This and that and a bit of schedule change

Quiet day of yesterday, lots of travel and no time around the team I’m supposed to cover so, I warn you, this doesn’t have a whole lot of hard news in it today.

But still …

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Here’s what I think:

I think Chris Bosh should have an absolute monster of a night tonight.

I know.

Duh! He’s had monster nights almost all season but here hear me out.

Think back to all those nights when Toronto played the Charlotte Bobcats and how Bosh used to abuse Emeka Okafor.

Routinely drop 30-plus on him and now, with Okafor here on a New Orleans team, this should be another huge game.

And, that gets me to my point and there was one here.

I remember talking to scouts and coaches and even a player or two four or five years ago about the three really promising young bigs who were going to battle each other for supremacy for years to come.

They came in about the same time, give or take a year or so, they were going to lead their teams to respectability at least and it would be fun to watch them battle each other.

One was power.

One was finesse.

One was defence.

One was Dwight Howard.

One was Chris Bosh.

One was Emeka Okafor.

Two out of three ain’t bad, but we sure aren’t getting that three-man rotation of dominant bigs, are we?

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Little change in the schedule today, if it’s okay with you.

We’ll have our little pre-game chat at 3 p.m. your time instead of the usual 4 p.m.

I’m living in Central time for the next four days – which is why this is about an hour later than usual – and getting the chat done before I head to the arena for the game makes things just a wee bit easier down here.

Besides, you folks got nothing to do on a Friday at 3 and goofing off at work an hour before usual can’t be a bad thing.

See you then.

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I have one question about the other night’s thing with Oak (yes, it’s late but I forgot yesterday).

Why in the world would they do both Oak and Alvin on the same night? It’s not like Alvin’s not going to be here all season, he’s an assistant coach for goodness sakes.

And since this franchise isn’t exactly littered with greats from the past, spreading ‘em out would make more sense to me.

But that’s just me.

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Here’s what they’re reading down here about the Hornets today.

It’s a franchise that’s seriously scuffling at the moment, no good play from the wings, some chemistry issues are being hinted at and what’s that mean?

On the one hand, maybe Toronto can take advantage of a team on the ropes.

On the other hand, maybe they break out, play well at home and spank the Raptors.

If I’m guessing, I’m guessing the latter.

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This is far out of my area of expertise but what the heck, why not jump into this whole flu shot thingy.

I don’t know who got a shot, or how they got it or when, but it strikes me that if the team physician – of any team, anywhere – followed the correct protocols for obtaining the vaccine and then dispensed it as he or she deemed fit, isn’t that doing things the right way?

Isn’t it following the rules, making decisions and doing your job.

To me, the rules have been screwed up by Health Canada since this whole thing began and the fact a government agency messed something up doesn’t surprise me in the least.

Weren’t people told by government officials that there’d be more than enough doses for everyone? And didn’t that change inside of a week or two? Weren’t these thing supposed to be dispensed only at clinics? But doctors have them, private doctors.

You know, as far as I can see in Toronto, the two sports teams followed the rules and regulations set down by the government agencies. If those rules and regulations are wrong, whose fault is that?

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Quasi-interesting stat going into tonight: The Hornets have given up 100 or more points in three of their five games; the Raptors have scored more than 100 in three of their four.

Me? I’d take the over.

Speaking of over, what I hope is that the Raptors score 100 or more points in every home game, that every fan takes advantage of the giveaway that goes with it and that some company loses a ton of money.

Maybe then, the promo goes away.

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So we’re sitting in this little hole in the wall on Bourbon Street with a tasty locally-brewed blonde concoction, some Jambalaya and alligator and a guy asks the comely wench if it’d be possible to switch one of the TVs from college football to the NBA games.

Sure, she says, and there it is, in about 50-inch HD.

Minute later, dude two stools over asks the same young lass if the satellite dish they’ve got – which looks elaborate enough to land SkyLab – can pick up a pucks game from Boston.

Not a chance.

Tee-hee.

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I’m going to get this out there right now, knowing full well I’ll have to repeat myself about a dozen times over the course of the day.

No, the Raptors should not and will not, even think about bringing Mo Pete back.

It’s a question that comes up every time they face the Hornets by those who long for the good old days.

Now, I love Mo, he was great for the team, great for the writers and a great guy all around. But his days as a contributing factor on even a marginally good NBA team are gone.

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Oh, yeah.

