Good news on the basketball horizon?

So I hear the NBA and The Litigants (can’t call ‘em players, can’t call it a unlon, gotta come up with something) were back at it the last couple of days, trying to end this lockout thing.

Big whoop?

Maybe not.

I believe a wise sage suggested something might happen this week since we’re getting close to the time they’d have to cancel the marquee Christmas Day games – which kick off the American network television season – and lo and behold, the lawyers have been chatting.

Now, this all could, I suppose, be a ruse so the league can tell the judge that, yes, they are bargaining in good faith. It could be simply for appearances and nothing else but I kind of think there’s some legitimacy to it and that both sides really don’t want to have to go before a judge and let the slow-moving legal system start getting its mitts on this mess.

We know that things were getting close to done when The Litigants played their final trump card to disclaim interest and walk away; a little cooling off period, the threat of handing things over to a judge, the pressure of the Christmas season coming, and the desire to have something approximating a representative season rather than a 50-game abomination like they had in ’99 has them at this point.

Of course, I’d take it a wee bit more seriously if they weren’t going to take today off so everyone can eat mac and cheese, sweet potato pie and turkey while watching football and avoiding those hoiiday-killing family arguments. After all, more than a few Americans are working today, why wouldn’t lawyers charged with saving a professional sports season find enough time to sit around and talk.

But are we close to a deal?

The spidey sense says yes.

Oh, and you won’t hear these talks referred to as negotiations because, since the union decided to disband a week or so ago, there’s no one to “negotiate” with.

What they are, technically, are settlement talks aimed at avoiding a lawsuit. But, whatever comes of this will form the basis of a new collective bargaining agreement with a new union that forms once the lawyers get assurances from the league that all the bits and pieces are taken care of.

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Big, big, big cinematic day.

The Muppets are back!

No, haven’t rushed out to see the new flick, nor do I presume I ever actually will, but who doesn’t love The Muppets?

Yes, there’s the whole cross-pollination thing with Sesame Street (sometimes you can’t tell the inanimate objects apart without a program) but Muppets are Muppets and they have to be an integral part of the growing up process for a lot of Irregulars, no?

A wholly unscientific survey of family and friends comes back with everything from “which ones are the Muppets again?” to “anyone who doesn’t pick Beaker shouldn’t be allowed to vote” to “I really love Miss Piggy, she’s so fashionable” to “good gracious man, in the name of all that’s good in the world, will you get back to basketball!”

Guess the results would be a narrow victory for Kermit over Miss Piggy – entirely predictable, I suppose.

Anyway, as you’d suspect, I’m all over Statler and Waldorf, being a Grumpy Guy Of A Certain Age myself, I can easily identify with them, plus they’re hilarious.

But I have to tell you, Gonzo is a close second, if not tied for first.

Who’ve you got? And why?

The little green fella's some crooner, though.

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I wonder if the crack about Best Buy in this little missive from Old Friend Sonny Weems over in Lithuania will cause any ripples if and when he comes back.

(Tip o’ the cap to an Irregular of some repute who sent it along; looking on the interweb for stories written by NBAers is not something I do with regularity).

I certainly don’t begrudge Sonny a chance to work on his game, get some life experience and make some money and I applaud him for going without an “out” to come back to the NBA if the lockout is settled but I wonder if mocking locked-out NBAers is the best thing he could have done.

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Hmm

Sidney Crosby plays game. Gets no points. The bum.

(And the media coverage shrunk a bit, didn’t it?)

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Now, I’ve covered more than a couple bad teams in my day (hi, 16-66 HOTH!) but, man, can you imagine what it must have been like being an American Samoa soccer grunt?

According to this little piece, the team finally won – FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER – by beating Tonga.

(Yeah, American Samoa-Tonga soccer, we do it all here, don’t we?)

Now, that’s a losing streak no one should have to sit through. I thought the 19-gamer with that horrific Raptors team was bad, can you imagine covering a team that has never won a game?

Wonder if they were driving up their version of Yonge Street honking horns after the game?

Would take memories of this one away, wouldn’t it?

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Okay, we’ve got some good ideas on some basketball stories you might like to see and we’ll take them under advisement, promise.

But you can still go to the regular mail spot here and send in some more suggestions or whatever; but you also have to go there and send some questions in for the weekend, please.

There are hardly any there and, really, I need ‘em.

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Peace in our time as baseball gets it right

There is a feeling out there in some circles that we must be living in some parallel universe now that major league baseball has avoided any kind of work stoppage for the next five years by coming to a new collective bargaining agreement with the players union without any acrimony, sabre-rattling or public posturing.

Nice, isn’t it?

(Griff has all the gory details here and if you can get away from the labour-strife-fatigue that’s hit all sports fans over the last little while, try to digest all that’s in this one).

Anyway, the new deal will take baseball past the two-decade mark for labour harmony when it’s completed, a far cry from what seemed to be strikes or lockouts that accompanied every CBA in the 80s and 90s, including the strike in ’94 that, well, that have hastened the demise of the Expos and still rankles Canadian sports fans.

With the NFL having come through a lockout already this year, basketball stalled by one that appears to have no end in sight and hockey apparently headed for another contentious round of bargaining, what are we to learn from baseball (and who thought those words will ever be written?).

Well they do share revenues and don’t have a salary cap of any form.

They do maximize profits from internet media, which is huge for them and not something the other sports do particularly well.

There is a level of competitive balance – look at the teams that are in the playoffs each year and, please, for the love of all that’s good in the world, get past the myopic American League East parochial view and put the blame where it should have been all those years – on Blue Jays ownership and management.

But what’s most important, in light of what’s going on in that sport I used to cover, is that the talks on this new deal began quietly, without any fanfare and quite a while ago.

They did not leave things until the last minute, they appear to have puttered around on their version of “system” issues for months, if not years, behind the scenes and in the true method of collective bargaining.

They didn’t not hold public bargaining session or give month-by-month updates; they did not call each other names, suggest that what one side wanted was never going to happen. They did it professionally and on their own and everyone came away happy.

There are those of us who used to think baseball was the most screwed up of all the sports when it came to relations between the union and the owners. The players were militant to a huge degree, the owners were unwavering in what they wanted. They got to the brink and beyond on almost every occasion.

