A mistake in judgement and an impossible list to come up with

Okay, I know all about trying to “grow an audience” or offer some kind of quirky extra to some media outlets to reach people you might not normally reach and at some level it makes entire sense.

But here’s thing:

If you’re going to do something different or off-the-wall and out of the ordinary, I think you need to make sure you aren’t going to alienate the regulars, don’t offend a segment of your viewership or readership or what have you because any gains you make could very well be offset by the losses you sustain.

That – among several other reasons – is why I can’t quite get this, a move by the CBC to basically offend serious female hockey fans with some comic take that plays to a stereotype that I’m not sure exists any more.

Look, I don’t have a vested interest in this, I really don’t give a hoot about the pucks and I’m certainly not going to play along with their basically sexist reindeer games but it seems to me this is an ill-conceived notion.

Sure, it might be funny and well written but the underlying theme that suggest some women might sit around watching hockey – or any sport – simply because the men do and isn’t it fun to look at all the cute boys and mock the idiosyncrasies of the game strikes me as rather silly.

I can see how many women would be offended by this and think less of the powers that be who promote it; I don’t think it’s politically correct of me to say that we have moved on as people from this kind of stuff.

My first reaction to hearing about it yesterday afternoon was something along the lines of “you’ve go to be kidding me, this is 2012, surely this isn’t something anyone really wants, is it?”

That hasn’t changed an awful lot; I think it’s a mistake in judgement that will offend at some level far more people than it will entertain.

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Know what made me laugh?

The report – it’s here – that Shaquille O’Neal will even get cursory consideration for the Orlando Magic general manager’s job.

I’m not doubting the veracity of the report, or Shaq’s alleged interest in returning to the franchise that he unceremoniously quit as soon as he could so many years ago.

No, who I’m doubting are his talents, his commitment and the whether this is little more that some kind of awful publicity stunt perpetrated by O’Neal, the Magic or both.

Look, Shaq was a great player, probably one of the top seven or eight centres to ever play the game. But he also lacked any kind of significant work ethic at the end, he’s got no experience and, sure, he’d probably love the job but so would I so where do I send my resume?

Publicity stunt, that’s what this is and if it isn’t, Orlando officials ought to be ashamed of themselves.

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Okay, well, this should be good, given we have a collection of Irregulars Of A Certain Vintage who will most assuredly weigh in and the young ‘uns among you might want to pay attention.

Bob Dylan – The Great Bob Dylan – turns 70 71 today and here’s an impossible task:

Best song?

Impossible, right?

Ballads, social commentary, a sneer and the tweaking of social conventions.

Can’t pick one; hell, you probably can’t pick 10 and I think I know what the computer will be playing most of the day.

I vaguely recall the moment when Dylan Went Electric but I seem to remember it being a seminal moment in the music world, he was booed and heckled and seen as some sellout.

And he went on to make some of the great music of all time.

You cannot come up with a short playlist of Dylan songs to get you through the day; you can’t find five or 10 or even maybe 20.

But if you start here

And then go here

You might be on the right track.

Whaddya think?

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TFC! TFC! TFC!

Yep, best 0-9 team in Canada for sure!

Start the season ticket drive today.

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Mail?

Slow day yesterday, please be a bit better today, thank you very much.

Click. Write. Send.

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Got to be around the middle of the third quarter of Celtics-Sixers last night – I think there’d been about a billion missed shots, fouls and turnovers in a row (the game highlights, they must have called it) – and there was only one thought on the mind:

What kind of bandages do you use to stop bleeding from the eyes?

Seriously, if that wasn’t the most sloppy playoff game I’ve seen in eons, I’ve put out of my mind the one that was. It was ugly – or as Larry Bird would say “U G L Y” and we can only hope Game 7 has some kind of compelling, well-played stretches.

Or, we can hope the see the futility of it and just flip a coin to see who wins. Do it for the East Final, too, and let us sit back and enjoy some real basketball from Texas and OKC while the other pretenders contest the B Flight.

One scary thing?

I think we’d all agree that Game 7s seldom live up to the hype, teams have a tendency to play more carefully than they normally do, the games are a slog rather than a performance and, wow, we could be in for one butt-ugly contest.

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Three games for Pittman, one for Haslem and nothing for Hansbrough?

Yeah, think the league got it right with the suspensions in the Heat-Pacers series but if they did err, I think they erred on the side of leniency.

I still say five games for Pittman would have been more appropriate; that was an egregious assault right up there with World Peace’s attack on James Harden and while a message has been sent, it could have been louder.

Now, will it have an impact on Game 6 tonight?

It may indeed; Haslem may not be particularly good most nights but without Bosh, and even without the few minutes Pittman plays each game, the Heat will have even more difficult time handling Roy Hibbert (who was never going to be a Raptor and you would have soured on him over two ho-hum seasons anyway) and David West.

So maybe that gets us another Game 7 on Saturday and we can only hope it’s played at a somewhat higher entertainment level and the Sixers-Celtics.

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Mighty Red Tigers tonight. Think good thoughts, please.

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When bit players spoil the big moments

And to think it was all started by a total afterthought named Lance Stephenson.

In case you missed it, the Heat-Pacers game turned into first-round pucks last night with gratuitous elbows and cheap shots and, surely to all that is good in the world, a couple of suspensions from the NBA’s Lords of Discipline today.

Dexter Pittman, who is to afterthoughts almost what Stephenson is in the grand scheme of professional basketball today, delivered the most blatant and one that has to get him suspended for, oh, I dunno, five games?

Check it out, see if I’m not right?

If that’s Metta World Peace, he’s done forever; it’s a guy with no real history so five games makes sense to me because you cannot throw an elbow to the head and neck of an airborne opponent without paying a steep price.

So, thanks, Lance, for helping tarnish at least a little bit what could have been a compelling series that’s turned into all sorts of ugly.

It was Stephenson, you recall, who got up from his perch at the end of the Indy bench earlier this series and flashed the choke sign at LeBron James after James had missed a free throw.

Classy move, indeed.

