racingmeridian.com

The highest paid player in baseball, with a salary of 33 million greenbacks, is Alex Rodriguez of your New York Yankees. Next is Manny Ramirez, collecting 23.8 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers and then two more Yankees; Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira, both at around 21 million a year…the highest payroll in baseball, at 201 million dollars, belongs to the Yankees. Next, at 135 million each, are the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs. The Toronto Blue Jays, far from the bottom at 16^th, will squander just under 81 million this year. The lowest payroll in baseball belongs to the Florida Marlins at 36 million…baseball payrolls are down 1.7 % from last year. Clearly, austere times have come to MLB (trying to stop laughing)…Don Cherry must be grinning; two Canadian boys, Rick Nash in Columbus and Eric Staal in Carolina, have really found their game and have lead their teams on inspired runs to the post season. The way the two are performing the possibility of extended runs looms…Toronto will be inundated by “Nash to Toronto” rumours if he does not sign a contract extension this summer. Nash is currently due to become a free agent following the 2010 season…if Columbus draws the Calgary Flames in the first round, they advance…David Garrard of the Jacksonville Jaguars has lost 20lbs during the off season. The bloated QB is coming off a season where his incompetence essentially derailed the possibilities of a favourably viewed team. It’s clearly put up or shut up time for Garrard. The Sporting News lists four other quarterbacks who must produce immediately; Trent Edwards of the Buffalo Bills, JaMarcus Russell of the Oakland Raiders, Jake Delhomme of the Carolina Panthers and Jason Campbell of the Washington Redskins. As Apollo Creed memorably put it, “There is no tomorrow…” …the Carolina Panthers deserve criticism for retaining Delhomme. There are performances that indicate to management it is time to move in another direction, and the 34 year old Delhomme’s performance in the playoffs against the Arizona Cardinals is the epitome of that moment… Jeff Garcia will back-up Russell in Oakland. Couple of foreseeable issues; Garcia has never been a popular player and it is highly unlikely that he will be an effective role model for the strong armed and strong willed QB. The second issue? Jeff Garcia, an Oakland Raider? Hmmm, let’s just say Jeff was embraced by the denizens of the leafy lanes of San Francisco with an aplomb and enthusiasm unfamiliar to the steel of Raider Nation…British lightweight Amir Khan has muscled his way to a junior welterweight title shot against soft WBA champ Andreas Kotelnik. The fragile chinned boxer is fresh off a stoppage win over legend Marco Antonio Barrera. During the first round of that fight a head butt caused a severe wound and impaired the Mexican throughout. The prudent step appeared to be a rematch between the two, but the publicity and hype generated from the match has propelled Amir to the next step. His promoter, the cagey Frank Warren, will be eager to squeeze this money train for all it’s worth. Khan is an enormously exciting and electric performer, but that crystal chin is going to prevent a career of real substance…look, I’m not sentimentalizing the past, but I mourn for the day of two freakin’champs per division, instead of the currently accepted four. Andrea Kotelnik? WTF? I don’t even have the energy to go on Box Rec to find out who the prick is, this from someone who watches every boxing card possible (off the top of my head, the only meaningful fight Kotelnik contested was when he lost to Junior Witter)…NASCAR Sprint Cup racing takes a week off, allowing y’all to focus on the Masters…just a reminder, Woodbine’s Queen’s Plate Fantasy contest gets underway with the arrival of the Achievement Stakes at Woodbine this Saturday. The contest is free to enter and offers a 5 grand deposit for the winner. You simply assemble a team of ten horses, three jockeys and three trainers, and then accumulate points every time they have success either in selected prep races or with Plate eligible runners. It’s always a hoot, and did I mention the free part?.. every contestant appears to have Square Eddie on their team. The Canadian bred colt has yet to set foot in the Great White North but has a stellar resume, including a second place finish in the 2008 Breeders Cup Juvenile. The colt is still attempting to make the Kentucky Derby, a pointless exercise for the recovering animal, but would be a prohibitive favourite for the June 21^st Plate. I’m going to take a chance and leave him off my team. High profile American based runners like Wanna Runner, Twilight Meteor and Harlem Rocker have embarrassed themselves on our local track and I’ll stick to ones who are familiar with the plastic proclivities of the Big Smoke. The key horse to use is Mark Casse’s Active Duty. The barn was so high on this animal last season and his late season heroics in the Coronation confirmed a top rate performer. He’s is being legged up on the plastic in Santa Anita and should arrive in Toronto eager for a crack at the mile and a quarter classic…