned a La Rusa jersey and his trademark sunglasses to present the Cardinals' lineup card before their 9-1 win over the Cubs on Thursday.  Lohse who is a career 92-100 pitcher with a 4.70 ERA has started the season off on fire with a 4-2 record and a 2.40 ERA. Given this he's probably feeling a little bit bullet proof of late which likely prompted him to pull this stunt. Whatever the reason though it sure made for a good laugh. From behind he looked exactly like La Rusa and it was one of the best impersonations I've seen by a player since Larry Johnson's mockery of Herm Edwards (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imFAR8ypw2c).

Big Move of May 10th

The Detroit Red Wings forcing game 7 after being down 3-0. This will be the eighth time in league history that a team down 0-3 has forced a game 7 with only three being able to win the series (Toronto, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers). The Red Wings will look to pull off the improbable comeback Thursday night and look poised to do so in my opinion. The Red Wings absolutely dominated game six and if it weren't for Antii Niemi the score wouldn't have been close. Every Wings' player has bought into this comeback with the biggest surprise being Todd Bertuzzi who is playing like he did in the pre-Moore years. On the other side, San Jose is a team full of regular season all stars who check out come playoff time (Thornton, Marleau, Heatley). Look for the Red Wings to blow out San Jose in game seven and then head up the coast for what should be the stanley cup final series against the Canucks.

In other news, the Coyotes are staying in the desert for one more year. At least it seems that way. The City of Glendale approved to cover another projected 25 million dollars in losses for the club next season. The hope is that this will buy some time for some idiot to purchase this franchise. As one resident said at the town hall meeting last night ''Ice is for drinks in Phoenix, not hockey''. I couldn't agree more. For the record, I'm also against a team going back to Winnipeg when the Southern Ontario market is ridiculously underserved for professional hockey. There should be two more teams in the GTA area just like there are three in the New York area, which by the way only has one team that consistently sells out (Rangers). I'll save this rant for another day though.

Big Move of May 9th

The Vancouver Canucks advance to their first conference final since 1994. I'm actually surprised it's been seventeen years since the Canucks made a run this deep in the playoffs but I suppose it makes sense considering they had goalies like Dan Cloutier and Corey Hirsch in the pre-Luongo years. Besides making it to the conference finals the win was also huge because it will give the Canucks at least five days to rest after playing every other day since the beginning of the first round. Maybe during that break someone will be able to find the Sedins who have been spotted as much as Pokeroo in these playoffs! If Henrik and Daniel don't pick up their game in the next round the Canucks will not make the finals even with Kesler playing the way he has of late. Speaking of which, how ridiculous is the mancrush Scott Oake and Glenn Healy have on Ryan Kesler?!?!!?  They might have to start putting a parental discretion across the screen before they interview him from now on! By the way, is it just me or does anyonelse seem to think Kesler comes off as a bit of a knob? I haven't really been a fan of him since seeing him talk down about Luongo during the Olympics last year and he just comes off as a moody guy in his interviews.

Big Move of May 8th

The Dallas Mavericks ending the Lakers' dynasty and sending Phil Jackson into retirement. The Mavs' sweep of the Lakers was quite shocking and the first time it has happened in Jackson's entire career. Kobe and company showed little effort in this series and sadly sent Phil out on quite a low. No matter though, he'll go down as the greatest coach in NBA history and has championship rings for every finger and two toes (won one as a player). Should we believe that Phil Jackson is actually done this time and won't pull a Brett Favre? Who knows? I don't follow basketball enough to know but there are already rumours he might go to the Knicks.

Big Move of May 7th

Ragan Smith wins his first Sprint Cup title after never previously earning a top 5 finish in his career. I thought I'd throw some NASCAR onto BMOD because it is the most popular sport in the United States and pretty damn exciting. I never thought much of this sport before attending the Daytona 500 this year but having seen a race live I must say there's a lot more to it than you think. It's also nice being able to take food and a 12 pack of beer into a sporting event instead of paying 22.50 for the hot dog and beer combo at the Rogers Centre or ACC.

In other news, a no-hitter was pitched against the Jays by Justin Verlander. Oh, and the top 25 movers has been updated as it will every Sunday.

