Nearly two years after retiring as president and CEO of MLSE, Richard Peddie opened up about his time at the helm of the Maple Leafs, Raptors and eventually Toronto FC. Speaking on TSN 1050s TSN Drive show, Peddie touched on his hiring of both rookie and experienced GMs and the most memorable relationships and interactions he had with former players and executives. Coming from a business background when he was named MLSEs inaugural president and CEO in February of 1998, Peddie admitted to having to learn on the fly early on. “Its a different mindset,” Peddie said of the difference between sports and business. “Theres really one winner and 29 losers. In business there isnt that. You could have an industry that all had good results, all had bad results or you can have an industry where theres winners and losers. In sports theres only one.” Taking over at a time when both the Leafs and Raptors were enjoying success, Peddie was eventually forced to lead the franchises in a transition period with changes coming in the front office. His decision to hire two rookie general managers is something he regrets. “I shouldve gone more experienced,” Peddie said of his decision to hire John Ferguson Jr. as the Leafs GM. “You DO NOT hire a rookie to run the Toronto Maple Leafs.” In retrospect, Peddie said when he was involved in the hiring process and made a call to the Canucks to speak with Dave Nonis, he should have instead reached out to the man he would end up hiring five years later, Brian Burke. “I shouldve asked permission to talk to Burkie then,” Peddie said. On the basketball side, Peddie was questioning his hiring ?of Rob Babcock in the summer of 2004 less than six months into his tenure, when the Vince Carter trade proposal was brought before the MLSE board of directors in December. “I had a new general manager that I had started to become really worried about,” Peddie remembers. “Im thinking if I pull the plug on this then Ive meddled, then Ive basically fired the general manager. In hindsight I wish I had. It set back the franchise years.” Being witness to both the rise of “Vinsanity” early on in his tenure, followed by the falling out Carter had with the team and city years later, Peddie was present for nearly all of his career in Toronto. He observed that Carter was a “Mamas boy” whos life was dominated by the family and entourage he surrounded himself with early on. As to why Carter was unable to meet the lofty expectations levied upon him early in his career, Peddie says it may have come down to work ethic and internal drive. “There are guys like Kobe, Jordan – theyre killers and Vince didnt have that,” Peddie said, while also noting that the teams trainers would report Carter having leg issues heading into the off-season, which he would then fail to rehab during the summer months. Following the trade of Carter and the failures of Babcock and Ferguson, Peddie said he learned from his mistakes and hired experienced, respected leaders. “I went and hired, arguably two of the best general managers,” Peddie said of Brian Burke and Bryan Colangelo. Although Burke was fired from the team prior to the start of the 2013 season, and failed to lead the Leafs to the playoffs during his tenure, Peddie said he still thinks Burke “wouldve brought Toronto a Stanley Cup.” Besides the NBA and NHL teams, Peddie touched briefly on his dealings with Toronto FC, noting that he saw the 2007 expansion franchise serving as a type of apprenticeship for former MLSE COO Tom Anselmi. “I was thinking about retiring and I thought Tom Anselmi would benefit from dealing with a general manager, dealing with the media and I gave him full reign on that one. And we hired badly – weve been through eight coaches. I chalk that up to our lack of football knowledge.” Asked about his successor, Tim Leiweke, Peddie was complimentary saying, “I thought it was a good choice,” noting the former president and CEO of AEG played an important role in bringing an MLS to the city and in the design of Maple Leaf Square. He disagreed however with Leiwekes statements that a culture change was needed inside of MLSE. “I didnt believe the culture of the business side needed to be changed at all, but on the team side we werent winning, so hes focusing on winning,” Peddie said. While admitting to having great relationships and fond memories of Darcy Tucker, Morris Peterson, Charles Oakley and Mats Sundin, Peddie also weighed in on the following: David Stern: “He uses fear. I mean he would go after me a whole bunch of times and he went after owners. Hes really smart, hes very successful and he uses that.” Ken Dryden: “Studious and brilliant. Ken takes a long time to make a decision.” Pat Quinn: “Stubborn Irishman, had great success.” Bryan Colangelo: “Very polished, very experienced, wish hed had more success...Bryan wanted to win and man, he wore that. He liked to pull the big trades and they werent working out.” Tie Domi: “Fighter. I got along very well with Tie, but his temper would flare up even off the ice occasionally.” Isaiah Thomas: “Smiling assassin…Isaiah and I could not work together. I think we made a mistake right off the bat to not make him president of the basketball team day one. I offered it to him two weeks after I joined, but he chose not to take it and we didnt work together very long.” Michelle Carter: “Too involved.” Drake: “Hes legit. He loves the city, loves the team, has credibility with the players. How good can he be with free agents? He could be a tipping point.” Authentic Eagles Jerseys . The