A special time, and a bad time to play a game

Inward-looking time, isn’t it?

I hope many of you sat around yesterday, or will sit around today, taking stock of what you have and being thankful for it.

I did a bit.

And came up with …

My family.

My friends.

My good health.

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Finally, we heard it.

Don’t recall the word coming up once the entire week in Halifax and when Dwane Casey uttered it Sunday after practice I kind of smiled.

Disposition!

Yes, we’d heard all about tempo and pace and getting quick shots and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and it almost made me think Dwane had lost his way.

Nope.

“We can’t lose that defensive identity and we want to make sure we keep the pedal to the metal on the defensive end.

“Being physical, having a tough disposition – ‘hey, you’re not going to score on me all night.’ That’s what we’re looking for.”

Whew!

It wasn’t as if I’d truly thought they’d given up on this whole “defence-first” thing that made them improve so much last season because I know Dwane knows that defence travels, if you’re solid at that end of the court you’ll be in almost every game.

And because I wonder if this team truly has the speed and firepower to out-score opponents, it’s hugely important that they continue to build the identity they started to get a season ago.

So tonight, when you’re watching (it’s on Raptors TV or whatever it’s called now) check out how they defend because that’s going to continue to be the most important part of this team.

Watch to make sure they are packing the paint and denying penetration and easy baskets at the rim; watch to see if they can force long-twos and that they get out to contest three-pointers; watch to see if they rebound and box out and hit people.

Yes, the up-tempo is fun if you’re playing a bad team that doesn’t get back and, yes, there are a lot of bad teams around; but that’s a bit of Fool’s Gold, good teams don’t let you do that; these guys have to stay true to their principles on the most important end of the court.

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Super Grandpa.

Super Brother.

Super Son practicing the Jungleland solo on the sax.

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Hey, Haligonians.

Thanks.

Really, outside of Treviso, this might have been the second-best training camp ever.

Great people, fine city, excellent selection of spots to visit.

The weather was outstanding, too, which was a very nice touch.

Loved The Henry House, enjoyed the music at The Old Triangle, the food at the Economy Shoe Shop and Alan Doyle was tremendous at the birthday party.

One thing, though:

Why in the world did you build the airport in New Brunswick?

Anyway, was an excellent week, hope we’re back again.

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Warm summer evenings at the ball yard.

Cool fall and winter nights courtside.

A gently faded 6-iron that nestles three feet below the hole.

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Contest time, sort of.

A first pre-season game against a relatively unknown European opponent at 7 p.m. on the last evening of Thanksgiving holiday weekend?

If they get a legit 7,000 people in the joint, I’ll be stunned.

What’s your guess? Winner gets to brag.

Seriously, though, wouldn’t it have been better, if you have to play on Thanksgiving Monday to play at noon or 1 p.m. or something like that?

It’s not as if Real Madrid’s coming off a back-to-back or anything like that; they played Saturday in Memphis and were in town last night (I presume Jose held some soiree with his guys) and probably wouldn’t have minded an afternoon game and a evening flight at all.

But for as a long as I can remember, they’ve played games on Thanksgiving Sunday or Monday – it’s just that time of year – and I guess it’s something we’ll deal with forever.

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A well-marbled, medium-rare ribeye.

A robust red.

Espresso.

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Do you think that when I wrote that pre-season piece about the Buffalo Bills and their new-found dedication to defence with all those tens of millions they spent on Mario Williams and whatever that we saw this coming?

New England 52, Bills 28

Six straight touchdowns in the second half a week ago.

San Francisco 45, Bills 3

Whatever it was in the second half and sieve-like run stoppage against a backup?

Yeah, I can find a story, can’t I?

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The places I’ve been.

The things I’ve seen.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.

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With camp Friday and Saturday coupled with a flight back (WestJet’s pretty darn good, I need to fly it more, I think) and then practice, writing and turkey on Sunday, it’s been hard to stay in touch completely with the baseball playoffs.

Saw a bit of Washington-St. Louis yesterday, caught a bit of Cincinnati-San Francisco Saturday night and the end of New York-Baltimore last evening.

And I will say this:

I don’t know entirely what the options would have been but I don’t think the team with the better record should ever open a playoff series on the road.

Yes, they still get three of the five games in the division series at home but I would think there’d be a better way to schedule it, wouldn’t you?

The travel might be hard but why not one-two-two if they don't want to stick with the traditional two-two-one?

Just seems you go all season to finish ahead of the other guy and you should get something for it, no?

Not sure how it’ll play out, or how married they are to the format long-term but don’t you think they should take a long look at it?

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A stool.

A friend across from the stool.

HD TV on the TV across the stool.

Irregulars.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

 

The end of the weekend mail

Big finish, folks.

Thanks.

And a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours; have fun with your families, even the old drunken uncle who spills stuff and makes everyone a touch uncomfortable.

Me?

I’m at practice most of the day, some turkey later and a game tomorrow. Fun? Wow!

