Battlin' Birds

The great Toronto collapse that Shea Hillenbrand was predicting has finally happened. I've been away for a month and since then BJ Ryan has accumulated all of 3 saves, Eric Hinske and Scott Shoenweis have been given away like old clothes (Hinske to the despicable Red Sox no less), the team is basically no longer in contention for anything, and John Gibbons challenged yet another player to a fight.

A sad note, Gibbons is not the first Toronto pro coach in recent memory to challenge his players to fight him, that honour would go to Raptors coach Sam Mitchell.

I would like to think there are deeper forces at work here. I'm thinking maybe the WWE is coming to town soon, and all of this is some sort of set up. Maybe Vince McMahon is actually making some sort of investment in the team. Look at the possibilities here, next Pay-Per-View, it's Gibbons and a mystery partner versus Lily and Hillenbrand. The mystery partner turns out to be Sam Mitchell. Thanks to interference from McMahon goons, Mitchell and Gibbons are in total control of the match. Suddenly Rafer Alston jumps out from somewhere in the crowd and clubs Mitchell in the crotch with a dumbell.

If that's not the case, then signs point to Evander Holyfield's comeback bid. With a medical suspension placed on him by the state of New York, he'd be hard pressed to get a fight permit in the US. With the demise of the baseball team, cable mogul Ted Rogers decides to drum up some revenue by hosting a fight in Toronto. Gibbons fighting players was all part of the advertising campaign to get the city ready for a brawl.

Of course, a more likely story would be this year being just another disappointing chapter in the Toronto sports book, despite earlier misplaced enthusiasm. The end of the year will bring lowered expectations for next year and the departure of more players such as the disgruntled Bengie Molina (Did anyone see that working out?).

One bright note for CFL followers is that Damon Allen has passed for 70,000 pro football yards, which puts him just behind Warren Moon. Of course since the "Pro Football Hall of Fame" really means NFL hall of fame, it doesn't mean anything outside of Canada.