Language shouldn't matter and it's movie time!

In today’s paper we have a general Raptors preview and a player-by-player look at them and what they have to do and five Raptors games you might want to watch and a general NBA preview and five NBA games you might want to watch and five NBA players you might want to pay attention to and five NBA storylines you might want to follow.

I’m basketballed out, I’m afraid. At least for a day.

So, with apologies, there’s not much in here today. But there’s more than enough to read.

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I’m quite late to the dance on this one but …

Been reading all week that the big issue in Montreal and Quebec – and I heard yesterday that even the zany politicians are getting in on the act – is that the Habs are in hot water because – egads!!!!! – they’ve hired a unilingual Anglo as their interim head coach.

I tell ya, that’s some kind of political correctness or something run amok.

I understand the nationalist sensibilities of that province pretty well, I kind of get it but, really, does it matter whatsoever what language the coach speaks as long as the players listen and he wins?

I know the media will scream blue murder because some of them will have to translate and work a wee bit harder and that’s tough.

But shouldn’t it only be about whether or not the guy can coach? And win? And make the team better?

Sure, maybe Patrick Roy would be the perfect solution (I read his name linked the gig somewhere, it’d be even cooler if he brought his kid to beat up other goalies) but this is not a perfect world.

Randy Cunneyworth may be a good coach, he may be a bad coach, he may be in over his head with this job but for the people to bay and whine and get up in arms because of his linguistic abilities seems, to me, to be rather ridiculous.

You hire the guy you think best helps you, you take into account his coaching abilities, not his speaking abilities or his willingness to cowtow to the media.

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A quick HOTH thing, and there’s another one coming later on.

There are limits each training camp to the number of two-a-day workouts teams are able to have (it was three before, it’s four this year on, I believe, a one-time deal) and most coaches like to get ‘em out of the way early, when teaching is at a premium.

Dwane?

Not so much.

He’ll have the lads in the gym two times today, mostly because he knows better now what he needs to work on after two pretend games.

It would have made much less sense, to me, to rattle off four in a row or four in six days early in camp because it would have worn the players out and left him with limited chances to teach after seeing what needed to be taught the most.

Yeah, it’ll make a long day for the players – and even a longish day for me – but it’s a smart move.

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Okay, you had to know this was coming, right?

And since I’m not entirely sure what’s going to go on here this weekend with news or mail or whatever, today’s the day.

Ta-da!

The Very Best Christmas Movies

Put ‘em one on top of the other by the DVD player or Blu Ray or computer or TV or VCR or whatever it is you have these days, settle with the people you love and watch ‘em on this countdown.

Guarantee is a great night.

Miracle on 34th Street

Of course there’s a Santa Claus; who else eats all those cookies and drinks all that milk.

The Bishop’s Wife

Under-rated; vastly under-rated. Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven. Angels and a nice little story.

White Christmas

If for nothing other than the crooning.

A Christmas Carol.

Forget Alastair Sim.

Kermit!!!!!

And, of course

It’s A Wonderful Life.

No, they don’t make ‘em like that any more, do they?

I guess if you had to do, you know, modern ones, you’d have to think Die Hard, Home Alone, Elf and, well, that’s about all I’ve seen. Don’t tell anyone I’d put Love, Actually on that list, okay? Thanks.

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Since I was sitting and typing about a kabillion words of various NBA and Raptors previews yesterday, there wasn’t a lot of time to sit around the arena and wait out practice.

Seems like a wise move now since they did about 90 minutes or so of video review of Wednesday’s game before hitting the court.

I would think that video instruction is going to be a huge part of this season since there are only going to be 20 or so days when they can really practice.

What’s a video session?

Well, it varies from coach to coach and team to team but basically what it is is a breakdown of each player, a handful of plays, close examination of good team defence and bad team defence with a whole lot of “hey, it might have worked better had you done this” thrown in for good measure.

I know good coaches – and I put Dwane Casey in that category already – use it as much as for positive reinforcement as they do to point out the various errors that occur in a game.

To me, that’s the only way to do it. I can imagine a team would tune a coach out very quickly if all he did was hammer them while watching television and the impression I’m getting from everyone I talk to on the team is that Dwane is fair, firm and respected.

It’ll be a topic of a story for another day but he’s really got them on the right track.

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Thanks, Alert Irregular.

If the Knicks sign Santa next year, Jonas will dominate them.

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Mail?

Hardly any, folks, and I’m at least going to need one day to fill this space this week.

Get to it. Here. Please.

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And, finally ...

 

 

 

Comments

[Heath]

"You'll shoot your eye out kid.". What, no love for A Christmas Story?!?!?

Blogger's note: I know, I know. Have already heard about it at home; let's put it sixth.