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Q: Doug - in the years you have been watching and writing about basketball, what are some of the things you have seen that have made you say "Where the h... did that come from" or words to that effect. If anything ever did. You have probably seen just about everything but there must have been a few things. Personal things as most of us have seen the things like HWSNBN dunking in the Sydney Olympics. Things that didn't get much exposure on TV.

Thanks

Gerry T, Halifax

A: Wow, I’m trying to come up with three or four and it’s taxing the old brain here. I know that others will come to me as the day progresses and I thank you for bringing this us, it’ll be interesting to see what I recall and when.

I’m going to put that Carter dunk over Frederic Weiss at the top of the list, it was simply astonishing. I’ve never seen anything like it before or since, to tell you the truth.

Two more?

One was a Steve Nash pass and, yeah, he’s thrown a million of ‘em. But this one was about a 70-foot, one-handed bounce pass through about three guys that hit his teammate in stride and ended with a dunk. Can’t remember who did it, I was bug-eyed at the play.

The other? And this might be top of the non-game list for sure.

Standing at a press party before the 2000 Sydney Olympics at some race track.

There’s a bit of a commotion at the entrance, I wandered over to see what was going on and remember thinking:

Holy crap! That’s Muhammad Ali.

You know how they say the true greats have some kind of aura about them? I’ve felt it.

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Q: Hi Doug. What are your first impressions coming out of training camp? How does this year compare to previous training camps.

Monty M, Toronto

A: I can’t speak too much to the on-court stuff since all we’ve really seen in a scrimmage against each other but you can tell from that there’s a bit more read-and-react in the offence and they do want to get up the floor. But turnovers, as Dwane mentioned, are up and awful and that’s a problem.

But there is a sense of optimism and I don’t think you can deny they’ve upgraded the talent; how that translates to wins and losses remains to be seen.

And, sadly, we didn’t have a real training camp last year and two years ago is almost too far back to remember, or care about.

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Q: Hi Doug. Many of the Toronto TC fans are exasperated by the lack of hard questions being asked by the press at post-game and being apologists for the club's dysfunction. Many of us wonder what happened to investigative journalism.

Then someone mentioned that with so many sports team concentrated into one conglomerate, perhaps there was a fear that asking any hard questions could get a reporter blacklisted from all MLSE teams. How you ever felt that pressure when dealing with the Raptors? Is the muzzling of sports reporting on MLSE/Bell/Rodgers teams a legitimate worry of the fans?

Brad B, Ottawa

A: This really sticks in my craw, to tell you the truth.

I don’t know what you mean by “investigative journalism” because it’s not like there’s some malfeasance or cheating of the public purse going on. We ask questions about what happened, we do it respectfully because that’s the way true journalists work; we ask what happened and why and if there are follow up questions to be asked, we do.

I think you want us to rant and rave and yell and scream like fans; if you want that, I’d suggest more talk radio rather than the printed word – at least from this keyboard – because you’re not going to be satisfied. Sorry.

As for your “blacklisting” nonsense, it doesn’t happen. And no one – ever – has tried to “muzzle” anyone. Doesn’t happen.

So worry if you want because I don’t think anything I could possibly say would change your mind.

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Q: Hi Doug! So I've surreptitiously unchained myself from the shackles that have me as one with the stove (all this stuffing, kneading, beating, whipping...hey, if it were anything other than Thanksgiving Dinner Preparation, you'd almost think I was having some kind of naughty fun...) to ask you ever so kindly to please explain something to me.

I've just read the text of the Infield Fly Rule from The Official Baseball Rules and I still don't understand what happened in last night's game between the Cards and the Braves. Does this rule apply to balls hit in the outfield that are judged to be field-able (is that a word?) by an infielder? And based on your understanding of the rule, did the umpire make the correct call? And have you seen many games played "under protest", and have any game results ever been subsequently overturned?

Thanks! And Happy Thanksgiving to you and Super Family and Irregulars everywhere!

Lorie P, London

A: When I first saw that play – and it was a replay at full speed rather than live – my initial reaction was that they blew the call because I didn’t think the shortstop could have legitimately made a play on the ball facing home plate. But after seeing it a couple of more times, maybe he could have, which would have made it the right call regardless of where the ball was on the field. Tough judgement call and I guess when push comes to shove, I think it was the wrong one.

And, no, no game I’ve ever been involved in, or know about in basketball, has been over-turned on any protest.

It’s probably happened in baseball over the years but I don’t know when.

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Q: I saw Alex McKechnie being interviewed yesterday about Jonas. Alex seems to be respected by the Raptors coach and management. Based on Andrea last year and Jonas this year, I am wondering if Alec is too cautious and if he holds players back too long from injury. What are you hearing?

Dave B, Cornwall

A: What I’m hearing, and have heard for years, is that Alex is one of the most highly-respected trainers/sports science minds in the game; the Raptors are actually lucky to have him.

