The Weekly Sports Burns Ed.2

LOCAL NEWS

THE BEST

Notre Dame came into the season as a favorite for the college football playoff. Or at least, a contender. Experts said it was Brian Kelly's most talented team. In the first game, they lost their number one tailback, Taream Folston, for the season. In the second game, they lost Malik Zaire, their number one quarterback.

But after their win against USC on Saturday night, the Irish sit at six and one, and still in contention for a playoff spot. How? Well, Deshone Kizer has been excellent. A true freshman, he has played much better than anyone expected. And C.J. Prosise has been a revelation at running back, making the switch from receiver and recording five, one hundred yard games already. The offensive line is filled with studs (left tackle Stanley is projected to go in the top three in the NFL draft) and they have a deep group of receivers.

The defense has struggled at times, particularly with their tackling, but they still boast a ton of playmakers (Sheldon Day and Jalen Smith) who are getting it done.

Beating USC always feels good. It's one of the oldest rivalries in college football, and so for at least one more week, Notre Dame remains in contention.

THE WORST

14 - 2. Cliff Pennington, a reserve shortstop pitched the ninth. Dickey never got out of the second. We ended up with four hits. So, yes, the Blue Jays are down 3 - 1 in the LCS to the Kansas City Royals who look like a machine right now, don't they? In Game Three, the Blue Jays finally got their offense on track but still ended up conceding eight runs, despite winning the game.

Facts are facts. Their pitching has been terrible. When we look back at this series, we'll probably look at a couple of things. David Price dominating until he didn't, and gave up that lead in the fateful seventh inning. The bullpen being stretched too hard because the starters weren't good enough. The bullpen, particularly the back end, with Hawkins and Tepera, just not being good enough against an awesome Kansas City bullpen. The Jays' bats going stagnant in the repugnant Kaufman field, built more like a cemetery than a baseball park designed to watch hitters slash opposite field singles and run a lot. (Boring.)

It's an old cliche, but for your team to win a championship, your stars have to be stars. Price has been a playoff bust. No, he wasn't hit that hard, but he gave up a three run lead. Donaldson has been okay, and so has Tulo, but the others?

Still, I put this on the pitching staff. They've been bad. What worries Jays' fans is that we only get two or three of our starters back next year. (Dickey has a club option.) The problem isn't the lineup. The problem is elsewhere.

Kudos for the defense, though. Aside from that Goins/Bautista miscue, they've been good. Let's get some damn outs, starters.

FAVOURITE MOMENT

Troy Tulowitzki's home run to put the Jays up 6 - 2. For a brief, shining moment, he gave us life. And then today happened. Sigh.

SIX THINGS

1. There's some concern around the Raptors about Demar's slow start. There should be. I like what I'm seeing in the pre-season. Lowry looks like an MVP candidate, and both Carroll and Joseph seem to be everything we were promised they would be. But DD is a usage-heavy shooting guard who slows everything down. If he could hit the three, like he did at times last season, it would mitigate some of those issues. But every time he touches it, the pace slows down, and he takes them out of their offense.

2. JV signed a huge contract in the offseason, but we still don't know what we're going to get from him. He's still slow on his defensive rotations, and every time he makes that pump fake, the apocalypse happens, we all go for dinner, and he still hasn't decided what to do with the ball. He needs to be good for them this year for the Raptors to contend for the division. We'll see.

3. The Bills get embarrassed again. Honestly, I don't know what to think. I hate their offensive line, other than Incognito and Wood, and if you want to take a page from the college ranks, look at Notre Dame. (Or the Cowboys last year) Their line is so good, they can lose their top RB and top QB and keep going because they get protection. Manuel was better then he'd been in the past, but he simply isn't good enough to be a starter in the NFL. He misses too many throws.

