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If there were a Mount Rushmore of Toronto sports executives, the sculptures would begin with Pat Gillick and Paul Beeston, move to Pinball Clemons, and the final spot would be taken by Masai Ujiri.
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All of them changed the city, the culture of their respective teams and, on their own, deeply affected the country.
The run Gillick had with the Blue Jays may never be equalled. For an 11-year-period, the teams that he and Beeston built — Gillick the baseball man, Beeston the business man — averaged 91 wins, were among the best in their game and did almost the impossible in winning two straight World Series titles.
The Blue Jays became part of our lives back then, our daily conversation, our radio listening, our television watching, our newspaper reading. We were consumed by Blue Jays baseball in the Gillick years.
And one thing about Gillick, Beeston, Clemons and Ujiri: When you met with them, when you had a conversation, when you shook their hands, you felt better about that day. You felt better just knowing them. You felt they understood something you didn’t. About the sport, about teams, about champions, about what matters and what doesn’t.
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Pinball’s Argonauts were slaughtered in a public attendance way by the Blue Jays of the mid-1980s and have never recovered from that. But in a city so championship-starved, he played for three Grey Cup-winners, coached one, and has been involved in various management roles for four other championship teams in Toronto.
Ujiri won just once in the NBA, and once will never be forgotten. Once may be all it ever is for the Raptors. This is how crazy it got across Canada in 2019: There were outdoor viewing parties in non-basketball places such as Red Deer and Moose Jaw and the NBA Finals became itinerant viewing for almost all Canadians.
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Masai, like Gillick, was in charge, had vision, had character beyond his own sport, had a Pinball-Beeston way about him, to not just say things, but do the right thing. You can’t replace the kind of person Ujiri is, now that he’s been fired as president of the Raptors just as the Blue Jays never really replaced Gillick after he chose to leave.
THIS AND THAT
In his 12 seasons with the Raptors, Ujiri’s teams won nine playoff rounds. He was let go. In 11 seasons with the Leafs, the teams of president Brendan Shanahan made the playoffs nine straight years, but won just two playoff rounds. He was let go. In nine seasons with the Blue Jays, president Mark Shapiro’s teams, the ones he’s put together, have yet to win even a post-season game. He’s still employed. It’s hard to understand just what, if anything, major domo Edward Rogers is thinking here … Keith Pelley has been CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for just more than a year: In that time, he’s bounced Bill Manning, who ran Toronto FC, he’s fired Ujiri and parted ways with Shanahan. The pressure now with the wayward franchises bounces to Pelley … Ujiri was due a 2% raise for the coming NBA season and his contact was up after that. Rogers was never happy about how much he was being paid to run the team. Paying him even more for the future was out of the question … There is also $1 million owing to Ujiri’s Giants Of Africa charity that is due in the coming days. There is no indication of whether some of that money, all of it or none of it, will be paid now or in the future … Ujiri truly believed that a team with Pascal Siakam, OG Anuoby, Fred VanVleet, Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl could contend in the NBA. A similar team did this season — the Indiana Pacers. But somehow, that Group of Five, never connected properly in Toronto, never really got along, never found a way to succeed. Ujiri waited too long on them and paid for it. Now Ujiri leaves behind a lineup of Barnes, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, Poeltl, Immanuel Quickley, Ochai Agbaji, Jamison Battle, Gradey Dick and their past two first round picks in Ja’Kobe Walter and Collin Murray-Boyles. If that group can play defence, it can have some success … The firing of Ujiri is a clear indication of the changing of the guard at MLSE. Larry Tanenbaum is no longer in charge. He would never have fired Masai.
