What's this? Some basketball stuff? Sure, but some cartoons, too

Yes, we have Raptors and NBA stuff in here, just for change.

-

Think you have to give DeMar DeRozan some credit.

The kid’s been staying really busy, it would appear, playing basketball and working out this summer and letting everyone know how badly he wants to get the NBA season going.

He showed up at one of those amateur summer leagues in LA, was part of some LA-Washington exhibition game that was more show than anything and now he’s in Vegas at one of the more interesting summer endeavours that NBA players have undertaken and maybe the most series.

Impact Gym, the Vegas spot where a gaggle of NBAers work out in the summer, is running what can best be described as a Lockout League this week.

There are a few dozen NBA guys out there playing games that will likely be more organized and more intense than anything they’d get in a park or an amateur street league and it’s as good as any workout they’d normally get with their teammates when they started heading back to their winter homes in mid-September.

DeRozan’s the only Raptor I can see on any of the rosters – they are rather, um, fluid though as some guys are joining later and some leaving early – but it does speak well of him that he’s there.

You know me and summer leagues, right? I think the usual Vegas one, with rookies and wannabes, is a gigantic waste of time but this one, as they go, isn’t too horrible.

It’s real NBA guys against real NBA guys and a good late-summer run.

And it’s good that DeRozan decided to take part; I would have liked to read that Ed Davis and Jerryd Bayless were there but you can’t have everything.

-

I’m sure you all raced here this morning to see what was in the paper basketball-wise and saw the setup stuff for the Euro quarter-finals, right?

(It’s here if you didn’t)

And you can imagine how tempted I was to pick Spurs by 12 in every game but I didn’t really want to deal with the calls from perplexed copy editors.

Sometimes, worlds should collide, as the one and only George Costanza once said.

Anyway, if I’m right – and how in the world you’d think I could be wrong is beyond me – it would set up the one game I’ve wanted to see since the tournament began:

Spain-Lithuania in Lithuania with a berth in the London Olympics on the line. Sadly – and this truly sucks – I fear the only way I’d be able to watch it is on an a computer and not from a stool.

Too bad.

-

Hey, look what I found in the files, a leftover.

Q: You need questions, I got questions. Well, at least one.

Since you did favourite breakfast cereals, how about best things in lunches as a school-aged kid?

T H, Windsor

A: You mean besides deciding as a high schooler whether or not you’d take the class immediately after lunch off to keep playing pinball?

I’m going way back here but when I used to go home at lunch back in the day, it was always a treat when Mom would be making grilled cheese sandwiches with sweet pickles on the side, something about them was just really, really good.

Oh, and she used to fire up a mean fried egg sandwich with a little bit of ketchup for some tang.

Now, and this is a tad weird, but I recall wanting to get home because when I was a very little tyke Jeopardy used to be on at lunch and if you could catch Double and Final Jeopardy, that’d be cool. If not, there was always the Flintstones.

-

So, in one of my incarnations, as you know, I do a wee bit of gridiron stuff, at least that’s what I’m supposed to do.

Well, it also means I have to watch some games every now and then and while prone on the couch at Casa Doug on Monday, I have to say I grew increasingly impressed with that Brady fellow of the New Englands.

He’s got to be the best quarterback in the league, no?

I’d probably rank them Brady, Aaron Rodgers and I kinda like that Brees guy down in New Orleans.

Now, I will be calling on the expertise of Irregulars over the course of the season for some inside NFL knowledge to use as my own but after what Brady did to the Dolphins (sorry, Coach Steve) can’t see any reason not to think he’s the best in the game.

-

Speaking of those lunches at home, did any of you have the eternal debate.

(No, not Betty or Wilma)

Was this the better theme song?

Or this?

Me, I’m all about the old stuff and take Fred over George any day of the week.

You?

-

I see by all reports that Rick Adelman has taken the coaching gig in Minnesota and I’m wondering about it, actually.

But all accounts, it runs counter to everything he wants, which according to everyone I talk to is a veteran team with a chance to win in a warmer, most westerly location than the twin cities.

But I guess a $5 million annual stipend will make a guy do things that run counter to popular opinion; I wish him luck. That’s a bad, young team in a powerful conference that would seem to be years and years away from being a legitimate contender – and even only if the GM doesn’t screw it up any more – and I wonder when the frustration level reaches the breaking point.

There was, however, one interesting point raised in the twitterverse last night – I believe first by my good and learned friend S. Aschburner:

Why would the Timberwolves, not known for their financial largesse, bestow such riches on a coach now when there’s nothing for him to do because of the lockout. It’s not like Adelman had a lot of other options – the Minnesota gig was the only one left out there to take – so why wouldn’t everyone wait at least a couple of weeks.

Is it that the Timberwolves and Minny owner Glen Taylor – who is strongly tied to the labour talks – know something might be looking good on that front?

Pollyanna-ish? Sure but why not think that way.

-

Who you got in Canada-Tonga tomorrow at the rugby World Cup?

-

Comments

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

I'm happy seeing DeRozan in Vegas as well, but don't be so hard on Ed Davis. I hear he's playing pick-up in Mississauga...no, wait. That can't be a good idea...

