from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,

“Toronto is a city that wants to be noticed,” said Steve Simmons, an esteemed, prolific and sharply opinionated columnist for the Toronto Sun. “We love when America notices us. It just doesn’t happen very often.”

It is happening now. The Blue Jays are the coolest story in sports. They also are building one of the biggest bandwagons in the recent history of Canadian sports.

“Toronto has been the most downtrodden sports town in North America for the past 21 years,” Simmons said. “There was just no hope for any team other than the (Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts), and unfortunately, nobody really cares about the Argos.”

Canada is not a football country. NHL free-agent signings and offseason charity hockey games get more media play than the Argonauts and the CFL....

Until two weeks ago, the biggest summer sports news in Toronto was either a) the sterling performance of Canadian athletes at the Pan American Games, which Toronto hosted; or b) the recruitment of Mike Babcock to coach the Leafs, along with the additions of Lou Lamoriello and Jacques Lemaire to an already bloated front office.

“Leafs training camp would have been the greatest theater you could have imagined,” Simmons aid. “Nothing about the players, mind you, but a lot of people in suits. But if the Blue Jays are in first place in mid-September, Leafs training camp will be the quietest it has been in 20 years.”

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