Ashraful a handful

Bangladesh has already pulled one upset in this World Cup. Can this youthful team do it again?

First it sent India home early and it now appears that South Africa, a team that is known to choke under pressure, could be the second victim in Georgetown, Guyana, today. It did so in 1999 in England and four years later in South Africa.

South Africa has been set to score 252 for victory after being put in to bat and, after 25 overs, fans will not believe that the top seed in this competition is on 94 for six. Yes, that’s right.

The Bangladeshis started off slowly and it appeared there was no chance that they would reach 160. But Mohammad Ashraful with a delightful knock of 87 off 83 balls carved the South African pace attack along with Aftab Ahmad and Mashrafe Mortaza.

Ashraful was simply brilliant with his scoops from the off to the leg side that left the South Africans puzzled.

The South African pace attack was torn to ribbons and only Andre Nel with five for 45 troubled Bangladesh. The others leaked runs and it is obvious that South Africa’s insistence not to play any spinners is going to hurt them.

This puts the South Africans in a huge spot and they could even miss the semis which at one time they were considered shoo-ins to make. That's until today.

Norman Da Costa

The cleanup, or, all right officers, I'll come quietly

Oh, it's a mess around here all right. The Mansion burned down, that's all I know. I was in the guest quarters when it happened, writing my novel. Honest. Hell of a racket, must've been one huge party. Now it's deserted, random bits scattered all over the grounds: olive pits, a charred cocktail shaker, strange messages and assorted links:

A good auto racing blog.

A good steroid blog.

A cool T-shirt.

Favourite Record of the Year (and live show of the year). Honourable mentions here and here.

Irresistible tune of the year. And an honourable mention.

Worst Movie Trailers of the year.

From Antville, the field for Best Videos of the Year, with the winners here.

Moment of the year.

And that's it. Everything seemed to peak when P.J. Tucker did a Lorenzo Charles on Darrick Whittenburg Martin's airball just at halftime of last night's Raptors game. Then a fearsome crack in the sky sounded and everything was ablaze.

I guess it's back to the novel.

Happy New Year,

The Caretaker.

JABS' last post - The 34 BEST Things to Happen to Sports

It's time to shut the JABS Mansion down. The night watchman/caretaker has moved in - seems like a nice guy, but kinda stiff - and the condemned sign is outside.

Thanks to everyone for making this such a fun place to hang out the last 16 months, 600-plus posts, 1600-odd comments and a few that ended up in the delete bin. In the new year I'm moving into a new job here at The Star, as deputy to new sports editor Mike Simpson. And if it all shakes out the way we want it to, there will be a new blog up in its place quicker than you can say sayonara, once the kinks are ironed out of this new website.

Here's the one thing I promised, which hasn't even been finished but, with the success of the 50 Worst Things to Happen to Sports a while back, had a few of you sending in their choices so I feel like it has to go up. Consider this a starting point - the comments are open below to add some tinsel on this skimpy tree, maybe even bring it up to 50.

So here it is, in no particular order, and thanks to regular visitors Sean, Bob, Neate and a few others for their input:

Overtime. Specifically, 4-on-4 overtime.
The San Diego Chicken
Muhammad Ali
Salary caps
Alcohol-free zones
Bobbleheads
Bill James
Billie Jean King
Fantasy leagues
Retractable roof stadiums
Cable television
Replay
Satellites
Sport-specific stadiums
Jackie Robinson
DVR’s
Long shorts
HDTV
The mute button
Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson
Dikembe Mutombo Foundation
Martina Navratilova
Joe Namath
Wireless remote control
Monday Night Football
The virtual first-down line
Rick Reilly’s malaria net crusade
Madden NFL
Carlos and Smith
Right to Play
Free agency. Specifically, abolishing the reserve clause in baseball
Steve Nash
Clara Hughes
THE INTERNET

Have fun. Enjoy the holidays. Here's to a fine '07.

Photo of the Day: Postcard from Canada

JEFF STOKOE/CANADIAN PRESS-RED DEER ADVOCATE

The ol' shinny game goes on in Red Deer, Alta.

The NHL in Vega$

If I'm betting right now on a Penguins' final destination against pro sports' tendency to expand, I'm making Vegas an even-money proposition.

It's a hunch, but let's look at Las Vegas:

. . . the 29th largest city in the United States in 2000, but recent estimates suggest that the city's population has since surpassed that of Atlanta, Nashville, Washington, D.C., Louisville, Denver and Boston to place it 22nd in rank. It is likely to surpass Milwaukee and possibly a few other cities to reach the top 20 by the time of the 2010 Census.

Bigger than Milwaukee! Yowsa!

