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Back in the day, the same four of us (Jon, Ian, Darren, and I) would meet up at Montreals legendary Copacabana to watch whatever game was on. Cheap Air Max 1 . We were regulars at the bar, a kind dive where you could just drop in and know someone familiar would be around to have a beer with. The kind of place where the adult beverage of choice was quickly placed in front of you upon your arrival. We were there to watch games, but it was more than that. We were a bunch of writers, at different points in our careers and lives, getting away from our lives. It was group therapy. With beer. There were few better nights in those years than a good Habs game at Copa. Friends would come in and out, for a period or two, for a drink or four. Partners would join us, or not. Between periods wed chide each other the way friends do, bemoan each others losses, celebrate each others victories. We played a game within the game called JägerMuller. If Habs assistant coach Kirk Muller appeared on screen (not including wide angle or crowd shots) the last person to yell JägerMuller had to buy a round of Jägermeister for the group. This often led to empty wallets and foggy third periods, but JägerMuller was ours and it made a contextual experience all that more unique, all that more memorable. As time passed, the opportunity to watch sports as a group got more and more challenging. Copa closed. People had kids, moved away, traveled for work, or had partners who wouldnt permit them to indulge in Tuesday night binge drinking. But we live in the high speed digital age, an age ruled by social media and easy communication. The four of us opened up a Facebook thread that was for any sort of conversation: dating woes, the challenges of child rearing, the merits of wasabi peas, politics, the importance of Tums to men in their 30s, the overwhelming fear of ones own mortality, the petulance of poets, why soccer sucks. We tried Skype and Google Hangouts, but as aging writers we found we preferred the anonymity of messaging, the quiet comfort of watching the game both alone and in the company of those we love. But for the most part the thread is for watching hockey games together from afar, often still with our favourite adult beverage in hand, though the days of JägerMuller are over. That games virtues, like nachos, dont transfer well through the digital ether. The Facebook threads message count is somewhere in the mid-40 thousand range as of this writing, and growing each day. An exponential explosion is expected during the playoffs, though Jon (a Jets fan) and Ian (a Leafs apologist) will be forced to cheer for their second favourite teams. The virtual bar that the digital age has provided us pales in comparison to their company, but it has allowed us to stay close, to continue to care about each other the way we did when were separated by city blocks and not oceans and responsibilities. But the bar that we left just a few years ago is not the same bar where sports are enjoyed today. Its a lesser venue. Consider the bar argument. No longer can hours be spent fighting over what year Gretzky scored 50 goals in 39 games, what round Luc Robitaille was drafted in, the rate at which Randy Carlyles hairline has been receding. Answers are too quickly found on our phones, and the shortened distance of knowledge does not promote an expanse of conversation. Plus, the bars too busy tweeting cleverness in 140 characters, or arguing with some 12-year-old in Abbostford over whos the better d-man, Subban or Weber. Or instagramming retro-filtered photos of our cocktails. Or adding the waitress as a friend on Facebook. Theres a grand irony in the fact that the same advents that have made watching sports a more communal experience with those who cant be in our presence has had the opposite effect on those in our presence. On the off nights where my friends cant meet up in the digital bar, and I dont have the wherewithal or funds to hit the real bar I, like most, watch games with Twitter open. But instead of finding a substitute for those who cant be with me, Im overwhelmed by the faux-expertise and bravado that ends up in my feed. Just because you have a blog and 45 Twitter followers doesnt exactly make you Bob McKenzie. I appreciate fandom and respect the free speech virtues of the medium, but holy hell @HabsFan4lyfe69 if you cant spell Michel Therrien, you really shouldnt be offered the privilege of publicly questioning the size of his manhood. The amount of valuable discourse is too often overshadowed by the sycophantic, or vile, or uninformed. Just look at what happens when Joel Ward scores in overtime or Jason Collins steps on the court the first time. The degenerate xenophobes bear their virtual white sheets in the comfortable anonymity or ignorant ignominy of cyberspace. There are no bouncers online, no bartenders with the ability to cut off the flow of alcohol. But sports are the last collective viewing experience, with the possible exception of the Oscars. With the advent of PVRs and streaming video you can watch Scandal whenever you please, but the sport still requires a live audience. No one wants to watch the game later. Even if youre stuck at work, on a plane, or at your boyfriends sisters third intervention, you can tune in, not miss a shot, a goal, a fight, or a one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that only sport can provide. In 2010 when the Habs made their magical run to the Conference Finals, one of us couldnt make it to Copa to watch the game. Jon was stuck in a hotel room in Vancouver, watching it on his own. There was no thread then. We didnt all own smartphones. No one said "blogoshpere". The Jets were still the Thrashers. Maybe two of us were on Twitter. So as the bar counted down the minutes of Game 7 of an improbable 5-2 Habs win and an improbable series upset over the heavily-favoured Penguins, I called Jon and placed my flip phone open in the middle of our table. He listened as we sung "Olé, Olé, Olé", as we cheered and piled into the streets, as we mocked Sidney Crosby. Strangers would come pick up the phone and speak to him in English and French about the game, about the city, and about the Habs and dreams of 1993. That night was a microcosm of how we watch the games now, the birth of how fandom and friendship defies distance in a digital age. It was a living analogy of how in four short years the experience of watching sports would change. Not all for the better, of course. But Ill put up with a few egotistical bloggers, the occasional Twitter tantrum, and