When the Bell/Rogers consortium purchased Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and took control of the Maple Leafs and Raptors among other teams, everyone seemed to wonder what that would mean.

So far we have seen Brian Burke removed from his post.  We have seen the hiring of Tim Lieweke, although that seemed to have more noise attached to it when it was a rumour than when it actually came to be.

Now that it is fact, Toronto fans are going to have to get used to the idea of their teams wanting to win.  This isn’t about simply making money anymore.  The big bucks are in brand and profile.

And that’s why a story out of ESPN is an eye-opener, although it shouldn’t be.

Mark Stein and Ramona Shelburne, two well-connected reporters, have written that the Raptors are one of the teams pursuing a man by the name of Phil ...

There is a drill that youth basketball coaches will use.  Players run the classic suicide, back and forth on the court touching each line, but they do it together.  The goal is to get all of the players running in unison.

It sounds like a pretty simple thing for a coach to do, but it isn’t.

In fact, getting a team going in unison is often a real determinant to its success.

Take the Cleveland Cavaliers as an example.

There is chatter in and around the team that head coach Byron Scott is being too hard on the team.  At least one player has come out and said (albeit anonymously) that practices are too long or too hard and it is killing the team.

At least one other player is saying that everything is fine.  People need to be quiet and just go out and play.

Coaches have some of ...

The new National Basketball League team is rejecting their own name. 

The Ottawa Tomahawks unveiled their name and logo on Tuesday.  Late yesterday, they made a different announcement:  They are scrapping both of them.  Here’s hoping they didn’t print too many hats and t-shirts.

There has been a great deal of public criticism.  A tomahawk jam might be the name of a dunk in basketball, but come on, it also has very negative aboriginal connections.  Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says he warned them, and didn’t attend their news conference partly because he was not supportive of the name.

So, they are back to being the Ottawa “Yet-to-be-named”.  It looks bad on them.  It looks bad on the NBL.  But this is the right move and we can use London, Ontario for a whole lot of perspective.  Call this the legacy of the London Rippers.

The Rippers came to town not ...

Shanteona Keyes of Georgia College is being credited with having taken the worst free throw shot ever.

Check it out.  (she apparently explained later that her fingernail got caught in her nose)

Switching spots with just about anyone in pro sports sounds like a pretty decent idea.  Charter flights, lots of money.  Fame and stardom if you are lucky. 

Be careful, though.

If you pop a Yop at lunch and a genie comes out (genies like liquid yogurt) (known fact) be careful.  For the next two days avoid asking to swap lives with Boston Celtics’ President of Basketball Operations, Danny Ainge.

Ainge took some huge risks years ago and somehow fandangled deals that landed Boston a championship courtesy of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen coming to town to join Paul Pierce as the new “Big Three”.  Ainge pulled off the largest single season turnaround in NBA history.

It is now five years later time has ticked on the Celtics.  They aren’t in the toilet like they were.  They have lost Rajon Rondo for the season and, but even with him they were ...