James, in what might have been his best media answer ever, gave it one of the old “Who? What is Lance Stephenson?” when asked about it and he went on with dominating the series.

Of course, no one could leave well enough alone, which led to an escalation of verbal shots on the off-day, a Tyler Hansbrough cheap shot on Dwyane Wade, a Udonis Haslem flagrant on Hansbrough and then Pittman’s elbow to Stephenson’s neck late in Game 5.

Now, we all like our playoff basketball to be rough and tumble and it always is as series progress, teams develop a healthy dislike for each other that gives an edge to the games.

But what we don’t like, and don’t need, are bit players doing stupid things, trying to somehow make a name for themselves when what they should be doing is watching the good players play and learning from them.

The Pittman-Stephenson incident was not about basketball at any level – you could make a so-so case that the first two flagrant fouls of the night were borne of over-exuberance and at least a little bit explainable – and that’s just wrong.

I’m hoping the league comes down hard and that Game 6 is tough, but clean. Or what basketball’s supposed to be about.

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Mail?

Let’s get started, the weekend approacheth.

Do it here, thank you very much.

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Hey, an afternoon TOD game today!

What a great idea.

They should keep it up.

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Raptors news?

None.

Oh, they made it official the other day that DeMar’s on the USA Select team and that Jay Triano is the co-head coach (old news in these parts) but other than that?

Nada.

They’re out looking at kids, as they have been for a while.

End of update, hope everyone’s happy.

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Now, I don’t know Danny Kouvermans from Adam and I haven’t written more than two or three TFC stories in my life but, man, I like the guy.

First, the TFCs get drilled on the weekend and he says they’re “the worst team in the world” which is truly a money quote.

Then, as Our Man Dan scribbles today, Kouvermans doesn’t backtrack at all; suggesting:

“There’s not one (other) team in the world who lost nine times in a row. I don’t think what I was saying is not true.”

I tell ya, if you can’t win on the pitch, you better be entertaining off it and this guy’s been gold this week.

So, too, has his teammate Jeremy Hall, who said going into tonight’s big tilt with the Vancouvers:

“We have a chance to win the Canadian Cup, be the best 0-9 team in Canada.”

That’s the marketing slogan right there, isn’t it?

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I’m hearing Donald Driver is the champion of DWTS?

I tell ya, as hoofers, athletes aren’t too bad, are they?

I didn’t see it but I’m saddened that he didn’t do a Lambeau Leap into Carrie Ann, Bruno and Len; that would have been classic.

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Hey, I heard the medical drama House is done now?

Where’s it rank?

Used to see it a few times here and there and it wasn’t bad; it was kind of like House was the MacGyver of doctors, always finding some odd way to solve a mystery.

Of course, the drug addiction backstory was rather unique but, frankly, the show got a bit old in a big hurry, didn’t it?

Will it be missed?

Doubt it.

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Speaking of Heat-Pacers, the one and only Mike Wells gets the money quote there with Larry Bird saying:

"I can't believe my team went soft. S-O-F-T. I'm disappointed. I never thought it would happen."

Coming from as tough and as tough-minded a player as there has ever been, that’s a huge indictment and it’ll be interesting to see how Indy reacts.

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Of Orlando, the Lakers, the Royals (the real ones) and great, great TV

The first reaction from the first league person I talked to after word first broke that Stan Van Gundy and Otis Smith were out in Orlando yesterday was pretty succinct:

“You can’t be surprised.”

Oh, no. There was no surprise at all that Stan had been fired and Smith had “parted ways” with the Magic but, as I said in my original note to a couple people:

“Sometimes this league sucks.”

I don’t think there’s any argument to be made about the Magic being a dysfunctional organization this year but that’s pretty much all on Dwight Howard, I’d suggest; the big centre’s willingness to leak his dissatisfaction with his coach and the organization and his team, his waffling on “trade me, don’t trade me, I’ll sign here, I won’t sign here” ruined what might have been a pretty good season and seeing how the Eastern Conference playoffs have turned out, a fully functional Orlando team coached by a guy with an outstanding track record might have looked pretty good right about now, wouldn’t it?

Van Gundy will unquestionably go down as one of, if not the, best coach in franchise history and it’s hard to imagine that Howard, who still leaves me wanting more from him despite his dizzying array of skills, will ever play for a better coach.

And it is the measure of the man that he simply got tired of putting up with the bullpoop late in the season, his decision that fateful shootaround to confirm that he’d been told Howard wanted out probably sealed his fate but I bet if you asked 29 other coaches to be totally honest, they would have applauded what he did because he had to be entirely fed up with the whole mess.

It is to his credit that he did it.

And all Smith did was try to do what every GM worth his cell phone does, try to massage a somewhat flawed roster and make it better, he took his shots at trades and signings when they presented themselves, all the while dealing with a disgruntled star who never seemed to really know what he wanted.

The blood of Van Gundy and Smith is all over Howard’s hands and best of luck to the next guy who sits in the front office because I don’t think the mess is going go away.

I will say that the first thing the new guy has to do is get rid of Howard and truly start over; I think the fans would accept it, I think it would send a good message to the league and give the new GM a measure of respect.

Stan? He’ll coach again as soon as he wants to and he will once again do a tremendous job.

And a small part of me, and a small part of a lot of people I talk to, hope that Dwight Howard is a fun guy who gets all kinds of marketing opportunities, becomes a global “brand” and never sniffs a championship again.

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Wait!

Chuck and Cammy are in town and they didn’t stop by for dinner or ask me to join them for the fireworks?

See if I take them out when I’m in London later on this summer!

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Oh yeah, today is a big day. No question about it.

Kids, listen up: No matter what you watch on TV, they don’t make ‘em like they used to and one of the all-time greats called it a career 20 years ago today.

Never be another one like Johnny Carson, will there?

And there may never be another moment like this one:

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Things you thought you’d never see, Vol. 1,302,192

You know those car flags you see people trot out every now and then, the ones that stick out the side window to show some over-the-top support for some sports team? Well, travelling around Niagara Falls while on taking care of some family issues yesterday, here comes a car with a flag of the New Jersey Devils hanging out the window.