4. And the defense. Truly, the Bills defense played better, especially in the first half, then the final score suggests. Too many dumb penalties. Too much taunting. Too much idiocy. Darcy looks like a great pick, and Gilmore has played well. So, um, how about some pressure on the quarterback oh vaunted defensive line? The whole team screams mediocrity.

5. Do the Leafs look like a different team or what? Yes, they lost against Pittsburgh on Saturday, but it was really a hell of a game. The results aren't there yet, and they may not come this season thanks to a lack of talent, but I honestly thought I'd be skipping their games. They play a terrific, disciplined attacking style of hockey and hold on to the puck more than they did the last two seasons combined, when they all treated the puck like it was a live hand grenade. Kudos, Mr. Babcock, good job so far.

6. In 2012, everyone thought the Giants were done, trailing 3 -1 against the Cardinals. They came back to win the series and the World Series. Here's hoping lightning strikes twice. Go Jays!

(Author's note. I've been caught up in editing my latest novel this week, which, along with the election and a few other things has diverted my attention from the national sports scene. Next week, we'll have the regular spot for what else is going on in the world of sports. Cheers!)

The Weekly Sports Burns (1st. Ed.)

Welcome to the Weekly Sports Burns! If you want to know how the column works, check this out.

LOCAL NEWS


THE BEST

I was twenty-two when the Blue Jays won their second consecutive World Series. With the highest payroll in all of baseball at $56M, WAMCO (White, Alomar, Molitor, Carter, and Olerud) was a team for the ages. They'd been good for so long, it seemed inevitable that they would always be good. Then 1994 happened, the year of the strike, and everything changed. For the next twenty years they would toil in mediocrity, their highwater year an 88 win team under disgraced manager Tim Johnson. Along the way, they would never hit a real low until 2013, but in the most powerful division in baseball, they couldn't climb over the Red Sox and Yankees, who for the best part of fifteen years,  became the richest teams in the league with staggering $200M payrolls.

And then this year happened. Anthopolous, the Jays' GM, pushed all his chips into the middle of the table and turned the roster over by a staggering eighty percent in a twenty month span, and added Troy Tulowitski, Ben Revere, Mark Lowe, LaTroy Hawkins, and the big get, David Price, at the trade deadline.

For the next two and a half months, the Blue Jays played at a .750 clip, unheard of in baseball, where even the worst teams win forty per cent of their games. Down eight games to the Yankees at the beginning of August, they blew past them like they were standing still, culminating in a division championship.

It's been the best year of baseball for Jays' fans in a very long time.

But after losing their first two games at home this past weekend, the Jays looked like they might be swept out by a powerful Rangers' squad with a resurgent bullpen. Tasked with winning two on the road and attempting to come back from a 2 -0 deficit for only the third time in Major League history, the bats loosened in the Texas heat, and the Jays bombed the Rangers in two games to tie the series and take it to a Game Five here in Toronto on Wednesday.

There are no guarantees, obviously. But the greatest season in baseball for Toronto fans in nearly two decades continues.

And that, was the best news of the week.

THE WORST

I'm tempted to point to the Jays' losing their first two games at home, but from a local standpoint, despite the Bills win over a bad Titans team, the struggles on the offensive line continue. Tennessee was in Buffalo's backfield all day. Seantrel Henderson looked about as effective an over-sized saloon door. Incognito has played very well, and Wood has been okay. But the Bills cannot allow Taylor to be running for his life all game, even if he's able to make plays with his legs (RGIII, anyone?) If the line doesn't get better, and get better fast, this team, despite their defense and weapons on offense, is not going to the playoffs.

(UPDATE) Taylor is out for several games due to a sprained MCL. Dammit!

FAVOURITE MOMENT

In Tampa last weekend, they had a shot before the game of left-fielder Ben Revere chatting with some Blue Jays' fans at field level. One little boy was wearing a Revere jersey, and the left fielder took a few pictures with him and ruffled his hair. Now, players do this all the time, more than we realize, but what this notable for me was the way the woman (who might have been his mom) was communicating with the boy using sign language. I paused the TV and rewound it, and then showed my wife. I asked her what she thought, and she confirmed what I'd seen.

