Dunking and singing and trying to jazz up a night

Well, that was entirely underwhelming, wasn’t it?

Maybe Saturday night’s better – and I can’t see how it can’t be – because a rookie-sophomore game and dunk-in is not the way to really create some buzz.

But it does create stuff like this:

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You know that I’m not a real conspiracy theorist but at least this year when we’re sitting through the dunk contest there won’t be an over-riding sense that it’s, um, fixed like last year’s was.

Rudy Fernandez still got jobbed by judges a year ago who pined for – or were pointed in the direction of – a Nate Robinson-Dwight Howard final and there is no real foil for Wee Nate this year.

Which means it might be fun and it could sure use some jazzing up.

Can DeMar win?

I have no idea but he sure sounds like he wants to have some fun. Every time the thing comes up he talks about how he’s never lost a dunk contest, how he’s got some creativity in him and how he wants to entertain the crowd.

Was sort of hoping to see some of it Friday but after he made his first one and Eric Gordon pulled off a Chris Andersen imitation on his first, the thing was pretty much over.

DeMar went all boring and simple with his second, Gordon missed again and the yawns began.

Funny thing was, I was more impressed with Gordon’s attempts. They had some juice to them and at a bit higher degree of difficulty but DeMar put it pretty well after:

“You can’t miss. You just can’t.”

I have no idea what the kid’s got in mind for Saturday – he’ll enlist the aid of Sonny Weems on something he told me after Friday’s dunks – but hopefully it’s a step up from his debut.

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I don’t know if it’s the Olympics or the snow or the economy or the malaise that’s sweeping our industry but it seems the numbers of chroniclers in Dallas this weekend is way down.

Take Friday’s media session with the all-stars.

It’s usually packed and you can’t get near a player you want to talk to for any length of time or for many real questions. But this time around, if to you waited with even a modicum of patience you could get what you want; I had time to chat with Chris Bosh, talked to Chauncey Billups for a while and had DeMar entirely alone at one stretch.

The thing that was most impressive? Not many people were there doing silly stuff like the year one of the representatives of the international media carried around a tiny horn he wanted to get everyone to play. Seriously.

We had one group delivering tiny Chinese New Year’s packages and asking the players to say Happy New Year in, I believe, Cantonese, but that was about it.

Was kind of refreshing, actually.

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Look, I don’t know Kreesha Turner from Tina Turner and I hope young Kreesha goes on to have a long and illustrious hit-filled career as a crooner.

But, for the love all that is Canada, couldn’t someone have perhaps checked that she’d get the words to O Canada right before trotting her out at NBA all-star weekend.

It’s “in all thy sons command” and not “in all our sons command” and that’s a mistake that’s made about once in every five games I go to.

Oh, and it’s “the true north, strong and free” and not “our north strong and free.”

Yeesh.

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Sixteen months until the deadline and already I’m bored by NBA labour stuff.

Yes, it’s pretty serious; yes, there was legitimate news Friday when the two sides chatted.

Yawn.

Folks, it is right now posturing and simple negotiations. You throw out wild proposals knowing they’ll cause angst and you work toward some middie ground.

Friday, we had union boss Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher slamming the league’s first offer of a huge cutbacks in every imaginable economic facet from the value, length and guarantee of contracts to the share of income.

Saturday it’ll be David Stern’s turn to get on the podium for his annual state-of-the-league address and I’m pretty sure it’ll be all labour, all the time.

Snore.

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Nash, Gretzky, Le May Doan, Greene?

Yeah, I’m okay with that.

Shame about the cauldron malfunction, though.

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I’m looking at my notes from Friday night and first page, first thing scribbled it says:

“No one’s here.”

Yeah, it was a rather underwhelming crowd – exuberant and kid-filled but underwhelming nonetheless – that greeted the start of the Rookie-Sophomore Silliness.

Place filled up pretty well through the night, although certainly not to capacity, and that’s part of the problem with this weekend: It’s one night too long.

Used to be just Saturday and Sunday and that seemed to be just fine with all concerned; crowds were big, the party atmosphere was just as good and we weren’t subjected to a night built entirely around a 40-minute game between kids who have no real desire to play.

If they insist on keeping Friday an integral part of this thing – and that genie’s not going back into the bottle – they need to jazz it up somehow.

I’m thinking something with a charity or fund-raising component and kids; maybe doing something with a local charity as part of the Day Of Service; something like the U.S. Open tennis does on its opening night.

No idea how that all comes together but something needs to change on the Friday night.

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So I’m thinking, because I love ya so much (and because deadlines are such that we won’t get an awful lot of post-shenanigans stuff in Sunday’s paper) that we’ll do the regular mailbag Sunday morning and also provide this usual glut of information and entertainment.

Lucky, lucky readers.

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Comments

[Brenda]

Good morning Doug,

I have to say that I agree with your assessment of the Rookie-Sophomore thing being rather underwhelming. I had the luxury of flipping back and forth on my television between that and the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I have to say that except for watching the dunk-in just to make sure Demar made it through to the final, the Olympics won the channel flipping contest - hands down. And I too was happy that they found a way to integrate all significant people into the flag raising and cauldron lighting...I agreed with you at first about Gretkzy being appropriate for some later games, but on the other hand, the events earlier in the day (luge accident) brought home the fact that you never know if you will have a tomorrow in your future.

[nasko]

Hey, Doug, I think the lighting of the flame was weak. I mean Nash, Gretzky, Le May Doan, Greene are fine choices but I think it would have been amazing had they done something with Terry Fox. The malfunction just added to this.