Never saw that before and, I checked, the team is indeed still playing.

Who knew?

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So what now with the Los Angeles Lakers, who bowed rather meekly and unceremoniously out of the Western Conference playoffs last night.

(And I am a big Kobe fan but 42 points and 0 assists is not the way one of the best players ever should go out, is it?)

Anyway, there would seem to be serious flaws with that roster and change is certainly afoot.

The great Butch Carter used to say that if you wanted to make significant change to a non-playoff team in any summer you looked at some under-achieving playoff team that was ready to divest itself of good players and you can imagine a lot of teams will be looking to Los Angeles in the next few months.

But for what?

They’d have to fold the franchise if they traded Kobe so that’s not going to happen, rightly or wrongly, and other than that you have the relatively flawed Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol and that’s about it.

I like Bynum a lot, would probably like him a lot more if tried harder more often; and Gasol is a gem who lacks some level of consistency.

The package you’d have to put together for either of them would have to include all-stars, good young players and more and I’m not sure anyone guts their team for either of those guys.

The rest of the Lakers?

Ugh.

Paucity of talent – Jordan Hill seems energetic but that’s really about it right now – and the other guys are hardly worth it, in my opinion.

It was all nice and good to hear Kobe say the end isn’t here, that the Lakers aren’t going anywhere but they have to: They are, right now, perhaps the third best team in the West, they could be the fifth or sixth best when next fall rolls around and I wonder if Mitch Kupchak has the goods to make the team appreciably better.

Doubt it.

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How much do you wish San Antonio-Oklahoma City would be opening their Western Final tomorrow or even Thursday or even Friday or even Saturday.

Yeah, me too, but our friends in TV have other things in mind and we have to wait until Sunday night for Game 1.

That’s awful, isn’t it?

But it gives me some time to figure out who might win – and that’s not going to be an easy call to make – and while all too often we end up disappointed by series or games we expect to be epic, I have a sneaking suspicion that this one could live all to all its billings.

Just too bad we have to wait so long for it to get going.

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Okay, I’m off to eat cake. Or something like that.

Enjoy the day.

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The emotion of the moment makes this a special time

One of the greatest things about sports playoffs – and it has to speak to the media overkill of having to come up with a narrative that could run for the better part of a fortnight – is the daily drama.

Team loses game, angst ensues, hand-wringing commences, questions abound.

Team wins game, optimism runs rampant, fans rejoice, the looking ahead runs amok.

And then another game is played and another result provokes exactly the same response only with the roles reversed.

It’s been fascinating, in that regard, to see what’s unfolding in the NBA’s Eastern Conference second round.

Miami looks dead in the water after Game 3 against Indy, Dwyane Wade is warring with Erik Spoelstra, Roy Hibbert looks like Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James can’t do it all himself and there are questions about what moves have to be made in the off-season.

The Pacers become even more the darlings, Danny Granger’s shot selection isn’t an issue any more, George Hill looks like an all-star and the Indy-Philly Eastern final should be odd, no?

Oh, then they play Game 4, James and Wade go berserk, the inexperienced Pacers can’t put the game away early and now it’d be hard to find someone who doesn’t think Miami is favoured to win what’s become a best-of-three series.

Ditto Boston-Philadelphia.

Celtics go down and Paul Pierce’s knee is an issue, their relative lack of athleticism is an issue and maybe their last best shot is going to firing blanks.

The Sixers are quick, they gang-defend, they make shots and their depth is under-rated.

Oh, then they play Game 3 and 4, the Celtics take back home court with a wonderful effort and it looks like their last gasp will be a deep one until the Sixers make some shots and make some plays and turn it into a best-of-three where it’s anyone’s guess who might win.

Sports – especially playoff series because of the intensity of the game, the scrutiny they’re played under and the stakes -- truly are a wonderful thing for the emotion they evoke and the ride they give us.

Those fans with a vested rooting interest see their lives run the gamut from joy and optimism to despair and angst and those of us looking on from the outside can relish in the to-and-fro of a close series.

It’s what makes the games at this time of year so special and I love it.

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So they get 41,000 at the ballyard on a glorious Sunday afternoon, TOD goes hard but falls short, it looks like a tremendous holiday Monday ahead and what better way to capitalize on a day off for most of the fan base than to …

Be playing in dreary Tampa on a Monday evening.

Look, I understand the vagaries of scheduling professional sports with facility availability, travel requirements and an unbalanced schedule that’s like a jigsaw puzzle that’s difficult to put together.

But I also know teams need to make forceful cases to take care of their own interests and that league’s need to take heed because good crowds in one city boost interest – and revenue – and everyone is better off.

It’s just a shame that the Blue Jays don’t play at home every Victoria Day (and go on the road for Memorial Day); they should be home every Canada Day (giving up the fourth of July); and there should be an afternoon game each Simcoe Day (letting them travel on whatever August holiday the Americans celebrate).

It’s a no-brainer, and should always been that way.

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Oh, no, there was no way on Earth I was ever a fan of the Bee Gees. Mocked ‘em like you wouldn’t know.

But …

Yeah, dude could sing a bit I guess.

RIP Robin Gibb and we seem to doing this an awful lot of late, no?

And was that the most saccharine group of that era? Kind of made my ears bleed every time I heard them and I cannot think of another group that had the same effect.

Can you?

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Here’s one for you that came to me while I was watching that Heat-Pacers game Sunday afternoon.

You know how we’re often seeing comments or getting questions that say, in some form: “How bad at the HOTH, they might not have a guy who could start on a playoff team, how bad does that make them look?”

Well, I give you this:

Aaron Gray.

Once again proving a point that says teams are all about individuals fitting together and guys taking opportunities and making the most of them, don’t you think Gray would automatically be the starting centre on the Heat, and we know Gray has some limitations to his game.

Even with Chris Bosh healthy, that team is too small and too offensively challenged in the middle to win the championship, I think.

And I should have brought up Gray’s name the dozens of times I got that query last season.

