TORONTO -- The first thing you notice is all the blue.It runs deeper than denim, richer than the label on a bottle of LaBatts. And its everywhere. Its on the jerseys and the T-shirts, which might as well be standard issue for everyone who walks through the gates. Its on the hats and sneakers, too. Its even in the hair.Wait, the hair?I do this quite a bit, said Malcolm DeYoung, a middle-aged man whose closely cropped locks are dyed sapphire, like a blueberry on top of his head-to-toe Toronto Blue Jays outfit. A lot of people are coming up asking me where were from and getting pictures. Its a lot of fun.DeYoung is from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and he is roaming the 100-level concourse at Rogers Centre an hour before Sundays game between his beloved Blue Jays and the rival Boston Red Sox. The city is jam-packed on Sunday, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey and other celebrity A-listers taking over King Street for the annual Toronto International Film Festival. And the best hockey players on the planet will soon come to town for the World Cup of Hockey.But the locals are most consumed by the outcome of a four-team fight for the American League East crown. The Blue Jays sold 46,953 tickets for Friday nights game against the Red Sox. On Saturday and Sunday, the announced attendance was 47,829 and 47,816, respectively. This season, the Jays have topped the 3 million mark for the first time since 1993, when they won the second of back-to-back World Series titles.Its all about baseball again in Toronto, eh?Indeed, the Blue Jays and Canada are going together like poutine and gravy. Fans here have fallen hard for bat-flipping slugger Jose Bautista, reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson, native son Russell Martin and the rest of a star-studded team that has recaptured the full attention of one of North Americas most cosmopolitan cities -- and an entire nation.If you notice the signs at the ballgame, theyre from Cape Breton and theyre from Alberta. Theyre from all over Canada, said Don Cherry, the 82-year-old former NHL coach and co-host of the popular Coachs Corner segment of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. Its not just Torontos team. Weve got the whole country to call from, and believe me, it is sure enthusiastic here. When you can bump the Maple Leafs to the third, fourth page, thats pretty good.National treasureIt wasnt always like this.Canada has had a major league team since 1969, the Montreal Expos inaugural season. The expansion Blue Jays came along eight years later, and at the peak of their popularity, from 1991 to 1993, they made three playoff appearances, won two World Series and sold an average of 4,029,264 tickets per year at SkyDome, the first stadium with a fully retractable roof, to say nothing of a 348-room hotel.But the players strike of 1994 killed the buzz. Over the next 20 years, the Jays had 10 losing seasons and didnt reach the postseason. Attendance plummeted. From 1995 through 2014, the team sold an average of 2,141,538 tickets per year, bottoming out at 1.495 million in 2010.What is it, then, about these Blue Jays that has sparked a renewed love affair between country and team? Why are fans suddenly turning out en masse, singing OK, Blue Jays in unison during the seventh-inning stretch, even flinging their blue caps onto the field after Donaldsons recent three-homer game, the baseball equivalent of hockeys hat trick?I think they really represent our country, said Wes Coleman, a volunteer firefighter from Kingston, Ontario. They always try to appeal to the Canadian people by various measures, like [playing at home] on Canada Day and stuff like that. Because its our only national team now, its something that we can all gather around as a country to really root for.Longtime former Blue Jays president Paul Beeston tapped into that national pride when he rejoined the organization in 2008. Beeston restored Canadas red maple leaf to the teams logo, which had changed so much that it became unrecognizable. He expanded the Blue Jays winter caravan -- a promotional tour the team takes in the offseason -- to make stops from coast to coast and moved the clubs short-season Single-A affiliate to Vancouver. It helped, too, that Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar and fellow ex-Blue Jays stars Duane Ward, Lloyd Moseby and Devon White started youth baseball clinics across the country.I did the caravan last year and we were in Vancouver, and that was one of those times where I was like, Man, there are fans everywhere in Canada, said Martin, the veteran catcher who grew up in Montreal and speaks fluent French. Were all the way across the country and people are lining up to take pictures with us. Thats what made me realize, yeah, its true, all of Canada is watching us. This is nuts.But it wasnt until last summer that Canada really got hooked. The Jays record was 50-51 and seemingly headed for another third-place finish on July 28, 2015, when then-general manager Alex Anthopoulos, a Montreal native, pulled off a blockbuster trade for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Two days later, another stunner: Anthopoulos acquired ace lefty David Price.The Blue Jays were for real. Finally.It wasnt like 92 or 93. This was a whole new feeling, Beeston said. We started to win, and all of a sudden we were climbing from fourth to third, third to second, second to first. There was a love affair with the Blue Jays that showed not only with the box office but showed in television ratings, radio ratings, merchandising, everything else.The Jays finished on a 43-18 roll, won the AL East by six games, and packed Rogers Centre with earsplitting crowds.I always look back to one of my personal experiences in September against the Yankees. I struck out the side, and I