They give me fever

A little more excitement than usual this morning, because I've got Presidents Cup fever!

I've got WNBA championship fever, too! Dick Pound fever! NHL exhibition scoreboard-watchin' fever!

But I have to admit it, I don't have the kind of fever these guys from Serbia-Montenegro have, at the Eurobasket championships: a close loss, a punch-up and this from head coach Zeljko Obradovic, from the AP report of their 74-71 loss to Tony Parker's France:

"The players had bad personal relations, their egos led to this shameful end. My mistake was not throwing three or four of them off the team. They hate each other so much that they don't even look at each other. I've never seen such people before."

So you don't want to stay, do you Zjelk?

"That would lead me straight to a madhouse. I'm already ready for an asylum. That's how I feel. I wish my successor lots and lots of luck."

Good quotage from a Euro legend. Sets the bar pretty high for Sam Mitchell, who's already got his work cut out for him thanks to the summertime musings of GM Boy Rob Babcock.

A few little things for you to chew over as well this morning, including, of course, the flap between the cyclists and Pound, who at least talks like the Elliot Ness of sports doping. It's a big story somewhere, and it's getting nastier, but I have a question --  does anyone here care? In a recent interview, Jon Stewart seemed to typify the attitude of most people I've dealt with, at least on the subject of 'roids in baseball. I can't find a link to it (any suggestions would be much appreciated), but Stewart, a New York Mets fan, said as long as the Mets won, he didn't care what they took.

Meanwhile, New Orleans Hornet Jamaal Magloire is hosting a fundraising dinner here in his T.O. hometown for Hurricane Katrina relief.

On eBay, you can bid on Robbie Gordon's used helmet (Thanks Fark).

And on the subject of doping, Barry Bonds figures U.S. Congress should give steroids a rest.

And one more: get well, Fergie.

Comments

[denial]

Zeljko Obradovic's comments are fun and probably true, but it doesn't really sound like he's taking any responsibility for the meltdown. If we look behind the surface of Zeljko's job description, it's probably pretty basic that he's supposed to babysit a bunch of egomaniacs and get them to win. That's why he isn't working at the Belgrade 7-11, and it would have been nice to see him not pretend that he's the only one on the team that couldn't use some improvement.

And scarcasm is very unfamiliar to me, as you know, but I just don't get the feeling that he really, truly, wishes his successor the best of luck. But, hey, I ate paste as a kid.

At what point do we start comparing Sam Mitchell to Coach Carter, except instead of high school trying to find themeslves and their true purpose in life outside of basketnall, Mitchell has to help Toronto players find the best currency exchange booth on Yonge and Dundas?

It's hard not to like Mitchell, but I'll try. I have an alarming lack of pity for people who make more than $100,000 a year. I'll save what little pity I have left for that kid banging rocks on a quarry heap in Guatamala, and for anyone who has Dick Pound fever (i hear that penicillin can clear that up, cy).

Does anyone care about steroid use? Anyone who truly -- I mean truly, fundamentally -- cares deeply and soul-fully about people hitting a ball with a stick shouldn't be consulted for a meaningful opinion. Steroids are the best thing to happen in baseball in a decade, because the game is so damn irrelevant. Don't think this is lost on BIG BUD SELIG (30 franchises nationwide, 1 near you). He's able to keep baseball on the radar screen despite the fact that more than 50% of the teams don't have a chance of making the playoffs, and that they play 162 games just to have a wild card race in september.