Bonding, schmonding; it's winning that counts

Yeah, we’re kind of all over the map today, think that might be the case more often than not as we move forward into some uncharted waters.

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So, the Leaves are on one of those “bonding” trips, where they pack up and move out of town for a few days of practice – this time at a Canadian Forces base as opposed to some holiday lodge – and I wonder if it’s all worth it.

It’s been my experience with athletes I’ve spoken to about it that these trips can be mind-numbing, it’s not as much about bonding as it as about coaches having the undivided attention of their athletes during slow times in the schedule.

Bonding, methinks, is vastly over-rated; I don’t think teammates need to necessarily love each other as long as they play hard and I don’t think a guy plays harder because he’s spent time singing Kumbaya around a campfire or having dinner with the guy on his line or whatever.

Sure, it’s nice to see a Hercules aircraft and there might be a thing or two to do that’s out of the normal and a unique experience but I bet if you asked the players honestly – and anonymously – the vast majority of them would rather be at home, living as they usually do on their usual schedules, rather than be trundled off to some hideaway where they are rather limited in the things they can do.

And if you ask coaches, they’d want to have it like that all the time, where there are fewer distractions, no real-life tugs on the players time and – perhaps most important – fewer media members around to get in the way.

But as for some weird team-building exercise?

Nah.

What builds teams is wins, everyone likes each other when things are going well and if they’re not, it doesn’t matter if they’ve spent time at an armed forces base or a Vegas hotel or some swanky lodge, there will be tension.

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Department of Ridiculous?

Driving in the neighbourhood the other night, turned a corner to see – believe it or not – Christmas lights on a house.

Seriously.

Not even halfway through October, not even to Halloween, a day after the Thanksgiving weekend and people not only have their Christmas lights up but turned on?

I don’t know, strikes me as a tad early, and silly, and if you’ve got yours up, please don’t turn them on.

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Oh yeah, the Facebook thing.

Not sure how many of you saw it, hope it was more than a few, but we’re branching out a wee bit.

I have no clue what it’s ultimately going to mean – a bit more work, I’d imagine, without the commensurate increase in annual salary, sadly – but it could be a bit of a fun, I guess.

But it’s an add-on; I know there are probably a few of you out there who have no time for Faceoff Facebook and that’s cool, we’ll still have the usual fare in this corner of the interweb.

But go there, please, hit the “like” button because I guess that means something and the good folks who set up the page and are walking me through it – slowly, very slowly – need to be rewarded.

Thanks.

And check there every now and then, you might find new and different stuff.

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In case you were wondering, the D League draft lottery was last night and Your Bakersfield Jam came away with picks No. 6, 8 and 13 in the first round.

The big event is Nov. 3, giving us all kinds of time to work up a mock draft, right?

I don’t imagine the D League holds much interest for any of you, and I imagine it’d be hard for HOTH fans to get too hyped about a team in California (that’s where Bakersfield is, right?) but it’s one of the two pro leagues in North America that are operating so I guess that’s something.

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Speaking of leagues in North America, I see the Oshawa Power of the NBL signed Denham Brown yesterday, a familiar name/face if ever there was one.

Good on them, it’s nice to provide an outlet for Canadian guys to play at home but what I need to see are younger kids deciding to stay home rather than chase lower-division European jobs that don’t provide the kind of competition or salary that make it truly worthwhile.

If the NBA is to fulfill its mandate of growing the game, it’s got to use those two Canadian spots per team on younger players.

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Quiz time:

Who’s more inconsequential to the casual sports fan today in the Toronto area:

TFC?

Argos?

Both have fallen so far off the radar to the average guy and gal it’s amazing.

Guess it does show that if you don’t win, most people don’t care.

Remember when their games used to be “events?” That certainly doesn’t seem to be the case now, does it?

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This is how far we’ve come with this social networking world we live in.

Got up this morning to discover the Twitter feed on the Blackberry wasn’t working, bbm was dead, e-mails took forever to go through and it was really quite frustrating.

Not sure why it galled me but I guess we get so used to being in constant contact with people and the world at large that any disruption’s a pain.

I still contend we live in a world that’s too fast but it would appear I’ve been caught up in the lifestyle. Not sure I like it; not much time for true peace and quiet.

But at least it might take the Tall Foreheads a bit longer to reach me if they want to.

Oh, and the wireless was down at Super Grandpa’s place this morning, hence the somewhat tardy posting of this.

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So I’m watching the ball game last night (poor attendance for the IGBT, by the way) and I continue to marvel at the skills of the professionals who can hit, field, throw and run like none of us mere humans.

And then I get this from My Man Dave D.

Now, that’s hitting. And juggling.

