The End

The Jays are screwed. NY was fine. Game one was the best I'd ever seen, and it all looked like gold, but they got the better of us, and I was ok with that. Even Boston was alright. You get beat by better teams early, you turn it around, find your stride, and win when it counts. But then it was 3 straight to the Braves. Seriously, how old is Chipper Jones?

Yesterday to the O's was my backbreaker.

To quote Dan O'Toole from this morning's Sportscentre: "And you're not going to believe this ladies and gentlemen... but an RBI last night for Vernon Wells. That's right.. his first in 18 games. And let me remind you, folks..... he's hitting cleanup."

Don't worry Vernon. When you hit rock bottom, you'll almost certainly land softly on a pile of roughly $15 million.

Jeff, meet me on the deck tonight for a cheap scotch and a bad cigar. It's Red Label, and it bites on the way down, and the cigar cost $1.25, but given the circumstances, I think it'll do just fine.

Shed A Little Light

JT getting it done.



Let us turn our thoughts today to martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth, ties of hope and love, of sister and brotherhood

That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children can grow free and strong
We are bound together by the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Shed a little light, oh lord
So that we can see
Just a little light, oh lord
Wanna stand it on up
Stand it on up, oh lord
Wanna walk it on down
Shed a little light, oh lord

Cant get no light from the dollar bill
Don't give me no light from a tv screen
When I open my eyes
I wanna drink my fill
From the well on the hill

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Oh, let us turn our thoughts today
To martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood

Take me out...

It's a sunny day.. blue sky, clear as glass. You get home from work and race inside. Time's ticking. You throw on a blue shirt and your vintage Jays cap. You're out the door just as your buddy is parking out on the street, so you meet up with a high five and hit the sidewalk in the direction of the subway. Life is good.

On the subway, the crowd is mixed. Primarily businessmen/women on their way home from work. Blank stares, crossword puzzles, Sudoku. A few Jays caps stand out above the METRO dailies and REALTY magazines. One kid stands in the corner leaning against his dad's knees, looking around like he's never been on the train before. They've both got ball gloves in their left hands.

With every stop, a few more jerseys, a few more fans. The volume is rising. Every now and then, you catch the odd conversation rising above the grinding of the train.. "... and if A-Rod doesn't....", "... but with Doc on the mound...."

At Sherbourne, a group of about 15 high school kids stumble into the car. The volume jumps. T-shirts, jerseys, gloves. They're going where you are. Lots of laughing. Normally frustration from the business class... 'dang kids!'. Not today.

The changeover at Yonge is the switch. The train south to Union is 90% Ball fans. Groups of buddies randomly chanting, yelling.. high fives. The trains are packed.

You jump off at Union and hit the street. We're taking over Front Street at this point.. it's become a one-lane road. You stop for a frank on the way (onion, ketchup, mustard, and a dash of BBQ for me). Every now and then you pass a Yankee fan in the middle of the moving mass surrounded by yelling, laughing, booing Jays fans. His poor girlfriend hanging on to his arm, red face, while he puffs out his chest and shows off his 'Jeter' authentic jersey. Everybody is laughing.. the spirit is great.

By the time you merge with the crowd coming down BlueJays Way, it's electric. Buskers are in full force. A homeless guy playing spoons down at the fresh-cut fry truck, and bagpipes up on the bridge under the CN tower. Scalpers are yelling, avoiding eye contact, waving overpriced tickets in your face while cops stand by eating hotdogs. You meet up with your other buddies at the gate. More high fives. The Doc is on the mound tonight. It's a lock. The lines into the dome are buzzing with discussion. Batting averages, ERAs.. everybody knows everything, and nothing is left undissected. Somebody asks you who Teixeira played for last year. You're trying to remember when a guy three rows over yells, 'Angels!' These conversations are communal.


The game isn't something I can really describe. Everything that could've happened... happened. A-Rod's first at-bat, a 3-foot dribbler. Johnny Damon getting thrown out at second by Snider in left field. A fan throwing back an A-Rod foul ball down the first base line (sooo great.. sooo insulting). Burnett getting booed more aggressively than anyone I've ever heard.. or A-Rod getting berated every time he stepped in the box just for being... well.. A-Rod. Rolen's no-out, bases-loaded double down the left-field line in the fourth. Hill's solo bomb to left in the eighth. Chasing Burnett in the eighth, and then booing him off the field.. all the way to the dugout. Doc Halladay pitching a masterpiece, lockdown mode, classic complete game.

