9-Day Countdown Related Vent & Apology

9 days until Opening Day. 16 days until the Home Opener. I love feeling all warm and Basebally. Yet, I also feel some dread.

A few days ago, I was confronted about my opinions of Toronto "fans" who attend Jays games. In the confronter's defense, I didn't specify that I was speaking about the Jays and not about Toronto fans in general. I expressed my disappointment and borderline disgust at how the fairweather fans think about the athletes on the field and how they act at the games.

I expressed my feelings to Dirk Hayhurst on Twitter who appeared to be a bit down in the dumps due to his shoulder. I mentioned that I wish that all fans could see what he was writing since for some reason "fans" seem to think that athletes like being injured since they still get paid to "do nothing".

I was speaking specifically about how I've seen "fans" act. I attend every home game and the amount of BS I've seen in the past 3 seasons as a Season Ticket Holder makes me embarrassed to be a true Jays fan sometimes. I know I've mentioned in a past post about being harassed at games solely on my jersey of choice. But that's just a tip of the tip of the iceberg.

The amount of fans who, just yesterday, were cheering because Lyle Overbay hurt his knee and having wishful thoughts that he'd be out the whole season or that he'd never play again with his injury. It's disgusting in general (obviously there are a few exceptions), let alone in Sports, to applaud injury onto anybody. When Gabe Kapler hurt himself during his home run trot in the Dome and couldn't finish running, the amount of fans I heard cheering and laughing was probably louder than those cheering for the Jays when they scored. It's something I'll never understand.

I've seen "fans" rush down or sit behind the bullpen to start shouting profanities and threats to the pitchers. What "fans" don't realize is that athletes KNOW when they "suck" and are the first to criticize themselves. They don't need an asshat to shout it down to them to remind them, let alone shouting down trying to pick a fight. Said asshat gets kicked out, causing other "fans" to heckle even more. Why would you even go to a Jays game to insult BOTH teams that are playing?

And I'm all for heckling the other team, provided it's tasteful. As annoying as the Tropicana Field Heckler was, he at least heckled with stats. Fine, laugh your ass off when you believe ".....YOU SUCK!" is the best heckle ever. It's annoying, not distasteful. But some of the heckles I've heard have been racist, homophobic, sexist, and sometimes all of the above.

I've seen "fans" insult and harass visitors to the city and the ballpark. I'm all for poking fun at the team as a joke to people around your age. But I've seen people insult 6-year-old kids who are visiting the city, making them cry then LAUGHING when the kids cry. I've visited a few ballparks, wearing my Jays jersey and excluding Philadelphia (where we had 2 really drunk guys insult us for being Canadian), we've been welcomed with open arms to the city/ballpark. Seriously, it's a damn game.

But nothing will beat the wonders of the Home Opener where all the asshats come out in full force to their only game of the season. 2 years ago, a fan was almost thrown over the side of the 500 level. In 2005 vs. Boston (Arroyo Vs. Bush), the giveaway of free fridge magnets ended being an epic failure with the magnets being thrown onto the field from the 500 Level en masse. It prompted the Jays to hand them out after the game ever since.

That's nothing compared to the last home opener vs. the Tigers when fans in the 200 Level decided it'd be funny to throw baseballs at Josh Anderson's in LF (one during a play, and one narrowly missing his head) causing a delay in the game and threatening a forfeiture of the game where the Jays were whomping the Tigers. The delay caused "fans" across the stadium to throw their bottles (including empty liquor bottles "smuggled" into the Dome) and other forms of garbage onto the field. It made me sick to my stomach as a Baseball fan.

I can't wait to see what this Home Opener will bring. I'm wondering if Rogers Centre staff will finally get their act together and do their jobs in making sure the players and the fans are safe from morons. I wonder if anybody's going to throw stuff at Alex Rios if he's playing since he "sucks". I also wonder if it's going to be worse since Doc's no longer with the team.

So I'm sincerely sorry if I'm "painting with a wide brush" with how much I dislike Jays "fans" (who unfortunately seem to overpower the true Jays fans) with all the BS I've seen.

Baseball's Here!

And there are already Photo Day photos available for the Jays? I figured that maybe it was a figment of my imagination due to the sudden crash of post-Olympic Hockey Gold excitement. But when you see a professional photo of Scott Richmond wearing a spray-painted yellow piece of tin foil on a Baseball Canada lanyard, Olympic withdrawal can't even create that kind of awesomeness.

Baseball season is here. I don't care what anybody else thinks, but Spring Training is the official start of Baseball. Unfortunately, Spring Training wasn't in my cards this year so I have to stay at home, cursing the Baseball Gods as my sister gets to soak up the Florida weather along with Basebally goodness. For the 5th year in a row, I will just shout out, "Next year, Baseball Gods......Next Year."

Seeing photos of the 2010 Jays has whipped my brain into the mindset that in a little over a month, I will be sitting in my seat at the Dome for the home opener, with multiple overpriced Bud in my hands.

And I can't flipping wait.

