Vince, milestones, the Hall and one more silly TV sport

Oh, this’ll rankle more than a few of you, I’d suspect.

How about that Vince Carter?

Am sure you heard – and am sure some you were angered when you did – but HWSNBN went past Larry Bird – yes, THE REAL LARRY BIRD – on the list of all-time NBA scorers the other night.

Vince took a pass from Mike James – yes, THAT MIGHT JAMES – and drilled a three-pointer near the end of the third quarter of Dallas’s win over Sacramento.

Carter finished the game with 21,796 career points, five more than the iconic Bird.

So, what’s it mean?

Well, the obvious answer is it’s just a matter of longevity but I think that’s a bit simplistic, actually.

Yes, Vince is in his 15th season and has played 1,037 games and in this day and age, it would only figure that he’d pass some oldtimers on the all-time list.

But for those of us who’ve followed him for years, those simple facts are astounding to some degree. I certainly didn’t think Vince had a 15-year career in him when he was at the height of his fame, I wondered how his game would translate from the astonishing athleticism of his first seven years; it seems to have translated quite well. Vince can still dunk, although not nearly as effortlessly as he once did, but he can also play, he “thinks” the game far better now than I ever thought he could.

I laud him for sticking around this long and still having an impact on the game; he could quite easily be living out his dotage caring for his daughter and being a Dad, he’s playing on the last year of a contract and the last time I spoke with him he expressed a desire to keep going.

I bring him up today because later this morning I’m going to a news conference where a couple of direct inductees and the rest of the nominees for the 2013 Hall of Fame class will be announced.

And with that, and with a question someone posed to me here the other day, I’ll wonder whether I’ll ever hear Vince’s name there with a Hall of Fame class.

You can certainly see how he’d at least be nominated and I honestly think that will happen.

No, he never led a team to a championship or to even play for one and that is part of any Hall of Fame career, I think.

But he has now played 15 seasons and could end in the top 25 on the all-time scoring list. He has been a seven-time all-star and for a spell was among the most compelling players on the planet.

I can’t tell you how globally popular he was and I followed him all over the world; people were in awe.

So, yes, I can see him being at least a Hall of Fame finalist and then it’s up to wiser men than I to figure out if he gets in.

Sure, there was in the middle of his career a school of thought that he could have been more but it just didn’t happen.

But he is where he is today and that’s a helluva place to be.

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Little known fact?

I’m a bit of a Mary Chapin Carpenter fan (don’t tell anyone, okay?)

So, given the locale, what the heck.

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Okay, you know my hatred for the junk sports that clog the TV airwaves (and prove there are simply too many channels) simply because they’re cheap to produce or put on and are the mindless fodder that some see as white noise.

Well, I’m on the stool other day killing time only to look up at one of the many TVs in the joint (hello, Jack Astor’s at Square One!) to:

The New York City Kingpins vs. The Motown Muscle.

Yep, TEAM BOWLING.

For real.

Six guys against six guys and I swear the only thing I thought missing were empty cans of Schlitz and pizza crusts.

Yes, they professionals prying their trade, it should not be on TV. Guess they just couldn’t find a tape of an old pucks contest to throw on.

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Mail?

Please. It’s at askdoug@thestar.ca but can we cease and desist with the Andrea Bargnani queries. Trust me, I have enough to get through this weekend and all next week.

Not sure when we’ll do mail, figured we should do usual fare stuff through the weekend since there’s so much going on but we’ll get a couple of files up, if you’ll help and I find time.

Thanks.

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Of all the feel-good stories around the Blue Jays right now, there was always one cloud and I was wondering how they would handle Melky Cabrera and his drug suspension of last season and the news that broke last week linking him to PEDs through a shady Florida operation.

Well, found out today.

The Jays and Cabrera put out this press release shortly after 7 a.m. Eastern time and it was a pre-emptive strike like I’ve never seen before.

No press conference to answer inevitable questions once and for all – and if they’d done that and shut it down for the rest of the year, I’d have been fine with that.

But I think he had to speak, at least once, and putting out a press release at dawn and having that be the final word for the season? That flies in the face of how I think issues like this should be handled.

Look, I don’t know Cabrera from Adam and have never spoken to him. But he is who he is and did what he did and I think in light of the latest report, he needed to do one more news event so some questions could be answered.

He and Jays took the easy way out; too easy.

Too bad.

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Comments

[Mark]

@LeeZ Greetings from a fellow Fed :D

On the HoF issue, I think as always it comes down to a little of both; team success surely does have an impact. If someone is a part of a few winning teams that's definitely going to reflect well on them.

I doubt even in Doug's eyes it's impossible to overcome not being a part of a championship team. If you're transcendent, I'm sure most would accept that as enough. I do feel like Vince is borderline; I wouldn't argue if he made it in. Part of me would like to see it. Iverson-Carter 2001 playoffs... delicious basketball.

[AT]

Carter did not quit on this team. There was an inexperienced GM who was probably way over his head at the time.

[The J]

Just for the debate, wouldn't all aspects of Vince's game parralel Dominique Wilkins? No championships, but could score, were all-stars, great dunkers, and had some moderate, but not great team success. Nique had a scoring title, and maybe would have won more if his career wasn't played out simultaenously to MJ's, but then Vince was once the most popular man in tne sport (ie, top all-star vote getter), and was similarly exciting to watch. It's an interesting parralel, but Nique's pre-injury consistency versus Vince's Rise and fall are why one was a shoe-in, and one will be border-line. I say he should make it, because being that big in your sport should count for something. And I do hate him as much as everyone else.

[Lorie]

@Dave B: Thanks for that clip...isn't Chris Hadfield terrific? Don't know if you've been following him on Twitter where he's posting some pretty stunning images. His handle is "Cmdr_Hadfield". Did you catch this (surprisingly informative as well as fun) exchange between Chris and the one and only William (Star Trek) Shatner? Good stuff, here, too.
http://youtu.be/pran4wUg5y4

[D-Mac Ottawa]

@james, Magic is an excellent inclusion in the overall discussion. Along with everything else, his passing skills were second to none. I see K Durant as having a lot of that same long, talented package as Magic. Let's see how his career arcs.
Vince had unmatched, untapped talents. Sure would have liked to see them on full display in his prime. Meanwhile, he's had a hell of a career. And he put basketball on the map not just in T.O., but around the planet. That's HOF-able.
Thanks for that awesome video link, @DaveB!
Cheers. Go T Ross!

[Penguin]

For a long time, VC for me was the poster guy for everything wrong with selfish, pro athletes. He probably still would be if not for the behavior of guys like Howard and James. I don't remember Bird ever...I mean EVER...quitting on his team (and, in one case, possibly even tipping off the opponent's bench on plays being called). Tough to see their names associated in the same sentence. Bird was all class; HWSNBN, less so. Exciting player who seemingly never fulfilled his potential, that's Wince. Scored lots of points on talent, but also because his teams were weak. Did he make the players around him better/ Not that I noticed. HOF, not for me, but then I suspect there are others in there for whom I wouldn't have voted.

[Nater G]

@LeeZ During a phone call in which I was ignoring her to watch him play she asked "Sometimes I think you care more about Vince Carter than me." To which I replied "Maybe you should check the schedule before you call." It wasn't the end right there, but the beginning of the end.