Just read this

My good friend Gary Wise shows why he's a damn talented writer.

A die-hard Blue Jays fan says good-bye to Roy Halladay

Knowing When to Quit

My thoughts on a possible Roy Halladay trade are very jumbled right now; I'm not sure that I can properly put into words what I am thinking. Which means at least one, if not two, posts are to come on this. However, one thing is bugging me right now: Why is JP Ricciardi in charge of moving Roy Halladay?

I'm not exactly the first on this bandwagon; Keith Law was the first to ask this question. When he first started asking it, I was willing to shake it off, thinking that Ricciardi would be GM until the end of 2010, and it was in his best interests to get a great deal for Halladay. But as time has gone on, JP has basically shot himself in the foot.

The final straw happened today. Ricciardi let the media know that Halladay had indicated that he would test the free agent market after 2010. Not a big deal on it's own. But when added with Ricciardi's quote about Halladay providing a list of teams he would accept a trade to, the inference was obvious: Roy Halladay wanted to leave the Toronto Blue Jays.

Naturally, the press picked up on this. Also naturally, Ricciardi felt that he needed to set the record straight. This isn't the first time that Ricciardi has spouted off, and I'm afraid it won't be the last. Ricciardi seems to be lacking the internal filter that most people have, the one that allows them to consider their audience before speaking. And that lack of a filter could very well have hurt the Jays' return on any potential Halladay trade.

So why is Ricciardi still handling a trade that will shape the Jays for years to come?

Update: Jeff Blair and Tao of Stieb have opposing views.

Today in awesomeness

Premiering August 18th on ABC, Shaq vs. A show where Shaquille O'Neal challenges other athletes at their own game. Shaq racing Michael Phelps in the pool? Check. Shaq against Albert Pujols in some sort of baseball battle? Already there. Shaq against Oscar de la Hoya? Shaq facing Olympic champion beach volleyball players Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh? Gravy.

Things Jenna Morasca should never do

Wrestle, for one.

From the Great Ideas department

Fancy Fast Food - taking fast food and making "gourmet" meals from them. For example, Spicy Chicken Sushi from Popeye's:

JayRo Watches Movies: Fired Up

Midway through Fired Up, the cheerleaders watch Bring It On, and recite the lines to th movie with the movie. It's there as a nod to it's predecessor, to show where the roots of Fired Up were derived. It is too bad for Fired Up the acknowledgement also reminds the viewer that Bring It On is a superior movie.

I don't mean that to bash Fired Up. It's a fine movie with consistent laughs. However, it suffers from a split personality which ends up holding it back from being an even stronger movie. Fired Up doesn't know if it wants to be a smart comedy (a la Bring It On), a profane comedy or a romantic comedy, so it tries to be all three. This leads it to be a weaker movie, as it fails to get past the cliche romantic comedy plot, nor does it bring anything exceptionally raunchy to the table. There is wit, but the movie is saved by the performances of the leads. They realise their characters are essentially likeable con men who mature into - gasp - having feelings. They play the characters to perfection, showing us charm even when we know they are being deceivious, so that we actually care when they make the transformation.

In the end, I give Fired Up a thumbs up, though I wish it would have chosen whether it wanted to go for raunch or brains. A commitment one way or another would have made it a better movie.

JayRo Watches Movies: Paul Blart: Mall Cop

I went into this wanting to like it. Kevin James is a funny guy. The premise had some semblance of comedy.

And then I watched it.

It'd be unfair to say that it is a terrible movie. There's a few amusing spots. Unfortunately, that just upgrades the movie to a bad movie. It's as though Adam Sandler decided this wasn't a wacky enough character, and he gave this to Kevin James. The results, as should have been predicted, were not so good.

Stay away from this movie.