The guys at Drunk Jays Fans, one of the city's better sports blogs, are kick-starting a grassroots campaign to have former Blue Jays play-by-play man Tom Cheek awarded the Ford C. Frick Award. The award, which is given annually by the Baseball Hall of Fame for "career excellence in baseball broadcasting," is the equivalent of being inducted into Cooperstown. Throughout September, fans can pick their top three broadcasters from a huge list of nominees,......

FILM: As the summer continues, so do Toronto's weekly outdoor movies. Tonight, the Harbourfront Centre is screening 1998 Tom Tykwer thriller Run Lola Run in German with English subtitles. Just three subway stops away, 1987 Rob Reiner fantasy The Princess Bride is showing at Yonge-Dundas Square. Both films begin at 9 p.m., and both are FREE. SPARTS: What do you get when you cross baseball and the needle arts? A crocheted baseball, for one.......

MUSIC: San Fransisco melodic indie duo Mates of State are playing tonight at Lee's Palace. Joining the husband and wife team are Oakland progressive string-metal group Judgement Day. Lee's Palace (529 Bloor Street West), 8 p.m., $15. FILM: For those of you who don't feel like dishing out another $15 to see The Dark Knight in IMAX again, The Revue is screening two films tonight. The first, at 7 p.m., is Jon Favreau's clever......

Environmental groups including Ecojustice and Earthroots are decrying that golf courses on the Oak Ridges Moraine use billions of litres of water a year. The report they issued points out that groundwater levels in the area are declining sharply. Not in their report but should have been: the fact that golf sucks. Peter Kormos and Cheri DiNovo once again plan to introduce a bill calling for a revamp to our organ donation system, which......

SPORTS: After a four-day stint in Baltimore, the Toronto Blue Jays return tonight for their first home game in two weeks. The Jays take on the Seattle Mariners tonight. The Mariners are in last place in the West Division, and the Jays are in second-last place in the East Division! This is shaping up to be an exciting series. Rogers Centre (1 Blue Jay Way), 7:07 p.m., $9-$57. MUSIC: The record release party for folk......

So far, the summer weather's been anything but. Rain, rain, more rain... we haven't had to take one shower in two months! (Kidding. Don't make that face.) Still, that's no excuse to huddle at home: here are our top three no-poncho-required weekend activities. Hop a hotel pool. Infiltration, Toronto's "zine about going places you're not supposed to go," has an amusingly elaborate guide to diving into the city's best guest-only, indoor swim spots. Liquid......

If Reba McEntire and Tony Bennett come to Toronto to play, why shouldn't tourists follow suit? Two decades ago, Metro Toronto urged tourists to "discover the feeling" while sampling its neighbourhoods and attractions. The focus of the late 1980s television spot that we've dug up today is the multitude of leisure activities the city offers. Viewers in markets like Cleveland and Detroit were enticed to check out ballet, fishing, gondola rides, horse racing, boutique......

Every Saturday morning, Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today. 1979 Topps Rico Carty, 1978 Topps Jesse Jefferson and 1978 Topps Jim Clancy baseball cards Stories about the early days of the Toronto Blue Jays tend to focus on their debut in 1977, highlighted by a snowy opening day. Despite a mixture of cast-offs, free agents, and untested rookies that landed the......

At an event yesterday to show off Toronto's new street furniture, David Miller praised the exclusive deal with Astral Media. The contract includes a measly 1,000 new bicycle posts, because God knows we don't want to encourage cycling in downtown Toronto. The contract also includes new public toilet installations which are billed as being "self-cleaning," to which Torontoist can only issue a collective "shyeeeeah, right." Oil prices dropped slightly yesterday, but nobody thinks it's......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Untitled BY ADAM FINLEY......

The committee charged with reviewing Ontario's payday loans law recommends a hard usury cap of sixty percent. Were it any lower, payday loan companies would have to shut down and go get real jobs and make their mothers proud of them. Were it any higher, payday loan companies would be dancing in the streets and shouting "hooray!" So sixty percent is apparently the fair number. A judge will decide today whether a videotaped interview......

Rumours are flying about Led Zeppelin potentially playing the Rogers Centre this summer. (See Torontoist's breaking post from last weekend here.) Let Torontoist give you a sneak preview: the tickets, targeted for an aging boomer base with money to burn, will be insanely expensive; the band will give a competent but unremarkable performance that will have every paper exclaiming in an enormous font "THEY'VE STILL GOT IT!" when in truth they only barely have......

