New machine, same old stuff

Man, this sleeping until 7:30 or 8 a.m. is getting to be a habit. And that means getting this finished later than usual is getting to be a habit, one that's going to have to change, I fear, once the season gets started and people go looking for their early-morning information. Not sure what timing changes we may make for post-game and off-day stuff later on this month, got any suggestions?

But, first, a disclaimer.

I got this newfangled computer yesterday, some kind of MacBook Pro thingy that’s got the latest in video gadgetry I’m sure you’ll be the beneficiaries of once we get going.

Right now? Right now I keep losing stuff and deleting stuff by accident (I know I lost one comment yesterday, can’t remember from who and I apologize for it) and there were periods of huge frustration last night. Like when I kind of disappeared the icon to get me internet access; luckily Super Son was able to help me out.

Anyway, if you see more than the usual number of typos, or something vanishes you know you sent, sorry. It’s the price we’ll pay momentarily for getting in the 2000s, computer-wise.

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ALIK KEPLICZ/AP

Pops doing his thing for Britain vs. Slovenia earlier this week.

Not too much excitement over in Poland yesterday, I guess Great Britain extending Spain into the fourth quarter was a mild surprise but it just goes to show that talent always wins out.

Oh, and it also goes to show that the first round is also very much a warmup for the big games that come in the second-round robin and then the quarter-finals.

It reminds of me the 2002 worlds in Indy where a pretty stacked Yugoslavia team struggled out of the gate, losing – if memory serves – their first two or three games.

Put a wee bit of pressure on and we were standing around talking to Peja Stojakovic one day and asked him if his team – a big medal favourite – was finally going to get things turned around.

(I may have told this story before, but what the heck, some of you might not have heard it.)

Says Peja:

“We’re taking it so seriously, Vlade quit smoking.”

And Yugoslavia went on to win the gold medal.

Moral of the story: Nothing really happens until the next round.

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So, we’ve got the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this week, with Michael Jordan, David Robinson, John Stockton, Jerry Sloan and C. Vivian Stringer going in during Friday night’s gala.

That’s a helluva class, no?

We’ll get into more of this tomorrow and the next day or two about how good they all were but for now, here are the two endearing memories I have of David Robinson, who is one of the classiest individuals I’ve ever run across in 30 years in this business.

The first is the fact that before every game he played—every single game, according to people who saw him – he stood at military attention for every national anthem.

Considering he played in 1,100 games in his career, that’s a lifetime of good posture.

And respect.

The second was a bleary-eyed June morning after the Spurs won an NBA title – I’m not sure which one it was, perhaps the win over the Nets? – and we’re all gathered at the airport, tired, a bit cranky, with sore heads and worn out bodies.

And there’s David Robinson, standing in line like the rest of us schmoes, with his son, getting his seat assignment, looking all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, heading off to some appearance he probably could have bailed out of quite easily.

Good guy, that David Robinson.

Heckuva player, too.

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Hey, as I get ready to post this, it’s the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year.

Ooooh, scary!

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Speaking of Poland, perhaps the one result that did jump out a little was Greece beating Croatia.

Again, it’s not a hugely significant game – both teams are going to advance to the second round – but it does remind one of just how pesky that Greece team always is.

It’s a bunch of guys many of you have never heard of, nary an NBA regular among them, yet they always – always – make noise in the big international events.

Our local hero, Georgis Printezis, did very little yesterday (three points and a rebound in six minutes). His other, equally-unheralded teammates, however, kept doing what they do – win games.

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Bet you thought with the national men’s team having qualified for the worlds that we’d be done with Canada on the international stage for the summer, right?

Wrong, Turnover Breath.

As we speak, the women are about to begin their final preparation for their world qualification that begins later this month somewhere in northern Brazil.

We’ll catch up with them a little later – they’re doing their final work at Rim Park in Waterloo and it’ll be worth a road trip some day – but suffice it to say they’ve got a far better chance going in to qualify than the men did going into their event.

You know that I think women’s basketball here gets short shrift too often and I wonder just how much detailed information we’ll get from FIBA Americas from this qualification event but we’ll do our best to bring as much timely news to you as we can.

This, I’m told by people who know these sorts of things, is a very good team stocked with a solid combination of youth and experience. It’s worth you paying attention to.

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Oh yeah, the Raptors.

No news.

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Speaking of Steve Nash, I hear he’s going to be in town for a bit soon so if you see a smallish fellow in some kind of bad disguise getting in a run at some public court or working out in some weed-littered soccer patch, take a closer second look, it could be Captain Canada.

After all, during a recent trip to China he donned goofy clothes, weird glasses and everything but a fake mustache and beard to go and join a pickup game in a public Beijing park.

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Okay, now I’ve got to figure out how to post stuff on this wacky new machine. Hope it works easily.

See ya.

Comments

[Sam]

Love your blog Doug. I have to read it everyday and as it selfish as it sounds, I hate it when you go on vacation as there will be no blog for a week (pls take it as complement). Have you heard anything in regards to Marcus Banks trade and/or buy-out?

Blogger's note: No, nothing of late and with the GM headed to Europe, it might stay slow for a while.

[Jim D]

Just some advice for you now that you are a mac user,

You may want to download a program called Flip4Mac, so that you can have the video codecs to watch certain videos, like anything on the raptors website, I've had that problem.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/flip4mac.mspx

[Erc]

England extending Spain must have been a legendary performance. Any former Raps playing on either team?

Blogger's note: Pops and Robert Archibald for Britain; Garbo for Spain.

[Patrick]

Morning Doug,

I know that it's not really newsworthy, but I was wondering if some of the players had begun arriving back in town. If their twitter feeds are to be believed, DeRozan and Weems got to Toronto yesterday.

