Weekend Recap

Evenin peeps, and anyone else who might have happened by... in particular if your name is...

A great weekend - part of it spent in Toronto, but I'll get into that later.

MLB
Things continued as they have been lately - the O's win another series, the Sox keep pace winning two of three from the Angels - the Jays had a bad weekend, losing 3 of 4 to a suddenly awaken Eric Chavez and the A's...and the Yankees got kicked again - this weekend in Minnesota (when are people going to realize that this is not the Yankees of old, they aren't that good).

Some observations about baseball broadcasting last week

1) Baseball fans in Ontario were treated to NESN feeds last week - Hazel was her usual impressive self - whether it was behind the desk doing sportsdesk updates or in the crowd doing in game reports - from this chair, she was the bright spot in the broadcast...but then again, I may be a bit biased. While she wasn't on the Friday broadcast, NESN has saw fit to promote sportsdesk quite a bit - and attaching Hazel's pic to the shot (bravo NESN).

2) Former players don't necessarily make good "colour" broadcasters. The Sportsnet duo of Jamie Campbell and Tom Candiotti were proof of that. Some of the stuff these guys said left me scratching my head and saying HUH?

Campbell on Friday night - "With Halladay pitching tonight, (and naming saturday and sunday's starters) the Jays have a legitimate shot at winning the last three games of the series."

Candiotti in the 3rd inning Saturday with the Jays not having had a hit "The Jays have to get a baserunner on - they have to get something going, they need a hit or something." Gee thanks Tom.

Darren Fletcher has been doing some broadcasts too, given that he is new, we'll say "marginal".

All this to say...Rogers, let's bring back some personality to the broadcasts. Here's another funny thought...has anyone seen an episode of JZone this year? What's that you say? It's not on anymore? I wonder why...hmmmmm? Imagine that... Rogers not having someone to fill in the void our favourite sports personality left...

World Cup Weekend
Ok, so Hazel probably didn't cover the results - and she probably doesn't care either...BUT. The Portuguese National Team celebrated the return of their captain and the heart and soul of their squad, Luis Figo, with a 2- 0 victory over Slovakia, the game was played in "The Luz". Figo ended his retirement last month and was welcomed back by his teammates, with Deco going on record to extend his welcome (there had been a bit of friction in the past). This past weekend marks the beginning "Camoes week" in Portugal and Portuguese communities across the world - if you don't know who Camoes is - he is to Portuguese literature what Shakespeare was to English lit. Getting back to the National team - we are going to Germany and WE WILL WIN this time...I'm hoping Hazel and NESN give the World Cup some play! I'm available to go through pronounciations and such.

Some other interesting results...like Italy playing to a draw in Norway; the Republic of Ireland tying Isreal (surprise surprise, the Irish tied), European Champs Greece (I STILL hate saying that) playing to a goaless draw in Turkey.

In other news, yes - I saw that Jose Mourinho was fined by the English Football Association for tampering with Ashley Cole (the man who has since stated his desire to leave Arsenal). I'm standing by Mourinho...he did it in the interest of his team - and I think the fine was more because it was him (I'm sure Ferguson or Wenger wouldn't have gotten hit that bad).

Hockey
The NHL is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday - for those that thought a deal was close - one question..."Are you serious?" More on this nonsense tomorrow or later this week...

Time to call it a night - my weekend recap can wait til tomorrow.

Night to one and all - especially "you know who"

The Song of the Day on Hazelspeeps on yahoo - given the world cup qualifying win this weekend.

Uma Casa Portuguesa - Amalia Rodrigues

"Uma promesso de beijos
Dois brassos a minha espera
A uma casa Portuguesa com certeza
A com certeza uma casa Portuguesa"

That's it for me tonight -

Peesth out.