We don't get this

When it comes to pro sports, Toronto's fans are shaken down welcomed by the most anonymous of big-time sports owners.

AP PHOTO

Mark Cuban: A hands-up approach.

Ted Rogers made a rare appearance this week to welcome B.J. Ryan, pat himself on the back for keeping the big leagues in Toronto, and demonstrate a "commitment to winning" as J.P. Ricciardi called it -- which I thought was the commitment you're always supposed to have (although it must be said, it's a lot easier when you've just come off buying a taxpayer-funded stadium for five cents to the dollar).

The MLSE principals are rarely seen or heard from. When it comes to hockey or basketball, the designated managers John Ferguson Jr. and Rob Babcock speak a careful language of neutrality -- in one of his unguarded moments, Babcock suggested last summer the Raptors would quite possibly be worse than last year's team, which was pretty bad. He was cut down for it in the media and by his masters, and has been back to the usual boilerplate since, lessons learned.

Baloncesto night in Canada

The morning takings:

Raptors put their head on the block again tonight, against Damon Stoudamire and the nee-Vancouvers. A big night for the baloncesto, with Jose Calderon vs. Pau Gasol keeping 'em up late in Madrid (don't they always stay up late in Madrid?). And Sam Mitchell? He's not looking over his shoulder, writes Dave Feschuk, while over at the Globe, Rob Babcock gives the coach a thumbs-up.

In baseball, Dave Perkins revisits one of Ted Rogers' more surprising lines out of Monday's B.J. Ryan press conference, the one that had the Jays leaving the country if he hadn't have stepped in and bought them. Oh, and J.P. Ricciardi is denying that $55 million Brian Giles bid -- "That's way off", he says. As for A.J. Burnett -- "We haven't made an official offer. Would we go five years? I don't know." In other words, we sure could.

Oh dear. The Celtics have added another jersey.
 

The Black Eyed Peas are headed to next summer's World Cup -- I really like that Mein Humpf song, hope they do that one -- and the Stones are playing the Super Bowl.

And I've been remiss in not even mentioning the story of the fellow who spread his mother's ashes on the field during Sunday's Eagles game. Via the Sports Hooligan there's video here, and no surprise that Deadspin is all over it.

Mitchell at the podium

How many times do you think Sam Mitchell worked on that last-second play the Mavericks ran last night? I mean as a player -- Mitchell, the workman forward with those Pacers, must've paced it off thousands of times, I reckon. It's the same bread-and-butter inbounds play his Indiana team used for years, running Reggie Miller along the baseline and up off a three-tree forest of screens to emerge at the top of the lane and either pull up or, as Jason Terry did, take a couple dribbles into range for the little runner. Just like they drew it up on the Indiana board.

And game over.

(UPDATE: YAYBasketball! has Mitchell up to Level 3's "exaggerated self-criticism" on the SM Madness Meter. Yay!)

Okay, Mitchell doesn't have the horses. But the Raptors have already lost enough games in this fashion -- they're oh-for-5 in games decided by five points or less, and that doesn't include the Boston and Phoenix games in which they hung in until wilting late -- to start laying some of the blame at his feet, instead of on his players.

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

Does this look like a good matchup to you?

Here's last night's postgame alibis, mashed with lines from the play-by-play:

"How many games? Sacramento, Phoenix, Clippers -- we get a stop, (but) we don't get a rebound or possession when we gotta have it. Forget the last play. The game should never have come to that."

Okay. Forget about the last play. But the reluctance to substitute offence for defence and vice-versa down the stretch? Why no subs at all? Mitchell's last move came with 5:38 to go! He went with the same 5 for the final 5 1/2 minutes, including the defensively-challenged Calderon and Bonner and the overmatched Morris Peterson. 

"They missed a shot, () were scrambling, everybody under the basket, they get a rebound, (Nowitzki) runs to the 3-point line like he's supposed to. That's the game. If you know the game, that's the basketball game."

Yes, I remember that play. (I don't know the game, but I remember it.) That was where nobody picked up Dirk coming back. It came right after one of the Raptors' "plays" -- Bosh facing up his man, a couple of dribbles into traffic and then a turnover when Dampier arrived with the help defence. And it came right before the Mavs' next possession, where with minimal effort they got a Nowitzki vs Calderon mismatch in the post, Bonner's help defence not enough to stop him from the easy bucket.

"That's where you lose the game, and we've done that repeatedly."

