My Best Birthday

I recently turned 30, and over the years I've had some bad birthdays, some great birthdays, and some memorable birthdays; but there's one birthday that stands out as my best birthday. One of my most memorable birthdays was probably my 20th birthday. At the time, I held it at a bar and grill that I frequented often, and most of the staff knew me really well, so a few of them were buying me shots which led me to getting more dunk than I've ever been; the night finished with my best friend and I spending about 2 hours drunkenly walking home from the bar. That wasn't my best birthday though, that came on my 28th birthday.

Anybody who knows me, knows that I love the Toronto Blue Jays. I've been a baseball fan ever since I can remember. It seems a little odd that growing up in Canada, I didn't know what hockey was until I was almost 8 years old; up until that point in time I knew only baseball. I had no siblings and my parents only watched baseball, so I only knew baseball. Heck, one of the biggest trades in Blue Jays history happened on my 6th birthday; on December 5, 1990 the Jays acquired Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar from the San Diego Padres. That trade would eventually help the Jays win back to back World Series in 1992/1993.

That 1993 World Series was the last time the Blue Jays would appear in the playoffs The Blue Jays 21 year playoff drought, in addition to being extremely depressing for Jays fans, means that no Blue Jays broadcaster has called a play in the playoffs for the Jays since Tom Cheek's infamous Joe Carter Home Run call. Whether you're old enough to have experienced the Blue Jays World Series or not, if you're a Blue Jays fan you know that famous call, "Touch 'em all, Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life." To this day, that call still sends shivers down my spine and tears to my eyes when I hear it. I think we all like to feel nostalgic from time to time, and thanks to the Jays LONG playoff drought, all Jays fans really have is nostalgia; and hearing that call whenever somebody plays it certainly opens the flood gates of nostalgia for Jays fans.

Tom Cheek wasn't just known for that call though. Tom was THE voice of the Blue Jays, calling EVERY single Jays game from the first one in 1977, until he took two games off due to the death of his father in 2004. During that time period, Tom announced a total of 4306 consecutive regular season games, and 41 consecutive post season games for the Blue Jays. Tom was dedicated to his job, and he was beloved by so many Blue Jays fans. Tom had to miss more time during 2004 when it was discovered that he had a brain tumor. Tom had the tumor removed, but unfortunately passed away in 2005.

After his death in 2005, a movement occurred to get Tom named as the Ford C Frick award winner. The Ford C Frick award is given out annually to a broadcaster who has made major contributions to the game of baseball; it also gets the winner a spot in the broadcasters wing at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. For nine straight years following his death, fans helped vote Tom onto the top 10 finalist list. Unfortunately, year after year, the award kept going to other broadcasters. Blue Jays fans are not an easy bunch to get rid of, however, and we kept on voting Tom onto the top ten finalist ballot. Finally - on December 5, 2012 - Tom was named the Ford C Frick award recipient; an award he was long overdue for.

It was my 28th birthday, and I had a late morning doctor's appointment. I remember walking out of my doctor's office around 11:30 and turning my phone on, immediately I got a ton of notifications telling me Tom had won the Frick award. I was elated! I didn't care how the rest of my birthday turned out, I was just overwhelmingly happy that Tom finally got the recognition for his wonderful career. I don't remember if I cried tears of happiness, although I probably did. I didn't know Tom personally nor had I ever met him, but he was responsible for so many great childhood memories of mine.

I've mentioned this to people before, and I think I've even mentioned it in a blog on here, growing up I listened to a lot of Blue Jays games on the radio; I watched a fair share of television broadcasts as well, but I more remember my time listening to the radio broadcasts. I remember listening to the games in the car with my parents on weekends as they did their weekend errands, or if we were traveling to visit relatives. Mostly I remember listening to the radio in the backyard on weekends in the summer when the weather was nice enough to have barbeques. My parents would cook while I listened to tom and Jerry call the games; every so often I would drift off in thoughts of one day becoming a player for the Jays while Tom and Jerry called my at bats. I think that's what I loved most about Tom, and what I still love about Jerry; hearing them, or hearing mention of them, allows me to pluck out those wonderful moments from my childhood out of my memory banks. That's a big reason why I was so happy when Tom won the Frick award, and why my 28th birthday is my best birthday memory.

Christmas

Christmas has always been my favourite holiday. I know a lot of people complain about the commercialism of the season, but if you take that away it's still the most magical time of the year. Over the last decade or so, there's been growing debate as to whether it's more appropriate to say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays; I say who cares!? Yes Christmas can be stressful, but I think more people need to take the time to enjoy it and the amazingness it has to offer.

As I said, Christmas has always been my favourite holiday. I used to celebrate New Year's, but I sort of outgrew that years ago; I never outgrew Christmas though. There's something special about Christmas; the lights, the music, the snow - if you're lucky enough to get snow. It's just a magical season which, sadly, most people don't seem to get a chance to enjoy once they get older. Christmas still brings out the childhood excitement in me. Seeing Santa at the mall, looking at the colourful decorations, it brings back special memories and makes me feel happy.

I understand people's frustration with the commercialism of Christmas. People get put under a lot of stress trying to find presents for friends and family; running up bills, and overspending because "it's that time of the year." Christmas could be a wonderful time, and more enjoyable, if people took some time to ignore the commercialism. Yes, eventually you're going to have to face the stress of Christmas shopping, but you can also make time to do other things such as going skating, or taking a walk and enjoying people's outdoor lights and decorations. Christmas does not have to be as stressful as we make it out to be. Remember, this is the season we're supposed to be kind and loving to each other; everybody needs to take a collective breath, relax, and try to enjoy the small things.

