One FIBA idea that works, and a second I'm not sure about

Those crazy fellows at FIBA are at it again.

Less than a week after some cockamamie half-baked idea to ruin the qualification process for the world championships and the Olympics (it’s somewhere in here) they were at it again yesterday.

They want to increase the number of teams in the Olympics to 16 from 12 and they are going to petition the IOC to add three-on-three basketball as a full medal sport in time for the 2016 Rio Games.

The first move I’m all for, as long as the four teams they add come through some solid qualification process like another “last-ditch” tournament rather than going strictly by geography because that way you get teams with no real reason to be in the Games.

Yes, it will add cost to hosting the Games – FiBA figures organizers will need a second arena to get the tournaments in (and if they add four men’s teams, they better add four women’s) – but it will enhance the tournament and provide better overall competition to the marquee spectacle of the Olympics.

That’s not to mention it would probably help Canada get there, the qualification process now is hugely difficult, and that can’t be a bad thing for our patriotic bent.

There is precedent for the IOC to allow 16 teams despite their alleged limit of 12 per “team” event; the men’s soccer tournament has 16 teams and that seems to work out quite well.

I’m all for more, better basketball games at the Olympics; this is a way to accomplish that.

The three-on-three thing?

Hard to get behind, actually.

It’s beach volleyball for basketball, a bastardized version of the game without the uniqueness of being outside in the elements.

(I'm told the world tour and championships have been outside, which is a mitigating factor but, still ...)

Yes, it probably is good for kids to play because it promotes all around skill development but in an Olympic program already bloated with dubious sports, I think it’s more a niche game that should be played at FIBA world championships rather at the Olympics.

I can hear some of the screams now: “Hey, Smith, you were all over beach volleyball and it’s a bastardized version of that sport, what’s your issue with three-on-three basketball.”

Simple.

There are enough differences – in style of play, strategy, venue – between beach volleyball and the indoor game that makes it almost an entirely different sport. Not sure that’s the case in basketball; certainly not to the same degree.

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Apropos of absolutely nothing, this came up on the iTunes shuffle yesterday and I can’t get it out of my head.

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We’re way late starting the call for mail this week.

Click. Write. Send.

Not sure when we’ll do what since there’s a Saturday afternoon game I’m not going to but we’ll get it done when we can.

Help a fellow out, would you?

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A knuckleballer wins the Cy Young?

What is the world coming to?

(I keed, a little; trick-pitch-throwing old guys should be pitching in some Buffalo rec league or somesuch, no?)

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Just wondering?

Anyone miss the pucks?

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Man, there is an extraordinary amount of anger and bitterness towards the officials around these parts these days.

Yes, there’s normally a fair amount – I especially love the ones that suggest the league is pulling the strings on bad calls against the HOTH – but you’ve gone over the top.

Now, I didn’t see the Utah game that closely and was told by many that it was poorly handled but I have seen every other game and a word: Chill.

Sure, you see contact and no call and get all up in arms.

I’m pretty sure that if I asked diehard fans from every other team, they would have seen specific instances of non-calls that would rile them, too. And, yes, just as many.

If there’s been one trait all season is that they are letting a lot more go, especially when people drive and are met by stationery defenders who stay upright at the inevitable contact. I’d say you should just get used to it.

As for the plethora of alleged blown calls and the inherent whining from fans and TV viewers? Expend your energy some other way, you’ll feel better.

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You know I’m okay with the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, been a couple of the places I’ve seen or heard about thanks to the show and they’ve been pretty good.

But, holy crap.

This is a bit old but did you see the New York Times review of Guy Fieri’s joint at Times Square?

Man, I wish I could write something like that after some dreadful Tuesday-night-in-February-no-one-wants-to-be here game. Wouldn’t that be classic? And fun?

“Dear Raptors and Other Team.

“Do you really think people should have to sit through that kind of carnage and not leave en masse?

“Did you intend to miss all those shots, throw the ball around like it was radio-active all night, play with all the flow of sludge and energy of a slug?"

Yeah, that’d be a gas.

One more Fieri note:

I know a guy who knows a guy who runs a joint that was on DDD one time and let’s just say the personable nature of the congenial host that comes across on TV might not be reality.

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Hey, Alex.

It’s a slow couple of days for the rest of the week – I think they’ve beaten the mega-deal about as much as they can – so how about a Blue Jays manager today or tomorrow so there’s something else to talk about.

But if I know managers and coaches and the like, I’m betting there is far more interest in the Blue Jays job now that they’ve redone there lineup in such drastic fashion.

Guys who have been successful with great teams in the past will all of sudden sit up and take notice and a job they might not have had any interest in before this week somehow becomes far more interesting and I bet agents are reaching out to the Jays pretty quickly.

Two words:

Phil. Jackson.

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So, how were Dylan and Knopfler?

Was Bob in good voice?

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Comments

[doug]

good article here on the EL Mocambo brings back musical memories...were bringing it back Southside Johnny put on a whale of a show last Saturday and the place was a rocking...the EL mo is back....as it should be...cheers..

http://www.blogto.com/music/2012/11/a_brief_history_of_the_el_mocambo/