Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- Bob McCown’s co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is John Shannon
4:10 John Mascia, Remy’s Sports Bar In Boston
4:25 Bruce Dowbiggin, Globe & Mail
5:25 Doug Smith Courtside
5:45 Kevin Koe
6:06 Pat Gillick, Phillies Senior Advisor
6:30 Dan Shulman, ESPN
6:45 Bert Sugar, Boxing Historian

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

- Bill Watters is on vacation in Florida so Greg Brady is solo today

- Tyler Bozak of the Maple Leafs

- hockey insider Pierre McGuire at 6:10

check out the TSM Pressbox here

I’ll admit it, before the Wall Street Journal that I quoted the other day, I had never heard of Mona Halem. As a father of two who leads a rather dull life, I have never been invited to one of her parties and hanging with most pro-athletes isn’t my thing.

What is interesting is that prior to the WSJ article, Mona had flown under the Toronto MSM radar. Yet, if you look at her website it is filled with parties for VIPs over the last couple of years. How, one wonders does the WSJ pick up the story before the local, 4, yes 4 papers do?

Want proof of the pudding? Yesterday, in the Globe and Mail came this headline “For sports stars, it’s Toronto the Good ” an article that pays tribute to the WSJ this one written by Paul Waldie and Andrew Willis- Waldie the excellent reporter from the Coyotes story.

“Her reputation as a party host for professional athletes has become so widespread that her company was featured in The Wall Street Journal this week under the headline Why Pro Athletes Love Toronto.”

Yet not so widespread that any Toronto media outlet decided to cover her before the big boys in the USA did right?

Not to be outdone, the Toronto Star today has a story of it’s own. “Mona Halem, party line to the NBA” the story is titled. Denise Balkissoon writes the piece for the Star.

“She got us about 15 wins this year,” says Wright. “Throwing those Saturday night parties works great. She needs a raise.” In a Wall Street Journal article earlier this week, the New York Knicks’ Toney Douglas and Tracy McGrady also bigged up Halem’s bashes.”

Nice of Denise to mention the WSJ article, which without would never had lead to this piece. My favourite part of Balkisson’s story:”With files from Doug Smith”

Maybe I’m overly critical, but one would think that with 4 daily papers someone local would have picked this up first. I mean we hear all the time that Toronto is the dreaded place for athletes to come. It’s cold, the taxes etc. I know a lot of that deals with athletes coming to play for our local teams. However those stories almost always talk to athletes who come visit. Clearly Mona has made her name for herself internationally. Hell, people were lined up outside a famous museum here in Paris to see a painting of her (sorry Eggbert, couldn’t help myself). And yes, I know that’s a different Mona.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

The Globe and Mail story is here

The Toronto Star is here

Here’s your bikini of the day from GetABikini.com

On Fan 590 Tonight

Bob takes calls…

- Francois Allaire (Leafs goalie coach)
- Doug Smith (The Star)
- Don Banks (SI.com)
- Pat Hickey (Montreal Gazette)
- John Shannon joins in studio

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

-  Cliff Fletcher of the Maple Leafs
-  Bob “The Bear” Cowan on the Super Bowl
-  Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Sharks game
-  Hockey insiders Darren Dreger and Ray Ferraro at 6:10
-  Show ends at 6:30 to make way for the Leafs pre-game show

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- Grapeline with Don Cherry & Brian Williams at 4:45
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Stephen Brunt
4:10 Bob Nicholson, Hockey Canada
4:25 Doug Smith, Toronto Star
5:25 Nik Kypreos
5:42 Aaron Fox, Eric Tillman’s Lawyer
6:06 Eugene Melnyk, Sens Owner
6:30 Michael Hiestand of USA Today or John Walsh of ESPN
6:45 Justin Bracci, Director Of Athlete & Team Relations For Tactics Armoured Hockey Socks

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

- Peter Deboer, head coach of the Florida Panthers (rescheduled from yesterday)

- Brian Duff of NHL Network on hockey

- Jolly Jonas Siegel from the ACC to preview tonight’s Leafs-Panthers game

- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Bob McKenzie at 6:10

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight

4:10 Tom Pedulla, USA Today
4:25 Doug Smith, Toronto Star
5:05 Peter King, Sports Illustrated
5:25 Nick Kypreos, Sportsnet
6:06 Bob Nicholson, Hockey Canada
6:30 Rob Becker
6:45 Cyd Ziegler, Out Sports.com

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

-  Bill Hayes fills in as co-host for Greg Brady
-  Wendel Clark in studio from 4:05 to 5:00
-  Brian Duff of NHL Network on hockey
-  Dennis Beyak  
-  Hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Bob McKenzie at 6:10

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight

Bruce Arthur Co-hosts….

5:20 Kypreos

5:42 Doug Smith, toronto star

6:05 Don banks, si.com

6:30 Paul Kelly

6:45 John Buccigross, ESPN.COM

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.

- Steven Stamkos of the Lightning

- Dave Randorf of TSN on the Grey Cup

- Hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Bob McKenzie at 6:10

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- open phones with McCown from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Stephen Brunt
-5:25 Doug Smith & Michael Grange from the ACC
-5:45 Gail Graham, LPGA’s Tournament Owners Association
6:05 Ed Olczyk, NBC & Versus
6:30 Jim Popp, Als GM
6:45 TENTATIVE! Dr. Mark Aubry, Hockey Canada’s Chief Medical Officer

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

- Marc Crawford, head coach of the Dallas Stars
- Bryan Colangelo, general manager of the Raptors
- hockey insider Scott Morrison at 6:10

The Toronto Raptors announced today that Reggie Evans will miss the rest of the preseason with a left foot sprain. There is no specific target for his return – Hopefully he’s back for opening night.

