For a team that's accustomed to flying under the radar (partly because they're a Canadian team in an otherwise all-American league, partly because they're perpetually mediocre, and partly because they're in a division with two of the most self-absorbed franchises in professional sports), it's been an unusually eventful year for the Toronto Blue Jays so far. Last weekend they announced that Frank Thomas—the team's best slugger, #18 on baseball's all-time home run list and a......

If you're like us (and, God willing, you’re not), then you're utterly exasperated by the ongoing steroid scandal in Major League Baseball. You're puzzled that the United States Congress has nothing better to do than to interrogate multimillionaire athletes who might've used performance-enhancing drugs. Moreover, you're wondering why, this past Wednesday morning, no fewer than three Canadian sports networks were showing live coverage of the Roger Clemens hearing. Is it really that important? Regardless,......

After the Toronto Blue Jays acquired a gimpy Scott Rolen in exchange for a gimpy Troy Glaus, the general consensus was that the two players cancelled each other out. One point, however, hasn't been discussed—possibly because it's utterly irrelevant to the game of baseball. Still, we feel it's worth mentioning that we'll no longer have to wince as Troy Glaus limps up to bat with "Crazy Train" blasting through the speakers. Instead, we'll apparently......

'Tis the season for gift certificates. Whether you're scratching your head trying to figure out what to give to an impossible recipient or selecting your loved one's favourite store or service, the selection of certificates, cards and vouchers seems unlimited. More than a few local sports woke up on Christmas morning three decades ago to find one of today's passes for the Blue Jays' second campaign as a stocking stuffer. The Jays finished their......

A new study says that diseases and parasites from farmed fish are having devastating effects on wild salmon stocks in parts of B.C. Skyrocketing global demand for seafood means fish farming can be very profitable, even when the cost of frequent tractor replacements is taken into account. Brian Mulroney continues to be the centre of the most-covered and least-followed story in the Canadian media. Basically he says he's not guilty of anything except taking......

If you haven't been following the Raptors too closely this season, it's possible that you may have missed one of the greatest stories in professional sports at the moment. Jamario Moon is a 27-year-old rookie who had been kicking around just about every minor league on the continent until he finally got his shot with the Raptors this year. And he's tearing things up. Even though he's years older than a number of Raptor veterans,......

Premier Dalton McGuinty says that he is not prepared to follow Quebec's example and ban cell phone use while driving, in spite of studies showing that the practice is more dangerous than driving drunk. McGuinty said that "some people also distract themselves by drinking coffee, eating and applying makeup while driving" and he wouldn't know where to draw the line. Because if you can't stop one stupid and extremely dangerous practice, there's no point......

Scandinavian Airlines says that they will permanently ground their fleet of Canadian-made Bombardier Q400 turboprops following three accidents involving problems with landing gear. In response, Bombardier will no longer market the plane as the Q400 Skid. The Dalai Lama is in Ottawa, where he will spend three days meeting with Tibetan exiles and politicians. The world's cutest religious leader said during a speech that war is obsolete, noting, "We all come from our mother's......

City officials to David Miller: don't tax booze. They reasonably pointed out that consumption taxes don't work when people can just drive thirty minutes to evade said taxes. In response, Miller pouted and ran up to his room, refusing to come out for dinner. Loonie opens trading today at a buck and four cents U.S. The reason for the most recent dramatic rise is, apparently, a combination of the groaning American economy and rising......

Sometimes, you just need to know when to give up. If you’re a Toronto Blue Jays fan, you should’ve picked last night’s game—a gut-wrenching 5-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers in which Toronto blew a three-run, ninth-inning lead for the second time in three games—as a good time to write off the team’s 2007 season. To be fair, most people did that months ago; unfortunately, some of us wouldn't let ourselves off so easy, and......

It's Labour Day, so a special shout-out to all the sweatshop workers who won't be reading this because they're working today and can't afford a computer on 21 cents an hour anyway. Thanks for all the cheap clothes, guys. The Star reports that the suspect in whose car police found three bombs on Friday was described by his landlord as "unstable." Ya think? Time to rethink those cross-border shopping plans—increased security checks at border......

Torontonians outraged by satirical ads for a children's camp where kids learn to be soldiers. The posters (which we wrote about earlier this week) are the brainchild of War Child Canada, which promotes aid and awareness for child soldiers and why that's bad. This story is further proof that satire is not only dead, but has in fact become a zombie. (The campaign's website is here.) New training and licensing regulations for Ontario's security......

A hundred and one games into the 2007 Major League Baseball season—a year in which they were widely expected to challenge the Eastern Seaboard's hegemony in the American League East—the Toronto Blue Jays are exactly one game over .500. In other words, this won't be the breakout year after all; in fact, it'll be tough for them to replicate last year's 87-75 record, which was only good enough for second place in the division.......

