2 Guys Who Know Everything About Everything

King for a Day

2007-06-01T11:14:00.000-04:00

The 2 Wise Men are still around. Our opinions are as strong as ever, and our banter is just as lively, we have been choosing to share them privately more than publicly though for the last while. We both follow and discuss the latest news and highlights in most sports on a regular basis. Whether it is the FA Cup Final, the Champions League, the current Major League Baseball season, or the ongoing hilarity that is the Toronto Maple Leafs, sports are being discussed, rest assured.

What has perhaps blunted this space since our last posts probably has a lot to do with procrastination and laziness, but more so the fact that there simply isn't a whole lot to talk about that is worth the effort of putting up a post. It's one thing for us to talk to each other about sports or even current events, but it's quite another for us to post to the internet, particularly in today's age where there are trained and untrained professionals who make a living commenting on the smallest minutiae in the world of sports.

So in that context, we've been waiting for a sports moment that demands that we stand up and take notice, and that we post our thoughts for the world. There are always worthy candidates of course - the winning streak of Rafael Nadal, the April of Alex Rodriguez, the Toronto Raptors 2007 season - but nothing forced us to step up...until now. For my part, watching the basketball career of LeBron James has been a pleasure, but nothing particularly noteworthy. A product of immense talent, freakish body proportions and the Nike hype machine, "King James" was anointed the next Michael Jordan when he was still in high school. One of my best friends even made a bet with me that LeBron would be the best player in the history of the NBA before he was even drafted, so pervasive was LeBron's reputation.

Since entering the league as the top pick in what may eventually be declared the most talented draft class of all time, LeBron has lived up to the hype as far as athleticism and talent go. However, mired on a mediocre Cleveland Cavaliers team, LeBron has seen the "best player in the NBA" tag that was supposedly reserved for him vested with other stars such as Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, and most notably, his draft classmate and friend, Dwyane Wade, who led the Miami Heat to the 2006 NBA Championship. It was one thing for LeBron to have to wait his turn behind established stars, but quite another for someone from his own draft year to surpass him so soon.

Then came May 31, 2007, where for one glorious night, King James truly ascended to the throne, carrying his team to a 109-108 double overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons and a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal. Whether the Cavaliers advance to the NBA Finals and ultimately win a championship this season is, for now, not important. What matters is that LeBron showed fans the world over the tantalizing extent of his abilities. The numbers are staggering. 48 points, 7 assists, 9 rebounds in 50 minutes. On the road. 25 straight points in the fourth quarter and both overtimes. 29 of his team's final 30 points in the game. Shots over double-teams, triple-teams, zone defences, dunks in the clutch when defences NEVER give up dunks. It was a performance that brought me out of my seat at least a half dozen times, staring at the television in bewilderment.

The Detroit Pistons are surely a better overall team. The Pistons have more experience and they may still win this series. Even if the Cavaliers win this series, they will be underdogs to the rested San Antonio Spurs in the Finals. However, what makes James' performance so compelling is the sheer determination that he brought in those final three quarters. Everyone across the world knew that James would shoot the ball on each possession. The Cavaliers never called any significant offensive play to suggest otherwise. Despite that, James continued to attack the basket, getting past defenders and running through clear fouls to score the basketball. He launched shots from distance with near impossible degrees of difficulty. He refused to let his team lose this game. That type of performance is what makes sports worth writing about. A fundamentally sound shooting performance, with shots falling from all over the floor, is impressive and can be beautiful in its own way. What LeBron did in this game was beyond that. He took on the best the defence had to offer, including taking contact, and he never shied away from any of it. For one evening, LeBron James was the sheer force of nature that so many commentators have tried to make him out to be, and it was awesome to watch.

French toast...by Apollo

2006-07-10T16:26:00.000-04:00

It is now the day after the 2006 FIFA World Cup and besides having no idea what to do with myself now that football coverage will once again slow to a predictably North American trickle, I am reflecting over this year's tournament with the following thoughts, in no particular order:

Fabio Cannavaro: Easily the biggest reason that Puma will be stitching the fourth star on Italy's jerseys any day now. Without running mate Alessandro Nesta, the Juventus centre-back was forced to deal with the world's top strikers, all the while shepherding a changing backline that included the mercurial Marco Materazzi. Cannavaro seldom put a foot wrong all tournament, and while his club seems destined for Serie C or lower next year, the euros of Real Madrid and a host of other clubs will soon be beckoning the Italian Captain.

Zinedine Zidane: The insane red card incident aside, it's hard to imagine how the world's sports media could have voted for Zidane as Golden Ball winner as tournament MVP at halftime of a Final that stood 1-1. Up to that point, Cannavaro had far more of an impact on his side's fortunes, even if the red card in extra time had never been given to the Frenchman. Zidane, while brilliant in spots, and surely the sentimental favourite to hoist the title for France on the eve of his retirement from the game, was suspended twice in the tournament, and was forced to sit out the match against Togo in the group stage where France actually faced elimination. To that point, Zidane had done virtually nothing to distinguish himself while playing in undoubtedly the weakest group of the tournament. Meanwhile, France owe their Finals appearance as much to the ineptitude of Spain, Brazil, and Portugal as to Zidane's near vintage performances. If Cannavaro had been able to somehow score a goal or two throughout the tournament, the Golden Ball surely would have been his. That aside, it's just as sure that Zidane is harldy feeling comfort with this latest award, while Cannavaro has a much more satisfying prize in his possession.

Ronaldinho Gaucho: The demise of this year's Brazilian Selecao would have generated far more headlines if it hadn't happened so early in the knockout phase. The world had to move on to enticing semifinal matchups and had little time to perform a post mortem on the flameout of the world's most talented side. That's just as well, as it is almost impossible to explain how Brazil, and their talisman midfielder, could have performed so badly. In the weeks leading up to the tournament, everything seemed in place. Ronaldinho was coming off successive FIFA World Player of the Year awards, and had steered Barcelona to a coveted double of La Liga and Champions League titles. Almost invisible in the Champions League Final against Arsenal, he was still enough of a threat that great things were expected of him in Germany. Having burst on the scene with an outrageous winning goal against England in 2002, Ronaldinho was poised to be the lasting memory of this World Cup. There were doubts raised of Ronaldo, Adriano, Cafu and Roberto Carlos. But no one questioned Ronaldinho. He would show up. He would carry Brazil as he did in the 2004 Confederations Cup.

Like his teammates, the world waited patiently and nervously for Ronaldinho to finally shine, and he simply never did. Forced into the midfield in the 4-2-2-2 system, Ronaldinho did show plenty of tricks and magic to make Nike's marketing gurus drool, and there was always a lingering belief from the faithful that he was merely one goal away from making the tournament his. However, finally pushed up to a forward position against France, he discovered to his dismay that without him in the midfield, the service to the front was woefully inadequate. By the time substitutions were made and Robinho and Adriano were brought into the game, it was too late. While Kaka' was similarly disappointing save for a brilliant goal against Croatia, Ronaldinho just never got on track. True to form, as he went, so did Brazil, out of the tournament in the quarterfinal stage.

England: The most talented team ever assembled under St. George's Cross once again failed to live up to expectations. The Wayne Rooney injury, thought to be so devastating weeks before the tournament, proved to be a mere subplot. Far worse was Rooney's fiery temper, which again betrayed him and his country at a crucial moment. Also unexpected were the absolutely abysmal performances by Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, who got England off to a horrible start in the deciding shootout against Portugal by feebly missing their chances. For once, captain David Beckham was not to blame, although this did not stop the media from lambasting him in any event. In the end, the decision to add Theo Walcott to the squad was not nearly as fatal as the decision not to play him, or anyone other striker who had a remote ability to finish the dozens of chances that Lampard wasted.

With the next major tournament, Euro 2008 now less than two years away, the beautiful game will return once again very shortly, at least on the Continent. The rest of the world will need to return to their domestic leagues, which begin play in a matter of mere weeks in some quarters. Meanwhile, the chants of Forza Italia will carry on at least until Italian fans and media find something to satisfy their relentless pessimism.

A Cup of Glory...by Apollo

2006-05-22T16:10:00.000-04:00

With May winding down and June right around the corner, the focus of the World will soon fall on the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. An event so huge that even North Americans who can't stand soccer still have to take notice, the World Cup is an epic spectacle, bigger than even the Olympics, and is one of those glorious moments where grown adults watch television cheering on athletes and countries that they may never have even heard of before. Quick, name more than one player for Ghana, Angola or Iran!

I still believe in the World Cup as a sporting spectacle, as opposed to the calculated and cyncial corporate parties that most sports events have become. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of capitalism and accompanying corruption in football to rank right up there with any of North America's professional sports, or the Olympics. However, there's something quite simplistic about the sport of football itself that helps suspend your disbelief just enough to enjoy those 90 minutes of game time.

On the surface, football is a basic game, apparently too basic for North American fans to understand. Sure, it is true that adidas is unveiling yet another technologically advanced ball for this year's tournament and the ultra expensive shoes worn by the world's best and supplied by manufacturers such as Nike are far cries from the studded slippers of yesteryear, but superficially anyway, football is all about talent and nothing else. There are no alumnium composite sticks that break at key moments of hockey games, no wireless headset in the quarterback's helmet allowing communication with the sidelines, no oversized driver optimized for the perfect fade, no lycra suit tested in a wind tunnel to eliminate resistence. Football is all about putting the ball into the net more times than the other team. That purity is a quality that still enthralls even the most battle-worn, pessimistic of sports fans, just like myself, and renders, if only for mere moments, to appreciative fans awestruck by the grace of a Ronaldinho, the power of a Shevchenko, and the brilliance of a Zidane.

There are sure to be controversies, as with any sport involving the discretion and judgment of human referees. There will be missed calls, missed shots, missed opportunities, and misplaced intentions. But by the time July 9 comes and the Selecao of Brazil hoist their sixth World Cup victory (or so the 2 Wise Men hope), there will be only memories, glorious memories of how great the game can be, and hopefully plenty of evidence that it is worth believing in the beautiful game itself, rather than paying too much attention to the scandals and controversies that plague the professional leagues of soccer in the four years between World Cups. Forca Brasil!

"Why not?" indeed...by Apollo

2006-04-20T15:57:00.000-04:00

It's amazing how important timing is in life. At the proper times, decisions and choices and events can take on virtual mythic proportions. Other times, these same moments can be reduced to mere afterthoughts. So it was today when the Toronto Star newspaper reported that Toronto Raptors All-Star forward Chris Bosh had agreed to "be open to" signing a six-year contract extension this summer, thereby keeping him in Toronto for the next seven seasons. What is surprising about the announcement is not so much Bosh's decision - which can be classified as both brilliant and ridiculous depending on your point of view - but that this announcement went virtually unnoticed compared to the fanfare and party-like atmosphere that accompanied a similar announcement by Vince Carter several years ago.

Bosh's comment, which it must be noted techinically means very little until he actually does physically sign an actual contract extension, was easily drowned out by the moaning and groaning of Leafs fans over the firing of head coach Pat Quinn today. The press-conference to announce the firing was carried live on several sports networks. The Bosh comment was a brief blurb on a newspaper website, placed under a lead story regarding the Pat Quinn firing. If it wasn't for the fact that the Toronto Blue Jays were off today before playing the Boston Red Sox this weekend, the Bosh story would have been buried further still.

Bosh apparently came to a decision after meeting with President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo this morning. Colangelo, who alone has more basketball experience than all of the employees of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment put together, was able to convince Bosh that the Raptors were moving in the right direction. Bosh is quoted as saying "My whole thing is 'why not?' I have a chance to have my own team, be a leader on the team and challenge myself to bring it back up."

Bosh, who just recently turned 22, would have been one of the prime targets in the free-agent class of 2007. This class could potentially include his fellow 2003 draftees, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Carmelo Anthony. Bosh is an even more attractive target considering he had a breakout season this year playing for a terrible team, is one of only three All-Stars from that draft class (after Wade and LeBron and before Carmelo) and is easily the best big man available.

Which makes his decision to stay in Toronto puzzling to say the least. Bosh could very easily determine which teams will have the most salary cap room in 2007 and pick the best contender of the bunch to sign with. By that time, his homestate Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs would surely have the resources to pay his salary and also offer him a far better chance of winning than the 2007 version of the Raptors.

On the other hand, expectations for the Raptors have fallen so far that if Bosh leads them back to the playoffs he will have done his job, and playing in a city with less media attention, pressure and criticism than Los Angeles or New York likely appeals to his nature. Bosh is not outspoken, loud or flashy. He is decidely low key, particularly in comparison to the other stars of his draft class. However, if his true motivation is to win an NBA title within his lifetime, Toronto is one of the hardest places to do it. For now, Toronto fans should be happy that their franchise player appears to have chosen to stay, and that his decision will lead to far more newsworthy results in the near future.

Leasing the Podium...by Apollo

2006-02-28T17:17:00.000-05:00

It is a distinctly Canadian trait to always hedge your bets. Canadians generally don't like to brag or show any outward display of pride or arrogance. It is not because Canadians are not arrogant. Far from it. Within the confines of own homes, and in the privacy of our own conversations, we can be as boorish, cocky, or overly-confident as the staunchest of flag-waving Americans. Canadians tend not to show this cockiness too much because we're all afraid of being let down, of being disappointed, of basically looking like fools when our misplaced faith comes crumbling down.

So as usual, once the international spectacle that is the Winter Olympics began in Torino, Italy several weeks ago, Canadians were once again, cautiously optimistic. Canadian officials and those associated with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games were boasting of finishing in the Top 3 of the overall medal count. Buzzwords such as the Own The Podium fundraising campaign were being bandied about as some sort of evidence that Canada now had the resources to compete, and beat, the World's best. The Canadian population was tuning in and somewhat buying in to the bravado, albeit with a collective holding of their breath. Canada is the only nation to fail to win a Gold Medal while hosting the Olympics...and we've done it twice, in Montreal 1976 and Calgary 1988. It is a distinctly Canadian irony that the stereotypically French-hating province of Alberta made sure that Quebec did not hold that dubious distinction by itself.

When Canada's Olympians got off to a slow start, the guarded optimism turned to justified pessimism and even cynicism. The glorious Gold Medal performance of Jennifer Heil, on the first day of the Games no less, was quickly overshadowed by the failures of Jeremy Wotherspoon, Jasey-Jay Anderson and Beckie Scott. By focusing on the goal of 25 medals and a Top 3 finish, Canadians now had expectations beyond mere personal best performances and the "happy to compete" attitude that Team Canada usually brought to the Olympics.

A funny thing happened though as the Olympics progressed. Canada started winning medals; a lot of medals. A 1-2 finish in Skeleton was accompanied by a surprise Bronze in figure skating and a shocking Gold in cross-country skiing. Speedskater Cindy Klassen quietly blazed her way to a record five medals over five different distances. As the second week of the Olympics progressed, Canadians were slowly realizing that the athletes they were sending, the ones who were supposed to win medals, actually were winning them. Even poor starts by the men's and women's curling teams resulted in Gold and Bronze respectively. With success at the Olympics now confirmed, Canadians were letting loose and celebrating every performance, every medal, and every raising of the flag in sports that most of the population had no clue about.

By the time the flame was extinguished on Torino 2006 and the Olympic flag passed to Vancouver, Canada had won a record 24 medals and secured the coveted Top 3 finish that seemed an overly ambitious dream mere weeks ago.

The success of the Games even managed to overshadow, to a certain degree, the disappointment of the NHL superstar-laden Men's Hockey Team failing to medal once again ebbed just a bit. The hue and cry over the demise of Canadian men's hockey was loud and persistent, but it was rarely mentioned as Clara Hughes and Klassen stood on the podium following the Ladies' 5000m final and laughed their way through the playing of "O, Canada". That moment, and not the slumped shoulders of NHL millionaires leaving the ice after a quarterfinal exit, was the most indelible for Canadians coast-to-coast.

All of this success on the international scene now presents an interesting situation for the newly minted federal government of Stephen Harper. Millions were already pledged to amateur sport to ensure that Canada had not just a respectable showing at Vancouver 2010, but a first place showing, something this nation has never come close to doing. With plans to cut taxes and costly social programs, Harper's minority government will need to tread carefully regarding funds that have already been pledged. After all, Harper surely hopes his minority government will be able to win another election, which will place the mantle of leadership squarely on his shoulders when the youth of the world once again gather in Canada in four years' time. In the grand context of billion dollar budget surpluses that the Canadian government continues to enjoy, a few hundred million for amateur sport is a small price to pay for the feel-good political mileage that is generated whenever Canada does well internationally.

Therefore, Canada's stellar performance in Torino still carries several questions along with it. The long term commitment from all levels of public and private donors will determine whether Canada truly has arrived as an international sports power, a nation that can be relied upon for consistent top 3 performances every four years, or whether it was merely convenient to pump some money into sport when the world was watching, and leave athletes to their own devices the next time the Olympics are held outside North America. Further, the ongoing participation of NHL players in the Olympics is seriously in question beyond 2010. Judging by Canada's failed bid in Torino, that may not be such a bad thing. For now, Canada will continue to bask in the bright lights of Olympic glory, and in the privacy of their own homes, thump their chests a bit more. Time will tell whether these occassional displays of overt patriotism actually last beyond the next four years.

Le Magnifique...by Apollo

2006-01-24T17:12:00.000-05:00

Most of the working classes of the world look forward to retirement and the day when they no longer will need to answer to someone else's rules, schedule, or demands. Indeed, we spend the vast majority of our lives working and earning a living in the hope of one day retiring so we won't have to work anymore. As with most things, the world of professional sports is different. Retirement is met with wistful nostalgia and often quite a few tears. Such was the case today, when Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux announced his retirement from hockey.

Lemieux has retired before, and staged an inspiring comeback recently which culminated in serving as captain for the winning Team Canada Men's Hockey Team at both the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. In his prime, when he was leading the Penguins to two Stanley Cup championships in the early 1990's, Lemieux was simply unstoppable. The puck seemed glued to his stick like in some early Nintendo hockey game, and his combination of size and speed allowed him to move past even the best of defencemen and make goaltenders look like pylons. If not for a bout with cancer that forced him to miss several years and ultimately retire for the first time, Lemieux would have given a serious run to the lofty records of Wayne Gretzky. Many hockey fans, including the 2 Wise Men, can still wax poetic about the incredible 1987 Canada Cup where Lemieux wired a top corner championship winning goal off of an exquisite drop pass from Gretzky to defeat the Russians.

In recent years, Lemieux has fallen from his throne as being the most talented player in hockey. Age, and lack of speed, have made him look positively ordinary from time to time, particularly playing alongside phenom Sidney Crosby this season. Lemieux admitted that the new NHL is geared more towards speed and youth, two traits that have unfortunately declined in him to the point he felt he could no longer compete at his lofty standards. If he wanted to, Lemieux could very easily continue his career for another two seasons exclusively as a power play specialist. Despite the lack of speed, the lightning quick hands and incredible vision remain. Ask the Toronto Maple Leafs or Montreal Canadiens, or any number of struggling NHL franchises if they could make room on their roster for the Magnificent One and the answer would be a resounding yes. However, as when most of the greats retire, it has been extremely difficult for Lemieux to leave the game, and in the end it was not because he could no longer play, but rather because he could no longer play like Mario Lemieux. A salute then, to easily one of the top 4 players in the history of the sport, and set the TiVo's and PVR's for all the Lemieux retrospective highlights that are sure to be shown in the next few days.

Celebrating a dream...by Apollo

2006-01-16T11:59:00.000-05:00

Today, January 16, 2005, the third Monday in January, marks the annual American national holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The national holiday for the American civil rights icon is finally celebrated in all 50 American states, after Arizona, New Hampshire, and Utah recently enacted legislation to recognize the holiday in both name and effect. While no holiday exists in Canada for Dr. King, the impact of the American civil rights movement on African-Canadians is profound, to the point that many Canadians will be celebrating today in some way as well.

One day per year is hardly enough to truly understand or appreciate the struggle that Dr. King and others in the Civil Rights Movement had to endure. However, there is no lack of resources avaiable that can be enjoyed throughout the year. One such academic institution is The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University in California. Check out the papers of Dr. King and other resources and information on the Civil Rights Movement and broaden your own wisdom.

Wisdom comes with time...by Apollo

2006-01-11T13:36:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all. The 2 Wise Men have been off for a few months, and apparently the world seems to be still moving along without any major catastrophes - although the results of the upcoming Canadian Federal Election may change my view on that. Before this resurrection post continues, a special shout out to The Traveling Chef and his Asian exploits. The mid-mid-life crisis...nice...we should all be so lucky, or foolish? haha...nah, we'll stick to lucky.

While Wongoz is continuing with his quest to better himself academically (and perhaps redeem his past efforts in academia), here's some upcoming events in 2006 that we're looking forward to:

1) The Election: We try and refrain from appearing overtly biased when we discuss topics in this forum, so rather than endorse any particular party or candidate, we'll be paying attention to the voter participation numbers instead. As we have already discussed in the last federal election, voter participation has been slightly rising as of late, and with a rather close vote and a potential minority government in the balance, it will be interesting to see how many Canadians decide to exercise their constitutional rights on January 23.

2) The 2006 Winter Olympics: The "citizens of the world" shall assemble once again beginning February 10, 2006 in Torino, Italy for the Winter Games. The Winter Games, being smaller and more manageable than the summer version, usually comes off less like a massive corporate sponsored event, and more like an athletic competition. This small Italian city, home of Juventus, will host the supposedly strongest Canadian team ever assembled. In anticipation of hosting the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010, Canada has set a lofty goal of finishing in the top 3 in the overall medal standings. This ambitious goal, which has never been accomplished in the lifetimes of the 2 Wise Men, would hopefully harness the rare Canadian patriotism on display during the Olympics and lead to an even better performance in 2010. We shall see, however hopefully there will be more provocative stories to discuss than whether or not Bryan McCabe should have been named to the Team Canada Olympic Hockey Roster or not.

3) The 2006 FIFA World Cup: As in 2002, an Olympic Year also includes the largest, most-watched sporting event in the world - soccer's World Cup. When fans (and with some luck, the 2 Wise Men) arrive in Germany in June, the debate will rage on as to which nations will join heavy favourite Brazil in the knockout stages for soccer's most prestigious trophy. Hopefully by June, there will be far more analysis on this page than in the past 6 months as well.

A lot to look forward to, and in turn, a lot to talk about. We shall see if we can shake off our recent bout of laziness to share our thoughts more often.

London Calling - by Apollo

2005-07-07T18:08:00.000-04:00

Among other things that were originally going to be discussed in this column was the tight victory of London over Paris for the right to host the Olympic Summer Games of 2012. The victory, as sports usually are, was short lived and rendered virtually meaningless with the news of bombings in the subway and transportation system of the English capital today.

This cold reminder that living in today's world includes the responsibility of being constantly vigilant also should notify us to take the time to appreciate all that we have and all that is worth living for as well.

Is it drafty in here, or is it just me?... Part 8 by wongoz

2005-06-29T10:23:00.000-04:00

You know, it's really saying something when you draft a good swingman like Joey Graham and get what ESPN's Chad Ford describes as possibly "the steal of the second round" in point guard Roko Ukic, and college basketball guru Dick Vitale still lists you as the biggest loser. That's how big a shock it was for Raptors GM Rob Babcock to take Charlie Villanueva with the 7th selection. Why are we always stuck with crazy GMs in this town?

Well, apparently other teams had concerns with the players that were passed up... but come on, you can't tell me that there wasn't an opportunity to trade down if the big man you wanted was Villanueva... rage. The jury's definitely still out on Babcock.

Is it drafty in here, or is it just me?...Part 7 - by Apollo

2005-06-28T23:58:00.000-04:00

Months ago, when former Toronto Raptors superstar Vince Carter was traded, the 2 Wise Men stated that Raptor GM Rob Babcock was on the clock for the 2005 NBA Draft. The clock that Babcock now hears ticking away could be his career as an NBA general manager.