Now? Not so much.

They’ve got it right. Everyone else has it wrong.

Odd, isn’t it? Good, but odd.

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Yes, of course we are too far under the spell of American sports, sillyheads.

But, tell the truth, you love American Thanksgiving, don’t you?

Never mind the morning parades (although who doesn’t remember watching the Macy’s deal every now and then just to see the giant balloons), it’s the afternoon of football that makes it best.

(And, yes, they are ruining it a bit by adding more games, leagues always do, even if this year’s Harbaugh-Harbaugh one has some juice).

Anyway, it does gives some of us a nice little respite from the week, there is a sense of tradition to it and, well, it’s just something a lot of people look forward.

Unlike, say, Christmas, we in Canada don’t have the emotional attachment to this day so some who might otherwise be bothered aren’t worried about the intrusion. It’s their holiday, the sports fans among us just benefit from it.

It’s not even New Years, or Canada Day, or Victoria Day, other days that occupy our time far more than the third fourth Thursday in November.

And, besides, some years, Leon Lett shows up and the day becomes high comedy.

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I can’t believe I forgot this yesterday – the anniversary of one of the seminal moments in an era when an American president was assassinated.

What a dope.

Anyway, it was one of the very few “Where were you when it happened” in my lifetime – maybe the night man walked on the moon, the afternoon of the Challenger explosion, very few others – but glad there was the facepalm, er, Facebook thingy to make up for it.

And if Tuesday was that anniversary, must mean Thursday marks the day this happened:

Speaking of Facebook, the smartypants at the office got one of those “click here to Like” thingies over at the top right; feel free to join any time.

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How many times, when we’re at HOTH games in Philadelphia, do I mention how I can’t quite figure out why the Sixers Chicken is a Rabbit?

(Yes, that’s code but most will get it).

Well, guess the new owners wondered that too, according to this little note that says the stuffed animal is no more and there’s a new sheriff, um, mascot coming to town.

I like the dude on the left as the winner; far better than the other one.

 

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Yes, I know. Been entirely remiss on the DTWS stuff in this season which drew to a close last night. Underwhelming cast, real-live issues, stuff got in the way.

But I did see a wee bit of the finale when the dude beat out another of those zany Kardashians to win (still say Ricky Lake got screwed, she was pretty good) and all I could think when I was watching the vote total was “how much did it cost Hump to pay off the judges so the ex’s sibling lost?”

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Oh, right.

First call

Mail. Here. Please. And if you’ve got any basketball ideas, click on the same place and put “Basketball” in the address field and we’ll see what we come up with. Or go here and so some fancy stuff.

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True greats can handle the moment; and some Bruce for fun

Of course, he scored.

Today, Sidney Crosby is going to handle the Occupy issues all over the world, he may cure a handful of communicable diseases, he’ll call Billy Hunter and David Stern and NBA training camps will open tomorrow and then, hang tough Middle East, your problems are soon solved.

Yeesh. Wasn’t that something.

Yeah, I know.

Pucks. Me. Oil. Water.

Anyway, sure I had to watch a bit, I wouldn’t be (a) Canadian or (b) a guy with a 1,000 or so words to write before the sun came up if I didn't so I had to take a quick look.

(Yes, just a quick one, I started to throw up in my mouth a little bit with the media overkill; dude did only miss 61 games and that’s, what, almost three-quarters of a season? Call me when someone comes back after two or three years next time).

Anyway, it was impressive and the Kid does seem to be one of those unique athletes who comes around about once a generation who just delivers on his greatness when it’s most expected.

There was that Olympic goal thing and then last night, when even a dope like me could see that he didn’t look at all out of place and is as uniquely skilled as any athlete playing any game on Earth, at least for one game.

There just does seem to be something about the true greats that allows them to simply seize the moment, to take the inherent pressure and spotlight and expectations that come with something like returning from a long absence and playing lights out.

Now, I would fully expect adrenaline had something to do with it, the rush of being in true competition for the first time since February would have carried him a little bit and the jolt you get from incessant cheers had to have an impact.

There could very well be nights in the next couple of weeks where he’s slower, less dominant, more unable to handle the speed of the game as well.

But for last night, Crosby did what few athletes anywhere in the world are capable of doing:

He did more than anyone expected when everyone – including me – was watching.

Now … that’ll likely end the pucks in this little corner of the universe for a while. That’s two days in a row; I can almost feel the hives breaking out.

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Oh, oh.

Looks like the TF’s want me out there among the people.

Check this out and we’ll see where it goes.

You can send e-mails at webpoll@thestar.ca and let us know in the address bar that it's basketball stories you're proposing (same link as the usual mail) or go here and do some nifty video stuff if you want.

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I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the news that Bruce Springsteen plans a tour.

Yes, he is a musical icon and the concerts are spectacular because they are long and dedicated almost entirely to music rather than theatrics or histrionics but …

Yeah, that’s the big “but” isn’t it?

How can it be The E Street Band without Clarence?

I know, I know. Life goes on, terrible things happen and we have to get over them and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Still …

It’s Clarence and Bruce.

And they were around and together for a very, very long time.

Will I go see them if there’s a Toronto date?

Most likely, if it works into the budget and the schedule.

But I guarantee you I’ll be like a lot of other people and, if I do, one of the first things I’ll say when I walk out is: “Nope, not the same without The Big Man.”

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Hey, remember the NBA?

No, there is no news – and I have nothing firm on which to base this suggestion – but I wouldn’t at all be surprised if we didn’t hear something of some sort this week.

There is no doubt that Christmas Day is a watershed day each year for the league; it is the kick-off of the major network broadcasts (ABC kicks in on that day), it is a day the league generally has to itself and casual fans have a tendency to start paying closer attention that afternoon.

(Now, I personally feel there are too many games on Christmas and it diminishes the impact having five or so when they used to have just one but that’s another point entirely).

That digression aside, there is no doubt it’s big and if you take David Stern at his word that they’ll need a month for a handshake agreement to any start of an abbreviated season, Friday would be the day.

Now, that doesn’t at all mean he’ll pick up the phone and call Boies to kickstart some kind of discussions with the anti-trust plaintiffs but if there’s any sense of urgency around the league office, something better happen and very soon.

