Hey all,

I received a bunch of emails today regarding my column in Monday's Toronto Sun. For it's entirety, you can read it here.

click here

As many of you know, when you write something for the paper, certain things get cut down because of space. Well, if you know me, I talk too much and write too much. So some of my argument about Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty taking ability was rightfully cut down. So here's the section below. Thoughts and comments are always appreciated. Start blogging - it's fun!

gw

gareth.wheeler@suntv.canoe.ca



Forget about the Real Madrid transfer rumours swirling around Cristinao Ronaldo because he ain't going anywhere.

Why? Cristiano (I refuse to call him Ronaldo) is too good for Manchester United to let go. Sir Alex Ferguson didn't let him leave after the highly publicized bust up with Wayne Rooney in World Cup 2006 and he will not let him go now. But let's not focus on the rumour - it's already been talked about too much.

Let's talk about how Cristiano almost cost United the Champions League because of a flaw in his game. Cristiano's approach to taking penalties is all wrong.

Unstoppable from the spot early in the season, Cristiano has been solved. It's all become too easy for the keeper, not because they know where he's going, it's because of his stutter-step.

I'm not sure when it became acceptable in football to take a penalty this way. The method of taking a stutter-step, completely stop, then finish your kick is an unnatural motion, leading to an impure strike of the ball. And many circles believe the move to be an infringement anyway.

Regardless, my managers have always told me; make up your mind where you're going to put it before you even step up to the ball, pick a corner and in one fluid motion, bury it. If the goalkeeper saves it - so be it. He won the battle. But chances are, if taken properly, you're going to score.

Now in saying this, I'm very well aware that Cristiano has always taken this approach, and has had a great deal of success. But now, he's missed three penalties in a row and the true flaw in his approach is coming to show.

Luckily for Cristiano, this mistake didn't cost his side a trophy and therefore removed him from widespread criticism.

My family and I were driving home from a day out in the country last Friday; the Jays game had just started, and we were listening to the play-by-play on the FAN 590.
It was a beautiful spring evening, not a cloud in the sky and, as we drove by the Rogers Centre on the Gardiner, I couldn't help notice that the dome was, well, closed.
Maybe the rest of Canada sees "weather" a little differently than Toronto. But, in the decade-plus I spent living in Alberta, as soon as it got over zero, the patios opened. At 10 C, if you were still wearing a jacket, there was something wrong with you. And, at that temperature, shorts were a feasible option. But, I don't think Torontonians are that spoiled. I think, if you'd ask the fans, that they'd wish that the Jays' brass would open the dome a heck of a lot more.
On a beautiful spring evening, there's no way I'd want to be indoors when the weather is agreeable. But, since I've been back in Toronto, I can't help but notice how many times the Jays have played with the roof closed when the weather, by Canadian standards, is pretty nice. As in, pretty well all Canadians would rather be outside than inside.
Maybe, when surveying all those empty seats inside the Rogers Centre, Paul Godfrey and the rest of the Jays brass should be reminded that the whole point of a retractable-roof stadium is that, during the baseball season, it really should be open most of the time. Fans want an open-air experience. And it does get really clammy in there with the dome closed. And, does anyone notice that any baseball ambience is exterminated when the roof isn't open?
If there is a policy on when the dome is closed and when it's opened, it needs to be rewritten. I would much rather wear a jacket on a spring evening in the outdoors than be cooped up indoors. Really, the policy should be rewritten that the dome should be closed only as an option when rain is threatening or when the mercury drops to a level what Canadian people (and I am talking about us hardy Canadians, not people from the south who wear jackets when it's 20 C outside) would call "cold." In Toronto's climate, that dome should be open at least 75 per cent of the time.
After all, Toronto FC fans have an outdoor stadium, and the seats don't empty on cool nights, or when it rains. Torontonians aren't the spoiled pussies that the Jays think we are.