Hey, the mail's back!

Welcome back to the weekly (weakly?) mail offerings. Lots here, some saved to parcel out next week but we’re always looking for more.

Everyone have a lovely, sunny, safe long weekend, it’ll be full of grass-cutting and yard work and house work and some more down time over here.

Happy Labour Day weekend.

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Q: Hey Doug, Glad to hear you walked the Great Wall and took the luge ride, when I was there I completely forgot to take the luge ride down and I was berated by my friends for days after.
Question:  Do you need to be over the salary cap to be an elite team in the NBA? Last year were the last 4 teams all over the cap (Boston, Detroit, Lakers and Spurs?)
I know there are bad teams over the cap New York, but is every elite team over the cap?
Do you think Toronto can be an elite team while not going over the cap?

Sean P, Toronto

A: Seriously, go check out the difference between cap and tax. Thanks.

I know what you mean, though. And yes, teams, even Toronto, can be elite by not exceeding the TAX level.

For the ’07-08 season, of those final four, Boston and the Lakers were over the tax level, the Spurs and Pistons werent’.

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Q: Hey Doug, hope you had a good time in Beijing. Did you become a fan of any sports that we can expect regular updates on in the blog section?  At the end of the playoffs for the Pistons, Joe Dumars went off and said that some major changes were due for the aging Pistons.  There were some rumours immediately after the season, but nothing, aside from a coaching change.  Can we expect more to come?  If not, how can they get back together as they are currently constructed knowing that the man in charge has said that he basically does not like their team?

L G, Whitby

A: Sure, you can watch for archery and water polo and softball updates regularly.

Now, for the Pistons. There’s plenty of time left for Dumars to make a move and I’m pretty sure he’s working on some things. But if nothing gets done before the season starts, that doesn’t mean something substantial won’t happen before February.

I still think there’s a bold move to be made in Detroit and don’t doubt for a minute that Dumars will eventually make it.

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Q: Did you have a change to gain any insight into how Delfino feels about the Raptors not re-signing him? If he were to come back to the NBA he'd likely have to take a paycut (when the exchange rate and taxes are considered, I believe he's making the equivalent of 8-9 million a year playing in Russia. I know he's said he wants to be in the NBA but do you think he'd be willing to take that paycut to play with Toronto specifically?

Serge P, Ottawa

A: We didn’t speak specifically about Toronto but if he can get $3 million or so a year from an NBA team, he’ll be back next season. Russia’s good and the money’s great but the NBA remains the best league in the world by a mile and that’s where people want to play if they can. And if they want to truly challenge themselves.

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Q: Hey Doug, welcome back!

1. What, if any, lingering effect do you see emanating from what the American team experienced in the Olympics. Taking the top stars from the league and essentially re-teaching them the game along with the finer points of teamwork, respect and defense was the most enjoyable aspect of the tournament for me, next to the actual games of course. Will the establishment of a new culture for Basketball USA have a positive spill-over for the NBA?
2. Would it be possible to establish a Canadian Team that played permanently in the Euro-league? (I know we're not in Europe but we have to find the competition somewhere)
3. How does Argentina develop such top tier players with little more than Chile and Paraguay to compete against?
4. (Fantasy time) Would an all Spanish-speaking team made up of the best from Spain and Argentina beat the USA Once? How about in a 7 game series? Who would you place on the Spanish-speaking team?

Nik W, Ottawa

A: Holy smokes, been saving these up or what?

I expect little lingering effect on NBA games from the U.S. success in Beijing, an NBA regular season is an entirely different animal.

No, the Euroleague has its own way of determining who plays and they are not about to give the slightest consideration to an all-Canadian team that would, in my opinion, get drilled in almost every game.

Argetina develops players because their best players go and play on the top European clubs and in that Euroleague.

The best of Spain and Argentina on the same team, well coached, would give the Americans fits and that would be a helluva seven-game series. Too bad we’ll never see it.

I think, in the end, the Americans win in seven.

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Q: Hi Doug: I'm sure you'll have several facsimiles of this question, but inquiring minds want to know: any update on José's injury? Any chance the severity has been downplayed and this could be a lingering or recurring problem this season?

Kevin R, Winnipeg

A: I’ve been answering this since whatever day it was he got injured. It’s a minor strain of a groin muscle, it’s not serious, if it had happened in the course of a regular season, I’m told he would have been out a maximum of two weeks. He’s got a month before camp starts and will return 100 per cent.

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Q: Hi Doug, I've been asking questions about Sebastian Telfair for quite a while, and I am not sure if you didn't get a chance to see them, or you just don't know the guy that well. But that doesn't change the fact that I will still be asking for quite a while. Without further ado, my question: Do you think that Mr. Telfair could have become the next big thing if he stayed in college? His high school tapes were quite impressive and with enough experience in college he could have been a decent all-star by today’s standards. My question (okay, my second question) is that might he have been a better pick up for a back up guard than Solomon?

Dave C, Toronto

A: I think almost anyone, especially a point guard, would benefit from at least a year at college, probably two or three so, yes, he would have been better if he’d gone to school.

And, no, for the money and the situation in Toronto, he wouldn’t have been a better pick up than Solomon, actually. For the job the Raptors had, they needed someone mature, someone willing to sit and play when called on, not a young kid still trying to make a name for himself.

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Q: Who's your favorite for ROY next year?

Jeff S, Victoria

A: Today, before any of the rookies has so much as taken part in a single training camp workout, let alone played a pre-season game or a regular season game?

Hmm, I’d say Greg Oden.

Or any one of five other guys.

Well, look who's back!

Miss me? Yeah, thought so.

Anyway, after a couple days of catching up with the family and more hours of sleep than I had in about a week over there, it’s time to get back in the routine.

Not sure how much there’ll be over the next month (it’s almost a month to the day until media day and the opening of camp) but we’ll try to stay on top of as much as possible.

So, here goes.

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Now I know why they don’t call it The Mediocre Wall of China.

