Merry Christmas Raptor Nation

What I wish for ... ? Some bloody excitement!

You know who excites me on the Raptors? I'll tell you who ...

Gerald Wallace is one of my favourite Raptors. He always looks great coming off a wide screen, receiving a pin-point pass from Calderon to finish off with a monster dunk. Plus his D is a huge bonus in the late minutes of games when the Raps have been know to wilt in the past.

Also, I LOVE Walt Frazier on our team!!! He is by far the most creative stud on the roster. In fact, we haven't seen on the ball genius like this since the carter days.

And you know ... sure he's not a starter, but having Keon Clark back in the line up is truly a blessing from the "Leather Pumpkin" (30 Rock) gods. The way he smashes the ball through the net is just the insanity that the team needs to bring the guys out of the miniscule ruts of which they are sometimes prone. You can almost see Triano's eyes light up when the opposing team goes on a 6 - 0 run ... Keon!!!


What we have in these guys is excitement. Guys who can provide either singular plays to ignite an offense or defense, or can take over the game by themselves. We truly are blessed to have them.

3rd Place

On Thursday the Neon Tetras handily dismantled The I in Team to take 3rd place in the TRSL. Playing in a larger gym suited the team very well as they scored many of their points on exhilarating fast breaks. One can't help but wonder how they'd fair playing in the larger gym on a nightly basis. My guess is a strong second place.

Oh Canada!

Can American basketball players truly get up in the morning to play in Canada? The Raptors 10 - 16 record and recent loss to OKC might be a decent indicator. The answer ...

I have no idea. I hope not!

Sometimes it truly seems like they can't, like there is some amazing pride that comes from playing for a team in your own country that you just can't get playing in front of Toronto fans. It's almost like Playing for Toronto is idle time where you learn how to hone your skill and gain character through losing. Certainly though you do not need to learn how to win.

Tetras Lose First Playoff Game

Local heroes the Neon Tetras lost their first playoff game of the year vs. the Airballers.

They should have played man to man.

Lucha Semifinal de Trios

Well, apparently the Raptors got smoked again. That's 5 in a row

... now on to Mexican wrestling.

Tour Guide Extraordinaire

Mexico City, March 9th 2007 ... Arena Mexico ... Explosivo Mano a Mano ... Marco Corleone vs. Universo 2000 ... mucho beers and all you can drink adulterated tequila vs. my liver. Awesome night!!!

My good friend LD and I had spent a glorious day exploring the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, hatless and essentially waterless.

Pryamid of the Sun I believe

Needless to say I was suffering from heat stroke by the end of the day, being of the fair-skinned persuasion. After our jaunt through the pyramids we decided to go on a group outing to a Lucha Libre match at the Arena Mexico (the match mentioned above). We got in a van with a bunch of crazed travelers from all around the world and our tour guide (who was actually a wrestler) and set off to a sporting arena where they don't let women go to the bathroom alone.

The energy at the arena was electric. I would recommend this experience to anyone. Befriending a great Australian guy we proceeded to have somewhat of a drinking contest while the matches were proceeding. Towers of Corona cups accumulated in front of us only to topple and be taken away, making room for new towers to be erected. Big time cheering, five slapping, it was the goal of our group to out do the insanity of the Mexican crowd. This is of course impossible, but we gave it a good try. *Mephisto body slam* ... the crowd (complete with surrogate worldly luchadores) goes wild.

After the event was over the next logical step was to purchase our own masks and take this reckless abandon back to the hostel lest it go to waste.

What ensued was pure hilarity. Setting up the common area as a wresting ring. Jumping off the bar into a huge pile of pillows. As much free tequila as you could stand to take in. The details are a little sketchy, but the pics speak volumes ... this was the best night in the history of the universe.

Pictures by the Nac Daddy and LD:

Of Seizmic Shifts and Harrowing Balcony Dances

It was a scary scene at the ACC. Nearing the end of regulation a huge tremor ripped through Toronto causing the entire arena to be flipped onto it's side as easily as a baby is picked up to be burped. It didn't stop the fans though as evidenced by the video I shot above. We just danced right through our precarious perpendicular position only to watch the Raps lose by 1 to the red hot Trailblazers.