It was one of those nights. TV doesn't do it justice. Over 43 000 in the dome, and every single one of them knew it was going to be big. Every big play, the dome was on its feet. High fives with everybody in our section, losing voices, fist pumps. I know I'm supposed to be a little embarrassed to be so excited about May baseball. "It's a long season..." I know. I know. Doesn't matter. If you were there last night....

Then the game ended, and everybody flooded out onto the street, towards the subway...

Great game, Great night.

Marty

Coming off a great weekend.

Kar was out of town on Friday, so i hit the ballpark for the Jays game. They lost, and badly... blew a four run lead with poor pitching and an error in the 4th inning. But a good time regardless. And they won out the weekend, might I add, which leaves them at 10-4, and atop the AL East by 2 games. Gonna go to a game this week. Texas is coming to town.

Then on Saturday, we went to see Martin Sexton at the Mod Club. Dude is heavily talented... solo show, just guitar and voice. He's got a voice like nobody I've ever seen. After the show, Nik turned to me and said.. 'man, that guy commands your attention.' Absolutely.

This clip isn't from our show, but the same tour. The guy who comes out to sing with him was the opener.. also great stuff.

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Lining up a trip to NYC next month. Summer in the city. yeeeaaaap.

Latergator.
JB

New Addition to the fleet

2009 American Standard Telecaster
Specs. = Ash body, Maple neck
Tone = Glorious
Fun Value = Incredibly High

The Wager

I write, today, from a position of extreme confidence, bordering on pride that would push the biblical limits of decency. Allow me to elaborate: Chuck and I have made a bet.

The fundamental details of this legal arrangement are complicated, and, frankly, beyond the scope of this discussion. Suffice to say that when the Toronto Blue Jays finish this regular season with more wins than the Detroit Tigers, I will win a free large coffee from Tim Hortons.

Steady now... I sense your knowing smirk and mildly bemused chuckle. But friends, this, unfortunately, is not a battle of superior intellect and cutting wit. No, this particular war is, in fact, much less firmly in-hand. And yet, I approach this challenge, today, with the same blind optimism with which I made the original wager in the first place.

You see, it is with a profound smugness that I await the arrival of the end of this ever-elongating tunnel. In short, one day, Toronto will rise again as a relevant sports town. And when that day comes, and we're firing on all cylinders, it will truly be a paradise to behold. Of course, the Raptors will never win. The Leafs, however, are getting there. For the first time, 'rebuilding' is more than a catch-phrase.

And the Jays. Let's be honest. Let's, to turn the phrase, call a spade a spade. At some point, the level of disparity in the American League East will reach such a level that Bud Selig will be forced to invoke some form of little known, 'polar-reverse clause.' Memo: from this day forward, by order of the commissioner of Major League Baseball and all affiliates and associations there-in, The Boston Red Sox will trade rosters and coaching staff with the Toronto Blue Jays effective immediately and to be enforced in perpetuity.

But I digress. To the original point of discussion: the bet. A fiercely biased, completely untruthful, far less enjoyable account of the wager, as well as various opinions, both right, and pro-Tigers, can be found at www.dueckman.blogspot.com. Feel free to stop by and leave unfriendly, aggressively pro-canadian comments... much the same as you'd leave a flaming bag of dog crap on the front step of your arch-enemy's house before ringing the doorbell and running away.

JB

Baseball is Back

Hey guys! Just a quick update on life around here. (above) Playing at Sarah's Cafe, Acoustic Afternoon this past weekend. I've been doing a few of these things, trying to get a gig around town. Most of the places I'm looking to play are swamped with artists looking for gigs, so they do their booking by hosting weekly open mics. You show up, play a few tunes, and hope they like what they hear. So I've been talking to pub owners and trying to get something set up. It's a great way to meet other players in the meantime. It's a pretty broad range of talent/style that comes out to these things, so I'm always learning something new and getting better at my own gig at the same time.

I'm finding that I'm learning a ton in terms of the art of performing. There's a lot of guys who can play. But when it comes to performing, some of them really stand out. Especially when it comes to the whole 'singer/songwriter' thing.. you know, just a guy and his guitar.. some of them are just so.. believable. They could be playing a campfire singalong, and you still just wouldn't be able to turn away. I'm learning that there's a big difference between being able to play guitar well in my basement, and being able to hold a crowd in a busy pub.

Anyway, here's hoping something lands soon!!

Other than that, Kar and I are headed home to Leamington this weekend. I don't think we've been home since Christmas, so it feels like it's been a really long time. I had dreams of early morning rounds of golf with Steve, but I think recent atmospheric events have basically put the kibosh to that idea.

And finally, the Jays home opener was last night, and they hammered the Tigers, 12-5. Look out beantown.

JB