Halladay all day

Toronto FC host Houston Dynamo at a booze free BMO Field today with a 1pm kickoff (coverage on CBC). The league leading Dynamo pounded TFC 3-0 on May 30th in H-Town, so TFC definitely has their work cut out for them today, as former Houston star and now RedDwayne De Rosario mentioned . The Dynamo's all-time leading scorer Brian Ching was fined for tweeting "ref in Seattle cheated the Dynamo...ref is a cheat". Wonder why a league would have a problem with that?...so if you bet on Tiger Woods to win the British Open, forget about it. For only the second time in his career, Eldrick missed the cut at a major. Biggest loser? Ratings, no doubt...not sure why things happen when they do, but seems odd that only now has video surfaced of that fateful night at a Vegas blue collar ballet of Adam "Pacman" Jones making it rain. Quality stuff embedded below...hey Yankee fans, want to buy the interlocking NY from behind the plate at the old Stadium? It can be yours for $50k, and includes delivery and having it transplanted into your lawn. Seriously...Canada faces Honduras today (5pm, SportsNet) in a Gold Cup quarter-final in Philadelphia. Will Ali Gerba continue his scoring hot streak? Let's hope, as it is good to see the red and white make some noise on the pitch...why JP Ricciardi might need to demand less for a Roy Halladay deal: as a guy signed in a multi-year contract, he's entitled to demand a trade in the off-season if he's dealt in the middle of his current year deal so a team could be renting him for a couple months and change. That said, with a no-trade deal, it seems unlikely he'd approve a move to somewhere he didn't plan on staying, but it is possible. Unless they're bluffing, you can count the Chicago White Sox out as manager Ozzie Guillen said "I don't think were going to give up half the organization for one player." Finally, Drunk Jays Fan - a great blog - says it is time to trade Halladay, but that it likely won't happen...not sure what it is about me that takes such great pleasure everytime the Toronto Argos get throttled. This time, they were 44-9 losers in Calgary...word is Shaquille O'Neal is talking about making a splash in MMA and wants a shot at UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. Lesnar would kill him - maybe literally - in seconds. Shaq would be better served making Kazaam II than thinking he's got a hope against a total athletic freak than Lesnar...Phil Hughes whiffed all six batters he faced to get the win, 5-3, for the New York Yankees last night, not exactly a common event against a division leader...have a great Saturday all.

Check out Derek Jeter's new digs being built in Tampa. A mere 38,000 square feet. Isn't it perfect that the left side of the house in the picture is way less spacious than the right? After all, Jeter struggles to go to the left...Baseball America rated the Top 20 rookies in the game this year at the break and Toronto Blue Jays fans ought to be happy. Not only is Ricky Romero ranked tops, but the Jays managed to land a second in the top 10 at #8 with Scott Richmond...NASCAR's Jeremy Mayfield has now failed two tests for meth usage. Mayfield contends he's being set up. Someone hitting the meth is coming off paranoid? Weird......the Chicago Cubs did indeed take a chance on BJ Ryan and why not for a mere $400k prorated the rest of the way. The NL Central race will be a wild race the rest of the way with only the Pittsburgh Pirates (surprise!) more than 5.5 games behind St. Louis...check out Chris Berman once again playing the bitter guy role at the airport a couple days ago where he was entirely ignored by an autograph hunter who was chatting up Tampa Bay Ray Evan Longoria who was right beside him. Awesome. Here, of course, is the famous first rant from Berman...the British Open didn't get off to as great a start as planned for Tiger Woods. Woods shot an opening round 71 and is 7 off the pace, no doubt sending more than a few gamblers into a panic...David Beckham returned for the LA Galaxy in a 3-1 win over the hapless New York Red Bull last night, though he didn't really have much to do with it other than inspiring thousands to dress as empty blue seats at Giants Stadium. A couple nice goals in the hilite pack below...The Bleacher Report chimes in with the dozen best athlete excuses...Cristiano Ronaldo boldly predicts that Real Madrid will win La Liga and take the Champions League as well. Frankly, anything less is a disappointment, but I'm still going to say Barcelona is a better team and has a few players, unlike Real, capable of defending...Joel Sherman at SI.com says that the time is now for the Toronto Blue Jays to trade Roy Halladay. Interestingly, 11 of Halladay's projected 16 starts remaining if he were to stay would be against the AL East teams ahead of the Jays. Of course, that number could actually increase if the Baltimore Orioles get hot. John Lott says the Jays will not be lowering their lofty demands to deal Halladay...have a great Friday.