Those kinds of questions – and that one in particular – are impossible to answer because it’s always a matter of circumstance and playing style and opportunity.

Remember that if you’re planning to carve a roster because it doesn’t look as good as the next one; sometimes we don’t look past the simple fact it takes all kinds of guys to fit in where they have to fit in for a team to be successful and just because it doesn’t appear that the individual skill level is good enough, there are always other factors at work.

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Ranking time.

What’s your list of summer holidays for fun, importance and general goodness?

Mine goes like this, top to bottom:

Canada Day.

Perhaps for the overall significance, perhaps because it never changes dates, perhaps because it’s a nice break in an otherwise long stretch of summer doldrums.

Victoria Day

It’s the first of the year, it always falls right around Birth Week, it signals the coming summer and if it’s weather like we’ve had, it’s a glorious three-day stretch of deck-patio-perchance golf and total laziness.

Labour Day

Sure, it’s kind of the end of things and it means having to pack away all the white pants (see, I can get fashion in anywhere) but maybe that’s a good thing, a final shot to have some fun and remember what a good summer it was.

Simcoe Day

Well, it’s a long weekend in early August and that’s never a bad thing, right?

Yours look like that?

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The end of the weekend mail

Enjoy this and then go enjoy what looks like a gorgeous day; maybe there’s a patio in your future as I hope there is in mine.

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Q: Thanks for all the genuine writing good sir. Which international teams might be fun to watch this Olympics?

Naoise O, Montreal

A: I’m sure you’re talking outside of the two heavy favourites – the United States and Spain – right? Well, I would say Argentina would bear watching, they’ve got a group that’s been together forever and I enjoy watching Russia, too. But with only 12 teams in the tournament, there are going to be an awful lot of good games.

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Q: Hi Doug. Quick question about Joe Maddon and the Tampa Bay Rays. I read an article about them recently. The article examined Maddon's reliance on using a shift defence to cut down on the number of runs the Rays give up. Here's the link.

As an avid baseball fan and coach, what are your thoughts on using the shift defence in baseball? Thank You.

Joe D, Mississauga

A: It’s funny, I was going to mention this in the usual morning stuff very soon because it’s become something of an epidemic in the game, hasn’t it? Remember when it was an oddity, you might see it for one player once or twice a game, now it seems every inning the third baseman is in short right field or the second baseman is at shortstop.

Guess it’s good for the game but it has to come from the advanced statistical information available to managers these days. They know where the pitcher are going to throw the ball and where the numbers say the hitter is going to hit it.

Because I’m a big fan of baseball defence, anything that allows for more, and better, plays is all right, I guess.

Heard Tim McCarver tell a story Saturday about this: When Ted Williams first faced a shift and an extra infielder on the right side, it was suggested to him that he work on hitting the ball the other way.

“No,” he said. “I’ll just hit it through them.”

Love Ted Williams. -

Q: DS, why are Lakers-Thunder playing back-to-back games during the playoffs on Friday and Saturday? Are any other teams doing that? First I've seen it. Thanks.

Simone S, Toronto

A: So are the Spurs-Clippers. We knew coming out of the lockout that back-to-backs in the second round were possible, mainly because of our old friends TV and arena availability. And, actually, if the two Western first round series that went seven games had ended sooner, with might not being having this scheduling quirks. But, and this is good, it is a one-series aberration; we’re back to normal the rest of the way.

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Q: I was at a friend’s house this week and his daughter was doing a school project, and using the internet to do her research. We started to reminisce (as old ones do) about when we were in school and we used encyclopedias (they’re right along typewriters now) and micro-fiche machines which I have to admit I despised, sitting there for hours I remember at the Central library branch in London on Queens avenue then looking for one article.

Now my question is this, your of a certain vintage where many of your articles were on micro-fiche, do you have a record or keep a file of all the articles you write or even this blog, and if so have you converted your micro-fiche records into computer files or has mother-star?

And how many articles do you imagine or know you have written in your career?

Okay, cheers.

Doug B, Toronto

A: Yeah, I remember encyclopedias (World Book, Brittania) and they are truly relics.

As for my stuff at The Star from the past 15 years or so, our crack staff is “digitizing” them in some form or another so they live in the ether. Other places I’ve worked? I honestly don’t know but many papers and media companies are working to find ways to preserve electronically what used to be only on paper.

How many articles? Wow. You know me and math so I’m not even going to try but let’s guess that I’ve done, at least on average, one thing a day for The Star and I’ve been there since June, 1997 so …

That’s a lot.

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Q: Wallace would be a great pick up (and perhaps he sees New Jersey using him as trade bait for a guy in Orlando.) Not much on the free market but about Captain Kirk as back up pg and some minutes as a two,) instead of overpaying guys who have had half a good season?

And just a NBA rule questions, can the Raps over pay someone in their first year and then manageable for the rest? Take Hinrich, if nothing else is out there, if they decided to pay 12,4,2 (yeah millions) and keep cap space for future years, anything stopping them? I believe the NHL doesn't allow it, but I recall Portland (Utah) did it for Milsap.

Bruce M, Winnipeg

A: Kirk Hinrich? Meh, as the kids say. Would be appreciably better than Jerryd Bayless, who may play for a one-year qualifying offer at the least. I don’t think so.

And, no, the CBA and cap rules don’t allow for heavily front-loaded contracts.

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Q: Ciao Doug. You know I'm always reading your worldwide very appreciated blog. Just a not basketball question from Italy. Ryder Hesjedal, the Canadian cyclist (biker is better?), today became again the "Maglia rosa" of the Giro d'Italia. He could win the Giro. In Italy we love the bike's sports. Is Ryder a sort of national hero or is he near to be unknown in your country?

Paolo P, Roma

A: I watched a bit of the Giro this morning – it was getting national television coverage in Canada – and was glad to see him doing so well. But, unlike in Europe, he’s virtually anonymous to the majority of sports fans here. There are small pockets of cycling fans but it’s certainly not a mainstream sport.