Doubt it will but Friday would seem to be the next “biggest” day in this drawn-out (yawn!) process.

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Tough couple of days for Jay Cutler.

Dude breaks his thumb and perhaps ruins the season and then there’s some false report about an engagement to some, well, I’m not sure exactly what she is but if Deadspin’s writing about it, she must be important.

Not Kardashian important but important nonetheless.

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Hey, way to go BBWAA!

You got it right with the Verlander as the AL Most Valuable Player, as perhaps you recall me mentioning yesterday.

Good nod to JoeyBats being third, too.

Now, we’ve kind of got the same thing going in the National League – Matt Kemp on a bad team, Ryan Braun on a good one, Albert Pujols – and, just in case you wanted add to the mystery, Clayton Kershaw on the Dodgers.

Now, Kershaw was spectacular a lot of the year and has MPV-like numbers. But, as we mentioned yesterday, it can’t just be one thing, which is why he can’t be in the same discussion in his league that Verlander was in his; in this case, team success matters.

Me? I’m okay with Kemp or Pujols, with a not to the Cardinal.

 

 

 

MVP debate is fun and the essence of sport

And so the debate will rage again in some circles this afternoon when major league baseball gets around to making its announcement of the American League’s most valuable player.

Can it go to a pitcher?

Should it go solely to a player on a winning team?

Is it the best player on the best team?

Is it someone who has had seasons of excellence?

I guess it’s all relative (Griff makes a good case on the whole thing right here) and like so much in the world of sports, nothing is ever simply black and white.

I do think winning counts but so does overall excellence and true value to a team. Yes, it’s true that if you went solely by “if you took this guy away from his team they’d really be bad” but that would leave you with a candidate from pretty much every team, wouldn’t it?

I do think best player on best team has to count for something but how much of that guy’s great year is due primarily to the people he’s surrounded with? Has to be a factor, doesn’t it? Sure, you could take Curtis Granderson away from the Yankees and Miguel Cabrera away from the Tigers and I’d still like New York’s chances over Detroit’s.

I have no compunction voting for a pitcher, the ‘once-every-five-days’ argument doesn’t hold water with me; there are some weeks when the other possibilities don’t do very much, either.

This really seems one of those debates that makes sports so great. You can sit on a stool or around a table with five guys and gals and get five different opinions, all legit, all quite heartfelt and none wrong. It can be a perfect way to while away a night or an afternoon and is the essence of the games that give us a chance to escape the realities of life for a little while. It’s fun and we should do it more often.

I guess the good thing, if you’re from the centre of the universe, is that there’s a legit question about the worthiness of one of the Local Nine and that hasn’t happened in a while, has it.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of hue and cry there is when Jose Bautista finishes fourth, maybe fifth, when the results are announced this afternoon.

Now, I don’t have a vote, have never had one, don’t follow the game overall as closely as I should to have a truly informed opinion on these matters but if I had to go with five, it’d be, in order:

Verlander, Bautista, Cano, Cabrera, Granderson.

You?

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Speaking of …

Went to the big fashion show down at the dome on Friday to see the new Blue Jays uniform and I tell you, no one does dog and pony like them. It was a blast, blue champagne (or so I’m told, didn’t sample any), all kinds of food places and displays, joint looked like some kind of ball room all done up and it was a heckuva day.

And came away utterly impressed with the new look. Like the “Blue” being back in Blue Jays, am quite glad they dumped anything to do with black and silver (that was a bad decision from the get-go) and the old split-font numbers are a great throwback idea.

Best look?

The one here, by far. Really looks good.

Now, if only Alex Anthopoulos will go out and get a new closer, second baseman, left-fielder and front-of-the-rotation starter things will be much better.

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Hands up everyone who stayed up to watch the MLS Cup last night?

Now, you know me and the MLS; really don’t care a lot about it (although I continue to have people who tell me it’s a hoot to go watch the TFCs in a home game) but if that silly league ever wants to attract even a handful of casual fans, playing the championship game at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night in late November is not the way to do it.

Oh, yeah.

It was the Galaxy 1, Dynamo 0.

(That’s Los Angeles and Houston for those unfamiliar).

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Dear You Know Who You Are

The only people who enjoy whistling are the people doing the whistling. Please stop.

Signed, The Rest of Humankind.

Oh, wait, I take that back in one – and only one – exception.

Who didn’t like this? And isn’t humming it or whistling it right now?

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You guys and gals in football pools? You know, the ones where you have to pick the games every week, they tally up the numbers at the end of the season and someone celebrates?

Well, I’ve heard all kinds of wacky ways to make picks each week.

Which team has a better colour scheme on its uniforms.

Which team has better cheerleaders.

Which team’s coach spends less time talking into that laminated piece of cardboard they all have that contains the same plays as the next guy, or else the launch codes, I’m not sure.

Well. I’m in the saloon one day on the weekend (hello, Mick and Angelo’s) and the conversation with the benevolent owner gets around to the pool.

And someone the week earlier had a near perfect card – only one game wrong, the Monday nighter in Green Bay – by picking solely on the basis of which team was based further away from New York City.

Makes entire sense to me.

Any other silly ones out there?

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Remember this guy?

I hear something about him playing again tonight, first time in almost a calendar year or something because he got knocked senseless a couple of times.

Now, I’m not sure it’ll make me sit and watch a full pucks game – little ever does – but I’m sure I’ll be like a zillion of you and check in just to see what the scene looks like.

What I’m not looking forward to is the incessant looks-back and how we got to this point and the endless commentary on what happened all those months ago.

I know this is something of a special case because of who he is and what he means to his game and what he’s accomplished so far in his nascent career.

But the truth is, no one has to be “careful” about what might or might not happened now that he’s back. I don’t think there needs to be any debate on whether he should get special treatment or be watched more closely. I believe we can all agree that if he’s out there, he’s healthy and that they’ve been more than careful to make sure he’s ready to go.

Yes, there is an inherent danger and threat that something else could happen; it’s the same inherent danger and threat that exists for every athlete who puts a uniform on every game.

It’s part of the game.