In other related news, this picture made my brain short-circuit. Jingles in a Brewers uniform and not wearing the number 1. I wouldn't have lived to blog if Brauny was visible in the photo.

No Garfoose? Say It Ain't So!

As made public via Twitter (thanks to @MLBastian, @BlueJays and @TheGarfoose himself), Dirk "The Legend" Hayhurst will be going under the knife for exploratory surgery on his right shoulder.

It's hard enough, for me at least, to learn that a Baseball player's injured and won't be able to pitch for a lengthy period of time. But it's even worse when it's one of the "good" guys.

Dirk appears to feel blessed to have so many "garfooslings", and I'm sure I'm not the only one wishing him a speedy recovery.

Good luck, Dirk! May the Garfoose return sooner than later to munch on the plastic-based grass substitute.

(Follow Dirk Hayhurst on Twitter @TheGarfoose)

State of the Franchise 2010 (or at least, what I can remember....)

So last night was the 9th annualState of the Franchise event for Season Ticket Holders and 40-game Flex Pack Holders. This year, it was held at Rogers Centre. My favourite part was arriving and realizing that the food and alcohol still was all free. W00t!

I got to have some Wings (how I have missed thee, even though they didn't make any Arizona Ranch), a sausage (which was quite tasty), and fries with chili, cheddar cheese, green onions and sour cream. Not to mention 2 glasses of wine and like, 6-7 beers.

Needless to say....I don't remember much :P I didn't bother taking notes (only because I didn't have a notebook or pen) so I can pretty much just blog what I remember. Beware, my memories are in no way going to be insightful.

I was wondering how they were going to have it set up since I am used to them sitting behind a table making it seem quite press conference-esque. But this year, since it was at Rogers Centre, they set up four comfy chairs on the Jays dugout, which I found made it a LOT more personable.

This year was MC'd by Buck Martinez, which was a quite a change from Jerry Howarth. Just hearing him MC got me into a Baseball mood.

From the vibe I got from AA (I really don't want to have to type the whole thing today), he is a much better speaker than JP, and he's a lot more approchable with ideas and all that good stuff. He talked about some of the prospects we received in the Doc deal, making us all love Kyle Drabek who was compared to the likes of Jack Morris (he'd knock his own mother down at the plate or something like that. Remember, open bar lol). AA has been talking to Boras about Johnny Damon and apparently still is. He also made a few quips about how he'll say this stuff tonight and *boom* it'll be mentioned on mlbtraderumours.com.

I hate that I like Cito. I don't want to like him. But anytime I've met him or heard him speak at the State of the Franchise events (which is only 2 but still lol), I can't help but like him...despite the fact that he still appears to have no idea who Jeremy Accardo is.

And Paul Beeston was, and always will be, Paul Beeston.

But enough about the speakers. I found that this year's round of questions in the Q&A to be VERY weak compared to years' past. Maybe I missed some good questions when I left for a couple of minutes. Is it bad that one of the best questions was asking Paul Beeston why he was wearing socks?

Buck did mention that he was surprised that with the amount of ladies at the State of the Franchise why no ladies asked any questions yet. We were sitting right in front of Cito and he started to look right at us. So my friend asked how Marcum's coming along. Everything seems good with him, which I think everybody pretty much knew already...but I wasn't in the state to ask any questions.

Piss-off Question of the Night

Of course, it had to be the last question of the night, which made it even worse. But pretty much this rich business guy who you KNOW has really good seats for the season and probably rarely goes to game asked a question that I hope came out the wrong way but I have a feeling it didn't. He complained that there's no free trip to Spring Training this year and how his poor daughter feels awful about it. Beeston responded with the fact that they decided to use the money for the flights to Spring Training and put it into the farm system to better improve the team. The guy didn't seem to appreciate that response and asked a follow-up question that I don't remember since I was angry at that point. I don't remember the response to that. I just wanted to go up and belt the guy.

Best Comment of the Night

These guys behind us (one of them seriously looked like a young, beardless Doc) were talking, and one of them made our night. I doubt he'll ever read this blog, but if he does I hope he doesn't mind that I steal it. Here is a direct quote:

"The best thing about Brandon Morrow is that he's not Brandon League."

Piss-Off Moment of the Night

We head down to possibly talk to AA after we went up to get a refreshment after the Q&A session. One of the security ladies said, "I have to ask you to leave since we're clearing the stage up." Um...alrighty then? We went back up top and a bunch of groups of guys went down and she said nothing. I guess us ladies aren't allowed to talk Baseball with anybody? Kind of conflicts with one of the themes they wanted to convey.

One constant theme seemed to be that they are going to do whatever they can to get butts in the seats, and obviously other plans haven't worked. They continually acknowledged that without the fans, there wouldn't be a team. And from that point, I believed that they are finally going to do something good again with their guest service and fan incentives. I don't want to get my hopes up, but it's just a vibe I got. And obviously the piss-off moment doesn't help.


All-in-all, it was a fun night from what I remember. I'm not the type of fan who goes expecting a huge amount of information nor intelligent questions from an unknowledgeable fan base. To be honest, I pretty much go because it gets me in a Basebally mood...and it's showing that Baseball season is coming up sooner than later.

