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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Comments

[B]

It was interesting to hear Hibbert from the Pacers comment on the importance of getting Barbosa for nothing from the Raptors. Barbosa has been playing similar number of minutes to their starters, so the question above could be re-phrased: “How bad at the HOTH, they might {HAVE} have {STILL HAD} a guy who could {ESSENTIALLY} start on a playoff team, how bad does {TRADING THAT GUY FOR NOTHING} make them look?”

[Peter in Italy]

“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?”
Well, let’s start at the beginning of the alphabet: ABBA.

[O.J.]

I would rearrange the holidays differently for various reasons:

Simcoe Day would be number one as it is Caribbana weekend and this holds great cultural significance for me. I have never worked this weekend as I feel it very important to my cultural heritage and it is time to celebrate and reflect. Also, August just happens to be my favourite month.

I would put Canada Day long weekend second as it is in the heart of summer and it is a time where there is so much going on in the city and although most are proud to be Canadian, I find that everybody stands a bit taller this weekend. I agree that the Blue Jays should always play home games on this weekend, especially seeing as they're the only Canadian team in baseball.

Labour Day

In hockey and basketball there is the anxiousness and buzz of the coming seasons; those teams can still win a championship at that point! The summer is coming to an end but the weather is usually still nice, still a great time to go down to the beach or harbourfront, enjoy a patio, play an outdoor sport. People are still fairly relaxed and in summer chill mode.

Victoria Day

Although still an excellent long weekend and much needed after a long winter, the weather is not necessarily hot at this time. People are still usually recovering from a long winter and dreary spring. The Raptors have been golfing for a while so you have cheer for another team. Ditto for you leaf fans (i'm a Pens fan so my team is usually still playing). The Blue Jays are starting to sink out of playoff contention and the city isn't really buzzing with any major festival or event at this time. Ya, BBQ'ing is good but it becomes even more enjoyable for the following long weekends when the weather is usually warmer!

[coachd]

HI Doug,
Can't believe that I'd ever post the following two words consecutively but "AIR SUPPLY "was definetely pretty close to the Bee Gees as a saccharine group.

[David in Oakville]

Balanced comments as always Doug. I think your point on Gray is a good one and I might add that Jose Calderon would be a likely starter for the Lakers over Sessions. I think a great example of finding the right fit is Tyson Chandler. How many times did he change teams before he found his niche alongside Dirk in Dallas. I think he was a better fit there than in NYC.

I have to admit, Saturday Night Fever was one of the very first albums I ever purchased (I was 13). I think disco is too easily maligned and more impactful on some of today's pop ad hip-hop music than it is given credit for. Listening to Junior Walker and the Allstars & Sly and the Family Stone over the years gave me a better appreciation of how music transitioned from RnB/Soul to Funk to Disco and back to soul. RIP Robin.

[Sharkey]

Simcoe Day has different names depending on where you are. I think in Quebec it's just called "Civic Holiday"

[Mike kovacs]

Doug how about that Champions League final? So many great stories on and off the field. Chelsea's win leads to huge disputes about who will coach them next year as well as kicks Tottenham out of Champions League and Newcastle out of Europa League.

[Striker 77]

I really enjoyed the Champs league final as well.. However, I am not a fan of what happened to Tottenham. I understand that the defending champs should be in the next year's league, but it is pretty unfair to the team that earned their spot, and now get relegated to the europa..

[james]

From his photograph, it is impossible to tell your colleague Cathal's age. He could be anywhere from 25 to 65. Did he ever see Eusebio play? Please tell him that as good as Drogba is (and he is very good), he is not Eusebio (who spearheaded Toronto's most forgotten championship as one of his minor accomplishments).

[David T (Ottawa)]

I'm not sure I picked up on whether B's comment about Barbosa was sarcastic or not. I didn't hear what Hibbert said, but can we put the "gave Barbosa up for nothing" talk to rest? Essentially, we gave the edge to Indiana in Barbosa negotiations (Bird rights + good will from a nice playoff run) for an extra asset (the second-round pick).

Barbosa is a free-agent with no guarantee he'd re-sign (think if a team like, oh, Indiana offered him $8mil/yr on July 1 at midnight) and now his contract is not on the books so if anything comes up before July 1, the Raps have the extra cap space to play with.

Don't get me wrong, I would have hoped for a first-round pick, but when it's the deadline and the phone calls are "second-round pick or nothing" and every other deal wants you to take on a contract you don't want, that makes it easy to pull the trigger. Good deal for a GM, tough deal for fan-base?

