KingsDay 2014 - Amsterdam and Haarlem

By result of an unhappy accident I found myself staying in the Netherlands on the first Kings Day bank holiday in over a 100 years.  I couldn't miss the chance to see for myself the colour, the boats and the street party.

This is the picture you will see all over the tourist websites and social media promoting the event.  And it's exactly how you find the festivities.  There are plenty of spots where the boats face a traffic jam and the sheer number trying to get through means things soon pile up.

The boats were all shapes and sizes, from little 2-man dingy's to the big tour-boat things.  Including some full of Japanese tourists who didn't quite know what to make of it all!  What the photos struggle to capture is the noise and atmosphere by the canal.  Each boat had a sound system, some had a DJ spinning the decks and all were high-spirited.

Scenes like the above were common, with people selling each other various goods whether it be food - or mostly alcohol.  One of my favourite accessories was the couch below.  You definitely would - and it's orange to boot.

Getting out onto the streets they were full of second hand stalls.  It was common to hear people barter on even a 3-Euro item of clothing.  My favourite moment of the day was clocking a proud looking young kid, maybe 4 or 5 years old with her home-made lemonade.  10 cents a glass.  I got 5 meters past her and made up my mind paying for a glass would be enough to make her day and a group of British girls in front had obviously had the same thought and scurried back to fuss over her.  Elsewhere there were hog roasts, burgers and chilled beers everywhere.

The streets weren't as crowded as expected, but I didn't head to the center of the city, I stayed around Jordaan.  I headed back to Haarlem to find that as lively.  The usually quiet main square had a fairground and a full on street party outside Cafe XO.  That was 3 in the afternoon.

Overall - I'm glad I saw it.  I think to do the day in a group would be amazing.  There are parties everywhere, DJs, drinks and everyone in such good spirits.

I just couldn't imagine a day like this in England.  A day where everyone just had the same, simple idea, and a day where you can be proud of your nationality without judgement.  There's no way that many people would be by the canals or on the boats without throwing things at the crowd or vice versa.

Macron Stadium...

Being part of the Bolton Wanderers fan base is very humbling at the moment.  Out of the bright lights of the Premier League and slipping ever further into debt, the club continues to maximise its corporate partnerships as a means to generate cash.  No more so than the re-naming rights.

The Reebok Stadium (as it will no doubt always be known) was a good fit on so many levels: the Reebok historical link to the town, the ongoing (as it were) relationship as a kit provider - it was just a cool, neat name that fit the personality of the ground and was easily associated with the club.

The club's new ground sponsor is not bargain wholesaler Makro

I had to Google Macron, whose name sides much too closely to Makro for my bargain basement liking. They don't seem to be anybody that anyone's ever heard of and there's no obvious link or association to the club or town.

It's a problem when the club is having its identity stripped away piece by piece.  Move out of the town into a personality-less ground, change the logo, bring the logo back.  And this is before we appraise what is going on on the actual field!

Maybe we get used to it.  I don't know.  First impressions is that it's a horrible name and doesn't help this fan get over current apathy towards the club. So soon after the sponsorship debacle (in fact, who is even our shirt sponsor these days?) I'm sure there will be a prickly response from the fan base.  

What do we think? 

Game 1 - Raptors v Nets Play Offs

And breathe.

That was some ride. And it's only game 1, round 1.

Hands up who was surprised with the outcome, or even the manner of the defeat? The young and admittedly inexperienced Raptors didn't exactly get caught in the headlights but they did get caught out in executing their usual game. We didn't get enough Demar "it's-not-rocket-science" DeRozan involved and the starters went long periods without scoring. It's not enough to dwell on but how the team now adjusts and reacts will sway whether we're looking at a 4-0 sweep or an actual fight in this series.

The smack was laid down very early from an unlikely source. GM Masai Ujuri lit the touch paper with his "fuck Brooklyn" speech, and all chances of a middle of the road series went out of the window. Why Ujuri did it will be debated much more than DeMar's no-show - and maybe that's the point. He said last week that people will watch Toronto. Chances are there are more people than ever paying attention now.

The Nets' reactions were predictable. Pierce referring directly to the Sun cover and Kidd faking his Ujuri knowledge. This ones going to run and run and if the Raptors go down in 4 or 5 games it's all going to sound like hollow brinkmanship.

Even better? The crowd? That looked incredible. Inside was noisy as hell and outside looked like some party. The build up just on Twitter gave me goose bumps. Very cool to see.

Positives from the game? JV monstered it. He played very hard and aggressive on the boards and scored some crucial tap ins.  Kyle Lowry imposed himself and got good support from Greivis Vasquez. The building blocks are there.

Terrance Ross got caught in foul trouble and I suspect if he can compose himself on Tuesday and spread the floor with his 3-point threat it will be a big help. Amir might not be a worry either if the more agile Patterson gets put on Paul Pierce.

Raptors vs Brooklyn Nets - Playoffs Preview

So, since following the Raptors in 2007 this is my first post season experience with my adopted team.  I'm pretty excited, but have low expectations.  But then again, I've had low expectations all season and this team just keeps beating them.

The Nets - New Jersey as they were back then - were the first NBA team I saw along with a pre-big-three era Miami Heat in London in 2008.  I also caught a New Jersey Nets vs Raptors game in London, which I need to revisit at some point on this blog.  They're a tough team to like, even with the re-branding exercise and the Jay-Z fuss.  They've made a bid to buy a championship and for a team of underdogs like the Raptors it would be great to deny them that.

So for what it's worth, my keys to the series are:

Hungry Kyle
The Kyle Lowry that returned from injury looks incredible.  He looks quicker and is in good rhythm shooting.  He has a tough match up in D-Will, but if I wanted to fire up "Captain Kyle" I'd slip a few photos of Joe Johnson in All Star uniform into his locker.