It’s unreal. One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

We went to the Mutianyu section, where you take a cable car up and, after a gruelling 90-minute walk up and down uneven steps, there’s a toboggan-like luge ride at the end that’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Having a Tsing Tao while walking was something else. (And they’ve got these vendors up there selling water and pop and beer and if that’s not the hardest job – lugging your wares up The Great Wall every day – I don’t know what is).

The Wall is a marvel of engineering. The section we were in dates back to the Ming Dynasty, which went from the late-1300s to the mid-1600s and it’s virtually impossible to envision how they did it, and how much manpower was needed to construct this thing.

It was an amazing end to a trip.

And you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen about eight Canadians, all tired and worn out, riding one-person sleds down from the wall, looking like little kids on the longest sled ride they’ve ever taken.

Very, very cool.

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Now, on to some other stuff:

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In watching Carlos Delfino tear it up for Argentina at the Olympics, the one thing that came to mind was everyone connected with the team should be glad they still have his rights.

Not sure how he’ll do in Russia but NBA scouts had to come away from Beijing impressed with his all around play. He ran a lot of the offence as a point guard, didn’t take many of those crazy shots that he was known for at times here and was as consistent as he’d ever been.

Of course, we all know he can go for long periods being entirely invisible and that was his biggest problem in the NBA.

But as one exec said at the Olympics, “that’s a pretty good asset” for the Raptors to have.

But, no, he wasn’t going to be back here this season. It was a money decision, the Raptors didn’t have enough and didn’t want to spend what they had on him.

Maybe next year. Or maybe, because he remains a restricted free agent, they can work some sign-and-trade next summer. Whatever happens, extending the qualifying offer and not rescinding it seems like a pretty good no-lose move at the moment.

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Here’s one from the mail:

Q: Carlos D. will never be a Raptor again. The US economy will be in the toilet for another 3-5 years; during this time the Euro will be of 'good value'. More people will sign over there, including some very surprising ones.

It may be my mistake, but didn't CB4 enter the final 5-6 minutes of the (gold medal) game with only a lead of four, and sloppy US defence. If there were an MVP ranking for the team, how close does Chris come for the Games.

Richard S, Lethbridge

A: Thanks for the economic lesson, I’ll be sure to buy Euros and not American dollars with my next investments.

Now, for Bosh?

I’d put him behind Kobe, Dwyane Wade and likely LeBron as the fourth most valuable American throughout the tournament. But, really, ranking them is silly, all the guys who played substantial minutes (that’s everybody but Carlos Boozer and Michael Redd) were great.

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Do you know it’s almost a month to the day before camp starts?

Not sure anything of substance is going to happen with the Raptors between now and then – there are no rosters moves to make whatsoever – so it’s going to remain pretty quiet news-wise.

What’s going to happen is players will start filtering back into the city, probably beginning next week, and they’ll be hanging out at the ACC doing workouts and scrimmaging pretty much every day.

I haven’t heard how many players they’ll be bringing to camp as fodder, if I had to guess, it’d be three but no one who gets an invite has a chance to make the team.

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Speaking of Bosh, we all saw how well he played in Beijing and how his defensive intensity was off the chart.

A word of warning:
You are not going to see the same level of intensity every night for an 82-game season. Not going to happen. It’s one thing to play that way for 20 minutes or so for eight games over more than two weeks; it’s quite another to expect it on back-to-back nights in, say, Toronto and Milwaukee some Friday-Saturday in February.

What you are going to see, I think, is a different Bosh in “big games.” Important regular season games, playoff games, moments of tight games when they need a leader to step up on the defensive end.

Then you’ll see a new level of confidence, a new level of leadership that was born in the Olympics.

Every night? Not going to happen. It can’t. No one – not you, not me, not him – is wired that way.

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Another from the mail:

Q: What are your thoughts on Ricky Rubio? Possible first overall draft pick and future NBA all-star?

Alex H, Oakville

A: Kid’s gonna be good, really good. Has a great court sense, defends well, impeccable ball-handling skills for a teenager and he sees the court extremely well.

He cannot shoot a lick at the moment, and that troubling, but it’s also a skill that can be taught.

It’s way to early to suggest a draft order for next June but he’s an early favourite for No. 1. Future NBA all-star? Don’t know about that quite yet.

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Okay, that’s gonna be it for today, gotta easy back into this what with things being so slow and all that.

Will try to get a usual Friday mailbag up tomorrow (and that’s a bit on you to get some good question in there) and then we’ll pick things back up the first of the week.

You can douse that flame now, thank you

So, it’s over. Or almost over.

The ceremonies are about to start, I got a couple more to write for that pesky newspaper but, then? Then it’s over and somewhere in this vast land there are a bucketful of Tsing Taos with my name on ‘em.

This is the first time in the six Bun Tosses Like This I’ve been to that we’ve had this sort of thing to write so I’m not sure if I get all teary-eyed and wistful and mushy and melancholy or what.

Nah.

Too out of character.

Final impressions though? Maybe a few

The Games have been extraordinarily well run, with attention paid to the smallest of details, with volunteers that couldn’t do enough for you, a transportation system that should now be the benchmark for every future Games.

The venues? Some were breathtaking, the Bird’s Nest from the outside more breathtaking than any. But some were banal. The ballparks were pre-fab, the basketball arena could have been dropped in Wukesong from any NBA city. The archery field (Pitch? Yard? Facililty?) was tres cool but the soccer pitches were surrounded by running tracks and that made the action seem kilometres away.

And there was a sterility that was a bit disconcerting, to tell you the truth.

There wasn’t a lot of joy among the people, it didn’t seem. They were happy, no question, but unbridled excitement? Not so much. It was strange.

All in all, they were a Good Games.

They didn’t approach Great.

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Remember yesterday’s question about taekwondo and its suitability to be an Olympic sport?

Well, how about the Cuban guy kicking the ref in the head after his bout?

Reports are circulating that none of three judges gave him a point for it.

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Every four years, it seems, I go to a track meet. One quadrennial it’s in Athens, the next it’s in Beijing and there’s every chance the next time I see athletics will be in 2012 in London.