The free food and booze help. Well, not the day after when I'm trying to write a blog....but still.

The Jersey Debate

(Two blog posts in less than an hour? I must be really bored lol)

For those who don't know me personally (which is probably 99% of anybody reading this), I am a jersey addict. Having a discount on merchandise is a huge cause of my addiction.

To give a little bit of background on my addiction, and why these two pictures are being shown, I shall explain.

I went back to paying attention to the Jays after my "emo-before-it-was-cool-minus-the-bad-hair-and-makeup" teenager phase in July of 2003. At that point, since I was in college, I couldn't exactly afford a jersey though I truly wanted one. Not only did I want one, but I wanted one crested with "Hinske 11". Obviously, times have changed since at the end of 2003 I met Josh Towers briefly a few days after he pitched an amazing game against the Orioles (which if I remember correctly brought his record to 9-1) and he was seriously the awesomest player I had met so far. In 2004, I truly started to go to more games (of course right after the True Jays Rewards promotion ended) and my money situation looked up so I got a Towers jersey for my birthday. It was the first of many jerseys to come. But it was also the first to make it a tiny bit unbearable to wear.

Jays fans don't need to be reminded of every one of Josh's years pitching for the Jays except for what is known as "his career year" or the contract he was given after "his career year" so I'll spare the details. But to get back on topic somewhat, I actually had to stop wearing my Towers jerseys (I got one for free) at Jays games because I was being personally heckled and threatened by Jays "fans" who attended the games. At one point, it got so bad that one of my friends wore her Shea Hillenbrand jersey so "fans" could focus their hatred on her instead of me.

Where am I going with this? A vent. Yes, I've already broken my New Year's resolution.

The Towers jersey incidents were the first in what would actually happen pretty much almost every season since. I won't go into too much detail, but here is my list of jerseys and the amount if applicable. They are also listed in chronological order post-Towers.

Rios - Got the jersey in 2005 (his second season in the MLB). Most Jays "fans" at the games didn't know that at the time he was one of the top prospects in the Organization. So I received, "Who the F*** is that?" comments.

McGowan (2) - The first one I got was back when he wore #40 and didn't really show any of the potential he had. Obviously, that automatically meant he "sucked" to Jays fans. At least until his almost no-no against the Rockies (still hate you, Jeff Baker). So the next season, I got a new road jersey with #29, then he fell apart and hasn't pitched since.

Janssen (3) - Bought his jersey 2 days after the home opener in 2007. I think the worst comment received was in a Pizza Pizza one night after a game. "You have a jersey for the set-up guy? Ah. You must think he's hot, then." Because, of course, I am a female Baseball fan so that must be the only reason.

Inglett (3) - Started to like him back when we saw the Bisons play the formerly-known-as-Skychiefs in Alliance Bank Stadium. I bought my first Inglett jersey truthfully because of how nice he was to me after meeting him. I seriously didn't know much about how he played. That whole season, in which Gibby dubbed him "Voodoo Joe", he had Yo-Yo syndrome without really being sent down due to injuries. He was a bright spot in another unremarkable season for the Jays. Which, obviously, was unknown to Jays "fans" in 2009 since one night I was being personally heckled so bad that I had to get the Ushering supervisors involved. It takes a LOT for me to do that. Anyhoo, I digress :)

Scutaro - I've liked him since he was an A. Since he became a Jay, I had contemplated getting his jersey but I didn't get around to it because Jingles got in the way :P Finally got it the same day I inadvertently professed my "love" for him during Fan Club Batting Practice *facepalm*. Since I got this jersey in 2009, aka a season of awesomeness for Mr. Scutaro, I received zero criticism.

Cecil - The last jersey I got, thanks to free cresting. Since I got it at the end of the 2009 season as a birthday gift, people had stopped going to the games and didn't really care. Actually, the only "criticism" (which was in jest) I got was from Josh Towers the day he was called up by the Yankees.

So here's the deal. Is there any good reason why I should be criticized personally because I don't have a Halladay/Wells/Hill/Lind jersey? Is there something wrong with rooting for the underdogs? Heck, we're all Jays fans, we're all rooting for the underdogs as it is. Does it make me a bad fan because I get the "reject" jerseys?

I'm proud to support my team, and I'm proud to support my favourite players. Is it such a bad thing to have pride in the team you love, despite all of the BS going on in the organization? My butt is in my seat 81 home games a season plus a handful of road games and each day I wear a jersey. How does that deserve personal insults? It's something I will never understand.

Which begs the question and another debate....whose jersey will I be getting this season? :P

(Side note: Jersey underdogs apparently only apply to my Jays jerseys. Non-Jays jerseys: Morneau - Team Canada, Arroyo - Reds, Braun - Team USA)

It Was Not Supposed To Be An Off-Season For Me

But so far, it pretty much has been.

I don't know if it's because I despise the off-season, or whether it's because there's just some stuff I can't handle about the longest 6 months of the year. And so far it's been even harder with the loss of Doc, Arnsberg, Scootz, and Jingles.

