All over the map and that could become a usual thing

Ok, what now?

EuroBasket? Done.

Raptors? Almost dead quiet.

Women? Will have one week of Olympic qualification but it doesn’t start until Saturday.

NBA? Until they start cancelling games or settling labour tiffs, yawn.

Hmm.

What now?

Guess we’ll just muddle along with other sports and some other stuff – and you know we love other stuff more than almost anything – and try to figure it out as we go.

Sound good?

-

But first, HOTH news!!!!

Sort of.

I hear there’s a report out there that says Bryan’s all done the interviewing process for the new guy – and there is still no title associated with any front office job – and it’s down to four guys.

Yes, same four guys who’ve been talked about for months – Kevin Pritchard, Dennis Lindsay, Jeff Bower and Ed Stefanski – but before you go breaking down the pros and cons of each, consider this:

The process isn’t over, there’s more work to be done, a few more calls to be made and nothing is imminent.

Could very well be that one of those four comes on board in some capacity since their names have been kicking around since about July but the search/interview/due diligence process is not quite complete.

-

Glad I was at the ball park late last night, I was able to avoid the sound of car horns honking on the parade up Yonge Street.

Leaves 4, Ottawas 2.

Cup Fever is upon us!

-

I notice there were a couple of signings in the NBL yesterday out in Halifax, one that made me chuckle.

The Rainmen got Rodney Buford under contract and soon as I saw it, I remembered what has to be the last time I wrote Buford’s name.

That was when he was with the Miami Heat eons ago, landed on the team charter at Pearson for a game, was caught with an illegal substance stashed in his sock – not sure if was one of those drug-sniffing dogs or just some alert Customs officer who noticed a bulge – but he was denied entry into the country and sent back home.

I’m not saying he’s a bad guy or anything but I hope he understands what he can and can’t import now that he’s going to be coming and going with more frequency.

Sometimes athletes just confound me. Not sure if they think they’re above the law or if they just don’t know the laws but whatever it is, there are those among them who don’t seem to have a scintilla of common sense.

-

No, I didn’t see the DWTS debut, TOD got in the way on my penultimate night at the ball yard but the reports on Metta World Peace are, um, not good.

As someone said after his, er, performance:

End. The. Lockout. Now.

Seems he was less than stellar in many ways and the last thing the NBA – or the union – probably wants is to have him out there representing them at this point.

Anyway, hope it gets to On Demand soon so I can see it first hand.

-

Speaking of …

(And I presume this sparks some debate among Irregulars)

Q: The stars are converging, and Metta World Peace is going dancing! So, does that tweak your level of interest in DWTS this season? Can you pinpoint your interest in dance for your loyal readers, Mr. Smith – are you a refined tango artiste and fox trotter, perhaps? Would you have a Hoofers Top Five or two to offer up – as in, maybe, your top five all-time dance movies? Your top five all-time favourite dancers?

Thanks, Doug!

David M, Ottawa

A: My original DWTS interest was more in the car-wreck kind of way. Then I figured if you had to watch reality TV – since it’s so pervasive it impossible to avoid – that would be the show to watch.

I have no dance skills whatsoever, I can appreciate the skill and work that goes into it but I’m far more of a Stool Dancer than anything.

But, if you asked for a list, I’d go old school and give you:

Fred Astaire

Gene Kelly

Ginger Rogers

And …

Cyd Charisse

Yes, Cyd.

Anyway, am sure there are others I’ve forgotten and have a feeling some of you will let me know.

-

Speaking of the penultimate night at the ballyard – my Seamhead Season comes to a close this evening – wasn’t that bottom of the 10th about a perfect example of each team doing just about everything right and a tough break ending it.

And it’s one of the things that’s great about that, and any, game.

Jays get the lead-off guy on and correctly don’t bunt Thames because it’ll take the bat out of Bautista’s hands and Thames singles off a tough lefty, no mean feat for the lefty-hitting rookie.

Angels get Bautista to hit a pretty much tailor made double play but before you can say “man on third, two out” the kid bobbles the throw at second and its runners on the corners and one out.

Angels bring a fifth infielder in because Downs throws nothing but groundballs and the likelihood of a sac fly is remote.

Lind does just what the Angels want, he his a sharp grounder to first, McCoy takes off on contact and when he should have been dead to rights at the plate, the throw – from the outfielder who was brought into fill an infield gap – is up the line and game’s over.