And Bargnani blew out of a calf, he needed many, many weeks off; Valanciunas has been on the shelf for, what, 10 days? There’s no issue here; none at all.

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Q: Hi Doug. I hope you have enjoyed your time in Halifax this week. I was wondering if, long term, the Raptors see their rookie, Terrence Ross, being more of a 3 or a 2? Also, I know its early, but have any of your NBA media colleagues informed you which of this past June's rookie class looks impressive in their respective team's training camp? Thank You.

Joe D, Mississagua

A: You know that I think most wings are interchangeable in many ways and that two-three or four-five discussions are those of semantics but, pressed, he’s a two right now; too slight and inexperienced to be a three.

And, yeah, it is early and I haven’t talked to a lot of guys and few of us have even seen a team play a pre-season game so it’s hard to pick rookies. I will, however, give you one to watch: guard Alexey Schved of Minnesota. Saw the Russian kid play in London and I think he could be good

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Q: Hey Doug, you talked briefly about Royce White and his fear of flying Dennis Bergkamp who played soccer for Arsenal and the dutch national team (known as "the non-flying dutchman")and both Arsenal and his national team allowed him to travel by car and train. Also considering there are a lot of unrestricted free agents and some will get traded, who do you think will be the biggest unrestricted free agent moving teams/asking for a trade?

Pedro S, Lisbon

A: Thanks for the tip on Bergkamp, much appreciated and not something I knew.

And it’s too early to even think about trades; let’s get a quarter of the season under our belt, see how teams develop and we’ll think about it again.

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Q: Do you think its ridiculous the number of times MLB teams have a wet clubhouse celebration as they advance into and through the playoffs? I certainly do.

Rob R, Vancouver

A: No, not really. Some teams might go a bit over the top but if, for instance, it’s their biggest accomplishment in years or the culmination of a stunning reversal of fortune like Baltimore, Washington or Oakland, why not have fun with it?

The start of the weekend mail

Slow week here, folks.

Got a few left over for the morning but there’s still all kinds of room. You know the drill, if you want.

Have fun with this and one thing:

Alan Doyle can flat out warble.

Helluva birthday party.

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Q: Finally, the TOD show some team speed, unfortunately it was on the way to YYZ. Speaking of speed, was pleased to read the HOTH are working on an up tempo offense but I'm tired of all the corporate rhetoric. We still have a top ten ticket price with a bottom third product. Hey but I'm guilty. I'll drink coach Casey's cool aid. Can his high demands be sustained for a full season?

John C, Hazelville

A: I wonder if they can, actually. I know they’re talking a big game and they probably can push the tempo a little bit but it’s hard to do (a) against good teams that get back on defence and (b) would probably be helped by creating turnovers and that’s not this team’s strength.

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Q: Hi Doug. With regards to the football injuries, I don't think it will get any better until you remove the pads and make them play like rugby and Australian rules guys do. It also has the advantage of allowing the fans to connect more easily with players because they can see their faces. Thoughts?

Rodger H, St. George

A: I like both of those games quite a bit but they aren’t ever going to replace football over here, it’s too engrained in the sporting culture.

I’m sure there will be the odd teenage athlete who might take up rugby rather than play football but can’t see it putting a dent in anything.

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Q: Hey Doug Just wondering what you think about the Royce White dilemma down in Houston. Ever seen anything like it before?

Brett F, Lethbridge

A: To all the others who asked a similar question, we’ll use this one.

I don’t know of a similar situation in NBA history, actually, and if there’s one out there, I’d love to hear about it.

I think it’s a very difficult situation (the details are here in Jonathan’s piece) and I laud the Rockets for trying to find some solution. And White’s candor has been refreshing, I hope it works out and serves as an inspiration to others who suffer a similar malady. That’s not just in basketball or sports, either; if someone who suffers from the same illness as White can say “hey, an NBA player is dealing with it, why can’t I?” some true good will have been done.

That said, it’s going to be tremendously difficult for this to work for an entire season, I think. The NBA travel is difficult and that’s travelling in charter aircraft and having every road whim dealt with. I hope White can put up with the long bus rides all season, I don’t know that he will.

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Q: During the Yunel Escobar situation I noticed a few times a discussion of the use of translators to ensure proper communication and I wondered if anything similar exists in basketball. With players from all over the world, I can imagine some coming to the NBA with less than perfect English. Is there ever a case where the team provides help, especially in the first couple of years in North America?

What about from a grunt's perspective, it seems like Valanciunas has no problem communicating, but is that always the case? Ever have to interview a translator :-)?

Neil S, Thornhill

A: Oh, teams help all the time. They help set up translators – the Rockets had one travel full time with Yao Ming for at least a couple of seasons, same with Denver and Nene back a few years ago.

And, yes, I’ve interviewed translators in those two instances.

