I made a montage! (And I learned some stuff)

As anyone who knows me knows, I love a good montage. Music + rapidly edited clips of sports people doing sports stuff = an incredibly happy Emily.

I know everyone and his brother has probably created some kind of highlight reel for the Blue Jays this season, but one of the best ones I ever saw was one they showed before the Canada Day game at the SkyDome - it was set to 'We're All In This Together' by Sam Roberts Band (also Canadian!), which is one of my favourite songs, and has a message that really encompasses the energy and the message of this season.

I couldn't find that video anywhere online, and it would have only contained the first 3 months of the season anyways (pre-Tulo & Revere & Price) so I, like any sane person, decided to make own!

One week, a few late nights, and several sticky notes full of scribbles later, voila!

(I didn't choose the thumbnail, but I love that it's Mark Lowe petting Ben Revere's face. It makes me giggle)

A few things I should point out: It's only moments from the REGULAR season. Before anyone gets grumpy about it missing Bautista's bat flip, I did that on purpose, because there were already too many great moments in the regular season to cram into a 5-minute song, I didn't have space for any from the playoffs. One of Donaldson's walkoffs almost didn't make the cut. (And besides, I wanted to end on a happy note, celebrating the AL East title). I might make another video if I feel like it but, ya know, school comes first and all that.

I think I accidentally favoured some of my personal favourite players. Oopsie. Hopefully, if you're a Martin/Travis/Pillar/Goins fan too, you'll like it! I did throw Danny Valencia in there once or twice even though he's no longer a Jay.

I sneakily included a few 'audio easter eggs', bits where the song synced up perfectly with the content of the video. Let me know in the comments if you think you spotted any!

I also realize, since this is the first video I've ever edited, there are a few glitches. For some reason, the program I used, once I converted it to a video file, many of the clips got extended or shifted a few seconds beyond where I thought I'd clipped them (the narration too). As a result, some of them show a few frames of the next shot (if I cut right before a shot change in the original video, which thankfully I didn't do too often) or an extra half-word on the narration. Not sure how to fix that, although I did go back and try a couple times.

I'm also well aware that there are several moments that I would have liked to include but didn't. There may be a Part 2 in the works at some point.

Let's be thankful for the Blue Jays

Being that today is Thanksgiving, and that I am sappy, I composed a mini essay on Twitter of things to be thankful for from this season. I've decided to compile them here. Bear with me.

No matter what, we have so much to be thankful for this year. Let's be thankful for the amazing season, and the end of a playoff drought.

Let's be thankful for all the times we got to stand on our feet and scream, yell and holler - not in outrage, but from excitement.

Let's be thankful for all the records broken and firsts that were achieved this year. 

Let's be thankful for all the good memories, inside jokes, hilarious reaction GIFs and memorable quotes this team has blessed us with.

Let's be thankful for the fact that David Price was, and is, for the immediate future, a Toronto Blue Jay.

Let's be thankful for Josh Donaldson and his 42 rainstorms (and his hair). Heck, let's be thankful for Josh Donaldson in general.

Let's be thankful that Jose Bautista has worked his butt off for us for so long and he was finally rewarded with a post-season appearance.

Let's be thankful for Mark Buehrle, who gave us everything until he literally couldn't anymore and never asked for anything in return.

Let's be thankful for Marco Estrada, who wasn't even supposed to be a starter and then blew our minds with two near no-hitters in a row.

Let's be thankful for all the quiet wisdom, eloquence, and logic-defying knuckleballs brought to us by RA Dickey.

Let's be thankful for being able to proudly say that we have a Canadian behind the plate in Russell Martin, and he proves we can play baseball as well as anyone.

Let's be thankful for Edwin Encarnacion's parrot wanting three walks in one day (and 36 other times this year) and for Dioner Navarro knowing what the hats meant.

Let's be thankful for the miraculously healing bodies of Marcus Stroman and Troy Tulowitzki.

Speaking of Stroman, let's be thankful for the boundless balls of energy that are him and Ben Revere.

Let's be thankful for the underdogs like Kevin Pillar and Chris Colabello, who were never supposed to even get a chance, but did, and got to shine.

Let's be thankful for Ryan Goins, already an A+ defender, basically reinventing himself at the plate and hitting a walkoff I know I'll remember forever.

Let's be thankful for Brett Cecil turning around his season and returning to be the shut-down pitcher we know and love.

Let's be thankful for Roberto Osuna, who magically struck out A-Rod as the first batter he ever faced and didn't look back (K'd him twice more too).

Let's be thankful for all the times Pillar and Donaldson and Dalton Pompey made us believe, even for a second, that men really could fly.

Let's be thankful for all the times this beautiful bunch of guys gave us (and Tulo) a reason to smile.

Let's be thankful that Justin Smoak has a powerful bat and a name that lends itself easily to puns. Because I know we baseball fans love our puns. 

Let's be thankful for Devon Travis just because we can. Let's be thankful for his cheerful smile and his dedication to rooting for his team even after he was injured.

Let's be thankful for the unsung heroes of the bullpen, who have a really tough job and without whom, we wouldn't be here. 

Let's be thankful for Gibby, who always knows what's best and doesn't listen to the idiots telling him otherwise.

Let's be thankful for Alex Anthopolous, who must know hypnotism or something to be able to pull off the moves he did.

Let's be thankful for a team that sticks up for one another and believes in each other as much as we believe in them, if not more.

Let's be thankful for the fact that we really did #ComeTogether in a display of unity like nothing I've seen in my lifetime.

Let's be thankful for our ability to keep our senses of humour and community even when things weren't going so well.

Let's be thankful, that for the first time in a long time, we've really had something special to be thankful about.