Overall I thought the game was pretty good. There was a lot to be content about regarding a more free-flowing offense. It looked great for a while. However, the Blazers eventually got the best of the Raptors in the 3 point department. Also, Aldridge lit them up by hitting every contested shot he took. None of them seemed easy. Sigh ... good game all in all.

Meeting super reporter Doug Smith at the half was also a huge bonus. My man Vishus Delishus (VD ... maybe it's time to rethink that nickname?!?!) did all the talking, and although Doug was clearly very busy, he took the time to ask VD's take on the new look team. Seemed like a really great guy he did.

As for the food, well, I didn't look for any (somehow) previously missed "sweet treats" (LD). I was too busy occupying my taste buds with the dollar store Gum Drops I smuggled in my coat's smugglin' pockect. There's always next time, provided they manage to flip the ACC back to normal.

The ACC Post Earthquake

Video and Picture by the Nac Daddy:

Smoothing Feathers

Pictures by the Nac Daddy:

The ACC (and Toronto) Need More Region Specific Sport Food

I'm off to the Air Canada Centre today to catch the Toronto Raptors in action with the Portland Trailblazers (that sounds hotter than it is). I am somewhat excited for the game, but mostly excited for some arena food. Clearly I have a problem. To me it's a necessary evil when I travel to see games elsewhere, to see what culinary delights specific arenas have to offer.

Toronto, however, does not inspire me. In mentioning that I'm excited for arena food above it's simply because I am damn hungry! We need to invent something in the realm of sports related food ... something new and big. And make it region specific. In Philly you have the Cheese Steak, at MSG in New York you have the mighty Knish ... in Toronto we have the Pizza Slice, the Hot Dog and the Nacho with Cheese, all of which can be obtained in every other arena in the known universe.

The Mighty Knish

Perhaps I haven't looked closely enough around the ACC. Perhaps there is a secret epicurean ecstacy that hasn't jumped out at me. But I doubt it.

In Toronto we have a great many ethnic communities that heartily support our Raptors, why not incorporate some international menu items into the fray, all the while keeping it local by proxy. Make the new items vegetarian friendly, open a Beef Jerky booth to reflect our teams greatest Texan ... I don't know ... do something. Help us out! What about Onion Badjis? Great finger food. Heck ... Poutine!!!

Onion Badji: Totally Arena Friendly

Here in the Big Smoke there are already plans to diversify our street vendors to include more international choices, why not extend this mentality to the arenas? I realize that this choice is not a simple one to make and much market testing must be done, but the more we can do to seperate this team as an original in it's own right the quicker we make it a special place in the basketball world and the better we position ourself to capture uniqe players to help define us. To me the surrounding experience is as much a part of the game as the game itself. This is basketball, it's spicy! Letting the bland palates of hockey fans dominate the food we eat is not right, please do something about that!

Oh and while you're at it ACC, how about letting more local breweries have a crack at your basketball audience. It would be heavenly to be able to enjoy an ice cold Mill St Organic while watching the Raps.

In closing we need something new in the realm of arena food. A local delight (that possibly hasn't been invented yet), a treat that represents the members of the team or an international food that represents the community.

Neon Tetras: The Scourge of the TRSL

Often confounding rec league basketball team the Neon Tetras are busy preparing for their first TRSL playoff game of the Fall season. Hot off a lazy defeat of Slam Drunk the team is set to face it's most bitter rival, the sociopathic Airballers. (Holy shit I hate them!!!)


In all aspects of the ***team*** game of basketball the Airballers are seemingly better than the Tetras. However, in terms of ***individual skill*** ... well let's just say the Tetras leave the Airballers in the dust. So how is it that the Ballers manage to dismatle the Tetras everytime they play? Simple ... they are dirty cheating bastards that force certain over-emotional players on the Tets to flip their lid and explode, leaving them to stew in guilt for the rest of the game. They step on the toes of the big Tetra forwards, trying ever so hard to force a twisted ankle. They brutally send their female team members at the lovely Tetra ladies with pick axes and boards with nails in them. Yet the league does nothing ... NOTHING!!!

