Canada’s stunning comeback means they only need to win two more games to reach their third olympics in 20 years. While the road will get tougher in the quaters and beyond, the basketball team can already take comfort with the fact that two olympics is still better than the men’s soccer team who have only qualified for 1 World Cup ever.

That nugget aside, the team isn’t going forward without contraversy. Sam Dalembert one of the few NBA regulars on the team has left. Since I’m currently in Ottawa and haven’t been following the team around you’ll have to look elsewhere for some takes on it.

How many times are we going to go through this? It seems like we’re stuck in a fruitless rut* with Canadian basketball. How many times has this happened?

- Canada misses out on Olympic qualifying at the tournament of the Americas.

- …but qualifies for a last-chance tournament in an exotic location, in a pool that looks beatable.

-…but we lose to a country that has one or less mediocre pro player right off the bat.

- the national media criticizes the program when it officially fails to qualify for the Olympics, gets it out of its system a week later and gears up to do the same thing to the soccer program next year, when it misses the World Cup.

Anyway, about the game. Full props to The Score (assist to Basketball Canada’s Fred Nykamp) for going above and beyond to get this thing televised. Without their help I wouldn’t have the following points to…uh, point out:

- Leo Rautins looked like he was suffocating on the sidelines as his team got its backs in a comfortable spot against the wall for tomorrow’s game against Korea. We’ve all heard the criticism over the last few years over Rautins’ lack of coaching experience (only in Canada, right?). Will it start to come into play should Canada not qualify?

- The audio on the game was brutal. I know they’re doing us a favour with this thing (did anyone else even go after these games?), but man, that sounded like two guys talking into a cardboard box. I watched most of the game on mute.

Note that in the title, I used we. Generally, I avoid this term at all costs. We are not the Raptors. We are not the Lakers, Celtics, Oilers, or Cleveland Indians (unless you’re an Indian living in Cleveland, I suppose). Only in international play does the we not irk me. It’s got to be country-appropriate though. If I heard some guy from New Brunswick saying we lost to the Greeks and the we in question was the US, I’d call shananagans.

I love this quote from Leo Rautins:

We all screwed this one up,” Canadian head coach Leo Rautins told reporters in a conference call from Greece after the game. “Every coach, every trainer, every player on the floor . . . it’s a team game, one person isn’t going to win or lose a game.

I’ll leave you with that.

*as opposed to a fruitful rut, which I’d welcome any day of the week.

*we’ll be back

On my basketball court, there are a few regular rectums. Two are very similar.

The first, I call the age-rage asshole. He shows up at least once a week and in a month he’s prone to two or three major blowups. Whether someone puts two hands on him when guarding him (“you DO NOT put two hands on me! EVER!”) or he’s just huffing and puffing over the inadequacies of his team, the middle-aged man inevitably boils over, creating an ugly scene.

The other guy keeps his rage turned inward, but still needs to be recognized for his game-wrecking attitude. Asshole number two confuses the Y in Edmonton for game 7 of the NBA Finals. He’s a good player (better than me, anyway) and expects the game to go his way (note: he doesn’t have a vision) and if it doesn’t, the fuming begins. AH#2 is so good, in fact, that he has no qualms about spotting up on a fast break to take the 35-footer. This also plays into his other fault on the court: he hates passing. AH#2 would rather force a shot over a quintuple-team than give the rock up. On an inbound, he’ll throw the ball off the wall, catch it, turn and bring it up. Then force a bad shot. I’d imagine it’s what the LA Lakers not named Kobe felt like the last two years. Anyway, AH#2′s time on the court is limited. There’s only so long he can play before he grows disgusted with his teammates poor play. The turnovers, the missed shots, the inadequate defense…how can he be expected to carry his team the whole day? He waits until a particularly bad turnover to not run back on defence, take off his pinney and walk out of the gym. Until next time, asshole. You’ll be missed.

There’s something more than the fuming and teammate hate that links the first two anuses. Can you guess what it is? Hint: they’re both lawyers.

I feel bad lumping the third guy with these other two assholes. The third guy is the helpful asshole. A young guy, maybe in his early 20′s, He shows up on the weekends to play. No, to compete. He’s a good player and ridiculously intense. Too intense for the Y, really. He yells, shouts and cheers the whole way through the game, and he shits on his teammates when they screw up. By definition, he’s an asshole (I mean, if these other two guys are assholes…).

That said, I like playing with this guy. Where the first two assholes just make me hate them and with they’d call it a day, the third guy pushes me and makes me play well. Maybe it’s because he’s my basketball opposite: a slasher to my shooter; a rebounder first, whereas I make it an afterthought; someone who plays physical, while I’ve always shied away from contact. I like having him on my team and when we’re on opposite teams, I pick him out to guard him. When I shoot, he lowers his head and charges at me, but doesn’t hit me. I walk by him and pat him on the back. “The headbutt?” I ask him. “To scare you,” he says back and for the first time I think in his life, cracks a smile.