Another thing that has made Christmas less enjoyable over the past couple of years is the debate over whether Merry Christmas is politically correct, or if Happy Holidays should be more widely used so as to not offend anybody. My reaction is who cares? People are way too over sensitive these days, and no matter what you do or say there's always going to be somebody that's offended. To me, Happy Holidays includes New Year's, and can also be used to incorporate other religious celebrations held this time of the year. If you're offended by EITHER Merry Christmas OR Happy Holidays, you need to lighten up. I use both, not because I'm trying to avoid offending anybody, but because they essentially both mean the same thing to me. Use whichever one you want to use, but if other people want to use something else that's their right to do so.

There's so many movies and television specials on this time of the year reminding us about the magic and spirit of the season, why do we have to be so salty and find every small thing we can to complain about? Ultimately, Christmas isn't about the presents or the stress of shopping, Christmas is about the spirit of sharing; sharing time with people you love, sharing the joy of the appearance of lights and decorations, sharing memories of Christmases past. We all need to spend a little less time stressing out, and a little more time enjoying the season for the spirit and magic that it has to offer.

Retail (Comic Strip)

Retail is a comic strip which was created by Norm Feuti, and which debuted on January 1, 2006. If you're not familiar with Retail, you're not alone. I hadn't heard of Retail until this past July when I came across it by happenstance. It is easily the best comic strip I had never heard of; a hidden gem which everybody who's ever worked in retail can relate to, and should be reading.

Like I previously stated, I discovered Retail completely by happenstance. I had just quit the retail job I had been working for nearly 8 years, and was treating myself to a mini vacation visiting my grandfather. One day, as we were out to lunch and waiting for our food, I noticed a newspaper laying on a table and opened to the comic section; I decided to read it as we waited, and that's the day I discovered Retail. It was the July 23, 2014 strip, and, having spent nearly 8 years working retail, I knew the comical confusion of the strip far too well. I wrote down the name of the comic strip in my phone's notepad, because I wanted to remember the strip for later so I could find out more about it. 

Since my initial discovery of Retail, I have since found it's official website - retailcomic.com. I decided to start from the beginning of the strips creation (the logical thing to do), and have since read up to around July 2008. I still have 6+ years of the comic to get caught up on, but it's definitely been worth the time reading. Retail is set in Grumbel's, a fictional big chain department store, with everyday interactions that anybody who has ever worked in retail can relate to. From what I've read so far, the story revolves around 4 main characters -Marla, Stuart, Val, and Cooper - and a handful of secondary characters. There's also a bunch of recurring secondary characters, such as Courtney, Lunker, and Jerry.

Marla is the store Assistant Manager; although she ends up doing not only her own work, but most of the work of the store manager as well. She has been working retail for quite a while, and although it seems like there's still a love for doing what she does buried deep inside her, Marla has become cynical thanks to years of bad customers, as well as policies put in place by home office (the higher ups) which are counter productive to being able to get proper work done at store level. 

Stuart is the store manager of Grumbel's - although he passes off as much work of his as he can to Marla. While Marla is a cynic who is constantly questioning the decisions made by home office, Stuart gladly and willingly goes along with any changes that are made, quite often trying to convince Marla that home office knows what it's doing. Stuart, although a complete company man, seems to also be well meaning; he doesn't go out of his way to make his employees lives miserable (except occasionally Cooper's).

Val is a longtime sales associate of Grumbel's, and Marla's best friend. When she's not dealing with customers, Val can often be found lending a sympathetic ear to Marla as she vents her rage about customers/Stuart/home office/etc. Val tends to go with the flow and seems happy to be a sales associate, having indicated on a few occasions that she has no interest in moving up to a management position.

Cooper is the many layered onion of Retail. Cooper is the character who I can most identify with. He has a love/hate relationship with Grumbel's; he loves his coworkers and at times seems to love his job, but he hates the politics involved with the company - such as not being able to work more than 35 hours a week because then the company would have to give him medical benefits. Cooper also HATES interacting with customers, often talking down to them in a condescending manner when they ask him simplistic and stupid questions. Cooper works in the stock room, and on the floor putting out and setting up merchandise. When shipments slow down (like after Christmas), Cooper will put his hatred of customers aside and work in the shoe department, that way he still gets his normal hours instead of having them cut back. When Cooper finds down time - which is usually often - he can be found working on his blog, stacking boxes in unusual and artistic ways, or relaxing at his secret hiding spot (Cooper's Lounge) up on the roof.

Of course, as I mentioned, there's also quite a few secondary characters. I won't go through them all, but here's a couple of them.

Jerry - Grumbel's District Manager (Stuart's boss). Jerry is an ass. While he gets along with Stuart, he and Marla (who he calls Darla) have a mutual dislike for each other.

Courtney - Sales associate. Anybody who's worked retail knows a Courtney; somebody who really doesn't care about the job, she's just there for the pay cheque. Courtney is often late, calling in sick, and cancelling shifts. When Courtney is at work, she's frequently rude to the customers, and makes it clear that she'd rather be anywhere else.

Lunker - Assistant stock room attendant. Lunker was brought in to help Cooper in the stock room during busy parts of the year. Although slow, Lunker is a well meaning and lovable guy who Cooper gets along with very well. Lunker is big and strong, and Cooper usually gets him to do most of the heavy lifting.

Scott - Marla's boyfriend. Scott also works in the same mall as Marla, as a bartender at Dave's Carousing Cantina. Although I have done a bit of research into the history of the comic strip and I know what eventually happens to Marla and Scott, because I've only read up to a certain point in their storyline, I'm still referring to Scott as Marla's boyfriend.

