Blog blast past: Women's ski jumping gets day in court

The B.C. Supreme Court has ruled against a group of 15 past and present female ski jumpers who were trying to get their event added to the 2010 Winter Olympics. The court " that their exclusion from the Winter Olympics is discriminatory ... (but) concluded that VANOC was not in breach of the Charter because the decision to keep their event from the Olympics was made by the International Olympic Committee" and thus exclusive of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. One question to be answered is, as a Canadian, what does this do to one's anticipation of the Olympics. From April 19, here is this site's take on the case.

The discrimination lawsuit involving Canadian ski jumpers Nata de Leeuw, Zora Lynch, Katie Willis (pictured), Jade Edwards, Charlotte Mitchell and Marie-Pierre Morin is to be heard tomorrow in court.

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has chosen a novel tack in its defence: Emotional blackmail. Well, hey, if the other side is going to try its case in the media...

"In their statement of defence, VANOC argues a victory for the women could mean the IOC will never again award an Olympics to Canada.

"The claim raises a lot of eyebrows, even among longtime supporters of the Olympic movement.

"The IOC would never do that, said Bruce Kidd, a former Olympian and professor at the University of Toronto.

" 'If it were true, whose side are we on?' he said.

" 'If the price of hosting the Olympic Games, or the Winter Olympic Games, is that we deny opportunities to women, well, maybe we don't want the Games.' "
— The Canadian Press (emphasis mine)

It seems worth pointing out since Kidd's comments come 22 paragraphs deep into the story, meaning they likely didn't make it into many Sunday newspapers in Canada. (You can always trust a wire service to bury the salient stuff.)

That sounds manipulative. Granted, speaking as the one-time defendant in one of the lamest lawsuits in the annals of Ontario jurisprudence, it is standard to put anything and everything into a statement of claim or statement of defence.

The VANOC is caught in the middle, as the article notes. The ski jumpers' push to get a women's event added to the Olympic programme for 2010 rests on topping a huge legal domino.

They have to prove the host committee for the Games is a government organization and subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It might seem like VANOC, which getting hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to put on the quadrennial celebration of corporatism and obscure sports is part of the government. The law, though, is a real ass sometimes.

The IOC, which is used to doing whatever it wants, wherever it wants, obviously hopes the court will uphold VANOC. It probably has ramifications in terms of getting around quaint local customs such as the right to free assembly (i.e., protesters).

Follow the money. Lose this case, and it opens up all sorts of legal precedents.
They can't be that concerned about health risks to women jumpers, considering what 16-year-old gymnasts are subjected to.

The IOC has already changed its rules, saying an event could not be added until it had held two world championships. The funny thing about that was that it wasn't a problem in the '80s when the women's marathon race was added for the '84 Los Angeles Olympics, but the Games weren't such a license to print money in those days.

It's probably no great progressive statement to say a women's ski jumping event should be in the Olympics. The fact sheet that the jumpers' P.R. representatives noted that 35 athletes have had a top-10 finish on the FIS Continental Cup in the past two seasons, which shows there is depth in the field, especially compared to curling or hockey.

Anyway, it seemed worth noting. The jumpers are well-organized; they don't need my help. They have one of Vancouver's top lawyers, Ross Clark, working pro bono, there's a documentary film coming out, it's caught the fancy of a bunch of Tribeca trend-hoppers.

They deserve a chance. The VANOC deserves to get slapped for selling out Canadian athletes because, oh, it might make the IOC mad. At least we know where they stand.

(As an aside, Canada hosting the Olympics again is moot. The Summer Games have been to Montreal, the Winter Games have been to Calgary and Vancouver. There is no other Canadian city fit to host.)

CFL: B.C. - Saskatchewan live blog

I'll be live-blogging the B.C. Lions - Saskatchewan Roughriders game tonight. It's the first one of the year for both teams, so it should be a good one. There are also several strong CIS connections, which I explore in my game preview over at The CIS Blog. Kickoff is at 9 p.m. Eastern, and the game will be televised on TSN. Come join me then for the live blog!

