2013 NHL Playoff Round One Preview

After a long 82 game, shortened 48 game schedule the real season for hockey fans begins tomorrow night.  The first round of the NHL playoffs has always been my favourite point of the hockey season when there is 3-4 intense games a nights for two weeks.  By the later rounds my interest somewhat wanes, I usually don't care for the teams left, and it's the summer for christs sakes.  Since 2004 my viewing of the playoffs have been motivated by hate, hate for the Senators and Canadiens mainly, but this year I'll be watching with love.  Thankfully, mercifully, for the first time since (gasp) 2004, my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs will be a part of the dance.  More on the Leafs later, I am going to break down each series and offer my predictions, most of my opinions won't be based on "facts", it will be based on mainly vitriol. 

Western Conference

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Last season the LA Kings won the Stanley Cup as the 8 seed out of the west.  I can safely say there is no chance this will happen again.  The Blackhawks have been the elite of the NHL this season, and I see that trend continuing in the playoffs.  The Wild "loaded up" this past off-season, throwing obscene money at Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, but they only managed to squeak into the playoffs.  They are perhaps the most boring team of all time, plus that have that clown Dany Heatley, which is just unfortunate.  This series will be done quickly.

Prediciton: Blackhawks in 4

 

VS

 

Fuck the Red Wings.  How pathetic does your team have to be to be "presented by Amway".  They're a bunch of jerks, and so are their fans, two particular people come to mind, my friend Killer and my other friend Ryan. The Wings had a garbage year, but still managed to make the playoffs. I would have been ecstatic if they didn't make the playoffs, but quick exit at the hands of a very good Ducks team will have to do. 

Prediciton: Ducks in 5

VS

 

For a few years now the San Jose Sharks have been the trendy media pick to win the Stanley Cup and year after year they've disappointed in the playoffs.  I think this year will be different, nobody has talked much about the Sharks this year, and I can see them going on a decent run this playoffs.  As for Vancouver, I hate them.  The Sedin sisters creep me out, they are a bunch of whining divers, and that fat opera singer that sings Oh Canada before games is a dork.  The only good thing about this team is Roberto Luongo's twitter account. 

Prediction: Sharks in 6

 

VS

 

 

I honestly have very little to say about this series.  I don't think I watched the St. Louis Blues play a single game this year.  It's kind of cool that Jay Bouwmeester is finally playing a playoff game after all these years.  If Halak can get hot for them like he did for the Habs a few years back anything can happen I suppose.  The Kings are the defending champs, I don't think they'll win it all again, but I see them advancing to the 2nd round.  This series is going to be a boring defensive struggle, I don't imagine I'll be going out of my way to watch any of it.

Prediction: Kings in 6

Eastern Conference

 

VS

Good for the Islanders for making the playoffs, I think he future looks bright for the team, especially with a move to the fancy Barclay's Center in Brooklyn on the horizon.  John Tavares is one of the best players in the league, and Nabakov has been playing like his old self lately.  However, all that won't be enough to get by the Penguins, with or without Crosby they're just too good.  As long as the Islanders don't have that fucktard Steve Webb playing for them anymore they're good with me.

Prediciton:  Penguins in 5

 

VS

Ugh, two of the worst franchises in all of sports battle it out to see which one can earn most of my scorn.  Picking a winner of this series will be akin to picking between licking up a pile of vomit or a pile of diarrhea.  This time of year people come out and say "you gotta cheer for the Canadian team no matter what".  This is such bullshit, I can't imagine any scenario where I would root for either the Montreal Canadiens or the Ottawa Senators.  I really couldn't give a flying fuck that a Canadian team hasn't won the Cup since 1993, I won't be any happier if any other Canadian team besides the Leafs won the Cup, than I would if any American team won.  Most American teams who have won the Cup recently have more Canadians on the team then the shitty Habs or woeful Senators do.  I wish nothing but the worst for either team and hope they both implode with injuries and are forced to concede from the playoffs.  I can't even bring myself to make a prediction.

