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.

Into the weekend: Long bombs to short putts

With winter arriving today, JABS Mansion is into full and festive mukluks-and-corn-starch mode, having sacrificed a perfectly good golf umbrella to the wind this morning and getting soaked to the skin, only The National's Abel blaring in the ears to ward off the chill. We're leaving early, in other words, to get outta these wet clothes and into a dry martini.

But first, a quick look around the week's bits, and to put another Canadian football season to bed, let's start with Sean Smith at sportsBabel, who along with Rod Murray wrote The Narrative of Long Bombs, a provocative, thoughtful look at football's military connection. Here's a taste, but read it all:

. . . What is ironic is that this sponsorship comes at a time when the Canadian military has waived its requirement of a minimum fitness level to join the service. While this is clearly one sign among many that the Forces are on a desperate mission to increase their numbers, apparently general recruitment has little to do with requiring fit bodies. The thrust to recruit soldiers via football suggests that there must be some congruency between military and sport cultures.
(snip)
Of course, the choice of an athlete, or any Canadian, to enlist in our armed forces is a deeply personal one that should be respected. But when the business of sports intersects so dramatically with the decisions of our political and military leaders, we should take pause. Canada should support its soldiers, but if war is a continuation of politics by other means, that support should begin before they are sent off to fight. In other words, when the slick marketing campaign is pulled back, are the right questions being asked? And if so, are the right answers being given?
Pat Tillman's family doesn’t think so.

One last e-mail. Wade Tomlin figures the notion of a Sam Mitchell watch in the media is vastly overrated - at least in the Toronto sports media (the Raptors are en fuego, as they say on the sports broadcasts, zooming up to 5-10 on November since Wade wrote this early in the week):

To me firing Mitchell is as straightforward a situation for Bryan Colangelo as you see in sports. You have a team that everyone seems to accept has improved its roster, yet the team is off to forget about a slow start, but a similar one to the horrible start a year ago (1-11, 3-9, there is no real difference) and you have a coach who is now on the verge of his third losing season, who has no previous track record of success as a NBA head coach, who just last year was voted the worst coach in the N.B.A. by league players.
It is getting embarrassing as a fan to hear this idea that the Raptors have some form of excuse for this sorry start, there called standards and the Raptors organization, and many of the people surrounding the team (the announce team, sportswriters following the team), seem to have none when it comes to winning. Fire Mitchell now or this team will continue with its mantle as the new Los Angeles Clippers.

DICK LOEK/Toronto Star file photo

Ballard warms up for '75 Latvia finals.

One last "Is on fire! Let's NBA!" I don't know who did this, but some wicked wit who goes by the handle of Lockdown on the RealGM board has a pretty take in Sam Mitchell: The Graphic Novel. (Just in: Part II.)

One last invitation. To journalists covering next spring's world hockey championships, from the International Table Hockey Federation (via Babelfish, I presume. Either that or Borat):

"Also it is significant that this tournament will be restored in Riga, Latvia. Latvia is not only famous with their noisy and ice hockey loving fans, but Latvia is the first country in the world where table hockey is recognized by country officials as sport."

Table hockey as sport? Now that's a country.

One last Official Golfer of JABS update. That'd be Miguel Angel Jimenez, he of the lobster arms, ruddy ponytail and pot belly, who headed out for nine holes with GolfMagic and demonstrated admirable sponsor loyalty:

AMY SANCETTA/Associated Press

Jimenez: Give me Ping or give me death.

As we crouched down to read a tricky putt on the penultimate green he was intrigued by the shape of the Elmer M1 putter I was reviewing for Golfmagic. But he refused to handle it.
"No, no I cannot be photographed with another putter. That would be wrong, it would be disloyal to Ping. I've been with them for 15 years. Besides they would kill me!"

Sports around town. One of the more intense college rivalries in the neighbourhood gets renewed this weekend as Humber Hawks hosts Sheridan Bruins at 7 p.m. tonight.

Watching. Super Dogs and Horse Relay (3 p.m., Saturday, TSN). Frankly, I was hoping to take in some Elephant Polo this weekend, but I guess this will have to do. Super Dogs? Are they wearing capes? Do they rescue the horses from a burning building?

