Most dominant ever? Here's one for the top of the list

When the discussion gets around to the most dominant athletes of our time, there a few names that always come popping up.

We hear about Tiger Woods for those years, Sampras than Federer and then Nadel. There was Jordan and Gretzky and Edwin Moses, who may go down as the single most dominant athlete in his sport of all time.

But sometimes we forget one in the discussion and we shouldn’t.

Mariano Rivera.

Rivera blew out his ACL (I blame the NBA’s shortened season) while shagging BP fly balls last night (and shagging fly balls is a truly a fun thing to do) and the question now is whether he’ll ever come back and what he’ll be like when he does.

He’s 42, there were suggestions this might be his last season anyway but if he’s gone, it ends an era that is truly remarkable and one I cannot imagine we’ll ever see again.

Playing a role often dominated by supernovas rather than long-lasting stars, Rivera was unlike anyone we’ve ever seen.

Six hundred and eight saves in 1,051 appearances over 18 seasons; only 73 blown saves (otherwise known as July for TOD) and an ERA of 2.21.

And it really goes beyond the numbers.

Here was a rather slight man doing unimaginable things with a baseball. I saw him once, years ago when I’d been away from baseball for a little while and he was introduced while sitting courtside at a Nets game and I was stunned by how unimposing he looked, physically. This was a regular-looking fellow who did incredible things.

And to do it in the manner that he did?

The mind reels.

Everyone knew what he was going to throw and where he was going to throw it and hardly anyone could hit it. He perfected one pitch and dined out in for decades; there was no secret to what he did, just an overpowering ability to do it.

It is blatantly unfair to compare golfers and relief pitchers and tennis players and runners and guys from hoops or the pucks. One doesn’t correlate with the others but it does make good chatter around the stools and when we next gather and the discussion comes to who is the GOAT, or at least the Greatest Of Our Time, we have to have Rivera near the top of the list.

Don’t we?

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Digression time.

Super Son has his final school concert of the year last night and the parents among us will know what that’s usually like. A series of oft-unrecognizable tunes or songs that include requiems and the odd hymn and stuff by Mozart and guys and gals of that ilk.

Well, this is why a music program at an arts school is the best; the kids are uber-talented and want to perform and shows actually include stuff you know and can recognize.

And if Cawthra wants to put on shows that begin with a rendition of this Nora Jones ditty (and I can listen to Nora Jones all day if the mood strikes) it’s all right with me.

And if, near the end, they get the jazz kids out there and some young fella warbles this Sinatra classic, well, when’s the next show?

Good job, kids. It makes parents proud to see talent and passion. And I’m not sure of the name of the young woman who ended the show with the first stanza of Amazing Grace but when she makes it big – and I’m pretty sure she will – I can say I saw her when.

Tres cool.

Thus endeth the digression.

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Mail? Please. Still unsure what the weekend plans are but have set aside a chunk of this afternoon to answering questions and need some more.

You know the drill.

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Two things I’m tired of:

Spike Lee.

We get it, Spike, you’re a fan. Be more like Jack, okay?

Reggie Miller.

We get it, Reggie, you used to be a great shooter; as a commentator you make a great shooter.

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So Chris Bosh has nine points and 10 rebounds and helps his Miami Heat team take an insurmountable series lead in the biggest game of the year to date for his team and, frankly, it’s the second most important thing he did yesterday.

The most important – by far – was going to be with his wife for the birth of the couple’s first child and to suggest otherwise is not a point of view I’m at all interested in entertaining.

He did the right thing and should be applauded for it.

End of story.

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Heartfelt congratulations to the CFL for conducting its draft in relative secrecy yesterday and for not having one team draft a guy who is, you know, deceased.

Yes, I did tune in for a little bit – it was one of those Criminal Minds/CSI Wherever/What Else Is On TV As White Noise/Work At Home kind of days – and it was, well, it was something.

