That's One Hour Of My Life I'm Not Getting Back

It was what everyone had been waiting for......Joey Votto and Nick Swisher were named by the fans to play in baseball's all-star game.
It was what everyone had been waiting for....Lloyd Robertson announced his retirement
It was what no one was waiting for...I'm hosting the Sports Cage today!

Yeah, yeah, we finally found out where Lebron James was going to play basketball for the next few years. In what was one of the most shameless hours of television I have ever seen, James said he is taking game from Cleveland to Miami to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as the three a-ME-go's will attempt to take the Heat to an NBA title.

Here were some thoughts by yours truly from what I witnessed.

--Lebron looked like he had to get back to work delivering pizzas by looking at the shirt he was wearing. That was a sad, sad fashion choice.

--I kept waiting for Lebron to chastise Jim Gray for his Pete Rose interview from a few years ago or for Rose to just storm the gym and lay a beating on Gray because he was upset for putting money on Lebron to stay in Cleveland.

--Does this rank right up there with the Drive by John Elway, the fumble by Earnest Byner, the shot by Michael Jordan over Craig Ehlo, the losses by the Indians in the World Series and the Browns leaving town for Baltimore.

--This does nothing for his legacy. In fact, if you ask me his legacy suffers when you compare him to the greats. Did Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant leave their teams to win a title. No! They all stayed and they all won in the city where they belong. Lebron has proven he can't win without help.

--When do the Heat go to Cleveland next year?

--Knowing the Heat can't have a lot of money yet, will they try and pull Bryant Reeves out of retirement to play in the middle?

--Have Ilya Kovalchuk's people phoned TSN saying if Lebron can do it so can I? The one hour Ilya Kovalchuk special with the panel and Gino Reda doing the interview.

--Did this give Brett Favre any ideas?

--Is this letter from the owner of the Cavaliers legit. If it is, someone definitely laid the smackdown on Lebron. Read that thing! It comes from the Cavaliers website so I have to think it is genuine. He should get a one hour special tonight!

--Why didn't I watch the Jays club five homers in a win over the Twins.
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Did anyone see Lloyd Robertson making his announcement? That caught me off guard. The 76 year old(he's that old?!) says he will step down in 2011 meaning he will have done the 11 o'clock CTV National News for 35 years. WOW! Who is his replacement going to be? Kevin Newman? John Roberts? Manny?? Bryan Hall??
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I will do something I didn't think I would do again on Friday. With Rod Pedersen gone with the Riders to Vancouver, I will step in and host "The Sports Cage" on Saskatchewan's Sports Leader 620 CKRM. It will be Four Seasons Football Friday with Scott Schultz. The show is already basically put together. Has something changed with putting shows together so early? Hell, there were a lot of times in my previous gig when I didn't know what was going on until about 5 minutes before the show went to air. That was then, this is now. I told RP last night that believe it or not, I'm a little nervous about this one. I'm sure that will go away when the clock hits 4. I am looking forward to it. I would say tune in, but I know a lot of you are doing that already.
By the way, I think Miami Herald sports columnist and ESPN personality Dan Le Batard has already come up with his description of Friday's show. This was a tweet from Le Batard Thursday night that some might think talks about Lebron, but I know he is talking about Friday's show.
"What a cheesy, ridiculous, wonderful, fun, insane, funny, benign, outrageous, excessive, stupid, overindulgent, bloated absurdity this is."
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This story has to be disturbing if you are a member of the Riders organization. I know there are stories every year about some Riders not being "community" people and asking for freebies because they are who they are. I don't know how many of those stories are actually fact, but it would appear someone is trying to stir up something.
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How does Kaley Cuoco not get an Emmy nomination for top actress in a comedy for her role on "The Big Bang Theory". Thankfully, Jim Parsons (Sheldon) gets one for top actor.
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I have to close with some seriousness and some sadness. It was with great shock Thursday morning that I learned of the death of Bruce Pearce. Mr. Pearce taught this geeky kid twice during his days at Campbell Collegiate. He was a great teacher and one that I remembered during my days of walking the hallowed halls of Campbell. (Yes, Glenn Szabo, you and Dennis Pottage are also on that list) I hope the kids at Campbell that were there for the years that Pearce spent as principal know how lucky they were to have such a good individual in charge of them. His loss creates a tremendous void. One that will take time to fill. RIP Mr. Pearce!
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