NBA – Raptors – A story about Mr. Rogers and how he tried to destroy the Raptors
Not long ago Jim and I were pondering about Masai Ujiri and why it was taking so long to get his contract re-signed. I felt it was mainly to do with Masai being in high demand around the league and beyond and was concerned that perhaps he was using an extraordinary offer from the Raptors as a benchmark for his conversations with other organizations. Masai had also made sure that every one of his team was looked after with shiny new contracts. In my opinion, this is exactly the kind of thing Masai would do before he left the organization.
Jim on the other hand felt that there was nothing afoul and that inside the Raptor’s organization it was so obvious that Masai was staying that it was just getting done in the normal course of business.
However, the truth has now come out and behold, both Jim and I were wrong. Really wrong. Almost, in fact, as wrong as we could be. No, from the outset Masai wanted to stay and he and Raptor Governor Larry Tannenbaum agreed to terms some time ago. However, of all the people in the world, it was Ed Rogers, Chairman of the Board at Rogers and son of Rogers founder, Ted Rogers. Ed Rogers. He actually called Masai and told him forget it, the offer’s too rich for you. The contract nazi -no contract for you!
He told only 2 lies when explaining his decision: first, Masai hadn’t accomplished enough. So picking up a non playoff team and turning them into a Champion in 6 years is accomplishing nothing? What was Ed thinking Masai was going to do with the Raptors – turn them into a Cirque de Soleil act? Line them up to become Nobel Laureates? Perhaps Masai should have got them on Dancing with the Stars, or turn one of them into a singing sensation. Ed should see if he can extricate his head from Donald Trump’s arse for long enough to learn a bit about basketball. Or his comment is patently untrue. Think of all the decisions Masai had to make in order for that to happen, the chain of causality he had to shake and keep shaking for 6 years. Surely you can’t say that the owner of 37.5% of the Raptors didn’t know that winning a championship – being the first nation outside the US to ever actually win the championship – was the unachievable goal. But then again, this is the man who wanted to fire the most successful President in Blue Jay history – Paul Beeston – who brought them 2 World Series Championships. So Ed calls Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox and tells Jerry he’s going to fire Paul and wants to replace him with Jerry’s President, Ken Williams. So what does Jerry do? He calls his best friend – Paul Beeston and tells him that Ed’s going to fire him. Ed Rogers didn’t even know Jerry and Paul were best friends. The Jays haven’t done anything since.
The second lie Ed told was this: Masai wouldn’t share his vision for the team with him. What Ed wanted people to think was that Masai had no vision for the team. Once again, even the casual follower of the Raptors knows Masai’s vision for the team. He has shared it at least a dozen times to the media for goodness sake in the last 18 months! So how could Ed not already know what it was? Is he monumentally stupid? Alright, maybe he is, but he still should have known what Masai’s vision for the team is. So it’s a lie.
But why, you ask, would Mr. Rogers want to be rid of the most successful executive in Toronto sports history? Given Mr. Roger’s deep admiration for Donald Trump, I’m guessing it’s because Masai is what those two fear the most: A smart, successful black man. Yep, if I had to guess, judging only based on this interaction with Masai, I’d say Mr. Rogers is a racist.