But I gotta tell you, they got some cool stuff at track.

Was watching the men’s javelin on Saturday night here and they’ve got these little remote control cars that run the length of the field taking the javelins back to the throwers.

They’re just like the little cars – maybe a tad more enhanced and powerful – than Super Son or your kid used on the driveway when they were toddlers.

Not sure where the guy was who was controlling them but he was having a gas. He’d do little figure 8s or sharp turns or run the things backwards for a few metres.

Made a night at the track a bit more entertaining.

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Pau Gasol is much tougher wearing a Spain jersey than he is with a Laker uniform on.

Maybe it’s familiarity with his teammates, I’m not sure. But you can bet Kobe Bryant’s going to remind him at some point in the NBA season when he reverts to his usually soft self.

It was like oldtimers night at the Bird’s Nest when I was there.

They interrupt things for medal ceremonies, of course, and taking part were the great Cuban Alberto Juantorena and the legendary Sergei Bubka.

I don’t know all that much about track but those are two giants and I think other sports should use great athletes from the past more often.

Of course, I don’t know who that’d be in many of the sports but they should do it anyway.

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Oh, right. The basketball game.

It was a great one, the best I saw here (missed the Argentina-Greece quarter-final, unfortunately) and a fitting end to what had been a rather uneventful tournament.

Spain was great, watching them cut and move without the ball and make pinpoint passes in traffic was a clinic in international play. Rudy Fernandez is going to be a helluva good NBA player, that Portland team is going to be very, very much fun to watch.

The Americans, though?

A cut above. They played as a team, they played with purpose, they never once strayed from the idea that they needed to work together.

I remember months ago against Jose Calderon what he thought about the Olympics and his initial reaction was that if the Americans played with purpose, they’d be virtually impossible to beat.

He was right.

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Caught up with Carlos Delfino very briefly after Argentina's bronze medal win over Lithuania.

He’s pretty happy with the chance to go play in Russia, especially for the money he’s going to be making. And when someone on the edge of the conversation suggested he’d be back with the Raptors – who still have his NBA rights – he sort of shrugged and said, “maybe.”

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There’s one in every crowd.

Dwyane Wade’s shooting free throws in throws in the middle of the third quarter of the gold medal against Spain and some comic in the upper deck starts chanting ‘M-V-P, M-V-P.’

Guarantee you he wasn’t from here.

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Okay, as I mentioned, it’s time to be done for now. And there’s an excursion to the Great Wall on Monday here, a long, long flight home on Tuesday so I’m not sure when I’ll get back to these parts again. Probably not until Wednesday sometime so don’t fret that your comments are being ignored.

And don’t worry, I may have some time on the flight to get to the mail that’s been building up.

It’s been a blast stepping out of the basketball world for three weeks or so, hope you liked it. But it’ll soon be time to be Raptor-centric once again.

See ya.

Maybe a revision is in order

Can you imagine some dope picking Spain to win the Olympic men’s basketball gold medal?

They gotta revoke that dude’s membership in whatever club it is that picks international tournaments.

There's probably only one way Spain wins and here it is: If the Americans play as bad as they did in the second quarter against Argentina for the entire game and Spain plays absolutely flawless basketball, then it might be close.

But even under those circumstances, I can see the Americans giving the ball to Kobe or LeBron and letting them go to work.

I didn’t think the Americans could keep up the intensity or the focus or the defensive effort that they know is necessary. I thought there might be a breakdown and a return to the old “let me do it, I’m great” attitude of past teams.

So far, and perhaps it’s only because they’ve never been challenged in the second half of a game, they haven’t and I don’t see why they would start tomorrow in the gold medal game.

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So, I finally got to the Bird’s Nest on Saturday night here (Saturday morning back home) to see the last night of track and field.

It makes 10 venues for these Games, which I think is a personal best.

And this is a gorgeous stadium from the outside, absolutely spellbinding in its design but inside?

It’s like all the others pretty much, very sterile, very functional but not overwhelming. I’d have to rank it behind Barcelona and probably Athens on the list of the big stadiums Games I’ve done.

It’s nice inside and everything works and it’s huge. The flame looks great burning at one end but once you get over the exceptional exterior, there’s not much to write home about.

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You gotta see the subway cars here.

Very new, pretty spacious and at each end, a very, very nice flat screen, HD TV that shows nothing but Olympics these days.

I mean, these TV are sweet. Showing live broadcasts. What do we get at home? Time and temperature?

Anyway, Perk reports the other day he was going to Wukesong or biking or BMX or somewhere on the subway at the same time as the men’s table tennis semis or quarters were being shown.

Now, think Canada, think hockey, multiply it be six or eight and you’ve got the equivalent to what table tennis is in these parts. And straphangers were hanging on every point, cheering wildly as they careened along the tracks.

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It's a sign, Doug. You'll be home soon.

Seriously, the kind folks here really taking care of me.

Remember last week when I had mentioned I hadn’t see birds and then, presto!, saw about a flock of them the next day? And I found something unique about the Red chicken and we all know how that turned out, don’t we?

Well, I’m at the basketball semifinals on Friday night, feeling a little wistful for home and, what do you know, what seems almost a replica of the CN Tower shows up in the distance. Sweet.

So what if it’s a transmission tower for CCTV, it’s the thought that counts.

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I missed the big FIBA news conference before the hoops semifinals but apparently the only thing of significance was that they’re thinking of increasing the field for the world championships from 24 to 32 teams.

Finally, a way Canada can qualify.

But, seriously folks, that’d be among the stupidest things ever. There were horrible mismatches when the tournament was 16 teams, it was laughable at 24 two years ago in Japan so 32 would be plumbing the depths of bad basketball worldwide.

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Hmm, so the kayaker blows up in the 1,000, the BMX rider crashes out of her race and the mountain biker dead-bolt medal lock hyperventilates herself right out of the race.

As one wag noted, “Canada’s back!”