The gambling question has always made the proprietors of pro leagues look away from Vegas, but in recent years their cool sanctimony has withered under the changing climate.  The NBA will hold its All-Star Weekend in Vegas in '07 (if only to ensure the likelihood everyone shows up for media day and indeed, the game itself, all-star games being the most overrated and bloated non-events on the calendar there is, in any sport). Casinos are a part of the landscape now, and indeed all three slots emporiums in the running for a Pennsylvania gambling license include to varying degrees a Penguins home in their pitches - the winner will be determined in a critical gaming board decision Wednesday (and for the latest on the boondoggle beat, always check in on Field of Schemes). The WNBA put a team in a casino, for heaven's sake (like the 07 NBA all-stars, no betting is allowed on games). And let's just raise a glass and leave it at that for the debt the NFL owes to Vegas sports books that are packed to the gills every Sunday afternoon.

This is not something that can be called an ill-conceived, doomed notion borne out of desparation, and it has nothing to do with sanctimony: If the NHL doesn't get there first, someone else will, and soon. Just a hunch, but I reckon the thought has done a lot more than crossed Gary Bettman's mind. It'll happen. Far greater hockey minds than this one are touting Kansas City, for one, if the Penguins do up and move. But Vegas, and a major pro franchise? It's just a question of when.

Book Review: Orphans of Winter

A little while back, after doing a few book reviews here, a call went out for more. And so arrived Orphans of Winter - quietly, with little fanfare, the modest cover not promising a whole lot - which if it came from a more seasoned fabulist would be plenty good enough to go into the corners against Canadian HockeyLit stars like Paul Quarrington, Bill Gaston and Dave Bidini. But Orphans (Seraphim Editions), by folk musician turned writer Rob Ritchie, is a debut novel, and as such I'd call it pretty astonishing.

Perhaps it's that folk musician's background but Ritchie is a deft storyteller, delivering a barnburner tale that combines hockey, mysticism, religion and Canadian Aboriginal spiritualism. His hero, Stephen Gillis, is a complicated mess, a western Canadian hockey scout for the Toronto Centennials (read, Leafs) whose life-path accelerates when he's tipped on to an unheralded, ignored fourth-line forward by a mysterious stranger one night at the Prince George Arena. Vancouver Island and B.C., Toronto's talk-radio fuelled hockey frenzy, and out to Newfoundland it goes, Gillis and the forward's twinned stories converging.

Whenever the whole thing appears in danger of sliding off the table - and it comes close - Ritchie is able to pull it back:

"He had this theory that what made a specific sport popular was how well it mirrored some part of society that people thought was important. He had lots of examples . . . football was like war, baseball had to do with the industrial revolution, golf was all about manners and etiquette. The thing was, he could never really nail down hockey. The best he ever came up with was that the game represented winter."
"Winter?"
"That's right. Like it was this continuous battle for survival. From start to finish. Game to game. Year to year. Novice to Old-Timers. For best results play angry, like there's this storm inside you. I remember thinking at the time that it didn't really apply. Not with kids today growing up skating on multi-alloyed blades with custom-fit moulded boots, wearing top-of-the-line pads and equipment, shooting with their brand new high-flex graphite sticks and playing their games in state of the art arenas. But then I got watching that young winger Vancouver has on the right side this year. His name's Yvegeny Kaltzov and he's a 19-year-old Russian out of what remains of their national program. Did you know he spent the last two seasons in Moscow living in an unheated apartment with three other players? Two rooms between them, windowpanes cracked or missing, so the snow would pile up on the sill and on the floor below. I used to think guys like that played hard and angry because they were scared shitless of going back to conditions like that."
"And now?"
"Now ...? Now I think they play the way they do because they still know winter."

Don't go into this looking for a homespun, Hockey Sweater kind of read. It's dense going at times. But this season, among a few titles of note, it deserves to be grouped with the best. Nice work here, and well worth it if you're looking for a last-minute present for the literate fan of the world's most "beautiful and cold" game in your life.

Photo of the Day: Water colours

JUAN CARLOS ULATE/REUTERS

Mexico's synchro team goes underwater during last summer's CAC Games.

Related: World Press Photo Pictures of the Year.

We have a winner

Last week's auction for a complete set of NBA media guides has a winner: It's Bob Brown of Toronto, whose bid of $175 blew everyone else out of the water.

That'll make for a nice Christmas present for Sportsmen's Proudfoot Corner at the Star's Santa Claus Fund (named for the late great Star columnist Jim Proudfoot). Thanks to Bob, Wes Wayne and Pete and the rest of 'em at Brown Books, where the lunch hour and the coffee breaks are filled with Raptors talk. This has some symetry too, because it was Bob who submitted the winning bid on a similar package a year ago.

