BREAKING NEWS

Mitchell Report reveals that many baseball players did steroids.
Also reveals the sky is blue, the sun is hot and 2+2=4.

Bryan McCabe Scores His Second Goal of the Season!

More news that no one cares about!

National Lacrosse League Cancels Season!!!!!!

http://tsn.ca/tsn/news_story/?ID=220731&hubname=

Proof that steriods don't work...

Source: Schoeneweis tied to Internet pharmacy in probe

and another sports related joke...

Blackhakws owner Bill Wirtz died last week. Coverage of the funeal was blacked-out in the greater Chicago area.

The Return of the Curse of Lil' Rodge's Ghost

About a year and a half ago I was blogging for Rotodestroyer.com and started an article called "Kill The Umpire". It was an opinion piece about the need to institute the instant-replay in baseball and the general irrelevance of on-field/court/ice officials.
Unfortunately, I got about two paragraphs into it, started struggling with my point and then completely ran out of steam (I must have been distracted by a Honeymooners rerun or something).

However, thanks to former NBA referee and fellow gambling addict Tim Donaghy, new life was breathed into this idea.

Originally my reasoning was all about accuracy and that making the correct call should always be a league's number one priority. I felt that instant-replay worked well for the NFL and that goal reviews were generally pretty accurate for the NHL when administered, *COUGH BRETT HULL COUGH*. If I remember correctly there were some blown calls in the 2005 ALCS regarding home runs being fair or foul. Why Major League Baseball wouldn't put a system in place that allowed the umpire to check a replay to determine whether the ball had gone to the left or the right of the foul pole was absolutely infuriating to me.

But then I started asking people if they agreed with my sentiments and I was met with a resounding NO. Most of the other braying sports aficionados told me they hated instant-replay in all it's forms, primarily because it slowed the games down to a grinding halt. When I asked them if they cared about accuracy they all pointed out that those systems were still being run by humans and could never be 100% accurate no matter how many looks they have at a play. And when I mentioned my idea about an anonymous Big Brother-esque referee calling penalties/fouls/strikes and balls from a secret booth they nearly vomited in my face proclaiming sarcastically we should just have finely tuned sports-robots play the games for us.

Eventually I started to see their point and even began to agree with it.

But NOW look! Now look who was right! ME, that's who! (Now that's what I call journalism)

Not only are officials often incorrect with a call, but it's become public knowledge that they can be completely crooked. I'm by no means saying that all refs are fixing games but we are now very aware that it can, does and most likely will continue to happen.

I believe it's time for officials to be treated like jurors and completely removed from the public eye.

Here's how I see it working for each sport:


BASEBALL
Keep the umpires on the field. They will still call balls, strikes, force and tag-outs subjectively. I do agree that this is part of the game and is part of what makes baseball unique. However, things like home runs, close foul balls, fan interference etc should be reviewed with instant-replay. Umpires who consistently make incorrect calls should be reprimanded and trends regarding which teams are getting the benefit of the incorrect calls and how the calls effect the spread/ over-under should be analyzed

HOCKEY, BASKETBALL and FOOTBALL
This is where my sequestering idea comes in. All officials are moved into a video room where they can monitor every camera angle of every play. Through a headset they can all speak directly to an official on game level who administers their decisions. The game level guy can share his thoughts based upon what he sees, but he can always be overruled. No one in the public knows who they are and they are provided top-notch security during their tenure as an official. The unions probably wouldn't be upset about this because it would actually create more jobs. It would also open the door for women and other groups who don't fit the prototype of a standard official (IE. not a white man).

Well, I'm pretty much out of steam again. I guess I'll go see what Art Carney is doing this week.

Return to Lil' Rodge

Lil' Rodge went on vacation to New York City...but we're back.
Tonight the good doctor takes on the Nationals.

Frustrating Night at Lil Rodge

Let's get the A-Rod shit out of the way.
I've never had a real opinion on the guy. He's on the Yankees so I hate him. But I couldn't care less about what he does in his personal life or how much money he makes and whether he's worth it or not.
As Brunt said on Prime Time Sports last night, (I'm paraphrasing) "It's an unwritten rule that beat writers don't cover what players are doing off the field. The New York Post crossed a line and set a very bad precedent"

As for what he did on the field yesterday, he took advantage of an inexperienced third baseman and helped his team win. Was it "bush-league"? I guess...but he did what he had to do to end the Yankees' slide. Had Jesse Litsch not given up five runs in the first inning it would have been a non issue. I was just upset it didn't lead to a brawl.