The Raptors have been the same. They helped Jose and Andrea get acclimated – neither had translators but could have if they wanted – and they did set up Jonas with some English lessons last season in Lithuania because they wanted him as comfortable as possible when he got here.

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Q: Curious to know if that 1,300 pound rock is still around? Did it get any love on media day? Looking forward to a full season of Raptors basketball.

Andrew S, Toronto

A: The rock is indeed still around, although it didn’t travel here. And media day was on the main concourse of the arena, the rock’s down in the locker room so we haven’t had a chance to visit it yet.

Monday we will.

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Q: Doug, 3 questions, 1st 2 related at the end:

It seems the Raps have an overload of players at the 4 spot. With Acy and McGuire coming in with new blood, who do you think will be the odd man out?

I am pumped about Lowry and think that Lucas III can provide good energy off the bench. Will Calderon fit in this new fast-paced, up tempo offense?

With what seems as extra players at both the 1 and 4, how likely is a trade before too long?

Thanks

Mike H, Toronto

A: I don’t think either Acy or McGuire will play basically at all, actually. Maybe McGuire a wee bit in some specific defensive instances but that’s about it.

And I’m quite sure Jose is capable of playing whatever way they want him to.

Trade? Don’t imagine any team anywhere doing anything for probably the first 20 games of the regular season and the fact is, there are always going to be ‘extra players” on a 15-man roster regardless.

It'll be a change that might take some getting used to

So, five practices in, two practices to go and we all wonder where the lads are at this early point in a long, long season.

Well, since we don’t see nearly enough of practice ourselves, I have to go on information provided by people who are in the gym and conversations we have and all I can say is the over-riding emotion right now is cautiously optimistic, like it was before the whole process began.

Dwane’s been lamenting the number of turnovers and, as one fellow told me “they’re throwing the ball all over the gym” but I guess that’s to be expected a little bit at this time of this season.

If Dwane’s entirely committed to changing the offensive system to some kind of up-temp style – not Seven Second Or Less but at least at something that tries to take advantage of opportunities to push the ball – it’s going to take some time for the players to get used to it.

And it’s going to be ugly at times as they try to force things rather than sit back and wait to patiently execute what they want to do.

I’m dubious, to tell the truth.

Sure, it’s all well and good to try and score easy baskets in transition – every team in the history of the game has wanted to do that – but if you don’t have the horses, and I wonder if these guys do, it’s not something that can be forced.

I just wonder how long it will last; or if we’ll be hearing a month or two into the season that the turnovers are too high, too many opponents are getting too many easy baskets and they need to slow down a bit and take better care of the ball.

Other than that, the information is as expected:

Amir Johnson looks pretty good; Fields is as smart a player as they’ve had in a very long while and DeRozan’s being pushed hard every day by the likes of Ross and even the likes of Dom McGuire and Chris Wright and DeRozan does look a bit more aggressive.

But that’s what you’d expect to hear, I’m kind of anxious to see them Monday night against Madrid to get a close, personal look at them. It won’t be a telltale test – first exhibition games never are – but it’ll be interesting.

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How about this!

We’ve somehow now finagled tickets to this big old Alexander Keith’s birthday bash (a guy knows a guy who knows a guy and the hours some people have put in at this joint called the Lower Deck has paid off) and I can’t think of a better way to end a week than that. I'm hearing that ALan Doyle of Great Big Sea will be playing so that's an entirely added bonus.

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I now firmly believe Mike Trout should retire today to hasten his entrance into the Hall of Fame five years hence.

That’s all.

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Right.

Mail. Please.

And a spot to go answer questions this afternoon, please. Somewhere close. Thanks. And maybe somewhere I can watch at last the start of the ball games, which will be one by Atlanta and Texas, by the way.

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Just in case you care, I will say with great confidence that the Henry House here – the joint once owned by Father of Confederation William Alexander Henry that I mentioned the other day – might be the best pub I’ve ever been to in Canada.

It’s got great history, a quiet basement, a great variety of taps, excellent food and an atmosphere that’s just basically good.

And what it doesn’t have makes it even better:

No TVs.

Yeah, I know, a stool and a game and some company is a fine way to while away some time but there’s something to be said for a very cool joint where you have to talk to the people you’re with and can’t get lost in the haze of a TV.

Anyway, if you get here and don’t go, you’ll have missed something.

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Now, after Jack and I hung at Henry House for a while – and if you’re talking bar conversations and fun and a great way to spend time you can’t go wrong with Jack – there was a pit stop at a sports bar to meet some others and watch some football because there’s a huge interest in USC from one of ‘em.

(Not sure if that carries over to the basketball program run by the one and only Kevin O’Neill; we shall see).

My back’s to the TV with the game while I’m talking with The First Lady Of The Beat but when I did glance up at the NFL game on the dozens of other screens, there was a guy lying motionless on the field and it was just about the breaking point for me and football.

I mean this guy looked like he was done, face down, no movement at all and I’m thinking, do I really need to pay attention to this stuff? Is it worth it? Is that guy ever going to get up?

