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Thursday October 2 2008 - 4:25pm Eastern

GRAHAM AND JAWAI UPDATES

There’s actually not a lot to report.  He had an MRI done yesterday but the results of his tests weren’t released to the media today.  All I know is he wasn’t at practice this morning.  There’s no word on any kind of timetable for Graham’s return — right now, it could be tomorrow, it could be next week.  Your guess is as good as mine at this point.

Nathan Jawai is apparently going to see a cardiac specialist tomorrow.  So keep your fingers crossed for the big man.  I actually ran into him at the Rideau Centre (mall) yesterday afternoon and he told me he feels fine.  He doesn’t think anything is wrong with his heart and he’s just itchin’ to get back on the floor.

With Graham and Jawai sidelined, Toronto is working out with only 12 players right now.  That makes things tough for scrimmages and stuff like that so Sam Mitchell said he’s been taking it easy on the guys … not wanting to push them too hard during the first few days of camp.  Plus, as Mitchell said, most of the players have been in town for 2+ weeks already - working out on their own at the ACC - and the core of this team is comprised of veteran guys who’ve already come to camp in shape anyway … thus, there’s no need to really press the issue … especially with only 12 bodies.

Jermaine O’Neal was banged-up a little bit last night - leaving Wednesday night’s session a little bit early after suffering a leg cramp but he was good to go today and participated fully in practice. 

WHERE’S THE “TEAM”?

I don’t know if this will matter to a lot of you, but I thought it was worth mentioning …

You all know that I do as much as I can to get the Raptors and the NBA on the FAN as often as possible.  Whether it’s this blog, the Hoops show, the Raptors’ broadcasts, the pre and post game show … whatever. 

But, clearly, basketball still doesn’t get the kind of coverage in this country that it should.

And here’s another example of how poor the coverage truly is …

I don’t normally take shots at other members of the media — it kind of goes against the rules of the fraternity — but this needs to be said.  In fact, I don’t even know if it’s a “shot”.  I’m merely stating the facts.

Ottawa has an all-sports radio station as well — The TEAM 1200.  I’m sure it’s a good station, with solid hosts and reporters — I’ve never actually listened to them before this week.  However, as we get set for the second practice of Day 3 — the 6th practice overall here in Ottawa — I have yet to see the TEAM 1200 in attendance.

How does an all-sports radio station NOT cover a professional sports team holding a training camp in their respective city?  How is that NOT a story?  Heck, you’d think the TEAM folks would be down here every day getting clips and interviews and maybe even pitching the Raptors PR / Media Relations folks for in-studio or at least over-the-phone interviews. 

It’s ridiculous that an all-sports station has essentially ignored these workouts for 3 days. 

TSN sent John Lu from Montreal (’cause Brent Wallace is overseas with the Senators), Barry Davis was dispatched from Toronto by the Sportsnet folks, Glenn Schiiler came from T.O. for The Score, and both the Ottawa Sun and Ottawa Citizen have been in attendance.  And, of course, the usual suspects from Toronto are here too — Doug Smith and Dave Feschuk (Toronto Star), Mike Ganter (Toronto Sun), Michael Grange (Globe and Mail), Eric Koreen and Bruce Arthur (National Post), Lori Ewing (Canadian Press), and Matt Devlin (and Matt Bloom) from Raptors NBA TV.

So where is the TEAM 1200? 

BIG SEXY

Kris Humphries is getting a haircut.  That probably interests the female fans more than anybody … but … the big man - who had grown his locks back in over the course of the summer - told me he’s been getting too many jabs from his teammates and coaches so he’s going to trim it down again and likely go back to the shaved-head look.  You can sleep safely tonight knowing that info folks.

CHUG-A-LUG

I have no idea if this is “new” for any of you or not — or if it’s been floating around the net for weeks and already made an appearance in all of your inboxes and chat forums …

But if haven’t seen this … check out Yao Ming becoming an honorary Canadian in a round-about way:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk40YN1q4eU

E. Smith

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 4:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.