Thanks fellas. Much appreciated.

UPDATE: Bob's cheque ended up at $200 to Proudfoot Corner. Fantastic. Again, many thanks guys.

Photo of the Day: The Great Whine

PAUL CONNORS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wayne Gretzky appeals for an explanation Saturday in Arizona.

Weekend bits: Deck the brawls

Here's what you might have missed while figuring that 9-2 scoreline was just an office party-induced hallucinatory hangover:

Numerical string to ponder: 37.6, 39.0, 50.6. Give up? Too easy, I know, the last one was a dead giveaway. They're the Raptors' defensive FG numbers for the past three games, all W's, and yesterday's W over the GS Nellies included six Bargnani blocks. He's coming along, and so are they. Meantime, Jose Calderon was stretchered off with a back injury and wasn't on the plane to Phoenix where the Raps open their final pre-Christmas road trip.

Another great weekend for millionaire bozo jocks losing touch with their emotions and reality. The Knicks and Nuggets spilled their slapping and backpeddling into the baseline seats in NY Saturday (video here, although who knows how long it'll stay up), the former blaming the latter for actually playing the game out. The nerve. Suspensions may come down today, with original Raptor turned Knick-killer Isiah Thomas one of the focuses:

The league is certain to punish Anthony, its leading scorer and one of its brightest young stars, for throwing a punch at Collins. As for Thomas, a Hall of Fame guard who is now fighting to hold on to his job, the situation is unusual because there is no known precedent for a team’s coach, let alone its president, to be punished for instigating a fight.

Raptors coach Sam Mitchell, missing the point entirely: "We can't fight. We can wrestle. But we've got a better chance of scratching each other than fighting each other where we actually (land) a punch. ... So why is it such a black eye when these guys lose their temper?" Sam, fighting might be a part of hockey - if they penalized NHL coaches for instigating fights, the bench would be a pretty lonely place many nights - but it's not in the NBA, and when it moves into the expensive seats, it's a puffy shiner for all the world to see.

Oh, and this long-running idiot (the one on the right) spat in the face of an opponent, which means it'll probably show up as an option on the next NFL Blitz game. Meantime, there was Chicago Bear Tank Johnson's weekend: arrested for the third time in 18 months, then 12 hours later out partying with a friend who was shot to death.

Back to the playing fields: Agent Zero drops 60 on the Lakers (Kobe's held to 45).

This is not sports, but it's definitely seasonal: Boss drinks lots of vodka at Christmas lunch party and passes out - on the train tracks, his head on the rail, causing a four-hour delay during London rush hour (nice basket catch by The Morning News).

What I learned from the BBC's 100 things we didn't know this time last year: Jose Mourinho says he's only been in an English pub once, and that was to buy his wife some fags, as they're known over there (so there's 101 things - I didn't know the Special Wife smoked).

Jason Williams' line from Miami's game Saturday night stopped me: 26 minutes, 0 shots from the field or the line, seven assists. Hey, all hail White Carob.

One game away from the midpoint of the Premier League season - and now into the holiday match crunch, as David James notes in his Guardian blog - Chelsea's just two points back of Man United. And in Spain, a bad weekend for Barcelona - losing the yawnworthy Club World Cup to Brazilian side Internacional, and falling out of first place in La Liga.

Australia beats the Poms, reclaims the Ashes.

And still Down Under, a world record-breaking bungee jump.

Into the weekend: Ka-ching!

It's the Friday roundup. At last, with the holidays just ahead. The cash registers should be ringing with gusto the next couple of days. But enough about Vernon Wells' house.

We're down to the final couple hours in the Christmas auction for a set of NBA guides, and Bob Brown is in the lead, turning this into his own Santa Claus tradition (or, as my grandson simply calls him, "Claus!"). Nobody's topped Bob's $175 bid yet. Window closes at 3:30 pm.

One last read. James Mirtle had a good post Tuesday on exactly what is a .500 NHL team now, and whether the traditional term even is relevant (check out the comments too, for a solid bit of discussion). What exactly does .500 mean in the new NHL, with its OT and shootout losses counting for points in the standing?:

It's a decent question to ask, especially given that, heading into tonight's games, 13 of the 15 Eastern Conference teams had at least as many wins as losses (thereby earning the designation of being 'at .500' or better.) The thing is, however, if everyone can hit that mark, it's certainly not as valuable as it used to be back when .500 teams were those bound for the playoffs.

