Toronto sucks

I just paid a visited to the Toronto Sports Shop View Larger Map, a sports memorabilia store on Yonge Street just north of Dundas, and realized what a multi-dimensional fan base Toronto has. The amount of other major sports team's apparel they carried was ridiculous. And you know what? That sucks, because in no other city across North America are rival teams jerseys selling like they are here. Yviet Bakshi, one of the stores associates explains "Toronto teams sell about average, lately there's been a lot of people looking for Boston teams like the Celtics." Come on Boston, give T.O a break.

The problem is a lack of sports identity. From floor to ceiling the place is covered in the jerseys, jackets and hats of literally every major team from Canada and the U.S, which is apparently necessary as Bakshi explains, "we have to keep a wide assortment of teams, or else we won't get much business."

And the cause of the problem is simple to explain: Toronto has gone so long without success from a major franchise, teams are losing support elsewhere. With the Leafs having not made the playoffs since 2003, the Blue Jays absent from the post-season for the last 15 years and the Raptors with only five appearances in their history, Toronto is suffering.

Toronto native Tyler Codone walked through the door looking for a Philadelphia Flyers jersey. There was, of course, quite the choice in Flyers fan ware. When I asked him why the distant Flyers over the Leafs he replied, "They got a shot at making the playoffs, unlike the Leafs. They just plain suck." Ouch.

The result is a catch-22 situation for those fans loyal enough to stay at a Toronto teams side. The teams continue to boast a solid fan base, and continue to lose because in reality they're still making money. So really we're winning at something, what a refreshing perspective.

The right shoe for you

Every year around the first sign of spring, people of all ages hit the local shopping centre with one common goal in mind: to get active. The first thing they buy according to Running Room sales associate Lenard Yu, "a pair of shoes, the only problem is nobody knows how to pick the right ones."

There are many different types of shoes, from cross-trainers, runners, court shoes to walkers. Each built with a specific design to maximize the customers ability and performance. "I didn't even know there were all these different styles," says Josh Brenzel while trying a pair of runners on. "In the past I just went with what looked good." That's the problem though, people are so worried about how they look in the shoes, they throw practicality right out the door.

Mo Sharma, an assistant manager at Sportchek, has been selling shoes for years, he know them inside out. "The basic rundown, a running shoe is meant for someone who's jogging consistently. A cross-trainer for a person who's doing dry land training or is in the gym. The court shoe is designed for either tennis, badminton or squash, and then basketball. Nothing else, its bad for your feet to run or even walk distances in a court shoe because they have no arch support."

Sharma recommends shoes by Asics for running and New Balance for any cross-training. What's important is to remember that performance trumps style always and to ask for assistance when you're not sure.