Good Bye Sam And Good Luck Jay

I know not everyone is going to miss Sam Mitchell. But I will miss him and maybe that is why I used the picture I did for this. Sam Mitchell the person was a funny stand up person that I truly got to enjoy and always wanted to meet and talk with. I keep a list of people that I dream of talking to in this blog or in my career period. Sam Mitchell is near the top of that list. I truly enjoyed the way he interacted with the media. He said that he was they way he was because he wanted to challenge people to ask intelligent questions. I wish more people would challenge the media to ask intelligent questions. I think anyone that does interviews is always looking to be challenged to do a good job and asking great questions. Sam was a personality that was one I have truly enjoyed. After all of this had started to sink in I was driving in my car to pick up a late meal after the unexpected work that fell in my lap. I heard someone calling in on the radio saying that over the last few weeks Sam did not seem like the same old same. I had thought the same. One of the things I looked forward to everyday was turning on Raptors Today to hear Sam and his daily press scrum. I had come up with a name for that 5 minutes of my day. I called it my Sam Mitchell laugh of the day. I have had some lousy days that Sam Mitchell has mad bright by just being the way he is. Just on that along the last 5 years have been worth it for me.

But he also gave all Raptor Fans the first division title for the franchise and the coach of the year award that would follow. I know many try to discredit that award and some blame that award for Sam getting re-signed. I get angry when people do that. Sam earned the award and regardless of what you think. All awards are political to an extent. Does Jerry Sloan deserve to have been Coach of The Year. But that is not Sam Mitchell's fault that blame belongs to the media. Sam also deserves some credit for what Chris Bosh has become. When he is an old man in a rocking chair and is watching his T.V to see Chris Bosh have his number raised to the ACC rafters. He can say to himself that he was a part of making that happen.

The sad truth is as I had said yesterday, not knowing this information that would come later of Sam being fired, that I felt his time was coming to an end. I had no idea that I was so right about that. Whatever you think of Sam Mitchell he has done good things for this franchise as Bryan Colangelo stated in his announcement of Sam being replaced by Jay Triano. I am happy for Jay Triano and happy that Bryan Colangelo intends to give him a chance to show he could be the coach of this franchise for it's future.

Despite the interim tag Jay Triano is likely going to have a chance for the rest of his season to prove his worth. This is a great chance for Jay personally and I think it is a great moment for Canadians in basketball. I offer him the best of luck not just because it will benefit the Raptors but it will benefit all Canadians in basketball. So a new era of Raptors basketball will begin in Utah on Friday.

Contest Results

I have selected the 3 finalists for the contest to see the return of T.J Ford with me on Dec 10. I will be posting the finalists later today and you will get a chance to vote on who you think the winner should be. So on behalf of the finalists I ask you to vote and throw your support behind one of them. That will be out later this afternoon. Sorry for the delay but with all the news going on with Raptors and myself personally made it needed to be delayed. But I should have the contest entries finalists posted by late this afternoon. Thanks to all who entered and even if you are not selected as a finalist I still am grateful you took the time to enter.