I do have a New Year's resolution for the blog. I don't just want to blog more often, but I want it to be less of a "venting" type blog. With the way the 2010 season is looking for the Jays, there'll probably be even more negatives than last year though they might surprise me. Life is too short to be angry. Not saying I won't be critical of stuff that pisses me off :) But you catch my drift.

I guess now that pitchers and catchers report in 32 days and State of the Franchise is coming up in less than 2 weeks (though I haven't received my invitation yet), I'm really starting to get into a Baseball mood.

It's just too bad there's no World Baseball Classic to tide me over this time around.

Utmost Anger and Disappointment = End of Unexpected Hiatus

So, after almost two months of not posting anything due to life happening and all that other good stuff, I get home after a long trek after dinner (our van broke down, no room in the tow truck for my sister and me) to find out that Arnie is now the pitching coach for the Astros. Along with Butter being "demoted" to 3B from bench coach. After all, neither of the two were part of Cito's group of buddies.

I don't think it's a secret to any Jays fan that Arnie did not get along with Mr. Gaston though it might not have always been made public. I know for me, it was mostly a gut feeling.

Mr. Gaston has announced that he will not be returning when his contract is up in 2010. Meaning, we have one more season of his incompetence at the helm. Sure, things were all fine and dandy when I received the text message on my way to Pittsburgh in 2008, "Gibby fired, Cito's returning as Manager." Heck, I was in a board game store buying the Limited Edition Nintendo Monopoly and I squealed for delight, causing other potential board game purchasers to cower in fear.

Since then, Cito really hasn't been any better than Gibby. His mismanagement of the bullpen actually seemed eerily similar. In his old age, did Cito only remember the names "League" and "Carlson" despite their struggles? He let Cecilicious hang out to dry in Fenway (5 home runs...seriously, WTF?) before finally putting an end to the slaughter that ensued.

Did anybody else see how lifeless this team was for the last few months of the season? Even if they did care about how they performed, they lacked the spark that they had at the beginning of the season.

RickRom was struggling in the Minors, and Arnie took him on as a project. What happened? For quite a bit of the season, RickRom was being considered for Rookie of the Year because of his performance. AJ Burnett and Matt Clement joined the Jays because Arnie was pitching coach. Sure, they didn't work out, but it gave players a reason to want to be a part of this team. If the pitching staff struggles under Walton's tutelage, would Doc really want to extend his contract when it's almost guaranteed any team with the potential to go to the playoffs would pay whatever they can for him?

Then you have Butter who stepped in quite well when Cito was either ejected or not able to manage due to personal reasons. He seemed quite competent. At this rate, I would prefer to have Butter be our manager whilst learning the ropes as opposed to bowing down and appeasing to Cito for one more season.

It just utterly disappoints me. Seeing Anthopoulos being named GM after JP's dismissal while I was in Baltimore was like a huge weight being lifted off my chest. I figured, "Hey, this team looks like it might start making different kinds of decisions to hopefully have us contend." Now I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach so hard that it knocks my teeth out. (Seriously, I've had a nightmare about that once. Not too pretty)

In the past season and a half, it dawned on me...particularly when the "Let's all remember when the Jays didn't suck in 92-93" weekend happened in August. Is the Jays organization really so caught up in its glorious past that it figures nostalgia will be the only way it will succeed as opposed to building a winner for the future?

Goodbye Brad, and good luck in Houston.

Jorge Posada Is A Douche

Now, of course, I'm a Jays fan so I'd automatically be biased, right?

a) Jorge was my favourite Yankee, tied with Mo. Not anymore.

b) If a Jay pulled the shit he did, I'd be equally as pissed.

Well, at least one of the good things is that Basebrawls turn me on. Why couldn't it have happened at Rogers Centre?

Unlike some managers and people in MLB's front office, I LOVE the idea of retaliation and standing up for your teammates (provided nobody gets hurt in the process aka no fastballs to the noggin') Seriously, Jorge...he threw behind you, he made his point, benches cleared. Deal with it. Don't be a pussy and make contact with Jesse you asshat...even though it appears that Jesse was asking for it unless he had a mental mistake and wasn't covering home properly due to that. But I digress :)

Though, I do have some fave highlights from the brawl.....

1. Adam Lind "trying" to get in between a Yankee and a fellow Jay...I can't remember who (Murphy before he got knocked down, maybe?) and being so completely useless at it. I can just picture him saying, "Come on guys.....stop!"

2. Brian Tallet and Scott Richmond just towering over everybody else....not really contributing much.

3. Joe Inglett and John McDonald scrapping it up a bit more than the bigger guys were lol Apparently Yankee media is saying that McDonald punched Girardi? Well, he's gotta get a hit at some point *ahem*

4. Cito laying the smackdown with Edwar Ramirez

Ugh, just thinking about it makes me all tingly lol

On a side note, I haven't been feeling very creative lately....and seriously this team has pissed me off beyond belief these past couple of weeks. So I was lacking the motivation. Good to know a Basebrawl can bring these positive emotions back.

Insert Witty Subject Line Here.