By selecting UConn forward Charlie Villanueva, Babcock may have gotten the rebounder and inside compliment to Chris Bosh that the Raptors so desperately need, but using the 7th pick to land him will certainly draw the ire and criticism of Raptor fans and Toronto media. Babcock did salvage the draft by taking athletic forward Joey Graham at 16, and stealing point guard Roko Ukic in the second round. The Raptors did accomplish a lot in this draft by landing an inside presence to improve the NBA's worst rebounding team, adding an explosive perimeter scorer and defender and a 6'6" point guard with international experience who should be a steady back-up to the mercurial Rafer Alston. In any other year, this would be considered a great draft for the Raps and their second-year general manager. Unfortunately, coming off a horrible season where the team did not make the playoffs again, traded their franchise player for virtually nothing and with the terrible memory of the Rafael Araujo draft fiasco from last year still fresh in the minds of fans, Babcock needed to blast a grand slam with his 4 picks, rather than put up two base hits and a double. Final pick Uros Slokar cannot realistically be evaluated because A) nobody knows who he is; and B) it isn't clear if his European team, Benetton Treviso of Italy will release him. However, at 58th overall, don't expect another Manu Ginobli just yet.

Villanueva was a highly touted prospect out of high school in 2003 and was slated to enter the draft along with a certain high schooler named LeBron James. Instead, he chose UConn and won a national championship with Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon in 2004. He's a solid player with an NBA sized body and gives the Raptors another big man who hopefully can improve over Loren Woods and help fill the void that Donyell Marshall will leave when he is lost in free agency. However, the 7th overall pick Villanueva most certainly should not have been, particularly when Gerald Green and Danny Granger were still on the board. Odds are good that Graham will be even better than Villanueva, and both are almost guaranteed to be better players than Araujo. Babcock overall did a decent job, however he would have been lauded as a mastermind if he had landed Green or Granger at 7, and Graham or Villanueva at 16, rather than the way he chose to go about it. One of Villanueva, Graham, or Ukic will be legitimate starters for Toronto this season, if only out of necessity, however should Green, Granger or even Hakim Warrick turn out to be the Andre Iguodala of this year's draft class, Babcock may not be around to try and draft another one.

Is it drafty in here, or is it just me?... Part 6 by wongoz

2005-06-28T21:06:00.000-04:00

Wow. Seriously. Gerald Green and Danny Granger are both available at 16, not to mention Joey Graham and Hakim Warrick. But just as I've discussed with Apollo, there's no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Babcock will make the right pick this time around either.

Well, the pick's in... it's Joey Graham. Not bad, not bad. More athletic than Granger, ready to play before Green, better shooter than Warrick... sorta a compromise though. Not as versatile as Granger, not as high an upside as Green, not as explosive as Warrick... well, Babcock might still be certifiable, but at least he's got something on his track record that generally meshes with the draft gurus...

Ok, that's it, I'm not posting again until tomorrow morning, when all the picks are in and we can see how Babcock messed up the second round...

Is it drafty in here, or is it just me?... Part 5 by wongoz

2005-06-28T20:41:00.000-04:00

This draft is turning all the mock drafts on their heads. Seriously. After the surprise pick of Villanueva, there was a massive run on big men... Channing Frye, Ike Diogu, Andrew Bynum and Fran Vazquez, all 4s or 5s. And now, the Russian kid Yaroslav Korolev...

Unreal. The free-fall of swingmen like Green, Granger, Hakim Warrick, Joey Graham... wow, there might actually be someone good at 16. But of course, Babcock will screw this up too and draft some other bum. Ugh, I can just feel it.

Is it drafty in here, or is it just me?... Part 4 by wongoz

2005-06-28T20:13:00.000-04:00

WHAT?!? Charlie Villanueva?!? Is Babcock insane? This had better be part of some deal... that's it, we're going to see all the good players we could've had disappear before the 16th pick we still have... Bye-bye Gerald Green. Thanks for the workout Danny Granger. Best wishes Hakim Warrick.

Thank God Babcock doesn't run Real Madrid... I'd be tempted to jump out of my window now.

Is it drafty in here, or is it just me?... Part 3 by wongoz

2005-06-28T20:01:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's point guard time at the draft... Deron Williams to Utah, Chris Paul to New Orleans and Raymond Felton to Charlotte... that means Toronto will definitely get to choose either Gerald Green or Danny Granger... only need to find out who Portland will take... And the Blazers took another high schooler, two guard Martell Webster!

That means Toronto should have its ideal pick ready here, unless they're planning to deal it... Argh, Babcock, you better not screw this up!

Is it drafty in here, or is it just me?... Part 2 by wongoz

2005-06-28T19:32:00.000-04:00

So it's the big day... the 2005 NBA draft is upon us, and the future of the Toronto Raptors franchise is on the line. How well does GM Rob Babcock need to do tonight? Well, let's look at it this way: ESPN did a series of articles re-doing the last 10 drafts and then grading each team... Unfortunately, it's behind a paywall, but the opening paragraphs are available and it's all you need to know. San Antonio is held up as the standard bearer for good drafting while Toronto is the usual suspect for the worst. Never mind whether we are or aren't; just the fact that we're mentioned means it's been bad news since 1995.

Anyways, there's been lots of trade talk around the Raptors in the last week or so, involving Torontonian Jamaal Magloire of the New Orleans Hornets... he's easily better than any of the big men available in this draft, but the Hornets are asking for the moon, so I doubt this trade goes through.

After going on about a lack of swingmen being worked out, it turns out that they were being saved for last... Toronto seems to be leaning towards high schooler Gerald Green (if he drops that far) or New Mexico small forward Danny Granger, who appears to be a jack-of-all-trades type of player.

Well, don't want to drag this post on too much... I'll probably post again after the draft is done and we can see how Toronto did... Andrew Bogut has already been selected as the first pick by Milwaukee, followed by Marvin Williams to Atlanta... coolz. Bring it on!

Is it drafty in here, or is it just me? by wongoz

2005-06-14T08:02:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's been over 2 months since I posted something. My bad, didn't realize it had been that long. Well, Apollo has done a commendable job holding down the fort, but I should pick up some of the slack again, so here goes nothing.

I won't rehash the conclusion of the European football season, other than to say I think it's pretty stupid that the English FA had been lobbying for UEFA to allow Liverpool to defend its Champions League win instead of following the rules and substituting one of the qualified teams (in this case, Everton). A fantastic article on this whole issue can be found here. The summer offseason for European football has yet to begin in earnest, so we'll leave that topic for another time.

No, what we'll deal with today is the upcoming NBA draft, due in about 2 weeks time. That is, in less than a fortnight, we'll see whether last year's abomination of a draft was just an anomaly, or whether Toronto Raptors GM Rob Babcock really is a tool. With 4 selections in this year's draft, 2 in the top 16, Babcock knows he has to deliver. Otherwise, Toronto as a successful basketball franchise is sunk.

Thanks to the miracles of the Internet, we can see just who the Raptors have been working out. Those more knowledgeable than the 2 Wise Men (difficult to fathom, but go along with me on this one) on such things are saying that this draft holds no superstars, no LeBron's or D-Wade's, but is deep in solid NBA talent. This bodes well for Babcock, as he can ill afford another project like last year's 8th-overall selection, Rafael "Hoffa" Araujo, who is only marginally better than and slightly less stiff than Jimmy.

It's not inconceivable to see the Raptors package their picks in order to land a higher pick or a proven player, but no rumours to that effect have been circulating, and it's not like the Raptors are just that single piece away from contending, no matter what lamebrain Larry Tanenbaum says. This team needs help, and a lot of it. Starting with a core of burgeoning star forward Chris Bosh and the mercurial Jalen Rose, Babcock needs to add another star talent and some good supporting pieces. Keeping Donyell Marshall, if available at a reasonable price, would be a good start.

The problem is, of course, there are no star talents in this draft (if one is to believe the pundits), so Babcock will have to concentrate on bringing in solid guys who will step up and contribute. We've previously sung the praises of Syracuse jumping jack Hakim Warrick, but all signs (that is, pre-draft hype and unnamed workout observers) point to a free-fall into the lower part of the first round, due to his inability to do anything besides explode out of his shoes. While the Raptors could use someone with his energy, they also need someone with real basketball skills, so perhaps Warrick doesn't warrant such a high selection.

Other big names that have worked out for Toronto include Kansas bruiser Wayne Simien, Pittsburgh power forward Chris Taft, North Carolina 2-guard Rashad McCants, Connecticut power forward Charlie Villanueva, Warrick, point guards Raymond Felton (North Carolina) and Jarrett Jack (Georgia Tech - think Bosh is rooting for his old teammate?) and Arizona shooter Salim Stoudamire. Notice a trend here? No swingmen or true small forwards in the bunch, in a draft full of them (in fact, most mock drafts I've seen have the Raptors taking New Mexico small forward Danny Granger).

What that says to me is that the Raptors management is confident that Bosh can make a transition to the 3, like Kevin Garnett, out-quicking big guys or posting up shorter small forwards. Bosh's shooting range has extended out towards the 20-foot range, leaving a huge void in the middle, where incumbents Loren Wood and Araujo aren't cutting it. Without any decent centres worth selecting after Utah's Andrew Bogut, that leaves Babcock the only possibility of drafting a power forward, to get inside for easy lay-ins, and to pound the backboards to push the tempo up as coach Sam Mitchell is wont to do.

So any prognostications from this Wise Man on the Raptors picks? Well, I won't be so bold as to venture a guess, seeing as how Babcock hasn't established anything resembling reasonable basketball IQ, so I'll go out and say who I'd like the Raptors to draft. With picks 7 and 16, the Raptors really need to find some big pieces of their puzzle, and since the talent level seems to be solid at most positions, we should be drafting according to need.

After a true centre (which isn't available in this draft), what the Raptors could use are a traditional power forward and a point guard so Rafer Alston can stay nailed to the bench like the crybaby deserves (just like how Vince Carter and Alonzo Mourning should have been treated, but that's another story). So that means one of the foreign big men like Tiago Splitter or Fran Vazquez (though Splitter may not even stay in the draft due to the high buyout clause from his Spanish club team) and Felton (who should be gone by then, but stranger things have happened). Will it work out that way? We'll find out soon enough.

Seeing Red...Part 2 - by Apollo

2005-05-26T18:00:00.000-04:00

Now this is ridiculous.

In a game for the ages, Liverpool bounced back from an unprecedented 3-0 deficit at halftime to edge AC Milan in a penalty shootout to win the Champions League Final last night, thereby crowning the fifth-best team in England the best club team in all of Europe. While the determination of Liverpool was absolutely awesome and the inspired play of captain Steven Gerrard must have had English fans drooling, the incredible collapse of Milan was the true story of this match.

Led by the sublime passing of midfielder, and Brazil international, Kaka', Milan looked like they would roll to a rout and capture the title that they had sacrificed the Serie A Scudetto in order to achieve. In recent weeks, Milan looked terrible, barely qualifying for the final with a last minute victory over PSV Eindhoven and losing the Italian league championship to Juventus with some dismal performances. However, with the Champions League title looming, Milan rested its starters in domestic play in an all-out effort to salvage its season by winning the top award in European Club Football. The strategy looked like pure genius as goals from the ageless Paolo Maldini and a brace from Hernan Crespo staked them to a huge 3-0 lead. 3-0 in soccer is like 35-0 in american football, a 20 point lead in basketball, and 6-0 in hockey. Even though there was an entire half left to play, teams simply do not come back from a 3-0 deficit. Liverpool and its fans looked finished.

At the beginning of the second half, Liverpool moved its players forward, keeping only three defenders at the back to protect goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek. This looked like suicide in the face of Milan's attack, including Kaka', Crespo, and the reigning European Footballer of the Year, striker Andriy Shevchenko. English commentators said this game could get ugly with such a strategy and with Kaka' continuing to control the midfield, Milan looked like they would score another goal soon enough.

Gerrard quite simply, took over from then on. He furiously headed a seemingly harmless cross past stunned Milan goalkeeper Dida who was unable to catch up to the shot and looked as though he did not expect the shot to even reach the goal. Gerrard screamed for encouragement from his teammates and the pro-Liverpool fans. It worked. The next goal was from 20 metres out and Vladimir Smicer's shot had no business going past Dida, who is supposed to be the best goalkeeper in the world, or at least one of them. When Dida plays for Brazil, he can afford to be somewhat careless because with an attack so potent that Serie A superstar Adriano cannot even break into the starting lineup, he always has tremendous offensive support. Milan, normally a defensive team, had miraculously given themselves a 3-0 lead and now their goalkeeper had given back two goals in rapid succession.

Gerrard again imposed his will on the game when he sprinted through the Milan defence, took a pass in the box and embelished a touch into a penalty shot. Milan's protests seemed rather warranted as Gerrard was hardly fouled before going down. Dida brilliantly saved the penalty, but Milan defender Alessandro Nesta was slow to clear the rebound and just like that it was 3-3.

Despite the colossal collapse, Milan were still in the game. Despite doing their best New York Yankees 2004 impression, they still had plenty of time to redeem themselves and take the title. I'm not a huge Milanista but watching this game was just painful. Shevchenko missed two glorious opportunities in extra time, first a header that was saved by Dudek, and then, with the entire goal open for him, he blasted the rebound right into Dudek's arm. The sequence was so fast that Dudek did not even realize he had made a second save. If you were to break the net up into 100 pieces, there were maybe only 2 pieces that Shevchenko could have shot at and not scored. He picked one of them.

The penalty shootout has never been a fair way to decide a match in my opinion. Unlike the shootout in hockey, where the goaltender actually has a chance of stopping a breakaway, soccer shootouts are ridiculously unfair to both shooter and goalkeeper. The only way a shooter cannot score is to outguess himself, or think about the shot too much. A well placed shot, regardless of the goalkeeper's position, will score. It's only a matter of placing the ball and hitting it hard enough. If anything, the penalty shot is so heavily in favour of the shooter that it becomes almost comical if a player misses. Huge misses like David Beckham at Euro 2004, and Roberto Baggio at the World Cup 1994 are constant reminders that the shootout is not as automatic as one thinks. And that's why deciding a game as important as the Champions' League Final with a shootout makes no sense. Let them play until they drop or score, whichever comes first I say.

When Serginho and Andrea Pirlo both missed their kicks badly, Milan was in huge trouble. Dida and Kaka' gave them hope, the former by saving a Liverpool penalty, and the latter by converting Milan's second goal of the shootout. Shevchenko stepped to the spot needing to score, and proceeded to tamely chip the ball so lightly that Dudek had time to dive to his right, and then reach back to his left and still stop the shot.

It was certainly a game for the ages, and as a result of beating Chelsea, Juventus, and Milan, Liverpool are worthy champions, although their dismal Premiership campaign means they may not even get the chance to defend their title. It would have been far better though, to see the best of Milan and Liverpool for 90 minutes, rather than the best of Liverpool and the worst of Milan for 6 minutes.

The big Nash-ty...Part 1 - by Apollo

2005-05-21T02:56:00.000-04:00

It isn't particularly breaking news that Phoenix Suns point guard, and proud Canadian, Steve Nash is a good player. The recently crowned NBA MVP and First Team All-NBA guard has always been quietly consistent. First as the understudy to All-Star Jason Kidd and later as the quarterback for the vaunted Dallas Mavericks offence, Nash has a reputation for making great passes, making his teammates better and not being a me-first, shoot-first player. In Canada, the Victoria, B.C. native is not only celebrated as one of Canada's greatest ever basketball players, but also as a selfless, humble celebrity who is always giving back to his community, both on and off the court. Nash almost singlehandedly led Team Canada to an Olympic medal at the 2000 Olympics, and has often answered the call for Canada despite always playing with rather sub-par talent around him. Although Nash's National Team career may be over, his past commitment is unquestioned.

It is with a lot of pride, and certainly a lot of surprise shared by most basketball fans on both sides of the border, that I've watched Nash play easily the best basketball of his career during the current NBA playoffs. Not coincidentally, after being awarded the NBA MVP trophy several weeks ago, Nash commanded an incredible 6-game series victory over his former Dallas club to carry the Suns to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the Charles Barkley era, which just happened to take place last millenium. Dallas owner Mark Cuban decided not to match the expensive long term contract offered by Phoneix this past offseason. While that move was certainly the right business decision given Nash's age and the salary cap problems in Dallas, the fact remains that Nash is still playing in this year's playoffs, and Dallas has been sent home.

Nash has been awesome. He recorded his first career playoff triple-double in a Game 5 victory, and came one rebound shy of repeating the feat in Game 6, hitting the game-tying three pointer with seconds left to move the game to overtime, and combining with Shawn Marion to score practially all of Phoenix' points in the extra frame. Nash has not only been dishing the ball with shocking accuracy, but he has been absolutely automatic from beyond the three-point arc, on a team loaded with perimeter shooters. Nash is the major reason that emerging phenom Amare Stoudemire enjoyed a breakout season this year and has been almost unstoppable in the playoffs. Last year, without Nash, Phoenix contended for the worst record in the NBA. This year, with Nash, the Suns have made it to the Final Four.

While debate continues over whether Nash actually deserved the regular season MVP award over the dominant Shaquille O'Neal, he has performed at such a high level in the playoffs, that the award now seems entirely understandable and logical. While Nash and the Suns will face a huge task in trying to overcome the San Antonio Spurs in the next round, and they are quite unequipped to deal with a potential match-up with Shaq and the Miami Heat or the defending champion Detroit Pistons in the Final, he has proven in a few short weeks that not only is he a deserving MVP, but may in fact be the best point guard in the entire NBA. It's a lofty accomplishment that few Canadians ever achieve in the sports world, and it ought to be celebrated loudly, regardless of where the Suns finish the rest of the way.

Seeing Red...Part 1 - by Apollo

2005-04-28T17:37:00.000-04:00

The difference between having a thought, and actually taking that thought and expressing it to the world is just a matter of a few keystrokes and mouse clicks in the information age. That can sometimes be a good thing and many times it can be a bad thing, but in the case of the 2 Wise Men, it means consecutive posts in rapid succession by me, which can do nothing but good...

First off, a word of support for the artist formerly known as Funktastic, a good friend of the 2 Wise Men, who is in a bit of a frustrating situation right now. Hang in there man...now you know what kind of system I have to deal with on a daily basis. We're there for you.

I have to say that finding out the latest gossip that 42 year-old actor Tom Cruise has been dating 26 year-old (and hot) actress Katie Holmes was pretty shocking. I've got nothing against an older guy dating a younger woman, particularly considering it's Tom Cruise we're talking about here, the guy who is so rich that even Katie Holmes, who I'm sure is quite well off herself, would be overwhelmed. But, is it really that healthy for Holmes, who just broke off her engagement, and Cruise, who recently broke up both his marriage and a subsequent rebound relationship, to be seeing each other? This is probably just my jealousy talking (and in fact, it almost 100% for sure is just that), but does anyone else see anything at least slightly wrong about this? Would the sight of Denzel Washington and Christina Milian or Ken Watanabe and Zhang Ziyi seem strange? I would say that it would garner more outrage, but that's just me.

Back to more important matters, this past week, English Premiership side Liverpool used an outstanding defensive effort to hold favourites Chelsea to a scoreless draw in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. Now, the Reds head back home for the second leg, knowing that a win at home will put them in the final of Europe's most presitgious club tournament, likely to face Italian power AC Milan, who defeated PSV Eindhoven 2-0 in their first leg. Now, I'm quite a fan of Liverpool, and quite not a fan of Chelsea, but do we really want to see a team that isn't even in the top 4 in its own league advance to the Champions League final? Does it make any sense that a team that could not even beat middle of the pack Birmingham City, and lost to last place Southampton could compete for the trophy which signifies the best club in European football? The Champions League, like any best-of-the-best tournament, is always going to be full of bizarre instances such as this because of the fact that the matches are randomnly drawn at every round and since it's impossible to objectively rank teams from different domestic leagues. Further, if the Reds somehow vanquish both Chelsea and AC Milan, in addition to their quarterfinal win over Juventus, they will have beaten three of the top teams in all of Europe, and truly be deserving title holders. But any sports fan, regardless of how much one loves a Cinderella story, would like to see some logic to any team's pedigree I would hope. It could be boring if the top teams won all the time, but it would at least be justifiable. The worst thing about the odd win by a team like Liverpool, is that if it isn't sustained, it becomes just a fluke victory, rather than a glowing memory of a deserving champion. In any event, we shall see just how worthy the two finalists end up being, and what impact their domestic seasons have on their potential legacy.

A Rough Draft...Part 1 - by Apollo

2005-04-25T12:06:00.000-04:00

The spring and summer months are usually the best times in professional sports. Most leagues move towards their playoff drives during these months, and even major league baseball, with its marathon like 162-game schedule, is in full swing, with the promise that all teams are contenders, at least until the end of April. Add to that the marquee Grand Slam events in both golf and tennis, and the major championship games in European football, and these current months are the busiest, most dramatic, and most rewarding for sports fans.

In the midst of playoff games, championship finals and major tournaments, there are other rites of spring and summer that fans look forward to - the annual player drafts and off-season transaction periods, where all teams, including those that are too woeful to participate in the suspense and drama of the playoffs, have an interest. In North America, the player drafts in the National Football League and the National Basketball Association always attract a great deal of media attention and fan speculation, while across the ocean, the summer transfer period for soccer clubs always encourages endless debate over which stars will change uniforms.

The NFL recently held its draft in New York City, with Utah quarterback Alex Smith becoming the fifth straight quarterback drafted first overall in the past five years. Wongoz and I both agreed on a couple points from this draft - our favourite teams, Dallas and Minnesota, both filled needs on their rosters with their picks, the Detroit Lions either have no clue what they are doing in taking another first round wide-receiver in Mike Williams, or have already decided to tank this season to try and get USC quarterback, and Williams' former teammate, Matt Leinart in next year's draft, and there's something wrong when ESPN shows four hours of live television coverage and can't even finish the first round of picks.

Player development in football is a long term prospect. Teams have dozens of roster spots and lots of flexibility to move players around so it really does matter who a team drafts in the fifth round because that player may actually play significant minutes right away. The NBA, by contrast, is a virtual green card lottery, where most teams only select two players in a given draft, with no guarantee that there will even be a roster spot available for either of them. In the NBA, with a few exceptions, a drafted player must be able to produce right away, otherwise, there's no point giving him the guaranteed contract and the three year roster spot that he will occupy.

Which, as usual, brings us to the Toronto Raptors. Months ago, I wrote that general manager Rob Babcock was on the clock, and now, after Vince Carter's incredulous 30 point plus per game average catapulted the New Jersey Nets into the NBA playoffs, Babcock's clock may be attached to a time bomb. With four draft picks in this year's draft, Babcock will essentially determine whether or not he is allowed to see out the balance of his contract with the club, or whether he will be cut loose sometime in the next twelve months. As Rafael Araujo painfully reminds us, the odds are not looking good in Babcock's favour. His record at the draft is horrible, but the fact remains that next season's Raptors could have as many as six players - half the active roster - drafted by Babcock. Considering that Araujo and raw prospect Pape Sow will be two of them, and that some fans still question Babcock's decisions to bring in Rafer Alston and re-sign Morris Peterson, Babcock needs to convert these four draft picks into players that will be able to contribute right away, otherwise he won't be in town long enough to see the results of his labour.

The draft lottery will determine where the Raptors pick, and individual workouts with dozens of college and European players will lead to the ultimate decisions, but at this preliminary stage, the 2 Wise Men suggest Syracuse star Hakim Warrick as one of the draftees. While the number 9 pick may be too high for Warrick, considering his falling stock, a late first round pick or early second round pick would be perfect for a tall, lean, athletic player with a huge wingspan that would compliment Chris Bosh and help to replace the rebounding of Donyell Marshall. Then again, if Warrick showcases his outstanding athletic ability at pre-draft workouts, the Raptors may have to hope he falls to them in the lottery, let alone the first round.