How, I’m not a big draft guy but this was odd. Two panels, with the coaches relegated to the background for some odd reason, and the commish standing there by himself with no one to hug or give a hat to.

Odd.

Someone smarter than I can debate the relative merits of the selections but if you’re looking to hype the league, or even cover an event that has some significance in a lot of Canadian cities, surely there has to be a better way to do it, no?

And having the Saskatchewans scoop themselves by announcing the No. 1 overall pick at a breakfast event about six hours before the actual selection was a bit surreal.

Not sure I’ve ever seen a top pick interviewed on TV about 20 minutes before he was actually chosen. Kind of made the debate among the panelists moot, didn’t it?

Look, I’d love for the CFL to be more relevant here and I know how important it is in some cities across the land.

The draft, to true diehards, is a big deal; relegating it to a mid-week afternoon makes no sense. I get that there were live pucks and basketball on the networks at night and that they are money-makers and attention-getters and can’t be displaced.

But a Saturday afternoon? Or a Saturday morning. Or a Sunday mid-day makes far more sense, doesn’t it?

Anyway, they held it, time for others to chat about whether each team made the right pick but, again, glad they actually drafted guys who are ambulatory.

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Who doesn't like watching the circus

Well, that was a rather boring basketball night, wasn’t it?

You’re going to get them over the course of almost two months of games every night and, frankly, if you’re going to watch all the time, maybe a night totally void of drama is a good thing.

But I have a feeling we’re going to get something tonight, thanks to the on-going circus that is the New York Knicks.

All season, they’ve been a better story than a team; sure, they won some games and made the playoffs and all that but, really, hasn’t it been a rather wild journey that’s caught the attention of fans more than the game?

You had a fatally flawed roster right off the bat – not sure who they thought would be the point guard coming out training camp – and then obviously some issues between Carmelo Anthony and Mike D’Antoni.

You had Jeremy Lin ride to a brief rescue – I still don’t think we’ve seen nearly a large enough body of work to consider him among the top half point guards in the NBA on a regular basis – and that was a great story.

Then you had the D’Antoni firing, or departure, or whatever you want to call it and another example of inmates running the asylum.

Mike Woodson came in, there was calm, Lin got hurt, Carmelo went all Carmelo and it became more obvious that, like a Lin-Anthony tandem that Anthony-Stoudemire wasn’t a particularly nice fit.

And now? Now we’ve got the guy smacking the fire extinguisher casing and slicing his hand and another couple of days of angst and comment and the sorry saga goes on.

The attention the Knicks get is out of all proportion to their place in the league and there are a few reasons for it:

First, we all love a car wreck as long as no one gets hurt and that’s been a car wreck since the season began.

But it’s also attributable to the voracious New York media, the fact that television networks tend to place far too much emphasis on New York simply because it’s New York and they think people will eat it up as long as they show Spike Lee every now and then and keep talking about the Knicks.

There are several better NBA stories out there right now – the Spurs, Kobe, what the Bulls do without Rose, the Pacers with no stars, Chris Paul.

But we are far too often forcefed the Knicks by dint of the city they represent and sometimes it just gets a wee bit tiring, doesn’t it?

That said, as soon as I get done Super Son’s spring concert tonight, I’ll be tuning in to see what kind of crash awaits us this time around.

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I still say the Tiger Woods fire hydrant beats the Amar’e Stoudemire fire extinguisher six ways to Sunday.

But not sure where Gus Frerotte’s goal post fits in to the trilogy but those have to be three of wildest, no?

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Mail? We can handle a little bit more if you like.

You know the drill.

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So, here’s one:

Is there anything comparable to a no-hitter in all of sports?

Now, I’m not saying it’s greatest accomplishment in sports – although it could very well be – but for what it is, it’s pretty special.

Sure, there might be one great game-saving defensive play that keeps a no-no alive but, generally, it’s a handful of routine ground balls, popups and strikeouts, all fashioned by the one guy in total control.