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Speaking of hyperventilating, all you Raptor fans out there need to chill about this injury to Jose Calderon.

It’s a tweaked groin with a small tear, relatively minor, he should close to 100 per cent in a couple of weeks and, seeing how we’re a couple of months away from the start of the season, it’s going to be just fine.

We now return you to your regular scheduled other Raptor angst.

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A timely one here:

Q: Keep up the good work, Dougie... Have you managed to catch any of the Taekwondo? Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge of the sport, but the commentary from the games suggests that its not, but does this sport have the most suspect judging in the games? It could give ice dancing a run. I have been absolutely baffled at how they choose to reward or not reward a point. Thanks, Doug.

Enjoy the homestretch and have a safe trip home.

Dan D, Hamilton

A: Funny you should ask. Just as I was getting ready to answer this, there was a bout on the TV just down the aisle from me and a women from Great Britain got absolutely robbed in a loss to a woman from China.

The Brit landed a blatant kick to the head, which I’m told is supposed to score two points, and she ended up losing 1-0.

You should have seen the reaction of the half dozen British scribes who occupy this little part of the press centre with us.

I’ve got to admit it was only about the second fight I’ve seen but the other was Karine Sergerie’s first round bout which she won on supposed superiority. That’s sure not what it looked like to be.

So with that being said, and having heard of other questionable scoring decisions, I’d say taekwondo has a very short shelf life as an Olympic sport. Like maybe one more Games and that’s it.

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You know what I have to get? Peddle-pushers or capris or whatever those calf-length pants for guys are called nowadays.

They are all the rage over here and something I’m sure will catch on, eventually, in fashion-starved Mississauga.

But the other big male fashion statement I’ve seen?

In the heat and humidity, they’ve taken to rolling up their t-shirts about breast high and, believe me, that’s not something you want to see.

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Last in the mail for now:

Q: Hi Doug, is it a story at all in China about the age of the gold medal winner in gymnastics?

Steph G, Glencoe

A: Oh yeah, created quite a buzz around here yesterday when the IOC asking for more investigating first broke. Quieted down today a little bit but you can be sure there are people out there digging up stuff as I type.

Heat? Crowds? Bring 'em on

I’m not big on crowds and I’m not really built for the heat so why I decided today, when it’s 30 plus and a billion people are in town, to go visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City is beyond me.

But I did. And it was sorta worth it.

Not sure what I was expecting, certainly not tanks and students and protesters, but the square was, frankly, underwhelming.

Sure, there was a sense of history but cheesy souvenir stands on the sides really diminish it.

But it was crowded. And hot. Just like I like it. Not.

The most interesting thing?

Being asked by a local teen to have my picture taken with him.

The other Canadians had been telling me about this phenomenon, where they’re asked, out of the blue, to pose for a photo with a local.

I was chatting with a woman from California when a kid and what had to be his mom stopped by. The kid spoke, the California woman is fluent in Mandarin and answered and then all of a sudden, I’m standing there next to the guy while mom clicks off a couple of frames.

I can just hear the kid now when he gets back to school:

“Hey look. Big, heavy, tired foreigner and me. What a picture!”

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Did get a chance to check out Snack Street and was not even tempted to try deep fried bug or some insect on a stick or whatever the meat on a skewer was.

And if Tiananmen was packed, Snack Street was super packed.

Think the smallest, tightest alley anywhere near where you live, put booths on both sides of it, added a couple of thousands people and the, um, aroma, of frying bugs and the screeches of food hawkers and you’ve got it.

I’m not sure why anyone would go twice. It’s something to see. And then to avoid.

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First mail trip

Q: Is the source you refer to as "Someone Who'd Know" a single person, or instead a catchall for the various insider contacts you've accumulated?

K A, Toronto

A: Without revealing a source, ‘cause I’d never do that, let’s just say that when I write that phrase, it refers to whoever it needs to in a specific instance.

You gotta trust me that it’s indeed Someone Who Knows about whatever it is I’m writing about.

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You are going to have to look long and hard to find a more compelling athletic competition than the women’s platform diving here Thursday night, which I guess was early Thursday morning there, and I really hope a lot of you saw it.

Can you imagine the pressure on the winner from China, Chen Roulin?

She’s at home, the gold favourite, sellout crowd watching in the Ice Cube, er, Water Cube, I don’t know many millions of others watching on TV and all those years of training and competing pointing to her last dive.

She’s got to be practically perfect to move into first and what did she do?

Nailed it. Perfectly.

That’s stones, my friends.

And Canada’ s silver medallist Emilie Heymans?

Well, let’s just say she’s not really known for grit but for her to nail five dives like she did under those circumstances?

I’m nominating that right now for the best Canadian performance – all things considered – of the Game so far.

Two Olympic moments, right there.

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Okay, I know you’re all going to read this and then sit around and watch USA-Argentina in the basketball semifinals, right?

Well, the Kobe-Manu story is the one that’s getting all the juice out there but here’s one to think about to.

I’m told by beat grunts who follow the Cavs regularly that it’s pretty personal between LeBron James and Andres Nocioni and that’s one worth watching, too.

I don’t know if the Americans can be beaten with the way they’ve played.

But if they play three quarters like they did in the first half against Australia (missing 10 free throws and 10 of 13 three-pointers), Argentina’s got a legit chance.

I don’t know what the line is (gambling, except when it’s run by the bookies in our government, is illegal, I remind you again) but I see the US winning by less than 10.

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I don’t care what happens the rest of the Games, nothing will be as big an upset as Japan over the United States in softball. No way.

The Americans were unbeatable. And then they got beat.

And while we’re on the subject:

Q: I'm confused about the format of Softball in the Olympics. Japan beat USA for the gold, but I also just read that Japan lost to USA in the semi-finals. If they lost in the semi-finals, how do they get to play for gold? Shouldn't they be playing in the bronze medal game? It also said that Japan played three games the day before the Gold medal game. Can you explain the format? Thanks

Alex H, Oakville

A: It’s the Page Playoff system. One plays two, three plays four. Winner of one-two goes to the gold medal game, loser plays the winner of three-four (the loser of three-four is out) and the winner of that game meets the winner of one-two for gold and silver. The loser of that game between the loser of one-two and the winner of three-four gets the bronze.

