Game #8: Riccardi-Colangelo Affair Distracts Raptors

TORONTO (RT) -- J.P. Ricciardi's public courtship of Brian Colangelo is taking its toll on the Toronto Raptors.

With Ricciardi sitting courtside a visibly distracted Raptors squad was listless as they bumbled their way to a 106-96 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Ricciardi, the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, has been linked romantically to Colangelo, who is the Raptors' GM. Ricciardi sat in the Air Canada Centre's coveted courtside seats sipping Smirnoff Ice and glancing longingly towards the southwest players' entrance where Colangelo watches the majority of games.

Colangelo could be seen blowing kisses to his new beau during timeouts, and Riccardi pretended to catch them and press them against his heart. Ricciardi has been quite the madame about town lately, having recently dated Toronto Maple Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher. Their relationship fizzled last month because Ricciardi grew tired of Fletcher's "old balls and boner pills."

With all eyes on the unfolding Colangelo-Ricciardi drama, the Raptors were outplayed at both ends of the court and never found their stride.

After starting the season 3-0, the Raptors have lost 4 of their last 5 games to drop to .500. While some Raptors downplayed the impact of "Colangicciardi" on their string of losses, others made their opinions clear.

"We keep losing," said Toronto's Anthony Parker, a devout Christian. "I think this is God's way of telling us he doesn't approve of our general manager's lifestyle."

To make matters worse for Toronto, stand-out point guard Jose Calderon left the game with an undisclosed leg injury which is potentially disastrous for the Raptors, who lack a legitimate back up at the position.

There's even fears that Ricciardi's mediocrity as the Blue Jays' GM has rubbed off on Colangelo and is tainting the Raptors.

"We played like shit and one of our best players got hurt," said Raptors coach Sam Mitchell. "Does that sound familiar to anyone? I mean, stop me if you've heard this one before -- we played like shit one of our best players was injured. B.J. Ryan, Vernon Wells, Jeremy Accardo, Aaron Hill, Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan -- all on the disabled list last season.

"If this keeps up then [Chris] Bosh and [Andrea] Bargnani should be dead by the end of the week and me and Leo Rautins will be in the starting line-up by Christmas. The Curse of the Swirsk aint got nothing on this, man."
Andre Iguodala swung a big dick for the 76ers (3-5) with 18 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds, while Elton Brand had 25 points.
Bosh, as usual, was the Raptors' key offensive threat, scoring 30 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Jermaine O'Neal had 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Toronto's next game is Sunday against the Miami Heat (4-4). It will be the first of 25 Raptors game broadcast on TSN2 which is still not available in Toronto. Game details, however, will be available via the Raptorstruth.com live blog.
"Fuck TSN2," said one Raptors fan as he left the Air Canada Centre. "Who needs TSN2 when you've got the Raptorstruth.com live game blog. Those guys are funny. I bet they're good looking too. They probably have huge cocks to boot."