Benjamin Sharma 🇨🇦 🇺🇸

Poppies were a lot easier to deal with in the 1990s, when you’d see a nice Second World War veteran in his dress uniform selling them at Toronto subway stations.

You’d walk up, say hello, drop off your donation, and he’d pin one on you.

(Usually got mine at the Yonge-Bloor interchange.)

Perspective: Dick Cheney was disliked on both sides of the aisle. Here’s why he should be lauded The former vice president ended his life with many foes. Could that be due to his moral courage?

A friend wrote this quickly about the late Vice President Dick Cheney.

I largely agree, and remain a fan of Cheney’s.

www.deseret.com/opinion/2025...

So that’s textbook jury nullification.

Clearly was guilty of a misdemeanour assault (the felony charge attempt was absurd), but the jury refused to convict because they don’t like the charge.

Interesting Q: would he have been convicted had they just gone with the misdemeanour charge at the start?

And Canada will plan accordingly.

Americans Still Like Canada! Yes, Even Republicans | The Walrus Polls show US voters overwhelmingly see us as a trustworthy ally despite Trump’s escalating trade attacks

Stuff like this is what people who want to salvage continental diplomatic relations will have to cling to until 2028.

And they should be. Nobody seriously thinks a majority of Americans wish Canada ill.

But lots of 🇨🇦 will accept that every so often a 45/47 gets in.

thewalrus.ca/americans-st...

If you’re trying to watch a major event time-shifted, you need to turn off notifications, avoid all chat apps, and just stay offline until you’re done watching.

The only reason I’m not out on the ledge right now as a Jays fan is I was around for 1992 and 1993.

I remember not-this.

This is true, but it shows how barren our cupboard has been.

1992 and 1993 World Series, 2019 NBA Final, no Stanley Cup finals. Last time we lost a final in the Big Four sports was the 1960 Leafs to the Habs’ fifth in a row.

bsky.app/profile/hock...

This one wasn’t a curse, it just was … victory was inches away on a number of occasions, and then it was gone.

Also the Gimenez liner in the bottom of the eighth with Ernie on second.

Great season, lousy ending.

It was up but then it got down just in time.

Spent five minutes yelling “his foot was up, we actually won”, then saw the later replay, and IKF was legit out.

Yeah that’s where we’re at.

Watch Live: World Series Game 7 on Sportsnet

Direct link, just in case:

www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/...

The Sportsnet app went down for the country, this is the workaround I think?

Three outs to go, but razor-thin margin.

Let’s get some insurance.

They won a couple games the Jays probably should’ve won, it happens.

A very famous World Series had the losing team outscore the winning team 55-27…

The math is that even if Springer got to hit with two out in the bottom of the ninth, the Jays probably still lose.

But man I’d have loved to see that at-bat.

(Well, the Dodgers probably walk him and pitch to Lukes.)

FWIW SkyDome’s 2025 ground rules are explicit, Barger’s ball was a ground rule double. (See pics in GR4.)

Would a run have scored without it? Probably. Would Barger still have gotten doubled off on a misread of Giménez’s broken-bat blooper? Probably.

img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/i...

The most stressful games I attended were the 2016 AL Wild Card Game and Game 7 of the 2025 ALCS.

Go to Game 1 for low(er) stress. :)

Let’s go.

Vladdy was a playoff dud till this year, now he’s a stud.

Anyway. I think there *is* an extra gear for the playoffs, and it takes star players a bit to figure out what works for them to activate it. (Tho some come with it activated.)

Took McDavid and Draisaitl a few losses to figure it out…

In that vein I appreciated Vladdy sporting a Matthews jersey for Game 7 of the ALCS.

A little nudge from one team’s leader to the other’s.

What actually reminded me lots of Matthews/Marner (RIP) discourse was Yankees fans on Aaron Judge (until that three-run home run in Game 3, anyway).

It’ll linger until and unless we see Matthews do a playoff year like Vladdy’s October 2025, or Mikko Rantanen’s revenge Game 7 vs the Avs...

Trouble is, players aren’t playoff dawgs/stone cold k*llers until they are.

Vladdy had a .100 career playoff batting average entering this month. Kyle Lowry had a playoff game with the Raps where he scored literally zero (0) points, without even a free throw.

Which was Shanahan’s point, funnily.

That post scared me, until I realized it’s just about the OHL.

Yamamoto might be the toughest opposing pitcher tho. Saw what he did to the Jays in Game 2.

To be fair to myself, I didn’t despair over the 18-inning loss.

This was my post at the other place:

Diplomacy is diplomacy.

The diehard fans knew enough to buy quarter-season tickets for playoff ticket rights, and got seats at 2-3 World Series games at face value.

It’s not a great system but it’s not entirely unjust. I know of many worse.

(I chose to gamble on the public release, I paid a premium for my single game.)