Toronto Blue Jays

A Big Moment… But How Big?

TORONTO (May 13) — Though it ranks among the most dramatic and breathtaking moments in the modern history of professional sport in this city, I’m not entirely sure what to make of Kawhi Leonard’s bounce…bounce…bounce series–winning shot against the Philadelphia… Read More

Overkill Like We’ve Never Seen

TORONTO (Apr. 27) — Let me begin this blog with a sincere wish that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. enjoys a long, productive and healthy career with the Toronto Blue Jays, lifting the club and its ardent fan–base to countless moments of… Read More

Leafs Will Have to Make History

TORONTO (Apr. 3) — No team has won the Stanley Cup after losing more than 14 games in regulation time on home ice during the regular season. The Toronto Maple Leafs, therefore, would break new ground by ending their 52–year… Read More

Does Kyle Have Another Move?

TORONTO (Feb. 13) — With less than 12 days until the National Hockey League trade deadline, fans of the Maple Leafs wonder if rookie general manager Kyle Dubas will make another revision to his strong club. There are whispers that… Read More

Time For Nylander To Pick It Up

TORONTO (Dec. 31) — We aren’t at the point yet where William Nylander is stealing money from the Maple Leafs. But, it’s getting close. Very close. The built–in excuses are about to run dry. Wednesday will mark one calendar month… Read More

Can Dubas Make a Trade?

TORONTO (Oct. 29) — So, it’s official… and not at all surprising: Auston Matthews, according to the Maple Leafs, will be sidelined “a minimum four weeks” with the left–shoulder injury he sustained when side–checked, on Saturday night, by Jacob Trouba… Read More

My Prized Baseball Possessions

TORONTO (Oct. 23) — Yes, it was 25 years ago tonight that Joe Carter tomahawked a Mitch Williams delivery into the left–field stands at SkyDome (now Rogers Centre), providing the Toronto Blue Jays their second World Series conquest in as… Read More

The Leafs Have Two Captains

TORONTO (Oct. 9) — I have long felt that the word “leadership” is misused in professional sport; the connotation invariably centering on a player that can rally the troops with provocative chatter. In fact, no one — a sports figure… Read More

Is There an Indispensable Leaf?

TORONTO (Sep. 22) — In the current National Hockey League — with a condensed schedule of six months spanning three time zones of travel in Canada and the United States; with players skating on the same ice dimensions as their… Read More

Star Back In The Game (For Now)

TORONTO (Sep. 8) — It appears as if local hockey fans will be treated to a dying spectacle this season as the Toronto Sun and Toronto Star will dispatch writers/columnists to road games with the Maple Leafs. This was common… Read More

Rogers Needs to Sell the Blue Jays

TORONTO (Aug. 9) — Through much of the 1980’s, a haunting refrain could be heard with respect to the pitiable Toronto Maple Leafs: The club would never win anything of consequence until Harold Ballard died. Once that event occurred —… Read More

The Silence Is Deafening

TORONTO (Aug. 4) — This will not be the worst season, by record, in the 42 years since the Toronto Blue Jays joined Major League Baseball — a distinction that belongs to the 1979 club, which compiled a mark of… Read More

Not… Good… Enough

TORONTO (July 19) — The prevailing response to the Raptors trading DeMar DeRozan this week was so Toronto. The city that has hardly ever known prosperity among its major sports teams went all mushy. “Poor, mistreated” DeMar has to take… Read More

Will The Leafs Be Next?

TORONTO (June 16) — A cynic would contend it is thoroughly emblematic of this city that our three “least–fashionable” sports teams have won championships in the past 6½ months. No disrespect to the Argonauts, Toronto F.C. or the Marlies, but… Read More

Leafs–Bruins on Razor’s Edge

TORONTO (Apr. 11) — When you think about it, there is no particular reason for the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs to lose four times in a seven–game segment. Yet, one of the teams will do just that in… Read More

25 Years Later, It Could Be Special

TORONTO (Mar. 12) — The playoff season in professional sport is often unpredictable and promises can rarely be kept. If form prevails, however, this spring could be like none other in our city’s history. The weekend past provided yet another… Read More

Leafs Should Go For The Jugular

TORONTO (Feb. 17) — As the Toronto Maple Leafs soar through the most stellar and meaningful hockey at this juncture of a season in 25 years, there remains the urge from within to allay expectation. To fundamentally minimize a remarkable,… Read More