Tonight the good Doctor is back. Hopefully this start will go better than his last two where he gave up 16 earned runs combined. The shock of two straight brutal losses was so tough on Halladay it caused his appendix to burst.

Jays go for Sweep

Last night was another fun one at Lil' Rodge.
Marcum is continuing to pitch well and the Jays somehow managed to eek out a win without generating a lot of hits.
The highlight of the night was without question Aaron Hill's thievery of home.
We were sitting right behind the plate and I literally did a double take when he started sprinting away from third.

A drunken fan, wearing a Yankees hat and a Canadian Snowmobile jacket (go figure), started shouting "SOUTH BRONX" when the Yanks tied it up for the second time. Fans started shouting back "T-DOT" and other pro-Toronto exclamations which prompted him to do this weird swoop motion with his hand around his hat then grab his crotch. It was an interesting move. I'm going to adopt.

Tonight it's a battle of the 1-1 rookies. Jesse Litsch takes on Tyler Clippard. Both guys had great debuts followed by rougher second outings. Litsch has had the luxury of a third start that ended up a no-decision.

Not sure why Troy Glaus wasn't in the line-up last night until the top of the ninth.
Seemed like he could have pinch-hit for Royce Clayton earlier in the game when we were looking to take the lead. Hopefully we'll see him tonight as having a bottom half of the order that features Phillips, Clayton, Lind and Johnny Mac doesn't really strike fear into the hearts of the opposing team.

Damn it feels good to beat the Yankees!

Big Memorial Day crowd at Lil' Rodge tonight.
Of course, a ton of Yankee fans were there but they're not as annoying as Red Sox Nation (maybe it's just because of their place in the standings these days).
Ol' Dusty McGowan finally made it through the fifth inning and had a three-hitter going until he gave up an infield single to Jeter followed by a monster 430+ foot homerun to Matsui. After the game he got pied. I love seeing guys get pied, but come-on, I'm thinking this might a bit of overkill.
Thomas and Wells are still struggling at the plate, but guys like Glaus, Overbay and Rios are picking up the slack. Overbay was a triple away from the cycle tonight.

In other news, the Senators blew a one-goal lead going into the third period and dropped game one of the series. :)

Stanley Cup 2007: Ducks vs Senators

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I haven't been around much over the past several days.

The Ducks hung on tonight to beat the Red Wings 4-3 and win the Western Conference Finals 4-2.

For the third year in a row we'll have a Canadian team verus a "non-traditional hockey market." And for the third year in a row I think the "non-traditional hockey market" will take the cup home. And yes, I'm bitter and would be miserable if the Sens end their drought while the Sabres and Leafs continue to suffer. And yes, I think it would be a great slap in the face to the bandwagon fans who just want to see the Cup back in Canada. But in all honesty I believe the Ducks are a better team than the Senators up and down the line-up. Granted, I thought that about the Sabres too but Anaheim has something Buffalo didn't have...Chris Pronger. Chris Pronger is a true difference maker and a real shut-down guy. Pronger and O'Donnell along with Moen, Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer can stop the Spezza, Heatley, Alfredsson line. Ottawa's work ethic and incredible will to win has pushed them this far, I just don't think it's enough to beat the (Mighty) Ducks of Anaheim.

David Stern Rapes Lady Justice, Hurricane Horowitz Gets Aroused

As a law student, I have a couple of questions for David Stern. First, if he was a northern judge during slavery, would he have enforced fugitive slave laws (which made it mandatory to return slaves which escaped)? Second, in the landmark case of Lawrence v. Texas, which made laws against homosexual sex illegal, would David Stern have upheld these discriminatory laws simply because they were upheld in the past? Obviously these situations have a larger ethical dimension than the current Sun v. Spurs controversy, but the point of course is that a rigid application of the law is not necessarily desirable.

The absurd suspensions stemming from game 4 should not be a surprise to anyone. Stern went to a top American law school, and a central principle of law in the US is the notion of stare decisis; this is the idea of extreme deference to past decisions. Whether stare decisis is good or bad, it is a part of the judicial decision making tradition Stern grew up in. Having said this, American law also allows for various interpretative tools that create flexibility in this rigid system. The landscape of law is littered with examples of judges not directly overruling a decision but reinterpreting the facts and the rules in ways that leave previous decisions in tact while allowing for the present situation to be answered in a more just manner. Stern’s flaw was his refusal to implement these techniques.