I don't know much about the cartoonist, Mr. Feuti, but I do know - having worked a lot of retail myself - that he must have had a lot of experience in retail stores. Retail is a humorous, and quite often very accurate look at what it's like to work in a retail environment. I look forward to continuing my journey in reading this comic strip, and I cannot recommend it enough to others. If you're not already reading Retail, you should really start; it's quite possibly the best comic strip that you're not reading.

retailcomic.com

Trying Stand-Up

In my last blog post on here I talked about my comedic inspirations, and how they helped get me through some tough times in my life. As I grew older I started to listen to more comedians, both from the older generation and newer generation. Comedy is something that meant a lot to me, and I had aspirations of becoming a stand-up comic - or at least attempt to become one. A few months before my 16th birthday, I would get my opportunity.

May 8, 2000 will be a day I will always remember for a couple of reasons. First of all, my favourite hockey team, the New Jersey Devils, beat my hometown Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 in a first round playoff game. What made the game so memorable was not the fact New Jersey won, but that they held Toronto to just six shots on goal..... FOR THE ENTIRE GAME! Secondly, May 8, 2000 will be a day I always remember because it was the day I made my stand-up debut; ironically, it's also the birthday of one of my idols, Don Rickles.

The way I happened to get my chance at doing stand-up was this: Yuk Yuk's comedy club at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto (now Absolute Comedy Club), used to host amateur night every Monday. If you were interested in taking part, you had to phone early in the day and leave your name on an answering machine. The club would then pick a bunch of people at random to try out, and you would have to call back in the afternoon to find out if you had made the cut. The day I made the cut, I had actually just finished doing physiotherapy for a knee injury I had the time. After my physio was done, I called the number for Yuk Yuk's and was elated when I heard my name on the list for that night. I immediately rushed home, called as many people as I could, then got ready to do my first stand-up gig.

I got to the club probably about an hour and a half before the show actually started, and I was a nervous wreck! Even though I had prepared jokes that I had been testing on a few of my friends for months, this was going to be in front of a live paying audience, and if I bombed, it was going to be embarrassing. I kept trying to calm my nerves, talking to the waiters and bartenders, exploring the club - I even decided to look at all the photos of comedians who had performed at Yuk Yuk's (that part did not help with my nervousness). The stage was so much smaller than I had expected; I had watched a lot of stand-up specials, and the stage always looked bigger on television, so I was shocked when I saw how small it was. It was getting closer and closer to show time, and I was getting more nervous. Fortunately my friend Jay and his cousin Megan showed up to support me, and that helped calm my nerves somewhat - also, I will always be grateful to them for their support on that night, it meant more to me than they know.

Finally, it was showtime. It wasn't a very large crowd, and I was unsure who was there as other amateurs, and who was there purely as paying patrons. Additionally, I had no idea when I was going to be on, they don't tell you beforehand. I was hoping I would be called up early so that I could get things over with fast and then enjoy the rest of the show. Unfortunately for me, I was not called up early; and the longer I waited to be called up, the more nervous I was getting. As the night wore on, I was hardly paying attention to the other comedians that were going on because I was drowning in nerves and a sense of "what am I doing here?" If I remember correctly, I think there were a total of 10 amateurs plus the headliner there that evening, and I ended up being the 6th or 7th person called up. When I finally got up there, I was trying to do everything in my power not to lose control and show the nervousness I was feeling. I got on the small stage, and then was hit by the blinding lights that focus on the comedian, and immediately all the jokes I had planned, I completely forgot. I tried to remember them as best as I could, and a few of them went over well with the audience, but for the most part I completely bombed! I ended up pulling myself off stage before my time was up, and tried to forget about what had just happened as I sunk into my chair.

The rest of the night went alright, a few of the final comedians - and the MC - took some shots at me, which I completely expected; but overall, the rest of the comedians were enjoyable. I tried to forget my failure, and instead focus on the fact that at least I had lived out a dream of attempting stand-up comedy. That was the last time I did stand-up in a professional setting; however, I would try my hand at stand-up one more time, a couple of years later. My friend Andy was in a band and they happened to be in a show, and he asked me if I wanted to perform some stand-up before they went on. I took the opportunity, and this time my set went much better. I still didn't think I did that well, but it was nice being complemented by strangers that I didn't know after I had come off the stage - and it certainly didn't go anywhere near as bad as Yuk Yuk's.

Overall, I'm happy with my experience doing stand-up in front of an audience. It's one thing to tell jokes with your friends and have them tell you you're funny, it's an ENTIRELY different experience telling jokes in front of strangers and not getting that friendly reassurance. I still like to try and make people laugh, but I at least know now that I don't have what it takes to be a professional comic.

An Open Letter of Thanks to Don Rickles and Bob Newhart

You often hear musicians tell stories in interviews about how they have fans approach them, and send them letters, saying that their music helped inspire and uplift them. You hear about fans battling depression and getting through it thanks to music that touched them. I have had a similar experience in my life, except it was comedy, not music, which got me through my troubled times. It was because of the comedy of people like Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, and a few others that I am here today.

I didn't have the best childhood; and because of that, I was full of anger and always getting myself into trouble. I started receiving suspensions from school on a regular basis starting when I was in Grade 4. It was during this time when I discovered my dad's old LP collection in the basement. I started going through the records to see what was there; there was a bunch of great stuff from the 50's and 60's, but what I became interested in was the collection of comedy albums which he had. He had plenty to choose from, and I wasn't sure which one to listen to first. I was somewhat familiar with Cosby's standup (though I mostly knew him from television), so I wanted to try something different.

The first album I put on was Don Rickles Speaks! I didn't get a lot of the references at the time, but that didn't matter, it still made me laugh. I enjoyed how effortlessly Don delivered insulting, yet humorous comments, towards the celebrities and politicians of the day. After listening to that record, and quickly becoming a fan of Don's, I put on Hello Dummy. I laughed harder at the second album than I did at the first, probably because it was more of a stand-up act than talking about references I didn't understand. I became overjoyed and inspired. THIS is what I wanted to do; to be able to release my frustration in a way which would generate laughter instead of repercussions.

