Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times: Move the Toronto Blue Jays to Venezuela

This asshole Chicago Sun-Times writer says baseball is dead in Toronto and uses noted deep thinkers Alex Rios and Ozzie Guillen to help prove his "point."

What a ridiculous suggestion that MLB yank the franchise from Toronto and move it to fucking Venezuela. Who is this stupid asshole? And what was he saying 11 and 12 years ago when the Sox couldn't average 20,000 fans?

Hey, Cowley, are you gonna say the same thing this weekend about Cleveland, where the attendance there is even lower than it is in Toronto? How about Baltimore? Oakland? Florida?

By the way - not a smart idea to quote Rios about Toronto and expect an unbiased answer, considering he hates the city and vice versa. Maybe Toronto fans just got tired of shelling out good money to watch arrogant $64-million douchebags who struggle to hit .250, then curse out people who inexplicably still want his autograph after a five-strikeout performance in a single game.

Then again, after doing a little reading up on Cowley, it seems this pathetic putz has had it in for Toronto (and Canada) for years. So much so that the Chicago BBWAA considers him an embarrassment and suspended his award-voting privileges in 2004. Wow.

 

This is a story that just begs for the spike. This is what happens when a lazy sportswriter has no more arrows in his quiver and needs to be moved off a beat. Picking up a pile of shit and throwing it at the wall ... and starting with a bogus premise, then finding two obviously biased patsies to help you sell it ... is not journalism. Opinion piece or not.

 

So I suppose the NHL should have folded up shop in the Windy City when the Blackhawks were struggling to draw 10,000 a game a few years ago.

What a douchenozzle.

They have committed owners who are willing to spend money, but is in overhaul mode right now. Toronto has been a great baseball market and they can be again. They just need management who knows what it's doing, like any organization. However, coming right out and telling the public that this is going to be a rebuilding year is not exactly the best way to sell tickets. That right there is the problem. When the team wins the fans come out.

 

Yeah, I'm sure teams will really want to fly down to Venezuela.

 

I don't like the column either, but I don't disagree with anything Rios said. Or what Guillen said about Toronto as a market.

 

Air-wise Caracas is closer to New York than Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

 

Nothing like a Player-X-was-kidnapped story to liven up a dull summer on an MLB beat.

 

I think he was being facetious. He only used Caracas as a joke destination because of Guillen.

 

I'd give a shit about what Alex Rios had to say if he put as much energy into his play here as he did to fucking around with remote-controlled helicopters and toy cars.

Anyway, to me this is a story if Toronto is the only market experiencing shitty crowds right now. But it's not, so should MLB move the Pirates, Orioles, A's, Indians and Royals? There were comments on the baseball thread that Dodger Stadium was empty for the series against Arizona. Move the Dodgers to Venezuela, then.

I have been a Blue Jays fanboi looser since April, 1977 and I think Toronto is a great baseball market that has not been particularly well served by the Jays in recent years.

Certainly the strike killed any momentum the Jays had from back-to-back World Series wins (and killed baseball in Montreal) but Jays' fans haven't been given much to get excited about in the years since.

Unlike the sympathizers who continue to fill the ACC to watch the Leafs, Jays fans have voted with their wallets (even if TV ratings supposedly remain strong). Even the drunks who support Toronto FC thinking that its Man United seem to be coming to their senses and questioning whether they are getting their money's worth from a poorly-run, but very profitable, team.

Tickets and concessions are expensive at Jays' games and while the Rogers Centre may have it's deficiencies, anybody who almost died of exposure watching early-season games at Exhibtion Stadium will appreciate the place. A new stadium will not be built in Toronto any time soon. Cleveland, Baltimore or Pittsburgh have great stadiums, no excuses about outdated facilities there.

In this story in today's Star, Gaston (who would remember what a great market it was from 1985 thru '94) and Wells put the onus on the team to win back the fans by putting a good product on the field. Now that Ricciardi is gone I think the team is moving in the right direction even if the next few years will be tough ones.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/796608--win-and-they-will-come-jays-say-about-dwindling-crowds

 

Who would possibly care what some columnist thought? I kinda got over the Jim Murray-bashing on cities thing in 1983.

 

He couldn't have found three bigger Einsteins to quote than Rios, Guillen and Freddy Garcia.

Rios might be the most brain deficient baseball player I've ever tried to talk to. And that's saying something.

 

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGOOOOOOOOOOOOS!