Starting 5 V-log Edition- Welcome To March

My Olympics beard is gone and I am looking more presentable in terms of getting on the camera. I admit in watching the Olympics and doing all my usual stuff I got to look a bit scruffy. For fans of the Round Ball Review (there are some I hope) they normally take this Monday spot in the blog but because of the Raptors playing tonight I have decided to leave them for another day. Raptors do not play again until Friday so there should be time to fit them in later in the week. So enjoy me and hopefully I am just as entertaining as my cartoon co-workers.



Also I have an announcement to make:



It has always been part of the goal of the Dino Nation Blog to grow basketball fans. This is a way to try and do that. The folks at Raptors Republic have run an event on Fridays in Toronto for a couple seasons now. I living in Hamilton have never made it down to one of those. I still will someday. However I decided to have a party here in Hamilton. Tyson that runs Brooklyn's the place this party is being held has been great and open to this idea. We both hope that this can be a success and will give Raptor fans a place to call home to cheer on the Raptors on a night. I know personally I have been out and had to beg places to throw the Raptors on T.V. Here no begging is required this is going to be your place to cheer on and have fun and root on the Raptors.

So join us at 291 Queenston Road in Hamilton. Here is more info on our Facebook Event Page



If you are not in the Hamilton area you can still help out by spreading the word and letting people know about this event it would be greatly appreciated and helpful. More details and info as event gets closer.

State of The Raptors Address

Maybe this is inspired by watching all of the events of yesterday with Barack Obama. I could not help but think of the contrast to what I was watching, in comparison to the Raptors situation. I have always tried to keep a somewhat positive approach to what the Dino Nation Blog is all about. That goes in contrast to all that is going on at this moment and time in the Raptor world. In watching Barack Obama take office you could not hide from the true hope that he has created, not just in America but around the globe. Hope is a rapidly fading word in the Raptor fan vocabulary. I find it sad that people be little those who are hopeful. If you have faith, that this team can turn around and make some form of a sporting miracle happen. Do not let anyone break that spirit of hope. I may not share that hope and may tell you why that is. I just remember back, to being a child and always having true blind faith that the team I loved would win. I truly believe that we all have that experience in us. Just like with all things as we grow older things change. How you view something like Christmas as kid is vastly different, from the one you have as an adult.

There is a lot of anger in Raptor fans and that is a justified anger in many ways. You were promised a better team that would compete and be better. You have not been given that. You expect at least to be able to watch this team win or lose. That has not happened with the whole TSN 2 mess, you have not even been given that right. Chris Bosh has been angry as well. He has not been thrilled with a lot of things. The latest of which would be the choices made by Jamario Moon down the stretch. He has also not been thrilled to have people booing him. I agree with him on that one. Bosh has made his share of mistakes he is not perfect. That being said he has grown into a star and a leader in front of all the people that follow this team. To often in this world it is all about what have you done for us lately. The history of what you have accomplished gets swept under the rug. But the true answer to all of this tension that exists has very little to do with the play of Bosh. It is based out of fear of the unknown. Chris Bosh and his future, in these times of trouble have become the focus. People just assume that he will leave like all the others before him. We have all hard what happens to those who assume right? You do not know what Chris Bosh will do. I am not even sure if Bosh knows the answer himself to be honest. He strikes me as a guy that lives in the moment.

This may be why Bryan Colangelo may just be making a major shift in the Raptors overall gameplan for the long term. The original plan was to ride Jermaine O'Neal for a couple years and cash in his contract to build around Chris Bosh. It was the thought that hopefully the Raptors could at worst be in a similar spot to where they had been a playoff team. But the best case was they would take steps to improve and advance in the playoffs. But things don't go as planned in life. If they did we may have been saying Madam President today. Hillary Clinton was expected to win, the Democratic nomination was going to be Clinton's to lose and on to the presidency. However no one counted on a man of colour named Barack Obama coming along and inspiring the youth of America and beyond. We all know what happened from there. The point is that life can always offer surprises both good and bad.The Raptors have gone off course and it will not be fixed over night. I have written before in this blog that it is easy to say you want change. It is a much different task to accomplish change. But with ever loss it is clear this team needs change.

