SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN

Short post before helping the Jays get back on the horse.

Have you ever heard of a basketball team, anywhere above the high school level, playing a twice in a day?

That's happened to the Canadian senior men's team -- which yours truly is trying to keep tabs on it since it includes brothers Aaron and Nate Doornekamp, who went to my former high school (yeah, what a geek I am... I know). It had to play twice yesterday at something called the International Alpos Cup in Slovenia. Canada split, winning its morning game against Venezuela (whose late arrival required the game being pushed back a day), but failing to hold a fourth-quarter lead later in the day against Lebanon.

Since it was the International Alpos Cup, you could say they were dog-tired. Stop groaning. Canada plays Slovenia today.

OTHER BUSINESS

• Notice who scored the winning goal for the MLS All-Stars in their 1-0 victory over Premiership powerhouse Chelsea yesterday? Dwayne De Rosario, a Canadian national.
• Canadian baseball note: Adam Stern, one of the heroes in Canada's win over the U.S. at the World Baseball Classic earlier this year, is apparently the player-to-be-named later going from Boston to Baltimore in the Javy Lopez deal. Can't help but wonder if he might see some time with Baltimore's Triple-A affiliate, the Ottawa Lynx, who could use some help as they go for a playoff berth.
• The Toronto Argonauts soap opera of a season continues: Offensive co-ordinator Kent Austin has been fired. It's just as well. If he had listed "Offensive co-ordinator, Toronto Argonauts," on his 2006 tax return, both the IRS and Canada Revenue would have been after him, since the know Toronto's offence has been anything but co-ordinated.
• It has to be said: The CFL is really dull this year. With the exception of a couple games -- Winnipeg's last-second win over Edmonton a couple weeks ago and maybe Calgary's win over Hamilton where it kicked a winning field goal after getting the ball at its own 35 with 13 seconds left, exciting, high-scoring contests have been few and far between. More often than not you're seeing scores such as 23-7, 28-11 and 19-9. Yes, I appreciate defence as much as the next guy, but still... borrrrr-ing. Some time in the next couple weeks, there has to be a good 38-35 game. It has to happen.
• Funniest Floyd Landis-related comment I've heard actually came before the first positive drug test: "He looks like he took up cycling because he needed a quicker way to get away from bullies."
• Maccabi Tel Aviv, you are entering a world of pain: the Israeli pro team that beat the Raptors last year -- in Toronto, no less -- is making a return visit.

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