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

Evening from Berlin. Sad to say, despite my best efforts, I failed to find Berezin. In fact, it was impossible to find the existence of hockey in these parts at all. I can assure it wasn’t for lack of looking.

I just read a really good article by Jim Kelley. Yes you read that correctly. His take on the Berger affair is good. It is fair and balanced. Kelley sees Berger’s point in asking the question he asked and also accepts that Berger didn’t mean to question Wilson’s integrity in so asking the question. I don’t buy that at all, but so be it. I think Berger knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to elicit a response from the coach and I have to believe he is happier then a pig in shit to be getting this type of attention. Kelley also sees Wilson’s point. He concludes that both guys were just doing their jobs. I think that is true too. Both have reputations and both have egos. Both also have jobs to do. Good work on the part of Kelley.

I need a microscope to read his blog, but Brady has a good take on the Berger episode too. I like this part the best, check it out for yourself though :

“Anyway, Berger likes to poke and prod and if injected with the truth serum, has wanted a public blow-up such as what happened last night for some time. It’s a wonder it took nearly 70 games.”

Leafs vs the bolts tonight…A game for the ages. Not staying up to watch that tonight. Too tired and I have to get up too early. Is my man LT playing the point for the Buds yet? One more injury and he may get the call.

Does anyone else find it funny how reporters from one outlet refuse to name a reporter from another? I am sure someone is going to tell me why they do it, or the reasons why they do it, however, it sounds funny as hell. Case in point:

“Leafs coach Ron Wilson got into it with a radio reporter following the game, suggesting that the radio guy had questioned his integrity. The radio guy didn’t see it that way. ”

That from Steve Buffery’s article in today’s Sun. Now, everyone reading that knows he is talking about Berger. There is no mystery here. Why, not just say the name? By the way, Berger gets a lot more attention on Hanky’s site then he does from the radio gig, shouldn’t he be referred to as a blogger as opposed to the radio guy? The National Post handled it differently, referring to Berger by name but also stating that he contributes (if you can call his work a contribution) to the paper. The Post does a nice job of transcribing the whole episode and even placing a link to a video from youtube. You can read it here

Interesting that both Mike Toth and Jeff Blair absolutely roasted Ernie Whitt for his managing of team Canada in the WBC, saying that he actually did a worse job of managing then Buck Martinez. Fan post game guy Mike Wilner however didn’t see it that way…”Ernie Whitt is going to take a lot of heat for this, and may not even be back as the manager of Team Canada in the future, but don’t put this on him.” Whose opinion you going to go with??? I thought so. Is it true that the game only drew 12,000 fans Monday night to the TED??? If so, paint me stunned. I wonder if game 2 of the regular season of the TBJ will see a similar drop in attendance. One last thing on Wilner, I may not be a big fan, but I give him credit, he responds to most comments on his blog. That shows class and professionalism. People take time to comment and does the same by responding. Good on you Mike.

Ummmm, not that anyone appears to care, but the Raptors are currently the 4th worst team in the league. You read that right. 4th from the bottom! They have lost 6 in a row and are a very respectable 2-8 in their last 10. Raptor fan, whomever and wherever you are, I feel for you. A bad team, with what looks like no reason for hope… Someone smarter then me tell me if the current coach gets extended. With the team this bad, are they going to sell any season tickets next year? The Detroit Pistons announced a 10 % reduction on tickets for next year…hint hint….. No back to your regularly scheduled programming.

More tomorrow when I land back in Toronto.

I once ran a poll asking people to rate the best of the Toronto dailies. In my opinion there is no contest. The Globe is eon’s ahead of the others. Next comes the Star, followed by the Post and the Sun.

The Globe has Eric Duhatschek, Jeff Blair, Stephen Brunt, Tim Wharnsby, David Shoalts, David Naylor, Michael Grange and William Houston (others too)
The Star has Damien Cox, Richard Griffin, Dave Feschuk, Doug Smith, Mark Zwolinski, Chris Zelkovich and Dave Perkins(others too)
The National Post has Bruce Arthur, Michael Traikos,Jeremy Sandler, Sean Fitz-Gerald, Joe O’Connor, Allen Panzeri and a host of Can West and other Writers.
The Sun has Steve Simmons, Mike Zeisberger, Lance Horby, Ken Fidlin, Terry Koshan, Rob Longley, Alison Korn, Bob Elliott, Bill Lankhoff, Gary Lowen, Steve Buffery, Bruce Garrioch(kind of)

Apologies to anyone I forgot. On the basis of quality of reporting I stand by rankings.

Having said that, I can’t say enough times how far the sun has slipped. Growing up there was no post and the Globe sports section sucked. The Sun was numero uno followed by the Star. Today, I enjoy reading most of the guys at the Globe. I think Blair has become numero uno (as a general columnist). At the Star, love him or hate him Damien is the man there. Griffin’s blog is better then his work on the paper. Smith is better on the radio then in print. Zelkovich was better when he covered the media. At the post it isn’t necessarily the names but the steady content. Arthur is good, and they get so many other guest columns that there is always something to read. In the sun, they have 2 guys who are readable, Simmons and Elliott. Terry Koshan and Lance are ok, and Garrioch is more entertaining and isn’t a Toronto writer. Longley was a better media writer too. The others?????

Today, we honor the worst of them all. I have been scratching my head for a long time wondering how this guy gets to write for a real paper. Today’s article is just a perfect example of how bad he is. Drum roll please…. Gary Lowen. Did anyone read the piece he wrote today? It is total, 100% crap (in my opinion of course).

“A big fuss has been made over the Maple Leafs acquiring Brad May, a 37-year-old winger from the Anaheim Ducks, in exchange for a draft pick.

But, let’s be honest, at this stage in his career he’s strictly Brad December.

And either way, the Leafs won’t play in May.”

Are you kidding me???? This is in a REAL newspaper, not a high school one right?

“Indianapolis Colts star Marvin Harrison’s gun was smoking, but who pulled the trigger?

Investigators have conflicting witness accounts of a shooting in Philadelphia in April, which left one man wounded.

Let’s go to our Clue game to solve this one: It was Plaxico Burress, with Marvin Harrison’s revolver, at the car wash.”

Is that supposed to be funny?

“You know that Jamario has to be over the Moon.

Moon has left the Raptors to be with his wife, Tamara, who has given birth to their first child, a daughter.

Wonder if they’ll give the baby a cool name, like, oh, maybe, Jamaria?

Guess the name Warren is out”

I am not making this up- this is in today’s Toronto Sun!!!!!

“The Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to terms with two pitchers, left-hander Antonio Bastardo and right-hander Yorman Bazardo.

Doesn’t sound like the kind of guys you want to meet in a dark bullpen.”

How does this guy have a job as a writer?????

This is the start of a new feature here on TSM where we will have a weekly (right LT?) Media power ratings- who was hot, cold, up and down in the media.

Tomorrow we feature Radio personalities- feel free to submit any thoughts ahead of time….

If you really want to read more of Lowen’s trash you can read it here….