As someone who spent nearly twenty years working with special needs' kids, that made my night. Truly, this is what sports is about. It looks like Revere might be one of the good guys.

SEVEN THINGS

1. The impact of Mike Babcock is already evident. Last year, for the first in a decade, I stopped watching the Leafs. They were a damn disgrace. No effort. Everyone doing whatever the hell they wanted. No one seemed to care. But their opening game against Montreal shocked me. They played an organized and aggressive style of hockey that but a weak goal and lack of scoring would have got them the win. It's going to take a while, folks, but make no mistake, this team is FAR different from last year's team.

2. If you're not impressed by a nationally ranked college football team that has lost its starting tailback and starting quarterback (and is now starting a freshman) nothing will. Yes, they were favoured against Navy, but that triple option is a pain to defend, and Navy will be a bowl team this year. If Kizer keeps progressing, look out. Notre Dame has a ton of talent on both sides on the ball.

3. One m ore thing about the Irish, thank you NBC for showing the Alma Mater. Some of us believe in that tradition. DON'T CUT IT!

4. If you haven't seen a picture of slimmed down Kyle Lowry, you need to, Raptor fans. I hardly recognize him.

5. It's preseason, but the "new" Lowry seems to have taken his game to the next level. Like dropping forty on the Lakers the other night. Again, it's preseason, but this looks like the MVP candidate from the first two months of last season. Great news for Raptors' fans.

6. Gibbons took a lot of flack for bringing in Price so early when Dickey seemed to be cruising in the fifth inning of Sunday's Jays' game. I don't understand the fuss. Loup wasn't available, and with Cecil injured, the only lefty they had was Price. It made perfect sense to bring in Price to go through the lefty dominant lineup of the Rangers at least twice. They couldn't have done that if they weren't sold on Stroman starting Game Five. But I'm sold. And if you're not, why not? The kid's the real deal.

7. Worried about Stroman's nerves? Today he was in the clubhouse, sitting by a bunch of the media guys, getting his hair done. Yeah. The kid will be fine.


NATIONAL NEWS


THE BEST

It has to be the Chicago Cubs, doesn't it, after taking a 2 - 1 lead over the Cardinals in the National League LDS. Look, everyone who follows baseball has the utmost respect for St. Louis. They run the best organization in the game and they are always in contention. (They're like the New England Patriots, only likable) But outside of Cardinals' fans, if you're not cheering for the Cubs, you might want to check your soul meter. Yeah, I'll cheer against them if they play the Jays' in the World Series, but no single fan base deserves to win more than the Cubs.

THE WORST

(I'm sticking with baseball a lot this week, but it's the only sport in the playoffs, and as I mentioned in my breakdown, playoffs come first.)

I hated Hundley's slide into second. I thought it warranted a two game suspension. Forget that it broke Tejada's leg, it was a dirty play. He was PAST the bag when he started to slide. If you're going to eliminate blocking the plate to protect catchers, why not protect middle infielders? Two players who were lauded and feared for their slides throughout their history were Frank Robinson and Don Baylor. And the dirtiest of them all was the first player ever elected to the Hall of Fame, Ty Cobb. (Bet you thought Ruth was the first one in, didn't you?) Cobb was famous for going spikes high. There's a reason everyone hated him. And feared him. But baseball has changed, and the game should NOT revolve around players avoiding injury.

FAVOURITE MOMENT

Nothing stuck out this weekend for me, except perhaps watching the Cubs win the Wild Card game. Arrieta is just... wow. Read this if you want to know how he's emerged as such a dominant pitcher.


FIVE THINGS

1. That Broncos defense is frightful. Peyton Manning has been playing like Eli played last year and it hasn't mattered. We'll see if he gets healthy. If he does, look out.

