Best of the Web: Vol. 2
The late Roy “Doc” Halladay, one of the greatest pitchers to never win it all.
Also, remember those mid-2000s “toothpaste T” caps?
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Welcome to our monthly news roundup, Best of the Web, a curation of all content that’s worth your attention (notice how we dodged politics?). If you know of a great website, podcast, shop or anything else a man of taste would enjoy, drop us a line at info@crownshavingco.com. There’s a chance we’ll publish your recommendation. And if you like, we’ll even give you a shout-out right here on this blog.
Sports
Roy Halladay Field, Toronto’s First “Fully Accessible” Baseball Diamond, Is Officially Open.
It’s a shame the Doc couldn’t be here for it, but suffice it to say, the man would’ve approved.
Last month, the Toronto Blue Jays’ charity branch—the Jays Care foundation—unveiled Toronto’s first ever publicly accessible baseball diamond in Highview Park, situated in north Toronto’s suburb of Scarborough.
As per this CBC piece, it was the Jays Care Foundation’s $1-million capital infrastructure grant that helped make it all happen.
The Doc’s widowed wife, Brandy, was accompanied by her two sons and held court as she confessed the park was exactly the kind of thing Doc wanted for the city that adores him to this day.
What’s more, the field’s going to be used to facilitate the Challenger Baseball program, a baseball camp backed by Jays Care, Baseball Canada and Little League Canada. that’ll help kids with “cognitive and physical disabilities.”
For the uninitiated, Roy “Doc” Halladay was an absolute beast of a pitcher, and he threw fire for our beloved Blue Jays from 1998 to 2009, after which he went to the stupid Phillies. A National and Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer, Halladay’s trophy case is an embarrassment of awards, each of which defines a most dominant career. Halladay won two Cy Youngs, eight All-Star nods, four pitcher of the month awards, god knows how many pitcher of the years, plus a whole lot more. All that eluded him was a World Series.
The Doc also registered three 200-plus strikeout seasons, a Jays franchise best, and he’s only one of five Toronto pitching legends to strikeout over 1,000 batters in a single career.
We lost Roy Halladay in 2017 when he crashed a plane into the Gulf of Mexico, not far from Florida.
He was only 40-years-young.
(Via CBC.ca)
They’re Starting the World Cup One Day Earlier.
This winter, the World Cup is starting one day earlier.
The 22nd instalment of soccer’s grandest tournament commences November 20th—with host nation, Qatar, to play Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium—instead of the 20th (11:00 a.m. Eastern kick off time, 7:00 p.m. local time).
Originally, Holland’s matchup with Senegal on the 21st was the supposed to kick things off.
Why the change? FIFA's top brass basically said it’s tradition for either the host country or the reigning champs to play in the first game, and that they can swing it, no problem. Cool, but why so last minute about something that obvious?
The move, in effect, lengthens an already besmirched tournament, one that’s been mired in controversy since day one—from the exposure of the deaths of 6,500+ migrant workers who helped build new stadiums to allegations Qatar all but bought the rights to host this one.
Things have gotten slightly better; In 2021, Qatar finally wised up and implemented a minimum wage law for migrant workers, and any business must now provide food and housing for said people. Still, when you see stories like this one about about salary lies and abysmal living conditions, what kind of “housing” are we talking about here?
Man.
(Via Sky Sports)
Business
The theory’s that big time investors are looking to offset recession losses by taking advantage of lowering property rates, and they’re buying up homes like it’s nothing now; 28 percent of single-family home sales during quarter one of this year came thanks to investors.
Is this another case of what’s happening in Canada, where people are buying homes and renting them out to families? Not good, not good at all.
(Via CBC.ca)
Tech
Apple Used To Care About You Not Getting Tracked By Ads, Now They’re Doing It
It was only last year when Apple flew its privacy protection flag once more, launching the App Tracking Transparency (or ATT) feature for iOS, iPadOS and tvOS 14.5.
Dammit, Apple, what’s happening?
ATT kept other apps and sites from mining your data with annoying ads — that is, if you don’t want to get tracked; It gave you the option to choose, much to the chagrin of companies that allegedly took hits as a result.
Here’s the thing: Apple just announced they’re beefing up their own adverting efforts, and on top of that, they’re studying the habits of Apple users to figure out what kind of ads to send them.
Ironic, or low-key creepy?
(Via Bloomberg.com)
Apple Warns Software Flaws Makes Your iPhones, iPads and iMacs Sitting Ducks For Hackers
Just when you thought it couldn't get worse.
(Via Castanet.net)
Grooming
Next Friday Is National Grooming Day.
There’s actually a day to celebrate keeping kempt, and this year it’ll be on Friday the 19th. Maybe we’ll publish something celebratory for this occasion. Maybe we won’t.
This Aussie Men’s Skincare Line Is Made With… Beer.
We wouldn’t normally name drop another men’s skincare brand, but this was too good to ignore. Australian beer, Victoria Bitter, just launched a line of skincare products for men, one that includes an exfoliator and a “bath frothy.” Both have freeze-dried Victoria Bitter beer in it, as do the rest of the products.
(Via Marketing Mag)
More to come…