LA Galaxy @ New York Red Bull

The Philadelphia Phillies signed Pedro Martinez and he immediately went on the DL with a shoulder strain. That must've been some heavy pen he was using to ink his contract. Pedro signed for a cheap $1 million the rest of the way, with a chance to earn another $1.5 million in bonuses. So much for his $5 million pro-rated he was demanding...is there anybody that is shocked that former Toronto Blue Jays - among others - closer Billy Koch was charged with criminal mischief and battery after getting into it with a neighbor, no doubt in a trailer park? Check out Koch's numbers pre-drug testing in 2003 and after. Anybody think he wasn't juicing?...the construction workers in South Africa working on World Cup 2010 stadia are no longer on strike after picking up 12% raises that will see the highest paid workers now making $336. A month. Seriously...the general consensus among Mariano Rivera, Justin Verlander, Shane Victorino and Michael Young, among others, on what picking up Roy Halladay would mean in a trade is that he'd put a team over the top. Well yeah, if you're a contender, you'd think one of the top five starters in the game would do that...why the New York Yankees should trade for Halladay: you've got about $40 million coming off the payroll this off-season with Andy Pettitte, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Xavier Nady moving out, and a rotation fronted by CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay and AJ Burnett can lead you to 100 win years for the next 3/4 years. No brainer, even if it means dealing Phil Hughes and Jesus Montero...word is season ticket renewals for the NBA squads in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Indiana and Milwaukee are going terribly. Rough times ahead for David Stern's league?...Canadian Justin Morneau is unimpressed that the All-Star Game featured a pre-recorded version of the Canadian national anthem. Good for Morneau. How can games where Toronto is playing always have the anthem sung but the freaking All-Star Game, which has Blue Jays and Canadian players, goes to a canned version? Lame...a French tennis player had a failed drug charge dismissed upon appeal because he claims the cocaine ended up in his system after he kissed a girl at a bar. That's either incredible recall or creativity on his part...Dallas Cowboy back-up Tight End Martellus Bennett staged the Black Olympics where he went for the very evolved contests of seeing who could eat fried chicken quickest, watermelon, and drinking Kool-Aid quickest. The video is just over four minutes, and incredibly, at no point does the term "is this a bad idea?" come up. Video below...if I'm the CFL or MLS, I'm making damn sure I had games going last night sans competition. Alas, neither did and the WNBA was the only action to watch...the British Open is under way and by the sounds of it, everyone and their mother figures Tiger Woods is a lock. Also a lock: wind, torched grass and evil bunkers, if Turnberry is anything like the average British Open track...have a great Thursday.

The AL wins again

Check out the promotional poster for The T.O. Show at right. We get it T.O. - you're ripped. Now put some clothes on...the American League is now 12-0-1 the last 13 All-Star games after last nights 4-3 win. The only surprise in the game last night was that the game was as low scoring, or as quick, as it was at just over two hours. Baseball's all-star game remains far and away the best of the big league sports, not that there is really any competition from the others which only resemble their real games. The AL has also seen one of its players take the MVP of the game award the last 12 years as well, with Tampa Bay Ray Carl Crawford merely the latest..Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson are said to be done, which eliminates another possible excuse for Romo when he plays poorly. Mix in that Terrell Owens is gone now too and any blame to be disseminated will be squarely on the oversized shoulder pads of #9...the Washington Nationals have composed a letter to their eleven fans to let them know that despite their record, former GM's getting bounced for presiding over skimming off draft picks money, firing of managers and a general lack of talent, they really are heading in the right direction. Or something like that...more bobbleheads from The Office? Seriously. Love the Kevin, Andy and Ryan versions...why is it when you see the weather forecast, the probability of precipitation is almost never 50%? Really, isn't that the most accurate assessment a meteorologist could give?...was Chicago Black Hawks former GM Dale Tallon set up for failure? Some seem to think so...Saturday's Toronto FC and Houston Dynamo game at BMO Field in Toronto will be an alcohol free affair after someone drank underage. I don't want to go conspiracy theorist here but there's no way the fact it is soccer doesn't have a lot to do with it. You mean to tell me nobody drank underage at the Rogers Centre for the Buffalo Bills, Toronto Argos or Blue Jays? Don't recall their license being pulled for a sporting event. Maple Leafs or Raptors? Lies...Andre "Bad Moon" Rison declares himself the best wideout to ever play football. No, seriously. I think what he meant to say was he's the best wideout who has ever had their house burnt to the ground by an ex-girlfriend...Child mullets. Rule...have a great Wednesday.