I can only imagine what it would be like telling him this.

Me: I’m guarding you because you’re the exact opposite of me. You’re a great challenge.
You make me better.

Him: Fuck you, punk. I’m gonna light you up.

I think I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.

As has become a regular occurrence over the last few years, NCAA teams will once again be heading north of the 49 to take on CIS schools as both sides prep for their respective seasons. With the six-time defending national champion Carleton Ravens based out of Canada’s Capital University, the two Ottawa-based teams always seem to attract some big names for some August games.

This year is no exception as the Ravens and the Gee-Gees from Canada’s University (and Ottawa’s best) will play host to a couple of good NCAA teams, including the defending NCAA champion Kansas Jayhawks over the Labour Day long-weekend. South Alabama is the only other school that has been announced as the other school coming here thus far, but typically three teams are invited up to play over that weekend so it’s probably a safe bet that one more Div I school will be added to the roster.

While that announcement is pretty exciting on it’s own, there’s actually another one that has more impact on basketball in Ottawa. That is the fact that Montpetit Hall, the rather boring home court of University of Ottawa teams, is going to be refurbished. After some snooping around it seems that a new seating plan is going to be used, some club seats are going to be added and that an entirely new set of bleachers put in. While these probably won’t be the equivalent of an amazing new gym, it’s encouraging to see that the school is at least putting some money into the facilities.

In some other OUA off-season related news:

• North Carolina State, UNC-Charlotte and Penn State will be playing the York Lions over the Labour Day long-weekend in more NCAA-CIS action
• Carlos Brown was told he wouldn’t be returning to coach the Women’s Gee-Gees after leading them the a 3-13 OUA record and suffering the defection of four veteran players before last season.
• The Waterloo women’s team will have former SFU assistant coach Tyler Slipp take over behind their bench as head coach next year.
• Canada’s summer Universiade men’s basketball team will feature a trio of Ontario coaches as Humber College’s Darrell Glenn,  UO’s Dave DeAveiro and Guelph’s Chris O’Rourke will try and grab another medal.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled professional basketball ramblings.

The Swirsk leaves TO on good terms, saying he had to do what was right for his family. The organization had nothing bad to say on the topic, probably (hopefully) because they’re like me and can’t pull themselves off the ceiling.

I’ve always thought Swirsky had one of the smoothest voices in broadcasting, but the endless tirade of cliches and attempts at creating catch phrases (or just attempts at getting a voice-over in that night’s highlight reels) is Swirksy’s downfall. You can’t get that excited on every single play, you just can’t. It kills your credibility. Plus, he backed Rob Babcock in the Vince Carter trade.

With the Swirsk packing his fridge full of salami and cheese up for Chi-city, you have to wonder who will take his spot. Jack Armstrong was let go this year, so there’s an opening in the seat next to Leo Rautins. I’ve got two pieces of advice:

1) Don’t take anyone from TSN
Brian Heaney? Rod Black? No thanks. Heaney’s a pioneer in Canadian basketball, but really, putting him at center court with Leo would be a mistake. Same with Rod Black. This leads me to suggestion two.

2) Take someone from The Score
Last night, TSN opened their show with Jays highlights. The Score opened with Magic-Pistons. This network loves basketball, and doesn’t give it the “hockey’s over, what else is out there?” coverage that TSN and Sportsnet do. These guys are passionate and knowledgeable about the game and they’re funny as hell. Snatch Tim Micallef up, get Sid Seixeiro in there. Have Cabbie working the sidelines. This is a chance for Canadians to actually look good on TV without having the words Showcase original attached to it.

Finally, something to remember the Swirsk by:

But Lang has always been cool.

When he started writing The Links back in 2001, he encouraged dialogue with the readers of the site through emailing him. Whenever I’d write him something, he’d get back to me, whether it was something detailed or just a quick one-liner. Which was cool, because it was something he didn’t have to do at all. Eventually, he started running some of my emails on The Links. “If Lang Whitaker thinks my words and ideas are good enough for SLAM readers,” I thought to myself, “maybe I should pursue this thing a little further.”

So I did, and here I am today, the raging freelance success machine known the world-over as CO. Or something like that.

The reason for this post, though, isn’t to gush over Lang on a public forum. It’s to apologize to him.

In traveling his own path to success, Lang inadvertently became my mentor. And if kung fu movies have taught us anything, it’s that when someone is your mentor, it’s your obligation to respect them:

Lang is a long-standing fan of the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks, of course, are about to go to game 7 tomorrow afternoon/morning with the winningest team in the NBA this year, the Boston Celtics.

I’m a Raptors fan at heart, but you know how that turned out this year. And while the Raps might be my favorite team, you can’t help but follow the different personalities of the NBA and root for them as they chase their championship dreams. No one in the NBA wants to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy more than Kevin Garnett.