We can only hope that the cries for blood from the audience stay just that and the local heros manage to dethrone the Ballers and make it to the first place game.

Every other day of the week New York is the Mecca of basketball, but Thursdays belong to Eglinton and Mt Pleasant in Toronto. There is no symphony as sweet as Tetra Basketball when it is working.

Triano's Maiden Voyage

Bam!!! The hype, the tension, edge of your seat nail-biting action. Raptors fans from kilometers around gathered together in a huddled mass of anticipation, splitting at the seams with the agonizing possibility of another ... actually I didn't watch it. Apparently they got killed though.

Instead I hung out with a good friend, enjoyed a corking (thank you thesaurus) St-Ambroise apricot wheat ale and then found my way to bed around 9:30. Glorious after a crazy week at work.

I have been trying to seperate myself from the Raptor nation a bit lately for I do not want to find myself in the position of insanely grumpy come March should an upward trend refuse to become apparent. Don't get me wrong, I still support this team and watch as many of the games as I possibly can take, it's just that I now read blog comments on Doug Smith's Raps blog {http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/ (the absolute best in the business!!!)} as sparingly as possible lest I sink back into blind fandom. Still love the blog itself though. And I certainly avoid all the wanker blogs that I'd occasionally read to put a fire in my belly. I mean is it really worth it? There are much better things to focus on like cats and long sunny walks down the Mill Race in St Jacobs, or those amazing dynamite rolls at Sushi Bong.

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Home of the Bong. You will not regret checking it out.

Honestly, I might begin to devote my basketball assiduousness towards my second favourite team, the mfing New York Knicks. Give them some love before they sign Lebron and get all corn dog plastic on my ass. But at least I'll be able to follow Bosh's career for my entire life ... oh 2010 ... what do you have in store for us?!?!

Smoothing Feathers

Pictures by the Nac Daddy:

FFMA

It's a new dawn for the Raptors. Regardless of whether or not you bought into the bounty on Sam Mitchell's head, the decision to fire the 3+ year coach of the Raptors has been made.

I for one am very conflicted about this. I had been calling for his head for years (in personal circles/not so much publicly) citing an uninspired offense as the reason. Yet, when the news finally came I reacted with great sadness. I had come to know Sam through the media as a very unique individual, one who was prone to egging on the local beat grunts while seemingly getting along famously with the players. A "players coach". A guy with a tremendous sense of style. His sideline mannerisms have been just about the most enjoyable thing to watch in relation to the Raps for the last few weeks ... hell, stretching into last season. Watching him in the media scrums was also a favourite past time of mine. Seemingly the man didn't take shit from anyone, a refreshing energy for a team that often looked like seasonal affective disorder had grabbed a hold of it's mind grapes. The long and short of this paragraph ... his character will be missed.

In retrospect perhaps he hasn't had all that much to work with. To paraphrase the man himself, not all the players he has lead have been a fully viable NBA resource. I couldn't agree more. I certainly won't deny that Sam ran some great plays in his Toronto tenure. On many occasions he squeezed blood from a line up of the aforementioned stones. In my mind this will not go unnoticed. Former coach of the year, 47 win season, bringing together unlikely teammates, there is much to applaud.

It's with a somewhat heavy heart that I say adios to S Mi.

I actually say a-choo when I sneeze.

Conditioning? Who knows. A chicken or the egg for the ages.

Welcome to ZF ... one Parkdalian's coverage of the many things he finds interesting. Heavily slanted by the rhythm of round ball, moved by literacy and illiteracy alike, powered by a 2007 Mexican sun beam and an Ullapool Boar fence, loving that vase on the top of my bookcase, it is my hope that you will come back time and time again to catch my mostly nonsensical caterwauling.