Of dopes and Our Man Pape

Seriously, if not for a dopey doper in Orlando, I have no idea what would be big today. It may have turned out to be an impending visit to the big-time radio show for me tonight or the Mighty Yankees opening the post-season later on this evening.

That’s how slow things are getting around here, although I do commend you for the flooding of the in-box I got with mail submissions yesterday.

With the aforementioned radio gig and ball game tonight, another ball game and a team barbecue and potential hangover-inducing celebration of Yankee greatness tomorrow and the fact Super Son becomes a teenager Sunday, I’m not sure when the mailbag gets up, but it will.

Until then …

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How about that Rashard Lewis, eh?

The details of his positive drug test are here in the Orlando Sentinel tome but the short story is he took some over-the-counter supplement before the playoffs began last season and it contained a banned substance. His testosterone level went up, he tested positive and – bam! – mandatory 10-game suspension without pay to start this season.

Lewis’s explanation – that he didn’t know what was in it – rings true to me, actually, and I think the only thing he’s guilty of is being extraordinarily dumb.

In this day and age, taking some powder you bought at a store where the muscle-heads and bodybuilders also shop is fraught with peril and Lewis’s decision not to show anyone on the Magic staff what he’d bought smacks not of duplicity but of dumbness.

Every NBA team tells every NBA player about the dangers of over-the-counter supplements – along with the dangers of any performance-enhancing drug they think they might like to try – and all Lewis had to do most likely was show the label to the team’s strength coach and he would have been pointed in the right direction.

The one thing is going to do is allow the NBA to crow about how it’s testing program works but I think only the truly naïve would take that at face value. Yes, the testing program is okay – four random ones a year for veterans – but it’s not perfect because it doesn’t including random, out-of-season testing.

If you ask me if there’s a steroid problem in the NBA, I’d say no; if you ask me if some players don’t get into the bottle in the summer, I’d say there have to be a few.

But as an overall issue? I don’t think it’s a significant problem in the game at all.

Lewis made a silly mistake and will pay a rather substantial price – he’ll lose about 12 per cent of his pay for the coming season – and if this case does anything, it’ll make other players sure to show the stuff they take to people who understand what it is before they go ahead and ingest it.

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Now, being a big fan of Tammy Sutton-Brown, and realizing there is a dearth of role models for young female basketball players, this should come as no surprise to any of you but here’s a plug for her camps coming up out this way, in Oakville and Mississauga in the coming weeks.

I honestly think Canadian women’s basketball is back on track to a place high in the world rankings and the more young players who can take advantage of chances like this, the better.

There was a time back in the day – kids, ask your moms and dads if they remember – when Canada was routinely ranked among the top four or five basketball countries in the world in the women’s game and I’ve said for quite some time that the group of young women playing the game at the international level had a chance to do some great things even before the men’s team got back to any place among the top squads in the world.

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I have a feeling a few of you have adopted Senegal as the team to cheer for at the AfroBasket going on in Libya these days, given Our Old Friend Pop is on the team and Boniface N’Dong has developed somewhat of a cult following off his one big game.

Well, the kicked some Central African Republic butt in Game 2, as you can see from this boxscore, and they’ve got a huge first-round game against Cameroon coming up later today.

Me? I’m still trying to find a favourite team, there doesn’t seem to be a hoops version of the Black Stars so I guess it’ll be Pape Pop and Senegal for now.

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On the digression side of things, how about them Real Madrids?

They show up and it’s like the Beatles and somehow 18,000 people or some crazy number like that pay $15 to watch them practice on Thursday night?

We’re talking about practice, right?

I will never quite understand the footballers among us.

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Oh yeah, more on the exhibition schedule, official news of which was delayed yesterday.

Well, a couple more things got out while I was supervising Super Son and some of his urchin colleagues at a pre-birthday birthday golf thingy:

After the Sixers game in London on Oct. 6, we’re all traipsing back to Toronto for a return match on Oct. 7 – those are the lidlifters of the exhibition season – and there’s a date in Hartford, Conn., against Boston is what’s also going to be a two-game series with the Celtics.

Excited yet?

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Comments

[Alex]

15$ for practice? Practice? We talking about practice? Not even the game that they play? We here talking about practice! Practice! How silly is that. Practice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI

[Mike]

$15 for a practice??? Good thing AI doesn't play for Madrid :)

[Alex H]

If only you had linked to a sound byte of the infamous Allen Iverson rant about the value of practise in your bit about soccer fans paying $15 to watch practise, this would be the best blog entry of the summer. Regardless, another decent entry in the slowest time of the year. Thanks!