CFL: No all-West Grey Cup for you!

Well, the Montreal Alouettes came up with a 36-26 victory [Sean Gordon, The Globe and Mail over the Edmonton Eskimos in this afternoon's East final, shattering not only my perfect streak of playoff predictions but also the dream of an all-Western CFL final. That probably keeps the league executives happy: as Gordon pointed out in his pre-game piece this morning, it's easier to sell a final with Montreal nationally than a battle of Alberta or a B.C.-Edmonton clash. It also means that there should be a lot of excitement in Montreal leading up to the final, which might have been more muted if the home team wasn't playing (particularly considering that the Canadiens are retiring Patrick Roy's number on the night before the big game). Thus, the Alouettes' win is probably good for the league, but it's somewhat disappointing to miss out on a never-before seen all-Western matchup.

In any case, this was a great football game, but it wasn't the offensive shootout many were anticipating; much of the fireworks came on special teams, which saw Edmonton pick up two touchdowns on a blocked punt (blocked and recovered by former Manitoba Bison Justin Cooper [CIS] and a 78-yard punt return by Tristan Jackson and Montreal add two more on 97 and 64-yard punt returns by Larry Taylor. Ricky Ray and Anthony Calvillo were similarly effective (339 and 295 yards respectively) and both threw one touchdown against zero picks, but Calvillo was more efficient, completing 20 of 32 passes against Ray's 26 of 49.

The run game also favoured Montreal. Avon Cobourne, who still seemed a little banged-up, ran 16 times for a decent 52 yards, while Edmonton only tried to rush three times with A.J. Harris and only picked up three yards doing so. Curiously enough, Edmonton didn't throw many short passes to their running backs either, which is usually a staple of their offence. Harris didn't have a catch all day, while Calvin McCarty (a Surrey guy who went to Western Washington) only had four catches for 14 yards. By contrast, Cobourne added another 61 yards on his four catches.

Early on, things were looking good for Edmonton. Their offence was moving the ball, even if they only got a few points out of it, while Calvillo struggled early on. Two field goals and the early blocked punt gave the Eskimos a 13-3 lead early in the second quarter. As the game went on, though, the Montreal line gave Calvillo more protection, and he started to pick apart Edmonton's defence with quick, short passes. Taylor's first punt return for a touchdown (64 yards) with less than two minutes to go before halftime gave Montreal a 19-13 lead and got their fans back into the game, and the Alouettes never trailed after that. As Montreal head coach Marc Trestman told TSN's Sara Orlesky after the game, "We took Edmonton's best shot today and we withstood the test."

The Eskimos made the end game interesting, though. Ray threw a bomb to Kelly Campbell early in the fourth quarter, and he took it in for a touchdown to bring Edmonton within 16. The Eskimos' defence held Montreal, but their offence couldn't keep the momentum going; Ray forced too many deep throws and the Alouettes dd well in pass coverage. Jackson re-energized Edmonton with a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown inside the last two minutes, but the two-point conversion failed. Maurice Mann did well to recover the ensuing onside kick, but Ray fumbled on the next drive, driving the final nail into Edmonton's coffin.

It wasn't a lights-out performance by Montreal, though, and some questions will hang over their heads as they prepare for the Grey Cup. Early on, while Edmonton's pass rush was getting past their offensive line, Calvillo looked decidedly vulnerable and was noticeably ineffective. Both Calgary and B.C. bring great pressure up front; Montreal will have to improve their pass protection and be more consistent with it if they want to win the big game.

Cobourne's health is also an issue. As Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette points out, he missed the final three games of the season with an ankle injury and hadn't played since Oct. 13. He looked somewhat sluggish today, and wasn't able to make as many of the quick cuts CFL fans have come to expect from him. That might be rust, or it might be a still-sore ankle, but the Alouettes may need more from him in the final. Both Calgary and B.C. boast powerful ground games; a Montreal team without one will be at a considerable disadvantage.