I felt KG’s pain every year that he couldn’t get his team out of the first round when he was a T-Wolf. When he finally did it, he won the MVP award and took his team to the Western finals in the process. Then things fell apart and Minnesota re-familiarized themselves with mediocrity. Finally, KG went to Boston last summer and he and Ray Allen and Paul Pierce led the C’s to a 66-win campaign. “Surely,” the sane-thinking world said to itself, “Kevin Garnett will at least get to the NBA Finals this year.”

Well, Lang’s Hawks have put that in jeopardy. They’ve won three of the series’ last four games and an Atlanta win tomorrow would extend the Hawks’ season, and surely (but not really, I don’t think) put KG on suicide watch. You can see my conflict here. I’ll be watching tomorrow and as the Celtics beat the snot out of the Hawks for bringing things to this point (I hope), I’ll think of Lang. Being a Hawks fan is probably a lot like being an Oilers fan: you start out happy enough to see your team in the playoffs (when they manage to squeak in), but with a chance to move forward in front of them, you believe that they can do the impossible.

So Lang, I’m sorry. If they were playing anyone else, I’d be rooting for your Hawks. Hopefully I don’t earn myself a karmic ass-kicking from you and Scoop, who would probably be ready to roll on it if you said the word.

We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Think those two would have made a difference for the strange-looking team MJ has put together in Charlotte?

I knew B. from pickup days in the summer over at the U of A. I’d never really talked with him before, but he’s one of the characters from a court that sticks with you.

The eccentricities flow from him like water. His medium length, Cobain-like blonde locks stay out of his eyes thanks to a thick, ribbon-like material that he uses as a headband. His gear is simple: a white t-shirt, silver knee-length shorts, Pistol Pete-like grey socks and plain, white kicks that might have been D-Wade 1.3′s.

We’ve played together a few times in the last few months. Today before the game starts, we talk a bit. He tells me he likes my game, which is nice of him. I tell him there hasn’t been much to like this week. My shot isn’t falling, and I can’t hang onto the ball to save my life. I can’t even turn to blaming the crappy ball, because we use my ball every time we play. I remember him hitting shots and scoring on drives on Tuesday.

“You had a good run on Tuesday,” I tell him.

“I’m an artist,” he says. “When I do something, I have a vision. Even if I play good, if the game doesn’t fall into my vision, I’m not happy with how it went.”

Tuesday’s pickup game, he says, didn’t fit into his vision.

The carousel of king’s court five-on-five had us on different teams all day, with B. running the point most of the day for his team. He pounds the ball into the floor with every dribble like he’s molding a piece of clay. With his shoulder-high dribble, it almost looks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, running around the court with an extra bounce to his step. A string of defenders seem to think the same thing, swiping and losing on the gamble.

A few games later, I look around the gym and B. is gone. I’ll have to find out the next time I see him if this game matched up well to his vision.

Raps down 0–1. Now what?

The picture really says it all. A couple of thoughts on yesterday’s 14-point Raptors loss.

- That was the quietest 20-20 game I’ve ever seen a NBA player have. Howard had four points at the half and didn’t really come alive offensively until the fourth quarter. If his teammates actually look to him for an entire game, a 40-30 game isn’t out of the question.

- Take away the three-pointers in the first quarter…even cut the amount made in half, and it wasn’t that bad of a showing by the Raptors. I’ll stick my car keys in a power outlet* if the Magic come out that hot off the bat in game 2.

- I’m not one to blame people, but TJ Ford stunk. While the Magic were shooting the lights out yesterday,
Ford decided that the only way to keep up with four hot-handed three-point shooters was to try and do all the scoring himself. He started the first quarter 1-5 and was 1-8 in the second half before he started giving the ball up to Kapono and Andrea Bargnani.

- Props to Dr. Andrea. Dissed by many (myself included) for taking the soft man’s way out this year, Bargnani didn’t play all that bad yesterday. He went to the hoop and didn’t start looking for the three until the second half, when the team needed it. He hasn’t had a great year by any means, but in game 1 he did what was asked of him.

- You know/hope that the Magic can’t shoot like that for an entire series (this isn’t a video game), but can Jason Kapono keep his touch for the rest of the year? Kapono was great in the second half and looked like his old beginning of the season self shooting the ball.

-Something that really bugged me yesterday was while watching the Celtics-Hawks game, the announcers said that the C’s were in mid-season form. Shouldn’t they be in post-season form right now? Mid-season form works when it’s pre-season, November or December, but I think it loses its meaning when the point of the season that you’re referring to is 40 games behind us.

- Lastly, the Fleet Center in Boston had a great atmosphere. The first five minutes of the game felt like I was watching an old ’70s Celtics’ playoff game. Maybe I’m just noticing it for the first time, but all the white lines on the parquet floor seem yellowed from time. The announcer calling the game sounded like Howard Cosell.
It was a game that was over before the first quarter, but I would have loved to have been there.

*note: I won’t really stick my car keys in a power outlet.