Got it? Took me a day or two to figure it out.

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We sitting around glued to the TV watching equestrian (and I absolutely guarantee you I will never write those words again) the other night when Lamaze won his gold. The question was, would they take the horse through the mixed zone? And since I never saw any Hickstead quotes, I guess they don’t.

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From the Department of Knock-Offs I’ve seen Wu Mart. A big department store that sells whatever you need at discount prices.

Tougher at the beach than at BMX

Now, I don’t want to denigrate BMX as an Olympic sport (actually, I do but I’ll wait a couple of paragraphs to do it) so I will just make this point as a matter of comparison:

It was pouring rain when we woke up here this morning on the day BMX was to award its first medals. And while the kids cowered and postponed everything a day, the women’s beach volleyball gold medal match went on, downpour or not.

Maybe the cyclists were worried all the metal they wear in various piercings might rust.

Wusses.

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Speaking of BMX, My Man Perk was out there this morning here (last night there) for the rainout of the big medal day and that gave him a chance to talk to a dude who actually paid money to have his name legally changed to reflect his dedication to, and style of playing, the sport.

I can’t give away all of Perk’s great lines but I encourage you all to wake up early tomorrow and read the column. It’s a classic.

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The Special Meat/Rodent Palace is back in our news.

Chatting with a couple of NBA and writer types at halftime of the USA-Australia game and conversation got around to the joint and whether anybody’s gone back there since the, um, mouse/rat/scorpion-as-big-as-your-arm incident.

One guy in the conversation was aghast that it’s no longer popular.

"Hey, if you can see them, they’re not cooking them.”

That’s oddly logical, isn’t it?

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You know how I’ve been lauding the volunteers here for their willingness to do almost anything – including scraping the food from our plates and separating the recyclables from our breakfast trays?

Well, they went above and beyond on Friday morning when we all awoke to a terrific downpour that lasted about four hours.

Usually, when we go through the security check in the massive tent at the village, we’ve got about a 60-metre walk to the buses that are inevitably waiting.

Today, not only had they pulled the buses right up to the tent, there were four volunteers – two on each side – standing there holding umbrellas so we wouldn’t get too wet on the three or four steps we had to take from tent to bus.

Now that’s service.

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Mail’s in, at least a quickie:

Q: Why does Team USA chose low numbers for their jerseys? (ex. Bosh #12)

Tom R, Toronto

A: FIBA rules stipulate that teams can only use numbers 4-15 on their jerseys. It was done mainly for the referees to signal calls to the scorers table. Watch them, they use the right hand for calls on Nos. 4 and 5, two hands for 6 through 10 and a closed left fist and fingers on the right hand for calls on players 11 through 15.

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Okay, back to BMX.

Not sure it was who said it, but watching the time trials – one rider over a bunch of bumps and around some turns – was like watching some kid ride away after stealing your child’s bike.

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One of the theories being bandied about at the basketball tournament regarding Spain and Jose Calderon is rather intriguing.

It has been suggested by people in the know that Spanish coach Aito Garcia Reneses is more interested in using Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez because they play, or have played, for him at Joventut Badalona of the ABC.

That makes as much sense as anything because while Rubio is flashy, he’s still 17 and tends to play a wee bit out of control. Sometimes it’s exceptional – he’s a couple of Maravich Moments in the games I’ve seen – but he’s also tried such novel things as throwing lob pasess off the backboard intended for teammates who never saw them coming.

Now, there are a lot of places where lob passes off the backboard are a wonderful idea, charity games, garbage time of summer leagues, your rec league or the playground. The Olympics? Not one of them.

Speaking of Jose, he’s to have an MRI late today here (or just a while ago depending on when I get this blog posted) and I’m told by Someone Who’d Know that he won’t step on the court for Friday’s semifinal against Argentina Lithuania (oops) unless he’s 100 per cent. He’s given his word to the Raptor bosses and there’s no reason to think he’d go back on it.

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Another question:

Q: Doug, we've seen Michael Phelps wear two bathing caps to prevent water resistance from his goggles' strap and Walter Dix wear wind resistant sleeves in the 100m sprints.  With all the focus on athletes doing "anything" to win and with placings in swimming and track coming within 100th's of seconds, do you know why some athletes insist on wearing heavy jewellery or "bling" during races?

Don W, North York

A: It’s easy: Vanity.

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Now, that’s how you finish a race.

The 200 turned in by Usain Bolt on Wednesday night here was an exciting an athletic performance as I’ve maybe ever seen. I liked it even better than his 100 win and it probably tops my past favourite, which was Donovan Bailey’s 100 win in Atlanta

The reason? He went all out, all the way. It was that kind of once-in-a-lifetime performance that I’ll remember much more fondly than his 100 win.

I saw Michael Johnson run 19:32 in Atlanta and didn’t think I’d ever see a better sprint. Now I have.

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They won’t mind if I give ‘em up.

Q: "Only thing that made it worthwhile was hanging with a couple of American basketball writers who made it a point at every Games to see the last-place games in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Masochists."
Who are the couple of writers'? Anyone we would know?

Shawn L, Bowmanville

A: You might. Couple of very good friends, the legendary Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, who’s here as it turns out; and Jim O’Connell of the Associated Press, who isn’t here but who’s forgotten more about international basketball than I’ll ever know.

High (five) times at the ballyard

Just got done chronicling the last of Canada’s softball team’s games, a tough 5-3 loss to the Aussies and it means I’ve likely seen my last softball game for, oh, I dunno, ever.

With the sport out of London in 2012, it’ll be at least 2016 before it’s back at the Olympics and I’m not sure at the ripe old age I’ll have attained by then that softball will be on my to-do list. Might be, but maybe not.