Warrick is exactly the kind of guy that falls out of the lottery, ends up being picked by a perennial contender like San Antonio or Sacramento and turns into a stud player that people point to as evidence of what a great scouting department these teams have. While certainly the hype and attention will be paid to Andrew Bogut, Sean May, and others, Babcock and the Raptors need to make all four of their picks pay off. At this point, it has to be a given that whomever the Raptors draft in the lottery will play, for better or for worse. If the other three players (or whoever comes in via a trade of those picks) does not contribute right away, Babcock won't survive to take a third try at the draft.

Mini-post: Jackie Robinson biopic... by wongoz

2005-03-31T05:41:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post... Over on Cinematical, a blog about movies, there was a recent post about a biographical movie on Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in major league baseball. I love sports movies, and since the post says that the producers of Ray are involved and Robert Redford is directing... well, hell, sign me up right now. Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier for all pro sports (ok, maybe not boxing), and for that reason alone, I'll be there. But to involve those heavyweight talents... yeehaw!

But my main comment is this: Besides the fact that Ray was a kickass movie and Jamie Foxx absolutely deserved his Oscar, he also looked a lot like Ray Charles. So if physical resemblance is anything of a requirement for the role of Robinson, I don't see how anyone except Larenz Tate gets the gig. Check the post and tell me that doesn't look like him. He's a good actor, maybe underrated, but there's not a lot of dramatic roles in his body of work, so that just might be his ticket to a Foxx-like breakout performance.

Stand Up, Speak Up... part 3 by wongoz

2005-03-04T03:17:00.000-05:00

I find it interesting and somewhat concerning that racism has become a big issue again in 2005. I don't remember reading about anything like this for the past few years when I really started following European football, but it's all just a bit disappointing, given all the other advances made by European society to this point.

For as long as I've been here in Aachen, Roberto Carlos has manned the left back position for Real Madrid, and I'm only hearing about the racist taunting that he has experienced this season. Did he not get taunted in previous years, or was it just not reported before? I think that's a big question that has been unanswered by the media so far.

What I don't understand is, why haven't we heard anything about other Madrid players being taunted aside from Samuel? Zinedine Zidane is French, but I think he's of Algerian background. Even Ronaldo hasn't been mentioned as a target, though he's Brazilian like Roberto Carlos. Given how the rest of the country hates Madrid, I see it rather odd that only certain players are targeted.

Most disappointing is the reaction of the Spanish football federation who, in the latest incident at a Deportivo La Coruña - Madrid match, fined the Deportivo club a grand total of 600 euros for the behaviour of its fans. 600 euros! Unbelievable. For something so bad that the referee had to stop the match and ask stadium personnel to confront the fans, the home club was fined an amount less than the cost of 2 Apple iPods. This was the 5th incident of racist taunting in Spain alone since December.

I cannot fathom why, in this day and age, fines for punishment in issues like this are so paltry. The fines should be at least 100K euros, increasing if this is a repeat offense, or the penalty of playing in an empty stadium, as AS Roma had to do earlier this season in the Champions League for fan abuse of the officials. Even better would be sanctions against the team in pan-European play, like forfeiture of Champions League or UEFA Cup matches. When the fans realize that boorish behaviour results in severe negative consequences for their beloved team, I think they'll be quick to hold their tongues. Either that or other fair-minded fans will help do it for them.

Stand Up, Speak Up...Part 2 - by Apollo

2005-03-03T13:50:00.000-05:00

You are all not going to believe this...Wongoz actually posted consecutively to our site. You're really not going to believe this...Wongoz actually used his HTML coding ability for once and put a picture up in one of his posts. And you're really not going to believe this...the Raptors lost on the road again after winning three straight games following the All-Star game and actually giving fans something that sort of resembles hope of a playoff spot.

Normally, I don't like Nike either, but it isn't because of the quality of their shoes or their product pitchmen. While I'm decidely pro-Reebok and anti-anything to do with Phil Knight, I do begrudgingly give in on rare moments and actually purchase Nike products, such as Tiger Woods shirts or Livestrong bracelets and such. Nike's human rights record and even their competitive practices and attitudes are big turn-offs for me, and I think there's an inherent bias against the big, bad, number one corporation as well. Now when you're talking about Nike, Reebok and adidas, you're talking about huge multinational companies so really it's hard to paint one as an underdog per se, but I prefer Reebok.

Having said that, I had very little choice but to get on the Stand Up, Speak Up campaign when I first heard about it. Not only was the anti-racism football initiative conceived and endorsed by one of my favourite players, French striker Thierry Henry, but the issue itself is certainly worthy of support. Seeing that Nike has conveniently decided to exclude North America and the rest of the world from the campaign for now, I had to recruit Wongoz and first educate him about the campaign itself before sending him to his nearest Sporthaus Drucks KG in search of the rare items.

Unfortunately, the wristbands themselves, as with the Livestrong bracelets, have become profit making enterprises and fashion collectibles, somewhat taking away from the awareness campaign they represent. However, the more wristbands out there the better, and since Nike only makes about 2 euros per wristband, I suppose the fact that the wristbands are being traded in the grey and black market isn't too bad.

Prominent Nike athletes across Europe have been wearing the wristbands in competition for several months now, and while incidents of racist chanting and jeering have continued in Europe's top divisions, there is increased awareness and focus on the issue itself. Recently, Spain national team coach Luis Aragones was fined a relatively paltry 3,000 euros for remarks made about Henry during training. There is more media attention and more scrutiny being drawn now to comments, gestures and actions which could be seen as offensive, which is a positive step. Ironically, Nike recently came under criticism by English national team player Gary Neville as merely trying to profit from the issue. I usually don't mind any jabs at Nike in general, but whether their intentions are clouded by profit or not (and they probably aren't), the campaign itself is a worthy idea.

Racism itself obviously does not make any sense, but the attitude of some football fans is all the more bizarre when you consider that football is perhaps the most international game in the world. Dozens of countries and nationalities are represented across Europe's top divisions, and many of the superstar players who play for clubs in Europe are visible minorities, including Henry for London side Arsenal, and 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year, and FC Barcelona playmaker, Ronaldinho of Brazil. How ridiculous it is when fans direct racist chants at Brazilian Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid, as happened recently in a Spanish league match, when both teams on the field feature numerous Brazilians.

In any event, I'll wear my Stand Up Speak Up wristbands often, even though racism isn't really an issue here in Canada, since we barely have professional football, let alone racism in professional football. I'll just have to keep the Nike Swoosh out of my view.

Stand Up, Speak Up... part 1 by wongoz

2005-02-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

I don't normally buy Nike stuff anymore... I'd make an exception for the R4 Shox, still the most comfortable runners I've ever had, but in general, I like to go with the home-brand, adidas. It helps that adi is pretty darn cool, and hasn't come under fire for sweatshopping before... That said, it's great to see corporations do something good, and in this case, Nike gets props for supporting the anti-racism cause spurred by several ugly incidents in Europe in the last couple months.

Unfortunately, racism is still present in today's ever-integrating European society, and that was seen most visibly in some football (aka soccer) matches earlier this season. Esteemed players like Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos and Rio Ferdinand have been booed, slurred or otherwise humiliated, on and off the pitch. One might think it limited to drunk English hooligans, but alas, the classless behaviour was also demonstrated by some boorish Spanish fans.

But they're not alone - almost all European people groups seem to show some intolerance to ethnicities other than their own. Of course, this is a very broad generalization, but it's something I've just noticed. It's not overt discrimination, more like a condescending attitude towards some foreign types.

In any case, a number of Nike-sponsored football stars have responded to the incidents by promoting a wristband with a twist - it's actually 2 wristbands, one black, one white, intertwined - to raise awareness for this serious issue. Nike got on board really quick and they're probably producing the wristbands as fast as they are selling. Apollo said that they weren't available in Canada and asked if I could get one for him. Well, after no-go's for the past 2 weeks, I happened to pick a couple of these up today:

Yeah, booooyyyyy!!!

Wanderlust... by wongoz

2005-02-22T07:09:00.000-05:00

Well, as much as I love to travel, seeing new things, discovering new places, meeting new people, and eating new foods, it's always nice to read something nice about my hometown, Toronto, especially if it's not written in a Toronto-area publication.

So consider my socks knocked off, or my boat floated, or my crank turned, because the über-chic Wallpaper* magazine just covered the T-dot in its famous travel section for the March 2005 issue. So what if Toronto was like the 1000th city to be featured, or that (horror of horrors) Montreal or Vancouver may have been covered before us - the point is, we're cool, dammit, because Wallpaper* says so!

Usual suspects like Canoe and the Four Seasons are listed as THE places to be, but also interesting is that we're actually starting to get recognized for our style and design. Pieces like OCAD's Sharp Centre for Design, or the Frank Gehry addition to the AGO, are being hailed all the world over, just as Aachen-born (yeah, that's right) Mies van der Rohe's TD Centre was 40 years ago. I say, it's about time we stopped talking about being world-class (man, I hate that term), and just started being it.

Patriot Games... part 2 - by wongoz

2005-02-11T10:46:00.000-05:00

So I suppose I should've posted something about last weekend's Super Bowl, but the thing is, I didn't watch it. It might be great Sunday night viewing for people in North America, but over here, on the other side of the prime meridian, it's competing against blue night specials. Not that I watch those anyways, since I don't even have a TV, but still, what I'm saying is: the timing sucks.

The game didn't start until well past midnight here, and by the time I got home from a birthday party and an Irish pub, it was almost 2am, and it was only halftime. Sorry, I miss American football, and I miss the Super Bowl, but I don't miss it that much. Compounding the issue was the fact that I had to be at work at 8:30am on Monday morning, so it was an easy decision.

About as easy as the game seemed to be, after reading about it. Apollo and I had briefly discussed the game over instant messaging, and while I was rooting for my Syracuse boy, Donovan McNabb, there's just no way I was picking the Eagles to beat a Patriots team who had thoroughly dismantled the best offensive and the best defensive teams in consecutive weeks. Say what you will about the Patriots, about their just-good-enough mediocrity or anything else you want to badmouth them on, but the fact of the matter is, they are the champs until further notice. Period.

I can't say I particularly like the Pats either - something about cool-as-ice Tom Brady sticks in my craw, and the whole we-are-still-underdogs thing that Apollo mentioned is pretty annoying, especially from a team featuring 6 Pro Bowlers. It is nice to see Corey Dillon get his props though, after spending 7 years in the wasteland known as the Cincinnati Bengals and being described as a selfish malcontent. Apollo can back me up on this, but I've been a Dillon fan for a long time, ever since I happened to pick him up in a fantasy pool one year and he busted loose for 275 yards or something like that in one game. How can you not like a guy like that, with no record like Jamal Lewis? hahaha...

Anyways, it was also nice to see someone aside from motormouth Freddie Mitchell and the aforementioned babe magnet Brady win the MVP. By all accounts, Deion Branch seems like a nice guy and deserving of the award. Good on ya.

Focus now turns to the draft, only a few months away... and wild speculation that my favourite team, the Minnesota Vikings, will trade the best receiver in the league, Randy Moss, for a bag of baseballs and some pine tar. No? Ok, a bag of footballs and some stick-um. Whichever way you slice it, a singular talent like his comes along only every so often, and if you don't have Bill Belichick at the helm (and Mike Tice is certainly no Belichick), then you need star players like Moss. Mark my words, the Vikings will regret trading Moss, should they decide to do so.

As for the other football (European, that is), big ups to Canadian international Julian de Guzman on his impending season's-end move to Deportivo La Coruña in the Spanish Liga Primera. Prominent Canadians in the world's most popular sport include Paul Stalteri of Werder Bremen and Tomasz Radzinski of Everton. Keep it going, lads, and Canada just might break into the top 80 in the world one of the these days.

Patriot Games...Part 1 - by Apollo

2005-02-07T17:10:00.000-05:00

How rare is it that the 2 Wise Men actually get a request for a topic? Well, it's so rare that it's never happened, until now. Here, with unprecedented timeliness, is our 2005 Super Bowl recap. As is our penchant (or at least mine anyway), the actual outcome of the game isn't nearly as important as the particular things we found interesting about the game itself. So, for all of you who didn't know, the New England Patriots defended their title with a 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Now on to more important matters...

Heading into the game, both Wongoz and I were picking the Patriots, even though we both have a soft spot for Eagles star quarterback, Syracuse graduate, and Reebok pitch man, Donovan McNabb. We love him. How can you not? When selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, McNabb was greeted by...boos...boos from some of the worst fans in pro sports. The same fans who cheered at the sight of Michael Irvin when he was nearly paralyzed against Philadelphia several years ago, but I digress. McNabb was bitter, and why wouldn't he be? But he used it as motivation, as fuel that has propelled him at the tender age of 28 years old to one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. But despite McNabb's brilliance, the Patriots have already shown they can handle star quarterbacks and explosive offences with deadly efficiency, and it seemed a foregone conclusion that they would win their third title in four years.

The game itself seemed to start according to script. McNabb practically fumbled the ball on the opening series and but for a brilliant replay challenge by Eagles coach Andy Reid, the Patriots would have had the ball deep in Eagles territory in the opening minutes. Back and forth they went, and neither team was able to establish a rhythm. Although McNabb and the Eagles were performing much better offensively than the next Joe Montana, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, the score was 7-7 after one half, and 14-14 after three quarters. The game wasn't particularly exciting, although purists surely appreciated the brilliant play calling and excellent defence from both teams. There were very few big plays. In short, the game was going exactly the way New England likes it. Throughout their amazing run, Patriots coach Bill Belichick has won all three Super Bowls by a field goal or less. Take away games against the Indianapolis Colts and the Patriots have won 5 of the 7 playoff games during their three championship seasons all by a field goal or less. The Patriots thrive in close, defensive, and sometimes boring, struggles. And this game was shaping up to be that way.

In the end, the Eagles and McNabb made far too many mistakes and their final drive stalled with a Rodney Harrison interception. I'm not sure that New England was the better team, which invariably leads to too much praise being heaped on the winner, and too much blame being heaped on the loser, but that's pro sports. What did stand out to me was the absolutely incredible performance of Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens who had a beautiful 122 yard performance while playing on an ankle that had been broken mere weeks before the game. While Owens had 9 catches and previously maligned Todd Pinkston also had a big game, it was again not enough to cancel out a coming out party for Deion Branch and another steady if not spectacular performance by Brady. Owens gets a lot of deserved criticism for his on-field antics and his sometimes ridiculous off-field comments. However, unlike the equally talented Randy Moss, Owens has the work ethic to back up his bravado.

Speaking of bravado, I've been trying to figure out why I don't like the Patriots. They're a blue collar team with a lot of great role players who have bought into a system and go about their business with little fanfare. They're the modern day equivalent of the New York Giants under Bill Parcells, which makes sense since Belichick was Parcells' student back in those days, whether either of them cares to admit it or not. But it's something else. It's linebacker Mike Vrabel, Branch, and Harrison flapping their arms mockingly following big plays. It's the arrogance and cockiness of Belichick and his coaching staff. The Patriots play and act as if they're still the underdog and now that they've won, they're going to shove it back at the world. It's an attitude that the Boston Red Sox shared to a certain degree during their improbable World Series run this past season. It's an attitude that a lot of Boston-area fans share, and I don't like it. Sure, New York is digustingly arrogant, Los Angeles is far too snobby and stuck up, and Toronto is somewhere in between. Those cities, and the teams that play there, (except for the Raptors), try to be bullies, and everyone hates them for it. What's more annoying than a bully though is the little kid who finally wins and then runs around telling the neighbourhood all about it all summer. I should like the Patriots. There's a lot to like about them. But I just don't. I don't like the Green Bay Packers fans who ridiculed Moss for losing in the playoffs after Minnesota beat Green Bay. I don't like Red Sox fans who made fun of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter after eliminating the Yankees. So, I don't like the way the Patriots are handling themselves as champions. It's nitpicking to a certain degree, particularly since I find a lot of what Owens and others do rather hilarious, but I just don't get the feeling that this is a classy team or a classy organization...which is unfortunate, because that's probably selling them short. In the end, it's probably just jealousy. Brady has three Super Bowls and he's dating Bridget Moynahan. That's just so unfair.

It will be interesting to see whether the parity that the NFL likes to boast about will render both Philadelphia and New England to the ranks of the contenders or pretenders next year. The NFL has a way of bringing champions back to the pack, or in the case of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to behind the pack completely. New England's vaunted coaching staff is being torn apart, with quarterbacks coach Charlie Weis, and defensive guru Romeo Crenell going to Notre Dame and Cleveland, respectively. The Eagles will have a ton of salary cap space and McNabb and Owens back next season, so the future looks bright.

Bust a cap in it...Part 1 - by Apollo

2005-02-04T12:35:00.000-05:00

Well there isn't any real plausible explanation for the nearly month long hiatus, but don't worry, the 2 Wise Men are back strong like Vince Carter's suddenly rejuvenated inside game. In what will hopefully be the last of the VC references for a while, what's with all the haters saying Vince doesn't deserve to be in the All-Star Game? Last I checked he was averaging All Star numbers for his new team and was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second time this year. Ah well, enough about Vince...

To close out the basketball talk for now, the Toronto Raptors welcomed back disgruntled point guard Rafer Alston this week following the team imposed 2-game suspension for his "conduct detrimental to the team". Alston was wisely contrite and apologetic and faced the media upon his return to practice. A discouraging trend that has come out from Toronto basketball media in recent days is this penchant for emphasizing Alston's past incidents of poor behaviour and the not too subtle suggestions that he is somehow a problem child who is more trouble than he's worth. Now, while I agree that Alston is rather overpaid at $5 million a season and more, anyone who thinks that Milt Palacio or Morris Peterson at point guard is a better solution for the Raptors, both in the short term and long term, is seriously misguided. More importantly, the suggestions that Alston is only well behaved if his contract and job are on the line is ignorantly cliched.

A fond farewell today to the NFL's all-time rushing leader, Emmitt Smith, who appropriately announced his retirement as a member of the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. Smith, who broke the late Walter Payton's rushing record several years ago, is the last of the vaunted "triplets" - including Quarterback Troy Aikman, and wide receiver Michael Irvin - who dominated football in the mid 1990's and led Dallas to three Super Bowl championships. While Dallas is a shadow of the organization it used to be, owner Jerry Jones has never been one to pass over an opportunity to wake up the vestiges of the past, signing Smith to a one-day contract much the same way he did with Aikman's retirement. As a long time Cowboys fan, I always admired Smith. He was never the fastest back, or the strongest, and he wasn't even close to being the biggest, but with a powerhouse offensive line and the ability to break tackles and read the holes, Smith is a guaranteed Hall of Famer.

Now...the main point...A lot has been going on lately in the current NHL labour negotiations and most of it has been irrelevant or overreported or both. However, a side note that has been dramatized far beyond measure is the recent decisions by certain players, including Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, and Kris Draper to play in the minor leagues while the NHL lockout continues. The predictable media and fan outcry has risen up in opposition to the idea that somehow, NHL superstars playing in Europe and in the minor leagues is morally "bad" - that players are taking away jobs from hard working, less talented players in these other leagues. How dare they do that? What nerve these players have! They oppose a salary cap in the NHL and then they go and happily play for less money in another league!

This attitude has always perplexed me, and for lack of a better term I'll call it "rich athlete discrimination". It's the idea that somehow, because a player makes a lot of money, he is supposed to be a better citizen than the average person or somehow have better values than any of the rest of us. Suppose Wongoz and I decided we wanted to quit our day jobs and go play in the German professional hockey league, or whatever it's called - the Bundesliga of hockey. Suppose we worked really hard (just indulge me here) and won roster spots on the Koln pro team (if one actually exists). What would we be? We would be regular players who took away the jobs of other regular players who could not compete with us for whatever reason. More importantly, there would be nothing wrong with it and no one would complain about two Asian guys beating out everyone else for spots on a hockey team. Now suddenly because a vastly superior, and vastly better paid NHL player decides to do the same thing, it's suddenly wrong? Let's all keep in mind the fact that we're dealing with a lockout here...the NHL players can't play in the NHL. Are we suggesting somehow that because they can't play in their own "rich league" that they aren't allowed to play hockey in any other league? It isn't as if the NHL players deliberately shut down their own league so they could take off on a modern day pillaging mission to oppress other pro hockey players in leagues across the world.

Is the point that if you have enough money to support yourself without working or playing hockey, that you should be prevented from playing and taking away someone else's paycheque? I doubt that highly. I'm sure if we conducted a breakdown of every athlete's personal finances, we would see many non-NHL players who should not be allowed to play ahead of another guy who's living paycheque to paycheque. The point is, personal wealth is and should be irrelevant.

Furthermore, I fail to see how it is at all hypocritical for NHL players to play in leagues that have salary caps. I'm sure if you took a poll of every professional hockey player in every league and asked them if they would rather play in a league with a salary cap or a league without one, the overwhelming majority would prefer NOT to put a ceiling on what they may earn. If the NHL players passed up the opportunity to play in a non-capped league in order to play in Europe, then I could see a problem. But, oh wait that's right...there is NO OTHER LEAGUE without a salary cap except the NHL! I'm sure I'm missing something here but I can't for the life of me understand what that is.

NHL hockey will return one day, although probably not this calendar year, and there will be other irrelevant issues to argue at that time. Both owners and players deserve an immense amount of blame for failing to negotiate a deal and forcing the cancellation of NHL games to this point. But, in the interim, please spare me the moral proselytizing that all NHL players and all rich athletes in general, should be somehow better than the rest of us, or that they are all somehow worse than us because they want to play hockey this year, regardless of the quality and stature of the league.

Leaving the Vinsane asylum Part 3... by wongoz

2005-01-08T11:56:00.000-05:00

Happy holidays to everyone... hope it's been a good one. Here at 2 Guys Who Know Everything About Everything, we've had a nice rest (clearly), and now it's time to get back to work.

I've been saying, in my debates with Apollo, that Toronto fans value one thing about their sports heroes, more than anything else: total and complete effort. That's why they support people like Doug Gilmour and Doug Flutie, people who may not have been the most talented, but the ones who did the most with their talent, the ones who spilled their blood and guts on the field. That's why they dog guys like Robbie Alomar, when he stopped running hard.

So that's why Vince Carter's admission that he didn't put in 100% effort every game validates everything I've been saying for the last half-year. And not just this season, but before that too. "In years past," is how he put it.

This was all but clear to the fans in Toronto, except possibly Apollo. Maybe he does acknowledge it, but he also didn't count it against him, as one of Carter's most vigorous defenders. And of course, it's easy to overlook it if you're winning, because talent goes pretty darn far, especially with a talent like his.

But it's one thing to not give total effort, and another to dog it for so long and still claim that you're a professional and willing to suck it up and deal with the situation, which is what VC did. In spite of the fact the Raptors handed him the fattest contract in club history, he still found it beneath him to exert himself to the fullest. What gall!

Needless to say, as a fan, I'm not impressed. I can't begin to imagine the betrayal his teammates must feel. Jalen Rose, one of the better persons in the NBA despite his revolving door defence, seemed to defend Vince a bit, but others like Morris Peterson, Rafer Alston, and the player who most personifies grit and determination, Alvin Williams, took swipes at Carter, and rightly so.

What does it feel like when your team's best member doesn't do much except show up for his paycheck? Well, maybe that's being a little harsh... Vince may not have been giving 100%, but he sure wasn't giving 0%. Problem is, athletes, and professional ones in particular, expect more than 100%. And if you're not giving, you're taking, and that just won't cut it.

I'm not sure how this affects Carter's legacy in Toronto, because history stands for itself. Vince did lead the Raptors to their best seasons, but how will Toronto fans react to this admission? Will they cheer him in appreciation of his service here, or will they boo him for throwing in the towel? I suspect it will be the latter. I certainly would.

The wrong kind of flag "waiving"...Part 1 - by Apollo

2004-12-25T11:50:00.000-05:00

Happy holidays and Seasons` Greetings to everyone from the 2 Wise Men. It has been quite a year and we hope that everyone has a prosperous and happy 2005.