 

Movie clips, sports logos and a chat with Obama. What a mailbag

You may have out-done yourselves this week.

Thanks.

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Q: Hello Doug! Well, it's on. The "Obama Classic Basketball Game" on December 12th. Venue to be determined, but you'd best start saving now because at $5000 for a courtside seat (and all proceeds from ticket sales go to ensure Barack (The Basketball-Fan-In-Chief is re-elected), it's an expensive night out. And do you think the beer served there might be even more expensive than the $12.83 for a 28-oz glass that's charged at the ACC? Well it's all for a good (Democrat) cause and the only disappointment might if The President doesn't take to the floor. Apparently the Secret Service are concerned for his well being after, in a previous game, a member of the media elbowed him in the face. (Must've been one of those right-wing scribes.)

Anyway, do you think Barack may be quietly called upon to act as Mediator-Facilitator-Get-'Em-Talking person in this NBA mess? I mean, he has some experience and street cred: the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" might help broker a deal as they say. So Doug, as boss of the PBWA, could you sort of - Prez to Prez - make something happen here?

Lorie P, London

A: Funny you should ask.

I call him up the other day and it’s like:

“Hey, B. It’s me, Doug. Look, I got like 200 under-employed members of our constituency and I hear you’ve got this whole unemployment thing going on down there. Why don’t you and I have a little chinwag and get this thing worked out? We’re pretty bright guys, we can kick around some ideas. Look what we did with that Wall Street thing.”

He says, and this is verbatim:

“Yo, Doug. What’s up? How’s my favourite Grunt? Loved the bit about Super Dog and the knee, lucky you’ve got that health care thing going on up there, wish I could get these knuckleheads down here … ah, never mind. Look, Michelle’s got some ribeyes and I think there are a few Yeunglings in the fridge, why don’t you stop by some night and we’ll have some dinner and talk. Been way too long. Oh, and what do you think of that of that whole Greece-Italy-Euro economy thing? Love to get your take on that. Anyway, dude, let me know when you’re around.”

That Barack, what guy.

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Q: So Doug, we're all aware that the lack of hoops has caused you to cast your net all over the place to fill your blog, which we appreciate. If the whole season gets wiped out, you might however find yourself covering ice fishing and the return of migratory birds.

So, in an ideal world, let's say you can travel to cover anything, be it sports, entertainment, politics or adult beverage conventions. Think of it as a bucket list of blog coverage. Would we find you on the red carpet at the Oscars? On a balcony writing about the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona? Enjoying a cocktail while covering the Hemingway look-alike contest in Florida? Do tell.

Jonathan M, Tokyo

A: Given my absolute druthers, I’d find a way to cover world championships in any number of sports, actually. The intensity and importance is second-to-none to the athletes and they are always filled with passion and great stories.

Oh, and the EuroLeague finals, soccer’s European championships would be on the list.

So, too, would be: “Hey, Doug, go find the five best pubs in Britain and Ireland, please.” Actually, that might be the top of the list.

Oh, and I want nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, it is filled with so many vacuous, self-indulgent egomaniacs with a high level of phoniness that I might kill someone. Or spend entire interviews rolling my eyes and chuckling.

If I had to pick one thing outside of sports, it’d be some humanitarian effort done on the QT to bring important stories to light.

But that pubs thing sounds best, doesn’t it?

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Q: Okay, pick a fictional lawyer for each side...

Perry Mason for the owners, or Perry Masonite) versus Matlock for the players?

One of the TV judges...say Judy

Who wins? Is it the roommate's fault?

Also, how could Hamilton Berger keep his job with one win in twelve years.?

Bob E, Kanata

A: I’ve got to pit Denny Crane against Christine Simpson, no?

(Okay, that’s got more to do with Markie Post than anything but you let me have my pick).

If this guy’s not the judge, I guess we could settle for Flip Wilson, or Wapner if he’s still on the bench. I can’t stomach any of those other TV judges, I’m afraid.

(After all, they are relative yutes we’re dealing with, right?)

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Q: I know the NBA owners own the franchises, and the Players own their skills, but I wonder if has occurred to them that they don't own basketball. Sure there are all kinds of other hoops to watch (Go Lightning) but it isn't the game played at it's highest form with the best vs the best on the grandest stage. Having held the purest game hostage for this long as they pout over how they divide up our money. Last lockout ended with a "sorry bout that" a few free exhibition games of out of shape, embittered bench players and a few soulless autograph sessions from a few of the team's faces as a buy out for hijacking the game and then expecting to be fed by the hand they had been biting for months. Doug how does the NBA bounce back from so much ill will on every facet?

Rob N, London

A: I’m kind of anxious to see what they do because the impression I’m getting – tainted by the passage of time since ’99 of course – is that it will be exponentially harder to woo back casual fans already being killed by the difficult economic times in which we live.

I would suggest a lot of reduced – if not free – tickets but not sure there’s an appetite for that.

But they will find a way to grovel, no doubt; and fans will, eventually, accept the abject apologies, I would imagine.

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Q: Greetings, an actual basketball question, at least about the business of basketball. So if/when/they have the player's union decertifies I am thinking that somewhere there are offices, employees and assets that are a direct result of the administration needs of that same union. Assuming this is so, what happens to all that stuff? I would also think that a "decertification" that really is in name only wouldn't swim well with the resulting legal battles. Secondarily, if I'm a NBA player once the union ceases to exist I may be somewhat panicked in regards to my agent's ability to be effective in protecting my own needs and desires. Thirdly, not being entirely trusting of things that live off of my earnings (Super family excepted, of course) I may have serious reservations about my agent's motives and aspirations. Anyhow mostly curious on the potential impact of another group of people caught in the crossfire.

Thanks, as always for what you do.

Doug T, Brantford

A: I would assume – and I only know this anecdotally – that the support staff, various counsel and employees of what was the NBAPA would assume similar roles in what’s now the NBA players trade association, at least until the legal morass plays out.

And, yes, if I were a player I’d be very trusting in the men who made the decision to disclaim interest without, I’m sure, due consideration or consultation.

As for the agents? I truly believe they are the tail that’s wagging the dog too much in this whole mess; they are, in some ways, too self-serving and more concerned with their own skins than the ripple effect on the people they ostensibly work for.