CFL: West final preview

Today's Western final should also be a great one to watch, as the B.C. Lions take on the Calgary Stampeders (4:30 p.m. ET, TSN). There's plenty of storylines here, as demonstrated by the various previews floating around the interwebs. Some of the best include Wally Buono's return to face his old team [Matthew Sekeres, The Globe and Mail], the parallels to the 2000 West final between the teams [Lowell Ullrich, The Vancouver Province], Calgary all-star receiver Ken-Yon Rambo versus B.C.'s all-star corner Dante Marsh [Allan Maki, The Globe and Mail], the battle of quarterbacks Buck Pierce and Henry Burris [Ed Willes, The Vancouver Province] or B.C.'s league-leading pass rush against Burris, a quarterback searching for playoff success [Bruce Dowbiggin, The Calgary Herald]. There's probably enough different stories on this one for it to be a Friday Night Lights episode. None of these previews deliver the complete stats breakdown, though, so it's after the jump.


The records:

B.C.: 11-7 (third in West)

Calgary: 13-5 (first in West)

Passing leaders:

B.C.: Buck Pierce, 232 completions on 362 attempts (64.1 per cent) for 3018 yards (8.33 yards per attempt, 13.00 yards per completion), 19 touchdowns versus 9 interceptions, 97.3 QB rating in 15 games, five 300-yard games

Calgary: Henry Burris, 381 completions on 591 attempts (64.5 per cent) for 5094 yards (8.61 yards per attempt, 13.37 yards per completion), 39 touchdowns versus 14 interceptions, 103.8 QB rating in 18 games, ten 300-yard games

Advantage: Calgary. Burris has struggled in playoff games throughout his career, but his numbers are still tremendous. If he can survive the pressure from B.C.'s defensive line, he gives Calgary an edge here. However, Pierce comes in with only minimal expectations on his shoulders, and he won't be running for his life the way Burris might have to, so the quarterback edge could be closer than the pure numbers would suggest.

Receiving leaders:

B.C.: Slotback Geroy Simon, 82 receptions for 1418 yards (second in CFL, 17.3 yards per catch average) in 16 games (88.6 yards per game average), 10 touchdowns, eight 100-yard games

Calgary: Wide receiver Ken-Yon Rambo, 100 receptions for 1473 yards (14.7 yards per catch average) in 18 games (81.8 yards per game average), eight touchdowns, five 100-yard games

(Note: B.C. wide receiver Paris Jackson is ahead of Calgary's second receiver, wide out Nik Lewis in passing yardage with 76 receptions for 1180 yards (15.5 yards per catch average) in 17 games (69.4 yards per game average), eight touchdowns and four 100-yard games. Lewis has 1109 yards on 87 catches (12.7 yards per catch average) in 18 games (61.6 yards per game) with 10 TDs and three 100-yard games. B.C. slotback Jason Clermont has 50 receptions for 640 yards in 14 games as well.)

Advantage: B.C. Rambo's had a great year and led the league in yards, but that's on an awful lot of catches: his yards-per-catch are lower than both Simon and Jackson. I'd put Rambo up there with Simon, but B.C. has better depth in the receiving corps than Calgary.

Rushing leaders:

B.C.: Running back Stefan Logan, 889 yards on 122 carries (7.3 yards per carry) in 12 games (74.1 yards per game), zero touchdowns, three 100-yard games

Calgary: Running back Joffrey Reynolds, 1310 yards on 227 carries (5.8 yards per carry) in 18 games (72.8 yards per game), 10 touchdowns, five 100-yard games

Advantage: Calgary This one is close, as both teams have excellent ground games. Logan picks up more yards per carry, but Reynolds is a consistently dangerous running back and one of the CFL's best. Slight edge to Calgary here, but there isn't that much of a gap between the two. A key battle to watch will be Reynolds versus the Lions' run defence, which has been good all year.

