A long travel day with an extended flight delay turned into a thinly veiled suggestion from Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of something more.
LA Dodgers Manager Muses Whether There Was “Intent” Behind Delayed Flight From Canada To California
Dave Roberts, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said after his team’s return from Toronto that although he “doesn’t know if there was intent or not,” he felt the international travel day “was a bear.”
The Dodgers were due in Los Angeles early Sunday morning after a weekend game at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, but part of the travel party, including coaching staff, didn’t arrive at Dodger Stadium until around 5:00 PM Sunday, missing a scheduled pre‐game workout.
Roberts’ comment about “intent” sparked waves on social media, with some fans reading it as an insinuation that Canadian officials or customs processes delayed the flight on purpose. Roberts later clarified he knows “the Prime Minister is not worried about calling airline security or the FAA to make sure that they delay us.”
“Canada is not trying to sabotage the Dodgers. I know that. It was just a long day.”
What Actually Happened?
The players flew out Saturday night and landed without incident. The staff and support members took a charter Sunday morning, only to face delays, including a long wait on the tarmac at Toronto Pearson and extended customs processing before arriving in Los Angeles later than planned (there is pre-clearance in Canada). Neither can be pinned on the Canadian government!
So yes, the comment about “intent” was unwise: it fueled needless speculation and unnecessary drama. Sports teams already deal with difficult logistics; adding a suggestion of conspiracy doesn’t help anyone. On the other hand, Roberts is a manager in the high‐stakes world of the World Series: this late arrival could have become an excuse if Game 3 was lost. Ironically, Game 3 went 18 innings…
It’s entirely legitimate to question why the staff’s charter got delayed while the players arrived without issue: that’s a travel oddity worth exploring. But implying the Canadian government or customs deliberately hampered the flight is not helpful.
CONCLUSION
I know I’ve said I’m not much of a sports fan, but I could not help but watch the mammoth 18-inning game last night (on my phone)…another game for the ages. That was quite a battle!
I’d imagine the delay from the flight did not help as Game 3 stretched over 6.5 hours.
With Robert’s clarification, this story becomes more amusing than scandalous. Still, it’s a reminder that we must watch our words…and correct them immediately if we say the wrong thing. Canada has a lot of reasons to be upset right now, but this isn’t one of them.
image: Los Angeles Dodgers
Matt, if they flew commercial from Toronto-Pearson, YYZ-LAX, there is pre-clearance, as-in, U.S. customs is completed in Canada before departure, so any complaints about customs is kinda odd, because technically it’s literally the U.S. agents that would be the ones holding them up if that were an actual issue.
I agree the former Prime Minister isn’t too worried about it. He’s in France dreaming of wearing black face and finding out how Orlando’s D tastes.
As for the current guy, he needs to be nice to LA since Trump is trying to work a deal to gift CA, OR and WA to Canada in exchange for land and resources from them. Win/win for everyone.
By the way the Jays are true idiots for not walking Ohtani with a 1 run lead. But credit to both teams for one of the greatest, if not the greatest game in WS history.
Obviously, you troll. Unless, you actually want to ‘give away’ an approximate GDP of $4.7 trillion (CA, OR, WA). There’s simply not enough land or resources for Canada to ever ‘trade’ for that (not to mention, they don’t want that). And, besides, objectively, it’s not a good deal for whatever the new ‘Confederate State of America’ you seem to be hoping for. Seriously, giving up a majority of the USA’s Pacific coastline, all of it for the lower 48 (or, whatever, the resulting 45 states). Not to mention, there would be a the full-blown civil war, displacement of tens of millions of people, etc., that such an ‘event’ would cause. Not to mention, your apparent ‘team’ is already in charge of the entire country and *wants* Balkanization? Did you sleep through the 1990s? That’s a far worse idea for you and your interests then you can imagine. Either you’re a foreign agent rooting for this, or just a useful…
I disagree, many businesses would leave those states to stay in the United States, just like many have already done leaving the high taxes in CA. The land and natural resources we received in the trade would give us 3 more states to stay at 50. Without all those Dem Senators and Reps it would be easier to pass pro business legislation and make America even more attractive. As for the West Coast shoreline lost for “protection” I’m sure the good people of Canada would protect it just fine.