One more last read. Mike Wilbon, one of the best around, on the raging Phoenix Suns, stop No. 1 on the Raptors' upcoming road trip on Tuesday:

Even as Mike D'Antoni experiments and tinkers, the Suns' importance to the league has grown as Shaq has gotten older, as Iverson and Kevin Garnett have been marginalized, as the Lakers try to rebuild around Kobe in the post-Shaq era, as LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony try to have as much success in the playoffs as they have on Madison Ave. The Suns, without an iconic player, might be the most important team in the league. And right now, as Riley suggested, they're playing like it.

No iconic player? Not even the reigning, two-time MVP?

DON HEUPEL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

McCabe vs Briere: New NHL mismatch.

One last e-mail. Rick Akin noted in the latest Leafs penalty stats posted here that Bryan McCabe was bringing up the rear in penalties/penalties drawn +/-, and decribing himself as a "Leaf fan, without the blinders," goes off some on Mr McCabe:

His usual playoff meltdowns notwithstanding, the guy is having a classic McCabelike year. He does have some pizazz on the Leaf PP, as he shoots the puck pretty well. But after that, where's the beef??
There is very little that this player does at a high level, except get paid. Now, I am not saying he isn't an NHL calibre defenceman - he just isn't a top NHL defenceman, or even close. The NHL is now a pretty fast league, and McCabe's slowness of foot is really exposing him for what he is.
Did the Leafs have to give this guy the big money? Maybe so, it can be argued, and I was one of those who said, albeit reluctantly, go ahead and sign him for the big dough. Hindsight being mighty good stuff, though, would suggest the Leafs should have spent the five mil' on someone else - a good D man, a good forward, or maybe a goaltender. Any number of those Leaf kids who play defence, and can skate in today's NHL, would have been a better dollar value, and maybe, just maybe, have contributed more to the Leaf cause than McCabe.
Hey, it isnt Bryan McCabe's fault that he is Bryan McCabe, and will struggle mightily with the wide-open style the league has adopted. But, he will be in Hogtown for five very long years, and by then even the masses who insist on wearing the blinders will be giving him the Larry Murphy treatment. Perhaps some of those jeers should be directed elsewhere.

One last alert. The World Fishing Network sent along this Christmas morning programming note: The Festive Fish Tank - "It’s for those who’d rather watch the hypnotic, relaxing beauty of an aquarium instead of a burning log," the release says. Commercial free!

One last retrospective. The history of the Air Force. The shoe, that is.

One last funny. McSweeney's pitches 12 Contract bonuses for fantasy baseball players, including this one for incoming Blue Jay Royce Clayton:

If he finishes the season with a batting average above .220, the Blue Jays pay him an extra $1 million. Finishing between .221 and .230 gets Royce a handicapped sticker on his car and the key to every bathroom in the city. If he does the impossible and hits above .231, Royce gets to choose any three people, players or citizens, to get beaned by B.J. Ryan fastballs.

Sports around town. The Sam Ashaolu Charity Prep Showcase goes at York Memorial tonight (6:30 pm start) and tomorrow (12:30 pm start), including plans for a ceremonial dunk by the Duquesne basketballer from Toronto who was shot in the head three months ago but continues to make a remarkable recovery.

Not watching. Ski School, Monday, 3:30 a.m., Moviepix. I recall stumbling across this early-90s bit of CanCon crap a while back and watching in grim fascination for maybe three minutes. It was all I could stand. Now there's a weekend assignment for you: what's the worst sports film ever made? Can you top Ski School?

No pooch punts today. Gotta get out of here and put off the Christmas shopping for another weekend.

Photo of the Day: Commuter flight

PASCAL LAUENER/REUTERS

Georg Spaeth soars over Engleberg, Switzerland, at World Cup ski jump training on Friday.

Wells to sign this weekend?

This dropped this morning, from ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick:

Outfielder Vernon Wells is involved in serious negotiations toward a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, and the two sides hope to have a deal in place by the end of the weekend, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
The source said the chances of Wells remaining a Blue Jay are "better than 50-50," but that "it's not a done deal." Given the size of the contract, the major remaining hurdle is for Toronto owner Ted Rogers to give his approval.

Interesting news here, and matters are progressing a lot quicker than anticipated. That's one big stamp of approval required, with a lot of zeroes attached, and it will make for a bit of a cliffhanger weekend.

UPDATE, 12:55 pm: Blue Jays, Wells, near deal on extension:

Wells said Friday that the agreement is not yet complete but that he anticipates the contract will be finalized soon. The deal will start with the 2008 season.
"How can you not be happy?" he said Friday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "Like I said, my family comes first. Obviously this gives me an opportunity to set my family up for a couple of generations. That's the biggest part of this thing. And this gives me a chance to do something special in Toronto that hasn't been done in awhile."

