Hoops, snacks and a boy with a funny name; we've got it all

So we’ve got half the field set for the 2012 Olympic men’s basketball tournament and it underscores the big point: There aren’t enough teams in it for it to be considered the most significant tournament on the planet.

So far we’ve got Britain (hosts), the United States (world champions) along with Brazil and Argentina (FIBA Americas), Australia (FIBA Oceania) and Tunisia (FIBA Africa).

There’ll be two more from the European championships, one from the Asia championships and three from next year’s final qualifier, wherever it’s held.

Now, I understand that the Olympics are truly a global event and probably too big for their own good right now but until they expand the tournament to at least 16 teams, and 18 or 20 would be even better, it’s going to be second to the world championships and maybe even third behind the worlds and EuroBasket for true basketball fans.

I’ve talked to a lot of players over the years who share that opinion, they realize the basketball – men and women – tend to get lost in the Olympics, where the tournaments truly are lost in the spectacle that is the Games.

I know FIBA has made a proposal to the IOC to increase the number of teams without increasing the length of the tournaments and until that idea gets the blessing of the big shots at the Olympics, it’s still going to be worlds, EuroBasket and the Olympics in everyone’s pecking order.

Speaking of …

You saw that Argentina did the expected, rallied late and beat Brazil to win the FIBA Americas tournament, right? If there was a dead solid lock in any basketball tournament anywhere in the world this summer, that was it. No way they were losing and, as a few people have suggested, if they did somehow manage to be upset, they’d just declare the result null and void and play ‘til they won.

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Oh, we had all kinds of stuff left from the weekend since we went in a bit of a different direction yesterday including one saved file that’s called “food mail.”

Including …

Q: Well you did the top 5 cereals list, I think then you need to do a Top 5 chocolate bars list. Mine have changed over the years I eat one for awhile then switch but my top 5 are Eat-more, Big Turk, Crispy Crunch, Crunchie, Turtles and there are none I must admit I truly dislike.

Cheers

Doug B, Toronto

A: Oh, my man, I fear we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

I’ve got, in no particular order,

Caramilk

I need to know that secret of how they get the caramel in the caramilk bar. (I know, I can find out on the interweb but I still like saying it).

Aero

Those little bubbles are cute.

Kit Kat

The bar, not the club. Besides, we’re a red and white country and the wrapper makes me feel patriotic.

Three Musketeers

Just the right level of goo-iness.

Mars Bar

Or, alternatively, Milky Way if I’m south of the 49th parallel.

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Speaking of the Olympics, you’ll notice that neither Turkey nor Germany have any chance of being there, right?

Not sure it’s a big surprise that Germany didn’t make the quarter-finals, I know Dirk’s really good and Kaman helps but that was a longshot entirely.

Turkey?

That they couldn’t even get out of the second round after finishing second in the world and with a roster chock full of NBAers was a big surprise to many. Goes to show you, I guess, the value of playing at home.

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Remember a week or so ago when we did cover tunes and we had a list that was pretty good?

Well, seems there was one a lot of you liked that I wasn’t sure I’d heard, either in its original or in the remake.

And since it was eight years ago today that Johnny Cash died …

Yes, that’s poignant.

This is fun.

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They wrapped up the first world three-on-three basketball championships over in Italy on Sunday – Canadian men were seventh and the women eighth – and by all accounts it was a rousing success.

Not sure how much any of you know about the game, it’s like Basketball On Speed, two five-minute halves and a 10-second shot clock, and it seems to be a darling of the Global Basketbal Bigwigs.

I imagine they’ll try to press the IOC to eventually get it into the Olympics, where it will be to hoops what beach volleyball is in that sport.

And while the results were good for the teams, Dyshawn Pierre of Whitby won the inaugural dunk contest that was part of the weekend.

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So, had a wee bit of a delay in getting the first Gridiron Monday thing up on the web, it seems, but if Cathal does something like this on Sundays and then I do something like this on Mondays, what do you think?

I don’t mind the branching to mock, comment, push limits but wonder if anyone really cares?

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Comments

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Morning Doug,
Thank you for offering up some very eclectic, fun, and often poignant blog posts this past long, long summer. It was obviously a busy one for you. Here's wishing all the very best to Super Grandpa as he settles in to his new digs. And may you share many a bowl of cereal, a wheel barrow-full of chocolate bars, great music, some good old TV classics, swap all those amazing sports stories (the true along with the tall), and maybe even "have a catch" or two along the way.
As fantastic as it is to travel, as always, it's equally great to be home. And flying home yesterday was the perfect way to spend the day. It was a beautiful day.
Now, let's hope for some positive vibes in NBA Land! Cheers.

[JHK]

I probably have the most agree-able top 5:
Coffee Crisp
Kit Kat
Crunch
Aero
Snickers

[LeeZ]