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Q: Hey Doug! Cool reference via @Peter L. to Agatha Christie and The Cheshire Cheese pub! Which got me to wondering, have you ever while in London taken in the play "The Mousetrap"? Anytime on your upcoming Olympics assignment to visit St. Martin's Theatre - or any other London landmarks? (You know how we love your Grunt Goes Global dispatches!) Or is it all work this time? Cheers!

Lorie P, London

A: I’ve never seen a play in the west end of London and I don’t know that I will this time around, either. With the Olympics, there’s never a real “day” off, you might get a couple of hours here or there but that’s about it. Once I land – the Tuesday morning before the Friday opening – I’ll have a couple of nights to get acclimated to everything and to see some old friends for social time but other than that, going to be a fair amount of work. Oh, there will be some fun, there always is, but no clear nights to take in a show.

The start of the weekend mail

Hello, folks.

Not too many left over for tomorrow and I’ve got a few hours this afternoon while watching the Champions League final before putting a big hunk of red meat on the barbecue to putter around so there’s time left to click here and do it.

If not, enjoy the day.

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Q: My apologies, Doug, for too many questions & comments submitted this week, but thought you might just get a bit of a kick out of this. Reading an old Agatha Christie novel and came across the following spoken by Hercule Poirot talking to his side-kick, Captain Hastings: “Mon ami....We will go now to the Cheshire Cheese where Inspector Japp meets us for an early dinner.”

Peter L, Kingston

A: That warms the cockles of my heart and makes me wish it was July already and I could make a stop.

And from a family where the parents were voracious Agatha Christie readers, it’s even better.

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Q: Hi Doug. When Raps went into "retooling" mode Triano played youth at the expense of wins and then was shown the door. I'm a fan of Jay and I think he got a raw deal.

With that being said, I really like Casey, as he seems to be a very effective coach.

I'm still left wondering, though, why everyone in the media and the raps organization (both BC and Casey patted their own backs with statistics) is raving about the defensive improvement of the Raps while turning a blind eye to their offensive woes.

Jay Triano had roughly the same group as Casey, and achieved relative offensive success. BC and Triano seemed set on a run and gun style and Triano was in the top half of the league in most offensive categories.

Enter: Casey and a Defense first mindset. Yes the raps improved defensively; but they plummeted offensively!

I would argue that Triano was just as effecive as Casey in implementing his offensive style, and that perhaps some attention should be paid to the offensive plummet the Raps took under Casey. I know you've chalked it up to no training camp, but excuses aside, the Raps offense was terrible this past season.

I'd appreciate your opinion on the matter. Offensive success vs. Defensive success and the attention paid to Casey's improved D, yet a blind eye paid to his offensive failings. Thanks!

Jeffrey M, Saint John

A: I don’t think anyone’s even remotely “turning a blind eye” to offensive issues and, in fact, it was the one area Dwane mentioned at the end of the season that needed improvement.

But, and I don’t think you can minimize this, being robbed of your best offensive player (Andrea Bargnani) for well more than half a season will have an impact on everything you do. I’d suggest they weren’t nearly as bad offensively as you seem to think and would have been at least in the middle of the pack if their 20-point-a-night stud – who made everyone around him more effective – had been a constant.

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Q: Do you really trust Colangelo anynore? After explaining away this painful season on "we will soon have two high 1st round draft picks plus our organically grown young guys", now it is "oh wow, maybe we'll trade our 1st rounder and a young guy for a veteran". First, go with youth. Now trade away youth. Who knows which is right, but doesn't his inconsistency cause you concern? (Maybe I'm just cranky this morning because the last time he traded away a first rounder for a veteran, it ended up being used to take Roy Hibbert)

J L, Oakville

A: So you’d rather he not adapt on the fly and stick to something that may or may not be in the best interest of building his roster? Rigidity is bad, very bad. And if he can move the pick – and no one’s saying he will but he most certainly should entertain offers because to not to is not doing your job – he should. Plain and simple.

And please FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE WORLD put Roy Hibbert out of your head. Not only wasn’t he their guy I 100 per cent guarantee you fans would have been absolutely killing him for being a non-factor for his first couple of seasons.

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Q How many times will the Spurs win by 12 in the playoffs?

Jim R, Toronto

A: Maybe a dozen?

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Q: Happy Birthday – from all the irregular readers – thanks for the many hours if not days over the years of goofing off at work by reading your postings. There is so much negativity on the internet with self-professed experts, it is refreshing to follow the musing of a genuine beat grunt that takes a balanced look at issues.

Question: I get the whole man crush going on with Steve Nash – but realistically, where does upgrading the starting point guard land in the list of off season to do’s for the Raptors?

Kevin F, Hillsburgh

A: It certainly wouldn’t be at the top of the list, they have a perfectly capable starting point guard now, believe it or not. But I’m not sure you can absolutely prioritize things anyway. Sure, they need a starting 3 and a backup 2 and a backup point guard but you make your moves when you get a chance to make them; the danger being that if you wait to fill others until after you’ve done the first, you might lose out.

I think you put a lot of worms in the water and see what bites first.

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Heat's failings have to be bringing joy to some

I imagine there is an awful lot of glee floating around these days about the plight of the Miami Heat.

The team so many love to hate – and for a lot of right reasons, actually – looks beaten, bowed and dysfunctional today, hammered in Indiana last night, minus Chris Bosh and with Dwyane Wade alternating between awful and clashing on the sideline in a very emotional confrontation with coach Erik Spoelstra.

Now, it’s dangerous to say they’re done – the series is only 2-1, they do have LeBron James and the Pacers don’t have a rich playoff history to draw on as close-out games get closer – but, man, Miami looks pretty average.

Great, isn’t it?

Ever since the totally unwarranted, over-the-top “celebration” of the Big Three, the Heat have been one of the most unlikable teams in recent sports history for a lot of people.

I truly believe many of us like our sports stars to be a bit humble, to behave in a certain way, a wee bit of swagger but not that much, and the Heat have fallen far below those standards.

They have been boastful to some degree and in-your-face far too much.

