Opening Day of the MLB Season came and went this week as every fanbase in the league watched their team's first pitch and hope that this year will be a magical summer. Some places are warmer than others, but up north under the Dome (because even in Toronto baseball outside in April is dicey) the Toronto Blue Jays opened their 2013 season at Rogers Centre/SkyDome with much hoopla about their newfound playoff chances. It was a huge spectacle, Sportsnet started doing pregame three hours in advance, pumping up their company Rogers golden child and the new free agents the Blue Jays have picked up. Joe Carter was there comparing it to 1993. I was excited, but I had a bad feeling in my stomach.
See the Blue Jays have only existed to let me down ever since I was a kid. A long list of players I enjoyed have kept the tradition going, so while being excited for the new season and a team I think is still going to the playoffs, I knew the Jays likely were going to lose this game. They had to, the bar was set too high, players were nervous and started trying to hard. J.P. Arencibia found out how hard it is to catch a knuckleballer when it isn't spring training and the Jays bats just couldn't get going as they lost 4-1.
I wasn't bothered by the scoreline, it is a 162 game season and the Jays have 161 more to get the 90+ or so wins they will need to make the playoffs in the AL East. Sure an Opening Day win would have been nice, but I am bothered with the way people are already starting to panic with the Blue Jays as Toronto fans are famous for doing with their usual bandwagon sports team, the Leafs. If this entire season is going to be this every night on Twitter and in the media I am going to start getting annoyed. Here is to taking a deep breath and waiting to see how the next 161 games turn out before jumping off the ledge.
Down South the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight was the story of the weekend. While Michigan should take most of the headlines for their epic come from behind win against Kansas and Nik Stauskas' making Canada proud by going 6/6 from the three point line against Florida to make their first Final Four since the Fab Five, the story dragging into this week is unfortunately the injury of Kevin Ware and the idiocy of the NCAA's "amateur" rules getting in the way of common sense.
Ware, a solid swingman on the Louisville Cardinals one of college basketball's powerhouses who play in a home sponsore by YUM! Brands owners of KFC and Taco Bell (This already screams athletic integrity) saw his leg shatter and pierce through his skin during a routine close out attempt against Duke in their Elite Eight meeting on Sunday. The entire world saw Ware's bone in his leg go through his skin. It was a gruesome sight but what makes it even more gruesome is that the NCAA does not insure talented athletes like Ware who make millions of dollars for the institutions they play for and through the television deals the NCAA gets for college basketball and football.
With no ability to go straight to the pros, prospects are forced to play for free in the NCAA or risk going to play in Europe and having their draft stock tarnished, making it every college basketball player's biggest fear to go down with an injury like this. If the NCAA won't let anyone pay for Ware's medical bills because of their rules surronding improper benefits, they should foot the bill themselves for all of the money Ware and his team has made for them this March. Cowards. If Ware can never play in the NBA we all will need to look at if the NCAA getting these players for free in the name of amateurism is truly worth seeing what we saw on Sunday afternoon.
Lastly as I am writing this it is hour four of the NHL Trade Deadline and there has still to be one trade to be made. TSN and Sportsnet have dedicated a combined total of nearly 24 hours of coverage of this day that has grown into a national event every year and seem to be getting played by NHL GM's who have opted to make their deals before deadline day this season.
Some interesting moves have been made that have seen Jarome Iginla go to Pittsburgh and Jaromir Jagr go to Boston, but TSN is getting bit for over relying on hockey coverage just like during the lockout and it is hard to feel bad for them when they spend so much time ignoring other sports with Canadian content.
Perhaps next year the networks will use caution in putting all of their eggs in one basket and relying on NHL GM's to make entertainment happen for them.