Ah, finally an acknowledgement through that "we" that Mitchell is a part of this. Better late than never, that, and straight out of the Darrell Walker songbook. Actually, I didn't see the Sacramento game, but in Phoenix, I duly noted Bonner and Calderon being out there in the final minutes, waving at Steve Nash. Repeatedly is the word.

"We didn't get a loose ball when we had the opportunity. We get a stop, we're up six with the ball, and it's a chance for a different game. Getting on the floor, getting the ball."

Again, I don't know the game. But dealing with reality, instead of the what-ifs -- You're tied 91-91 with two seconds left. And Matt Bonner is still on the floor? He's done his job, popping out to hit a jumper with two seconds remaining, and well done. But he can't defend, either one-on-one or as help, and all you're doing on this play is defending. There's only two freaking seconds left.

"I don't know no drill for that. You just gotta react and go get the ball."

Perhaps there are some things going on behind the scenes that are preventing the likes of CV and Graham from getting floor time in these late-game situations -- or perhaps the coach has no confidence in those kids.

But here's what a coach has to do: Put his team in the best possible position to succeed. For whatever reason, it's not happening. And like Mitchell, I don't know no drill for that.

And now for the next one

A quick tour this morning, 'cause we're unavoidably late due to the dreaded technical problems:

The Blue Jays have opened their shopping season. First B.J. Ryan signs. What next? Bob Elliott at the Sun throws this out: five years and $55 million for Brian Giles. Dave Perkins notes "the Jays are serious again."
All right then. The hotstove just got a little warmer.
Good day for relievers all around -- Billy Wagner is a very rich Met.

Raptors lose, and Sam Mitchell's blaming his players. Again:

"The ball falls on the floor and we don't get an offensive rebound — again."

Oh, and Jalen Rose is out of the starting lineup (yup, again).

Colts win. Again. (I know this is hardly a long limb, but I don't think now these guys are going to lose. As stated here on more than one occasion, they have the goods on both sides of the ball).

Lions fire Mooch (how Matt Millen continues to defy the axe is one of the world's greater mysteries). NFL eyes London (and not Toronto) for a regular season game next October.

And from across the pond, where the mourning for George Best hasn't let up -- Old Trafford prepares to mark his passing, and in Belfast, 100,000 are expected for the largest funeral Northern Ireland has ever seen.
But this is no longer about Best, says Peter Preston in The Guardian: "To see the Diana moment turned into the Georgie moment is to see the media hearse rolling heedlessly downhill."

Now saving: B.J. Ryan

Jays have announced the B.J. Ryan signing. E-mailer Mark Freedman has already started off the thread:

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. You don't pay a closer that much. They break down and are replaceable."

Well yes, no one has ever paid a closer this much ($47 million for five seasons is the figure in all reports). No one has overpaid one this much, either. And yes, they do break down -- but so does any athlete. As for replaceable, the alternative here is incumbent Miguel Batista, who isn't your prototypical power reliever, and has already been mentioned in trade talk involving Texas and Milwaukee for position players. He's replaceable, as were the parade of pretenders that preceded him in '03 and '04.

There's nothing wrong with this move, even if a power hitter or ever another starter are more pressing lineup concerns. It's the price you pay for playing in the big sandbox.

Over the jump (yeah, I've finally decided to start using it), there's more, including bits from the press conference.

Introducing the official blogger

Got an email Saturday that changed my life blog: It was Melanie Karlik, taking over as JABS' Official Blogger of the 2005 Grey Cup Game.

Melanie spent the weekend driving 12 visiting Toronto bar owners around Vancouver in a Lincoln Navigator. And blogged the heck out of it. Go here for pictures and commentary. It looks like she avoided having to wear the dreaded "Baby" T-shirt that was part of the deal off the top, but she and fellow chaperone Heather did manage to run into Pam and got the photo to prove it -- well done Mel.

Highlights:

"Dropped over 2 grand on just dinner"

"flapjack breakfasts are always on the itinerary but there is ZERO chance we'd have breakfast before noon"

"There was a great energy in the crowd and a lot of great dancing Homers."

"The weekend has kicked my ass. Even giving my keys to the valet to park the car tonight was a task that was far too complex for my meager football frenzy mind."

Good job Mel. Now go get some sleep.

And a postscript: Mel complained briefly about the halftime show, noting that there were sound problems. Lenore Leitch from Qualicum Beach, B.C. had trouble with it too, contacting us to echo some complaints over at the CFL website's message board:

"The performance was horrible in itself -- basically it was the vocal equivalent of Janet Jackson exposing her breast -- but why in this country of such huge talent are we importing the BEPs?"

