Beautiful Struggle

My new t-shirt, courtesy of twoeightninetshirts and set to join my closet in a couple of weeks, says a lot about why I'm a fan of the Buffalo Bills:

1) I'm a masochist. That list of quarterbacks, post the great Jim Kelly, proves it.

2) The Bills are losers. I was born to cheer for them. They belong in Toronto, even if it means sharing them with Buffalo. After all, that city doesn't have much anything.

The t-shirt does bring back some fond memories -- Flutie Flakes!!1 Actually, that's about it. Other than that, it represents failure, heartache, and disappointment. To this day, I still wonder what Wade Phillips was thinking 10 years ago when he started Rob Johnson over Doug Flutie against the Tennessee Titans. As for the Music City Miracle, hadn't the Bills, and poor Buffalo, been through enough? More questions: what in God's name was I thinking when I bought that Drew Bledsoe jersey? Four quarterbacks were drafted in the first round in 2005, which one doesn't belong: Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, or J.P. Losman?

But there's more to that t-shirt. It doesn't represent the past, no. It represents the struggle. Because the day will come when the name of another quarterback is added to that list who need not have his name crossed off with red ink.

Be sure to follow twoeightnine on Twitter for more great t-shirts, and some excellent photography.

We Were Due...

For a shit-kicking. David Purcey vs. Andy Pettitte was really a no-contest from the get go. Purcey struggled, Pettitte was effective, and the Jays bats were eerily silent yet again.

For the Yankees, there were positives all around. They stroked 10 hits, including a two-run bomb from Derek Jeter, Pettitte was lights out, and Johnny Damon didn't drop a fly ball all night.

I was hoping to see Purcey step up and deliver against a lineup the likes of New York's, but he was brutal, falling behind most of the hitters he faced in his four innings of work. You can't do that up here in the big leagues, especially against the Yankees. They'll burn you everytime, those bastards.

The esteemed Robert MacLeod of The Globe and Mail completely stole my thunder and wrote the post I was thinking about writing, over at Globe on Baseball. With Purcey and Jesse Litsch manning the back end of the Blue Jays rotation, it's going to take a Festivus miracle for the Jays to get within striking distance of the wild card. The injury to Dustin McGowan really, really fucks things up.

Doc Halladay takes the ball in tonight's rubber match. There's no other guy I want on the mound in what is pretty much a must-win game.

I wonder, if the Jays can somehow close the gap to within five games, might we see a four-man rotation of Doc, A.J. Burnett, Shaun Marcum, and Litsch? A.J.'s only a Blue Jay for 40 odd more days, why not send him out there every four days.

Yesterday's silver lining? The Baltimore Orioles did us a solid and finally beat the Red Sox. We're still 7.5 games back.