They seem to have some sense of entitlement built on reputation rather than performance; yes, they have been good with gusts to great and they did play for a championship a year ago but, really, they haven’t come all that close to the greatness and dominance they told us would come when they spoke of rolling to multiple championships with an unprecedented roster of talented individuals.

A lot of people I know love it and I presume that includes more than a few NBA general managers. The great fear when Miami was putting together this roster and the players were conspiring to seemingly make it easy on themselves to win was that it would work. That the Heat would get two, three, four titles and then everyone would have had to either find a way to put together Super Teams or hope that star players wanted join forces on some other franchise like James and Bosh did when they hooked up with Wade and “took their talents to South Beach.”

But it is, to me, simply great that it hasn’t really worked out that way quite yet; nor has it worked in New York with another group of stars who finagled their way on to the same roster.

I love that a “team” is beating a “collection of stars” so handily, I love that the Indiana Pacers are getting some appreciation for being more than the sum of their parts.

I value team over individual every day of the week, I like chemistry and playing for each other and a group that simply does what it takes with little regard for ego or The Man or “I’m going to get mine and then you get yours.”

Now, as I said, we may rue the day we counted the Heat out, they could very well not only win this series but the next one and play for a second championship in as many years.

But it doesn’t look like that today and I, and I’m sure a lot of you, are quite happy about that.

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Now, I mocked disco with the best of ‘em, it was more noise than music and it was an era that I don’t imagine too many of you miss.

But there is no denying this woman’s singing chops, is there?

RIP Donna Summer.

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Well, there’s goes the undefeated season.

Yeah, Mighty Red Tigers go down to Opening Day defeat but it goes in the books as a one-run loss (we ran into a curfew after the Other Evil Doers got a few in the top of the seventh) but we comported ourselves well and even as the youngest team in the league – more than a couple of 14-year-olds on a 15-man roster playing against kids up to 17 – we’re going to be all right.

Take too many pitches, need to get better jumps on balls hit to the outfield but that’s where coaching comes in, I guess.

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Mail? Please. I have a few hours to kill before, well, before the weekend hits and there aren’t an awful lot of questions, comments or hellos over there.

Help a fella out?

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So, Adam Lind’s in Vegas.

How the somewhat mighty have fallen.

There are far brighter baseball minds than mine that will dissect and discuss the TOD demoting the first baseman – seemingly out of nowhere – yesterday afternoon but what I want to see is how Lind handles getting sent to the minors.

It’s a slap in the face, no question, but he had to know something was coming because he simply wasn’t producing; being bounced down the order was the first step and when things didn’t improve measurably, the step taken Thursday was logical, if a bit earlier than some had thought.

But does he go to Vegas and pout? Or perform.

There is no question he has a large measure of skill, he’s performed admirably at the major league level, hitting consistently and he became a far better first baseman than a lot of people ever thought he would by sheer hard work.

Now he has to put that effort to work in the minors and force the Jays to do something with him.

Wonder if he will.

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I must be missing something because when we were trying to get a gaggle of folks out for a post-game social session last night far too many family members had to race home to see Gray’s Anatomy.

Guess Dr. McDreamy’s still there?

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I bet you could have made an awful lot of money if you’d wagered that the only winter pro sports team playing in Los Angeles when the American Memorial Day weekend hit would have been the pucks.

And a weekend that could been epic – a hockey game last night, NBA tonight, two NBA games tomorrow, a pucks-hoops doubleheader on Sunday – now looks downright funereal.

There’s every chance the only team standing come Monday morning will be the Kings.

Oh, yeah, a Kings team that was the eighth seed going into the post-season. Bet fans out there are pretty glad they didn’t tank.

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Sometimes, the better team just wins

I’m sure there’ll be all kinds of hand-wringing today about what’s wrong with the Lakers and how they can be two games down to the Thunder in their playoff series after losing last night.

Answer’s easy:

They’re not as good.

Pretty simple.

Sure, they’ve got one great player (the Bryant lad) and a couple of very, very good ones (Gasol and Bynum) but, really, what’s behind that?

Point guards who are average at best, a dreadful bench that has little or no consistency, they aren’t athletic and they don’t really have the ability to play fast.

The Thunder, on the other hand, has advantages almost everywhere on the court. They are as a big and far tougher with Ibaka and Perkins, they are vastly more athletic, they shoot it better, they’re deeper and, after last year’s disappointing end to the playoffs, they are hungry and experienced.

They finished last night with a flourish, scoring the last nine points of a 77-75 win while Bryant kicked the ball all over the floor and the Lakers got a possible game-winning shot from Steve Blake – STEVE BLAKE!!!! – during what was as big a cough-up as anything we’ve seen in the post-season so far.

No, there seems to be nothing really “wrong” with the Lakers, they just aren’t good enough. Now, we know Bryant has the ability to go all other-worldly and win a game on his own and there’s a chance Bynum and Gasol both play well on the same night and maybe the Lakers get a game once the series gets back home.

But when they put the lid on this series, it’s going to be about how good the Thunder is and not how bad the Lakers were. The best teams tend to win these things – the other guys might steal a game, maybe two – and the best team would seem to be Oklahoma City.

And that’s going to set up what could be an epic Western Conference final after the San Antonio Spurs coast through the Clippers.

At that point, we can do the hand-wringing about what’s wrong with the Lakers; for now we should be thinking about what’s good about the Thunder, they’re the best team and the better story in this series.

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Why am I looking at a headline that says “Gas prices likely to hold steady this summer” and knowing that means somewhere near $1.30 a litre instead of spiking to $1.40 and thinking “oh, that’s good news?”

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Hey, the Canada's win. 

No, I didn’t see any of the game – forgot to watch on the computer in my late-night daze watching NBA games – but the national women’s team beating China last night out in Langley, B.C. has to be a bit heartening.

Anyone see it? Fill us in?

China, which has already qualified for the Olympics and finished fourth in Beijing, is a pretty good measuring stick for the Canadian women and a win is far better than the alternative.