You generally hope for things to calm down a bit during the holiday season and for there to be less drama overall, both in and outside of the sports world. We`ll give only a short word on events transpiring this week. Wongoz and I can probably agree on wishing best of luck to the Canadian National Junior Team, (and the German team while we`re at it), Shaq and Kobe to have a safe game, Peyton Manning, and for the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers to have short memories when Jermaine O`Neal returns to the court.

Beyond sports though, best of luck especially to the voters of Ukraine, who go back to the polls tomorrow. It is always interesting to see the different rights, or lack thereof, that are enjoyed between different countries, and how those who have more rights seem to be able to so easily forget how fortunate they are. This past week, Danny Williams, provincial premier for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador decided to lower all Canadian flags from public buildings in his province. Recently, talks have broken down between the province and the federal government over the division of revenues, particularly lucrative oil and gas revenues that Newfoundland currently enjoys from off-shore drilling operations. In protest, Williams took down the flag. In response, Canadian prime minster Paul Martin issued a statement correctly stating that the national flag should not be reduced to a political prop.

Now, forget for the moment the legitimacy of Williams' claim. Forget as well that governments since the beginning of time have used national emblems for political gain. The origins of the flag itself probably is due more to politics anyway. Forget also that over the years the tenuous scheme of transfer payments from the federal government to the provinces has both benefitted Newfoundland and hurt it at different times. I'm sure there are plenty of Canadians who would rather not send any money to the maritime provinces for fisheries subsidies just as there are many Newfoundlanders who agree with their premier and want to keep as much oil money as possible. Forget even that the very definition of Canadian pseduo-socialism is that we all contribute something, usually tax dollars, including provincial oil revenues, to ensuring that our fellow Canadians coast-to-coast-to-coast all have equal access to federal and provincial services and programs.

Quite simply, taking down the Canadian flag to make any kind of statement is ridiculous and juvenille. Most Canadians probably don't care, but it flies in the face of people across the world who would receive far worse a punishment for trying to attempt the same stunt in their own countries. The five seconds of publicity and grandstanding that this move has gotten Williams is nothing compared to the ill will and head shaking that his province has now earned as a result of his actions. If we as the 2 Wise Men had a thumbs up, thumbs down section to our site, he would certainly be receiving my thumbs down for this move. It's perfectly fine to be upset or frustrated with the federal government. Entire careers are made on doing just that. But there's a difference between voicing that displeasure and conducting yourself with class and political dignity (if such a thing even exists) and Williams and anyone in his government who endorses this flag strategy need to be educated on that.

Will JP think it's Miller time? Part 2 - by wongoz

2004-12-22T18:48:00.000-05:00

I swear, sometimes I think I should be the GM...

So, no sooner than I post about Wade Miller that I read that he's already agreed to join the Boston Red Sox! Rage! So that's the second pitcher the Jays should've gotten that the world champs scooped up. It's like Boston GM Theo Epstein can read my mind or something... or maybe he's just a better JP than JP is.

Anyways, there's slim pickings out on the market now, unless you think the Jays are going to splurge for Carlos Beltran... Sorry Jays fans (all 4 of you), looks like it's going to be a long winter...

Leaving the Vinsane asylum Part 2...by Apollo

2004-12-22T11:05:00.000-05:00

Rob Babcock, you are officially on the clock.

The Vince Carter saga was pretty frustrating and draining for me and a lot of Toronto Raptors fans and now that it's over, I'm almost too annoyed to really discuss it further. I'm pretty much through trying to comment on Vince. He got way too much hype in the beginning of his career here, and way too much criticism at the end, but he was easily the best Raptors player this city has ever seen, the best athlete period ever to come through Toronto and an exemplary and underrated member of the community. Hopefully people will remember all of that, but I am highly doubtful when fans are more likely to cheer Matt Bonner over Kevin Garnett and Tie Domi over Mats Sundin. Anyway, a rare appearance by wongoz in this space would seem to necessitate a comment on the trade itself.

Wongoz correctly points out the hypocritical attitude of Toronto sports fans with respect to this trade, an attitude which I have been pointing out for years, but I'm pleased that he has finally come around to it. I have to admit that I was annoyed, then angered by the trade. I do not believe that the Raptors got much value at all for VC, but I also think that "value" for Vince was pretty low anyway, so the question then becomes why bother trading him at all? Vince's misguided trade demand came up in the summer and Babcock refused to pull the trigger on any deal at that time, when interest in Vince was probably at its peak. He gambled that VC would be forced to play well to start the year, therefore raising his trade value. A nice thought, but after a few indifferent games and the recent Achilles injury, Carter's trade value was non-existent. Odds are that no teams were calling, so where was the urgency? Babcock alleges that the trade rumours were becoming a "distraction" to the team, which I find rather questionable. In any event, New Jersey was simply biding its time and waiting for the opportunity to spring its offer, which essentially amounts to:

1. Eric Williams - A nice journeyman who can probably play defence better than Carter and Jalen Rose put together, but someone who only played significant minutes because New Jersey was even more woeful than Toronto;

2. Aaron Williams - A serviceable big man who was getting zero minutes with New Jersey, but who looks like Yao Ming compared to Rafael Araujo;

3. Alonzo Mourning - An ailing veteran centre who wanted to be traded and wasn't playing anyway; and,

4. Two protected first round draft picks, neither of which belong to New Jersey - more on these picks later.

The NBA trade deadline comes up in February, which would have given most teams a clearer idea of whether they would require the services of a Vince Carter for their playoff drive. It's always risky to wait until the deadline. Teams are hesitant to add a player who demands so many touches like Carter does. Rather, the deadline is usually for salary cap relief deals and role players. Babcock probably thought this was the best deal he could make, as evidenced by his ridiculous comment that he would have done the trade even if Mourning were not involved. He did get two first round picks and got rid of Vince's hefty salary, which would only cripple the franchise in years to come. There's a few problems with his reasoning though, which should cause Raptors fans a lot of concern.

1. The players he received in the trade are all over 32 years old, essentially the beginning of the end for NBA players. Carter, for all of his alleged deficiencies, is still in his late 20's and will surely be in the league for far longer than either Williams will remain with the Raptors;

2. The refusal by Mourning to even report to Toronto, combined with the departure of the franchise's brightest star essentially cements the Raptors' unfair reputation as a basketball wasteland. Carter now joins a long list of stars, including Damon Stoudamire, Tracy McGrady, Antonio Davis, Kenny Anderson, and Doug Christie, who sooner or later engineered their way out of Toronto. Toronto is a great place to live and play for any professional athlete, but if all they ever hear is how many stars keep leaving, it certainly doesn't help lure free agents, at least not the top tier free agents that the franchise ought to be pursuing. Any team can overpay for Morris Peterson and Rafer Alston, but when Rashard Lewis keeps turning you down, there's a problem. It also doesn't help that the Raptors could now pay millions of dollars in a buyout to ensure that Mourning never plays for them. If healthy, Mourning could have made the trade a huge win for Toronto by providing the inside presence the Raptors desperately need and allowing Chris Bosh to thrive. Now it appears his inclusion in the deal is but an after-thought;

3. New Jersey is not only in the Eastern Conference, but also in the same Atlantic Division as the Raptors. Now Toronto fans love nothing more than to boo returning former players, and Carter will certainly receive T-Mac-like treatment in April when the Nets play the Raptors again, but watching Carter drop 30 points against his former team several times a year is not the way to convince anyone you won the deal, particularly if you consistently finish behind your former franchise player's new team in the standings;

4. The draft picks - The key to the deal, as Babcock himself said. Acquiring two first round picks for any player is a decent move, but it of course depends on being able to translate those picks into talent. Several years ago, the New York Knicks were poised to make a big splash in the draft with three lottery selections. None of those players selected remain in the NBA. The Boston Celtics had three first round picks this season, but are still essentially a team that lives and dies with Paul Pierce. The picks may be exercised over the next three years. It is unclear whether Toronto has the option of choosing when the picks may be exercised, but that's less important. The 2005 first round pick, acquired from Philadelphia via New Jersey, can be no higher than the 9th selection overall in 2005 and the 6th overall pick in 2006. Currently, Philadelphia is contending for a playoff spot and is only 3 games out of the third seed in the East. Realistically, barring a collapse by Philadelphia, this pick may not even be a lottery selection.

The other first round pick, the 2006 pick from Denver via New Jersey, will also likely not be a lottery pick. Denver is currently in the last playoff spot in the West, and is forced to play in the same division as the Minnesota Timberwolves and the resurgent Seatte SuperSonics. Denver is young and a bit unpredictable, but certainly has the talent to make the playoffs for the next three years when this pick may be exercised. Considering that their record will also likely be far better than some Eastern Conference teams, this pick will be in the late teens to early 20's at best.

The main problem with the trade is that it hinges overwhelmingly on Babcock's ability to draft players, and draft players late in the first round. Thus far, Raptors fans have absolutely no evidence to suggest he can find anyone even serviceable, let alone a starter, in the draft lottery, let alone the rest of the first round! Outside of the lottery, the NBA Draft is highly unpredictable, and the Raptors' own draft history is downright atrocious. For every VC, T-Mac and Chris Bosh that the Raptors have been able to secure in the lottery, they have the ghosts of Michael Bradley, DeeAndre Hullett and Aleksandr Radojevic to haunt them. Araujo was projected to be the most "NBA-ready" big man available and Babcock swore on draft day that he was not a "project". A horrible summer league and limited minutes later, Araujo has been a disaster, a big man who cannot even get minutes on a team that is woefully inadequate in the front court. If the success of this deal is based upon what the Raptors can do in the draft, New Jersey should already be declared the overwhelming winner. Even in a best case scenario where both Philadelphia and Denver miss the playoffs and the Raptors end up with two lottery selections, Babcock is more likely to pick the next Araujo than the next Garnett. The pay off from these selections will not materialize for years, if ever, and certainly will not come within 2 years when Bosh's contract is up for renewal.

Certainly, Babcock was shackled with problems from the beginning of this, his first year with the Raptors. He had no idea that Vince would make a trade demand, and he was unfortunately left to deal with the consequences of the many screw-ups of past management. If Carter's injury-filled past hold true to form, Babcock will be congratulated down the road for unloading a $20 million salary, regardless of who he gets in the draft. The downside unfortunately, is that with Jason Kidd as his point guard, Carter will likely flourish, at least enough to make New Jersey look like winners while Toronto fans impatiently wait for the results of the newly acquired first round picks. Babcock is likely not done dealing, and if he is able to unload the equally cumbersome Jalen Rose salary this year, he will be doing well. The problem of course is that having salary cap room does not mean anything if people aren't willing to come play in your city, and these recent moves have done nothing to enhance the Raptors' attractiveness as an NBA destination. Babcock is perhaps taking the biggest risk of all by hoping that his rookie coach Sam Mitchell can take this group of overpaid role players to the playoffs this year, or at least close, thereby buying him time to rebuild the team altogether. The sad reality for fans is that with long term contracts committed to both players and management, this current group is here to stay regardless.

Will JP think it's Miller time? - by wongoz

2004-12-22T08:26:00.000-05:00

Posts on consecutive days! Perish the thought! Haha... well, maybe I'm inspired because Apollo called me last night for a brief conversation wherein he asked for my street address because he couldn't remember if I had moved since the time he came to visit.

Ok, lost in all this mumbo-jumbo (and perhaps deservedly so) of the Vince Carter trade and the Ron Artest brawl is the Toronto Blue Jays' offseason. Obviously, the biggest move so far has been the loss of free-agent slugger Carlos Delgado, who was to the Jays as Carter was to the Raptors. Perhaps not as important on the field (after all, there are 9 players on a baseball diamond), but no less important in off-the-field terms. Delgado was a good citizen, stayed out of trouble and even held a political stance that resonated with some Torontonians.

In the wake of last season's fiasco, finishing last in the AL East after 7 or 8 straight years in third, GM JP Ricciardi knows he has some retooling to do, and now unburdened by Delgado's contract, he's gotta put his money where his mouth is. Funny thing is, it seems like it's more of the same thing.

Coming from the Billy Beane school of "Moneyball" methods, JP has put an emphasis on high walks and low strikeouts on his hitters, and vice versa for his pitchers, while eschewing traditional scouting reports and the supposed "five-tool" rankings.

It hasn't quite worked out the way it was supposed to: Eric Hinske, a third baseman supposedly in the Eric Chavez mold, has lost his way, and now his position; the closer-by-committee approach failed miserably, as Kerry Ligetnberg, Justin Speier, Jason Frasor, Aquilino Lopez and others stunk up the joint; and his trade record with anyone other than Oakland looks suspect, with the Luke Prokopec deal smelling foulest.

But it was always the Delgado contract which tied his hands, right? Now that he's free of those handcuffs, what is he doing with this money? So far, the only move of note is the signing of third baseman Corey Koskie, a native Manitoban who probably accepted a slight discount to play for the team he cheered for as a kid. His signing displaces Hinske, who, unless JP can find a new home for him, will be moved to first base. Doesn't this strike anyone as perversely illogical? The man who doesn't hit enough for third base is now going to be moved to first base, where offensive expectations are even higher?

Whatever. Pitching makes up for a lot of offensive deficiencies, and with Roy Halladay and Ted Lilly still on board, they're within striking distance of a respectable rotation. JP has to nail down a second or third starter though, and to that end, he was chasing Matt Clement, formerly of the Chicago Cubs. The talent is there, to be sure, but for all his abilities to strikeout batters (more than 1 per inning pitched last season), he has never seemed to be able to put it all together.

Luckily for JP, there's another option. He can throw the millions he was luring Clement with to the just-became-a-free-agent Wade Miller, who was not offered a contract by the Houston Astros. In fact, if you dig into the numbers, it appears he would be an even better option (big caveat - Miller is coming off a season where he only pitched 88 innings before shutting it down due to a rotator cuff injury).

Clement vs. Miller, head-to-head? Miller is younger (28 vs. 30), has a better winning percentage (.598 vs. .479), has a lower career ERA (3.87 vs. 4.34), allows fewer baserunners per inning pitched (1.34 vs. 1.45), has pitched the same number of complete games (5) in 35% fewer starts (123 vs. 192), and barely strikes out fewer batters per 9 innings (7.7 vs. 8.0). To his credit, Clement pitches more innings per year (190.1 vs. 151.1) and allows fewer home runs per 9 innings (0.92 vs. 1.07), but I think that if Miller's injury is healed, he represents the better option. A big if, no doubt, but still.

Anyways, we'll see if JP follows his own stathead advice and makes a push for Miller. Jays fans can only hope.

Leaving the Vinsane asylum... by wongoz

2004-12-21T11:59:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm more than a bit surprised that Apollo hasn't yet commented on the Vince Carter trade, but I'll take a stab at it now.

Some people have taken Raptors GM Rob Babcock to task for failing to get more for his most-valuable trade commodity. These same people are the ones who have been whining for a Carter trade for months, so what's it gonna be? Obviously, there's a reason why Babcock pulled the trigger on this one when he did, but he deserves the benefit of the doubt, no? Especially since we don't really know what other options he had (unlike his first-round draft selection of Rafael Araujo; doesn't 76er swingman Andre Iguodala look like he could improve this porous Raptors D? ).

So let's not play the "what if?" game and pretend that Babcock could've gotten Ray Allen (whom I would've traded Vince and whoever else for and Seattle might actually have done it), or that the rumoured Portland deal involving Shareef Abdur-Rahim was any better. Let's just see what we got from the deal, and figure out if Babcock got fleeced or not.

Obviously this trade hinged upon getting players back that would match up with Vince's salary. And of course, Babcock should've been trying to obtain players that actually had some value on the court (that is, trading for 10 guys making the vet's minimum wouldn't cut it either). I love Jalen Rose's inquiry upon hearing of the trade if the Raptors had acquired Richard Jefferson. Haha, AS IF.

So are Eric and Aaron Williams good enough on the defensive end to make up for Vince's offence? We will see. I've often heard that when Rose is on the floor, it's like the defense playing 4-on-5. With Vince too, it may as well have been 3 or 3.5-on-5. So if we can recover a few of those points on defense due to poor defending and rebounding, that should make up for any loss in point production.

Then of course, there's Alonzo Mourning, or rather, his contract. If Babcock can engineer some sort of buyout, that would be great, but if Zo actually decides to play for the Raptors, well, hey, that's a bonus. I don't think that's likely, and neither is the Miami rumour of a trade involving Mourning, Rose and Donyell Marshall for Eddie Jones and who knows who else.

The key is whether Babcock can turn the 2 first round draft picks into anyone productive. A lot of talk has gone about how the picks are crap because they won't be high picks, but a high pick doesn't guarantee anything except a contract. We could get a Chris Bosh, or we could get an Araujo. We could get a Lebron, or we could get a Darko. We could get a Yao, or we could get a Tskitishvili.

Some have said they're likely to be picks no higher than the 10th overall selection. With a bit of good scouting, Babcock could easily get some productive players. Players in recent years from that range of picks include Zach Randolph, Jefferson, Joe Johnson, Josh Howard, Tayshaun Prince, and Caron Butler. So all is not lost.

Only time will tell how the Raptors made out on this trade, if Babcock was indeed fleeced or not. New Jersey sacrificed some rebuilding components for a chance at glory in the here and now, and the Raptors have to make sure they maximize those rebuilding components for future glory. Then, and only then, can Babcock save himself from Araujogate.

A Stern Warning... Part 2 - by wongoz

2004-12-02T03:44:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right, i'm back... of course, it's taken a lot longer than expected to finally get back into the blogosphere, but i thought now's the right time... since there's so little happening in the sports world that really interests me.

Yup, you read that right. I've watched a few basketball highlights, including the little spat in Detroit... I've watched a few football highlights (American and European)... and well, there's no hockey to watch, and nothing else really interests me, so... what else is there?

It's pretty crappy, actually, if you ask me. The NBA seems to be enforcing its rules designed to increase scoring, as scores in the 110s and 120s are now a bit more regular... but still, aside from the soap opera that is the Vince Carter story, there's nothing really intriguing me about this season. But since I have to write something about it (see the title of this post), well, let's have a go at it.

Let me say that I agree mostly with Apollo here, about the Ron Artest suspension. I think that while it's not unreasonable to expect a multimillionaire to conduct himself in a professional manner (come on, we expect that out of bank tellers who get paid peanuts), I think a lot of the blame lies with the inadequate security at The Palace at Auburn Hills, and with the Detroit fans themselves.

It wasn't Artest who provoked the scrum with the fans. It wasn't him who started throwing things (if they were batteries or any other such thing, wouldn't that have been considered assault?). And while you might think that the customer is always right, buying a ticket doesn't entitle you to anything more than watching some athletic spectacle and voicing your pleasure or displeasure, as the case may be.

I'm not trying to condone his actions; actually, i think all NBA teams have the right to put in any sort of clause for professional conduct into the players' contracts. And those players who break that clause should be penalized as deemed appropriate.

But no one should expect physical abuse in their occupation, not you, not me, not bank tellers and certainly not Ron Artest.

A Stern warning...Part One - by Apollo

2004-11-22T12:20:00.000-05:00

It's now been confirmed that wongoz has returned from his Asian escapades. While this would normally mean we'll hear from him in about another month, hopefully recent events in the sports world will draw him out to actually post sometime soon. For further details on his Asian travels, you can of course check out his website.

This past weekend, Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest was involved in an ugly incident near the end of his team's victory over the defending NBA Champion Detroit Pistons. After a hard foul and subsequent melee with Pistons centre Ben Wallace, Artest was calmly lying on the scorer's table waiting for the foul situation to be ironed out. The referees had called the game with less than a minute left and the players were going to be dispersed to their respective locker rooms. We'll have to wonder "What If" for quite some time about how the evening would have ended if the Pacers had only been able to reach their lockers earlier.

In a strange and sad chain of events, a brilliant Pistons fan decided to throw a drink at Artest, hitting him squarely in the stomach. In addition to being covered with ice and beer, Artest lost it completely and ventured into the stands after the genius who launched what was probably his 10th drink of the night. Rather than scramble out of his way and evacuate, the good citizens of Michigan decided it was time to fight back against the oncoming NBA millionaire and punches began flying. The lax security was not enough to stop other players, including Pacers teammates Stephen Jackson, and coaches from going after Artest. Some tried to restrain him and bring him back to the floor, others helped him against a growing wave of unruly, inebriated fans who fought back, and the riot blew up. Later, with angry fans now on the court, Pacers star Jermaine O'Neal punched another fan in the face who had confronted Artest. The Pacers were eventually evacuated under a rain of drinks, ice and debris that flew onto them from fans around the court. At one point, a chair was thrown directly at O'Neal's head.

NBA Commissioner David Stern wasted no time in handing out severe suspensions yesterday. Artest was banished for the rest of the season. O'Neal received 25 games while Jackson received 30. While the suspensions effectively kill Indiana's playoff and championship hopes pending appeal by the NBA Players' Association, Stern said very little about the behaviour of the Detroit fans, which he called "disgusting" but focused all of his wrath on Artest, a repeat offender for other league violations, and his teammates, who's behaviour Stern called "inexcusable".

While I find it very difficult to defend the extreme behaviour of the Pacers players, the suspensions by Stern reek of catering to the whims of advertisers and television networks, not to mention suburban American fans who Stern relies on for money. Very little has been mentioned about the danger of the situation caused by Detroit fans, nor the fact that the security provided by the Palace of Auburn Hills staff was severely lacking for such a situation. Pacers coaches and players have commented that they literally felt as if they were "fighting for their lives" during the melee. Stern's suspensions, which he himself decided without a vote of any other executive or board, is in essence his way of telling the conservative fans who go to games and the advertising companies who contribute to league revenues "Don't worry about that, it's an isolated incident. I'll make sure my crazy black basketball players don't ruin your entertainment and stay on the court where they belong".

While hopefully race had very little to do with the suspensions, Stern has carefully avoided singling out the Pistons, the Michigan fans or the security for any blame whatsoever in this incident when clearly they all must share some of it. Artest may have been the one to venture into the stands, but Pistons fans were just as guilty of escalating the situation even further out of control. With coaches and staff trying to steer players off the court, fans took the opportunity to provoke the players even further and grew increasingly confident that no retaliation would come and that the crowd's sheer number would protect their anonymity.

In many ways, Stern's hand was forced. With potential criminal charges pending from the police investigation of the incidents, Stern had to show that the league was taking the entire situation very seriously. His hope is that the authorities will support his punishment and respect the NBA's autonomy as a league and essentially leave them alone. With Artest and his bizarre antics gone for the season, advertisers and network executives won't have to worry about any further "incidents" and can continue to pay for the broadcast of basketball without reservation. It is sad then that Artest, who has done a lot of weird and crazy things in his short career, is essentially being made the scapegoat in this affair. Some argue that Artest as a high paid NBA millionaire overreacted and that there is some unwritten rule about never entering the stands.

In my view, how much a person is paid is absolutely irrelevant to what behaviour they should be forced to endure. Last time I checked, there was no specific agreement that buying a ticket entitles a fan to heckle and essentially do whatever they want to players. Society seems to accept that a high priced athlete should turn the other cheek and take whatever insults or criticism is directed at him as a small token of appreciation for the wealthy lifestyle that their salaries afford. I've never understood that, particularly since athletes are paid as revenue-generating elements - they help make owners and the leauge money. Their salaries don't include "danger pay" or any kind of compensation for enduring abuse.

The fans who caused this entire problem in the first place will most likely never be located and never be charged with anything whatsoever. We'll never hear about them unless they of course bring some civil lawsuit against Artest and others, looking for additional compensation. These fans will happily remain unpunished and anonymous, and no doubt start crafting the next incident to mar the reputation of Detroit and its fans. Meanwhile, the Pacers will start losing, Artest and his suspended teammates will not be paid and Stern will continue his well oiled money making machine without further interruption. In many ways, Stern's response was his only logical choice, but that does not make his decision the right one. In any event, when dealing with an issue that draws so much passion and opinion, the only "right" decision for Stern was to sacrifice his players to protect his wallet.