I've had writer's block. Mix that with lack of motivation, and what do you get? No blog posts.

I think I just have a couple of points to make.

1. Is it just me, or do the Jays actually seem more lifeless now than they were before the Rios trade? There's a sense of an extreme lack of motivation...a "what's the point?" attitude when they're out on the field. That's just a generalization as a whole...there certainly are players out there who are still playing the game. But I really wish the team would get their asses out of their heads and at least show that they're pretending to care.

2. I seriously have a hatred for some Johnny Mac fans. Some are excited when players get hurt so he can finally have the chance to play. Here's an idea: He doesn't play because if this was any other team, he'd be in AAA. He can't hit a beach ball, and truthfully I feel a LOT more comfortable with Jose Bautista at third than Johnny Mac, and at least Jose Bautista can hit a beach ball.

3. Leave V-Dub alone. I know he's pissing me off when he's at the plate, but I refuse to boo him. Why? Booing tends to instigate more lack of production at the plate.

At least there's only one month left until the 6 month hiatus from the Jays.

And Beckett, I do tend to like you, but please do not whack Scootz in the head ever again. kthxbai.

It's Been A Week....

and I haven't vented since. Why? Out of my many years of being a Jays fan, I've never not cared this much. It breaks my heart watching games on TV and seeing them blow it in the worst way possible. And to vent about it on a blog doesn't help.

Tonight's game just made it worse.

People don't even care enough to boo V-Dub anymore.

I also love the, "If a Jays pitcher gets at least 2 men on base then miraculously the defense provides a triple play to get him out of a mess, you could win a million dollars" contest. Give me a fucking break.

And Casey doesn't have high sock mojo anymore....

And I'm sick of Brandon Effin' League having a career.

Yet tons of people want to get their picture taken with the stupid asshole "umps" who automatically MUST be awesome since they're apparently buddies with Jamie Campbell. Whoopdee shit. That act got stale after the first inning they did it.

And again, that's why I hate Toronto fans.

But welcome back, T-Snide....

At least there's a slim chance that Bronson might become a Brewer soon...that might cheer me up.

I need to kill my liver because of these guys.

*sigh* Should Have Guessed

This is why I hate watching the Jays play the Yankees.

Things can look SO good during the game, with a bases clearing double by our clean-up hitter (imagine that!) getting us to tie the game....then Ruiz hitting his first home run as a Jay (you know, it's the second coming, after all)...Jingles' amazing catch....but no. Of course, since we're playing the Yankees, we don't just blow the game, we blow it BADLY.

And why does it always seem to be with back-2-back homers? It happened with Doc's start last week.

Ugh. As much as I'm rooting for Carlson to get over whatever troubles he's having, he's more painful to watch than League at the moment...and that's FAR from good.

Oh well. I guess I should get used to seeing this since the team's going to be financially flexible for who knows how long.

Bitterness totally ruins my blog lol

Goodbye, Lexi

I didn't have a chance to blog until now. And it's not a big one, only because of sentimental reasons that Lexi was claimed by the White Sox....and he's no longer a Jay.

I have fond memories of having the opportunity to meet Lexi a few times while he was a Jay. He was always smiling, and quite polite.

And despite understanding it's a business and all that lovely bullshit, and that essentially the team got rid of "the player" as a form of a salary dump, it still saddens me.

Good luck in Chicago, Lexi.

(Good win for the Jays, btw. Even though I missed a game due to a meeting)

And I can't find a good Lexi pic to post.

Hopefully I'll go back to having decent blog posts soon :P

Quickie post-B2B Reunion Blog

Super quickie...not even going to post a picture.

Man, this weekend was absolutely exhausting. From the joke of a Charity BBQ, to Season Ticket Holder signings, to Fan Club Q&A, to more autograph signings, to a decent tribute, to a slightly crappy game, to no sleep, to waking up for more autographs...etc etc etc

I'm tuckered out.

Despite being absolutely exhausted, this weekend was quite fun. I just have a little bit of advice to the Jays and TD Canada Trust. If you're trying to raise money for Children's Aid, and you want to charge $20 a table for autographs, you might want to let people know before they arrive and line up.

The alumni really seemed to be into the whole reunion. At least the ones I met were VERY polite and talkative to everybody they met. Alomar's a different story, and I can only go by what one of my friends experienced.

He showed up 20 minutes late on Saturday at Gate 5, and proceeded to sign 5-6 things for every autograph hound who was in front of the line. Dome Security did nothing. Fans started to push, people opened the barricades just so they could leave because they feared their safety. Fans were also standing out in the sun for a long time to try to meet him. He arrived late, with his wife/fiancee/girlfriend/whatever, who stayed by his side the whole time. They were shaded. They weren't even there for 5 minutes when she took one of the photocards and started fanning poor Robbie because he was so hot. He stayed an extra 10 minutes. Losing out on 10 minutes of autograph time. Great player on the field, but he's always been a complete asshole. Luckily, I couldn't care less and I went to a GOOD line :)

Side note: Bonded with David Cone about Legend of Zelda. Teh Awesome.