[Chi of Steel]

Odd, Kreesha is a Canadian girl. Would figure the lyrics were engrained in her. Funny, on her Wikipedia entry is this: "On the strength of her rendition of Canada's national anthem, Kreesha was accepted into the choir..."

[Matt M]

I'm okay with who lit the cauldron as well. It might have been nice to acknowledge Calgary and Montreal for the outside cauldron and have Gretzky pass the torch a couple of teens, after the inside cauldron had been lit by those present (with out the equipment malfunctions. I sorta felt bad for Le May Doan). I would have been happy with a Terry Fox Hologram too and given some of the stuff they were projecting in the laser show I don't doubt it would have been possible. I probably would have also been happier seeing Leonard Cohen singing hallelujah rather then KD Lang but I guess in the end Lang did an OK tribute. It was very nice to see the local First Nation communities being honored to start the show.
Sorry you had to miss it all watching the all star festivities Doug 'cause it was pretty fun to watch. I wonder if the crowd would have been larger if there was no conflict with the start of the Olympics, although I admit being unsure about the ratings for either event. The all star game should have been held the week before the Superbowl. NBA dropped the ball on that one I think.

[John]

To the Bosh story about wanting to promote Toronto - winning solves it all. Go Raps! And too bad about Oh Canada...can be a tough one at times (I know as I have to hear it screached every morning in class) but hopefully you got to see the version from the Opening Cermonies....possibly the best ever!

[Matt M]

And I know this isn't the right place for it but condolences to Nodar Kumaritashvili's family. I think the tragedy was a freak accident but it might have been avoided if the kid had more experience on that particular luge track. In retrospect, it was a mistake not giving all athletes time to become comfortable with the facilities at Vancouver.
Nasko, Betty Fox was one of the six who carried the Olympic Flag in and was the first to be introduced. Terry Fox was honored. The committee got it right by letting athletes light the indoor cauldron.

[Striker77]

How classy was Le May Doan to maintain composure like that? Also, I think Rick Hansen had the same thing happen to him.. Unlucky, but, it happens.. Its just too bad that it had to happen then.

Doug, I know its just a dunk contest.. but what do you think Gordon was trying to do? I also admire the degree of difficulty, but it seems like he felt he had to do something AWESOME in order to beat Demar... Especially since Gordon went second, and saw both of Demars pretty simple dunks (especially the second one)... Do you think that he knows how good Demar really is, and figured the only way hed win was to throw down some really hard dunks?

[Bill W.]

Don't forget - Kreesha Turner is famous for her butchering of the national anthem at the first Toronto Bills game last year - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUl0sEi13eU

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Bob and Doug could have at least done the outside lighting thing, eh. More suited to waving in mittens from the bed of a pickup. And I'll bet their Bic wouldn't have malfunctioned. OK, next time, eh. Go Raps!

[CARLoS M.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAPABJd4xos&feature=player_embedded

For those that missed the Raptor eating a cheerleader, here's a little clip to brighten your morning.

[Boko]

Just a thought ... instead of doing the rookie sophomore game, how about a talent show of any NBA player/s willing to participate, all in the name of charity. The night doesn't have to be about basketball. There could even be team tryouts for charity, with the night consisting of divisional competitions, then conference competitions, then a final resulting in a talent contest winner, all judged by the volume of the audience responses. Gee, that means they might have to have three different acts ready for the night. Now, that's pressure!

[GM]

I'm okay with those two minor changes to O Canada. They're pretty insignificant. What I'm not okay with is that Olympic song about believing. Get this egregious grammatical error: "I believe in the power of you and I." Brutal.

[Lorie]

Hi Doug,
A question for you about our national anthem, and perhaps some of the younger readers here would be able answer it if you are not. How do Canadian children learn the words to "O Canada" these days? Is it still sung in schools at the start of class every day? I remember singing both "O Canada" and "God Save The Queen" before we started school each morning. I also recall the days of our national anthem being played at movie theatres. Does anyone know when and why this ceased happening?

[Roxanne G]

I hear that error in O Canada a lot when I hear crowds of people singing the anthem at various times(at Raptors games for instance when some in the crowd sing along) It really bothers me - I disagree with 'GM' that they are insignificant changes. It's not about grammar; it's about the subject of the song - Canada. The anthem is sung to the nation, not about Canadians. I have wondered where such a common error got its start. With 'Lorie', have wondered if students still learn the anthem at school - I know at the school where I work it is sung every morning, and teachers have to consistently correct this "our sons" error. I learned the anthem in Girl Guides many moons ago - but I dont' think those movements have such widespread influence on the youth of today as they once did.

[mdc]

"Get this egregious grammatical error: "I believe in the power of you and I." Brutal."
If this offends you, better not listen to The Game Plan on The Fan590. This is normal parlance for a great many sportscasters. Apparently the producers don't know any better - or they don't care.

[JHP]

Hope the weather is warming up. Any breaking news on trades ? Last I heard unnamed sources have Chris going to Miami. Let me see less money, team has worse record and he would be at least second to Wade. Having lived in the Miami area I can see how the weather would be nice. But beyond that it does not make sense.

They are even saying MLSE will not even offer him max money. I guess wishfull thinking on their part.

[J]

Lorie,

As far as my childhood in the 80s, there was no God Save the Queen, just O Canada, and I never heard the national anthem at any movie theater.

[Viktor]

For Lorie:
Yeah the anthem is sung every morning in school all the way until you graduate (or drop out) of high school. I don't know about other schools, but at my high school, they had different variations of the anthem to avoid the monotony of having the anthem played every morning.