AG, Toronto

[David Mac, Rugby Enthusiast]

Canada vs Tonga in the world cup.... well the Tongan loose-head prop Soane Tonga'uiha (pronounced Tonga-wee-ah) will probably eat our forward pack for a mid-day game snack, but Canada REALLY should win this game.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Clearly, the Jetsons jingle is a far superior technical composition, and both are entirely avant garde for their era for their lack of any detectable bongo drumming, but it's the Flintstones tune that we can all rattle off at the drop of a hat, so Fred and Wilma win hands down. Now, that said, even after the 3,437,296th time I've heard the fool thing, I still have no idea what the lyrics are following "Let's drive with the family down the street, through courtesy of..." Fred's fat feet? What the heck are they saying there? Anyway, yabba dabba doo, and go Raps! Cheers.

Blogger's note: "Courtesy of Fred's two feet" I believe is the lyric

[marc in panama]

Hola Doug,

Let's get to what is really important: growing up as a kid...Big Al or Commandar Tom???

Ciao amigo,

marc in panama

Blogger's note: Promo The Robot was entirely under-appreciated

[Nick M]

Doug,
-
Everytime Bill Simmons used to do a mailbag he would finish with some outlandish question/comment from one of his many, over-excited(to be polite), readers and would reply, 'Yup, these are my followers'.
-
Yours is the only blog I read on a regular basis and have been doing for the past five or six years?
-
This past summer reading posts about music (some questionable 80's pop incl.), cereals, chocolate bars, old cartoons, team nicknames, mixed with references from songs and old sitcoms - and this is not including the comments from your irregulars - I often finish reading the post thinking 'Yup, this is my blogger'!
-
To you and the irregulars, keep up the good work!

[Lorie]

Morning Doug!
Commander Tom!!! Now you're bringing back some TV memories. Tom Jolls! Wasn't he great? And wasn't he part of the Holy Trinity of Buffalo Broadcasters? Do you remember watching Weinstein-Jolls-Azar on the WKBW nightly news? Come to think of it, Anderson Cooper owes his "watch me get whipped by fill-in-the-blank-name-for-current-hurricane force winds" to Tom Jolls; Tom did that reporting outdoors in the elements thing before CNN was a lightbulb over Ted Turner's head. And hearing him give the weather for those exotic foreign-sounding locales: Lackawanna, Cattaraugus,, Cheektowaga, Tonawanda and the confusing Angola-On-The-Lake. Those guys were on the air forever: are they still? Now, glad to see there is at least one other rugby supporting around here. The Canucks should put on a solid performance. But we'll have to hope our lock Jamie Cudmore keeps his temper in check: he has a disciplinary record that would make Mike Tyson blush. But, that being said, he'll give our side the kind of muscle we'll need against Tonga! (Doug: if you like football you'd LOVE rugby: have you considered doing an IGBT for it? And don't worry about the 1AM starts - the games move along at a good clip: you'd be in bed by at the latest 2:30AM. Sound like a plan???) Cheers!

[JHK]

That Bayless guy better be putting in some gym hours... and watch a lot of hoops on films..
I used to go home for lunch as well; my mom would slip in a thin slice of Spam into my grilled cheese at times... oh man were they ever good.
Also had fried egg (scrambled) sandwich with ketchup as well - those were classic.
It doesn't taste nearly good when I make it for myself these days.

[Tudor]

"Who you got in Canada-Tonga tomorrow at the rugby World Cup?"

Spurs by 12 :-)

[The J]

I know he's hurt and all, but what about Peyton Manning? If not the best, at least still top 3? Or are you thinking his best days are over?
-
I grew up in the '80s and dont think I've ever even seen a full episode of the Jetsons (except the Flinstones meet the Jetsons movie thingy), so there is no doubt to me that it has to be the Flintstones theme song. It's the one that every one knows the lyrics to. And nobody grew up on Jetsons chewable vitamins.
-
One blog idea: A where are they know for the Raptors. Some of the team is obvious (JV, Jose, Bargs playing for country, Klieza hurt, Demar balling at a Chuckie Cheese if has to), but it might be nice to hear about all the other players like Bayliss, Amir, Ed, etc.

[Mike kovacs]

Anyone else remember The Uncle Bobbie Show on CTV?

[Boko]

Add P. Manning (pre-injury), Rivers & Roethlesberger. Two have won it all, and one chased Brees out of San Diego. I tune in, just to watch them ...

[Nick M]

Doug,

Do you actually lie face down on the couch to watch Football or did you mean supine?
-
To each their own I guess!

[Bob Wesley]

Adios Leo,give the job to Jack Armstrong!

[GJC]

re: Canada - Tonga tomorrow - my heart says Canada but my head says Tonga

[doug]

been extremely busy with life, dam I hate when that happens..my lunchtime cartoon was Popeye i loved siyying eating my peanut and jam sandwiched watching Popeye and the gang....the most interesting thing I like about Tom Brady is this...he was the 199th player taken in the 6th round as a compensatory pick, where was Kuiper on that one?? and he is the example to use forever on the draft in any league being a crap shoot....oh and a top 5 list at some point should be about fav candy's as a kid from the penny jars( i know aging myself)...mine are caramels,shoe string licorice, those yellow banana soft candy things, ju jubes and black balls....cheers...