Colangelo is in a very hard spot that he has placed himself in. He now faces the task of admitting his own failure and coming up with a new plan and implementing that plan. What the plan seems to be is a shift from looking to 2010 and change the focus to 2009. He does not want to see his star player endure another losing season and have to try to pitch to him to return after that. The new call or new hope is to become a player in the 2009 free agent market and build a team around Bosh that he can believe in. It will be much easier to compete in that free agent market as everyone still has dreams of landing the many big prizes. It also will give Colangelo control to not over pay as he could still wait till 2010 if need be. That is why a player like Shawn Marion was such an attractive option. The goal is turn the Jermaine O'Neal contract into cap space in 2009 and start to rebuild this Raptor team. Least that is the signals we are being given.

It is clear that Bosh is looking for help and has seen little beyond the recent surge of Andrea Bargnani. He has shown his frustration both in his facial expression and his words after the last loss. What happen in this next month leading up to the NBA trade deadline will tell us a lot about where this team is heading. It will speak to the direction this franchise is going in how it plans to keep it franchise player. Nothing is ever for certain but Colangelo has consistently stated that he is looking to build around Chris Bosh.

It has been a season of falling idols in Toronto. Bryan Colangelo is no longer thought to be the man who has all the answers. He is now questioned loudly and with good reason based on a track record that has had more misses then hits. After his first year in which the team would have a great deal of success and win a division title it has been a rather quick slide down. Jamario Moon was a fairly tale find that stormed on to the scene but now looks like someone that was only meant to have 15 minutes of fame. Jose Calderon emerged from the Raptor point guard civil war as the winner. He was suppose to ride that victory and new contract to the All Star Game. Instead he has spent time on the IR and when he has been in the line up looked far from the top point guard in the east some folks billed him to be. Jermaine O'Neal was brought in as the hope to lead the Raptors to the next level. But a change of jersey has not changed the fact O'Neal and his body have been through quite a lot in his long NBA career. Just like a Tracy Mcgrady that came straight out of high school and faced many injuries in his career. You wonder if J.O's career has seen it's best days and this is the beginning of the end. Bosh himself was on an extreme high coming off an Olympic Gold. He was considered one of the big reasons for the U.S being able to rise to the top of International basketball again. He returned to the Raptors and started the season where is Olympic experience ended. However more recently he has struggled like the rest of his team. He has had several mistakes late in games that have cost the Raptors. The guy that heard chants of M.V.P now reads some questioning if the Raptors should trade him before he decides to leave.

It all makes you wonder just who can we believe in? It is hard to have faith in people that have disappointed you. It is clear for any Raptor fan that this season has been a disappointment and a painful one indeed. This tells you a lot about people and the character that they have. That is true of all, not just the people that make up this organization but of us as fans of it. Is it really productive to tear people down and kick them as they are down? You see a lot of that these days. I am even guilty of it from time to time. I was live-blogging for The Score and it was the game between the Celtics and Suns. I mentioned my frustration of the Raptors recent struggles earlier in the day. A Boston fan responded and said that he understood. After all his team was struggling with about 20 wins in the season the Raptors were champs of the Atlantic Division.

The Celtics were able to make major changes and do it very quickly. The Raptors road to change may not be so fast. The Celtics do have an advantage of being a franchise with a history that is one of the greatest in all of pro sports. People still question if the Raptors can bring American stars to Canada. It is an old problem that people still wonder if it will ever go away. However as the world we live in gets smaller and access to things becomes easier no matter where you live. It makes it more possible to have a lot of the comforts of home with you where ever you go. The time has come to flip the script on the issue. Canada is an opportunity for NBA players to not just have fans in one city but in a whole nation. We need to be proud of what Toronto offers and confident that people will see that. Vince Carter became a star here and so has Chris Bosh. The old arguments that you can not be successful in Toronto are not true. It takes finding the guys that can believe in that and see the true opportunity Canada offers.

