The remote wilds of Markham could have a $300-million, 20,000-seat sports and entertainment venue by 2014, the Globe and Mail reports. Graeme Roustan, chairman of both GTA Sports and Entertainment and Bauer, says he’ll be making an official proposal to the Town of Markham “in the near future.” Of course, the most interesting part of all this is that “there is no talk that the new venue…is contingent on the builders landing a National Hockey League tenant.” But without an NHL team, we’re skeptical of how profitable this would-be venue could actually be. Then again, a Markham NHL team might be little more than a consolation prize for the folks who can’t afford Toronto Maple Leafs tickets—and a giant middle finger to poor Jim Balsillie. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
The discerning mediavore’s take on the news of the day, from city hall to Power Ball
With the Brett Lawrie call-up, Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos’s makeover is nearly complete
(Image: Mike Durkin)
The current edition of the Toronto Blue Jays is a far cry from the team general manager Alex Anthopoulos inherited from J.P. Ricciardi in 2009. Through a series of trades and savvy free-agent signings, Anthopoulos has managed to turn the franchise’s fortunes around in a little under two years. Sure, the team is still in many ways a middling underachiever. But now there’s renewed hope that the Jays could very well be legitimate playoff contenders in the coming years. Where during the Ricciardi era the Blue Jays were a tangled mess of expensive underperforming veterans and unproven prospects (and Roy Halladay), with Anthopoulos at the helm a plan appears to be in place: namely, stockpile young prospects, build from the farm system and ink those same prospects to long-terms deals before they hit their prime. And with top prospect Brett Lawrie making his major league debut tonight against the Baltimore Orioles, the team’s long-overdue overhaul will be nearly complete. With that in mind, we look at five of the key players in the Anthopoulos makeover after the jump.
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To cap off the week, a look at the five best and worst recent logo redesigns
After much anticipation the new incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets revealed its team logos last week, and, in case you were wondering, back on Sunday, Don Cherry gave his seal of approval to the new look. “It’s terrific, and it will look great on the sweaters,” Cherry told the Winnipeg Sun. “I would wear it, for sure, because it looks good. It’s got some style about it, I’ll tell you that. It’s a hell of a lot better than an awful lot (of the logos) in the National Hockey League.” Right, because if Cherry would wear it, it must look sharp. The new look is inspired by the Royal Canadian Air Force, speaking to Winnipeg’s aviation history while meshing nicely with Winnipeg’s other sports franchise, the CFL’s Blue Bombers. While we’re not the biggest fans—sorry, Don—at least it’s a marked improvement from its immediate predecessor, which has to be up there with some of the worst logos in the history of professional sports. Of course, logos can be a divisive subject amongst sports fans, and while we’re suckers for any team that opts for the retro look, we understand logo love is entirely subjective. So is the brand spankin’ new Jets logo really “a hell of a lot better” than other recent redesigns? Check out our slide show, neatly divided into five of the best and five of the worst, and decide for yourself »
Reaction Roundup: baseball scribes roundly praise Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos for Colby Rasmus deal
The newest Blue Jay (Image: Keith Allison)
Alex Anthopoulos has done it again. Or, at least, that appears to be the overwhelming consensus among baseball media after the Toronto Blue Jays’ general manager flipped Jason Frasor, Mark Rzepcynski and change for centre fielder Colby Rasmus and a trio of pitchers in a three-team trade with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago White Sox. News of the trade leaked on Twitter early yesterday morning, and by the early afternoon #AnthopoulosIsAGoldenGod was trending (not actually, but based on everyone’s reactions it might as well have been). And for good reason: Anthopoulos somehow managed to turn a group of good-but-not-great relievers (and Corey Patterson) into a 24-year-old with legitimate all-star potential and hilarious at-bat music. Like everybody else, we love the trade and continue to be wowed by the moves the wunderkind GM is making. A look at what the assembled sports media had to say, after the jump.
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Will Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos pull the trigger on a deal at baseball’s trade deadline?
The Jays may or may not be in the market for Heath Bell (Image: SD Dirk)
With baseball’s trade deadline just around the corner, rumours are flying as to what kind of magic Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos may have up his sleeve. On Thursday, reports emerged that the Bluebirds may be taking a close look at acquiring the San Diego Padres’ coveted closer Heath Bell. Bell is arguably the hottest commodity on the trade market (read: the Yanks, Red Sox and Phillies are all after him), and even if bringing in the 33-year-old doesn’t exactly fit in with the Blue Jays’ current youth movement, there are a number of reasons Anthopoulos might pull the trigger on the deal.
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Tennis Canada accused of sexism for Rogers Cup ad
The poster in question (Image: screen grab from SlutWalkTO’s Twitter feed)
The Rogers Cup is getting its fair share of attention for all the wrong reasons. With the tournament less than three weeks away, Tennis Canada and tournament organizers recently came under fire from local women’s groups for their use of the L-word—“ladies”—in a poorly conceived marketing campaign that plastered the slogan, “Come for the ladies, stay for the legends” on posters all over the city.
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Could seven-foot, four-inch Sim Bhullar be Toronto’s next great hoop dream?
With the Great Wall of Yao and the Big Aristotle planning their vacations as the NBA’s most recent retirees (that’s Yao Ming and Shaquille O’Neal, in case you weren’t sure), pro basketball has been left with a gaping void (about seven feet wide on its side) for a towering centre. That void might one day be filled by Toronto-born baller Sim Bhullar, whose seven-foot, four-inch frame is lumbering its way toward basketball stardom.