Just like we used to do at BP with the Niagara Falls Lions back in the day.

Or not.

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Oh yeah, it’s one of those short weeks that always screws me up.

So let’s begin the weakly weekly plea for mail.

Do it here and don’t forget, we’ll still take a video submission if you want, that might be fun. Had no takers last week, I figure it’s ‘cause some of you are shy.

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Comments

[Chris C]

What is the new slogan for the NBA? NBA cares only about itself because the fans sure dont anymore?

[Mr. Cook]

Hey Doug, I'm not one for the baseball, but Mr. Cuddyer of the Minnesota Twins has a new hobby that you and the irregulars will likely love. He has been taking (often stunning) photos of ball parks and their hidden niches and he put them up on Flickr. Link below, I suggest you launch the slideshow and let them run through--some are phenomenal, others simply show you things you would not otherwise ever get to see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fivebball/

[Brad B.]

I follow TFC, not the Argos these days. The problem is that MLSE used up all their good will by allowing Mo Johnston free reign and doubling ticket prices within 4 years. They haven't quite killed the golden goose yet, but its going to take a lot to get the buzz back. Fortunately their supporter groups are die-hards and won't let the suits take over, so they still know how to make noise. TFC now has an actual long-range plan in place and a decent coaching staff and are starting to show results. You'll probably hear a lot more about them next year, especially if they make it to the next round of the CONCACAF Champion's League with a win over Dallas next week.

[avinashf]

Hya Doug, Love the blog! Keep up the good work.

Just a thought regarding the Christmas lights in October. It could well be for Diwali, commemorating the Hindu New Year, also colloquially known as the Festival of Lights.

http://goindia.about.com/od/festivalsevents/p/diwali.htm

Regards

[D]

Well, the NBA and the NBAPA have dug themselves a giant canyon of a hole that they will not soon be able to get out of.

The intense greed, disregard for fans, and narrow mindedness of each side is truly disgusting.

How can you have two vastly unqualified people, Fisher and Hunter, be your main negotiators in a multi billion dollar corporate venture? Can I see Hunter's master degree in Economics, or Fisher's for that matter. Just because you once played hoops does not qualify you to lead a Union.

The owners have all the leverage here, and at worst they just sell their asset (team) to one of dozens of people who would jump at the chance.

Thank goodness for the NCAA, where boys play basketball for the love of the game, not the $$$ in pocket.

Blogger's note: I think you owe an apology to Billy Hunter, who has accomplished more in his life that you or I ever will. Check this out and then say sorry. http://www.nbpa.org/executive-director
Oh, and your naivete about the NCAA is charming.

[John Bastedo]

Diwali lights, Doug. Diwali lights.

Think you could convince Super-wife to let you leave them up year round if you celebrated Diwali? Maybe we need Canada Day lights, as well.

[Jer]

Hey Doug,

Add a link to your Facebook page to get more hits. It's a bit tricky to find.

Blogger's note: Thanks

[Dave in BG]

Doug - Agree with you totally re NCAA. One needs look no further than Calipari, John and the U of Kentucky.

[Lorie]

And apparently, the Leaves flew over the 1000 Islands in a Hercules transport with the back end open. It was reported that not one single Leave fell or was pushed out (guess Ron Wilson passed on the flight) or looked to make a D.B.Cooper-like jump with the MLSE fortunes in a single backpack (yeah, as if THOSE fortunes would fit in a single Hercules). Best not try that exercise again when the usual mid-season malaise sets in. At that point, mass exodus might be de rigueur. Now, if you were asked to select a similar "bonding" sort of exercise suitable to a team of reporters, what would it be??? Cheers!

Blogger's note: Stools, TVs, stories

[Peter]

"I think you owe an apology to Billy Hunter, who has accomplished more in his life that you or I ever will."
Yeah, but does he have facebook? Or a blog with millions of hits? Sure he's done a lot, but I wouldn't dump yourself into the "more than you or I ever will" group just yet. You've done alright for a grunt! (Pay aside) :)

[Mr. Cook]

Agreed on Mr. Hunter--he is an extremely well-respected lawyer. While at Syracuse he used his status as a popular athletic star to lead the boycott of southern schools that remained segregated. He was one of the youngest US Attorneys in history, drawing the direct attention of the President of the United States. He was appointed in North Carolina where he was part of several high-profile cases against organized biker gangs and decried racism in all its forms and made sure that everyone knew about it during prosecutions of hate-crimes committed by the Black Panthers. He has gone head to head with a conglomerate of the most powerful and wealthy people on earth several times over and represented himself with class and maintained exceptional compensation for his constituency. What an absurd comment--the man is a part of US history, not just basketball.