I’m finding it more and more off-putting every time I see something like that and it’s happening so often, I wonder if there aren’t others like me who wonder if it’s worth paying attention to any more?

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A great story falls too far under the radar

We should probably be a bit ashamed.

I haven’t seen the newspapers back there on a daily basis this week but if Miguel Cabrera hasn’t been at the top of page one this week it’s a terrible call because what the Detroit Tigers slugger has accomplished this week is simply stunning and might be the best story of the summer, outside of all those Olympians, of course.

A Triple Crown?

Come on. That’s huge.

I know there are all kinds of advance analytic folks out there who might downplay the significance of winning the RBI, home run and batting titles because it doesn’t fit into WAR or OPS or whatever the new thing is but to them I have just one thing to say:

There’s no hope for them.

What Cabrera did hasn’t been done in 45 years – and Yaz’s Triple Crown came in the first year a young would-be grunt started watching baseball so it’s always in the corner of the mind – and winning a Triple Crown would be awful close to the top of the list of the most difficult milestones in all of professional sports.

We all should search out good stories in sports when we can, we shouldn’t put aside the bad ones we see all too often but we truly need to celebrate the good.

What Cabrera did – 44 homers, a .330 batting average, a stunning 139 RBIs – was nothing short of amazing. He did it in a time of relief-pitching specialists, hard travel and long seasons, he did it with no hint of help from the outside, he did it for a playoff-bound team and he did it far too quietly.

There is a debate, I’m told, about whether Cabrera should win the American League MVP or whether Mike Trout of the Angels should get an MPV-rookie of the year double.

All I can say is: “You’ve to be kidding.”

I don’t think there should even be much debate; I’m sure Trout is an excellent baseball player who did wonderful things for his team but what Cabrera did hasn’t been done in more than four decades, it may not satisfy the sabremeticians out there but there is no denying the numbers, the historical significance of his season or the fact his team playing tomorrow and Trout’s isn’t.

The story didn’t get nearly the attention it should have over the last week but when they next update the history of baseball, Cabrera’s name is going to be there next to some of the best players ever because of what he did. And I’m sure some fans will say, ‘hey, I should have paid more attention.’

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Okay, I’m told there’s a chance we’ll be at some bash Friday night where the lead singer of Great Big Sea will be performing -- -- more on that in the morning when we get some details but Haligonians have to let us know if it’ll be a good time – so …

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So we’re talking to Dwane yesterday after the morning practice and it’s the usual drill. We have stories we’re trying to the reporting for and everyone’s asking specific questions in search of good quotes.

And he, of course, is playing along because he knows what we do and what we need but he’s also got something he wants to get out there.

With almost every answer, he throws in a shot about the team’s propensity for turnovers during the scrimmages and you could tell he was an unhappy camper.

“It was a good day; love our effort, love our spirit but way too many turnovers. One thing when you play fast, and we’re trying to up-tempo the game there becomes a responsibility with the ball and everyone’s guilty of it and it’s natural but that’s the only thing I’m saying we’re behind on is taking are of the ball and making sure we make the right basketball play, the smart basketball play.

“The effort is there; it’s one of those things we’re doing to have to grow into, playing at a high tempo. Every drill we run is on a clock and that heightens the situation and with that, we were just too careless with the ball.”

He made the same point about three more times in a 10-minute interview so you know what he’ll be hammering home today when they get together.

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That’ll teach me.

I laud the Canada Games Centre as very good out here; we drag our sorry selves out there Tuesday morning only to find the coffee machine at the Subway is busted.

Grrrr.

(I know, Subway coffee probably isn’t considered coffee in any way, shape or form but, still)

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Okay, not many outside of Halifax will care but if you spend part of an afternoon at Maxwell’s Plum finding out all about Propeller Pilsner and then find your way to the Split Crow for some music, you’ve had a very good day.

And with only one practice today, am open to suggestions for late this afternoon and this evening. I can be talked into almost anything and it doesn’t appear like news will break out so what have you got?

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You know, I understand players associations and the need for “process” and all that but, really.

The NBA announced it’s new policy and penalties for flopping and seconds later, it seemed, the players association announced it was going to grieve it.

The penalties aren’t too harsh, although they are more punitive for flopping than they are for amassing technical fouls but if it even results in one guy thinking he’d rather not flop than give the league some of his money, it works.

I’m not entirely sure it will work – I don’t imagine in the heat of a game any notorious flopper will consider not doing it because of the consequences – but I’d hope that, eventually, the message will sink in that it’s not part of the game and won’t be tolerated.

As I mentioned last weekend in the mail, I think a post-game review might be the most workable solution; I don’t want to slow down any game with something like a coaches challenge that goes to replay, I think the referees in real time miss the most nuanced flops too often but I can understand why they do at full speed and, maybe, in the long run, this is the best way to handle it.