Anyway, an observation:

There is far too much high-fiving and meeting in softball. They huddle and high-five before going on the field to start a half inning. They huddle and high-five coming off the field after a half inning. Pitcher completes warm-ups? Yup, high fives. And all of ‘em seem scripted.

A friend explained that it’s team building and supporting each other and all that kumbaya-ish psychobabble but to me, it’s too, too much. Rant over.

And my two cents?

Softball has to get back in the Olympics.

I know it’s not a really “global” game and that might be an issue but I don’t imagine there are a lot of BMXers in, say, Africa.

It’s a women’s team sport played with no hint of scandal ever and if the IOC isn’t a bunch of dolts (oh, wait, it is) the game should be contested in 2016.

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You know that these Olympics force a lot of writers to cover stuff they don’t usually cover (I hadn’t seen archery or water polo before getting here) so the utter confusion was understandable, if quite funny, in the press room at the softball semis this morning.

A couple of American scribes, right up on a tight deadline back home, were quite mystified by the silly rule that lets teams put a runner on second base to begin any extra inning.

It took about three of us to figure out what was going on, with the two deadline scribblers shouting out questions while typing their stories.

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You know what’s stupid?

Classification games in team tournaments at the Olympics are stupid.

Our water poloists, for instance, haven’t won a game, haven’t play well at all but still have to drag themselves to the pool to face Greece or China in a game to determine 11th and 12th places.

That’d be in a 12-team tournament. Glory to the 12th place squad.

Basketball used to do it, too.

I remember sitting in a practically vacant Georgia Dome in Atlanta on the Sunday morning of the closing ceremonies watching a women’s basketball game to determine whether Canada or Zaire finished dead last in the field.

Only thing that made it worthwhile was hanging with a couple of American basketball writers who made it a point at every Games to see the last-place games in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Masochists.

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So, the secret of the Red thing is out.

Damn.

Honestly, though, I didn’t know who it was, I just sorta noticed Red over Blue, Green and whatever the other colour is. But it’s nice to know I can pick ‘em.

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You know what this place needs?

A late-night spot for us grunts to hang at the end of a long, long.

The roof bar here closes at 12, the restaurant in the village doesn’t have beer and the store closes before we get home almost every night.

It’s not so much the booze, actually, it’s the unwinding.

Every Games I’ve been to, there’s been a 24-hour spot where you could get a cold beer or two, a story or two from the inevitably large group of Canadians gathered there and it was the decompression point of the Games. Sucks that there isn’t one now.

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Dipping into the mail:

Hey Dougie, I have an Olympic 101 Question for you. Who wins the Olympics? Is it the team with the most gold medals or the team with the most overall medals. I ask this cause on some site it puts China in first place while other site have put US in first place. Who were the past winners and has Canada ever won or been in the top 3??

Thanks

George K, Toronto

A: Good question, and I think it depends on whether you ask the Chinese or the Americans. As it stands now, as I type this, China leads in the gold medals, the Americans have won more overall and the official list here in the Beijing computer system has China listed first (that may be hometown scoring but I seem to recall that being the case in other Olympics). To me? It’s the golds that count and should determine who wins.

And, no, Canada’s never been in the top three and they’ll be looking at top 16 here.

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Not sure what you’re seeing on TV back there but there can be some confusing moments over here where we get no sound on any of the sets.

The IOC’s decision to only use country abbreviations on the little ‘bug’ that tells the score of games in the top corner of the screen can cause some confusion.

A neophyte was watching the women’s tennis final and saw Russia playing Russia and unless you sat down and watched for a few minutes, you couldn’t get a score in an instant, which is why they have the technology, my learned TV friends tell me.

We’ve see CHN-CHN in table tennis, too.

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They got ‘em everywhere. Gawkers, that is.

Just pulled up at the basketball gym in a full bus and we passed the players’ entrance about 35 minutes after China’s run ended with a loss to Lithuania.

And the place was packed with a couple of hundred fans wanting to catch a glimpse of the team bus as it pulled out.

Memo to gawkers: Yao’s the tall one and the bus isn’t going to stop.

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US-Australia about tip off. Take the States, give the 20 points.

A TV station to avoid

You see a lot of things in the main press centre at the Olympics, like people sleeping in their chairs, heads on the desk at the end of a long day.

There are people glued to the TVs that are everywhere, cheering for their countrymen and at one Games, and I don’t remember which won, I listened as a South American dude three seats over was doing live radio play-by-play of a soccer game off a television monitor.

Never mind that the game couldn’t have been that far away, he was yelling and screaming for 90 minutes. Quite entertaining in a really annoying kind of way.

Today? Today I saw one I’d never seen before.

Some guy was standing shooting video of anonymous people going up and down the escalator.

But that wasn’t the strangest part of it.

There was a guy behind him shooting video of him shooting video of anonymous people riding up and down the escalator.

Not sure what channel in what country they were working for but I don’t ever want to watch it.

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I don’t know how he did it in this age of censored Internet access here – God forbid I’m able to read that evil Doug Smith blog – but Perk found me some betting lines on the men’s hoops quarters.

The Americans are a mere 31-point favourite over Australia, which is more like the line on a bad college football game. Spain’s 12 over Croatia, Lithuania’s only 10 over China (home court worth a lot apparently) and Argentina’s 4 1-2 over Greece.

I’d take all the favourites. If I were a betting man, of course. But gambling’s illegal.

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Big intrasquad game in the men’s hoops quarter-finals.

Spain vs. Croatia and a chance to see Jose go against Roko, at least a little bit.

Not sure what’s up with Calderon. The two games I’ve seen him play he’s looked all right but he keeps getting jerked around by the coach. Starts one game, doesn’t start the next. Starts one game, doesn’t start the second half. Plays 30 minutes one night, 14 the next.

Odd.

All I know is that he told me he’s healthy, keeps going on in his own inimitable style about helping the team however it’s needed and seems happy, at least publicly.

The thought around the gym is that maybe Spain is just playing possum, not showing anything they’ve got until it’s absolutely necessary, like in the gold medal game.

