THE SMELL OF VICTORY

"Bar-ni-ani," you kept mumbling to yourself, over and over in front of the mirror. "It's pronounced 'Bar-ni-ani.' "

• There would be much more enthusiasm here for Bryan McCabe finally re-signing with the Leafs if there wasn't the sneaking suspicion that he's a classic Ewing Theory guy. The Leafs power play, for instance, was better late in the year after it stopped making McCabe its focal point. Also, does sinking money into McCabe and Thomas Kaberle mean the Chris Pronger deal is off the table?
• Sportspages explains why you're making yourself look dumb if you persist in saying "The Ukraine."
• The Raptors got their man, Andrea Bargnani. Would have been great, from a fan's perspective, to see them take Toronto-born Denham Brown in the second round, but it's probably for the best that he's headed to Seattle. As Brown's mother told the Toronto Star, "He has too much friends around him (in Toronto), telling what to do, telling him to stay here... I would rather he plays in the States right now."
  
  By the way, nearly every Denham Brown story mentions that he once scored 111 points in a high school game. Wonder who's sicker of hearing about that -- the team he scored them on or Brown himself?
• The New York Daily News' account of angry Knicks fans who came to the draft festivities "looking for blood" last night is pretty hilarious:
  
  The chant of "Where's our draft pick?" went up on the right side of the seats. When they were through, the other side had the answer: "Eddy Curry."
• Know those cock-and-bull stories we always get fed about how a sports stadium will spark spin-off developments around it? Hardball Times is noting that Washington, D.C., in order to get around the concerns of the D.C. Zoning Commission and get the Washington Nationals ballpark built and ready in time for Opening Day 2008, may try to push a "second plan" that will "allow the whole project to move forward without the need to develop the surrounding area." (Italics mine.) The Washington Times has more.
• Roy Halladay's chucking tonight as the Blue Jays go for ... that thing a baseball team goes for when it wins the first two games of a three-game series, which dare not speak its name but starts with S and rhymes with weep. There's some reason to be optimistic after last night's 6-1 win over the Nationals, but as the Star's Geoff Baker notes, there is little historic precedent for a team making the playoffs when it goes almost halfway into the season without sweeping a series, which the Jays did until last week.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.