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HEAR AND THERE
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SCENE AND HEARD
What we’ll never know: How many times Alexander Mogilny was nominated for the Hockey Hall of Fame before finally being elected on Monday? Was he passed over most years or just ignored? Because of the secrecy of the process — only the winners are announced and votes are never made public — there is no way to understand how or why Mogilny finally got elected. The good thing is, he’s now a Hall of Famer. Albeit years overdue, but still, he’s there for the rest of his life … Mogilny played on a line in Buffalo with Pat LaFontaine and Dave Andreychuk, all three of them now in the Hall. Had Andreychuk not been traded to Toronto for another Hall of Famer, Grant Fuhr, in 1993, that line would have become the first in hockey history with all three players on the line scoring 50 goals in a season … Some other all- Hall of Fame lines: Bryan Trottier with Mike Bossy and Clark Gillies; Jacques Lemaire with Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt; before that, Dave Keon with Frank Mahovlich and George Armstrong in the six-team NHL … Carey Price was waiting for the call from the Hall on Tuesday but it never came. But without question it will come next year along with fellow slam-dunk choice Patrice Bergeron. That’s without a doubt. That leaves spots available for those right on the border such as Patrik Elias, Rod Brind’Amour, Keith Tkachuk, Sergei Gonchar and Curtis Joseph, Ryan Getzlaf and Henrik Zetterberg. It doesn’t guarantee that anyone will get in, but there’s more of a chance when there are only two sure-thing candidates on the docket … Mogilny aside, the Class of 2025, Duncan Keith, Zdeno Chara and Joe Thornton were all first-time eligible players sure-things who couldn’t be passed over …. And now we’re wondering, unrelated: What, if anything, will Hall of Fame voters do in the future with Mike Babcock and Joel Quenneville? Both have credentials. Both have blemishes on their resumes … The best radio guest in hockey these days: Chris Pronger. He speaks like he played, with no fear, with edge, with a sense of intimidation, saying what few others will say.
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AND ANOTHER THING
The Blue Jays look to be on their way to an 85- to 90-win season. What could be challenging in a wild-card race: Seven of their final 13 games of the season are against the longtime rival Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays look to be the best team in the American League. They’re playing .666 baseball over the past 42 games … For a minute, Max Scherzer looked like an almost young Max Scherzer on the mound the other night. For a minute or so … If you take run differential seriously, and most bosses in baseball do, the Jays are the seventh best team in the AL. They do look better than that of late. But the Yankees were +113, the Rays are +67, Detroit is +91. The Jays are +8 heading into Saturday afternoon …. Nice to hear the former Argos executive, the Canadian Vince Magri just signed a two-year deal to stay as a pro scout with the Buffalo Bills … If I’m Brad Treliving, I’m signing Matthew Knies for five years and around $7.5 million a season. The better Knies plays for the Leafs, the less they will miss Marner in the future … The Canadian, Victoria Mboko, had a terrific French Open, but did not qualify for Wimbledon. Neither did the still trying to find herself, Bianca Andreescu … With Canada Day coming up and so much national angst, didn’t you feel better, at least for the moment, watching NBA champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander surrounded himself with a large Canadian flag during the championship celebration of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Nice to see someone who appreciates home … Women wrestlers I enjoy more than Bayley: Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, Iyo Sky, Becky Lynch, Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, Trish Stratus, Natty Neidhart and, if she were still alive, The Fabulous Moolah … I don’t know, but I hate to see a hockey player as solid, professional and committed as Marc Edouard Vlasic get bought out by the San Jose Sharks after 19 seasons. I understand the economics. I understand his game has slipped. But if this is the end, what an exceptional non-Hall of Fame career this man has had … Could Claude Giroux help the Leafs in free agency? Could he play right wing on a line with Matthews and Knies if Brad Marchand or Patrick Kane aren’t available? … Happy birthday to Kawhi Leonard (34), John Elway (65), Brian Lawton (60), Gunnar Henderson (24), John Boccabella (84), Dan Dierdorf (76), Cody Rhodes (40), Corey Koskie (52), Matt Rempe (23), Craig Hartsburg (56) and Theo Fleury (57) … And, hey, whatever became of Terrence Ross?
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