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        <title><![CDATA[Weekend Rap]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.metronews.ca/blog/334820]]></link>
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                      <title><![CDATA[The cable guy]]></title>
                      <description><![CDATA[Chris Bosh's latest jab at the city of Toronto, or Canada in general, seems to indicate that the man who needs to be more famous than he really is has some lingering issues about what's been said about him since he departed for Miami. Now cable TV has become newsworthy. Seems his condo in Toronto was a BellExpressVu building, meaning he had no NBA League Pass. Given his income level, if it was such a problem, it begs the question of why he just didn't move to a different condo. But this isn't a real complaint, it's just something else Bosh felt he needed to talk about. In this lightning-fast media era, famous people need a stream of talking points to help keep them relevant. Now I certainly am not going to defend Bosh, but I've discussed this issue before . While he didn't say it exactly, what I suspect he had an issue with was that there was no ESPN. One of the biggest complaints Americans of any profession have about living in Canada is not having ESPN. Does it make them babies if they whine about it and move back because of it? Yes, of course. Canadians give up all sorts of Canadiana when they move south by the thousands per year. Less hockey, no Tim Hortons in all but a few states, no health care unless your company pays for it. However in this case we're talking about professional athletes, men who have been coddled and treated like royalty since high school. No ESPN? That's not good. I can even somewhat appreciate where they come from — a black guy from Dallas doesn't necessarily want to sit through 15 minutes of NHL highlights on TSN or Sportsnet before he gets anything related to the NBA, NFL or whatever. But given that this is an age where you can get highlights of anything on your iPhone in a matter of seconds, Bosh's whining, and previous knock about a lack of U.S. TV coverage of the Raptors shows his media sensibility is shockingly dated for a man who desperately needs to be a media star. And his ego will never embrace the fact that his game and physical dimensions as a power forward isn't always a marketable top-5 star commodity. But at the same time, that's why you're a third fiddle now Chris. The league, NBC and ESPN desperately tried to make Vince Carter that guy when he played in Toronto, but Vince just wasn't interested in playing basketball. Having said that, ESPN should be in Canada. It's 2010. But it's unlikely TSN, partially-owned by the Bristol mothership, will never let that happen because of CRTC rules and programming allotment. The Score still picks up content that some, but not many of us in this country like watching — such as NCAA basketball and football — but one wonders what the story will be as TSN2 continues to pick what's becoming a sports TV carcass. If only TSN2 could run &quot;Sportscenter&quot; over &quot;Sportscentre&quot; once a day. But make no mistake, the ESPN thing is a big issue with pro athletes in Toronto, and it's always going to be there, however trivial Canadians find it. If there was a moral victory for the Raps Saturday in Miami, it was Bosh racking up the five fouls and only playing 22 minutes. Friday's stunning win in Orlando has to help build some confidence. Triano calling out some of his players earlier in the day may have helped. On a day when Triano alluded to Toronto players as selfish, the Raps spread the ball around and pulled out the win on a Sonny Weems three.]]></description>
                      
                      <link>http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/691728</link>
                      <author><![CDATA[]]></author>
                      <category><![CDATA[/Blog]]></category>
                      <keywords><![CDATA[Raptors, Chris Bosh, Heat, Orlando Magic, Jay Triano]]></keywords>
                      <pubDate>Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:43:49 -0400</pubDate>
                      <author>johnchick99</author>
                      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/691728</guid>
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                      <title><![CDATA[Nothing really surprising]]></title>
                      <description><![CDATA[Nobody expected the Raptors to win at Staples Friday, although when you’re close — and even temporarily leading — most of the night, you might want to call it a moral victory. But that’s a crock. The Raps lost the game because they turned the ball over 21 times. You knew Pau Gasol would own Andrea Bargnani, but when you don’t play a great game overall and are still that close, it burns when you lose. The Raptors’ deficiencies this season are many, but part two of the back-to-back in Portland Saturday displayed more than Friday’s game. While shooting 1-for-17 from three is indicative of nothing but a bad team shooting night (36.8%), the reality stands that there is no consistent go-to scorer on this team. You can pump up Bargnani in team marketing all you want, he can’t be relied upon. The guy who is Mike James, 2010 edition — Leandro Barbosa — is banged up. DeMar DeRozan is going to have his share of non-factor games like Saturday’s — shooting 1 of 10 with foul problems. One bright spot is Reggie Evans, who is putting up numbers like a 2003 Ben Wallace — 13 rebounds a game on less than three points per. Great trade bait. And Jose Calderon deserves credit for playing well despite an atrocious pre-season. I always liked the Nets’ Terrence Williams — could be because he went to Louisville or because he was a decent pickup on my fantasy team last season — but I like him even more after he bodychecked LeBron James into the stands in Miami Saturday night. Williams picked up a flagrant 1 while the Heat broadcasters overreacted. Miami did trounce New Jersey on 20-point efforts from each of the young guns, but I swear there’s still something not right about that team. On the topic, gotta love Cleveland’s response to LeBron’s Nike commercial.]]></description>
                      