Sack leaders:

B.C.: Defensive lineman Cameron Wake leads the team with an incredible 23 sacks (only three less than the entire Hamilton Tiger-Cats team).

Calgary: Lineman Miguel Robede (a Laval product) and linebackers Mike Labingo and Charleston Hughes are tied for the team lead with five sacks.

(Note: B.C. has three other players with more sacks then anyone on Calgary's roster: linemen Aaron Hunt (11) and Brent Johnson (10) and linebacker Jamall Johnson (six).)

Advantage: B.C. Huge advantage to the Lions here. Their defensive front is the best I've ever seen in the CFL, and really doesn't get nearly enough coverage. What makes it so great is that it's not just Wake: the threat from Hunt and Johnson (a Kingston native, by the way) makes it almost impossible to double-team anyone. Burris' mobility will help him a bit against the rush, but the Lions did a tremendous job of knocking Michael Bishop off his game last week, and he's pretty mobile as well.

Interception leaders:

B.C.: Safety Barron Miles, who has nine picks (tied for the league lead) in 16 games and a total of 113 resulting yards off them.

Calgary: Safety Wes Lysack, who has four picks in 15 games and 101 resulting yards with one return for a touchdown.

(Note: B.C. defensive back Korey Banks also has more interceptions than Lysack, with six in 18 games (third in the league).)

Advantage: B.C. This is another area the Lions win handily. The pressure their defensive front brings forces opposing quarterbacks into poor decisions, and the talented secondary is often able to take advantage.

Overall notes:

This should be an excellent matchup, with some of the best talent in the CFL on display. Burris, Reynolds, Logan, Rambo and Simon are near the top of the league offensively, while Wake, Hunt, both Johnsons and Miles are some of the elite defenders in the game. There's a good rivalry between the teams and between their cities, so expect some fireworks.

Prediction: B.C. victory
For me, the key battle of the game is the Lions' pass rush against the Stamps' O-line and Burris: if they can pull off a few sacks and force Burris into bad throws, the Lions should take this game. B.C. has just too many incredible individual talents. In fact, Stampeders' head coach John Hufnagel called the Lions an "all-star team" heading into this week's game [Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press via Yahoo! Sports]. That wasn't just flattery either: B.C. had 13 players named to the West all-star team, while Calgary had six despite winning the division. It took the Lions a while to pull it together this year, but they looked in fine form with that 33-12 stomping of Saskatchewan on the road last week. If they put out another performance like that one, they should win this game.

CFL: Breaking down the semi-finals

There's plenty of Canadian gridiron playoff action going on today between the four CIS games (which Neate has previewed over at The CIS Blog) and the two CFL matches. Here's a look at what to expect from the pro games.

East semi-final: Edmonton Eskimos at Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1 p.m. ET, TSN)

The records:

Edmonton: 10-8 (fourth in West)

Winnipeg: 8-10 (second in East)

Passing leaders:

Edmonton: Ricky Ray, 422 completions on 605 attempts (69.8 per cent) for 5661 yards (9.36 yards per attempt, 13.41 yards per completion), 26 touchdowns versus 17 interceptions, 101.8 QB rating in 18 games, 12 300-yard games

Winnipeg: Kevin Glenn, 293 completions on 454 attempts (64.5 per cent) for 3637 yards (8.01 yards per attempt, 12.41 yards per completion), 20 touchdowns versus 20 interceptions, 85.8 QB rating in 16 games, five 300-yard games

Advantage: Edmonton

Receiving leaders:

Edmonton: Wide receiver Kamau Peterson, 101 receptions for 1315 yards (13.0 yards per catch average) in 18 games (73.1 yards per game average), four touchdowns, five 100-yard games

Winnipeg: Wide receiver Romby Bryant, 65 receptions for 1206 yards (18.6 yards per catch average) in 18 games (67.0 yards per game average), nine touchdowns, five 100-yard games