After listening to - and enjoying - Don's records, I decided to give Bob Newhart a try. He made me laugh just as much as Rickles, but in a different way. While Don had a sharp wit - and even sharper tongue - which just rattled off jokes rapid-fire, Bob built up a story in his joke telling. Bob was also a master at pausing to let the story of the joke build; something which he needed to do because a lot of jokes consisted of him having a conversation with another character who wasn't there. From this, I really learned the art of timing in joke telling. Although my youthful rebellious side still favoured Don due to his sarcastic insults, I appreciated the comedy style of both men.

Although it would still take me some years to deal with my anger and trouble issues, discovering these men helped me when I needed it most. A lot of the time when my anger got me in trouble it also led to me being depressing, which caused me to make a lot of stupid decisions that could have ended very badly for me. Thankfully, after discovering these men, whenever I would get in trouble I now had an outlet for my frustration; I was still angry and in trouble, but I wasn't making stupid - possibly harmful - decisions. Their comedy, along with the comedy of others, helped to calm me. As I've grown older, and learned how to harness my anger and frustration about things in a positive way, I still look to these men as inspirations. I still watch and listen to their old routines when I'm having a bad day. I still aspire to try and make people laugh and forget about their worries the way Bob and Don helped me.

I've been fortunate enough to see both of these men perform live, although I haven't been fortunate enough to meet them. I would love to meet both men, but i doubt that I ever will. I also doubt that they'll ever see this little blog of thanks, and therefore they'll never know how much their comedy meant to me. But if either of them ever do stumble across this, I want to say thank you. You guys helped pull me through some very rough times that you'll never know about, so thank you for giving me joy in my life at times when I thought there wasn't any to be had.

Feeling Apathetic? Too Bad, Your Voice Doesn't Count

You hear people say it during EVERY election, "if you don't bother to vote, don't bother to complain." This is a phrase that has bothered me for many years now, as it basically means that in order to have an opinion, you have to vote for the lesser stooge on your ballot. We just recently had a municipal election, and although voter turnout was the highest it's been since the city was amalgamated in 1997, there was still a large portion of the population that didn't vote; and the voter turnout was much worse across other parts of the GTA. I think a large portion of the reason people don't vote is twofold. Firstly, I think most people don't vote due to apathy over their choices. Secondly, I think there are too many candidates to choose from - especially in municipal elections where basically anybody can run.

Let me first discuss the number of candidates to choose from. You may not have known it before you voted - and if you didn't vote, you probably don't know it at all - but there were 65 people running for mayor of Toronto..... SIXTY GODDAMN FIVE! Of course, the majority of voters only knew 3 people - John Tory, Doug Ford, and Olivia Chow; some people probably knew about Ari Goldkind, but the majority of people did not. Let's be realistic; it's great to talk about how awesome democracy is, and that it gives anybody a chance to win, but unless you're a big name you don't have a shot of winning. I'm all for cutting the list down to 5 candidates maximum.

Here's what I propose when it comes to the also ran candidates: when you go to register, you must also have a list of at least 2500 signatures from registered voters saying they would be willing to vote for you if you were on the ballot. The only candidate that would have met that requirement besides the big 3, would have been Ari Goldkind - who received 3912 votes. Of the 980,177 votes cast during the election, only 27,913 (2.8%) went to also ran candidates. Obviously that number isn't big enough to have given Ford or Chow a better chance to win - as they trailed Tory by 64,000 and 168,000 respectively - but they certainly could have helped Mr. Goldkind out if he had have been the only other person on the ballot. I think it's awesome to have people outside of City Hall running for Mayor, they potentially bring new great ideas to the table; but when you allow too many people to run, things become convoluted, and legitimate fourth and fifth spot politicians have to fight extra hard to get their messages across. Again, I say bring in provisions to cut down the number of people allowed to run so that you have 4 or 5 choices tops; and allow ALL 4 or 5 of those people to take part in the mayoral debates so that everybody's platform can be heard, not just the big names.

Now despite the fact that so many people are actually allowed to run in the election, I think a large number of people chose not to vote due to apathy; like i said previously, I doubt most people even knew that there were 65 candidates for Mayor. Voter turnout in Toronto this time around was the highest it's been in a while, with approximately 60% of registered voters going out and voting. Having said that, however, that means that 40%  of registered voters (or roughly 653,000 people) chose not to vote. Now according to many out there, that means that 653,000 Torontonians - myself included - have to shut up and take the government we're given just because we didn't vote. Essentially we're being told that it doesn't matter if we think that none of the candidates represented ours - or the city's - best interest, just go out and vote for the sake of voting. Well I'm sorry, but if my voting choices are 3 monkeys throwing feces at each other or 62 spot fillers on a ballot, i would just rather not vote. Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to discuss what I like or dislike about the city government for the next 4 years? I don't believe that's fair to myself or the other 40% of people in the city who are fed up with a real lack of choice and belief in our politicians. And if 40% of Torontonians have to shut up, what about the rest of the GTA?

Although Toronto saw a decent voter turnout in this election, the same cannot be said for the rest of the GTA. According to a Toronto Star article, voter turn out across the GTA was pathetic! In Mississauga, only 36% of registered voters bothered to go out to the polls; that number is also the same for Brampton. In Vaughn only 30% turned out for their municipal election. Finally, Oshawa saw just a 26% voter turnout rate for their election. So, keeping in mind the saying "if you don't bother to vote, don't bother to complain" let's break this down.

Toronto - 40% of us need to shut up with our complaints.
Mississauga and Brampton - 64% of their populations need to shut the hell up and not discuss politics for the next 4 years because they didn't vote.
Vaughn - 70% of their population doesn't have the right to complain for the next 4 years.
Oshawa - a whopping 74% of it's population shouldn't get a say in what happens with that city because they didn't like their choices and didn't vote.

