A series of thoughts

Facial Expression guessing game: Did Colby Rasmus just hit a home run, or did he just strike out for the fifth time?

So it’s been a pretty busy week in the sporting world, in pretty much every sport going right now. From season openers to all-star votes to free agency, there were too many storylines to narrow it down to just one topic this week, so here are some extremely random thoughts from the past week in sports.

-          Good on the CFL’s West Division for proving pretty much everyone in Canada wrong about them in week 1 of the regular season, going 4-0 against the East, including three pretty convincing wins on the scoreboard.

-          Some very impressive debuts across the league, but one which is flying under the radar is that of Bryant Turner. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers seem to have found a diamond in the rough with this defensive lineman, who had three sacks against the defending Grey Cup champs in a losing effort. Doug Brown will still be missed on the line but Turner is filling the void for now.

-      Other impressive CFL debuts were had by Chevon Walker (Holy fast, Batman), Kory Sheets (more on him in a second), Keenan MacDougall, and even first overall pick Ben Heenan. Heenan in particular will be one to keep a close eye on this season, as it's rare for offensive linemen to start in their first year in the CFL. Right, Simeon Rottier?

-          Nik Lewis is really, really fun to watch.

-     Like, really, really fun. 

-          Speaking of players who are fun to watch, Keron Williams has to be up there too. Next time you’re watching the BC Lions on television, just watch him for a series. I guarantee he’ll do something that will make you go “woah.”

-          Lots of people are saying the Edmonton Eskimos’ Steven Jyles won the battle of the trade against Ricky Ray and the Toronto Argonauts. I disagree.  Jyles was getting tons of time from his O-Line, which made it easy for him to put up 236 yards. Ray had to work with less time and a very sharp Edmonton defence to pass for 298. The Eskimos won, and while you can’t rely on stats and numbers to tell the story, Ray had a very strong second half, improved from the first, while Jyles played at the same level all the way through.

-          Speaking of QBs, Saskatchewan’s Darian Durant looked pretty composed, but it’s easy to do that when you’re dumping the ball off to Weston Dressler every play.

-          Speaking of Saskatchewan, Kory Sheets looked pretty good at running back. I would have liked to see him get more carries in the second half. He has the build of Wes Cates, but appears to be a little quicker with his footwork.

-          The Toronto Argonauts have one of the best names in sports on their roster, in “Don’t call me Al” Pacino Horne. I’m going to have fun tweeting with this one all season long. HOO-AH!

-          Speaking of Toronto, Jose Bautista got voted to start in the MLB All-Star game, and we all know what he can do with the bat, leading the Major League in home runs right now. But Colby Rasmus has really impressed me. He’s absolutely crushed a couple of big ones recently, including one that hit the fifth deck of the SkyDome Rogers Centre. When he gets a hold of a pitch, it’s goodbye baseball.

-          Rasmus also never smiles. Whether he’s just hit a grand slam, or just struck out with bases loaded and two outs, he always looks like he’s mad at everyone and everything. Or sometimes just plain bored.

-          Congrats to the Minnesota Wild for winning the NHL’s free agent sweepstakes. Not only did they get the most prized free agent, but they got the top two in Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. After making a splash trading for Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi last off-season, and these signings this week, could the “stars” be aligned for a playoff season next year??

-          Speaking of Stars, Dallas looks good too (if you saw that segue coming, good on you.).They also look poised for a playoff year after narrowly missing out this past season. The additions of Ray Whitney, Jaromir Jagr and Derek Roy should boost their offence bigtime, and add some veteran leadership.

-          Phoenix Coyotes forward Shane Doan is also still a free agent. I’ll be interested to see where he ends up; rumours are saying the New York Rangers are a leading candidate to be Doan’s second NHL franchise.

-          Speaking of Phoenix, Raffi Torres had his suspension decreased by four games by Commissioner Gary Bettman. Once again, Bettman flexes his muscles, overturning the original ruling by the disciplinary guy Brendan Shanahan. Considering Bettman gets booed anywhere he goes for any reason, I think a lot of people can’t wait for him to be gone.

-          Speaking of I can’t wait, I can’t wait for the “NHL in Phoenix” saga to end. At this point I don’t care whether the Coyotes relocate or stay put. I just want it to be over.

-          Speaking of being tired of something, are you tired of the phrase “speaking of” yet?

-          Congrats to Spain’s soccer teams for winning the past three major soccer tournaments. To us Canadians, it would be like possessing the World Junior Hockey Championship, World Championship, World Cup of Hockey, and Olympic all at the same time. Oh wait, we’ve done that!

-          I can’t believe I just mentioned soccer…

-          I’ve been very impressed with the level of play at the IFAF U-19 Football World Championships going on this week in Austin, Texas. I watched most of Canada’s first game against Sweden, and am watching their second game against the football superpower that is Japan. The Canadians have some studs, and both Sweden and Japan play hard and have a lot of talent as well. This tournament looks like it is picking up in popularity, so it’ll be interesting to see just how popular it becomes in the next few years.

-           Team Canada quarterback Will Finch just hurdled two Japanese players on the same play. He’s looked really good so far, engineering some nice sustained drives by Canada.

-          Decided to have some more fun with CFL names:

Wopamo “Oh hi hi” Osaisai, Montreal Alouettes

Chima “Please call me Chima” Ihekwoaba, Montreal Alouettes

Michael “Sweet as Cherry Co-“ Ola, Montreal Alouettes

Jordan “I’m always gettin’” Younger, Toronto Argonauts

Greg “Well aren’t you a” Peach, Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Sam “Puke” / “Upchuck” / “Vomit” Hurl, Saskatchewan Roughriders

Bo Levi “How did you know I was from Texas?” Mitchell, Calgary Stampeders

Fred “No I don’t play for Calgary” Stamps, Edmonton Eskimos

Dylan “Cheeseburger” Steenbergen, Edmonton Eskimos

Jabar “the Hutt” Westerman, BC Lions

Random questions:

Will Calgary Stampeders defensive lineman Junior Turner name his son “The Third Turner”?

How often does Arjei Franklin have to spell his name for people?

Will anyone who reads this the Steenbergen nickname joke?

If Doug Brown and Rob Murphy had a tweet-off, who would win? 

If the Blue Jays win the World Series, does that mean Colby Rasmus will smile?

If Colby Rasmus smiles, does that mean the 2012 thing is for real?

Come to think of it, if any Toronto sports team wins a championship, does that mean the 2012 thing is for real?

What is a tweet-off?