Temporary Vinsanity...by Apollo

2004-11-19T11:43:00.000-05:00

While Wongoz continues to travel the world, he and others will no doubt be monitoring various sports media services over the next few days for particulars on a rumoured trade involving Toronto Raptors basketball star Vince Carter. Breaking news in the last 24 hours have cited the ubiquitous "league sources" to support a possible trade between the Raptors and the Portland Trailblazers involving combinations of Carter, guard Jalen Rose, and Blazers Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Nick Van Exel, and Derek Anderson. The only sure thing is that if Carter is traded, it will be the single most important transaction in Raptor general manager Rod Babcock's short tenure to date, and perhaps the most important trade of this franchise's 10-year history.

The VC era in Toronto was once so promising, so bright, and so full of potential that ESPN The Magazine once annointed the young guard its "Next" cover star. Carter, who announced his arrival to the basketball world with a jaw-dropping performance at the 2000 NBA All-Star Game, where he started as a sophmore and won the Slam Dunk Competition, led Toronto to its only playoff round win in franchise history. As every Raptor fan knows, Toronto came within a missed Carter jump shot from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games. Even when Carter's cousin, Tracy McGrady, disrespected the franchise and left as a free agent, Carter elected to stay, signing a contract extension and endearing himself to basketball fans and media everywhere. Carter's popularity has won him the highest number of votes for the annual NBA All-Star Game on a number of occassions, even during seasons where he has been injured.

As Wongoz has already diarized however, Vince has fallen out of favour in recent years. Injuries, a lack of performance, a lack of the spectacular dunks and drives to the basket that he was once known for, and the fickle preferences of sports media and fans in a city that doesn't necessarily know everything about pro basketball (but thinks it does), have combined to make Vince a tarnished superstar, culminating in his weak trade request this summer. Although both Carter and Rahim have backed off of trade demands in recent weeks, it appears they both now may be traded, whether they want it or not.

Carter's performances so far this season have been nothing short of dismal. Playing for his third coach in three years, Vince has seemed indifferent on the court and is settling for the jump shot even more often than usual. While his defence has improved more than anyone will give him credit for, his lone bright spots this season were a game-winning three point shot against Portland earlier in the year and a first quarter performance against Seattle where he did not miss a shot. While he has shown flashes of the old VC from time to time, this has only caused fans and his critics to jump all over him further, claiming that he's capable of playing better if he put more effort into his game. All the more maddening is that this year's Raptor squad is a competitive bunch, and even if Vince were to perform at last year's output, the team would be much better than its current 4-5 record indicates.

Those who constantly call for Vince to be traded should be wary that it is almost a certainty that whichever team he is sent to will receive a liberated player who will surely outperform what his recent Raptor games have shown. This of course leads to the ridiculous claims by the same fans and critics that the Raptors should hold on to Carter unless offered a significant NBA superstar in return. It seems no one in Toronto thinks that Vince is a star anymore, unless of course it's time to talk trade, and that's when other teams should believe he is one so that Toronto can get a good player back in return for him. Fans and media will likely be disappointed at these latest rumours, as Abdur-Rahim is a steady scorer and rebounder, but not much else and certainly was not comparable to Vince when they both played in Canada years ago.

While I have been a much more ardent Carter supporter than most (including Wongoz), I have become resigned to the fact that Vince will likely be traded in the short future and the Raptors will most certainly not receive equal value for him. I've never understood the seeming thrill that media and fans alike in this city derive from turning so viciously on the stars who play here. Athletes such as Mats Sundin, Eddie Belfour, Carlos Delgado, and Carter are just as likely to be villified than praised, and the scorn directed toward Carter has reached all-time heights this season. While I do agree that the enormous salaries that athletes receive leads to increased scrutiny and criticism, I've always been amazed at how a city like Toronto can annoint a player a saviour, pay that player without understanding all the factors necessary to achieve a rarefied winning product, and then tear down that same player when things go wrong. Vince was the foundation upon which the Raptors were built, but the pieces put in place around him were lacking, and after a while, the foundation itself crumbled, tired of going through three coaches and numerous teammates in three years, tired of missing the playoffs, tired of being doubled on the perimeter and triple teamed every time he entered the paint, tired of taking constant contact without foul calls then being labelled as "soft" by his own fans and media, tired of reading about how he wasn't a true star while people continued to demand star performances.

Unfortunately now, the relationship between the Raptors and Vince most likely cannot be ressurrected, unless Carter shows more effort and leadership, and the fans and media give him a break. It turns out that for a number of reasons, Vince Carter is no longer the superstar that the world made him out to be, and Toronto will not have the chance to see if he can once again reach those former heights, unless they have a satellite dish to watch him play for his new club. If anything, the Carter saga should certainly serve as a cautionary tale to Lebron James and the new wave of young NBA stars, but perhaps Chris Bosh, should be the most attentive of anyone. With Carter gone, he will be thought of as the new building block, and time will tell how fast Toronto fans and media decide to tear him down.

Too scary to call...by Apollo

2004-11-03T18:39:00.000-05:00

Before we get to the substance of this entry, I'll admit that apologies are in order to the Boston Red Sox who shattered all expectations, including those of most people in New England, even if they refuse to admit it, to come back from an 0-3 deficit to beat the New York Yankees and ultimately win the World Series with a 4-0 sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. With the exception of an offensive explosion in Game 1, St. Louis quietly whimpered out in four straight to cause viewers everywhere outside of the Eastern United States to tune out. I will give a big shout out to Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez, who in a champagne soaked winners' clubhouse stated that he shared his World Series win with the fans of the Montreal Expos, the organization who brought him into the majors. Martinez, the Expos' only Cy Young award winner, was part of the 1994 club who had the best record in baseball prior to the work stoppage which wiped out the World Series that year. A classy move by Martinez which hopefully will not be forgotten now that the Expos have moved on. It should be noted however that my predictions on the Red Sox winning two games at home, as well as the demise of the Houston Astros and Buffalo Bills running back Travis Henry were quite accurate.

The big news this week was the result of the 2004 elections in the United States, where this morning, Democrat candidate John Kerry conceeded the presidential race to incumbent George W. Bush, who will now carry the title of the "The most powerful man in the world" for another four years. Like most Americans in my opinion, I am not informed enough to comment exhaustively on the election and its issues, however Bush, who captured the majority of the popular vote by a large margin, hardly enjoyed a golden four years in his first term.

The debate on terrorism and Bush's war on Iraq aside, what I am having a hard time understanding is the fact that during his presidency, the American economy suffered. The country continues to run huge deficits and its debt is now so large that the common person cannot understand the implications. Bush's mandate will include increased spending for military objectives and it is unclear how exactly he will go about replacing the thousands of jobs that have been lost during his tenure. And yet, he was re-elected? I'm sure there's some logical explanation to all this and I admit that I am not completely informed, however generally, if a national economy is not good, change is usually immediate. A poor economy is one of the reasons that Arnold Schwarzenegger successfully became Governor of California. In Canada, any economic downturn on a provincial or national level usually brings with it an overwhelming change the next time the citizens go to the polls. The re-election of Bush is all the more surprising to me since Americans are supposedly more concerned with wealth and the economy than other countries, so a failing economy would seem to matter more to their capitalist population, but apparently not.

Bush's return to the White House does mark the end of the Washington Redskins' streak of correctly predicting the presidential race. An overstated and overused fact that emerged this past week was that the result of the Redskins' final home game before an election correctly predicted the last 16 presidential elections. When the Redskins won, the incumbent President returned for another term. When the Redskins lost, the incumbent also fell. In the wake of Sunday's heartbreaking loss by the Redskins to the Green Bay Packers in Washington, the trend called for Kerry to defeat the incumbent Bush. The streak of 16 correct predictions is now over, which will hopefully stop this obscure fact from ever being mentioned again.

A few other random sports thoughts this week:

1. Any athlete who feels they are resigned to sitting on the bench and not contributing for their team need only look to English striker Michael Owen for inspiration. Owen, who as a teenager burst onto the world scene with an incredible goal against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, transferred from Liverpool where he was the leading goal scorer and number one striker to star-studded Real Madrid where he quickly found himself stuck behind starters Raul and Ronaldo. Owen whined and complained a little bit, then kept training, distinguished himself for England in 2006 World Cup qualifying matches and following an injury to countryman David Beckham, found himself starting in a three-striker formation. Owen proceeded to score four goals in four matches, all Madrid victories, and resurrect what many had thought was a dying career. Potential bench time still faces Owen, particularly when Beckham returns and Real goes back to a two-striker formation, but for now he's contributing and his coaches know that he's still a prolific goal scorer. That's sports. Injuries happen. Seasons are long. Depth is essential to any team. A smart pro athlete does not complain about his lack of playing time, he instead makes sure that his rare appearances are memorable to the point that his team cannot help but include him in the starting lineup. Even if Owen's future is not in Spain, and with the frequency of roster changes in soccer, who knows where he'll be next year, he served notice to the world that he can still be a top flight striker when given the chance.

2. The National Hockey League (or is it No Hockey League) canceled its 2005 NHL All-Star Game today as a result of the ongoing player lockout. This move was met by sighs of relief from players who detest having to give up three days off during the season to play in a meaningless game, as well as puzzled expressions from Americans who said "The NHL has an All-Star Game?" This entire saga has become sad. With neither side looking to compromise beyond their last hardline positions, it appears that not only will this season be lost, but next year suddenly looks in jeopardy as well. I am convinced that sports media will begin ignoring NHL hockey completely, if they haven't already. For my part, I'll be taking in a Hamilton Bulldogs game in the near future as the top prospects from the Montreal Canadiens organization have been relegated to the minor leagues during the work stoppage.

3. Wongoz will return. Trust me. While this is not particularly sports related, watching out for his next infrequent post has become a pseudo-athletic event, requiring endurance of marathon-like proportions to sit through the lengthy delays.

Bon voyage! by Apollo

2004-10-15T12:51:00.000-04:00

We (well more like I) decided to post this farewell-themed post as Wongoz is about to take off on a mini-vacation, which he generally does quite a bit since European society is somehow convinced that giving workers a lot of vacation time is a good thing. Sheesh...first they have a higher-valued currency AND they also get more vacation time...and Europeans wonder why North Americans hate them so much...

Along the lines of the farewell theme, let's mention a few teams and players who will likely be saying good bye quite soon, including the Boston Red Sox, the Houston Astros, Travis Henry as the starting running back for the Buffalo Bills, Qyntel Woods from ever having a decent career in the NBA, and if the lockout continues along the same disastrous path, the Toronto Maple Leafs' entire roster, although they'll still be on the hook for all the salaries, including paying Ed Belfour over $20 million USD to retire.

Is it just me, or could Wongoz and I play running back for the Denver Broncos and gain 1,000 yards. Last week, with starting running back Quentin Griffin out with an injury, Reuben Droughns stepped in and merely compiled 193 yards rushing against one of the NFL's top ranked defences, the Carolina Panthers. The 2 Wise Men usually specialize in more in depth analysis, but when a trend is so blatantly obvious as the Broncos' ability to discover running backs, our minds snap like Curt Schilling's ankle tendon. Over the past few seasons, the Broncos have seen 100 yard games from such luminaries as Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, Quentin Griffin, Clinton Portis and now Droughns. Now, Terrell Davis was hardly a stiff, and injury prevented him from having perhaps a career for the ages, and Portis is still considered a top running back, despite having been hit with a severe case of fumbleitis since arriving in Washington, but the knack for Denver to plug anybody in at the running back spot and have success is getting ridiculous. When Denver coach Mike Shanahan traded Portis for Champ Bailey in the off-season, his reasoning was that he could find a top running back more easily than a shutdown cover-cornerback. Apparently, Shanahan was right.

Speaking of Schilling, Wongoz is a much more educated baseball fan than I am, but one thing I do know is how to tell when a franchise just cannot grab a break. All season long, the Red Sox have competed and even humbled the New York Yankees, edging them 11-8 head-to-head in games over the regular season. That of course, means nothing when the playoffs come and suddenly a guy named Jon Lieber is limiting one of the most potent offences in baseball to 3 hits over 7 innings and John Olerud is playing like the John Olerud of 1994 instead of the guy who was waived by the bottom dwelling Seattle Mariners just a few short months ago.

Curses and jinxes are generally brought out in sports as cliches to explain or excuse a team's poor execution or failure to perform under pressure. This is getting ridiculous though. I'm not even a fan of the Yankees or Red Sox or even of baseball for that matter, and even I have a hard time explaining the rash of bizarre events that have happened yet again to the Red Sox to place them in the 0-2 hole they now face. How is it that Schilling, the one pitcher who has owned the Yankees in the playoffs over a number of years and was brought to Boston this year for the express purpose to beat them in this particular playoff series, could possibly injure his ankle mere days before Game 1? A pitcher injuring his ankle trying to field a ground ball. That's like Ronaldo injuring his elbow trying to clear the soccer ball from his own penalty box. That's like Randy Moss hurting his shoulder trying to run-block. It's a freak event. One minute Schilling is moving over to the first base line to pick up the ball, the next he's grabbing his ankle and getting destroyed in three innings in game one by the Yankees. This kind of stuff only happens to Boston, at least according to Bostonians it does. How else do you explain Mariano Rivera having to fly to Panama for a funeral, fly back to New York in the middle of an 8-0 Yankees rout, then be forced to come in and save a 10-7 Yankees win? The same Rivera who gave up a double to Manny Ramirez with one out in the top of the ninth inning of Game Two with the Yankees clinging to a 3-1 lead, only to absolutely mow down the heart of the Red Sox batting order with two strikeouts to win the game. This is almost cruel. This is almost Ottawa Senators cruel. What makes it worse is you know that Boston will likely win 2 of 3 at home and their fans will once again raise hope of a comeback and appearance in the World Series, only to watch Alex Rodriguez hit a series-winning home run in Game 6.

On the bright side, basketball season is almost upon us. I'm beginning to understand that basketball players have to be among the most spoiled athletes in pro sports. I used to think baseball players were the most spoiled, but at least in baseball there's a minor league system of pros that have to ride buses and play in small towns. The Toronto Raptors recently announced they would be experimenting with canceling morning shootaround sessions for players since, as coach Sam Mitchell described, this would allow the players to get more sleep and be fresh for the evening games. Let me do the math for you. We're talking about players who all make millions of dollars being told they don't need to show up for work until 4:30pm for a game that starts at 7:30pm and ends by 10:00pm. Theoretically if I'm a Raptor, I can go out the previous night until 2am, get TWELVE HOURS of sleep before having to wake up and be driven to the gym for practice and game time. TWELVE HOURS of sleep. Wongoz hasn't had twelve consecutive hours of sleep since infancy. I'm all for getting rid of inefficient shootarounds that don't have any benefit anyway, but this is insane. If I tried to tell my bosses that I was sleeping in during the morning in order to be more fresh to work in the afternoon, they'd say "Are you kidding me?" louder than Chuck Swirsky. Instead of trying to be educated during my formative years, I suspect I should have spent more time working on more profitable goals like growing taller than 6 feet and practicing my jump shot.

"You're outta there!!" by Apollo

2004-09-29T17:46:00.000-04:00

A quieter, more pensive column today for the passing of the enigma that was the Montreal Expos. Today, as has been reported by several media outlets, the Expos are due to play their final home game before Major League Baseball sends them to Washington, D.C. next season. Now, given the recent history of management and administration in the Bud Selig era, anything is possible and the Expos could very well spend yet another vagabond season in Montreal before shipping out to some other destination, but all indications and reports are that Major League Baseball has secured a group of investors who will purchase the Expos for somewhere in the $300 million USD range, charge the taxpayers of Washington an even higher tax rate to build an even more expensive stadium to house the new renamed club and "America's Game" will continue. Appropriate then, that we take a small moment to reminisce on a ball club that both Wongoz and I have a fond affection for.

It's probably useless and futile to go over all the "could have been's" and "should have been's" in the Expos saga. Suffice it to say that it is highly unlikely such a debacle as the Expos' past few seasons have been would have occurred in any American city, in any other professional sport, or have been as under reported as this one was. As the proverbial and literal "wards of baseball" the Expos saw fan support predictably drop into the low thousands over the last three years, with a significant portion of their "home games" played in San Juan, Puerto Rico. While the end of pro baseball in Montreal is only becoming official now, the city of Montreal essentially gave up on this team years ago when it was patently obvious that baseball had abandoned them.

Contrary to popular belief, Montreal is a passionate sports town beyond simply hockey. I suppose we'll see just how passionate they are with no NHL games this year. The Expos were Canada's first major league baseball franchise, appearing on the map several years before the Toronto Blue Jays. Over the years, the franchise developed a reputation for developing young players, scouting exceptionally well, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean where the future stars of baseball were discovered, and having a plethora of talent that kept coming up from the minors. Every season the Expos seemed to be loaded with young players who would one day be stars. All of this talent culminated in 1994 when Montreal boasted the best record in baseball, featuring a lineup that included current Boston Red Sox superstar Pedro Martinez as well as Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Mark Grudzielanek, Marquis Grissom and Kirk Rueter, all of whom are still in the majors. I remember going to games that season, when the Expos gave the Atlanta Braves all they could handle, the same Atlanta Braves who have gone on to win every National League East pennant since that year.

Back then, fans showed up. They showed up in droves. They showed up to a decaying antiquated embarrassment of a stadium that was built in 1976 and was hardly adequate for baseball. The Expos were so consistently good up to that point that there was talk, even among American media, that the Blue Jays and Expos could conceivably meet in an All-Canadian World Series. Then the collective bargaining nightmare hit and baseball never recovered in Montreal. The star players were all shipped out in the following years in order to trim payroll. Ownership was never consistent nor supportive, and once the vaunted development system was purged, the Expos became a joke. Despite the tease of a new throwback downtown stadium, the shocking superstardom of Vladimir Guerrero and the lukewarm pennant run which brought Bartolo Colon in for a brief stint, Expos fans and indeed Montrealers have known for about six years that baseball had already died in the city. So it is that on their last day, few are actually sad, and the promise of Washington is what's on the minds of most media and baseball fans, who long ago either forgot about the Expos, or never really cared about them in the first place.

Recently, in an interview reflecting on what could have been, Pedro Martinez, the only Cy Young award winner in Expos history, passionately said that Montreal was the best city he had ever played in. The Red Sox ace said he would have taken far less money to stay in Montreal than he eventually received in Boston. He even went so far as to say that if the 1994 Expos had stayed together, they would have surely challenged the New York Yankees for baseball supremacy over the last decade. While a lot of what Martinez says is likely just good sound bites designed to be exaggerated, the fact that a foreign born player, with no remaining connection to Montreal, and who currently plays for a playoff team in one of the biggest baseball markets in the world, would continue to profess loyalty for a city he left years ago is the personification of why fans are both frustrated and sad at the loss of their Expos. The city shows indifference or even anger at recent events where the Expos are concerned, but I suspect that for most, these feelings are designed to mask a profound sadness and even bitterness. How could baseball first deny us a championship in the one year we were actually good enough to win, and then tear our franchise apart over the subsequent years.

In the coming months and years, baseball will celebrate its return to the American capital, which was once a thriving baseball market in the early years of the sport's long history. The players who once won for the Expos will retire and the Expos will fall somewhere behind the Brooklyn Dodgers and even the Winnipeg Jets in the annals of transplanted teams in sports history. Wongoz will take out his Delino DeShields jersey every once in a while and we'll spend some time saying "What if?" as we always do about a multitude of topics, including the Expos. But until sufficient time has passed, and as long as some former Expos continue to play and shine in major league baseball, there will be reminders. There will be small hints of what could have been. So today isn't actually an end to a sad story of professional baseball in Montreal. It's rather the tired beginning of a series of sad memories that will linger for a while longer. Montreal and Major League Baseball are both better off without each other, but that alone probably isn't enough for most to get over this debacle. Je me souviens.

There's also an "I" in "$12 MILLION" by wongoz

2004-09-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

I am the blogging equivalent of Vince Carter. My blogging superiority is quite clear, and yet I only show up to blog once a month, if even that. If only he would try harder, you might say. If only he wanted to be the best, you might think. Well, let me tell you something, missy, I've got other priorities and apparently, so does Vince.

Except we already know that. He thinks that what he's shown us to date has been nothing but heroic play, selfless effort and unquestionable loyalty, but his actions show otherwise. Apollo will probably defend VC to his dying breath (Apollo's or VC's, either one will suffice), but I can see past all the pretense and all the facetiousness and I know what Vince really is: just another selfish, coddled, millionaire athlete. Wait, check that: a lazy, selfish, coddled, millionaire athlete.

It's time to get rid of his sorry ass. I'm sorry to have to tell it like it is, but the man clearly doesn't want to be here. I'm not even sure he has wanted to be here since the criticism he endured, unwarranted in this mind, for his decision to skip out for his college graduation. Has he been flat-out the best player the Toronto Raptors have ever had? Yes. Has he posterized countless players and inflamed the fan base to raucous heights that no one had done before? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

But this man claims that he has to think about himself now? That he's got to look out for #1? That he's gotta be more selfish? And let's get things straight - he doesn't want to go to the superior Western Conference, and he doesn't mind if he doesn't get traded to a playoff-contender? You know what that is? That's Derrick Coleman (ie. a lazy, sorry-ass, waste of talent). That's a guy just collecting the checks, who wants the spotlight and the cizzash of superstardom, but none of the accompanying responsibilities.

He has shown no inclination to become a leader in the Michael Jordan mold. He has shown no willingness to exert his will to be the best, a la Kobe Bryant. He has shown no desire to take over a game in clutch time like MJ did. He has shown no determination to play hurt like Allen Iverson does. Heck, he hasn't even shown annual improvement like Kevin Garnett.

And now he wants to take his ball and go home? Sorry buddy. You're gonna have to face the music like the rest of us who earn a normal paycheck. If you don't like your dead-end job, then you either quit and bail on the rest of the money, or you suck it up and deal with it. Then when you've finally shown that you can indeed play nicely even when mommy isn't pulling the strings in the front office, maybe, just maybe, you might get your wish and get out.

There's an "I" in "WIN" by Apollo

2004-09-20T18:19:00.000-04:00

A big reason why the general public is so enthralled by sports is the dramatic aspect. Sports presents us with a view of human nature and human drama all pre-packaged and beamed right to our television sets. Sports are not subject to a planned script like movies or television programs, they're real - and certainly more real than an episode of Fear Factor. We love watching our heroes rise and fall and win and lose. In a way, we feel a part of that experience, even though we actually have very little to do with the actual performance.

There were a number of dramas happening in the sports world this past weekend. The NHL Lockout continued, with most American fans having already forgotten what hockey is days ago, and Canadian fans growing more and more bored and annoyed with local media devoting hours of coverage to the fact that nothing newsworthy had happened since the lockout began. The European team destroyed the U.S.A. in the Ryder Cup, embarrassing Tiger Woods and company on American soil, which apparently makes the accomplishment more important, even though half the European team lives in the United States. On a more international note, Spanish superclub Real Madrid was blanked 3-0 by Bayer Leverkusen in their first group match of the UEFA Champions' League, which in turn caused their coach, Jose Antonio Camacho, to quit following an equally embarrassing 1-0 defeat to lightly regarded Spanish club Espanyol. Meanwhile, the NFL and Major League Baseball seasons continued.

Part of the drama of sports is watching individuals, even individuals in team sports, rise and fall. We are thrilled by the last-second game winning shot, the seemingly impossible touchdown catch, the towering home run. These are the actions that make legends of individual players. While we certainly know which teams they play for (especially if its our own favourite teams), we're more likely to say "Curtis Martin had a huge day for the New York Jets" as opposed to "The Jets won. Oh, and by the way, Curtis Martin had a good game." And yet, for all this focus on individual achievement, there's still the old adages that teams win championships, teams are only as strong as their weakest player, teams are greater than the individuals. Usually this sort of rhetoric and cliche is reserved for media types and people who want to keep sports simple and ignore the personalities and the drama of the individual competitors. But the fact remains that true sports achievement, the kind that makes us stand up and take notice, remains with the individual. No one bothers to remember the intricate details of the Jacksonville Jaguars beating the Denver Broncos 7-6 in a snoozer of a game where no particular individual shines. But Barry Bonds' 700th home run dominates the highlight shows.