Several arguments could have been made to keep the rule while at the same time allowing for a just outcome. First, as Woody Page said on Around the Horn, neither Stoudemire nor Diaw went further than the coach’s line on the floor (the area denoting how far the coach can go without receiving a technical). There is no reason, other than an adherence to an outdated interpretation of what is considered leaving the bench, that Stern could not have said that when a fight breaks out above the coaches line, and a player does not cross the coaches line, they are not too far away from the bench. Furthermore, the rules only apply when an altercation has occurred; why not require two or more people to be thrown out of the game for fighting in order to have an altercation? It takes two to tango, and only Big Shot Bob was ejected; it is not much of an altercation when only one person is kicked out of the game. There are more arguments to be made, but what should be obvious is that Stern might have to adhere to the rule, but he does not have to adhere to his past personal interpretations of the rule.

David Stern could make several counter arguments to support his actions. His best argument might be that if you really want to kill a rule, enforce it strictly with ludicrous outcomes, and force the owners to change it; interpreting a rule with flexibility would solve the current situation, but it would also give the owners a false sense of security that the law is adequate. The result would be that the door is left open for more difficult situations down the road. Although there is strong support for David Stern’s actions, the end product will probably be the spurs versus jazz in a series that should be less exciting than last years world series (if that is possible). There is a silver lining here for you hockey fans; I for one would rather watch woman’s hockey than the Jazz/Spurs, so maybe this series will be unappealing enough that the cup finals will get a boost in the state side television ratings.

(note-- it is entirely possilbe that none of this matters. The NBA is obviously fixed and therefore if NBA wants the Suns to win, they will win anyway)

New Blogger! Hurricane Horowitz!

Let me introduce a new blogger... Fresh off his first year at law school in NYC, Hurricane Horowitz will provide insight on legal issues relating to sports as well as his slant on the New York scene (namely the Mets).

Welcome Hurricane!

Blue Jays Bruise Baltimore in Birdy-Battle, Bolster Belief In Bounce-Back...

I couldn't resist.

After one late-inning comeback and two outstanding pitching performances, the Jays have some momentum going into a potentially tough 10 game road swing. Winners of 5 of their last 6 games, our boys are finally starting to display the scrappiness die-hard fans expect from this team. Ryan Roberts made his first splash last night with a sensational catch against the left field wall in the top of the 2nd. Troy Glaus continues to play through evident pain, coming through with timely hitting and crucially perceptive base-running. A.J. appears to be settling into a groove and some of the spark that has been missing from the squad in general is beginning to burn once again. And speaking of sparks...

Rookie pitcher (and former Devil Rays bat-boy) Jesse Litsch set Lil' Rodge ablaze Tuesday night with a sizzling gem of an outing, pitching one out shy of a complete game. With a decent sized crowd (Thanks, $2 Tuesdays) behind him from the early going, and the element of surprise on his side, Litsch (pictured above) shook off a first-inning Oriole run and delivered with an evening of superb and gutsy pitching. This ranks right up at the top of my list for most entertaining games attended this season and, although I would like to have seen more run support for Litsch and Burnett, one-run finishes are always thrilling and it's good to see the team rallying back and putting some victories together.

Let's hope the W's keep piling up as we head into South Philly for the first inter-league games of the year. The Phils are in the zone right now as well, taking 3 in a row from the red hot Brew-Crew. An important off-day will give the Jays some time to rest and focus on the 17 straight games on the horizon. One series at a time. We're gettin' back on track...

One Sweep Completed, One Sweep Stopped

It's with mixed emotions I tell you that the Buffalo Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators earlier this evening. While there's a small part of me that believes in miracles the rest of me just wishes this series was over.
Sabres still didn't look great but Emery let in two fairly soft goals whereas Miller was fantastic.
Kalinin was nailed to the bench for most of the game. I think it's time they dress Nathan Paetsch and give Dmitri a rest. Zubrus left the game with an injury, look for Drew Stafford to in the line-up on Saturday if Dainius is still hurt.

Meanwhile at Lil' Rodge, the Burner laid the smackdown on the Orioles as the Jays completed a nice little sweep. Only caught bits of this game, but it's certainly nice to see AJ doing well. I'd love to see the Jays bats come alive though.

Link(s) o' the Day

A few great links for today.