That makes a bit of sense. I think anyone knows the Americans are only going to lose one game – if they lose at all – and there’s no sense using all your bullets in the inconsequential first round.

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You finish your breakfast at the media village cafeteria and approach the garbage areas ready to toss out the plate, plastic cutlery and whatever drink containers you have.

You can’t, though.

Because there are always three volunteers standing there eager to help you by taking your trash and dealing with it.

I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen when I get home and will be one of the things I miss most about the North Star Media Village.

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Nobody's stealing that fire truck. Nobody.

Pretty sure I’ve told you about the guards guarding the fire truck at our village, right?

Well, we’ve got a new game to play.

When you drive by in the little golf cart thing that shuttles us from our building to the bus stop, if you salute the soldiers they salute back.

Perk says he feels like a big shot from the Central Committee; I think the guards are just scared of him and salute back so he doesn’t get out of the cart.

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Got into the Ice Cube, er, Water Cube, this morning to check out some diving and it’s way better on the outside than the inside.

It does look extraordinarily cool from afar, blue or red depending on somebody’s mood I think. Inside? It’s all right but not nearly as impressive at it looks from afar.

The diving was pretty good, though. I knew enough to know that a big splash was a bad thing but other than that, they twisted and turned and tumbled and some judges gave them marks. No one did a cannonball or a bellyflop, which are dives I can appreciate.

Then somebody had more points than someone else and then we talked to the Canadian kid.

Covering this stuff is a snap.

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I’m always willing to talk gastronomy.

Q: Hi Doug, this is a pure food-related question. How does the food in Chinatown in Toronto compare to that of China? I know I've travelled to parts of China and have had food that was just out of this world, but I have to say Chinatown's isn't bad either. What do you prefer?

Sam C, Kingston

A: I don’t get out a lot in Chinatown back home and have only been to about three restaurants here and the excellent food court in the press centre but I’d say this is light years better than anything I’ve had in Toronto.

Had Peking Duck again today at lunch, it was awesome.

Hopefully, if things slow down in the next week, I’ll find some other local establishments – and not the kind with the Special Meat and the rodents – to try out.

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Things I’ve never seen before and can’t quite understand: I believe it was called the Madison bike race and it looked for all the world to me like a cycling version of short-track speedskating minus the collisions.

A bunch of guys from the same team tagging off and riding what seemed to be a relay and it was so utterly confusing it took about four minutes to figure out who won.

Argentina, I believe.

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Olympics always bring out the sharing in the reporters from Canada who get together to cover them.

It’s just about time for the three-metre men’s springboard final and five of us are in the Ice Cube, er, Water Cube workroom trying to get our Alexandre Despatie background taken care of.

One guy from one paper asks about Despatie’s broken foot and a guy from another publication answers. I need to know about his Olympic past and two guys offer background.

You don’t get this kind of co-operation too often on a regular beat in a regular pro sports season, that’s why this can be a pretty cool gig sometimes.

We remain competitive but lending a helping hand is done as a matter of course here.

Now, that's some kind of doubleheader

There’s nothing like a Canada-Japan baseball-softball doubleheader, is there?

That’s how I spent the last nine or so hours hours, watching the men spit up another one (1-0, can’t hit with men in scoring position, reminding me of the Evil Canada Screwing Jays) and then hopping a bus over the softball venue for the big women’s tilt where Canada got drubbed.

A heckuva sweep for Japan. Would have been nice if one of the Canadian teams had scored a run.

But now I know who gets what media attention in Japan.

An hour to first pitch at the baseball game and there were about 50 Japanese grunts in the media seating and a television crew getting ready to broadcast the game.

Softball?

Maybe a third of the number.

There were about three of us Canadians who did both ends of the twinbill which either means we’re far more equitable in which teams we cover or we all work for papers that work us too hard.

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Is this right?

Should a basketball arena in Beijing have private boxes? Doesn’t that run counter to something? Shouldn’t all the fans sit together?

Anyway, they’ve got suites ringing the Olympic arena – looked like they have nice flat-screen HD TVs in them, too – and I’m told three members of the Central Committee were in one for the China-Germany men’s game the other night.

They didn’t flash their picture up on the scoreboard. Woulda been cool to see if anyone booed had they done that.

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More culinary delights.

One of the few things that these Games don’t have are concession stands that the media can easily get to.

We can’t usually get into the stands with the fans (they like to keep us separated from the people for some reason) but at past Games they’ve always sold us food – some even edible – in the various press centres.

The only place I’ve seen anything more than free cookies and water they put out is here at Fengtai softball where they’ll see you Bento and bread and, ta-da!, pizza.

Tucked into what’s called a “Block Of Pizza” on the menu and I gotta tell you, it tastes a lot like cardboard but for a starving grunt, it’s the best cardboard I’ve had since I got here.

It’s kind of like frozen stuff you get in the supermarket back home, tossed in a microwave.

And because they are ever-careful here, there’s a notice on the door of the stand that says:

For Food Safety Reason No Return/Exchange

Glad I didn’t get a piece of used pizza.

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hey love their foul balls at Wukesong.

That’s where the ball parks are here and every time a ball goes in stands there’s all kinds of oohing and ahhing.

A priceless moment yesterday when a foul ball goes right out of the park in the Canada-Japan game and the PA folks play a tape of the tinkling of broken glass.

You would have thought Rodney Dangerfield had done 10 minutes of schtick or that Dashan dude had performed for the laughter that sound effect induced.

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One from the mail:

Q: First off, thanks for the Beijing blog - it provides insight and creates a visual picture that we wouldn't normally get from our usual homogenized sources, ie: the clip-clapping of 'special meat' traps.

I've tried to come up with a Raps question for you but the best I can come up with is a comment. Holy cow, I forgot how young our Mr. Bosh is and that he's still improving. His defensive prowess has been impressive indeed and only makes me salivate more for a peek at how he and Mr. O'Neal operate together.

