Blackhawks win the Cup; my love for the Leafs grows

Last night, the Chicago Blackhawks did something they hadn't done in 49 years: Win the Stanley Cup.

It was a strange ending to what was otherwise a rather colourful championship series, Patrick Kane scoring an overtime winner that managed to find that sweet spot of the net that hides the puck from everyone's view. But it was a goal nonetheless, and Chicago ended the longest active Stanley Cup drought.

That distinction has now been passed on to my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs. And as much fun as that is for the rest of the Leaf-hating league, it only serves to make me a bigger fan.

Losing is part of being a fan, and losing a lot is part of being a Leafs fan. Now that we are finally alone as the most depressing franchise in the NHL, there's extra motivation to win. And if that hypothetical win were ever to happen, it would be all the sweeter.

The Leafs are planning a couple off-season moves that doesn't involve trading Kaberle or sitting through the draft: Thanks to my former roommate and hockey rumour expert Mark Boffo, I've learned that the Leafs are primed to name Dion Phaneuf the 18th captain in franchise history. And when they announce that, which should happen next week, they'll also be unveiling redesigned jerseys for next year.

There's no actual pictures of the jerseys yet, but according to the description, they'll basically be modern versions of the 92/93 jerseys. The folks over at Leafs HQ have done a mock-up of what they'll look like, and I'm very impressed!

Now if only the Jays would follow suit...

Alex Gonzalez vs. Alex Gonzalez

I recently caught up with a young woman with a fantastic last name. Emma Farquharson, founding director and editor of Mushy Pony, had a very interesting debate with me about the merits of the two Alex Gonzalezes in Blue Jays history.

Check it out here: Mushy Pony: Which Alex Gonzalez Hits Home?

The Basketball Quandary

I'm a big sports fan. It began out of pure passion for my favourite teams, and continued to grow as I learned just about every sport you can name as I began to work in the industry. Flipping between the Stanley Cup finals and the NBA finals tonight, I'm clearly favouring one sport over the other. I'm all over this hockey broadcast.

Everyone loves lists, and every once and a while we go through our list of favourite sports. The order of my list has fluctuated over the years, but basketball has consistently been on the bottom.

I don't hate basketball. I know the game, follow the game and respect the game. But I just don't like it as much as other sports. What could it be, though? I know I can love basketball, and I've cheered for games with the same passion as I have any other sport. Let's look at the deep-rooted psychological issues at hand:

The biggest factor, I believe, is that my team hasn't ever been a true contender for the NBA championship, thus giving me real reason to believe that I "belong" in the community of basketball fans. The Toronto Raptors have won just a single playoff series in their history and that was back in 2001. Since then, it's been rebuilding and Eastern conference mediocrity. No doubt, if the Raptors were to contend, I would be a much bigger fan of the game in general.

That's the long term problem. In the short term, there's a whole other world of sports to distract me from falling in love with basketball.

For one, the World Cup is coming up, and that transcends all sports in my books. Another reason is the NHL, which has to unfortunately compete with the NBA at the same time for audiences during their respective championships. The Blackhawks and Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals is way more exciting to me because it's a new matchup. Lakers and Celtics is old news. I do say that with ignorance towards their storied histories, I realize, but for that reason it doesn't appeal to me as much as, say, a Cavs/Suns final would.

Could it be the game itself is just inferior to others? That's impossible to say for sure, and I know a lot of people would kill me for even thinking that. Perhaps I don't like it because it's too easy for one player to take over a game and pour in 50 points as opposed to, on the opposite end of the spectrum, a 25-pass play involving eight players leading to the one goal scored in a 90-minute soccer match. That's another reason, but really you can dig and find pros and cons like that for every sport out there.

In the end, I think my basketball quandary comes down to the Raptors. Just win, dammit!

Looking into World Cup style

I haven't had the chance to write up anything of my own in the past few days, so I'm going to redirect my legions of readers to Sonja Cori Missio's great blog, 90 Minutes of HOPP.

Check out her latest entry looking into the jerseys of every team at the World Cup in South Africa... except for North Korea.

A severe case of perfection

Wow. What a day for baseball.

On the home front, I can be happy that the Jays have smashed their way to a new club record for home runs in a month. Four more dingers today gives the Jays 50 in May, eclipsing the old mark of 48 still with two games left before June.

Then June will hit and comes series against the Rays, Yankees, Cardinals, and Phillies (that home series being played 800km away in Philadelphia). If we're one game out of the wild card a month from now like we so teasingly stand today, I'll eat my hat.

With that out of my system, let's get to the good stuff.

Roy Halladay has written himself into baseball's history books by throwing the 20th perfect game in major league history tonight. Not only does this make my 2nd round, 21st overall selection of Halladay in this year's Score Baseball draft look like an absolute steal, it's an honour that he sincerely deserves. His dedication and professional attitude towards the game - especially in his frustrating tenure in Toronto - is well documented.

Halladay deserves a World Series title, and that's why he was shipped to Philly from the concrete confines of Rogers Centre. As good as his complete game shutout filled career has been, he also deserves a moment in the game's history that stands out above all else. Today's performance in South Florida is now his ultimate moment in the game, and will be the centre-point of a Hall of Fame career.

Until he pitches in the playoffs, anyway. It could be quite the 2010 for Doc Halladay.

Crazier yet, Dallas Braden (a member of my other fantasy team, I might add), just came off a perfect game he threw this month! There have been countless thousands of starts in major league history, and we've seen 10% of all perfect games this very month of May 2010. Two perfect games haven't been thrown in the same year since way back in 1880, when two perfect games were tossed in 5 days.

Unfortunately, the Phillies have an off day 5 days from now on June 3rd, therefore I'm starting a petition for Doc to go on short rest against Atlanta on the 2nd.

Thanks for listening, NFL

Just one day after I criticized the NFL for not spreading love in terms of Super Bowl site selection, commish Roger Goodell announced that the 2014 Super Bowl has been awarded to New York/New Jersey at the new home of the Giants and Jets.

Thanks for listening. Or more realistically, thanks for making me seem like I know what I'm talking about!

This will be a first Super Bowl in a cold-weather site that's not domed, and is a welcome breath of fresh air. Cold, biting fresh air. We could witness a first Super Bowl played in snow!

My bias is definitely playing into my enthusiasm for this announcement as a Patriots fan who knows what it's like to endure a winter game. It's more than just watching a football game when you're in the stands in freezing temperatures, it's a battle to stay warm as well. Teams who play in cold-weather games will have a distinct home-field advantage for the first time, and that could be a big factor!

In 2008, I remember the Patriots absolutely destroying the Arizona Cardinals in Week 16 at home in snowy conditions. Those same Cardinals made a run to the Super Bowl after that huge loss, nearly beating the Steelers in a classic. That Super Bowl was held in Tampa, but imagine they were playing at a cold-weather site. It likely wouldn't have been close, as the Steelers are cold-weather veterans.

That bodes well for us northern fans of the NFL. More food for thought: What if two warm climate teams make the Super Bowl? That would be fun, at the very least, to see something we don't see very often. Unlike all those Super Bowls held in Florida.

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.