A TV deal may be coming soon; and a busy week ahead for Canada

This is probably going to come as good news to a few of you, and will ease the load of e-mails I’ve been getting.

I understand we should hear soon – maybe as early as today – some resolution to the television situation for the world championships that start a week from Saturday.

I don’t have details on who will do the games or how many they will show but history would suggest we’ll see all the Canadian games and we’ll have to be on our own to watch any playoff round games (I’m thinking maybe Canada doesn’t make the quarter-finals) wherever we can.

(The trip over here is to do Canada’s first round, the round of 16 and come home unless there’s some shock-the-world Canadian results).

Anyway, any television package they can put together is a great idea because, as we know, the programs can use some exposure it doesn’t now get.

I know that one of the qualifiers recently, might have been the Olympic one in 2007, came together as a TV package at the final minute because of negotiations over cost (which is not unsubstantial) and airtime availability.

The good thing going for broadcasters this time around is the time change between here and Turkey.

According to my research (which involves google), it’s a seven-hour difference between here and Izmir, putting Canada’s games at 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. or 2 p.m. Eastern time in the first round.

Besides, if we’re going to do live blogs off these games – and that’s certainly the plan at the moment, still to be finalized with the big cheeses – it’s better if you can see what I’m seeing, I guess.

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This might be one of those cases where news is so old it becomes new again.

Had a couple of calls from people yesterday telling me the Raptors had hired a coach and lost a player and I’m like, ‘duh.’

But, yes, it’s official.

Scott Roth joins Jay’s staff as an assistant and Dwayne Jones cleared waivers and was released.

And that, folks, is what passes as Raptors news for the day.

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Speaking of Canada, the national team’s got a pretty busy week ahead starting today.

They’re in Athens to play Serbia, Greece and Slovenia on consecutive days starting today and then they move on to Ankara to play Argentina, Turkey and Lebanon on three straight days starting Aug. 21.

That’s a pretty ambitious schedule but it’s also pretty important. Not so much to get an idea of what other teams might do (everyone’s going to be playing possum to some degree less than two weeks from the worlds) but so they can get used to the officiating, the logistics of being in Europe and, frankly, work on aspects of their game that really need it before the begin in Izmir on Aug. 28.

So don’t put a whole lot of stock in the results but it’ll be interesting to hear from dispassionate observers – and I have some at both tournaments – about how they actually look for real.

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Let’s kick off a bit of the mail, shall we?

Q: Hi Doug, what are the odds that a newspaper journalist from Toronto will ever get a spot on a programme like Around the Horn. Toronto's a pretty big market and never get's any representation on the show (while markets like Denver and Miami continue to have reporters on the show). As someone who seems to have a lot to say about a lot of sports (not just basketball) I would think you would make a great panelist on one of these "south of the border" shows. Think you should mention it to your friend Jackie MacMullan..

Farhan L, London, UK

A: Great idea except for one thing: No one down there cares a lick what we think up here, really.

What I’d like to see is some forward-thinking programmer at some all-sports station here develop some kind of daily show that involves some of us in some form. I honestly think there are some sportswriters who have lots to say on a lot of topics, and I don’t mean just screaming into some radio microphone in a “hey, listen to me” format.

But it takes money and organization and a commitment to a five-day-a-week show that we haven’t seen.

I think TV viewers up here get short shrift on those kinds of shows – although I am so not a fan of Around The Horn it’s not funny – but until someone makes it work in a Canadian format with recognizable Canadian names, we’ll be force fed American opinions. And that’s too bad.

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This is a day late but I read it somewhere yesterday and it’s way, way worth the diversion.

Here’s a Did You Know that’s kind of odd. Very odd.

Aug. 16 seems to be a pretty weird day for big names dying.

These folks all drew their last breath:

Elvis Presley, Babe Ruth, John Diefenbaker, Idi Amin, Bela Lugosi, Margaret Mitchell.

Oh, and a true giant of my craft, the incomparable Jim Murray.

Cue the scary music.

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My name?

Mud.

Seems I misheard Super Wife the other day (yeah, like that never happens) and the mighty Catch 22s dragon boat team won its division on the weekend.

Oops. More Alpo for dinner.

Anyway, a tug-of-war between two teams involves tying a rope to the back of each boat, pointing them in opposite directions and letting them go. Sounds fun.

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Okay, first shot at mail.

Click here to send because I think I’ve got Friday afternoon off and it could be a nice afternoon on a stool getting the answers done so the weekend can be comprised of just one mailbag and a day off for moi. Wouldn’t that be cool? I think it would be.

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Yes, I was indeed Argo Boy for a one-day emergency fill-in yesterday and I have to tell you, that’s a pretty good gig when things are going well.

Not only was it a great day to sit outside and watch practice (if I knew what I was seeing it would have helped a bit but the weather was good) and to see a large group of athletes having as much fun as they seemed to be having was pretty cool.

I know it probably has everything to do with their record and the somewhat unexpected success they’ve been having but it was fun.

Anyway, end of digressions, end of transmission.

If I’m here tomorrow it may be a slow morning. Super Son and I are off to see Aerosmith tonight and who knows what kind of impact that may have on an aged fellow.

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Comments

[petro]

Doug... not sure if you are picking up a livestream... but this just in... Greece is absolutely smoking Canada in this friendly match.

1st quarter score 27 - 6
2nd quarter score 58 - 20
3rd quarter score 84 - 32
4th quarter score... they were down by 70 [123 - 53] before I lost the live stream feed

[Dave in Ottawa]

Hi Doug,
Missed the last couple of blogs, so i'm not sure if you mentioned it. Did you catch Bosh on last Sunday's episode of "Entourage"? Looks like his move south is paying off.

[Mark]

Hi Doug,
With talk of Carmelo wanting a change and Denver maybe looking for a way to minimize the dent from his departure, do you see Toronto getting their trade dollars in on a potential three-way to getting him into a uni that he wants to be in?

Blogger's note: Suppose it's a longshot possibility

[Ren]

OK- I read about a 73 point loss to Greece today by the Canucks - what is that all about? Holy Macaroni - if this is the true look of Canada, we are in for a devastating tournament. How must that feel?

[CM]

@Dave in Ottawa, Entourage was taped far prior to his move south.