Here's a better clip of Hurt (the official video). Song was practically written for him. Spooky, really.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho @DougB: Eat-more, Big Turk, Crispy Crunch, Crunchie, Turtles????? What are you, whacked? By all objective standards of candy bars (and make no mistake, this is based on empirical, objective science, my friend), you should be placed in a rubber room and not allowed to come out again until you've seen the error of your ways!!! Here then, without further ado, is the OFFICIAL list of the best five candy bars (in no particular order):
1) Almond Joy. You get not one, but two -- count 'em, TWO -- mounds of almonds covered by that majestic dark chocolate.
2) Oh Henry. In the quantity versus quality battle, this one wins for quantity. It practically counts as lunch, and you have all your major food groups in one huge, gooey treat. Plus, this candy bar has an interesting tale behind its name. The Chicago-based Williamson Candy Company used to sell sweets, as well as make them back in 1921, when there was a boy that would come in to flirt with the girls working there. They would tease him and coo "Oh, Henry..." every time they wanted something done. Before the end of the year, the joke had become one of the most popular chocolate bars around.
3) M&M's (now, I may be a candy bar dictator, but let it not be said that I'm not a benign dictator: I will give consideration to those who prefer the peanut M&Ms). And please, don't even think about claiming that Smarties are better. WAY too brittle a shell, and they DON'T EVEN MELT IN YOUR HAND! I mean, come on!
4) Kit Kat. Hey, if it's good enough for Doug Smith, it's good enough for me. This is his blog, after all, so I have to pay my respect.
5) Nestle's Crunch. Not only is it great, but when I was living in France as a kid (and we're talking pre-globalization here, so there were virtually no US candy bars available in Europe), it was the only candy bar available, and I practically lived on them (until I discovered chocolate croissants at the local patisserie, whereupon I dumped candy bars altogether...)
Honourable mention: Junior Mints (they're so refreshing!)
3)

[LeeZ]

Back to some hoops. Check out our soon to be very own JV at the worlds. Clips can be deceiving, but this one isn't just some compilation of his best moments from several games; it's from one 18-minute stint going up against Nowitzki and Kaman. He more than holds his own, shows a great motor, solid fundamentals, GREAT understanding/execution of the pick and roll, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DkzWofJkZk&feature=player_embedded

[D-Mac Ottawa]

@LeeZ, I'm thinking, given you are what you eat, that the top of your ice cream list has to be the Good Humor Bar. Gold, buddy, pure gold. Cheers!

[Lorie]

Morning Doug!
Chocolate bars are nice and all, but c'mon guys! Can we talk chocolate for serious worshippers of the fruit of the Theobroma Cacao Tree. Prefer not to complicate my enjoyment with nuts, goo or coloured candy coatings. Give me the real stuff. Purchased from a chocolatier - ideally Amedei in Tuscany, but for ease of procurement - aka a quick fix - Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut is a mere 5 minutes away. And fun football stuff with you and Cathal, Doug: I think the two of you could make a lawn dart tournament amusing. But, I'm curious about a reference you made to Joan Collins...you have personal knowledge of her manual dexterity??? Cheers!

Blogger's note: I believe I'm one of the few without any personal knowledge of her dexterity

[Pipit]

Doug, do you know the reason why this Tristan Thompson guy didn't play for the country? Also, can you tell us the main reason why Sam Dalembert hated Leo and decided not to play for Canada basketball?

Blogger's note: Tristan Thompson, as has been reported a kabillion times, fulfilled a deal with his mom and went to summer school, as he should have; I don't know, or frankly care about Dalembert three years ago. He didn't quit, he was asked to leave.

[The J]

Not all "bars" but some of my favourite chocolate treats:
*Junior Mints
*Clod Hoppers (if you haven't tried them, you should)
*Kit Kat
*Skor Bar (though somehow works better as part of a generic dessert at a restaurant - Score Brownie, etc.)
*Smarites - Partially because I do like them, and partially because I want to see if I can get steam to come out of LeeZ's ears.
*Reese Peanut Butter Cups - Shocked that I was the first person to mention it!
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But my actual favorite is a once a year treat (though you can get it more often now): The Cadbury Cream Egg. It's gooey and borderline gross, and but it is also delicious.
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Honourable mention: Rolo, Mint Aero, Coffee Crisp, Twix, Crispy Crunch and Reese's Pieces.

[LeeZ]

@The J: my ears are steaming!!! But I'll grant you that Mint Aero is pretty good. As for Reese's (be they cups or pieces), that's borderline heresy, pal. It's common knowledge (and a scientifically proven fact) that mixing chocolate with peanut butter will land you in one of Dante's Circles of Hell. Doug, please tell me you're behind me on this one!

Blogger's note: Cannot see how they go well together, no

[DaveT (Ottawa)]

Since we're talking Johnny Cash doing covers, on my ride in today his rendition of "Rusty Cage" came on, and is no slouch either.

[Lorie]

@LeeZ:
But to which one of Dante's Circles of Hell are you referring? And since the Second Circle of Lust doesn't sound too bad (it's that one with the Cerberus the Great Worm that gives me, you know...worms..) I guess it's better for one's eternal soul to continue lusting after Tuscan chocolate instead of buying too much of the local stuff (Third Circle of Greed), or eat too much of it (Fourth Circle of Gluttony) or (and I'd have to be possessed to do it) mix it with peanut butter (Sixth Circle of Heresy)? This chocolate thing is getting very complicated, if not fraught with eternal damnation.

[Cluck Kent]

Lust, Hell, Chocolate and Johnny Cash. What do all these things have in common? Answer: You can find them all here. In the comments for a basketball blog.
Very entertaining. Thanks.

[Boko]

I'm an NFL fan, know who to watch, read your contributions, and enjoyed them.

[dean]

They could expand the number of teams to 35 and Canada still won't make it in the next 3 Olympics.

Blogger's note: Tremendous insight. Thanks

[Poorty]

Milky way is not the same as Mars. They are separate and distinct in both markets.

[Shazaam]

Cherry Blossom.
Frozen 3 musketeers.
Crunchie.
Glosette peanuts.
Rolo.

And for good memories: Cuban Lunch while fishing with hip-waders on.