In the end things may get worse before they get better. However being a sports fan is all about faith and hope. Barack Obama has created a message of hope and faith that the world has embraced. It is time for someone in this Raptor Organization to step up and provide that faith and hope. The difference is that before someone can do that for the Raptors they must restore faith and hope about them. This has been a sad season to watch in many ways. Despite myself having some success. Not just me but other bloggers as well like the guys at Raptors Republic. They have joined a network like the Dino Nation Blog has done. I congratulate them on that and know it is pretty exciting from my own experience. We are all tied into this Raptor experience. The challenges that this team has faced will bring out a lot of the worst in all of us. But it also says a lot about the character of all of us. That goes from you all the way to Bryan Colangelo. May we all at the other side of all of this be able to look back on these times as part of the struggle. After all the goal for everyone is for the Raptors and Obama to come together in more then just a blog. They will be building a basketball court at the White House we are told. The Raptors hope one day to get a tour of that court as part of a visit as NBA Champions. That idea seems so far away at this moment in time. However that is what you have to do is hang on to visions like that. Does it seem realistic? Not at all. Do I know how we reach that point? Don't know that answer as well. But what I do know is that if you loose faith and hope in everything you can never find an answer. If this blog took that attitude it never would have got to where it is at. Each day it takes giving the best you have each day. This Raptor team needs to start doing that and if that best is not good enough. Then change must come to the Raptors and it will. It is not a pretty picture but we can all still hold out hope for a better tomorrow. To often of late it is all about what this team can not do. The task ahead of the Raptors may seem hard and impossible. But the one that faces Barack Obama is far greater and far more important. But his supporters say YES WE CAN. Well there needs to be a lot more of that attitude here with Raptors. As the Raptors head into a game with the Pistons tonight losers of 6 straight it may be as simple as that for this team to truly find a way to say YES WE CAN and believe it.

Raptors Rewind- Watching Online...Thanks Raps Republic

The Toronto Raptors without Jose Calderon we think(He would be), taking on the Miami Heat. Thanks to guys at Raptors Rebuplic for putting up a feed to the game. Much better than the Raptors T.V offering of Raptors Game in an Hour at 5pm. Andrea Bargnani has been put into the starting line-up for the Raptors and this game was going to be very interesting.

Raptors first trip was no good but Will Solomon made a steal and got the ball to Bosh and he was fouled and headed to the line for 2 which he made. Andrea Bargnani mad a nice turn round jumper in response to Heat basket. It was Bargnani and Bosh early on pacing the Raptors to an early 8-4 lead. the Heat went on a run of 5-0. But Anthony Parker would bust that run with a 3 pointer off a nice feed from Bargnani. Parker would make another 3 pointer that gave the Raptors a 14-11 lead. Dwyane Wade turns a Raptor turnover in 2 points for the heat. Shawn Marion gets a bucket and Heat had a lead. Andrea Bargnani would take it back.The Raptors were holding their own Kris Humphries was back healthy and in the game scoring to put the Raptors up 20-18.

With this bigger look the Raptors were getting on the offensive glass and that was giving them extra chances which Will Solomon took advantage of one. Andrea Bargnani was looking good in the starting line-up he had another score. Solomon would get a 3 after a slow shooting start. Quinn hit a buzzer beater 3 pointer for the heat but it was still the Raptors up 29-27.

Both teams were shooting well, Heat at 52% and Raptors at 50%. Will Solomon did a great job in relief of Calderon with 6 assists and 1 turnover. Roko Ukic would start the second. Heat scored the first four points of the quarter until Kris Humphries scored and he would score again Raps were up 33-31. Quinn would respond with another 3 for Miami. Humphries had 8 points and 7 rebounds in just 7 minutes. Break out the Hump man. Canadian Joel Anthony got a jam off a screen and roll and Heat were up 36-34. Jason Kapono would hit a big three ball to give the Raptors the lead back at 39-38. Jamario Moon maybe got the message as he drove to the basket and got to the line which has been far to rare this season. He would only make one of two and D-Wade hit for 2 on the other end and we were all tied at 40.

Will Solomon was back in for his second tour on the floor. J.O would get a score in the post. He was working hard on the glass as well as he had 8 rebounds. Chris Bosh was back at the line looking for 2 more. He would hit both and it was 44-40 for the Raptors. Heat would get back in front with a Michael Beasley bucket and 1. Jamario Moon would hit a basket on a jumper But D-Wade would respond with a score, a steal and another score. Sam Mitchell had seen enough of that and called for time. Raptors would turn it over out of the time out they had 11 turnovers in the first half to this point. Dwyane Wade scored again that was 6 straight for him and 15 in the half. Chris Bosh would come back and score for the Raptors. But Cook would hit a 3 pointer in response. Andrea Bargnani would score on other end for Raps. Wade would have a final miss but his Heat still had a 54-50 lead.

