RealGM

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:12 pm**

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball ... ntimes.com

In an article titled "No, Canada, for MLB", which features one of the most mysterious commas I've ever seen, Joe Cowley goes on a diatribe about how awful a market for baseball Toronto is. I am honestly perplexed by the title of this article. It makes no sense.

Article wrote:The White Sox players and staff were leaving Toronto late Thursday night after their one and only trip north of the border this season.

If it were up to most of the traveling party, it would be the last -- ever.

This is absolutely hilarious hyperbole. IT WOULD BE THEIR LAST -- EVER!!!!! It's like they escaped a city full of mutants.

After Tuesday's game, a fan asked a local talk show host if building a new stadium would help. Even the host -- Canadian, I'm guessing -- admitted that no one would care after a year.

This is high octane roflcopter fuel. The host of a talk show in Canada, HOSTED BY A CANADIAN??? WHAT? This is possibly the most useless aside that I've ever read in my life. It's almost like your drunk uncle rambling about something, then putting his hand near his mouth like he's going to let you in on a really important secret and then tells you something about "The Jews".

''Yeah, there's no real following here,'' Rios said. ''There's that small group of diehards, but it's hockey, hockey, hockey. It's gotten sad here. They just don't really care.''

What a dick. What. A. Dick.

But is it really on the fans to have a sport forced on them that isn't their own? It would seem like it's up to Major League Baseball to move the product to a place that really wants it.

That brings up the argument of South America.

Baseball already has shown it won't play in Puerto Rico, but the Dominican Republic is an option. The best option? Caracas, Venezuela. Therein is the rub.

You can argue about the validity of his argument all you want, but this is probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Yes, move the Blue Jays to a third world country. THAT'S THE TICKET!!!

This article seems like it was written by someone who recently fell down the stairs and is on a strict baby food diet. Congratulations Sun-Times, it seems like you've got yourself a real keyboard-mashing drooler on your hands. Next time, pretend you care about his article enough to edit the title to something that makes sense.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:21 pm**

Rios is right you know. Roy Halladay gets traded and the first story on TSN is Jason Spezza practicing in a return from injury. This team had a TON of fans when it was good. Its going to take a few years, but they ll attract the fans when this team is good again.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:24 pm**

I like when he suggested we move the team to New Orleans, haha.

Heck, why not move Tampa, Washington, Cleveland, Baltimore, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Oakland and Florida while we're at it? At least we'd be moving all the teams with worse attendance figures than the Jays, eh Joe?

Joe Cowley, btw, has a history of Canadian hatred. Check out his wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cowley

I still remember the not standing for O Canada and not voting for Carlos Delgado (when he was actually better than the winner, ARod) quite well.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:28 pm**

What a turd. The Jays were in the top half in attendance just two or three years ago. The damn Florida Marlin won a World Series a few years ago, and they've consistently been one of the WORST team in terms of attendance (averaging a measley 15k for the entire year?). Why not move them? What about Tampa Bay? They have a young exciting team, they were worse than us.

We should send this dickhole some hate email.

jcowley@suntimes.com

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:29 pm**

Alfred wrote:You can argue about the validity of his argument all you want, but this is probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Yes, move the Blue Jays to a third world country. THAT'S THE TICKET!!!

Well he's said Canada was a 3rd world country before, so I guess that would be a parallel move in his mind.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:42 pm**

Just sent him an email. I hope he responds.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:00 pm**

Randle McMurphy wrote:
Alfred wrote:You can argue about the validity of his argument all you want, but this is probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Yes, move the Blue Jays to a third world country. THAT'S THE TICKET!!!

Well he's said Canada was a 3rd world country before, so I guess that would be a parallel move in his mind.

It's nice to know that he is a complete imbecile. You sort of have to admire the sort of brash, no-apologies stupidity required to not stand for another country's national anthem.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:03 pm**

Here is his twitter.

http://twitter.com/cst_sox

# Arrived in Cleveland ... USA, USA, USA ... Four days in Toronto is like three weeks in the States. about 4 hours ago via txt

Just got through customs ... Felt like Midnight Express. "Oh Bobby!"

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:10 pm**

It's cute that his handlers still let him play dress-up.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:20 pm**

darth_federer wrote:Here is his twitter.

http://twitter.com/cst_sox

# Arrived in Cleveland ... USA, USA, USA ... Four days in Toronto is like three weeks in the States. about 4 hours ago via txt

Just got through customs ... Felt like Midnight Express. "Oh Bobby!"

I'm losing brain cells.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:26 pm**

Just realized the Jays and Sox had the same attendance record in 2008, TWO YEARS after they won a WS. http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2008

Ugh.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:36 pm**

I think that we should take turns tearing this article apart.

The getaway suits were on, the bags were packed -- some Gucci, some whatever animal Randy Williams hunted himself and turned into a piece of luggage.

The column was inexplicably green-lit, the throwaway opening paragraph hacked together -- a hopefully unnecessary commentary on the tendency of baseball players to wear clothes (and even packing spare clothes...some expensive, some less so!), an entirely out-of-place reference to an obscure player's love of hunting.

Baseball is failing in Muddy York, as it was once called, and failing miserably.