Sam the Record Man is closing its Yonge Street store on June 30. Remember when Sam's was the only place you could get a cassette of The Lowest of the Low's Shakespeare My Butt? Remember cassettes? Two high profile cases got their day in court yesterday. Wing-Piao Dumani Ross and Alexander Ryazanov, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the 2006 death of cabbie Tahir Khan. The pair were sentenced to house arrest for a year,......

When people first hear the words "Professional Pillow Fight League," they often conjure images of jello-wrestling and hair pulling. However, if you've ever been to a Pillow Fight League event, you know that the fights are real, they're violent, and they're bloody entertaining. The Pillow Fight League, also known as the PFL, has been performing around Toronto since last year. They gained international attention in January when they fought for two nights in New York......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay tribute......

In the tradition of reporting on undervalued national holidays, we bring your attention to the one occurring today: National High Five Day. The holiday is observed on the third Thursday of April each year, and celebrates the power of the popular hand-based greeting, which apparently also turns 30 this year. Those of you wanting to celebrate en masse -- but probably only in spirit -- can join the other 1500 people taking part on......

We don't know about where you are, but it seems like spring can't decide whether or not to happen. Some days are warm, some days are cold, and sometimes you aren't sure which. Baseball may have started up (and soccer/football winding down) but it still seems cold out there. Unless it's not. Anyway, onto the -ists. Austinist happily anticipated fall's Austin City Limits, even though they're not fully recovered from South By Southwest. In other......

Interesting and depressing news today in the Toronto Star, with the revelation that there are no plans to release the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres in Canada. Why is that, hmm? The article states (quite correctly) that it’s one of the most popular shows on The Detour on Teletoon (where you can watch it at 10:15 p.m. weeknights) so why they’re not giving it at least a limited release here confounds......

The Liberal Party narrowly wins a minority government in Quebec. The ADQ came in a very close second, and Mario Dumont will be the official opposition leader when the Quebec National Assembly reconvenes. Many voters expressed their dissatisfaction with Premier Jean Charest, expressing their desire for a premier who looks less like Gene Wilder circa See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Toronto residents face a potential 3.8 percent property tax hike this year. City......

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like......

A CN train jumps the tracks in Kingston, delaying rail traffic between Toronto and Montreal/Ottawa. Nobody was hurt, but observers told reporters this in a tone of serious disbelief because thirty-two train cars went off the rails less than a thousand feet from Kingston's passenger station, and apparently it was quite disturbing to see, what with the thousands of tons of out-of-control metal and all. A Canadian soldier has been charged with manslaughter in the......

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing—what's going on in the World of the -ist's? Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagarizing sports writer. Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals. DCist put their noses in legal books as they wrote......

Police have closed the Gardiner Expressway after baseball-sized chunks of ice began flying off the CN Tower. Flying chunks of ice? Closing the Gardiner? Good ol' Mel would've just brought in the army and called a wrap on the day. Power has finally been restored to homes affected by last Thursday's ice storm. The only people who could possibly still be without power are those who have failed to notify Toronto Hydro, a spokesman......

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal......

Forget what “they” told you about the dearth of cheap tinfoil at Dollarama. The truth is much more insidious: now in its third year, Funkless.com is hosting a contest to judge the most innovative mind-control-beam deflecting apparatuses in the city. Hey, who says paranoia has to dampen creativity? Hostess Cynthia Gould is pleasantly surprised at the success of this and other Funkless.com parties. “The funkless philosophy began when I told a few people about......

Depressed by the current deep freeze? Here’s something to make you feel warmer – next week, the boys of summer (or at least the pitchers and catchers) report for spring training for the Blue Jays’ 30th anniversary season. Simpsons was one of many businesses eager to show their support when the Jays prepared to take the field in 1977. The “Simpsons Dugout” concept almost sounds like the Olympic section at The Bay (also located on......

As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, the -ists look back not at the past week, but at the past year. So here it is, your Best of 2006 Spectacular. And from all of us at the -ists, happy New Year! Austinist was all about controversy as new construction to increase urban density ran rampant in 2006, as did threats to the city's image from gigantic corporations looking to set up shop in town, leading to......

If you grew up in this town, or anywhere within shouting distance, there's a good chance that you can't think of your Toronto Blue Jays without thinking of Tom & Jerry. If there is anyone associated with the Jays organization deserving of a Hall of Fame plaque, it's gotta be Tom Cheek. A gentleman by all accounts, he announced 4,303 straight games - starting with the Jays' first in 1977 - and didn't stop until......

Jagshemash! Borat is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings of Penis Photos for Make Benefit Glorious Flat World of......