And here we go with the start of the mail

Man, you folks really came through this week.

Had an hour long Q and A the other day, some of my own questions in the paper the next day and now we’re all over the place here.

Cool.

And lots for tomorrow, too. One last chance if you want in on the fun. Click. Write. Send.

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Q: Doug, on X-factor, Simon didn't think that a contestant's rendition of Bob Marley's Everything's Gonna Be Alright" met with the theme of the night, as it was supposed to be Rock, not reggae.

I only ever hear Bob, these days, on rock stations. Bob's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Your thoughts? Is it rock, or reggae?

Paul B, Toronto

A: Can I answer: “I don’t care, as long as I get to listen to it”?

Probably not, eh?

Well, here’s one for you: Do you ever listen to reggae stations? How many exist?

I’m guessing the lines of music seem so blurred at the moment it might be impossible to tell but if you put a gun to my head, I’d say it was reggae made popular with the masses by rock stations and Simon might – for once – have been technically right. But it was a nitpick and he’s a dope.

Oh, and yes, Bob is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but so are balladeers and folk artists and the like. Not a big distinction.

Besides, his music – however you label it – is wonderful.

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Q: Wonder why you don't see fit to cover our Canadian professional league which features not only ex NBA'ers, ex Division 1 players and several outstanding Canadians. The games are exciting, the skill level is high and it's entertaining. If we're ever going to develop a competitive national program I think this league (NBL) could contribute a lot as pro leagues in Europe, Australia and elsewhere already do. Personally I'm sick of hearing about the billionaires fighting the millionaires of the NBA. There's another option and it's worth supporting.

Ron M, Halifax

A: I think I’ve been pretty supportive of the NBL, actually. But here’s the problem with covering a league as opposed to a team, especially a league that’s only on the periphery of our coverage area: You certainly can’t write “game stories” because the interest in which team beat what team isn’t nearly there enough (heck, we shy away from “game stories” when we’re writing about the HOTH) and to do even a weekly feature piece is sometimes difficult with other tugs on the time. I will tell you I’ve been talking to the bosses lately about getting more involved in some kind of NBL stories, it’s a matter of scheduling and finding out what serves the most of our readers the best.

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Q: Wow things sound serious and there might not be a season at all! So what would happen to the draft if that were the case? ;o)

On a completely different note, it is nice seeing Mark Howe getting into the hall of fame. This made me think about children of pro athletes. To a large extent, they get both the nature and nurture side of the equation given their genetics and access to training and coaching. So who would you say were the top 5 most successful progenies of pro athletes (whether or not they went into the same sport as their parent)?

Richard Y, Kincardine

A: I’m going to go on the assumption that it’s not necessary that the off-spring eclipsed the accomplishment of the parent, right?

So, here, perhaps, is a representative list that should get the Irregulars chatting.

Rick and Brent and Jon Barry.

Muhammad and Laila Ali.

Calvin and Grant Hill.

Bobby and Brett Hull.

Archie and Peyton and Eli Manning.

Not bad, eh?

Am sure there are more: Bonds, Ernhardt, Griffey, Andretti come rapidly to mind but I like my five.

Do you?

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Q: Hello Doug. The union seemed to have two options when they decertified. The option they chose I believe says something to the effect that the union was unable to negotiate effectively on the players behalf. This option is said to still leave room for a season while the other would have killed it.

Did the union have this option in the summer or did they have to go through months of negotiation? If they did need to go through this process do you think this way is better or should they just have blown the union up in the summer?

Robert M, Charlottetown

A: The option to either make a disclaimer of interest or to decertify has always been available. In fact, there are those who think this particular legal gambit came about four months too late and was something the former union should have done right off the bat to add a sense of urgency to the negotiations that ultimately failed.

But it’s not right to say this move leaves more room to salvage a season; in fact, the opposite may be true. To decertify, there would have been a window of about 45 days between petitioning to decertify and an actual vote of the entire union membership, a time when Billy Hunter could have continued negotiating on behalf of the NBAPA. That option no longer exists.

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Q: Doug, I know you’re not a labour relations expert, but now that antitrust complaints have been filed in Minnesota and soon in California (as of this writing) I'm curious about the players who are employed by the Raptors. They don't play in the US, and obviously our labour laws are a bit different here. So would they consider filing a complaint in Ontario court? Any reasons for or against doing so? Interested to hear your take.

Thanks

Simon S-G, Toronto

A: The former union, the league, its contracts and its organizations are all part of a US-based industry, I cannot for the life of me imagine anyone wanting to wade into foreign courts. It opens a totally unnecessary can of legal worms that I am sure they don’t want to deal with.

It would be akin, I’m told, to an international union that covers workers in multiple nations dealing with branch offices of the same company in those multiple nations deciding to “separate” one from the other. Not worth it in time, energy, cost and legal systems.

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Q: How much better does the Valanciunas draft pick look right now?

Ryan L, Ottawa

A: Lots of that sentiment around; and with no disrespect because I don’t know what your stand was in July, but I wonder how much of it comes from places that were ripping the pick that night and immediately after.

I’d love to say it was a choice make with true labour-strife foresight but it just worked out that way, when the draft was held, we had no clue for certain when the kid would come.

But it is indeed good that he’s playing, no question.

Teeeeeeee-bowwwwwww! And the legend grows

It would appear that Tim Tebow is just one of those guys.

You know the kind, the fella who muddles along doing nothing of significance, a bit of a screw up, a guy who looks like he’s totally lost doing whatever it is he’s doing.

And then?

Then …

Yes that was him, again.

Pulling out a victory in the dying seconds of a close game, a game upon which he’d had little positive impact until the final drive.

The Denver Broncos quarterback is now 4-1 as a starter, he is routinely excoriated during the week for his failings, he kind of shrugs it all off, looks horrible for long stretches again and when it’s time to win, all he does is win.

We don’t get ‘em in sports too often but Tebow is proving that conventional thinking means very little when assessing his impact. And it’s great fun to watch.

His numbers generally stink (9-for-20 passing for 104 yards in total against the Jets on Thursday, two measly completions in an entire game – a win -- against Kansas City on Sunday) but there just seems to be something about his will, his strength of character, that allows him to have so much confidence in his abilities that you now half expect him to pull off some miracle every time he gets on the field.