I don’t expect flopping to leave the game entirely but this is a good first step to lessening its impact on the games.

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That time again.

And since I am 1,000 per cent sure I can find a friendly spot somewhere for a couple of afternoon hours with comfy stools and new beverages, there’s nothing like killing a few hours with mail.

Ask to your heart’s content.

Click. Write. Send.

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Of leading, best and worst camps and, yes, a real pub

If you’re hoping to get some great insight into how these guys look in drills and scrimmages and the like, you might end up disappointed this week.

As usual – and this is pretty much NBA-wide – the baying media is kept outside until the final few minutes of each practice session and we might catch some shooting drills and that’s about it.

And they haven’t really done enough for any my spies to let me know precisely who looks bad, who looks good and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

We do know that Kyle Lowry is emerging as perhaps the most vocal on-court these guys have had in years and he’s more than willing to let his teammates know when things go awry.

“You just be yourself, you don’t do anything you’re not accustomed to doing, you go out there and be yourself,” he said. “If you’re yourself, people are going to respect you … you’re not trying to do anything extra.”

And doing it in the right way is the only way to go about it. No teammate likes to be chewed out, no matter how briefly or how legitimately and if Lowry is to continue down this road, he’d better learn quickly who he can push and who he has to cajole.

It’s hard reading personalities, he doesn’t have an awful lot of experience with this group and it’s a rather dodgy proposition.

“Kyle does it in a respectful way, and that’s what’s important,” was how Casey put it. “You have to treat your teammates with respect but he does hold guys accountable. That way I don’t lose my voice."

Basketball teams, any sports team for that matter, are delicate ecosystems; Lowry’s got a tough job ahead of him and I wonder if his personality is such that he can delivered hard messages softly, if need be.

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Okay.

You know me and pubs, right? Well, I’m not a fan of faux ones at all, you know the prefab ones we see to often at home where they try to replicate old ones.

Imagine my delight when – thanks to an Irregular or two – I stumbled upon The Henry House here last evening. Forget the great fish and chips and the delightful Ringwood ale (a pale blond from the Granite Brewery), the joint’s about a 120-year-old former home of Father of Confederation William Alexander Henry, still in pretty much its original state with walls of local ironstone and granite blocks that were originally ballast on the ships that sailed here from Britain.

Now, that’s a pub.

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Speaking of …

A gaggle of us, First Lady Of The Beat and Two Others I Don’t Have Names For Yet wander down the road to the Old Triangle in search of Celtic music I’m told we can hear.

Imagine our delight when we found a group of about nine sitting around a table in an informal jam session; could of flutes, quiet but very good music and it was like dropping into someone’s kitchen.

And check out the pic The First Lady snapped of them?

Yes, it might have been a bit like creeping but what the heck. And, no, you don’t often see a guy with a big old Montreal Expos tattoo on the back of his upper arm, do you?

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We’re in a nice little complex known as the Canada Games Centre on the outskirts of the city somewhere (about a $25 cab ride as the Tall Foreheads will come to know) and it’s got pretty much everything we need.

A big enough room with excellent wireless to work; a huge gym with three courts that affords us another room to get guys away form the crowd if we want; a Subway across the hall from the media room if we get puckish and I’m told the Crack Raptors PR Staff may have coffee and donuts this morning.

Has to be near the top of the list as far as facilities going which got me thinking.

Best Camps

Treviso

The front yard of the hotel was a freaking vinyard and we were n Italy. Won’t ever be a better one. Can’t happen.

Ottawa

Great city, great facility at Carleton, great time. Would go back in a second if the Raptors brass is asking, as it should.

Vancouver

Yeah, we were a zillion kilometers away by staying downtown but the UBC campus was nice; the three-hour time difference was a pain.

Worst Camps

Barrie

No offence to the hometown of Super Wife but way back in the mid-90s, there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Camp in a cavernous arena was odd, too.

St. Catharines

Except for the fact we stayed in Niagara Falls and once had an epic night at the Highland Tap involving The Legendary Mike Strange, Jagermeister and a napping grunt, the fact the work room at Brock was a storage closet made it less than memorable.

Toronto

Camp. At. Home.

‘Nuff said.

It was the KO year, should have known it might not end well.

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Daily Valanciunas update?

Sure.

He worked on the side with Alex McKechnie for a lot of yesterday, he might do some legit on-court work the end of the week and there’s one thing Dwane is getting from the big fella, at least.

“We’re not going to rush him back, when he’s ready, they’ll let us know, probably closer to the end of the week.

“He’s doing a great job of paying attention to what we’re doing, the No. 1 thing is he has to learn the terminology. He knows the actions defensively, we just have to learn the terminology.”

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I’m pretty sure this iPhone thing I have can land Skylab if I asked it and there are all kinds of buttons and apps that I should know how to use.

But the battery sucks, it dies too fast, and if you’re sitting around a table having a lovely evening and someone who wants to join you can’t reach you, a fella gets miffed.