(Note: Edmonton wide receiver Kelly Campbell also beats out Bryant in most of the statistical categories with 54 receptions for 1223 yards (22.6 yards per catch average) in 15 games (81.5 yards per game average), seven touchdowns and five 100-yard games)

Advantage: Edmonton

Rushing leaders:

Edmonton: Running back A.J. Harris, 557 yards on 99 carries (5.6 yards per carry) in 11 games (50.6 yards per game), six touchdowns, one 100-yard game

Winnipeg: Running back Fred Reid, 709 yards on 101 carries (7.0 yards per carry) in 16 games (44.3 yards per game), three touchdowns, three 100-yard games

(Note: Harris's year numbers are somewhat low due to injury. Reid's per-game numbers are diminished thanks to him backing up Charles Roberts at the start of the year. As a result of the Roberts trade, Winnipeg also has former B.C. Lion power back Joe Smith (which I maintain is one of the best names ever: you can actually talk about Joe Smith from Winnipeg these days), who has ran for 381 yards on 69 attempts (5.5 yards per attempt) in eight games this year (47.6 yards per game) with two touchdowns and one 100-yard game.)

Advantage: Winnipeg

Sack leaders:

Edmonton: Defensive linemen Jim Davis and Dario Romero are tied for the team lead with six sacks.

Winnipeg: Defensive lineman Gavin Walls leads the team with eight sacks. Defensive lineman Doug Brown is in second place with six sacks.

Advantage: Winnipeg

Interception leaders:

Edmonton: Cornerback Jason Goss, who has five picks and a total of 182 resulting yards off them, including two pick-sixes.

Winnipeg: Cornerback Jovon Johnson, who has three picks and 130 resulting yards with two interceptions returned for touchdowns.

Advantage: Edmonton

Overall notes:

It seems odd to have an Eastern semi-final with both teams west of Ontario, but that's the CFL for you: Winnipeg has to be in the East to keep four teams in each division, and Edmonton's the crossover team thanks to the horrible nature of the East this year. Their record was not only better than third-place Toronto (4-14, ugh), but also better than second-place Winnipeg. It's one of the few cases where you'll see the team with the better record on the road. Home-field advantage will help Winnipeg to a degree, and they also have the better ground game. As the Globe's Allan Maki points out, the Bombers are 6-2 since trading Roberts for Smith and balancing Smith's power game with Reid's speed; Glenn has also looked much better in those games. Harris is a decent back for Edmonton, but they don't go to him very much thanks to their pass-happy offence, and I don't see him as a game-breaker. Edmonton has the one of the best passing offences in the league, though, and I'd take Ricky Ray over Kevin Glenn any day. The tougher competition in the West also would seem to favour the Eskimos. As Maki also writes, though, the conditions are going to be bloody cold (possible snow flurries, high of -3 and 30 km/h winds), and that tends to favour the ground game: hard to throw and catch when your hands are numb. One interesting battle to watch will be the kicking game; Edmonton has 10-year veteran Noel Prefontaine, while the Bombers will rely on rookie Alexis Serna.

Prediction: Overall, I think there's enough points in the Eskimos' favour for them to take this one. If they win next week as well, we'll have an all-Western Grey Cup, which would be something to see; all of the other Western teams have great rivalries with the Eskimos, so that could be a great game.

West semi-final: B.C. Lions at Saskatchewan Roughriders, 4:30 p.m. ET, TSN

The records:

B.C.: 11-7 (third in West)

Saskatchewan: 12-6 (second in West)

Passing leaders:

B.C.: Buck Pierce, 232 completions on 362 attempts (64.1 per cent) for 3018 yards (8.33 yards per attempt, 13.00 yards per completion), 19 touchdowns versus 9 interceptions, 97.3 QB rating in 15 games, five 300-yard games

Saskatchewan: Michael Bishop, 141 completions on 232 attempts (60.8 per cent) for 2226 yards (9.59 yards per attempt, 15.8 yards per completion), 7 touchdowns versus 12 interceptions, 81.1 QB rating in 9 games, two 300-yard games

Advantage: B.C. Bishop has a hell of an arm, as Argonauts fans know, but he tries to force the ball too much and throws way too many picks. The Globe's David Naylor has a good profile on him here. Still, he's been just about as effective as Kerry Joseph this year, and it's amazing what Saskatchewan GM Eric Tillman was able to get out of that deal.