Prediction: Who gives a fuck

 VS

  

The Rangers were one of the most disappointing teams in the league this year, after coming close to the Stanley Cup final last year, and adding Rick Nash in the off-season, many, myself included thought the Rangers would be near the top the the Eastern Conference this year.  But they struggled mightily and barely made the playoffs.  Washington got off to a horrific start, but as of late have been one of the top teams in the league.  I love Alex Ovechkin, and he has finally remembered how to play like Ovi can.  I think this is going to be a great series, but the Rangers have Lundqvist, and as we have seen a millions times in the past in the playoffs, goaltending wins series.  I can totally see the Rangers erasing their woes from the season and making a run this year.

Prediction:  Rangers in 6

 

VS

The Leafs clinched a playoff spot over a week ago and I am still giddy over it.  The last time the Leafs were in the playoffs, I just finished my 3rd year at UWO, was living in Hamilton and working in the kiosk at the RBG.  Earlier that playoffs the Leafs beat the shitty Sens in 7 games, Game 7 will always be remembered by Patrick Lalime having a meltdown, letting in a few quick Joe Nieuwendyk goals, and that was truly the last time I've been happy as a Leafs fan.  I remember May 4th 2004 like it was yesterday,  me and my friends converged on Ando's attic to watch the game, we ordered a shit tonne of chicken wings from Chaps (still amongst the best Wings I have ever had), as usual we were smoking dope and drinking beers, oh the amount of weed smoked in that attic back then.  The Leafs rallied back in the 3rd period being down 2-0 to force overtime, then that little shit Jeremy Roenick came in on a breakaway and scored on Eddie Belfour.  I cried.  If I had known it would take another 9 years for the Leafs to make the playoffs again, there would have been a full on meltdown of tears. This year the Leafs are matched up against the dreaded Boston Bruins, who safe to say have owned the Leafs the last few years.  The last two times, however the Leafs played a hell of a lot better against them, beating the Bruins one game and losing in a shoot-out the next, it's irrelevant if the Bruins beat them 20 of the previous 22 contests.  It's gonna be a tough series, but I think the Leafs can pull it off, never underestimate the underdog.  If Optimus Reim gets hot, and the Lupul-Kadri-Kessel lines clicks, anything can happen.  Zdeno Chara is a fucking oafish lurch, Tyler Seguin is over-rated, and Milan Lucic is going to get his face pounded in on a nightly basis by Colton Orr and/or Fraser McClaren.  Get used to the Leafs car flags folks, they're going to be out for a while this year.

Prediction:  Leafs in 7.

So that's it for my preview for the first round, I might do another one for the other rounds, but like I said earlier, unless the Leafs are involved I'm likely to lose interest as the playoffs go on.  Hockey should not be played in late June when it is 25 degrees and sunny out.  Feel free to disagree with me in the comments section or hit me up on twitter @didhenley

Big Brother Canada Week 8 thoughts

Holy shit this dribble has been on for 8 weeks now? My heavens.  So I was wrong about Peter winning the inaugural Big Brother Canada, get used to it I'm wrong about almost everything.  You're looking at the guy who has predicted the Leafs would win the Stanley Cup every year since 1990.  Peter can PTFO though, what a fucking loser.  He had his little sob story about not being accepted on the Wednesday episode, no fucking wonder bud, nice poem too nerd. Worst. Exit. Ever.  My buddy Bobby has a good point, his face is way too pointy.  The worst part of the episode was not the ridiculously unnecessary twist of Gary coming back into the house, which was bullshit.  It was the cameo appearance of....

Ahhhh! Is Rachel destined to come back and haunt our dreams forever?  Her voice is the worst, just the 3 minute clip of her talking about this season made me want to shit bricks.  At least her insufferable fianceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Bah-REN-den was nowhere to be seen.  Probably off showing his peen on Skype again.  They totally needed Enzo and Lane from the Brigade to come back and talk shit about these jabronies. The Brigade remains the best alliance in Big Brother history.

No this isn't some weird bukkake scene Gary was involved in, although I am sure if you look hard enough you can find one.  It should really come as no surprise that Gary came back into the house.  On their Facebook post announcing the return of a houseguest (which I left a scornful message on saying how much I thought it was bullshit), 90% of the people wanted Gary to come back.  As much as I think this twist is bullshit, it could actually make the last couple of weeks somewhat interesting.  As of right now I don't know who is HOH, but if Gary or Andrew win they along with that dunderhead Talla can finally split up the insufferable power couple of Jillian and Emmett.  By the way I think Andrew and "La-La" bickering at each other has been hilarious, Sundays episode in particular had several genuine LOL moments for me.  Before this stupid twist Jillian and Emmett were cruising towards final two, but now who the fuck knows, I guess that's what the producers wanted.  It's still bullshit though, if Gary ends up winning it's a tainted victory.