There is not much more fascinating in sports to me than watching a pitcher at the absolute top of his game dispatch every hitter he faces without giving up a hit.

It truly is something. How they can go side to side on the plate, up and down the strike zone, getting just enough sink on pitches to make them unhittable, breaking off curves that dart at precisely the right moment.

I know how to make a jump shot; I can hit a golf ball a fair distance; way back in the day I could skate; I could never, ever imagine the skill it takes to throw a baseball 60 feet, six inches and make it go exactly where I want it to when I wanted it to.

It might be the single most impressive sports thing out there; it truly is a craft and when it’s done to near perfection, it is incredible to watch.

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Here’s one for major league baseball:

Every team shall be required to play one mid-week day game every week for the entire regular season.

It helps ease travel for some teams and keeping players fresh is always a good idea; it gives some fans who have obligations at night a chance to either go to or watch a game close and, most important, day baseball is great.

I bet the players would like it, I know I would and I presume a whole lot of fans would.

And if it ticks off TV networks, well, tough noogies. It’s not like they don’t get their way when they want it.

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There was this buntoss last night (Hello, Aurora Strategy Group!) and as a part of helping out, I was responsible for picking up the donated beer – thanks Molson! – and making it sure it got in hands of the organizers.

Of course it did and among the several varieties donated was one I had never seen before, but had heard of.

Now, we know there are blonde beers and red beers and beers tinged with lime and all kinds of microbrewed wheat beers that need nice fresh slices of orange to go with them.

But ice tea and beer?

Really.

In the same can.

Now, I dunno – I fully admit I haven’t tasted one yet and am not sure that I will – but doesn’t it strike you that if you want ice tea, you’ll have ice tea. The corollary being that if you’d like a beer, you’ll have a beer.

What’s next?

Boneless chicken wings?

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Hey, TFCs didn’t lose last night!

Didn’t score but didn’t lose.

Baby steps, fans. Baby steps.

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Coaching questions will abound; oh, and some fashion, too

Came as little surprise that Gregg Popovich out in San Antonio was named NBA coach of the year yesterday, he did a masterful job massaging an old roster that needed rest and was hit by some injuries and coaxed it to the best record in the league.

Sure, there were a few other worthy candidates – Frank Vogel, Tom Thibodeau, Doc Rivers, George Karl come quickly to mind – but no one can really dispute the selection of Pop, who’s now a two-time winner.

But what about the other end? We could be in for a shocking summer of coaching moves and new hires and it’s going to be truly interesting to see who winds up where.

It’s entirely possible that almost a quarter of the league will have new coaches when the 2012-13 season gets under way next year and that’s a huge turnover that we seldom see.

I don’t for a second think Stan Van Gundy will be back in Orlando (no way he goes through another year of the Dwight Howard Circus) and we’ve already got Charlotte looking for someone new.

I imagine Washington will be looking for someone new, I would presume a new GM in Portland (if they ever get around to actually hiring one) would want his own guy in there and I have no clue what Glen might do in New York; Mike Woodson’s done a good job but ownership may clamour for a bigger name.

There are questions about Vinny Del Negro with the Clips and I don’t know if Scott Skiles gets to go back to Milwaukee and that coaching carousel could spin incredibly.

So what are the good jobs among those that could come open?

Yikes, that’s hard to figure out, isn’t it?

None of those teams is blessed with a lot of talent, a couple (Orlando and New York) come with baggage away from court that might make them undesirable.

The best, and it’s not even a certainty that it’ll come open, is the Clipper gig. Good young talent coming off a pretty good season and maybe only a piece or two away from being very good.

But you also have Donald Sterling to deal with and that can be a dicey proposition; there is no suggestion that owner won’t screw things up somehow.

Now, there are only 30 jobs like this in the entire world so someone’s going to want them. Someone is going to work for whatever wages they can get. Someone is going to think they can find the magic elixir to deal with off-court issues. Someone is going to have enough self-confidence to say, “screw it, I can do this job even if it looks impossible.”

