Fore! (What did you expect? All hoops?)

I tell ya, if they ever had rain delays in basketball, I’d be a stark, raving lunatic.

(Not that I’m not now, according to a few of you).

For real, 7 1-2 hours without a ball being struck; at the course at 9 a.m.; off the course about 9 p.m. and they still don’t have the first freaking round finished. Sweet? Not so much.

But it’s a job and someone’s gotta do it, right?

And, besides, I guess it beats working for a living.

Anyway …

-

How, you wonder, does one while away a 7 1-2 hour rain delay?

At the trough, apparently.

Three of the golfers were talked to near dark last night – Scott Verplank, Retief Goosen and Mike Weir – all talked about taking a couple of meals during the Open shutdown yesterday.

Whew!

Seems some of us grunts who spent more than our fair share of time scarfing down sandwiches, fruit, cookies and snacks were being just like the golfers. Except, in one case at least, for that whole physically fit thing they’ve got going on.

-

Maybe it’s the time of year but the press tent was littered with basketball dudes. There was me and M. Grange ™, Stumpy’s making a guest appearance as a golf scribbler and Bea Arthur – oops, I mean B. Arthur – was in attendance, too.

In fact, it was Bruce who pointed out the fact the offer sheet for Jamari Moon is something like three years and $8 million dollars, which provided the biggest shock I’ve had in a very long time.

Now, Jamario’s a nice guy and I hope he has a long and fruitful NBA career ‘cause it took him so long to get to the league but if Danny Ferry really offered him three years and something like $8 million (even if the last year isn’t fully guarantee), I never want to hear the Cleveland GM talk about tough economic times.

That’s a ridiculous deal. Good for Jamario, though.

-

Two-part golf story, kind of long but what the heck, it’s not like we’ve got Raptors stuff to talk about.

The good folks from the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame – and if you’re at the Abbey this weekend make sure to stop in, they’ve got an excellent Mike Weir display and a raft of other interesting stuff – put on a little symposium with Dave Barr, Dan Halldorson, Wilf Homeniuk and Bob Panasiuk during the delay yesterday. Chat got around to their best finishes at the Open and here’s what Barr recalled:

“1988 was the year that I thought I had a really good chance at winning. Posted 66 the last day and was in the clubhouse at 13-under and every year prior to that, 13-under was a winner.

“I guess the last group, Ken Green’s group, was still on the 13th when they called it on that Sunday and when I woke up the next morning, I’m in the clubhouse and the wind’s blowing 25 (mph) out of the northwest and I’m thinking, ‘hmm, maybe I can still win it. These guys have to tough it out for six holes or five holes in this wind.’

“Then all of a sudden everybody starting shooting birdies and eagles and it just kind of slipped away.

“I still thought I had that chance when I woke up Monday morning that I could possibly be in a playoff or win it outright. But I ended up tying for fourth.”

Okay, good story, right?

Well, it gets better. That tournament was sponsored by DuMaurier, back in the day when tobacco companies could do that sort of thing, and when Green – hardly a bon vivant, in fact he’s about the furthest thing from a bon vivant you could imagine – is making his acceptance speech, he botched the name of the company so badly it was comical. Kind of like:

“And I like to thank Dumier, or whatever it is, for sponsoring the event.”

Well, back then, they used to bring the defending champ back for a day the next summer, invite some of hackers out to chop it around with him and pump up the coming tournament.

Funnily enough, the good folks at Dumier, or whatever it was, didn’t extend that invitation to Green. And the assembled hackers really didn’t miss him.

-

A wee basketball note:

I know it’s too early to think about how teams stack up in the East (I’d kind of like to let teams, you know, practice once to see how they look) butthis is a good signing.

-

Judging by this story, it would appear Tunisia has some work to do in the world of under-19 women’s basketball.

And judging by the picture that goes with it, organizers down in Thailand have some work to do in the world of selling tickets.

Still, you have to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat and Canada was supposed to win so it’s all good. The victory should be enough to get Canada into the second round-robin portion of the tournament, a win over Japan in the final preliminary round game will give them a big boost going in.

-

On a matter of entirely no importance, can I just say that as a rock and roll dude, Kevin Costner makes a great thespian.

Walking out of the course last night alongside Young Tim (not to confused with Old Tom or even Popular Ray) we got to listen to the, um, musical stylings of Costner and his band. I don’t believe I’m rushing out to the eight-track store.

-

So, what’s up this weekend, you ask?

Well, I can’t imagine the Raptors actually getting around to filling those final two roster spots – which is a huge tick-off because I’m allegedly on holidays again next week – so it’s going to be a quiet 48 hours of hoops.

The Mighty Yankees have a makeup twinbill tomorrow morning weather-permitting (and trying to keep 12-year-olds focused for one game is hard enough, getting them to concentrate for two on a Saturday morning is going to be a hoot) and then there’s more golf to scribble about.

Of course, Bryan may surprise us all and do Rasho and Delfino, or Rasho and someone else, or someone else and someone else. And that would be very nice because it’d mean the summer of movement is over.

-

Comments

[chops]

So I'm stuck in the bell tent while play is suspended. You should come visit Doug. Or maybe I can pay you a visit in your media tent? lol