                      <link>http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/684813</link>
                      <author><![CDATA[]]></author>
                      <category><![CDATA[/Blog]]></category>
                      <keywords><![CDATA[Raptors, Andrea Bargnani, Leandro Barbosa, Reggie Evans, DeMar DeRozan, Miami Heat, LeBron James]]></keywords>
                      <pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 12:06:35 -0400</pubDate>
                      <author>johnchick99</author>
                      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/684813</guid>
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                      <title><![CDATA[Nothing really surprising]]></title>
                      <description><![CDATA[Nobody expected the Raptors to win at Staples Friday, although when you’re close — and even temporarily leading — most of the night, you might want to call it a moral victory. But that’s a crock. The Raps lost the game because they turned the ball over 21 times. You knew Pau Gasol would own Andrea Bargnani, but when you don’t play a great game overall and are still that close, it burns when you lose. &nbsp; The Raptors’ deficiencies this season are many, but part two of the back-to-back in Portland Saturday displayed more than Friday’s game. While shooting 1-for-17 from three is indicative of nothing but a bad team shooting night (36.8%), the reality stands that there is no consistent go-to scorer on this team. You can pump up Bargnani in team marketing all you want, he can’t be relied upon. The guy who is Mike James, 2010 edition — Leandro Barbosa — is banged up. &nbsp; DeMar DeRozan is going to have his share of non-factor games like Saturday’s — shooting 1 of 10 with foul problems. One bright spot is Reggie Evans, who is putting up numbers like a 2003 Ben Wallace — 13 rebounds a game on less than three points per. Great trade bait. And Jose Calderon deserves credit for playing well despite an atrocious pre-season. I always liked the Nets’ Terrence Williams — could be because he went to Louisville or because he was a decent pickup on my fantasy team last season — but I like him even more after he bodychecked LeBron James into the stands in Miami Saturday night. Williams picked up a flagrant 1 while the Heat broadcasters overreacted. Miami did trounce New Jersey on 20-point efforts from each of the young guns, but I swear there’s still something not right about that team. On the topic, gotta love Cleveland’s response to LeBron’s Nike commercia l.]]></description>
                      
                      <link>http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/684810</link>
                      <author><![CDATA[]]></author>
                      <category><![CDATA[/Blog]]></category>
                      <keywords><![CDATA[]]></keywords>
                      <pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 12:01:43 -0400</pubDate>
                      <author>johnchick99</author>
                      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/684810</guid>
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                      <title><![CDATA[Just another disappointment for Canada Basketball]]></title>
                      <description><![CDATA[Well, at least we have ice hockey, that sport the other seven nordic nations care about. That's what you'll probably hear in this country — if you hear anything — on the latest forgettable performance from Canada's national senior men's basketball team, who by losing 71-61 to NEW ZEALAND ( a country with a population slightly larger than Toronto ) Wednesday at the FIBA World Championships secured an 0-4 record, knocking themselves out of the tournament and therefore probably not qualifying for the 2012 summer Olympics — you know, the Olympics that most of the world actually cares about, Vancouver? The consensus best case scenario for this team in the first round was 3-2. Now the best they can attain is 1-4, and they likely won't beat Spain. All 19 people who care about Canada Basketball will certainly call for coach Leo Rautins head now, and whether it happens it or not, it doesn't matter. In fact you can't even blame Leo. He's just the latest in a long line of mistakes from the national program that has never been able to emit any credibility whatsoever. Jay Triano tried to make it things work, but he couldn't beat the politics amongst players and the pathetic lack of funding every sport other than hockey gets in this country. Now he works for USA Basketball, where he makes note of the differences between the programs . Choosing between Raptors TV analysts, Jack Armstrong may have been a better bet seeing as he had actually coached in his lifetime, but why the not give Rautins a chance? Did anybody else want the stinking job? The current team's best scoring option (who didn't play against the Kiwis or Tuesday against France) is Rautin's son Andy, the DeWitt, N.Y., native who would never have been on the team if Leo wasn't the coach. Their best slasher is Olu Famutimi. Denham Brown's hype ended five minutes after he scored 110 points in a Toronto high school game and went on to a phenomenally average career at UConn. As I've asked before, why isn't Robert Sacre more dominant than he looks like he should be? And when Joel Anthony becomes a legitimate post-up threat, your team is not good. And that's the story. So blame Steve Nash for not playing for his country any more or blame Jamaal Magloire and Rick Fox for not playing for their country before. It's a story as old as the hills, one I doubt will ever change. Tristan Thompson? T-Squared? I wish you the best and hope you blow up at Texas bro, but we've been down this road before too many times in Canada. Brown and Famutimi come to mind for starters. In related news, what ever happened to Theo Davis? Between the lack of money, attention and presence of politics, we're always going to have these problems because basketball might as well be ping-pong in this country.]]></description>
                      