And seriously, I think I'm in <3 with Todd Stottlemyre.

In terms of the actual games? Meh, Friday was blah. But at least we squeaked out two wins on the weekend.

Yeah, brain's not functioning. Quite a lame blog post, but I don't care :)

The Jays Weren't All The Yankees Shut Down

Even though the series was only 2 games, it still physically and emotionally drained me (possibly because I finally had work again. w00t.)

I'm still too drained to even post coherentness and possible insight about the games. But I'm not going to. Except, was it just me or was the second game the better out of the two (though not necessarily the outcome)? And it WASN'T the highly touted "Doc's first start as a continued Jay" game?

On a Brewers note, I know I'm a couple of days late, but seriously, Prince "Teddy Bear" Fielder going absolutely apeshit? Well, I'm just calling him a teddy bear. What do I know? :P

Anyhoo, as I've said...absolutely drained. I need to prepare myself for this weekend. Apparently there's some kind of Jays reunion happening...I think they won Back-2-Back World Series at one point in franchise history. (/end sarcasm) So I'm going to brave the BBQ tomorrow since work doesn't exist again lol then it's time to celebrate the "Remember when the Jays were contenders and the city gave a shit" weekend with a Season Ticket Holder signing followed by a Tom Henke Q&A for Fan Club members followed by a baseball game. Whoo hoo.

Yes. I'm bitter. I'll make myself happy. Sorry about the fangirl moment. But I have to.

Brauny belly. Preow.

Off-Day Randomness: Autographs

I was inspired by a follower, and somebody whom I follow on Twitter to write this post. And I'm going to try to make it as coherent as possible. I haven't taken a writing class since I was in OAC (formerly known as Grade 13....formerly known as a grade year in general). The Twitterer, or Tweeter in question was asking people to send stories about players who snub fans for autographs, or just general snub stories when it comes to Baseball players. So this post isn't exactly a rebuttal or anything, but just a collection of personal thoughts when it comes to the matter of autographs.

Back when I started to attend Jays games regularly (2003), there were actual designated autograph times before each game during the away team's batting practice. The Jays organization would send out one or two lower tiered players (a la Howie Clark and Bob File) to a section where they would sign and take photographs with fans. In 2004, it changed to just weekends. In 2005, the sessions no longer happened. During this period, I became accustomed to being able to easily get autographs. I was ecstatic! It was when I finally was able to meet Jays players because the last time I had gone to games was during the Glory Years. Yeah. Practically impossible, even though I never tried.

Unfortunately, since 2005 I've noticed a trend. Fans are increasingly expecting that players "have" to sign for them, no matter what. After all, the players apparently owe us all an autograph for supporting the team.

In my opinion, players don't "owe" anything. Their job is to play Baseball. I go to batting practices with this philosophy because the game on the field should be the primary focus of each player. Most players actually DO give autographs, but it's based on many factors. I'm not sure how it is for a lot of other teams, but Jays players tend to sign a lot more on the road than they do at home. The reason? I'm not positive, but I do some thoughts about possible factors as to why.

After travelling to see the Jays play in different cities, and seeing people wanting autographs, the glaring difference is how fans treat the players here in Toronto. Apparently, these fans were never taught the words "please" and "thank you". I've witnessed some players blatantly "snub" fans simply for not being polite in asking for the autograph. Truthfully, why should they? They're taking time out of their pregame rituals (though occasionally for some players, part of the ritual is signing for fans) to sign autographs. They're not there to have merchandise shoved into their faces with exclamations of, for example: "Downs! Sign this!" They also aren't there to see kids and other fans being crushed by people pushing their way through, jumping on the seats to "be sure they get their autographs". Automatically, Toronto fans think that players are snubbing them, and that they're rude based solely on the fact that they aren't accommodating their rudeness. Out of personal experience, I've met many Jays and the nicest ones are the ones I actually spoke with and that I was polite to. I'm always grateful when players take time to sign for people.

Then, when players do acknowledge the fans that are being rude about it, they call them out. What does that make the player? An asshole. Without mentioning the player's name I am reminded of Fan Appreciation Day in I believe 2006 (though I could be wrong). This player regularly signed every weekend, and treated fans like gold (and still does). A man was there with his child, and the player walked past the glove that the man was holding out (while the man was in the process of hitting people in front with said glove from the 2nd or 3rd row). Right away, the man shouted, "Thanks a lot! You suck and I hope you pitch like shit today." The player retorted right back, "You know what? You're a great fan, buddy. Thank you for your support!" Then stopped signing for everybody and started to walk away while looking back at the crowd. Everybody in the crowd turned to look at the man who subsequently ran away since he believed his life was in danger. The player was watching as this unfolded, and as he was walking away.

Which partially leads to another point. Yes, I understand that kids are kids. But I do not understand why adults think that because they have kids, they can use them. I'm all for kids getting autographs, though not necessarily over adults 100% of the time. But that's only because there are adults who use kids. The biggest culprits? HOUNDS.