Umm, because we're insecure, perhaps? I thought it was a kinda lame show, but nothing to get sneezy about.

Best Grey Cup Ever?

Best I've ever seen, anyway. Craziest moment among many was the winning coach ripping off his headset and paraphernalia to race on to the field joyously -- alone. He was one down early:

"I thought it was an interception, not an incompletion. I was waiting for the players to explode. I thought 'What's wrong with them? We just won the Grey Cup! We just won the Grey Cup in overtime!' "I looked around and somebody said, 'He batted it down.' ''

I could throw out a ton of links from this glorious mess of a game; instead I'll keep it simple and come back to it later in the day, with a note on our Official Blogger of the 2005 Grey Cup Game. Rick Matsumoto's gamer is here, and for a view from out west, Terry Jones calls it a triumph for Ricky Ray.

Other takings from a weekend's worth of sports:

Another one we'll be devoting more space to here later today: The Jays are set to sign B.J. Ryan to the largest contract a reliever has ever signed. (UPDATE: Jays have called a 1 p.m. Eastern press conference to announce the signing).

The Raptors are back in town, and the way that oh-for-4 road trip ended they may well be ready for a full-scale implosion.

The Indy Colts go for another W tonight on MNF, but the Steelers think they could be the ones to stop them. Frankie Dettori goes into leap mode  again, after setting a course record in the Japan Cup aboard Alkaseed. And Alex McLeish is going out with a whimper.

Lots of stuff out of Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada:

Ron MacLean's Interviewing 101
To Mathieu Dandenault: "My pet peeve are soft penalties and you got a toughie called against you in the first period, no doubt the guy went down a little bit easy. And Wellwood, of course, you don't know what to do with the guy 'cause if you touch him you're going to get another minor, so that must have been frustrating."

From The Collected Works of Donald Stewart Cherry:

Watch him get whacked in the face and keep on going.
This is what you do, kids
you don't fall down
now watch
he's really hurt
he picks it up
and he wires her home for a goal.
Look at that,
no visor or anything:
My type of guy.

Best of all, a new one from Bob Cole, concrete poet:

Especially those slashes
these are the types
all coaches despise
guys have to control themselves a bit more
or
they're gonna go
and keep going

he was knocked down
the play is allowed to continue
and that's great for the hockey game

wow
what a pace
and how
they've turned it up
the two of them have

The official blogger (for now)

End of another week. Before heading out into the road salt, a few items here to clear off the desktop, starting with our ongoing Grey Cup blog search. Haven't heard yet from either of our bloggers -- typical Lotus land sleeping late stuff, I reckon -- so to invoke executive privilege let's just go ahead and introduce JABS' Official Blogger of the 2005 Grey Cup Game (at least for this hour, it is):

I'm pumped, infact I couldn't be happier, I just hope that after I've polutted my viens with more alcohol than I can handle and the final gun sounds on Sunday that Clay and I will be able to make it home in time for the parade. Regardless of the outcome of the game though we're going to light it up and burn Vancouver down.

Go for it, D. Say hi to Fergie for me. And don't forget to pack the Spellcheck.

LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR

Soward to reprise the popcorn moment, with a new twist.

One last read: In case you missed it in the morning links here earlier, Gordon Burn's obit on George Best is the best I've read all day, and deserves a look. And amid the tributes, The Times has this warts-and-all look.

Sports around town: I say Tentanda via, you say Vela Arbor Aevo. Of course you guessed it: York's ballers are coming down from their perch at the edge of the world to face U of T downtown tonight at the Sports Gym. Women's game starts at 6, men on at 8 p.m.

What I'm watching: Grey Cup, Sunday, 5:30 p.m., CBC. Hoping for a good game. Oh all right, and a wardrobe malfunction, too.

Not watching: Best of Leafs Lunch, Saturday, 9 p.m., Leafs TV. It's early in the third period in Carolina, Leafs are down by one and you and your pals are cursing at Pat Quinn for the 12th time on the night. And without warning, the host changes the channel to this.

Punters corner: You can go to the Linebacker. Or Chris Schultz. But only here can you find five Pro-line picks that you can't get anywhere else. And for good reason (for entertainment purposes only, not to be used as the basis for a wager and -- just to let you know, I cashed on my Nick and Jessica splitsville over-under of 40 months this week. So life's pretty darned good right now.)