Big Move of May 6th

Gregg Zaun calling his first game as a colour commentator for the fan 590. Zaun has been working alongside Jamie Campbell as an analyst in between innings for sportsnet during the mlb playoffs over the last few years. During that time Zaun showed some talent and an awesome slicked backed hair style that is quite suitable for the gig, which prompted sportsnet to utilize him as a regular analyst during Jay’s games this season. On Friday sportsnet took things further and put Zaun in the booth next to legendary Jerry Howarth (best in baseball in my opinion) to be a colour commentator for their radio station, the fan 590. Zaun said it was a proud day for him and he later celebrated it with the rest of the Zaunby nation who were instrumental in getting him to this point.


Who is the Zaunby nation you might ask? It's the small but loyal group of fans who clung on to this borderline major leaguer during his time in Toronto. This group of fans are quite powerful despite their small numbers and love athletes who have little skill but hustle or appear to have a non stop motor because the game is obviously too fast for them and beyond their skill level. Previous Toronto athletes propelled to stardom by the Zaunby nation include Tie Domi and the Junkyard dog Jerome Williams. At the moment this group of fans are rallying behind John McDonald and have made him the most popular Toronto Blue Jay ahead of Jose Bautista and even Ricky Romero. Above all, this group of fans love honest, every day men who they can relate to but in Zaun's case the Zaunby nation has sadly clung on to a fraud and propelled him to undeserved heights.


Why do I make this claim you ask? Well what do you think of Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens? Rafael Palmeiro? Alex Rodriguez? Miguel Tejada? Jose Canseco? Mark McGwire? Sammy Sosa? When their names are mentioned fans generally cringe and call them a name generally preceded by an expletive. The main reason for this is because they appear to have cheated the game by getting heavy into the muscle yayo (steroids) during baseball's dark juice ball years. They were all listed in the Mitchell report, which named major leaguers who used performance enhancing drugs in the two decades leading up to 2007 (when the report was made). So far there hasn't been one player to exonerate themselves after being named in the Mitchell report.  Gregg Zaun just so happens to be another name that appeared on this list.


Players such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens would have been stars no matter what and only increased their numbers further from the use of steroids. However, in Zaun's case he needed to take steroids just to crack the big leagues. After batting 188 in 1998 with Florida Zaun went to the Texas Rangers in 1999 where he would post a paltry 244 average in only 43 games. From there he would go to the Royals and hook up with Kirk Radomski who allegedly sold him steroids (this means it happened if you're listed in the Mitchell report). This helped revive Zaun's career and his average would climb to 274 and 320 in 2000 and 2001. Following his stint with the Royals he would go to Houston and Colorado before hooking up with the Jays for five seasons where he would enjoy great success and become a fan favourite. However, if not for Radomski you really have to wonder if Toronto would ever become acquainted with the name Gregg Zaun?


When questioned by the National Post in 2007 Zaun said "if you want to investigate what is going on in the game of baseball right now, fine, but what happened years ago, who cares?" He'd also add 'I have never violated mlb's drug policy or failed any drug tests', which is true but drug tests weren't implemented until 2003. Finally, Zaun would say "For me to be able to recall things that happened six or seven years ago is asking a lot. You're talking about one cheque among thousands that I've written over the last seven years. And I'm supposed to recall why or when, to whom and where. That was nearly impossible for me to figure out." These aren't exactly compelling answers that prove Zaun is innocent and the Mitchell report has been extremely accurate in labelling steroid users in baseball. Where I come from if it smells and walks like a duck then it probably is a duck.


Zaun was a fringe player who needed to take steroids in order to stay in the big leagues. He stuck around long enough to gain enough credibility to be used as an analyst and colour commentator after he retired. I'll admit he's not bad at this job but quite frankly he doesn't deserve it. By taking steroids he took away jobs from honest, hard working minor league players who played the game clean and didn't cheat. I have a serious problem with this and can't understand why so many people, including Rogers Sportsnet have turned a blind eye. He became a fan favourite here because he seemed like a legitimate hard working, honest ball player but the complete opposite appears to be true. In the end he's just minor leaguer who used steroids to propel himself to the next level. Remember this and make sure you chirp him when you walk by his booth in left field at Jays games this summer.

Big Move of May 5th

The Capitals get swept by Tampa Bay and are now listed amongst teams like the San Jose Sharks, Atlanta Braves and San Diego Chargers as perennial playoff chokers. This one still shocks me and cost me $75. I just didn't see the Capitals dropping the series to a Tampa Bay team that needed 7 games to beat a mediocre and depleted Pittsburgh team. The Capitals were well rested and seemed like they finally bought into the kind of defensive hockey needed to go deep in the playoffs. In the end this was a complete mirage and the Caps showed as much effort and determination to win as Jay Cutler did in the NFC championship this past winter.

