racingmeridian.com

It should be simple. Wake at 5.30am, turn on the Fan, listen to the wrap up of everything sports from the day before. Easy, right? No, the bedraggled listener has to endure wretched banter between the execrable Don Landry and the vacant Gord Stellick before Rick Ralph begin his packed summary. I’m surprised a twit like Landry hasn’t been punched out by a colleague. He needles Ralph constantly and was also a factor in the removal of the brilliant Pat Marsden from the station. The morning show on the Fan is best enjoyed by those having an intelligence level just cresting beyond primordial ooze…for god’s sake switch the dial to John Oakley… the other annoying thing about Toronto, and there’s only two things, is Toronto Star hack Damien Cox. I can handle the fact he can’t write - very few columnists in the Star are capable of composing beyond a fifth grade level. It’s his inability to think, to put things in context, to see patterns, to rationalize, to be a cogent human being. Why do sports fans endure Dumb Guys? Try reading George Kimball, Bill Simmons, Dr Z, Thomas Hauser, Stephen Brunt, Michael Katz, and Bill Elliot, for some relief…old columns by William Nack, Milt Dunnell and Hunter S Thompson, under the Hey Rube byline, are always a pleasure…Peter King of S I can certainly be annoying. But he is passionate about sport and committed to providing extensive information. I read his column and Don Banks on the S I site regularly…the Leafs are exactly one point out of last place. Teams behind them include the Lightning, the Thrashers, Senators and Stars, all teams gifted with high profile stars. Looks like it’s time for the Leafs and the Florida Panthers, the remaining team in arrears, to get serious in pursuit of the first pick and become committed to some serious losing…the Panthers are rumoured to be pondering trading early season disappointment Nathan Horton…Romeo Crennel has pronounced QB Brady Quinn as the Cleveland Brown starter next year. I suspect Romeo has been a tad premature, he could be sitting on a couch with the rest of us by Sept 2009…yeah, I’m that guy wandering into the local sports bar and asking for the Raiders game. I’m confident JaMarcus is going to have a breakout game before this season is over and solidify his role as the Raiders QB of the future. Is it possible Al Davis has finally done something right?…word on the street is in overwhelmingly agreement on the Leafs latest move; Cliff Fletcher pulled one over on the Blues with his acquisition of Lee Stempniak for a song…how soon till the Toronto Raptor Jermaine O’Neal experiment blows up? How many games will ol’ rickety play this year? Was this Bryan Colangelo’s last best effort at finding the elite level talent necessary to induce Chris Bosh to remain in Toronto? Why, when I dream of a train pulling out of the Big Smoke, do I always see Bosh waiving good bye?…are you kidding me? It’s only 80 days to Daytona and the kick-off of NASCAR’s 2009 campaign…Steve Molitor is dismissed by the latest Fightnews rankings, dropping from four to thirteen on the heels of his terrible performance last Friday…Fightnews has Montreal based Lucian Bute as the number one ranked Super Middleweight…Bert Sugar was on with Bob McCowan yesterday shilling the Pacquaio - De La Hoya fight. Like the famed Angelo Dundee before him, Sugar is now on the payroll of promoters and will talk up your bout for a price…this is true. Art by great race horses, that is BY, not OF, are available for purchase on E Bay for hundreds of dollars. A piece of art credited to Zenyatta, older female champion and undefeated in 2008, is currently available for 425 dollars…