Now, I’ve been around long enough to know that one exhibition game result means nothing – especially one played at home – but, I’m telling you, I like this team and am very anxious to see how it does at the final Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey in late June.

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Mail? Here’s the daily plea. Thanks. You know I love to hear from you.

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Oh boy.

They shuffled some seats around the big kids table at the NBA yesterday, replacing the old “competition committee” – which comprised 30 GMs and which was responsible for proposing rule changes – and going with a hybrid committee that includes four GMs, three coaches, two owners and a player.

(Yes, Bryan made the cut; he’s one of the GMs, no one from any of the profit-driven media giants who are taking over production of “programming this summer were asked to be on the committee)

Now, the numbers are still there so that the people who actually know what’s going on with the game on the court (the GMs, the coaches, the player) can carry the day on any proposals so I guess that’s good.

But the first – the very first – thing they have to do when they first meet is deal with the flopping issue and I sure hope they can.

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So, Hobbs gets four games – sounds about right to me – but keeps playing during the period leading up to his inevitable appeal and something sticks in my craw about the whole baseball discipline system.

Having a suspended player being pretty much able to pick and choose what games he sits outs would seem to run counter to the discipline process. I understand due process and all that junk but why let everyone appeal in every case? Why not only let appeals come on significant suspensions – say, 10 games or so – other than that, let it be routine league-enforced discipline.

Or, how about this?

If you want to massage the appeal process and pick your time to sit out, taking into account the schedule, the opponent, the pitching matchups or whatever, go ahead, it’s your collectively bargained right.

But if you lose, you get another game or two.

You appeal a four-game suspension and you lose, you get five; if you have a six-game suspension and appeal and lose, you sit out eight.

Makes a little bit of sense to me.

I don’t, however, know what to do about pitchers, and here’s the true mess with this whole process.

Philly’s Cole Hamels throws at the kid from Washington, fully admits it and is set down for five “games.”

Well, it’s actually one game, or one start, and that’s hardly what the intent of the ruling was. It doesn’t really disrupt a team’s rotation – one spot start for someone out of the bullpen is not really a big deal – and it doesn’t really disrupt the suspended party, he’ll still throw on the side, get his bullpen sessions in and, once a team reconfigures its rotation, he’ll probably get some much needed rest.

How’s that get fixed?

I don’t know; already solved the position player problem, can’t do it all.

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Hey, it’s Opening Night tonight for the urchins.

We’re in tough, moved up an age group so we could keep the same kids together – it’s as much about the social aspect of the game for players and parents as anything – and we have no idea what we’re up against.

We’re in an amalgamation of leagues – tough to find enough mid-teens in one association to have a full house league – so we’re known as the MNBA Red Tigers.

I thought about getting us known as the Crouching Tigers but the league wanted to go with uniform colours rather than esoteric movie names.

So think a good thought for our merry band of baseballers, would you?

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Oak, KG, Hemingway and Hobbs? We've got it all here today

Interesting comment from a reader yesterday about KG and whether or not he’s Oak.

No way.

Not in a billion years.

(And, please, I don’t know where the cockamamie idea that he’d be a Raptor came from but it has to go away in a hurry)

Anyway, I think that’s a poor comparison for a couple of reasons and it lies mainly in the way they handle themselves.

KG, to me, is a “hey, look at me, I’m going to yell and scream and be faux tough and try to intimidate you” faux tough guy; Oak would hit you out of nowhere and go about his business in a businesslike manner.

For a long time, I was okay with Garnett and his over-the-top enthusiasm because played hard every night and whatever worked to get him to that level was fine with me.

But now? Now I’m tired of it, he’s got a lot of schoolyard bully in him, he woofs and walks away and if you get in his face and give as good as you get, I won’t say he cowers but he goes away.

It happened, actually, with Jose Calderon. Think it was a game in Boston when KG took a cheap shot or said something or was acting up and Jose simply went back at him. Now? Now they’re fine, Garnett gives Jose his space and respect and lets him be.

Oak, on the other hand, was never as outwardly loud or emotional or acted up at all. He played hard and he played tough (bordering on illegal at times but never too too far over the line) but he didn’t care who saw him. He didn’t need to make sure everyone on the court or in the stands noticed him.

He was subtle in a brute kind of way; and I’m all about subtle.

So, no, I don’t think there’s a comparison in that respect. I’d much rather have Oak, he just strikes me as a more legitimate tough guy.

Now, for their leadership? I’d say that’s probably a tie; Garnett can get to teammates and show them what needs to be done, just as Oak did with a relatively young team here. But, again, I like the guy who does it in a somewhat quiet manner.

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We do a lot of good stuff at our paper on a variety of things.

But if you haven’t been up on our Hemingway stuff, you’re really missing out.

As Irregulars know, he’d be on the Mount Rushmore of my favourites (we need a Canadian equivalent of Mount Rushmore so it would hit closer to home) and the fact he plied his trade on the same pages as I do is very, very cool.

And the series – which you can get to here and which you should probably bookmark – is outstanding.

Take a read and let me know what you think.

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While we’re on the favour-asking parade, let’s get the mail started; it’s Birth Weekend and a long weekend so there’s every chance I’ll be shutting things down for at least part of a day so we need to get started early.

Go here. Say hi. And thanks.

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Okay, George Brett’s pine tar bat thing remains the gold standard player ejections (I’ve got a handful of Billy Martin, Earl Weaver and maybe a Lou Piniella among managers) but Brett Lawrie’s little eruption last night is right up there.

Except for the fact he’s going to be suspended because the helmet he threw hit the ump (and that hurts the team so it takes away from the eruption), that might have been the most demonstrative TOD ejection I can recall.

But, and I firmly believe this and it’s an issue that’s been around baseball forever and it sucks, that home plate umpire made a bad call intentionally on the 3-2 pitch because he was ticked off at Lawrie for taking off to first on the awful 3-1 call.

Too many baseball umpires have this overblown sense of importance, have had for years, and the pettiness they often show, and the provoking they often do, is truly a scourge on the game.

