A day after a loss in the qualifying tournament almost sent them home, the national team seemed destined to drift off into the sunset as Korea (seriously?!…also, which Korea? Is it North? Is it South? I may be living in Ottawa, but last I heard the crazy guy was still running the North while everyone in the South was protesting about US beef. Meaning there’s still 2 Korea’s) was up on them 18 in the 2nd half and Canada looked more listless than I did. That’s impressive since it was the morning after my birthday. Anyhow, I digress. Canada made an amazing run with less than five left in the game to win. Sending “Korea” back home and moving on to play Croatia.
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 sometakes 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. Keep reading →
We interrupt this discussion of the NBA and the 20 000th League Under the NBA for a couple of quick, off-season updates about Ottawa OUA Basketball.
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.
Before the TJ Ford rumours start up, before Jose Calderon gets richer than he ever imagined and before Andrea Bargnani can be called soft like twinkie filling for the umpteenth million time, there has already been a shakeup with the 2008/09 Raptors: Chuck Swirsky is leaving the team to be the voice of the Chicago Bulls.
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.
You could say that in a lot of ways, I’m indebted to Lang Whitaker. Although I’ve been an avid SLAM reader from Day One, I never really took to a writer at the magazine until Lang came along a few years back. I mean, Scoop Jackson had his influence on me, but I always got the feeling that if we ever met, he’d scrunch his face up at me, scoff and wave me off, like Kobe does to a ref at the 33 second mark of this video.
B. always struck me as an eccentric. A point guard who has to set the table just right for his teammates, or he’ll pull the ball back out and set it up again…and again…and again, you can tell from watching him on the court that there’s a lot going up upstairs when he playing. Keep reading →