I haven't really talked about the dreaded "milkmance" (ugh as if I just said that) in this blog, mainly because I find them to be intolerable.  That being said one of them does deserve to win the game.  They've really controlled things from the get-go.  So Jillian has told a few fibs here and there, I find nothing wrong with that, you are supposed to do what you can to win, if that means lying to peoples faces then so be it.  I think Jillian deserves to win more than Emmett, all he has done is drink milk, get disqualified from competitions, and sit around with his shirt peeled with that horrifically ugly farm tattoo polluting the airwaves.

I have a bit of bad news for the 6 or 7 of you that look forward to my Big Brother musings every Thursday night, this time next week I'll be passed out beside some swim up bar in sunny Punta Cana!  That's right, I'll be in the DR courtesy my buddy Bobby, who won the trip through work, he drew names from a hat to be his guest, and that lucky person happens to be me! Don't worry though as soon as I catch up I'm sure I'll have a thing or two to say.

Big Brother Canada Week 7 thoughts

All these people are fucking retarded.  Alec is a retard for throwing the P.O.V.,  Topaz is retarded for trusting Jillian so much, Peter is a full fledged downie bear for not using the P.O.V. he won.  Talla, well she must've been dropped on her head as a child.  This whole show is retarded because the producers have a fetish for twists.  But I still watch, and will continue to watch...perhaps I'm the retard.  Now that I have managed to offend everyone with my liberal use of the word "retard" let's get on with my Week 7 thoughts. 

As I have already mentioned Alec is a complete dumbass for throwing the P.O.V. competition, not just throwing it, but completely quitting half way through.  This may sound stupid but I think you should have some respect for the game, and not just quit for no reason.  Throwing a competition is one thing when it really is not in your best interest to win, but 10,000 people applied to be on the show and you go and quit a competition just like that?  Fuck you and fuck your massive eyebrows. He also blew it by voting out AJ a couple of weeks ago instead of Andrew.  I really think he fancied himself to be Dr. Will from BB2 and Big Brother All-Stars, but he didn't even come close. But he is gone (for now...) as for his Shield partner Peter....

 

You dumb-dumb, yes dumb-dumb I called you an insult made famous by the Great Gazoo on the Flintstones.  My pick to win from episode one is done-zo.  I kind of see what his reasoning would be not to use the POV tonight, not wanting to upset Jillian and Emmett, but he should have taken off Topaz, forcing Emmett to put up Andrew,  both Talla and Andrew are underlings of Jillian and Emmett, and that would have weakened their alliance.  But no he decided to play it safe, and now Topaz is out the door.  His hard-on for Liza is fucking pathetic.  Him wearing her hairband around his finger is creepy.  I seriously think that Peter thinks that him and Liza are going to hook-up and live happily ever after.  Give it up bud, you'll be back home making lame YouTube videos, sniffing Liza's hairband and eating chicken fingers in two months and no one will ever hear from you again.  I think Liza is going to need a restraining order once he is back in the real world.

While I agree Jillian going back on her would to Topaz was a shitty thing to do, this is Big Brother for fucks sakes, you can't trust anyone or anything.  Like Mike Boogie said in the last American season "this is the Big Brother house you're allowed to bounce cheques".  I would have never stepped off that ice berg if I was Topaz, and it's her own dumb fault that she is in the jury house.

Preach on Evel Dick

What a fucking surprise there is another "massive twist" on Big Brother Canada.  I can live with Double Evictions, Instant evictions, but voting to have someone in the jury house come back into the house?  LAME.  In fact I think it's completely unfair, especially at this stage of the game when there is only 5 players left.  People get evicted for a reason, and they should not be given a chance to re-enter the game, it's not fair for people who are still in the house.  Obviously Canada is going to vote Gary back in.  Yipee.  Maybe he'll have to go on slop and he'll have another meltdown.  They weren't exactly clear when the returning house guest will return, I assume it will be on next Thursday's live show.  I know the producers of both the American and Canadian versions of Big Brother seem to think Twists are the key to keep things interesting but they can't be farther from the truth.  Good casting makes the show, not incessant twists. This twist is the worst of them all, it is damn near criminal to have someone come back this late in the game.  Unless you don't want to be spoiled, do not read on....