Update: Leafs penalty stats

It's that time again: updating the numbers, or, as I prefer to call this kind of tomfoolery around the Mansion, I've Got a DVR and I'm Gonna Use It. The Leafs penalty stats project rolls on with the latest numbers in who's taking penalties and who's drawing them.

When I first trotted these out through 19 games, the Leafs as a team were a plus-4 according to my (2-minute penalties committed)/(2-minute penalties drawn) figures. Now, through 32 games, and having gone through that miserable stretch of seven successive losses, they're a minus-5. I haven't broken out the numbers for the losing streak, but that dip surely has been a large part of their troubles of late.

For the rest of what the numbers tell us, take the jump . . .

Photo of the Day: Big man

REN YONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS

World's tallest man Bao Xishun gets set to squish the fish meet the dolphins.

Related: World's tallest man eschews NBA career to save the chokin' dolphins.

Christmas charity auction: NBA boxed set

TORONTO STAR LIBRARY

Christmas Eve 1924: The view up Yonge.

Did this last year, doing it again: Time to auction off a complete set of NBA media guides. And this year, I'll throw in the 06-07 NBA Guide and NBA Register, as well as the 06-07 NBA Officials Media Guide, to raise money for Proudfoot Corner, the sportsy side of the annual Star Santa Claus Fund. From now until Friday afternoon, we're open for bidding down in the comments below.

The officials guide is the real prize here. Besides a complete rulebook it has so many nifty nuggets, including: Monty McCutchen raises Spanish goats on his ranch; Ron Olesiak is a tennis instructor in his spare time; Rodney Mott is a "certified avionics instructor" who has won the McDonnell Douglas Engineering Award; Marc Davis competed in the 1995 Raid Gauloise adventure race. Truly renaissance people, and great grist for the mill next time you find yourself sitting in the front row wondering what the hell Bennett Salvatore just called.

Last year the set of guides went for $140. Aiming higher now, so get your bids in (note to out of towners: I can't really afford to ship these, they weigh about a million pounds, so this is definitely a come-to-One-Yonge and pick 'em up prize - the bonus being you will get a personal tour of the newsroom. Okay, forget about the bonus part, but it is a tour),

Photo of the Day: Snow boarding

MIKE CASSESE/REUTERS

Corey Sarich and Bates Battaglia meet at the ACC boards.

$126 million is just a start

The Blue Jays have made what would amount to a pretty hefty offer to Vernon Wells, due to become a free agent a year from now, as Yahoo's Tim Brown puts it - and it was Brown who broke this last night:

FRANK GUNN/CANADIAN PRESS

Vernon Wells: Financials pointing up.

Toronto and its baseball franchise are deflecting Carlos Delgado flashbacks, and general manager J.P. Ricciardi is reliving his formative years in Oakland, during which Mark McGwire was traded and Jason Giambi was allowed to walk. Not long after Ricciardi left for Toronto, Miguel Tejada left the A's for the same financial reasons.
According to one baseball source, Ricciardi has floated to Wells a proposal of seven years and $126 million, the average annual value of which would exceed Soriano's contract with the Chicago Cubs (eight years, $136 million) by $1 million.
Ricciardi would not comment and Wells' agent, Greg Genske, would only say, "We have yet to have meaningful discussions," about a contract extension.

Ricciardi struck out on adding pitching targets Ted Lilly and Gil Meche at last week's winter meetings, but the Wells question overshadowed the entire proceedings. I claim no special knowledge here, but I've dealt with agentspeak over the years, and that quote from Genske is pretty much equivalent to a 'no, thanks ... the real game hasn't even started yet.'
ESPN's Buster Olney says as much this morning in an Insider piece, writing that Wells' price could well reach the vertiginous level of $200 million if he goes on the market at the end of the 2007 season:

When the Jays' honchos met earlier this week to consider the offer made to Wells, the numbers must have been jarring to the executives. Six weeks ago, a $75 million offer to Wells would've sounded a little light, but not unreasonable -- and now reasonable has climbed to $126 million. Seven years, $18 million a year.
(snip)
If Wells hits the market next fall, when he's eligible to become a free agent, he'll get offered a deal of $150 million. At least.
The White Sox don't have a center field solution, and they would probably bid on him. The Red Sox would definitely bid on him. Tom Hicks, as impetuous an owner as there is when it comes to free agents, would bid on Wells, knowing they could bring him home to Texas. The Yankees, freed by a lot of contracts set to expire after next season, might bid on him, to at least drive up the price on the Red Sox and perhaps to move Johnny Damon to left field and Hideki Matsui to DH. The Mets want to trade for him now, and would bid on him. The Dodgers would bid on him.
With those financial monsters involved, Wells' deal, as a free agent next fall, might be closer to $200 million than $100 million.