[Erc]

Justaminute, Couldn't have said it better. In fact, couldn't have said it as well. You're right on.

[Tim W.]

Justaminute,

I reread Doug's post of the Lewis situation and don't see how he's apologizing for Lewis. The word making the rounds is that took a supplement he bought in a store and that's what Doug is presumably going on. He called his decision extraordinarily dumb, which it was.

And if Rashard Lewis went off for 40 points and the Magic won the Championship it would have had almost nothing to do with him taking a banned supplement. No supplement in the world is going to make you shoot better or at the right time. Basketball relies more on skill than many other sports, which is why DOug said it is probably not a problem. In football, steroids can increase your strength and speed, which is sometimes all you need to excel in the sport. In baseball, steroids can make you hit the ball harder or throw the ball harder. In basketball, it makes you stronger and faster. Great. That and $50 will get you into an NBA game. As a spectator. A perfect example was Randy White, if you can remember him. He was considered the second coming of Karl Malone. He was built like a linebacker but had the speed of a guard. He was also a complete bust.

Yes, it does help a player to be in top physical condition, but one just has to look at some of the best players over the last 25 years. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, John Stockton, Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Isiah Thomas. You think steroids would have helped any of them?

P.S.
I've posted the second part of my Bryan Colangelo/Raptors retrospective...
http://www.wearingfilm.com/picketfence/

[Mahdi]

Actually when you have the "FIFA player of the year" of 2007 and 2008, with KaKa and Ronaldo respectively....on the same team....well, thats like having Lebron and Kobe on the same NBA team, and have theming in your city, which lets say was Madrid, I'd be estastic to watch them pratice for only $15, plus no offence to my other fellow hoop fans, but football "soccer" is more popular a sport than basketball is and is way more international.

[Ryan M.]

Hey Doug,
I go to school in Ottawa and am living here for the summer, is there any portion of the raptors camp that will be open to the public?

Blogger's note: No the only thing that would be open would be an end-of-camp scrimmage that I don't even know they plan this year

[Tim W.]

Actually, Joey Graham is a perfect example of why performance enhancing drugs is probably not a big problem. Graham is the perfect physical specimen to excel in basketball. He can jump higher than most, outrun most and is stronger than most. Any bets on where he'll be playing next season? Europe maybe?

[rob]

I would defintiely pay 15$ to see the galacticos( but I dont live in toronto)... it is like paying to see the all star NBA team goofing around diuring the all star weekend. Having said that I m rooting for TFC to win tonight even though it is meaningless.
Go Reds

[Luis]

No offense, but i don't think most people here understand the kind of following soccer clubs have in the world, think Maple Leafs and multiply by about 500... For a soccer fan like me (life-long Real Madrid fan) i would pay a lot more just to see them practice.

Either way, keep up the good job Doug, love the blog and what the raptors have done this offseason

[CARLoS M.]

I am going to the TFC game tonight. To see this caliber of players only 10 minutes from my house is not an opportunity I would miss. even at $150/ticket.

[Chris]

1. Why does David Aldridge believe that Bosh will for sure leave Toronto in 2010?

2. What is Bryan Colangelo up to these days?

Thanks Doug!

Blogger's note: I don't know, and vacation I believe

[Chris]

Another question. Will autographs be given out at Carleton?

Blogger's note; Formally? No

[Wes]

doug,
do you think donyell marshall would come back to toronto since Philly didnt ink him for a minimum contract? This could be his last season, why not spend it with a couple of all-stars?

Blogger's note: No, I don't think he would; and I don't think there is any interest in him.

[Richard Yun]

Of course Canada was the number one women's basketball team in the world back in the days of the Edmonton Grads. 502-20 record over 25 years. This includes winning 4 Olympics in a row sweeping all 27 Olympic matches they played and outscoring their opponents 1863 to 297.
One of the most dominant sports teams ever.

[Jeff Steele]

Hey Doug,

Since this is a slow time of year and there isn't much to discuss, I was thinking it might be fun to have your loyal commenting regulars make some predictions for this upcoming season.

What about a blog where everyone can make a guess in the comments about something like who the top 5 scorers will be on the squad? Or something of that nature and then whoever is correct can have bragging rights as a reward at the end of the season...

