Lamentations in the T-Dot Part 1 - by wongoz

It's tough being a sports fan in Toronto these days. Oh, I'm not talking about a lack of sports to watch - they're in abundance. What I'm referring to is the quality of it.

We have 4 "major" sports franchises in Toronto: the Maple Leafs of the NHL, the Blue Jays of MLB, the Raptors of the NBA, and the Argonauts of the CFL (if you consider the CFL to be a "major" league, which some don't). In addition to that, the T-Dot also hosts a number of annual sporting events like the alternating men-women Tennis Masters Series of the Canadian Open, and the Molson Indy 500 for CART.

So you're probably thinking, what's there to be disappointed about? Actually, plenty.

The first issue is the state of the major league franchises. The only one that appears to be healthy are the Leafs, as both the Raptors and the Blue Jays appear hindered by their financial situations (the Raptors by a salary cap; the Jays by the so-called small market limitation). This means that the best players, the best opportunities, are only afforded to the Leafs.

Witness the regular-season stretch where the Leafs, jockeying for a favourable playoff position, picked up such aged luminaries as Ron Francis, Brian Leetch, and Calle Johansson at the expense of young prospects. These moves led Toronto to a second-round exit vs. the Philadelphia Flyers, and given the impending labour strife, you would think that a team whose average age hovers around 30 (or even higher) would be prone to a youth movement. You would be wrong.

General manager John Ferguson Jr. has not only decided to re-sign a few of the seemingly injury-prone workhorses, like Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk, but also gave a whopper of a contract to yet another injury-prone workhorse, goaltender Ed Belfour. Am I missing something here? Shouldn't we be trying to save money, given the potential for a lockout, and go young anyways?

Disappointingly, JFJ is not the only GM around here to have bungled up some moves. Raptors GM Rob Babcock made one of the biggest reaches in NBA Draft history, selecting Rafael Araujo with the 8th pick, and thus supposedly causing superstar Vince Carter to ask for a trade. This is the just the kind of thing we don't need. Without Carter, what are the Raptors? Could they even beat Duke or UConn?

Carter isn't the only superstar leaving town either. The Jays, piddling around with a $50 million budget (compared to the Yankees who are reportedly around $200 million), just can't afford to keep their superstar slugger Carlos Delgado. We can see what this team is like without Delgado - it can't even play .500 ball. Then again, 2 of the last 3 years were sub-.500 ball even with him, so what's the point?

The point is, what do the Jays plan to do with the money they save by not paying Delgado? If they're smart, and I seem to think GM J.P. Ricciardi is, then I would not try to just pocket the money and hope we don't lose any more than we already have, but I'd spend it on a top-drawer pitcher, plus another mid-level one. Then, with reigning Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, plus Ted Lilly and Miguel Batista, that'd make up a pretty good rotation. But the decision to spend the money isn't Ricciardi's - it's up to the beancounters at Rogers. A shame, isn't it?

The Argos are up against a brick wall though, compared to the other teams. Torontonians just don't care much about CFL football, not like they used to (note: I used to have season tickets to the Argos, for 2-3 years). It's a problem when the biggest star of the team is the coach. That's not to say there isn't a lack of talent or skill on the team; it's just that most people don't know or appreciate it.

Knowledge and appreciation don't seem to affect the TMS Canadian Open or the Molson Indy though - attendance appears to increase every year. While shiny new tennis facilities at York University have been built, Toronto seems to play second-fiddle to Montreal (where the other alternating tournament goes) in the eyes of the players. Maybe it's the culture, or maybe it's just my impression. We'll see if the new courts and facilities change that.

The Molson Indy, though, has problems it can't control. CART racing has just about died (a horribly slow death, I might add), and the prospect of losing one of the best open-wheel road courses on the continent is a shame. Whether it will be picked up by the Indycar Racing League, or left to die, remains to be seen. What I didn't know until 2 weeks ago though, was that Toronto could have been the host of the Formula 1 Grand Prix (instead of Montreal), but for 2 greedy little men who happened to own Mosport in Shannonville. I read the article in the Toronto Star, but it might not be there anymore.

So is there any optimism for Toronto's sporting future? Sure... one can look forward to another Leafs playoff exit short of the Stanley Cup, another 80-something-win season by the Jays and possible trade of Delgado, another agonizingly bad Raptors year and possible trade of Carter, and another non-Grey Cup season for the Argos (like anyone really cares even if they did win)... Cheers!