Dalton McGuinty wants Fiat to build its new North American factory here in Ontario. McGuinty emphasized Ontario's history of auto manufacturing, and also the province's sheer desperation to replace thousands of lost jobs from the American Big Three automakers gradually collapsing. McGuinty then said, "No, seriously, we'll do anything to get the plant. AN-Y-THING." Then he winked. Barack Obama all but clinched the Democratic nomination last night when he won the state of Oregon......

The federal government's defence plan will cost $20 billion more than the federal government said it would cost, at least according to the Vice Chief of Defence Staff. Stephen Harper responded to the criticism by explaining that the country would be purchasing its planes and tanks through Canadian Tire, and that the Canadian Tire money generated by the purchases would be applied directly to the national debt, thus equalizing out costs. Tory MP Jason......

Toronto health officials tied an outbreak of measles to the financial district yesterday, and more specifically to the TD Waterhouse and the Scotia Tower, thus confirming what we have known for many years: bankers and stockbrokers are dirty, filthy people. A government report condemned the Toronto Catholic District School Board for spending more money on itself than any other board in Ontario, at an average of a hundred thousand dollars per member. John Tory......

Barack Obama inched closer to the Democratic Presidential nomination last night, winning North Carolina pretty decisively and holding Hillary Clinton's victory in Indiana to a near-tie. Pundits and prognosticators alike agreed that at long last, Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the nomination were almost totally nonexistent, now that America has finally come to terms with the fact that Barack Obama is black, y'all, he's black, y'all, he's blackety-blackety-black, y'all. According to the Auditor General, the......

TTC riders can get a refund after last weekend's strike (see Torontoist's story here). If you bring your pass to a collector's booth, you will get $7.50 back. Torontoist personally plans to invest its Metropass refund in the stock market, purchasing 1/95th of a share of Google. The United States Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point. On second thought, maybe Torontoist should invest its $7.50 in a wheelbarrow factory. (Obscure......

Copper theft in Toronto has reached record levels. Thieves just can't get enough of that golden-brown stuff. You can do anything with it—sell it for four dollars per pound, or...well, actually that's pretty much all a copper thief can do with copper, come to think. Jim Flaherty will have a nice sit-down with Dwight Duncan. The federal and provincial finance ministers are tentatively scheduled to enjoy a nice snack of tea and crumpets before......

China vows to continue the international Olympic torch relay despite lots of protests. The International Olympic Committee suggested that they might do away with the international route in upcoming games, because from now on, all Olympic games will be held in authoritarian dictatorships and they "don't want to look bad" when they award the next few Games to Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, and the Equatorial Republic of Hate-Land. (The President-For-Eternity of Hate-Land responded by saying, "ooooooh,......

Today is Tartan Day. This is the day customarily used for the first time ever to celebrate Scots who have moved to North America. Torontoist recommends that you celebrate by eating a deep-fried Mars bar and staggering out of a soccer game, swearing loudly. Winnipeg MP argues for scrapping the penny. Sure, Pat Martin trots out all the usual arguments—it costs more to make than it's worth, it has no real value worth mentioning......

Jeff Healey, legendary Torontonian musician and owner of Jeff Healey's Roundhouse on Blue Jays Way (and Healey's at Queen and Bathurst prior to that), has died of cancer at only 41. The news, posted to his website earlier tonight, comes just under two months before the domestic release of Healey's new album, Mess of Blues, recorded with what Healey called "the best damned bar band in Canada." His website has plenty more information about......

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......

It's election day today! So go vote. If you don't vote, nobody will ever truly love you and you will die alone and unmourned. This is a statistical fact. In further Ontario election news, the party leaders all make their final claims as to why you should vote for their party here, and none of them make the argument that they deserve your vote for being the whitest guy in Ontario, because all of them......

City to designate laneway "Ben Kerr Lane." It is predicted that the laneway will become the center of Toronto's booming hot sauce scene. Howard Hampton promises to roll back MPP pay hikes and to raise the minimum wage to $10/hour. Good thing Hampton hasn't actually published an economic plan yet. I mean, there's only less than a month until the next election, wouldn't want to tip your hand too early... Economics researcher links higher gas......

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......

Did you know it was really hot yesterday? Because it was. It was really, really hot yesterday. Thank god for the Toronto Star or Torontoist might not have noticed, what with the relaxing in the air-conditioned basement and all. Registered Nurses of Ontario express their opposition to the Canadian Medical Association's two-tier healthcare proposal. Good point made: that wait times (a.k.a "the nightmare of all proponents of private medicine") have been shrinking in the last......

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.......