If nothing else, the Jays have put the ball in Wells' court, as they always had to. Next move is his to make. As Jeff Blair puts it over at his Globe blog, there are plenty of options from here.

Tracking penalties, and goodbye to VCOE

Things have been kind of crazy around JABS Mansion of late, for reasons that will become clearer in the next little while. The blogging has suffered some, but here's a couple of weblog-oriented items that have to be mentioned NOW, and can't wait for the usual Friday roundup spot.

First, a bad news/good news thing. The bad news is that Vancouver Canucks Op Ed is packing up its bag of tricks.  I was a little shocked at the news. Great, irreverent blogs like this one don't come around too often. I'll miss it - where else am I going to go for a good CheliCart?

Good news is that VCOE's Alanah is going to keep contributing over at Kukla's Korner, and podcasting, and surfacing with a new, yet-to-be-URL-unveiled blog affiliated with KK, press passes (ever mindful of Don Carman's list) and pregame press meals. Well, three out of five ain't bad.

Meanwhile, the Falconer, blogging on the Atlanta Thrashers, has updated his monthly  Penalties Drawn figures, similar to what I'm doing here at JABS with the Leafs, only he puts the numbers in terms of minutes and to be completely frank, he was the first to start doing this stuff:

To be perfectly honest I'm rather surprised to see the same four names atop the November leaderboard. Jon Sim in particular spent some time in the recesses of the Bob Hartley's doghouse and didn't always get a ton of ice time, yet he still managed to be his usual irritating self (well at least to the opposition).
(snip)
One thing that really surprises me is Kovalchuk's -4 minutes on the season so far. With his speed and skill he really should be drawing more minutes. I can't help but think that his diving tendencies in past years have given him a reputation among the referees and he is not getting the benefit of the doubt when he goes down.

What he's found is a mirror of what the Leafs' totals reflect - I'll update them later this week - the slick and slippery guys (Kovalchuk in Atlanta, Wellwood in Toronto) don't draw near as many penalties as you'd think, and the John Pohls of the world earn more than their share. I'm not sure why, but I'd go along with the reputation theory at least to explain some of it. These figures are worth looking at and needless to say, I'd love to see them broken out leaguewide. But the NHL is not going there, at least not yet.

And with Falconer taking the lead as he has from the start, I'll be back with some updated Toronto numbers later this week.

Photo of the Day: Balls-up

LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS

Francisco Elson would have grabbed this rebound with the old ball.

Related: Marc Stein on the NBA's reversal.

Hoops and Other Pop Culture compares it to the New Coke fiasco.

Photo of the Day: Desert Classic

SAURABH DAS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Amid the limestone rough, a competitor hits out of a sandtrap at the Asian Games in Qatar.

Weekend bits: A.I., the Trade

Unlike Allen Iverson, the Monday morning links never make trade demands:

A.I. Watch: ESPN's Chris Sheridan has a list of suitors for Iverson and his contract. Two things he suggests: A long list that rapidly narrows to two or three serious contenders (Dallas, Boston, perhaps even New York?) and a quick resolution. Oh, and forget about getting fair value.

The Raptors, minus Chris Bosh, lose a tight one to the Portland Trailblazers, who were missing their best scorer and post-up contributor Zach Randolph. Okay, I'm kidding - the Raptors were destroyed by the Blazers. Line of the night came at halftime, from assistant coach Jim Todd on the Bosh-less offence, without a plan B without Bosh's pick-and-roll sets: "We'd like to go inside if we could find someone to go inside to." Are you listening, Mr Colangelo? It's not like Bosh's lengthening list of ailments is going to go away. This team already needs a shooter. As for their vaunted frontcourt "depth", it was shown on Sunday to be a mirage.

As for the Leafs, I'll take the cue from them and offer up - nothing.

Best read of the weekend, from the New York Times - Yes, you can surf in Cleveland, before the brown water freezes, which ain't exactly Gidget goes to Ohio:

To reach the lake, surfers drag their boards across snowdrifts and beaches littered with used condoms and syringes, Mr. Ditzenberger said. The most popular surf spot is Edgewater State Park. It is nicknamed Sewer Pipe because, after heavy rains, a nearby water treatment plant regularly discharges untreated waste into Lake Erie.

The L.A. Times does a takeout on WADA's anti-doping efforts, and finds that some athletes are getting (surprise) unfairly treated.

Chelsea comes back for a 1-1 draw against Arsenal, which puts them eight points back of leading Man United with a game in hand.

Another Woodbine thoroughbred season ends, Emma-Jayne Wilson and Sid Attard winning their divisions.

Weekend surprise VIII

It wouldn't be a surprise if it showed up every weekend, would it?