A classic bit of hackery: cite some centuries-old nickname or factoid from when a city was a backwater to contest that it is today a backwater. When Toronto was nicknamed 'Muddy York', Chicago didn't exist. And your city's name is a bastardized version of a word meaning 'Smelly Onion', so go **** yourself.

It's true that, in (on?) the South Side, fans show up in droves, though spurred largely by the opportunity to assault aged men in front of a live television audience. Only they aren't exactly forced to bar the gates against the ravenous masses ...in the three games of the White Sox/Indians series following the season opener, they pulled in 20,000 a game. Against a division rival.

Forget the obvious in failing attendance and a shrinking Blue Jays payroll. You can flip on the hotel television and skim through the stations to get the pulse of what's going on. It's NHL, junior hockey, college hockey, high school hockey, Justin Bieber, Canadian Olympians, and more hockey.

Somewhere between celebrity Texas hold 'em tournaments and MuchMusic videos, you might, just might, get a Jays highlight.

Therein lies the problem: if you flip through the channels, more often than not you'll find things that are not-Jays...as much as I bitch and moan about it, it's somewhat understandable that the Discovery Channel doesn't show much Jays content.

Sox outfielder Alex Rios grew up with the Jays organization and spent six seasons playing in Toronto -- MLB's witness protection program.

Luckily, there were just enough fans that recognized him that he had the opportunity to tell them to **** off on occasion.

But is it really on the fans to have a sport forced on them that isn't their own? It would seem like it's up to Major League Baseball to move the product to a place that really wants it.

Baseball isn't being 'forced' on Torontonians any more than dollar shots are forced upon college students. The beauty of a sport played in a stadium is that residents of the city (and people with cars) can choose for themselves whether they wish to partake in the spectacle. No one is dragged out of their homes at 3am to Rogers Centre, kicking and screaming and still wearing their nightgown, shackled to a seat in the 500-level and forced to recite Manuel Lee's statistics under penalty of death. Might be something worth considering, though.

And while attendance does suck, the league records set in the early 90s would indicate that people do, in fact, like the sport, when the team actually has a hope of competing.

Baseball already has shown it won't play in Puerto Rico, but the Dominican Republic is an option. The best option? Caracas, Venezuela. Therein is the rub.

''Caracas would be a great spot, but our political situation is not the best one,'' Guillen said. ''They have the people and the facility, but I don't think it would be the best place to have a franchise there.''

Caracas: 2 million people. Toronto: 4.8 million people. GDP per capita in Venezuela: $13,100. GDP per capita in Canada: $38,400. Distance from Chicago to Toronto: 700 kms. Distance from Chicago to Caracas: 4000 kms.

This is why, as even the batsh*t insane manager of your team notes, Caracas is a terrible **** idea for a Major League city. Given this, why in the everloving **** was it worth five paragraphs in your godforsaken article? Yes, it likely took two minutes out of your day to ask this idiotic question to not one, but two members of the White Sox franchise, but the best choice of action would have been to cut your losses there rather than putting it in print and further embarrassing yourself.

That means another team in the United States. Las Vegas won't happen. New Orleans? Maybe. A team back in Brooklyn or over in Jersey? Maybe.

MLB has stated that Las Vegas is kinda out, what with the rich history of betting scandals. New Orleans lacks a couple minor things...a stadium, public funds for a stadium, and a population with any desire whatsoever to watch baseball.

And did you just spend several hundred words **** on Toronto and then suggest New Jersey? For serious?

In conclusion: go **** yourself.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:37 pm**

I bet some Canadian girl broke his heart.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:44 pm**

Ha, that was great Schad. I wish we could force that prick to read that.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:47 pm**

raps4life~ wrote:Just realized the Jays and Sox had the same attendance record in 2008, TWO YEARS after they won a WS. http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2008

Ugh.

its not just the last few years, the Jays have outdrawn the Whitesox 27 out of 36 years of their existence.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:51 pm**

I was laughing pretty hard going through Schad's post there.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:53 pm**

Hes getting hit hard on twitter and in his comment section.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:12 pm**

I like a fight as much as the next guy, but I wonder if sometimes we re just playing into people's hands. Toronto fans have that rep now and It seems like writers do stuff to antagonize us just to get more hits to their work.

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:19 pm**

raps4life~ wrote:Hes getting hit hard on twitter and in his comment section.

Twitter wrote:#JoeCowley Black fedora. 50$. White tie. 13$. Black suit. Found in a dumpster. Writing like you have a severe learning disability? Priceless

Posted: **Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:22 pm**

darth_federer wrote:I like a fight as much as the next guy, but I wonder if sometimes we re just playing into people's hands. Toronto fans have that rep now and It seems like writers do stuff to antagonize us just to get more hits to their work.

#1. Jays fans don't have any reputation for doing anything of the sort. You are thinking of bipolar Real GM Raptors fans (which is really only a small percentage of that actual fanbase, anyway).

#2. Who gives a ****? If somebody writes something this ignorant, they deserve to be called out for it. What is he going to do? Write another misinformed article about Toronto in response?:-?

RealGM

Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article

Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article

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Re: Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article

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Re: Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article

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Re: Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article

Re: Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article

Re: Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article

Re: Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article

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Re: Dimwit slams Blue Jays & Toronto, screws up title of article