Step aside Vince Carter, Toronto may have a new villain starting next season …or now.

This whole “process,” a word Bryan Colangelo had oft-used to describe the situation regarding Chris Bosh and the Raptors, was not supposed to end like this.

But it did, so you move on, right? Wrong.

While you do live and learn, it is often hard to both forgive and forget and for Raptors fans, which is what Colangelo is at the moment, it seems many of them will be doing neither.

Colangelo recently criticized Bosh during a FAN 590 radio interview for “checking out” after all-star weekend and that “no one wanted to acknowledge it.” Well sir, I acknowledged it many times before saying that he was developing Carter-like traits. Maybe I should become an advisor at the Raptors front office. I joke …I think (cue the hate mail).

This does say a lot about the Raptors organization as a whole. How scared can you be of calling out one person in an organization? It could not have ended up worse than it did really.

Of course Bosh replied by attacking the city of Toronto, saying “it’s a metropolitan area, but you could tell you’re somewhere different” among other things.

And something tells me this war of words, for a lack of a better term, is not over.

Torontonians have a serious complex about people liking their city, and when someone says this about it: “You could feel it, you could look at it, you can smell it,” it rubs fans the wrong way.

Well, Toronto does feel different because it is, you can look at it and know it’s different, and it smells really good, thanks. Wow, I guess the Torontonian in me kicked in.

Some people blame Bosh for leaving the Raptors and maybe more so the city of Toronto, but that was an option he, along with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, cleverly chose to implement in their previous deal so he had every right to.

Some people blame Colangelo for not trading Bosh at the deadline, which is utter non-sense. They were doing fine up to the trade-deadline and although they weren’t in a position to contend for the championship, they were supposedly solidified in the playoff picture.

Guess not.

The one thing you can fault Colangelo for is probably not exploring more trade options last summer when he would have received the most for his biggest asset. But, things happened fast such as the Hedo Turkoglu sign-and-trade as well as other acquisitions that at the time were thought of as lesser deals.

Fans believed, if not in Bosh, then in the team itself that it could win.

However, a team is only as strong as its designated leader, which is what Bosh was.

He was a leader by default and he likes to consider himself a marquee-name but he will not get the first or second touch in Miami, and after all that is probably why he will one day be a champion with the Heat.

He, like many during the end of his tenure in Toronto, realized that he needs someone else to be the go-to guy in order for him to ever win in the NBA. He’s not the guy you want to take a shot with the game on the line nor should he ever have been and the Raptors, through no fault but their own, realized this far too late.

So now, Toronto is left without a superhero or a knight in shining armour.

But then again, Chris Bosh was never that to begin with.

He was just another guy, at the wrong time, at the wrong place.

Follow me on Twitter, join me on Facebook, or email me at gaganhoops@gmail.com.

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- Bob McCown’s co-host from 4:00 to 6:00 is John Shannon
3:02 Rod Black – TSN
3:22 Jane Roos – Canadian Athletes Now
4:22 Ian Pulver – NHL player agent
4:42 Bob O’Billovich – Hamilton Tiger-Cats GM
5:02 Alex Anthopoulos – Blue Jays GM
5:22 Richard Deitsch – SI
5:42 Bills starting QB…whoever it is.

On 640 with Hayes and Watters
David Naylor on football
- Sam Cosentino on baseball
- Matt Devlin on basketball
- Gary Valk on hockey

So I’m sitting at the office, working away, ESPN Radio on quietly in the background and I hear Mike and Mike start talking about Bryan Colangelo and his comments recently to Mccown and Mr. Mcgoo (Shannon). The discussion between the two centered on just a couple of points, primarily, is Toronto a worthwhile market for the NBA, did Bryan Colangelo question Chris Bosh’s heart/integrity?

Now, to be fair to the hosts, this wasn’t a bash Toronto conversation. Unless total lip service, both guys said they love it here and that it’s a great city. However “No American wants to live there, in another country.”

So, what did Mike and Mike say? Here’s a brief summary:

First they played the parts of the Colangelo interview where Bryan discussed the inability to build around Bosh, and where he discussed that Bosh “may” have made up his mind earlier in the season about leaving and where Bryan discussed Bosh being cleared to play pending his pain tolerance.

After the clip, the consensus between the hosts was that Colangelo was at the very least suggesting that Chris Bosh quit on the team. At the very least they said, Colangelo suggested that Bosh may have checked out prior to the end of the season, which is to suggest that he quit.

