Toronto is a very fun town to visit, it might be just a little too much fun. In the few days, Toronto has had major problems with alcohol, and the Blue Jays are even banning sales during the next few home games. The first incident came over the weekend during the Seattle Sounders' third win of the season, and second home sellout in as many games. The team's owner, Price Is Right host Drew Carey, was on hand for their last game against Toronto, and an angry fan of the Canadian team decided he would express his opinion of Carey by dumping beer all over him. Via Blogcritics....

With a 2-0 lead after the half, Seattle buckled down and held on but Toronto FC did not mount much in the way of an attack. The best attack was by a Toronto FC fan when he poured beer on Sounders FC owner Drew Carey. His reply, as quoted in the Toronto Sun, was as sterling as his team when he told the fan, "We get as many X-Box's as we want. You guys get all the B-M-O's you want. Whatever they are." Carey was referring to the Toronto FC stadium, BMO Field.

Now that's just not nice. After all that Seattle has been through Sports-wise this year. But that's nothing compared to the seen at the Rogers Centre during the Blue Jays Opener yesterday. From ESPN via With Leather....

The Blue Jays' 12-5 win over the Tigers on Monday was delayed nine minutes in the eighth inning when fans threw two baseballs in the direction of Detroit left fielder Josh Anderson and tossed a handful of paper planes and empty beer cups onto the field.

Anderson was pleased to hear alcohol would not be sold Tuesday.

"That's good," he said. "These people can't handle it."

The panel cited five broken rules at baseball and football games and concerts dating to the Canadian Football League championship game in 2007. The stadium will also be dry on April 21 when Toronto plays Texas, and for a CFL game on Aug. 1.

Both affected baseball games fell on dates when the price of upper deck seats was cut to $4, a promotion called "Messin' With Recession." The ban covers everything from concessions, vendors and restaurants to the beer refrigerators in both locker rooms.

While the ban on Tuesday was just a coincidence, obviously the citizens of Toronto probably need a break from the booze. But honestly, who can blame them with the way their team's have been doing as of late. The Raptors are missing the Playoffs for the first time in three years, the Soccer team has finished 7th in the East during each of its first two season and the Maple Leafs haven't been to the Playoffs since the 2003-2004 season. I'd be drinking a ton too....oh wait, I'm a fan of the Redskins, Wizards and Orioles....I have been! I feel your pain, Toronto.

Sounders Take Down Toronto 2-0 (Blogcritics)
Blue Jays Face Beer Ban After Opener (With Leather)

I think most Philly fans probably saw it coming with a 9-14 record to start the season after making a major coup in free agency by signing Elton Brand away from the Clippers, but coach Maurice Cheeks got the ax today. Somewhat sad because there's no better story than a former franchise PG who won a 'chip leading the guys back to respectability, but the expectations are much higher than that with Brand in town and the Eastern Conference in flux if you're not the Celts, Pistons, or Cavs. Tony DiLeo, one of the Sixers' front office guys, will take over on an interim basis.

What's interesting to see is how the 76ers are the latest team to can their coach with about a quarter of the season down, as the Minnesota Timberwolves axed Randy Wittman from his thankless job (he could have been a miracle worker and he wouldn't have gone to the playoffs with that roster). Kevin McHale, once again avoiding blame for the T'Wolves failures in a way Matt Millen would envy, is on the bench for the rest of the season -- and hopefully owner Glen Taylor made an Isiah-like bargain with him. Eddie Jordan wasn't long for the Wizards, and he got canned as soon as it was clear the team was still struggling with the concept of defense.

The power battle between Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo and coach Sam Mitchell came to a head long ago; Colangelo was just waiting for an excuse to fire Mitchell and bring in his own coach -- a subpar start provided good ocver. This is practically a hockey-like ratio that's appearing in pro basketball right now, and I'm trying to figure out personally why this is the case. A lot of it in hockey has to do with GMs who have coached or played before and know the sport, and maybe we're seeing more and more of that in the NBA, with the impatience coming from the "win now" demand.

Well, back to Mo, though, and we should all remember him, at the very least for being a class act and helping someone with the National Anthem during his tenure. Still a cool thing to do.



Sixers coach Mo Cheeks fired [Philadelphia Inquirer]