Which leads me to the Ryder Cup and the reason I think that the USA has consistently been beaten over the last few times it has been contested, despite having a team of superior individual golfers. While everyone talks about the Europeans having greater camaraderie and playing more relaxed, I think it instead comes down to the fact that the American players woefully underachieve trying to create some false sense of team spirit. The format of the Ryder Cup of course encourages team play, which is unheard of in golf, which is about going out on the course and shooting a better score than every other individual out there. However, the Ryder Cup is comprised of 8 alternate shot matches, 8 four ball matches and 12 singles matches. That means that 20 of a possible 28 points are decided by which individual happens to be playing the best in that particular match. If anything, the Americans should focus not on playing as a team, but trying to just beat every other golfer on the course, teammate or not. I've always found it sad and depressing to watch players like Woods and Phil Mickelson smile for the camera and talk about how much the love playing with a group of teammates. That may in fact be true, and hey, hanging out with a bunch of guys is what sports is all about. However, I think if Tiger ever forgot about trying to fit in with his teammates and instead focused on dominating his matches to the point where he could bring home 5 points for the USA, his teammates would quickly follow suit and Europe would not win another one of these competitions for decades.

It's incredible how human nature can work in a team sports environment. When one player establishes himself as the top athlete, the top performer, the rest of the team, even if they absolutely despise this guy, usually fall into their roles rather comfortably. Now, if the purported best player is in fact not the best player but tries to act like he is, or if the best player doesn't stand up and impose his will on the team, then you've got problems. If the best player just plain isn't too good, you've got the Golden State Warriors. But, when the best player truly leads, then you have the whole "he makes his teammates better" nonsense that gets spewed about from time to time. As Michael Jordan once said "There's no 'I' in team, but there is in 'Win'". Of course, Jordan said this when the Chicago Bulls were quite mediocre, but you get the point.

Athletes are creatures of habit. They spend their lives trying to learn how to do a particular action one way and trying to repeat that process as closely as possible every time. Athletes tend not to like innovation or change, or the unknown. That's why there's coaches around to teach them how to get used to it. While the fans love Michael Vick, I bet it's extremely frustrating to block for him cause nobody knows where he is or where he plans on running. Thankfully, he's so clearly the most exciting athlete in football that his teammates probably love him anyway, and you bet they love him now that they're 2-0 to start the season. As long as Vick is scrambling for 100 yards, throwing the ball for touchdowns and leading Atlanta to wins, it doesn't matter that Warrick Dunn only gets a handful of carries a game, or that Peerless Price had only 2 receptions, or that the Falcons offensive linemen need their heads on swivels all game long. Vick is the number one guy, and the rest of the team has chosen to follow his lead.

One of the reasons that overpriced, talent-laden teams like the New York Rangers, Real Madrid, and the Washington Redskins always seem to underachieve is because they have very little leadership, very little direction and very little clue how to use all their incredible talent. You don't win soccer games trying to figure out whether Michael Owen is better than Raul when your defence depends on whether Iker Casillas is playing out of this world goaltending or not. It amazes me that players like Ronaldo or David Beckham or Zinedine Zidane, who are so clearly the leaders of their national teams, suddenly become passive and quiet on the club side. When players refuse or cannot establish the proper roles for everyone, you need a coach who can do so for them. Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Mike Keenan, Larry Brown, Arsene Wegner. Until Real finds the player who will assert himself or the coach who will tell the players how to do so, they're destined for another underachieving season.

Perhaps we look for drama in sports to replace something in our own lives. Perhaps we find sports interesting and riveting because of the potential to see something great with each play. It is always so strange to me when an athlete who is so obviously talented and superior to those around him cannot for whatever reason dominate. I have forgotten what I enjoy watching more - the domination itself or the effort to get there. Being a sports fan, I have the luxury of being able to watch the entire thing play out from my couch.

Are you ready for some hockey, football, basketball and baseball? by Apollo

2004-09-09T18:54:00.000-04:00

Well it appears that the frequency of posts is beginning to dwindle, which I suppose I should have foreseen given the lack of timely posts on Wongoz's own website. I myself was away for a while but with the coming of September, expect a lot of sports related posts as it is now, arguably, the best time of the year in sports.

There's always a debate between what time of the year is the best in sports and it generally varies between fall and late spring. The fall boasts the season openers of european football, or soccer as it is called here in North America, american college football, the NFL, the NBA, and normally the NHL. In addition, the fall enjoys playoff and season ending contests in baseball and tennis. This fall is all the more special with the World Cup of Hockey, the Ryder Cup and World Cup 2006 soccer qualification matches in the mix.

The spring brings the beginning of the baseball season, playoffs in basketball, soccer and hockey (usually) and major tennis and golf tournaments. In any event, it's indisputable that the fall is a good time for sports, and leads to increased debate and discussion on sports related topics.

Which leads me to the World Cup of Hockey currently being played here in Toronto. While normally I would be rather excited about this event, and admittedly I've been following it pretty closely, the fact that the NHL lockout is looming does take something away from this tournament. I can suspend my disbelief long enough to watch the games without thinking that this tournament is really just a cash grab by the players and owners before the league is shut down. A beautiful 5-0 Canadian victory over Slovakia can go a long way to restoring my faith in this tournament though. A few things I've noted during the last two weeks:

1) The European group: Forget for a moment how wrong it is that both Russia and Slovakia were forced to play their round robin group games in North America while the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and Germany all enjoyed home games in Europe, it is a far departure from past international professional hockey tournaments where all teams would play games in Canada and be subjected to pro-Canadian crowds and venues. I find it almost amazing that any of the European teams were allowed to play in their home countries at all. A long overdue move which hopefully will lead toward further European based games in the future. Now, if they could only do something about the CIBC ads placed on the boards in Helsinki and Stockholm.

2) The fickle Toronto fans: I've said it once and I'll say it again: Montreal rules! The first few round robin games were played to loud sold-out crowds at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the largest arena in the NHL. The last few games have been before non-sell out crowds at the smaller Air Canada Centre in Toronto and even the Toronto-centric media have gone out of their way to note the difference in atmosphere. Now, the games are technically sold out, however the corporate customers who own the preciously overpriced World Cup tickets are either not showing up or passing the tickets off to people who aren't bothering to show up. This is a pure travesty. How can anyone justify empty seats at the Air Canada Centre when there are fans across eight countries who would love to be there? The corporate model has made the Maple Leafs rich and usually guarantees standing room only crowds, but hopefully for Toronto's sake the semi-final and final will be sold out.

3) Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky: Team Canada is undefeated when these two men are both involved. Lemieux was deemed too old and too injured to be effective at this tournament, and while the effort and heart were obviously there, the lack of production from him and linemates Joe Sakic and Jarome Iginla led some to speculate that the Magnificent One just did not have another great tournament in him. Two unbelievable backhand saucer passes later, Mario & Co. are looking like one of the most talented lines Canada has ever seen. One need only point to Sakic's gorgeous wrist shot goal last night off pinpoint passes from Iginla and Lemieux as evidence that Gretzky once again made the correct decisions with his staff. Prior to the tournament, many, including some of my close friends, were bemoaning the Team Canada lineup. Kirk Maltby? Brendan Morrow? Robyn Regehr? Jay Bouwmeester? What was Gretzky and his staff thinking? Where was Paul Kariya and Bryan McCabe and Keith Primeau? So far so good for Gretzky's management team once again, although they really should be thanking Steve Yzerman for his eye injury, otherwise Vincent Lecavalier would be watching this tournament from his cottage and Canada would likely not be undefeated.

4) Jose Theodore's "Dragon" mask: Martin Brodeur has a beautiful red Maple Leaf mask but you have to admire Theodore, the third string goalie, for customizing his own mask featuring a red Dragon head and the Team Canada logo, despite the fact he probably isn't going to play.

5) Team Sweden losses again: Wait a minute, you mean if we stack a team with a bunch of amazing forwards and one outstanding defencemen but goaltenders who don't even start in the NHL, we won't win (again)?

Enjoy the tournament while you can, even if you have to watch it on ESPN2, it will be the last pro hockey we see for a long time, unless you have satellite and want to watch Joe Thornton highlights from Switzerland or Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund play together again in Sweden.

On a follow up to my last post about spending on amateur sports in Canada, the Canadian Men's Soccer Team is likely not going to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Not only will this deprive Wongoz of seeing the national team in Germany that year, it will mark the 20th year since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico since Canada last qualified for sport's greatest spectacle. Now, I realize soccer isn't the most popular sport (or even close) in Canada, but not being able to score goals against Costa Rica and Guatemala is bordering on the ridiculous. Soccer is the highest participation sport in Canada and while the national team program is hardly on par with the European and South American countries, there is no reason why Canada cannot be a consistent Top 50 nation in soccer. As it is now, Canada is in danger of dropping out of the Top 100 in the FIFA rankings. Recently, the only legitimate Canadian professional player, striker Tomas Radzinski, complained that players had to fly coach class from Europe back to Canada because Soccer Canada was too cheap to pay for them to fly first class. Now, while that might sound like whining, some Canadian players had to spend over 16 hours in transit from Europe to Canada for the recent World Cup qualification matches. It's bad enough we barely have enough quality players to field a competitive team, but to take the few decent players we have and not give them the tools and resources to be successful is inexcusable. When's the last time you heard Ronaldo or Thierry Henry fly coach to play for their countries? I don't even think that those players even fly on commercial airlines! As the government tries to purge funding from some fringe sports in order to spur greater athletic success for Canadian athletes, there's no reason why soccer should not be one of the more heavily funded sports. If Soccer Canada is getting appropriate funding, then there's a systemic problem that ought to be fixed immediately. The Canadian Women's Team is among the world's best, there's no reason why the men's team cannot be put in a position to duplicate that success.

The Olympics, insert company name here...Part One - by Apollo

2004-08-16T18:14:00.000-04:00

Sports and patriotism seem inexorably linked, whether we like it or not. Usually if there's some sort of organized competition of some kind, before you know it, somebody will figure out where all the competitors are from and develop it to the point that it no longer is Team A vs. Team B or Athlete X vs. Athlete Y. Instead, it will be Canada vs. Russia or America's Michael Phelps vs. Australia's Ian Thorpe. It's a way to capture the public interest. Media and fans pay more attention to the event. We don't view the competition as some guy vs. another guy, now it's us against them or this entire nation vs. that entire nation.

The Olympic Games are the epitome of international competition. Athletes must earn the right to represent their countries in their chosen sports and in countries such as Canada, public funds are paid towards supporting athletes in their quest to bring home an Olympic medal. This of course leads to a lot of debate over issues that have very little to do with actual sport or competition. You could have an athlete who is one of the best in the world at a given sport, but if she doesn't qualify at her national olympic trials, or doesn't meet her national federation's standards, she doesn't go to the Olympics. Before I go on, who was the genius in Russia who decided Maria Sharapova didn't qualify for the Olympics. What's the point of naming your Olympic team before Wimbledon anyway? I would love to have heard this guy say "Let's go ahead and name the team. It isn't like any of our women will win Wimbledon anyways."

Let me first say that I love the Olympics. While I may not understand all of the sports, I am a proud Canadian and enjoy watching the competition. Sure, I may not be the biggest curling fan in the world, but every four years I'll watch it intently to see how Canada does. I'm not one to run to the nearest pool and start practicing my synchornized diving, but if it's Canada's first Olympic medal, I'll give my support for it and Blythe Hartley and Emilie Heymans, the women who earned it.

However, too often when the Olympics roll around, there's far too much focus placed not on the athletes but on the process and manner in which these athletes reach the Olympics. Canada, which compared to the United States or Australia spends a rather meagre amount on its athletes, is always scrutinized for its funding of amateur athletes. The pro-athlete lobby will say that Canada does embarassingly little to support amateur athletics. Meanwhile, many wonder why their tax dollars are spent on athletes at all. Why should we care about somebody in Saskatoon or North Bay who has aspirations of becoming the next great Canadian sprinter, they'll say. If he can make it on his own with sponsors or through some other means, then great, but don't give him a penny of our tax dollars when there's homeless people on the street and our health care system is supposedly in shambles. So goes the argument. Athletes contribute to Canadian society answers the rebuttal. The nation is drawn together and Canadian pride is put on display when we see our athletes performing on a world stage. These are people who sacrifice normal lives to train year round all in the hopes of carrying Canada's colours on the world stage. Give them more money! Fund them enough so they don't have to go to American colleges to train, so they can stay closer to home and develop their talents here. And the debate rages on.

Personally I don't mind funding amateur athletics. I also don't mind funding the arts, fisheries or a plethora of other government programs and services that I either don't use or derive very little tangible benefit from. Canada after all, is about the collective population providing services for the greater good of the country as a whole. If we only paid for what we used, we'd be a far different country that's for sure. Perhaps some people would prefer that, but not me. There after all has to be some reason why I stay up at 3am in order to watch the preliminary rowing heats from Greece just because there happens to be a Canadian boat involved.

People can generally talk in a very cavalier fashion when everything is done in the abstract. It's quite easy for someone to voice an opinion when nobody calls them on it, or asks them to support their view. You can yell out "USA Basketball sucks" all day long but try telling Lebron James or Allen Iverson or even worse, an educated American why they suck and you'll have a much more difficult time. Although, if the latest version of the Dream Team keeps playing they way they have been, that argument will become much easier. Meeting an Olympian or any athlete for that matter and delving into what their life is like makes it much harder to voice any kind of derision on amateur funding, in my opinion. This isn't like objecting to a lottery to support Canadian NHL franchises. Most amateur athletes struggle financially and try and get by on government grants and some private sponsorships if they can find them. For those athletes who train and compete in obscurity, they're probably depending more on family for both financial and emotional support than any supposed goldrush from the government.

As for the common call for private sector companies to step up, this is again an idyllic dream but not so much a reality. While there are several high profile sponsors in Canada, it isn't as though the Royal Bank or Visa is really going to pick up the tab for every aspiring amateur athlete out there. Private money is to amateur sports what public money is to healthcare. Everyone wants more of it, but nobody knows exactly how to go about paying it out properly and equitably to all those who need it.

In Atlanta in 1996 for the Summer Games, the Coca-Cola company was notorious for its advertising influence. Being based in Atlanta, Coke was everywhere, signs, posters, billboards and even a massive coke bottle were set up. The usual protests about the commercialization of the Olympics rained down, likely from the same people who call for more private money and corporate sponsorship of amateur athletics. Sometimes it seems people are in such a hurry to offload a cost that they don't really think about things clearly. The thinking usually is 1) my tax dollars should not go to amateur athletes; 2) stop funding them; 3) I don't care who does fund them; 4) how about [insert company here]? For the sake of all of us, I hope the Ministry for Sport and the Canadian Olympic Committee are a bit more far sighted than that.

Of course, in 2010 the Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver and Whistler, which will probably lead to people complaining about funding for athletes, then complaining about Canada's lack of success at an Olympic Games in its own country, followed shortly by complaining about funding for athletes again. I'm willing to debate why Canada doesn't enjoy the same international and Olympic success as other countries, but I grow quite bored of talk about athletic funding. We fund amateur athletics in this country...get over it already. Not my most eloquent argument ever, but the level of funding that is actually paid to these athletes is really disproportionate to the amount of fervour raised on this issue.

For now, and at least every couple of years when another Olympics roll around, I'll be cheering for the Maple Leaf as always. And for those athletes who toil and sacrifice and went out and won a silver medal in aerials for this country, only to hear about how they shouldn't get any more funding when they get home, you can have your piece of my tax dollars anyday.

The sports business Part 3 - by wongoz

2004-08-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

Many apologies to everyone out there... i just haven't had the urge/motivation/time/whatever to post anything recently. Some of the topics i've wanted to respond to are so old now that what i wanted to say is more or less irrelevant, so i'll just leave things as they are and start anew (well, as much as you can while still staying on the same subject)...

Unfortunately, the title of this post is a reason why a lot of people don't follow sports as hardcore as Apollo and I do... it's just a fact of life that sports IS a business, and when your favourite team and/or player(s) treat it so, then you're bound for some heartache. Or rage. Or both.

For the last 10 years, i've followed the Raptors from basement-dwelling mediocrity to the joys and agony of an off-balance missed shot in the conference finals and back. So nothing, save the Tracy McGrady fiasco, compares to the backhand-slap I want to give Vince Carter at this point in time.

Could he be any worse at hiding his desire to leave? I just don't understand it. First, he's got zero leverage, having at least 3 years left on his contract. Second, he says stupid things like telling fans to "enjoy me wherever I am", and offering the copout "no comment" line when asked if his agent asked for a trade. Third... well, do i really need a third?

I don't know if he's trying to keep all this under a "i'm just a pawn" gameface, but he's not fooling me. An agent doesn't demand a trade unless the player tells him to. A "no comment" comment is tantamount to saying yes, and VC knows it. Thus, if he knows it, then he might as well just come out and say it, instead of letting the whole thing fester like Michael Stewart's career. Saying moronic things like "enjoy me wherever I am" is more or less saying "buy my jersey even if I'm playing for the Knicks next season". Who does he think he's kidding? Does anyone doubt that if Chuck Oakley were still around that he'd give a nice forearm shiver to Vince's head for not standing up for himself?

Anyways, I hope he gets to play for the Knicks and Lenny Wilkens (has anyone figured out why Vince wants to play for a coach he so visibly disliked before?), just so I can expose him for the money-grubbing louse he is. If we can somehow swing Jesus Shuttlesworth himself (that's Ray Allen for everyone except the 6 people who saw He Got Game), that would be fantastic. I don't even have a trade proposal in mind, but i think it can work out somehow. Let it be known, that even before that article came out in the Toronto Star, i proposed Allen as the player coming back to the Raps in an email to Apollo. Hopefully he'll back me up on this one.

Alright, enough ranting for today. Hopefully not for the month though... :P

The sports business Part Two - by Apollo

2004-07-27T17:30:00.000-04:00

Normally we won't go over a week without a post. Such delays are really cruel for our fans. I think that Wongoz was probably preoccupied with the Democratic Convention or something like that. He'll return in due course I'm sure. On a related note, say what you want about his politics or his personal life, but Bill Clinton can give a speech with the best of them.

The public obssession with sports and with celebrity is such that we could devote all of our posts to the sports business and offseason sports news. Hopefully with the coming arrivals of the Summer Olympics, the World Cup of Hockey and NFL and UEFA training camps, there will be actual sports to talk about shortly in this forum. Until then, some random thoughts I've had on recent on and off-field topics.

1. Nicholas Gill - Could this have been any more of a non-story? In fairness, anything that makes the front page of the Toronto Sun usually receives very little respect, and this "news" item was no exception. Apparently, Canada's best judoka and flag bearer for the upcoming Olympics in Athens was once a seperatist, or held seperatist views in any event. More noteworthy than the fact this topic stayed somewhat current for about 4 hours was that media outlets devoted about 2 lines of text to the fact that Gill is apparently not a seperatist now, and that he has always been proud to compete for Canada, even going so far as to turn down a lucrative offer from French sports organization Paris St. Germain which would have seen him changing citizenship and competing for France.

A couple points - are there any seperatist athletes competing for Canada right now? Probably. Are any of them going to wave the Quebec flag instead of the Canadian flag if they win a medal in Greece? Probably not. To some Canadians, finding out that an Olympian once voted for the Reform Party is probably just as bad as finding out if someone is a seperatist. Getting into political ideologies and backgrounds when it comes to sports is quite dangerous, particuarly since sports, and the Olympics in particular are supposed to be a non-biased celebration of athletics. Certainly flag waving and patriotism and even politics are prevalent during the Olympics, but it isn't supposed to be that way. Nicholas Gill has won medals for Canada in the past, he was happy to get the honour of being the flag bearer this year, end of story.

And by the way, for certain media reporters who thought that Simon Whitfield should have been the flag bearer, Canada's top triathlete already enjoyed this honour during the closing ceremonies of Sydney 2000. Inaccurate sports journalism has to be one of my biggest complaints these days.

2. The Ricky Williams retirement - I'm all for people quitting their jobs and going off to do whatever they want. Life is too short to be cooped up in...uh...a mansion, luxury car and private jet that are awarded to you as part of your job when you make millions of dollars as an NFL running back. Who among us hasn't yearned to take off from work and travel to Asia, when it is so obvious that 7 months of vacation time is not nearly enough to fit in a trip of a week.

I'm not particularly upset by the Williams retirement, probably because I'll believe it when I see the actual retirement papers faxed into the NFL head office. Not having Williams available for my football drafts is a bit annoying, but that's okay. And don't ask me if I have any sympathy for the Miami Dolphins or coach Dave Wannstedt that their star running back quit on them a week before training camp and after Eddie George already signed with another team. Football players, and running backs in particular absorb more punishment in a season than I care to think about, and while they certainly don't come close to Alex Rodriguez money, they make more than enough to retire after only six years, as Williams did. Williams, for now anyway, is tired of football, and is in the enviable position of being wealthy enough and somewhat carefree enough to walk away from it during his prime earning years. If anything, it says more about society that we're so puzzled that someone would do something like this, but that's another debate...

3. The Montreal Expos - I went to see my first Expos game (and likely my last) in 10 years the other day. It was surreal - general admission tickets in the lower bowl, having entire rows of seats to yourself, not having to fight any lines or crowds whatsoever. I can remember the first place Expos team of 1994 right before the lockout. I went to watch a first place game with Atlanta and over 40,000 fans were in Olympic Stadium for that game. It's sad what's happened to the Expos since then and how they can't leave Montreal soon enough now. Still though, there's so many conditions that need to be met in order to save baseball in Montreal - a downtown stadium with real grass, affordable ticket prices and a contending team - that it's probably better off that the franchise leaves sooner rather than later.

4. Brazil wins the Copa America - Hey, rest of the world! Guess what? Defending World Cup champion Brazil sent their "F" team to this tournament and still won! Good luck in 2006 in Germany. In related news, Brazil announces their World Cup qualifying team will now consist of Ronaldo, Kaka, and the San Jose Earthquakes roster (okay, that's not true, but you have to give me extra points for the MLS reference).

5. Lance Armstrong wins again - It's unfortunate that such a landmark achievement as winning 6 consecutive Tour de France titles can be clouded by talk of banned substances and such. The suspicion I suppose will always remain, but I cannot help but be impressed with what he has achieved. The cancer issue aside, Armstrong traveled up the Alps and Pyrenees mountains faster than I can drive. He gets bonus points from some for divorcing his wife for Sheryl Crow as well, although not from me. Until proven otherwise though, this remarkable achievement is nothing except awesome.

The sports business Part One - by Apollo

2004-07-15T11:13:00.000-04:00

Usually I like the offseason. Wongoz and I are those types of sports fans. We enjoy analyzing the multiple facets of sports, the transactions, trades, signings, firings, all the off-court aspects of the games that most casual fans don't pay attention to. This overall focus is what makes us the 2 Wise Men after all.

I have to say though that I've become pretty drained lately. Exhausted is almost a better word; melancholy. Disenchanted and disappointed to the point that I almost don't really care anymore about what's going on in professional sports these days. The off-court business of sport is superceding the on-court performance to the point that my usual adorable cynicism is reaching all time highs.