mean, my heart was vibrating, said lefty reliever Brett Cecil, Torontos first-round draft pick in 2007 and the teams longest-tenured player. It was unbelievably loud.The decibel level reached unprecedented heights in the epic, 53-minute seventh inning of do-or-die Game 5 in an AL Division Series showdown. Bautista punctuated a four-run rally with a three-run homer -- and heaved his bat like a javelin -- to vanquish the Texas Rangers.I was sitting next to Price when he hit it, Cecil said. We both stood up and put our hands on the rail, and you could feel the vibration in the padding of our rails in front of our dugout. Youre not going to find that in too many places.Said Beeston: That was baseball at its best. That had everything that you wanted. It was just a fun game, and I think it created a lot of new baseball fans. And its just carried over to this year.Hockey mentalityAs fans march through the gates at Rogers Centre before Sundays 1:07 p.m. game against the Red Sox, their T-shirts and jerseys represent a virtual roll call of the Blue Jays roster: DONALDSON 20 ... BAUTISTA 19 ... ENCARNACION 10 ... MARTIN 55 ... TULOWITZKI 2 ... PILLAR 11 ... STROMAN 6 ... OSUNA 54 ... DICKEY 43 ... TRAVIS 29.A favorite player? All of em, DeYoung says.Cherry made his choice clear last year when he went on television and stumped for Donaldson to be voted in as the ALs starting third baseman for the All-Star Game. Guess who led all players with more than 14 million votes?Donaldson, he plays like a hockey player. I love him, said Cherry, who threw a ceremonial first pitch to his hero on Canada Day last year. When he strikes out, its not, Ho-hum, another day at the office, as he walks back. If you remember, he [recently] smashed his bat in two after he struck out and [manager John] Gibbons got on him. But thats the way he is. Hes not phony.In the upper deck, Section 521, Maureen Konnyu greets a family of four with a cheerful Welcome to the Blue Jays! An usher at Rogers Centre since 2002, Konnyu shows fans to their seats with a hospitality all her own.You dont have to show me your ticket anymore, she says, because now were friends.The Jays bring everybody together, said William Marquis, who came all the way from Calgary to watch the game with Coleman, his fellow firefighter. I think maybe were a little bit more polite [than fans in the U.S.].Dont tell umpire Dale Scott, whose misinterpretation of a rule led to an overturned call in the aforementioned seventh-inning insanity of Game 5 last year and prompted fans to pelt the field with a hail storm of garbage and debris. Things got so unruly, as Beeston says, at Rogers Centre that Toronto Mayor John Tory tweeted out an appeal for calm.Red Sox manager John Farrell has also been on the receiving end of fan nastiness. After managing the Blue Jays to a 154-170 record in 2011 and 12, Farrell bolted with one season left on his contract for what he termed his dream job in Boston. And upon returning to Toronto in 2013, he was booed mercilessly.Its not an easy place to go in and play, particularly with the way [the Blue Jays] have been going, Farrell said. The crowd, they welcome me every time Im back. Its kind of a hostile place.Said Beeston: Traditionally, maybe were a little quieter, a little more reserved, and in some respects, not as angry as some cities. On the other hand, were getting that way.Mostly, though, support for the Blue Jays is a matter of nationalist pride. Hockey always will be Canadas pastime, but there are seven NHL teams based in the country. The Canadian Football League has nine teams from Vancouver to Montreal.When it comes to baseball, there is only one choice. So with two weeks left in the season and the Blue Jays vying with the Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and upstart New York Yankees for the AL East crown, Rogers Centre is the place to be, and blue is the national color.How much blue can you see? Beeston said. I mean, when you come here for a game, you see blue wherever you go.Fans might turn another type of blue if Bautista and Encarnacion depart via free agency after the season. That possibility has given extra meaning to a marketing slogan that is posted all around the ballpark: History Is Now.Theyre not going to lose them both, DeYoung said. Theyre going to lose one after this year, but theyre not going to lose both.And if they do?Well, DeYoung still wont change his hair back to its natural color.I know the fan base will still be here. Were coming back, DeYoung said. How many teams in the States has 30 million fans? Not one team in the States has 30 million fans.The Americans have been trying to take our hockey. Were going to take their baseball. Nike Air Max Outlet Belgique . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. Air Max Belgique Pas Cher . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. http://www.airmaxbelgique.be/ . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. Nike Air Max Pas Cher Belgique . Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. Magasin Air Max Belgique . -- Lou Brocks shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Bill Freehan during the 1968 World Series and Pete Roses bruising hit on Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like the dead-ball era. NEW YORK -- When American swimming sensation Katie Ledecky added to her climbing total of career visits to NBCs Today show Monday -- this time to talk about how life has changed since she set two world records and won five medals at the Rio Summer Olympics, four of them gold -- she smiled and squirmed in her seat as the five hosts on the set took turns good-naturedly kidding her about her record-shattering start to her freshman year at Stanford University this fall.It already has included a 65-second rout in a 1,650-yard college invitational race Sunday in which Ledecky ... um ... beat the runner-up by four laps.Sooo, that basically means you get out of the pool, have coffee and a donut, and wait for everyone else to finish? TV host Savannah Guthrie needled.When the 19-year-old Ledecky was too polite or sheepish to parry back, the segment only got funnier.Wait -- she broke another record in just the last 20 seconds! Guthrie added.And on the way to the event tonight, shes going to break another record! Matt Lauer boomed, causing Ledecky to shake her head and blush again.Ledecky was in New York with 40 of her Olympic medal-winning teammates for USA Swimmings annual Golden Goggles Awards on Monday night, a black-tie year-end benefit that recognizes the U.S. teams best performances each year. Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, Libby King and Maya DiRado were among the others who attended. Ryan Lochte did not.Ledecky has replaced Phelps as the most riveting figure in U.S. swimming. But as scintillating as her first three months at Stanford have been -- starting with the fact she set an NCAA or American record in every race she swam through Nov. 15 -- there was another woman sharing the red carpet with her at the Marriott Marquis hotel who was also impossible to ignore.That was Stanford teammate Simone Manuel, the first female African-American swimmer to win an individual event at an Olympic Games and, as of last weekend, the first person anywhere to beat the amazing Ledecky in her last 74 finals in a race above 100 meters.Manuel, a junior, defeated Ledecky on Saturday in the 200-yard freestyle during an invitational at Ohio State, clipping Ledecky by .26 of a second.No, I didnt know the [length of the streak], a surprised Ledecky said, grinning as if even she found it cool.I didnt know it, either, but its not like Im out of the park yet, Manuel joked, speaking a little further down the red carpet from where Ledecky was taking questions. I still have to race her every day in practice, at nationals, at NCAAs.Manuel was right. Its just a start. But dont overlook the significance of their head-to-head battles; their races should be fascinating -- maybe even transformative -- for both swimmers.With 10 Olympic medals already won between them, the 20-year-old Manuel and Ledecky could anchor the U.S. swim team for a few Olympics to come.I know I definitely want more, Manuel said.The idea of Ledecky, especially, finally having anything close to a true rival -- another female swimmer who can push her and beat her while training on the same team and sometimes in the same lane day in and day out, sets up an interesting dynamic for both women as they slowly start looking ahead to the 2020 Tokyo Games.I dont look at it likee shes a frenemy, Ledecky laughed, pointing out she and Manuel were roommates in Rio, and have been roommates for four years at international meets, so were good buddies.ddddddddddddWe both love to race and we both love to compete. We race all the time in practice and Simone beats me at least a couple times a week [in sprints]. So its a great environment every day. And I dont consider it a loss when its my teammate thats beating me, anyway. Were both racing our hardest for Stanford and excited about what could follow.Ledeckys coaches are always looking for fresh challenges to throw her way. Shes been so peerless at the distance events for so long, there is talk now about dropping her down to the 100-meter free (Manuels gold-medal individual event in Rio), and maybe adding the 400 individual medley to the 200, 400, 800 and 1,600 events and world records she currently owns.Many argue Ledecky -- not LeBron James, Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi or anyone else you can name -- is the most dominant athlete in the world today. Its only news now when she doesnt win.Manuel shoulders a different set of challenges. Though she also won the gold in the 4x100 medley relay and silver in the 50 free and 4x100 freestyle relay in Rio, she said in the past that trying to become the first African-American to win any Olympic swimming medal was difficult for her at times, as if so much history weighed on every stroke. She was expansive on the topic in Rio, paying homage to groundbreakers that came before her and embracing a chance to weigh in on matters like police violence against African-Americans back in the United States.But Monday, she pulled back on the non-swimming topics a little.When an African-American reporter told Manuel shes now an icon and inspiration to their community and asked what kind of legacy she wants to leave outside the pool, Manuel said, Well, Im just 20 years old, so I havent really thought about the legacy I want to leave. I guess just making sure that people go after their dreams. That they can do anything.Later, Manuel admitted one of the many reasons she and Ledecky feel a kinship is because of the continuing expectation on them to do the extraordinary.We keep each other from thinking too much about the pressure of our races, Manuel said.She only smiled and said, Nah, when asked if she has ever been tempted to tell Ledecky to quit trying to have it all already, stick to the distance events, and leave the 100 or 200 freestyle to her. But then she did quickly add she does give Ledecky some mess about being a freshman.Ledecky already has taken much flak about getting lost on the Stanford campus, putting her swim cap on wrong, having some misadventures on the bicycle she uses to get around, and sometimes screwing up chores like putting the lane markers in the pool for team practices.The freshmen also have to bring up the towels, but they do that in shifts, so Katie knows when she has to do it, Manuel explained.The Great Katie Ledecky? Towel girl?Nodding now, Manuel deadpanned: Shes got it figured out.I wanted the college experience, Ledecky added. And so far, its been awesome. ' ' '