Pooch Punts. From Super Dogs to Jinks the Viszla, who promises to go at least 1-4 with his kibbles-or-cookies picks this week and thereby keep pace with the other public handicappers:

CHICAGO (-9) over Minnesota
Tampa Bay (+7) over PITTSBURGH
NEW ORLEANS (-7) over San Francisco
GREEN BAY (+1) over NY Jets
Seattle (+4) over DENVER

Doubleheader Night, Part II: Same Old (New) Raptors

Nine new faces, and Sam Mitchell – just kidding at the end of that last post (at least for now) - seems intent on getting every one of them some camera time.

Nothing much in the result came as a surprise: The experienced, together, division-favoured Nets - everything the Raptors aren't - turned it up when they had to. The Raptors can’t defend. Joey Graham is lost. The new Euros are going to face a rough baptism in this more athletic, quicker, more one-on-one NBA game. The Raptors can’t defend. Chris Bosh is labouring after his halting preseason. The Raptors can’t defend.

But there was some brightness in there, too . . .

7 Reasons Why 7-0 means something (and 7 why it doesn't)

So the Raptors are 7-0 in the preseason. Here's seven reasons why this means something (and thanks to petroleum-product based colleague Doug Smith for a couple of these):

David Cooper/Toronto Star

"Il più definitivamente."

Since the draft lottery, Bryan Colangelo hasn't lost. Except for John Salmons.

They're going to finish October ahead of the Leafs in W's.

Morris Peterson has learned to say "most definitely" in four new languages.

It'll be a hell of a lot easier to sell tickets next October with that Maccabi monkey off their back.

Eight more wardrobe changes for Sam Mitchell.

They went 3-5 last year, and look what happened in November.

Raptors Hardwood Classics needs something to show other than Game 7 against Philly.

And here's seven reasons why it doesn't:

Zach Randolph is leading the league in scoring (Troy Murphy is top rebounder).

It's the preseason.

It's the preseason.

It's the preseason.

It's the preseason.

It's the preseason.

It's the preseason.

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.

An early take on the Raptors

With the annual Leafs goring already underway, thoughts in this tiny corner inevitably turn to ... basketball.

Marc Stein, one of my faves, gives his rundown on NBA off-season activity, and skipping down to the Stein line on for the Raptors, it's almost as if he's reading my mind: "I definitely wouldn't expect a playoff berth in Year 1, after so many changes and given the inevitable struggles awaiting the NBA newcomers, but the plan already has won Chris Bosh over."

BILL KOSTROUN/AP

Headed back to the lottery?

A couple of weeks back I was out for a jar or two with Skeets and Tas, The Basketball Jones twins, and the subject got around to the Raptors -- hell of a surprise, that -- and how many games they might win this season.

I said 27, same as last year. As they picked their eyeballs out of the witbier and wondered if my glass was spiked with something, I went on to say I wouldn't be surprised if they won fewer than that (They won't, but I just wanted to see those eyeballs drop out again. I tried it again here in the office today, with boy wonder editor Spencer, and he had the same reaction. Honest, try it yourself with your friends if you don't believe me. It's great fun.).

To explain: As Stein says, there are too many changes here to expect a big jump in W's -- not just newcomers to each other, but newcomers to the league, its lifestyle and the sheer length of the season.

A new point guard, only two returning starters, a No. 1 overall pick who will need some time, a forward in Garbajosa who will need more than some time to adjust to playing faster players man-to-man (forget the world championships -- it's a different game over there, and to expect an instant fit here in the NBA's different environment requires a huge leap of faith equivalent to expecting USA coaches to actually, you know, scout their opponents), a coach who goes into the season with one year left on his contract and no groundswell building anywhere to give him an extension . . . There's more, but training camp is nearly three weeks away, and no use throwing all the caveats out there at once. My No. 1 player to watch is Joey Graham - the lower he ends up on the depth chart, the farther ahead this team is on its growth curve.

Despite that seeming gloomy assessment, this season should be nothing but very interesting, even watchable -- certainly more watchable than the dreck and turnover from the past three seasons or so. Colangelo's experiment, going heavily Euro including the hiring of an assistant GM will make this team one of the most scrutinized in the NBA. And the world. If it pays off, how long will it be before a Euro-raised head coach -- a Pesic, say, or David Blatt, to just throw out two names purely off the top of the head -- gets an NBA gig? Not long at all.

So bring it on, I say, 28 wins or no, because for the first time in a long time, there appears to be a Toronto GM in charge who actually has a plan, and it's actually quite different and worth paying attention to. It may even work -- but not just yet.