[Nick]

Anyone watch XFactor last night and see some Lakers get in on the music acts? Interesting no Clippers players were invited.

[Dave]

no mention of the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? For shame, Doug. It's not really Christmas until I see Mr. Chase driving underneath a transport truck....

[wayne matheson]

Please consider this a word of caution/criticism from a long-time reader of your blog. Doug, I, and I believe most other followers of your blog, do so because of your insightful analysis and sometimes inside information rgarding the Raptors. During the strike you provided us your opinions on numerous subjects, for the most-part the opinions of an old white guy and not very original or particularily entertaining or interesting.

The basketball season starts in two days. Hopfully this will provide you an opportunity to rededicate your blogging efforts to the raptors. Please leave the pop culture to those better qualified. There are a number of good basketball blogs on the internet. So far I have remained loyal to this one. If you continue you emphasis on the popular culture hogwash I will likely move your blog from favourites to the dreaded Recycle Bin.

Blogger's note: Not gonna, sorry. Glad you stayed through the summer; feel free to recycle as you see fit.

[Paul B.]

Petrius was waived, any news of renewed interest from the raps?

Blogger's note: No, not that I know of right now

[Tom]

wayne matheson, please go read something else and stop trying to tell Doug what to put in his own blog. Nobody made you read the blog! It's the one thing I look forward to reading with my coffee in the morning, the mix is nice.

[Gene]

Merry Christmas to you and yours Doug
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I was quite surprised that National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was not on that list. Nothing says Christmas like a Grizwold Christmas.

[Rabble]

What atrocious writing.."I tell ya",and "I understand the nationalist sensibilities of that province pretty well, I kind of get it but..." Really? The latter, I'm afraid, is incoherrent. How does one understand pretty well and at the same time 'kind of get it'?

[skiff]

I'm pretty sure Santa travelled a couple of times. He'd be fine in the NBA! , he'd just have to give it a name like reindeer-hop and the refs would never call it!!

Har Har!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

[Dave]

Doug, Doug, Doug, where have you been? Our whole Federal Public Service hires on language first and skills second. Our Provincial government does the same thing in Eastern Ontario, including the hospitals. f Montréal was winning, some on the angst would dissipate.

[Tim H.]

Perhaps wayne matheson could post a comment listing the 'all-basketball' blogs that he enjoys so much. Then all the other Doug Smith's blog-haters can go there, and leave us alone.

In case you haven't noticed, there has been a lot more basketball in here since the lockout ended. And, perhaps you missed the EIGHT links to basketball related stuff - no 'pop culture' there!

[Tim]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for providing those links in the first paragraph to your basketball analysis in the rest of the paper. I don't live in Toronto, and I generally don't check out the rest of the Star, but I do make a point of reading your blog daily. So I appreciate it when you let us know, in the blog, when there's some special or particularly in-depth analysis of yours in the rest of the paper.

A link in the blog to IGBTs and Q and As would be great as well. Seems like you and the tall foreheads are moving away from that for some reason though.

Anyway, all the best and Merry Christmas!

[Jason]

No sense mentioning 'A Christmas Story' since you've already been beaten up over it. And I too wish I could go public by saying 'Love, Actually' is a great holiday flick. I shake my head at the lunatics who cry over the broader topics you're now covering -- I love it. (And the guy who told you to leave pop culture to someone more qualified made me laugh out loud. Everyone's 'qualified' to talk about it -- that's why it's 'pop'.)
Merry Christmas, my friend.

[Matt M]

I would have agreed with your assessment of the coaches role about 10 years ago. I think the coaches role has evolved somewhat with the growth of social media and the need for the media to have stories out before they actually happen. It is just as important to communicate the teams philosophy with the media. Maybe more important because you can always get an assistant/bench coach to impart a winning philosophy. This seems to be occurring with many teams as the assistant role has become more specialized in each of the sports. A coach can't communicate the teams philosophy on all the different platforms out there now, especially in the immediate culture that we live in now, if you don't speak the language as half the province.
Besides, if the opinion that coaches are overrated and the players dictate whether one wins or loses then communication becomes an even more essential trait to have in a coach. Ron Wilson haters out there will likely agree with me.

[Ken]

Good morning Doug,

What about the remake to The Bishop's Wife, The Preacher's Wife? Just trying to add a little soul to the list... :-)

Merry Christmas to all!!!

[Ted S.]