In the meantime, the already soft Raps get a little softer. As outlined today by Scott Carefoot of RaptorBlog, teams rarely succeed when outrebounded on a nightly basis. Evans was one of the guys brought in by Bryan Colangelo to remedy that problem, but he’s headed to the sideline for a while. It’s bad news, but it also opens the door for another newcomer in Amir Johnson to step up.

Yes, technically Rasho Nesterovic and Johnson could both gain playing time, but in an ideal world, most of the minutes would go to Amir.

I say this because while Rasho will play a ton of minutes against big, lumbering centres, Johnson plays a more similar game to Evans. He makes hustle plays, he rebounds, and he even blocks shots (something Evans doesn’t do). Nesterovic will continue to play his expected role, but Johnson will have an opportunity to grab some of Reggie’s. As it stood before, I wondered how Evans and Johnson could possibly play enough – there just didn’t seem to be enough minutes to go around…But now, Amir will have his chance.

So far, Johnson has played better in extended minutes. He often takes some time to get going – a luxury I assumed he wouldn’t have during the season. Johnson still won’t play a ton of minutes, but he should have plenty more with Evans out. At the very least, he’ll have more than enough chances to prove himself throughout the rest of the preseason.

-DL

Things had gotten pretty stale around the Raptors lately. Once Bryan Colangelo finished with his offseason makeover, all we could do was speculate and look forward to the start of training camp. Well, it’s here, and two days in there are plenty of fresh stories in each local paper. At this point, nobody really knows what the team will look like on the floor, or how the new group of players will perform. Still, the local media has given the team plenty of love this week, and that’s an understatement.

Put it this way – After reading the stories from the start of training camp, I can’t find anything negative about anyone. From what I’ve read, every single guy is ready for a huge year, while Bosh and Turkoglu’s injuries are being glossed over. And now before anyone accuses me of being a “hater,” (a term I can’t stand), I should add that I expect good things from the Raps. This is more of a commentary on the media than on the players themselves – Again, nobody really knows how this team will play.

But check out the coverage:

From Doug Smith, this piece is yet another article raving about Marco Belinelli’s upside, while ignoring any and every fault in his game…. “General manager Bryan Colangelo raves about the kid, coach Jay Triano thinks he might be one of the big surprises of training camp, executive vice-president and Italian compatriot Maurizio Gherardini said “there’s something about him that’s different.”

Or this article from Frank Zicarelli on Antoine Wright. In case nobody realized, Wright was brought in for his defense. And he hopes to do a good job…mind blowing stuff.

Or this, from the National Post’s Eric Koreen, on Andrea Bargnani… “All signs point to continued maturation for the Italian seven-footer, whom the Raptors selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draft. In the off-season, Bargnani signed a five-year, $50-million US contract, so his mind should be at ease.” Well, I’m sure Bargnani’s mind will be at ease, but he sure as hell better perform. In case nobody realizes, the rest of the league has questioned Bargnani’s extension to no end, considering very good restricted free agents like David Lee have found the market pretty tough this year. In Toronto, though, everything is gravy.

And you don’t have to look far to find glowing first impressions of Reggie Evans and Jarrett Jack, along with pretty much everyone else.

Again, I’m not trying to say any of this is untrue. My point is that whatever you read during training camp needs to be taken with a grain of salt. This is the time when anything seems possible, when every team has playoff aspirations, and when new players are seemingly filled with unlimited potential – Remember the Jermaine O’Neal lovefest from last season?

With an entirely new roster, this was predictable, and a little enthusiasm never hurt anyone. Just remember to stay realistic – Until the team loses, nobody ever gets ripped.

-DL

Steve Buffery and Doug Smith are both reporting that Chris Bosh has an injured hamstring.

From Buffery in The Sun:

“Chris Bosh, Toronto’s all-star forward, will miss the start of the Raptors training camp next week in Ottawa because of a sore hamstring.

He suffered the injury while training in Dallas last month.

Bosh aggravated the hamstring again training in Toronto last week. The injury is not thought to be serious and he is expected to play in the pre-season.”

From Smith:

“Still awaiting official confirmation but the chatter is that Chris Bosh may be nursing a tweaked hamstring and could sit out the start of Raptors training camp next week.

The word out at the foundation event this morning is that it’s a setback, not huge, but still not a great way to get the season underway.

It’s unclear exactly how Bosh, who I’m told spent a lot of time this summer working on his body and his game, got himself a little banged up. But he is and now they have to deal with it. I do know he’s been in town a few days going through workouts and scrimmages with the other Raptors.”

I’m sure we will hear more about this in the near future. I just spoke with TSM, who wondered whether Bosh injured himself working on his iphone app and the rest of his off-court empire. But all kidding aside, this is potentially bad news.

If anything, it brings back memories of Jose Calderon’s hamstring injury from last season. Calderon was supposedly “a little banged up,” but the injury lingered throughout the year and hampered his play. I’m not saying anything like that will happen with Bosh, but the news has to be a bit unnerving for Raps fans. With Hedo Turkoglu already fatigued, and perhaps slightly injured, things have not started well for the Raptors.

For the sake of discussion, what happens with the Raptors’ rotation if Bosh’s injury causes him to miss parts of the regular season? And who would start at power forward?

-DL