Anyway, have a good one!

Blogger's note: A couple, yeah. Some will be here for a few days and head back out (I understand Bosh will be in soon but will have to leave for some prior commitments for a day or two); everyone will be in town in the next couple of weeks

[Paul]

A MacBook Pro! Love it! Once you get a handle on 'time machine' you'll never lose anything again. Great blog Doug. Looking forward to seeing some video. Also looking forward to seeing the 'all new' raps on the hardwood. cheers

[Peter]

Wow, a Mac! Welcome to the world of Mac! I'm surprised The Star would spring for that! Your blog must have earned advertising revenue last quarter!

[marc in Burlington]

Hola Doug,

First Mac? Took me about a week to get into the swing of things. Closing windows from the left hand corner instead of the right was among my biggest difficulties. I've had my MacBook Pro for 2 years now and I don't miss Windows at all. Check out the Apple website and you will find all kinds of self help video tutorials to ease the transition.

[John Bastedo]

Hope The Star picked up the tab on the laptop, Doug. Apple's Fall Conference is today and they often drop prices at these things. i-pods for sure, and with tablet pcs potentially added laptops may drop as well.

You're awesome,

J.

[T i]

Doug welcome to the Force, you have finally left the Dark Side... now you can call people PC

[Joe]

smallish fellow? isn't steve nash 6'3"? still taller than most people that i know!

[Peter]

Hey Doug,

When I was growing up watching basketball, David Robinson always struck me, even when I was young, as a really classy stand-up guy. Helluva player, and a really great nickname: The Admiral!

Love the blog, I read it everyday!

Thanks!

[Lavi]

Hey Doug,
Now that you're a Mac user, the best tip I can give you is this: It's all about the keyboard shortcuts.

Command + Q = quit program
Command + W = close windwo
Command + tab = toggle between programs

Learn a couple of more crucial shortcuts and you'll be doing things at speeds you've never been exposed to before. The blogs will pretty much much write themselves!

[Mark L]

Doug,

If each year's inductees to the Hall of Fame were a team and they played in a tournament, which year would win?

Blogger's note: Haven't yet checked each year but you've got three different positions and a coaching staff covered this year; that's hard to beat

[BrianV]

Steve Nash is smallish?

You can call me Shortstop, going forward.

[emoney245]

Doug do you kno Ghana is the first African team to qualify for World Cup next year in South Africa.....i see them winning it all next year, what do u think about that.

Blogger's note: That would be the upset to end all upsets.

[Ishan]

Doug - Oddly enough this post centres around The Admiral and Cap'n Canada, but whenever I think of David Robinson I think about the quote "If it's an embarrassment to (Nash) maybe (he) should be in a different country." In reference to Nash wearing a t-shirt protesting the Iraq invasion in 2003. Not so classy there...

[Grant]

NBA.com and ESPN list Steve Nash at 6'3" - rather largish on average. Is he really this tall, or are basketball player heights generally inflated?

Blogger's note: No, he's 6-3; which is "smallish" on a basketball court if it's any kind of legitimate game

[ChrisD1]

Doug -
Aside from the new seeing the new look Raptors play, name another team you're pretty curious to watch. My vote goes to the Grizz. I can't wait to see Iverson/Randolph/Mayo/Gay all on the floor together and each looking to get the ball. It's going to be like a sideshow. Thoughts??

Blogger's note: I sure wouldn't want to be the other guy on the floor

[doug]

interesting to see Michael Jordan picked David Thompson to be his presenter in the HOF induction ceremonies...as Jordan said he's the player that put the "oop-in alley"...had his personal issues did Thompson but a hellava ball player...anyone young fan needs to google him...

I can see already the story-line now Iverson will average 25-29 points a game and everyone will say see he's still got it...well there missing the point, when he had the chance to be on a championship calibre team both in Denver, and Detroit he was a bust...so yes he can play, but its obvious his ego needs to be stroked and still be the man, and to do that it is on a bottom-feeding team...sort of sad actually...

[Peter]

"Blogger's note: I sure wouldn't want to be the other guy on the floor"

But you could be! It's not like you'd be asked to do much, and you defend at least as well as a couple of those guys! I can hear it now.... "AND NOW... YOUR FIFTH AND FINAL STARTER FOR THE MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES, FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF THAT ESTABLISHMENT UP THE ROAD, IT'S SUPER GRUNT!!" (cheer... cheer...)

[Shawn]

Macs are overpriced and overrated. Stick with PCs. Tried, tested and true.

[Tim H.]

Welcome to the Mac world! A better, easier-to-use computer you will never find. The problem with jumping from a PC to a Mac is that you EXPECT things to be difficult! Once you understand how easy to use the Mac is (and, that it doesn't crash 12 times an hour), you'll be fine!

[Aditya]

God Chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career. I met with Mr. Heinsley, Chris Wallace and my next head coach Lionel Hollins

so allen iverson now misspells the name of the owner of the memphis grizzlies.....he tweeted that...

Blogger's note: And you don't know how or when to use capitalization. Finished mocking? Because I think you are.

[Aditya]

God Chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career. I met with Mr. Heinsley, Chris Wallace and my next head coach Lionel Hollins

so allen iverson now misspells the name of the owner of the memphis grizzlies.....he tweeted that...

Blogger's note: And you don't know how or when to use capitalization. Finished mocking? Because I think you are.
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mocking?!?!, really? btw, i knew you would make that comeback about using capitalization...

[Aditya]

mark my words: zach randolph gonna be good in memphis....on and off the court...

ordered john wooden: a lifetime of observations and reflections on and off the court...may be after reading that book, i'll be done mocking allen iverson