DNB 5 and 5

This is going to be a short little mini feature that I am going to do in the Dino Nation Blog once in awhile. Feel free to play along at home. I find that in this crazy world of Raptors basketball some of us tend to be far to negative while others are living with their head in the clouds. So in this blog feature we try to bring those 2 ideas together. 5 things to freak out and worry about and 5 things to be excited and happy about. They say life is all about balance. This is my small attempt to bring balance to the Raptor Universe.

5 Up!!!

1. Granted it was not a great night last night but Demar DeRozan is bringing back that WOW factor to the Raptors. You remember how that felt when Vince Carter would throw down a dunk and make you jump out of your chair. Heir Canada has that ability to do it and it is great to have it back in the mix.

2. Charles Oakley- how I missed his no nonsense reality, it may have only been for one night, but it was nice to have it back. Oakley has no filter at all and tells you what he thinks and believes with no apologies.

3. Twitter always gets a thumbs up. I enjoy it for hearing from readers players and broadcasters. I may not have embraced all the changes in this modern world. But Twitter is one that I have. Yesterday I made my 5000th tweet. It has been a fun ride on Twitter. Thanks to all the folks that follow me @dinonationblog.

4. CB4- He has been doing all he can every game. If you buy into the fact he is as good as gone next year. You sure could not tell it from his play on the floor. I don't of course and hope that Bosh can continue this amazing start and have a great season and bring the Raps along for the ride.

5. Andrea Bargnani- 12 rebounds...12 rebounds....I never thought I would see the day. Andrea really has turned a corner and in the past I had my doubts about this guy but I have become convinced he is going to at very least be good. So pasta for everyone and the 50 million contract that concerned me at first is more and more looking like a steal.


5 Down

1. Jose Calderon's Defense is a growing concern and a problem. We heard all the excuses last season with injuries and all of that. He was injured but he was not a good defender before the injury and he is not after it. Bottom line is talking about is great but like the man listed about at #2 you got to be about it and back up that talk. Jose Calderon is an expert in spelling NBA players names and the numbers they wear. Why? Simple because he sees them all blowing past him on the back of jerseys.

2. Raps TV. What did we do to deserve 30 minutes less of pre-game and post game? Why do I care about the Leafs, Toronto FC or what band is coming into the ACC? Oh that is right, I don't and the fact MLSE is so obviously turning the station into an MLSE infomercial is sad. I like Matt Devlin, Adnan Virk, Paul Jones, Jack Armstrong and some of the other folks on there. IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT. The fact this network has taken steps backwards instead of forwards makes me sad. Raptor fans deserve far better.

3. NBA Schedule Maker sure does not like the Raps does he? The month of November is no fun at all. Look for him (NBA Schedule maker) to return to this feature in the up section in Feb/2010.

4. Raps have the silly streak of games making a consecutive 3 pointer. I lost count at where it is at. But in that same streak how many 3's have we given up. It is time to FINALLY ADDRESS GUARDING THE PERIMETER!!!

5. My fantasy teams. I did my best to draft quality teams and I have players dropping like flies and am taking a fantasy beat down in the early season. If this keeps up I may have to fire myself as Fantasy GM of my teams.

So that is it. Share your 5 ups and downs in the comments or we have that lovely chat feature over on the right there. You can use that to talk about this or any other blog as well as the Raps and the NBA. It is free to use so take advantage of it..so few things are these days.