We the North: The 1st NBA All-Star Game Outside the US

Kobe Bryant's final All-Star Game. #HeDidTheOldManShirtTuckLikeMJ

NBA All-Star Weekend 2016

Toronto, Canada

Feb 11-15, 2016

Off to Toronto for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game. For the first time in its 65-year history, the ASG was held outside of the US. BTW, if you have the choice - fly into Billy Bishop (YTZ), not Pearson (YYZ). Pearson has a knack for making you spend as much time as possible at the airport. That's not a good knack.

Canada, you're so cute. 

Oysters at Pearl Diver. A strong recommendation.

#ImAnIdiot 

Adidas VIP Suite. 

Crew. *James Harden not included. 

Sweet or suite?

Dinner at Byblos. Big on Yelp and locals - it was aight.

My GF is somewhere underneath this jacket. The temps were below 0 at this point. #SheWasntHappy 

This club was called The Nest. Apparently Amber Rose and Demarcus Cousins were here, but honestly - who really knows? #OrCares

After a distinguished interview with Yao Ming about the NBA's growth in China, his Hall of Fame finalist announcement, and Morgan Freeman's voice, Yao ripped my Chinese. Thanks bruh.

Steph gonna Steph... except he lost to teammate Klay Thompson in the 3-point Contest.

The slam dunk contest was arguably the greatest of all-time. Athletically-speaking it's a no-brainer, but the lack of star power is the only thing that holds it back. But Orlando's Aaron Gordon and Minnesota's Zach LaVine were showing out. This is Gordon doing crazy ish with the mascot, Stuff the Magic Dragon. #BestNBAMascotName

Aaron Gordon's underneath both legs dunk was dumbfounding. It left viewers stunned like Vince Carter's elbow-hanging dunk in 2000. It was just something we hadn't seen before. Remarkable and the best dunk of the night on a night of amazing dunks. I have video of this that I originally posted here, but the quality was as lousy as Will Barton's dunks, so I deleted it here.  You see, Will Barton was also in the dunk contest lineup. #HeDidntBelong #HeWasntReady

That said, Zach LaVine did things that no human should be able to do. You can't do windmill dunks from the free throw line. You just can't. 

Dude. 

One of my producers, John Jervay, said it best - Zach LaVine has ruined the free throw line dunk. It is no longer impressive. LaVine jumped from the free throw line and stuck the ball between his legs. Go home, Zach, you're dunk skills are stupid drunk. Zach won (deservedly so), but I feel like it should've gone to Gordon. The two combined for 6 straight perfect 50 dunks. But not all 50s are equal, and Gordon's creativity topped LaVine's otherworldly athleticism.

It was around -29 with the wind chill after the dunk contest. Fahrenheit. Go home weather, you're stupid drunk, too.

CN Tower after dark. 

And we're going to the top of CN!

But first a quick local brew at the hotel. This was a hefe. Solid.

Toronto from 1151-feet. Looks like Los Angeles. HA!

Lion Dance meet NBA All-Star weekend.

I should've filtered this pic!

More.

This dude was the reason I was at the party. Y'all might recognize Brian Yang because he knows everyone ever. He's a bit of a Renaissance man, but he's an actor on "Hawaii Five-O" as well as a producer on the Jeremy Lin doc, "Linsanity."

Your only 65th NBA ASG highlight. #TheGameWasntGood

Squash at some hip Thai restaurant, Khao San Road. This also looks like an antler sculpture in the town of Jackson, WY. #LittleKnownFacts

So we had a $24 voucher for food, but I had already eaten dinner. Of course, I couldn't let the voucher go to waste, so I started ordering ridiculous desserts - like these funnel cake fries with soft serve ice cream and Oreo topping! WTF! Plus a gigantic M&M cookie. Sadly, I didn't eat all of it and much of it was wasted. #NotProud #ButDemFunnelFriesWereLegit

In an odd decision, the NBA booked Sting to do the halftime show. Yeah - Sting... of The Police. Now I dig The Police - didn't really care too much for his solo work - but he did not resonate with most of the young fans, who were wondering why the old WCW wrestler looked so different without his makeup.

De Do Do Do De Da Da Da... is all I want to say to you.