So far from perfect but with no Jose and a new look line up things were not so bad. Jermaine O'Neal would get the scoring started as he was fouled and heading to the line. He had 10 rebounds beyond his points. He would make both at the line.He only had 4 points but was doing a lot of good things. O'Neal hit a jumper to tie the game at 56 early in the third. Andrea Bargnani would score and Raptors had an 8-2 run and a 58-56 lead. J.O now had 6 point in the quarter Raptors had a 60-56 and a 10-2 run. Time out Miami. Michael Beasley would score on the drive out of time out. Andrea Bargnani was aggressive going to the basket and got a questionable offensive foul. The Heat would get back to level with a basket but Bosh would quickly bot the Raptors back in front. A quiet day for Shawn Marion but he would get a bucket and tie us up at 62. Bosh was back at the line and hitting two free throws. D-Wade had the answer and we were tied for the 15th time on the afternoon. Wade would score again slashing to the hole.

Chris Bosh and D-Wade of the same draft class and team U.S.A were having a battle. Bosh this time was tying the game up for his squad. Shawn Marion bailed out the Raptors from a shot clock violation giving Bosh a chance to add to his totals. Bosh would split a pair but he was 10-12 on the day from the line. Raptors lead 69-68. Dwyane Wade had an answer and he had 21 now and his team a one point lead. The lead was going back and forth like ping pong match. Will Solomon had his foot on the line for a very long 2 pointer and we were tied at 76. A lot of folks were missing a heck of a basketball game. We were all tied at 78. A scramble for the ball left D-Wade a little worse for wear, and after that A.P would score a basket to close the scoring in the third as Raptors lead 80-78.

Raptors were maintaining there pace shooting the ball still at 49% the Heat had faded to 45%. Kris Humphries would get first 2 points of the quarter from the line. Jason Kapono would hook up Chris Bosh for the easy Jam for two. The Raptors had scored the first 4 points of the quarter and now had a 6 point advantage of 84-78. Raptors showed good ball movement and Jamario Moon drove to the bucket and got to free throw line and score on both attempts. The 6-0 run would be broken by Micheal Beasley on to have Jason Kapono respond with a long 2-ball. A good defensive stand by the Raptors highlighted by a J.O block. Raptors were playing good defense and had a lot of energy.Raptors were on a 10-2 run and this was with Bosh watching on from the bench resting. Another J.O rejection lead to a Kapono 3-ball on the other end and the Raptors were rolling the had a double digit lead 93-80.

The ACC Crowd was energized and Chris Bosh was back in the ball game. The Raptors defense was really playing at perhaps the best it has all year long. The Miami heat were 1-12 in the 4th to this point as a result of that Raptor defense. Jermaine O'Neal was challenging everything that went up in his area on defense. Will Solomon would hit a 3 point shot and this game was going the Raptors way 96-81. Miami would final get a basket they had only 5 in the quarter. Dwyane Wade scored and Raptors needed to be careful. Wade would score again on a turnover he had 6 straight and the Raptor lead was trimmed to 9 points. Wade had 27 point 4 steals and 8 assists. He was doing all he could. The Heat had an 2-0 run but time was short with just over 2 minutes to play. Cook continued the run to 10-0 with 1:35 left the Raptor lead was now just 5. Anthony Parker was fouled and heading to the line. He made both to break up the 10-0 Heat run. Raptors now lead 98-91. Wade would make with free throws of his own. But Chris Bosh would have a Jam and Raps had 100. J.O would get a basket on a goaltending call. Will Solomon in relief of Calderon had a double double(12 points 10 assists) and Raptors had 7 players in double figures. Raptors answered the Miami push and were going to hang on for a well deserved win. Will Solomon was getting some bonus points down the stretch from the line. a 107-96 win for the Raptors and a lot of folks taking a big sigh of relief. Raptors move to 5-4 on the season and hit the road to face the Magic and this Heat team again.

Much love goes out to Raptors Repulic for giving fans the option to watch where Rogers and TSN failed to do. Good for the gang over there. A great bunch of boxscore goodies for a lot of folks. J.O had 18 rebounds a solid game for Hump and as mentioned Will Solomon opened a lot of eyes today. All of course lead by an outstanding performance by Chris Bosh. Check it all out and smile.

Raps and Heat Boxscore