Not sure when I'm going to get to mail this weekend (likely Sunday night on the off-day) but I could use some question. And if you can find a way to make them non-game specific, it makes for better reading, I hope.

Comments

[chris]

the only way some raptors/leafs fall into the at-risk category is if they have at risk family members at home who can't be immunized...namely, infants below 6 months, people who fall into the risk category who are allergic to the vaccine (allergic to eggs), etc.

which is totally plausible. Many of these guys are at the age where they'd have very young kids. In each of those situations the families would have doctors dedicated to each who could dole out the vaccine.

Something tells me they are being lax on the "medical protocols". If it was really simple and defendable they just would.

btw - Emeka is still a MUCH better defender than chris bosh. They say styles make fights, and bosh's style just happens to eat emeka up. The same goes with Dwight....can't guard bosh. Its interesting that we don't utilize that more to get the big guy(s) in foul trouble.

[MC B-Rad]

I just wanted to weigh in on the flu shot thing...I dont care how they got it, whether they jumped some mysterious lines, or used their balls and sticks to beat people up to get the flu shot first...the bottom line is, they are exposed to more people than the "frontline" workers, and therefore should be held, if not at the same level priority as them, just a notch below. I know this may seem like I am belittling the frontline staffers; I am not. I just think it makes sense that people that come into contact with more than the average amount of people in their day to day activities (ie airlines employees, athletes, politicians, etc.) should be immunized, IF THEY CHOOSE.

[Anthony R]

Hey Doug,

No this is not a bring Mo Pete back question. But, with all the 15 years of history going on with the franchise, will they be honouring Mo Pete for his services as a Raptor on December 20th?
Thanks for your time!

Blogger's note: Yes, I believe they will acknowledge him in much the same way they did Oak and Alvin.

[Yama F]

It's up to you if you want to post this or not, but.....

Back in the old student days, I was a pizza flipper at a Pizza Pizza shop. All these pizza shops are owned by private individual. When some dude in the PP head office comes up with some genius promo deal with the Raptors, the company does not lose one cent. In fact, it makes money directly off the free giveaways. It's the individual owners that have to dish out these free pizzas, but the store HAS to buy the raw food from PP at inflated prices (their main profit maker).

Needless to say, every time the Raps are close to 100 near the end of the game and they have win's already in the bag, I am hoping they miss their shots.

[Mike]

What do you think of this Doug? http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/taxingdetroitblog/index.php?blogid=193

Blogger's note: Nothing. Private matter. No relevance whatsoever.

[Nelson]

On the one hand, maybe Toronto can take advantage of a team on the ropes.

On the other hand, maybe they break out, play well at home and spank the Raptors.

If I’m guessing, I’m guessing the latter.

Doug, you are predicting the Raptors will lose against the Hornets tonight? Wow... Okay. Both teams are still trying to find their identity. My question is with Jose; can he handle Chris Paul tonight?

In terms of the flu shot, I don't understand the issue either. My family doctor has the H1N1 shot in his office; doctors are allowed to order them. What they do with it for their shots is their business. People just want to find news to complain about.

[TMF]

One nice thing about the Raps' high-powered offence so far is that the pizza is being awarded (and cheered) lonnnnnnng before the game comes down to the wire.

[Nick]

Hey Doug, just for kicks, who's your football team in the NFL? Do you stay true to the Boston folks and pull for the Patriots? I hope not, they are the NY Yankees of the NFL.

Blogger's note: You know, I'm at a basketball game pretty much every single Sunday of an NFL season so I don't really have a team

[ANM]

I have some free time this morning to was your time with some meaningless info.
With the hope of that 100pt promo going away, I doubt it will happen even if they score 100pts every game at home. The amount of money made alone from the advertising at ACC more than makes up for their losses. I think the ticket can be used in Toronto the next day only and alot of the crowd are from out of town. The print at home ticket holders have to be validated at the ACC and after the game people rush the exit gates. I'm sure only a fraction of the tickets for a free slice get used. So it's still a small hit to Pizza Pizza. There are so many locations in Toronto that I believe each franchise takes next to nothing of a hit, and the actual cost of a slice of a pizza is change.(the cheese is the $$)
Oh, and they are franchised so Pizza Pizza takes the same % from each location. If they do cover the cost of redeemed tickets then again it's nickels to them.
If guess I have too much time on my hands this morning. And I did run a pizza store 15 yrs ago, so (I think) I know what I'm talking about ;)
Anyways have fun down south and enjoy the weather.
ANM

[jhaus]

hey doug,

i have a "whats up with that?" comment/question. two actually..

the star contest rules state "Open to Ontario residents 18 years of age or older who live within a 75-mile radius of the City of Toronto."

