BLUE JAYS: TOO EARLY TO LOOK AHEAD AT 2007?

Pickin' up the pieces of my sweet, shattered dream . . .

The Geek is trying to whisper in my ear that maybe, just maybe, that this isn't the Blue Jays year, that despite this being a season when it looks like both Evil Empires 1 and 1-A can definitely be had, that it just isn't in the cards. Perhaps it's already time to wonder if maybe they shouldn't be happy with 85 to 90 wins, build a bit more of a buzz among the fans and potential free agents for 2007.

That's the obvious conclusion after the Jays lost 6-1 tonight to the last-place Royals to fall to 1-3 on the road trip (wasn't it right before the All-Star Break last season that things generally went in the shitter too?).

Regardless, the Jays are starting A.J. Burnett, Theodore Lilly and Roy Halladay over the next three games, and probably need to win all three to keep people on the bandwagon. It's probably not going to happen since Kansas City has started playing like a reasonable facsimile of a big-league team in the last month or so, but everything looks better in the morning.

OTHER BUSINESS

• Yes, Out of Left Field has a primer on Girlfriend-Friendly Sports Movies.
• You probably heard that the federal government has "soccer fever" and has pledged $27 million Cdn to help build a "national soccer stadium" that will also house Toronto's new Major League Soccer team. The Toronto Star's Dave Perkins has the lowdown -- and is it ever lowdown -- on the whole fiasco this has been, at all levels of government. Yes, Canada probably should have some sort of facility like that if it ever wants to make a World Cup, but there are much higher priorities just in athletics, never mind the truly important stuff.
• Hometown Breakdown note: Kingston's own Scott Arniel is the new head coach of the AHL's Manitoba Moose. I once had him as a hockey school instructor and, well, we all know how much good that did. Another K-town note: They will be serving ginger ale at AJ's Ale House, a downtown bar: it just lost its liquor licence suspended for 20 days.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.