Now, it could more be a function of media coverage and the unprecedented access to information that sports fans enjoy today that is responsible for this shift. Back in the day, we were not privy to most information on trade talks, rumours, franchise moves, and other transactions that we would just continue blissfully unaware until the bomb dropped on us. Imagine if the Wayne Gretzky trade (and I mean the only important one) had happened today in the era of 24-hour sports networks and internet websites? Peter Pocklington would have felt the backlash far sooner. However, for better or for worse, I have the information, I have news. And these latest topics have only caused me further ambivalence:

1. The Carlos Boozer saga: Boozer, an NBA forward, was a second round draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers a couple years ago. Instead of the guaranteed riches of a first round contract, Boozer had to toil on the meagre $700,000.00 (approximately) annual salary thrown to second rounders. He proceeded to admirably become a potential star, posting double digit scoring and rebounding numbers for the Cavs last year. Under the NBA rules, Cleveland could have easily forced Boozer to accept a couple more years of being grossly underpaid, but instead they elected to not renew his contract on the understanding (or so they say) that they would re-sign him for a $5 million annual deal. Boozer, given his restricted free agent wings by the Cavs, promptly signed an even bigger multimillion dollar offer sheet with the Utah Jazz which the Cavs have no intention of matching, given their salary cap constraints. The Cavs, and beleaguered GM Jim Paxson claim that Boozer and his agent scammed them into believing Boozer would re-sign with Cleveland, when all along he just wanted to be let out of his contract so he could go sign somewhere else for more money.

Boozer has now defended himself. There never was an implied agreement he would re-sign. His coach, Paul Silas, told him he would not get the chance to become an All-Star in Cleveland. He's going to Utah unless Cleveland wants to pay him the same money. Now, far be it from me to stand between anyone and $68 million guaranteed US dollars. Furthermore, I would be one of the last people to defend the managers of a professional sports franchise, who generally enjoy much more bargaining power and are paid to be smarter than the agents and players they employ. This whole ordeal though, is just sad. Does Boozer not realize that Cleveland is the only team of the NBA's 30 franchises who felt he was worth drafting? Cleveland was the one who gave him his opportunity to prove he was worth $68 million. Furthermore, why in the world would Cleveland ever release Boozer from his contract if there was even the slightest suspicion that he might leave? Is Cleveland so naive that they thought their prize forward would actually accept the mid-level exception salary when at least three teams were willing to give him over double that if he ever became a free agent? What's sad to me is that there is now zero incentive for any team to ever treat a player right or to trust the word of a player or agent. If there is even the slightest chance that you'll end up being double-crossed in the end, you may as well just bind a player to his underpaid contract and force him to play out the entire term. There's too many conflicting facts in this case for me to pronounce who is actually telling the truth, but following all of this nonsense is certainly not making me a big fan of Boozer, Paxson, Cleveland or Utah.

2. The Shaquille O'Neal trade: For eight years now I have watched the soap opera that is the Los Angeles Lakers, starring Shaquille O'Neal as Victor Newman and Kobe Bryant as Nikki. I love the Lakers. I've loved them since the Magic Johnson days (all four eras - 2 as player, one as coach, and one as part-owner). Through all the drama, I've always believed that the Lakers would win because no matter what, Shaq and Kobe were incredible players and they together could defeat 99% of the NBA regardless of whether they liked each other or not. I also tended not to believe they actually hated each other as much as some had reported. Then the Detroit Pistons became the 1%, Kobe decided he wanted his own team sans Shaq and before you know it, the Miami Heat now employ the Diesel and Kobe is deciding whether to play for the Lakers with Lamar Odom or to go over to Odom's old team - the cross-town Clippers.

This whole sorry saga is about ego, and how professional athletes have huge ones, and owners sometimes have even bigger ones, and how in the end, the last true NBA dynasty that we'll see for some time was undone from within. Does Kobe honestly think that he can win a championship with Brian Grant instead of Shaq? Did he learn nothing from that run of 40 point games he put up without Shaq, that for the most part ended up in Laker losses? Does Shaq really care that much about whether Lakers owner Jerry Buss respects him? Does the fact that Buss pays him $30 million a year, by far the highest salary in the NBA indicate enough respect for anyone. Hey, I sometimes don't like my boss either, but if he paid me $30 million, you can bet I would gladly keep not liking him for a long time. Shaq says if given the choice, he likes his chances of winning without Kobe than Kobe winning without him. That may be true, but there's no way either of them can dispute that their best chance to win is together...they've already proven that 3 times in the last 5 years.

How do you explain any of this to the average fan? How do you possibly comprehend Tracy McGrady forcing a trade to Houston when the whole reason he left Toronto in the first place was because he wanted so desperately to play for his hometown Orlando Magic? How does Kobe explain that he wants to turn his back on the organization and teammate that won him 3 championships before the age of 25 because he's on some power trip to prove he can single-handedly win a championship by himself? I suppose a few years from now we'll hear about Elton Brand demanding a trade to prove he can win without Kobe. The number of factors that professional athletes and teams consider important are staggering: respect, winning, character, heart...you would think that satisfying one of these components would be enough. Whether any NBA franchise should even contemplate signing Kobe at all is a debate I won't even touch, but the logic (or lack thereof) that some of these individuals possess is absolutely mind-numbing to me.

3. The Vince Carter trade rumours: Simply put, I don't care. I don't care anymore. I'm a rather ardent VC fan, I give him more credit than most, but whether he gets traded or not has become a circus here in Toronto that I want no part of. His mom said one thing, his agent said another, his friend the car salesman who was at his wedding said something else. Meanwhile, he says nothing. Although he's new on the job, I trust Raptors GM Rod Babcock to do the right thing. If he wants to trade Vince, he won't do it unless he gets value in return, which is something Babcock has said personally many times. That's enough for me. I would prefer not trading Vince at all. I would prefer if Vince could return to the Vince of 2000 and be a better player. But I have been bludgeoned into indifference by the constant speculation, the lack of comment from Vince himself and the overarching fact that the Raptors will be horrible this year with or without Vince anyway so it's all a moot point. For the record, I don't think Vince will be traded this season, and I think he'll have a good year for the Raptors. To be honest though, I almost don't care if I'm right or wrong.

4. The NHL collective bargaining agreement: The lockout is coming! The lockout is coming! The current NHL CBA expires on September 15, 2004, shortly after the World Cup of Hockey is decided. Everyone in the NHL, the NHLPA, the media and in coffee shops across Canada are convinced that 1) there will be a lockout; 2) the lockout will be a long one; and 3) once the lockout is over, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment will immediately announce a 15% price increase on Leafs tickets.

Personally I blame the owners for the current state of the NHL and I have a hard time trying to figure out why the players should concede anything at all in collective bargaining. One argument that comes to mind is that given their history, odds are the owners will end up messing up any new "cost-certainty" system anyway so the players may as well agree to anything on the assumption they'll end up better off regardless due to the owners' own ineptitude. The message that a lockout is coming has become so ingrained in my mind that I'm virtually resigned to it happening, as I am resigned to the fact that hockey fans will flock back to the NHL once it's over. Sure, the league may lose the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Nashville Predators along the way, but as long as the Leafs and Habs are around, who cares eh? (How's that for a stereotypical comment?)

Do the players and owners not see the blatantly obvious facts that 1) Americans generally don't care about hockey; 2) the on-ice product is for the most part garbage; and 3) most people can't name the top 5 scorers in the NHL on a consistent basis. A work stoppage will not improve any of these problems. A work stoppage will not explain to me why I have to pay my entire week's salary for two seats in the reds at Air Canada Centre to watch the Leafs lull the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to sleep. At this point, I almost have to think that my constant attention to the NHL is somehow genetic, or influenced by the Canadian air that I breathe and that wongoz has breathed for most of his life. Otherwise, why do I come back after each round of collective bargaining buffoonery to this sport?

Malaise is a good word. I'm feeling a general malaise to professional sports right now. Hopefully the coming NFL season will help me out, but I'm beginning to understand why computer sports games like Madden 2005 and NBA 2K5 are so popular. Reduce these professional sports egos to mere bytes and pixels, and you have an overwhelmingly more enjoyable product.

Lamentations in the T-Dot Part 4 - by Apollo

2004-07-12T12:31:00.000-04:00

Argh, the dreaded 4th post on the same topic...4 being a rather unlucky number in some cultures. I'm not too concerned about it in this instance since I have other things to rant about and therefore the death of this particular subject is not a real loss. All you 2 Wise Men fans out there rejoice at once again being blessed by multiple posts on the same day.

First of all, let me clarify something that wongoz obviously missed horribly. It isn't that I am against nicknames per se, I'm more opposed to shortened nicknames for terms that do not need shortening in the first place. Apollo is a complete name. If I was named Apollo and referred to myself as Ap, Ollie or A-Dot, then there would be a problem. The point being, why would anyone need to come up with an alternative name for something that's easily identifiable and pronounceable...eh, wongoz??? (Insert irony here).

Since he is a proud Torontonian (his term, not mine), wongoz has a lot of emotion on this particular subject, hence the first post on this issue was his. Moreover, as an educated Toronto sports fan, he has suffered through the frustration of the local teams for many years, and sees beyond the wins and losses. He can critique his teams, an admirable quality and one of the reasons I allow him to share this forum with me. I, as an outsider, generally celebrated the victories of certain Toronto teams and was somewhat disappointed by the losses, but never really took it too personally. I never identified with any Toronto team and never claimed any team as my own. I never bragged about any Toronto team's success because I knew that I was not a true Toronto fan. Therefore, I never became personally invested to the obssessive degree of wongoz and other Toronto fans.

Small traces of classic Toronto sports arrogance creep into wongoz' posts from time to time and they are clearly evident to anyone but a Toronto sports fan. He says he "doesn't blame" me for not liking Toronto teams, as if it somehow requires forgiveness that anyone could cheer for any team besides one based in Toronto. It's entirely understandable to him that people across Canada have to listen to the latest Toronto sports highlights. After all, more people live in Toronto than anywhere else so of course their teams are the most important and should take precedence over coverage of any local team. And who cares about the fates of other teams in other cities? We're Toronto dammnit, we're doing just fine over here so why do we care about anyone else? Who cares if other cities don't have the fan support of Toronto? That's their problem, not ours.

Never mind that Toronto sports teams benefit from a unique corporte and media culture that no other Canadian city can duplicate, and that they themselves had absolutely nothing to do with. If Winnipeg and Quebec City enjoyed the same luxury box crowd and sushi eating clientele as Toronto, surely the Jets and Nordiques would not only still be playing, but would surely have won more than Toronto over the last 37 years. If the Expos actually had a media contract that gave them more exposure than a few random games on The Score and over the internet, perhaps they would not be the orphans of baseball that they are today.

What Toronto sports fans continue to miss, to the absolute annoyance of the rest of the world, is that they have very little reason to be so loud and proud. Toronto teams are in a down period right now, marked by poor sports management and a commitment to the profit margin as opposed to delivering a championship to their long suffering fans. And yet, with no evidence whatsoever that any Toronto franchise is headed to a championship anytime soon, Toronto fans still pay their money, follow their teams and demand a winning product and a championship contender. It goes beyond expecting a good effort, it goes beyond wanting to see annual improvement. Toronto is all about winning. Toronto fans are not content to sit back and track the progress of their teams. Toronto fans are living mostly in the glory days of the Leafs and Blue Jays when talk of a championship was realistic and bandwagons rolled along with overcrowded masses. It is entirely frustrating to listen to Toronto fans banter on about what top flight free agent they may get, what trades they might make without any semblance of realism. Why wouldn't [insert to superstar here] want to play in Toronto? Actually, why would anyone want to play here? Even worse, few Toronto fans offer any sympathy whatsoever to the financial plight faced by other franchises, or the greedy owners who move their teams to another city in the middle of the night. And Toronto fans then audaciously wonder why people don't like them so much?

Now there are signs of progress...after all, the entire point of this discussion was that wongoz sees no relief on the horizon for the continued losing of Toronto teams. You would be hard pressed to find a cocky Raptors fans these days, and most Blue Jays fans are staying home and waiting to see exactly what the J.P. Ricciardi era will bring them. What I have tried to convey is that until fans start showing their displeasure at the ticket window, very little will change. Moreover, no one is feeling sorry for Toronto's current state of woe. Every team has their die-hard and insufferable fans. It seems just more fun for the rest of us to make fun of Toronto's die-hards than most. Perhaps it's because we've often been outnumbered, having to deal with the sheer volume of the Leafs Nation or similar Toronto mob. Most likely it's because we're probably just jealous, jealous of the unending devotion that so few other cities can boast. As I have said before, that devotion is admirable. It's just annoying when they try and stuff it down our throats.

Lamentations in the T-Dot Part 3 - by wongoz

2004-07-12T08:51:00.000-04:00

Ahh, finally something to rebut. But before I get into it, lemme just take a moment to guffaw at the brouhaha over nicknames... hello?!? Apollo? APOLLO?!? Surely the irony of your rant doesn't escape you. I'm surprised that such a venomous anti-nickname proponent as yourself would, in fact, take a nickname!

Alright, let's get down to it. I don't blame Apollo for not liking Toronto sports teams; it happens if you're from another town with a team in the same league/sport as Toronto. In fact, I think it's only natural to follow teams from your hometown. So while you can have your Canadiens, I'm a little more than perplexed that you followed both the Blue Jays and the Argos, when you had your respective hometown choices, the Expos and the Alouettes.

Now why would you choose the Toronto teams instead? I suppose it's because you actually grew up in Waterloo, just an hour outside of Toronto. Naturally, most media coverage of big-league sports would've centred around Toronto, so I suppose that could be a factor. However, access to media coverage doesn't fully explain why you would've done so.

Are you such a fan that you absolutely need to watch a team in order to follow it? Certainly not; this would negate your love for the Canadiens and hatred for the Maple Leafs. Perhaps you, as a Montrealer (do you hate that term too?), simply didn't profess your love for all things Montreal in your last post. Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt...

But this love/hate relationship that people have with Toronto sports teams says more about those people than it does about the teams. Your biggest point of contention is that Toronto expects its teams to win. But why wouldn't you? After all, do you not support your own favourite teams with equally ardent fervour? Do you not think that your teams should try to succeed every year? Do you not want your teams to try hard, give a good effort, and be rewarded for those efforts?

On the contrary, I think many people are pessimistic about the chances for success. Certainly, many media reports (namely, the Toronto Star's coverage of the Jays and Raptors) expound on how unlikely it is for those teams to succeed. So where is this expectation, this so-called birthright, to winning? It's just that we think the organizations running the teams could be doing better. Isn't that in fact what we always talk about? Why other teams' organziations always seem to be better, or more capable? The last time the Leafs really won a trade was when they ripped off Calgary in the Doug Gilmour-Gary Leeman deal, and that was about 10 years ago.

Actually, what I think is the key matter, is that most fans think that they can do better. Certainly you and I both think so. Never has there been such dysfunction in so many sports teams' management in any given city. The Leafs and the awkward Ken Dryden-Pat Quinn duo. The Jays and the inept Gord Ash/Tim Johnson/Jim Fregosi years. The Raptors and the disappointing Glen Grunwald/Butch Carter/Lenny Wilkens/Kevin O'Neill quartet (not to mention the meddlesome CEO Richard Peddie). The Argos and the embarrassing Sherwood Schwarz ownership fiasco. Do we expect them to be better? Hell yeah.

Maybe it's the overwhelming media coverage of the Toronto sports scene that bothers you. Well, you can hardly fault that. More people live in the Greater Toronto Area than 7 of the 10 Canadian provinces. Historically, Toronto teams were one the few teams to cheer for (in the case of the Raptors, they are the only team to cheer for), so fans of the Leafs and Jays spread from coast to coast, without shame.

Anyways, I won't get into why it's frustrating to be a Toronto fan - you seemed to have covered that part adequately. I just don't see how people can think that Toronto expects more out of its teams than other cities do out of theirs; if they do, it's because they don't support their team as well (or as blindly). Is it Toronto's fault that Vancouver lost the Grizzlies to Memphis? Is it Toronto's fault that Québec lost the Nordiques, or that Winnipeg lost the Jets? No, no and no. So whine all you want. At least we have something to whine about.

Lamentations in the T-Dot Part 2 - by Apollo

2004-07-06T16:03:00.000-04:00

I quite dislike the term "T-Dot" to begin with. It's such a Canadian thing to come up with nicknames for everything. T-Dot, VanCity, the Peg. Is it really so hard to pronounce three syllables? And don't even get me started on hockey names. Dougie, Eddie, Iggy, Ribs...is there some reason why fans and media can't just use the actual names given to these people from birth? Moving on...

I am merely a Toronto resident, having been fortunate enough to be born in Montreal. Therefore, I've somewhat enjoyed the lack of success of Toronto sports teams. I don't dislike Toronto, but having been raised outside the city, I never caught on to the sports scene with the same fervour as wongoz. Sure, I followed the Blue Jays in 1992 and 1993 and I watched the Argos during the Rocket Ismail days, but really the happiest times for me were the Harold Ballard era Maple Leafs. A particular 10-3 drubbing by the Montreal Canadiens back in the 80's brings particular joy. Now that I have unfortunately followed the Raptors since their inception in the mid-90's, I've been more involved in the Toronto sports scene than I care to admit. For better or for worse, Toronto pro sports and Toronto fans evoke strong emotions - mainly love or hate.

Like the Republican Party, the New York Yankees, and Jennifer Lopez, Toronto sports teams are beloved by their legions of faithful fans, but despised by everyone else. To the rest of the country, a Toronto pro team is the first born child who was spoiled from birth and then whines when the rest of the family gets a few crumbs to eat. People love to hate Toronto, mainly because of the Leafs, and mainly out of petty jealousy, which Toronto arrogantly does nothing to stop. Many cringe at Toronto's proclamations as being the centre of the universe and hate that Toronto somehow considers itself special, different from the rest of the world. Grudgingly, regardless of the fates of its pro teams, Toronto sports fans are indeed unique.

Toronto is one of the few cities in the entire world to enjoy teams in all the major sports leagues (except the NFL - which has no non-American franchises anyway - and if it did, you better believe Toronto would be one of them). Toronto even boasts a pro lacrosse team, and minor league hockey and soccer franchises. Torontonians (another term I dislike) are spoiled by the plethora of options available to them for their sporting and entertainment pleasure. With that comes a sense of entitlement, a feeling that because we are Toronto, we somehow are destined to enjoy success in everything we touch. Losing is for the rest of the world, for Ottawa and Montreal and Boston. We're Toronto. Free agents will of course want to come play for us, we'll settle for nothing but the best coaches and general managers and facilities that money can buy. Canada's three major sports networks and three biggest newspapers always lead with Toronto sports coverage. Success is our right.

And why not? Thanks to corporate ownership that is non-existent anywhere else in the country, if not the world, Toronto has proven they have the resources to compete with anyone. The Jays, Leafs, Raptors and Argos have all enjoyed success to varying degrees both financially and athletically. Which is why being a Toronto fan is so frustrating. We can spend as much money as any New York or Los Angeles based team, and yet have no major championships in the past decade to show for it (sorry to say that the Grey Cups of the 90's don't really count since only Doug Flutie can remember them).

What happened to the winning? We now find ourselves in an era where winning at all costs no longer applies in Toronto. The corporate owners spend just enough to ensure the flow of revenues continue, but not enough to inspire serious championship aspirations. And Toronto fans, starved for any sort of victory, continue to pour money into the corporate pockets in hopes of one day stumbling upon a championship. And so the Jays rebuild, the Raptors reload, the Leafs recycle, and somehow the fans return again and again. Free agent after free agent bypass Toronto in favour of such metropolitan hot spots like Seattle, Chicago, Orlando, and Detroit, cities that while appealing in their own way, pale in comparison to Toronto for quality of life. When the time comes to hire new coaches or managers, we now settle for the young first time executives who have potential and work ethic as opposed to the people actually acknowledged as the brightest and best in their sports. And through it all, fans keep paying and showing up. Sure, the Jays lost fans after the baseball lockout, but so did every other major league franchise. The Argos are the Argos and will never be the Dallas Cowboys, but the promise of a new stadium has spurred renewed fan interest and smaller debt loads. Meanwhile, the Leafs and Raptors continue to parade out disappointing and inferior teams who generate some of the top attendance figures and revenues in their sports.

What do Toronto sports fans have to look forward to? Nothing. And yet that suits us just fine. We'll spend hours debating who the Leafs' backup goalie or third line centre should be. Entire emails will be devoted to which unknown Raptor draft pick or Jays minor leaguer could actually develop into a serviceable player. Vince Carter's wedding registry is considered news here. We would of course be happier seeing our pro teams under proper and intelligent management, with Phil Jackson or Larry Brown roaming the sidelines, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, and all the top free agents flocking to play here. But we'll be faithful without any of that, and unfortunately, the owners know it.

In an era where attention spans are short and the faces on a pro roster change seemingly on a monthly basis, the continued loyalty of Toronto sports fans is unique, not good or bad but certainly inexplicable. This isn't a European city where everyone supports the soccer team that their grandfathers used to watch, win or lose. This isn't Buffalo or Cleveland where fans consider their teams to be an extension of themselves and live and die with them accordingly. This is a city where fans support four teams or more, all at once, and expect all of those teams to win, despite overwhelming evidence that there is very little chance any of them will win anything anytime soon. Fans cheer victories and cry over defeats, and despite all the pain of suffering through another season without winning, get ready to do it all over again. It's almost cute in a way, this blind devotion, where fans will rant and yell and scream but never stop supporting their teams. It almost makes you hope that a Toronto team will win something someday soon, until you realize just how much more insufferable Toronto would become if that happened.

Lamentations in the T-Dot Part 1 - by wongoz

2004-07-04T04:57:00.000-04:00

It's tough being a sports fan in Toronto these days. Oh, I'm not talking about a lack of sports to watch - they're in abundance. What I'm referring to is the quality of it.

We have 4 "major" sports franchises in Toronto: the Maple Leafs of the NHL, the Blue Jays of MLB, the Raptors of the NBA, and the Argonauts of the CFL (if you consider the CFL to be a "major" league, which some don't). In addition to that, the T-Dot also hosts a number of annual sporting events like the alternating men-women Tennis Masters Series of the Canadian Open, and the Molson Indy 500 for CART.

So you're probably thinking, what's there to be disappointed about? Actually, plenty.

The first issue is the state of the major league franchises. The only one that appears to be healthy are the Leafs, as both the Raptors and the Blue Jays appear hindered by their financial situations (the Raptors by a salary cap; the Jays by the so-called small market limitation). This means that the best players, the best opportunities, are only afforded to the Leafs.

Witness the regular-season stretch where the Leafs, jockeying for a favourable playoff position, picked up such aged luminaries as Ron Francis, Brian Leetch, and Calle Johansson at the expense of young prospects. These moves led Toronto to a second-round exit vs. the Philadelphia Flyers, and given the impending labour strife, you would think that a team whose average age hovers around 30 (or even higher) would be prone to a youth movement. You would be wrong.

General manager John Ferguson Jr. has not only decided to re-sign a few of the seemingly injury-prone workhorses, like Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk, but also gave a whopper of a contract to yet another injury-prone workhorse, goaltender Ed Belfour. Am I missing something here? Shouldn't we be trying to save money, given the potential for a lockout, and go young anyways?

Disappointingly, JFJ is not the only GM around here to have bungled up some moves. Raptors GM Rob Babcock made one of the biggest reaches in NBA Draft history, selecting Rafael Araujo with the 8th pick, and thus supposedly causing superstar Vince Carter to ask for a trade. This is the just the kind of thing we don't need. Without Carter, what are the Raptors? Could they even beat Duke or UConn?

Carter isn't the only superstar leaving town either. The Jays, piddling around with a $50 million budget (compared to the Yankees who are reportedly around $200 million), just can't afford to keep their superstar slugger Carlos Delgado. We can see what this team is like without Delgado - it can't even play .500 ball. Then again, 2 of the last 3 years were sub-.500 ball even with him, so what's the point?

The point is, what do the Jays plan to do with the money they save by not paying Delgado? If they're smart, and I seem to think GM J.P. Ricciardi is, then I would not try to just pocket the money and hope we don't lose any more than we already have, but I'd spend it on a top-drawer pitcher, plus another mid-level one. Then, with reigning Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, plus Ted Lilly and Miguel Batista, that'd make up a pretty good rotation. But the decision to spend the money isn't Ricciardi's - it's up to the beancounters at Rogers. A shame, isn't it?