That is an awful lot of people who shouldn't be allowed to voice their complaints and concerns for the next 4 years simply because they didn't like any of the choices put in front of them. I personally wonder how different voter turnout would have been across the board if voters could legally abstain their votes like they did in this past Spring's provincial election. This past provincial election there was a movement to inform Ontario voters of their right to legally go to the voting polls and decline their ballot without spoiling it. While the number of declined ballots in past provincial elections had been between 2500 to 5000, this year, with more people informed, the number of legally declined ballots jumped to almost 31,400! As far as I'm aware, the right to legally decline your ballots is only available in a few provinces, and therefore can only be done during those provinces respective provincial elections; it cannot be done in federal or municipal elections, as far as I'm aware. I believe that if this were to change, so that federal and municipal elections were included, you would see a higher voter turnout with a higher number of declined ballots. Give me the right to legally express my displeasure with the choices I'm given, and I'll gladly go to the polls to do so. And I think a lot of other people feel the same way.

So I kindly ask those of you out there who think people who don't vote also don't have a right to complain, please stop this thought process. It's not that those of us who don't vote don't want to, it's just that we don't want to choose from a menu with nothing but crap on it. Allow us to voice our displeasure by giving us the right to decline our vote like we can in a provincial election, and I believe more non-voters will go out to the polls.

The Case For Munenori Kawasaki

 I love Munenori Kawasaki, I will not even try to hide or deny that fact. Sometimes I can be biased in my opinion of Kawasaki, although I do believe he's a better player than other people give him credit for. Before last season, most people outside of Seattle didn't know who Munenori Kawasaki was. The people of Toronto quickly learned to love Kawasaki once he was called up to replace the injured Jose Reyes 10 games into the season. His energy and enthusiasm quickly made him a fan favourite, but it was an infamous post game interview (see link below) that grew his legend, and caused his detractors to label him as nothing more than a team mascot.

The Birth of a Legend 

 Kawasaki's detractors use his "I am Japaneeeeeese!" speech to fuel the fire for their argument that he's nothing more than a team mascot. They also like to point out that Kawasaki doesn't hit for average and has very little to almost no power. But is Kawasaki really THAT MUCH worse than Maicer Izturis, the man who's going to beat out Kawasaki for the middle infielder bench role? If you look at the offensive numbers, they're really not much different. Izturis had a slightly better batting average than Kawasaki, but Kawasaki had a MUCH better on base percentage than Izturis. As far as power goes, Izturis didn't deliver that much more power than Kawasaki, with Izturis slightly edging out Mune in slugging percentage .310 to .308. Let's take a look at how the rest of their standard offensive numbers break down.

Kawasaki: .229 Average / .326 OBP / .308 Slugging / .634 OPS / 1 home run / 24 RBI / 7 stolen bases in 8 attempts for a success rate of 87.5%

Izturis: .236 Average / .288 OBP / .310 Slugging / .597 OPS / 5 home runs / 32 RBI / 1 stolen base in 6 attempts for a success rate of 16.7%

 So as you can see, their offensive numbers are pretty similar, with Izturis having the advantage in games played 107-96. Kawasaki clearly has an advantage over Izturis in 2 areas, stolen bases and on base percentage. I don't know if Kawasaki is actually that much faster than Izturis, or if he just picked his spots better, but he clearly helps the Jays out by getting on base and moving into scoring position better than Izturis does.

 Another comment often made by Kawasaki's detractors is he's not a great fielder; he's ok, but not great. Well, if you look at the numbers, Izturis was just ok in 2013 as well. In the mind of a fan, it is often very easy to blow things out of proportion and make it seem like certain players make more errors than they actually do. A player is rarely as bad as you actually think he is over the course of the season. This is the case with Izturis, as it seemed like he was constantly making errors, when in reality he was probably average. Let's take a look at the defensive numbers for Kawasaki and Izturis.

Kawasaki: .979 fielding percentage / 6 errors / 45 double plays turned / 596.2 innings played / error ratio of 1 error made for every 99 innings played.

Izturis: .971 fielding percentage / 10 errors / 39 double plays turned / 879 innings played / error ratio of 1 error made for every 87.9 (let's round it to 88) innings played.

 Looking at these numbers we can see that, while both are ok/average middle infielders, Kawasaki has a slight edge on Izturis. Kawasaki will go longer than Izturis will without making an error, and he turns more double plays than Izturis. The stat that got me was double plays turned; keep in mind that Kawasaki played 282.1 LESS innings than Izturis, yet still managed to turn 6 more double plays. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the number of double play chances each had, so I was unable to break it down into who had a more successful percentage. Having said that though, it's still impressive that Kawasaki turned more double plays with so much fewer innings played.

 Because both players were relatively similar in offensive numbers, I wanted to look at some of the advanced stats to try and see if anything set them apart in a huge way. Obviously Kawasaki got on base more, but what was he doing when he wasn't getting on base? How effective were either player at advancing base runners? Kawasaki was clearly taking more walks, but who was striking out more? It always seemed like Kawasaki was taking a lot of pitches during his at bats, but who was really the more patient hitter? Here are a few of the advanced stats on both.

Kawasaki: Kawaski had a 5.9 AB/K ratio, struck out 14.2% of the time, walked 11.1% of the time, grounded into double plays 9% of the time, made contact on 88.1% of his swings, saw 4.18 pitches per at bat, and was 10 for 15 in sac bunt attempts (66.7% success).

Izturis: Isturis had a 9.6 AB/K ratio, struck out just 9.5% of the time, walked only 6.8% of the time, grounded into double plays 18% of the time, made contact on 87.6% of his swings, saw 3.50 pitches per at bat, and was 3 for 4 in sac bunt attempts (75% success).