[john]

I have no idea who could possibly suggest that Billy Hunter is not qualified.
He and Fisher are in an incredibly crappy spot because they know there are going to be consessions and the weight of it falls on their shoulders to do the best they can to lose as little as possible.
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One thing I do find interesting though, is that the union has not put a proposal to the players yet. The majority of what the two sides are fighting over now only really directly effects about 15-20% of the players. Heck, 50% of the players are not even going to be in the league in 5 years. I think it would be an interesting vote because if the players came back with an extremely high majority vote backing the union, it would send a much stronger message to the owners than D Wade and the other guys who make max money wearing matching T Shirts. I guess its a slippery slope though cause what if the union was split down the middle...

[Jacques]

Doug,

These bonding trips that players take, what if they don't want to go and want to stay with their families. Do they have a choice?

Blogger's note: Nope

[SheikYurbouti]

Oh no. One more step to becoming a dinosaur out of the loop. Some different stuff on Facebook, eh. Ugh. Now I'll come here every day thinking I'm missing something because I'm an old grump who refuses to go down that path. Oh well, good luck with it.

[Cluck Kent]

From my 20 years of experience in management I believe strongly that people who like and respect each other can accomplish more than those who do not. It certainly doesn't make all the difference, but it does make a difference and there are moments throughout the season when any edge can get a team through a tricky spot.

I'm not surprised that the players would rather be doing their own thing. It's a me first world.

[Mike kovacs]

I'm disappointed that the NBL only has 2 Canadians per team. We all know how much the 11th and 12th players play. If they had to have 5 players per team then 1 or 2 of them would actually play a lot.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

@SheikYurbouti, yeah, we can commiserate; find a place with designated stools for old grumps; sit around and grouse about what we might be missing; maybe do some TD bank commercials... it'll be good. Cheers.

[Jonathan M]

(no need to print this if it's too embarrassing, hah)

Hey Doug--

We can all get fooled at times, that "batting practice" is fake, an ad for Easton with CGI.

Blogger's note: Get out! Really? Wow. Got me for sure. No wonder I couldn't do it back in the old Niagara Falls Lions days. (Not that we had aluminum or even the little protectors)
Anyway, still a cool video

[SheikYurbouti]

@D-Mac, haha, thanks for the acknowledgment and invite to a stool where we can rehearse our audition to be the next TD bank stars. I've read enough of your posts to know we are likely the exact same vintage, and I'd be honoured to share old basketball/baseball stories with you.
Cheers

Blogger's note: Hey! Wait! I wanna be in those commercials!

[The J]

Diwali is on Oct. 26th this year, so it's unlikely someone would have their lights on this early for Diwali. No, it's still likely that whoever had their lights on is a Xmas nut. Not surprised though, there was some Xmas stuff on sale in one of the flyers I got yesterday.

Fake or not, that was a pretty cool video.

Thanks Mr. Cook, those pictures were really cool!

[Lorie]

Dear Doug, D-Mac, SheikYurbouti:
Hey, did you fellas know today's National Fossil Day and I've got just enough time to submit my application for the Smithsonian's Photo Contest. Can you three gents move your stools a little closer? Easy does it. Don't be sliding off. Now...Smile! I'll be back for more when it's Calling All Curmudgeons Week. :)

[sportschick]

I agree with Jer. You should get them to add a link to your Facebook page up where your twitter link is. Having said that, I love technology and a *lot* of the tech toys, but I'm not a fan of Facebook. Or should I say I don't 'Like' Facebook. I did wander over to your page and try to 'Like' it, but since I'm not part of that crowd, my vote wasn't cast.

I guess that puts me in with the old grumps crowd.

Blogger's note: That's not a bad crowd at all

[doug]

I use to use facebook then I received a few "friend' requests from people that I hadn't heard from in years....there was a reason I never talked to them for years, and then if you decline the friend request you seem like a real chump...that whole social networking thing is to social for my liking....and is there a more dysfunctional franchise anywhere then the Red Sox and their fans and the reporters that cover them...every ex-player, ex-manager etc, is a enemy or treated like crude, now they are saying Franconna was affected by pain medication, come on it's ludicrous , if that is the case what were the starting pitchers affected by, as they were god awful...no matter what one thinks of the Yankees they do embrace their past and their players/managers, even Torre was given a standing O upon his first visit back, Red Sox fans remind me of this whiny,sulky,petulant obnoxious person, they need to grow up....Red Sox nation and Ford nation are a match made in heaven.....

[Steph]

Include me in the crowd that wants a part of one of those stools. Desperate housewifes, AKA facebook is not in my future.

[Rock from Mississauga]

Count me on the blog & the star readers, facebook averse, old grumps bunch! Try to keep us in the loop, Doug