DoCopenhagen did a pretty good job compiling their list a year ago of top videos of the year. Now it's back: Top 50 Music Videos of 2006  (from waxy links).

And this was going into the Friday roundup, but I got too windy and it got too long and now they've added a sequel: 50 Greatest Commercials of the '80s and 50 More Commercials from the '80s (From Giant magazine, via kottke).

One last one: Dick Cheney's Google searches, including "birdshot pellet removal" and "bunker refurbish HDTV" (Vanity Fair, via LinkMachineGo).

Into the weekend: Talking and carolling

A quote, and a little rant to start off, riffing off Wednesday's postgame in Cleveland:

"All in all, we played well. I look at it as a positive thing. We're growing as a team; we're getting better. Three weeks ago, we couldn't have come here and played that well."

And a week before this night and its four-point defeat, the Raptors were eight points better than the same Cavs - so what's up with that, coach? But I'm not picking on Sam here. He's just spinning, like all coaches do. It's more about this North American sportswriting addiction to the locker-room quote, these bromides and warmed-over cliches that we hustle down to get, wait around for, chicken-scratch into our notebooks or transcribe dutifully off the recorder. I did it for years.

Thanks to TV and now the Internet, though, pretty much everyone who cares knows what happened last night. Listening to some player or coach distill it into these little bits of nothing adds - nothing. More interesting is why it happened and how, but rarely is that explored in any depth. Even though it can be a bit pretentious, overall, I'll take the quoteless, British style of match reporting. Will Leitch said it best: access is overrated. And along these lines, here's one for you - via Kottke, former major league pitcher Don Carman's list of stock locker-room answers, favourites (and a few I've written down and banged into the keyboard) including:

7 If we stay healthy we should be right there
12 This team seems ready to gel
14 That All-Star voting is a joke
20 We've got to have fun
26 That's why they pay him _ million dollars

One last appeal. A little while back there was some fun here with the 50 Worst Things to Happen to Sports countdown. Now it's time to put together the answer list: The _ Best Things to Happen to Pro Sports. Any and all submissions appreciated. I've got nearly 20 on my own, but need more.

One last e-mailed Christmas carol. Nice work by Glenn from Arizona on this one:

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true Leafs sent to me
Twelve wingers in need of a drumming,
Eleven players and a Glenn Healy piping,
Ten forwards a-diving
Nine wankin' penalties
Eight goals a-milking,
Seven games a floundering,
Six players a-standing
A fiiiiiivvve game losing streak
Four yapping call ups
Three strung out forwards
Two blind defensemen,
And a broken hockey stick from an ash tree!

One last vidgame "think piece". Newsflash: video games like Madden NFL have enhanced kids' understanding of sports. And here we thought all it did was make them fat (Related: Toronto hosts Canada's NFL Madden finals, Jan. 20 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre).

One - make that two - last BCS bits. Usually I avoid US college football, but these are too good to pass up: Slate's Chris Suellentrop on Who's #2? and blog fave Neate Sager has his Top 5 Pointless Bowl Matchups, including the Whatchamacallit Bowl here in Toronto sometime in January, I forget when, I'll let Neate tell you:

5. INTERNATIONAL BOWL: WESTERN MICHIGAN vs. CINCINNATI, Jan. 6, Toronto There's nothing wrong with playing a bowl game in Toronto. It's just that a game that ranks below the Meineke Car Care Bowl in the NCAA pecking order should not be held just two days before the national championship game. If this game was held on Boxing Day where it belongs, no problem.

One last interview. Alanah at VCOE got her press pass from the Canucks, and thus was able to get some of those locker-room quotes (see - there's a theme here!):

Alanah: You strike me as a player that enjoys playing to the fans and this bad luck might be getting to you in a personal way.
Alex Burrows: Yeah, a little bit for sure. I haven’t scored a goal in 28 games, but you’ve just got to keep working. Like I said, the bounces aren’t going our way right now.

Alanah, go back to Don Carman's list right now! I believe this one is No. 13. Or maybe 17.

Sports around town. Woodbine's closing day goes Sunday out at the Rexdale plant, with a first post of 12:40 p.m. And here's your Sovereign Award finalists.

Watching. Arsenal at Chelsea, 11 a.m., Sunday, Fox Sports. They're both through to the Champions League knockout round - nice try there, Gooners - but it's the postgame press conference, Wenger vs Mourinho, that might be the better matchup.

