Miscellaneous Sports Stuff

- The Raptors had to fire Head Coach Sam Mitchell after their horrendous effort against Denver the other night.

Mitchell was never any good at x's and o's (notice the 20 point lead they blew against the Nets or taking a 5 second inbounds violation late in a tie game) but he could motivate players. Now that that ability is gone they can get motivated again under Jay Triano who should be given the job until the end of the year to prove himself. You can get by with a good tactical coach who players don't respond to for a while (Larry Brown is a prime example) but not the other way around. With 3/4 of the season left the Raps will improve and are still capable of getting home court in the first round.

- The reason I was so excited about the Leafs bringing in Brian Burke was because he helps put more E than S in MLSE, at least at first. The Leafs are going to stink for at least a couple more years but the thought of him going off on the Toronto media and butting heads with Ron Wilson, whose ego is almost as big as Burke's, is going to be priceless.

But can he turn the Leafs around? What a lot of Leaf fans are conveniently forgetting is that he inherited the Ducks team that won the Cup from Bryan Murray and only had to make a relatively easy trade for Chris Pronger, who demanded out of Edmonton, and sign Scott Neidermayer in large part because his brother was already in Anaheim. And his stops in Hartford and Vancouver were disasters to varying degrees. I think he is experienced enough that he will make the Leafs a consistent playoff team but I am not planning to schedule any vacation time around any parades in June along Yonge Street for at least five years.

- Just in case not everybody was sure before, Sean Avery went out and solidified his stature as the biggest asshole in the NHL. I realize the league needed to suspend him immediately but how great would it have been for him to half to face Dion Phaneuf the other night? Then again Avery is such a chicken shit little prick that he would not have gone within 30 feet of Phaneuf the whole night. He has to be done with the Stars at this point and I don't think any other team is going to bother with him. He's just not good enough to be worth the trouble.

I have said that Terrell Owens was the current athlete most likely to be found dead in a Vegas off-strip hotel room with three hookers and a vial of crack but I may have to break that into two categories. Owens will be accidental whereas Avery will be a murder.

- Just a quick note to say that I will be bringing back the fine tradition of the Pursuit of Leisure Hottie over the next couple of days.