Not sure who those guys are though. Outside of Van Gundy and perhaps Woodson this doesn’t look like of group of possibly departing coaches who’ll get right on the treadmill and find another gig right away.

And you have no idea how thankful I am that a coaching search isn’t something I have to worry about this summer.

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Fashion time.

And who does fashion better than us, right?

What’s the story on the new Argo uniforms that were apparently unveiled last night at some ritzy buntoss downtown?

Me? I like the change because it seems subtle, very subtle, so subtle that I can hardly tell the difference.

And that’s good, right?

There is something to be said for tradition and while the Argos may be a terrible downturn in the public eye at the moment, there is truly a rich tradition and to go away from it wouldn’t have made any sense.

That’s said, if they had incorporated the old scull with the dozens of oars and used “Pull Together” as the slogan, that would have been very cool.

Anyway, this is shaping up to be something of a big summer for the Double Blue and I hope they find some way to become more relevant. Guess that only comes with wins and some measure of excitement rather than new jerseys but a new look can’t hurt.

I know they must be on the right track at least a little bit because there was talk around here about buying Grey Cup tickets as soon as they went on sale so that was a bit of unexpected and rather welcome attention to a franchise that needs it.

Now, a bit more fashion, and I’m a tad late to the dance on this one.

But, tell me, is there anything more boring than what the Brooklyn Nets went with?

Super Son’s aghast, I just heard, about the boring ‘B’ in black and white with no real colour to the whole thing.

Sure, it’s understated and monochromatic might be the way to go in some circles but that new Nets thing is just boring.

And they so should have had some kind of trolley car in there, even if they didn’t go with Dodgers.

Okay, away from fashion for now.

Pardon the digression.

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I’m going to say this: If Vinny Del Negro got anywhere near a coach of the year vote (and he did) and Dwane didn’t, it’s ridiculous. Now, you know I didn’t have Dwane on my ballot (it was Pop, Vogel, Thibodeau) but if you’re going throw away third place ballots on Vinny, throw ‘em away on Case. Unless, of course, you didn’t see him coach.

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There are very, very, very few moments of true drama in baseball; as we know it’s a game played at a certain pace and those “Bang! Pow! Wow!” moments come few and far between.

A key at-bat can provide some drama, sure; and every now then there’s a specific pitch we might remember.

But nothing in the game approximates a walk-off homer, does it?

And when that homer is struck by one of the more emotional and vocal and excitable guys to come down the pike in a while, that’s not too bad.

Told you Hobbs had some sense of the moment in him.

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Hey, let’s start the mail, shall we.

There’s a very good chance we’ll start going to one weekend mailbag (do you care which day?) so I can get a bit of a break on either Saturday or Sunday morning but that means we need to start a bit earlier than usual.

Have at it, my good Irregulars.

 

 

Stoudemire's selfish act was off-the-charts stupid

I hate selfish athletes, guys who do things with only themselves in mind, athletes whose actions are not only going to hurt themselves but those who rely on them.

Hello, Amar’e Stoudemire.

Look, we’ve all been frustrated when things go bad, we get mad at ourselves, at teammates, at coaches, at circumstances, at whatever and it’s entirely a normal reaction.

But that reaction should also include a vow to do better, to work harder, to help the team more, to – and this was one of Sam Mitchell’s favourite phrases and advice well worth following – play for the guy sitting next to you.

It is not normal to punch a panel of glass and suffer a cut so severe that it could mean missing a game, could mean missing two games, could mean missing the rest of the season (Oh, wait, the rest of the season is two games. Never mind).

It is not normal lash out in such a selfish way that it puts in peril all that you’ve worked so hard with as a member of a team.

Stoudemire’s post-game punching of the glass encasement of a fire extinguisher (insert your own “Amar’e finally attacks the glass” joke here) was one of the most selfish and stupid actions I can recall.