2. The Red Wings look like legit contenders to me, and that young kid, Larkin, looks special. He's the first teenager to crack the Red Wings lineup in twelve years, and you can see why. They bombed a disciplined if not terribly talented Leaf squad on Friday. If their goaltending remains solid, they're contenders. Period.

3. I honestly didn't think the Mets had much of a chance against the Dodgers, but suddenly a lineup that features YC and bite your tongue is an offensive powerhouse. As a Jays' fan, I can't help but sigh every time I watch young Thor pitch, but such is baseball.

4. I would very, very much like for the New England Patriots to stop losing. That's all.

5. The Association (NBA) is going to be interesting this year. When you watch Golden State, you can't help but wonder if the other teams are going to catch up. Because, damn, they're SO good. But they're are a lot of good teams in the West, though. I imagine it will come down to injuries. Except for the Clippers, I still think that they're overrated.

The Weekly Sports Burns (How It Works)

INTRODUCTION

When I was a kid, I used to carry a tape recorder and microphone around and "interview" my friends about their latest sports heroics. I would mimic favourite announcers like Dick Vitale and Howard Cosell. When I was twenty four, I took the broadcast course at the National Institute of Broadcasting in the hopes of one day working in radio or television as a sports commentator.

It never panned out, and my love for the arts led to a writer's life. But my fandom never left. I was one of the few jocks growing up that felt equally happy to talk about the Blue Jays' lineup or Robert Jordan's "awesome" new fantasy series.

And while I've written about sports on this site before, this will be the first time that I will dedicate a single post every week to that world. I do not know what the final format will look like or how long it will be. I'm open to any suggestions, and if you like a particular section more than any other, let me know.

For every young boy and girl that put on a glove or felt the nerves dance in their stomach as they pulled on their jersey and felt the thrill of joy when their team won, and for all the fans out there who still find joy and thrill in their teams, this column is for you.

Cheers,

Steve

How The Column Works

The Column will be broken down into two categories, Local News and National News. Local News will deal with the local teams

LOCAL TEAMS 

Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Raptors
Buffalo Bills
Toronto Maple Leafs
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (football; my favourite team)
Any Canadian National Team

NATIONAL NEWS

The big four sports, plus tennis and maybe golf and anything else I find interesting. (For you EPL fans, sorry, I but don't follow it.)

One last thing, playoff sports will always get priority. Always.

Okay, onto the column! See you in the next post!

Steve

Predictions for the 2014-15 Toronto Raptors

It's that time of year and Toronto's best sports franchise is back. I was trying to figure out how to frame this year's predictions, so I decided I'd steal these questions from my favourite Raptors' website.

It feels strange this year, because the NBA is generally a highly predicative league. That is, with only five players on the floor, assuming teams stay healthy, there isn't a lot of unexpected movement. That's what made the raptors season last year so surprising after the Gay trade, because they did move.

However, the change in pieces explained that. So did the break through seasons for Lowry and Derozan. And so now we're at a very strange place. The Raptors are expected to win the division. They are expected to get to the playoffs, expected to get to the second round of the playoffs. And unlike the Blue Jays, who made a trade and before seeing the results on the field were predicting a World Series appearance, we know this Raptors team will be good. How good, we're not sure. But they play an entertaining, unselfish style, they go two deep at every position, and will grind other teams into the ground with their relentlessness. As a fan, what more can you ask for. (Except for signing Kevin Durant next season. Drake, you there?)

1. What will the Raptors record be?

Almost guaranteed to be in the 44 to 52 range. A lot of prognosticators seem particularly bullish on the Raptors getting to 50 wins. I'm not. The Eastern conference has become more balanced with LeBron's shift to Cleveland and the return of Rose to Chicago, though it clearly remains the weaker conference. Toronto started 6 - 12 before the trade last year, but everything after that went as smoothly as one could imagine. No injuries, other than Johnson's wonky ankles. They had great team chemistry, and everyone accepted their roles. 