Big Move of May 3rd

Francisco Liriano's ridiculous no-hitter... and by that I don't mean spectacular. Liriano came into the game with an ERA above 9.00 and didn't exactly have stellar stuff last night either. In fact, he walked 6 batters and only struck out 2. Even worse, of his 123 pitches only 53.7% were for strikes. Those aren't exactly numbers you'd associate with a no-hitter. There have been 248 no-hitters in baseball history so it is quite an achievement to pitch one but I think we'd all agree a lot of them have not been to spectacular and had more to do with luck than skill. The only worse no-hitter I've seen pitched was by AJ Burnett in 2001 against the Padres. In that game Burnett tossed 129 pitches (65 for strikes), walked 9 and only struck out 7. When I see no-hitters like these I can only think back to August of last year when Brandon Morrow came within one out of what might have gone down as the greatest no hitter in history. On that August day he absolutely dominated a strong Tampa Bay Rays lineup with 17 strikeouts and was one out away from the no hitter when a fluke infield single ended his chance to go in the record books. It's so sad that a performance like Morrow's only went into the books as a CGSO whereas Liriano and Burnett go down in history.

Big Move of May 2nd

Bill Parcells signed by the Liberal party to oversee the rebuild of this once great franchise. After struggling to get by with lameduck leaders the last two elections who resembled the NFL equivalent of Eric Mangini and Rod Marinelli the Liberal party had to make a bold move. Bill Parcells brings instant credibility to the party and has had great success with quickly turning around historic NFL franchises such as the New York Giants, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and most recently the Miami Dolphins. At his press conference on Monday Parcells said that the rebuild should take four years and that he is quite confident his new organization will compete for the top prize in 2015. His goal is to find some young talent that can relate with the younger crowd that just aren't filling the stadium like they used to. He even went as far as to say that he'd try to make a play for outspoken Chad Johnson personalities, which the party has typically not endorsed. 'I think this team's old approach has grown old and after hitting rock bottom like we did on Monday night you have to look at any ways to improve things' Parcells said. When asked if he was concerned about the NDP's recent success and if it posed a threat going forward Parcells said 'No, not at all. Politics is no different than the NFL and you occasionally get a small market team that has one big year but really has no staying power. Take the Cleveland Browns in 2007 for example. They exploited a schedule filled with rebuilding teams and then everyone got delusions of them being a contender for years to come. I even think they networks gave them 5 nationally televised games, which was more than anyonelse. In the end though the Browns went out and spent way too much in the offseason and then completely tanked in 2008. You just can't take teams like that seriously over the long haul and didn't they even go bankrupt back in 95? I'd say the NDP will pretty much go the same way.' When later asked about his opinions on the conservatives Parcells said 'The conservatives have staying power like the Pittsburgh Steelers and will always be tough to beat. They don't do anything spectacular or have any flashy players but they know how to pull out tight games and wear you down. My job is to come up with a counter attack and throw a few deep balls by them like the Packers did this past superbowl.' Finally, Parcells concluded his opening press conference with the Liberals by suggesting that contraction might be a good idea down the road and although it hasn't happened in the NFL there is no reason why the approach shouldn't be taken in Canadian politics. He said 'the Bloc Quebecois and Green Party are obvious targets just like the Panthers and Jaguars are in football. They have a cute local following but just don't relate to people on the national stage. Eventually you just have to stop giving them airtime.'

Big Move of May 1st

Navy Seals take down Osama Bin Laden. Again, I don't like going away from the sports moves but this one was absolutely huge. I don't have to comment on it at all, we all know the story leading up to this significant day. I can't imagine what it would be like to be the guy to have Osama in his sights and take him down. I could definitely see him moving into the top 25 movers and perhaps the biggest jump when the new rankings come out this week. It should also be noted that Osama tried using one of his four wives as a human shield, which makes complete sense. Once a coward always a coward. Huge move for the Obama administration too and you really have to wonder how George Bush is feeling today having not been able to accomplish this move during his seven years in office after the 9/11 attacks. Should be a nice feather in Obama's cap come election time next year, which is great because I'd hate to see the Republican's back in power. I heard they don't even play baseball because running the bases require left turns.

In other BMOD news, sorry to have been slacking the past few days. I've been up in Thunder Bay with limited internet access. There should be daily posts for the rest of the week and a decent sized article towards the end I hope, which is the typical format I want to follow (fairly short daily posts and one rant each week).