On to my question ... I'm sitting here watching Mr. Bolt in the 200 meter and recalling a conversation I had with a buddy of mine the other day between squash games. I noted that he was receiving criticism for his self-aggrandizement in the final 10 metres of the 100m final in lieu of trying to set an almost unbeatable record.

I agreed with your disappointment in his behaviour, but my buddy made the point that he's 21, and that he can beat that record any time, if not several times, and is perhaps saving that moment for some high-dollar event where they fill a stadium to watch the world's fastest man, yadda yadda.

I concurred that due to his age he could probably beat that time at will at the event of his choosing... could he and/or his people be more clever or at least more savvy than we're giving him/them credit for? Thoughts?
James G, Toronto

A: I can’t say for sure what he was thinking, but I believe any athlete on such a grand scale should push himself as hard as he possibly can and not hot-dog it for self-promotion and fun.

It is the essence of individual competition to go as hard as you can for as long as you can and it’s disrespecting the sport and yourself, I think, to start celebrating that soon.

That said, I’m sure Bolt thinks he’ll run 9.64 or 9.60 and I hope he does.

But I guarantee you, a fraction of the people will know about it or will see it than the audience he had at the Olympics.

He will unquestionably make millions and should; but he will do it in the relative anonymity of some Grand Prix in Europe or somewhere.

He chose to celebrate rather than set a mark that might have been Bob Beamon-esque.

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Honest to God, I think they’ve removed the Red chicken from all official events. Haven’t seen the little it in days. Green Guy was at baseball this morning, though, looking quite entertaining.

Nothing special about this joint

Oh, oh.

Remember the Fish Takes Like Pork place from the other day? It had become, I’m told, something of a media-coaches hangout near the basketball gym.

No more.

Seems a group of grunts was in there dining – well, drinking for sure, I’m not certain how much dining was going on – and were somewhat startled to see a wee rodent scurrying across the floor.

That took the eating right out of the equation and when they heard a ‘pop, pop, pop’ sound that was eerily like a series of mousetraps being set off in succession, that place no longer became a post-game hang out.

And thank goodness no one tried the Special Meat on the menu.

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If some European team really wants to make a buzz about stealing players away from the NBA with hugely lucrative contracts – more than even the top draft pick will make, tax-free money with housing and a car thrown in for good measure – I know the guy they should go after.

Ricky Rubio.

'Cause this dude is good. Scary good.

He made one pass against the States, a lob to a back-door cutting Rudy Fernandez that was right out of the Pistol Pete Maravich handbook.

And the kid’s only 17.

If he’s not among the top three picks in next June’s NBA draft, I want to see the three guys who are better than him.

Trouble is, because of the dopey NBA rules, I can’t get anyone connected with the league to comment on him on the record.

But off? They are effusive.

Kid’s still a bit skinny, but he’s still a teenager and he’s going to grow into his body. And the kind of feel he’s apparently got for the game cannot be taught.

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We are our own food tasters, it seems.

Was out walking the streets near the press centre today since there was nothing for me to staff until the late-afternoon softball game and when I came back through security to the main press centre, I was carrying a bottle of water.

I dutifully placed it on the X-ray belt, it went through as usual and when I went to pick it up out of the tray, the eager young security person insisted I take a sip before I could continue.

I lived. It wasn’t poison.

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But seriously, folks …

Q: Is there a reason the Spanish women's basketball team was shooting 3's and actually shooting with 2 seconds left when they're up 30 in the 4th quarter against Mali? Mali isn't exactly a powerhouse. Is there a benefit to having a higher point differential, or is it just poor sportsmanship? Admittedly, I haven't watched much women's Olympic basketball, so this may just be par for the course.

Alan R, Ajax

A: They were trying to get free pizza for the crowd (I keed, I keed).

No, actually one of the tiebreakers is indeed points differential.

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Some guys want to set track records no one will touch for years.

Some guys preen over the last 10 metres of a 100-metre race.

Give me the former. Any day.

Not to diminish what Usain Bolt did Saturday night but, really, that showmanship detracts from could have been. It could have been historic beyond imagination. What it was was self-congratulations way too early.

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Know what I saw today? A bird. First one the week that I’ve been here. Seriously.

Funny, though, I had just been talking to a few folks at the basketball venue about the lack of birds in the sky, despite the forests all around town and the huge number of trees.

And then, presto!, birds. Like we’d ordered them.

Maybe we did. Maybe the Central Committee was listening to our conversation and thought, ‘hmm, North Americans wonder about birds? Get us some birds! Fast.’

So they went out and found birds.

Or, after the shenanigans of the opening ceremonies, with the lip-synching and fake fireworks dropped into the television production, what we saw weren’t birds at all but holograms put up by the same folks.

Or, and this might be the case, too, there’ve been birds here all along and we just couldn’t see them for the haze.

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I’m pretty sure you weren’t watching this on TV because you were perhaps sleeping and certainly have lives if you weren’t but, and trust me on this, there is nothing like rain-delayed sailing.

Rosie and Captain Jim and I were the press centre a few hours ago killing some time before the big softball game and after the big Phelps race (oh, and Cochrane, too). The TV right beside us was showing the sailing from some other place and the entire two hours was a rain-delay in the Finn class (which I presume is a kind of boat rather than a person).

Now, first of all, the graphic said the race was delayed because of changing wind, and I’m thinking, isn’t that what sailing’s all about?

And then, when it started to pour, they showed them hauling the Finns out of the water and I’m thinking, how do they mark their sports? Can’t very well put a ball marker in the ocean, now can you?

Ah, the mysteries of sports.

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It’s all cool to be a fan of Chinese basketball these days, what with the men’s team in the quarter-finals and Yao even more iconic.

But it’s probably not cool for the Houston Rocket fans out there.

Yao looks like he’s still hurting or at least dragging himself up and down the court because of his conditioning.

It wasn’t six minutes into the game against Germany when he was bent over, tugging at his shorts in the universal stance for “holy crap, I’m tired.”

Maybe he gets fully healthy and fit between now and the start of the NBA season but history would suggest he might not.