Tip-In: A Snoozer

Agree with everything except one. Whence this sudden AHA about the Swirsk. He is not and never claimed to be a 'broadcaster'. He's an unabashed promoter of the team. His appeal is mostly to the casual fan unless you can get into a conversation away from the mics.

I'm getting just a little tire d of self-righteous bloggers, 'calling out the swirsk'. Pick a more difficult target. He has a schtick, and it works for him. Kids especially love him.

Otherwise, really enjoying the blog. Keep up the good work.

I laughed when I saw the title today, because I actually did fall asleep somewhere near the end of the 3rd quarter. Which is weird because I was wide awake till 1am to watch the west coast games.

I'm kinda ticked that I missed the Chuck Swirsky sell out though.

The raps were like the pre-bosh-return raps, they played so hard, but just couldn't handle all the matchups, kinda felt bad for them. I also am tired of the swirsk bashing. It says on the website swirsk is the "voice of the toronto raptors", they pay his salary, he's an unapologetic homer, so what? Sports are an entertainment product and chuck plays his role better than most.

oops, meant to say the BUCKS were like the pre-return...

a snoozer it was - and I enjoyed every minute of it. sure they played horribly for stretches at a time but, the game was never in doubt so I'll take it. I'm sure they'll go back and watch some tape anyway and continue the tweeking process.

on to boston for another 'easy' W.

seriously though, I think this next game against boston is going to show a lot about how serious these young raps are about winning.

if they are really serious, they'll come out guns-a-blazing right from the tip and blow them out of the water before any of them get the chance to put their life jackets on. then bosh, ford, and garbo can rest up in the second half and let their respective injuries continue to heal.

we'll see.

and yeah, I would have to agree with 3inakey, the chuck hate all over the place is a bit much. he's a homer, everybody knows it - let it be. though I will say this salami and cheese flex pack thing was a terrrrrrrrrrrible idea.

Didn't get to see the game last night but you know the franchise is heading in the right direction, when raptor fans can complain that a win was done in a "boring" fashion.

A year ago it would have been that this team "gutted" it out. Heck, a year ago, we would have thrown a parade if the Raps won (and on the road).

Either way, the Bucks had still won 7 of their last 8 at home, and I don't think the raps are good enough to consider any game a lock up.

What's up with the continual Chuck bashing? We get it, you either like him or you don't. Don't y'all start crying when Rod Black starts calling games again (shudder shudder).

Between the terrible play, the quality of camera work and the near vacancy of the Bucks' arena, the game at times last night (especially in the third Q) looked like I was watching something going on at the local Y.

I'm a little surprised you guys didn't pick up on the Rasho factor. It's become glaringly obvious that this offense clicks when Rasho is hitting his chip shots. Somehow a productive Rasho gets this offense flowing. Hopefully he can get his game back before we play Dallas.

Just to clarify the Chuck statement and I completely agree that the bashing has gotten a little out of control. The point was that it was acknowledged. I am simply glad that it was acknowledged. On top of that I just wanted to raise the issue that it is hard to get true broadcasting these days. Makes you appreciate the guys on TNT, ESPN etc. They are not local and so don't necessarily have to be bias.

I can't wait until the Raps make a re-appearance on a large network.

Not complaining about the win either. It was just tough to watch, the game was simply not exciting. The other thing was that for whatever reason the picture quality always seems below average when broadcast from Milwaukee.

No more on Chuck from me.

I was cringing at the start of the game. Although a win is a win, it was too close for comfort. With so many guys out the Raptors should have won by 20 plus. They were also giving up too many rebounds to Bogut and too many points in the paint.

Agree totally with your comments on Anthony Parker. He has been the Raptors' most consistent swingman all year. MoPete's inconsistency from game to game is something I've come to live with, but wouldn't it be nice if
Graham could avoid the same fate?

"Joey, get the f*cking ball!" - A scream heard last night from the Raptors bench, as soporific sophmore fails (again) to show up for this particular rebounding opportunity. Also, I agree with the comment about Rasho, though more b/c his lack of involvement is a symptom of Raps settling for too many outside jumpshots. Finally, I was initially annoyed by the -10 rebounding differential, but then I woke up this morning thinking, how much effort do you really need against the D-League Bucks. A dangerous game, sure, but nice that the Raps can finally play it.

Let's not have any more talk about boring games when Rap's win on a back to back.
This game was won on defense with 9 blocks between Chris & Andrea & 9 steals, especially in the 2nd half.

The bench was not as effective aside from Andrea but the starters redeemed themselves.

If Bucks had been able to hit some 3's instead of 2/16
it would have been closer.
Bogut is a beast. Exactly what we need after Rasho.
Chris played arguabley his best game of the season one night after his worst vs Nets

Howland: Hopefully it didn't come off that I was singling you out... However I do think its the local coverage that gives team broadcasts colour. If you watch NFL Films, they always dub in the local radio broadcast to add some excitment! Think about Mike Lange from the Pittsburg Penguins ("Get in the fast lane Grandma, the bingo game's ready to roll!", "He Picked His Pocket Like He was Walking down 5th Avenue", "You can spit-shine your shoes, 'cause the Pens are going dancing with Lord Stanley!'" or Rick Jeannert of the Sabres ("MAY DAY! MAY DAY!", "THERE HAVE BEEN MORE CHEAP SHOTS IN THIS GAME THAN IN A MEXICAN CANTINA DURING HAPPY HOUR!!", "LA LA LAFONTAINE!"). Even though they're the worst homers, they're a ton of fun vs some bland national broadcast. Name me some memorable National Broadcast calls? Maybe the Kirk Gibson vs Doug Eckhensier call (Dodgers vs As)/Mookie Wilson hitting the liner by Bill Buckner (Mets vs Red Sox)?

Plus the RAPS aren't going to be on a real national network anytime soon. They took in 80,000 viewers vs Phoenix in Toronto!!!! That's crazy horrible, vs some out of town hockey game (Ottawa and something) which drew 300,000+ viewers.

They maybe getting some sellouts at the ACC, but no one else is on the bandwagon. It's like Chicago Blackhawk fans, all of them are at the arena and that's it.

Rasho got pwned last night by Bogut. I can't really a single time where Bogat has the ball on the block and didn't score on him. I'm a big Rasho supporter, and think he brings a lot to the floor when he's out there, but that was disheartening. Hopefully I was just underestimating Bogut's skills, and not overestimating rasho's defense.

I never minded Swirsk. I doubt anyone could rightfully consider themselves clever for pointing out he's a Homer, and Howland and Franchise are surely no fools.

That said, listening to the FAN broadcasts is awesome. Paul Jones + Eric Smith are better than any Raptors broadcast team to date IMO, even though they have a tendency to have conversation over top of plays that leave you wondering what's going on sometimes. Usually that's only when one team has a decided lead though.

Re: Fan 590 broadcast

I'm in Mexico and TVU never works where I am - they were on OTSN when they played the Nets. But radiotime.com streams the fan590 broadcast. I thought the fan blocked the game's stream? Anyways, it's nice that it's done anyways. Having said that, Eric Smith, seems a bit of a homer too, complaining often about missed calls againts the Raps, but not bad nonetheless.

I think they screen it out for anyone not in the area, but as I'm from Ontario, and have a clearly Ontario IP, they probably allow it. That, or someone has just missed disabling it so far this season, in which case, keep it quiet please. :P

Your site is very useful.