Major League Average : 4.5 AB/K ratio, struck out 19.9% of the time, walked 8.1% of the time, grounded into double plays 11% of the time, made contact on 77.8% swings, saw 3.86 pitches per at bat, and 65% success rate on sac bunts.

 So as you can see, both Izturis and Kawasaki were once again fairly similar in offensive advanced stats categories; and both were - for the most part - above league average in every category. The areas of concern for Izturis would be his low number of walks and his above average percentage of hitting into double plays. From the numbers, it is also clear to see that Kawasaki was the more patient hitter at the plate - which is probably what attributed to his higher on base percentage. What all that means is simply this; if you're trying to choose between bench players late in the game, who are going to give you a better chance at winning, Kawasaki - based on stats - is the better choice.

 As I was looking up all of these numbers, I found another interesting stat that shows that Kawasaki would most likely be the better choice to come off the bench as a replacement late in the game. The following are the slash-lines for Kawasaki and Izturis late in games (innings 7-9).

Kawasaki: .247 average / .326 OBP / .370 Slugging / .696 OPS

Izturis: .244 average / .289 OBP / .291 Slugging / .580 OPS

 What this shows is that Kawasaki clearly gives you a better chance to win late in the game, with a better chance to get an extra base hit and get in scoring position. One final stat I found interesting is that Kawasaki had a productive out rate of 55% compared to Izturis who was at 41%. What this stat represents is how often a batter successfully moves a runner over if they happen to be recorded as out in the process. That means that Kawasaki is much better at advancing runners, which is key if you're trying to add some extra runs late in the game.

 In summation, those who try to undermine Kawasaki's abilities as a baseball player and label him as nothing more than a mascot, are wrong. Although not a likely candidate as an everyday starter, Kawasaki is better than his detractors give him credit for, and a better option than someone like Izturis if you need a replacement late in the game or - god forbid - because of an injury. Mune is MUCH more than a mascot; he is a major league capable ball player who, while he won't hit for power, can play small ball and have good plate approaches that you'd like to see from a bottom of the order guy. He's somebody who can get on base, can move himself into scoring position, can wear down a pitcher in an at bat, and can be productive when he gets out as well. To the detractors all I can say is, let the legend live on!



















 There is one final piece of information I feel I must share and rub in the detractors faces. Ultimately, baseball is about winning games, and you want the players who give you the best chance to win. Well, here is a graph by fellow blogger Sober Jays Fan (follow him on twitter @SoberJaysFan and read his blog here), which shows the Jays winning percentage based on who played in the games; and leading the way - surprise! - was Munenori Kawasaki! The Jays won 49% of the games Kawasaki played in.

Frozen

 So. Many. FEELS! I've been wanting to see Frozen since it was first released back in November, unfortunately I never had the time during the peak of it's popularity in theatres; and the fact that it was playing in 3D added to its enchantment. Fortunately, I recently did find time to see it, and even more fortunately it was still playing in a theatre near me. I had heard many good things about Frozen - not to mention it won the Oscar for best animated feature - and the film did not disappoint. 

 The film starts comically with Anna childishly harassing her older sister Elsa to play with her. Elsa has a magical ability to create snow and ice, an ability which she hasn't learned how to control. As Elsa and Anna are playing, Elsa accidentally unleashes her ability and hits her sister in the head, causing Anna to go unconscious. The King and Queen find out and rush Anna to a Forrest with trolls who help to cure Anna; however, in the process of curing Anna, they must also wipe out her memory of the incident and her memories of Elsa's powers. After the incident the girls, who were once very close, are separated as their parents force Elsa to grow up in isolation.

 I won't give away the rest of the movie, but it is full of the Disney magic audiences have come to expect and love in a fairy tale movie. This movie also brings back the Disney musical which has seemingly been missing in recent times. Don't get me wrong, Disney's movies are always full of wonderful music - I absolutely loved the music in Brave - but it has been a while since a Disney film has been based around many musical numbers performed by the characters; rather than music set to fit the film, as was the case in Brave. The much loved - and Oscar winning - song in Frozen is Let It Go, though for my money, Do You Want To Build A Snowman was a much better song. Anytime you can sing the phrase, "ok bye," you have a song full of awesome. Links to both songs below.

Let It Go

Do You Want To Build A Snowman

 Is Frozen predictable? Of course it is, it's a Disney fairy tail. Is it a fun movie? Yes! You are going to love this movie, it's music, and it's characters. Frozen will go down as another Disney Classic, and it's definitely one that you should add to your collection. Frozen is currently available on DVD, as well as a combo pack which includes the DVD, Blu Ray, and Digital Copy. Links for both below, I highly HIGHLY recommend picking up this amazing film.

Frozen DVD


Frozen Combo Pack

How I would Have Ended Dexter

  Before I begin, let me just say that I DO realize that the series finale to Dexter was almost 6 months ago (as of the writing of this). That being said, however, I have had a few people ask me what I thought of the series finale. For those of you reading this who have not yet seen the last season/episode of Dexter, there will be a few spoilers here, but I'll try not to give away too much.

 Let me also preface my thoughts by saying that I didn't start watching Dexter until about three seasons in. I had been hearing a lot of people saying how good of a show that it was, so I decided to get more information on it and find out what it was about. When I first learned that essentially Dexter was a serial killer who only killed bad people, my immediate reaction - not knowing that Dexter was based on a book series - was, 'well, this sounds pretty similar to the premise of The Boondock Saints.' Being a fan of the Boondock Saints, I decided to check out Dexter, and went out and bought the first season on DVD. I enjoyed the first season and got hooked on the show, but the nerd in me hoped that at some point there would be a Dexter vs. The Boondock Saints scenario set up.

