Got Nuffin

As we get ready to make our first trip to Toronto in six years, my mind is squarely focused on my beloved Jays and Leafs. On the one hand, the Jays have been struggling for the last several weeks and now there are rumblings that they're considering trading staff ace/savior of the franchise/best pitcher in baseball Roy Halladay. What? Some of my Red Sox-lovin' friends are already imagining the Sox starting five with Halladay in it. Not so fast, says Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. I hope he's right. Halladay's a free agent after next season, so certainly there's concern in the organization whether they'll be able to afford to keep him, but that doesn't mean he needs to be dealt now. The plan all along supposedly has been to build the team for a run next season; it ain't happening without Roy.

As for the Leafs, things are actually looking up for the lovable losers. GM Brian Burke has been busy in the offseason, beefing up the club with the additions of d-men Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin, and Garnet Exelby and forward Colton Orr. And he landed Swedish free agent (but NHL-untested) goalie Jonas "Monster" Gustavsson this week to back up Vesa Toskala. The Leafs still need plenty of offensive help, and Burke will likely deal Tomas Kaberle and one or two others to that end. They're already going to be much tougher to play next season, which is a step in the right direction.

Our T.O. trip starts on the 19th. I'm hoping to catch a couple of Jays games while we're in town, hopefully one of which will feature Halladay. We're still sorting out the particulars, but it should be fun.

I'm a pretty healthy guy, but I have been struggling of late with eye infections, specifically in my right eyelid. It went on for a few months earlier in the year and appeared to be under control, but now it's back, along with a little pink-eye action. It's farkin' annoying. I can't wear contacts, so I have to wear my old glasses playing hockey and running. I feel like one of the Hanson Brothers, with a Terminator-esque red right eye. Right now, the course of action is lots of hot compresses and antibiotic drops. I'm hoping this crap clears up before we go on vacation, but with my luck, it probably won't.

Infinite Summer update: I've been pretty diligent in reading at least a few pages a day. I'm up to p. 130 as of this typing. There's a lot to absorb. I'm trying to read it during regular waking hours, as opposed to just before I go to bed, because there's a lot of nodding off/re-reading the same sentence over and over again at that point. Deb kindly ordered me the paperback from Barnes & Noble so I don't have to lug the monstrous hardcover edition I took out of the library everywhere I go. Good woman, that one.

Say hey:

• So it was hard to escape the whole Michael Jackson tribute concert thing yesterday. While I was at the ophthalmologist's office, I caught a bunch of it on TV. My take on the whole thing is, he certainly earned a tribute concert as one of the biggest performers of our generation, but do we really need round-the-clock coverage of every last detail? The memorial ended up costing LA $1.4 million; I'm sure there's plenty of cash lying around in bankrupt California right now. I'm ready to hear about what the hell is going on in the real world.
• I've spent a few hours this week checking out eMusic's new offerings from the Sony (Columbia/Epic/RCA, et al) major label conglomerate. I've been a longtime subscriber to eMusic for its wide selection of indie labels, DRM-free MP3s and relatively inexpensive pricing. It was once $10/month for unlimited downloads, which was awesome but really made no sense from a business standpoint. A few years ago, eMusic went to tiered monthly pricing; I've been doing the $14.99/65 download plan. Well, starting next month that price will get you only a little more than half the current number, down to 37 downloads a month. It's still cheaper than Amazon or iTunes, so I'll stick around for the time being. But in addition to losing its indie cred, eMusic has made other changes that are pissing off its longtime subscribers. I understand that the company feels it needed to make this move to survive, but it's too bad that it's squandering a lot of the goodwill it had earned over the years.
• Got to admit I was surprised to see that Sacha Baron Cohen wasn't in character as Bruno for his appearance on Letterman last night. Especially since he came out in full Bruno regalia for his Conan spot a few weeks ago. No doubt Letterman wasn't in the mood to play along, whereas Conan had to deal with Bruno's crotch in his face. Whatever the case, I don't think I'd ever seen an interview with Cohen as himself and he was quite charming and funny and dare I say, normal. Maybe Cohen was playing to Dave's older, perhaps not quite as gay-tolerant audience.