Hounds are probably the main snubbage factor here in Toronto. Every hound is recognizable by each player. And most players would prefer to sign for nobody than to sign for people who make their living selling their stuff at jacked-up prices. Most of these hounds push kids out of the way to get the 20th copy of an 8x10 glossy signed by a player.

Which gets me to the "old" story about the Alex Rios YouTube video. The video had no context whatsoever. The person who yelled at Lexi, causing him to swear back, is a known hound. Not only by Jays staff and fans, but by the players themselves. This is a hound who attends every game, and who goes to the visiting teams' hotels on a nightly basis to get autographs to sell. He's also known to bribe kids, or younger folk to get his autographs for him because he knows his face is recognizable. Not only that, there ARE younger hounds out there themselves.

There's another hound, whom someone I know witnessed accosting a player for an autograph outside the Dome before a game. The player actually said to the hound, "How many times have I signed for you? Not now, and not anymore. Please leave me alone," in a very polite manner.

I do realize that for every bad hound there's at least one nice hound. I've seen a few. And they don't expect anything, and they're respectful for people around them. If it wasn't for them, I might not have been able to meet some of the players I've met.

I think one thing that fans need to remember is that sometimes, if players cannot sign, it's a lot easier for them to ignore fans than saying "no". I personally know that as a fan, and having somebody saying "no" to be before, it stings a lot more than a player walking past, or a player saying, "I'll come back later," and they don't.

And as a fan who has met many Jays, and a few players from other teams, it breaks my heart when fans badmouth somebody because they've been "snubbed". Some of the players I've met are on the "Asshole Player" list, yet when I've met them, they've been some of the NICEST players I've ever met. I'm not going to mention their names unless asked lol. But I think one of the main differences is that some people who bitch about it don't treat the players with respect.

For me, the autograph truly doesn't mean as much as the experience I have in getting the autograph. Without that experience, it's Sharpie on paper.

As fans, we don't always know what's happening with the players. They could be having a bad day. They could have just signed 200 autographs for kids visiting the Dome through a JaysCare event. They can't sign 24/7.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are players who do snub and who never sign and it's upsetting that they don't...and some I will truly label as "jerks" or "assholes". But just because Baseball players get paid more per year that a lot of the fans do for "playing a game", doesn't mean that they aren't human.

There. I'm off my off-day soap box :) In the meantime, please visit Joel's Blog. It's a good read.

And I hope all my fellow Torontonians had a spectacular Simcoe Day.

Something Like A Phenomenon

Awesome. I kick ass...using lyrics from a LL Cool J song. So original. Makes me want to cry tears of joy.

I'm going to forget about everything else in this blog post, despite the 7 runs that the Jays brought in. This is all going to be dedicated to RickRom. It's not exactly going to be an awe inspiring post or anything....but I'm mostly just blogging for the sake of blogging.

I actually saw Ricky pitch in Triple-A when the Jays were still affiliated with Syracuse. One day, my sister, Mom and I decided to travel to Buffalo to see the Bisons host the Chiefs (even though we made regular trips to Syracuse). The Chiefs lost....and RickRom was nothing spectacular. I personally was not impressed or blown away.

Arnie wanted to have him start this season with the big club as an experiment. Boy, has this experiment worked. Am I bad for hopping on the ROY bandwagon? I'm not going to bother posting stats because I'm way too...not in the mood to :) But he's been a breath of fresh air this season.

That's one thing I can take about the sudden crash and burn of the Jays this season (not that I was expecting them to continue to kick ass like they did in the first couple of months). Despite having "no pitching", we get to see the youngsters have a go at it.

Now if only I had the money to buy a jersey....seriously debating between RickRom and Cecilicious. But now that the cresting has changed into fugly plastic lettering, I might just wait forever until I can afford an authentic jersey that doesn't look like complete ass.

I have no idea how to end this post.....at least in terms of RickRom.

A shout-out to Corey Hart, who had an appendectomy today in San Diego. Get well soon! At least the Brewers gave you a win today :P

And can I just say how absolutely ecstatic I am to NOT see Burnett pitching against us in the 2-game series vs. Yankees? Not in the mood to hear "AJ SUCKS" chants over hearing people booing V-Dub.

The end. I think. Maybe I can find something else to ramble about.

Hooray For No More 10pm Starts!

Well, except the doubleheader in Arlington on Sept. 1. But that's different. I just can't wait to get my sleeping pattern back to normal.

The Jays won (but almost didn't) on Rickey Henderson Day. Ah...even though he only spent half a season with us, it still reminds us of back when we were kicking ass. Downs almost blew the game, yet again, but reinjured himself in the process. JayFray came in, made things quite a bit nerve wracking, but ended the game with a NASTY pitch to Sweeney and got him striking out looking. So, holy shit, we had a 1-run win!

Cecilicious seemed a bit off, giving up 4 runs....but then he settled down quickly.

I didn't get to watch the whole game since I was also watching the Brewers @ Padres game (hooray for friend having MLB Extra Innings). It appeared as though for both games, we missed the action because we were watching the other game. Needless to say, the Jays game seemed to be a lot more enjoyable. Man, the Brewers have nosedived even faster than the Jays did.