1. in canada, we use kilometres.
2. why is the star excluding loyal readers outside of the GTA? just plain rude and unfair.

Blogger's note: Am looking into that, will try to get something for the morning.

[chris]

MC B-Rad....problem is you're vaccinating them ahead of children and immunity-compromised people who need it more than they do.

This virus seems to be under-expressed with adults (not sure how old you are, but if i get it will likely be just a sore throat and some fever) and over-expressed with kids (seems like its hitting them the worst).

Why would putting a healthy adult basketball player ahead of children (who need it more) make sense?

And your argument about them being exposed to more people...BS. The cashier at Tim Hortons interacts with more people in a day than the average raptor does in a month (or year). These guys are generous with their time, but more isolated than the majority of us.

[Chris]

Hey Doug. Looking for a recommendation for a good place to catch a basketball game and a GOOD beer in New Orleans.

Blogger's note: I don't get here a lot, to tell you the truth. The Cajun Cabin on Bourbon has great big HD TVs, a few good local beers and Landshark and it's steps from the endless debauchery.
Tell 'em the writers from Toronto sent you

[Rick T]

Hi Doug, I completely agree with you about the H1N1 shots. The politic outrage is just a way for them to divert the attention from the fact that they were the ones who actually messed up with their protocols/procedures. I'm surprised that you are the only one in the media who seems to have picked up on this, especially since the MLSE made it quite clear in their first statement that they followed the necessary protocols laid out by the government.

[sherry]

Hear not here :)

"He’s had monster nights almost all season but here me out".

Blogger's note: Got it, thanks

[Nick M]

I agree totally with MC B-Rad's take on the Flu-shots. I just wish someone would coach these hockey players on what to say!

Also I know this is Doug's terrain but I have a conference in San Antonio in two weeks at San Antonio Crowne Plaza Hotel-Riverwalk. Wondering if anyone has some suggestions on good places to eat and if I should stay at the crowne plaza. Thanks in advance.

Blogger's note: My two cents? It's a nice hotel, there are dozens and dozens of good places on the Riverwalk but don't sleep on the Quarry Market.

[chris]

btw - Doug....who do you see as the best young defensive big man in the league?

Blogger's note: Let me think on that, maybe get it in a mailbag or a regular blog

[ANM]

Just a comment for [Yamma F]
If you were a Raps fan then you would want them to keep scoring, not to disrespect the other team though. But to hope they miss shots is rediculous. If you really knew anything about inflated prices then you know the sale of one large pizza for example is inflated dramatically. Being a part of the Raptor's official pizza sponsor, you should hope they dominate Always. It's in PP's best interest. Again, like I said in my other comment, 1 location of many in Toronto might get a few of these tickets. Controlling their food cost will easily fix that slight loss. Some places take a fraction of % into consideration for mistakes. Make 1 less mistake and those so called free slices are covered. Pizza Pizza makes alot of money still even if the Raps score 100pt every home game. That's why they do it. The Raps have averaged at least 99.5 ppg in the past 5 years( 2yrs@ 99+ and 3yrs@100+ ) The majority of which was over 100+.
They haven't gone bankrupt yet! I think they know what they are doing. When the Raps play, they want them to score 100+ always at home. It brings more business to the company. More than likely some one will buy something when they go to redeem their tickets.
Hopfully people understand the aspects of business and agree.
ANM

[JF]

I guess this is more of an observation rather thana question. Every year a player gets singled out on the team (both Raps and Leafs) to be the whipping boy. Unfortunately for Jose, he's drawn the short stick so far this year. I know he's a pro athlete but he's also a human and the constant questioning about his defense can potentially make things even worse. It can impact his confidence and make him more tentative. It can also impact his teammates' view of his play as well. Not that they would otherwise think of his D as great but it brings it out in a way that's outside the team. I think this contributed to Bargs' up and down development as well. Just an observation.

[Kelsie]

Tough test in N.O tonight but a game we should compete in.

It's early and I've heard alot of criticism of Calderon (some justified, some unjustified) which is to be expected. I think it's way too early to be down on him but I do think that if his current play were to continue for an extended period then maybe there is a problem.

