Blurring truth, elevator manners, perils of employment. We have it all

For the life of me, I cannot figure out the intransigence most NHL teams show – and in particular the one in the city where I work ‘cause it’s the one we read most about – when dealing with injuries to players.

Upper body.

Lower body.

Concussion-like symptoms.

Day-to-day.

We aren’t telling you so shut up and go away.

Weird, isn’t it?

(As an aside: For the latest on the Leaves, Dave F’s done an excellent job here on the goaler and his head).

Not entirely sure who they’re protecting with what amounts to a disinformation campaign.

The coaches and players seemingly have to answer the same questions about the same issues almost every day – “When’s so-and-so coming back?” “How’s the old Upper Body doing?” “Why are you making this so hard on everyone concerned?”

And, seriously, I have yet to find an athlete in any sport who, during the heat, speed, emotion of a game, had the presence of mind to size up an opponent either for a hit or a foul and think, ‘hmm, is it his left shoulder? Right ankle? Lower back?” Doesn’t happen.

The “protection” such blatant disregard for the dissemination of information most fans are clamouring for simply smacks of a team management thumbing its nose. It doesn’t have to give stuff up by the letter of the law so it won’t; seems to be more about control than any medical safeguard from this view.

It’s not a huge thing in the whole scheme of things but it does rankle. A simple: Sore shoulder, maybe a week; bad back, could be 10 days; torn muscle, we’ll see when he’s ready might work a bit better, no?

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Dear You Know Who You Are:

We do not want to hear your telephone conversations while in an elevator with you.

Signed, The Rest of Humankind

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Right. Mail. You should send some here, please.

And I should answer one.

Q: Hey Doug! Just wondering but if you were told you could make millions of dollars a year but you wouldn't be able to pick where to live, you got to travel a lot and stay in luxury hotels, eat expensive food, have chartered flights (all paid for by your boss) and get to use state-of-the-art facilities, would you complain about your working conditions and about not being able to choose where you work?

Sincerely,

Pissed at the Players

Brett F, Lethbridge

A: I’m not sure money, hotels or travel have anything to do with it; that’s part of the job description regardless of where your home base is. It’s the same if you’re playing in a city you love or one you hate.

But the whole thing about not being able to choose where you work is indeed a conundrum. If you were to work, let’s say, for a multi-national corporation, would you like it if your boss showed up in Toronto on Monday and said you work in Riyadh on Tuesday? Probably not, irrespective of the perks of the job.

But all pro athletes know that’s entirely possible, they knew it when they signed up and accept it as a fact of life.

Conversely, I don’t have too much of a problem with athletes in any sport wanting to be able to choose their home base (and that’s all it is, scant few actually live in the off-season where they work) when they decide where to first sign to play. Limiting those choices seems wrong to me, as long as move are made under whatever rules are collectively bargained between a players’ association and a league.

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So they’ll be back at it at noon in New York today, trying to figure out what they’ve agreed to, what they haven’t agreed to and what to do to resolve this mess.

By all accounts, yesterday was a good day. They seem to have inched closer to solving some of the “system” issues that have derailed the negotiation process but there are still biggies to go and many roadblocks to get past.

Best of luck to ‘em, wake us when it’s over and we can find out when/if a season will start and how long it might go.

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Hey, you gals and guys notice anything around these parts?

If you call this thing up and look over to the right, it says Doug Smith’s Sports Blog now!

Go figure.

Yes, the Tall Foreheads thought, rightly so, that we’ve become a wee bit more than just the Raptors and Doug Smith’s Blog About Whatever He Fancies Each Morning With Some Pop Culture Thrown In For Good Measure wasn’t graphically pleasing, or doable.

So, presto, change-o, new name.

But the same old stuff, promise. There’ll be more Raptors and basketball than you’d ever want when they get back to playing but now – tee-hee – I have the blessings to broaden horizons under a new name.

Lucky, lucky, readers.

We’ll have some other tweaks starting Monday but figured I should explain the name change.

(And I’m a tad upset only one of you pointed it out; that’s not very observant of you, people).

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For some reason – mostly because I didn’t want to watch a regular season hockey game between two nondescript teams and Modern Family was pre-empted – the TV stayed set on the Country Music Awards last night.

Great show, actually, there’s some fine music there and now I sort of see what all the fuss is about that Taylor Swift person (Hi, Sienna!)

But there were moments of sacrilege, like when some group came out and sang Georgia On My Mind.

We all know this is the voice that sings that tune.

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This is classic.

The due Kessler, the outside hired gun of a lawyer who works for the NBAPA, makes the most inappropriate comment of the entire lockout – the one about owners treating players “like plantation workers” – and then offers up an apology that includes an explanation that “the comments that I made in The Washington Post took place in an interview late at night Monday after a very long day.”

What?

That ranks up there with some of the other ridiculous initial explanations or obfuscations over time:

“Someone put a murky white substance in my water bottle.”

