Sometimes, the nonsense gets to be so much you’ve just got to say something.

Happened yesterday with the latest on “There’s A Job Open, Masai Must Want It” front and some silly story/tweet about him and the Washington Wizards and, egads!, he might leave!

I don’t know if it’s a lazy work or simple extrapolation or basic Toronto insecurity that creates this stuff and maybe yesterday was about the last straw but, please, stop with this senseless nonsense.

And don’t worry.

I know people who know people who know people and that may sound far removed but, trust me, it isn’t.

Masai Ujiri’s not going anywhere.

He’s got two years left – at least – on his deal, he loves Toronto, he’s got a great job in what he sees as a great organization and a ton of unfinished business here.

This is the gist of the 15 minutes of actual work it took me to debunk the latest Masai’s leaving thing: It’s like they want him to leave. Tell them not to worry. He won’t overstay his welcome.

Now, I kind of get where rumours start and I know how they start but, come on. It’s like every job that opens up is logically thought to be one Masai wants and I cannot see where that comes from. Has he ever even hinted at dissatisfaction? Has he ever done anything other than profess his love for the city, the team’s fan base, the country?

And the fact people get even the least bit worked up about it kind of surprises me for those very reasons.

I see where it comes from, I guess.

It’s almost like those out there who think “well, it’s Toronto, why wouldn’t someone want to leave there for the Wizards or the Lakers or the Knicks” and that thinking irks me and it’s why I don’t generally bother even thinking about them.

The Lakers are a mess, the Wizards might be as financially crippled a team as any that exists in the NBA today thanks to that John Wall contract and the Knicks are, basically, a dysfunctional cesspool carrying a decade of big time losing around.

You think those are appealing jobs? Give your head a shake.

What Masai wants is a chance to win big in the NBA, a chance to have a significant impact on the world and his native continent, the support of people who will let him do that and a group around him that he knows and trusts.

Toronto?

Chance to win big? Check.

Chance to have a significant impact on the world and his native continent? Check.

The support of people who will let him do that? Check.

A group around him that he knows and trusts? Check.

Sure, there are organizations that would covet him, he’s a proven NBA executive and leader. But I know he doesn’t want to go, he’s not going to go and everyone needs to chill.

And now that that’s said, I’m gonna take a step back from “will Masai leave” until Masai leaves. And I presume that’ll be after I fade out a bit so I won’t really have to deal with it.

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This, without doubt, is one of the greatest sports “shots” I have ever seen and you will ever see.

You could not walk up and put the ball in a better place, let alone kick it there from however many metres away it was.

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Simply astonishing.

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Bit of scheduling update: Am totally taking Saturday morning off here to get some rest and relaxation time. That means you’ve got today and tomorrow to be reminded about getting mail in for the weekend mailbag.

All you’ve got to do – and I know you all know how to do it – is click on askdoug@thestar.ca and unload as only you can.

Can’t wait to hear from you.

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You gotta add McGillin’s to the list of cool dive-ish bars on the circuit. I hadn’t been there in a very long time until last night, it’s down an alley, got a very tasty home-brewed lager and a vibe that’s kind of cool.

Anyone got anything like it in downtown Philly, I’ll probably have Friday to check it out.

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Not sure this would have gotten huge play back home and I only stumbled upon it thanks the Magical Tweeter Machine because it was nothing down here but an era of Canadian sports truly came to an end yesterday.

Ian Millar, who I would have to say would be Canada’s greatest equestrian even though I don’t know an awful lot about Canadian equestrian, has decided to hang ‘em up from competitive show jumping.

I don’t know that I’ve done more than a handful of scrums with Millar and I’ve certainly never had a one-on-one interview with him so I cannot really attest to his nature or how he deals with people but I will say that whenever he jumped at an Olympics or a Commonwealth Games or even something like the Spruce Meadows event every year, I paid attention.

Millar was a guy – and Big Ben was his cohort and I had a ton of admiration for what he could do, too – who lasted forever in his sport and seemed to always be in contention.

I don’t know how many nights I spent at Olympics trying to stay up to date with the equestrian event that always seemed to be held in some farflung location that was impossible for us to get to, ready to write about his triumphs. Heck, in Beijing I seem to recall show jumping was in another country and we’d be in the media centre watching it so we could write about it.

Show jumping, to me, is hypnotic and graceful and a helluva thing to watch, that Millar was one of its top practitioners for something like four decades is a helluva story.

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