If this is Monday, it must be the final round of the golf

Have I mentioned how much I hate rain delays?

Honestly, we sat through 7 1-2 hours of non-golf on Thursday, about four hours on Friday, they didn’t play at all Saturday afternoon and I arrived at Glen Abbey on Sunday about 11 a.m. and never saw a single ball struck in competition before we got out of there around 8 p.m.

Fun? Wow!

And since today’s the first day of an alleged week off, what else would a self-respecting backup golf scribe do but go back to the course?

But first …

-

Know what I fear? That if the Raptors can’t get a deal done with Carlos Delfino (they’re still talking but there’s really no sense of urgency so don’t read that much into the delay right now) Bryan could very well wait until much later in August to fill that 15th roster spot.

That, of course, means we have to keep making daily checks and reacting to all kinds of other rumours but it does make lots of sense, doesn’t it? As a wise man suggested when the free agency period opened, tough economic times and the sheer number of guys on the market made it glaringly apparent that there will be bargains to be had the more time goes on.

So why not sit back, let some players and agents see the days slipping by and perhaps lower their demands? I can see a whole lot of players watching July turn into August and thinking, ‘yeah, maybe I better get a one-year deal done soon so I know where I’m working next year.’

-

Perhaps you’ve heard that your favourite basketball beat grunt has been Golf Boy (or Rain Boy as it turns out) for the last few days.

(Yes, M. Grange TM was out there, too, but I was referring to me).

Anyway, the only thing I really know about golf is that I don’t play it particularly well any more but Sunday’s shenanigans put a whole new focus on the weirdness of the sport.

I’m sure you all read about it already – if you haven’t, click here – and it strikes me that a retroactive, unprompted second video review and reversal of a ruling a day later is somewhat, um, ridiculous.

Yes, I know about the honour of the game and think it’s great. But how in the world can some committee guy wake up Sunday, think, ‘hmm, that decision we made Saturday should be re-visited’ and then change a ruling that everyone was seemingly happy with.

Odd. Very, very odd.

But it got me thinking (which is always a dangerous thing).

And I wonder if we’ll see these stories:

Patrick Ewing did indeed travel every time he went to the basket and the NBA has now decided he’s got about 920 career points.

Scottie Pippen was playing illegal defence all those years in Chicago and the six titles are now vacated.

Invoking the Ted Steptien Rule that doesn’t allow crazies to dismantle their teams with goofy trades, Vince Carter is now back in Toronto and Aaron Williams, Eric Williams and Alonzo Mourning at still on the books in New Jersey.

I’m sure there are others and since this is going to be a slow week, maybe I can come up with some more for here.

-

Hey, you hear Rasho’s back?

Right, you did.

Anyway, I think the most significant part of the whole transaction is that they got him on a one-year deal. The money was no surprise, I always figured he’d get the full biannual exception of about $1.9 million but there was some contention about the second year and where it would be a team option or a player option.

Apparently, it’s no one’s option and they got a pretty decent backup centre on a relatively cheap deal that doesn’t put them in any tax danger in the 2010-11 season.

That’s pretty good.

-

List time, kind of:

Q: So all this talk of Pops made me think of the greatest Raptors fan favourite team.

Center- Pape Sow

Power Forward-The Legend Pops

Small Forward- JYD

Shooting guard- MoPete

Point guard- Alvin Williams

Can you think of any bigger fan favourites than these guys?

Ryan C, Thorold

A: Man, I think you nailed that list pretty well.

If there was a way to put Matt Bonner or even Oak on there, I don’t think you’d get any controversy.

How about we go at it this way:

Fan favourites in disproportion to their playing abilities?

I’d still give you Pape and Pops, I guess, but how about rounding that five out with guys like, oh, I dunno:

Garth Joseph

Mengke Bateer

Robert Archibald

Seriously, none of them could really play but I bet a few of you smiled thinking about the way Garth Joseph used to growl.

-

Hey, remember the Under-19 women’s team we were talking about last week in my never-ending quest to make international basketball relevant around these parts? Well, they’re still at it (and I presume you’ve all been checking the Canada Basketball website to find out, right?) .

The Canadas were beaten while you were sleeping by the United States (you can find the boxscore here) and now have to play Spain tomorrow and Japan the day after.

They’re 2-2 and right in the thick of contention for the quarter-finals and the top 8 spot they covet but it’s going to take at least one win for them to move on.

We’ll try to keep better tabs on them in the next couple of days.

-

Hey, check this one out.

I’d hire Oak as an assistant coach in a minute, even if it meant (a) hiring an Oak-to-English translator and (b) making sure we had good insurance for the first time he slugged some knucklehead rookie in the head.

(But, please, I beseech you: Do not write with questions about why the Raptors don’t hire him. The staff is full, there will be no more additions).

-

There’s this guy on the golf tour, Glen Day, and Super Son and I were sitting by the seventh tee the other afternoon watching play at that par-3 and Day’s in one of the groups.

He puts the ball down, grabs a club and I swear he stands over the ball for like 45 seconds. Looking down and up and up and down and finally getting down the business of playing a shot. The wait was mind-numbing.