  

                                   

 As I look back at how Dexter actually ended, in retrospect, there was one thing that could have saved it in my opinion. In the second last episode of Dexter, the ghost of Harry ends up leaving because of the fact that Dexter didn't feel the need to kill anymore; Dexter felt he could be a family man with Hannah and Harrison, and live out a normal life. In the series finale though, Dexter reaches the conclusion that he CANNOT live a normal life and that he is destined to always be a killer, and always destined to hurt the people he cares about the most; which is why eventually he decides to abandon Hannah with Harrison and live as a recluse. The final shot of the show we see Dexter as a lumberjack, sitting alone in a cabin as he just silently stares into the camera as the show comes to an end. For me, what would have made this better, instead of just ending it with Dexter staring into the camera, would have been to pan up to Dexter staring the way he was and then cut to the ghost of Harry staring right back at him. Seeing as how Harry was not in the final episode AT ALL, this would have been a more satisfying ending in my view; it would indicate that Dexter truly can't escape who he is as a serial killer, and that his Dark Passenger would always be with him.

                                     

 As far as my inner nerd goes, I would have loved to have seen some kind of showdown between Dexter and the Boondock Saints; and, with Sean Patrick Flanery guest starring during the final season, there would have been a perfect opportunity for it. In this final season SPF played a private detective - Jacob Elway - in search of Dexter's serial killer girlfriend, Hannah McKay. In the final episode he finally catches up to her on a bus to Daytona, as she's trying to flee Miami with Dexter's son Harrison; however, Hannah manages to find her way out of this sticky situation and escape with Harrison. Elway's plan was to arrest Hannah when they got off the bus, and then hand her off to local authorities.

  In my fantasy ending, when the bus reached it's destination in Daytona, Elway would have handed Harrison over to child services and then pulled Hannah aside to talk to her. Elway would have then completely broken character and started talking to Hannah in an Irish accent, explaining to her that his real name Connor MacManus and that him being a private investigator was just a cover. He would go on to explain that he and his brother - who hadn't been noticed by anybody - have covertly been tracking Hannah to serve her justice for the serial murders which she had committed. He would then explain that thanks to her, they also happened to discover the truth about Dexter as well.

  Cut to the scene where Dexter is carrying Deb's body out of the hospital to his boat. As he finishes placing Deb into his boat he hears a voice call his name; he stands up and turns around to see Norman Reedus - as Murphy MacManus - standing behind him. Murphy essentially explains to Dexter the same thing that Elway/Connor had just explained to Hanna. Cut to a split screen with Murphy pointing a gun at Dexter while Connor has one pointed at Hannah. The Saint's Prayer is then read:

"And shepherds we shall be.
For Thee, my Lord, for Thee.
Power hath descended forth from Thy hand.
That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command.
And we shall flow a river forth to Thee.
And Teeming with souls shall it ever be.
In Nomine Patris, Et Filii, Et Spiritus Sancti."

And Shepherds we shall be For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti. - See more at: http://www.prayers-for-special-help.com/boondock-saints-prayer.html#sthash.9hpSKrHk.dpuf

 Finally, cut to the screen going black. After a few seconds of silence, we hear two shots fired followed by the credits. I know many people will probably think this ending is stupid, but like I said, it would satisfy my inner nerd that's wanted to see Dexter vs. The Boondock Saints since I first started watching the show.

And Shepherds we shall be For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti. - See more at: http://www.prayers-for-special-help.com/boondock-saints-prayer.html#sthash.9hpSKrHk.dpuf

And Shepherds we shall be For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti. - See more at: http://www.prayers-for-special-help.com/boondock-saints-prayer.html#sthash.9hpSKrHk.dpuf

A Pitch For Bob

 The good doctor is FINALLY back in! After over seven and a half years since the release of The Bob Newhart Show season 4, Shout Factory is finally releasing the complete series. Unfortunately when I say the complete series, I mean exactly that; Shout Factory is releasing a box set of all 6 seasons, however there is no release date scheduled as of right now for seasons 5 and 6 on their own. I, like so many fans of the show who have already bought seasons 1-4, was disappointed when I first heard that there was no scheduled release for the final 2 seasons on their own. As time passed from the initial announcement, however, I decided that I was still going to buy the complete series. My reasoning for buying the complete series when I already have the first 4 is simple; the complete box set is probably going to be more compact and cut down on storage space, and I can always pass off or sell seasons 1-4.

 For those of you who have never seen the Bob Newhart Show, I cannot recommend it enough. Running from 1972-1978, it starred Bob Newhart as Chicago psychologist, Bob Hartley. Bob lives in an apartment with his wife Emily (played by Suzanne Pleshette), and their eccentric air navigator neighbour, Howard (played by Bill Daily). Bob's best friend is Jerry Robinson (played by Peter Bonerz), an orthodontist who works in the same medical building - and right across the hall - as Bob. The show is filled with other great cast members, such as Bob and Jerry's secretary Carol Kester (played by Marcia Wallace), and Bob's most neurotic patient Mr. Elliot Carlin (played by Jack Riley).

 One of my favourite episodes came from season 4, entitled "Over The river and Through the Woods." In the episode, Emily goes out of town - I believe the premise was that she was going to Seattle to spend Thanksgiving with her family, but Bob didn't want to go. With no Emily, Bob decides to invite Jerry and Mr. Carlin over, seeing as how neither of them have anybody to spend thanksgiving with either; Howard also ends up coming over when the plans that he had had get cancelled, leaving him alone on Thanksgiving too. Hilarity ensues as the guys get drunk from watching football games and order a bunch of Chinese food (mostly Moo Goo Gai Pan).