With this new roster overhaul there are all sorts of fun things we could guess at since so much is still up in the air with regard to playing time and team roles. Just a thought, feel free to ignore this idea if it sounds stupid.

Blogger's note: If that happens, and I'm not sure it can logistically, it'd be something we do much closer to the season

[dp]

Hi doug,

IMO, creatine is NOT on that 'banned' list of supplements. It's food that we often don't have enough of in our crappy diet. All professional athletes take creatine, if they don't they ride the pine. Honestly, most of the people that look for DHEA are senior citizens and athletes. I would be surprised if G.M. B.Colangelo DIDN'T take DHEA. It's like back in the 80's taking a "Flintstone" vitamin if your a kid. OVer the counter in the states - just go to your local Grocery store for DHEA. Here in Canada it's a bit harder to get. Drive an hour to Buffalo and you've got yourself a get young, get hard stay hard, wake up refreshed, feel better, have more concentration look rested formula. With all our charred barbecuing, overly greased, overly fried foods we eat - its no wonder we're all killing ourselves with our food.

[Will G]

Hi Doug,

Care to comment on the story in the paper about hockey's decline in popularity among teens? I have a gentleman's bet going these last 2 years that "basketball will be more popular than hockey by a mile in the next 10-15 years".

p.s. Real Madrid. Even though I'm not a fan of them, they are the #1 undisputed biggest sports team on the planet, with the possible exception of the Brazilian National team... so yeah, if I was in TO, i'd pay $15 in an instant!

Blogger's note: Those numbers in that story are quite interesting but I'm really not surprised by them. Drive around neighbourhoods with kids, see what they're playing

[Steve]

Getting caught taking DHEA that boosts testosterone is hard to excuse in a pro athlete. Willfully blind would be a more accurate description. A more cynical view might be it was worth the risk to be able to recover faster for the playoffs?

Would everyone be getting the athlete such an easy ride if he wasn't well liked?

No problems in the NBA, maybe, you sure? Ever look at how many athletes suddenly contract a case of ache after suffering a mild injury - just wondering....

[Michel G]

A quick comment on Will G's post. The article also says "that interest in all professional sports has been declining" among teens. It's just not hockey being replaced by Basketball. It's an overall decline based "on a splintering of interests".

Here's a link to the article and judge for yourself:

http://www.thestar.com/article/678277

[aditya]

did jr smith possbily get involved with a gang when he spent 24 days in jail, thus starting to use gang letter in his twitter post?

[Rob.V]

@ James

I think a marquee player like Rashard getting caught will help the awareness level immensely.

"getting caught" implies he was "aware" of what he was taking. Kinda goes against your arguement (which I agree with) dude... just saying.

Anyway, as the Dougmeister would say - Yawn! to the whole suspension thing - 30 -

$15 for practice (what have we learned?) - If MLSE can sell it... they will!!! Was told the revenue generated went towards the cost of the new grass they put in for the game (not sure if that's accurate).

I dont know about the practice however great game last night. Bigger, stronger, faster players... with much more skill. That was top flight talent on display. The best of the best, and they showed it. Kinda like the Lakers playing a D League squad really. Nice to see Nash on hand... guess he really does love the game.

Heres a thought - How long will it take for an international soccer (football) superstar to come from either the US or Canada?. 10, 20, 30 years. Logic says... it's gonna happen one day... would be great to see in our lifetime, no?

Sports in general should get very interesting over the next 10-20 years.. maybe world leagues?

Doug, didnt the commish allude to the NBA expanding overseas sometime "possibly" over the next 10 years. Thoughts?

Blogger's note: The economy and lack of suitable facilities in Europe have that far on the backburner

[aditya]

whats your opinion on bobby jackson? i understand the raptors do not need a 1-2 guard as of now, but he's kind of like lindsey hunter with his veteran leadership and knows how to play the game...and the raptors don't have that veteran leadership at the 1-2 position (they have rasho but he's a centre)...i just think the raps need a veteran in this squad.

Blogger's note: Bobby Jackson? The guy who's always hurt? To be behind the glut of 1-2s they already have? No, thanks.

[Brad]

Given that Bosh has one foot out the door in Toronto and Rubio is giving Minnesota the cold shoulder, how about starting a rumour - Bosh and Calderon for Al Jefferson and Rubio.

[aditya]

bobby jackson did play 71 games last season, but i can see your point about him being injured a lot...