And off into obscurity a national team stumbles

Of course it had to happen and anyone surprised that Canadian soccer coach Stephen Hart resigned yesterday hasn’t been paying attention.

No, you can’t coach heart or effort or responsibility and he’s not fully responsible for the debacle of this week but resigning was the honourable thing to do, I suppose.

But it, and the dreadful result in Honduras, now sets in motion a scenario I’m quite familiar with concerning national teams who fail to achieve anything of significance.

They drift far, far, far out of the consciousness of most people and the vicious circle of trying to regain some kind of image continues.

Saw it with the men’s basketball, know it’s going to happen with the soccer.

They won’t play a game of importance for at least 18 months – all the good teams will be involved in the World Cup, no one will want to come to Canada to play – the team will lose money and profile until the next round of qualifying starts in four years or so.

Making matters worse is that the women will continue their ascension in the public eye, thanks to the 2015 World Cup in Canada and the men will be even more of an afterthought. And on those rare occasion when casual fans think of the team, they’ll think of the failures and the success of the women and the men will drift further into obscurity.

Failing at such a grand level takes years to recover from because, to many normal people it’s a fringe sport at best and not having a game of importance makes them irrelevant.

Sure, ardent fans will still pay a bit of attention to the odd friendly and may track Canadians playing in Europe but the job of fund-raising and awareness-raising is almost imposslble at any major level for years.

The basketball got it back through dynamic leadership and the emergence of a fine group of young players; not sure if that can happen with the soccer.

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Sunday.

Hamilton.

Am entirely jealous of Super Son and Super Wife, who’ll be at Copps when I’m on a long road trip.

And this is a great, great tune. Dare you to listen and not tap your toes.

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Was checking in on some pre-season NBA games while sitting there watching the baseball and happened to notice Andre Drummond got four fouls in 10 minutes and had no impact on the Pistons game.

Just sayin’.

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Mail?

Would love some. Today’s going to be busy with shootarounds, likely a stop at some good deli here and then an early story to write but I’m good for a couple of hours of answering.

Click. Write. Send.

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Okay, maybe this is just me and the wacky way my mind works but I’m watching Tim Lincecum pitch last night and there’s one thing I can’t get out of my mind:

Sidd Finch.

Seriously, quite aside from the fact Lincecum is no longer overpowering, or particularly effective, there’s something there, isn’t there?

Now, I’m pretty sure a lot of you have never heard of Sidd Finch so the original story about him is here, read carefully, it’s one of the best magazine articles you’ll ever read.

As for Lincecum, it’s quite amazing what’s gone on; not sure there’s a true parallel to Ricky Romero for a guy who just seems to have lost great stuff but it’s close.

This was the Freak, a guy with the quirky deliver and awesome stuff who was dominant.

Now? Now he’s a shell of his former self and nowhere close out our friend Finch.

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I (Heart) Porter and the island airport and I really need that airline to fly to a few more American cities so I can use it more often.

Quick check-in, great location, no over-bearing security.

Dream spot, actually.

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I think there were two or three Irregulars who gave me McLean’s Pub as a settling point last night and for that I am eternally grateful.

Food was good, music on the jukebox was outstanding, location couldn’t have been any better and side-by-side TVs showing the baseball and the football made it a fine evening.

Got a nice corner seat on the bar right by the service area and after a 40-minute wander around downtown (nice city you’ve got here) was a perfect respite.

Thanks.

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So what’s up with the Raptors?

Not an awful lot, some predictable bumps and bruises that are complicating matters a little bit but other than that, not a whole lot going on.

About the only thing we’re waiting for is when they’ll carve the roster to its final 15 and with the need for warm bodies for practice, I don’t imagine there’s any rush to get that done.

And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what that final 15 will look like – barring any trades and there is nothing going on in that regard that’s even close to serious – given what we’ve seen to this point.

Jamaal Magloire hasn’t played and I imagine we’re just a few days away from him moving into some kind of coach/mentor/community guy with the organization, a roll he’s perfectly suited for, and Jerel McNeal and Chris Wright will try to catch on in the D League, I’d guess.

That leaves the predicted 15 and things can get settled and into the routine.

Don’t know when the moves will be made though; with lots of practice days (Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday next week) they could very well wait until after the Memphis game to get them done.

(Of course, in the world of Doug’s Jinxes, there’ll probably be a press release about them tomorrow).

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Hey, pucks people.

Don’t despair much.

I know in your hearts you figured there’d be a deal yesterday, or at least an all night bargaining session but that’s not the way these things tend to work.

Sorry.

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Comments

[doug]

@Lori you raise a valid point....as i never was flustered by much or tended to and still do tend to take things in stride...well I was 19 when I met my late,great,spectacular wife who i miss more then I even realize...well the first time I saw her as she was my sisters friend, she not only took my breath away but I felt like I'd been hit by a sledge hammer...well I always made sure i was around when she was (my dad later admitted to me he was amused by watching me as he said you frankly didn't care about that that much, but all of a sudden he noticed I was more then interested in sisters schedule, Dad's know))......well after I got up the nerve to ask her out, we'd go to dinner and I was a growing young man who loved to eat as all teenage boys do...well with her my stomach was in knots, I couldn't eat she'd ask me whats wrong I'd slough it off.....she just had me under this spell, plus I was a blubbering idiot (again not ever lost for words)....after we went out for a bit as "friends" we went our separate ways for whatever reasons...well she had a new b.f. after a bit, as for me not a steady g.f. as i was biding my time as I knew her and him would break up....we always talked on the phone or kept in touch...after a couple years sure enough they broke up, a couple days later we went out for dinner (still i couldn't eat right)...couple months later engaged.....and when I told my parents who shed a tear? not my mom but my dad as he said I never saw anyone as in love or determined as I was to he with her....so I get the not eating part, it was something I had no control over, something else was at work there and she still gives my stomach fits to this day when i think of her....ok cheers...

[D-Mac Ottawa]

@doug, Congratulations. On pretty much everything. Not everyone can say they've been around the block, but the ones who have, have seen some things, done some things, know some things, and have real stories to tell. You've been around a couple very long blocks. And that Stevie Ray clip was awesome. I hope to get to the El Mo one day. Cheers.
Go Raps!