Pooch punts. Jinks the Vizsla is back. Went 3-2 last week, and the tail is wagging but good this time around. Actually, it's always wagging when it's kibble or cookie time:

DETROIT (-1 1/2) over Minnesota
NY JETS (-4) over Buffalo
WASHINGTON (+1 1/2) over Philadelphia
New England (-3 1/2) over MIAMI
Denver (+7 1/2) over SAN DIEGO

Photo of the Day: What a drag

JEROME A. POLLOS/AP-COEUR D'ALENE PRESS

Kite skiing in Idaho.

Game of the Year

At least until the playoffs roll around, it is: Phoenix 161, New Jersey 157 in double OT. Nets set scoring mark and lose. Lawrence Frank suffers brainlock. Nash gone wild. As much funhouse as game, stumbling across this one hiding in one of Ted Rogers' area-code channel regions last night was like discovering plutonium by accident, to cop a Costanzaism.

AP PHOTO/BILL KOSTROUN

Nash on Kidd: Classic duel.

Lou Marsh pick Steve Nash, already with a 20-assist night earlier this week, went off for a career-hi 42. His opposite Jason Kidd answered with 38/14/14 - I think the whole "triple double" thing is kind of overdone (don't get me started on "double doubles"), but this was more legit than one of those cheesy 11-10-10's - even if it all came a-cropper when Kidd dribbled the ball off his foot on New Jersey's last possession that mattered.

Back to Nash, though. A quick recap of highlights:

- Final possession of regulation, curls off a (moving, not called) Kurt Thomas screen and hits a 3-pointer to force OT (see above L-Frank ref.).
- in OT, splits defence and finishes lefthanded, picks up the foul, makes the and-one. Amare Stoudemire and Raja Bell had already fouled out, but it didn't matter, no one - not even the sainted StocktontoMalone - runs the pick and roll as well as NashtoSuns.
- in double OT: Hits an open jumper that's within a couple of toes of another 3. Goes to Boris Diaw (pick-and-roll again) for the layup and one. Yup, goes p-'n-r with Diaw again, takes it himself, finish righthanded. Assists on Shawn Marian's fast-break layup with a looping 45-foot pass. Ices it with a pair of free throws.

Nash and Kidd each came back into the fourth quarter at the same time, playing the final 10:34 of regulation, plus the two OTs, head to head. Courtesy of Popcorn Machine's numbers for that stretch, here's the mano-a-mano:

Nash  10/12 FG (including 4/5 on 3-pters), 4 assists, 27 points
Kidd 6/13 FG, 5 assists, 20 points.

Whenever Nash has one of these nights, I flash back to the summer of 1994, and the world championships in Toronto, and the subject comes around to future pros amid the JJ Jacksons. More than one NBA scout mentioned Nash, then a pretty anonymous backup/sometime starter with Canada. "Keep your eye on him," I recall Stu Jackson saying (if only Stu had been so prescient in Vancouver, history might have worked out a little different).

Back to the present, it's Nash the back-to-back MVP and working on another. The Suns have won eight in a row, Stoudemire looks healthy, and if there's one beacon to watch through the rest of the season, they are it. Meantime, big thanks to L-Frank. This one couldn't have happened without you, coach.

Photo of the Day: Denged!

NAM Y. HUH/Associated Press

Luol Deng's shot gets deep-Sixered.

Related: The best daily-fix NBA podcast around.

Open thread: What's wrong (and right) with the Leafs (and Raptors)?

Okay, open thread time. The Leafs are free-falling, and the Raptors are tied for first place in their division. So the question is: How's the emotional ticker of your average Leafs/Raps fan reading today?

MIKE CASSESE/REUTERS

Thrashing around after another Atlanta goal.

I didn't watch the Leafs last night, but with the morning coffee this morning reviewed the DVR'd evidence, and it was pretty damning stuff. I'm not going to jump all over Andrew Raycroft. The Leafs teetered on the edge all night defensively, taking bad penalties and finally paying the price. The glaring lowlights that hit me, against a Thrashers team that boasts three top-flight snipers who were in full flow, came in the form of Paul Maurice's complaining, the continuing enigma that is Alex Steen and the defence pair of Hal Gill and Ian White, who had a brutal night.

As for the Raptors, note that Sam Mitchell has found a bit of a formula to get through the first month of the schedule ahead of schedule, after a halting start - and perhaps into January, when that schedule turns in their favour. The supersized Garbajosa-Bosh-Bargnani frontcourt, TJ Ford's continuing familiarization - all that remains is to put Morris Peterson back as a starter, a move that was strange from the start until the sore elbow provided partial cover. All Fred Jones has done so far is demonstrate why Indiana, a team that could sorely use his kind of hops, were able to say goodbye to him. But all in all, this is a group that looks like they've made strides since ditching the shot-happy approach.

Raptors up, Leafs down - and what a switch that is from a couple of weeks back. Your turn, now, on what's going on here.