Other Toronto teams should try the Blue Jay way

Under promise, over deliver. It seems like such a simple way to operate a professional sports franchise.

You would always be in control; your expectations could never exceed your abilities.

But in an era when anything but pre-season playoff bravado makes hawking season seats a tough sell, it's not very realistic.

Which is exactly why it was so refreshing when that was the approach taken by new Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos prior to his first year at the helm.

Being honest with your fans, what a novelty!

And after a 162 game season, his team rewarded him with their play -- winning ten more games than they did a year ago.

Perhaps this is a lesson other Toronto sports franchises should heed.

Item 1: Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke was so confident that his re-tooled club -- and particularly its blueline -- could make the playoffs last year that he dealt three high draft choices (first and second rounders in 2010 and an additional first rounder in 2011) for the young American sniper.

The point here is not to debate the merits of that trade -- certainly there's been enough ink spilled and enough banter on TV and radio airwaves over that one in the past 13 months -- but rather to point out the discrepancy between the public expectations and the end result.

For the Leafs that was ten straight losses to open the season; the second worst record in the league; a fifth straight season on the outside looking in when the playoffs began; and, of course, highly touted prospect Tyler Seguin will now wear black and yellow instead of blue and white.

Item 2: Fresh off a year in which he averaged 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists a night, while playing a key role for the Orlando Magic in a trip to the NBA Finals, Hedo Turkoglu was supposed to be a key cog in the Raptor playoff machine.

And though they were in a position at one point to be the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, they failed to make the post-season.

This isn't necessarily to say their inflated expectations were the exact cause of the second half slide -- Turkoglu's failure to ever give anything even resembling an B+ effort and the health and absent-mindedness of Chris Bosh certainly didn't help -- but regardless the club finds itself back in a familiar position, rebuilding the team after the departure of their best player.

Item 3: Following the hiring or Preki as their head coach and on the heels of a season where they were in playoff contention up until the last day of the year, Toronto FC was expected to compete for a playoff spot. Of that there is no question.

But the team failed to live up to expectations and Preki -- without making it through even one year -- and the Mo Johnston, the man who hired him, have been turfed.

And with the playoffs officially out of the question, they now become just the second team in the history of Major League Soccer to fail to reach the playoffs for four consecutive seasons and it just happens to be in a year when they are hosting the championship game.

Making matter worse is that the club has somehow turned what was perhaps the most loyal and passionate fan base into the league against them, with many of the key supporters groups wearing green -- the colour of money -- instead of red to the final home game of the season.

Item 4: In contrast to the teams with high expectations the Toronto Argonauts had won a total of just seven of 36 contests over the past two seasons. They entered this year with a new coach and a new quarterback, but still kept the expectations low. With their games left on the schedule, they have already matched those seven wins of the past two years and are poised to make a trip to the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

Maybe there is something to this downplaying of expectations after all.

What we learned at the Ryder Cup

One hole can make a difference. In this case the 15th hole. On the scorecard it was a 370-yard par-four, but in reality it was just a 260-yard par four that some of the longer hitting American players could have been reached with a three-wood. But even with the their bevy of big hitters -- think Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton etc. -- the Europeans dominated the Americans at the 15th, winning the hole outright 10 times and halving it 13 times. Three times a match was concluded prior to the 15th and only two Americans -- Steve Stricker who drained a 25-foot eagle putt and Hunter Mahan who was the beneficiary of a chunked chip-shot by Graeme McDowell -- managed to notch a victory there.

Jeff Overton will win on the PGA Tour, and soon. At one point this season he was the hottest player on Tour. From late April until early August he carded two solo seconds -- one of which would have been a sure victory had Stuart Appleby not shot a 59 -- a tie for second, two third-place ties, a tie for sixth and a tie for eleventh. But he really stumbled after that with his best finish being a solo 29th at The Tour Championship -- a field with only 30 players. So he was certainly a question mark for the American team entering Ryder Cup week, but he played some inspired golf and ended up with a 2-2 record. Even more impressive was his turn around in his singles match against Ross Fisher -- coming at a key juncture in the American comeback -- rallying for a three and two victory after trailing for the first 11 holes of the match. It will be interesting to see whether his play this week will give them the confidence to go out and win on Tour.

Despite not being a playing participant will the Ryder Cup reignite Sergio Garcia's competitive fires? When he made his announcement in August that he was going to take a two month break following the PGA Championship, you had to think that would certainly eliminate him from any Ryder Cup participation. And given his apparent lack of passion on the course this year, it was at least mildly surprising that he was the one that approached European captain Colin Montgomerie about the possibility of joining his staff as an assistant. Considering his 14-6-4 career Cup record, it probably wasn't a tough sell for Monty. And even though his penchant for finding his way onto camera during pivotal matches provided much fodder for golf pundits on both sides of the Atlantic, it proved that a fiery passion still burned inside of him. He'll make his return to competitive play later this month at the Castello Masters in Spain and it will be interesting to see which Garcia we see. Will it be the one that won 15 PGA Tour and European Tour events between 1999 and 2008, or will it be the one that tried to change his grip and posted just one top-10 finish this year on either the PGA or European Tours?