CHE V win (1.3) at PMO. Roman Abramovich’s parrot ordered to remain on board his yacht in New Zealand port; Chelsea owner responds by buying entire country and loaning it out to Milwall.

MTL V win (1.95) at TOR. On this week’s Queer Eye for the Satellite Hot Stove Guy, the panel welcomes the return of Pierre LeBrun, but wonders what happened to the shiny grey tie with the bad fold that looked like two sausages of a few weeks back.

GB-PHI tie (3.2). As Eagles stumble out of contention, Philly fans petition NFL to change team name to Avian Flu.

MTL V win (2.4) vs EDM. Argos’ R. Jay Soward to expand his end zone celebration of last week, bringing bag of popcorn and clean jeans to Fergie during halftime show.

NYJ H win (2.6) vs NWO. With Brooks Bollinger starting, Jets offer free champagne to first 20,000 fans, and unlimited double shots of 151 to anyone who lasts till the end.

Grey Cup blogging update

I've spent three days trying to find a Grey Cup blog to cover all the essentials: flapjacks, cheerleaders eating poutine, military p.r. and recruiting exercises, rye, Pamela and above all, Fergie.

I've found CFL haters and CFL lovers. I've found some who regard the game as akin to a distant, sort-of famous but lost cousin who comes to visit once a year, and everyone shows up for a great party, trashes the place, and wakes up the next morning and goes on with life.

I've found one blogger whose job it is this weekend to ferry around 12 Toronto bar owners and wear a T-shirt that says "Baby" while she does it.

I've left messages for the final two who've lasted through our exhaustive Technorati search nomination process: our friend in the Baby T-shirt, and Darryl, a guy from Alberta who is going and on his blog, first choice on the "People I'd Like to Meet" is Bubbles.

We're almost there. With any luck, it'll be time to introduce the Official Blogger of the 2005 Grey Cup Game. 

Brown, Bestie and the Grey Cup

Yesterday brought a visit from Bob Brown, Pete and Wayne from his company over on Leslie Street, picking up the box of NBA media guides and getting a look around. The trio say the books will come in handy in settling the daily NBA trivia battles at the Brown Books print shop -- and Brown, at a lofty 6-foot-6, knows a thing or two about the game, having battled the likes of the Coulthards down in the hoop-savvy Woodstock/Tillsonburg area back in the day. Threw a little something extra into the Proudfoot Corner kitty of The Star's Santa Claus Fund, too, his $140 winning bid magically transformed with a stroke of his pen to an even $200. That's good stuff, Bob -- thanks again. And if anyone else reading can, please consider a donation to the Corner to help brighten a child's Christmas morning.

On to the morning acreage -- smaller than usual, but I promise to be back later in the day with more:

AP PHOTO

Bestie makes a dash.

George Best is dead. A couple of outstanding reads from The Guardian's Football Unlimited page on the former "Belfast boy with the Beatle hairdo", as the shorthand once went: Gordon Burn recalls Best as a fellow living with "one foot in oblivion, and the other in immortality," and from last Sunday's Observer, Bill Elliot has a cracker:

London back then had Michael Caine and Twiggy and The Rolling Stones as it swung, Liverpool had The Beatles and the rest of the Mersey sound but Manchester, grey, old Manchester, had The Hollies and Bestie. Mancs, to a man, felt they had the better of the deal.

It's Grey Cup weekend -- I think I've found our Official Blogger of the 2005 Grey Cup Game, and more on that later today -- so if you have a Grey Cup party to go to, a Grey Cup chili recipe to share, or you have a special Grey Cup party memory about throwing up the chili at halftime then making a stirring last-minute comeback, say, send it along this morning and you will be granted instant fame with a mention in the blog.

Meantime, Damien Cox is out in Vancouver wondering about Edmonton QB Jason Maas, nudge-nudge-wink-wink. And over at the Globe, Dave Naylor has the annual reminder that, despite all the fancy camera angles and national attention, the CFL continues to be a leaky financial ship.

Damon Allen didn't make Sunday's game, but to no one's surprise he was named the league's outstanding player last night.

The last big race of the year goes tomorrow, as a field of 18 contests the Japan Cup.

Last and least is at the BBC, where they're naming the "Top 5 Sports Teams of All Time" -- These things are dodgy at the best of times, but this is possibly the silliest, vaguest, most Euro-centric poll I've ever seen.