- Quick, name the only professional team to currently sport two Heismann trophy winners on the same roster. Eric Crouch played the role of a perfect backup all year, and played decent in his first chance this past weekend, going 4-9 and helping the Ricky Williams-less Toronto Argonauts to a 26-23 win. Williams meanwhile, before breaking a bone in his arm that will sideline him for a few weeks, was putting up some average numbers. Where he really impressed was is in his receiving numbers, an 8.3 yard average in 7 catches, improving on every snap.

- Speaking of the CFL, with the improved officiating and addition of instant replay this year, call me crazy but I’m now among the believers who say that the CFL has the best framework for professional football. It’s no secret that the CFL rules and field dimensions are geared towards a smaller, faster player. The game is built for the stereotypical athlete, and punishes the overly large, exclusive to football big man. The absence of a 4^th down stretches the field on the vast majority of plays, adding to the excitement, emphasizing the stars. The CFL lacks the parity of the NFL, but allows its star players a much more significant amount of time to shine.

It’s a contention that can never really be proven of course, because the CFL will never attract enough talent to test it, and the NFL knows that the value of the ‘fat man’ in its marketing is too big to make the 400lb lineman obsolete by playing a pass first, 3 down game. That said, who wouldn’t like to see Payton Manning put up 7 touchdowns and 5 interceptions a game?

-Jazil is out of the Traver’s Stakes, having picked up a hind leg bruise in training. Unfortunately that means my oil-and-water Jazil vs. Bernardini dream match up looks to be down to the Breeder’s Cup Classic, or not at all. UPDATE - sorry, thats not entirely true, if Jazil heals well he could match up against Bernardini in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 7, a month before the Breeder's Cup.

-Who knew salary arbitration would be the rally killer to the string of good luck the NHL had been seeing the past 12 months. How long it will take before the league can correct the problem of rulings like Daniel Briere’s $5.1M award is unclear. When team’s like Chicago and Tampa Bay, (who can’t do the math and figure out that $5M for anyone short of Wayne Gretzky is a cap nightmare) are setting precedent in arbitration hearings, expect to see more and more teams walking away from the awards.

-Even with the Twins in the mix, it says here the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees have a better chance of catching wildcard leaders Chicago than AL East leaders Boston.

It was nice to see 50 thousand plus fans at a ball game in Toronto again, even if a quarter of them were there to see the Yankees. Here’s hoping more Western New Yorkers start supporting the local team, the same way Southern Ontario helps keep the Bills afloat. As long as they keep their 45mph driving minivans out of the left lane on the way to and from that is. Seriously, I’m talking to you Tony from Amherst with the Rush Limbaugh bumpersticker, you don’t need to learn metric, just learn to get out of the way. You can't drive any slower unless the mayor is on your roof throwing candy.

Can anyone explain to me what San Antonio gets out of the trade they made this week, besides cap space? I’ve read the rumours of the Spurs getting rid of both Mohammed and Nesterovic in order to go to a small, Phoenix-like lineup, but look who they’re bringing in. Matt Bonner (aka the Red Rocket) is a likeable character guy with an awkward, streaky shot. His upbeat attitude and dedicated work ethic is suited for a struggling 2^nd tier team, but seem redundant on a winning character group like the Spurs. His defensive skills are non-existent. Eric Williams is a role player with a bad attitude and worse knees, and if he averages more than five minutes of floor time I’d be shocked.

Doesn't sound very Phoenix-like to me.

--

Too bad spirit does nothing positive for a bullpen though, because the Pirates are a truly terrible team. On the upside, they did try and sway my opinion with excessive amounts of Yuengling and a Bill Maseroski bobblehead doll. Bill’s an agreeable sort, especially if shaken.

--

Rocket Roger's return to the Astro’s is obviously the bigger news story, but the return of Toronto’s AJ Burnett from the DL should make the bigger impact. While the NL Central stands a very good chance of producing the wild card winner, the AL East doesn’t. With little to no margin of error, the Jays need Burnett if they want to be in a position to be either contender or spoiler come August. I checked with Mr. Maseroski, he’s in the affirmative.

--

My NBA Mock Draft:

1. Toronto – Adam Morrison. Toronto trades Morrison to Portland for Sebastian Telfair and the 4^th pick overall.
2. Chicago – Tyrus Thomas.
3. Charlotte – Rudy ####.
4. Toronto (from Portland) – Andrea Bargnani

My thinking here comes with a few assumptions. First, Toronto certainly seems to have Bargnani rated higher than the other teams, and is comfortable with him still being there at 4. The other teams know this, so the compensation for moving from 1^st to 4^th is limited to Telfair, who is talented but had a miserable season last year. Second, Portland wants Morrison, and rightly assumes that Charlotte will take him with the 3^rd pick if given the chance, meaning they need to move up.

On draft day, the biggest drop from his projected spot will be felt by LaMarcus Aldridge. The biggest gain will be between Jordan Farmar and Maurice Ager. Bill is nodding his approval.

- Tommorrow’s Belmont Stakes will not be the superstar event it was hoped to be, far from it. It will still be well worth watching though. As usual, the extra distance of the Belmont attracts some very different training styles, and without a proven favorite this year’s race has a real up-in-the-air feel to it. My pick for a horse to watch? I’ll take Jazil, who opened at very worthwhile 10/1. Similar to the more well-regarded Steppenwolfer (at 9/2), he’s a strong horse that tends to start poorly but closes with a ton of speed. If the race sees some strong fractions from the gate, ignore both these aforementioned horses and look to Bluegrass Cat or Sunriver to run away with it. However, if the fractions are slow to average, watch for Jazil to closely stalk the field until the last half mile or so, timing his move. It could make for one hell of a finish.

- It seems the New York Islanders are making a serious pitch to re-acquire a lot of their old fans. Yesterday they hired the interesting trio of Ted Nolan, Neil Smith and Pat Lafontaine to run their hockey operations. Nolan, former Sabres coach, is borderline nut case who’s coaching style tends towards offensive pressing and a heavy reliance on goaltending. Needless to say he’s my kind of coach. Smith is a star obsessed general manager who loved to overpay for the big name in New York. His emphasis on big names should prove to be a huge asset on Long Island, especially since his free spending downside will be restrained by the salary cap. And finally, Pat Lafontaine, with his name in the rafters at the HSBC Arena, signed on as well. I have no idea what he’ll actually be doing as “senior advisor to the owner”, but his presence alone brings a further sense of legitimacy to the operation. Fans should be very pleased.

- Are the wheels really starting to come off the Detroit Tigers season? The question makes tonights Jays-Tigers game all the more interesting, and I for one will be taking it in. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they drew Chacin, the run support king, in the opener. Chacin is 6-2, which is good. He’s also sporting a 5.59 ERA, which is bad. The red-hot Jays batters should be enough to wipe out Bonderman’s undefeated road record, but this series is very much in the air from there. Detroit gets lucky and misses seeing Halliday, who went last night in a no decision.

- Only eleven more days until the kickoff of the RipCurl Pro in Mexico. As unique a sporting event as they come, the location of this event is actually kept a secret until the opening, which according to the ASP is to dissuade “unnecessary exposure to the small part of Mexico coastline insiders are calling ‘paradise’”. For my predictions, I’ll take Bruce Irons in Oaxaca (with the candlestick).

Best song on radio right now is “It’s a Hit” by Rilo Kiley, no debate.