Five-Tool Farq: Monday, May 24th

Introducing the first installment of the Five-Tool Farq: My take on what's making headlines across the Big 4 sports in North America and that other big sport they play everywhere else.


SOCCER

Canada lost 5-0 to Argentina on Monday in the first ever friendly between the two nations. It was pretty hilarious seeing Diego Maradona shouting and going nuts from the bench with guys like Mike Klukowski facing his world-class team. I was not surprised at all that Argentina dominated, or the fact that Canada had exactly zero quality chances. I was surprised that Argentina only scored 5 goals though! If Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain didn’t dick around so much, they could have easily doubled their score. But to put a positive spin on it, I hope Canada’s boys learned from the experience. It was their worst loss in 7 years, but the squad barely plays. They need to play these top-level talents much more often if they are to ever qualify for another World Cup. Perhaps they’ll come out with a better effort against Venezuela as their South American tour ends on Saturday.

BASEBALL

Ahh, baseball, where I can get down and dirty with some nerdy numbers. The Toronto Blue Jays home run numbers are ridiculous right now. Coming into tonight’s game in Anaheim, the Jays have smoked 76 home runs in 46 games. The second place team is the Red Sox with 60. That is crazy. The Jays are on pace to hit 268 home runs this year, which would eclipse the 1997 Seattle Mariners who lead all of history with 264 dingers in a single season. Of course, there is the slimmest of slim chances this power surge will hold up. Once pitchers figure out Jose Bautista, maybe he won’t have the most home runs in the majors (okay, he’s tied for the lead, but you catch my drift).

HOCKEY

The Stanley Cup Finals are set. The Chicago Blackhawks will be taking on the Philadelphia Flyers. Wow. Full credit to the Montreal Canadiens, who actually had me not hating them with every fibre of my hockey-loving soul for a change. Regardless, this Cup final is going to be fantastic. The championship round pits two Cup-starved cities with great fanbases, and more importantly good TV markets. The Flyers flew into the playoffs on the seat of their pants via a Game 82 shootout win, while the Blackhawks have been among the cream of the crop since scalping the Central Division from the greedy grasp of the Red Wings. There’s lots of great young players on these two teams. Lots of Olympic gold medalists, too.

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Roger Staubach, that famous old hall of fame quarterback, is currently the chairman of the North Texas Super Bowl committee. The same committee that landed the upcoming Super Bowl into that glorious new Cowboys Stadium. What he’s trying to do now is get that same building another Super Bowl in 2016. I don’t care if you have the coolest building in the world, that’s way too soon to come back. But this is nothing new at all. In fact, two of the last four Super Bowls have been in Miami. Four of the last six have been in the state of Florida. Though I admit I have next to no knowledge on the politics of Super Bowl site selection, it’s clear to see that the vast country of America is not being fairly represented.

BASKETBALL

I’ve heard way too much speculation about where Chris Bosh and LeBron James are going to end up. The playoffs are still on! But that’s saying something, these playoffs have been an absolute snooze. Thankfully, Steve Nash is sacrificing his body like a true Canadian in order to spice things up a bit. Not that I see the Suns lasting more than 6 games against the Lakers. Here’s hoping the inevitable Lakers / Celtics final will live up to past encounters.