“I did not knowingly take steroids.”

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

“My dog ate my homework.”

“His misremembered.”

Seriously, I just want one guy to be stand up enough to say: “Hey, I screwed up, sorry” without some cockamamie codicil that makes you laugh.

Just once.

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Comments

[Rossco]

Hey Doug,
Thanks for keeping us entertained through this nightmare we call a lockout. Anyway as I sift through all the bs it's hard to see what the owners are giving up in the negotiations. Are they only making demands or are they conceding anything to get a deal done? The players seem to give but the owners don't. Am I missing something? Thanks

Blogger's note: Owners have given up nothing. Squat. Bupkiss. Nada.

[sam]

I think Hugh Grant - after being caught in a situation he shouldn't be, told Leno he screwed up....and it was pretty much forgotten. Much like Andy Pettitte and his admission of using HGH....and Letterman's affair/bribery saga.
It seems all was forgiven to those folks and life goes on....
Yet we remember Clemens - Clinton - Palmero for thier over the top defence.

I hope they come to some conclusions on the lock out today. I can appreciate the stance of both sides. I believe the owners when they say the system needs to be fixed - and as an employee I know I would hate to see my future earnings compromised. They need each other - The best interest of the league and game is a competitive balance. Sometimes - you need to step back before you move ahead......

[Peter]

Hey Doug,

I had noticed the name change yesterday or the day before, and thought maybe I'd missed a big annouoncement or something!

On an unrelated note, I have a small suggestion: underneath your photo on the top right of the blog, there's a place where us irregulars can subscribe to your blog and follow you on twitter; you should get the computer gurus at the Star to put a facebook link over there as well to make it easier for people to connect with you in that way.

Thanks for the blog, Doug!

[ditch]

I don't get it. The Penn State student decide to riot because the University board tied the can to Paterno. Seriously? What a buch of pin heads. What do they use for school hats? Thimbles???

Retiring to bedlam. Again.

[joe]

i completely disagree with you on the targeting of past injured body parts in hockey. the game isn't always super fast. there are grind out moments in the corners where there's a lot of leaning and tugging. if alex ovechkin is recovering from a separated shoulder, you don't think the other team is going to lean on that shoulder when they're battling with him for the puck in the corners? that's a bit naive don't you think?

Blogger's note: No, I don't think it's naive at any level

[ditch]

I'm suffering from an "out of body" injury. If you see me on the street, please don't target my Chi.

[Mike kovacs]

Doug we did not comment because, as you know, labels should not matter!

Blogger's note: Indeed!

[SheikYurbouti]

I came and read, like I do every day, but I'm struggling to pay any attention to anything sport or entertainment related without thinking/speaking of Penn State and Joe Paterno. I'm curious why nobody here, save one comment now about the riot, is talking about it. Why is that?

[SheikYurbouti]

@doug, the poster,
You referenced an article in yesterday's post that basically says the players have made all the concessions and the owners none. I ask, what concessions have the players made that are for the betterment of the league and at least some hope of competitive balance? It appears the only issue they've bent on is the BRI, while the owners are trying to create a system where the small market teams, or those in less exotic locals, can compete without grossly overpaying players. You have very strong feelings in support of the players, though you've agreed the system needs fixing. Maybe I'm missing something, so please educate me on how the players have contributed anything toward changing the system.

Blogger's note: Not sure until the entire deal is finalized by they've given on BRI, length of contract, starting value of mid-level, likely annual raises and we don't yet know about things like veteran minimum salaries, draft age limits, and whether all teams will be allowed to do sign-and-trades or offer the mid-level. That's a start

[Geoff Read]

Hi Doug,

Couldn't agree more with your comments about injuries, and the Leafs' proclamations about Reimer's status have been particularly nonsensical. Guess what Brian Burke, despite your Stalinesque attempts to keep us misinformed, we've figured it out: James Reimer is suffering from post-concussion syndrome! Oh no! Now all the dirty Brian Giontas out there will surely be trying to take Reimer's head off!

Loved the phone comment too. God I hate that. There is something so unbelievably self-important and self-absorbed about subjecting everyone around you to your inane conversation....

Rick Paterno clearly got what he deserved. I'm sorry - I know he was a great coach etc. etc., but turning a blind eye to sexual abuse of teenagers is not OK and that's an important message to send.

Finally (sorry, but I feel like weighing in on these various topics today for some reason) - I think you're bang on about the NBA negotiations. Having said that, I am working as hard as I can to avoid paying attention to them. I hate reading about the business side of sports, and I hate how it's become such a big part of the sports coverage (for understandable reasons).

Keep it up! Whatever you call you blog it's still one of my favourites.