Take that, Apple.

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So, Haligonians? Where am I going tonight after work?

I did see what looked like a very cool all-day breakfast/coffee house up the road that might provide an afternoon respite while journalism is being committed.

Other than that … whatcha got?

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Man, I wish the Dodgers had won last night, there’s nothing like a last-day-of-the-season playoff chase to watch closely. All we’ve got now, I guess, is Yankees and Orioles and we need a New York loss and a Baltimore win to get us a tie and since the Yanks kind of stole one last night with a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth and an extra inning win, am thinking the fates may deny is much drama today.

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Oh oh. It might get loud at the start of practices

Oh, great.

Rap music at practice? Please, tell me no.

That’s one of Dwane’s ideas and while you have to give him credit for being NBA-innovative, I’m sure hoping he sticks to his original plan and only allows it during stretching or the early part of practice, when the grunts are either sitting in the hall waiting or driving to some arena.

The idea comes from a visit he made for a couple days to the Seattle Seahawks training camp, kind of a professional development outing for him at his summer place.

Casey and the Seahawks punter are neighbours, Dwane was invited to spend a couple of days observing because he wanted to see how other teams in other sports do things – kind of a cool and smart idea – and he was surprised to see coach Pete Carroll allow blaring music during practice.

“Coach Carroll’s philosophy is these guys listen to music the minute they walk off the field anyway and it gets them going and it gets me going as a coach so that’s something we may look at as far as stretching … I don’t know if I can go the whole practice or not.”

Whew!

Of course, it might not be music I’d like; or that Dwane would feel entirely comfortable with.

“I told DeMar and Ed to pick out some clean rap music … I’m kind of a country and western guy being from Kentucky but to pick out some good music where they can get loose to, whatever it takes.”

Not sure precisely how workable it is but any coach willing to give it a shot seems to be pretty open to change.

“I want to be innovative and try new things, there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

Casey also came away impressed with how an NFL staff handles its duties on a daily basis, saying they are way ahead of the curve compared to any other North American pro sports coach.

“What I’d like to do in future is take my staff and maybe spend a whole week … it was very rewarding for me and clarified what I’m teaching and how I try to teach and things that I do.

“I would recommend any coach … to go and watch an N FL practice and see how meticulous they are with technique, footwork, and how they really utilize the clock.”

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No rap, please.

But if Case wants to go with his first love, I dare him to do this:

Nothing like a little Patsy Cline to start an NBA practice (that’s country and western, isn’t it?)

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Not sure which Irregular gave us the Economy Shoe Shop up on Argyle but The First Lady Of The Beat and I were quite impressed with a cool pub with no TVs and life jazz on a Monday night. Solid food, good selection of taps and when the Other Two Grunts arrived after a long day of writing and travel, it was a fine opening night to the road.

Thanks.

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So, media day.

It was what it always is, a series of never-ending scrums with a few hoary clichés and players running hither and yon doing scrums and photo shoots and all the mundane stuff that goes with the first day.

I didn’t get a chance to listen to all the scrums because it’s a much a time for me to schmooze and try to find out some interesting storylines to explore in the next little while but John Lucas III was pretty entertaining; Jonas seemed a bit taken aback by the scope of it and everyone else was on their best behaviour.

Damn.

And it struck me that there were more of us around which I believe has as much to do with the proliferation of social media sites as it does the absence of pucks. Didn’t see single hockey-centric scribbler at all; but it’s early.

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I’ve got two hours, 56 minutes as the over-under on today’s first practice and since they tell us we’ve got a nice room to hang out in at the Canada Games Centre and a place for coffee and lunch in the building, I’m quite fine with that.

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Only bit of quasi-news?

Bryan is talking to DeMar’s agent about an extension – it has to be done by Oct. 31 – but I wonder if it’ll get done.

Or whether it should, actually.

From Bryan:

“I have spoken to his agent multiple times over the last several weeks to start to establish a dialogue, a concrete dialogue and a meaningful dialogue with respect to whether or not it’s going to work out from a timing perspective for both sides.

“We’ve also agreed that should we not come to a conclusion with respect to an extension at this time, clearly it’s not the end of the world. We may have to grow together more before that deal is imminent.”

I think it’s time for prudence and to see where DeMar goes this season before you think about locking him up for any length of time.

I like many aspects of his game but he’s got room for improvement and I’m not sure tying him up for years and years right now is prudent.

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I’m not sure how the four of us four a hotel steps from the Alexander Keith’s brewery but if that’s not fortuitous housing, I don’t know what is.

Yes, work could very well get in the way (two practices, writing in between) and I have other spots to get to but an afternoon between practices taking a tour sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?

And I'm told it's Alexander's birthday this week; that isn't fraught with peril, is it?

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You know, normally I’d be all excited to sit on a stool and watch some baseball every night this week but the pennant and wild card races really have fizzled, haven’t they?