the death of the bar argument if it means I can watch sports the way I want, from wherever I am, with the people I love. With beer. Cheap Air Max 1 Free Shipping . Six years of waiting are finally over for the Dallas defenceman. Daley had a goal and an assist, Kari Lehtonen recorded his fifth shutout of the season, and the Stars clinched their first playoff berth since 2008 with a 3-0 victory against the St. Cheap Air Max 1 Sale . -- Felix Girard scored on the power play in the third period to lift the Baie-Comeau Drakkar past the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 4-3 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Friday. http://www.cheapairmax1.net/ . As TSN reported Thursday, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is under intense pressure from the federal government to focus drug testing on athletes who compete in international events representing Canada. Since funding for the tests has been frozen and the cost of testing can eclipse $1,000 per test, university athletes in a number of sports are being tested less often.If home runs were all it took to win ball games, the Blue Jays would be laughing right now. They have homered once every 27.3 at bats, which just happens to be the third best mark in the American League, albeit just 10 games into the season. On top of that, they have the American league co-leaders in that category in Jose Bautista and Melky Cabrera with four a piece. The Chicago White Sox lead the American League with a homer ever 23.7 ABs. Detroit is second at 24.1 per homer. Houston leads the National League with a dinger every 22.5 at bats heading into Fridays action. The Giants are second at 24.8. The Giants and Dodgers are tied for the lead in the National League West, but their records are only 6-4. The Jays and White Sox are both sitting at 5-5. The Tigers are the best of the home runs, slugging teams at 5-2. Houston is only 4-6. The most interesting team is Kansas City. They didnt get their one and only homer until Wednesday when Alex Gordon connected against Tampa Bay. They are averaging one homer per every 260 at bats, yet they, like the Blue Jays and White Sox, are playing .500 ball at 4-4. Its really run differential that counts the most -- the difference between the runs you score and the runs you give up. Right now, the top two clubs in that category are Milwaukee and Washington at plus-22. They both have Major League best 7-2 records and lead their respective divisions in the National League; the Brewers in the Central and the Nationals in the East. I was curious to see how much the Blue Jays defense had improved over a year ago. This time last season through 10 games, they had committed eight errors, including three in one game against Boston. This time around, they have made only three and thats without Jose Reyes at short. Overall right now, Baltimore has the top defense in terms of errors made. They have only one, even with the left side of their infield SS J.J Hardy and 3rd baseman Manny Machado missing nearly all of their nine games. Minnesota is second best with just two errors committed. Seattle, Toronto and Tampa Bay have all made three errors, but the Ms have only played eight games to 10 for the Jays and Rays. Errors dont tell the entire story because you have to figure in things such as range and double plays not turned and defensive plays not made. Suffice to say, the Blue Jays are much better defensively than they were a year ago. The Blue Jays start their longest road trip of the young season Friday night; a nine-game, 10 day affair that begins with three games in Baltimore followed by a day off then three at Target Field against the Twins before three more at Cleveland. This is a key trip. A year ago, they went on a seven-game trip through Baltimore and Yankees Stadium. They went a dismal 1-6 and went from 8-11 to 9-17. They never really recovered from that journey and wound up the season with just 74 wins. Discount Air Max 1. . Clevelands fireballer Danny Salazar, who made his Major League debut against the Jays last season, had a wild outing on Thursday night against the White Sox. He struck out 10 in just three and 2/3rd innings, thus becoming the first pitcher in the modern era to fan 10 in fewer than four innings. But he also got tagged for five runs on six hits, including two home runs; the White Sox winning 7-3. Being a closer is a perilous business in the American League these days. The Blue Jays Casey Janssen is still rehabbing his shoulder and has yet to pitch in a game since spring training. The Yankees David Robertson pulled a groin muscle last weekend against the Blue Jays and is on the 15-day disabled list. Detroits Joe Nathan, who had been struggling and then complained of going through a dead-arm period during a radio interview, picked up a win for the Tigers Wednesday night at L.A. against the Dodgers after blowing his second save in that same game. Oakland picked up Baltimores closer Jim Johnson in an off-season deal. Hes had so many problems early this season. Johnson has lost the shutdown role and the As skipper Bob Melvin is going with a closer by committee approach for the time being. On the flip side, the Mets - who lost their closer Bobby Parnell to "Tommy John " surgery - turned to ex-Tigers closer Jose Valverde and he has already notched two saves. Atlanta is off to an amazing start considering three of its starters -- Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor -- are down with injuries. They are sitting at 5-4 and until David Hale got lit up by the Mets Thursday night, none of their starters, including Ervin Santana, had given up more than two runs in a game. If you missed it, Santana pitched eight shutout innings in his first start with the Braves the other night. Thanks to three rainouts, Ricky Romero didnt get his first start with Triple "A" Buffalo until Wednesday night in the opener of a doubleheader at Lehigh Valley. He went four innings, giving up three runs on four hits, striking out four and walking four. Lefty J.A. Happ, meanwhile, made his second rehab at home for Buffalo Thursday night against the Red Soxs Pawtucket farm club. He gave up just one run over four and 2/3rds innings on five hits, including a home run. He struck out six and walked only two. The only thing the Blue Jays might be concerned about is he used up his 90 pitch limit inside of five innings. Happ could get one more minor league rehab start or could just join the Jays for the road trip. The pitcher, whose rotation spot could be in jeopardy, is Dustin McGowan. Hes starting Friday night at Baltimore. ' ' '