First! The Simmons Podcast on ESPN.com
This week's guest, my personal hero...ADAM CAROLLA
Eye of the Sports Guy Click on the link to the right.

Second! A nice sports media article by William Houston at the Globe and Mail sent to me by Paul. First topic, my personal enemy...PIERRE MCGUIRE
Up close, but not too personal

Third! Ben sent me a New York times article about the late Dan Snyder's family. Parents of Dan Snyder Forgive but Can't Forget
Of course, I think Heatley should be in prison not playing in tonight's game, but it's nice that the Snyder family can forgive him for his act of vehicular homicide.

*Insert "Jesse's Girl" Reference Here*

What a night last night! Other than Roy Halladay's 10-inning complete game, that was the most fun DWS and I had at Lil' Rodge all year.

As I'm sure you all know by now, Jesse Litsch made his debut last night and pitched a real beauty. He went an astounding 8.2 innings with one strikeout and about 50 shattered bats (really, I can't remember ever seeing that many broken bats in a game).

After Accardo closed out the ninth we stuck around for a bit to watch the classic shaving cream pie-in-the-face routine perpetrated by Wells and Burnett on both Litsch and his father. Good times!

I'm skipping tonight's game to watch the Sabres hopefully get put out of their misery.

The Week Ahead

Trying to re-live the horrors of the Drive of Shame: Part Deux was just too painful. I had to skip it.

Tuesday
Tonight at Lil' Rodge call-up Jesse Litsch (5-1, 0.96 ERA in New Hampshire) takes on Daniel Cabrera (3-3). Things are starting to come together again for the Blue Jays, even after the crushing loss on Sunday to the Devil Rays.

Later this evening the Western Conference Final shifts to hockey-crazed Orange County, California. The Anaheim (Don't Call Us Mighty) Ducks try to take a 2-1 series lead against the Detroit Red Wings. Who would have predicted that this was going to be the more exciting of the two conference finals?

Wednesday
Back at Lil' Rodge, the Burner (3-3) goes up against southpaw Brian Burres (1-1). Hopefully the Jays can finish with a win before they go on the road to face Philadelphia, Baltimore and Minnesota.

Also tonight, the Sabres and Senators face-off in the nation's capital...well in Kanata, not really the nation's capital, more like the nation's large parking lot.
I could run my mouth about this series for hours, but as I said before, it's too painful. I won't use the old addage that "the Sens didn't beat the Sabres, the Sabres beat themselves", but in all honesty I haven't seen Buffalo play this poorly since before the lock-out. The Senators are playing almost flawless hockey, so Kudos to them. (Shhh That was just a ploy to Jinx Ottawa. Buffalo is playing a great game of Rope-A-Dope and is about to rattle off four wins in a row)

Thursday
The Jays have the day off (travel day) before the aforementioned week and a half long road trip.

If you subscribe to MLB Extra Innings and are home at noon, check out the Indians vs the Twins as Johan Santana (4-3) battles Fausto C. Carmona (4-1). Two great pitchers, two great names.

If Chicago and Golden State found a way to prolong their series on Tuesday then you can check out those games on whatever network happens to be simulcasting TNT.

Friday
The Jays take on the Phillies in another boring interleauge series that no one cares about. MLB.com is reporting that McGowan will get the start, but that can't be correct.

NEW FEATURE - CAPTION CONTEST (In the comments section, please provide a hilarious caption for this photo)

GIBBONS! NO!

Okay, Gibbons just pulled Marcum in the middle of a no-hitter.
I know about the pitch limit and all that...but WHAT THE FUCK?!?!
I'm not saying I expected Shawny-boy to keep it going much longer, but give the kid a chance. Let the fans have something to cheer about.

Stay tuned for a posting about DRIVE OF SHAME PART DEUX

The Drive of Shame

Driving home from Buffalo last night I realized something, the Sabres
still haven't played their best hockey. They played worse last night
than I had seen them play all year and yet they still gave the Senators
a run for their money. Here's something else I realized, they're
running out of time to remember how to play. Playing poor to mediocre
hockey allowed them to beat the Islanders in 5, the Rangers in 6, but
Ottawa is just too good. Other than one defensive lapse by Corvo and Preissing that led to Lydman's goal, the Sens played a flawless game. The Kalinin/Numminen pair was just awful, slow to the puck in the corners, an inability to hold the offensive zone and countless giveaways. I'll be back in Buffalo on Saturday with DWS, hoping for a better result. Pretty much every game is a must win from here on out.