Too bad, it’s usually such a great time of the year.

But since there’s only one practice Thursday, I was really hoping for a playoff game; looks like I’m going to have to wait until Friday and hope a nice Irregular Haligonian will give me a good sports bar to sit and watch games in, if I get the chance.

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Great drama and the dawn of a new season; what a day!

Yes, I know I said last week that the Ryder Cup held little allure for me because of the over-the-top nature of the fans – and too often the players – turned what should be a gentle game into an us-against-them morass and golf’s not a team sport anyway.

Well, that still holds – if I hear ‘U-S-A, U-S-A’ again one more time any time I may barf – but there was no disputing the drama that unfolded for almost an hour late yesterday afternoon when the competition was decided.

As pure sports theatre goes, it was tremendous and reminded me why we should all like games and competitions: For the drama, the intensity and the look it gives us into the makeup of athletes who ply their crafts at levels of accomplishment none of us is likely to ever reach.

We learn who can seize the moment and who shies from it; who can summon the nerve to make the big shot or big play when so much is riding on it.

Sports – especially one-on-one, I’ll-take-my-best-shot-you-take-yours events– is a wonderful, dramatic, up-lifting thing at times. For every dreadful regular season game you must suffer through, there are moments like yesterday that remind us of how good it can be.

It was entertaining and dramatic and real and you cannot baet that.

Of course, there will be talk today and there was last night that the Americans choked, that no way they should have blown a four-point lead playing at home in 11 singles matches on the final day of such a significant competition.

Well, I’m not really buying that, to tell you the truth.

Maybe it’s just me but I tend to believe the Europeans won rather than that the Americans lost; I’ll remember Justin Rose’s final three holes – tough par and match-winning birdies – and I’ll remember Martin Kaymer’s Cup-winning putt, which was as pressure-packed a golf stroke as he will make in his life.

I’m sure there were more than a handful of bad American shots over the day – and I came late to the show because I figured it was going to be entirely drama-free so I missed a bunch of early play – but the story is the team that won, rather than the team that didn’t.

It’s awful early now – about 5:35 a.m. as I type these particular paragraphs – so I haven’t had a chance to read through all the hand-wringing pieces that must be emanating from south of the border today.

But I also think most of them will miss the point.

The Europeans won the Ryder Cup and should be lauded for it.

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Do you know it’s exactly 40 years and three days since Paul Henderson scored that goal?

Hope the parade’s over before I get down to media day.

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Right.

Media Day!!!!

Everyone pumped?

It will be, I imagine, as much, it not more, of a zoo than in usual years; it’s a day when the players run through a series of photo shoots and public service announcement recordings (Hi, I’m Joe Blow and you’re watching the Raptors on some station) and every now and then a scrum will break out.

It’s impossible to get anything really good or any one-on-one time with any player and, trust me, the stories that emerge will all be boilerplate stuff rattled off by rote.

To whit:

“We have a lot of talent on this team, why wouldn’t we be in the playoffs?”

“I can’t wait to get started for real and start building some on-court chemistry.”

“We’re going to focus on defence and rebounding and put in some new offensive stuff.”

“We’re all excited, we brought in some good talent in the summer.”

“Jonas is day-to-day, there’s no firm timetable but we’re going to make sure he’s 100 per cent.”

“Halifax? Where’s that?”

“I just want to do whatever coach Casey wants me to do.”

“Who do you write for again?”

“Our goals have changed, we want to challenge seriously for the playoffs.”

“It’ll be important for us to have a full training camp and pre-season after last year.”

And so on and so on.

The challenge – and it’s virtually impossible to meet today – is to get something genuinely interesting, something that provides some insight into these guys.

With a new season upon us, it’s time to once again take stock of what we do every day; do we just mimic what everyone’s doing, go through the Xs and Os and stuff like that? Sure, that’s the meat and potatoes and has to be taken care of in some manner. But the good stories are the ones about the people, who they are, why they are like they are, what got them to this point. Those are the stories you deserve, games and practices and the day-to-day minutia is okay but it’s routine; we’re going to try to get past that if it’s possible.

That can’t be done every day, it’s a function of the time it takes to develop stories so if there are days here that are more boring and basic than others, that’s unfortunate but it can’t be helped.

We will, as always, do our best. That’s about all you can ask.

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Okay, Haligonians.

We’re coming.

Whatcha got?

(And be mindful the days are long with the two practices and some of us have to be up early in the morning to type)

Thanks.

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I never had the pleasure of meeting Barbara Ann Scott, nor did I ever see her skate competitively but she might have been the first Canadian female athlete I ever heard of and I would imagine youngsters today are at least familiar with the name.

She passed away on the weekend, 84 years old, and if you’re going to be at all concerned or interested in Canadian sports history, hers is a story you should learn.

RIP.

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Hey, what’s anyone know about WestJet; that’s how we’re venturing off to Halifax and I don’t know that I’ve ever had the pleasure.

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