Jillian wins HOH again, whoopdee fuck.  As for her nominations it's obvious she puts up Peter and Talla.  Like I said earlier I think Peter is gone, but of course that all depends on what happens at POV and with this ridiculous twist.  But what the fuck do I know, I am sure the producers are going to throw in  Diamond Pandora's Box Coup d'Etat and fucking Rachel is going to come swooping into the house.

As usual I'll end with my plea to follow me on twitter @didhenley or to leave a comment.  This show pisses me off.

I'm big in Germany!

Our friends in Germany have been known to like a lot of things, chocolate, bratwurst, giant beer steins, starting World Wars, and of course David Hasselhoff.  Another thing these Jerry's seem to like, for some god damned reason is my blog.  Why?  I don't have the slightest of clues.  I started this blog basically for shits and giggles, I've always enjoyed writing and this gives me something to do, I really needed another hobby other than drinking beer and going to 7-11.  For those unaware blogger.com let's you track your traffic sources, what people have entered into Google to find your site, and your page views by country.  As to be expected the vast majority of page views are Canadian, I have quite a few page views from the United States, perhaps due to all the McDonald's posts.  Recently the Germans have launched their own blitzkrieg on my blog, and there are some days where German page views outnumber Canadian ones.  Who are these krauts and why are they so interested in Big Brother Canada?  In the past week I have 163 pages views from Canada and 140 views from The Hun. Is there some hipster community in Dusseldorf that is visiting this blog ironically?? This post is laced with World War Two era jargon, but truth be told I have no issue with our German friends, they've come a long way since 1945, I love schnitzel, and spatzle and saurkraut are as good a side dish as they come, polka music still sucks though.  I just want to know who you are, why are you visiting my page?  Am I famous in Germany?  If fucking David Hasselhoff can become a national hero there, I certainly could.  Seriously though, if you're a German and are reading this, hit me up on twitter @didhenley add me to Facebook, or at the very least leave a comment.  Since I have so many German fans now, I should probably refrain from using so many World War Two era slurs, I really don't want to piss them off because as we all know.....

 

Big Brother Canada Week 6 thoughts

It was a big week in the Big Brother house, the producers seem hellbent in throwing twist after twist at us this season, and it was no different this week with the instant eviction on Sundays episode.  To be honest I thought the whole instant eviction was a bit chincy.  It robbed Topaz of getting the perks of being HOH, the room, the letter and pictures from home, all the candy and shit that they get etc.  Plus I think she got thrown under the bus by the producers by letting the rest of the house listen to her plot her move.  I thought her picks were stupid too, picking on the old man bromance like that.  Another thing is what happened to the Veto?? If there was the whack instant eviction AJ and Andrew should've been given the chance to take themselves off the block.  But alas, the old man bromance was split up and AJ was the first member sent to the jury house.

The scene above made me laugh, when Andrew brought the picture of AJ out to have dinner with him.  I wish they got more airtime at the beginning of the season, they were a lot more entertaining than that asshole Tom or the insufferable showmances that have plagued this season.  I hate that term showmance, in fact I am never going to use it anymore.

Before I get into Gary's eviction this week, I have to say his meltdown over being put on slop was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.  What a fucking baby!  I am a big boy, and if you've read my blog you know I love my food but I certainly wouldn't have a melt down like a 3 year old if I was put on slop for the week, I wouldn't be happy about it but there would be no tears and hysterics.  I actually lost a lot of respect for Gary this week when he flipped out at Talla for absolutely no reason.  All she did was ask him to turn off the stove, and he got all up in her business.  I know Gary is, uh, feminine but the guy is 6'3' and towered over Talla, I honestly thought he was going to punch her.  As far as Gary getting evicted, it was a good move for the rest of the house, Gary was a strong player who had a good shot of winning and it was good to get rid of him.  He was funny and entertaining and all but it was time for him to go.  PS Arisa Cox your pump fakes are getting old and tiresome, this is the 4th or 5th time in a row you've said "Topaz..........(needless dramatic pause)......you are safe".  My girl Julie Chen just cuts to the chase, and you can learn a thing or two from her.