The one problem with writing a blog post the day after the game? It tends to be a bit shorter, and a lot more irrelevant :P

Double Crappiness With A Side Of No Internet

If anything good happened last night, it was the fact that The Cod got to feel up Scott Richmond. Oh, sorry...I mean, tried to settle him down.

I don't think I can make a blog post long enough for everything that sucked about last night. I would have posted about it last night, but my internet farted out. I think it was sick of my venting on Twitter. Richmond, fresh from the DL, was struggling. Badly. Was he rushed back? Was he just a bit rusty? I don't know....and I'm not even going to attempt to speculate.

Got this information from Jordan Bastian's tweet: Jays 1-3 hitters went 8-13, 5R, 5RBI, 3 2B, 1 HR. Batters 4-9? 2-24. PATHETIC. Then again, what can you expect when your cleanup hitter is Kevin Millar? Love the guy's personality....but he can't hit!

3 errors. 3 frickin' errors by the #1 team in the AL for fielding percentage! Truthfully, if we didn't end up losing this game, I would be pissed off. Yet, I'm still pissed off. Go fig :P

I guess it's because evil and mean JP traded Scott Rolen away. It's been released that Rolen asked to be traded because of family reasons, and he wanted to be closer to Indiana. In the end, JP accommodated for him and we got some youth. Again, far from being a JP supporter, but the Rolen trade is not a reason for him to be fired. At least in my humble opinion. I won't rant about Jays fans...I promise. Especially since I'll probably offend and upset some of my good friends.

Is it bad that I now prefer to hear Rance Mulliniks' voice over Jamie Campbell? I'm actually not cringing when I hear Rance talk anymore. But when Archie starts to talk, I want to throw something at my TV.

Then to add to it, the Brewers had an awesome 7-run second inning last night vs. the Padres. THEY BLEW IT. And they're in fourth place. Braden Looper's quote: “It’s tough to say that I was a better hitter than a pitcher today. I don’t ever want to say that.” (Taken from Adam McCalvy's tweet)

Ugh. Depressed. Well, at least I get to watch both the Jays and the Brewers games tonight. Hooray for my friend having MLB Extra Innings.

It's already August. *sob*

Now That I've Woken Up And I've Realized WTF GBOAT Means.......

*sigh* Rolen's been traded to Cincinnati.

Who is Millar now going to mack on, now that his significant other on the Jays is gone?

All kidding aside, it's upsetting when one of the best current Jays gets traded...not going to lie to you.

And it's just pissing me off because I get to hear/read more "FIRE JP" comments. After all, everything's his fault. Again, not a JP supporter by all means. But give it a rest, people.

This one's for you, Scott....and our fond memories of Fossil Fries and Mammoth Burgers. And, your legs and arms....DAYUM. *ahem* Sorry about that.

I'll stop there. Actual blog post coming after the Jays game this evening. Welcome back, Scott-eh? (speaking of Scotts).

Nah. Can't Wait To Vent :(

This picture was taken in the first inning, after a balk was called against Rzepczynski. Could the photo have been a foreshadow of what was to come? Seriously guys.....pardon the language, but WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!?!

The Jays' bats were pretty silent, other than Scott Rolen's for the first half-or-so of the game. But Rzepczynski still had a good outing, and Camp was consistent yet again. Then appeared the new closer, Scott Downs...whom I REALLY don't want to start referring to as "BJ #2" NO idea what the Hell is going on there....but it's not pretty. Will the Downs experiment as closer be finished? Will JayFray get the chance? Will Accardo possibly get his prior temporary job back? Who knows what this team will bring in the next couple of days.

Speaking of with, stupid Sportscrap and their commercials for tomorrow's game. "Watch Roy Halladay as he takes on the Mariners in what could be his final start as a Toronto Blue Jay." Then, advertisements for Connected, stating two words and one form of punctuation: "Halladay Trade?"

I don't know what's worse to constantly hear. Fans bitching about how much the Jays suck, or the fact that Halladay might be traded before the deadline.

And it's good to know that it just didn't seem this way through my television speakers. To post what Jordan Bastian tweeted during tonight's game....

"I will say it again: the Jays fans here in Seattle are much, MUCH louder than the crowds that show up in Toronto."

But I shall no longer vent about fans here in Toronto :)

At least one positive...it does look like Jingles is starting to be a little bit more comfortable at the plate.

And if there's anything I learned during tonight's broadcast? That oftentimes, you must be aggressive at the plate and be sure to not give in to (insert pitcher's name here) especially since the next pitch will be a breaking ball.

See? I shouldn't post blogs when I'm half-asleep and depressed. The Legend, Mr. Dirk Von Hayhurst, was sent down to Vegas today to make room for Scott Richmond, who was removed from the 15-day DL while Brian Tallet has been moved back to the bullpen. It's nice to see Scott back, and hopefully the Legend will return in September.

Oh, and Brewers lost to the Nationals. Again. Boo-urns.

I need a drink. Or sleep. Or both. I just can't be bothered to offer any of my insightful insight tonight.