I wrote an article for the folks at T.O Sports yesterday. It hasn’t been published yet as far as I know. In it I was talking about Team Canada and them needing your support. Something I have been doing here on the blog for awhile. I happened to mention that Matt Bonner Ex-Raptors was at the game. He even joked at the possibility of the RED ROCKET one day putting on a Team Canada Jersey on one day. The New Hampshire native is if you did not know marrying a girl from Toronto in fact in Toronto this summer. Bonner also still has a home in Toronto as well so he pays taxes here in Canada. So is that enough to make Bonner legal for becoming a Canadian. The rules seem to get bent by other countries. Chris Kaman of the Clippers recently found his way on to the German National team. So why not bring Red Rocket home to Canada. One of the things I have said about Canada Basketball and growing it’s profile is people knowing the players more. Tell me who does not know who Matt Bonner is? Every Raptor Fan from coast to coast knows who he is. Not only that they love him for the most part. It is too late for this Olympics but the next World Championships and the Next Olympics are not. So come on Canada Basketball we need a RED ROCKET. The current team is in Germany preparing for the last chance qualification tournament to be held in Athens Greece later this month.
Dino Blogger Gives Some Advice to Matt Devlin
I have said that Matt Devlin will have a tough job that will be a great challenge. Chuck Swirsky was beloved by many Raptors fans. I remember reading posts after he left of some folks being brought to tears by the news. That is some serious love for a person. Chuck also built his own Raptor Vocabulary in his time here. So here is a list of some advice from me:
- No Chuckisms can be used by you. Salami and Chesse and all the rest are out of bounds
- Jack Armstrong is your friend, Raps fans love him almost as much as Chuck some more.
- Do what you do. In other words be yourself.
- Take Shots @ Vince Carter and Rap Fans will love you.
- Do not look like a dumb yankee, silly hockey references will not make basketball fans very happy.
Basically when I was a kid, I loved the show Dukes of Hazzard. The stars in the show that played Bo and Luke Duke had a contract issue with the producers of the show. The producers decided to replace them and told the new guys to basically act exactly the same as Bo and Luke. Coy and Vance Duke the replacements were awful and only lasted one season on the show. The producers were forced into meeting the demands of the former stars. The return of Bo and Luke Duke was one of the highest rated shows of all time back then.
I have no doubt Matt Devlin is a smart guy. But I do wonder if he truly understands the amount of love and support Chuck Swirsky had with Raptor Fans. It was truly amazing and many will miss Chuck no matter how good or bad Matt does in doing the job. So all the best to Matt and I seriously hope that my thoughts about your time being short will be wrong. You want to win some fans come talk to the Dino Nation Blog consider it an open invite.
Raptors Vegas Summer League Questions and Answers?
Hey No JAMARIO MOON what is with that?
One of the things the Raptors most wanted Moon to do was hit the weight room and build up is skinny frame. So this is why NO MOON in Vegas. He is in Goodwater Alabama or somewhere on planet earth pumping iron.
Where is Aussie Shaq?
Nathan Jawai will be added once the T.J Ford and Jermaine O’Neal trade is final tomorrow. The Pacers in turn will add Roy Hibbert to their summer league roster as well I would imagine.
Joel Bosh, Is he any good?
For those who do not know. Joel is of course the brother of Chris Bosh. If my memory is working he was “Bubba” in the famous Chris Bosh car salesman Youtube video. But he is also a basketball player who finished his senior year at Alabama State. The chance of him being a Raptor are very unlikely. But this is a chance for him to catch on to a D-League Roster( Maybe even the Raptors D-League team) or get a job in Europe. He is a decent player and it doesn’t hurt Raptors to give him a shot to help his career. I am sure his brother Chris will be happy with management for giving his little brother the chance.
No Bargnani, Why is That?
Many will say if anyone needs to be in the Summer League it is Andrea. But the Raptors have Bargnani working on things and he will be working with John Lucas to get prepared for next season. Given Andrea having some confidence issues I would think if he did not do well in Vegas Summer League would have a bad impact on him. Not to mention fans would be even more convinced he is a bust. Raptors have no interest in helping lower his confidence or building the case for him being a bust.
Can I See Vegas Summer League Games?