 I cannot say enough good things about this classic comedy show, which should be in all TV lover's collections. I definitely recommend ordering it, but I would act fast! It gets released on May 27, and the initial price for it on Amazon was $78.60; however, as of writing this, it has gone up to $93.79 - which is roughly $15.65 a season. I would absolutely act fast and order it before it goes up again. I will provide a link for amazon below, for those who are interested.


Bob NewHart Show Complete Series

Pompeii Movie Review

 For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by ancient civilizations. I could sit for hours on end and watch documentaries on ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, the Mayans, the Aztecs, etc. One ancient story which has always stuck out for me is the story of Pompeii. Pompeii is unique in that it's society was lost in an instant, yet preserved forever. I have heard Pompeii referred to as "the city frozen in time" and that may be the best way to describe it. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it rained down - quite literally - a fiery death for all those living in this ancient Roman city. Many centuries later, Pompeii would be rediscovered, and it's lost citizens would be preserved using plaster.

 When I heard that there was going to be a movie made about Pompeii, I was excited.. My excitement soon left me, however, after I saw the movie trailer for Pompeii. From watching the trailer, I could tell that they were going to try and make a love story out of Pompeii; this was a revelation which should not have surprised me. My excitement for the movie quickly turned into disappointment, and I no longer had the desire to see the film. On a spur of the moment decision, and with really nothing better to do, I recently decided to watch it and give it a shot. I went in to the movie with low expectations, so as to not be disappointed by a terrible love story intertwined with an extremely interesting historical event.

 Much to my surprise, I enjoyed Pompeii more than I was expecting to. The terribly predictable love story was there, but it was also a really great action movie. When Pompeii relied on the action sequences, they were done extremely well; when the film relied on actually telling a story, it was hit and miss. I thought the casting of the movie was well done, and all of the actors did a tremendous job - except one. Kiefer Sutherland was HORRIBLY miscast in this movie, and it wouldn't have been bad if he had only had a minor role. Unfortunately for the audience, Kiefer was cast as the main villain, Corvus; which meant he got A LOT more screen time than he should have.

 Like I said previously, the story in this movie was hit and miss throughout the entire film. It was part Gladiator, part 2012 (or similar type disaster movies), and a little Horse Whisperer thrown in - seemingly for the hell of it. I'm trying not to give too much about the movie away, but it's an hour and 45 minutes long, and the Volcano erupts about an hour into the movie. So basically, for about the final 45 minutes of the movie, you have the storyline of the Mount Vesuvius erupting and the citizens of Pompeii trying to escape - all while the movie still tries to maintain the love story aspect. In the end, the storyline of this film was pretty much what I expected, but the action scenes elevated the movie to a higher level of enjoyment than I thought I would get out of it.

 If the filmmakers had made this strictly an action movie instead of trying to add romance, I would have no problem recommending people to go see this film in theatres. In the end though, I would suggest you wait until this movie comes on Netflix, or becomes cheaply available on DVD/Blu Ray before watching it.

Should Jackie and Tom Get Banners?

 

 A question I have wondered to myself since the Toronto Blue Jays decided to retire their first jersey number is, should they now officially retire Jackie Robinson's number in the same fashion? By that, I mean should they honour Jackie with a number 42 banner, like they did for Alomar and his number 12? Recently, however, I have also been thinking, should the Jays have a banner for Tom Cheek as well?' Let me make my cases  for both.                                                                                        

First, the argument for Jackie Robinson:

 When Jackie Robinson's 42 was universally retired by Major League Baseball in 1997, the Blue Jays did not have a system in place for retiring jersey numbers. Instead, the Blue Jays had their Level of Excellence, on which were the names and numbers of former great Toronto Blue Jays; however, none of the players on the Level of Excellence had had their jersey numbers retired by the organization. Because of the fact that the Blue jays did not have a club policy on retiring jersey numbers, Jackie Robinson got the Level of Excellence treatment - with his number 42 beside his name.  

 

                                           

 With Roberto Alomar being elected as the first Blue Jay into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011, the Blue Jays came up with a new policy regarding player jersey retirements. Any player who entered the Hall of Fame as a Blue Jay would be deemed worthy of having their jersey number officially retired by the team; and they set a precedent with Alomar that jersey retirements would receive a banner with the jersey number on it hanging from the Roger's Centre rafters. Now I realize that Jackie did not enter the Hall of Fame as a Blue Jay (obviously), however, his number IS retired universally by MLB and the Jays FINALLY have a way to honour retired jerseys. So, with that in mind, I think the proper thing to do is for the Jays to hang a 42 banner from the rafters, officially recognizing their retirement of that number in honour of Jackie.

The argument for Tom Cheek:

                                             
                                             

 Tom Cheek, like Jackie Robinson, has his name on the Blue Jays Level of Excellence. In front of Tom's name is the number 4306, which - for those who don't know - represents the number of consecutive games Tom called as the Blue Jays radio play by play announcer. In 2012 Tom was awarded with the highest honour a broadcaster can get from Cooperstown, he was awarded with the Ford C Frick award. Now, even though Frick Award winners aren't officially classified as Hall of Fame inductees, they are represented in the Hall of Fame with a plaque - for the record, that makes them Hall of Fame inductees in my opinion. With Tom Cheek being in the Hall of Fame - as a representative of the Blue Jays - doesn't he deserve a banner of recognition?

 You may be thinking, well you don't want to get crazy and give EVERYBODY a banner. While that is true, the Blue Jays DID hang a banner in recognition of Pat Gillick's election into the Hall; and, in fairness to Tom Cheek, Gillick did not go in representing solely one team. I know Gillick said in interviews that if he had a choice, he would have gone into the Hall representing the Blue Jays. Unfortunately, as already stated, Gillick IS NOT in there representing the Blue Jays, however Tom Cheek IS. In my opinion, that qualifies Tom to be honoured with a banner at the Roger's Centre.