Great inning, couple of smart moves on both sides that don’t work out and it goes to show you: Sometimes all the coaching strategy in the world doesn’t matter if players can’t make plays.

-

 

 

Comments

[jc]

I like the 10th inning recap at the end..but it was McCoy scoring

Blogger's note: Mind burp, will fix

[doug]

now when you were at the ballyard did you have a libation or two??...as it was McCoy that scored the winning run...and let's see what Goodell does with this one, he is quick to fine and loves to show who is king, well what the Giants did last night in feigning injury to allow defensive changes was pretty sad, this has to be cracked down on now.....I flicked the channels and happened to see the end of DWTS, like the last 10 seconds and there was a shot of Rikki Lake, that girl deserves credit, look at her from the movie Hairspray to now the transformation is unreal....let's face it DWTS has a perfect blend, for both husbands and wives to watch, good looking women and men, what's not to like...and i could do a mean twist back in the day, now I couldn't even do it once, or I could and that'd be me done for the week...

Blogger's note: Got the McCoy thing fixed, brain cramp

[G]

Metta was really bad last night, but how would this have worked out if the season was on? If he was actually good and sticks around, doesn't DWTS last until the beginning of the season?

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Morning Doug,
I'm with you, I've always done my best dancing from a seated position. But there's a WHOLE lot to appreciate about the pure athleticism of great dance, and man, there's been a slew of great dancers.
For discussion purposes, I'd throw out a bone that says Michael Jackson is the king of the heap, and I'll base it on this theory: Let's say there was a friendly game of H-O-R-S-E out on the dance floor... I'm thinking MJ could duplicate any move made by any other dancer out there but that he'd conjure up more than a few that would entirely seal the deal.
Names that could be included in any discussion among the men, in addition to yours and MJ, how about: Baryshnikov, Bob Fosse, Greg Hines, and then there's this guy called Robert Muraine that's worth a Google. Among the ladies, how about Gwen Verdon, Shakira, Paula Abdul, Martha Graham and Isadora Duncan.
Here's an unreal reel on MJ in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9OU-7kav_w
Cheers!

[Miike Slater]

Congrats Doug! First reporter to reference a "parade up Yonge Street" this year? A tired quip, for a tired sentiment. Maybe the Toronto print media needs a total rebuild?

Blogger's note: Feel free to apply for a job

[Lorie]

Hello Doug!
Ahhh...dance...I've been watching stuff like this for far too long this morning:
http://youtu.be/2A4-C-MK-Po
Oh, yes; it was the perfect dance pairing for each one of them - as is correctly said, he gave her class and she game him sex. But as much as individual dance skills are wonderful, it's great choreography that gets to me. Where dance and song and the story connect and take flight. This from Chicago is a "blast"!
http://youtu.be/vVLHPqhgAek
And a little something from one of the Bobby's (Rydell) and the fabulous Ann-Margret.
http://youtu.be/rS38PiZ2-RA
Gosh, Doug, what are we going to do when the NBA starts up? Won't it cramp your style to HAVE to write only about basketball??? Cheers!

[Dave Fritz, Kingston]

Hi, Doug,
Just to muddy the waters ... Baryshnikov is on record as saying his favourite dancer of all time is Fred Astaire. And I'll trot out the old comment that Ginger Rogers could do everything Fred Astaire could do plus do it backward and in high heels ;-)

Cheers,
Dave

[Nick]

Now now Doug, let's not say things about the Leafs we cannot take back. Us BeLeafers have a mindset that goes like this...Until the Leafs are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs they remain the Cup Favourite hahaha....but I have a suggestion for a list. Who are your top 5 Canadian musicians/bands of all time?

Blogger's note: Have done bands not too long ago, will revisit soon. Just know The Band is on the list

[james]

The basketball-starved could do a lot worse than check out the WNBA playoffs. There were two terrific series closers last night (being on the west coast helped with Seattle and Phoenix, difficult for eastern time zones). Canadian content is still alive with Tammy Sutton-Brown of Indiana. Some might object to an "inferior" product but effort is effort and these players leave it all on the floor. The physical contest between Cathchings of Indiana and Powell of New York was as nasty and intense as anything in any men's league. It is also fascinating to watch a horizontal game as opposed to a vertical one (much closer to the game we all played, I'd wager). After all, how many stuffs can one watch without getting a little jaded.