So do his teammates, according to Von Miller, a defensive lineman who gets to stand on the sidelines and watch like the rest of us:

"No matter how many interceptions he throws, no matter how many touchdowns he scores, that's Tim Tebow and I'm going to ride with him to the end. I hope he shut up a whole bunch of critics today.”

Fun, isn’t it?

We want our sports stars – and that seems to be what Tebow is morphing into right before our eyes – to be part-mortal, part-superhuman. We like the Everyman aspect them and that’s what Tebow seems to be. He’s normal with gusts to bad until it’s time for drama and – most important – time to win. Then he wins.

You gotta love the guy for what he does on the field.

Oh, and to keep with a longstanding theme around these parts, the stats don’t matter a lick, do they? You look at his numbers and he should be on the bench, you look at what counts – winning – and he’s going to the Hall of Fame.

There is no advanced metric for heart. Thankfully.

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So, what’s this additional wild card mean for the TOD?

(That’s Team Of Destiny for newbies).

I concur with my learned colleague Griff who says, simply, nothing really.

It shouldn’t have any real impact on what GM Alex Anthopoulos does this winter to improve his team; he has to do whatever he thinks makes the most sense regardless of the number of post-season slots available.

I never really bought into the “we’re going to try to win in 2013 or 2014” stuff being spewed. You try to win every year and make the moves necessary to do that without regard for such things as wild cards. If there’s a good deal that makes sense, make it this winter, make it next spring, make it when it presents itself.

You can’t “plan” to contend, you try your level best to contend and win every time you step on the field or court or whatever.

It’s nice that there should be an additional playoff berth around next fall, it might stop some of the incessant whining and “woe is us” crap I hear from fans about the AL East.

But to the big shots? Can’t mean a thing.

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Weekend’s coming and so are two days of mail, which is good because it means I just have to react to stuff rather than search the dark recesses of the brain trying to create marginally interesting stuff for this spot each morning.

Go here, write words, send them in. Make my life a tad easier.

Thanks.

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You can’t seem to turn around thee days without seeing some ad for the big Twilight vampire thingy in theatres today.

Yawn. Can’t stand vampire things; haven’t read the books and don’t want to, haven’t seen the movies and don’t want to, don’t get the whole fascination and never will.

But …

I bet I’m the only guy you know who’s been to Forks, Washington.

Story time.

We’re on an otherwise outstanding vacation to Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria, Seattle a couple of years ago and Super Wife and Super Son – having read all the Twilight books and being all vampire-loving and all – decide we need to go see Forks since we’re going to be in Seattle.

Sure, sayeth I, figuring a quick trip over will allow me to leverage, oh, I dunno, maybe an afternoon at Kells, only one of the top three NBA saloons and a place I’d missed. How bad a drive could it be, right?

Anyway, off we go only to find out – and here where the problem comes – that Forks isn’t particularly close to Seattle. Or anywhere, actually.

Seems you go south out of the city, make a right, drive for, oh, six hours or so on a two-lane highway through a national park/forest/most-boring-place-on-the-earth kind of place. You get to the end of the world, drive about 45 more minutes and, presto!, there it is.

Um. Such that it is. You spend 45 minutes or so buying t-shirts and taking pictures and looking like the other foolish travellers who weren’t sure what they were getting into when the day began. Then you bundle yourself back in the car, drive back to the end of the Earth, take a ferry across some body of water (which we didn’t know about on the outbound trek) and, voila, after about 14 hours you’re back in Seattle. But you’ve been to Forks. Whoop-dee-damn-doo.

You can’t imagine how many points I got for going through that ordeal.

Blew ‘em inside a week, though.

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Oh, boy.

Fashion show today.

At least I think it’s a fashion show.

Got a nice invitation from the Jays this week to attend something on the field at the Rogers Centre and since it’s that time of year, there wasn’t any news to chat about, and they were going to change the uniforms anyway …

Gotta be, right?

Now, not sure I’ll be scribbling about – the inimitable Griff’s going to have that under control, I hope – but it’ll be fun to dissect the look sometime on the weekend from this rather, um, unique fashion perspective.

And, shockingly, I bet you can go buy your favourite jersey somewhere tomorrow.

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Just ‘cause (a) I miss Jack and Matt and (b) I heard it in a saloon yesterday.

 

Hey NBA guys: Live with the consequences of your decision

Here’s one to gnaw on.

You’re hearing a lot, and are going to hear more, about this NBA player and that NBA player and this other NBA player – mostly high-profile guys, it would appear – at least investigating the chance to play somewhere in Europe now that there seems to be no way out of a long, stupid, season-threatening lockout.

I think this week I read that Kevin Durant may go somewhere, saw something yesterday about Matt Bonner and the NBL Canada team in Halifax and another item that Tiago Splitter’s going to Valencia.

There are certain to be more as the days unfold, more players of varied talents exploring options.

It’s wrong. Bad moves all around.

Now, forget the message this sends to the other NBA players. You know, the message that says:

“Hey, I’m going to get mine because I can, best of luck to my union brethren, I’m with you to a point and we all need to share the pain but a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do and, frankly, I’m looking after myself and screw you.”

That’s bad. Has been bad for anyone who’s gone to Europe already armed with a contract “out” already, those who were willing to take care of themselves rather than stand with the guys who he shares a union bond with.

Consider the other side?

What’s the message sent to the poor schmoe who just lost his job. The guy in Europe, where rosters are already set for this season with firm limits on the number of non-Euro-passport-carrying players each team can have? Or the guy in Canada who now has to go home and tells his family:

“Well, I was professional basketball player for a while and was doing okay until this NBA guy – you know, a guy who has a guaranteed seven-figure contract to go back to as soon as everyone comes to their senses, decided he wanted to play and our ownership fawned over him and saw dollar signs and decided marketing is more important than loyalty.”

Guys making, relatively, a pittance who might or might not get another chance could very well be denied a career because someone with a high profile wanted get a run in, as long as he was able to escape the minute the NBA came calling.

It’s wrong.

