ON THE MARK.

Now that the NFL has bowed to public pressure and admitted they were wrong (sort of), let's see if the National Hockey League can do the same thing with their players.  This is a perfect opportunity for Tweedle-Dee (Donald Fehr) and Tweedle-Dum (Gary Bettman) to take themselves out of the spotlight and put the players back in it.  Hockey fans should demand that the two of them be locked in a room with just bread and water (OK, maybe Pumpernickel and Perrier) and not come out until a deal has been reached.  Frankly, I would've shot myself in the head had I been assigned to cover this story.  Getting shots of guys in suits walking into a nondescript building isn't exactly my idea of compelling TV.   And to have to stand around with a microphone and extract a useable clip or two for your story is sheer agony.  And the worst part?  Not the suffering of the fans.  Oh, they'll find other hockey games to watch.  Maybe "Hockey Night in Minsk" with Ron and Don wearing those Cossack fur hats..  The worst part of it is the NHL and the players  are hurting the economy and putting people out of work.  I hope you guys are happy.

I didn't think the drama of last year's baseball stretch run could be duplicated, but here we go again.
 With a one game wild card elimination added to the playoffs this year, it's anybody's guess as to who will win, and that's a good thing.  It would be Oakland vs. Baltimore and St. Louis vs. Atlanta in the wild card games if the season ended today.  But the season doesn't end until next Wednesday and then, two days later, the wild card teams square off.

Of course, the Bluejays won't be one of those teams because they imploded this season amid higher than high expectations.  Forget the injuries.  Look what happened to Romero, Rasmus, Kelly Johnson, Lind and that homophobe Escobar.  But the biggest disappointment of them all has to be John Farrell.   I really thought this guy was the right fit for this team, but it's clear he's not.   He was a rookie manager when he arrived in Toronto, and two years later, he is still being badly outmanaged on a nightly basis.   He's not fiery enough and he won't sit players down if they continue to screw up.  Also, the Jays lack the fundamentals in such areas as baserunning, bunting and understanding the signs they get from the coaches.  Farrell and the coaches should be let go, but not until Terry Francona is hired to take over.  No more rookie managers for this team!

And we get an added bonus this weekend.    It's the Ryder Cup, the annual golf love-in where you're either rooting for the Americans to win and strut around in all their American arrogance, or you prefer to see the Europeans crush the Yanks and make Tiger and Phil and Jim Furyk look like they're playing with hickory shafted clubs.   Personally, I want to see the best golfers in the world hit great shots.  All too often in the Ryder Cup, the pressure is so great, it comes down to who sink a 3 foot putt, or drive the ball into the fairway.   I've seen some monumental choke jobs in this event, and the aforementioned Tiger and Phil are two of the worst culprits.   Take a look at their Ryder Cup records.   Terrible.   This may be their last shot at Ryder Cup glory.   Even so, I'm taking Rory McIlroy and the Euros.