Mike Greenberg then switched gears and said that he couldn’t get Bosh to discuss what he considers the “bigger picture” when he was co-hosting prior to leaving for Miami, and that is Toronto as an NBA Market. Again, both guys suggested that the NBA is going to “have to ask itself if it wants to be in Toronto.” They stated flat out that “no star wants to play in Toronto” and suggested again that “the NBA is going to ask itself if it’s worth having a team in Toronto”.

That’s where they both said how much they loved Toronto but…..

“No star wants to play in Toronto and Americans don’t want to live in another country”. They continued talking about much they like Vancouver but that “there are clear cultural and economic differences.”

They stayed on the topic and reiterated that “no player will become a star while playing in Toronto.”

Now, before you mention Vince Carter, Mike and Mike went there too:

“Vince Carter was a star in Toronto but he would have been a bigger start in a US market.”

They said that it was clear Bosh want’s to be a star and perhaps he realized that wasn’t going to happen in Toronto.

The conversation then changed to Colangelo’s comments on Bosh. With respect to Colangelo’s commenting on Bosh being cleared to play pending his tolerance (to pain) and not doing so for several games, they said at the very least Colangelo was question Bosh’s heart and perhaps integrity. Mike and Mike talked about the timing of the decision on Bosh not to play, how the Raptors perhaps could have made the playoffs if he had played and whether Bosh may have been thinking about where he was going next season at the point, or at least Colangelo’s suggestion of such was an attack on Bosh’s integrity.

That concluded the discussion until they read an email from a listener who suggested that compared Colangelo’s comments to those of Cleveland Cavalier’s owner Dan Gilbert’s infamous Comic Sans note. They discussed whether or not the comments were or weren’t similar, whether Colangelo should have made them and the obvious reasons why neither Gilbert or Colangelo could have made them during the season or “courting” period.

Will try to track any reaction.

Here’s my only comment the Raptors had the 14th best attendance in the NBA (out of 30). in 2009, they were 10th in attendance. In 2007 they were 9th. Their tv numbers are good. While there is a decline at least in terms of rank, that doesn’t suggest to me a market in which a league would be concerned. By comparison, over the same 3 seasons, the Pacers and Grizzlies have been in the bottom 5 of the league.

Just my 2 cents.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Yesterday Argos o-liner Rob Murphy was fined some money for some “Less-Than-PC” tweets he made on the team’s trip to Montreal. While riding the train Murphy made note that he was “smelling foreigners this early in the A.M.” He added that the “novelty of riding on a train thru Ontario and Frenchland has worn out.”

First off, ‘Frenchland’ isn’t really offensive, is it? Quebec is a land where much French is spoken; ‘Frenchland,’ while not very subtle, is an accurate description. It would be like calling Ontario ‘Englishplace.’ Or Alberta ‘OilArea.’ Or Yukon ‘Cold.’ I seriously doubt Murphy was purposely trying to create ill-will against the residents of Quebec.

Second of all, I do understand why the CFL felt it was necessary to fine Mr. Murphy. In today’s lovely little politically correct world we live in, anything said (or tweeted) by someone that’s deemed 0.01% offensive to anyone is ground for discipline by said someone’s employer. Fair? No, but understandable. I may hate it, but it’s the world we live in.

Thirdly, and this was the most shocking part of the entire story: They were on a train?!? Seriously?!?! The Toronto Argonauts, a professional football team, took the train to Montreal?

My first reaction to this part of the story was bewilderment. I couldn’t believe that the Argos didn’t at least have a personalized airplane by the good people at Porter Airlines. But after thinking about it, I had a different perspective. I thought it was awesome that the Argos took the VIA.

It’s just so amazingly old-fashioned. It’s so fan-friendly. No private jets, no chartered planes, just a bunch of teammates crammed into tiny seats travelling to another city to play some football. Obviously I’m romanticizing it a bit, but am I the only one who finds teams travelling on trains much cooler than planes? Maybe I’ve just seen ‘Festival Express’ too many times and believe every long train ride ends up like that kind of positive group bonding.

By the way, you can follow Rob Murphy’s twitter at @BIGMURPH56. Should be entertaining for the rest of the season.

@zsommers (That’s me!)

