CALL THE DOCTOR, JAYS HAVE CRASHED

• The mantra here is to try to find some positives as the Blue Jays, even with Roy Halladay starting, made it six losses in a row by dropping a 6-4 decision to the White Sox. There's been some mention here, from time to time, that general interest in the Jays, while probably having no hope of reaching late '80s/early '90s levels, is on the upswing.
  
  Well, it's a modest gain, but attendance was 30,060. A year or two ago, a Friday night in August -- on a long weekend, with a lot of people probably heading for the countryside (well, assuming their cottages have electricity back after the recent storms), the Jays would have been in the 25,000-27,000 range at this point in the year. Ultimately, cracking 30 thou after coming back from a 2-8 road trip isn't half bad.
• Favourite review of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby comes from Brent Simon of Film Stew: "With another semi-bewildered deadpan performance under his belt, Will Ferrell seems that much closer to the biopic he will one day be unable to deny: White House Nights: The Ballad of George W."
• Yours truly, of course, works for the Ottawa Sun, the paper for the Joe Sixpacks and Betty Housecoats, while our competitor, the Ottawa Citizen, is supposed to be more upscale in its target audience. Our review of Talladega Nights: 2½ stars. The Citizen gave it 4 stars.
• This is a little eerie: Since disaster was predicted for the Chicago Bears, both running backs Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson have been injured in training camp. By the way, you should never wish an injury on any player, except the ones who have recent convictions for assault and battery. They deserve whatever's coming to them, short of a career-ender.