Toronto: Diverse, perhaps, but only kind of strong

Except their baseball team was quite strong tonight. It was fairly apparent from the get-go that the Royals would be in for a tough one. Burnett threw daggers from the onset and, when he executed about four perfect pitches to John Buck with the bases loaded in the 2nd, eventually getting him to ground into a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning, that was pretty much the ballgame.

But, really, who can blame the Royals for not playing well tonight? They're in a dirty city in a foreign country surrounded by a bunch of pissed off Maples Leaves fans. Gil Meche took one visit and decided he'd go anywhere but there. And besides, it's not like games outside the U.S. actually count in the standings or anything.

I asked an old college friend of mine (pictured) who hails from Toronto to tell me a little about her city. Here's the transcript of our online chat:

me: so tell me, exactly how crappy of a city is Toronto

Candice: uhh

excuse me?

me: no, seriously

you don't have to be modest or anything

Candice: why are you asking me this?

me: out of curiosity

Candice: you should know better

me: I want to learn more about my fair northern cousins

Candice: that's a great way to go about it

me: edify me

Candice: not worth it

me: oh come on, when have i ever let you down

Sent at 10:10 PM on Monday

And then there was a long pause. Yeah, so... pretty crappy.

POSTSCRIPT: Toronto may or may not actually be dirty. I don't know. And yes, I realize it's Leafs, not Leaves.