NBA players -- for good or for bad – have decided as a group to turn down a contract offer and let lawyers and judges help determine when they will work again.

It was a conscious decision taken for whatever reason, hopefully after careful thought and consideration. And there are consequences to every decision we make, one of them shouldn’t be to take the job of a guy already working because you don’t want to do yours.

Sorry. This is nothing personal but it’s wrong. Let the guys who are playing make a living.

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Hmm.

One day, we jokingly suggest Super Dog might be less, um, energetic than you’d like.

Next day, she’s at the desk hour early clamouring for the morning constitutional and I can dutifully report it’s chilly about 5:20 a.m.

Maybe she’s brighter than I thought.

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A Where Are They Now?

Well, if you go deep into the annals of HOTH lore and care about Quincy Douby …

Check this out.

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You give a guy a little time on the couch in a late afternoon with the clicker and nothing to do and who knows what he might find.

This, my good people, was a vastly under-rated TV show, wasn’t it?

At some point, doing Six Degrees of Separation from this cast would be a classic exercise.

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Question:

If Americans own Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, will that satisfy those among you who think Americans don’t care about the HOTH?

Nah.

Look, I have no particular issue with the passports of the people at the top; American, Irish, Slovenian, Japanese, Brazilian.

If they can afford it and want to run it and seem at least a wee tiny bit committed to giving the men who run their sports franchises the money and support needed to put a winner out there, who really cares?

The whole MLSEL monolith is far more than sports, anyway. It’s condos and restaurants and land deals and television networks and any manner of big business. Of course, that may be the biggest obstacle to sporting success, the attention paid to other endeavours, but that’s a chat for another day.

If these dudes our paper wrote about yesterday have deep enough pockets to make it work, good luck to ‘em.

Look at it this way:

There isn’t a long and storied level of success with the thing being run by Canadians, is there?

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I tell ya, you live in Hazelville and magic happens.

Poof. Leaves gone!

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Okay, seriously, how ridiculous is this?

This whole banning of balls in a schoolyard story would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.

I’m all for safety, it’s a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but there is just something about not letting kids play with or exercise with soccer balls or basketballs or whatever that strikes me as the wrong message.

Are we worried as a society about the lack of physical exercise our kids get? Don’t we want them out in the fresh air doing things to be fit rather than standing around or sitting in front of some TV or computer screen playing games? Isn’t childhood obesity a growing blight? Doesn’t play time outside help?

Shouldn’t we actually be encouraging them – through increased supervision, more playtime, more freedom to move and do as they please within reason – rather than taking things away from them?

Weird. Odd. Wrong.

Good on the kids for complaining about it.

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Oh yeah.

Mail. Here. Please. Lots yesterday but there's always room for more.

Thanks.

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Might be time to pull back a bit on the coach love

I see by the dispatches that Coach K down at Duke (and if you think I’m going to try and correctly spell Krzyzewski throughout the entirety of a blog post you are silly, silly people) coached his 903rd win last night, becoming the winningest men’s basketball coach in NCAA history.

He will, of course, be the subject of great tales over the next day or so, where we will hear and read what a wonderful coach he is, what a great accomplishment this is and his deification will continue unabated.

And I wonder of the wisdom of it.

Now, this is not to suggest for a second that Coach K specifically is anything other than a decent and honourable man worthy of such tributes. I have too many close friends who have had close interaction with him who tell me what a fine man he is in all regards to come to any other conclusion than that they are right.

The very few times I’ve spoken to him, he’s been respectful and engaging and a seemingly genuine man.

No, the trouble I have is with The Big Country To Our South and its penchant for lionization of college sports icons, its ability and willingness to raise them to impossible-to-hold standards, to make them greater than what they actually are.

This comes entirely on the heels of the disgusting Penn State scandal and has rankled me for years, this whole NCAA issue of “legendary coaches and leaders of men and women” and an utterly fascination with them.

If we have learned nothing over the years – and thousands of trees have given their lives to stories of coaches, specifically American college coaches, who have been something less than what we think we know of them – it is that there is a misguided rush to lift them to places they don’t belong.

Yes, they are charged with helping start teens on the road to becoming valued and functioning men and women of society but the rush is always to overly praise and elevate rather than to step back and take a deep breath.

What Coach K did was great – although there is a large part of me that believes any “winningest” coach thing is a more a function of time than anything (see Wlkens, Lenny) – and as a college basketball tactician he has few rivals.

But we need to hold off, in his case and every other one, don’t we?

This does come entirely to mind because of Penn State and Joe Paterno and how many times over the years we were told what a paragon he was, how he should be on the Mount Rushmore of coaching.

Now, there are likely no skeletons in the closet of Coach K or many of the other men and women who achieve NCAA greatness. But there are those who would make all of them more than they should and that bothers me.

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So I see the lawsuits have begun the NBA – one in California, one in Minnesota – and all I can say is I’m still a tad confused over what exactly the process is but that it’s started has to at least be seen as a good thing.

Read somewhere that the choice to file in the Northern California circuit was done at least in part because that court has a history of expediting such matters and that can’t be a bad thing.

The choice of players as plaintiffs has to do with gaining a cross-section of earners to present to the court and, yes, they left out anyone from the HOTH. Guess they’re saving them for suits in Brazil, Italy, Spain and Lithuania if need be.

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Now, I like London (the one down the 401, as well as the one over the Atlantic) quite a bit. Been to Labatt Park and Alumni Hall, hung at the Ceeps and Joe Cool’s, used to work in the neighbourhood and my boy Sweet Joe is some high-falutin’ media leader down that way.

But, really.

What nincompoop decided it was a good idea to name a new minor league baseball team the London Rippers?

Just what I’d want in an allegedly family-friendly sports franchise: A name that conjures up reminiscences of serial killers and women who might take their clothes off for a living?

Really.

Do people not think?

Might be the worst team name ever, no?

Sure ain’t the Macon Whoopees, which remains the all-time favourite.

Hey, whoever you are? Change it. Today. Thanks.

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Here’s one thing we have to stop concerning ourselves with:

There were a bunch of “sourced” reports out there yesterday afternoon about the NBA informing teams that games through Dec. 15 had been cancelled.

And people actually treated this as news.