[LeeZ]

@SheikYurbouti: you beat me to it re: Paterno. It just boggles the mind that this piece of excrement thought he could retire of his own volition at the end of the season. And this next part ties in with Doug's rant (with which I totally agree) about lame "apologies" Paterno said that with the "benefit of hindsight", he would have done more. Really, Joe? You needed hindsight to know that you should call the cops on a man who anally rapes a 10 year old in the team showers? And don't give that bs about how he thought it was "only" fondling and inappropriate behaviour with an ex-coach and a ten-year-old alone in the shower late at night. First of all, that "alone" would be cause to turn him in, and second of all, anyone who ACTUALLY thinks that the 28-year-old grad student didn't tell Paterno the whole story needs to be sold some swamp land. Or maybe Paterno ordered him to withhold some of the more salient information so he could maintain deniability. Either way, it's absolutely DESPICABLE, and Paterno is damn lucky he's not going to jail. End of rant.

[Steph]

Who cares about what a team decides to divulge regarding a players injury, fake or not, really. Should the player and his family not have some kind of privacy? And have we decended so far from a basketball blog that where mimiking Andy Oudman for rediculous topics to talk about?
..
I can't wait for basketball to start again so we can get back to where we should be, talking about basketball.

[Boko]

Doug,

Internet users (and newspaper readers) routinely ignore everything on the page except the actual info that they are there for. Don't hold it against us. Otherwise, having to read all those ads would drive some of us bonkers.

If a player is healthy enough to play, then nobody needs to know what ails him, but if he's coming back from injury too early, then it's an issue ... but the only issue is that he's coming back too early.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Whether it's social media (or other) rudeness in an elevator, restaurant or public transit; whether it's flaunting vagrancy, trespassing or miscellaneous other illegalities while 'occupying' parks to make a probably valid point but with no apparent definable purpose or agenda; whether it's bullying or preying upon innocent victims of whatever ilk for whatever-fill-in-the-blank mindless, self-centred purpose; whether it's ignoring the bullies, stalkers and predators around us for even more self-centred purposes (like 'I really don't want to be bothered' or 'I'm really not interested in taking on any responsibility or risk here'); whether it's using a 'win' or a 'protest' as a good enough excuse to riot, pillage, trash and torch anything in sight at the drop of a drunken suggestion...
I'm hoping we might be learning something about starting to finally open up our eyes and ears and arms and mouths again when the situation calls for it. Time to stop waiting for 'someone' else to take care of business. It's on us – right there, that's your definition of democracy. Use it or lose it, baby.
I'm hoping maybe we're ready to turn the corner on grunge and indifference and ill manners and sloppy whatevers. Time to spruce it back up, isn't it? Time to show some class again. Cheers.

[john]

"Owners have given up nothing. Squat. Bupkiss. Nada"
Other than the $200 million LOC/Bailout the NBA had to create in 2009 to help a dozen or so teams to make it through the financial crisis and the $300 million a year they lose a year I guess this is true.

I don’t remember any of the players or the players union lining up to take pay-cuts or deferrals to help the teams in trouble during the financial crisis like so many other unions and labor groups sacrificed at that time. It’s nice to see how passionate the players are now about the health of the league now that they are having to give up some of their wages.

Doug, at the end of the day, this whole thing is voracious greed vs. voracious greed. There is no high moral ground for either of these two pigs as they wallow in the trough of “our” money.

[Raj]

Doug, I read online that Dave Checketts, owner of real salt lake, saying that the Players and the owners have reached a deal. Is there any truth to this?

Raj, Mississauga

Blogger's note: None. Was refuted seconds later; bogus report from unreliable website

[Lorie]

@D-Mac: Very well said: because just when you think you're feelings are calloused and desensitized to the horrors that the news of the day can deliver, you learn there are still, apparently, things that happen in the world that can break your heat. And, Doug - some songs should only ever be sung by the originator - spare me Bieber or Drake or Brooks & Dunn doing this one (yeah, yeah, I know they broke up but I'm making a point, here!) Cheers!
http://youtu.be/Euci0_BBmNE

[doug]

ok I'll start “Hey, I screwed up, sorry” , that is in regards to the name change, I never ever have read the name of this blog, I just have it bookmarked and open it up as a automatic reflex although it says Doug Smith's Toronto raptors blog as it is bookmarked.., so I guess I am not very observant....and forget elevators what about subways and streetcars, people it's not your living room or there is no "cone of silence" (certain users will get the reference) and I do not want to over hear a conversation about who your hooking up with or you did hook up, cell phones the bane of society....I watched 30 seconds of CMA's and it was Lionel Ritchie doing a duet with the dude from Hootie and the Blowfish, now i liked Lionel and his tunes as well as Hootie, but to me that was not a duet I was longing to see....I have never seen so much talking without a settlement in a lockout/strike without a settlement being reached, you want issues these 2 sides have issues in more ways then one..........

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Speaking of sprucing it up and showing some class, OMG, have you seen the Mike Tyson as Herman Cain vids yet?? http://www.toronto.com/article/703830?bn=1
Democracy is great for laughs, too. Cheers!

[Yezzir Con]

Riyadh?? Probably not...Jeddah? HECK YEA!