[Lorie]

Hi Doug,
You want to know who makes my ears bleed? One person and one person only: Celine Dion. And I've disliked her music with such intensity that I even read a book about public perception of both her and her music in an effort to help me understand my own issues with it. No kidding. It was a great read, though, entitled "Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste". The author - rock critic Carl Wilson - wrote this marvellous excerpt that sort of mirrors my own sentiments: "From the start, her music me as a bland monotony raised to a pitch of obnoxious bombast - R&B with the sex and slyness surgically removed, French chanson severed from its wit and soul...Oprah Winfrey -approved chicken soup for the consumerist soul, a neverending crescendo of personal affirmation deaf to social conflict and context." Yeah, that sort of mirrors my own thoughts. Basically, though, I always found her just way too loud. And the performer for whom this saying might have been created: Nothing exceeds like excess.
Cheers! Sunny, Victoria Day Gardening Ones!

[TLI]

Gee, the things you learn reading Toronto's basketball blog... born & bred in Ontario my whole life and never once heard of Simcoe Day until this. It's always been Civic Holiday or August Long Weekend for me & mine (in Sarnia, KW and London.)

Might warm up to it though - some very good associations with Simcoe. Thanks Doug!

[KD]

Here's a list; Top 5 favorite summer beers!
Personally I'd pick,
1. SOL
2.Blackthorn Cider
3.Sam Adams Summer Ale (best wheat beer)
4. Corona (of course)
5. Miller Chill (because you have to include a lemon/lime beer right?)

[Rob H]

Hey Doug,
Do you intend to have any IGBT's throughout the playoffs?

Blogger's note: At some point, yes

[doug]

that's why they play the games, no one knows whats going to happen especially come playoff time...series just ebb and flow, fun to watch....all i remember of the Bee Gees is the movie Sgt.peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, what a bad idea and worse movie....the one singer I don't get and can't understand his success is K.C. and the Sunshine band, just pure drivel....Camilla and Charles are in my hood tonight (as the younguns say), maybe I can get them to tip a pint on a patio, the throngs descending down here for the fireworks is unreal...me I just open my door step out on my deck and take it all in, and it surely is a superb fireworks extravaganza...any holidays with fireworks is alright in my books...cheers...

[Mike kovacs]

So the Magic do the expected and let Stan go, but also (finally) let Smith go. Unfortunately for them, until they either trade Dwight or he leaves next summer the rebuilding cannot begin.

[john]

As for Quebec celebrating Simcoe Day, perhaps he defeated them as well in the past and they would rather write it out of their history books. They don't celebrate Canada Day either.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

When I was on a work/study program in the early 70s, the little Dutch girl assigned to the bunk just the other side of the paper-thin walls from me in our student/worker shack had one cassette and one only: The Bee Gees... and I thought I might go entirely bonkers listening to freaking "Massachusetts" 136 times a freaking day. I finally had to break down and spring for a Cat Stevens cassette for the lass... just to help break the freaking monotony at least a tiny wee little bit (okay, and maybe score a point or two).
So, no, I've never been a keen Bee Gees (or Chipmunks, or disco) fan. And a big high five, @Peter in Italy... for dissing Abba and their uniquely fluffy ear-bleeding stuff.
On the other hand, now that I think of it, I do have one Bee Gees number on my iPod (no Abba, though!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykU8iSKkJR0&feature=related
Cheers. Go Thunder. In Beantown, meanwhile, it's definitely not The Night of the Iguodala.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Take a seat, LA. Take a bow, Derek Fisher.
The West finals should be incredible, but I think whoever comes out on top there will sweep whoever wins the East. Go Thunder.
Cheers. And make every series count, TOD.

[Mike]

After game 3 of Mia-Ind, I thought the Pacers were up 3-0 instead of 2-1 the way many in the media were reacting. Even by the usual standards of riding the wave of emotion and (over-) reacting to the results of the latest game, I thought the coverage was way over the top.

You can also count me as one who used to mock the Bee Gees. However, as the years have gone by I've grown to appreciate their music; I think it has stood the test of time unlike many other artists of the era. When you hear covers of their songs (e.g. John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover of "How Deep is your Love" - check it out on YouTube) or their compositions performed by other artists, you realize Barry Gibb wrote great songs, not just "disco" songs.