 

As for the rest of the house, believe it or not that dingbat Talla actually holds a lot of power now, and what she does is going to go a long way the rest of the season.  I think Talla is hilarious, she is definitely one of my favourite houseguests...the screaming is a little much though.  The house is divided into the east coast/west coast factions, just like the 90's rap scene but with less bitches and blunts....and murders I guess.  So we got the Shield+Topaz representing Vancouver and the Maritimers Andrew, Emmett and Jillian, leaving Talla in the middle as the tie-breaker.  Whoever she aligns with will be the winning faction, and will go down to the Final 3.  Despite calling Peter to win from the start the only reason I want him to win now is because I want to be right, he actually annoys me, the main reason is the screaming in the diary room, you're not Dan Gheesling, get a grip!! The Liza elastic thing has also made me lose a ton of respect for him.  The person I want to win now is Andrew but I don't think he has a chance.   The episode tonight ended with an endurance competition, so we won't know who wins HOH until Sunday.  Unless you read the spoilers, so don't read on unless you want to be spoiled.

Don't say I didn't warn you....but Jillian wins HOH, so in other words Emmett is now Head of Household.  This doesn't bode too well for the Shield, and this may be the end of them.  I am saying that Jillian will put up Alec and Topaz, and if one of them wins veto she'll put up Peter in their place.  Ultimately I think it's curtains for Alec, he is too good a player, and Jillian and Emmett would be absolutely stupid if they don't make this move.  

And quelle surprise, we have another fucking twist, and there is going to be a fucking double eviction, those are so hard to predict, but for arguments sake I'll say Topaz is the second evicted next week.

REVIEW: Texan Angus Third Pounder

The other night after work I had to strap on my bullet proof vest and head to my bank at Dundas and Richmond to bleed my bank account dry in order to pay rent.  As I passed through the usual crowd of loitering reprobates discussing the latest ways to cook meth (little did those skids know I had $500 cash on me!) I noticed a sign on the McDonald's shining like a bright beacon announcing the new Texan Angus Third Pounder,  "Jalapeno Bold" they said.  At that point in the night the greasy walk up window was the only thing that was open and I didn't want to order it only to walk it home and have it be ice cold when I ate it.  I went home and tried to do a little Google research on it, but there was nothing, so this must be a London only thing, as we all know the Forest City is a test market for McDonald's.  My message to the McDonald's suit-dicks is to keep this burger on the menu full time.

 

I went back to the greasy Dundas and Richmond location today to try out the new burger, as usual the place was packed with the usual cast of miscreants, ugh I always feel like I need a shower after being in this place.  My order took a while, which never bugs me, because I know the burger will be fresh, the fries unfortunately, were not.  As you can see from the picture above the burger had jalapenos, onion, bacon and some manner of smokey chipotle sauce.  I have absolutely no idea what those little green crumbly things were but they were pretty good.  I am not sure what kind of cheese they put on it, judging by the picture in front of the store they probably intended on it being Monterey Jack maybe jalapeno cheddar?  It certainly was not jalapeno havarti, but as we all know any sort of processed cheese always tastes the same.  As mentioned because this is a London only test run, there is no mention of this burger on McDonald's website or anywhere else online, so I couldn't get a description of the cheese, sauce or whatever those green things are.  All in all the burger worked, and I enjoyed it very much, despite it having jalapenos I didn't find it spicy at all, I guess I am just used to spicy foods now.  A couple of years ago I couldn't handle spicy foods, mild wings at some places caused be to sweat profusely, now it's Franks's Red Hot all day.  The real winner though on this burger was the bacon.  McDonald's bacon is awesome, I am not sure how they prepare it but it is crispy and delicious.  I'm surprised they don't serve it alone as a side, oh yeah they're too busy pushing coffee, and their healthy choices, ugh. 

In conclusion, this burger was a winner and should be launched nationwide.  At $9.14 for a combo it's definitely on the pricey side, but hey you gotta treat yourself sometime.  Now to wait and see if it is spicy coming out.