The Halladay Showcase Intensifies

Over at SI.com, Jon Heyman delivers his mid-season trade primer. Who do you suppose is listed as the #1 player available and lone super-star? Yep, Roy Halladay. Halladay figures there is a 50/50 shot he gets moved and said he'd "rather hit than face Jeter, A-Rod, Matsui and Teixeira." Come on Roy, you don't need to go to the NL to make that happen - just go to the Bronx and problem is solved...at 51-37, the New York Yankees would be in the playoffs if they started today. The downside? They're 5-15 against the other division leaders they've played: Detroit Tigers, Anaheim Angels, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. The 0-8 against Boston is a big part of that, but sub-.500 against the rest is still sub-.500...speaking of playoffs (playoffs?), Baseball Prospectus has updated its playoff odds for each team qualifying as a Divisional or Wild Card winner. You have to go four decimal places to get a number for the Washington Nationals. Seriously...speaking of Roy Halladay, he gets the start in the All-Star Game tonight. So say he goes out and pitches like he can and is the lead leg to another AL victory, and then gets traded to a contender in the NL, he will have ultimately harmed his new team by being strong in what should be a meaningless exhibition game. Great idea, Bud Selig. Obviously, that's just another scenario as to why the "this one counts" concept is terrible...the San Francisco Giants had 13 shutouts in the first half. That there is some serious pitching. Their ace, Tim Lincecum, goes for the NL tonight...just what the NHL needed to decrease the entertainment factor: Jacques Lemaire is back coaching the New Jersey Devils...David Beckham says the issues between he and Landon Donovan are resolved. Right, because the linguistic genius that is Beck's could even sort out a rationale explanation in a couple days for a couple years of action...I'm told Prince Fielder won the Home Run Derby last night, and Chris Berman overdid the "back back back" thing. I didn't watch to know the latter, some things you just know...J-Gam convinced me that Twitter was fantastic for sporting updates and I finally bit. Track me down here. It'll be a good dose of sporting commentary from yours truly, but not exclusively...and on the heels of yesterday's mention of Chicago Black Hawks GM Dale Tallon's epic error, he's been axed...Ron Artest got off the best tweet ever, on the subject of Allen Iverson: Much love for AI, he's a tough mofo, but these days he's missing more shots than Muhammad Ali with a sniper rifle." Wow...have a great Tuesday.

The Worst Sporting Time Of The Year

On the heels of Brock Lesnar's face caving win over Frank Mir, he's positioned himself as the first legit heel in UFC history, almost wrestling style. Loved his blasting of sponsor Bud Light post-fight because they weren't paying him directly: "I'm going to go home tonight and drink a Coors Light because Bud Light won't pay me," said Lesnar, pointing at the logo of the presenting sponsor of the event. "I'm going to sit down with my friends and family and hell, I might even get on top of my wife tonight." Awesome...this one isn't legit, but Bukkake passed me a rant that the Phat Phree composed on behalf of Washington Redskin Ethan Albright who objected to being the worst rated player in Madden 2007. They wrote a nasty letter to John Madden to express his (alleged) thoughts on the low rating. Freaking awesome...now that we're into a relatively dead period on the global sporting calendar with baseball in its All-Star break, time to unload some curious things in the broader world over the next few days. First up, is the nine least urgent 911 calls, including the famed Mike Forbes - a legend on the Jim Rome Show - at #2 and another featuring the "she are the manager" bit at #5. Love this stuff...WAG's are always a popular topic in this corner of the internet, and in keeping it topical, here are the top WAG's whose better halves will be at the MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis...Jayson Stark at ESPN takes a look at the stranger happenings and better quotes of the first half of the season. Oddly, he didn't cite the familiar April refrain of Toronto Blue Jays fans saying "we've got a shot this year"...turns out Jerry Jones didn't just drop a pile of cash on the Cowboys Stadium to host his football team, NFL style. He's also got an eye towards it being a go-to soccer venue. Check out the video at this link for a peak at the inside of the stadium, and the scoreboard that runs between the 20 yard lines over the field as they get the stadium ready for the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-finals this week. Insane...could Derek Jeter finish his career somewhere other than in Yankee colours? Seems unlikely, but Sam Borden doesn't think it is impossible...seems Chicago Black Hawks GM Dale Tallon was asleep at the wheel, and in not getting qualifying offers to Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg and then having to pay them above what those offers would've been, they won't likely have enough cap room to ink Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith without moving other, presumably well paid and key, pieces...have a great Monday.

Check out this ridiculous bit of skill from a Brazilian futsaller, courtesy of TFE...

Lesnar wins

UFC 100 is in the books, and Brock Lesnar avenged his earlier defeat by Frank Mir with a curb stomping that was stopped in the second round. Canadian Georges St. Pierre had to work through a yanked groin to win a unanimous decision in his fight with Thiago Alves. In winning, GSP tied Randy Couture for most UFC wins with 14...for the second straight year, the Washington Nationals will enter the all-star break with 60 or more losses...Chad Barrett scored twice and Toronto FC beat the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1 to move into a tie for first in the tight MLS Eastern Conference...David Beckham called Landon Donovan's rip job of him "unprofessional" because he didn't talk to him first. Tough to do when you're not hanging around your team, no? Personally, I hope Donovan pops him in the mouth next time they meet...ESPN's Keith Law - a former Toronto Blue Jays employee - says a Roy Halladay trade is even less likely that it was a few days ago on his Twitter page...Entourage returns tonight. Cannot. Freaking. Wait...Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo continued a flurry of activity this week in throwing an offer sheet at Jarrett Jack...Dario Franchitti is on the pole for the Honda Indy Toronto today. Always fun seeing the Indy cars steam headlong into Turn 1 on the first lap, you're almost guaranteed action. The race goes at 1pm today...Canadian boxer Arturo Gatti was found dead in a Brazilian hotel room, and foul play is suspected. He had four fights in his career called "Fight of the Year" by Ring Magazine. Gatti was 37...going to be some lean days starting tomorrow with only the All-Star game on the schedule until Thursday but we'll soldier on and find something worth talking about...have a great day.