In the past Raptors T.V has shown the games but not live. You can expect the games to pop up on Raps TV about a week after summer league ends if they follow the usual way they have done things in the past. You can find info on the Vegas Summer League on NBA Website as it goes on. Here is the link:
Vegas Summer League on NBA.COM
Finally We Can Talk About It
So for all you CBA junkies out there you already know this. Tonight at Midnight the accounts will be done crunching numbers and the NBA will release the Cap Numbers for next season. What does that mean for the rest of you? It means all the rumours and trades that have happened will turn into reality. So we will hopefully hear on all of the things that have went on with the Raptors.
I should also make mention that when things get busy here in Raptorland i will often provide updates to the blog through the day. Like yesterday the Raptor released the summer league roster so I added an update to the blog which was written prior to that. So in case you missed it you can find the complete roster for Raptors Summer Squad and the schedule. But if you can’t wait till the next day. Be sure to check back here on the Dino Nation Blog for updates.
The mail is starting to slowly roll in. I am going to re-launch the idea of a mail bag blog as I have been mentioning. So the cut-off to get your questions in for that will be for the summer Friday at Midnight. Those emails with questions and comments can be sent to dinonationblogger@hotmail.com
If you are really lazy. Just leave your question in the comments section on the blog and I will add it into the mix of the e-mails. I understand if being lazy we all can be from time to time. The real point of all of this is I want to hear form you folks and give you all a chance to decide what to talk about once in awhile. I feel it will help build a sense of community for this blog which has always been one of the goals. Just a word of thanks to Ano who noticed I butchered(Spelling Of) Chris Kaman. Dino Blogger is human but I should have checked my player log for spelling thanks for the heads up though.
UPDATE ( 4pm July 8th)
The Raptors have announced they are having 2 press conferences tomorrow. The first will be a 1:30pm and the Second is set for 3:30pm. It is expected they will officially announce the signing of Jose Calderon and the Trade for Jermaine O’Neal. Which is first and second I am not sure. I would expect that RapsTV will cover these press conferences live. Dino Nation Blog will have full details on both press conferences tomorrow and if they are indeed on Raps T.V. I will update as they go along. A semi-live blog event of sorts.
The Article I mentioned on Canada Basketball is now up over at T.O Sports if you want to check it out use the links to check it out.
Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Canada Basketball, Chris Kaman, Chuck Swirsky, Clippers, Jamario Moon, Joel Bosh, Matt Bonner, Matt Devlin, Pacers, Raptors Las Vegas Summer League, Roy Hibbert
July 8, 2008 at 2:55 pm |
i think you should get a higher resolution picture for the banner of your website…just a suggestion
and doesn’t take a lot of work
July 8, 2008 at 3:03 pm |
Thanks for the heads up. Maybe I was wishing I was doing the blog from the Caymen Islands. LOL. Anyway thanks for the heads up Ano. As for the banner suggestion I am not very tech savy. I will look into it though once I have done the .com thing at the end of the month
July 9, 2008 at 6:11 pm |
My husband recalls meeting Matt at downtown sandwich shop. He looked in and there was this tall lad, dressed in Raptors’ sweats, all alone; it was 10:30 in the morning and he was there to meet and greet. My husband’s impression was of a shy, unassuming and humble young man who walked to “work” every day. He was charming – what a nice thought that he might join us again, wearing a Canada jersey – a dinosaur would be even better! (By the way, the Cayman Islands are hotter than you-know-what right now; my sister-in-law lived there for several years and in the summer you simply go from one airconditioned location to another; stay home.)
July 9, 2008 at 6:21 pm |
Thanks for the comments Carol. I once when I was young visited the Caymen Islands and I have swore that if I ever hit the lottery I would move there. It would make following the Raptors hard to do.
As for Matt Bonner, I personally have never met him. But the folks I do know a bit that cover the Raps all love Matt Bonner and I think everyone wishes him the best of luck with his upcoming marriage regardless of if it helps team Canada or not. Great guy and really became a part of Toronto Community in his breif time in the Country and City.
Some fans will recall Sam Mitchell telling a funny story about Bonner walking to the ACC and Sam Stopping offering him a ride. He polite as always told Sam not thanks. He also shared a car with Pope Sow. Sow owned a car and had no license and Bonner had no car but had one. It was a sitcom in real life.
Hope you and your husband enjoy the Dino Nation Blog
January 3, 2009 at 12:52 pm |
[...] Borbath AKA The Dino Blogger over at Dino Nation Blog brought up another good point for Team Canada regarding Matt Bonner joining them – and again – [...]