Your 2013 Toronto Blue Jays

I love baseball, and I love the Toronto Blue Jays and Opening Day is my favourite day of the year, so most other teams have already opened the season, but as Alex Rios would say "who gives a fuck!?!".  Although I am a die-hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan, the Toronto Blue Jays are my first love, and the start of a new season fills me with warm fuzzy feelings that hockey season can not, mainly because hockey season signals the start of a long miserable winter and baseball season signals the end.  The 2013 season is extra special for Jays fans, because for the first time in 20 years the Blue Jays are serious post-season contenders.  I remember optimism before the 1997 (Roger Clemens!) and 2006 (AJ Burnett! BJ Ryan!) season, but nothing like what we're experiencing heading into the 2013 season.

The 2012 season was nothing short of a disaster for the Jays.  Every thing that could have gone wrong for the Blue Jays last season went wrong, it was almost like the team was cursed.  Injury after injury really hurt them, I know every team in every sport deals with injuries, but the plague that was on the Jays last year was absolutely obscene.  By the end of last year, they had a shitty manager who checked-out and packed his bags for his "dream job" in Boston (more on that asshole Farrell later), the Yunel Escobar eye-black incident embarrassing the organization, and a patch-work of AAA and AA players making up the line-up.  I wait all shitty winter for baseball season to start, but by mid-August I couldn't wait for that clusterfuck of a season to end.  Once the season was over that rat-goof Mitt Romney looking fuck John Farrell packed his bags and left for Boston, and he took Brian Butterfield with him....Butters!! Toronto media dicks like that insufferable Damien Cox and Steve Simmons were already writing off the 2013 Jays, and the Jays in general, but then November 13th 2012 happened....

Hey Farrell, do you like apples??

It was a lonely night for me at work, working check-out.  Working check-out usually means fucking around on my phone for 90% of the shift, re-tweeting the Iron Sheik or checking Facebook every 5 minutes to see if someone new has 'liked' one of my witty statuses.  But on this fateful night Twitter exploded with rumours that Josh Johnson was heading to Toronto, I was taken aback with joy immediately, and as the night went on I found out the Jays were not only getting Josh Johnson, but Mark Buerhle and Jose Fucking Reyes as well!  My bowels nearly expelled when I first read that.  Andrew Stoeten from Drunk Jays Fans summed up the night of tweets in his post here http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/2012/11/13/morosi-jays-on-verge-of-acquiring-josh-johnson/.  On an aside, if you are a Jays fan and you don't read DJF or follow Andrew Stoeten on Twitter give you head a shake.  PS I stole all these pictures/photoshop from Drunk Jays Fans, so 100% full credit to them.  More on that later though.  It took that ridiculous old fart Bud Selig about a week to approve the deal, but mercifully he did.  Clearly Alex Anthopoulos (herein referred to as AA so I don't have to spell his god damned last name anymore) was going to go all in this year.  A few days after that he signed Melky Cabrera for a song, before he was suspended last year for PED's he was the best hitter in the National League, even if last year was an anomaly, it's not like a ton of money was committed to him, and if he turns out shitty no harm, no foul, and big fucking deal if he may have accidentally taken something from the banned substance list, shit happens.  AA wasn't done there....

#DickeyTheBest

He just went out and traded for the 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner, knuckle-baller and the most interesting man in baseball, RA Dickey.  Talk about a complete rotation overhaul.  Obviously all these moves didn't come cheaply, the Blue Jays had to give up some highly regarded prospects like Travis d'Arnaud, Adeiny Hechavarria, Justin Nicolino, Jake Marisnick and Noah Syndergaard.  Since AA took over from that big nosed fucknut JP Riccarrdi (aka Retardi) he has been stock-piling the minor league system waiting to pull the trigger on big moves like this.  All those players I just mentioned could well end up being All-Stars, or at the very least serviceable major leaguers, or they could end up being career minor leaguers, playing in the Mexican Leagues with Kenny Powers.  Either way none of them were going to help the 2013 Blue Jays win games and I commend AA for making these bold moves.

