In a dizzying chain of events that it seems only Toronto sports fans have been forced to get used to, the Raptors announced on Tuesday morning that Bryan Colangelo would be relieved of his General Manager duties while maintaining the seemingly higher position of team President.
On Tuesday’s episode of “The Fix,” The Jones preview and predict the Eastern Conference Finals before discussing the Spurs-Grizzlies, tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery, Bryan Colangelo’s confusing new role with the Raptors, and the return of the Charlotte Hornets!
All that, plus long weekend voices, Plinko, Frank Vogel’s daughter, and Mark Morrison.
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From mlssoccer.com:
After three years of discussions and negotiations, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced on Tuesday that English Premier League powerhouse Manchester City FC and Major League Baseball’s legendary New York Yankees have teamed up to acquire MLS’s 20th expansion club.
The new team will be named New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and is expected to begin play in 2015.
The Yankees, according to the New York Times, will own about a quarter of the team. This is very much being painted as a Manchester City project, rather than a separate investor by the UAE ownership group that owns City.
The team already have a Twitter account up and running. So some questions immediately jump to mind:
What does this mean for the New York Red Bulls? Do they view this as an infringement on their NY market share, something they’ve been struggling with located as they are in New Jersey? Will they consider rebranding?
What does this mean for NASL’s NY Cosmos? Are they still holding out for a move to the big leagues? Can New York sustain three MLS teams? If not, what is the fate of Cosmos redux?
What will Man City’s strategy be in running the club? If it’s to be a mere farm team for the Premier League side, is this really the coup that Don Garber thinks it is? And how will a club with such limitless financial resources reconcile themselves with MLS’ designated player system?
Is this a good thing or bad thing for the future aspirations of Major League Soccer to be the best league in the world by 2022?
Nick Purdon, a current affairs reporter, and Leonardo Palleja, a producer and videographer with CBC’s The National, visited the Dominican Republic in April of 2013 to explore the dark side of baseball in the country. The 20 minute documentary feature above details the struggle for many Dominicans in their quest to climb out of poverty via baseball.
While the successes of players like Jose Bautista and Vladimir Guerrero serve as motivation for so many Dominican Republic teenagers, the tragic story of Juan Manuel Matos tells of the dangers of pushing 15 and 16-year old boys too hard. Juan Manuel Matos collapsed and died after being injected with steroids, as it has been purported. Matos was 15.
Purdon and Palleja’s account of the pursuit of Major League dreams is well worth your time, even if it’s a rather depressing look at the subject. The feature also enabled Peter Mansbridge to make his Getting Blanked debut.
I understand not wasting time to bicker over a passing comment, but wow – that is some passing comment.
(S/t @HarrisonMooney)
I know this is shocking, but it’s been nearly three weeks since the last time we passed along a Robert Griffin III injury update of some kind. Specifically, 20 days and 20 nights have passed, and I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.
Since most of these posts will sound similar until, oh, August, I’ll keep this one bite-sized.
This falls under the category of stuff you just don’t do. Keenan Allen, a rookie wide receiver who got drafted by the San Diego Chargers last month has some fans upset after sporting an Oakland Raiders (rival team) hat in a video he made on Vine. Allen hit up the In-N-Out burger joint and decided to post a short vid of his time there. Although there were some overreactions, Chargers fans weren’t happy:
@kaadeuce1 only an idiot would get drafted and post a vid of himself wearing the gear of a HATED rival. #smooth #benchplayer— Justin Graham (@habitualistic) May 18, 2013
@kaadeuce1 dumbass! Wtf were you thinking? Good thing you did this now, I was getting ready to order your jersey. Manti it is!
— Sheermoz (@ShantTarbinian) May 19, 2013
@kaadeuce1 You’ve been traded to the Raiders. Wearing their colors means you have no clue about Charger nation!
— Sammy el Conservador (@SonofHope61) May 21, 2013
I get it fans!!!! Won’t happen again!— Keenan Allen (@KAAdeuce1) May 18, 2013
While there is certainly some merit to believing such traits to be beneficial, we mostly elevated the glory of our menial tasks for the purpose of justifying our current state and forgetting the bad decisions that led us to physical labor as a livelihood. In addition to fooling ourselves in this manner, we’d mock office workers, imagining their professions to be less honorable than our own.
“How can they feel any measure of self-worth?” we’d ask ourselves.
Ten years later, as part of my job, I would embed a YouTube clip of a Callaway Golf executive putting a golf ball down two sets of staggered stairs and into a cup. If my former co-workers could only see me now.
A seat at the 19th hole for Shane Bacon of the Devil Ball golf blog.