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
3:02-3:35 Jim Kelley – FAN 590 & Sportsnet.ca
3:42 John Ourand – Sports Business Journal
4:22 Buck Martinez – Sportsnet
4:42 trying to track down Steve Omischl
5:02 Jim Brown – NFL Legend
5:22 Dan Shulman – ESPN
5:42 Dwayne Murphy – Jays hitting coach

On 640 with Hayes and Watters:

TBA

I’ll admit it, since little TSM’s been at sleepover camp for the first time, my appetite for all things sports seems to have waned. Having said that, with each day I get more comfortable with his sudden absence and am returning to my normal routine. In any event, while in the fog of just having left him at camp, Mccown talked to Bryan Colangelo, the Toronto Raptors President and General Manager. Although I knew about the interview, having posted it on a bikini of the day post, I didn’t listen in.

Thanks to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, who has a great review of the interview I now have.

I am not going to summarize the interview as Ryan has done that already. Here’s what I’ll say. First, it’s another example, in mind anyways of why Mccown is great at what he does. It’s just a damn good interview. He asks the questions that I as a fan want him to ask. He brings out the best in these types of guests.

As an aside, Mccown was a guest PA announcer at the Jays game the other night, on 80’s night- a tribute back to the day (in 79 I believe) when he actually did the job. I was at that game and immediately awoke from my slumber when Mccown was shown on the big screen and introduced as the guest PA announcer. Two observations: 1- He didn’t wear his sunglasses. 2. Although he did the job in which he was asked to do, it would have been nice/fun/entertaining if he wasn’t such a pro about it. He called every batter who came to the plate. But that was it. I, for one wanted a little bit of fun/entertaining. I digress.

From my perspective it was interesting to hear Colangelo’s opinion now, and I understand why he didn’t say any of this then, but it doesn’t sit well with me. Personally, I don’t think the negative pr, no matter how true it may be, is necessary. I mean, what benefit does it do?

“We tried in vain to put pieces around Chris. Different pieces, different styles. It didn’t work out.”

“No matter what type of player we brought in, it didn’t seem to have the right mix with him as that centrepiece.”

That, from Wolstat’s article, is apparent to even a basketball novice like me. One could argue that the comment can be interpreted many different ways. If you listen to the interview, it certainly sounds like Colangelo is doing more than just stating the obvious.

In any event, the Raptors will press on. I’m curious how Raptors fans feel about the interview. To me, I would rather all he said was, something along the lines of, he was great while he was here, we took our best shot at signing him, and he decided to leave.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Listen to Mccown interview Colangelo here
Read Ryan Wolstat’s review of the interview here

Here is the 2nd part of the TSM Pressbox with Nelson Millman. We talk about the business of sports radio, Bob Mccown, sports television in general, dealing with media personalities, big business owning radio stations, social media and reporters, gambling on tv and radio and much much more.

TSM Pressbox

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

On this edition of the TSM Pressbox, the King of Toronto Sports Radio (and now Sportsnet), Nelson Millman stopped by. We talked about the radio business, changes at the Fan 590 and more.

TSM Pressbox

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
3:02 Jack Armstrong – TSN
3:22 Darren Rovell – CNBC
3:42 Cyd Ziegler – Outsports.com
4:22 Kevin McGran – Toronto Star
4:42 Bob Elliott – Toronto Sun
5:02 Jarrett Bell – USA Today
5:22 Wayne Parrish – Postmedia Network
5:42 Keith Law – ESPN

On 640 with Hayes and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

4:10 – OPEN PHONES – 416-870-6400, *640 on the Cell, 1-888-225-TALK

4:25 – Marc Topkin (St. Petersburg Times)

4:45 – Jim Hunter (Baltimore Orioles Broadcaster)

5:05 – Questionable Decision of the Day

5:25 – Dave Zirin (EdgeofSports.com)

5:45 – Jim Lang (Rogers Sportsnet)

6:10 – Matt Moulson (NY Islanders)

6:25 – David Climer (The Tennessean)

6:45 – Rebekah Sanders (Arizona Republic)

Ah, the 80s. How can we possibly miss them when they just won’t go away? Last night Sportsnet treated us to tea with Mrs. McGill by airing the 1986 classic “Youngblood” in all its mulleted madness.

Tonight, there’s no need to go west when you can rock down to electric avenue and watch the Toronto Blue Jays take it higher against the Baltimore Orioles (Sportsnet and MLB.tv, Fan 590 starting at 7:07 p.m.)

In fine flashback form the Jays are looking to Morrow. Brandon Morrow’s last start was against Baltimore and he held the bats at bay letting in two runs through seven innings.

Brad Bergesen will wanna be startin’ somethin’ other than the 0-5, 7.33 ERA he’s dealt out in his last 10 outings. Like the rest of his teammates who are winless in their past nine tilts against Toronto, Beregesen will need to be puttin’ on the ritz to beat it.