I also had the pleasure of turning on the Fan on the way home and hearing that not only did Roy Halladay get shelled but that BJ Ryan will be out for at least 12 months recovering from Tommy John surgery. To quote The Simpsons, "This is a black day for baseball."

I'm as Mad as Hell and I'm Not Going to Take This Anymore!

Thanks Howard Beale!

After being at Lil' Rodge for two straight horrible losses at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, I think it's time I take a break. It's just too frustrating to watch the season slip away so early, especially when the Blue Jays faithful allow the opposing fans to walk all over us.

While I remain cautiously optimistic, both Chump and DWS maintain that it would take more than a miracle for us to be in any semblance of a playoff race come September. Our pitching stinks, our hitting is grossly under-performing and our manager and general manager seem to have fallen out of favour with a high percentage of the fans.

Shea Hillenbrand may have been a little early in his judgement, but this is certainly a sinking ship.

Wednesday's Link 'o the Day

Didn't read anything too interesting today. Scott Burnside of ESPN had an decent piece on the Conn Smythe Trophy race.

Linky

Tuesday's Link o' the Day

Thanks to Ben for this great article by David Naylor about the attitudes of the cities of Buffalo and Ottawa.
A Tale of Two Cities

In Praise of Older Men

Mondays & Fridays 5pm-7pm. That's when I hang loose and get crazy with the boys. Of course, I'm speaking of Bob McCown and his panel of pundits on the Fan590. Not that I'm not a Prime Times Sports junkie Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...but the carefree anything goes attitude that envelops the Round Table really gets me going. Like the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s, Prime Times Sports provides countless hours of entertainment.

Let's talk about some of the faces that are undeniably made for radio. As Chuck Swirsky will tell you, Bob McCown is the franchise player at the Fan590. He's the leader and the face and voice of the show. But let me extrapolate on my earlier analogy; The 1990 Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup after Wayne Gretzky had been traded to Los Angeles thanks to the leadership of Mark Messier. And that's where Stephen Brunt comes in. Brunt is a brilliant writer, a great speaker and seems
to know everything. He obviously does a huge amount of preparation before every show and is always there to answer a tough question. If Bob's sick or on a three-week vacation then Brunt (with the help of Kelley,Ormsby, Faulds or whoever happens to be on the panel that week) will fill in admirably. The panel is usually comprised of hard-nosed journalists, all with their own unique view. They are always
interesting, informative and are rarely guilty of toeing the party line.

The topics discussed on PTS range from your sports-talk standards to race relations, problems with Quebec and pea-less whistles. Credit to Bobcat and his producers for always spending the right amount of time on each subject. When something is getting stale they move right along, but if it seems to be rolling they'll continue on with it for two or three segments.

Those who already listen know exactly what I'm talking about. But those who don't or those who are turned-off by Bob McCown's arrogance or his long, radio-unfriendly pregnant pauses, should take fifteen minutes and listen to the best sports analysis and insight that this country has to offer...I guarantee you'll be hooked.

Link o' the Day

Great article from the Bill Simmons archive regarding Roger Clemens:
Is Clemens the Anti-Christ?

The Week Ahead

Welcome to the first full week of Stories from Lil' Rodge. Those first few days were a nice little test run. I'm ironing out the kinks, trying to establish a style and hoping to have the other writers contribute a little more. I've even learned about something called "proof-reading".


Monday
The Blue Jays have a much needed day off today after being swept on the road by both the Indians and the Rangers. Luckily we have ace surgery patient Victor Zambrano on the mound to help get us out of the slump. It's really a medical miracle, he had Tommy John surgery and in less than twelve months he went from an average pitcher to a below average pitcher.

Canada takes on the US in the "Our teams didn't make the playoffs" tournament. That can be seen on TSN at noon. I would love to see the ratings for this tournament. Was it worth them pre-empting the Sabres/Rangers game? Luckily NBC, who's doing a great job with their coverage, started the game on time. HOWEVER, I was very much looking forward to NBC's telecast because I'd finally get a respite from the blow-hardary (new word!) of Pierre McGuire, but they hired him too! I never thought I'd miss having to watch Barry Melrose, Darren Pang, Mike Emmrick, Gary Thorne and John Buccigross on ESPN but TSN's sub-standard broadcasts makes me long for the days of being reminded three times a period what colour jersey the teams were wearing.