DeMar Derozan won't need the popcorn this year
DeMar the Star
5 years into his Raptors career and finally DeRozan gets to play some meaningful basketball past mid-April.  His growth this year has been great to see.  He has started to influence clutch time, has added to his offensive game and even started showing more passion on the court, becoming a true leader.  But stopping DeMar will be Coach Kidd's first plan and his new-found ability to pass out of double-teams and read defensive schemes will be put to the test.

JV vs KG
Jonas will be getting his first play off experience at an earlier stage than DeMar but his experience pales compared with Kevin Garnett.  The Nets front court has bullied the Raptors this season and they need to be smart and tough on the inside.  Jonas has had a storming month and comes into the post-season in good form, it'll be really interesting to see if he can give the slower veteran some breathless nights.

Casey vs Kidd
All the talk of Brooklyn's experience tends to leave out that there's a rookie coach behind the wheels, and Casey can claim to be involved in several post-season coaching campaigns, not least of which the Mavs win in 2011.  Given the chance to plan and prepare and adjust for one opponent it will be interesting to see how Casey can organise his team, especially on the defensive end.  Equally, we all wait with baited breath for the series' equivalent of the coke spillage incident from Kidd.

And that's a Rap

Was able to watch the Detroit game live on League Pass on Sunday, and caught up Tuesday evening with the Bucks win.  The game at the Palace was a tough watch - long, lots of foul calls and breaks and the Raptors generally made hard work of it.

How great is the potential battle between Andre Drummond and Jonas in the coming years?  If they stay in the same conference they'll see a lot of each other, and it seems at the moment that the Detroit big man has the better of JV.  He seems stronger and more athletic and his big block on Jonas made me cringe a bit.  Drummond caught the eye at the Rising Star challenge when he got MVP and stats-wise edges his fellow sophomore.

The Bucks just continue to be bad, there wasn't much to learn there.  There wasn't much to learn from Greivis Vasquez's post-match "I wanna prove I can play" speech that he must practice into a mirror either.

Weirdly apprehensive about the events of this evening, when playoff seedings will settle.  I guess the "ideal" scenario is a 3rd place seed versus the Wizards, giving the prospect of the Pacers in round 2 rather than the Heat and avoiding the Nets?  

To be honest, I'd take any.  I trust the coach to make adjustments needed for a play-off series against any of the three prospects - and the Nets could be a great series for the neutral fan too.  It seems to me that experience of a playoff series is needed at some point, and I wouldn't put too much pressure on this young group to do serious damage anyway.

Tonight versus the Knicks it would make sense to rest DeMar and manage the minutes of Kyle and JV, maybe let Mr Novak loose to send some three-bomb reminders to his former team and have a healthy starting 5 for the weekend.

Let's Go Raptors

#RTZ

Valanciunas must now prove he can take his medicine

There's nothing like the ominous "Toronto Raptors statement on Jonas Valanciunas" to make one sit up in bed when you check Facebook first thing in the morning.  And then wait, a statement from JV too.... s*** man, what's he done?

My first instinct was a brawl, but driving-under-the-influence is possibly worse.  I abhor drink-driving as we call it in the UK - there is just no need and the way this played out leaves lots of questions about how the young centre handles his time away from the court.

Overwhelmingly I'm frustrated.  At this point of the season the team and the fans don't need the distractions, it was a situation that was easily avoidable, and the casual nature of how he has got caught just shows a tip of the kind of above-everybody attitude that pro-athletes can have sometimes.  I had a ton of love for the young kid from Lithuania going making it big in the NBA and it's hard not to fall for his humble interview routine, and - well - he's let more important people than me down, for sure.

Jonas is going to have to pick himself up from a big mistake

Then part of me thinks - the lad is 21 years old.  Now, I wasn't drink-driving at 21 but pretty sure I was doing stupid stuff.  And we get our wrists slapped and we carry on.  JV has now got to find a way to put it behind him, focus on the next game and build his public persona back up - let's be honest, two or three dominant displays and a hand in a play-off series win and nobody will remember the day he broke the law.

I'm hopeful, and the early signs are good, that he has the right professional people around him to do that.  Ujuri playing Head Master and Lowry playing the Head Boy/Prefect role - there should be enough arms around the young Center to help him focus, take his medicine and move on.

But we know from a few of his slumps that he has a tendency to put the weight of the world on his shoulders and take things hard...

3 games, 3 wins - a weekend of sport

A couple of years ago there was a rule that one of my teams lost in a particular weekend.  If I'd woken up Saturday morning to a Toronto Raptors loss, then Bolton Wanderers would invariably win.  These days, I can't cope.  Both teams winning at once.  Please don't stop.

I managed to watch the win against the Pacers first thing Saturday morning on League Pass.  I've been so impressed with Valanciunas' progress in the last fortnight.  He had a tough slump to break through but now he seems to have simplified his game and focusing on fundamentals.  He looks so much better for it, setting good screens and following up with some important offensive rebounds.  

I hope there was an important lesson learned too about - as the IGBT called it - poking the bear.  The set-to between Salmons and George was fun but it gave the All-Star all the fire he needed to go on a run.  I wouldn't want to do that too often in a play-off series.  

The follow up game against Bucks was a bit more disjointed.  A lot has been made of the "easy" run-in (and really, 2 games against a Knicks team that needs to win doesn't make this easy) and we'll have to hope the players can wake up for games like this.  Pleasing to see T-Ross come of age too and his 3 seems to be coming back just in time for play-offs.

For BWFC I was confined to radio, which always makes me think of following the team in the 90s.  It was a great surprise to get a late goal, nice 3 points and solid clean sheet.  Not quite sure what we're playing for now, we seem to be in no-mans-land but considering there was a point I thought we might go down, I'll take that.