Snark break ...

Good night for the Leafs, giving a good show before losing ... do the Raptors realize John Tavares doesn't play basketball (well, not yet)? ... here's an imagined celebrity roast of Tony Dungy . On with the dumb jokes ....

Toronto organizers will soon announce where events would be held if the city lands the 2015 Pan Am Games. Nowhere would be a good answer.

Two rules for the fratboy corner of the blogeteriat. You're not allowed to link to a picture of a female athlete, such as Serbian lady baller Milica Dabović (pictured), who's posed unclad for FHM magazine, unless you've heard of her or start following her sport. It's for your own good.

Tampa Bay Lightning co-owner Oren Koules, when he was a junior hockey player, was on the Spokane WHL team when it folded. It was good preparation for his stint as a NHL owner. The fruit doesn't fall far from the clueless tree.

(That was actually gleaned from a pretty good interview with Team 1200 personality Glenn Kulka.)

George Costanza himself, Jason Alexander, is shilling for the same poker website as Mats Sundin. It makes sense, since Sundin has been playing like he's trying to get fired.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting

• He's still Rick Reilly, once in a while. The former S.I. scribe's column on Larry Fitzgerald Sr., the sportswriter dad of the Arizona Cardinals receiver, is a good read.
• Please spare a thought for former Canadiens, Leafs and Hull Olympiques coach Pat Burns in his cancer fight.
  
• A tip of the cap is due to the pride of Odessa, Aaron Doornekamp, and his Carleton Ravens teammates for being honoured at last night's Ottawa Sports Awards. Veteran basketball coach John Scobie was also honoured, which is a long time coming. (Three guesses if yours truly warranted an invitation, the first two don't count.)
  
  The Ravens have a RMC/Queen's road trip this weekend, so the Kingston Whig-Standard should have some coverage of the Kingston trio of Doornekamp, Rob Saunders and Stu Turnbull.
  

That's all for now. It's oolf.writers(at)gmail.com.

Let's call it Torontario

Don't underestimate the importance of semantics in Toronto's Ontario's Torontario's bid for the 2015 Pan/Am Games. It is, after all, a bid that is claiming to be regional in its scope but has a lot of shots of the CN Tower on the promotional material that is being distributed internationally. How the bid backers manage to balance the occasionally conflicting interests at play may determine how successful the bid will be.

The reality is that people in Rio don't much care about the difference between Oshawa and Aurora. It's all Toronto to them. Selling the merits of the bid to the international audience is all about selling the merits of Toronto. But, as anyone that has spent more than 10 seconds in this country knows, the difference between Oshawa and Aurora can be MASSIVE...to the people in Oshawa and Aurora anyway. And don't dare tell them they are from Toronto.

In Today's Hamilton Spectator published the first hint of what might be ahead for the Pan/Am bid. In a news column by Lee Prokaska, called for a "at least one board member who is clearly a champion of our city," to be included when the final group of suits is named to the bid's B of D. On the surface, it's a reasonable suggestion. But, one wonders if it's just the first of many "reasonable suggestions" that will be made by various 905 folks.

Hopefully not. The bid is going to face enough killjoy opposition as it is. It can't afford bickering amongst those that actually understand its value.

One thing Toronto (it will be called Toronto's bid here) won't face opposition from is Caracas, Venezuela. That city dropped out suddenly last week. Although no reason was given, it has been speculated that there was a fear that three bids from South America would split the vote and all-but hand it to Toronto.

The Pan-Ams: What T.O. thinks of the bid

Before we can seriously talk about Toronto’s Ontario’s Pan-Am bid we first have to cut the crap.

In spite of Dalton McGuinty’s claim that the Games would “generate $2 billion in economic activity, create 17,000 jobs and lure 250,000 tourists,” the reason for trying to bring the Games to Toronto Ontario has nothing to do with pie in the sky economic projections. We always hear those predictions when cities launch bids for multi-sport games. They are usually bunk.

Not that the opponents of the bids, usually from the left of the spectrum, are any more rational in their criticisms. For them, it’s all doom and glum—with an ample sprinkling of liberal white guilt. Without Bob Rae and his bread not circuses crew, the Buffalo Bills are likely playing their home games at T.O.’s beautiful lakefronted 1996 Olympic Stadium (and Donovan Bailey would have set off a celebration in the city’s east end that would still be talked about). But, alas…

The other type of opposition comes from the Oscar of Corner Gas types… “My taxes pay for your salary.” Although they are correct that public money is part of any bid, you will generally find that this type doesn’t want “tax dollars” spent on, well, anything. We have to spend public money on something. The question is what that something should be. Sport should be part of that conversation.

So, once you get past the political BS and the sky-is-falling opposition you can have a reasoned conversation about the pros and cons of a bid. Is the cost of hosting the Pan/Ams—and there will be a cost. The Games will most certainly not make money—greater than the benefit they will provide.

That tangible benefit is improved sports infrastructure in the GTA — something that is desperately needed. And, before non-Ontario readers get their backs up, try to remember that the Canadian government has supported lots of multi-sport events in other regions since 1930. In the interest of fairness, it might just be Ontario’s turn.

What is a fair question, is why don’t governments support sports improvements without major events attached to them? It’s a good question--one that maybe should be asked of our politicians from time to time. Maybe the next time you see them down by the local Centennial Pool in your hometown.

I think it’s pretty clear that it’s better to have kids playing tennis on a public court than on a Wii. But, you have to get the courts built first for that to happen.

A successful Pan/Ams bid might be one way for that to occur.

EDIT: For a neutral discussion of the 2015 Pan-Am bidding process, go here.