Also on TSN, Red Wings vs Sharks. I just want this series to be over so the NHL can announce the schedule for the Sabres/Senators series. Is it Thursday and Saturday or Friday and Sunday? I want to know! Regardless, the Ducks are going to pummel whoever they face. I would love to see Hasek injured though, that's all I can hope for.

Tuesday
The aforementioned Victor Zambrano (0-1) takes the mound against Josh Beckett (6-0!!!) as the Red Sox and Blue Jays kick off a three game series at Lil' Rodge. It'll be a crowded house the next two nights as it's a $2 Tuesday (a promotion they should keep all season) followed by...

Wednesday
...the return of Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-2). The pride of Tokyo faces-off against Tomo Ohka (2-3), the shame of Kyoto.

Thursday
If the Sabres/Sens series starts on Thursday, then I'll be in Buffalo. If not I'll be back at Lil' Rodge for the third day in a row watching Roy Halladay (4-1) take on knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (3-3).

Friday
The other potential start date for the Sabres/Sens series. I've got to keep my schedule open. This should really be an amazing series and if Buffalo ends up beating Ottawa then I'm sure I'll be saying "Oh yeah, we've always owned the Sens in the playoffs. The Sens are chokers. etc" But as of right now the Sens look like the better team and I'm terrified of them.
This picture will help ease my mind.

Max's Greatest Goal

We all know Maxim Afinogenov has scored some big goals, DWS and I witnessed him score an OT winner against Anaheim last year in Buffalo that was strikingly similar to the one he scored in game 5 against the Rangers on Friday night.

But Max isn't known as much for his clutch performances as he is for his razzle-dazzle.

And with that lame little introduction, I now present to you...Max's Greatest Goal (and perhaps the NHL's greatest goal of all-time) Scored on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2002/2003 season.



Edit - Didn't realize how much the quality of a clip gets compromised when you upload it to YouTube (I'm new to all this)
So here's a direct mpg link to the clip uploaded to my ween.net webspace. Now you can download and watch it over and over again.
Max's Goal

Now Pitching...Steve Nebraska

1994 was a tough year for a lot of us. John Candy died, followed by Kurt Cobain, and then baseball went on strike.

But that September a little movie hit the theatres that we all thought would be a bright spot during a dreadfully dreary time.
The movie was The Scout, starring Albert Brooks and Brendan Fraser. I remember going with my brother to the Hyland 2 to see it on opening weekend. We were both big Albert Brooks fans and the fact that this was Brendan Fraser's follow up to the uproarious Encinco Man made it all the more appealing.

I don't want to tread too close to Bill Simmons' territory and do a full on sports-movie review, but I will say this: there was definitely something amiss with The Scout. Perhaps is was the dark subplot of Brendan Fraser's abusive father or the long stretches of character development with no baseball being played, but both my brother and I left The Scout with a bad taste in our mouths. Even hilarious cameos by George Steinbrenner, Keith Hernandez et al. and this classic exchange by Brooks and Fraser on top of Yankee Stadium at the end can't save the movie:

Steve: Al, you're like a dad to me.
Al: But I'm not your dad. I'm just a guy taking 15 percent.
Steve: I thought it was 10.

But for all of The Scout's faults, it does bring up a compelling question:
How much could Steve Nebraska make in today's MLB?

Let's weigh the pros and cons.

Pro: Pitched 81 consecutive, un-hittable strikes for a perfect game in the first game of the World Series
Con: Achieved such a high level of glory too early in his career. It'll be hard for him to top that.

Pro: Can consistently pitch over 105mph.
Con: Seems to only have a fastball. Eventually batters will find a way to hit off him, even it it means starting their swing before he starts his wind-up.

Pro: Can hit home runs with the regularity of a steroids-era Barry Bonds.
Con: Being at the plate will make him the target of bean balls. He'll also start being intentionally walked a lot, which could open him up to even more injuries having to run the base paths.

Pro: He's a tall, handsome, white guy that would be a great face for any franchise.
Con: Is clearly a loose cannon with severe father issues. He could self destruct at any time. Also, it's not clear how old he is, even barring some sort of psychological implosion he may only have 5-7 years left in his prime.

Final Figure: With the right agent and a nice bidding war, Steve Nebraska would command approximately $55million/year. I know some have suggested he would garner upwards of $70million, but I believe he has too many "issues" to receive that kind of salary.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this hard-hitting topic.

Additional information provided by my friend Hurricane Horowitz, a guy who genuinely loves The Scout.