Once again I know it's too early to speculate but is Jose an untouchable in your opinion? Does Colangelo stll consider him an indispensible part of 'the core' that would never be moved?

If he doesn't and is willing to listen to trade offers, in the 'fictional' trading world I think a Jose for Andre Miller or another veteran point that is gritty that can defend and distribute would help the team moving forward.

[Marc M]

Jose has to find a way to put more pressure on the opposing team's PG. When he's aggressive and attacking, the defense gets drawn to him, opening up passing or scoring for his teammates. It's what you see Turkuglo doing regularly. And with 2 or 3 ppl on the Raptors doing the same thing, it creates headaches for other teams.

[mdc]

Re the flu shots, the directive by Ontario's Ministry of Health restricting flu shots to priority groups was not issued until a week ago, when it became apparent that deliveries of the vaccine would be slower than promised. Presumably, many outside of the priority groups got shots at doctor's offices et cetera, before the directive was issued.

[fritz]

Hi Doug,
"SkyLab"!!! I don't think they even had satellite TV when that thing was around. :)

[Wade T.]

Can I ask something? When does Chris Bosh get judged in the Toronto media for the win-loss record of his team? If Bosh was looking for an Andrea B. type deal then I'd understand his stats being enough. But this guy wants it all, therefore I don't get Doug how you can identify Bosh as a dominant big? Howard has led his team to the Finals; other dominant bigs (Shaq, Duncan and KG) have rings on their finger. All Chris Bosh has proved is he can load up a stat sheet, in the same way Zach Randolph did for the Blazers.

Just the other day the best PF in Raptor history, Charles Oakley, came to town and it seems like the teams he was on had better records with him and immediately plummeted without him. That's how Bosh should be judged, considering he's asking for max money, if his stats drop and his team wins, then he’s doing his job.

[asd]

here is to hoping that some more children get h1n1 before basketball players do. Good thinking Doug!Way to look out for #1! Classy!

[Mr. Cook]

Hey there,
Ah the flu shot. Just to give everyone a quick rundown of how it works:
The "flu shot clinics" are run by your regional health department (for example, Ottawa Health, Kingston Health, etc) and the way it works is that the government purchases the vaccine from the makers and dispatches the boxes containing the stuff to the regional health department based on whatever demographic stats of demand they use for these things. Everything after that is unfortunately the problem of your regional health department, and it seems to range on where you are in correlation with how good they are at administering it. For example (I hope not to offend any health workers from this region) the City of Kawartha Lakes (north-east of Toronto) started their flu clinics on a Wednesday, aware that the vaccine had been coming for what...3 or 4 months now? Yet TWO days before that they still didn't have a public release on when or where the clinics would be set up, or how it would work. This is just one example, but it was endemic (pun intended) across most regional health areas--they were simply not prepared administratively to give out this drug to such high demand. Some regions caught on quickly and started giving out wristbands so people weren't waiting all day (instead, a mere 4 hours, [sarcasm]), but hey, they can only get so good at it.

Your private doctor. Your doc can order the stuff in collections of 500 adult doses. Most don't for two reasons: 1) The administrative issue of administering it to a rabid crowd of people with only a single support staff (secretary) and 2) storing vaccines is incredibly cumbersome--they have to sit at a particular temperature range that is regulated to less than a single degree centigrade. Very few family physicians have fridges that do this (they're digitally controlled and live-linked to other people that monitor it like a bank alarm, so that if it goes outside of the range the doctor is informed and they have to throw it all out...at MASSIVE cost).

That some private clinics and practices DO have these fridges and administer it to their patients is a completely separate issue from the public health administration of delivering the vaccine.

As to the argument that they Raps got it before children: True, they did. And yes, they're far less likely to have serious issues related to H1N1. However, the guidelines around the vaccine are just that, guidelines. It's not law, it's not morally wrong and quite frankly in a couple weeks none of you will care about it.

Apologies to CKL health, I didn't mean to pick on you.

Complete side note:

Doug,

Have you ever met Gord Kirke in your Toronto sports writing? He came and spoke to my law school class and was surprisingly friendly, open and....not cut-throat?...the way you would expect a big-time agent to be. Anyway, in the dog days of next summer I thought it would be interesting to get insight into the agent's life as many people seem to ask about it in the off-season and he seems like he'd be a good interview.

And now I stop telling you what to do.

- Mr. Cook