Astros took two of three after losing 15 straight series to the Rangers. Houston overcame a four-run deficit to win. Dexter Fowler singled with one out in the ninth, Jason Castro drew a walk and Dominguez hit a long fly ball off Nick Martinez (0-1). Casey Matthews Elite Jersey . Make that 2-40 now. Tony Gwynn Jr. led off the ninth with a walk against Miami closer Steve Cishek and later scored, Ben Revere added the go-ahead run when Miami second baseman Donovan Solano bobbled a potential double-play grounder and the Phillies rallied past the Marlins 5-4 Thursday night to snap a six-game losing streak. http://www.jerseyseaglesshop.com/Womens-DeMeco-Ryans-Authentic-Jersey/ . Filion, from Laval, Que., and Montreals Benfeito finished third with 326.10 points. Ruolin Chen and Hao Wang of China won gold with 360.66 points and Paola Espinosa and Alejandra Orozco of Mexico were second at 327. Malcolm Jenkins Jersey For Sale . -- As expected, coach John Fox has officially ruled out Wes Welker for Denvers game against San Diego on Thursday night because of a concussion. Connor Barwin Jersey . The International Ice Hockey Federation says Russia is looking for a new coach before the world championship in May in Belarus. The IIHF says Russian hockey federation officials agreed to Bilyaletdinovs departure after meeting with him on Wednesday.MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves started an important eight-game stretch with an emphatic victory, handing the improving Washington Wizards their worst loss of the season. The Wizards hope they didnt lose something much more important than just one game. Love had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and J.J. Barea scored 17 points off the bench to help the Timberwolves beat Washington 120-98 on Friday night. Ricky Rubio had 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in 26 minutes, and Nikola Pekovic added 18 points and 10 boards for the Timberwolves. Minnesota turned the ball over only five times and got 44 points from its long-struggling reserves. "Its no secret we need more production from our bench," Love said. "That really helps out some of the starters, especially when every night isnt going to be great for all of our guys, one through five." John Wall had 26 points and seven assists for the Wizards, who missed a chance to win their fourth straight road game for the first time since March 2008. Nene added 13 points and five rebounds, but Bradley Beal had to be helped off the floor in the fourth quarter with a left leg injury. Beal scored 14 points in 26 minutes, but got tangled up on a screen by Wolves forward Luc Mbah a Moute with 4:25 to go. Beal was knocked to the ground and couldnt put any pressure on his left leg as Jan Vesely and Trevor Ariza helped him to the locker room. "With the knee injuries going on this year in the NBA, you just hope (Beals) isnt one of those ones that (is) devastating," Wall said. Preliminary X-rays were negative on Beals left knee and he will have an MRI on Saturday. "I was just trying to really get up and I really couldnt get up," Beal said. "Was hoping it wasnt anything too serious or too crazy. I mean, I was able to put a little weight on it afterwards. Just have to see with the MRI tomorrow." Beal missed nine games this season with a stress fracture in his right leg, and the Wizards count on his scoring as part of their dynamic young backcourt. Barea shoot 8 of 10 and Alexey Shved scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds to give the Wolves some much-needed balance between their starters and bench.dddddddddddd The Timberwolves slogged through a brutal opening two months, weathering injuries to Chase Budinger and Ronny Turiaf and the third-toughest schedule in the NBA to post a 13-15 record. It was underwhelming considering the high hopes they started the season with, but not wholly unexpected given the schedule. Now is the time they have to make a move if they want to be a factor in the Western Conference playoff race. They play six of the next eight at home and face five teams that are currently under .500. The Wolves got off to an awful start Friday, shooting 28 per cent in the first quarter. But they got to the free throw line 10 times to stay close, then made their move in the second quarter with 39 points. "It makes things a lot easier," coach Rick Adelman said of his second-team backcourt. "I like the way they played at both ends of the court. Weve got to get something going when those guys come in." The Wizards, meanwhile, were looking to end a four-game road swing with a statement. They beat the Knicks, Nets and Celtics to start the trip, then had five days off before facing the Timberwolves, and coach Randy Wittman wanted to see his young team build on the steps he believed they took in those victories. Wall scored 22 points in the first half, but just four in the second as the Wizards faded. The Wolves dictated play for most of the night, shooting 38 free throws to just 17 for Washington and outrebounding the Wizards 44-35, including 14-9 on the offensive end. "They were tougher than we were," Wittman said. "They pushed us around. We had no resistance. So weve got to put this game behind us but learn from it." NOTES: Former Timberwolves F Martell Webster scored 11 points for the Wizards. ... Wizards F Kevin Seraphin missed the game with a sore right knee. ... The Timberwolves game against Phoenix on Jan. 8 has been moved to an 8:30 p.m. CST start to accommodate ESPN. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
