NBA back to Vancouver?

Despite what you may read in the Globe and Mail today, as cool as it would be to have an NBA team back in Vancouver, it probably won't happen.

Raptors intrasquad watched by half-empty gymnasium

The Toronto Raptors are in Vancouver this week practicing out at UBC in preparation for their pre-season tilt at Rogers Arena against the Phoenix Suns Wednesday night.

So what better way to open up the team to fans than to hold an on-campus intrasquad game, with the proceeds going to charity?

Everything, as it turns out, if you're charging $15 for a scrimmage. Hundreds of seats remained empty throughout the event. Perhaps they should have advertised that Jarrett Jack would be singing Justin Bieber songs.

[Video update of Jack's aforementioned performance here]

While it's a good concept, charging money for the NBA in Vancouver is pretty well heresy after Michael Heisley stuck a knife into the city, and twisted it, taking away the beloved-yet-miserable Grizzlies.

Ubyssey editor Justin McElroy made the point on Twitter that when the Grizzlies took their training camp to the University of Victoria, the event was free for students.

Although at least UBC filled up half the gym. My school can't fill up a bus. For $35, Thompson Rivers University students get two-way transportation from Kamloops to Vancouver and a ticket to the Wednesday exhibition game. Spots are still available.

Toronto Raptors draft unnecessarily tall guy

[The Raptors pick is on the right]

I love NBA draft pictures. David Stern is about two feet undersized, and he's trying to shake the hands of really tall black guys. I can only think that most of these players had taller prom dates.

The really tall guy in this picture is Ed Davis, the newest Toronto Raptor (unless you count Solomon Alabi, acquired later in the night), a 6'11" power forward who pretty well bookends the Chris Bosh era in Toronto.

Why are you excited to come to Toronto, Eddie?

"My favourite player Chris Bosh plays there."

We may have a problem.

Monday, May 31st - Morning Briefing

Jays, Twins sweep. Dirk to Phoenix?

-Current ESPN know-it-all and future Vancouver Pacers General Manager Bill Simmons destroyed the internet in Arizona today with this tweet that suggested the possibility of a Steve Nash/Dirk Nowitzki reunion in Phoenix. Rumours have apparently been floating around for a while now. To me the situation is pretty far-fetched, seeing as both Nash and Nowitzki would be migrant workers taking the jobs of hard-working Americans, something that Arizona was supposed to run out of the state.

-In more basketball news, it was pretty much confirmed yesterday that Hedo Turkgolu wanted out of Toronto. The only team he'd be able to get a starting job at is one that rewarded poor shooting with playing time, lack of rebounding prowess, and quitting midway through the third quarter. May I suggest trading him to the Raptors?

-Justin Morneau went 1-for-4 as the Twins doubled up on the Rangers 6-3, completing the sweep. The game's highlight came as Dernard Span caught the final out running in from centre (that's right, it's a Canadian blog) field and Orlando Hudson, apparantly not hearing Span call for the ball, clipped his shin. Hudson, the former gold glover with the Jays, stayed down for a while as the fans cheered the Twins win. I haven't seen a second baseman get up that slowly since the morning after Stubby Klapp earned his name.

-It was funny hat day at Skydome Rogers Centre:



That didn't seem to faze the Jays, who easily completed the sweep of the Orioles with a 6-1 win. Ricky Romero pitched a complete game, giving up the only run in the first inning and was just six hits and two walks shy of the second perfect game on as many days.

-Gibson, British Columbia's Ryan Dempster threw 6.2 innings before being chased by the Cardinals. He gave up nine hits and six earned runs with three walks to seven strikeouts and he drops to 3-5 on the year. St. Louis won 9-1, off of two homeruns by Albert Pujols. I can only imagine how many fruit flies were attracted by the Dempster/Pujols pitcher-to-batter combination in this game.

-Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimo... Zimongi... Zinmoji... Zimonjic made it to the men's quarter finals at the French Open in Doubles, defeating the host French pairing of Guillaume Ruffin and Alexandre Sidorenko 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3. They will play in the semifinals on Tuesday (Mardi in France) against two guys you've never heard of.

-The lead story on both Sportscentre and Sportsnet Connected was that a goalie who is 6-1 in the playoffs with a 1.96 GAA and a .930 save percentage will start in Game 2. Although considering Philly's revolving door of goalies ever since Ron Hextall left, perhaps it is headline news that the Flyers are starting the same goaltender on consecutive nights. Hell, Ray Emery never made it to the rink sober in consecutive weeks.

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Today is going to be busy. Stanley Cup Finals, maybe some tennis action, and a couple of baseball games later. Toronto has a pretty important three-game series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. For those in Sportsnet's Pacific Region (or have the channel) you can watch Justin Morneau play against the Seattle Mariners for the nightcap.