The problem is Doug the Habs aren't winning and they aren't a great team. When you are in the business of entertainment you better be able to engage your fan base on a regular basis in their language - even to just tell the story of the struggle. This is common business sense. Mr. Cunneyworth is just another band-aid on a team with many short-comings, hence the "interim" tag. He's been put in an impossible situation and the whole leadership team need to share the blame. Communication skills are central to the entertainment industry. Sure winning is primary, but this team (as constructed at present) isn't.
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There is absolutely no way the Raptors would hire a head coach who couldn't converse with fans, media, and management. Imagine trying to file post game reports from a translation from Spanish, Italian or Russian every night......and the Raptors hardly rank as Ontario's passion. It is already a difficult sell. A language barrier would give the casual fan another reason to tune out.
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Language will always matter in Quebec. Why do you think all those Anglo- Montrealers jumped on the 401 in the 70s and 80s?

[john]

The only thing strange about the Montreal story is that it hasn't involved a bribe, kick-back or some other infusion of cash by the Federal Government to appease the separatists!

[Geoff Read]

Hi Doug,

I'm a big (Anglophone) Habs' fan. Here's my two cents on that issue.

While, in principle, I agree that it should all be about coaching and winning, and I certainly agree that the issue's been blown out of proportion, I think you and most Anglophone media commentators take too narrow a view. The Montreal Canadiens are not just any team. They are a cultural institution; moreover, their history is intertwined with the history of Quebec nationalism thanks to the Richard riot and other events. So while, maybe, in some ideal world, it shouldn't matter if the coach can speak French, it DOES matter to an awful lot of people for very complex reasons. Saying it shouldn't matter isn't going to change that reality.

I also think that it's quite easy for Anglophone commentators to say it doesn't matter when they'll never have to confront the possibility themselves - ie, when the possibility of someone who can't speak English coaching the Leafs, Raptors, Jays or Argos doesn't exist. Plus, as Anglophones, we've never had to live with the feeling of being second-class citizens because of our language like many, particularly those whose memories extend back to before the Tranquil Revolution, in Quebec have had to do. So we can't relate to it and therefore we have difficulty understanding the passion the issue stirs.

Anyhow - Merry Xmas. For my part, I enjoy the fact that the blog strays from the Raptors some of the time. If I'm not interested, I just skip it (like anytime you mention a certain dancing show). Cheers.

[SheikYurbouti]

I join a few others in disagreeing with you on the significance of having a bilingual head coach for the Habs. Even without the passion toward on-going language issues in Toronto, would the uproar be much less if a unilingual French head coach was running the Leaves? The head coach has to be able to communicate directly with media and fans.
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Happy Christmas to you, Doug, and Super Family, and Super Irregulars of all stripes.

[joeu]

Last I heard, English is an offical language of Canada, which does include Quebec, so I'm pretty sure there isn't any kind of "public discourse" issues there.

To reverse that argument, should the Leaves or Raptors rule out an otherwise ideal coaching candidate ( or any "public facing" employee ) that didn't have great English ? That would not be tolerable behaviour - if public communications is more significant than (EG.) coaching ability, then you are making a bad hire.

About these "Casual Canadiens fans" speaking only French ... I think that might be a fictional market segment.

Language matters when it is used as a barrier to advancement and growth, as was the situation in the 70s and 80s.

[Rob.V]

Sure, maybe Patrick Roy would be the perfect solution (I read his name linked the gig somewhere, it’d be even cooler if he brought his kid to beat up other goalies) but this is not a perfect world.
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Classic!!
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Wayne - get a life!!! It's fine to make a point however the cheap shots are rather silly, no? I mean if you keep this up, dude might have to tell his mommy on you!
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Maybe the Habs should hire an Australian coach with an accent as thick as Crocodile Dundee's )- This might have mattered in 1946... but in 2012? Come on people! Who cares!!!

[Thane]

Geoff, as a bilingual anglo who's lived in Quebec, I can guarantee you that I - and other non-francophones - have had the experience of living as second-class citizens because of our language.

[Ajit - Cayman Islands]

How much does your mindset have to change when writing the blog vs the story in the paper? Do you find yourself having to adjust the manner in which you write especially on days when you have to write both?

Blogger's note: A bit, blog's far more conversational

[Mike kovacs]

Montreal is best thought of as a training post for coaches who speak French. The Bruins certainly made use of that!

[sportschick]

Soccer has many examples of national teams who have managers from other countries, and in a couple of cases off the top of my head, I doubt that the manager communicated with the players in their own language, let alone the media. I suspect they use assistant coaches with the team and translators with the media.

Guus Hiddink is a well-travelled manager from the Netherlands. He's managed South Korea, Australia, Russia and Turkey. Those countries chose him for attributes not connected with his linguistic abilities.

Otto Rehhagal managed the Greek team for many years, and I would be surprised if he spoke Greek (at least at the beginning).

There are many, many, examples of soccer's national teams being managed by individuals from other countries who probably did not speak the national language when hired. They were hired for other factors.

Back to other stuff, great to see all the Raptors links. :)

Happy holidays, everyone!