UP AT 6: K.G. WILL FACE TENACIOUS D

Wait, why do I have to put a slit in the package of minute rice? Oh, that's why.

• Raptor Land reckons our favourite NBA team still stacks up as the favourite in the Atlantic Division in the wake of superstar Kevin Garnett (pictured) teaming up with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the Celtics in a blockbuster trade. Balanced strength and good guard play ultimately wins in the NBA. Boston doesn't have anything resembling either quality and we even found a Celtics blogger who agrees.
• Bill Walsh -- greatest NFL coach ever? -- dies at age 75. That Top 5 was a small gesture.
  
  Former Bills star Thurman Thomas ought to thank Walsh in his Pro Football Hall of Fame acceptance speech this weekend. In Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side, Bill Polian, who put together the Bills teams of the '90s and the current Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, said he had a "Eureka moment" watching film of Walsh's 49ers in the mid-'80s. He modelled his teams -- the Bills and later the Colts -- thusly.
  
  With the Bills, Thomas slid into Roger Craig's 49ers role with the 49ers as a running back who was also a true receiver. In a more conventional offence he would have still been decent, but in the Bills' Bill Walsh-inspired scheme, Thurman Thomas became Thurman Thomas.
• Congrats are in order for Ottawa Fury midfielder Kelly Parker, who was named a W-League all-star yesterday. Parker, a Saskatchewan native, is also a finalist for W-League MVP honours.
• Note to readers: There will be some new voices taking over the blogspace starting around Saturdayish. It's vacation for one of us (highlighted by the big Sager-Murad wedding in Kingston on Aug. 11), so some pinch-bloggers will come in for the daily Blue Jays and Lynx posts, and possibly more.