Look, forget the NBA schedule. Any schedule you’re looking at is simply garbage, it’s a waste of bandwidth to publish on a website, a waste of paper to print off.

There is no way the one that eventually gets done – and who knows when that will be – will include games on many of the same nights, certainly not against the same team and it’s an utter falsity to even put it out there.

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How cool is this?

And since it’s her birthday today, why not give it a listen and smile.

Beautiful, no?

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Digression?

Tough week for Super Dog.

Had one of her too-infrequent and apparently frightful baths (all you have to do is say the word and the shivering starts), had to have her nails clipped (given her druthers, she’d rather be Howard Hughes in that regard) and a trip to the vet ends with the diagnosis of “loose joints” and a propensity for her back right knee to pop out of place every now and then. No pain, just a limp and very expensive yet seemingly un-tasty treats that now must be snuck into her food.

And I’m stunned.

This may be the most sedentary hound in the history of domesticated animals, I couldn’t imagine she used her joints often enough for them to become “loose.”

What a dog.

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This just in:

Sources say NBA games through Dec. 16 are cancelled.

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May as well start, no?

Let’s get the mail going. Do it here, let me know what you think and I’d wade through pages and pages and pages of Leaves goalie thingies to find ‘em.

Thanks.

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The blame rests with all of 'em; and all of 'em should quit

There are dark times, dark times indeed, uncertainty abounds.

Fans get screwed, arenas workers get screwed, lawyers get rich(er).

Nice move, former NBAPA.

I can’t for the life of me fully and competently explain what a “disclaimer of interest” actually is except to say it’s a move meant to fast-track the NBA labour mess to the courts.

It will allow the former union to sue more rapidly under American anti-trust laws and is a more surefire method of launching that suit because to decertify (the other “nuclear option”) was not a slam dunk either in a vote of union membership or with the United States Labor Relations Board. So the union, in effect, quit.

(Give me ‘til noon to try to figure it out, we’re going to do a little chat thing here, be sure to stop by).

There is no more NBAPA, any new deal will likely be hammered out by lawyers on each side and who knows if we’ll ever see another David and Billy Show.

The league could conceivably open tomorrow, with new rosters, new rules, new whatever it wants but I can’t imagine anything happens until this whole piece of crap starts to wend its way through a tedious legal process.

Blame?

Blame ‘em both.

Blame ego and intractability and bad advice and a lack of leadership on the side of the owners and the players for putting a game so many millions truly love in such jeopardy.

The owners wanted too much, they seemed to want annihilation rather than compromise; the players should have seen the writing on the wall months ago if they wanted to try the legal gambit of decertification or the disclaimer of interest; the players should have taken what they could get because now they have nothing.

There’s no way to predict how this will ultimately turn out but at some point there will be an NBA and at some point some of you will come rushing back because it remains a beautiful game to watch and people simply need sports.

But it will not be easy for the game to return nor should it be. Fans, who pay the money that makes these people richer than any of us can possibly imagine, deserve better. They deserve better than David Stern and they deserve better than Billy Hunter and they deserve better than what they got.

Not sure there’s much recourse, never thought there was, but whenever they come groveling back – and they will – make them pay. Somehow make them pay.

They screwed you over for months, robbed you of a joy in your life.

They all deserve to be treated with disdain.

And both the leaders should resign. Let the lawyers make the money. And the deal.

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The voters have spoken.

Well, at least a couple of dozen of you who went over to the Facebooky thing to chat, or vote, about the best and most important sports Hall of Fame.

(Here you go, for the laggards who haven’t yet voted, or even seen the other place).

You’ve got baseball well ahead of basketball and hockey (totally ignoring football and football and can’t say I disagree with you.

There’s just something about it, isn’t there? Tough to get into, a long and storied history to celebrate, a near-mystical little town to call home.

To me, it’s not even close.

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Dear Pissed Off NBA Players Who May Have Wanted A Deal:

Next time someone says ‘hey, who wants to be union rep?’ Don’t reply ‘let the kid do it, it’s lunch, I’ve been at work for three hours and there are video games to play.’

Signed, People Who Don’t Want To Hear You Whine.

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I’m watching Dougie Gilmour the past few days (and, trust me, there aren’t too many of us who like to be called Dougie, hope he doesn’t mind) and was wondering, ‘hmm, when was the last time I saw him play in person?’

Ready, Leaves fans? This is gonna hurt.

It’s 1993, Super Wife and I are traversing California (in a convertible, as I recall) to celebrate some birthday of note (think I shot 88 at Pebble as a present; or maybe it was 108, can’t remember) whilst the big series is going on.

Anyway, my good friends at McNall Sports hook us up with tickets to Game 6 of the conference final (yes, we paid; yes, we were four rows behind Tom Hanks, as I recall) and, yes, we were in the building for this infamous incident.

(Gretzky hits someone in the face, much angst ensues, Leaves lose, more angst).

Anyway, story gets better. If Toronto wins Game 7, looks like I’m going to have to fly home to be part of the army of People’s Wire Service correspondents covering Leafs-Habs and all the hullabaloo that would entail. Not something I’m entirely looking forward to.

Now, until you’ve tried to find a hockey game in 1993 on some weekday at 4 p.m. Pacific Time somewhere in Monterrey, you haven’t lived. Sure enough, some sports bar in like a Motel 6 has a corner TV and deep enough satellite that it’s got it and, tell you the truth, was no happier to see Toronto lose than the half dozen Kings fans I’ve known in my life.

Almost wanted to make me grow a Barry Melrose Mullet.

But I didn’t.

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Hey, I missed the pucks Hall of Fame shindig.

Did anyone cry?

Did Ed Belfour wear a tux?

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Hang on a sec!

No NBA season?

How happy are Pizza Pizza vendors?

Don’t have to pay out stupid promo contest.

From everything bad, something good comes.

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Think art will imitate life?

And, no, players should not be joking about finding jobs now that the actions of their former union will continue to keep regular people in regular jobs with regular lives at regular arenas, saloons and restaurants out of work.

Hope Footlocker buries this one quickly.

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Tee-hee.

An airline fined $900,000 for messing with passengers?

Greatest.

Story.

Of.

The.

Day.

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