No one to cheer for and drivers who are goofs

Okay, we’re really reaching here today; that was as boring a holiday Monday as you’ll get.

But still … we soldier on.

Somehow.

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Hmm.

David Stern doesn’t “feel optimistic about the players’ willingness to engage in a serious way.”

Derek Fisher says the sides are “still very, very far apart.”

Sounds like a typical day at the bargaining table to me.

No, nothing really good happened when the CBA talks resumed Monday in New York but – most important – nothing really bad happened, either.

It was a step, a baby one for sure, but a step nonetheless.

But you know what?

I wonder if anyone really cares.

This is one of those fights without a true favourite or a villain, isn’t it?

I can see the owners side – they have to have a system that allows them to make a profit on their business and there can be no doubt that some of the clubs are hemorrhaging money.

I can see the players side – they shouldn’t be asked to give away all that they’ve collectively bargained for in the past just to make sure that the weaker teams can make it.

I suppose, philosophically, I’d side with the workers, who are going to get screwed somehow no matter what. The players have already conceded money, length of contract, the guarantees that go with those deals and, eventually, don’t they have to say: “enough is enough?”

But it truly is difficult for me to get too worked up either way.

The money totals are astronomical and that’s hardly worth thinking about. Total revenues of more than $4 billion are entirely abstract, it’s impossible to even imagine how much money that really is.

I do know that – eventually – the NBA will be back, it’s too lucrative a business for some and too ingrained in sporting society to go away forever. But this is turning into one of the most boring work stoppages I can remember.

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Well, another first.

Am doing the Prime Time radio gig Monday night (not too much pucks and acquitted myself not too badly, I believe) and an out for a breath of fresh air with Mr. McCown during one of the breaks.

Here comes this rather large fellow walking down the street, Bob says, “oh, no, it’s Belli” and, sure enough, it’s the big old ex-CFL lineman.

You know the one, Adriano, the guy who likes to kiss people on the cheeks as a way of saying hello.

Yep, he gets Bob, I stick out my hand and say, “Hi, not sure we’ve met, I’m Doug Smith of The Star” and … bam!

A smooch on each cheek.

Pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve had a peck from a pro athlete while standing on a major Toronto downtown thoroughfare.

Or anywhere, for that matter.

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Thinking caps, kids.

Have a trip to Baltimore coming and while I have one great recommendation already, I could use some help.

Two night games so there’s not a lot of time but am staying at Camden Yards area and have lunches to kill.

Maybe I’ll go check out this guy’s birthplace.

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Couple of questions over the weekend about the differences between the TOD and HOTH.

Biggest one:

The ball players are ready more quickly to talk after games and the guys and gals who might be approaching deadline like that a lot.

The drill’s the same as with the basketball, we all convene in a room to talk to the coach, er, manager, and after he’s done, we toddle off to the locker room, er, clubhouse, to get the players.

In the basketball, we stand around at lockers and wait for guys; in the baseball, they bring whoever we need to a central location. Much easier. Of course, the clubhouse is about four times the size of the Raptor locker room and that helps.

But the speed with which the various players come out really struck me. I’ve seen instances in the past where pitchers iced their arms forever, position players went to lift weights before doing post-game media and we’ve had to stand around bored for half an hour.

Not now. At least not with this team or any of the guys we’ve needed to talk to at games I’ve been at.

It’s interesting, too, in one other regard.

John Farrell comes in, plops himself down at the microphone – not standing at a podium like with the Raptors – and immediately launches into his impressions of the game.

With the Raptors, it’s always been a question-first kind of thing and I think I like the Farrell way better, his comments might give us fodder for a line of questioning.

Anyway, hope that helps those who wondered.

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Things I Hate, Vol. 2,502,476

So, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time in The Smelly Ford Focus betwixt Hazelville and the peninsula of late (Hello, Mick and Angelo’s) and here’s a Top Two Irksome Things From Idiot Drivers On The QEW

Move over!

Seriously. There are three lanes. Right one for slowpokes, middle one for regulars, left on for speedsters. Know where you should be and get there.

Thank you.

Listen!

You hear that little “click, click, click, click” sound that’s driving you crazy?

It’s your directional signal and because I’m the guy behind you entirely confused as to your intentions, please, for the love of all that’s good in the world, turn it of.

Thank you.

What’s on your list?

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Oh yeah, Mighty Rockies are tomorrow night.

I’ll alert the scalpers that you’ll all be around.

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Comments

[The J]

3 Pet Peeves:
*People who race out to get ahead of you, and then drive slow. I know you want to be in the front of the pack, and thats cool. But trust me, you are not going to be driving faster than I was.
*People who drive at the EXACT SAME speed as the car in the lane beside them. Speed up or slow down, but get in the other lane. There is no reason to drive side by side with someone and create an unpassable wall. If you're driving the same speed next to someone, you could be driving the same speed in front or behind someone.
*People who drive slowly in the left lane and NEVER get the clue. I don't want to tailgate, and I don't want to pass on the inside. But you've been in the wrong lane at the wrong speed for so long, I can't think of other ways to send you the @#$@ing message. Move over!

Great, now I am getting road rage sitting at a desk!

[Mike kovacs]

Just because you are in the HOV going a bit above the speed limit does not mean that you don't have to move over if you are creating a backlog behind you. Everyone should read Jim Kenzie in The Star about the left lane bandits.

