Jamario Moon is my hero

The Toronto Raptors have had a knack for finding fan favourites. Last year it was Jorge Garbajosa. The year before that it was the Red Rocket, Matt Bonner (now with the world champion San Antonio Spurs). This year, it’s 27-year-old rookie phenom Jamario Moon.
     It’s quite the story. The high-flying Moon, undrafted and unwanted, toiled for years in minor leagues with acronyms you’ve probably never heard of (CBA, USBL, ABA, NBA D-League, WBL), and even spent time with both a team in Mexico and the Harlem Globetrotters. For whatever reason, he barely got a sniff from the NBA, despite his above-the-rim skills, smooth shot, and defensive hops. Until this past off-season when Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors’ genius general manager, deprived of any draft picks, signs Moon to a two-year, rookie minimum deal. Out of nowhere — well, actually, from 1,600-strong Goodwater, Ala. — Super Jamario has burst onto the scene, logging big-time minutes for my club and tracking high on various rookie-of-the-year rankings (see NBA.com and SI.com).
     Needless to say, Moon, who just a few months ago was still struggling to get by in the Continental Basketball Association, has looked like the happiest man on the court each game that I’ve seen. No wonder, as reported in a feature on Moon in last weekend’s Albany Times Union:

Moon signed a two-year contract with the Raptors for the NBA minimum, which for rookies is $427,163. Salary caps in the CBA are $120,000 per team. There are 10 players on a CBA roster. You do the math.

Federer for Sportsman of the Year

The end of the year is fast approaching, and along with it comes the requisite end-of-the-year lists. I’ll be compiling my own Top 20 Singles of 2007 list, and I’m keeping watch for the announcements of Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainer of the Year and Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year (published Dec. 5).
     The odds-on favourite for SI’s Sportsman is one of the Indianapolis Colts, either Tony Dungy or Peyton Manning. But as any non-North American could tell you, it should be Roger Federer. What more does this man have to do to win the award? Well, it wouldn’t hurt to be born in the United States. As you can see from the list of past Sportsman of the Year winners, SI hasn’t had a non-American win since Norwegian speed-skater Johann Olav Koss won in 1994. And before that, it was Jackie Stewart, 21 years earlier!
     Federer just won the season-ending Masters Cup for the fourth time in five years. This year he won three Grand-Slam titles, for the third time in four years, and lost a total of nine matches all season. That’s a drop-off from losing only five times in 2006, four times in 2005, and six times in 2004. Asked recently what advice he would offer a player getting ready to face him, Federer said: “Don’t even try, pal. You’re probably not going to win.”