How many games makes a legitimate season; oh, and "boo!"

 

Okay, what now?

No basketball, no baseball, more than enough pucks writers that they don’t need/want me. Football? Bills have come and gone, Argos are inconsequential winding up another horrid season.

What’s a fellow to do?

Boss? Got any ideas?

-

One thing to do this week, though, is to wait and see when David and Billy come to their senses, get back to the bargaining table and finalize a deal that seems to be all but done.

Don’t know when that’ll be – Tuesday? Wednesday? – but everything I read suggests they are so close on everything, even a split of the BRI that it’s nonsense to think they can’t get it completed in a couple of days.

But where does that leave us?

Tell you one thing: They may have “cancelled” two more weeks of games last week when talks broke off again but that’s little more than semantics.

The schedule was never going to be as it was even when they first cancelled games, they weren’t going to pick up from the first available date and simply go on as if nothing had happened. What David is doing is cancelling days and time, there will be an entirely new schedule out and the one everyone’s been looking at will be nothing more than a footnote in history. You can completely ignore it right now.

So, if they do get a Dec. 1 start – and they can do it if they get some deal done this week or even at the start of next week, I’d think – how many games does it take to have a feeling of legitimacy to the season?

Would 50, like they did in 1999, work?

Do they need 60, or even 65 to make it worthwhile, and to make it feel like it’s real?

I’d say they need at least 60, and 68 would be even better and if they do start in early December and push the end of the season back a week or 10 days, they can get to that number.

And since I am of the opinion that the regular season is about a dozen games too long anyway, a 70-gamer would be about perfect.

Agree?

-

There really isn’t a lot of music that makes you wistful for Halloween, is there?

This work?

-

By all accounts, and I was typing the weakly weekly Monday morning thing while it was going on, the Bills In Toronto festival of football turned out okay.

People, I’m told, cheered for the right team at the right time, which I presume has everything to do with how well Buffalo played, which was a change from the previous three years.

Even George Wilson, who was absolutely correct in his assessment of the game early last week, was impressed, as 8-Ball’s Owner says here.

Now, I do have one suggestion, and this goes for every fan at every game who even contemplates it:

Stop The Wave!

Forever.

Now.

Immediately.

It’s old, boring, not at all funny any more and someone needs to come up with something else. Please.

The game itself?

By all accounts of friends I talked to who went it was a good one, lacking in drama, of course, because of the one-sided nature but there were enough big plays – on both sides of the ball – that you could forget how utterly inept the Redskins were.

Now at 5-2, the Bills are tied with New England atop the AFC East, currently hold the tiebreaker, and there’s no reason to think they won’t be in the playoff hunt for weeks and weeks to come.

And being a fellow without much to do, workwise, maybe I need to talk to the Tall Foreheads about doing a bit more.

I hear Orchard Park is a garden spot this time of year.

-

Okay, was trying to probe the recesses of the mind to come up with old Halloween stories and, really, just one came to mind.

It was never that big a deal, actually; sure, I imagine I was cute little costumed urchin eons ago but we weren’t a family to do the whole ‘decorate the yard, scare the other kids’ kind of thing.

We did get up to no good a few times, though, “borrowing” pumpkins from neighbourhood porches and seeing how it cool it was when they exploded after being tossed on the road.

One year?

Well, one year, and I had to have been in my early teens, me and a buddy (hello, Ezio!) decided to borrow a pumpkin to save for Nov. 1.

We’re behind the Watson’s hedge on one of the crescents off the street, well back in the bush, when a neighbour dude comes walking down his drive.

We figure the jig is up but, no, guy is trying to get away from his house because he’s had a physical confrontation with his mom and there’s like real blood flowing.

Yeah, no Halloween prank there and I guarantee you I’ve never run as fast as I did from behind that hedge to my house and not sure I even tried to explain to mom and dad why I was so scared.

Think I just ate candy, made up some story about why I was out of breath and left well enough alone.

Never did borrow another pumpkin, never did hide a hedge again.

-

Not sure how many of you may have noticed, or known, but the NBL Canada kicked off its first-ever regular season on the weekend.

Quebec beat Moncton and Oshawa to open the season and, again, by most accounts it was a big success. Games were good, calibre was okay (I didn’t see it in person so I’m going to reserve judgement until I can get to either London or Oshawa soon) and the attendance was all right (first game, according to reports drew about 650 in Quebec).

This truly is a season of baby steps but I would suggest if you’re in one of the seven league cities, or close enough to make the trip, that you take in a game. Would love to hear what you think about it and it’s probably something that deserves a little support. It’s not easy starting a new league anywhere at any time, this is a rather daring undertaking.

-

Oh yeah, this is Buddy, one of the great pets of all time and a close personal friend. This was a year ago and, with no disrespect to Buddy’s folks, I imagine this would scar a dog’s psyche for years.

Kinda cut, though, in a shake-your-head kind of way.

-

 

 

Comments

[Sam Rook]

Doug,

Lacrosse should be your new gig. Think of the positives! It's a winning team (in short supply in Toronto), the game is remarkably similar to basketball (easy to pick up for a scribe) and the beer flows before, during and after the game.

[Richard Y]

A couple of random thoughts. Given the ongoing interest amongst the Irregulars for an excuse to meet and hang out with you Doug, what about picking a couple of NBL Canada games and informally making them an event that we go to for that purpose. We get to see some basketball, hang out with interesting people and if all else fails we can adjourn to a stool somewhere.

As for what to blog about, how about using it to educate people about sports that are below the radar. What is the sport all about, who are the stars, what is an interesting story about it and what is one part of that sport that would not translate at all to basketball. Equestrian, archery, jai alai, biathlon, etc.

[GM]

If they go with a 70-game season (or 68 or even 50), would they need to do back-to-back-backs? That kinda puts the quality back to where it is in an 82-game schedule.

When looking over career stats of former players, and you see many well-known players played only 5, 6, 7, 8 seasons, it really hits home how losing an entire season is simply not worth it.

I don't think I've ever participated in a wave, but have been amidst several. I don't see what the big beef with it is. As long as the fans are involved and having fun, does it really matter?