WHERE'D THE YEAR GO... APRIL

In our continuing quest to secure a lower rung on the inferno, Out of Left Field looks back at the wild 'n' nutty month of April.

With the Blue Jays coming back, you were introduced to The Geek.

On Opening Day at Rogers Centre, our own Neil Acharya realizes there comes a point when you're too old to go leaping and diving for warmup balls tossed into the stands, regardless of whether it was thrown by Russ Adams or Reed Johnson. After all, there's a fresh beer to drink.

"You're With Me, Leather" debuts at Deadspin. By now it's dated.

Turns out I arrived in Ottawa just in team for the football team to fold. Hey, it gave Frank D'Angelo an avenue to seek publicity. Excuse me, go on hiatus. They just went out to the store. And when they come back, I'm gonna wave those Pop Tarts right in your face!

Pat Quinn was fired. Two trips to the conference final in seven seasons made him the most successful post-1967 Leafs coach. To quote Ron Burgundy, "And in no way is that the least bit depressing."

Even minor-league referees were calling Sidney Crosby a whiner. There's an 18-year-old kid who really can't catch a break, eh?

Hey, a new and improved Out of Left Field. 4/22/06 changed everything.

As the Stanley Cup playoffs began, Hockey Night in Canada's Ron MacLean was starting to show the strain of doing his cornball CBC act.

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