An old friend comes back and another one leaves -- sort of

You never know what you’ll find out when you hang around a saloon for a while.

During the very cool Canada Basketball bun-toss and chinwag Thursday night, this little nugget was passed my way.

JT’s coming back.

That’d be Jim Todd, one of the all-time favourite Raptors assistants, and now he’s going to be working with Leo Rautins on the national team staff.

Michael Malone isn’t returning – he’s got a new gig in New Orleans he has to worry about – so the folks were trying to figure out where to find a replacement and they hit a homer, I think, with Jim.

He knows the game inside and out, he’s a great communicator and, let’s face it, working all those years with Sam has to have shown him how do deal with diverse personalities.

Not sure when the official announcement will come – the team starts assembling here on Monday – but it’ll be nice to see an old face when they start serious workouts on Wednesday.

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Okay, a digression but I don’t care.

The Canadian newspaper business – and our little part of it in particular – is worse off today.

Dave Perkins, or Perk as he’s known to all and sundry, snuck out the back door at the end of Thursday, bringing the curtain down on an extraordinary career.

Now, he’ll still be around a bit – the tall foreheads at our place got it right and he’ll be an occasional contributor in his quasi-retirement – but his days as the full-time conscience of our department are over.

Perk’s a classic, and a giant. He’s been scribbling at our place for about 33 years, I think he said, and he’s done it all.

I’ve had the honour of working alongside him an awful lot, we walked the Great Wall of China, check out the Acropolis, saw Sydney Harbour and did sushi in Nagano and been in a whole bunch of North American cities.

If you think he tells a good story in print, you should have the privilege of sitting in a big old rental car smoking a foot-long cigar as he conducts his driving tour of New York City, which is a must for any young kid lucky enough to be there with him.

“Albert Anastasia got shot over there. This is where this other mobster got whacked. There’s where Lennon got it. That’s the greatest sportswriter bar in the world.”

He is a raconteur beyond compare.

Here’s the thing about guys like Perk. There aren’t enough of them left. I don’t think we’ve got one in this city, I can’t imagine there’s one like him anywhere else in Canada and the way our business is going, I’m not sure anyone can elevate themselves to his class.

Now, he’s a tad crusty and if someone sees this and points it out to him, he’ll probably be a bit miffed but, truth be told, our business lost a giant and it sucks.

You readers were better off for having Perk in your life and that’s about the greatest thing you can say about a typist in this gig.

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Anyway …

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this since it’ll probably evoke some questions.

Chris Bosh went on TV and said he didn’t check out and played hard.

Yawn.

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Oh, one last shot at the mail. The plan is for me to get at least one morning off this weekend; not sure which one but I’d like to have the mail almost ready in case I want to do it tomorrow and shut it down for Sunday.

So click here, say hi, bring your best stuff.

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Hey, I read that Chicago’s interest in Tracy McGrady is waning after he stopped by for a workout and an interview.

Wonder if he’ll be on Toronto’s radar now?

(I keed, I keed).

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Oh, right, the Raptors.

They didn’t do anything yesterday, Bryan was at league meetings in New York, I understand, and it was a quiet day around the office.

Just keeping you up to date.

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Actually, one little thing but I couldn’t nail much information down.

I do think there’s a chance they’ll add some kind of assistant to the staff, not necessarily a senior guy to replace Mark Iavaroni but there is some interest in another basketball development kind of guy.

No rush, of course, and no names at the moment.

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Speaking of coaches, big weekend ahead for Jay.

He’s just come off a week with the USA senior team – he was at its Vegas camp helping out – and now it’s off to Dakar, Senegal, for the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program.

Jay and Masai Ujiri are part of the contingent that works with promising young African players on skill development at the camp.

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Okay, another day, another drive down the QEW and another day of ‘not sure when I’ll get back here but I will’ scheduling.

See ya.

Comments

[Ian Murray]

Hey Doug,

I never would have thought Dave Perkins was crusty. His head shot makes him seem like a real laid back guy. Oh well. I came from a household were the only newspaper was The Star. It will definetly be strange not to see an article from him everyday. Really diverse writer and he will be missed. So now who's the longest serving on the sports staff?

[Brad]

Kelly Dwyer on Yahoo Sports today has it right, has said what many of us were/are thinking- Bosh was a different player in March. We saw it with our own eyes, the body language, the intensity. He's been called out by BC and needs to eat a little humble pie if he wants respect for his many years of stellar work for the Raptors.

[Basket Live]

I hope that Raptors add some other players this year...

[ed]

how telling is it that bosh directs attention to the name "on the back of the jersey." jack armstrong of course knows it's about the one on the front. more and more i'm glad this man-child is gone. young gunz are going to be a great story in the nba this season.

----------------------------------------------------------
I don't think I could agree with this. The guy left, sure there was a little more Twitter / self pomotion than necessary, but I never saw a game last year where his effort was an issue. What he said about Toronto and his play was not in any way controversial. Since when did we become so sensitive? Yeah Toronto IS different than other cities in the NBA, nobody said that was a bad thing. Neither is taking pride in the fact you work hard.

As for the "young gunz", the only thing they are shooting for this year is a lottery pick. Let's quit drinking the cool-aid on this one.

except you shouldn't take pride in something that isn't true- the truth is that bosh could have played, and if you really believe you never saw a game since the allstar break where bosh didn't work hard, then you're the one who drank the kool-aid. there's no sensitivity here- just a reaction to the truth that bosh quit, an observation everyone made and that became more solidified when we found out he wouldn't play through pain. he winced it.

[chris]

Andrea was interviewed here
http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/sierra/2010/07/29/andrea-bargnani-i-dont-feel-like-ive-arrived/
and asked........

What was your reaction when you learned Bosh was going to Miami?

AB: I wasn’t surprised. His contract was finished and the feeling was that he was going to leave. You could feel that he was going to leave for the last couple of months before the end of the season. Everybody had this kind of feeling. So I wasn’t surprised.

So AB knows bosh checked out

[hum]

What's up with the blog, Doug?

Blogger's note: I actually took a day off to do some family stuff and attend a function.

[J]

@chris:

"Andrea was interviewed here
http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/sierra/2010/07/29/andrea-bargnani-i-dont-feel-like-ive-arrived/
and asked........

What was your reaction when you learned Bosh was going to Miami?

AB: I wasn’t surprised. His contract was finished and the feeling was that he was going to leave. You could feel that he was going to leave for the last couple of months before the end of the season. Everybody had this kind of feeling. So I wasn’t surprised.

So AB knows bosh checked out"
--

Good example of selective reading. If you continue to the very next question in the interview:

"Some people believe he gave up on the team late last season. What do you think about that?

AB: Every time he was wearing the jersey on the court, he always played hard. His numbers prove that. He’s a good player. As for personal stuff, I don’t know, I can’t know and personally I don’t want to know. Everybody can think whatever."

So AB doesn't think Bosh checked out.