                      <link>http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/621121</link>
                      <author><![CDATA[]]></author>
                      <category><![CDATA[/Blog]]></category>
                      <keywords><![CDATA[Canada Basketball, FIBA World Championships, Leo Rautins, Andy Rautins, Olu Famutimi, Joel Anthony, Tristan Thompson, Jay Triano ]]></keywords>
                      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:49:12 -0400</pubDate>
                      <author>johnchick99</author>
                      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/621121</guid>
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                      <title><![CDATA[Steve Kouleas victim of Score layoffs]]></title>
                      <description><![CDATA[Cutbacks claimed the jobs of The Score Television Network's longtime hockey commentator Steve Kouleas and producer Dave Krikst, better known as Cabbie on the Street's 'My Man D' this week. A handful of other behind-the-scenes staff were reportedly also let go. The moves from the sports channel at King and Peter follow last years purge, in which several employees were laid off.]]></description>
                      
                      <link>http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/606975</link>
                      <author><![CDATA[]]></author>
                      <category><![CDATA[/Blog]]></category>
                      <keywords><![CDATA[The Score, Steve Kouleas, My Man D]]></keywords>
                      <pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:48:02 -0400</pubDate>
                      <author>johnchick99</author>
                      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/606975</guid>
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                      <title><![CDATA[Canada Basketball, MMA in Ontario and related items]]></title>
                      <description><![CDATA[I've been getting upset about stuff like this for more than a decade now, but I also reached the point long ago where I knew what Toronto is. It's simply the type of city that would rather fawn over local media reports about how it's portrayed in a movie like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, than come out and support it's national team in planet Earth's second-most popular team sport. That's not meant to be a shot or a sarcastic remark, it's just the truth. It is what it is. I took the above picture during the fourth quarter of Friday's France-Canada basketball game, night two of back-to-back pre-World Championship exhibitions that drew 2,225, about 300 less than Thursday's game. Canada Basketball has always deserved a fair amount of blame for its overall incompetence, specifically its inability to market the product. However you also have to take into consideration the fact that Toronto is Canada's number one basketball market. While it's unquestionably a frontrunner, flavor-of-the-month loving city, the reality is if you can't draw a healthy crowd for a national team game here, where can you? We know Canadians as a whole don't hold hoops in particularly high regard: Basketball telecasts in this country are regularly outdrawn by curling and poker. But seriously, 2,200 fans? And some of them were actually from France, like the family next to me. I can take the usual shots about how most Canadians are so blindly wrapped up in our dominance of ice hockey, a sport nobody knows nothing about outside of seven nordic or semi-nordic countries. A sport called ice hockey in most of the world, so as not to confuse it with field hockey. But I won't. Because it is what it is. As for Friday's game itself, Canada destroyed a Tony Parker-less France 85-63, playing with a 20-point bulge most of the night. And speaking of bulges, it dawned on me that Raptor fans need to thank Michael Jordan or Larry Brown or whoever it was who kiboshed the deal that would have landed Boris Diaw in Toronto. Team Canada looked good, Leo Rautins kept rotations up all game despite the rout and constant foul calls, so everybody averaged about 18 minutes. I get the impression watching Robert Sacre though that the guy should be a hell of a lot more dominant than he is. --- Saturday's about-face by the McGuinty government on MMA virtually guarantees a UFC event in early 2011, or March at the Rogers Centre as some are suggesting. It's huge news for MMA fans, but a typical political flip-flop from a premier who doesn't seem to know up from down these days. Many expected this to drag on past this fall's municipal election in Toronto, where a newly-elected mayor would likely have put pressure on the province. But whatever, it's done now and the rumor mill is calling a GSP/Josh Koscheck card here. Now Dana White can focus all his efforts on New York state.]]></description>
                      
                      <link>http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/604054</link>
                      <author><![CDATA[]]></author>
                      <category><![CDATA[/Blog]]></category>
                      <keywords><![CDATA[Canada Basketball, France, Boris Diaw, MMA, Toronto UFC]]></keywords>
                      <pubDate>Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:36:38 -0400</pubDate>
                      <author>johnchick99</author>
                      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/604054</guid>
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