How do Yu do?

Have a look at Richard Griffin's blog regard the latest Japanese sensation, Yu Darvish.

Now, it has been reported that the Toronto Blue Jays have won the posting bid for his services.

I am agree completely what Griffin said and here's why...

1) The Blue Jays have gone Back to the Future with the jerseys and they are HOT and SEXY! The Blue is back in BLUE Jays!

2) Darvish is only 25 years old and he will fit in perfectly with the young Blue Jays core of; Ricky Romero, Brett Lawrie, JP Arencibia etc. Win together, lose together but most importantly, building a winning team together.

3) Impressive record in the Japanese league; 93-38... Now, I don't expect Darvish to actually pitch something like 20-5 in 2012 but I think if he pitches 15-10 with an ERA of 3.45 and finishes somewhere in Top 15 in statistical records in AL. That is a win. A rookie of the year award would be the cherry on top.

4) The Blue Jays needs some stability in the 3rd or 4th pitching slot. Ricky is Ricky; defacto numero uno. Brendon Morrow (if he can find consistency) fits nicely right behind Ricky. Then we had Brett Cecil and Kyle Drabeck who both struggled and sent to triple-A. I do hope these guys will be better in 2012. Out of nowhere came Henderson Alvarez and in a short audition looked really good. You can't forget Dustin McGowan. You hope 2 shoulder injuries are behind him and he can regain to 2008 form. If Darvish can be a consistent 3rd starter and get around 15 wins. The Blue Jays may find themselves in the wild card hunt.

5) The most important part is getting the fans back into the seats. The regular 20,000 fans will show up every game but now with Darvish, the Jays can market the team like Seattle Mariners did with Ichiro Suzuki. But the most intriguing part of this is that not only can the Blue Jays capitalize on marketing Darvish to the young Asian community; Japanese, Chinese (including Taiwanese) and Korean, it's possible to even market into the Persian community. Two birds with one stone. It's the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the Blue Jays young and exciting core. Homerun king, Jose Bautista. Home-grown Canadian talent, Brett Lawrie. Home-grown drafted talent, Ricky Romero. So forget the 80s or 90s night, let's go with cultural night. Toronto really is such a vibrant city with many cultures; Japanese (or Asian) Night, Persian Night... There is a large Japanese community that will go and support. Darvish Night special... 10 tickets in the lower bowl for $450 + tax that includes an autograph photo or photo-op. (You say photo ops? Trust me... with his mixed heritage, there will be plenty of girls at the stands! Remember the Eric Hinske commercial?) Hey Rogers!! Are you listening? I've got plenty of ideas! Hire me! Send me a private message on twitter!!

Last year was the wait the Brett Lawrie's arrival... This year is seeing how quick Darvish adjust to MLB and possibly dominate. If the Blue Jays staff manages the way they have been in these past few years, 2012 edition of the Toronto Blue Jays will be quite exciting!

Play ball!

NHL Alignment... Four Conferences. Really?

This new NHL realignment is really a joke. Four... FOUR... conferences??

Ok, I admit, I think it would be pretty awesome to have a possible Leafs-Habs Stanley Cup final but still... 4 conferences? What were they thinking? What are they going to name them? Revive those old names? Smyth? Campbell? Wales? Or new names? Sittler? Richard? Yzerman? Something just doesn't sit well with four conferences!

So, here are some of my previous realignment solutions...

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


It's great to have every team play each other twice. Frankly, as a Leafs fan... I would like to see more Leafs vs Wings or Hawks and we don't see enough Columbus or St. Louis.

I don't think there's any problem with East and West Conference and 2 divisions each set u[... Really, the simple solution should be this

East Conference
Great Lakes (or keep Northeast): Buffalo, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
Atlantic: Carolina, Florida, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islander, Tampa Bay, Washington

West Conference
Central: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
Pacific: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, LA, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver

So, if Phoenix gets moved to Quebec or wherever, they can be placed into the division with Toronto and Montreal.
0)
Each team play it's division team 6 times, (35 games for East and 40 for West), they play teams in the other division within the conference 4 times (28 for East and 32 for West), play each team in the other division once (16 for East and 14 for West). With the 3 games left for the East, they can be randomly for rivalries. So teams like Leafs, Habs, and Bruins would get the opportunity to play one more game against Hawks, Wings and one team.

Or

Each team can still play each other twice (58 games) and play 1 more game against team in the other division in the conference (7 or 8 games, total 65-66 games) and the rest of the games are left for division play (17 for East and 16 for West).

The playoff format would be like this. In each conference, the division winners will be placed 1st and 2nd accordingly to points. From 3rd to 8th, will be positioned by standing. And in each round, home ice will be determined via point standing in regular season.

Now, an alternative solution could be top 4 team in each division head into playoffs. They play within division playoffs and then winner of each division within the conference play each other and winner of that will play for the cup.

See? Easy simple solution...