Receiving leaders:

B.C.: Slotback Geroy Simon, 82 receptions for 1418 yards (second in CFL, 17.3 yards per catch average) in 16 games (88.6 yards per game average), 10 touchdowns, eight 100-yard games

Saskatchewan: Wide receiver Weston Dressler, 56 receptions for 1128 yards (20.1 yards per catch average) in 15 games (75.2 yards per game average), six touchdowns, six 100-yard games

(Note: B.C. wide receiver Paris Jackson also beats out Dressler in passing yardage and touchdowns with 76 receptions for 1180 yards (15.5 yards per catch average) in 17 games (69.4 yards per game average), eight touchdowns and four 100-yard games. B.C. slotback Jason Clermont has 50 receptions for 640 yards in 14 games as well. Saskatchewan's had a ton of injuries at receiver all year long).

Advantage: B.C.

Rushing leaders:

B.C.: Running back Stefan Logan, 889 yards on 122 carries (7.3 yards per carry) in 12 games (74.1 yards per game), zero touchdowns, three 100-yard games

Saskatchewan: Running back Wes Cates, 1229 yards on 216 carries (5.7 yards per carry) in 15 games (81.9 yards per game), 12 touchdowns, four 100-yard games

(Note: B.C. has a double-headed running threat in Logan and the aforementioned Charles Roberts, who's been pretty good since leaving Winnipeg. On the year, he has 298 yards on 65 carries (4.6 yards per carry) in seven games (42.6 yards per game). Those totals are dragged down by his poor start to the season with the Bombers. He also has five touchdowns and one 100-yard game).

Advantage: B.C. This one is close, as both teams have excellent ground games. Logan picks up more yards per carry, though, and Roberts and kick returner/running back Ian Smart give B.C. a great set of backfield options: with Saskatchewan, it's Cates or bust (Sportsnet.ca's Perry Lefko coined the fantastic term "The Wes Cates offence").

Sack leaders:

B.C.: Defensive lineman Cameron Wake leads the team with an incredible 23 sacks (only three less than the entire Hamilton Tiger-Cats team).

Saskatchewan: Linebacker Kitwana Jones leads the team with five sacks.

(Note: B.C. has three other players with more sacks then Jones: linemen Aaron Hunt (11) and Brent Johnson (10) and linebacker Jamall Johnson (six).)


Advantage: B.C.

Interception leaders:

B.C.: Safety Barron Miles, who has nine picks (tied for the league lead) in 16 games and a total of 113 resulting yards off them.

Saskatchewan: Safety Lance Frazier, who has five picks in 15 games and 62 resulting yards.

(Note: B.C. defensive back Korey Banks also has more interceptions than Frazier, with six in 18 games (third in the league).)

Advantage: B.C.

Overall notes:

This is going to be a good one. For my money, B.C. and Saskatchewan is the best rivalry in the CFL: both sides have terrific fanbases, and they both hate each other (see this Regina Leader-Post story by Murray McCormick on BeerGate). Saskatchewan's been hit hard by injuries this year, but they've battled through it to a 12-6 record, and Mosaic Stadium is always an intimidating place to play. B.C. has the better individual talent, as shown by the breakdown above (and their 13 all-star selections against Saskatchewan's four), but it's a question if they can put it together, as they've been inconsistent at times.