After all these moves were made, the question of who was going to replace that shit-for-brains douchenugget John Farrell as manager remained.  The usual suspects of ex-managers came through the rumour mill, but AA completely came out of left field and announced that John Gibbons (Gibby!) will be returning as Jays manager.  Gibbons managed the Blue Jays from 2004-2008 with marginal success, but he did well with what he had to work with.  At that point they were third wheel in the AL East to the juggernaut Yankees and Red Sox, in any other division the Blue Jays would have been a playoff team, especially in the 2006 season when they finished with 87 wins, yet still finished 10 games behind the Yankees.  So he got in a few scraps with his players, Shea Hillenbrand and Ted Lilley totally deserved it.  I think Gibby will be a nice contrast from that jerk Farrell, and won't have the boys running into outs on the basepaths like chickens with their heads cut off.  He has a more relaxed, easy going style and is a players manager, but as we saw before isn't afraid to bust heads if he has too.

Out of all the players they picked up I have a very strong feeling Jose Reyes will quickly become my favourite.  I barely follow the National League, so I haven't paid close attention to his career to date, but everything I have heard has been great.  He has an infectious personality, always smiling is a defensive master at shortstop, and will put up a ton of hits.  The main concern is that he is injury prone, he initally balked at signing with the Blue Jays before the 2012 season out of concern over playing on the SkyDome Rogers Centre turf.  He was excellent during the World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic, and I have a feeling that will carry over to the season.  I have the feeling he will be a fan favourite in Toronto.  Plus look at that picture with him and that donkey, how can you not love him??

Despite all this, I am incredibly nervous and anxious for the coming season, what if after all this hype it can all go wrong?  Already the Jays 2012 Opening Day Starter, Ricky Romero, aka Ricky RomerWOE has been optioned to Single-A to start the season to hopefully get his shit together, and come back stronger then ever as RR Cool Jay.  What happens if Colby Rasmus, JP Arencibia and Adam Lind play like shit, what if Edwin Encarnacion doesn't put up the same numbers he did in 2012, what if they're bitten by the injury bug yet again?  I've talked a lot of shit to my buddy/nemesis Killer (aka Ryan Bourdeau) who is a shitty Tigers fan, over the course of the winter and I will never hear the end of it if they Jays don't live up to the hype.  I don't expect the Blue Jays to win the World Series, but I do expect them to play meaningful ball games in September, and that they will be in the post-season for the first time since Joe Carter touched 'em all in 1993.  The AL East is ripe for the picking, Tampa Bay has a very good team, but the Orioles will not have the same horseshoe in ass luck they did last year, the Yankees are old and injured and the shitty Red Sox are fielding one of their worst line ups in years.  I think the Jays will be in Wild Card contention, and in the hunt for 1st in the East all year.  I would give my middle nut to see the Blue Jays play October baseball.

I am going to try and make blog posts throughout the season on the Jays, but chances are I won't.  The blog to follow for everything to do with the Jays is Drunk Jays Fans.  I've visited their site from their humble beginnings,  (bring back the DJF guides!) and I am glad they've made it to the big time with theScore.com.  They'll have two DJF podcasts a week, featuring Stoeten, Drew Fairservice and that delightful Archi Zuber, the same guys, along with Dustin Parkes have the Getting Blanked podcast daily, which covers everything to do with the rest Major League Baseball.   Like I said I stole all these pictures from the DJF website, the least I can do is give them credit, and tell you all to read their articles and listen to their podcasts.

Prediction time.  I honestly believe in the power of my jinx, I don't want to come out and say the Blue Jays are going to win the World Series because I will feel personally responsible if they don't.  But I am going to go ahead and say the Blue Jays win the AL East and make the playoffs.  Jose Bautista will have another massive season, hitting between 40 and 50 dingers.  Josh Johnson and Brandon Morrow will have massive seasons, especially Johnson who is a free agent after this season, and everyone plays better when he has an obscene contract waiting for him to sign in the winter.   Jose Reyes will win the AL batting title, and Gibby will be AL Manager of the year.  Here is how I see the AL playing out.  I really could give a flying fuck about the National League...pitchers taking at bats is barbaric.

* = Wild Card Teams


EAST

1.  Toronto Blue Jays
2.  Tampa Bay Rays*
3.  Boston Red Sox
4.  Baltimore Orioles
5.  New York Yankees

CENTRAL

1.  Chicago White Sox
2.  Detroit Tigers
3.  Kansas City Royals
4.  Cleveland Indians
5.  Minnesota Twins

WEST

1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2. Texas Rangers*
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Oakland A's
5. Houston Astros

Enjoy the season folks, and  Let's Go Blue Jays!!