There are suggestions he’s out at least for Game 3 but if there is a severe laceration – and calling EMTs to the locker room after the incident would suggest that’s the case (the photo here cadged from the interwebs and ESPN paints a rather grim picture) – I can’t see him being back in a week and by then the Knicks season is going to be over.

Sure, it may have been spur of the moment but, truth be told, the game wasn’t even close, wasn’t ever truly close, and why he decided to hammer a hunk of glass walking to the locker room then is beyond me.

The Stoudemire situation in New York is interesting. He doesn’t seem to mesh well on the court with either Carmelo Anthony or Tyson Chandler; he’s got knees so bad his contract can’t be insured and a bad back, a combination that make him the most untradeable athlete in perhaps all of sport, and he’s got three years and about $65 million left on his deal.

Yeah, future looks bright in Gotham, doesn’t it?

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Holy crap! It’s May 1 already?

Means one thing:

Birth Month!!!!

Guidelines are murky, and probably change person to person but I think we need to expand Birth Week. Means a little more leeway for knuckleheadism in the month leading up to the week which, my personal decree, runs from the Saturday before until the Friday night after.

That sound good?

But, really, how in the name of all that’s good in the world did it get to be May 1 already?

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One last point on Rajon Rondo.

So he gets a one-game suspension – I would have given him two but perhaps they took into consideration the fact it’s the post-season and stakes are higher – once again a team has to pay for a teammate losing his cool.

But in hindsight, there’s another aspect to that rankles a little bit.

It’s the referee Marc Davis – the same guy who seemed to take such great glee in tossing DeMar DeRozan out of the last road game in Milwaukee – seems part of a growing trend of NBA officials who are starting to act a bit like baseball umpires.

You know the type, the guys who enjoy being confrontational, officials who seem to welcome conflict rather than trying to diffuse it; guys who think they are far more part of the show than they actually are.

You see it in baseball all too often, umps who provoke situations because they can, guys who invite arguments rather than walk away from them.

I’m not saying all NBA officials do it, it may be self-conscious (Davis blew the jump ball call that set Rondo off and reacted too hastily in giving him the technical foul that precipitated the bump) but good refs – and I’ve got Joe Crawford, Bill Spooner, Dan Crawford at the top of my list – know they are a part of the game and not “the” game and act accordingly.

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A way long time ago, I used to be of the school of thought that the only thing more boring sports that track was field.

Thankfully, those days are gone.

Looks like that’s going to be one of my gigs over in London, along with some basketball and heavens knows what else.

Might get to Montreal to see some diving before hand to do some set-up stuff and I’m sure there’ll be a handful of other things that’ll occupy my time.

But if you’ve got some track and field insight, I’m all ears.

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Okay, tremendously small sample size but, man, that was some Yu Darvish outing, wasn’t it?

Caught a fair amount of it because Heat-Knicks was so boring and have to admit the kid was pretty darn impressive.

So was Kyle Drabek, who continues to grow as a pitcher and that can’t be anything but a good thing for TOD but then there was the back-to-back homers that broke it open and, well, therein lies the issue. Starters go more than five, often a fair bit more, and the bullpen can’t get the job finished.

But the most surprising thing had to be the attendance. Only 21,000 or so and that’s about nine grand fewer than I had kind of expected.

I realize it was a somewhat gloomy Monday night in April and that’s a tough draw anyway but you’d have thought someone with the hype of Darvish would have juiced the audience a wee bit more.

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From The Department Of Total Non-Surprise comes news out of Charlotte yesterday that Paul Silas will not return as head coach of the Bobcats.

All we have to say to that is:

Lucky him.

Wonder what mistake Michael Jordan will make in replacing him because if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Jordan since he moved from the court to the front office and then the owner’s suite, it’s that he’s one of the most inept executives in the game.

Can’t wait to see who lines up for that coaching job.

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