What was the final score?

Watched an early morning sports show where they showed last night’s LA Galaxy highlights. Actually they showed the David Beckham highlight package.

We were treated to seeing his kick sail over the net. We saw how his (unidentified by the commentators) teammate missed connecting on a corner kick from Beckham. We saw another Beckham shot sail wide of the goal. We saw how David Beckham was hacked to the ground by a Chivas player and all the Galaxy ran to his defence.

They were also nice enough to show Kevin Harmse get headbutted by a Chivas player. (Harmse being the only other player identified on the pitch besides DB.)

They cut to the final score. 3-0 Chivas. Galaxy didn’t even score.

I’m not arguing that we should have seen a Chivas highlight package (I’m not a Chivas fan – I even skipped the Chivas TFC game last weekend to play in a Softball tournament.) — i’m just a little surprised that Beckham’s presence was the total sports story and the result of the game he played in was irrelevant.

I’m waiting for Johnny Mac to hit for the cycle.

I haven’t been to a Blue Jays game in a while. It’s been so long that i’m not sure if i should just call them the “Blue Jays” or “Jays”. Actually it’s been since May.

The score: Last night P and I went to watch parts of the game. We left in the bottom of the 5th inning. Jays were down 6-1 to the Oakland Athletics at the time.

Worst reappearance: The team also had shortstop secondbaseman Russ Adams back in the lineup. He overthrew again. They should keep him in Syracuse. He’s no Johnny Mac.

Unofficial biggest cheer:In fact, John Mcdonald got some of the biggest cheers last night. It was rather quiet.

Atmosphere report:I forgot how quiet the dome is. At one point the only guy you could hear was the beer guy in the 100 level. One of the better moments during our short visit was when the wave went around the 500 level twice. I use the term “went around” rather loosely because the majority of the seats up there are empty. So in parts there are maybe 10 people keeping the wave alive – and when the wave reaches the end of the 500 level (which is really around the 1st base side) it catches up again over on the 3rd base side. Good on the people for trying to get the wave going.

From the It’s now called “Stalingrad” or “Istanbul” department:: There was a revisionist trivia question that asked “Who had the first home run in Roger’s Centre”. The answer was Fred McGriff. Actually the answer is wrong. When Fred McGriff got his home run the building was called Skydome – which many people still call it that.

The game also takes a long time to play. It’s nothing like the FC. But I’m not going to beat up on baseball – you know what you’re getting into when you go to a game.

Skydome: Closed or Open? The worst part was the dome was closed. Yes it was a cool August night – but it’s summer time. They were calling for rain, but there was no rain in sight. When the dome is closed on an August night (even a cool one) it takes the smell of an old track shoe. It sort of stinks in there. Air that sneaker out.

It’s only a friendly… rest your ankle and stay home.

David Beckham has spent most of his time in a Los Angeles unifor sitting on the bench. That’s when he’s even worn the uniform and not sat on the bench in a suit. And that’s when he’s even bothered to show up on the bench at all.

His ankle still isn’t 100%. He has said on repeated occasions that air travel aggrevates his injury. So what is he going to do this week?

Fly back to England to take part in a friendly.

A friendly. Not a Euro qualifier, but a friendly. A friendly. A practice/tune-up/exhibition match.

Now it’s debatable whether or not he should head over if he was healthy for a friendly. But that he’s just getting over an injury that has nagged on and on since the Spanish league.

There a a number of key England players sitting out the friendly. Steven Gerrard, Sol Campbell, and Canadian Owen Hargreaves. Oh, but Beckham is heading back for it. He’s fit to play evidently.

Hey, if I’m Frank Yallop I’m not happy with this at all.

I don’t blame Beckham for wanting to play. There was much made after the last world cup about the end of his era on the English national side. I suppose he wants to stay in the fold – and turn down a number of invitations and you find yourself not invited to things. But really, is this the best move for someone who came to North America as damaged goods? Yes Real Madrid won the league, and Beckham helped with that. But what does he have to prove by going out with a wonky ankle in August for a friendly?

Open the gates.

On Saturday Toronto FC lost 2-0 to Chivas.

I missed the game, but my seat was filled by a friend who had never gone to a TFC game. There were also over 20,000 people there watching the game.

The game took place during the Canadian National Exhibition. So that means that around the stadium there were thousands of people. Probably almost all of them also have never seen a TFC game.

What am I getting at?

After the TFC game there was also a TFC reserves game. Now, everyone who has a TFC ticket can stay for the reserve game. (The reserves are made up of the team’s substitute players and development players.)

While everyone who has a TFC ticket can stay and watch the reserve match, few do.

Now wouldn’t it be a great idea if the TFC — just for once — let people into the stadium to watch the reserve game for free? I’m thinking they should do this at the exhibition time. The could do it on a first come, first served, basis.

All you need to do is let everyone who already has a ticket, and wants to stay for the reserve match, to move to the seats they want to watch the game at. Then, TFC could eyeball how many open sections they have and let in that many fairgoers who’d like to see soccer in the new stadium. It would certainly be an exhibition.

Just an idea.

Death by Youtube

Last weekend I went to see the latest Bourne with L and after the movie we walked by the Much® empire and saw that Speaker’s Corner was shut down. I haven’t walked around Queen West in a while and so can’t say exactly when the death of Speaker’s Corner happened.

Throughout the 1990s Speaker’s Corner was an opportunity for drunk people to talk about nothing after they were out drinking in Toronto’s club district. Every Sunday night Speaker’s Corner, the tv show, would replay the best (or worst) of the people who went down to speak what was on their mind. I have a vague memory of someone in my high school getting “props” (a very 90s concept) for getting his face on the show.

And now it’s gone. At least no longer at Queen and John. And i can’t remember the last time i saw the show on television.

I think it was killed by Youtube. Now, instead of waiting for Sunday night to see if they made the Speaker’s Corner television show, people can post their drunk videos straight to Youtube.

The end of SC is not a bad thing – it’s an evolution. Where SC’s content was determined by editors at CityTV, YouTube’s content is determined by it users. Of course, i’m not 100% that SC is closed for good. But seriously, even if they reopen it at Queen and John the era of SC is over.

Post-Beckham

Very quick post about the Beckham visit to Toronto and his game against the FC.

The FC had chances. Lots of them. Lombardo broke through. Welsh broke in alone late in the game. Samuel looked good at times. Brennan made some good runs. The fans were up for a good time. And, even though they’re made in China, the Toronto FC hats they handed out before the game are excellent.

Dave sat on the bench. That’s about it.