This idiot of a writer has been bashing the CFL and Argos always. In fact, the Toronto Star by far has been the worse and contiues to slag our league and team as non big league.
This, from the Toronto Star which prides itself as "The Canadas Newspaper".
Let's e-mail this tool. Now, here is hig spewing.
Odds on T.O.'s next major title
Jays have inside track over Raptors
Mar. 6, 2006. 06:41 AM
GARTH WOOLSEY
Not that there is an easy answer, but it is a question worth kicking around anyway: Which of the Toronto teams � the Blue Jays, Raptors or Maple Leafs � is the most likely to be first to win a championship?
What's involved here is speculation, voodoo and an earnest effort at assessing not only the current state of the franchises in question, but also their longer-term prospects. And, yes, off the top, it is entirely possible that there will be no championship in the works for T.O. for a long, long time.
The Leafs have been in the wilderness since 1967, the Jays since 1993, the Raptors have never had so much as a sniff. The wait could be interminable.
(As for the Argonauts or Rock or any other team in any other league � congratulations, but you're excused from this forensic examination and reading of the entrails, CSI: Toronto, Pro Sports Division.)
The three operations are at radically different stages of development. The Jays, despite the fact they've had only one winning season in their last five, are laden with positive possibilities, thanks in large part to a free agent spending spree that followed several seasons of deep-down fiscal and competitive cleansing. The patient approach as preached by J.P. Ricciardi and Paul Godfrey has finally reached the stage at which there may be tangible payoffs in the won-lost column.
For what it is worth, the oddsmakers in Nevada have the Blue Jays in the range of 8-to-1 (bet $1 to win $8) to win the American League pennant this season. As they have to come out of the AL East, ahead of either or both of the Red Sox and Yankees, that's a tough job and a realistic number.
As for the baseball gurus, most view the Jays as legitimate, if still outside, contenders. The new players will have to live up to advance billing, Roy Halladay will have to stay healthy, there will have to be better production from the outfield and infield corners and, crucially, the infield defence must withstand the loss of Corey Koskie and especially, Orlando Hudson.
The Jays time may be close, if not now. Their farm system is good, if not great. They may well be in the process of returning to perennial viability in a sport that places value on player development but also allows for wild spending, if Ted Rogers so chooses.
Those same oddsmakers look at the Raptors and come up with a number, any number, so long as it is at least, say, 350-to-1 to win the NBA championship this season. Which is entirely realistic. But the recent signing of a new GM in Bryan Colangelo and the promise of an emergent franchise player in Chris Bosh (with Charlie Villanueva in support) bodes well for the future, longer term. With this franchise "stab-ility" has stood for back-stabbing and the ability to avoid it (or not). Who knows what clear, informed thinking from the top down might accomplish. It is certainly true that given the small NBA rosters and the importance of the draft and salary cap that teams can be turned around relatively quickly.
Which brings us to the Maple Leafs. The oddsmakers, not surprisingly, view them as a fading contender. They've gone from 20-to-1 to win the Stanley Cup to 50-to-1 in a matter of days but most everyone understands their real chances are as remote as, say, Eddie Belfour winning the Vezina.
Realistically, most pre-season forecasts had the Leafs fighting for a playoff position, which is exactly where they stand. But GM John Ferguson Jr.'s off-season signings have been worse than most imagined. Jeff O'Neill is minus-19, Eric Lindros is done for the season, with 11 goals (the same as Mats Sundin); Jason Allison is erratic at best; ditto Alexander Khavanov. Two of team's top three scorers are defencemen, Belfour's save percentage is .891. And, so on.
Whatever long-term hope there is for the Leafs centres around the younger players, but that group hardly inspires wild optimism. When's the last time the Leafs drafted a genuine "franchise" player? At least they have depth at the all-important goaltending position, with Mikael Tellqvist, Justin Pogge and Tuukka Rask.
So ... of the three, odds to be the first to win a title: Jays 5-to-1, Raptors 8-to-1, Leafs 12-to-1. Chance that none will do it in the next 10 years? Say, even money.