LINKS TO SOME RIDIC ESPN STORIES WE SHOT OUT THERE:

Can NBA All-Stars name 5 Canadians: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14771437

Who Would You Rather Dunk On? http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14777169

Final Seconds, Who Should Shoot the Ball - You or Steph Curry? http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14767907

Quebec: Who needs the Nordiques?

#TBT Files

Quebec City, Quebec

August 2012

I visited a friend who was hanging in Old Quebec. The city was quaint and scenic; exactly as how I would picture a small French town to be. I don't remember much else from this trip, too lazy to look up my old notes, so there will be no witty captions. I know you're disappointed.

This is a vending machine. I like your style, Quebec.

This was some sort of local meat thing - I don't remember caring much for it. I mean, look at it.

Montreal: Who needs the Expos?

#TBTFiles

Montreal, Quebec

August 2012

At this time, I was going from part-time to full-time at ESPN, so I had to take advantage of the time off. I went to visit a friend in Quebec City, and spent a night in Montreal.

Surfing the St. Lawrence River at sunset. That ain't me, folks.

The main river sport outfitter is KSF. It's $125 for lessons, gear, and surfing two spots. According to the website, it was a 6-hour excursion, but I don't remember.

This is the bunny wave on the St. Lawrence River behind the Cite du Havre Park. These are called standing waves, and according to riversurfing.ca, they're formed by "fast moving water going over a drop or slope and the river bottom contours. The water goes down the slope or drop then comes back up to form the wave." Basically you start upstream, angle yourself to let the current take you into the wave, and like normal surfing, paddle hard to stay on the face, control the board, and pop up. Just that easy. That last sentence was sarcasm. 

This is surfing the area called Habitat 67. The area is hidden behind some nice apartment complex. You have to climb down a little hill (no stairs, peeps), and you'll likely see a line of surfers looking to ride. You need to be a decent swimmer to do this, as there are parts of the current that you don't want to battle swimming against. After the ride, you're taken downstream for awhile before you can swim back towards the shore. Honestly, I think I only got up a couple times, but it's a cool feeling. I certainly prefer the ocean, but it's another notch on the belt. The water temperature wasn't that cold either, but I think surf tours stop in September.

Werd.

Colorful lighting on those Montreal nights.

Not sure I remember where I was walking. But they got fancy street decorations.

They're all artsy and stuff up north.

Like for real.

I think that's a library! Who knows?! I suppose anyone who can speak French, or who's been to Montreal. But that ain't me.

Nice burger and beer at Les 3 Brasseurs. The beer was better than the burger if I recall. I don't think avocados are native to Canada. Really good white ale.

There's a decent casino there originally called Casino de Montreal. It's decent if you have a gambling problem. I only show these chips because I think I got took by the exchange rate at the cashier. I tried to pull a scam, by buying in for X-amount of chips in US dollars, but then cash out Y-amount of Canadian dollars. I don't remember what happened, but I'm pretty sure I got played.

Really late or really early.

This was my first ever stay at a hostel. It was called the Montreal Central, and was located in a central location. Montreal really need to work on more clever names. I shared a room and bath with 2 other dudes, and was on a bunk bed. I kind of feel like I'm told for that, but that said - it was so cheap! I wish I'd been doing this more before, especially when traveling with a group of friends. I think my room was around $30-40. As hostels go, I have nothing to compare it to, but I think the premises were fine.

Downtown.

Maybe there's art here?

I don't know if they realized they made the lamppost crooked. Dummies.

Montreal is an amazing biking city. Very accommodating, usually bike paths. I rented from a spot called Dyad, bike was $12 for 4 hours or $20 all-day. It's also located in a fun neighborhood.

Sir George-Etienne Cartier Monument. I don't know what they did, but I'm pretty sure it had an overall positive influence on Montreal.

Xiao long bao. Dumplings. I've heard amazing things about Montreal's Chinatown. The area was crowded as F! There's a large Asian population in Montreal. The food was good, but unfortunately for you, I don't remember where this was.

Old Montreal

More from Old Montreal area.

I've never been to France and I imagine this is what it's like. I'm such an avid supporter of cobblestone streets. All streets should be made of cobblestone. Except ones you have to drive on...

More Old Montreal.

How I feel about being able to remember what I did in Montreal.