Prediction: Overall, B.C. has too many dominant individual talents for Saskatchewan. Michael Bishop is likely to be running for his life all day against the Lions' front four, and that will probably lead to even more interceptions than normal, especially when you consider the strength of the Lions' secondary. Saskatchewan's also banged up, while B.C. is pretty healthy. The two-headed run threat from Logan and Roberts will help, and Buck Pierce may not have the rocket arm of Bishop, but he has a way better TD/int ratio. The Lions take this one in my mind, but it will be close.

Zen Dayley: Making sense of the Series sacrilege

That World Series half-game turned out to be not half-bad. It wasn't half-good either.

The question after the debaculous World Series -- sorry, but for a purist, Bud Selig making up the rules as he went along was a deal-breaker, even though no one says boo when the NFL plays fast-and-loose with the sport's integrity -- is what could be done to avoid a future recurrence. A shorter, 140-game or so regular season should happen; all the ball-and-stick leagues save the NFL should be playing fewer regular-season games.

The ex-manager Whitey Herzog is getting pilliored for his unearthing his pet idea for a neutral-site World Series (read the rebuttal at It Is About The Money). FOX Sports, to borrow the outgoing commander-in-chief's word, is "addicted" to those 8:37 p.m. Eastern time starts.

This is something where the only sane response seems to be to throw up your hands at the situation. A perfectly reasonable, albeit passive-aggressive recourse: If you really love baseball (and this is not wallowing in a game that never was), you could always just treat the league championship series is the true climax to the season. It's two teams who use the same rules for each game, home-field advantage is determined according to record and not a midseason exhibition game. Chances are, the two opponents might even have a long-standing post-season history, or have built up some enmity toward each other over the course of the season.

The preliminaries are often better than the main bout, anyways, just as in marriage and prizefighting.

Rays redux

• To the tune of John Denver's, "Please, Daddy, don't get drunk this Christimas," Please, Tampa, don't throw a celebration for a team which came second. It would have been amazing if the Rays had won the World Series a year after finishing in last place.
  
  However, throwing a party for a runner-up is a surefire one-way ticket to Lame City; that's just an opinion. Ottawa did that in 2007 for the Senators, enough said.
• Tampa Bay will be back. You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

Other thingamabobs

• The big Hot Stove League news today: Ken Macha is going to manage the Brewers (the Jays could have had him in 2007) and the Royals got first baseman Mike Jacobs from the Florida Lorias.
• It looks like the Japanese pitcher Junichi Tawaza is free to come to the majors.
• Brew Crew Ball congratulated ex-Brewer Geoff Jenkins for getting a World Series ring instead of just feeling sorry for themselves -- like you're supposed to, according to Toronto sports logic.
• Apparently jamiecampbell got a little too caught up in Barack Obama's speechifying, because he figured it was OK to bring up the Civil War in reference to the Rays' super southpaw David Price, who is, uh, African-American:

  "David Price is from Mursfreesboro, Tennessee, which in 1862 was the site of a famous Civil War battle that resulted in a narrow Union victory. He's obviously hoping for a Southern victory tonight."

  Are references to 150-year-old wars really appropriate to bring up with any ballplayer? Granted, that is no worse than the attitude parodied in The Simpsons episode when Apu gets his U.S. citizenship: "Finally, last question, what was the cause of the Civil War." ... "Well, there were many factors, economic and ..." ... "Just say slavery." ... "Slavery it is."
• Speaking of the Obama infomercial, a FOX Sports exec said, "we didn’t push back the game, it was really just about suspending the pre-game -- you know, Joe Buck." In other words, Obama-Biden meant America heard less of Joe Buck and, being totally tongue-in-cheek for all you literalists, if that doesn't convince people to vote for them ...
• Via Rattler Radio, comes word that Baseball America has called Brett Lawrie "the best Canadian hitting prospect in a decade."
• FanGraphs is also big on 19-year-old Reds right-handed pitching prospect Kyle Lotzkar, another B.C. ballplayer who was in Single-A ball this season. (Did he play with Lawrie with the Langley Blaze?) Keep his name on file.

(Herzog link via, who else, ShysterBall.)