Those were two awful calls but the second one was a bit premeditated and I hope the league takes that into account when they decide how long to sit Hobbs down for.

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I’m pretty sure we’re going to be saying and writing this a few more times between now and the end of June but, man, are the Spurs ever good.

That was a total dismantling of an overwhelmed opponent last night when they drilled the Clippers and I would venture to say San Antonio might have a lot more rest between a sweep of this series and the start of the conference finals.

San Antonio, in case you missed it, has won 15 in a row, 28 of 30 and are 43-7 since the end of January. That’s unreal.

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Have you been at all following this Roger Clemens trial? Tawdry, boring, who cares, right?

Cathal wrote about if you need to get up to speed.

Best part of it?

The judge has dismissed two jurors who fell asleep listening to the testimony. That’s classic.

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Kind of hoping I can last long enough to watch the entire Lakers-Thunder game tonight (yeah, I know; I’m old) because I’m wondering if the other night was an aberration.

Doubt it, though.

The Thunder simply ran away from the Lakers and maybe you can chalk that up a bit to L.A. being worn out from a long, hard first round series but I don’t think that’s too big a factor.

And think about it this way. The Thunder won going away and I don’t think anyone can say any one player had an otherworldly game. Sure, Durant, Westbrook and Harden played well but it’s not as if one of them went off for 40 points or something silly like that. They were just better all over the floor and I have a sneaking suspicion they will be again tonight.

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It's travel time for the Raptors talent evaluators

Lewis and Clark time for Bryan and The Henchman.

While we’ve been waiting – impatiently, in many cases – for the May 30 lottery to find out how easy it’s going to be for them to trade the pick for a three who can help now, the lads have been out scouring the continent watching kids work out and doing some of their pre-draft due diligence.

Florida. L.A. Vegas. Chicago. Jersey. Minnesota. And who knows where else.

It’s mostly unofficial individual workouts set up by agents, a guy or two in a gym working on their own skills, because all the top picks are waiting for the lottery results before they decide which teams they’ll grace with their presence in private workouts leading up to the draft.

But it is part of the process and it drones on.

As I recall, it was in one of these road visits that the Raptors brass fell in love with DeMar DeRozan, seems to me that he wowed them out in L.A. and they had pretty much made up their minds on his selection long before the draft actually rolled around.

I’m not saying that’ll happen again – and the folks who I talked to yesterday didn’t even provide specific names – but the more information you can glean, the better off you should be when it comes time to make the pick, if indeed they make it.

Now, these workouts are indeed informal and since the teams have little or no control over what happens, it’s not like they are seeing all the warts on the potential picks.

If a kid can’t go left, he’s not going to go left an awful lot in a workout run by his agents for specific teams. If the kid can’t make a 22-footer to save his soul, he’s not going to be standing out beyond the arc firing up jumpers with abandon.

Those kinds of workout specifics happen when teams gets guys in their own gyms in the period between the lottery and the draft. That’s when all the stuff GMs and Henchmen and scouts have seen over the course of the college season can be explored and, perhaps, unearthed.

For now, it’s getting more information and keeping busy until it really gets time to be busy.

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You know me and fashion, right?

Hardly a good mix most of the time. But, I tell ya, I may not know anything but I do know that whoever decided it’s cool for guys to wear black-rimmed glasses without, you know, glass in them really might want to find another line of work.

Silly?

Oh yeah.

Silly to the Nth degree, methinks.

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I would say we in the PBWA got our awards right this year, wouldn’t you agree?

Steve Nash as the Magic Johnson winner for combining on-court excellence with gold standard co-operation with media, Doc Rivers as the Rudy Tomjanovich winner for doing the same thing among coaches and, believe me, the Milwaukee Bucks media relations staff does an historically great job the led to it being awarded the Brian McIntyre award.

Well earned awards all around.

Nash and Rivers are indeed outstanding in dealing with us, they provide great insight and good quotes; they take the time to answer repeated questions with patience and good humour and if you need them, they’re there.

Sounds simple, right? Well, you’d think so but there are far too many players who simply don’t get it, or won’t do and it’s ridiculous to some degree. It’s not a hard part of the job, I do think it’s part of the responsibility that goes with being an athlete and if they put half the effort into answering questions with insight and respect as they do either hiding from us or telling others to tell us they “aren’t talking” it’d be to the benefit of all.

But that’s just me.

And Nash’s post-award quote to the one and only Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic kind of sums up what he’s all about:

“It’s a privilege and honour to be recognized by the pro basketball writers, whose passion and skillfulness present the frontline of how our game is understood and perceived by our fans. Their role in our sport can’t be underestimated and it’s an honour to be recognized by them along with the past recipients.”

The past five?

Kevin Durant, Chris Bosh, Brandon Roy, Grant Hill and Luol Deng.

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Do me a favour?

On behalf of all the Buggy Boys at all the gin joints supermarkets in all the world after you dump your stuff in the car, take the buggy back to its little pen there in the middle of the parking lot if you won’t take it back into the store. That way, when Super Son gets fetched from a hard day (well, four hours) of work, the first words out of his mouth might not be:

“People are annoying.”

Some, yes; not all, but some.

Thanks.

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All I know is that when Kevin Garnett was called for setting an illegal screen on an out-of-bounds play that cost Boston a chance to tie or ultimately win its game with Philadelphia last night there were 29 NBA coaches scattered around the league who said, in unison, “it’s about freaking time.”

I’m not saying the Cs are the lone offenders in sticking out hips or elbows when they set screens but they have perfected it and I’m kind of glad it bit them in the bum.

Sure, it was a ballsy call but it was the right one, one of the few times officials don’t ref the situation but ref the call.

Flopping is one of the biggest scourges on the game right now, on that we can all agree, but illegal screens – more like football blocks, actually – might be a close second and maybe having a call all but decide a playoff game will give officials the confidence to call them more often and let players know they can’t get away with it.

Yeah, right. A guy can hope, I guess.

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I officially decree Birth Week to be upon us.

Figure it should end the day of the actual event so let the hilarity and hijinks commence.

Suggestions?

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