Some have suggested that Lowry's breakout was due to a contract year. Or that we're bound to see a dip in play. Nothing we've learned about Lowry has suggested that he will be anything less than he was last year. And Derozan has looked even better in the pre-season, his confidence skyrocketing after making the US World championship squad. 

So where does that leave us? I'm predicting another 48 win season, which in an improved conference with more parity, is actually an upgrade. They'll win the division title and lose in the second round to the Bulls. 

2. Do Lowry or DeRozan make the All-Star team?

Yes. It's a much harder path for Lowry, but if he puts up the numbers in the first half of the season that he had last year, he'll make it. And Derozan is -- depending on Dwayne Wade's health -- the best or second best shooting guard in the East. 

Their record will come into play here, bu their schedule favours a fast start. If they're leading the division with a decent record, say eight or nine games above .500, they'll get two in the game. Thinking back to last year, I still get frustrated thinking about Lowry's exclusion. Here's hoping the fans stop being idiots and voting in a player like Irving. The next time Irving plays defense will be the first time. He's a decent offensive player but the most overrated player in the Eastern Conference, and it's not close. Raptor fans, make sure you vote.

 

3. Take a guess at the numbers for Ross and Valanciunas

For both players, the steps they need to make won't be found in their individual numbers. (Not the basic stats anyway, in the advanced stats those steps ARE measured. For the purposes of this site, I try to keep the advanced numbers to a minimum, though I'll reference them occasionally.) For JV, his biggest contribution will be on the defensive end. He needs to better on his rotations, he seemed to arrive a step too slow last year. He also needs to play with an edge. Centers in basketball are like centers in football, they need to play smart and mean. He's packed on some muscle and its his third season. Bigs always take longer to develop. I fully expect him to be better this year. And despite that lumbering shot fake, if he develops anything going to his left, he can be a scoring machine down low. I'm saying 15PPG and 10RPG, but watch closely his work on the defensive end.

As for Ross, he's got a great role model in Derozan. I just don't think he has DD's fire. He can shoot it though, and he's got unbelievable athletic ability. Let's see, agains, like JV, what his perimeter defense looks like this year. He can't coast and he can't stop the ball on offense. He needs to hunt his shots and move the ball. I'd like to see 3 assists per game. If he gets to that, you'll know he's moving in the right direction. I'll go with 13 PPG, 2 RPG and 2APG. Again though, it's going to be more nuanced as to marking his improvement this year.

4. What change would you like to see on offense?

Not much. They need to move the ball like they did last year. We'll see how they integrate Lou Williams and James Johnson (who sometimes thinks he's a scoring point guard) and how that affects the chemistry and flow. They also need to get Valunciunas more involved. Last year he saw the ball early and they never went back to him. The young center can score, keep him involved. 

5. What change would you like to see on defense?

Where to begin. Casey is an excellent defensive coach, and he has some new toys this year, particularly James Johnson, who can guard positions 1 - 4. And when Amir Johnson is on the floor, one of the best pick and roll big men defenders in the NBA,  the Raptors are capable of playing elite defense.

Let's see how JV adjusts, and whether Derozan can play at least average defense. Lowry is an excellent defender, and Ross has shown flashes. Their defense will decide what happens this year, because the team can score.

Final thoughts

The Raptors have a chance to be very good. They are one of the deepest teams in the NBA, and the deepest in the Association. If any of their young core takes a significant step forward they'll challenge for one of the top two seeds in the conference. Their schedule, however, somewhat demands they get out to an early start. Which means Casey has to figure out very quickly how his new pieces fit into his rotations. It's a concern, but not a major one. The kids have another year to grow, and the vetrans like Lowry and Derozan won't let this thing get off the rails. In other words, Raptors' fans can prepare for a fun season of solid and enjoyable basketball, and if the chips fall right, they just might find their team in the Conference Finals.