Drury and Afinogenov come through in the clutch!

What a game, what a fucking game!
Had to flip back and forth between the Sabres/Rangers and the Nets/Raptors tonight.
Unbelievable finish. Max played like a man possessed after starting the game with a terrible give-away.
I really believe this is what Buffalo needed to launch them to the next level. If they had lost, season over, the end.
Wow.

Bummer about the Raptors. The team should be very proud of such a great turn around this season, but at the same time they were just horrible against the Nets and they should explore why. (Ottawa Senators of the NBA? Great regular seasons, too soft for the playoffs. Anyone?) Obviously it's too early to cast those kind of judgements but I can definitely see the team going down that path.

Who Needs Sabres Tickets?! Got'em? Need'em?

Most of you know that I'm a die hard Buffalo Sabres fan (and by "most" I mean all three of the readers of this blog).
This year I purchased a 6-game mini-pack for the regular season and then was offered first cracks at playoff tickets. Playoff tickets weren't cheap, they were almost double what they cost during last year's cinderella run. But I assumed that because the regular season was completely sold out, the playoffs would be an extremely hot ticket.

Boy was I wrong.

I guess everyone had the same idea as me and bought up a bunch of tickets with the hope of selling them off at a huge profit. Now I'm no economist, but I'm pretty this is what "supply and demand" refers to. There are so many god damn tickets for sale on eBay and craigslist that I've been lucky to sell off some of my games for face value. That combined with the old "wait and see" attitude the fans have embraced has really screwed me over.

But I guess I'm just as much to blame as everyone else. As I told DWS, if this Rangers series goes to a game 7 then I'd try to sell off my tickets. The high of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals wouldn't be worth the risk of the horrible low of being eliminated by Jagr and the rest of this pseudo-Czech national team. The drive of shame back to Toronto would be far too painful. I'd end up drunk at some bar on Chippewa, puking my guts out into the shit-toilets.

So Close To Perfect...

August 4th, 1989

Dave Stieb takes the mound to face the New York Yankees, on an evening which would go down in Blue Jays history. Seven years old at the time and already a frequent attendee, I took in this game with my Mom. Our season tickets were up in section 534 in '89 and Mom has next to no interest in sports. I remember her wanting to leave in the fifth inning and me having to explain to her that we had to stay because something special was happening. Stieb threw like a man possessed and shut down the Bombers convincingly all night. No hits. No walks. The crowd reached a nervous fever pitch by the top of the ninth...

As we all know, the lowly number nine hitter in the Yankee lineup - Roberto Kelly - hit a two-out double to stifle Stieb's stab at the record books. Kelly would score on Steve Sax's RBI single, before Stieb finally put New York away for good. This is the earliest memory I have of being at a game which was monumental, and being aware of it at the time. My Dad was understandably upset that he skipped this one. It was an unforgettable experience and an event which will shine near-perfectly forever, in the Jays' legacy.

What does Lil' Rodge mean?!?!?

Since the debut of this blog last night I received a slew of emails* asking where the title "Stories from Lil' Rodge" comes from.
Well here's the deal...When super monopoly Rogers Communications took over ownership of the building formerly known as the SkyDome they decided to change the name to The Rogers Centre. This change was met with outrage by literally hundreds of people. The SkyDome was the name our home for so many years. Sure it wasn't perfect, but we had an All-Star Game and won two World Series here (well only in '93 did we actually win here, but you know what I mean). If Ted Rogers wanted to get his name all over the building he could have at had least had the deceny to call it "The Rogers SkyDome" or even "The Rogers Dome" would have been better. To this day I refuse to utter the phrase "The Rogers Centre." BUT...

One day friend of the blog and former Hooters cook, Nickels, came up with the term "Lil' Rodge" when referring to the building formerly known as the SkyDome and it just stuck (I wish there was a more exciting story surrounding the birth of the name, but there's not) The new name somehow captures the bush-league vibe given off inside as well as the lack of attendance.

Our goal here at SFLR is to one day hear Jerry Howarth say the phrase, "It's a beautiful day here at Lil' Rodge".






*didn't actually receive any

Welcome to Stories from Lil' Rodge!

Welcome to Stories from Lil' Rodge!

This blog will contain personal stories and observations about the following topics:
a) the Toronto sports scene
b) any sporting event we have watched on TV
c) our travels to other cities to watch sports
d) pretty much anything else we feel like discussing