Notes from a weekend

Around the world in a post, even if I haven't had much time to link anywhere but the most nearby places:

The Raptors are invisible no more. This may or may not be good news, depending on how you view preseason games on triple-digit TV - or if you view them or that region of the binary universe at all. The Raptors added yesterday's preseason game (boxscore), while advertising their final two home preseason games -- against Maccabi on Thursday, and against the Cleveland LeBron's on Sunday night. It's the scoreboard feed, mind you, but it is the local team, Chuck and Jack and Norma and the rest. An improvement, that, on the dark screens in the offing last week.

LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR

Bosh, Nesterovic: Just add Bargnani and serve hot, Sam.

As for yesterday, a couple of little items from said broadcast. Anthony Parker looks like a poor (and slightly smaller) man's Shane Battier. And Andrea Bargnani does have a lovely shooting stroke, as Jack Armstrong noted between fouls, and wasn't shy to go down in the post and demand the ball - this kid just oozes hoops class. Otherwise, no real surprises, to me, anyway. One thing I'd love to see before this exhibition season is out, as a preview to what we should be seeing later on: Mitchell to give a frontline of Nesterovic, Bosh and Bargnani some minutes together.

Other stuff:

Mats Sundin's tour de force Saturday night was the latest display of shoot-first, ask-later excellence from the revitalized captain. But correct me if I'm wrong here - I didn't see a single hat on the ice after Sundin's game-winner. If any hat trick deserved it, this one was it. Are we too cool for that, too, Toronto? Best pressure performance of the night, though, may have been the relief pitching of Cassie Campbell, stepping in for snowbound Harry Neale on Hockey Night in Canada and handling it pretty smoothly.

Argos DB Byron Parker had another superb afternoon on Saturday and is putting together a pretty remarkable stretch of football -- seven interceptions in nine games, and four of them returned for TDs, since signing on Aug. 6.

Petr Cech is still in hospital after that awful collision Saturday, with a fractured skull. The accident, and an ensuing injury to backup Carlo Cudicini, has touched off a debate about goalkeepers' vulnerability.

Blog fave Neate Sager weighs in on How Detroit Built their Miracle Team. Not even knowing who they're going to play in the World Series, the books already have them favoured pretty handily.

Notes from a weekend

Little bits -- very little -- from the weekend and a quiet Monday morning, seeing as there's not a whole lot going on:

Tennis. Yah, tennis. Won't see that here too often. Today is the opening of the U.S. Open in New York, and you're welcome to it. ESPN.com has a poll up this morning on whether you care about the U.S. Open or not, and as of this writing 62 per cent are saying no. What's most intriguing to me is that the only state voting yes: Nevada.  Makes perfect sense to me.

DAVID GUTTENFELDER/AP

Is there a doctor in the house? I think he's choking.

Hoops. They're down to the final eight at the (interminable) world basketball championships, and yep, Chris Bosh is stepping it up. But check out old pal Chris Sheridan's weekend column, in which he notes that Saturday's Italy-Lithuania game featured 13 missed free throws and but two makes in the final couple of minutes. The Azzurri clanked the most of 'em and lost -- "Italy will be reeling from its choke job for a long, long time," he writes, but here's Sheridan's most ripping riposte from a Raptor-watcher's perspective: "Memo to Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo: "If this is the way all Italian players perform in the clutch, TRADE ANDREA BARGNANI IMMEDIATELY." Actually, my first thought was how Bargnani's decision not to go to the worlds was vindicated in those two minutes. At least he won't have to carry the collapse around with him.

Football. The Argos looked better on Friday night than they have all year (although Winnipeg surely gifted them some with the late meltdown). Even in the pass-heavy CFL, a commitment to running the football is the best guarantee of success and the Argos, post-Kent Austen, are showing that. As for the NFL, opening night is just 10 days away and here's a sleeper for your fantasy league draft: Browns RB Jerome Harrison (Disclaimer: Browns fan talking).

Horse racing. Having pitched a shutout at yesterday's Woodbine Handicapping Challenge (media division) -- congratulations to winner Shale Wagman and runner-ups Sheldon Usprech and Tony Natale, all of them winning entry into Vegas for January's 2007 national handicapping finals, and presumably some tennis bets -- I really have nothing to say except I'm tired of races coming off the turf when someone spits on the course. That's my excuse, anyway (to say nothing of the advent of Polytrack at the Rexdale plant come Wednesday night, which will no doubt be my next one. Only seven six races filled for Wednesday's debut of the faux-dirt, 63 49 horses entered in all -- UPDATE: I miscounted, adding a grass race to the mix -- Sounds like a wait-and-see vote from the backstretch.)

Mo update: On Friday the blog asked for some great Mo's in Toronto sports history. E-mailer John Reid sent in one Mauro Gozzo. Give that man a Flaming Moe!