The Argos are up against a brick wall though, compared to the other teams. Torontonians just don't care much about CFL football, not like they used to (note: I used to have season tickets to the Argos, for 2-3 years). It's a problem when the biggest star of the team is the coach. That's not to say there isn't a lack of talent or skill on the team; it's just that most people don't know or appreciate it.

Knowledge and appreciation don't seem to affect the TMS Canadian Open or the Molson Indy though - attendance appears to increase every year. While shiny new tennis facilities at York University have been built, Toronto seems to play second-fiddle to Montreal (where the other alternating tournament goes) in the eyes of the players. Maybe it's the culture, or maybe it's just my impression. We'll see if the new courts and facilities change that.

The Molson Indy, though, has problems it can't control. CART racing has just about died (a horribly slow death, I might add), and the prospect of losing one of the best open-wheel road courses on the continent is a shame. Whether it will be picked up by the Indycar Racing League, or left to die, remains to be seen. What I didn't know until 2 weeks ago though, was that Toronto could have been the host of the Formula 1 Grand Prix (instead of Montreal), but for 2 greedy little men who happened to own Mosport in Shannonville. I read the article in the Toronto Star, but it might not be there anymore.

So is there any optimism for Toronto's sporting future? Sure... one can look forward to another Leafs playoff exit short of the Stanley Cup, another 80-something-win season by the Jays and possible trade of Delgado, another agonizingly bad Raptors year and possible trade of Carter, and another non-Grey Cup season for the Argos (like anyone really cares even if they did win)... Cheers!

The Beautiful Games Part 2 - by wongoz

2004-07-02T04:59:00.000-04:00

You'd think that the title of the post would lend itself to only European football (aka soccer), but i see Apollo's taken it all over the map.

well, in the European championships, Greece continues to play the spoiler, as they knocked off the previously-undefeated Czech Republic 1-0 in the last minute of the first overtime period. Prior to this year's tournament, Greece hadn't won a single match in the 2 times they had qualified, let alone make it to the final.

But give them and their German coach, Otto Rehhagel, credit - they're playing amazing football. The Czechs had their chances, to be sure, but it was surely a tough blow when all-world midfielder Pavel Nedved injured his knee barely half an hour into the match.

So the final is a rematch of the first match of this tournament, Portugal vs. Greece - a match that the Greeks won. Wouldn't you think that karma or fate or whatever you believe in means that Greece will win, playing the ultimate underdog story to perfection? Hold that thought. In 1988, the Netherlands lost the first match of the tournament to Russia, and ended up beating Russia in the final. History repeating itself? We'll find out on Sunday.

Personally, i'm hoping Portugal wins, if only for the sake of Luis Figo and the rest of the "Golden Generation". But there are more Greeks here than one would think, and if I thought last night's partying was excessive, wait until Greece wins... It'll be pandemonium in the streets.

The Beautiful Games Part One - by Apollo

2004-06-30T11:03:00.000-04:00

You would think that having three of the North American professional leagues off-season would give us less to comment on, but that would be wrong. The 2 Wise Men sometimes prefer the off-season for it allows us to eloquently wax on about sports without the distraction of actual games. You will all soon learn that "What if...." is one of our favourite questions. Whenever a change in management occurs, or a player is traded, we also begin to wonder and imagine what the impact of these decisions will be.

Recently, our not-so-beloved but much maligned Toronto Raptors hired their third coach in three years, Sam Mitchell, a former NBA veteran who spent most of his career as a mentor to Kevin Garnett with the Minnesota Timberwolves. It speaks to the desperation of this franchise and its fans when we are willing to settle on a new coach with zero head-coaching experience and give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he could not possibly be any worse than the other infamous failures that have run this organization. To his credit, Mitchell not only remembers what it is like to be an NBA player, but in fact played against many of the Raptors' core players, including Vince Carter, Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall, Alvin Williams and Lamond Murray. I can just picture the practices now..."Hey coach, remember when I dunked on you?"

Mitchell has already said he wants the Raptors to be more of a running team and to push the ball at all times, which is music to the ears of fans who had to suffer through watching the Raptors use all of the 8 seconds allowed to walk the ball past halfcourt so often. Fans can bear losing to a certain point, so long as the effort is there and games are exciting. Nothing is worse than watching your team lose and being bored by it at the same time.

What then is more important in professional sports - entertainment or winning? Obviously winning, but I ponder this after watching my beloved France fall to the monotonous tactics of Greece at the Euro 2004 tournament. While Les Bleus certainly are to blame for falling embarassingly short of repeating their 2000 championship, Greece and coach Otto Rehhagel have drawn praise and ire for their defensive style, keeping as many players as possible around their own goal and relying on 1-0 and 2-1 victories. Let us not take anything away from Greece or any other country, and let us not forget that winning - in any fashion - remains key. However, does it take away from our enjoyment of sport when we are forced to watch the Raptors stumble their way to a 77-75 victory, or watch a neutral zone trap in hockey or a 9-6 field goal fest in American football or a 1-0 soccer game?

Of course, these questions are only asked when our favourite teams are eliminated. Partisan fans will espouse the resiliency and heart of their winning teams when a game turns ugly. Their heroes are suddenly victors in a defensive struggle or a match of wills as opposed to the reality that they in fact bored their opponents to death. Tactics are often used to compensate for a difference in talent, and that's fine. Still though, the sports fan in me, the one who grew up watching the offensive juggernauts of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Edmonton Oilers, the Dallas Cowboys and Brazil can't help but cringe when watching Hack-a-Shaq, or the left-wing lock or a nil-nil draw decided by penalty kicks. Defence does win championships, but usually top defensive teams still know how to score and generate offence.

It all comes down to what our idea of sport really is. A draw decided by penalty kicks is not soccer to me. Intentionally fouling a player in the dying seconds to prevent a game-tying shot is not basketball. Watching 25 aces is not tennis. Here's hoping then on the eve of Canada Day, that Portugal, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Greece can return to the beautiful game, and that once the Raptors season does begin, rookie Coach Mitchell can get his team running again.

Rock the Vote Part 3 - by wongoz

2004-06-30T06:35:00.000-04:00

Good citizens of Canada, I salute you! Regardless of the fact that the Libs have retained power, albeit in a minority government, an impressive 60.5% of registered voters turned out to cast a vote! The 2 Guys can't claim all the credit, but we'd like to think our exhortations did have something to do with it... :P

alright, so the fallout of the election has yet to be determined, but basically, the Canadian electorate has given the Liberal platform another chance, though with some restraint, to be sure. A surprisingly poor showing by the Conservatives (do we still call them Tories?) in central and eastern Canada means that though the party represents the strongest opposition to the government in some time, they really only represent western Canada (shades of the Reform party and the Canadian Alliance? i think so.).

The big winners are the NDP and the Bloc Québecois. The Bloc has brought the sovereignty issue back on thre front burner, while the NDP demonstrated that left-leaning Canada does indeed still exist. In fact, the parties I consider to be left-leaning garnered almost 20% of the popular vote - something that cannot be ignored.

So what can we expect in the next little while? Well, first of all, there will be a lot more political tangoing than we've seen in some time. The Libs need a partner to push through any legislation (and to avoid a loss of a vote of confidence, which would trigger another election), and that makes the NDP the real powerbroker, as the Grits probably don't want to be seen cozying up to the BQ.

Well, it might not be very efficient, and there might be a lot more political dancing to be done, but at least it's something that we've chosen for ourselves.

Next up: Apollo's take on new Raptors coach Sam Mitchell.

NBA Draft 2004 Part 2 - by wongoz

2004-06-27T17:54:00.000-04:00

well, this post is a bit late, considering the draft happened on thursday, but my opinion is always valid, so here i go anyways.

i watched, er, followed the draft on espn (disclosure: i am in no way affiliated with espn. i just happen to like their sports coverage.) and believe you me, i just about blew up when the raptors' pick came over the wire. rafael who?

i understand there's a lot of hype going into the draft about "upside" and "potential" and comparisons to current or former players coming out the wazoo, but still. you'd think that the possibility of this pick unfolding the way it did would've been reported by somebody?

i was quite disappointed in the first few picks as the players that were most talked about in toronto - ben gordon, shaun livingston and devin harris - were all scooped up in the first 5 picks. that left us with a plethora of unproven big men with "upside", and swingmen of which the raptors already have an abundance of.

i suppose we should commend raptors GM rob babcock for sticking to what he needed, but wouldn't it have been possible to swing a deal, any deal, that would've prevented us from making the biggest reach in this year's draft? this is aleksandr radojevic all over again.

the obvious pick at the 8th spot would've been andre iguodala, who has drawn comparisons to scottie pippen. now seriously, did we need a big man that bad that we passed up on someone like that?

of course, if comparisons and prognosticators were always correct, then kwame brown would be the best centre in the eastern conference, but alas, we know different. still, i think it's best to err on the side of possibility, no?

well, here's hoping rafael araujo pans out, because stranger things have happened... i mean, greece beating france in the euro 2004 quarterfinals? what the blood?

NBA Draft 2004 Part One - by Apollo

2004-06-24T14:10:00.000-04:00

We normally will not post twice on the same day. We want our fans to have at least 24 hours to absorb the brilliance of each post. Having said that, sometimes the world of sports does not give you that luxury and so we have to move on to the coming drafts this week. Wongoz will bring you his view once the draft is over and the picks are done. Before we continue though, Thierry Henry and France rule!

I always look forward to the NBA draft, mainly because it's the shortest of all the professional drafts (only 2 rounds) and unlike the other professional drafts (except the NFL), the players selected are all likely to contribute right away, or at least will be given the opportunity to do so. The nature of running an NBA franchise means that more and more rookies and younger players are being asked to play significant minutes for their teams whether they are ready (Tayshaun Prince, Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade) or not (Kwame Brown, Keith Bogans, Speedy Claxton, Dirk Nowitzki). I know Dirk is a superstar now but his rookie season was ugly. As a fan, the NBA and NFL drafts are fun because you can start plugging players into your team's lineup, as opposed to MLB and NHL drafts where you know you won't likely see any of the draftees for a few years.

This year's NBA Draft is more wide open than ever, due to the lack of a consensus impact player like Lebron, Shaquille O'Neal, or Tim Duncan, as well as the increased presence of high school and European players, who are all being drafted more on their potential as opposed to their ability to contribute right away. Even though the NBA draft remains only 2 rounds long, it seems to be moving towards the MLB and NHL models where players are selected and developed for a few years before they are expected to play significant roles.

This season, our beloved Toronto Raptors select eight overall, which is low enough to still get a quality player but too high to get an impact guy for this season. The Raps will have to pray that Luol Deng, Andre Igoudala, Devin Harris or Shaun Livingston fall to them, otherwise they'll be left to consider Luke Jackson, Josh Childress or Andris Biedrins. Trades could change this entire situation, but I don't think the new Raptors management team has the luxury of waiting for a European or high school player to develop. Look for the Raps to take Childress or perhaps trade down for Jameer Nelson if none of the top players fall to them. Regardless, tonight should be interesting.

The NBA has said it wants to raise the eligible age for players entering the draft to 20 or even higher in order to prevent future high schoolers from declaring early for the draft and skipping college. This issue is also under debate in the NFL, where Maurice Clarett recently lost a court challenge of the age rules in that league. Here's my thoughts:

1. There will always be high schoolers who think they're ready for the pros no matter what the rules are. NBA MVP Kevin Garnett was drafted straight out of high school and few NBA superstars finish college (or even attend college in some cases) before turning pro.

2. The idea that these players would benefit from going to college and getting their degrees in the United States is a farce. These athletes spend far more time on the court than in the classroom and there are likely far more athletes than student-athletes in America's colleges anyway, so they may as well not bother with school.

3. There is no requirement for non-athletes to go to university before they can start working, so why regulate athletes? Anyone can start work after they're done high school, or even during high school. It is true that post secondary education generally increases one's job prospects, but the responsibility is on the individual to be aware of the risks of his decisions, athletic or otherwise.

4. Other sports such as tennis, soccer, hockey and baseball freely allow teenagers to compete, and even encourage it by having minor league and junior team systems in place. In Europe, high school age players can be put into the development system of professional clubs at a very early age.

As far as individual rights go, I don't mind seeing high schoolers come out for professional drafts. I do find it tragic when high schoolers get seduced by the promise of big money and fame and do not realistically evaulate all their options. It doesn't help that the NBA and NFL have no realistic development system in place. At least baseball, hockey and soccer have an abudance of minor league systems to at least allow drafted players the opportunity to earn a living playing their sport while they develop their skills.

From a fan perspective, I would prefer an age requirement only to try and ensure that players coming into the professional leagues have better fundamentals and skills. It's great that Lebron and his fellow high schoolers are athletic and can dunk, but ask them to hit a 15 foot shot or consistenly make their free throws and that gets harder. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that forcing these players to go through the college system will improve these skills, and until the entire development structure of basketball in North America is evaluated, all we can hope for is that each draftee, regardless of age, is fully educated on the risks of entering a sport where you're always only one injury away from the end of your career.

Euro 2004 tiebreakers - by wongoz

2004-06-24T06:26:00.000-04:00

So the knockout round of the European football (sorry, soccer) championship begins today, starting with a sweet matchup involving England and host country Portugal. The other matches of the quarterfinals are: France vs. Greece, Sweden vs. Denmark, and the Netherlands vs. the Czech Republic. My sleeper pick of the Czechs is looking pretty good, though both Apollo and I are rooting for the French.

One of the most exciting things about the Euro tournament is the round-robin style pool qualification round. Due to the possibility of ties (or draws), there are more than a few permutations of results which can lead to teams finishing with the same number of points. Therein lies the basis of this post: how people don't understand the tiebreaker system.

Two days ago, Sweden drew 2-2 with Denmark, a result that guaranteed both teams entry to the quarterfinal round, regardless of how Italy fared in their match against Bulgaria (Italy won 2-1). The complicated system of tiebreakers determined that though all 3 teams had 5 points (1 win, 2 draws), it was the Scandinavian contingent which would advance.

I read no less than 3 incorrect reports about the reason why the Swedes and Danes would advance rather than Italy. Two articles (here and here) said it was due to superior goal differential, while another article was blatantly wrong in specifying "a lack of goals against". Say what?

So what are the tiebreakers? According to the BBC, the order goes: 1. head-to-head record; 2. goal differential vs. tied teams; 3. goals scored vs. tied teams; 4. goal differential vs. whole group; 5. goals scored vs. whole group; and then a couple more not based on the competition.

Let's have a go at it, shall we?

1. Head-to-head record: all 3 teams tied each other during their matches - Italy 0-0 Denmark, Italy 1-1 Sweden, Sweden 2-2 Denmark. Onto the next one...

2. Goal differential vs. tied teams - well, since they all tied, the goal differential for all 3 teams vs. the others would obviously be 0. Next!

3. Goals scored vs. tied teams - where's the beef? It's right here, baby. Previous to Tuesday's results, Italy had scored only 1 goal in the matches against Sweden and Denmark. Sweden had only 1 goal in its match vs. Italy, while Denmark was goalless.

This is where it opens up. If either Denmark or Sweden had won their match outright, then it would have been the winner plus Italy who would've advanced (since the loser would have had only 4 points). But a 2-2 draw (or one with a higher goal count) meant the result of the Italy-Bulgaria match was irrelevant.

If you haven't grasped it by now, here's why: a 0-0 draw or 1-1 draw would've given Sweden the clear edge in the third tiebreaker (goals scored vs. tied teams), but Denmark would've either lost (if 0-0) or tied (if 1-1) on goals scored with Italy. If the result was indeed 1-1, then the fourth tiebreaker (goal differential vs. the whole group) would've been used between Denmark and Italy, which is why Italy needed to win by at least 3 goals to advance (that they didn't is another story).

However, the 2-2 draw gave Sweden 3 goals scored vs. Italy and Denmark, while Denmark had 2 goals vs. the other teams, leaving Italy on the sidelines with just 1 goal scored vs. the Nordic teams. Thus, the 2-2 draw negated the score of the Italy-Bulgaria match, even if it was 15-0. So much for superior goal differential.

Bottom line? Sweden and Denmark advanced due to having scored more goals amongst the tied teams, and Italy became the first team since pool play was introduced in 1980 to fail to advance to the quarterfinals despite not having lost a match.

Rock the Vote Part 2 - by wongoz

2004-06-22T18:21:00.000-04:00

Many apologies for the late post... i've been a little busy of late and i didn't want to shortchange my reply. As it is, it may seem shortchanged anyways, since i didn't want to delay it any longer, what with the 2004 NBA draft coming up on Thursday.

alright, as Apollo mentioned, we're on the same side of the coin, when it comes to voting - far be it from me to disagree with him on this one. But while i rant and rave about it on one side, my track record leaves something to be desired (i was once tossed from a job as chief returning officer - admittedly, i knew next to nothing about the position going in, so i had it coming), so let me play the devil's advocate and offer up some reasons why Joe Canadian (or Johann Deutsch) would NOT vote.

I'll start off with a bunch of reasons why people won't vote, before I try to rebut a couple of Apollo's talking points.

1. People just don't care - honestly, some people don't. I can probably count the number of people i know who actually care about politics on my two hands.

The people who care about the election are usually the same people who are already on one side of the political spectrum or other. The secret, latent force in political issues is the number of eligible, undecided swing voters who normally could care less about an election. All they want is that their leaders don't make asses of themselves (which is still hard to come by).

Disclaimer: frankly, i'm guilty of this. I've been living in Germany for the last 3 years, and i still don't read any German newspapers or newsmagazines, and I don't watch or listen to any German news programs, so I know less than nothing about German politics and the issues that concern Johann Deutsch. I'm just not interested. In my defense, I'm not eligible to vote here anyways.

2. People are uninformed - Admittedly, this seems like a real cop-out answer, and I usually call people on it when they use it.

So why am I admitting this? Because I again am guilty of it, though not in your typical I-don't-know-the-issues way. I'm not sure what's worse: that excuse, or mine. I'll let you decide.

Basically, I'm not voting in this month's federal election because I was uninformed - uninformed about electoral rules. I didn't think I was eligible to vote, so I didn't bother looking into it. Well, lo and behold, it turns out that I AM eligible, or rather, I was eligible, until 6pm today.

Actually, I've been eligible for any federal elections (haven't yet looked up provincial or municipal rules) since i've moved here because the rules state that any Canadian citizen living outside of Canada for less than 5 consecutive years since their last visit is eligible to vote. Oops. My bad.

3. People don't think their vote matter - Though we can see the fallacy of this point in the 2000 US presidential election, some people still think that their one vote doesn't make a difference anyways.

Alright, onto rebuttal time:

1. Apollo says voting is free. Well, so is running in the park, but people don't do that either. If they don't have an incentive (real or perceived) to do so, then they won't. Should the electorate be bribed into voting, or somehow coerced? No, I think that some education into the importance of the issues is enough. Implementation of that education is another thing though.

2. Apollo says voting is convenient. So is putting your garbage into a trash bin, but that doesn't stop people from doing something which is even more convenient - littering. And so, for some people, it's just more convenient not to vote.

3. Apollo says we should care about the services the government provides. The problem behind this is the transparency of services - people just don't know which government provides what service. The feds are talking big about health care, but it's administered provincially. Schools are a municipal issue, but colleges and universities are (mostly) provincial. If people are like I am here, I just pay my bills, pay my taxes, and expect everything to work. My garbage is picked up, the streets are relatively clean, the public transit is punctual, I can see a doctor when i need to, etc. Who cares who delivers it, as long as it is.

4. Apollo says democracy sets us apart. Like that matters to Joe Canadian?

5. Apollo says politicians are scary. That's my argument there. If all politicians are scary, then what's the point? This is more of a motivational point if you're trying to convince someone to enter politics, but it's not really a good selling point for voting. If politicians, by nature, can't be trusted, then why bother?

Alright, here's hoping that anyone who has read this far hasn't been turned off by my post. That's not my intention, nor is it meant to provide someone a defense for their own apathy (even though I might have provided one anyways). Go out, and rock the vote June 28.

Rock the Vote Part One - by Apollo

2004-06-17T10:07:00.000-04:00

The first discussion topic...and it isn't about sports! Well, at least not right away...

Something rather near and dear to our hearts are elections. Well, we don't love them, but I think that generally Stevan and I try and participate in the democratic process and try to be informed on relevant issues. I don't pretend to be well educated on politics, but compared to the majority of eligible voters, it appears I may be a genius simply based on the fact that I've actually voted in municipal, provincial and federal elections.

The European Parliamentary elections took place last week, and unfortunately drew an all-time low 45.3% turnout of eligible voters. Now, that still amounted to about 150 million people voting, but out of an estimated 350 million eligible voters, that's pretty sad. The media have speculated that holding the elections at the same time as the Euro 2004 football tournament was a big mistake and helps to explain the low turnout. That's right...watching a football game which lasts about 3 hours per day somehow explains why people could not vote over a four day span when polls were open for at least six hours a day.

Here in Canada, we're going to the polls on June 28 for the federal election and if past trends continue, voter apathy in Canada will also reach new highs, or is that lows? Particularly troubling is the decrease in voting among young people, where the prevailing attitude is that government is either too big or too disparate to the point where voting makes no difference at all.

Now far be it from me to rant about the lack of voter participation or to wail idealistically about the need for more citizens to exercise their right to vote, but why is it that people really don't seem to care about their elected officials?

1. Voting is free (or more importantly, it's already paid for by tax dollars whether you vote or not...your money has already been spent, you may as well be the one spending it);

2. Voting is convenient; polling stations are always within walking distance and are open longer than most banks...which you would think would appeal to citizens who spend their lunch breaks waiting in line for teller machines, doughnuts or coffee);

3. Government services are used on a daily basis - unless you plan on not walking, driving, using the telephone, eating, using money, etc. - so how can people not care about the government delivering these services to them?

4. Democracy is often used as the banner which supposedly sets us apart from them, or what helps to define us as a nation, so why ignore such a fundamental component of democracy?

5. Politicians are scary - would you trust some of these people with the well being of your family, your money, your property? Probably not in some cases...so how can you trust that the rest of the country won't vote these scary people into office unless you do something to stop it?

There's plenty of arguments on either side as to the decline in voter participation, but I for one will probably never understand. People go out of their way so often on a daily basis for the most mundane of tasks - getting a coffee, smoking, picking up laundry, playing the lottery - perhaps if polling stations were located inside coffee shops here in Canada or at bistros in Europe, we could turn voter apathy around...in any event, I'll be voting on June 28.

Introduction

2004-06-15T14:15:00.000-04:00

Who are the 2 Wise Men?

Alright, I'll throw out the first topic here. Just who are we, and what are we doing?

Apollo and I are friends from uni, and we riff on each other all the time, on just about any topic, though mostly about sports (for example, who revolutionized basketball more - the first MJ (Magic Johnson) or the second MJ (Michael Jordan)? You could argue for a third MJ if you want (Mike James?)...).

Well, we have so much fun doing it that we decided we had to share it with the world. Unfortunately, we don't have a show like Pardon The Interruption, nor are we trained as journalists, nor are we even close to experts on any given subject matter (Apollo's an aspiring lawyer, i'm an aspiring... anything), but we still thought it would be great to have our little debates and talks forever archived for the world to see... and who knows? maybe someone on ESPN comes across it and wants to offer us a show?!?

Anyways, we'll be starting up in the next day or so, and we hope you enjoy our POVs, even if you don't agree with them. Use the Comments section to spur on more debate, suggest improvements or even to offer wagers (we've been known to take a couple). Finally, bear with us as we work out the initial kinks in our system.

Thanks for tuning in!

Welcome!

2004-06-14T19:14:00.000-04:00

Hello fans! all... 2 of you. Glad you could be here for our grand opening, where you, our fans, get to hear us pontificate about anything and everything, not because our opinions carry any more water than yours, but just because we can.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the fireworks!