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We look at the three front-runners in the race to replace Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo
The Raptors are in the hunt for a new GM (Image: Adam Bailey)
When Adrian Wojnarowski speaks, the basketball world listens. So we took notice when the Yahoo! Sports NBA columnist and world-class rumour monger reported last week that the Toronto Raptors have narrowed their GM search to three candidates. Current Raps president and general manager Bryan Colangelo has made it clear that he’s looking to step back from his day-to-day duties to focus on the future direction of the club. Considering his recent track record (Jonas Valanciunas aside), that might not be such a bad thing. Interviews likely won’t begin until August, but in the meantime, we break down the top three men for the job after the jump.
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Tweeter at the bat: a look at the four best Twitter users from the Toronto Blue Jays
Who are you reading about? Oh right, me. (Image: Keith Allison)
It seems like everybody in the public eye has a Twitter account these days, and Toronto’s athletes are no exception. Whether it’s promoting charities, keeping fans in the loop or breaking news, almost nothing really happens unless it happens on Twitter. Here in Toronto, the Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan is the Twitter king of Toronto sports—garnering 94,145 followers—but he may have some stiff competition thanks to the efforts of a persistent group of “twittering” Blue Jays.
J.P. ARENCIBIA Read the rest of this entry »
@jparencibia9
Followers: 30,920
Tweet frequency: It seems he’s tweeting every hour he’s off the field.
Sample tweet: “Benz? Rover? BMW? Nopeeee my sick bixi rent a bike!! #scoresettled wow and what a smooooth ride! http://yfrog.com/h2zuyemj”
Favourite topics: What he’s watching on TV, why he’ll never be in the NHL, Miami Heat basketball and just about everything else under the sun.
Why we follow him: He interacts with fans via Twitter more than almost any other Toronto athlete.
Toronto Raptors’ newest addition making a splash on the international stage
Image: Luke
He’s big, white, has suited up for the Lithuanian national team for three international tournaments since 2008 and took home the gold medal and MVP award on all three occasions. Any guesses? The answer is none other than the Toronto Raptors’ first-round draft pick Jonas Valanciunas! What’s more, at the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in Latvia on Sunday, Valanciunas dropped 36 points, as well as eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals to lead his team to gold, cementing his status as one of the brightest up-and-coming stars in international hoops. We suspect Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo is sitting somewhere smiling smugly (while simultaneously breathing a heavy sigh of relief).
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Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke returns to his youth movement
Image: Damien D.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ front office has had a busy few weeks. No, they didn’t empty the bank for coveted free agent centre Brad Richards. Ditto for established stars like Simon Gagne, Eric Brewer or even Jaromir Jagr. But in avoiding the big-splash approach to the off-season, Leafs GM Brian Burke opted for a bit-by-bit rebuild that, on a team with needs at virtually every position, is just what the doctor ordered.
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The people versus the athletes: are Toronto fans incessant boo-birds?
When former Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay returned to town this weekend, the sold-out crowd at the Rogers Centre showered him with cheers. That reaction probably came as a shock to another former Jay, Lyle Overbay, who didn’t mince his words when he was in Toronto last week, saying that he expected “the normal” reaction from Toronto fans—boos. “They’re gonna boo the other team. That’s the way they are,” said the Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman. “I’m assuming [it’s] just because of their values”. Now, Overbay was nothing but a class act in his time in Toronto, so we’re going to assume his comments aren’t just sour grapes. Still, we can’t help but wonder if there’s any validity to his statement. After all, Toronto fans seem to be notorious boo-birds: Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, Chicago White Sox GM Ozzie Guillen and former Toronto Raptors fan favourite Charles Oakley are among those who appear to think so. With that in mind, we look at five recent case studies to try to understand if the city’s sports fan really do boo too much, after the jump.
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Doug Gilmour will be one of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees; cue calls of bias from the rest of the country, self-loathing from Toronto Maple Leafs fans
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Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Doug Gilmour—Stanley Cup champion (with the Calgary Flames, not the boys in blue and white), one of the most beloved Toronto athletes in recent memory and soon-to-be Hall-of-Famer. Earlier this week the Hockey Hall of Fame announced this year’s class of inductees, which included three former Leafs—Gilmour, Eddie Belfour and Joe Nieuwendyk—who will be officially welcomed into the Hall during a ceremony in November.
A collection of Toronto’s top cricket talent announced: cue corpo-political schmoozefest
Late-night cricket at Moss Park (Image: Dan Dickinson)
Amid all the Bollywood hoopla leading up to Saturday’s International Indian Film Academy Awards, another celebration of another widely popular South Asian staple—the strange and wonderful game of cricket—almost went unnoticed. In a ceremony held at city hall on Friday, Adam Vaughan and Doug Ford teamed up to announce the final roster for the CIMA Mayor’s Team, a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and Rob Ford–backed collection of Toronto’s best teenage cricket talent. The team will be travelling to England to participate in the fourth annual Cricket Across the Pond event, where the squad will compete against the world’s best. But, of course, not before a good ol’-fashioned photo op on Saturday, where the gang—Fords et al.—took to the pitch for the Mayor’s Cup cricket tournament, an annual event since 2005.
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