Week Fifteen - 04/08/07 - 08/08/07

My last Saturday in Toronto saw me awaken bright and early for one reason and one reason only - it was off to the internet cafe to listen to commentary of Sussex's attempts to become Twenty20 champions for the first time. The Jewish opening time of 11am meant that I missed Sussex's attempts with the bat, but I was able to hear them crash out of the tournament thanks to Peter Chapman re-routing the commentary of the game from his television set and through Skype to me. After leaving the net cafe, I headed to McDonalds which bizarely resulted in my eyes hurting, before heading back to the hostel to rest ahead of the following days huge game between Toronto and David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy

The Sunday began with bad news, as it was revealed that David Beckham would, unsuprisingly, not be playing this evening due to injury. This left me rather contented that I had only paid $45 for a ticket to a match that I actually wanted to see, as opposed to some of the pillocks who had forked out up to $600 just to see Beckham. Six pints and a Subway later and I arrived at the ground, where security had been stepped up a notch, with people virtually being strip searched on entry. Most of my fellow fans were discussing how exciting Beckham would be to watch, seemingly not realising that he is infact quite a boring player. I soon beered myself, and watched on as the ground staff, seemingly reasoning that Beckham would be sat on the bench, began frantically erecting a proper dugout as opposed to the park bench that is normally used. Needless to say, this was an utter farce.  As the Galaxy came out to warm up, the women next to me punched me in the face in her attempts to take photos of a player who wasn't even there. After she appologised, I told her not to worry as I had seen Beckham six times for England in the past. Her facial expression became one reminiscent of someone who had just been vomitted on, and demanded me to prove it. I listed off all the games I had seen him in, but decided not to mention the fact I was also at his debut when Manchester United played in the League Cup at Brighton. After this altercation, I found my seat and proceeded to watch the Galaxy put on one of the most abject displays of football I had witnessed in Canada, before heading back to the hostel

The erection of the dugout simply because David Beckham would be sitting on the bench proved to be a complete farce as expected	The fans let their balloons and streamers go before the game
The big flag is passed around the ground	Mo Johnstone was once again in his wonderful mustard colored suit
Carl Robinson prepares to whip one in	BMO Field is packed to the rafters

Monday was yet another national holiday in Canada, and I took the opportunity to visit the Sky Dome for an afternoon ball game against the New York Yankees. With it being big name opponents in town, the stadium was slightly fuller than normal, and David Beckham and some of his LA Galaxy team mates paraded around the pitch prior to the first toss. The Yankees went onto take the game 6-4, with Alex "A-Rod" Rodriquez getting a run. My decision not to wear sun cream proved to be a fatal one, as I ended up as red as was humanly possible, with my eyes also hurting following the breaking of the the fourth pair of sunglasses of the trip. I then headed back to the hostel, where I drank my remaining beer before heading to bed feeling as hungry as an Ethiopian

David Beckham, complete with Blue Jays shirt, waves to the crowd ahead of the Jays clash with the Yankees

Tuesday was my last full day in Canada, and I began by heading to the Skydome to purchase some souveniers, including my quite ludicrous fifth pair of sunglasses of the trip. I purchased yet another baseball cap, before heading to the internet cafe to confirm that I would be flying back to England the following day. The evening was spent at my last baseball game, and with the roof shut the Yankees went onto bet the Jays 9-3. A-Rod took offence to being hit in the head by a 90mph pitch from Josh Towers, and as such everybody from the dugouts bundled onto the pitch for a punch up. After order was restored, A-Rod decided to have another go, with the same result, before later on in the game I got to witness my first sending off, as the Yankees pitcher became rather angered and decided it would be a good idea to lob a ball at Jays batter Alex Rios. The entertaining evening came to an end, and I said goodbye to the Skydome and the Blue Jays before returning to the hostel for my last night in Canada

The first fight between the Jays and the Yankees breaks out	And as soon followed by a second one, that is even bigger
The rain and cloud prevents the top of the CN Tower from being viewed

Wednesday saw me jump into a taxi and head to the airport, and I arrived back at Heathrow at around 6am Thursday morning after an epic seven hour flight, bringing to a close arguably the greatest fifteen weeks in the life of Scott McCarthy. Canada loved McCarthy, and by god did McCarthy love Canada.

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