[tumasi]

Hi Doug... like you, I thought you handled yourself with aplomb on the show yesterday. About Verlander, why aren't there any eyebrows raised over the two errors he made in the ninth with a no-hitter on the line? For the first one, he looked like a blitzed quarterback throwing away the ball before a sure sack. I didn't get a good look at the second, the dropped ball in the run-down. Could be just a couple of botched plays but it could also be a pitcher putting an individual accomplishment before the success of his team.

Tom in Nain, Labrador

[kyle]

my QEW peeve is not entirely driver-related, more design-related.
westbound HOV lanes end near Guelph Line, and HOV lane becomes an active lane again. the problem is that the far right lane (which you should be safe in) becomes exit-only at Brant St., with little or no warning. at the same time, the QEW/403 is splitting, so cars are zig-zagging all over trying to get to their destination. This is causing big slow downs/back-ups (there's no way mid-afternoon Saturday traffic should be bumper-to for kms approaching this area). Whatever engineer designed this should have his license revoked and his ring repossessed.

[Steph]

If drivers are driving badly and getting away with it, who is to blame? Left lane bandits, those ignorant ones who think they are entittled to a lane regardless of traffic flow, those distracted drivers who aren't paying attention, those who are loaded to an unsafe condition, those who haven't figured out that seeing out of your car is a good thing (snow removal), those with so many objects hanging from their rear visor that they are obscured from seeing a significant portion of the road and traffic.
The MTO and the police are the ones that should be charged with incompetance. The police that are scared by the visiuals of mangled bodies complain of having to witness tragedy, but drive right by when a left lane bandit is clogging the roadway. The MTO that look for rigs that are to heavy when the proverbial mattress is unsecured on the roof of the KIA and go on like they never saw anything.
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Everybody needs to drive the 401 with a defensive mind set. Why piss somebody off? Let them by, move over. Who cares what the motivation is to speed, just let them by.
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We are all responsible for providing safe passage. Why allow yourself to think you have a right to impeed somebody else. But, I will say it again, if the police did a better job of actually policing traffic, we would all be better for it. So don't wait for somebody else to change, change yourself and change the mind set of your passengers and your kids. The roadway is an increasingly dangerous place to be, protect yourself, do the right thing and get out of the way, drive in the right lane and follow the pace of the flow.
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My pet peave is the driver that insists they are entittled to the highway when they are clearly intimidate by it. Secondary roads are often a great way to see the country side, and generally a safer place to be.

[tumasi]

Hello Doug... like you, I thought you handled yourself with aplomb on the show yesterday. About Verlander, am I the only one with an eyebrow raised over his two errors in the ninth with a no-hitter on the line? On the first, he looked like a blitzed quarterback throwing the ball away before a sure sack. I didn't get a good look at the second, the dropped ball in the run-down. Could be just a couple of botched plays ???

Tom in Nain, Labrador

[DavidT (Ottawa)]

It's amazing the lack of common sense that you see when driving through traffic. Leave a couple of car lengths, one-for-one merging (or zipper-effect, if you like), and try to be in an appropriate lane. It's not difficult, and do yourself a favor: Drive through traffic once, say from Waterloo on your way through to Ottawa on a Friday afternoon. Pick the idiot who is weaving in and out of traffic around Guelph, watch him pull ahead of you by 500m or so, and then watch you pass him, staying more or less put and driving steadily, by the time you hit Markham.

An aside: There are some interesting Ontario traffic laws. Speeding is speeding, but there IS a ``flow of traffic'' clause written in the Act somewhere. Of course, it's he-said-she-said, but if 4 lanes of traffic is going 130+ and so are you and you are the unlucky schmuck getting pulled over (one police officer described it to my friend who pointed out that he wasn't the only one as: ``When you go fishing, do you throw back the fish even if all the rest are just like him?''), there is an out in the Act, somewhere.

Also, same spot in the Act, you're allowed to pass on the right but ONLY IF flow of traffic dictates. And I don't think ``I was driving 140, so I dictate the flow'' counts as an excuse.

[Paul]

Wow Doug… seems like you've hit a nerve ;)
So while we're on the subject - my biggest pet peeve is drivers who won't use the merge lane until all lanes are open. Point in case - Don Mills Road has three lanes going north - so many drivers insist on sitting by the cross walk - not even entering the merge lane provided until all 3 north lanes are open. Please… keep the traffic moving… use the merge lane… no one from the left lane is going to hit you in the right lane.

[Boko]

Many thoughts ...
Nobody buys a ticket to see an owner at the game.
Owners buy teams because they're fans, too. Otherwise, they'd just invest in whatever they've been investing in to become so rich. They're bored of that. The team is just the biggest boy toy a little one can ever buy.
I wonder how the team owner meetings have changed since MJ became one?
As a former player, does MJ know something that, as a player, he would've wanted to know about? Is he the key to settling it this time?
Can the NBAPA buy a team on behalf of the players? THEN they'd be in on the entire pie! And the truth would be harder to hide. Something to save up for?

[Richard Y]

In case car company tall foreheads read this, what about setting it up that if the turn signal is left on greater than 60 secs, it gets louder or starts to play over the car sound system so that the driver becomes aware of it. At 120 seconds it reaches 120 dB and at 3 minutes onStar calls 911 and reports a distracted driver.