But yes I agree, I’m not sure what’s positive in it for Canada. They aren’t used to dealing with all the human garbage junkies and other bums in LA, SF, Portland, Seattle and such. Maybe we just need a couple natural disasters like in that movie with the Rock to solve the problem of these 3 states that are unwilling to deal with it themselves.
Meanwhile I’m sitting here laughing, yes LAUGHING that there are Republicans and Democrats and those who don’t either bother to vote that allowed themselves to get in a situation where they will “starve” without government handouts for a few weeks. In the greatest economy in history if you aren’t physically or mentally handicapped, you should be embarrassed to be on the government dime. But you know damn well they are still buying weed, cigarettes and alcohol and having unprotected sex to have kids they can’t afford. Can’t feed em, don’t breed em is as relevant as ever.
By the way, no one will “starve” to death. Now that would make a great story we won’t be reading anytime soon. The media has played some of you into believing anything.
I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Yeah, a few businesses (and people) did relocate during the pandemic (not just to Texas, some to Florida, etc.); yet, most people and businesses returned (or stayed) in California. Also, Amazon, Boeing, and Microsoft are all still in Seattle.
Again, your hypothetical transfer of resources is incredibly impractical, and would not happen quickly at all, so count on the parties reneging (which can lead to wars, too.)
As to creating a one-party system; uh, yeah, that doesn’t go well, because while it may seem efficient at first, there are always factions to form, and you’ll be right back where you started with gridlock. The more difficult, yet necessary method is to negotiate in good-faith, but, if your new Confederacy is just a bunch of disingenuous culture-warriors, I’d expect that to go even worse for you than current. You’ll just see new ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups.
As to coastline; no, I wasn’t concerned about anyone ‘attacking,’ more so that you lose all those ports (for control of ‘trade’). Oh well, don’t worry about that… not like it’s ‘valuable’ or anything.
As to natural disasters, my, my, my… they can happen anywhere to anyone, red, blue, left, right, etc. So, I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. If your approach is the ‘rugged individual,’ and ‘sovereign citizen’-style anarcho-libertarianism, wealth will still concentrate, and you’ll just end up with some form of corporate-feudalism anyways (so much for those lofty ideals). You’d probably be one of the ‘serfs’ not in the ‘big house,’ buddy.
As to the continued shutdown, you brought up ‘starving,’ not me. I don’t think it is funny at all that people are being harmed. In fact, there are more SNAP recipients in ‘red’ states than ‘blue’ states, currently. They don’t deserve any of this. There should be good-faith bi-partisan negotiations over the budget. They all need to come to the table. No more holding Americans, ATC, government workers, or the military service members and their families, financially hostage like this.
What else is on your mind? I find it fascinating to hear from the other side.
Such a silly story to us av geeks. If the Blue jays win the World Series after the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship last decade it would be an embarrassment to the Maple Leafs organization as if they already aren’t.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Game 3: 6 to 5 in 18 innings! Freddie!
Word is Canada is changing it’s name to reflect it’s obvious future”Canadastan”,a nation where Celine Dion and Catherine O’hara are deemed national treasures and their highest literary achievement is Anne Of Green Gables,…and don’t forget the former mayor of Toronto who was a proud crack head.
Weren’t you spreading the same drivel about London, elsewhere, recently? Oh, please. Canada (and the UK) are just fine. As in the USA, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer; the only difference is that CA and UK have universal healthcare and better worker/consumer protections than we do.
Everyone with a triple digit IQ and any interest in the matter,knows UK and Canadian healthcare are broken.Just read about a dog walker stabbed to death in broad daylight in London,is that drivel?It was at the bottom of a BBC news list.BTW I don’t recall praising this society,which I think is cruel and getting crueler by the day.