Now I know he’s got the best nickname in golf.

Glen (All) Day.

-

Fore! (What did you expect? All hoops?)

I tell ya, if they ever had rain delays in basketball, I’d be a stark, raving lunatic.

(Not that I’m not now, according to a few of you).

For real, 7 1-2 hours without a ball being struck; at the course at 9 a.m.; off the course about 9 p.m. and they still don’t have the first freaking round finished. Sweet? Not so much.

But it’s a job and someone’s gotta do it, right?

And, besides, I guess it beats working for a living.

Anyway …

-

How, you wonder, does one while away a 7 1-2 hour rain delay?

At the trough, apparently.

Three of the golfers were talked to near dark last night – Scott Verplank, Retief Goosen and Mike Weir – all talked about taking a couple of meals during the Open shutdown yesterday.

Whew!

Seems some of us grunts who spent more than our fair share of time scarfing down sandwiches, fruit, cookies and snacks were being just like the golfers. Except, in one case at least, for that whole physically fit thing they’ve got going on.

-

Maybe it’s the time of year but the press tent was littered with basketball dudes. There was me and M. Grange ™, Stumpy’s making a guest appearance as a golf scribbler and Bea Arthur – oops, I mean B. Arthur – was in attendance, too.

In fact, it was Bruce who pointed out the fact the offer sheet for Jamari Moon is something like three years and $8 million dollars, which provided the biggest shock I’ve had in a very long time.

Now, Jamario’s a nice guy and I hope he has a long and fruitful NBA career ‘cause it took him so long to get to the league but if Danny Ferry really offered him three years and something like $8 million (even if the last year isn’t fully guarantee), I never want to hear the Cleveland GM talk about tough economic times.

That’s a ridiculous deal. Good for Jamario, though.

-

Two-part golf story, kind of long but what the heck, it’s not like we’ve got Raptors stuff to talk about.

The good folks from the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame – and if you’re at the Abbey this weekend make sure to stop in, they’ve got an excellent Mike Weir display and a raft of other interesting stuff – put on a little symposium with Dave Barr, Dan Halldorson, Wilf Homeniuk and Bob Panasiuk during the delay yesterday. Chat got around to their best finishes at the Open and here’s what Barr recalled:

“1988 was the year that I thought I had a really good chance at winning. Posted 66 the last day and was in the clubhouse at 13-under and every year prior to that, 13-under was a winner.

“I guess the last group, Ken Green’s group, was still on the 13th when they called it on that Sunday and when I woke up the next morning, I’m in the clubhouse and the wind’s blowing 25 (mph) out of the northwest and I’m thinking, ‘hmm, maybe I can still win it. These guys have to tough it out for six holes or five holes in this wind.’

“Then all of a sudden everybody starting shooting birdies and eagles and it just kind of slipped away.

“I still thought I had that chance when I woke up Monday morning that I could possibly be in a playoff or win it outright. But I ended up tying for fourth.”

Okay, good story, right?

Well, it gets better. That tournament was sponsored by DuMaurier, back in the day when tobacco companies could do that sort of thing, and when Green – hardly a bon vivant, in fact he’s about the furthest thing from a bon vivant you could imagine – is making his acceptance speech, he botched the name of the company so badly it was comical. Kind of like:

“And I like to thank Dumier, or whatever it is, for sponsoring the event.”

Well, back then, they used to bring the defending champ back for a day the next summer, invite some of hackers out to chop it around with him and pump up the coming tournament.

Funnily enough, the good folks at Dumier, or whatever it was, didn’t extend that invitation to Green. And the assembled hackers really didn’t miss him.

-

A wee basketball note:

I know it’s too early to think about how teams stack up in the East (I’d kind of like to let teams, you know, practice once to see how they look) butthis is a good signing.

-

Judging by this story, it would appear Tunisia has some work to do in the world of under-19 women’s basketball.

And judging by the picture that goes with it, organizers down in Thailand have some work to do in the world of selling tickets.

Still, you have to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat and Canada was supposed to win so it’s all good. The victory should be enough to get Canada into the second round-robin portion of the tournament, a win over Japan in the final preliminary round game will give them a big boost going in.

-

On a matter of entirely no importance, can I just say that as a rock and roll dude, Kevin Costner makes a great thespian.

Walking out of the course last night alongside Young Tim (not to confused with Old Tom or even Popular Ray) we got to listen to the, um, musical stylings of Costner and his band. I don’t believe I’m rushing out to the eight-track store.

-

So, what’s up this weekend, you ask?

Well, I can’t imagine the Raptors actually getting around to filling those final two roster spots – which is a huge tick-off because I’m allegedly on holidays again next week – so it’s going to be a quiet 48 hours of hoops.

The Mighty Yankees have a makeup twinbill tomorrow morning weather-permitting (and trying to keep 12-year-olds focused for one game is hard enough, getting them to concentrate for two on a Saturday morning is going to be a hoot) and then there’s more golf to scribble about.

Of course, Bryan may surprise us all and do Rasho and Delfino, or Rasho and someone else, or someone else and someone else. And that would be very nice because it’d mean the summer of movement is over.

-