[Mike kovacs]

Wow - who said there is a sucker born every minute? There were 18 000 at the ACC last night and only 11 000 at Skydome ( sorry to Big Brother )at a game that has playoff implications.

[The J]

Hey, I have a baseball/movie question for you, after seeing this on the main Star page:

Poll: What is the best baseball movie moment?
Ray Kinsella playing catch with his dad in Field of Dreams
Roy Hobbs' home run into the light standard in The Natural
Lou Gehrig's speech in Pride of the Yankees
The Bad News Bears tell their rival Yankees wait till next year
Nuke Laloosh shakes off veteran catcher Crash Davis in Bull Durham
Wild Thing enters from the bullpen in Major League
Manager Jimmy Dugan says 'there's no crying in baseball' in A League of Their Own
Lt. Frank Drebin gets into calling strikes as an umpire in The Naked Gun

All good moments, but I'm struggling to pick one between those two first options. One is emotional, but the other one is just plain cool.

[Jim Rootham]

The Nicholas Brothers. Especially in "Stormy Weather". These guys are who Grg Hines wanted to be.

Please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9hTyLjfM

[Gerry Tanner]

On your other blog about the NFL, you have the Pats playing Denver. Believe that was San Diego.

[doug]

regarding baseball and the Red Sox collapse, they are the "moneyball" team of present with Bill James the king of sabermetrics on the payroll and Epstein a advocate of that philosophy....I want to see the moneyball movie as I just think Brad Pitt is a fine, under-appreciated actor (Kalifornia,Seven.Snatch, Burn After reading etc)...but in regards to moneyball look at this quote..."At crisis time, the Red Sox have $420.2 million worth of free agents nowhere to be found, at least as far as even marginal contributors: Crawford, Jenks, Matsuzaka, Drew, John Lackey, Mike Cameron and Dan Wheeler."....that's why I like AA's approach, the Jays won the Double A crown this year, and any organization that is a winning one has depth within (Braves come to mind) just plug-in a piece here or there like a Prince Fielder (behind Bautista perfect fit)thru free agency but build from within......the Sox are in fact a mess, no pitching, and burdensome contracts....if that's moneyball you can keep it, plus J.P. was a advocate of it, look at the Wells and Rios contracts....it has never worked...

[Mr. Cook]

For dancing, it's hard to be the artistic convergence of Yo Yo Ma and Lil Buck coming together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9jghLeYufQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=40s

(Requires a bit of a higher volume, it's a handheld recording).

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Awesome, amazing stuff, @Jim Rootham and @Mr. Cook! After 20 years' worth of turned ankles playing hoops, etc., watching Lil Buck was cringe-inducing, but worth it! Cheers.

[MikeB]

C'mon Doug! The greatest dancer of all time is Michael Jackson. Can't believe he's not even in your top 5!

[doug]

ok this drives me crazy...why does Buck Martinez say 116 RBI instead of 116 RBI's...it's plural not singular...it's just not right and stands out like a sore thumb....

[Bob]

Can I get my 10 minutes back for reading this somehow?

Blogger's note: Can I get back the eight seconds it's taken me to deal with such brilliant insight?

[Les]

Can't argue with your list of dancers. But we all know that lists are supposed to have 5 items, so to round yours out I am taking the liberty of adding Eleanor Powell.

[J]

@doug (lower-case):

Just wanted to point out two things:

1. I haven't been paying attention to the Red Sox, but you can't equate big payroll to Moneyball (it doesn't mean throwing money around!). If you're going to look at Beane, then look at his Athletics. They kept trading their stud pitchers for prospects to keep themselves competitive as well as financially responsible. Or they'd draft a non-highly touted college player (usually a player with a very good eye, but wasn't a good fielder or didn't have a prototypical body) in the first round so they could save on first round payouts. Statistical analysis was the crux of Moneyball, and one of the main tenets was that walks (and thus getting on base) were invaluable. Neither Wells nor Rios fit the Moneyball mold. Neither was great at drawing walks, and much of their value centered around being prototypical five-tool players. Moneyball typically steered clear from such players during the draft. Amusingly, Wells and Rios were almost identical across their careers: Wells had a .275 BA and .324 OBP, while Rios had a .274 BA and a .323 OBP. If you want the perfect example of a Moneyball player, it would have to be Youkilis. He had a great eye, but wasn't highly-touted due to questions about his fielding.

2. People say RBI instead of RBIs because RBI is already plural (Runs Batted In).